Sorry that last update was so short. I needed to get something out and that felt like a good stopping place. This one will have a bit more substance.

Chapter 8: Memories

The normal lunch crowd that occupied Dean Ambrose's table sat in stunned silence as they tried their best not to stare at the sobbing young woman with magenta hair two tables over.

"Holy shit," Dean Ambrose thought to himself as he debated whether or not to go say anything to Sasha.

It had started out like any other day. Dean woke up, rode to school with Bayley and worked out, then headed to the cafeteria to await the first of many bells that compartmentalized his school schedule. When he arrived, he'd immediately sought out his new girlfriend, who'd been sporting a smile bright enough to illuminate the entire cafeteria.

Just a few minutes later, as the couple milled through the crowded hallways on their way to their respective homerooms, Dana Brooke approached, a somber look on her normally almost overly cheerful face.

"Did you hear?" She'd asked, her voice trembling as she fought back tears.

"Hear what?" Alexa shot back, her own presence being overtaken with a wave of dread.

"They found Adam Page dead in his garage last night." Dana managed to get the sentence out, but succumbed to the tears forming in her own eyes. Adam wasn't a Blue River student, but he'd gone to middle school with Dana, Dean, Bayley, and most of the kids who called that area home.

"What?" Dean asked, the information not soaking in as it normally would.

"Yeah," Dana emphasized, nodding vigorously. "I guess it was about eleven p.m. when his parents got home. His car was in the garage, running, and I guess he'd taken a bunch of pills beforehand. He was dead before the ambulance could get there."

Dean shook his head while Alexa did her best to steel herself against the onslaught of repressed memories from the year before. The pair talked with Dana another minute, then walked in a daze to Alexa's homeroom.

By lunch, the entire school had heard what happened to the now former boyfriend of Sasha Banks. As he reviewed the morning's events while wolfing down that square shaped lunchroom pizza that is beloved in cafeterias from one end of this great nation to the other, an ongoing debate welled up within him.

"Hey," he began quietly, turning to where Alexa and Dana were still conversing. "Should I go over and talk to her?"

The three of them all glanced at each other, afraid to draw any conclusions.

"Um, I dunno, Dean," Bayley chimed again from across the table. "She did still cheat on you and then talk shit to Alexa a couple weeks ago."

Dean pondered this a moment, before nodding and shrugging. "Yeah, but someone should. I mean, why'd she even come to school today? And where the hell are Mandy and Liv?"

Dana snickered. "They tried to comfort her this morning and she said she wanted to be left alone."

"I'll go talk to her," Alexa asserted, though her voice remained just above a whisper.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Dean asked, recalling what happened the first and only time his now girlfriend and his ex had interacted.

Alexa shook her head, yet sighed deeply. "No. I'm not sure at all. But I know what she's going through and I'd feel really bad if she just kept sitting there by herself."

Bayley, Dana and Dean all exchanged glances of disbelief. "Uh, do you want one of us to go with you?"

Alexa shook her head. "It might make her self-conscious."

"It would serve her right," Dana muttered under her breath.

Bayley and Dean snickered before catching themselves. As miserable as Sasha made Dean over the summer, a boy their age was still dead, and there was no room for stupid jokes.

Alexa finished the corner of pizza she had left, before standing and leveling her gaze on Sasha. "Okay. Wish me luck."

"We'll notify your next of kin," Dean quipped, before realizing what he'd actually just said.

"Dean!" Bayley admonished, before slapping her hand over her own mouth in shock.

Steadfastly, pushing her mounting anxiety down into the recesses of her soul, Alexa strode over to where Sasha was sitting, quietly nibbling on a sandwich of some kind while wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Hey," Alexa began softly, trying her best to offer a pleasant smile. "You mind if I sit down?"

Sasha sniffled and ran the back of her hand over her face again. "Suit yourself."

Alexa descended into the chair across from Sasha, doing her best to keep eye contact and radiant a friendly, confident disposition.

"Um, I know we didn't get off on the best of feet," the tiny blonde continued, exhaling deeply, "but I want you to know that I'm really sorry for what happened to Adam, and that I know what you're going through."

Sasha scoffed again. "You do?"

Alexa nodded, sliding a hand over Sasha's. "Yeah. My boyfriend died in the fire with my family last year. It's why I'm here."

Sasha raised a brow, surprised to hear that the tiny girl was willing to share a devastating and traumatic event in her life with a stranger.

"Really?" Sasha inquired, wiping her nose with the back of her hand and sniffling loudly.

Alexa nodded. "Yeah. It crushed me. I'm still not okay, but having friends around has helped a lot. So if you ever need to talk, I'm around."

Banks nodded, her purple hair shimmering from the motion. "Thanks."

