"You look so smug."

"I have reason to be," AJ told him, strutting down the hallway with her title hanging prominently off her shoulder. "I beat thirteen other women last night, and nobody thought I could do it, well, nobody that mattered. And I pulled it off, if anything, I should go shove this right under their noses."

"You would be asking for a lot of trouble," he told her with a chuckle.

"Which is why I'm probably not going to do it," AJ said, "I don't need to be beat up any more than I already am."

"I knew it!" Dolph said, making her jump a little. She turned to him, and he had the decency to look sheepish about his outburst. "Sorry, but I knew that you weren't 100 percent. I could tell that something's been bugging you. What is it, your back, your front?" He smirked at that.

"I'm fine," she told him. "I was just pummeled last night, that's all, but I'm fine."

"Yeah, but you've had some nagging injuries, so I want to make sure that you're okay because I kind of care about your well-being, silly of me, huh?" he said, rubbing her back. "You're okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine," she told him, giving him a smile, like that would put his mind at ease. "I'm here, aren't I? Nobody has told me I can't be here, and here I am."

"Like you'd miss being her for the world," he scoffed. "Even if you had been injured and had to go to the hospital or something, you would have had them wheel you out there so you could brag about being the best diva ever."

"I would at least get put into a wheelchair, I wouldn't make them push an entire bed out there. I hope Vickie comes out when I'm out there to speak," AJ said. "It was nice of Stephanie to give me the time. I'm really looking forward to it."

"It's just too bad there's no room for me on the show, but I guess I get to be on Superstars, yay," he deadpanned because he wasn't happy about that, not in the slightest, but there was nowhere for him to be on the show. The aftermath of last night was the focus of the show, and unfortunately, he didn't win last night or even come close to winning, so in essence, he was irrelevant.

He'd felt irrelevant for a while now, so this was nothing new to him. He almost felt like he was just that stupid rookie he'd been years ago, trying to find a place on a show, introducing himself around, trying to get someone to notice him. The only one that did was Maria, of all people, and he'd started dating her because she noticed him and didn't think he was something stupid. He wasn't stupid, he knew everyone thought he was a dumbass for introducing himself all the time, but how else was he going to make sure everyone knew who he was?

But Maria was the only one who cared, who noticed, and now it felt like the same thing, except he had a few more people who noticed him. He just felt obscure. He knew he could have it worse, Zack and Miz could barely get any time either, but at least Miz had the excuse of going off to film for the Marine 4. Even if his wrestling career stalled, at least he seemed to be a decent actor if WWE kept using him. Damien was pretty bad off too, so it could always be worse. He tried to remind himself of that from time to time.

"It's just one week," AJ reassured him, and he had to wonder if she ever got tired of that. What if she did get tired of it? What if she got tired of aligning herself with such a loser? She was a winner, she overcame everything that was thrown at her. How much longer could she stand being with a loser like him? Okay, now he was just getting down on himself, and that wasn't him. He didn't want this to get in his head because that's when he started to lose his edge, and if nothing else, he could still steal the show.

"Yeah," he answered simply as they came upon their dressing room. She pushed the door open and walked inside. "I'm sure you'll be on the show next week, and the week after that, and the week after that."

"Can you believe it was a year ago that I was cashing in," he said. Neither one had made mention of it, but it hung there between them, hiding behind their words and gestures. AJ set her things down slowly and turned to him, a wistful smile on her face.

"How could I ever forget that, it was one of the best moments of my career," she told him. "You were spectacular that night. You weren't going to quit until you had that title. You had so much fire under you. When you walked down the ramp, I could just feel it. I was so proud of you."

"Things were so different then," Dolph said as AJ wrapped her slim arms around his waist. She leaned her chin on his chest, looking up at him as he spoke. "I felt like I was on the precipice of something huge, you know, like I'd finally arrived, like everyone was finally going to pay attention to me."

"They did, you were great, you were a great champion."

He chuckled mirthlessly, "Babe, I love you, but half of my reign was spent sitting at home nursing a concussion and trying to remember two lost days."

She frowned, not wanting to relive those days in her mind. Even though it was almost a year since it happened, it was still raw in her gut. While the nightmares were infrequent and rare now, her waking mind could conjure up the images whenever it wanted, and it did not want to right now.

