Going Back To The Start

-April 7, 2014; New Orleans, Louisiana-

Tessa felt bad about being so happy – at least she tried to – but as soon as Eva relayed the news that AJ Lee was taking time off she had let out a small cheer. Her subsequent decision to skip around the locker room might have been seen as uncouth by some however most of the Divas laughed. Cameron even joined in.

Although she wouldn't admit it, Tessa was trying to distract herself from what was going to happen during the live show. She had completely forgotten about it until she arrived at the arena and was cornered by Billy Kidman and told that she was by no means allowed to miss the run through.

The previous 12 hours she had done nothing but think about Colby. She had ended things so she couldn't be mad at him for moving on with his life. She was mad because he had never told his girlfriend what he had done whereas Tessa had told Yujiro before they even began dating. It clicked in her mind that maybe that's what Colby wanted to talk to her about after her night out.

She was changed into more comfortable clothes – including her Dolph Ziggler shirt just to annoy Jon if she saw him – when Summer said that it was time to head out to the ring. Rami and Curt – Fandango – were already out there working through the match.

Tia's involvement would be to stop Summer Rae from interfering in the match – starting a proper alliance with Sami Zayn and a feud with Fandango and Summer.

"There they are! Looking flawless as always, girls."

"If you keep stroking my ego, Curt, I might have a different reason to fight Summer," Tessa said with a joking wink.

"We can sort that out," Curt said, before pushing Rami to the back of the ring. "Just send him back to NXT and we'll make it happen!"

"We can work that out later," Rami cut in with a small grin as he elbowed Curt in the stomach playfully. "But for now we still have a match on the show."

Tessa pouted at Curt and shrugged and he copied the actions before returning to setting up the match.

The timing wasn't hard to work out, in fact it was only five, maybe 10, minutes, before the four were walking back through the curtain in search of food.

Neither Tessa nor Rami was making much effort to talk to the other, though it didn't matter because Curt was more than happy to fend off the silence himself.

Tessa decided not to sit with Rami, Summer and Curt as they ate, instead deciding to sit with Naomi and Cameron.

"You look better today," Cameron said sincerely. Naomi pulled a face and whacked her friend's arm.

"You can't say that to people!"

"What? She does!" Cameron said, whacking her friend back before turning her attention back to Tessa. "Sorry, boo, but you haven't looked so good the last couple of weeks."

"I haven't felt so good," Tessa agreed causing a triumphant smile to cross Cameron's face. "I decided in the ring just now that I'm going to stop caring. I'm going to steer clear of the internet; I'm not going to worry about the people who don't like me."

"The internet?" Naomi asked with a light laugh. "Girl, the internet is in love with you. I get tweets asking to get you on twitter all the damn time. If I were you I'd get one because that ego boost... Damn."

"I wish I saw all of that because all I seem to find is people complaining that AJ needs to be champion again because apparently I haven't earned it. Doesn't matter, though, because I don't care about those people anymore."

Tessa shrugged happily before announcing that, as much as she loved her fans – there were plenty of them, she knew, but AJ's fans far outnumbered them – she was wrestling for herself. Cameron leant across the table to high five Tessa.

-Live on Raw-

There was no fanfare to Tia's entrance. It came after multiple attempts by Summer Rae to distract the referee or Sami Zayn, but most people didn't even know she was there until she was standing right beside Summer.

"Hey," Tia smiled, "How's it going?"

"What do you want?"

"I just came out for a little chat," she said, adjusting the championship on her shoulder.

In the ring, Fandango hit Zayn with a Russian legsweep prompting Summer to bounce up and down and cheer. Tia watched her with a bemused smile which drew Summer back to their conversation.

"I don't want to talk to you," she said coldly. "I'm watching my Fandango."

Tia put her hands up to show her innocence and said calmly, "By all means, watch. I'll watch as well."

Summer barely moved for the rest of the match, all too aware of the Divas Champion standing right beside her. It was when Zayn was going for the pin that she felt it necessary to intervene.

She took one step forward and Tia, in a rare show of unsportsmanlike behaviour, grabbed a handful of blonde hair and hauled Summer back.

"I really like this colour," Tia commented, pulling Summer's head beside hers. "What would I look like as a blonde? Not good, I don't think. Oh!" she gasped. "What do you know? The match is over!"

Tia let go, shaking off the strands of hair that were left in between her fingers, and walked around to the stairs.

Sami Zayn, before the referee could even hold up his hand, walked to the ropes and sat on the middle one, making it easier for Tia to enter the ring, even holding the Divas Championship for her as she did so.

After handing back the title, Sami Zayn allowed his hand to be pulled into the air to show his victory, but Tia stood back and clapped with a smile pulling at her lips. He turned around and motioned for her to move closer to him. She took a few small steps and squeaked when Sami reached out for her wrist, lifting it into the air.

