It was a rough night, but the Heyman Family came out on top. Seth retained his title and, by some miracle, Dean did too. CJ being kept out of action had her sitting at commentary during both of their matches so that she wasn't caught alone backstage. The Authority had a nasty habit of orchestrating backstage attacks, so Paul offered to sit with Olivia while he handled some legal issues regarding her contract. It was hell for her, having to watch Dean go through challenger after challenger and not being able to help him- especially when The New Day performed a three on one ambush during one of Dean's "rest periods". Seth had suffered the same fate, having been attacked by Rusev before he even made it down the ramp. Fortunately, Roman had been nice enough to make the save and made sure that Seth was good to go before starting the match.
But this had CJ on double duty for the night. She was taking care of Olivia, Dean, and Seth and she knew that she'd sleep well that night once she was able to lay down. The whole mother/nurse combo was something that she didn't mind doing, but it was exhausting. She had insisted on Dean and Seth staying in the back bedroom together so that she wasn't moving back and forth between rooms on the bus. Seth was more tired that he was hurt, thanks to Roman making the save early on in Rusev's attack, and CJ thought the way that he leaned into Dean was adorable. Dean, however, was more hurt than he was tired and CJ knew that he was slightly uncomfortable with Seth's added weight but he wasn't complaining and CJ thought it was great. He just sat there, watching CJ tend to Olivia and she knew that he was probably just pretending that Seth wasn't there.
"He's asleep." Dean mumbled, and CJ looked over to see that Seth was actually asleep with his head on Dean's shoulder. "If he drools on me, we will never share a bed again."
"So you're saying that us all sharing a bed again is in our future?" She asked, moving to sit beside him on the bed. His arm that wasn't holding Seth to him pulled CJ into his other side and smiling down at their daughter who was looking up at him.
"You and Seth cuddling is a sight I wouldn't mind waking up to, babe."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Is that weird?"
"Not at all." CJ assured, looking up at him with a smile. "I was just thinking that last night, actually."
"Yeah?" He asked, kissing the side of her head before letting out a small yawn. Olivia yawned right after him and both parents smiled down at the infant as they watched her start to fade into sleep.
"Yeah. You and Seth are my security blankets now, and its actually something he wanted to bring up with you."
"Well, I'll talk to him about it while you have your interview with Cole tomorrow afternoon."
"Sounds good." CJ spoke softly, getting an idea in her head that she knew had to be run past Dean (and Seth when he woke up) before it was run past Paul. "What do you think about Olivia being on TV?"
"Depends. She can't be out in the ring because the crowds are way too loud but you know that already. What do you have in mind?"
"Having her during my sit down with Cole. I mean, Stephanie brought her into this in the first place, so why not have her for a couple minutes of the interview?" She explained, looking up from her now sleeping daughter to her boyfriend. Dean was looking in between her and Olivia, obviously thinking hard about what CJ had suggested. She wouldn't be bothered if he or Seth had no, and if any of them was uncomfortable with the idea then she wouldn't be bothered nor would she push them to let this happen.
"I wouldn't mind it. Your eight hundred thousand instagram followers already know what she looks like, why not let the world know how amazing you are with Olive?"
"I only have like two hundred thousand."
"You don't check the numbers often, then."
"I never feel the need to." CJ conceded, resting her head on Dean's shoulder and shutting her eyes. She knew that Olivia needed to be laid down, but she wasn't trying to get up right now. She also knew that she had to hold onto the infant for a few more minutes so that she'd stay asleep when she was finally laid down and wouldn't start fussing due to loss of feeling her mother's touch. "Babe, I'm so tired."
"We've had a long ass day, babe. Poor Seth is knocked the fuck out."
"We need to lay him down, otherwise his neck is going to be fucked tomorrow."
"I know." Dean spoke softly, kissing her head again before she stood up with Olivia and walked over to the crib. Dean used this time to gently move from under Seth, guiding his body into a laying position and watching as CJ stripped down to her underwear.
"Do I need to put on clothes, or can I just sleep like this?" She asked, looking to him for approval of her just sleeping in her bra and panties. This had Dean slightly conflicted; because as much as he wanted to show his trust in Seth and have CJ half naked laying in bed with him, he knew that she'd be laying in between the two men and his pride didn't really want her half naked in bed and pressed up against Seth. At least not yet. He had to get accustomed to sharing the bed with Seth before anything sexual became a reasonable possibility.
"Can you at least put on one of my shirts? That way you can take your bra off and I know you hate sleeping in that one."
