Chapter 16

"I would love to, but my breaktime is over. It's fine, I don't really need a cigarette right now anyway. You go and calm down, we'll talk later."

She kissed his cheek, squeezing his arm and left the locker room to head back to her makeshift office. Her table, in other words. Tressa hoped Jon would be all right because, if he did have a spaz attack in the ring over a simple cut or scrape, Vince McMahon was not going to be happy. Sighing, she moved out of the way for people to rush by her and hoped Suzanne wasn't upset she had taken a longer break than normal.

Jon wasn't going to have a panic attack out in the ring. He was going to plow through and then have a panic attack once he was backstage, that was his game plan for when the inevitable occurred anyway. Really feeling like an assclown, he headed outside for that smoke, knowing he hadn't done Tressa any favors. She was already in a weird, fragile state of mind and he was adding his issues to hers.

Andrew was waiting for her when the people cleared, having come looking for that one seamstress, Tasha or whatever and she was nowhere to be found. "Hello lass." He greeted flatly, drumming his fingers on top of her sewing machine.

"Hi…" Where the hell was Suzanne?! Probably on her break too since they normally took them together. Looks like she wasn't the only one to take a longer than normal break tonight. "Your tights are ready, Andrew. I finished them today. Let me get them for you." Walking past him, or rather squeezing by him, Tressa reached into the bin of finished products and sifted through it until she came across them. She turned and had to fight not to jump because he was RIGHT there in her business again. "Here you go. I hope they'll work for you."

Yes, he was right there in her business. The seamstress had a great looking ass he had noticed. She had been bent over in that tote, rifling, her hips and ass wiggling…that was just something every fully functioning man would take note of. "Thank you," He reached out and took them, testing the water by letting his fingers brush against hers. Drew pulled the tights away, studying the patch job and nodded. He couldn't even tell there had been a hole. "It looks good, lass." What was her name again?

She immediately pulled her hand away from his, showing him she wasn't interested and took a step back. "Good deal."

She had on black yoga pants that passed off as dressy with a WWE black logo shirt, nothing out of the ordinary for her attire. Her chestnut caramel hair was up in a haphazard bun on top of her head due to making the mistake of leaving her hair down. Tressa had swept it up with some bands and felt better now that her hair wasn't on her neck anymore.

"Was there anything else you needed, Andrew?"

Yoga pants. Drew knew damn well yoga pants were a lie. Almost every woman's ass looked great in yoga pants, but that did not stop him from ogling. "Not right yet." He said finally, deciding to take the hint for the moment and winked at her. "Be seeing you, lass." Whistling, he strolled off, definitely deciding to come back because the beautiful seamstress had caught his eye.

"Sorry I'm late, it's a cluster bomb in here tonight." Suzanne came scurrying up, looked flushed and somewhat out of breath. "I swear it's like everyone is hanging out in the hallways tonight." She frowned, following Tressa's gaze and spotted McIntyre rounding a corner. "Was he a jerk to you? He's gotten uppity since he came back."

"No, he wasn't, actually."

Andrew was surprisingly pleasant and even thanked her for the tights. He hadn't been too happy when they weren't done last night, but luckily, he had been patient and received them tonight. She understood why it might upset someone not to have their wrestling trunks done. Tressa knew the intimidation factor was in her head due to his size. She acted the same way around Mark Calaway whenever he was in the locker room, which was only a few times a year these days. Suzanne flat out REFUSED to deal with Mark, Braun Strowman and McIntyre.

"Everything's fine, did you have a good break?" Now, she really needed a nicotine fix, but that would have to wait until later.

Suzanne was short and she was one of those women who did NOT like a giant towering over her. It wasn't sexy, it was scary. She was in the WRONG business for that particular issue of hers, but for the most part, she managed. There were the gentle giants and then there were the intimidating ones or the jackass ones.

"You look like you need a breather. I can manage here for 10 minutes." She did owe Tressa one since she had been late. "Go on, go get a water, it's hotter than Hades in here tonight." She imagined a lot of that had to do with the narrow halls and the massive amounts of bodies loitering about them.

