Someone in the World

Summary:All she has is a dead father and a junkie mother. Harlan hits the road and is thrust into a risky situation. Against the odds, she finds what she thought she would never have again: hopes and dreams. A story of discovering that family doesn't need to be connected by blood. (Story is rated T but later, individual chapters will be M with the introduction of a romantic angle)

Warnings: Strong language and violence. Also: scenes of a sexual nature. (A rating of M is posted at the beginning of a chapter)

Disclaimer: This is all fiction! It all came from my crummy brain. Any songs, cars, movies, TV shows, celebrities, known wrestlers, or even brands mentioned all belong to their respective owners. The only people I "own" are the obviously fictional ones, such as Harlan Grace Matheson, her family, Ray and any other fake characters that pop into this. As wrestling fans, I trust we all know who I made up and who is real...That reminds me, if anyone happens to have that exact name combination (Harlan Grace Matheson), sorry...It's pure coincidence and chance. I spent several days coming up with that name. Please don't take it away from me.


As she stepped behind the curtain and made her way backstage, Harlan was surprised to find a group of people waiting for her. Upon seeing her, they cheered and rushed forward to jostle her, hugging her and patting her back and ruffling her hair.

"What did I tell you? You nailed it" Phil exclaimed with a giant smile on his face and his olive eyes twinkling with exhilaration.

"You looked great out there, gorgeous. You were born for it" Dolph said, winking at her.

The other superstars congratulated her, but the words were lost on Harlan as she realized Dean wasn't there and neither were the other two Shield members. Catching her wandering eyes, Phil guessed who she was looking for. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, he signaled for everyone to give her space as he maneuvered her out of the small crowd and into the hallway leading to the locker rooms.

"How did it feel?" he asked her, hoping to distract her.

"Breathtaking and electrifying all at the same time…" Harlan said. Momentarily, she forgot about Dean and her troubles, and her voice took on a blissful tone as she relived the moments out in front of the crowd. To say she was on cloud nine was an understatement. She couldn't believe the crowd had booed her because of her character, and not because they had wanted to get rid of her. She had made them feel something, react in a certain way. She had done that.

"It's surreal, isn't it?" Phil said, echoing her thoughts.

"Absolutely… There are no words for this" Harlan said, agreeing with the inked man.

"I'm proud of you, kiddo. You belong out there, I hope you know that" Phil said as he gently squeezed her shoulders.

Harlan swallowed the lump in her throat and looked up at him. She felt like she wanted to cry, or never stop smiling.

Reaching The Shield's locker room, Phil dropped his arm from around her shoulders.

"I don't want to make you nervous or anything, but this could be your big break. Steph, Paul or even Vince should be calling you sometime soon to let you know what's next" Phil explained.

"Sooo…That's a call I won't want to miss" Harlan said nervously, shoving her hands into the pockets of her jean cutoff shorts.

"Sleep with your phone right beside you, and set it on Loud" Phil joked.

As Harlan laughed, they heard the light sound of footsteps getting closer and closer. Harlan and Phil stood quietly and looked in the direction the echoing steps were coming from; butterflies emerged in Harlan's stomach as she wondered whether or not it would be Dean.

"Oh" she exhaled with a hint of relief.

"What are you doing here?" Phil said, glaring at Randy. Phil's distrust was evident on his face as he moved ever so slightly to stand between Randy and Harlan.

"Believe it or not, I'm not here to cause any trouble" Randy said while holding his hands up, palms out.

"Right, because that's tota—" Phil began, but Harlan cut him off.

"Phil, let it go. He's the one who brought me to the arena" Harlan said as she squeezed one eye shut in a grimace full of awkwardness and stepped out from behind Phil's protective stance.

Phil's eyebrows shot upwards as he placed his hands on his hips. He stood there in silence for a moment before shrugging and smirking.

"Who am I to judge you on your choice of chauffeurs?" Phil remarked with sarcasm in his voice.

Randy rolled his eyes, but he bit his tongue as he caught the warning glance Harlan shot him.

