Disclaimer: I do not own any of the WWE talent, of their training facilities, etc, etc... I only own the characters that I have created solely for the use of this story.

Distribution: Ask first.

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"Alyssa."

She closed her eyes tightly, shaking her head slightly. She'd recognize that voice anywhere. It was Danny.

"Alyssa." Danny repeated, his voice firm as he reached out and squeezed her knee, supportively. God, why couldn't he just leave her be? Why couldn't he just not care, why did he have to be so tender?

"What?" She whispered to him, voice hoarse.

"Look at me." He told her softly, slipping his hand beneath hers, holding her hand as he continued to speak. "C'mon, look at me."

Alyssa forced her eyes open before lifting her head, her eyes resting on his. Her heart pounded harder in her chest. It was beating so hard, so fast, she could hear the thudding in her ears. It vibrated throughout her whole body.

"Why're you leaving? Tell me the truth."

"Danny, this really isn't—"

"Come on, Lyss. Cut the crap, alright? Forget them. I want you to look at me, and I want you to tell me your reasoning. I want you to tell me why all of a sudden, you're up and leaving." He paused, his intense blue eyes landing on hers. "You owe me at least that much."

Alyssa's head dropped for a short moment as she closed her eyes, collecting her thoughts. Her stomach tightened as it slowly churned. Her throat felt raw and sore, and she had to force the bile from rising in her throat. She had to focus on one thing, one person. And that was Danny.

She hadn't failed to talk to him, and tell him about her mother being dead. She had talked to him about her feelings, about how alone she'd felt. She'd told him about so much, and it was only fair that she was honest with him about this, too. Especially when it came to her leaving him in the competition.

"I, uhm..." Alyssa's eyes rest on his, a slight redness working its way into her eyes, surrounding the brilliant green shade. "I can't stay here anymore, Danny. Emotionally, I can't take it. I mean I don't feel like I should be here anymore. I don't feel like I belong here anymore. All of you guys—you deserve that contract. But me? My intentions in coming here weren't to win this contract. They had nothing to do with the WWE. All they had to do with were pure, raw emotions." She ran her hands roughly over her face. What the hell was she doing? Why was she spilling everything to Danny?

"I lost everything before I came here. I came here with nothing, and I came here hoping that when I did leave that I'd—I'd have something... no, someone to hold onto. To be able to say "look at this amazing thing that happened, look—I found my Dad". What a fucking fairy tale that was. What a fairy tale." Her eyes landed on Mark briefly before tearing her eyes away from his, wiping at the tears that had rolled gently over her cheeks.

"You do have someone to hold onto." Danny whispered softly, taking her face in his hands, her tears becoming a silent sob as she listened to him. "You have me, you have Riley... you've met some people here who really care about you. You've found a love for a sport that so few people can truly understand. From the talks we've had—the talks that you, Al, and Dustin have had, I know you understand it. Don't let the absence of your father drive you away. Here—"He paused briefly, running a hand over the back of his neck as he slowly breathed out. "Here you have a family. People who care about you, people who love you. If you go back to New York, who'll be waiting for you?"

"Nobody." Alyssa barely choked out, pulling her hand from his grip, moving to rise to her feet—to get away.

"Alyssa..." He whispered, his voice soft and smooth as he kept her in the chair, wrapping his strong arms around her slowly, not allowing her to run away from her grief, from her fears.

"No! Stop! Just let me GO!" She sobbed, her head falling against his shoulder, although she fought him. "Just let me go. Just let me leave."

"No, I won't let you. I won't let you just leave, thinking you're alone. You're not alone. You'll never be alone again, Alyssa. Never again."

Al breathed slowly, the tension in the room thick. He knew that she was going to drop out of the competition: She had called Big, and Mark had called him. He had told him about what Alyssa had told him earlier in the day. Al didn't know what to say or think. Was Alyssa really his daughter? Could she be?

From the sounds of it, from the fact that she knew the woman's name, who he had impregnated he could only assume so. Nobody, not even his closest friends had known about Alexandra. And when Al looked at her, truly studied Alyssa, he could see signs of Mark in her.