"No, I'm fine…" Tressa groaned when Suzanne's petite five foot even frame pushed her until she joined the others in the hallway, waving at her. "I was late too, though!"

"Don't worry about it, go get some water and grab me one too!"

NOW Tressa understood why the woman wanted her to go to catering and rolled her eyes, heading in that direction. Maybe she would grab the waters and then go outside for her smoke break, trying to get her nerves back on track. The show was underway and she had no idea when Jon was on, so she wouldn't bother him. The poor man needed some time to himself to get over what happened earlier with that scrape on his shoulder. Sighing, she turned the corner, keeping against the wall, not wanting to get plowed over since she was tiny.

"Whoa, lass!"

Apparently Lady Luck was smiling down at him. Drew hadn't expected to see Tressa again, at least not tonight anyway. He had been grabbing an energy drink and a bottle of water when he seen her trying to get away from the wall she was hiding against. She had nearly gotten plowed from behind and he lifted her right up off the ground and turned, so it was his back getting sidestepped. She was tiny, he could span her waist with both hands.

"What would we do without our sewing mistress?" He joked, setting her down once the hall was decently safe.

Don't freak out, he's only helping you, she mentally coached, taking a few silent breaths to slow her racing heart.

She had not expected to run into Andrew again, or for him to save her from the chaos in the hallway. Why did he insist on calling her lass? Maybe that was what he called all the females in that deep Scottish accented voice of his.

"Thank you, Andrew." She murmured softly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled hesitantly up at him. "I was trying to avoid getting clobbered by staying against the wall. Guess it didn't work too well, huh?"

"It would have, if not for those louts coming running up like a fire was licking their arses." He chuckled, shaking his head. "Need an escort into the zoo?" He offered his arm with a flourish, smiling down at her.

The cafeteria was filled with superstars and staff alike, the sound levels were…high, people eating and talking. It was like a giant family sometimes, others…a bit like high school. Drew stepped back with her to make room for two techs carrying long tables, shaking his head.

"You'd think they'd have a traffic guard or something to direct this."

"They could just use you. You're the perfect traffic guard." Perfectly pleasant, not a hint of malice in his blue eyes…Tressa couldn't believe how ridiculous she'd been acting around this man. That was all Andrew was anyway – a man just like Jon, Joe, and Colby. "I'd appreciate it." She took his arm, knowing it probably looked funny since he was a little over a foot taller than her.

He was still in his ring gear from his match and she was harboring a guess it had been against Jon again. They had been battling each other at the house shows, which made her believe a feud was brewing between them on television. That didn't matter to her – it was none of her business and, quite frankly, Tressa stayed out of the drama when it came to gossip and whatnot as much as possible.

What the shit was this? Jon was in the cafeteria, sitting on top of a table with Colby straddling the bench on side of him, Joe on the other. They had been quietly talking about last night, and Colby hadn't mentioned a word about earlier…so he was hoping his buddy hadn't said anything to Daddy Joe because Jon didn't need the man's paternal crap coming out right now. They had also started talking shop when he spotted Tressa walking in, arm in arm, with that former kilt-wearing douchebag.

"What the…"

"Bro!" Joe was getting drenched from Jon's water bottle.

Tressa heard Joe's roar, knowing it anywhere and snapped her head to the side, suddenly ignoring whatever Andrew was saying to her. What the hell was going on over there? They were clear across catering, so Tressa couldn't make out exactly what caused Joe to start yelling and cursing a blue streak at Jon. She didn't want to know and gently pulled away from Andrew, releasing his arm.

"Thank you for helping me, Andrew." Pulling her money out, she went to slip it in the machine and blinked when he hammered his fist against the side, watching not one, but two water bottles tumble down from their supposed secure perch inside. "Oh wow, that's a neat trick! Awesome!" Pushing the money back in her pocket, Tressa squatted to retrieve them and stood back up, cracking a small smile up at the Scottish man. "I should head back."

Looks like she would not be having a cigarette break tonight. It just wasn't in the cards for her. Turning, she headed back out of catering and hoped Joe was all right after Jon did god knows what to him.

