Chapter 17

Though her decision to fight was welcome, it was met with a lot of concern. Ceridwen understood and expected this. It wasn't just for her own career, it was for theirs too. After all, how much did Vince know? That was the great unanswered question she realized as she and Dean sat in catering. How much did he actually know? Did he know they had feelings for each other? Did he know they were friends?

"Well, you can take it that he doesn't know about us," Dean said as quietly as possible. "I mean we didn't even know about us till last night." He picked up a cup and brought it and the hot liquid it contained to his lips.

"I know. But we're not going to be able to keep this secret forever, you know this right? If, as I think, he's decided I'm his sole target, he's going to try to take me out. He'll use you to hurt me." Ceridwen replied as she poked her food around on her plate. The noise Dean made told her he knew this. As Ceridwen tried to get herself to eat something she saw Steph walk into catering spot them and wave to her, signalling she needed to speak to her. Ceridwen told Dean she would be back in a bit and went to speak to her.

Steph lead Ceridwen not to her office like she had expected, but to ringside. The area was empty of everyone. Steph sat down on the edge of the ring and waited for her before letting out a sigh.

"Ceridwen…this really isn't going well." She said with a shake of the head.

"You don't have to tell me that," Ceridwen replied. "Where's Hunter?"

"Hunter is taking the day off today. He's stressed out as all hell. He thinks we've put you in the line of fire."

"Well, you kinda have. Not that it was intentional, we both know that." Ceridwen reassured as Steph gave her a weak smile.

"I just…I don't get it. I thought he wanted someone who would be able to handle these sorts of things as a son in law." She said, with a shake of the head. "Anyway. I wanted to talk to you, have you made a choice?"

"I'm going to fight," Ceridwen said with a determined look on her face. "The guys were right last night Steph. If I don't, and word gets out your dad hates my guts, I'll never find work again. Not only that, but I also won't have their contracts being terminated because of me." Ceridwen shook her head as she finished her sentence.

"Dean isn't too happy about this is he?" Ceridwen looked at Steph alarmed. "I saw you two come in. Saw you grab his hand last night when it was mentioned he was to be in your match. Glad you two finally figured things out, but damn, you guys have shitty timing." She chuckled. "Look, a bit of advice. Take it from me. Keep your relationship a secret as much as possible. If Dad finds out, he will use it against you."

"Like he did to Hunter?" Ceridwen asked and Steph nodded. She was alarmed to see a single tear slip down the cheek of the woman who was usually hard as stone.

"Especially like he did to Hunter."

Two weeks had passed. Ceridwen was finally cleared for in-ring action and there was no denying she was overjoyed at the thought. She didn't even flinch when Hunter told her they needed to set up for Extreme Rules and set something up to put the four guys in a match with her. It wasn't until after the match she finally was allowed to breathe. As she walked towards catering to go grab food she had to pass Hunter and Steph's office for the evening. Raised voices came from within.

"-can't let them suffer that!"

"What choice exactly do we have, Steph? I don't even know how to prevent that from happening. Do you? I didn't then and I don't know now." It was Hunter's voice. Ceridwen found herself stalling and bent down pretending to re-tie a shoelace. She knew she shouldn't be listening in, but at the same time knew it was about her career.

"There has to be something, anything we can do Hunter. There must be. They've only just got together and if Dad has his way…well, you know how we suffered." There was the sound of what Ceridwen assumed was a chair being pulled back, and the sound of a woman's tears. "I can't do this to her, I can't. She has been through so much for us. I thought Dad would have come around and I never thought it would get this far. If Dad does find out about her and Dean…"

"He won't," Hunter reassured his wife. "Ceridwen knows how to keep things close to her chest. She knows that if Dean and she become public, that it's fair game. She's not going to let that happen." Ceridwen decided she needed to leave the area and rather than catering, she headed out to her car.