As she contemplated going back to her table, a notion occurred to Alexa. "Hey, are you going to the game Friday?"

Sasha snickered humorlessly, before shaking her head quickly. "It'll remind me too much of Adam."

Alexa nodded. "I get it. Um, if you want to, a bunch of us are hanging at Dean and Bayley's after. I know there's some history with you and Dean, but if you prefer awkward company to being alone at your house, no one's gonna turn you away."

Sasha looked up at Alexa, who'd raised from her seat to leave, and managed a tight lipped smile and a small nod. "Okay. Maybe."

Alexa exhaled deeply, crossing the table to where Sasha was still daintily perched on her chair and placed a miniscule, sympathetic hand on the other girl's shoulder, trying her best to convey the message that she would do her best to be there for her classmate.

Not far from Blue River High School, John Cena sat behind his shiny new shift leader office desk, a half dozen case files spread out on the shiny metal surface. Just an hour or so before, he'd received a call from Officer DeMott in Central Gwinnett that a high schooler there had committed suicide.

"There's probably no connection," the gruff tone of his colleague had been a jarring addition to his day after a morning meeting and an initial drive through town.

"That's good to know," Cena fired back, rolling his eyes at the brusque nature of Central's commanding officer over the phone. "Still, I'm gonna send an officer over there and look for any connection between our homicides and that suicide."

"Fine by me," DeMott spat, clearly having better things to do than his current conversation.

"Copy. Breeze will be over there soon." Without waiting for a response, Cena hung the phone back up on the receiver, before gazing out into the common office.

"Hey, Officer Breeze, can I talk to you a second?"

Without a verbal response, Tyler Breeze shot up from his temporary desk and almost ran to the doorway of his boss's office.

"Yes, Captain Cena?"

Cena smirked. "I keep forgetting I got promoted." He shook his head wryly, snickering to himself at this latest turn of events. "Anyway, I suppose you heard the starting quarterback for Central Gwinnett offed himself sometime yesterday evening."

Breeze nodded. "I did. Crying shame."

Cena stared into the distance a second, contemplating the circumstances it must've taken for Adam Page to take his own life.

"I need you to go over to the scene and make sure there's no connections between the suicide and our homicides that the local guys might not see. I mean, they're not really looking for that stuff, right?"

Breeze considered this idea a moment. "Sure. Anything else?"

"Yeah," Cena continued, "while you're down there, make sure you introduce yourself to Captain DeMott. I don't know how many people we're gonna be able to keep after we solve these murders and it might be a good chance to make a connection. Maybe get a job over there if we can't keep you on over here."

Breeze nodded. "Thanks, Captain. I'll get right over there."

Cena gave the rookie officer a curt smile. "Make us proud."

It seemed like all Dean Ambrose and Alexa Bliss truly desired in life since their first real kiss the previous week was to tally as many such kisses as they possibly could. It made the tiny blonde's heart skip with joy and passion every time she caught her new boyfriend staring at her from across the chorus classroom, at lunch, or when he was at football practice and the cheerleaders were outside exercising or running routines.

Even now, as Alexa found herself in Dean's trusty SUV with Brock Lesnar, Charlotte Flair, Bayley, Roman Reigns, and Nikki Cross, her pulse pounded with affection for the boy who'd slowly restored her faith in humanity.

"Are you sure Dana's not gonna mind us all dropping in on her at work like this?" Bayley called over the din of teenage chatter and "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" by AEROSMITH blasting from the well-worn vehicle's speakers.

"She won't care," Dean reassured his stepsister. "Shit, since Zack is coming, she'll probably be psyched."

Charlotte smiled brightly. "Yeah, we gotta figure out how to get them together. I love Zack, but he's gotta stop being such a chickenshit and just ask her to the fair already."

"Like I did with you, right?" Brock smirked as he inquired from the statuesque blonde.

"Uh, didn't I have to basically walk up to you before school and say 'ask me out, stupid'?"

Brock rolled his eyes, clearly trying to hide his rising embarrassment level. It wasn't often that Brock just got to hang out, with the chores that needed doing after school and the insane dedication level he showed to sports, but his mother had begun intervening on his behalf in the last couple of months. Her calm demeanor worked wonders on Brock's high strung, demanding father, and she'd taken to reminding her husband that Brock was still a kid, though he resembled the grownest of grown men, and that a little socialization wouldn't hurt.

"What matters is that we're going to Homecoming, right?"

Charlotte maintained her straight face for a few more seconds than Brock thought was necessary, before giving the monstrous Junior a kiss on the cheek.

"Yep."

Roman turned to gaze at the vehicle behind them. "How you think they're doing in Zack's car?"

Dean shrugged, glancing in the rearview mirror. "I mean, the Excursion is a beast, but they got Zack, Nia, your cousins, Seth, and Zack's cousin and his friend."

