A/N: Hi everyone, please remember that the next few chapters of this story will be told in flashbacks until we catch up on the backstory.
I only own my O.C's.
Please enjoy and don't forget to leave me your thoughts :)
JFK - Airport:
Thursday 17th, January 2019.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to JFK Airport. Local time is Seventeen hundred hours and the temperature is one degree Fahrenheit.
For your safety and comfort, please remain seated with your seat belt fastened until the Captain turns off the Fasten Seat Belt sign. This will indicate that we have parked at the gate and that it is safe for you to move about.
Please check around your seat for any personal belongings you may have brought on board with you and please use caution when opening the overhead bins, as heavy articles may have shifted around during the flight.
If you require deplaning assistance, please remain in your seat until all other passengers have deplaned. One of our crew members will then be pleased to assist you.
On behalf of QANTAS Airlines and the entire crew, I'd like to thank you for joining us on this trip and we are looking forward to seeing you on-board again in the near future. Have a nice early evening!"
"One degree?" Belle mumbled to herself, thankful she changed into warmer clothes mid-flight.
The chatty woman seated next to her chuckled and shook her head. "Oh, Darlin' you ain't in "Melborn" anymore."
Belle nodded and bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from correcting the woman's mispronunciation of her home town. She unbuckled her seat belt as per the instructions when the light turned off and leaned forward and gathered her handbag from the floor. She wrapped the cord from her I-pad around the case and packed it away. She plucked out her relevant documents and car service information and waited to deplane.
The usual wait time in the baggage claim area and Customs was much shorter than she remembered and soon Belle was headed off towards where the Drivers stood with their little paper signs. She looked around and quickly found her name in bold letters "Miss. Westlake."
"Hi, I'm Miss. Westlake."
"Good Afternoon Miss. Westlake. My name is Marty and I will be your driver throughout your stay. Please, let me take your bags." Marty looked to be in his mid-forties, around 5ft9'' with hints of grey short hair peeking out from under his black driver's cap.
"Thank you Marty." Belle replied doing up her coat and followed him outside.
They walked across to the Red parking garage towards a nice looking Black luxury Sedan. Marty easily shifted the bags into his left hand so he could open the back door with his right and closed it after Belle hopped in. He quickly moved back to the trunk and placed the two bags in before shutting it and took his place behind the wheel. Belle rested her head back and settled into the plush leather seats. "Note to self...thank the boss for the nice ride. They sure do know how to treat a girl."
"Miss. Westlake, I hope you don't mind, but it looks like we're going to have to take the long way on the Grand Central Parkway, the other routes out of the City are a nightmare right now."
"Oh, oh okay." Belle stuttered. She hadn't thought that they would have taken that particular route. Just the thought of being that close to the City had her stomach in knots. She closed her eyes and tried to regain her composure. In and out, in and out...over and over again. Traffic wise for the late afternoon wasn't too bad until they got closer to LaGuardia of course. The air was filled with the sounds of car horns and taxi drivers as they yelled at each other through both open and closed windows, as they tried to outmaneuver one another.
"Hey Belles, see if we can get into the next lane." Ben said as he tried to see what the traffic was like up ahead. He had insisted on making the ever-dreaded Airport run to pick her up after her return trip from seeing her parents. He hadn't been able to make it down and thought it would be a nice surprise to pick up her instead of sending a car.
"Babe, I can't see anything because of all this Snow. Where the hell does he think he's going?" She yelled as a taxi tried to cut them off.
Ben hit the breaks hard and slammed his fist down on the horn a few times which sent off a chain of honking and hollering a mile long. "Learn how to drive Asshole! " Ben shouted back as the taxi driver swerved back into his lane. "So how was the rest of your trip, Babe?" He asked as traffic once again came to a complete standstill.
"It was great. Mum and Dad both said to say thanks again for the upgrade. You spoil us too much Mister." Belle smiled leaning over to kiss him on the cheek. She had taken a few weeks off to celebrate her Parents Anniversary and surprised them by taking them to the Whitsunday Islands, a chain of islands off of the North Queensland Coast. It was a gift from both she and Ben along with a few day trips here and there. When Belle and her Parents arrived they were informed that Ben had arranged an upgrade to a private Ocean Front Suite and a Gourmet Chef to cook a special dinner for them all. She was blown away by his generosity and promised to show him how much he meant to her as she got home.
"I love nothing more than to spoil you and see you smile...as well as a couple of other things." Ben replied with a cheeky grin.
Belle laughed and shook her head. "Yeah well, those one or two other things will have to wait until we get home. Now get your mind back on the road mister."
A jolt shook Belle back into the present as the car came to a sudden stop. "Sorry Miss. Westlake, a cab just came out in front of us." Marty said, and shook his head.
Belle couldn't help but smile a little, somethings never change.
Meanwhile: WWE H.Q:
Stephanie was working back late when there was a knock on her door. "Come in." She said out aloud continuing her work on the computer.