"Still, you were great."

"You say that because you love me, but I never had time to even see if I could be a good champion. I never had time enough to do anything before it was taken away. That night though, that night will always be something I treasure, especially because you were there."

"You always sweet talk me, is that how you talk to all your girlfriends?" AJ asked coyly.

"Yes, that's why I have so many," he told her, kissing the top of her head. "In fact, while you're out there, I'll be going to visit one of my other ones. I didn't want to tell you, but since you already seem to know about them, I figure this one time it wouldn't hurt."

"Who is she? I'll kick her ass, I'm good at it," AJ said, giving the meanest face she could muster. She gave Dolph the stink-eye, but she couldn't keep it up and started laughing. "If it's one of the other divas, I know I could kick her ass."

"I do think Emma is kind of cute."

AJ's eyes widened, "I will kill her. I will challenge her to a match and twist her into a pretzel before I make her submit."

"You had me at submit," he told her, and she smacked him on the stomach. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it was just too easy. She is kind of cute though."

AJ frowned, "You're not supposed to be looking at other women, you're only supposed to be looking at me, I thought that was what we agreed upon when I drew up that contract for you to sign, oh wait, no, that was Nikki and John."

"Meow," Dolph laughed, "as if it wasn't enough that you beat her last night, beat all of them last night, now you have to bring up her and John. Are they on the outs though? I can never tell with them."

"I don't know, I don't care, seemed like she was more than willing to turn on her sister last night though, that's something to watch out for. If they break up, they might get angry and try to take my title again. You know, I can officially say that I've beaten them all now. Like, all of them, none of them are better than me. Maybe I should move onto the guys. I think I can take El Torito, Hornswoggle, and Rey Mysterio."

"Didn't you have a thing with Hornswoggle, should that concern me?" Dolph asked.

"He had a crush on me, if anything, that means you should be able to relate to him," AJ told him. Dolph made a face then shook his head. "Oh, that's right, that's right, you've actually gotten to have sex with me."

"I know, it's great, last night was especially good. I like it when you're aggressive, brings out the sexy in you," he winked at her, leaning down to kiss her. She smiled against his lips. "So now that you are officially the top, where the hell can you go from here…I mean besides starting to go after the guys."

"I want to go after you," she told him, pulling at the hem of his shirt. "Can I do that? What would I have to do to get a match with you?"

Dolph laughed because they'd joked a couple times in interviews about having a match against each other, and how that would draw. He almost wished they could go against each other. He didn't see why it would hurt. The divas worked just as hard as the men around here. He should know, he was dating one of them, and he and AJ frequented the gym all the time, and he knew how hard she worked, and when they were on the road, he saw how hard the other divas worked.

If he had a match against AJ, he knew she could take it. They had mock matches all the time when they worked out or were training. Sometimes, they'd come out to the ring before a show and go at each other (not like that), just to keep on their toes. AJ could get at him, and she was fearless, she had to be because she was at a height disadvantage most of the time. If he fought her, it would be a fight, but it was not allowed anymore, and that was a shame.

"You'd have to put the diva's title on the line, that's the only thing I would allow, I want to hold a title, I don't care if it's yours."

"Well, as long as it stays in the family," she said. "I'd still get to clutch it every now and then."

"Yeah, when I'm not clutching it and using it."

"How did you manage to make that sound dirty?"

"I'm good at what I do, obviously."

"Okay, well, I better go find Tamina, and see if we're still on the same page. She sort of had my back last night, but I think that's because everyone saw her as the enemy too, and I want to make sure that she isn't going to be the one to turn on me," AJ leaned up on her tiptoes to kiss him. "You'll be okay by yourself or…"

"I'll be fine," Dolph told her, smiling. She smiled back and nearly skipped out of the room, title still with her because she was far from done showing off. Dolph decided to wander around before his match. First, he got into his ring gear so he'd be ready later. Superstars filmed first so he had to be ready before everyone else. He found himself just walking around, not really talking to anyone and keeping mostly to himself.

"Hey, man."

Dolph looked up and saw Miz hanging out with what looked like a script in hand. "Hey, I thought you'd already left for your movie."

