Since I entered the WWE and accomplished my lifetime dream of being its employee, I'd always known that I would have to get used to a lot of travelling and I mean…. a lot. I'd known it, understood it, absorbed it, and lived it wholeheartedly. The touring alone was stressful, and if you had other issues to deal with outside the job (which was totally inevitable), things were a lot more stressful than they seemed. Three weeks had passed and while I had been focused on work, my heart and brains had exhausted themselves contemplating over my brothers back in Cleveland. I'd been most worried about my situation with my brothers and fixing things with BJ. I'd call them every now and then and would decide to give it a shot, see if BJ would at least talk to me. No such luck. He was always not in the house, or at least that was what my other brothers would tell me.
On the other hand some things were just really exciting. And despite the problematic case I'd temporarily left in my home in Ohio, I had a lot of positive light going on for me. My moron bestfriends Cody and D-Bry were always incredible in various ways. And Jon… In that whole 'positive light' I had in my life, Jon was the biggest portion of it. We were closer and things were more fun when I was with him compared to our times before. It had also come to my attention that he cared for me. However, I was afraid to expect and assume things, still. Maybe he was just showing concern to me the way he would to his closest intimate circle of friends. But if this was the case, I couldn't deny that I'd be hurt. Because I couldn't keep myself from being delighted more and more with every dimply smile that he gave.
I was beginning to care deeply for him, more and more each day.
I was falling and I knew it would be extremely hard for me to rise back up if I took a wrong fall.
What if everything fails? What if he can never really see me the way I see him? Supercreeps. My feelings for Jon had increased big time, and while I'd said he was a positive light going on in my life I still couldn't miss the fact that this whole thing had been driving me crazy. What in the world am I going to do with these feelings? Should I let him know? I would always choose to keep them all in. And yes, darn this fear in my heart for that.
And then there was Monday Night RAW.
In two hours, the WWE universe was about to witness the episode of RAW where Jill Oliveira would first encounter The Shield; Dean Ambrose, for that matter. The thought sent me the supercreeps – a mixture of sheer excitement and nervousness. Nonetheless, I knew I looked forward to it more than anything.
I went to look for Nicole, 'Nikki Bella' in the ring, who was going to be my opponent, so we could discuss our match. The Shield had also joined our discussion so as to talk about the first encounter.
I was a heel diva, and Nikki was, too. I wasn't sure, but what Paul and Stephanie had tried to do now was to make me a tweener. You know what, I don't care. I'm still a heel. They can view me as a tweener but I'm really still a heel to most fans… especially now that I'll be involved with the most hated and badass stable in the WWE today, The Hounds of Justice. I inwardly laughed at the thought.
I stood overconfidently in the middle of the ring as I sized up the undoubtedly dazzling brunette known as Nikki Bella, who was the curvier of the twins, while my head was leveled with her mouth. She was six inches taller than me. The fans seemed not sure of how to react, but a minority were cheering for Jill Oliveira, I believed.
The bell rang and I inched closer as I looked up at Nikki Bella's pretty face… what a delicious little thing to wreck. I badmouthed her and she seemingly got riled up, because I ate a deliciously vicious slap from her afterwards, which received a massive "Ooooohhhhhh" from the crowd. And then the brawl started. I was going to do a leverage pin on Nikki for our finish.
She hit me with the facebuster, planting me face-first into the mat and I lay there lifeless. Nikki got a little too cocky, wasting time by celebrating a little and bragging into the fans' faces, allowing me to capitalize. I schoolgirl-pinned her and grabbed on the ropes as the ref counted one-two-three. The bell rang and Lilian Garcia's beautiful voice announced 'Jill Oliveira' as the winner.
It was then my time to brag in the fans' faces about my smart victory and celebrate. While Nikki sat on her sexy butt complaining to the referee, I laughed devilishly at her and I continued to brag to the crowd as my beautiful music played. Boos resounded throughout the arena, but then again, if Nikki Bella won things wouldn't have really been different. Nikki , Jill - didn't matter. Either diva would be booed. We were not AJ Lee or Kaitlyn.