"Is it okay if I catch up with you later? I don't mean to brush you off…" Harlan said uncomfortably, facing Phil with worry in her gray eyes.

Phil sighed and shrugged yet again. Toying with his lip ring, he crossed his arms across his chest.

"No big deal. Just take care of yourself. Okay?" he said. Harlan could see that he was annoyed, but she knew she had to set things straight with Dean before anyone else could know. It was bad enough Randy of all people knew what was going on with her; she didn't need to insult Dean even more by making him the last to know.

Nodding, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the tense inked man. She heard as he sighed in frustration. Suddenly, he uncrossed his arms and returned the embrace.

"You really are going to give me gray hairs, kid" Phil whispered as they broke apart.

"Pretty sure I've spotted a few already" Harlan joked, sticking her tongue out at him.

Punk shook his head, a grin on his face, as he walked away. Turning to Randy, Harlan looked at him expectantly.

"Your boyfriend isn't going to be in there" Randy teased, gesturing to the locker room behind her.

"How do you know?" she asked him with a frown on her face. Curious as to where Dean could be, she chose to ignore Randy's tone.

"Unless he knows how to be in two places at the same time, I'm pretty sure I spotted him and his pals down at the fan signings. I guess they were asked to do some VIP meet and greets" Randy explained nonchalantly.

"Ugh, I just want to get this over with" Harlan groaned. Turning back towards the locker room, she gestured for Randy to follow her. Entering the locker room, he sat on the wooden bench and watched as she took out a towel and a shower caddy.

"Need help?" Randy asked, knowing full well she would blow him off.

"One day he'll stop. I just know it" she said to herself as though he wasn't sitting less than five feet away from her.

"Stay right there and don't spy on me" she warned him as she walked off towards the showers.

She managed to shower and get back into her hoodie and jeans without any incident. While she was packing up her stuff, she started to come down from the high she'd been on since her match. Her thoughts shifted and brought her back to the phone call from Canada.

If only they were alive to see me out there…

Recently, guilt had become all too familiar to her. If it wasn't guilt over her parents, it was guilt over Dean. Angrily, she chucked the last few items into her suitcase. Zipping it up, she kicked her suitcase and watched as it tipped over and fell against the lockers.

"What's happening?" Randy asked her, his icy blue eyes watching her carefully.

"Nothing" she snapped, automatically trying to clam up.

"Don't give me that shit, beautiful. You know it's not going to fly with me" he said calmly.

In that moment, she absolutely hated the fact she trusted Randy. She hated that he wasn't always a total asshole and she especially hated the fact he had been so damn good to her recently.

"Can you just go back to forcing yourself on me and picking fights in parking lots? I think I preferred it that way" she spat out sarcastically.

"Is that your way of seducing me? Couldn't you just do what every other girl does, you know, flash some ass and titties?" his said smoothly without skipping a beat.

The word "titties" hung in the air for a moment before both of them cracked up laughing. After the moment passed, Harlan growled in frustration.

"Will you please tell me what the fuck is going on?" Randy asked her yet again.

"Long story short, I forgot about the house back in Canada and now I have to decide what to keep and what to get rid of, and what to do with the house" she blurted out in one breath. Reaching over, she flipped the suitcase over so it was laying flat against the locker room floor. Harlan sat down on top of it and looked down at the floor while holding her head in her hands, her fingertips digging into her temples.

"I know it's not the same thing, but I did go through a divorce, remember? Weird how something so personal and emotional can be reduced to words and letters on sheets of paper, right?" he asked her.

"… I hadn't even thought about that house. That's fucked up, isn't it? How do you forget the house you grew up in?" Harlan said bitterly.

Randy got up from the wooden bench and sat down, Indian style, on the floor in front of Harlan. Reaching out, he grabbed her wrists and forced her hands down from her head. She looked at him questioningly, but allowed him to hold her hands.

