Disclaimer: I own none of the WWE Superstars in this story, only the OC Characters and my story idea.

A/N: Thank you to all those that reviewed the last chapter! This one is a bit shorter than usual but sets the stage for the next part of the story! Also Bright Lights has a new chapter that I'll definitely be uploading tomorrow or the next day whenever I get a chance in between work and all! Hope you enjoy this next chapter. Just note that the first half has been fast forwarded a couple of months, and then it cuts back to post-wrestlemania Raw :)

18th November, 2012

"We could very well see Ryback become WWE Champion!"

"And now with Cena on top! This Ryback is unstoppable!"

"He's unbelievable!"

"Wait, what the? Who the hell are they? These three guys just came rushing through the crowd and attacked Ryback!"

"CM Punk was about to lose the title!"

Michael Cole paused, his eyes widening comically as he realised who the men currently attacking Ryback were, "Wait, that man clearing things out here.. He was a foot away from me. That's Roman Reigns from NXT! Wait, that's Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins! What the hell are they doing out here?"

As the three NXT wrestlers triple powerbombed Ryback through the announce table, CM Punk crawled over to John Cena and covered him for the win. He may have been booked for the win, but he was just as confused as John, Ryback and the rest of the WWE Universe as to why those three men appeared. Whilst the referee counted to three as Punk lay over John's prone body, the WWE Champion whispered to John, "What the hell is going on?"

"How the hell should I know?"

CM Punk cast a glance at Paul Heyman, his long time friend, and saw him look just as confused as everyone else. Despite the interruption by the three men, Punk became elated as the bell rang and celebrated in the ring with his defended title. He cast a glance to the crowd where the men had disappeared to and a bad feeling was forming in his gut. This looked all too familiar to last year and whilst he may have retained his title as booked, there was something about this win that made it feel like it could be one of his last.

"It would be nice, once in a while, to be MADE AWARE OF WHO IS INTERFERING IN MY MATCH!"

Stephanie McMahon rolled her eyes as CM Punk stormed backstage, his arms wrapped tightly around his WWE title. She swept a hand through her hair quickly, an eyebrow raised at the WWE Champion, "I don't understand what you are complaining about."

"I was booked weakly."

"My god, do you ever stop complaining?"

CM Punk glared at her, his jaw clenched. He opened his mouth to unleash another war of words with the Chairman's daughter, but he paused upon hearing the three men that interfered in his match enter the gorilla area. His lips quirked into a small smirk when he spied Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns. He had been shocked when he had seen them rush through the crowd and beat down on Ryback. It was almost like the previous Nexus, but he was curious as to why this had been kept a secret. He knew the men well from NXT, especially Dean and Seth, who he had tried to help out come to the main roster previously. Unwrapping his arms from his Championship belt, he swung it over his shoulder and smirked at the men, "Dean Ambrose, nice way to make an entrance."

The younger man returned the smirk, reaching out a hand to shake, however Punk did not return the handshake and he frowned, pulling back his offered hand. From over Punk's shoulder, he saw that Stephanie McMahon had been joined by John Cena and Ryback, as well as her husband and a few other members of the roster. Dean raised an eyebrow, his Ohio drawl coming out, "Not happy to see us?"

"Oh I'm happy you're here. Just not on my time."

Seth snorted, "Look at you changing your tune. All for the little people this time last year but now it's all about you."

"Damn straight it is. I'm the WWE Champion."

Roman chuckled, "It really did go to his head."

Paul Levesque stepped in front of CM Punk, preparing to intercept any sort of fight that was brewing. He smiled at the three young men in front of him, and shook each of their hands, "Gentlemen, that was an impressive debut. I look forward to working with you."

Dean smirked, his eyes staring straight at Punk over Paul's shoulder, "Thank you sir."

Paul stepped back, allowing his wife to go forward and greet the three men, "She's done a really good job outlining what you boys will be getting up to the next few weeks and I really hope no one drops the ball on this like the Nexus."

Seth grinned, running a hand through his two-toned hair, "We're just grateful for any opportunity."

CM Punk cast a questioning glance back at John Cena who seemed just as confused as he did over the reason for the debut of these three men. There was something going on and considering the WWE was like a leaky tap when it came to gossip, he was surprised that they were unaware of what had transpired to lead these men here. He raised an eyebrow as John stepped closer to him, "What the hell is going on? Since when did Stephanie and Paul like rookies?"

John shrugged his shoulders, "I'm about as confused as you are. Heyman had no idea?"

