Disclaimer: I own no one except Nicole...

A/N: Here's the next installment, i hope you all enjoy it. Thanks to those who reviewed, keep them coming...

Chapter 12: The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows

Nicole walked in the hotel café and sat herself at small table in the back corner of the room. She had been able to slip out of Evolution's hotel room without waking any of the men. Although Nicole enjoyed being with them, she did still need some time to herself, and lately she hadn't had any of that. So, this quiet breakfast was to be her "alone time" for the week, or however long she had to go.

She pulled out her newest copies of Vogue and Cosmopolitan and set them on the table, as a waiter greeted and handed her a menu. A few moments later she was ready to order. She waved over the waiter who took her order of a cranberry muffin and a large cappuccino.

A few minutes later, Nicole was peacefully enjoying her breakfast while reading a article in her magazine. She was so involved in her task, that she didn't notice someone coming over to the table an occupying the chair opposite her.

To gain Nicole's attention, the diva picked up the cup of coffee and took a sip, "This is good."

Nicole, startled, looked up to find Stacy sitting across from her coffee cup in hand. "Hey you, long time no see"

Stacy smiled, "Ya, been pretty busy. I just had a shoot over in Mexico for RAW magazine." She looked around, "Trying to get away from Evolution?"

Nicole laughed, "Never! I'm Just trying to fit in some 'Nicole time'"

"Right, because I'm sure you haven't had enough of Hunter and the rest of them"

"Oh, come on Stacy. They are really great guys, if you would just get to know them. Trust me okay. I thought exactly what you think before I actually got to spend any time with them. And yes, Hunter can be a jerk sometimes, but he's not most of the time."

"Well," Stacy said in amusement "haven't we become quite taken with Hunter. Is there a hint of sincerity I hear in your voice, or am I going crazy."

Nicole blushed, "I don't know Stacy. Maybe..."

"No way! The last time we spoke you said the two of you were getting along great, which is weird enough in my opinion, but now your telling me you actually might have deeper feelings for the man!"

"I don't know Stace..."

She was cut of by Stacy, "I just cannot comprehend how this can happen. The two of you have always hated one anothers guts; practically wished one another dead, and now you tell me your falling in love with him!"

"Jesus Stacy, may to go and blow things out of proportion. I never said I was in love with him, that was your over active mind working in over drive. All I said was that I think that I might like him. I'm really not all that sure."

"Well okay, lets try to figure this out. And lets pray to god that this is all just one big misunderstand." She put on a huge grin and giggled, "Okay seriously, if you like him that's okay. As long as your happy that's all that matters."

"Thanks Stace, that means a lot right now." Nicole sighed as thoughts of how angry her friends, especially Jericho, were. She had never meant to hurt them, however they didn't see it that way. Luckily, she still had Stacy; she would never let her down.

Stacy, sensing that a mood change was definitely needed, continued "So, what's been going on with the two of you, for you to have these feelings?"

Nicole looked up and smiled, thoughts of the kiss they shared the previous night racing in her mind. "The usual, just hanging out you know..."

"Have you two gone on a date yet?"

"No, not yet..."

"...but you're hoping there will be one?"

"Well, I don't know. I don't wanna say it and then jinks it."

"Because...?"

"I don't know. Maybe because every relationship I have always turns out bad. I always manage to ruin it, and I don't want to ruin this one before it even has a chance to begin." She took a sip of her coffee and sighed.

"You're really serious about this, aren't you? Like you really like him Nicole, don't you?" Stacy had come to realize that maybe Nicole liked Hunter even more than she knew.

"I guess I do. I mean last night after he kissed me, it was all I could think about..."

"He kissed you!" Stacy nearly jumped out of her seat with excitement. "How, tell me everything"

"Well, he was originally gonna kiss me while we were outside on the balcony, but Randy decided to make an unexpected appearance. Then later on in the evening he came to see me in my room and we talked and then he kissed me." As Nicole spoke about the kiss, a smile began to form.

"And...what was it like? Did you feel a spark..."

"I don't know about the spark, I think that's only in the movies, but I did enjoy it" Nicole blushed.

"Well, I am glad that your happy Nikki. You deserve it."

At that moment, Nicole's cell phone started to ring. She pulled it out of her bag, and checked her caller ID; it was her father. Nicole hadn't spoken to him since she had informed him she would be working for the WWE, and wasn't quite sure she wanted to speak to him right now either. She decided it was best to not answer his phone calls and that she would call him when she was good and ready to talk to him. She placed her phone back into her purse and took a gulp of her coffee.

Stacy sighed and pulled the phone back out of the purse. She knew, as did most of their friends, that Nicole was more like her father than she would ever admit. They were both very stubborn, and never backed down to no one. That's how Stacy knew that both the phone wouldn't stop ringing and that Nicole would never answer it.

"Hello...Oh hi Steve, how are you?...I'm great thanks...Yes she's right here, hold on..." Stacy looked over to Nicole, "Its for you"

Nicole gave her a spiteful glare and took her phone, "Hi daddy, how are you?"

"I'm just great, and how are you?" Steve asked.

"Great, everything is great. How's mom?"

"She's fine. I actually just spoke to her; she seemed very interested in your new situation with Evolution. Mind to explain?"

Nicole took a deep breath; her father seemed quite calm and she hoped it stayed that way. "Well, what is it exactly that you want to know? I thought you would have at least been a little happy, after all I did slam Shawn in the head with a chair." she smiled at that thought.

"Yes, I suppose there was some good that came out of it." he paused "I just want to know why?"