"Did you need anything else this evening before I leave?" Diandra, Stephanie's E.A asked popping her head in. Diandra's a bright and hardworking young woman with long platinum blonde hair, an hourglass figure and piercing blue eyes. She had been with the WWE for over three years and directly with Stephanie for just over a year and a half.
Stephanie looked up with a smile and shook her head. "No, you go home D, thanks for everything this week. Have a great weekend."
"No problems Boss, you too."
Stephanie returned to her work re-reading over the final changes to the report before she sent it off to the relevant departments. She hardly worked back late at the Office anymore but since the girls were all away at their different Sports Camps and Paul was on the road with NXT, she had decided to take advantage of the silence whilst she could. She continued with the mounting reports on her desk when a chime on her phone went off. She checked her screen and it was an alert from the Car service indicating that Belle had arrived safely at the Hotel. Stephanie swiped at her screen and turned her attention out of the massive floor to ceiling windows in her corner office.
Melbourne: October 2018:
Stephanie and Paul were finally able to get a few moments to themselves and sat down in the quiet catering hall backstage. It had been nothing but go go go since they had arrived in Australia and it all ended in a few days with their biggest event outside of Wrestlemania especially overseas with the Super Show-Down PPV. The logistics alone were a new level of insanity but they powered through and things were all on the right track and headed towards what they would call a very successful tour when it was all said and done.
Steph had just placed her plate down on the table when her phone chimed with a message. #WWE dirty down under secrets revealed... "What the hell?" She frowned as she unlocked her phone and clicked on the link. It took her to some sort of blog called "Gossip Diva".
" I spy with my little eye a Bella and her Beast...
So much for the huge tantalising headline-grabbing midseason finale of the WWE reality hit Total Bellas! We were left shocked when the gorgeous Nikki Bella broke the heart of her equally gorgeous fiancee John Cena mere weeks out from their star-studded nuptials. So when one of our little sleuths sent me this little gold nugget you could have knocked me down with a feather. It seems the "former no longer speaking couple" have been totally busted when they were spotted looking very happy and gazing adoringly into each other eyes whilst walking around a suburban Melbourne Shopping Center.
#WT...
I for one have been left lost and utterly confused, I thought everything you saw on "Reality T.V" was just that...REALITY. Now yes I know that there's a bit of a stretch between filming and the actual air date, but come on do our emotions not mean anything to these people? Do they not realise that we grab hold of their lives like they're our own and hang onto their every word?
... All of that aside, for now, I'm guessing that I wasn't the only one who found it charming when our John John lay his heart bare on the Today Show in the U.S a few months ago, it seems like our little Miss Bella did too. #AWE
So tell me, my little Gossip Sleuths, are we waiting for "A very Bellas Wedding" Special or the headline, and the next Bachelorette is...
Leave me your thoughts below. The best comments get an exclusive "Gossip Diva" gift bag and remember... death threats don't get t-shirts!
XoXo
GossipDiva.
"Death threats don't get t-shirts. That's good, I like that." Paul chuckled.
Stephanie looked at her husband and sighed. "Of course you would like that. What were they thinking?"
"Babe, it's okay it's just a local gossip blog it won't reach that many people. We'll talk to John and let him know that he needs to be more careful next time." Paul said and took a bite out of his Burger.
"These things start locally but then blow up, you know how this all works. And this isn't the first time that this "Gossip Diva" has written about us."
Paul put his burger down and wiped his mouth. "It will all be okay we can spin this there's nothing to worry about." He replied rubbing her back gently. "Eat your food and put it out of your mind."
Stephanie smiled weakly at her Husband and put her phone away. "You're right, let's just focus on the show and everything else we can handle later on."
Paul nodded in agreement and went back to his meal. Little did they know that soon #GossipDiva would be trending Worldwide and it would mean nothing but trouble for the #WWEUniverse.
Stephanie sighed and turned back to her computer. That show was a huge success for the Company but it also brought some very unwanted attention. The Billion Dollar Princesses fears were proved correct, the blog about Nikki and John blew up but so did the following pieces that revealed backstage happenings and trade secrets.
Paul was right they could handle the "fluffy" stuff as he called it even though it proved to be a headache, but what really had them on edge was the leaking of private company information. Secrets about scripts and backstage meetings and contract negotiations were being very carefully worded into the blog and picked up by all the dirt sheets in the U.S. Leaks like this were very bad for business and had to be fixed immediately. The only problem was they had no idea who was leaking and how they were doing it. Sometimes the information was just little tidbits but then in the comments section of the blog an "anonymous" user had started to upload images of scripts and other documents.
All of this, of course, lead Stephanie on a mission to find out the real identity of Gossip Diva and to find out if they knew who "anonymous" was. For nearly two months she searched high and low for the answers but always came back with nothing. Nobody seemed to know who this blog writer was nor anything about the leaker. It was driving her crazy until one day in early December she arrived home to find her eldest daughter, Adderly, running and screaming in delight through the house. "It's here, it's here!" She screeched.
Stephanie smiled as she removed her coat and put her bag away. "What's here baby?" She asked walking into the lounge room.
