36

"Hey, Dottie?"

Stop worrying on her lower lip, Dottie looked over at Alicia Fox who was in her newly mended clothes. "Hi."

"Hi," the woman smiled slightly. "Look, I…"

The crowd went nuts over something that happened in the ring. One look and it was Braun Strowman that had returned from being knocked out of the ring area. The match had started out between Drew and Finn but then Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush came in and interrupted the match. So, therefore, Baron Corbin came in, which lead Braun and Kurt Angle into the fray.

Anytime Fergal got ganged up on, it bothered her. She held her breath but this time, she saw Cathy and Maggie walking towards Alicia and herself. Now she was the one getting ganged up on.

"Oh, it's you. Shouldn't you be hiding somewhere or something?" Maggie asked.

"No, I have no work to do at the moment." Dottie looked over at the television to watch Braun get the upper hand over Drew.

"So where's that fat sister of yours?" Maggie

"You're not winning anyone's favor making fun of me or my sister." Dottie didn't even want to look at either Maggie or Cathy.

"What if I say you're the last one to know that Ambrose hasn't renewed…"

"Maggie!" Alicia yelled, making Dottie jump. "Oh God, what is your problem?"

"Friends need to stick with friends…" Cathy said for the first time since she had been there.

"I'm getting angry because you're here." Dottie crossed her arms. "Friends are people you can rely on. So you rely on Abernathy to tell details about me to the press. I don't like that. That is an invasion of privacy."

"You invaded my privacy with Fergal."

"I'm not the one that tried to get Cait fired." Dottie countered.

Hot, she was red hot it felt like. Her favorite color was red but it was used to describe something that was so wrong with the women near her. Thoughts buzzed through her head but she couldn't think of one and hold onto it. Like pages flipping by, or a stream of film passing through her brain, she just couldn't get a hold of that one thought because they kept feeding her more.

The crowd drew her attention back to the television screen. Finn Balor stood hand in hand with Braun Strowman and Kurt Angle in a victory over Bobby Lashley, Baron Corbin, and Drew McIntyre. Dottie smiled.

"So, since you like ruining a relationship, are you going to do that with Drew's marriage?" Cathy asked.

Dottie looked at her. "What?"

"I mean, hugging all up on your sister's cheating boyfriend, Renee's crackpot husband, now Drew," Maggie said with a cold laugh.

"They are my friends."

"Not from where we're standing," Maggie said. "From what we see, you just like men that are already taken and…"

"What's going on over here?" Vince McMahon's voice cut into the conversation.

"Sir, it's not Dottie's fault. Just pointing that out right now." Alicia Fox said. "She was just watching the show when they approached."

Mr. McMahon took off his headset. "You two," he motioned to Cathy and Maggie. "Ms. O'Connor, you too, come with me." He gave the headset to someone nearby.

"Sir," Fergal said as he came through the curtain. "Dottie? What's going on?"

The other men filed in, the area got small and Dottie's breath started to get harsher, coming and going in small puffs as she shook.

It was her fault, it was always going to be her fault no matter what someone said. Even if Fergal said otherwise, if someone else told her it wasn't her fault, it was her fault.

"Dottie?"

The thoughts and images, all of the sensations flooded through her. Her hot face, the tingling that wasn't good tinglings in her hands. She couldn't keep her breathing even.

"She's hyperventilating," Drew said.

"Oh brother, not this again," Maggie said in a tone that couldn't be named.

"Lovely, hey, hey," Fergal cupped her face in his hands. "Lovely, it's all right. Everything is going to be okay. Come on, let's get you back to the costume department."

Drew led the way, with Fergal's arm around her Dottie did feel a little better, but not by much.

It was her fault that she broke up Cathy, it was her fault that maybe Fergal wasn't getting the push because of their personal relationship. She probably looked stupid with a hand pressed up against her head as she tried to make sense of everything going on.

Cait and Colby came around a corner but Cait's happy face went sad in an instant.

"What…" she looked at Drew then Fergal obviously. "What happened?"

"Ms. O'Connor," Vince said from somewhere behind the group. "Come with us, please. We're going to the costume department. I would like you to join us."

"Yes, yes, of course." She fell in step next to Dottie.

They continued on the way. Dottie was well aware of what was going on, how it may have looked as Drew led the group through the hall to the nearby costume department.

"Sit, sit down, Dottie." Fergal helped her into a chair. "Come on, you have to breathe. Do your four breaths. Breathe in, breathe out. You know what Ms. Kaitlin always tells you…"

"She talks to my wife, who teaches autistic children," Drew told Vince McMahon.

