AN:Omgosh. I'm so SORRY for the long absence. With the combination of school, writers block, lack of will, and two broken computers I haven't had much time/tools to write. But I'm back. I can't tell for how long exactly because school is starting soon but I will be updating periodically for as long as I can allow. Enjoy chapter 3 of "Darling Nikki"

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that may seem familiar to you i.e. John Cena, Randy Orton, Triple H, JFK Airport, MSG (or I'd be so rich!), Rolling Stone Magazine and things of THAT nature. I do own Nicole, Audrey, Mel, Scott, and other minor characters.

Chapter 3: Big Brother & Big Changes

Nicole rushed down the crowded sidewalk nearly knocking over anyone – including a hot dog vender and several meter maids, which stood in her path. She glanced again and again at her watch as the disgruntled Wall Street executives shouted obscenities as she passed. "Sorry, excuse me", she quickly apologized as she jogged faster towards the subway.

"Great, I'm going to be late for my audition!" Nicole thought to herself as she ran down the stairs and into the subway entrance. She rushed past several men just in time to see the last subway train to the heart of the city leave the station. "Looks like I'll have to walk to the audition", Nicole said as she headed back up the stairs and into the chaos of midday traffic. Hailing a cab wasn't the best option considering traffic was backed up for miles. She could walk, however she doubted that walking in heels she'd get there any faster. Nicole took a seat on a nearby bench trying to decide what to do. "I want this audition. Hell, I NEED this audition. What have I done? What have I said to deserve this?"

She sighed in frustration and checked her watch again. It was already a few minutes till her audition time and she didn't have much time to spare. Nicole walked to the curb and signaled for a cab. A cab finally stopped and she got in. "One moment, I have the address written in my script". Nicole opened her tote bag and searched through her purse for her script. "That's strange, I could have sworn I put my script into my bag before I left the coffee shop". Nicole paused. "I was skimming my lines before that idiot customer walked in!" She cursed under her breath and stormed out of the cab and back toward Mel's Coffee Shop. "There is just no way this day can get ANY worse can it?"

Audrey sat in her cubicle proofreading a review she had written for next month's issue. "'Making Waves by Audrey Weston'. That has a nice ring to it if I may say so myself." Sure she was only interning but one of the writers had been so impressed that they had given her a minor assignment to prove herself to the editor. Audrey took to writing her byline just as her cell phone rang. She pressed save on her keyboard and looked at her clock to discover it was a little after one. "Paul can't be that eager to talk to me. I just hung up with him an hour ago." After the phone rang twice more Audrey smiled and answered. "Paul honey I told you I'd call you I was finished but you do have perfect timing..." Audrey was interrupted by another man's voice that was definitely not her boyfriend's. "Long time no talk Audrey Michelle". Audrey paused and tried to recognize the male voice on the other end. Then it clicked. "John Cena? How'd you get my number?" Audrey reprimanded. She heard him chuckle. "No hi, how ya doin' or nuttin Aud? Glad to know someone truly cares. You really need to learn some manners," John said in a joking tone. "And who's this Paul guy that you tend to mistake your best friend's brother for huh?"

Audrey rolled her eyes and shook her head as she smirked in amusement. "Speaking of Nicole, how was the ride from the airport?" There was a pause. "Well Audrey that's why I called. I thought you told Nic that I'd be coming into town? Cause she wasn't at the airport and I sure ain't at your place." Scott the press manager knocked on Audrey's door diverting her attention. Scott looked at Audrey and the phone in her hand with a reprimanding look. "Audrey, I thought I told you no personal phone calls during office hours? Hurry up, I need you to take these pictures to the office uptown." Scott slammed a stack of photographs onto Audrey's desk and stormed down the hall. "Audrey!?" Audrey returned the phone to her ear and swept a loose hair behind her ear. "I DID tell Nicole and I wrote down flight info and stuff for her and put it on top of her script so she could remember to pick you up before her audition." "Well Aud, she's not here." Audrey's stress level was about to peak. She glanced out of the window across the hall and at the pictures on her desk. "Listen John, I have to run some pictures to the printer which is on the way to JFK. I can pick you up in about a half hour if traffic is good." "Yo Audrey, I need you to get here FASTER. I can't hang around the airport for long without fans mobbing me." Audrey grabbed the stack of photographs and her car keys and headed toward the elevator. "John I'm sure there are tons of twenty something white guys wearing baseball caps and jerseys hanging in the airport. You'll fit right in. Don't cause I riot until I get there 'kay? Bye." Audrey closed her phone and pushed the button for the elevator. Yes Nicole you definitely owe me. Where the heck is that stupid elevator! Audrey thought to herself as she impatiently waited to get out of the office.