Despite knowing she shouldn't have overheard what was supposed to be a private conversation between man and wife, Ceridwen couldn't help but feel they were right. She thought back on everything Hunter had been put through at Vince's hands in the past and wondered just how much of it was real. How much they saw on screen was actually a work, and how much was the truth. She remembered the scene where Steph had gone into labour and Hunter had to hide from Vince just to be there. How much of that was for film? Did that actually happen? And now, here she was in the unenviable position of having to hide her own relationship from Vince, incase he pulled some of the same stuff to destroy her career and using Dean as the bait to do it. As she pondered just how she could hide it, her phone sounded out it's message tone. It was Hunter. Just one word: Drink? Ceridwen sighed and replied that yes, she would be up for one. She hadn't had a drink in a while and maybe it would dull the pain of her current situation, if only for an hour.

And so she headed not to the hotel bar like she expected, but to a local place, evidently another secret haunt of the roster. Slipping inside she saw Hunter waiting at the bar. She smiled. Two shots and two turbo diesels were lined up next to him.

"I was beginning to think you weren't going to show." He said, picking up a shot glass as she walked over and handing it to her as she reached him.

"Well, when the boss invites you for a drink, you don't say no," Ceridwen replied before they clinked the small glasses together and drank the innards. She wiped her mouth and picked up one of the glasses of drink on the bar as Hunter grabbed the second, and they made their way over to a private booth. Ceridwen nodded to the few other wrestlers that had done similar to them and sought out a reprieve that evening.

Silence descended on the pair as they both sat sipping their drinks. Ceridwen found herself studying the woodgrain on the table in front of her for a while before she finally bit.

"So, what is it you wanted to talk about, Hunter?" Ceridwen asked as she sipped at her glass.

"What, I can't just invite my star out for a drink?" He laughed. Ceridwen gave him a look that said she didn't believe that inviting her out for a drink was the reason she was there. He held a hand up in submission.

"Alright, it's not why I invited you here. Though God only knows we both could do with a few." He admitted as Ceridwen drank some of her drink. "The thing is, Vince has put his next card in play." Ceridwen sighed and rolled her eyes. She knew it would come sooner or later but assumed it would have been after Extreme Rules.

"Ok. What's the match up?" Hunter shook his head with a laugh as Ceridwen queried what was so funny. His laughter faded and he took a deep breath before explaining to Ceridwen what exactly Vince had played.

"No, no match up. See the thing is, all the shit we've pulled? Match up's you shouldn't have won, but did? You've piqued his curiosity. He has invited you to dinner with me and Steph." Ceridwen was glad she had already swallowed because she knew her drink would have been sprayed all over her boss.

"Dude, I barely have table manners, never mind being able to sit through dinner with that man. He'd likely end up wearing his food." She replied after stopping her drink from slipping out of her hand. "I can't do it, Hunter. I can't."

"You've got to." Hunter shook his head. "He's going to use it as an excuse to scope you out. You should do the same. Look I'll level with you. Your relationship with Dean, it's going to be on the line if he finds out. Nothing is off-limits to him."

"I know," Ceridwen said with a shake of the head. "Maybe I should break up with Dean for his own safety." Hunter choked on his drink.

"You only just got together!" He exclaimed, alarmed.

"What's the other option, Hunter? Carrying on, risking him finding out and then having Dean get hurt?" Ceridwen asked as she picked up her drink once more.

"It's not the way to do it, Ceridwen." He said with a frown as Ceridwen tipped up her glass. "Are you sure you'd even be able to make him understand why you're doing it? No. You aren't are you?"

"Of course not. But if Dean gets hurt because of me, I can't live with that Hunter." She said sadly. "I can't."

"You're forgetting every match Dean has been through in the past. He's able to take a lot of physical punishment, Ceridwen, you know this." Hunter said, trying to make Ceridwen realise that the idea of splitting with Dean to keep him safe was idiotic at best. Ceridwen finally agreed. But in the back of her mind, she truly didn't know what else to do. Hunter dropped the final bomb on her as she finished her drink. Vince wanted to meet the night before Extreme Rules. Ceridwen said nothing but lay her head on her hands with a groan.