"Nah, not yet, have the script here, learning my lines. I can't believe I'm filming with Summer. I don't know how Maryse is going to feel about that. I think she thinks I have enough blonds in my life. I mean, I have you to be a blond diva in my life."

"Dude, you are the worst at jokes," Dolph cringed. Miz was nice enough, but only in small doses. He didn't know how Maryse actually lived with the guy let alone love him. "So is Summer your love interest or something?'

"Ahh, you'll have to buy the DVD to see it."

"Wow, your marketing skills are great. But don't worry, AJ and I will buy it, it'll help when we need a really good laugh after a bad day."

"Does your girlfriend have those anymore?" Miz wondered. "She kind of made all the other divas her bitch last night."

Dolph couldn't help but puff up proudly over that, "Yeah, I know, don't be jealous, I'm sure Maryse is…good at speaking French, but she's not good at keeping records for holding the title, oops, sorry, gotta go."

"You're a jerk!" Miz called after his good-naturedly.

"I wouldn't have it any other way!" Dolph made a peace sign over his head before he walked down the hallway. He found a spot to warm-up a little before his match, but it was no use. He was against Ryback, and well, he lost, and that was that. He went backstage, but AJ was still nowhere to be found, but that wasn't unusual since this was Superstars, and people were milling about waiting for Raw to start.

He came across Daniel, who was surely going to get the beginning of Raw. Dolph, wanting to show how mature he was (or at least put on a façade of maturity) went up to Daniel and stopped, "Hey, man, I just wanted to say congratulations on the title win, you deserved it."

"Wow, um, thanks," Daniel said, shaking Dolph's extended hand. "That's…thanks."

"Yeah, I mean, I'm not burying the hatchet or anything here, I don't totally buy your humble crap or even really believe in your stupid yes movement, but I recognize hard work, and you did work hard over the last year to get where you are, and if nothing else, I respect that. I don't respect how you treated AJ, but then, she's better off."

"I agree to that," Daniel nodded. "I was pretty angry when I was with her, not at her, but I took it out on her, and I shouldn't have done that."

"Yeah, but anyways, it's not about the past, it's about last night and tonight, and just…congratulations."

"Thank you."

Dolph nodded once and walked away without another word. He felt good about that, it was his good deed for the day. Meanwhile, AJ was just now finding Tamina. She'd arrived late it seemed, and was hard to track down. She finally found her in catering, and AJ slid into the seat across from her.

"Hey, I know that we're like…I don't know, on weird terms, but we're still kind of like a team, right?"

"Why wouldn't we be?" Tamina asked. "It wasn't like you turned on me last night, right?'

"No, no, I didn't, and just…okay," AJ said, not wanting to draw this out. "I was looking for you, but someone said you were late."

"Yeah, I had a nagging thing so I was actually with the trainer, I wasn't late."

"Are you okay?" AJ asked, genuinely worried for her.

"Yeah, just a strain in my calf, but I should be okay in a couple days, but we don't have a match or anything tonight, so it should be healed up by tomorrow, it's really nothing, I just didn't want to worry over it."

"Well, I'm glad that you're okay then," AJ said, "and thanks for kind of having my back last night, I really appreciate it."

"That's what I'm here for," Tamina told her with a single nod.

"Yeah, and I'm glad for it."

The rest of the night seemed to go smoothly, but maybe it was too smooth. Dolph walked AJ out to the gorilla for her promo, and she walked confidently to the ring, Tamina trailing behind her. She got into the ring and grinned because she was still the champion. Nobody thought she could do it, nobody thought that she was going to retain, but here they were. She told the divas to prove her wrong, but none of them could, and now she was champion for 295 days until forever. Nobody was going to beat her because she was the best diva in the entire world.

This started a Punk chant, and she grimaced. She didn't want to evoke that because Punk was sitting on his ass at home while everyone here was hard at work. AJ was afraid to ask Stephanie what was going on with him, and she wasn't about to call him, especially because she didn't agree with what he did, putting everyone in a lurch like that. Plus, Dolph hated his guts, and she always took what he thought into account.

