"Chelsea, thank you for coming to speak with me today," the billion-dollar princess opened the door to a makeshift office, welcoming the raven-haired diva inside.
As if Chelsea had a choice. She could think of plenty of things she'd rather be doing.
Talking to Steph wasn't exactly at the top of her list...
Chelsea was nervous, unsure about what the big deal was. When Stephanie had left a message on her cell phone that she needed a moment to speak with her, her heart plummeted to her knees. Either it was good news, or terrible. And if Chelsea had to guess, it was probably the latter; she'd heard from Tamina a few nights ago that the Total Divas were less than thrilled with her social media slams. In fact, Summer Rae had marched into Stephanie's office, demanding some kind of action be taken.
But Chelsea didn't understand why they were the ones feeling attacked. All that Chelsea had done was return to the company, which had changed significantly since she'd been gone. But so far, she was happy with the way things were going for her.
In any case, a full week had now passed since Natalya had intentionally bombed their interview, and now, they were just hours away from the new Smackdown taping. A full week since Chelsea took matters into her own hands and called out Eva Marie, Summer Rae, and of course, Natalya. Twitter was a beautiful thing.
But it wasn't all drama. Indeed, it had been a full week; but full of amazing moments.
Before Chelsea and Roman got back on the road, he'd taken her to see Loretta Mae once more, gone to a nearby habitat park—which housed wild flamingos; played at an arcade and won 3,000 tickets, then gave them away to the happiest little kid of the year. Chelsea had signed her first autograph in months when the lucky kid's parents recognized her, and it was hard not to feel awestruck. After all, it was her they'd recognized first, not Roman. Of course they would recognize him later, but signing "XOXO, CHELSEA SWEETLY" on the napkin in Sharpie gave her the kind of buzz that she had been longing for.
The new couple spent most the ride to Georgia continuing to get to know petty things about each other (Chelsea's full name was Chelsea Austen Schwedt, named after Jane Austen herself), arguing over what music they should listen to (Not Chelsea's, because Roman said it was terrible), and discussing which chain restaurant was the best (Wendy's won, Qdoba a close second). They'd arrived in Georgia the following day, staying in a tiny, one-bed hotel room. Roman offered to sleep on the floor, but Chelsea was happy to sleep alongside him. Aside from tons of kissing, they managed to "keep they damn hands to they-selfs," as Loretta Mae would say.
The last few days had gone way too quickly before Monday rolled around. Dean had trained her for almost three hours on Monday morning, telling her that he could tell she didn't work much over her short break. Chelsea sheepishly admitted that she really hadn't been keeping up on the strict regimen. Dean shook his head, mumbling about focus. In return for her neglectful ways, he worked her to the nitty gritty.
Shaming herself as sweat poured out of places she didn't know it could, Chelsea promised herself that she would keep up on some kind of workout schedule even on those glorious days off. Even though she didn't have a scheduled match yet and most of her time was devoted to commentating, she couldn't slip up any more. She knew that the time would come where she would have to wrestle once again in the ring, and the last thing she wanted was to disappoint anyone.
While on commentary on Monday night, she'd gone a little off-script, cheering for AJ while she competed against Nikki Bella. Michael Cole bounced off from that, and teased Chelsea for cheering on AJ. He reminded her that most divas didn't like the Black Widow because she carried the championship belt. Chelsea ad-libbed, stating that it's not the belt that she was after. What captured her interest was that AJ stood for something completely different than the other women.
"The other women are showcasing completely impossible standards. Flashing their money around on their television shows, eating elaborate dinners. And being terrible to one another once their backs are turned. This is a different kind of war," Chelsea explained.
Even though AJ Lee had lost the match that night, Chelsea was happy to see that her friend had this wicked smile on her face as Nikki paraded up the ramp. Even in defeat, AJ never faltered; and Chelsea wanted to do the same. Whenever that time came, of course.
Chelsea was looking forward to spending time with AJ again. They had a lot to catch up on, and she was really hoping to gain some insight as to how a relationship in this company would work out. Earlier, they'd planned to meet after Smackdown, gearing up to head to Oregon to do a few house shows.