Nicole went into Mel's Coffee Bean out of breath and in pain from running in high heels. "Hey Nic, didn't expect to see you back so soon. How'd the audition go?" Mel asked as he poured a customer's refill that was sitting at the counter. Nicole sat on one of the stools and held her head in the palm of her hand. "Mel, I didn't go to the audition. I got out of here late after serving that jackass of a customer. I missed the one fifteen train, traffic is a nightmare, and to top it all off I left my script here by accident. Have you seen it?" Mel shook his head. "Nope, I haven't seen it since you had it in your hands daydreaming." Nikki sighed and dropped her head onto the counter. Sophie laughed, "Well Nic, look on the bright side, you are just in time to take over for me while I take my break." Nicole looked hopelessly at Sophie and was about to speak when her phone ringing interrupted her. "Hold that thought Sophie." Nicole fished through her bag for her cell phone and recognized Audrey's number. "Audrey this isn't a very good time..." A very angry sounding Audrey interrupted Nicole mid-sentence. "Oh Nicole I think it is a VERY good time to interrupt seeing as I'm heading to pick up your brother the one and only John Cena from John F. Kennedy Airport where he could be getting mobbed by fans any minute. Yes, Nicole I think it is a VERY GOOD TIME! Did I mention traffic is murder?" Nicole's jaw dropped and her eyes widened. "Did you say that my brother was at JFK? What the heck is he doing there?!" Nicole could hear Audrey's sharp intake of breath and some mumbled cursing on the other end before an audible and tense reply was heard. "Oh, I don't know Nicole, maybe waiting for you to show up and take him to our place? Does THAT seem like a possibility Nic?" Nicole waved good-bye to Sophie and left Mel's heading toward her apartment. "When was I told that he was going to be in town? I don't remember getting a call from him," Nicole said as she walked the crowded sidewalk. "Of course you don't. You were out like a light before eight last night and John called around nine. He told me that they have a show taping tonight at MSG and then he's in town for a few days until Monday. I left a note for you to pick him up and I left it on your script so you'd see it in the morning when you left." Nicole sighed as she approached their building and walked up the stairs. "Note??? What note?" Nicole remembered her quest for the snooze button this morning and figured she must have knocked the note on the floor this morning along with her alarm clock. "Oh. Well never mind Audrey. I owe you and I'll be waiting here when you two get here." "Fine," Audrey said before they both hung up. "Yep this day can definitely get worse," Nicole thought to herself as she entered the apartment and into her bedroom. On the floor several feet away from her alarm clock, she found a hand written note from Audrey with John's flight info and "Pick up JFK around 11 o'clock" in bold red letters. The question was how could she miss it? And I have a feeling that it's going to be hell before the day is over.

An hour and a half after she left the office, Audrey pulled into the airport parking garage. It was two thirty in the afternoon and hopefully John didn't decide to take a taxi to his hotel or she would definitely be pissed. Audrey walked through the terminal looking for her assumed charge but found no sign of him. She searched at the arrival gate and at baggage claim but there was still no sign of Mr. Cena. Audrey thought of putting a page in for him over the loudspeaker but the voice in her head immediately noted it as a bad idea. Then Audrey's cell phone rang again. Audrey noted that it was an unfamiliar number and answered.