The dark hair, the green eyes... she didn't have his height, but there was something that linked the two together: their absolute stubbornness.

"How're you alone at home?" Mark spoke into the awkward silence after a moment. "You have your mom—Alex..."

"Yeah, I'm sure I do." Alyssa rubbed her eyes as she pushed roughly against Danny until he released her. "I'm sure you'd like to think everything was perfect at home." Her eyes focused on her hands, shifting uncomfortably.

"You said you did it for your mother." Mark reminded her, of the Fourth of July invitation she'd given him. Alyssa simply nodded. "How did you do it for her if she isn't waiting for you?"

Exhausted eyes slowly lifted to Mark's, looking at him closely. "She's waiting for me, alright. Six feet under." She told him quietly, rising to her feet, grabbing her bag from the ground, silently.

"You'll be alone if you leave." Riley told Alyssa, her voice soft as she remained in her chair. "If you stay, you'll have the support of people who truly care for you."

"And I'll be reminded every day of what it is that I can't have! Of what it is that every God damn one of you has! A family. You think I want to be here on the fourth? You think that I really want to be here for the family gathering, knowing that I have nobody there for me? That nobody wants to be there with me? I have no family! I'm alone, and you can't understand how that feels. You just can't." Alyssa stood, with her back to everyone as her shoulders silently shook. She wiped roughly at the unwanted tears, hearing Dustin whisper under his breath from behind her.

"Damn it."

The side door to Trax opened, and a tall, fit man approached, his blonde locks flowing behind him as he walked.

"I'm out of here." Alyssa whispered, her chin quivering as she watched Adam Copeland walk over to the group. Quickly, Alyssa walked into the locker room, throwing her bag roughly against a locker as her eyes shut tightly. What was wrong with her? What was happening? Everything was spinning out of control.

Silently, she slid down the locker, pulling her knees to her chest tightly, crying. Her life was spinning out of control. But when had it happened? When had she lost any sense of control that she'd ever had?

Alyssa was tore away from her thoughts when she heard a masculine voice speak softly, but with a firm edge to it. "Alyssa."

She sniffled, looking up to see Dustin. "You shouldn't be back here. It is the girl's locker room." She mumbled quietly, her eyes resting on her hands.

"I could pass for a girl, couldn't I..." Dustin trailed off, mocking a hair toss, smiling playfully at her. "Girlfriend?"

Alyssa barely mustered a smile. "And besides, you're a trainer, shouldn't you be, I don't know... training?"

"Alyssa, primarily that's what we do, we train you guys; teach you to wrestle. But we also care about you, a lot. I know you're hurting, I know that you need reassurance. I guide you in the ring, so please, let me guide you outside of it."

"You know about Mark?" She asked Dustin, slowly looking over at him, watching him closely.

He nodded.

"How am I supposed to go on, how am I supposed to stay here and see him everyday. Hear him—judge me, belittle my potential?"

"Give up." Dustin told her before shrugging simply.

"Excuse me?"

"I said, give up." Alyssa's forehead creased. "I mean, he knows you can't do it. You probably can't, so you should just give up."

"I can so. I'm not some weak little kid who can't hack it." Her eyes flared slowly at him, instantly filling with life.

"Right. If you say so."

"I do say so, Dustin! You've seen me in the ring. I've nearly beat you in the ring."

"What if I was letting you win?" Dustin challenged, raising an eyebrow at the younger girl.

"You weren't letting me win! I could see it in your face!" Alyssa's heart pounded hard against her chest as her adrenaline got pumping. "I could win this thing." She growled at him, a passion in her face that Dustin had never seen before.

Dustin's eyes twinkled. "So go prove him wrong." And with that, Dustin rose to his feet and walked out of the room, allowing Alyssa to change for practice.

And she walked out of the locker room, with her head high. She'd be damned if she let Mark get the best of her. She would prove him wrong. He wouldn't see it coming.

Only she knew the true potential that lie within her.