She was going to continue self-congratulating herself when music hit, slightly familiar, but AJ couldn't place it until Paige from NXT walked out and down to the ring. AJ scoffed. What was she doing here? Paige climbed into the ring, and claimed that she was just here to congratulate AJ, but AJ didn't buy it. This little girl was here because she thought she could be the one to beat her. That was a laugh. She may be the NXT women's champion, but she wasn't in AJ's league.

So she challenged her to a match. Poor, little Paige said she wasn't ready for a match, but oops, too bad, so sad. AJ called for a referee, who called the bell, and AJ immediately attacked her. How dare she take up some of AJ's precious time. She was the diva's champion and shouldn't be interrupted. AJ pulled her into the Black Widow, and was sure that Paige would tap, except…she didn't. That was fine, she would just…Paige hit her with the Paige Turner, and before AJ could even think to kick out, it was over, and she'd…lost.

She heard the crowd going wild, and she finally got to her knees and started screaming in frustration. She pounded the mat, and Tamina tried to get to her, but AJ was so incensed. She didn't know what to think or do, or just…she was losing it. She was losing it and her brain felt like mush. She looked up and saw Paige standing on the ramp and crying, and no, no, NO!

AJ stormed out of the ring and backstage. She could see all the other divas gathering around Paige, congratulating her and hugging her, and she wanted to punch them all. Paige would soon learn that everyone wanted that title, and those were not her friends, but her enemies. She wanted to scream that they would turn on her too, everyone turned on you when you were champion.

"Oh, AJ," Vickie's shrill voice pierced through the emotions in the area.

AJ turned to her, fire in her eyes, "Shut up!" Everyone turned, and the other divas started laughing, and she couldn't take it. "Shut up!"

She ran off, only briefly hearing Dolph's voice, but she didn't care. She ran to her locker room, throwing open the door. She thought it would slam behind her, but Dolph was there. She started grabbing her things, throwing them into her bag haphazardly. Dolph, sensing that she didn't want to talk, just started packing his own things.

"I just want to go," AJ said quietly when she was finished. There were already tears in her eyes, and she allowed a few to escape. "I want to go home."

She immediately felt herself pulled into Dolph's arms and he was hugging her tightly, whispering words she could not hear, maybe they weren't even words. He just held her, but her arms were still limp by her sides, and he recognized that she was broken, and he wished he could fix it, but he knew that the pain of loss was sharp, and would stay sharp for a while. So he grabbed her things, and his too, and the left without saying another word.

To say that AJ was depressed was an understatement. She seemed lost without the title, languishing around the house, barely eating, taking showers only when necessary, wearing her baggiest, oldest clothing. Briley and Dolph tried to cheer her up, but nothing worked. They got her favorite take out and her favorite movies, but she'd fallen asleep halfway through the first movie. They played her favorite video games, but she wasn't in the mood. They bought every comic book she liked, but nothing.

"AJ, what's up?" Stephanie answered her phone. It was Saturday, and she wasn't expecting AJ to call.

"Stephanie, can I have time off?" AJ asked bluntly. "I just…I can't face them. I can't face anyone. I'm banged up too, if that's like…something, I don't know, I just…I can't go there, please don't make me go there."

"AJ—"

"They were laughing at me, they'll continue to laugh at me, they all will," AJ's voice sounded sad and weak, and Stephanie felt bad for her. She didn't know what AJ was going through, but it was clear in her voice that AJ was being serious.

"I don't think they'll laugh at you," Stephanie said gently, treating her like one of her children.

"They will though. They all wanted this, they all wanted to see me fail, and Vickie, I can't face Vickie, Stephanie! She's just going to rub my nose in it, and just…she will."

"Well, you do still have Dolph, so it's not like you don't have that over her," Stephanie observed correctly. Still, AJ just couldn't do it. "But if you think you need some time off, I can give that to you, especially if you have some nagging injuries, which you have, right?"

AJ realized that even if she didn't have any injuries, Stephanie was doing her a favor. She would tell people that she was injured so that nobody thought she was chickening out. She was a good friend, and she was so fortunate to have someone like that looking out for her. "Yes, I do, my elbow, remember?"

"Yes, I remember you needing to wear that gigantic elbow pad. I would suggest you go get that checked out. I'm being serious with that though, if it is bothering you, we can contact the Phoenix Suns doctors to check you out like they did with Dolph and his concussion."