Midway through my glorious celebration, my theme song, "Falling Apart" by Zebrahead was mysteriously cut, immediately replaced by the current most daunting, terrifying, and bloodcurdling music.
Sierra. Hotel. India. Echo. Lima. Delta. SHIELD.
Someone was going to get doomed, and it was easy to assume it was me since my victory tonight was tainted… it was an injustice! The crowd's reaction upon hearing The Shield's theme song was priceless. Perhaps they were as puzzled as Nikki Bella and I were. What did these animals have to do with a divas' match?
But nobody was more shocked and worried than me, Jill Oliveira, whose celebration was cut short and now I was gaping and wide eyed, looking up at the crowd through which the three black-clad wolves came.
Distracted by The Shield's abrupt and unexplained interruption, I hadn't paid attention to Nikki Bella, who was obviously mad about her loss. As I watched Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns descend through the stairs, I felt Nikki pull my hair, knocking me down on my back. She mounted me and slapped me multiple times, left and right, and gave me vicious stomps to the stomach. Weak and out of breath, I crawled my way to the ropes, looking to get myself up, but Nikki quickly delivered a baseball slide, throwing me out of the ring and having me land face-first onto the floor. Nikki grabbed my hair and screamed in my ear. I defenselessly reached out to grab her face, badmouthing her in response.
"Use the chair. Not the candy bottle," I carefully whispered to Nicole while my face was contorted in a staged "pained and weak" look.
"What?" Nicole could barely hear me because of The Shield's blaring music.
"Steel chair. Scrap the candy bottle."
"Are you sure?" Nicole whispered back.
"Yes, yes. Go." I thought she was going to hesitate at first, but thankfully she didn't react much anymore and easily complied.
Nikki Bella wasn't amused by my response in the slightest and gave me another one of those savage slaps before getting off me and leaving.
Coughing and holding both my mid-section and face (trying to sell better than Ziggler), I slowly stood by using the apron to pull myself up, weak, yes, but back on both my feet only to realize that The Shield's music had stopped. From the apron, I whirled around to face the ramp…
But on that ramp, there stood Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose… all looking at me with such menace. Several cameras zoomed in on me whose face was filled with sheer horror. What was The Shield's deal? I just won a match, got beat up and now I was surrounded by the most intimidating men on the roster; I was totally doomed.
I'd just attempted to take a step back, away from The Shield when I felt a steel chair violently smash against the back of my head. Nikki Bella.
I now lay on my side, just in the position where I could get a view of a vindictive and happy Nikki Bella standing by the barricade with a chair in her hands. I held the back of my head with pain, but more than that, I was worried that The Shield was 100% guaranteed to get me now that I was totally busted.
"Get her, Shield!" Nikki yelled with hunger. "Get her, Shield! Come on!"
Crap. Nikki looked like she'd been working for The Shield or something. Nikki was working for The Hounds of Justice! Fudge. The Shield was going to get me.
This notion was betrayed when I, along with the WWE universe saw Roman Reigns threateningly took slow, and intimidating steps closer to Nikki Bella, as if to fend her off. With a look of shock and horror on her face, she dropped the chair and ran for her life, sprinting like Courage the Cowardly Dog and disappearing through the crowd.
So Nikki wasn't affiliated with The Shield. So what was The Shield's business out here? The fans were even more puzzled than they'd been.
Gathering myself some strength, I managed to again get back up on my feet, but I could barely walk. Holding on to the apron for support, I looked at the tactical vest-wearing guys whose presence still perplexed me… and scared me at the same time. I sure hoped they wouldn't give me a triple powerbomb. I didn't do no crap here!
With every second my legs got spaghettier, and I half-consciously watched Dean Ambrose inch closer to me. Hurt from the steel-chair attack by Nikki Bella, the WWE universe knew that any moment, I was going to pass out. Or they could also watch me get triple powerbombed by these wolves.
I held my head and my face displayed severe pain, puzzlement, and fear as my eyes laid on Ambrose's.
Those steel and icy blue eyes were the last image I took in before the fans saw me completely lose consciousness at ringside, collapsing and falling into the arms of Dean Ambrose. The debating and battling arguments from the fans were a delight to hear as I felt myself being carried away by Dean Ambrose with of course Seth and Roman in tow.