"You know the rule: don't get stuck in your head and don't listen to the doubt and self-loathing. It's one thing to use those things as fuel, letting the anger push you in workouts and in the ring, but it's another thing to believe what the voices say" he said gently. She felt like his steely blue eyes could see right through her, and she felt a lump form in her throat.

"I just… I can't believe I forgot and now it's all going to be gone… Someone else is going to live in that place, new faces and new experiences…" Harlan choked out. She knew she couldn't keep the house even if she wanted to fly between Canada and USA, she wouldn't feel comfortable. Too much had happened for her in that place, but that didn't make giving it up any easier for her.

"With all the crap you've gone through, it's amazing you still remember how to put on panties" Randy said, still holding her hands. Harlan stifled a laugh and resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Of course Randy would use panties as an example.

The smile faded from her face as the sound of the door opening hit her ears. Both Randy and Harlan tensed as three different voices floated into the room.

"What the fuck is this?" Dean growled as he walked into the room and saw Harlan sitting on her suitcase, Randy holding her hands.

"Calm down, Ambrose. It's not what you think" Randy said gruffly, turning his head towards the three Shield members behind him. He felt Harlan pull away, but instead of letting her go he tightened his grip on her hands.

"Why don't you get off your ass, let go of her hands, and come clarify things for me, huh?" Dean snapped. He couldn't help the anger which was quickly threatening to boil over; walking in and seeing them in what appeared to be a tender moment of sorts, in his locker room no less, had brought back the assumptions Summer Rae had made not long ago. He knew it wasn't like that, but it pissed him off anyway.

Randy sighed and let go of Harlan's hands. Slowly and deliberately, he rose from the floor and turned to face the three men.

"I would love to stay and clue you in, truly I would, but Harlan knows it needs to come from her" Randy said. The words hit Dean and rather than appreciate the other man's sincerity, they only pissed him off even more. There was something personal and intimate in The Viper's words.

"I don't know what's going on, but you need to get the hell out of my locker room" Dean warned him, his face clouding over with barely restrained anger.

Nodding at Dean, Randy then turned to face Harlan. Looking down at her, he watched her to make sure she was doing alright. Other than looking extremely nervous and anxious, she seemed fine.

"You know how to reach me. Good luck, beautiful" Randy said before turning to leave the locker room; as he walked past the three Shield members, he winked at Dean.

"Whoa, let it go, man. Just let it go" Seth cautioned Dean, jumping forward to hold him back.

Roman sighed with relief as The Viper finally left, but he soon realized it was only just the beginning. Dean was almost shaking with anger and one look at Harlan revealed exactly how anxious she was. He walked forward and lowered himself down to the floor on one knee in front of her. Reaching forward he patted her shoulder comfortingly.

"Do you want us to stay?" he whispered to her.

"No, thank you. I need to do this the right way" she replied hoarsely. Quickly, she cleared her throat and stood up.

"Dean, we need to have that talk now" Harlan said, doing her best to sound confident.

"Damn right, we do" Dean snapped, earning him a glare from Seth.

"Cut that shit out, man. Look, whatever is going on, she's here with you, and although she looks scared as fuck, she wants to set it straight. Don't make it harder than it has to be" Seth said, berating Dean.

"Seth and I will get out of your hair. We'll be waiting in the car" Roman said. They could always shower at the hotel; it really wasn't a big deal. Quickly undoing their Shield vests, both Seth and Roman threw on their regular shirts on top of the black lyrca sportswear tanks they wore under the vests. Leaving their black Shield cargo pants and boots on, they grabbed their bags. Shooting Harlan supportive glances, they made their exit.

Silence stretched as Dean leaned back against the lockers and stared at Harlan. She stared back at him, eyes wide with worry. He didn't think it was possible, but she seemed to grow paler. Not wishing to prolong the particularly awkward moment, she broke her silence. It clearly wasn't easy for her to talk about, and it took some time, but she finally filled him in on everything. She covered everything from the blinding moments of panic whenever she was in the ring using binding props, to the never-ending feelings of guilt, the sessions with Randy and even the phone call before her match. At times her voice would crack with emotion, but she didn't stop until she had revealed it all.