But first, she'd have to get through this meeting with Stephanie. Yet again, Chelsea was only scheduled to be on the announce team, just as she was on Monday night. Luckily, she had no interviews scheduled. She figured that with Natalie at her most vile point, the uppers didn't want to set her into the same trap that they did a week ago. Hopefully, Stephanie didn't think that Chelsea had actually agreed to let Natalie humiliate her. She would never willingly allow Natalya to run rampant with her comments to boost their characters and story line. That wasn't the case at all. In the same respect, she hoped that Stephanie hadn't evilly set her up to gain interest from fans.
But that couldn't be right. They'd cut the interview from last week's show.
Trying to ignore everything that was going on in her own head, Chelsea forced herself back into reality. Taking a deep breath, Chelsea pulled the metal chair that sat opposite of Stephanie. Her mind was going a million miles per minute, and she had to remind herself to breathe. Still, being in the office with a McMahon wasn't normally a good thing.
"It's good to see you, Stephanie," she responded carefully, sliding into the chair opposite the boss. She was grateful that she'd already gone and gotten dressed for the evening, her black flip-flops stuffed in her bags. Stephanie was clearly dressed in a business casual way.
Tonight, Chelsea was wearing gray denim cropped jeans, black ankle boots, and a black layered chiffon tank. She wore sparkling earrings that dangled, and once in awhile she had to rip at her hair because they kept tangling in it. Her hair was down and curled, eye makeup dark as ever, and her tattoo on grand display.
All items chosen via Vickie, of course. It looked quite beautiful on her, but it was not her style in any sense. But perhaps, Chelsea thought, that it might not be a bad thing.
Stephanie sat opposite her, folding her hands on top of the desk. Her piercing blue eyes studied her for a moment, as if trying to analyze some kind of equation. The top of the desk was already scattered with paperwork, Chelsea noticed that the once-young looking woman was beginning to look older, wrinkles starting to invade her youthful-looking eyes.
"I wanted to let you know that I'm very pleased with your microphone skills, Chelsea," she looked straight into her heavily made-up eyes. "Putting you on the announce team was an excellent choice. And I'd like to keep using you as an interviewer. Perhaps even bring more perspective to the other anti-divas, like AJ, or Tamina. Though I know you've already befriended them," she smiled, a little too sweetly for even Chelsea's taste. It was no secret that Stephanie and AJ didn't like each other much, and even AJ made that clear when she'd confided that she was slated to drop her belt to Paige, the newcomer from NXT. Chelsea couldn't imagine why who she chose as friends would piss off her boss, but who knew?
"Now, it's come to my attention that you and Natalie Niedhart already have real life tension," she took out a pen and paper from one of her stacks and began to write furiously. "And I think that's great," she looked up for a moment, giving Chelsea a moment to glance at her scribbling. It was some kind of warped timeline.
"I loved that you took our social media networking to the next level without any hint from our experts. It makes everything more believable. I just want to make sure you know not to go overboard with your tweets. Summer Rae and Natalie believe that you overstepped your boundaries with your account. As you probably know, Summer came to me and asked me to look into your posts. I hae, and personally, I see no issues.
"I also wanted to make sure that you knew that no management, including myself, had anything to do with that interview that was given last week. I know well enough that you wouldn't allow Nattie to take advantage of such a sore spot for you. That was all Natalie's doing, and as a veteran, she should know better than to let her feelings interfere with her work. I'd like you to know that we have fined her as well as taken away her number one contendership following Wrestlemania."
Chelsea wondered if that was before or after AJ was supposed to lose her title to a rookie diva. She didn't say a word, but bit her lip nervously. She was certain that AJ's storylines were meant only for AJ. The WWE was weird when it came to trying to keep backstage news tight-lipped. It was likely that AJ wasn't supposed to mention Paige's soon-to-be call up. If she shared that information, Chelsea figured her friend's own penalty would be slapped on the table.