"I asked him at ringside. Besides him almost pissing his pants in glee at these guys making it to the big time, he honestly had no idea." Punk frowned as Stephanie and Paul steered the three men away, engaged in conversation. He turned back to John, "Yeah something is not right."

The Boston native nodded, "I'm with you, man. Something is up."

"Guys, could you please hurry up? I'm starving!" CM Punk and John Cena rolled their eyes in unison at the whining of their friend, Mike Mizanin. As John slapped him upside the head, the three men made their way to the locker room, intent on cleaning up and heading out for the night for a few drinks. The locker room was buzzing with conversation about the debut of the three NXT rookies. Many of them had heard about Seth and Dean through the indies and Roman Reigns had also been impressing people in NXT.

A voice cut into Punk's thoughts as he pulled a tshirt over his head after his shower, "It's really bugging you, isn't it?"

Punk glanced at his friend, a sigh escaping his lips, "We've been down this road before. Last year, we were all for helping the little guys make their way up and look how that worked out for us." He watched as John winced, obviously remembering the drama that was Wrestlemania and the Raw after it. "I don't know about you. But I'm not keen for that again. It's my time now and as selfish as it sounds, I'm only looking out for myself. I don't need three rookies to help me win the Championship. If I'm supposed to be facing the Rock sometime soon, then there is no way people are going to believe I can beat him when I got these guys taking what a win means to me."

John sighed. Inside, he was agreeing with his friend. He had noticed the change in Punk over the past few months, since the drama of Wrestlemania and the Post-Raw show. Slowly and slowly, the selfishness in Punk was coming out and part of him didn't blame him, but part of him was worried his friend would completely change for the worst, just like the year before. Once a crusader for all rookies, John saw the reaction Punk gave Ambrose, Rollins and Reigns, and he knew that the WWE Champion was less than pleased with their debut impacting his win. Even John was worried about himself. He had no idea what this meant for him and how he would continue in the title race. His heart thumped in his chest, an anxious feeling gripping him as he realised this had shades of the past year all over it. Secrets hadn't been kept in a while and he was wondering what the McMahon family had planned this time around, and he had a sneaky suspicion it was all to accomodate the Rock. But he wasn't going to tell Punk that just yet, otherwise another pipebomb would surely be unleashed. He gripped the strap of his bag and threw it over his shoulder, throwing a nod in the direction of his friend, "You ready?"

Punk nodded, grabbing his own bag in the same manner and the pair left the locker room. They headed down the corridor of the arena, and met up with the rest of their usual group, all ready to head out for a few drinks. As they made their way outside into the cold Indiana weather, they pulled their jackets tighter around them. Punk groaned when he noticed AJ stop, her arm tugging Nick's jacket. After the somewhat amicable breakup between Nick and Nikki, AJ had slowly become a permanent fixture in the wrestler known as Dolph Ziggler's life and as well as their little group.

"Should we invite them?"

John raised an eyebrow at the small Diva, "Who?"

"The new guys!"

Nick looked heavenward, inwardly groaning at the small girl. AJ was way too nice for her own good, and he shook his head at the small woman next to him, "Nah, let's leave it. Maybe when they're properly part of the company." He glanced back over to the three males, who were laughing and talking as they made their way to their own vehicle. "Besides, they look like they're fine on their own."

A female laugh echoed in the carpark and John froze on the spot, his heart hammering in his chest, as he spun around to face the three males. From behind the car, a young woman had jumped out, laughing as she launched herself into the arms of Roman Reigns. He spun her around before placing her back on the ground, and she hooked an arm around Dean and Seth's necks, with the boys wrapping one arm each around her waist.

Even from a good few metres away, the others knew exactly who that woman was.

"Oh my god," muttered Mike.

AJ's eyes widened at the realisation, "Is that?"

Punk blinked, trying to see if his eyes were deceiving him. He recognised her as soon as he saw Roman spin her around. Nothing had changed about her in the few months since they'd spoken, and he couldn't believe she was here.

"Zoe."

2nd April, 2012

".. I'm going back to Boston. I'm going home and I'm not coming back until you decide where on your priorities list I fall." Zoe kept her head down as she pushed past the WWE Champion. As she took a step out of the bus, sobs shook her body at the fact Punk did nothing to stop her. Her steps faltered as her vision blurred with the oncoming anxiety attack and she was saved from falling face first by two familiar arms wrapping around her. She buried her head in their chest, her body shaking at the impact of the past two nights. Everything had fallen to pieces and she had no idea what to do.

