Monday Night Raw was taking place in Pensacola that evening, and Alison was having a lot of fun. She, Ronnie, and her three bodyguards had driven to the arena to meet up with Roman, Dean, and Seth so they could hang out backstage before the show. AJ had offered to show them around while Roman and the guys were busy shooting a promo and then doing an impromptu interview to discuss their storyline and do promotions for Night of Champions that was only 6 days away.

They were standing at a serving table in catering when a woman with raspberry red hair knocked Alison's shoulder roughly as she reached for the fruit salad spoon. "Move, whore."

"Aw, honey, are you okay? Did I bruise your little ego by being in the same room?" Alison held up a staying hand, keeping her men behind her.

"My name is Eva, not honey," the other girl sneered. "And what the fuck did you just say to me?"

AJ sputtered and gaped at the other women. "Eva! What the hell?!"

"It's okay, AJ. I've got this." Alison set her plate on the serving table and anchored her left hand on her hip. "I was just saying that I could understand you being a little jealous, and that I'm so sorry your parents failed to raise you right."

"Oh my God! Fuck you, you pathetic little bitch!" Her voice carried, and every head in the room turned.

"Pathetic? Oh, honey, you are just so witty." Alison felt her lips twitching into a smile as she saw one of the people wearing an earpiece speaking furiously into their mic. "If you had had a better momma growing up, then you wouldn't have just insulted someone at your place of employment. Now, when you knock into someone on accident, you should say 'excuse me'."

"I had an excellent mother!"

"So you were just being deliberately rude and insulting, then. Do I get to know why, or are you just like this to all the women who date the wrestlers?"

Eva smirked and pointed as Roman and his stable mates walked in the door across the room, their gazes quickly landing on the confrontation, though her guards waved them off. "Bitch, we both know you're only with him because of his looks and his money. He needs someone in the business, who can understand what he's going through and the things he has to do for this company."

Alison lowered her voice so it barely carried to AJ, who was standing right next to them. "Listen here, you poor excuse for a Jessica Rabbit wannabe, I am with Roman because I love him. You, however, need to take your cheap-ass Jimmy Choo knockoffs and get the hell out of my face. Otherwise, you're gonna see what real designer footwear feels like when it's pressing down on your throat."

Seeing Stephanie McMahon and Triple H stride through the doors directly behind Roman, Alison smiled sweetly. "And I believe that's for you."

"Eva!" Stephanie's voice carried over the now silent room. "Our office. Now!"

Alison sweetly waved goodbye as the other woman stomped into the hall, followed closely by the company's COO. Turning to Stephanie, Alison smiled and shook her hand as she introduced herself, but stopped her as she mentioned firing Eva.

"Oh, that's not necessary. I don't want anyone to lose their job just because they have a problem with a little diarrhea of the mouth."

Steph frowned. "Well, this isn't the sort of behavior we want to encourage."

"Of course not! Maybe there's somewhere she can go to. . . develop?"

Grinning, Steph nodded. "I like the way you think. Please, enjoy the rest of your evening and feel free to let me know if there is anything we can do to make your time here more enjoyable."

The room came to life the moment Steph's sensible heel traveled over the threshold. AJ, Natalya, and the Bella dissolved into uncontrollable laughter. The Usos jumped up to give their cousin a rundown of what happened. Naomi and Rosa sneered and stomped out without backward glances.

"Hey, killer!" Punk leaned back in his seat and focused his laughing eyes on her face. "What the hell did you say to her?"

"Oh my God!" AJ waved her arms franticly before copying Alison's stance from moments ago and trying to imitate her voice for the whole room. "'Listen here, you poor excuse for a Jessica Rabbit wannabe," she had to pause to giggle. "You need to take your cheap-ass Jimmy Choo knockoffs and get the hell out of my face. Otherwise, you're gonna see what real designer footwear feels like when it's pressing down on your throat.'"

"Woah," Brie was clearly impressed. "That's so badass!"

Nikki's eyebrows rose as she skimmed over Alison's black sleeveless blouse before taking in the red and yellow tartan mini and moving down to the sky high black heels with thin silver chains looped at the back. "Those don't look like they have much ass kicking in them."

"Didn't you learn anything from Cinderella? Shoes can change your life." Alison smirked and pressed a kiss to Roman's cheek, aided by the 4 inch black heels. "You'd be surprised how much a thousand dollar pair of shoes can do."

Every male in the room began coughing at her casual remark, some choking on drinks or bits of dinner. Roman was at once disgusted and worried, his eyebrow raised questioningly. Did she really spend that much on one pair of shoes?!

"What?" Alison smiled. "It's not like I bought them for that much! The lovely people at YSL gave them to me."