Cait knelt on the other side of Dottie, mirroring what Fergal was doing. Dottie leaned into Fergal, smelling his manliness regardless if he had just gotten finished with a match.

1 breath in, two on breath out, 3 breath in, four on breath out. Even as she took those breaths, as she counted to her number, she knew who was in the room. Cathy and Maggie.

"So, why are you so chummy with her?" Maggie asked Drew. "You like her or something."

"He's my friend." Dottie coughed out. "He's just a friend."

"Shh, shh, Lovely." Fergal pressed a kiss into her temple.

"Vince," Mr. H came into the room. "She thinks she's done something wrong. It probably has something to do with this recent tabloid picture."

"See, just an act, Cathy. Trying to…" Maggie said but was cut off.

"Everyone out. I need to talk to Ms. O'Connor by myself." Vince McMahon said in a tone that was bad and angry.

She was in trouble. It was her fault, it was always going to be her fault.

"I'm sorry," she had no other words, she had no other way of saying anything. "I'm sorry."

"I'm staying," Fergal said. "Mr. McMahon, she needs me."

He sighed. "Okay. Paul, stay. Everyone else needs to get out of here. Please."

She watched the others leave, her sister, Drew, Colby...they all left. Fergal stayed, holding her hand as the door was closed in on the four of them. Four, that was a bearable number. She could deal with four people, including herself, in the room.

Mr. McMahon pulled a chair and sat in front of her. "What happened at the curtain, what did they say?"

Dottie took a deep breath and looked down at Fergal's hand clasping hers. "They said that I'm trying to break up relationships of my friends. I hug Colby, I hug Drew and I hug Jon, but only as friends, even if Jon is an asshole."

"Do you know what this is about?" He turned the phone in his hand towards her.

She saw a picture of her and Drew out on their friend date. The one they had as Fergal was being Finn Balor and at an interview. "We had a friend date. I didn't want to be bored, Fergal asked Drew to take me out and do something while Fergal was at an interview."

She was smiling at Drew, whose arm was around her shoulder. He, too, was smiling at something that they had said.

"Pearls are white, not Purple. I uh, we had been in the Pearl District. Drew laughed at it because only I would know that pearls aren't purple. See, the sign." She pointed to the picture.

Vince nodded. "I see. And you two aren't engaged?"

Dottie looked at her right hand. "It's a promise ring, not engagement."

"Why do you think this is happening, Ms. O'Connor?"

"I don't know. I don't know why this is all happening. I just want friends, I want a job. I want to be normal."

"You are normal," Fergal said.

"But I'm not. I don't like loud sounds, I don't like people crowding me. I can't be you. I can't be like my sister…"

Mr. H interrupted her. "You're getting better. At a house show, she came out and everything worked out fine. You didn't have a problem then." Mr. H said.

"We need to make a few changes around here. I know you don't mean anything by what you do, I can tell you're truthful." Mr. McMahon stood up. "You're not in any trouble but someone is. We have to address this and not interfere with the program around here. We can't break kayfabe."

It meant she wasn't going to be hanging around Drew because he was a bad guy.

"Drew is the anti-hero, like Venom or Deadpool," Dottie said out loud to herself, only really intending it to be her.

"What?"

"Drew, he is supposed to be a bad guy. But he's not in real life, not to me at least. Every bad guy has to have a flaw or a weakness. Maybe I'm just his. I don't know."

Vince looked at Mr. H funny but Dottie looked away when Vince finally excused himself. Out in the hall, Dottie could see everyone who backed her up, Drew, Colby, and Cait of course.

Fergal brought her attention back to him by pulling her into a slow, almost painful kiss.

After the show, Jon and Renee agreed to meet Colby, Cait, Fergal, and Dottie somewhere. Dottie had been quiet, not working because no one had anything to mend. She did know one thing though, Maggie and Cathy were sent away.

"Where did they go?" Fergal asked when Colby brought those two women up as he leaned around Dottie and got her into her seatbelt.

"My guess, they were fired but I do absolutely know that Vince had them leave the area." Colby glanced back at the backseat.

Fergal pulled Dottie against him, tucking her under his chin as she closed her eyes. She only had to smell to know he'd put on her favorite deodorant of his, the spicy one that came in a red container. Then Fergal took her hand and pressed it to his inner thigh, she flexed her fingers into his jeans and he sighed.