"Thank you, Stephanie."

"Take care of yourself, AJ. And be proud. 295 days as champion is nothing to be ashamed of, it's something that is amazing, and will be hard to beat."

"Yeah, thanks again, Steph, bye."

"Bye, AJ."

AJ tried to look at the positive, but it was just too difficult. She just wanted to stay here and mope and not do anything. What was she if she wasn't the champion? Just some other random diva that probably wouldn't get a match again because she didn't exploit herself on Total Divas? Before she was the champion, she had Dolph, she had her little unit, she had her place, before that, there was John, and Punk, and Kane, and Daniel, so there was always things to do, but now? Just wait for a match to happen? She couldn't do it, she didn't want to face being average.

"Hey, I'm going to start packing for tomorrow," Dolph said, walking into the bedroom. She was curled up in bed, a spot she hadn't moved from when he came to check on her three hours ago, "have you printed your security document yet? I printed mine earlier."

"I'm not going to Raw," AJ told him, her voice weirdly distant, which it has been for days now.

"What do you mean? We have to go, it's what we do," Dolph was confused.

"I said I'm not going. I already called Stephanie, she gave me time off," AJ explained. "I'm not going. I'll stay here, I just…I don't want to go."

"AJ, babe, I'm sorry, but you're being stupid," he told her.

"Excuse me?" she sat up, looking up at him with confusion and a little bit of anger mixed in there too. It was the first real emotion she'd shown in days, and maybe he shouldn't have wanted to see it, but he did want to see it.

"I think you're being stupid," he told her again. "Nobody, and I mean nobody has ever held onto a title forever. It's just not possible, and it sucks, but it happens. After I lost to Del Rio, I had to keep going, keep fighting."

"You weren't laughed at, you didn't have Vickie right there to tell you what a screw up you are! You don't have every single diva wanting to get in your face and taunt you!" AJ told him. "I do, and I can't face that, don't you get it!"

"I get that you're giving up," Dolph told her, and he was angry. This wasn't AJ, and he didn't want it to be. She didn't run and hide when things got tough. She fought back, she fought for what she wanted. "This entire week, Briley and I have bent over backwards to make you smile, to even be happy for a second, but you've been totally resistant."

"I'm upset, you moron!"

"I get that!" Dolph told her, stepping forward and nearly looming over her, "I was upset too, for you, for me when I lost, but I didn't just turn tail and run. That's not you!"

"Maybe it is me!" AJ said, "Maybe I've been putting up a front, but I don't know, I just don't want to go, okay, I don't want to deal with it! You can't make me go, and if I don't want to, and Stephanie says I don't have to, I'm not going!"

"You never struck me as a coward," he told her, and he was being harsh with her now, but he hated seeing her so defeated. If he could light a spark under her, the title would be hers in no time. "You have a rematch clause."

"I know that! You don't think I know that! But all this week, it's been Paige this, Paige that. Almost every diva congratulated her, they all loved her, and what do I have! I have nothing! I have nothing anymore, and I'm nothing!"

"Are you kidding me?" Dolph scoffed. "You are AJ Lee. You have the longest diva's title reign ever, even combined, you are a kickass wrestler with a killer submission move. You have men and women alike who wear your merchandise proudly. You have fans all over the world, little girls who look up to you, but yeah, you're nobody, okay."

"I'm still not going," she ignored what he said because she didn't want logical right now. She wanted him to tell her that it was okay. "I don't want to see anyone right now. I don't want to see Vickie, I don't want to hear her."

"Okay, fine, whatevs, do whatever you want."

"I will do whatever I want."

"I don't even know you right now. You're acting like a petulant child, and I didn't sign up to be your babysitter."

"I don't need a babysitter!" AJ got up and stormed out of the room, stomping down the hallway and downstairs. He could hear the door to their small gym downstairs close with a resounding thud, and a few seconds later, he heard a door down the hallway open, and his brother was in his doorway just after that.

"What's going on? I heard yelling then stomping then slamming of doors."

"She's not going to Raw Monday, she's taking off, she's scared, she doesn't want everyone to laugh at her."