As the arms wrapped tightly around her, Zoe struggled to come to terms with everything that happened and she tried desperately to calm down her breathing and stop the anxiety attack. She was comforted by the fact that the arms bracing her upwards were gently rubbing her back and she could hear quiet words of comfort being spoken. Tilting her head back, she glanced up at the man holding her upright and blinked at the sight of the WWE COO. Her shaky hand reached up to wipe the tears pooling along her lashes, "Paul, I'm so sorry-"

The man known to the WWE Universe as Triple H shook his head, shushing her quietly. He rubbed her arms gently, trying to calm her down and slow down the rapid breathing that was coming from the young girl, "Zoe, relax. Just breathe, ok?" As her breathing slowed down to a normal rate, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, guiding her back towards the arena back entrance, "Let's get inside and have a talk, Zoe."

The dark haired girl realised where he was guiding her back into and she stopped in her tracks, shaking her head. She wiped the remaining tears from her face with her sleeve, "Paul, I was just kicked out. I can't go back in there."

He offered her a small but tired smile, "Zoe, you're coming in with me. If anyone says anything, they'll have me to answer to. Now c'mon, we need to have a few words."

Zoe furrowed her brow but let him guide her back into the building. Paul kept his arm around her shoulders and led her down a few corridors to a room that was his makeshift TV office. He opened the door and gently pushed Zoe inside, before closing the door behind him. She glanced around the room, noticing the lack of his wife or father in law. Zoe pinched the bridge of her nose, the tell tale signs of a migraine already forming. At Paul's gesturing, she took a seat on the end of the dark leather couch in the room. She had no idea what Paul was expecting from her. She'd just spent the past two nights, either yelling at him or yelling at his father in law about the state of the WWE product. If anything, she was sure Paul would've been one of the last people to come and help her. Her hands were still shaking from the whirlwind of emotions that she had experienced over the last two days and she wanted nothing more than to go home before anything else transpired. Paul took a seat on the other end of the couch and turned his body to face hers, and Zoe looked at him expectantly.

"A lot has happened in the company over the last two nights. Hell, over the past week." Zoe stayed silent, and Paul continued, rubbing a tired hand over his face, "I know that we've been working hard to create something different here on Raw and Smackdown, and I know you worked your ass off to try and make not only the guys backstage happy but also the fans." Paul paused, letting out a long sigh before continuing, "I also know that Wrestlemania and Raw were not what you expected and not what you wanted."

Zoe shook her head, her teeth biting into her lip as she tried to keep the tears at bay, "It was a nightmare. It wasn't what I wanted at all."

"It wasn't what I wanted either."

Her dark locks swung across her face as she turned to stare at the WWE COO incredulously. She furrowed her brow, staring curiously at the man seated before her, "What are you talking about? You gave me the whole speech about it being what the company wanted!"

Paul smiled at her, "I've been around this business long enough to fool people into thinking my acting skills are up to par." As Zoe's eyes widened, he let out a small laugh, reaching a hand up to loosen the tie around his neck, "My father in law is still as powerful as ever. And my wife? I love her but she will always be a daddy's girl. Whatever her father wants, she will do, and he wanted those changes and she put them through-"

"But why not tell me? You guys left me out there for everyone to point the finger at!"

"She was too ashamed that after everything, she still was going to do whatever her father said. She knew that you'd try and stop it. That you'd get Punk, John, whoever to try and convince her otherwise, but she knew she had to do what her father told her." Paul ran a hand through his hair, "Stephanie was upset last night. When you quit, she was devastated. She sees a lot of herself in you and she honestly didn't want you to go."

Zoe sighed, "You have to understand the position I was put in last night-"

Paul held up a hand, silencing her, "No one blames you for that. We had been bracing ourselves for days about your reaction and you didn't surprise us at all. Your colourful vocabulary may have surprised Vince, but at the end of the day, we knew you'd make some sort of decision like that, which is why I brought you back in here. Vince liked you. He really loved what you were doing for the product and he was behind everything 100%, however, once he saw his control slipping away a bit too much and the Board started getting in his ear, that's when he made those rash decisions to change everything to what he knew."

"He just kicked me out of the building. I think him liking me might have ended a couple of hours ago."

"You said his company was fucked."

"Was I wrong?"

Paul's face brightened into a smirk, "That's why you're rehired."

Zoe blinked, "Remember when I said the company was fucked?"

His laugh echoed through the room, "Trust me, I know. We already had these plans for you, regardless of if you had quit or not."

She shot him a curious and wary look, "What plans?"

"We are shutting down FCW."

Zoe raised an eyebrow, an incredulous look on her face, "Do you want me to say what I really think?"

"You could let me finish explaining."