"My gift bag!" The young girl grinned holding up a parcel with International Postage stamps and labels all over it.
Stephanie sat down on the couch and watched her daughter as she ripped open the package taking out item after item and unfolding a piece of paper. Adderly then proceded to read the letter out aloud.
"Dear Adderly,
Thank you so much for being the newest member of the Gossip Diva family! I can't remember laughing as much as I did when I read your comments on the Lady Gaga blog...guess what, I love her too! I hope you enjoy all of your gifts and keep all of those super cool comments coming, and you're so right; us girls do have to stick together!
Take Care Miss A,
XoXo,
Gossip Diva.
"AHHH! She read my comments Mom, and she loved them!"
On one level Stephanie was so happy to see her eldest happy but she was also intrigued. "I know baby it's very exciting. One question though, when did you become a fan of Gossip Diva?"
"Oh, Stella and Dani showed me a few of her blogs at Camp and I started to follow her. Is it okay? I know that she's been posting a lot about your work, I can stop if you want me too?" Adderly replied, hoping her Mom wouldn't make her delete her account.
Stephanie let out a little sigh, she didn't want to be the one responsible for wiping that smile off her little face. "No, it's fine Addy you can keep your account, but just don't comment on the WWE posts okay."
Adderly jumped up and wrapped her arms around her Mom's neck. "Thanks, Mom! I'm going to message Stella and Dani, they will be so jealous!"
"Okay, but don't be too long, dinner will be ready soon." Stephanie shouted back as Adderly raced out of the room and up the stairs. She waited until she heard the bedroom door close before reaching for the envelope. She patted down the torn edges back into place and scanned it back to front for any information. She knew the blog originated from Australia, but that didn't mean the blog writer was also from there. She kept studying it until Paul came out of the home office and joined her on the couch.
"What's up with Addy?" He questioned with a quirk of his brow.
Stephanie looked up and smiled. "It seems our daughter is the newest member of the Gossip Diva family."
"Excuse me?"
Stephanie couldn't help but chuckle. "Apparently whilst at Camp, Stella and Dani showed her the newest blog they're members of and she joined too. And no, I didn't know. I didn't even think to add it to the watch list on the browser search but I will add it now." She quickly added. "There, take a look at this to see if you can find anything useful."
She handed him the envelope as she retrieved her phone from her Coat pocket in the foyer and logged into the security browser search software they had installed. She added in #GossipDiva and a few others and saved them.
"Hey Babe, can you get the little magnifier please, I think there's something under this postage mark." Paul said, moving the envelope closer to his face and squinting.
Stephanie retrieved the magnifier from the desk drawer in the office and rejoined Paul on the couch. "What did you find?" She asked, looking over his shoulder.
"Yeah, there's a word underneath this mark just a few letters I think." He replied and looked closer. "Yeah here take a look, does that say "elb" the rest is covered up by this label. Should I try to peel it off?"
Stephanie reached out her hand and tried to read what it said. "No, it may rip. Here let me take a closer look. There's a letter before you can just make it out under the ink of the stamp...oh hang on I think it might be "Melbourne".
"You think it was originally sent from Melbourne? So this blogger must be from Melbourne. It's not much to go on, but it's more than we've had for the past two months." Paul said, mumbling the last part.
Stephanie shot him a look before reaching for her phone. "I'm going to take a couple of photos and send them to J.J, see if he can find anything else that we're missing." J.J worked in the Legal Department as an investigator for the WWE. She had contacted him, in the beginning, to let him know what had been happening, but said that she was going to look into it closer, she would call him in if needed, and with the new potential evidence, it was time. "I'm sure he has some sort of software that can help. Okay all done, now come and help me with Dinner."
"Yeah, I'm coming." Paul groused.
A few days later J.J emailed Stephanie at work and said that he may have found something and he would send everything up via internal post as he had to leave for another case. But his cell phone would be on if she needed to contact him. Twenty-five minutes later Diandra knocked on the door holding a large envelope in her hands. "This just arrived for you."
"Come on in. Thanks, D, can you close the door on your way out please." She smiled taking the envelope from Diandra.
"No problem." Diandra replied closing it behind her as she left.
Stephanie opened the envelope and tipped out the contents onto her desk.
"Hey, Steph,
So I ran your original photos through a few different programs and you were right, it does say Melbourne and I've got a zip code for you. The package was originally sent from an inner Melbourne suburb called Prahran; it's pronounced Pra-Ran. It looks like a pretty nice place to live. Anyway, the package was then sent to the offices of "Cloudin Media" as you told me. I eventually searched all of the leads you gave me and my own and discovered that they have an office in Sydney. The package was then sent over to you. I've made a few discreet calls nothing traceable back to here and hopefully, I will have more information for you by the time I get back later in the week. In the meantime, here are all the photos magnified at different sizes for you."
Kind Regards,
J.J.
Stephanie smiled at the new information. "What's with all the mystery?..." She whispered. "Who the hell are you...