"Hello?" she asked as she continued to scan the crowd for any signs of John. "I thought you'd be here in a half an hour?" Audrey smiled on the inside and part of her stress had been relieved. He said "here" so that must have meant that he was still in the airport. But there was still the question as to where he was in the airport. "Where are you?" she asked still scanning the crowd for any indication. "I'm at the observation deck watching the planes take off. Very nice view by the way," he said. "Figures, I'll be right there." Audrey ran up the three flights of stairs to the observation deck where she found John waiting for her. He had a stunned look on his face but soon replaced it with a smile "It's about time Audrey. I could have just called a limo service to pick me up and take me to the hotel, but it's good to see a familiar face when I come into town." Audrey dropped his suitcase and gave him an angry yet disparaging look. "I could strangle you RIGHT now John Cena but I will not do so because that would just defeat the purpose of sitting in traffic for an hour, searching for you for God knows how long, and subsequently having to probably sit in traffic with you for another hour or so. I'll be getting crap from Scott when I get back to the office for taking your call and for something I probably didn't do if he's in his usual mood and now I'm just not in a pleasant mood. Now let's go Cena!" John smirked at Audrey's state of fury and gave her a military style salute in response. Audrey rolled her eyes and started through the crowd at a lightning pace with John following suit. "Audrey slow down girlie, I'm not in a rush," John said almost panting trying to keep up with the blonde. "Well I am, now get a move on. I want to get back as quick as I can. We're parked on level C"

Audrey and John reached the parking garage in what seemed like record time, and Audrey had no problem throwing John's heavy bags into the trunk of her Jeep. Audrey and John strapped in and Audrey turned the key in the ignition. However, nothing happened. She tried again but her engine just sputtered and died. Audrey rested her arms on the steering wheel and banged her head repeatedly while whimpering until John pulled her back to a sitting position. "Audrey calm down. I'll go check to see what's wrong under the hood. Don't freak out, aight?" John got out of the jeep and Audrey popped the hood.

After a few minutes of tinkering around and inspecting John shut the hood and returned to the car. "So what's the diagnosis?" Audrey asked as she drummed her fingers against the steering wheel. "Either your battery is dead or something else is wrong. Either way I can't fix it". Why ME? Audrey thought to herself as she tried to think of another way to get back to her apartment, not to mention her office before Scott would require her to work overtime. "This day has been the worst ever, nothing but bad things for me today," Audrey complained as she fished out her cell phone. John gave her a pitiful look, "and what about seeing my handsome face?" Audrey smirked, "like I said, one bad thing after the other. I think I'll call the repair shop so they can tow the car and get it fixed." John got out of the car and grabbed his phone as well. "You do whatever you want princess, I have a few calls of my own to make."

Paul and Randy continued to walk around New York City and had long ago lost track of the mysterious waitress due to the large crowds and Randy's wanting a hot dog that Paul still hadn't allowed. Randy was still at a loss as to where they were going but he still wanted a hot dog if he was going to be dragged up and down the sidewalk like a rag doll. On the bright side, they hadn't been recognized. Paul's cell phone rang. "Hello?" he answered as he and Randy continued to weave in and out of the crowd. "Hey Levesque, I need a favor." It was John Cena on the other end. "Sure, but we're kind of preoccupying ourselves at the moment with a little scavenger hunt of sorts. Make it quick." "Well listen, my sister's roommate and I are stuck at JFK and we need you to take us to their apartment." Paul laughed, "What are we a limo service? Can't you just grab a limo service?" John paused for a moment, "I don't have any of my credit cards with me and anyway Paul, you and Randy do owe me from other night when I covered for you with your wife, but if you don't want to help me I guess I'll just tell Stephanie..." Hunter growled under his breath before finally submitting. "Fine Cena, Randy and I will come to the airport to get you. Stay put wherever you are. I don't want to have to waste time tracking you down. Besides I've always wanted to meet little Nicole." Paul hung up and turned to find Randy at the corner grabbing a hot dog. Paul bounded toward him and pulled him along by his shirt. They headed for their hotel that was only a few blocks away. "Hey what's the big idea?" Randy tried to put ketchup on his hot dog while still trying to keep a steady pace with the slightly larger man ahead of him. "We have to do Cena a favor and pick him up at the airport. Grab the keys to your rental and I'll wait for you at the garage entrance." Randy was dazed by the commands he was given. "The airport? But that's an hour away! I haven't even finished my hot dog and..." "Too bad. I'll drive then." Hunter took the keys from Randy and they both walked to the parking garage.