Fandango and Summer Rae were walking backwards up the ramp; both of them seething as they watched Sami Zayn and Tia in the centre of the ring with their arms raised high. Tia lifted the Divas Championship up to while Zayn used his free hands to make the all-too-familiar 'That belt is mine' motion.

The crowd was cheering and Tia dropped down into a curtsey. Sami let go of her wrist, look at her curiously before he leant forward in a bow.

-Off Air-

"That's the second conversation you've had with him today!"

Tessa grimaced – Nikki had snuck up behind her and shouted into her ear. She was referring to Rami, of course, as she had no doubt seen the four of them talking after they returned backstage.

"That's the second time we've listened to Fandango talk about something together," Tessa corrected, turning her head slightly to look at Nikki.

Nikki sighed, "What are you good for? You haven't got any gossip for me?"

"Um," Tessa paused to think. "Summer slept with Chuck Taylor last week."

"What?" Nikki asked, totally perplexed. "How do they even know each other?"

"I introduced him so he wouldn't tell Jimmy where I was," Tessa answered solemnly, pushing her hands into the pockets of her shorts. Nikki laughed.

"Are you kidding me? You just whored out Summer Rae!" she exclaimed, looking positively amused by the idea.

"Don't say it like that!" Tessa whined as they walked into the empty locker room. "I didn't think she would sleep with him! I also didn't think she'd be talking about it so much! If I have to hear any more about Dustin freaking Howard I'm going to 'accidentally' leave her behind."

It was true. Apparently they 'connected' - Summer had used that word in every conversation they'd had in the past 4 days. Hearing about Chuck Taylor's sex life was on par with hearing about her brothers' – the less she knew the better – and Tessa had taken to tuning out most of Summer's talking whenever he was brought up. It was difficult, though, because on more than one occasion she had been caught out when Summer abruptly changed topic.

"Are you heading out?" Nikki asked, noticing that Tessa was gathering her belongings.

"Yeah, we're gonna go get some much needed shut eye and head off early tomorrow morning."

"Make sure she actually makes it, okay? The last thing any of us want is to pick her up off the side of the road in buttfuck nowhere Louisiana."

Tessa promised that she wouldn't leave Summer stranded and Nikki helped her pull her suitcases to their car. They were walking back into the arena when Tessa spotted Colby, dressed in his Shield riot gear, turning a corner. She told Nikki that she'd catch up with her in the morning and followed Colby.

"Colby!" She called out, grabbing his attention. He didn't say anything as he turned around, just tipped his head forward.

"I actually wanted to talk to you – about last night?"

"What about it?" He asked, trying to sound oblivious. She knew him too well.

"Is that what you wanted to talk about last week? That you were bringing her?"

He nodded, "That's why I stopped you. Then I didn't know what the hell I wanted to say so I -"

"Asked about Rami instead," Tessa finished the sentence slowly but surely. "She's lovely; I can see why you went back to her. She deserves to know, though. Whether you tell her what happened before you met or what's happened in the past few months... It's not healthy to keep secrets."

"You should take your own advice," Colby told her coldly. "You don't plan on telling him but you're working together... He's going to know that something's up."

Tessa's mouth pulled into a straight line. It was the truth and she knew it. It was why she had decided to actually end their affair in the first place. Rami might not have known in the past but he probably had the signs engrained into his head after he found out.

"Fine," she sighed. "I'll stop telling you how to do things and you can do the same for me. We can go back to that agreement we had at the beginning of the year."

"You really want that?"

Tessa shook her head sadly, "Of course I don't. You're my friend, first and foremost. I wouldn't be who I am today if I hadn't met you forever ago. But that doesn't change what we got ourselves into. I meant what I said, Colby. I could never regret you."

He wiped his hand down his face and smiled at her, breathing out a laugh.

"I love you, Tessy."

Tessa nodded and smiled back at him.

"I love you, too."

-Main Event, April 8-

Nikki Bella got another shot at Tia tonight but she was unsuccessful. It wasn't a particularly long match but it was long enough to tell the story that is the end of Nikki's chance at the Divas Championship (but with WWE's booking that's likely to change in a week). Tia brought out the Berzerker Drop during the match (for those of you who know June Jacobs, you know what I'm talking about) and that combined with the Gory Bomb ensured the victory.

a/n We are pretending for this story that the Marine 4 does not exist and that Summer Rae never took time off to film it.

Thanks go out to Imagineer1392, CarolReigns, UntilNeverDawns, AeonBlue, ajroleplays, Straight Edge Queen and the evidently frustrated Guest!

The next update is going to take a little while because I need to actually get stuck into writing Christmas one shots or they'll end up being Valentine's Day fics. You can still get your requests in, just check out my page!