I Guess I'll Never Learn

As per usual, Darcy and Jon decided to avoid talking about what happened when Sami was in town. Things had pretty much gone back to normal except for the one new thing that couldn't be ignored. Jon's impending main roster debut while exciting meant inevitable change in their living arrangements.

"You're gonna be by yourself-"

"I know," she assured him, preventing him from saying anything else. "Did you want me to start paying the bills? It doesn't make much sense for you to if you aren't even here."

"I don't know..." he shrugged, dropping his gym bag at the front door. "We can sort that out when the bills come."

"I'm an adult," she stated firmly, crossing her arms. "You know that, right? I can pay bills."

"You don't own the house."

"So?" she asked aggressively, "Don't treat me like a child or like I'm defective. If this was anyone else, you'd want them to pay the bills."

He stared at her and she immediately knew that she was right.

"Don't worry about me, okay? I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself."

"I'm not doubting that." He said slowly before abruptly stating that she could have the bed while he was gone.

Darcy nodded, the mention of the bedroom shutting her up rather quickly. He stood in the kitchen, resting on the counter as he waited for her to get ready.

He always went to the NXT tapings – they were fun to be part of even if it was only behind the scenes – but he decided that it was important to go to this one as it was his last before being called up. He, Colby and Joe were going to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere while they could.

Darcy, when she was finally ready, walked past the kitchen towards the front door and Jon followed her out. He was seemingly unaware that he had moved his hands to her shoulders, perhaps he didn't care. Darcy, though, was fighting the heat that was rising to her cheeks.

-Taped November 15 for December 6-

The Divas in the ring both stepped backwards, looking at the ramp in utter confusion. Summer Rae quickly scurried from the ring, not wanting to be anywhere near the man walking towards them. Darcy on the other hand, cocked her head to the side and smirked psychotically.

"What is she doing?" William Regal asked in a slight panic. "She needs to get out of that ring! That man's a menace!"

Leo Kruger stalked down to the ring, glaring at Darcy. She stood in the centre of the ring, unworried about the man walking towards her. She made no attempt to leave as the 6 foot 1 man entered; instead she cocked her head to the other side.

"Get out of the ring," he growled at her sternly. Darcy raised an eyebrow and breathed out a laugh.

"Do what he says, Darcy!" Tony Dawson shouted into his headset. "You stupid girl, get out of there!"

With every step forward by Kruger, Darcy took a step back. It was clearly not out of fear, but more out of inconvenience.

"What?" she asked him, looking at him with bored eyes. "I was supposed to have a match."

"Not anymore. Get out of the ring. I have things I want to say," Kruger snarled. Darcy rolled her eyes and motioned for him to go ahead and say what he had to say.

Kruger dropped the microphone, a horrendous sound being sent to the speakers. He backed Darcy into a corner, his huge frame dwarfing her. She was already small but standing next to him made her look like a doll.

What happened next shocked everyone in the arena. Kruger lifted his hands and Darcy closed her eyes tightly, her hands instantly moving up to protect her throat. She visibly gasped and flinched back, putting her head down to provide further protection. A tear dripped down her cheek and soon her body began to shake. The microphones picked up her distressed breathing.

Kruger took a few steps backward, letting Darcy collapse to the floor, her hands still on her throat. She crawled backwards into the turnbuckle, trying to hide herself from everyone.

She jumped violently when she felt a hand on leg; Byron Saxton had rushed out from his seat near the ring and was speaking to her quietly. She couldn't hear anything.

Byron gently pulled Darcy from the ring, making sure not to upset her. With little effort, he lifted her in his arms like a small child, carrying her as quickly as he could up the short ramp and backstage.

-Backstage-

"Let me go," she ordered, beginning to squirm in Byron's arms. Everyone was looking at her and she knew it. It was one thing to look pathetic in the middle of a ring – that could be played off as storyline – but to be seen as a crying mess backstage by her co-workers, Darcy did not want that.

She dropped to her feet and ran off, without as much as a thank you to Byron for getting her out of the ring. Her footsteps were light as she headed towards a back door. Tears were still streaming down her face and she rubbed her eyes, eye makeup coming off on the back of her hand.

Five steps from the door Darcy put one hand against the wall, the other on her stomach and she vomited down the wall. It was exactly like the day she and Jon had had to run suicides. Only this time she had tears streaming down her face and everyone knew how weak she was.

"Dammit, Harlequin." Just like the time before, it was Colby who was first to her side. "You said you were ready."

She spat out the taste of vomit and growled at him, "I am fucking ready."

"Then what was that? You can't just break down in the middle of a ring."

"Because I did it on purpose," Darcy snapped at him, her watery eyes shooting to the doors as they opened again. Jon was standing there, watching her with worried eyes. "Not you, too. I'm fine."

"Man," Jon said to Colby, "You go get ready for your match."