She only nodded, too tired to form a response, before going to his suitcase and pulling out a random shirt. Dean watched as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail before taking off her bra and throwing it on top of his suitcase, then crawled into bed between the new space between him and Seth. Her eyes shut as soon as her head hit the pillow, a mumbled "I love you" leaving her lips just before she had fallen asleep and Dean couldn't help but smile.
CJ sat across from Michael Cole, Olivia in her lap, blue eyes watching Cole shift uncomfortably in his seat. She knew that is was slightly unprofessional to have her infant daughter during a televised interview, but she couldn't be bothered. Seth and Dean were a bit...occupied in dealing with stages of Paul's "Plan A", which was going to stretch much longer than they had all expected but were okay with, therefore Olivia needed somebody to watch her. This was why the infant was dressed in her most Ambrose-like outfit, plain black tshirt and jeans with some little sneakers on her feet, so CJ could say that Dean was more than ready to have her but things came up that left Dean unable to take care of Olivia.
"Relax, Michael. She doesn't bite." CJ teased, smiling at Cole reassuringly in order to help this interview along. Her comment seemed to stun the older man out of his stupor, blinking rapidly while he tried to find words. "Honestly, you act like you've never seen a baby before."
"My apologies, CJ, I'm just not used to seeing children with they're parents while they're working. A bit unprofessional don't you think?"
"Unfortunately, my usual sitters are all tied up otherwise she'd be with her father or her Uncle Seth. I'm a mother first, Michael, and I think that this is an incredible opportunity for her to learn early that a real woman handles her business up front and doesn't hide behind her last name and idiot husband."
"Referring to the fact that Stephanie McMahon struck you in front of your daughter at Payback."
"Indeed I am." The blonde spoke, smiling down at Olivia when the infant started to babble a bit. "I know, sweetheart. She's a coward and she's going to get hers."
"What do you mean by that?" Cole asked, bringing CJ's attention away from her daughter. While CJ didn't appreciate Michael interrupting Olivia, she could understand him wanting to keep things somewhat professional.
"I want an apology from Stephanie McMahon for slapping me in front of my daughter and for bringing my daughter into this on Monday night. I don't want an apology from Vince or her idiot husband Hunter on her behalf, I want on from her. Face-to-face, and she has until the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view to give me what I want. However, I will make her life a living hell until I get that apology and admission that her actions were unjust and despicable."
"'Unjust and despicable'?"
"It doesn't have to be in those exact words."
"Right and, until you get that apology, what are you going to do?"
"Make her life miserable in every way I know how. I'm the Gold Standard, Cole. I'm the top Diva in the company, and I will not tolerate being treated like those second rate models in the Divas Division, save for Natalya of course. Maybe I'll walk out with the title, maybe I'll sell it on eBay? I dunno, and that's the beauty of it all."
"One last question: What is the nature of your relationship with Seth Rollins right now? Is it all business, or have you and Dean forgiven him for his actions of last year?"
"I can't speak for Dean, but I do know that Seth made a mistake last year and he's come to realize it. Things are a bit rocky between the three of us still, things are still pretty tense from time to time and I'll admit that, but its all business."
"Just business, yet you referred to him as Olivia's 'Uncle Seth' earlier in our interview?"
Good, he caught that. The seeds have been planted. CJ thought to herself, biting her lip nervously for show while her eyes danced around the room before that calm smirk settled itself back onto her features. "Did I? Regardless, its been fun but my daughter needs her lunch. We'll talk soon."
She rushed out of the room with Olivia before Michael could say goodbye, the whole time grinning to herself because she knew that she had sold that whole interview excellently. She did everything that she was supposed to do, now she just had to hope that Dean and Seth had done their part in all of this. How hard could it be to pick a couple pictures to post on instagram so they were ready for "Way Back Wednesday/Woman Crush Wednesday", "Throwback Thursday", and "Flashback Friday"?
"I've got Cole thinking there's more than business here." CJ announced as she sat down between Dean and Seth in their locker room. Olivia had fallen asleep during the walk and Seth was eager to take the sleeping infant so he could hold her close to his chest. He felt bad for getting into bed and just falling asleep on Dean so that it was up to CJ to manage their daughter, but both had assured him that it wasn't the first time one of them was alone in taking care of her. While it wasn't a big deal to them, he still felt really bad and had made a promise to himself that he'd be the one rocking Olivia to sleep after her bath tonight.
"Good work. We've got our pictures picked out."
"Can I see?"
