CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Friday, sometime around eleven o'clock at night, the Diva's Army had just finished a training session. As everyone was showering, getting dressed, grabbing their bags, and getting ready to go, Jazz stood in front of the exit to the gym they were training in, and waited for everyone to gather around.

"What's up?" Natalya asked, tucking a stray piece of her bangs behind her ear as the girls got a bit antsy. Why would Jazz be stopping them?

"Girls, I have an announcement for you." The girls remained silent, but got impatient. "You've all been working very hard… therefore, I'm cancelling tomorrow night's practice, and the practice scheduled for Sunday morning. You've earned a night off. Even you, Blondie." Even though Kelly had gone back to her natural brown hair, Jazz refused to call her by her name.

The girls cheered amongst themselves, talking as they walked out of the gym. Jazz was the only one left inside, she thought, until she heard a chair squeak off to the side.

"That was a good thing you did, you know."

Jazz turned around to face the blonde-haired man stepping up in front of her. "I suppose it was, wasn't it?"

"The girls have been getting better." Edge smiled. "I knew you would be a good decision."

Jazz nodded, giving him a half-smile in return before going back to her stoic looks. "You should go out with Kennedi. She's been putting in quite a bit of work. She can almost beat Veronica when Veronica's working Victoria now, and that's saying quite a bit. She deserves a night out with her… well, whatever you are."

"Alright. Thank you, Jazz."

Jazz only nodded again as Edge walked out of the building to catch up with the girls.

Trish stood in front of the DEAR girls Saturday morning at ten o'clock. They'd pushed back training to eat breakfast, but were going to work until eight-including lunch break-that night. They'd also be going out to dinner again.

"Alright, girls. We're going to start off with basic workouts. Pushups, add variations, sit-ups, add some variations to that. Et cetera. Until we've worked through everything that we need to do. Heard?"

"Heard!" DEAR responded, without excitement.

Trish continued to work the girls like this, going through 'girly' pushups, then normal pushups, one-handed, and then the girls took turns sitting on each other's backs. This went on in the same sort of sense for sit-ups, as well.

Then they went to the pull-up bars, and Trish led by example by starting off doing fifty. She came back down, and Lita went up, doing the same amount. They cycled through all of the girls, going up in increments of twenty-five until they were each doing a hundred and fifty pull-ups. The girls complained that they were tired of doing them, so Trish moved everyone over to free lifting.

"We're going to free lift, and we're going to work. If you're not down with that, I want you running at the tenth level on those treadmills. Heard?"

"Heard." DEAR responded tiredly to Trish's continuous work. Finally, it was time for their lunch break at two o'clock.

"What are we eating for lunch?" Maria asked, a smile on her face as they walked out of the gym. They all had towels wrapped around their heads and their gym bags over their shoulders.

Candice smiled back at her. "I'm feeling sort of like I want wraps. There's this awesome place I heard about that has the best wraps in town."

"Alright. Let's go, then." Trish shrugged. She knew the girls would work off anything awful they ate in a matter of hours anyway.

Dinner? Dinner would be a different story.

Later that night, after the longest day of work that DEAR had experienced thus far, they were all going back to their hotel. The girls' muscles felt like spaghetti after all of the excessive work they had done, and the yoga had made them very sleepy. All they wanted was to get inside, and go to bed.

"So, then, I told him-" The DEAR girls heard as they shoved the front doors opened, and then the girls of DEAR were face to face with the Diva's Army and their bodyguards, all with clutches and small purses, in their minidresses-or shorts and a T-shirt for AJ-and holding hands.

Trish smirked. "Well, isn't that cute?"

"Wish we could say the same for you. 'Scuse us." Natalya, front and center, with Michelle and Tamina on either side of her and all of their bodyguards with them, shoved directly through the center of the DEAR girls and allowed all of the Diva's Army to exit.

"Does she even know who she's talking to?" Trish practically growled as they walked into the elevator. "And what do they think they're doing? They're gonna go out, get drunk, and… ruin everything. This is perfect." Trish smiled then. "Good. Here's hoping they drink lots." Trish barely even noticed the looks of jealousy in the eyes of the other girls.

They'd been working all damn day long, with only a few breaks, and now there went the Diva's Army, who were still somehow standing on top. And they were going out.

CM Punk was sitting in the booth, while Kelly finished off a small glass of champagne. Normally, she didn't bother to drink-especially not after Eve had been hurt-but Alicia and Natalya had convinced her to have one glass.

Kelly looked out over the dance floor. Everyone had paired up with their bodyguards-funny enough, Tamina didn't look awkward as she joined the Usos in a traditional Samoan dance while everyone laughed, a few of them drunkenly tried to follow along. Fun was something that didn't come naturally to any of them anymore, not since the initial attack on DEAR. It was all a little forced.

Seeing them like this was refreshing.

Now, Kelly stood up, and CM Punk looked at her confusedly. "You okay?"

Kelly nodded, and turned around, holding out a hand and giving the smallest of half-smiles. "Dance with me."

"Kelly, I'm an awful dancer."

"Please?"

Punk couldn't say no to that face, so he moved out of the booth and walked with Kelly out onto the dance floor, leaving Justin in charge of the table. It wasn't until Punk was out on the floor that he made the decision that was a horrible idea.

While he dance with Kelly, he kept one eye out for any girls who were dancing alone. When he found one with his eyes, he smiled. Primo had ditched AJ for the moment to join the Samoan dancing and try to learn it.

That left AJ standing awkwardly alone by Kaitlyn and Cody, who were happy to have her there but not so happy. She'd clearly interrupted something.

Punk leaned down, speaking loudly so Kelly could hear him over the club music playing. "I'll be right back. Stay here. Dance with Alicia."

Kelly nodded, staying back and watching as Punk crossed over to AJ. He leaned down over her, and she laughed at whatever he said. There was a tinge of jealousy in her chest at the visual chemistry she saw, but Kelly was sure it was nothing, so she continued to dance with Alicia while she watched Punk point AJ up to the booth, where someone sat.

Ah. So, that's it.

Justin was so lost in his own world, thinking about what had happened with Gail, that he hadn't seen someone approach the booth.

"Hi, Justin!" He jumped a bit, but then smiled and laughed when he laid eyes on who was in front of him. "Come dance with me."

"AJ, as much as I'd love to, I can't. Who would watch the table?"

"No one needs to watch the table." AJ crawled up into the booth and sat next to Justin, putting one of her hands over both of his on the table in front of him. "Do you need to talk about it?"

"No… No, I'm fine."

AJ smiled. "Then come dance with me."

"…alright."

I almost feel bad… but Gail would've danced with another guy.