"Enzo and Cass? I like those guys," Bayley chimed in. "I heard Cass's girlfriend is moving down this week, too."

Alexa nodded. "Yeah, our cheerleading coach mentioned that. Apparently she's really good or they wouldn't let her join the team midseason."

Dean pondered this a moment. "Hey, how was Sasha? I know you've been talking to her some…"

Alexa snickered and nodded again. "Yeah. She's broken up, obviously, but she seems tough. I know you guys had your differences last spring, but I think it's important to be there for her. You can't possibly fathom how hard it is to go through something like this."

"I know," Ambrose conceded. "Just be careful with her. Even in her… grievous state, she's still dangerous. She manipulates and lies."

"I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt one time," Alexa asserted brightly, sliding her hand over Dean's. "If she crosses me or talks shit about me or anything, I'll drop her like Fourth period French. Fair?"

Dean chuckled, marvelling at the tough streak his new girlfriend had shown a bit of recently. "Fair." Glancing in his rearview mirror, he saw Zack's Ford Excursion still behind them as they pulled into parking spaces in front of the Blue River Blockbuster Video.

"I fuckin' love this place," Dean blurted as he slid out of the vehicle, checking to see if Alexa needed help exiting the large suv. Seeing that she'd safely made it to the ground, Ambrose held his hand out as she walked toward him, smiling as she threaded her fingers with his and fell in with the dozen or so teenagers flooding into the store.

One of the great institutions of the 1980's and 1990's was the local video rental store. Whether it was national chain Blockbuster Video or a "Mom and Pop" operation in a strip mall or sharing space with a gas station, young people from one side of the nation to the other congregated in the hallowed retail space like flies to a bug zapper, lured through the doors by the promise of a few hours of escapism (and often, fully stocked snack sections) for a reasonable rental fee, so long as you didn't misplace your video.

For Dean, much of his "post-Sasha" summer had been spent trying to distract himself from the irritation he felt after being cheated on, and that meant regular visits here to rent movies and video games and spend time with Dana, who'd become a confidante while Bayley was away for three weeks to see her biological dad's parents.

"Hey guys!" Dana called from behind the counter as the kids came streaming into the store, three and four at a time.

"What's up, Dana?" Seth Rollins called from the doorway, having made his way out of ZAck's vehicle.

The buxom softball player snickered to herself. "You guys rolling twelve deep into Blockbuster? Must've been an exciting day."

"You guys are lucky you practice in the mornings," Ambrose retorted, already perusing the "New Releases" section of the store. "Although today was pretty sweet."

"Yeah, about that," Nia Jax blurted from the next aisle over. "Why aren't all you guys at practice?"

Dean shrugged. "We had walkthroughs from Four 'til about Five Thirty, but I guess the coaches figured with how hard we've already worked and Adam Cole killing himself, we might be a little distracted. They told us to get lots of rest and be ready to play tomorrow."

Nia nodded. She and Dana had originally been scheduled to play a softball game against Central Gwinnett that very afternoon, but the events of the days previous caused a postponement.

"Yeah, we were supposed to play today," Dana asserted, motioning toward Nia. "It got cancelled so I picked up a shift. Hopefully I'll need the extra money to buy a Homecoming dress," she continued, winking at Zack Ryder. Ryder, for his part, simply tried not to blush too obviously while avoiding Dana's gaze. Any hope of escaping this particular exchange without embarrassment was thwarted, however, by Zack's loudmouthed cousin.

"I think she likes ya, Z," Enzo Amore needled his cousin, elbowing him gently in the ribs. "You need to go axe that hottie to Homecoming before I do, capiche? Take it from a Certified G."

Zack rolled his eyes, wishing more than anything for a black hole to open and suck him into nothingness in that moment. "Bro, be cool."

Colin Cassidy, squarely in his familiar position exactly one foot to Enzo's right, chimed in. "Man, you can't let a girl like that get tired of waiting for you. Oh shit-"

Zack didn't immediately understand what Colin was reacting to, until he picked up the exceptionally lovely form of Dana Brooke moving toward him from behind the front desk.

"Hey," she half whispered, shyly greeting Zack while bashfully running her hand up and down his arm.

"Let's give 'em a minute, Zo. I think 'Horror' is over there."

Enzo began to protest, wanting desperately to catch this exchange, but 'Big Cass' could be quite persuasive when he put his mind to it. Muttering under his breath about how he 'missed all the good stuff here,' Enzo slowly strolled away, though he kept Zack and Dana in his peripheral vision as long as he could.

"Hey," Zack returned, smiling brightly.