"That's not like her."

"I know, not the her that's been around the better part of a year, it's the AJ that existed before. Sometimes I forget the scars are still there," Dolph ran a hand through his hair. "Can you just keep an eye on her while I'm away?"

"Yeah, of course, hey, isn't this the weekend of the international tour?"

"Shit," he muttered, completely forgetting they have a tour to Saudi Arabia this weekend. "Of fucking course we do."

"Look, you know we'll manage."

"She's pissed at me."

"Dude, we're all pissed at you sometimes," Briley tried to reason. "Don't worry about her, really, I'll take care of her."

"You sound like you're going to sleep with her."

"Well, if she needs it, I will give it to her, but I'll dye my hair blond or get a wig, she'll never know the difference, except maybe she'll be more satisfied."

"Jerk."

Dolph went about packing his things, but AJ didn't come upstairs. She didn't come upstairs after he was done. She didn't come upstairs when he got ready for bed, and only after he was in bed did he hear the door open downstairs. He expected her to come upstairs to him, but he heard her walk to their spare bedroom and open the door, closing it shut. He sighed. She was definitely pissed with him.

The next morning, he had his plane to catch, so he snuck into her room to say goodbye, but she was sleeping and he didn't want to disturb her. So he just leaned over and kissed her cheek, telling her he loved her even if she couldn't hear it. He hated that she was mad at him, but he'd have to put that on hold for now because he had work. He said goodbye to his brother, who was up as usual then left.

AJ woke up about an hour later, and she went downstairs, only to find that Dolph already left. Not being awake earlier, she thought he hadn't said goodbye to her, and she was upset over that. Briley tried to assure her that he probably did say goodbye, but she was too asleep to notice. She wasn't jumping on that theory though. She'd been silly, stupid really, but he didn't get it. He just…maybe she was letting everything from 2012 creep into her mind again. Old habits died hard.

"I'll fix it when he comes home Wednesday," AJ said over her cup of coffee.

"Can't, he has the Saudi Arabia tour," Briley reminded her. "Why is it I know your schedules better than you do…oh my God, am I your butler?"

"Yeah, an our dog-sitter, and our cook sometimes," she said, smiling for the first time in what felt like days. "I just…couldn't face it."

"Hey, I get it," Briley said, "after I was fired, I didn't even want to see anyone I felt so embarrassed because I'd never been fired before, and being Dolph's brother, it was embarrassing. I get it."

"And Vickie…"

"Is a bitch who should keep her mouth shut," Briley finished. "Don't worry, Dolph is just a different kind of guy. When people doubt him or mock him, it makes him go harder, but we're not all like that."

"Thanks, Briley," AJ said, coming over and hugging him. "You're the best."

"Okay, okay, add therapist to the list too."

Dolph tried not to be distracted because he was getting a great opportunity to become the number one contender for E's title. There was an IC tournament, and he was against Barrett. He could beat Barrett, he knew that, but he had to focus on his match and not at how unsympathetic he'd been to AJ. He thought about calling her, but he really wanted to talk to her in person. That was the best way. So he had to put it out of his mind, but he missed her, and he hated being in a weird, pseudo fight with her.

He was almost out of the match when the damn crowd started chanting for Punk. That lit the fire under him. He was going to show them that he was better than Punk, and he wasn't going to let them chant for that asshole during his match. Punk was the scum of the earth as far as he was concerned, and if the man never showed his face around her again, it would be too soon. That fire allowed him to kick out of the Winds of Change. But then he hit the Bullhammer, and he was done. It was a good match, but he'd still lost. Maybe he was just numbed to the thought of losing, which made him so angry at AJ for being so upset. He was just used to rolling over and taking a loss, but she'd been so good for so long.

God, he was a jackass, and he needed to fix this, but he wouldn't see her until next…Monday? Would she come back next Monday? He didn't even know how long she was going to be gone? They lived together so it wasn't like he wouldn't see her, but he didn't like not knowing about part of her life. That wasn't how they worked. They told each other almost everything, no secrets, just honesty. That was something he loved. He could actually tell AJ everything, and she never judged. Hell, she even knew what kind of porn he liked, that's how honest they were with each other.

He needed to get home and fix this.