"Daddy, you have always told me to take every opportunity that comes my way, and joining Evolution, was just that; an opportunity. Who knows where it may lead me, but that's the fun part, and I'm enjoying myself, so that's all that matters.

Her father sighed, "Okay, you're a grown woman, you can do what you want. Not that you'd listen to me if I told you what to do anyways. Just be careful Princess."

Nicole broke out into a smile; her father hadn't called her that since she was a little girl. "I will, don't worry. I'll take to you later."

She closed the phone and continued to be confused by her father's sudden new attitude. Her father would have never been this calm; she wondered what had gotten into him. Not that she really minded this new attitude he seemed to have; it gave her much more freedom, but she was a little startled that he taken it so well, and even went as far as accepting it. She decided that it was best not to over think it, and that she should just leave things as they were; after all everything seemed to be working in her favor.

After Nicole ended her phone call, she and Stacy conversed a while longer and then decided to make their ways back to their hotel rooms. After Stacy stepped out of the elevator, Nicole continued upwards until she reached the topmost floor and entered her hotel room.

Randy, Dave, and Hunter were sitting around the large wood table as Ric paced the room. They seemed to be in deep thought. She walked over to her room and dumped her bag on the bed and walked back to the main room. She sat down at one of the empty chairs next to Hunter and looked around at the three men.

"Is this some sort of ritual or something," she finally asked. "..because I really don't see what the purpose is."

"Very cute blondie, but we here are trying to figure out what we are going to do on RAW tonight. Now if your interested, you can help us." Dave informed her.

She stuck her tongue out at him, " Well, you all seem to be making great progress, after all Randy has just now shifted positions, and maybe just maybe he had got something. Ah nope, he was just scratching his head."

"Someone's in a bad mood. By the way did we tell you, people with bad attitudes get shipped out the door." Dave smirked.

Nicole eyed him and then crumbled up a napkin and threw it at him. "Don't be mean Dave" she said in a small voice.

Dave chuckled, "Act as innocent as you want, I know you're a vindictive, power hungry, spoiled little girl."

"I resent that! It's not true"

Ric had had enough "Would the two of you just stop it already! I'm having a hard enough time trying to think when its quiet I don't need to hear the two of you bickering. Now can the both of you please do something productive"

"Yes dad." they mocked him.

Both Dave and Nicole thought it best to stay quiet as they tried to come up with some sort of plan. However, the silence soon got to Nicole, and she couldn't stay quiet any longer.

"I really don't think we should try anything on Shawn tonight. It's too risky; he's probably expecting you to retaliate for what happened yesterday in the gym. I think it would be best to stay clear of him for a few weeks and then attack when he least expects it."

Hunter looked up, "She's right. If we give Shawn some time, he's going to hopefully forget about all this and go onto other things, and that's when we strike."

"So you're telling me we've been wasting our time here? Dammit Nikki, couldn't you have had this revelation a little earlier." Randy complained.

"Think of it as a practice for future brainstorming sessions" She suggested.

He rolled his eyes, "We should get going if we wanna make it to the arena on time."

Within ten minutes the five members of Evolution were seated comfortably in their limo on the way to the arena. Nicole was seated at the far end of the car with Hunter right next to her. Dave and Randy sat adjacent to them, with Ric across from them. As Ric, Randy and Dave spoke about their matched that night, Nicole was too preoccupied with her new puppy Tinkerbell. She remembered how Hunter hadn't hesitated to buy the puppy for her after she had said how much she liked it.

As Nicole continued to be entertained with Tinkerbell's antics, Hunter watched her out of the corner of his eye. Her face had this glow about it, that just radiated happiness. He knew it was infectious as it had gotten to him on more than one occasion, including this particular moment. As he continued to watch her, he didn't realize that they had reached their destination and that the driver had opened their doors, awaiting for their exit.

They got out of the limo and made their way into the arena. As they walked the halls to their locker room, all eyes were on them; especially on Nicole. She hadn't been to an arena since the night she joined Evolution, and she guessed that it was going to take some getting used to for everyone to see her with them. Obviously, people had been shocked to see Nicole align herself with Evolution, but she had hoped that it would have passed by now. As they continued down the hall, heads continued to turn and look in their direction. Nicole was beginning to feel a little self conscious, as she didn't like the looks she was receiving.

The other members of Evolution, who were used to being stared at as they made their ways throughout the arenas every night, noticed the stares Nicole was receiving. Hunter, who was more aware that any of the others, felt that she didn't deserve all this negative attention. It was none of their business whom she associate with, and no one had asked them to care. He had realized a long time ago that people here were all too involved in everyone elses lives. He had learned to not let what they all thought get to him, and he only hope that Nicole too would realize this, if not it would be her downfall.

As they turned a corner, he sent a menacing glare at all those looking in their direction. As soon as he had, most of then turned back to their tasks. He quickened his pace to meet up with Nicole and stood right by her. She obviously felt uncomfortable, as she was concentrating on watching the floor instead of those around her.

He moved closer to her and whispered in to her ear, "Don't let them get to you, that's all they want to do. They want to tear you down."

Nicole looked up and smiled. She knew Hunter was right, she couldn't let them get to her. She had to continue being strong; she wasn't going to feel guilty just because they didn't agree with her choice of friends. All she needed now was someone to be there for her and help her along the way.

As they continued to walk, Hunter placed his hand in hers and gave it a squeeze of encouragement. She smiled as they continued to walk the hallway hand in hand, maybe she had already found that someone.