"I didn't suspect that you knew Nat's plan for embarrassing me," Chelsea said lamely. It was a blatant lie, of course; the idea had popped into her head just moments ago. She mentally scolded herself for thinking that Stephanie McMahon would purposefully humiliate her in front of the WWE Universe. After all, Stephanie had stuck her neck out by sending her off to rehab, and didn't want that to bite her in the ass.
"Believe me, we were irate," Stephanie's eyes had that gleam in them, and Chelsea knew she wasn't joking. "We can't prevent people from finding out about your past struggles, but we sure don't want to showcase the downfalls, either. We want to you to continue to build yourself up. We want you to prove yourself, and prove what you can do." Stephanie clicked her perfectly manicured nails against the desk, deep in thought as she continued to study Chelsea.
A long moment had passed before Stephanie spoke again."What I'd like to do now is get the Authority involved. Let the WWE Universe know that I have seen both sides, and the only way to settle the locker room problems is in the ring. We will then see what the fan's reactions are, and carry on from there. Now, I've got a short timeline here—" she pointed to the scratch paper—"And I'd like to see you fighting Summer Rae next week. At this point, I think her abilities streamline yours."
Chelsea hoped she was slated to win. The way Stephanie spoke, it seemed that the anti-divas would outshine the Total Divas. Although at this point, the outcome of her match was most likely "to be determined," she'd make one hell of a show beating Summer's scrawny ass. If she couldn't get to Natalie yet, well…that idiot would have to do.
She made a mental note to get on Dean for extra training sessions between now and then. Summer had great flexibility, and she was going to showcase that. But Chelsea was the brawling type, and she wanted to show the fans that she was someone worth watching.
"Anyways, as I've said. You've been doing well on the microphone, obviously. You've gained more support than you think. I've spoken with Dean, and he guarantees you will be able to perform to our standards within a week. I trust him, and can't wait to see what you've gained from working with one of our top superstars."
Stephanie stood up, dismissing Chelsea. She stood up, too, trying to mask her surprise that Dean had commended her at all, especially after the mockery of a session she'd last had with him.
"Thank you, Stephanie," Chelsea finally choked out, the whole meeting some kind of whirlwind. "As always, I appreciate your time."
Stephanie walked her to the door, clapping her on the shoulder. "You know I'm rooting for you to excel," she said, standing in the doorway. She closed the door, not allowing Chelsea to say another word.
She stood there dumbfounded, staring at the closed door. She began walking backwards, trying to wrap her head around what was going on. She was going to debut on Smackdown next week. Stephanie wasn't pissed at her for abusing WWE Twitter accounts. Natalie and Summer made a point about tearing her down and going to cry about it to Stephanie. Dean didn't think she was hopeless.
And then, there was Roman...Chelsea's heart skipped a beat as his eyes flashed into her mind.
Was this all happening? Real life? For a minute, she wasn't sure, and half expected to wake up in her rehab-center bed alongside Lennon. Back then, she never would've believed her life could change so much, so quickly. But it had, and she was lucky.
Her thoughts were put to a sudden halt when she backed right into another body.
"Aw, look Natalie. Wednesday Addams got locked out of the morgue," Chelsea whipped around quickly, seeing none other but Natalie and Summer Rae, acting as though they were best buddies.
"Well, if it isn't Dumb and Dumber," she acknowledged the two blondes. It was the best she could do on the spot, a sick feeling beginning to build in the pit of her stomach. She wanted to escape, and fast, from these two. Nobody seemed to be around, so if they ganged up on her, Stephanie was her only hope. She wondered how thin the walls were, and if Stephanie could hear her yell if she needed help. She was only a few feet away from that office door, but that seemed like a thousand miles right now.
She composed herself, refusing to act like a cornered rabbit. She had the weapon of words, and she was ready to unleash.
"Wow, did you come up with that yourself?" Summer Rae sniffed, flipping her fake, over-bleached hair.
"I did," Chelsea conceded. "Much unlike your little Wednesday Addams remark. That nickname was conjured up by my NXT pro, Maryse. And even though we had a tough time at first, it became a term of endearment. So, thank you," Chelsea gave a bitchy smile. "But I don't expect that you'd know nothing about that, of course," she finished, rolling her eyes.