"We wanted to surprise you." Seth stated, looking up from Olivia to see the look on CJ's face was nothing short of unimpressed. Both men knew that she would've wanted to see what pictures of her would be posted, but Seth never told her in advance when he was posting a picture before, so why would he start now? "Just know that they're good pictures."
"Are they candid? Because some of those candids you took are awful."
"That one of you laughing is gorgeous." Seth defended himself, getting a laugh out of Dean.
"That is a good picture."
"That's ONE good one. In my opinion the rest are shit." CJ gave her opinion, removing her heels before standing from her seat. Dean stood with her, taking her into his arms and kissing her cheek. She knew that he was still sore and hurting from the night before, which was why she didn't squirm away from him She didn't want to risk hurting him, which was why she just let him hold onto her.
"To a man in love, there's no picture of you that's a bad picture." He informed, grinning into her neck before licking at her skin. She couldn't help the little laugh that escaped her, despite not wanting to give him too much power over her, and leaned back into him just a bit. That tongue of his put her into plenty of moments where she forgot where she was. But, unfortunately, that moment with him didn't last because the locker room door was pushed open and Paul quickly shut it behind him and locked it.
"You've got a match tonight, my dear."
"Against?" CJ asked, gently prying herself away from Dean so she could look at Paul.
"Tamina. With one hand tied behind your back and the guys are banned from ringside." The advocate informed, watching as the smile faded from CJ's face and she looked between the three men for some hope of a game plan.
"Naomi is alright at ringside, huh?"
"She sure is." Seth commented, looking up from his phone. "She tweeted about it."
"Awesome." The blonde muttered, going over to her bag and getting out her wrestling jeggings. "My shirt or Dean's shirt?"
"Wear Seth's." Paul suggested, a devilish grin forming on his face. "Whatever happens in the match I want Seth rushing down to help you because we all know it won't be a pretty match. You'll lean into him and he'll be all worried about you and then I'll look skeptical of you guys before we all leave the ring together. Let's just keep planting seeds, alright?"
"Alright." CJ called on her way to the bathroom, Dean pushing his hair away from his face with uncertainty etched on his features. Things were going much faster than he expected them to, and he could only hope that things didn't end up straining their relationship because they were trying to make The Authority see something that was kinda there but not there at all. He knew everything would be fine in the end, since he had too much faith in CJ for them not to, but still. He was a worrier, always had been and always would be. Just because he acted like he wasn't a worrier, didn't mean that he didn't worry endlessly about her every now and again. She was his future wife and the mother of his child, how could he not worry about her endlessly?
Twenty minutes later had CJ in her "wrestling jeans", one of Seth's tshrts that was cropped to expose her stomach, and that long blonde hair was tied back into a ponytail while she sat on Dean's thigh. He hadn't changed out of his "business casual" outfit that CJ had picked out for him, and he knew that he wouldn't be. He didn't have a match tonight and he wouldn't be getting involved in hers, therefore he was really going to be Dean Ambrose the daddy to his daughter and not Dean Ambrose the Lunatic Fringe. As worried as he was over not being the guy to save CJ, he was pretty excited to be able to spend the night with his daughter. He had never been graced with the opportunity to just sit back and stay with Olivia during a show so he was going to make sure that he enjoyed it.
"And you're ready?" Paul asked, looking between Seth and CJ while they watched the clock together. She was going to have to pull a lot of tricks out of her hat if she was going to come out of this match remotely close to okay. Tamina was going to have Naomi ringside, go figure, therefore it was going to be much harder than just a one-on-one match with a woman like Tamina. Add in the fact that she'd have one hand tied around her back, and CJ knew that she'd spend a lot of the match on one leg so she could keep throwing kicks at Tamina. Most of her hard hitting moves required use of both of her hands, along with nearly all of her submission holds, which meant that all she really had were her kicks.
"As ready as I'll ever be." Was CJ's only response, leaning back a bit so she could kiss Dean's cheek as the knock they were all waiting for sounded against the door. Dean wished that she would've let her lips linger for a moment, but she was out the door with Paul and the door was shut behind Paul. He couldn't help but stare at the door for a moment, wishing that she'd come back through the door and plant a kiss on his lips before running back to the curtain. But, alas, that didn't happen and her theme was blaring through the arena and he got to watch her and Paul strut down the ramp with confident grins on their faces as they went. Paul was saying something about how great CJ was an she was agreeing enthusiastically when she hopped onto the ring apron, leaning back to get her belt from Paul so she could hold it above her head.