Colby left and Jon handed Darcy a water bottle as she moved to the other wall and slid down it. The concrete was cold her on the bare patch of back left by her crop top.

If she didn't know he would pay her no attention, Darcy would have told Jon to leave the second he opened the door. The last thing she wanted was for him to sit with her as she cried like a baby.

"I was ready," she sighed, wiping at her eyes again. "If I'd just had a match against Summer then it wouldn't have been a problem. I can do that." Jon sat down on the ground beside her, dropping his arm over her shoulder when he noticed that she was shaking – she was only wearing her ring gear after all. "I just didn't think that Kruger would have that affect."

"They might write you into a storyline," Jon told her. "Where someone takes it upon themself to defend you. Of course, they'd have to write it into the next show."

"I'm supposed to start with The Ascension at the next tapings," she grumbled.

Dusty had been receptive to the idea of the Harlequin gimmick and was interested in having her as a member of The Ascension. At first she had been a bit unsure of teaming with Conor O'Brian and Kenneth Cameron. The idea of following such a brooding, menacing tag team around doing cartwheels and ruining their matches confused her and she thought that it would ruin their gimmick but a meeting with Dusty was all she needed to change her mind. It would be a gradual transition into the gymnastics with her originally being their loyally devoted lackey and before being able to foil them she would be booted from their group. It was something she was looking forward to and she had her fingers crossed that it would go somewhere unlike her program with Audrey Marie.

"It's professional wrestling," Jon said with a squeeze of her shoulders, "they'll probably just pretend it never happened."

Darcy laughed – he was speaking the truth – and leaned towards him. Her head fell onto his shoulder and she wasn't bothered at all by their proximity. She was exhausted and cold and he was providing both a comfortable head rest and a shield from the cold.

Darcy was still a little shaken up by the Leo Kruger incident when they sat down for dinner later that night.

He had made a point to find her as soon as his match was finished - it didn't last too long, anyway - so that he could apologise to her. Darcy already knew that the man was one of the nicest people in the locker room and his apology only solidified it. Before Harry had put his hands on her, Darcy would not have been scared in the slightest of the South African man – she wouldn't have even thought it possible given how much he liked to smile and joke around – but nothing ever stays the same and she was beginning to realise that more and more.

She was moving her wet clothes from the washing machine to the clothes horse when the phone rang. At first it confused her – she had seen the phone on the kitchen bench but hadn't thought it to be connected – but she figured that it was probably a bank or a telemarketer – they were the only people who ever called landlines, right?

Jon answered it and from the other room she could hear him explaining to the person on the other end that they had the wrong number.

"What was that about?" She poked her head out of the laundry when the call had ended.

"No idea. Some guy looking for Crow? Probably a street-"

"Bull!" Darcy exclaiming, jumping out of the laundry.

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"I'm Crow!" she told him loudly as she ran about the house looking for her phone. "The tattoo didn't give that away?"

She shoved at Jon so that he would move and let her check the couch. Sure enough, in between the cushions she found her phone complete with 3 missed calls from Bull. She dropped down onto the couch and instantly called him back. Jon looked at her in confusion.

"That boy you live with doesn't like to listen."

"He's a bit like that, yeah," she said, laughing at the offended face that moved across Jon's face even though he didn't know the context.

"How's everything? You doing okay?"

"Yeah, I'm perfect." She ignored the face that Jon pulled as he sat back down beside her. Bull didn't need to worry about her.

"That's good to hear. Linda says hello and that she's preparing a care package for you for the holidays.

"Thank you," she responded warmly. "You two doing okay?"

"Yes, Crow. We're just two old people running a tattoo place."

"You're not old."

"I'm old enough to be your father."

"You know that I wish you were."

"Harry came by the shop."

"Oh," she breathed. She crossed her legs underneath her on the couch. "What did he want?"

"To know how you were," Bull told her, causing Darcy to grip the phone tighter and tug her lip ring into her mouth. "I didn't tell him anything. If it means anything to you he seemed pretty apologetic."

Darcy shuffled towards Jon, leaning up against him. He looked down at the top of her head before wrapping his arm around her.

"Okay," she responded quietly. Bull quickly changed the topic back to the tattoo parlour but the conversation was ultimately one sided.

When she ended the call, she shifted closer to Jon. He didn't ask her about her sudden change in demeanour – he had heard Harry's name come through the phone – instead he asked her who Bull was. She explained to him that when she was 16 she started working in Bull's tattoo parlour and had even let her live with him and his wife when things with her uncle were too much for her to handle. Bull was the closest thing she had ever had to a father and she wasn't sure she'd be alive if it hadn't been for him.

Jon kissed the top of her head and held her tighter. It was times like this that Darcy almost wished that he wasn't being called up but she knew that nothing in the world meant more to him than being a WWE Superstar so she quashed those feelings and enjoyed his company while she could.