Halfway through her story, Dean had taken a seat on the wooden bench in the middle of the room. As she trailed off and stopped speaking, he ran a hand across his face and breathed out a huge sigh. He rested his elbows on his knees and lifted his head slightly to look at her. The look on his face was completely controlled; it gave nothing away and it made Harlan even more nervous.

"Why didn't you just tell me all this before?" he said slowly; each and every syllable fell from his lips smoothly and deliberately.

"I…I didn't want to admit there was something wrong with me" she said meekly, knowing full well it wouldn't sit well with him.

"But you had no problem admitting it to Randy" Dean said, his forehead creasing ever so slightly for a second.

"I know, I'm sorry… I don't really know what to say" Harlan stammered; she was at a complete loss for words. She knew she had no real excuse. With ice forming in the pit of her stomach, she watched as Dean swiftly got up from the wooden bench and turned his back on her. She could see he had his hands on his hips and his head was bowed. A moment passed and then he turned. While his face was still controlled, his eyes definitely weren't. His blue eyes fixated on her and the anger in them made her recoil.

"I tried to give you some space, you know? We're both stubborn and we both like things a certain way, so I figured, Nah. Why push her into telling me? I'll play the good guy and let her come to me" Dean ranted, his hands gesturing wildly as he spoke.

"You once gave me shit for crowding you, remember that?" he asked her rhetorically, his index finger pointing at her in an accusatory manner.

"And this is the thanks I get for not wanting to repeat past mistakes" he spat, his eyes rolling dramatically.

"What can I say other than I'm sorry? I don't know what got into me; the only thing I knew was that I didn't want you to see me damaged yet again. For crying out loud, we basically met because of my emotional baggage" Harlan said, trying to reason it out.

Without acknowledging her words, Dean began to pace back and forth. He stopped to face her, a sneer plastered on his face.

"It's funny. I knew something was up. First it was the mood swings; one second your texts are normal, then you're sounding lonely as fuck, then you're sending me racy pictures. And the visit! I'm not complaining, sweetheart, but you basically jumped me in front of the entire training class. You weren't being yourself and I saw it, and I gave you the chance then to tell me what was going on. I asked you point blank if anything was wrong. Do you remember what you said?" he growled, blinking at her impatiently.

"I was having problems with a few girls in class. That wasn't a lie, by the way" Harlan said, lifting her chin defiantly. She decided not to mention the fact the problems were still ongoing; besides, Dean was beyond caring about bitchy classmates at this point.

"Well, congratulations. You managed to be honest about one thing. Unfortunately for us, you picked the wrong thing" Dean drawled sarcastically.

The Dean in front of her reminded her of what she'd seen in the ring. She hadn't seen too much of his work, but this guy in the locker room with her was cold and unpredictable; this was not the guy who had gone out of his comfort zone for her, and she had nobody to thank but herself for that transformation.

Timidly, Harlan stepped forward and reached out; she wanted to touch him and make this all go away, but his eyes narrowed and he put up his hands in front of him as he stepped back from her.

"Nope; I don't think so, sunshine. I get that you're having problems, but you know I've been here for you. You knew there was a better way to handle this, and you chose not to. I can't deal with this shit right now" he said, his voice rising.

Swiftly, he turned to pick up his bag from inside his locker. He slammed the locker door shut and without so much as another glance her way, he stormed out of the locker room.


A/N: FINALLY! Nope, I haven't forgotten about this story, and of course I haven't forgotten about you guys. I hope you like it, but please let me have it; the good, the bad, the ugly. I am hoping to put up another chapter within the next 24 hours, because I know it's been too long and you guys deserve the best. To be fair, the fact you guys are so awesome and deserve the best is WHY it's taken me so long. I came down with some weird block, and although I knew what I wanted to write...I couldn't write any of it without hating it immediately. Maybe I'm picky. I don't know. But yeah. Here's the version I was finally happy with, lol. See you soon!