Fergal was a beautiful man. He did have nice legs. He had nice abs, which was something that she knew she could run her fingers over. She knew she was the only one that allowed it.

"It's not a Denny's but a Shari's is just as good," Colby said as they pulled into a parking lot.

Denny's had the best onion rings. Dottie didn't know if Shari's had the onion rings that could make her insides feel as warm as when Fergal held her hand. Dottie did see Jon and Renee's car there, though, and then when they got in Renee and Jon were waiting for them.

"Hey, I haven't had the chance to tell you that you did really good with the skit today., Jon said when he tugged on her ponytail.

She looked at him but didn't say anything, content to just having Fergal's arm wrapped around her waist.

"So what happened?" Renee asked.

"Maggie might just be worse than Cathy at this point, by what she did and said." Cait then filled Renee in on what was going on, what had happened and what was done. "But not by much."

"So that's why Drew isn't shadowing us. Keep the kayfabe. It's kind of funny, considering Braun and Joe are friends in real life." Dean said.

"Lovely, talk." Fergal shook her slightly. "Tell them. Tell them what Maggie said about you."

Dottie "I'm just trying to break people up. Colby is a cheater, Jon is a crackpot, Maggie said that I was trying to break up Drew's marriage. But I'm not. I'm not," she said the last part in barely a whisper.

As they stewed in what she had said a waitress came to take the group to a large booth in the back of the restaurant. It was one of those semi-circular booths that could fit a good number of people. Dottie sat at the end with Fergal between her and Cait on his other side. The restaurant wasn't that filled up, there were a few kids they passed but none seemed to know who the men were and Colby did ask for a booth in the back.

"Dottie," Cait said. "There are some things that you need to know right now."

Dottie looked up from her menu, still not selecting any food.

"We would have talked to you if you were more emotionally stable but this has to be said. First, I am a cheater." Colby said. "Long before you guys came around, I actually had a fiance who didn't know I was with. Neither of those relationships lasted, and my ex-fiance had publicly posted personal pictures that I didn't want on the Internet."

"I sometimes have trust issues with Colby over this, Dot," Cait said. "I know he cares about you and I think his mother respects us too much to let him screw over a chance like us."

She shook her head and looked away. But Fergal didn't let her, he took her chin and turned her face so she was looking back at their group of friends.

"In a way, you brought us together, Dottie. You brought me the father of my baby, a boyfriend that I care for."

She looked at Renee and Jon. "What about you? What haven't you told me?"

"I'm not renewing my contract with the company, Darlin' Dot."

Her elbows rattled the table as she pressed her hands to her face. Colby had been a cheater and Jon was leaving the company. Joe left because he was sick, now Jon was leaving…

"You're not to blame," Jon said.

"I know I'm not. But why am I always the last to know something?" Her voice grew tight as if someone was strangling her. Her worry and doubt and frustration was though. "Why can't people come to me and tell me something when it happens?"

"Because we don't always know how you would react," Renee said. "Sometimes something happens and you're so distraught, so it becomes less important than you getting better."

A sob escaped Dottie's throat, an attempt at getting air.

"What can I do to make this better? To make you come to me if there is a change? What? Be normal? How can I be normal if I don't know what it is?"

"Stop it, Dottie," Fergal said in a tone that he'd use on her. "Nothing is normal, not with us anyway. None of us are some sort of beige colored bland thing. We have our own colors, our own differences."

She grabbed her hair, lowering her gaze to the table.

"Stop that." Fergal pried her fingers apart. "The only thing I want you grabbing is me. You hear that, Dottie? I want you grabbing me, coming to me when you are having problems. Not that. Don't do that."

"What if you're not there?" She asked as a tear fell down her nose.

"Then find someone who you can trust. Colby will be there."

"He's a..." Fergal's hand clamped down on her mouth.

His mouth came up to her ear. "When we're done here, I'm going to make you forget that today ever happened. I'm going to give you so much stimulation you're not going to speak for a long time. You're going to lay in my arms while I play with your breasts. After a little while, we'll go back to it. We'll do it again and again until you realize something, Dottie, my Lovely."

She waited on bated breath for him to continue.

He did. "I love you and will make your life the best that it can for you. Whatever happens, we'll get through this together. I promise."

Fergal always kept his promises.

I am going to wait until I figure out what happens at Elimination Chamber and this coming Monday Night Raw to update. So I hope you liked this update and once I figure out what to do next, I'll be back with you.