The Shield saves Jill Oliveira? I could imagine the thoughts brewing from the crowd's minds.
Joe, Colby, Jon, and I waited until we got backstage before breaking kayfabe.
As we entered backstage, my eyes remained closed and I believed I still appeared to be unconscious, as if my 'passing out' earlier out in the arena had become real.
And I was still carried by Jon at this point, cradled into his arms like a toddler.
"Jill!" I heard Jon call loudly when I still hadn't shown any sign that I was fine. I slowly opened my eyes and looked up to see his concern-filled face.
"What's up?" I asked comically with an impish grin, as the side of my head pressed against his chest, my hands waving 'hello' at him. For some reason he still hadn't put me down.
His eyes seemed to gleam with burden or something as he looked down at me. "Are you all right?"
"Huh?" I wasn't sure what he asked. "Yes of course."
"Why did you girls use the chair?" He lightly shook me in his arms as he questioned. "What happened to the candy bottle?"
With my hand light and firm on his chest, I slightly pulled my head away. "There was a little uh… change of plans." My eyes wandered for a moment. "I told her to use the chair. I just suddenly had a bad feeling about the candy bottle, like it could've ruined the scene or something, end up in a botch, you know. The chair was just more legit," I explained, smiling up at him. Good grief, he was still carrying me, bridal style!
Knitting his brow, he said, "Yes, more legit. And certainly means more damage." He tsked. "You looked like you'd just died out there for real! Don't ever change plans that way again." He sounded quite cautionary, but more concerned.
I chuckled nervously. "But we're live! Some things just happen!" I shrugged. "I should be happy with that comment – means my acting skills just got even better now. And come on, it was just a chair shot. You've been through worse and more hardcore stuff, come on!" I joked, lightly slapping his chest.
He shook his head and shushed me. "I don't care, you have to get checked up," Jon said firmly.
My eyes widened. I found his statement half-funny. A check up? "Jon! It's just a chair shot!"
"A chair shot to the head." He again shook me in his arms for emphasis in his words.
"Well you, yourself got cut with a saw blade in the head before," I lightly protested, crossing my arms as I pierced my eyes up at him.
He rolled his eyes. "You know that was fake."
My brow furrowed as I thought of that for a moment. "Okay, but you've been put through barbed wire and glass before, that's far worse than a chair shot." I poked my forefinger in his vest-clad body. "And besides, it's all part of the job!"
Immediately, there was slight warning in his steely gaze that was fixed down at me. "Stop being persistent. You're going to the clinic." He gave me a confident, I-win-this-contest-smile.
"You might wanna put her down first," Colby's voice startled us. I almost forgot that he and Joe were with us. The two men approached us from behind, stopping in front of us while we were still in this bridal carry position.
"What's up with you two? Show's over," Joe jested and both he and Colby laughed. I felt my cheeks heat up upon the little teasing they did. Seemingly, Jon had finally realized he should put me down, and he did, carefully placing me back on my feet.
"That chair shot was sick. Nice one." Colby reached out for a high-five.
I accepted his hand and shrugged. "Thanks."
"But yeah, you gotta go to the clinic," Joe said, smiling.
I sighed. "Ugh. I told you, I'm completely fine! Not a darn thing wrong with my head, not a bump, no nothing. I'm totally okay."
"I know, kid." Joe ruffled my hair. "If you don't wanna do it for yourself, you might wanna do it for this man right here, at least." He nudged Jon who was standing by his side. I caught Jon giving Joe a glare. Joe tried to stifle a smile.
"Yeah," Colby added. "I don't think he'll stop until you get yourself checked up a little and he's sure you're fine." There was such a loud mockery in his tone. Colby and Joe laughed together, and my face couldn't get any redder. Wasn't sure how Jon's face looked like upon his friends' teasing, but all I knew at the time was that I probably should go to the clinic; not to have my head taken care of – but to have my heart checked up instead. It was racing so improperly already.
"Jiiiiiilllll!"
I whirled around and saw Nicole running to me. She gave me a bearhug, lifting me off the ground for seconds. When we pulled away, there was a look of worry in her apologetic eyes. "Are you okay?"