"Okay that was an accident," Jon was trying not to laugh or watch Drew and Tressa. Since when were they chummy anyway? Last he knew, she was intimidated by the guy, but there she was, smiling slightly at the big lug. Well, that wasn't- "YOU SUCK DROGO!" He had just gotten what was left of his water bottle poured all over his own head.

"Pay attention next time!" Whatever had distracted Jon had been what caused the idiot to pour water everywhere.

Down his head and when he had moved, right over his damn crotch.

"Looks like you pissed yourself." Colby said, trying to sound anything but amused.

There was NOTHING going on between Tressa and Andrew. She wasn't interested in having a relationship with anyone, not after recently losing her husband and unborn child. No thanks, she would take a hard pass. However, it was obvious Andrew was interested in her and he hadn't been as intimidating as he was at first. What if…what if she used Andrew to scratch an inch? She meant what she said to Jon, even though she had gone against those words and kissed him earlier that morning. It was that damn gravitational pull towards Jon she couldn't ignore, which would be a problem if she wanted to shack up with Andrew a few times. Tressa pushed the thought of her mind, deciding she would think this over once she wasn't at work and alone, handing Suzanne her bottled water once she returned to her workstation.

Tressa had had an interesting look on her face. The girls had gotten used to her being quiet, and withdrawn, sad looking, so… to see the relative calm now was nice, but that was just a thoughtful look with a hint of something Suzanne couldn't place right off the bat. "Any problems?" She asked, taking a sip of the water she hadn't been brave enough to go get. "Sorry, you just look like you're mulling over something." When Tressa just shook her head, she backed off.

Suzanne wasn't about to pry to the woman who was technically her superior.

By the end of the night, Tressa was exhausted mentally and just wanted to go back to the hotel for some R&R. Not to mention, she was craving a cigarette in the worst way. Suzanne sent her ahead, letting her know not to worry about the clean-up. She would take care of it. Tressa thanked her and made a beeline for the exit with her purse, immediately lighting up as soon as the warm night air washed over her.

"Ohhh yeah…" She groaned at the first taste of nicotine and tilted her head up to look at the night sky, letting it filter through every vein in her system. Taking another drag felt even better as she leaned back against the building and studied the stars thoughtfully, noticing there was a quarter moon outside tonight.

"You weigh a ton…" This was a bad idea, a very bad idea. He was going to wind up biting it on the pavement and smashing his face in. Then, Jon would no longer be pretty AND have MRSA again. "Jesus, what is your wifey feeding you?"

Joe answered that with a very lewd comment, laughing when Jon began shaking him, trying to get him off. "You deserved that shit, bro." But now the water thing was forgiven. "Mmm, I see why you jump on Lopez…that's fun."

"First of all," Colby said with a frown. "Don't EVER word it that way again. Second, you BOTH weigh a ton."

"At least we didn't get Tres' bin this time."

"I would've kicked your asses if that was the case." Tressa informed them, blowing smoke out of her mouth and nostrils before taking another long drag of her delicious cigarette. Addiction sucked, but on the bright side, there were worse things she could've been addicted to.

Seth, Joe, AND Jon all jumped at the sound of her voice, none of them noticing she'd been standing there. "Jesus woman, wear some bells!" Colby squawked, clutching his chest while Joe shook himself and Jon walked over to her to join in having a cigarette.

"How are you feeling tonight, Tres?" Joe asked, once his heartrate returned to normal.

Men, even as big as them, could be scared shitless too sometimes.

"Tired, but I'm okay. I feel better now that all of you know what's going on."

"We tried not to bug you tonight." Colby was actually kind of proud of himself for that because all he had wanted to do was bug her.

Check in with her, check on her. Going those months with barely even a hello had been hard, but now they knew why. He got it, didn't mean that he didn't want to constantly make sure things were at least good. Colby guessed that was maybe one of the reasons she hadn't told anyone, she didn't want people up her backside and asking shit like 'are you okay?' when she wasn't.

"You look ready for bed, darlin'." Jon pointed out thoughtfully, taking in her eyes. She did look tired, he bet she had been slammed tonight.

Poor choice in words, he inwardly mused, Drew McIntyre popping into his head.