"Thanks for coming to see me," Dana muttered. The pair stood in awkward silence for another minute, neither of them feeling comfortable speaking further. After watching this for another painful minute, Dean Ambrose lost all semblance of decorum.

"Oh for fuck's sake!" He exclaimed, exasperated with the mutual shyness. "Zack. Dana clearly likes you as much as you like her. Alexa and I are going to the baseball game Sunday."

"We are?" Alexa exclaimed, delighted but surprised by this latest revelation.

"Yeah, we're using dad's box seats." He turned toward Alexa as he said this, winking and smiling at his girlfriend. Swinging back toward Dana, he continued hurriedly. "Come with us. It'll be a good chance to talk without being in an awkward situation."

Dana and Zack stared at each other another minute. Exhaling deeply, Ryder spoke up shakily. "You wanna?"

Dana smiled, ecstatic that her crush had finally made a move.

"Yeah. That'd be nice. Wanna pick me up to ride over to Dean's?"

Zack nodded. "Yeah. I'd like that."

Now Ambrose's grin was as wide as either Zack's or Dana's, though Alexa looked like she'd rather be anywhere else, not enjoying meddling in the affairs of others nearly as much as Dean clearly was. "Great! See you then. Now, Dana, walk with me."

The busty softball star furrowed her brow. "Uh, okay."

Dean and Dana began slowly traipsing down the main aisle of the video store as the dozen other students browsed their favorite sections. Dean briefly overheard Seth and Roman discussing why it was that Zelina couldn't make it (her shift at her parents restaurant), and Enzo and Cass were excitedly discussing the arrival of Carmella, who Alexa assumed was Cass's aforementioned girlfriend.

"What's up, Dean?" Dana asked, perplexed by his desire to talk privately.

"Well, you're the movie expert. This is your 'Jamie Kennedy' moment."

"Haa!" Dana exclaimed, understanding Dean's reference to the hit Scream movies. "Well, it's weird, because I do love slasher movies, but I'm not sure this fully qualifies."

"What do you mean?" Dean followed, his brow furrowed in confusion.

"Well, on the one hand there's three sets of victims, seven if you think Adam Page is connected, but at this point there's no reason to think that."

"Mm hmm," Dean agreed, glancing over at Alexa, who was occupied in the "Romance" section with Nikki Cross and Charlotte.

"But even with the three couples, the murder weapon is different in every killing, and there's no apparent connection."

"What do you think that means?" Dean asked.

"I think that given that someone was spying on Alexa the other night, and there's now a rash of killings in town, that it's time we consider that this might be connected to what happened to her in Ohio."

Dean scoffed incredulously. "How in the ass could those things be connected?"

Dana shrugged. "I have no idea. I'm a video store employee. But I think it's worth noting that the killings didn't start until she arrived here, and we know she's not killing them, given that she's been with you or a group of us during every slaying, so I think the two most plausible explanations are either that the murders have nothing to do with her, and it's a total coincidence, or that there's some connection we haven't been able to make yet between Alexa moving here and these folks getting killed."

Dean nodded, reflecting on this idea. "I like that. Although that does mean the killer is someone we already know."

Dana shrugged again. "I think it's a logical jump to assume there's just one killer. Think about it; In Scream One and Two, there's multiple killers. Given how some of the bodies were manhandled after, I wouldn't be surprised if it's more than one person."

"Huh," Dean almost chuckled, pondering this. "That's actually really fucking insightful. So what next?"

Dana shook her head, signalling she wasn't sure. "I guess we wait and see who gets attacked next and hope the victims have the wherewithal to get away. Would be some valuable insight into the killer's motivations."

With that, Dean gazed over at Alexa again, who was deeply locked in conversation with her two friends. The growing knot in the pit of Dean's stomach was now impossible to ignore, and his concern for Alexa was growing exponentially by the day.

"So, what scary movie should we check out?"

Dana snickered. "I mean, that's in poor taste. But Prom Night or the original Scream. If Alexa's up for it. And maybe watching some old-school or really good slasher shit will jog our train of thought as to what's next."

Dean nodded. "Sounds good. Let's do Scream. That opening scene with Drew Barrymore gets me every single time. It's the shit."

Dana grinned and nodded. "It's true." She turned, looking at the clock over the front door. "I get off in twenty minutes. Wait for me?"

Dean held his hand out for a high five. "Absolutely. We're all going to my dad's. Gonna watch this on the projector screen."

As the group made their selections and headed for the front, Dean continued to marinate over what Dana had suggested about the idea of multiple killers and what if anything these murders had to do with Alexa coming to live in Blue River. As he rejoined his new girlfriend, he tried his best not to think of the implications of some nutcase following Alexa across multiple states could have on the safety of himself and his friends, and what lengths he might have to go to to protect the tiny girl who was currently slipping her hand in his…