I nodded and smiled reassuringly at her. "All is well in the world, honey." I kissed her cheek.
The following night, we were at the taping for Smackdown. The Shield were to cut a promo after the production booth showed an exclusive video of what took place backstage after Ambrose and company carried me away from the arena last night on RAW.
The video showed an unconscious me in a 'disclosed area'. Slowly, I came awake. I was surrounded by two medics, but I wasn't in a clinic. Ambrose, Rollins, and Reigns suddenly appeared, scaring me. Rollins told me to take it easy. I sat up on whatever kind of stretcher it was I was placed, as Ambrose knelt by my side with tenderness and instability in his eyes. Creepy.
Mystifying me by his presence, he asked, "How are you feeling?"
"I-I… I'm fine," I stammered in response. The corner of Ambrose's mouth lifted a tad. Scared and unsure, I asked, "C-can I go back to the locker room?" I looked up at all three of them.
Rollins laughed quietly. "Don't be scared. We won't do anything to you." I looked at him, puzzled.
Then I looked to Reigns. His face was… well. Stoic.
"Ok- okay," I breathed. "Can I go now?"
Ambrose let out what I considered a snicker, shaking his head before lightly touching my arm. "Nope."
My eyes widened, wandering, as if to sense that this wasn't right.
"What he means is, you can't go there alone," Reigns said, his voice deep and too manly. I furrowed my brow.
"After what happened earlier, you're not really safe with those girls. They don't like you that much. Let me come with you." Ambrose helped me up, lightly putting a hand on my shoulder as he led the way. The shaky and grainy video ended.
After the exclusive video from last Monday Night RAW, The Shield appeared on the screen to do a promo, explaining their actions.
Two minute-long, the trio's promo video's most remarkable words came from Ambrose:
"From now on, any harm done to the underdog of the divas' division by some tramp or anyone will be considered an injustice. I suggest you shrews try backing off."
Because I didn't have any real appearance on the Smackdown taping, the night hadn't been a tiresome one.
At the hotel, Jon had asked me to come to his room. It sounded urgent. I made my way to his hotel room and found him alone, greeting me by his door with a warm smile. There was uncertainty in his eyes, though. He let me in and gently closed the door.
"What is it?" I asked. I watched Jon pace his room quite anxiously, like he was distracted.
He finally sat down on the bed and exhaled heavily. "He replied." Jon's eyes were fixed at blankness.
Even though he wasn't looking at me, I smiled. "Your dad?" He nodded. I could see that there was uneasiness playing across his face. "What's wrong? What did he say?"
He paused for a moment. "In two weeks, we're doing RAW in Pittsburgh, right…" His gaze held mine. I nodded as I waited for him to continue. He lightly rubbed his eye. "He's there. That's where he lives."
My mouth fell just half-open. It took me a few seconds. "You mean…" I gathered my words. "Please tell me you're considering meeting up with him."
"Unfortunately." He scoffed.
"Well? Isn't that great?"
Jon glanced up at me before sighing. "I'll admit. I'm nervous." He fixed his gaze on the ground.
"Hey," I said in a whisper before taking a seat next to him. "That's all right. Don't overthink. Remember why you're doing this: For both you and your mom. You want to give him a chance, right?"
He looked at me. "I do."
I smiled. "That's more than good enough of a reason to go see him, then. I know you're thinking that you're taking a risk now, but aren't we all taking risks every day?" He was silent, deep in thought as his stare remained on me. "Think of this as that one big opportunity for all three of you to take the first step to… to being a real family."
"And if it fails?"
I smiled apologetically at him. "You've asked that before. You know the answer." He raked his hands through his hair and lightly scratched his head. I knew he knew the answer.
"He… gave me his number. I can't bring myself to call him. I don't know why it's such a struggle to do."
"You don't have to if you're not ready yet." I placed a hand on his shoulder, stroking my thumb over his shoulder blade.
Jon reached up to caress my hand on his shoulder. My body tensed a little. But his next move made my heart leap and bounce off my chest and back to its place. From caressing it, he gripped my hand tightly and suddenly tilted his head to the side, gently laying it on our imbricated hands.