Summer Rae scoffed, wrinkling her nose. Chelsea could feel a small fire burning deep within her now, and all she wanted to do was gouge out both Nat's and Summer's eyeballs. She already had underlying issues with Natalie for whatever reason, but Summer Rae, she just flat-out didn't like.
"Why would anyone pay any mind to you, Chelsea?" Nattie shot, coming to Summer's defense. "It's not like you were worth watching back then. You were too doped up to even perform at WWE's standards. I doubt that you'll be worth watching now. You'll be in and out of the company just as quickly as before."
What the fuck? Even though Chelsea wasn't an avid follower of Total Divas, she knew that Summer and Nat didn't like each other. But right now, that theory was totally shot. Chelsea hated the fact that she was beginning to get worked up, but she was.
"You know, that's funny. Seeing as I trained at your family's legendary dungeon," Chelsea reminded her, sounding more confident than she really was. "Anyways, I really have somewhere to be. Am I on a farm? Sure seems like it, with you two cows grazing in front of me."
Summer looked like Chelsea had physically harmed her, hatred burning in the blonde's eyes.
Natalie shook her head, unbothered. Unfortunately, she wasn't about to let Chelsea just slide by with a comment like that.
"That's cute, Chels. You can sit there and attack us all you want with your words, but at the end of the day, all you are is...a commentator," Nattie paused for theatrics, and Summer Rae stifled a giggle. "All you're ever going to be is a sad story. Just face it, not even Dean Ambrose can change you so much that people will wake up and forget about the shit you've done. Sorry, Chelsea, but Dean can't chase away your demons!" she was pissed now, her face splotchy with red.
"Dean is helping me become the wrestler that you and I both know I can be," Chelsea responded, managing to remain fairly calm. "I'm here now. Clean and sober, and at this time, demon-free," Chelsea hadn't realized that she'd been gritting her teeth. She imagined how it'd feel if she knocked both of these women straight in their jaws. That way, it'd probably prevent any further jaw-jacking from happening in the near future...
"All you're ever going to be is a loser drug addict," Summer said under her breath. Chelsea's head snapped up quickly, scowling.
Chelsea shook her head, putting her index finger in the air as if lecturing the other two women. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a cameraman wandering around. She realized that the cameraman was likely going to attempt to get candid footage for the show later on.
"That's where you're wrong. I know how to manage my issues, and I know how to change the negative things I've gone through into something possible. I'm here because I deserve to be. Because I worked for it, and work for it every day. What have you done that's so great?" Chelsea paused, looking Summer Rae up and down. The camera guy was now watching them, and they were undoubtedly being recorded. "At the end of the day, all you are is…a dancer." Chelsea smiled back, her adrenaline working overtime now.
Proud of herself, she knew that he'd rush straight to Stephanie with this footage. Surely, there would be something they could use to hype up their feud and her in-ring debut against Summer.
As the cameraman took off, Summer Rae rolled her eyes, and Natalie stepped towards Chelsea. Now she was only inches towards her face, and Chelsea feared that she was going to take a swing. She was sure she could take her on one-on-one, so long that Summer Rae didn't hold her by her hair or something.
"Between you and me," Natalie grew serious, "at the end of the day, you are going to be irrelevant. Nobody's going to care. Just like Jeff didn't."
Hearing his name put a sting in her belly, but at least it didn't pain her heart anymore.
"Jeff is irrelevant," she spat back, keeping her voice level.
But Natalie shook her head, grabbing a strand of Chelsea's freshly dyed red hair. "You kept the blue for so long. For what?"
Chelsea started to say something, but Natalya hushed her. "Don't answer that. I know why. Everybody does. I like the red, though. Did you use your own blood?"
"What are you talking about?" Chelsea stepped back a little, confused at the odd shift in their conversation.
"Well, after you heard that Jeff and Beth were going to have a baby. You probably went and slit your wrists over that. It makes for nice hair dye," her eyes bore into hers, and Chelsea was stunned.
She hadn't heard the news. She guessed that nobody told her because everyone was worried about how she'd react. Even though she shouldn't care, a part of her did care. Chelsea wished nothing but pain and hurt on Jeff Hardy after all the suffering he'd put her through. Why did he get this shit handed to him? A wife, a house, a car, a family…how the fuck did that work out? Meanwhile, she was broken.