An hour later Randy and Hunter found Audrey and John sitting on the hood of Audrey's jeep. "Finally! What took you two so long?" John said grabbing his suitcase and throwing it into the trunk of the Hummer. "Killer traffic, and Randy just had to get another hot dog," Paul said looking at the younger star that had an obscenely large ketchup stain now on his shirt. John shook his head and helped Audrey into the back of the truck.

Audrey settled herself on the passenger's side behind Randy while John sat behind Paul. "So, what happened to you two?" Paul asked the irritated blonde as they left the airport. Audrey was busy staring out of the smoke tinted windows and hadn't noticed who the driver was or to the fact that he was trying to make conversation with her. John nudged her in the side to bring her into the conversation but she just turned closer to the window and continued looking out of the window. Paul raised his eyebrow at the young blonde in the mirror and turned his attention back to the road ahead while Randy could be heard snickering in the front seat.

Nicole sat in the living room on the white couch looking though her old photo albums while waiting for her brother and Audrey to arrive. It had been so long since she had seen him at all. The last time she had seen her brother was two years ago at her seventeenth birthday party. Before he broke out big in the WWE and before the incident happened. They were incredibly close then; they'd talk for hours when she'd call home from school occasionally making him late for practice. But the following year everything changed when he signed his contract. He was away from home a lot and she wouldn't see him on family visiting days. After the incident with Kevin, Nicole's outlook on life had changed. She became more distant than usual and she was so far away from home, her family, and her brother that she felt she had no one to talk to. Well there was always Audrey but she didn't one her to be worried and watching like a hawk every second of the day. But Audrey began to worry anyway. So much for being detached. There were rumors going around school the day after and they didn't quite die until graduation. Meanwhile she kept herself busy by staring in play after play and writing in her spare time. Her parents came to see every major production while John was out on the road. Truthfully, she missed her older brother. She secretly watched wrestling on Monday and Thursday and sometimes on Sunday to catch the highlights she might have missed. She still had his first U.S. Title reign on tape. She tried to buy tickets for whenever they came to New York, but she either had a late night at work or tickets were sold out. But from what she did see on television, he hadn't changed very much; his public persona was still as cocky as ever, but he was truly sweet at heart. They still talked on occasion but it just wasn't the same bond that they had had when they were younger. Nicole could feel her eyes stinging from the tears that were threatening to fall. "I can't get emotional now, not now. I can't let him see me cry." Nicole dropped the photo album hurriedly and went straight to the bathroom medicine cabinet. She rummaged around to the back of the cabinet for a bottle of white pills, grabbed two and restored the bottle to its original hiding place. She turned off the light and headed to the kitchen area and grabbed a water bottle out of the fridge. After she swallowed the meds, Nicole returned to the living room where the pictures she had dropped were scattered throughout the floor. Nicole dropped to her knees to collect the pieces of memories from her childhood and stacked them neatly on a pile on the coffee table. The sun was going down and Nicole wondered what could be taking Audrey and John so long to get there.