He sighed. "I knew you were the best person to talk to about this." After a few moments, he finally raised his head back up and let my hand go. As much as I'd enjoyed the feeling of our contact, I was also relieved that he disconnected from it, as it was already giving me peculiarly nice sensations. "You know something? I just realized that no one can calm me down better than you." My ears felt like clapping. Really? I found myself staring at him, speechless. He continued, "Not that I'm extremely tense now or anything, but… Um, I actually feel a lot better than earlier when I read his reply."
I lightly dug my teeth into my lower lip. "I have never seen you this… worried." My smile felt teasing in some way, as if I was about to giggle but was trying to control it.
He laughed. "True," he muttered shyly. Suddenly, his eyes seemed to light up. Like the light was coming from some bulb inside that skull of his. "The last time I worried about something was last night."
I chewed the inside of my cheek. "Hmm?"
"When you stupidly took a chair shot." He pinched my nose and lightly tugged it, consequently pulling my head down a little.
"Hey!" I softly swatted his hand. I massaged my nose and playfully glowered at him. His dimple showed as he laughed. I could live like this forever – watching that dimple consume me and shake me to the foundation of my soul. And I could forever revel in the fact that he'd been truly worried about me last night. His concern for me… Oh boy. I just sort of wished it was something more than just a nice man showing his concern to a good friend of his.
"Next time I tell you to go get checked up, just do as you're told right away, will you?" Jon said.
"You do know I did go to the clinic last night, right?" I softly punched him in the arm.
"After a fashion, yes." He mockingly rolled his eyes.
I stuck my tongue out. "Whatever…" I inched my face nearer so I could say it to his ear, "dad!"
Without retorting Jon grabbed my wrist before I could even get away. Not another tickle-attack.
"Let me go!" I laughed while I tried hard to wrench away from his grip. Luck was never on my side when it came to this.
"Come here you little girl." He took grasp of my waist and lifted me onto the bed. His long and hard fingers ground both sides of my body; he truly knew the spot to hit. He'd gotten so used to tickling me, it had become like his new craft or something. As usual, all I could do was laugh and cry at the same time and be defenseless.
Jon's phone suddenly rang from his nightstand. I had to thank the person ringing him now because whoever it was, he or she truly saved me tonight. Jon walked to answer his phone while I took the time to recover from the 'attack', wiping some tears off my face and gasping for some air.
"Uhh, yes… She's still here… No, no. She's actually just about to go back there… All right, man."
He hung up and set his phone back down.
"Cody?" I asked as I sat back up, straightening my clothes.
"Bryan," he answered. "He said you left your phone and he didn't know how to get you." He chuckled.
"Did it on purpose." I laughed and got up. I gave my clothes one last hand-iron to smooth them back as I prepared to leave.
Jon led me to the door. "I'll see you tomorrow." I nodded, and then he suddenly had this look on his face like he wanted to laugh. I arched a brow, silently mouthing the word 'What?'
"Let's fix this in place." He reached down to brush my hair with his hands. I'd forgotten how messy it could get after every tickling assault Jon put me through. "So that you won't look like you just…" Jon paused, pressing his lips together as he attempted to hold back a smile. His icy gaze was charming. "N-never mind." He finally smiled.
I rolled my eyes. "Come on, say it."
He shook his head, laughing quietly. He gently pulled my arm, leading me out the door. "Just come on out now, Bryan's looking for – "
"So that I won't look like I just had sex?" I pressed, failing to control myself from giggling.
His eyes widened. "You… you use that language?" He actually let out a nervous chuckle.
I had to laugh at his question. "What in the world, Jon? I'm human, too!" I slapped his chest and stepped out his doorway.
He shook his head again, as if not believing that I'd just said the word. "A very special human, I must say." He patted my shoulder and smiled. "Thanks for tonight."
"Goodnight." I spun on my heel and made my way back to my room.
A/N: I honestly don't know what to write here at this point. But I do hope that you folks enjoy this chapter, even just a tiny little bit. And your reviews, follows, and favorites will delight me to the highest level. Thank you so much.
Let me know your insights on this one please. It means a lot! :)