"That CJ Jericho just loves attention." The King pointed out and Dean gave a slight nod.
"But what about that shirt she's wearing?" Byron commented, and Seth smirked before he turned to Dean while The King made some perverted remark.
"Can we talk?" Seth asked, looking down to see Olivia still fast asleep in her carrier. He hoped that she stayed asleep so that he could talk to Dean without interruption. This was a conversation best had without any interruption from CJ or the baby, so this was the best time.
"Sure."
CJ stood still as her left arm was strapped behind her back, but her eyes stayed locked on her opponent. Tamina was staring her down as well, but she wasn't expecting anything less. Tamina was a predator, pure and simple, but she and Naomi were merely hyenas compared to the lioness who ruled over the women of the company. They could try to be "alpha females" much like their Women's Champion, but they simply couldn't measure up and made that point known when they entered themselves in the tournament for the vacant Diva's Championship.
Confidence was key, and CJ had plenty of it despite knowing that she was going to get her ass kicked. She knew what was coming, and her plan was to make this as painless as she possibly could. Her goal pain scale was a seven at the highest and, while she knew it was wishful thinking, she was praying for some dumb luck as the referee motioned for the bell to ring.
Tamina didn't charge and neither did CJ. She was choosing to bide her time and wait for Tamina to make a mistake, something that happened quickly. The Samoan woman started to laugh at the Canadian's expense, so hard that she actually doubled over and that's when CJ stuck. She sent a super kick right into the side of Tamina's head, diving into a cover and quickly scooting away when Tamina kicked out at two. Now CJ had her undivided attention, in the worst way, and now was when she really had to be careful because Naomi was now focused purely on the match and nothing else.
Oh boy. Was the constant thought in CJ's mind, repeating those two words over and over again as Tamina backed her into the corner.
"What are you gonna do now, huh!? You've got one arm and I've got all the reason in the world to break it."
"Go for it, then." CJ dared, smirking up at her opponent and instantly regretting those words when Tamina started ramming her shoulder into her torso repeatedly. Her left arm was positioned in a way that ensured that it hit the turnbuckle with every lunge by Tamina, and the Samoan's hand pulling that arm back certainly wasn't helping matters.
Paul screamed in horror when CJ was effortlessly thrown directly onto her left arm, but that scream was cut short when he heard his client yell out in pain. She wasn't in a good way, not at all, and it was obvious that she was actually holding back how much pain she was actually in. She was trying so hard not to let Tamina or The Authority get the upper hand in any way, that she was suffering in silence. Kicking out of every cover attempt made by Tamina until eventually Naomi had seen enough at ringside and slid into the ring to join the fray.
CJ had just gotten back onto her feet when she felt a forearm the back of her shoulder with enough force to send her face first into the mat The bell rang, signalling the end of the match due to disqualification,but that didn't stop Naomi from stomping her foot down on CJ's left shoulder to keep her in place while Tamina started stomping at the blonde's body.
"Not so tough now, are ya, champ!?" Naomi yelled, moving to kneel in front of CJ and grabbing her face to get eye contact. "Stephanie is going to mop the floor with you!"
"Fuck her." CJ spoke through grit teeth, smirking up at Naomi when her eyes widened in surprise. "And fuck you."
"He's coming Nao!" Tamina informed, pulling Naomi away from the Women's Champion and the duo left the ring just as Seth slid in. CJ just laid her head down on the canvas, trusting that Seth would take care of her and tried not to cry out too loud when he worked on unstrapping her arm.
"You're gonna be okay, CJ." She heard him over the crowd, wincing when he helped her up to a sitting position so he could remove the strap from her waist. "What hurts?"
"My shoulder. I think its dislocated." She answered, biting her lip to keep from crying out when he moved her arm from behind her back and she used her right hand to cradle her left arm.
"We'll get you taken care of." Seth whispered into her ear, kissing her head. She knew that this was merely part of the plan, but she was so comfortable with Seth in this moment despite Paul looking at them like they had two heads and the near silent crowd. "I'll take care of you."
Alright, sorry about the wait between chapters. Things got busy and I had to deal with family and I got myself addicted to tumblr and it was a mini downward spiral haha. But I can assure you, my friends, I have gotten my shit together and have learned to moderate.
On to more important matters, I'd like to thank meredith757, theShield757, Carolyn, AJPunk757, moeshellz757, Imagineer1392, Sarcastic Nightmare, and ItReignsJustice-619 for reviewing the last chapter!