"I know, he picked the worst possible date." Hunter commiserated.

"He wants to get in my head and see if he can throw me off my game." Ceridwen voiced as she propped her head on her hand. "He's that desperate for me to lose that match, he's trying everything he can think of."

The very thought of dinner with Vince let her have little sleep during the build-up to Extreme Rules. To the point that Dean noticed and said as much one morning as she woke up.

"Are you sure you don't want to plead illness about this?" He asked as he propped himself up on his elbow. Ceridwen wiped her eyes with her hand and rolled over to look at him.

"I wish I could. But I don't think I'm getting out of it any time soon. Besides, if I did, he would try to make it worse for me on Sunday." She yawned and snuggled into Dean.

"How are we going to get out of this mess, Ceri?" He asked softly.

"I don't know." She sighed. "Dean…what if Vince finds out about us?" Dean pulled away a little to look her in the eyes.

"Then he finds out about us," He said firmly. "I'm not going anywhere. You couldn't even pry me away from you right now, Ceridwen. I have spent too long pining after you, too long just…waiting for a chance to be with you to give this up now."

"But what if he uses you to hurt me? Wouldn't it be better if we weren't an item anymore?"

"Listen to me." He put his hand underneath her chin and tilted it up to make her look at him. "I am not going anywhere. I will take everything that comes, hell or high water. If it means he uses our relationship to hurt you, so be it." Ceridwen gave him a pained look in return.

"But I don't want you to be hurt. I don't want that to happen just because of me." She replied, allowing a single tear to fall from her eye. Dean smiled gently at her and kissed her forehead.

"I don't care. I'm not leaving Ceridwen. Not now. Not ever." Hi lips brushed her forehead as he spoke, holding her close to him as he did so. We'll be ok. We'll get through this together she told herself.

Saturday evening saw Ceridwen dressed up ready in the hotel lobby. Dean had already said goodbye to her in the hotel room and headed to join Undertaker, Roman and Seth for a few drinks of their own. And to plot and plan for the following day, she thought to herself as she waited for Hunter and Steph. She wondered if the plan was to let her keep the belt. After all, it would be their best move. Well, she guessed it would. She needed to speak to Hunter and Steph about that. As she pondered just what the game plan was for the following day, apart from beating each other senseless, Vince himself came walking out of the hotel lift. Ceridwen stood and brushed herself down. She wasn't planning on being alone with him for even a moment and had assumed Hunter and Steph would be there before he was. Her heart was pounding right now, and Ceridwen fought to reign in the urge to do a runner to her bosses room. He spotted her and walked over to where she stood.

"Ah, there you are Feral. I see you have dressed up for the occasion." He said as he reached her. He offered a hand and Ceridwen shook it.

"Well it wouldn't be appropriate to go out to dinner with the chairman wearing my ring gear now, would it?" Ceridwen returned, making him crack a slight smile.

"No, indeed it would not." The lift doors pinged at that moment, and he looked over towards them before continuing. "I do hope you have some sort of game plan tomorrow. You're rather outnumbered and I'd hate for you to lose in such a horrible situation." Ceridwen recognized the look in his eyes. They were opponents in some sort of game. He was testing her.

"Is there ever a game plan for an Extreme Rules match, regardless of the number of competitors?" She asked. He cracked another smile a little bigger this time.

"And you weren't upset at not getting to go one on one with The Undertaker again?" He enquired.

"I did it at Wrestlemania. At his show. In a Hell in a Cell match. There are very few matches I would be gutted about after that." Ceridwen responded as a voice called out to them both.

"Perhaps I might get to find out what?"

"Perhaps."

The place Vince took them too was far too upscale for Ceridwen's liking. Judging by the eye roll from Steph this was either his usual, or he was trying to make a power play. Ceridwen bet on the latter. He pulled Ceridwen's chair out for her to sit down as Hunter did the same for Steph, and picked up the menu as they sat down.