"Some shoe store just gave you shoes?" Dean chuckled. "Seriously?"

Alison shrugged. "Actually, the designer gave me three pair from their new fall line. It happens more often than not, really. People see celebrities wearing something, and then they want it."

"So you're a billboard?" Punk frowned. "You just wear shit people send you?"

"Hell no!" Alison snorted and shook her head. "I just don't have to pay for some of the girly shit I would've wanted to buy anyway."

One of the production crew called out that they had two hours until show time, so everyone started to hurry through the rest of their dinners so they could get dressed and stretched. Alison made sure Ronnie had a plate before she moved to sit with the Shield. Her guards and Ronnie all took seats at an adjacent table while Alison tucked her skirt under her thighs and slid into the chair Roman held for her.

"So, why didn't your boys flatten that stupid bitch?" Dean asked between bites of his chicken. "Isn't that their job?"

"They knew I could handle the twig." Alison shrugged and picked at her grapes. "It wasn't really that big of a deal."

"She is a skinny, isn't she?" Roman chuckled. "You really think you could take down a woman who's been training to be a wrestler?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure that I can handle a woman with no muscle mass and the inability to throw even the most basic of punches." Alison rolled her eyes. "Even if it has been a while since I've had any fight training."

"Fuckin' perfect, Babygirl." Roman chuckled and leaned over to press a kiss to her temple. "And I love that skirt."

Alison's heels clicked quietly on the concrete floor or the arena as she walked the corridor on Roman's arm. He was grinning at each man they passed, nodding at some and sneering at others. His long legs ate up the space easily, and Alison found herself taking quick, tiny steps in order to keep up. They were accompanying Dean and Seth to the locker room since everyone should be dressed by now, Buffalo and Hawk following, while Ronnie took a phone call outside.

"Hey Rome," Seth chuckled from his spot beside his friend. "Slow down a bit. Ali's gonna break her ankle trying to keep up with your tall ass."

Alison giggled and shook her head. "Nah, I'm fine. I'm used to keeping up with people who are taller than me."

Seth grinned. "Had to get used to it if you were gonna wear shoes like that, huh?"

"Nope, I've been wearing heels like this since I was fourteen. They've just gotten more expensive."

Roman poked his head into the locker room to make sure everyone was dressed before leading Alison inside. "Why the hell would you need to wear heels like that at fourteen?"

"Because I realized that I wasn't going to get any taller, and I was already a flat-chested geek with super curly red hair and freckles? I had enough issues without adding to it."

Sheamus chuckled from his seat. "Get called Orphan Annie a lot?"

Alison's lips quirked at her fellow redhead. "I was Agent Orange at two of my high schools. The Little Redheaded Girl from Charlie Brown was doodled on my notebooks in one of the junior highs I attended."

"Well, those aren't too bad." Punk shrugged as he began tying up his boots.

"You think?" Alison chuckled and then gave a sad sort of smile. "I was Ang Mo when we were stationed in Okinawa during my second and third grade years, which is weird."

"Why is that weird?" Dean glanced up as he rummaged through his duffle for the tape he used on his wrists.

"Because Okinawa is in Japan, and Ang Mo means "red devil" in Chinese."

The room had gone silent as she spoke, and Randy Orton's quiet "Jesus" carried.

Alison just shrugged. "There are, like, a hundred different names and insulting little taunts that I've heard over the years. Some of the Japanese kids started calling me the Ginga Ninja when they found out that I could scale the outside of some of the buildings and climb trees easily. I liked that one alright."

"Kids can be horrible, can't they?" Punk frowned at some private memory.

"Yeah," Alison agreed quietly as people returned to wrapping wrists or pulling on knee pads. "Yes, they can."

Ronnie soon returned with Irish watching her every move, smiling at Alison. "So, that was Daren."

"Okay?" Alison was confused as to why her manager would be calling her. "What's up?"

"The editors of Fitness magazine want to run a story on you."

"Yeah?"

"Uh-huh. Apparently, they want to run stories on celebrities and entertainers who are extremely fit."

"And they think I suit the purpose?"

Roman chuckled. "Trust me, you do."

"So, you think I should do it?" Alison nodded after he grinned at her. "Okay, when and where?"

"Well, we're going to be in Buffalo next Sunday for the pay per view, so we thought it would be cool to just head down to NYC after that for a few days."

"We'll need to find a hotel that won't pitch a fit about the new puppy."

Ronnie smiled. "I'll get on it tomorrow."

Monday Night Raw went off without a hitch, and Alison was happy at the prospect of having Roman in the same city for nearly an entire week. He slept at his apartment Monday night, as he and Dean were leaving early in the morning to go fishing with his father, brothers, and cousins. Alison had simply told him to have a great time and then asked him to call her when he got in. She spent her day doing some cleaning and setting up the laundry room to double as a puppy safe zone just in case he didn't do well with company.