Broken.
"What's wrong, Chelsea? Don't tell me you didn't know!" Summer Rae laughed. "I mean, it was all over Twitter this morning. And since you're such an expert with Twitter..."
Chelsea lunged at Summer, but someone held her back. Actually, two someones did.
"Don't even, Chelsea, it's not worth it," a familiar voice stated. Chelsea was thrashing wildly, almost smacking Tamina's perfectly smooth caramel-colored face.
"No, it isn't. Seriously, Natalie, grow up," AJ held on to Chelsea loosely, letting Tamina do most the work.
Natalie threw her head back, laughing, and Summer Rae joined in.
"Did wee little AJ just tell you to grow up?" Summer laughed heartily as she pretended to wipe a fake tear from her eye.
"You know, I think she did. Funny, she should take a look in the mirror," Natalie looked the Divas champion up and down. "Not only do you look and dress like a ten-year-old boy, but you act like one." Natalie laughed once. Tamina finally put Chelsea down, now using her size to try and intimidate the other women. But they kept laughing, and Summer Rae kept going.
"It's a wonder how Phil would ever choose you over Maria or Amy," Summer spat. Whatever she'd just said must have triggered AJ. The Black Widow shot the two a death glare, and Natalie smacked Summer Rae, a hint to shut the hell up. It was common courtesy amongst the divas and superstars to not bring in someone's significant others into personal dramas. Especially superstars like AJ's fiancé, who was still widely respected despite his own troubles with the McMahon family.
"I think it's best you two run along now and play with your Barbie dolls," Tamina spoke, slightly baring her teeth like some kind of rabid wolf.
"Better than watching Pokémon and swapping comic books," Summer replied huffily, turning on her heel to leave. Natalie wasn't completely finished yet. She looked at Tamina, and walked right past her. Back to Chelsea.
"Jeff is irrelevant, my ass," she said quietly, almost inaudibly.
Natalie watched Chelsea's face fall, slowly backing away. She was nodding, as if she knew it all along. As if she knew that Chelsea's biggest fear was still the extreme superstar.
And unfortunately, not only had she hit the nail on the head, but it was now guaranteed that she'd use Jeff Hardy as a weapon against Chelsea. That type of weapon was a destructive one. Nattie blew a kiss, then followed Summer Rae down the narrow hallway, and Chelsea breathed a small sigh of relief.
"Thank you," she said to her friends, who stood behind her still.
"No problem. We didn't want you to get suspended for fighting—even though I can't say I'd blame you if you ripped Summer Rae's hair out," Tamina said back, and the three took off toward the opposite end of the hallway.
"Yeah, well, there's still plenty of time," AJ was still clearly still stewing over the comments about Maria and Amy. And although Chelsea wasn't certain, she could guess that they were probably a few ex-girlfriends.
"You know what's pathetic? The catty bullshit. They rip on appearances and boyfriends. That's all they seem to care about," Tamina's eyebrows furrowed as she said this, and then shook her head. "I expected better from someone like Nattie."
Chelsea was only half-listening, lost in her own thoughts. She was still feeling numb over the new revelation that Jeff was happy as ever, not miserable and alone.
Maybe Natalie was right. She wanted him so badly to be irrelevant to her now. She was focusing so much on blocking out the dreams, thoughts, and memories, yet she was never able to erase him completely. And now, Nat knew where to hit her where it hurt. Nattie was well-aware that Chelsea still had a hole in her heart from the younger Hardy Brother.
Whatever the case, Chelsea had to learn to let that roll off her back. In truth, Jeff was nothing to her anymore, and she needed to keep that mentality. No matter what she'd hoped in the past, he was never going to come riding in on a white horse, gleaming in his armor. And she accepted that. She'd done an excellent job so far, pretending Jeff Hardy had never existed in her world.
Especially now that her world consisted of someone who actually deserved to be there. No, perhaps Roman was not a knight, but rather, part of a Shield. But that was just as good.