During the ride Audrey fell asleep against the window and John stared at her in silence. He had barely managed to hide his shock at the airport when he met her on the observation deck. He knew that she was older and that she had changed but he hadn't thought she had changed that much. Her voice on the phone still sounded the same except it didn't have that bubbly carefree tone to it that it did when she and Nicole would come home for vacation. He had only seen Audrey and Nicole once in the last two years. Heck, if Audrey had changed this much, the sight of little Nicole was surely to give him a start as well. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and yawned. Once upon a time, Nicole and John had been close, but training and wrestling had gotten in the way of his relationship with his younger sister, which he regretted. When he was at home to visit she was always at school, and when he called to talk to her recently she was either at work or going to an audition. It was good that she was keeping herself busy with school, work, and her craft. Maybe his workaholic influence rubbed off in his absence? Probably, but he had yet to determine whether or not that was a good thing. It seemed that as time went by they left more messages than they had conversations; their whole relationship had changed.

After circling the block several times, Paul finally found a parking space that was big enough for the hummer. John grabbed Audrey and carried her into the building while Paul and Randy followed to their displeasure, with John's bags.

Audrey shifted in John's arms while he walked up the staircase to the loft. He rang the bell twice before he heard the locks being undone. The door opened to reveal a smiling Nicole, now clad in black sweatpants and 76ers jersey, with her hair in a laid back pony tail. John was in true shock. He didn't see the same little Nicole. He couldn't put his finger on it but something had definitely changed about her and it wasn't just her hair color. Her smile wasn't the same smile he knew, but then again he hadn't seen her for almost two years. So much could have happened and he highly doubted that this visit would be enough to catch up on all of the stuff that he had missed.

"Oh my gosh Audrey! What happened?" John heard his sister gasp at the condition of the young girl in his arms. "Oh nothing. She just fell asleep. She came to get me at the airport and well her car wouldn't start. I called a couple friends to pick us up and they should be on their way upstairs with my bags. I was wondering if they could stay and chat with us a while?" Nicole nodded, "sure whatever you want." John placed Audrey on the white couch and turned around to give his younger sister a hug. "I missed you Nikki, you've grown up so much!" Nicole laughed, "why so have you!" she joked as she punched her brother in the arm.

Audrey's cell phone rang from inside her purse. Not wanting to disturb her friend from her slumber, Nicole took the phone and signaled that she would answer it in the other room. She went into her room and shut the door behind her. Seconds later I tired looking Paul and Randy entered the apartment dragging John's luggage. "Gees Cena, you pack like a girl! What do you carry in here?" John laughed, "a few jerseys, caps, sneakers, weights, the necessities." Randy gave him a "whatever" look just as Nicole stormed out of her bedroom still on Audrey's cell phone surprisingly whispering at whoever was on the phone. "Listen Scott, Audrey has been working her butt of and no she will not work overtime. She's had a stressful enough day already. Goodnight!" Nicole hung up the phone and turned to the three men who stood in the living room. "Have you three ever heard of being quiet? Audrey is trying to sleep." John smiled and shook his head. "Paul, Randy, this is my little sister Nicole Cena".

Randy was shocked at the girl who came out of the bedroom. He could have sworn she looked familiar but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Paul smirked and nudged Randy in the arm and whispered, "look familiar?" A second later it had clicked, "the girl in the coffee shop??" he thought in total shock. "Nicole, these are two of my close friends, Randy Orton and Paul Levesque". Nicole was having the suspicious feeling that she had seen both of them before. Sure she had seen them on television but there was something personally familiar about Randy. And then it hit her; "he's the guy at Mel's that I poured coffee on today!" "YOU!" they both said in unison. Paul couldn't keep himself from erupting into hysterics and John looked incredibly confused by the outburst. "Can someone fill me in on what's going on here?" Paul by this time was red and found that he couldn't stop laughing. "It's...a...long...story". John looked from his younger sister to his best friend and smiled. "I think we have all night".

AN:Okay so I think after an extended absence you have received as much as you are going to get out of me today. It might have taken quite a long time but you've got 13 pages worth of story to keep you occupied. I've spent a long two days on this chapter and I'm expecting a lot of reviews so hop on over to the sexy review button and review please if you want more. Criticism is always greatly appreciated but nothing about length lol.

3 Iccess