"That might help your situation and possibly change the tone of my rant."

Paul's smirk only got wider as he looked at the young woman in front of him. Stephanie had been right about her. She put everything into this business and she cared about all aspects of it, including the occasionally neglected developmental territory down in Florida. He leant back on the couch, his smirk still dancing on his lips, "We are closing it down and moving it to Full Sail University, where we will be creating NXT Wrestling. A weekly show to showcase the younger talents, rather than the online FCW shows that no one gets to see." At Zoe's curious look, he continued, "However, we've noticed that a number of them have the potential to come up to the main roster, and I want you to go down there and work with them."

Zoe's jaw dropped, "You want me to pick people to come to the main roster?"

Paul nodded, "We need some new people or maybe just one person. I already have some in mind but I want you to go down there and see for yourself."

Despite the fact that she had just quit on the grounds of the company screwing her over, Zoe wasn't going to even hesitate at this opportunity, "When do I start?"

"You're not even going to question it?"

The Boston native brushed her hair back from her face, "I'm not going to question it since you explained everything to me. However, if I get screwed over again, I can tell you now that a lot of papers will have a very interesting expose on the company."

Paul let out a bark of laughter, "My god, you are exactly like my wife." He shook his head, chuckling, "You have my word that we won't be pulling any more stunts. I can not apologise enough for what happened and I know what effect it had had on you." He glanced at her bag, "I want you to first take some time off."

She realised what he was eluding to, "I'm fine."

"No you're not. I take it you and resident loudmouth had a fight that didn't end too well?"

Zoe smiled sadly at her boss, "I think the fight was bound to happen sometime soon. Your family's stunt only just fast tracked it to now."

"You can tell him what really happened Zoe."

She shrugged her shoulders, her voice quiet, "It doesn't matter. I got to see his real reaction. Hell, I got to see everyone's real reactions and it just made me realise that there wasn't the most trustful of relationships amongst us."

Paul's heart sank at the sad look on Zoe's face. As soon as he had seen her come flying out of the bus in tears, he knew what had happened. He'd seen them all the day before and tonight target her for all the changes that had happened. They never meant for it to escalate like it did but it wasn't his company for him to go against what had been decided. He reached a hand forward, lightly patting her shoulder, "I can't tell you how sorry I am it came to this, Zoe."

She wiped her eyes again, more tears threatening to fall, "I know. It's fine. I'll be okay."

"I'll organise a flight home for you and then I'll call you and let you know when to make your way down to Florida."

Zoe nodded, "Tell Stephanie I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. You acted exactly like how anyone else would've in your situation. It's us who are going to be apologising profusely."

Zoe stood up, grabbing her bag to throw over her shoulder, "Thank you for the rehiring."

Paul smiled, "We weren't going to let you get away that easily."

She paused, "Hey Paul, can you not tell anyone where I go?"

The WWE COO frowned, standing up as well to face Zoe, "You don't want me to tell anyone you're going to Florida?"

"Or that I'm rehired."

"Why?"

She shrugged, "I think it's for the best. And most definitely, do not tell John. Even if he pulls the puppy dog eyes, don't tell him."

Paul snorted, "I'm sure I can resist John Cena's charms."

Zoe laughed softly, "You never know." Her hand tightened around her bag strap and she glanced towards the door, "I need to go find somewhere to stay tonight and then I'll be on my way home."

"I'll call you regarding your flight."

"Thanks," said Zoe. She brushed a hand through her hair, "I'll try not to cause too much trouble in Florida."

The older man rolled his eyes good naturedly, "I won't hold my breath on that one, Zoe."

As she bid the WWE COO goodbye, Zoe made her way out of the office and eventually out of the arena. Keeping her head down low, she managed to hail a cab down and take it to the closest hotel to the airport. She leant back in the cab back seat, her head spinning with everything that had happened. Shaking her head, she let out a laugh at the incredible turn of events and the fact that she was back in the WWE within 24 hours. Tilting her head back, she looked up at the night sky and sighed. She needed to get away for a bit and Florida was definitely the answer. Her phone buzzed from within her handbag and she realised the mass amount of text messages and phone calls that were on her phone. Maybe it was childish that she was ignoring them, but at the end of the day, her friends, cousin and now ex-boyfriend, hadn't trusted her and she wasn't ready to try and mend those bridges. It wasn't her side that fell apart anyway. Throwing her phone back in her bag, she closed her eyes, enjoying the silence and bracing herself for what Florida was going to offer. She really hoped that she would be able to make a difference there as well.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed it! And here sets the stage for new life in the WWE with Zoe!