She was out at a local pet store, scouring the shelves and racks for anything she might need, when her phone rang. "Hello."

"Hey, Ali." Ronnie's voice held something that drew her full attention.

Parking her cart, Alison frowned. "What's up?"

"So, I spoke with the editors of Fitness. They've already reserved you a room at the Sherry-Netherland Hotel on 5th Avenue, which is very welcoming to animals."

There was something in Ronnie's voice that had Alison frowning. "What else did they have to say?"

"They want to feature you on the cover . . . topless."

"Ummm…"

"They say it'd be tasteful, but I wanted to give you a heads up."

"Thanks," Alison sighed. "Just keep their number close in case I decide I want to talk to them myself."

"Will do, boss lady!"

Laughing, Alison hung up and went to look at cushions to use as dog beds.

"Is there anything I can help you find, miss?"

Alison smiled at the older woman wearing a store nametag. "I'm getting a puppy this week from a rescue, and I'm trying to figure out everything I'm going to need."

The woman chuckled and congratulated her on the new member of her family before grabbing a new puppy checklist from the front of the store. "Let's get to work, shall we?"

It wasn't until two hours later that Alison stepped out of the pet store and into the muggy afternoon heat. She had purchased two large dog mats so the growing puppy would have a place to lie in both levels of the house. A crate was loaded into her car in case she should need it to help training. Food and water dishes as well as puppy food, treats, a brush, and puppy shampoo also joined the other purchases in the back of her SUV before she drove to one of the few higher-end pet boutiques in Pensacola.

The leash and collar the new puppy would require were located in the back of the boutique. One and a half inches wide, the strap of black leather was studded with short silver spikes and deep red rubies. The leash was a simple piece of black leather that would allow the puppy to get up to five feet away from its handler.

She was on her way home when Chris called to let her know that the puppy's vet visit had gone well, that his neutering was perfect, that he had been microchipped with her information, and that he could be picked up the following morning.

Alison was too excited to sit still, and she danced in the driver's seat. "Is 8:00 too early?"

"Well, it may be a bit early." He chuckled. "How about 10:00? That would give us time to get him fed, played with, and bathed."

Alison quickly agreed and sent a text to Roman, though she didn't expect an answer from him for a while. When her phone rang ten minutes later, she laughed and accepted his call.

"Hey, Big Man!" Alison began cutting the tags off the doggie toys while she spoke. "How's fishing?"

"'Sup, Babygirl? Fishing went real good." Roman chuckled as he listened to Dean explaining to his father and brothers how awesome Alison is in person. "Dean's got these guys thinking that you should've come along."

"Yeah, no thanks. I had lots to get done here."

Handing his poles over to his father, Roman leaned against the rail of the deck behind his parents' house. "So, puppy tomorrow?"

"Yeah, we're supposed to be up there at 10:00. You gonna be up for that, or do you just want to come over later to meet him again?"

Roman snorted. "Oh, I'm coming with you."

"Good," Alison grinned. "I really wanted you to."

"Did Ronnie get all the hotel arrangements handled for the magazine shoot next week?"

"Actually, the hotel is putting me up at the Sherry, which is just amazing, and you can stay with me after Raw at the Garden on Monday."

Roman heard the reluctant note in her voice and frowned. "What's goin' on, Babygirl? You sound worried about something."

"When Ronnie called them earlier, they spent a little time talking about what they expected." Taking a calming breath, she dove into the problem. "I guess they're wanting me to be topless for the cover."

"No." Roman's voice was dangerously quiet. He could feel the hair on his neck standing on end as his shoulders and arms were suddenly loose and springy. His body was ready for a fight, even if there was no one to physically hit.

"What was that? Roman, I can take care of myself and make my own decisions."

"That shit is not up for everyone to be looking at!"

Alison resisted the urge to yell back, instead speaking calmly. "Is this some sort of jealousy thing?"

"No, it's an I-don't-want-my-girl-on-display-like-that sort of thing!" Roman sighed. "Look, I try not to fuss at you for wearing short skirts or little shorts where other men are around, but I don't think it's unfair to ask that you have actual clothes on for a magazine that is sold worldwide."

Alison smiled and nodded to herself. "Well, since you put it that way, I'll talk to them and see if we can't come up with something else."

"Thanks, Babygirl. I'll give you a call when I get in tonight."

Saying goodbye, Alison sent a text to Ronnie for the number she needed to call. It wasn't hard to go along with Roman's wishes when he was being reasonable instead of coming off like a controlling dickhead.