"My treat, go ahead. Order whatever you like." He smiled before looking down at the menu himself. Ceridwen looked over at Hunter and Steph who were nodding in agreement. At least I won't go hungry, Ceridwen said to herself as she looked at the food on offer. It wasn't until the waiter had been and collected their orders that they started talking.

"So, Ceridwen. Tell me about yourself." Vince said as Ceridwen refused a glass of wine, stating she would rather have water.

"What do you want to know? There really isn't much to tell." She replied.

"Well, how about how you came to wrestle for me, that would be a good start." He returned. Internally she groaned. Ceridwen didn't want to give Vince any more ammo than he already had.

"Well, I was a wrestling fan since I was a toddler. Always wanted to wrestle. Did my time on the independent circuit, got spotted and here we are." She smiled. "There's not much to it, truth be told." She knew Steph and Hunter were watching the exchanges between her and Vince carefully. They had years of experience dealing with the man so Ceridwen trusted they knew what they were looking at. Ceridwen kept herself guarded. Her answers were short, but not blunt. She kept to the point. Refused all alcohol, even when Vince asked if he could tempt her with a glass of celebratory champagne. And then Hunter and Steph both excused themselves to use the toilet, leaving Ceridwen and Vince alone.

"So. I am going to assume Hunter is rather keen on keeping you high in the roster rankings." Vince said as he delicately wiped his mouth with a napkin.

"I would assume so. It seems to be paying off well for him, and for me." She replied. Here we go. Tread carefully, she told herself.

"I noticed. So it really wasn't about getting recognition from The Undertaker at all then." It was a statement not a question, Ceridwen noticed.

"Not even once. Had Lesnar still had the belt at Wrestlemania, I would have faced him willingly. Even in the same style of match I would have done it." Vince's eyebrows rose in the minutest manner, but it was enough for Ceridwen to notice.

"And tomorrow, you're not concerned about the outcome for you and your friends?" He asked.

"No Sir. They know their limits and they know mine. The crowds will get every bit the match they deserve to see." She replied evenly. He looked up and stared her directly in the eyes.

"And Dean has no problems taking on his girlfriend in the ring?" Her heart plummeted, her throat went dry.

"He does not. He knows it's work." She replied, hoping against hope she was able to keep the fear out of her voice.

"Good, good. Oh, yes, I know about that. I have my sources. About time, by the way. I've seen the way you two look at each other. Heard the rumours and stories. Jeez, you took so long it's a wonder it even happened to begin with." He waved a dismissive hand as he picked up his wine glass. He leaned back in his chair in a manner that suggested to Ceridwen he felt he was utterly in control. She hated to admit it, but he probably was. There was a casual glance at his watch before he continued speaking.

"Now, with that elephant out the way, let me explain something to you. I have not built this company, this giant of a brand and wasted a good majority of my life building up my fathers legacy to have Hunter run it back into it. You can continue on your little crusade, and enjoy the benefits of a title run etc. But as soon as I decide this is over, this little experiment of his and yours, it's over."

"Perhaps this little experiment, as you're calling it, should actually prove Hunter knows full well what he's capable of and that he can take care of things. And that he deserves better than how you treat him." Ceridwen returned, picking up her water glass.

"That remains to be seen." He raised his glass to her and she raised hers in return before taking a long drink as in the distance she saw Hunter and Steph returning.

Dean was surprised to have his girlfriend hammering on Roman's hotel room door. He was even more surprised she hadn't changed out of her dress before charging in, almost snatching the bottle of beer offered by The Undertaker and downing a good portion of it before speaking.

"He knows."

"Knows what?" The four men suddenly found themselves instantly sober, not that they had enjoyed much alcohol to begin with.

"About Hunter and Steph's end game. About our little bargain, we made." She looked over at Dean with a heavy heart. "About me and you. He knows everything. And he's going to damn well use it." She shook her head and tipped the bottle back once more.

"When?" asked Undertaker.

"I don't know."

Hope you've enjoyed this next instalment!