Thanks for the patience. Life got in the way of both myself and my lovely beta AeonBlue, but here's an update.

Annnnd here we go...

Chapter 5: Blossoming

A week had gone by since Corey had unexpectedly dropped by Brennan's apartment. He hadn't mentioned the talk he had with her after she voiced her thoughts on him checking up on her just to go tell everyone even though Alexa and Baron knew he went over to see her. He also assumed she mainly meant Baron. He hadn't promised her he wouldn't speak of their conversation, but if he wanted to keep her trust he was going to keep his mouth shut until he absolutely had to spill the beans; which would probably be sooner rather than later if Baron didn't stop hounding him about it.

As Corey walked into the NXT training facility in Orlando, Baron was in his ear; just as Corey expected him to be.

"I know you've talked to her." Baron spoke quietly.

Corey rolled his eyes, sighing at his best friend's persistence as walked through the building, past the wrestling rings towards the weight room. "I haven't spoken to her in a week, Tommy. It's also great to see you. It's awesome to greet your friend instead of automatically jumping down his throat about a girl." After entering the weight room, Corey dropped his duffel bag by his feet folding his arms.

"What did she tell you?" Baron insisted.

Corey narrowed his eyes at Baron. He wasn't sure if the bigger man was being serious or not with his line of questioning.

"Why don't you ask her?"

"I've been trying. She's ignoring my calls and texts."

'Maybe you should take a hint and lay off for a little while.' Corey thought before he spoke.

"I don't know what to tell you." Corey could see the stress and worry written all over Baron's face. If Brennan didn't want to talk to him, neither of them could force her to.

The two of them walked over to the treadmills to begin a short cardio warm up; both silent until Baron spoke up.

"Look, man I'm sorry. I'm just worried about her. I need to talk to her and clear things up. I just don't think she'd appreciate me showing up at her place unannounced."

Corey looked to his right at Baron. "I get it. It's up to you to figure out how to get her to talk to you."

"You don't have any ideas?" Baron slowed his treadmill, looking at Corey.

Corey mulled over Baron's question. He had ideas, sure. But would they work?

"I don't know, T. Maybe try some corny romance shit." Corey slowed his treadmill, glancing at Baron.

"That's deep, Corey, really." They stepped from their treadmills, heading over to the bench press.

"Look, I'm married. I just know to buy flowers and chocolate or to take the kids off of her hands for the day if I screw up. These new complicated relationships aren't my thing."

"So, your answer is flowers?" Baron spoke as he placed his hands on his hips; his face contorted in an expression that said you've got to be fucking kidding me.

Corey shrugged. "It's worth a shot. Maybe do it in a creative way."

Baron gave him a disbelieving look. "Does Brennan seem like the type of girl that wants flowers?"

"It's better than your ass not doing anything; whether she's a girl that likes flowers or not. She would most definitely appreciate the gesture." Corey spoke as he took position behind the head of the bench preparing to spot for Baron.

"This shouldn't be this hard." Baron grumbled as he lay back on the bench, positioning his hands on the bar.

"Do you want her?"

Baron attempted to shoot Corey a dirty look, but from his position on the bench, looked like he was just staring up at Corey.

"Answer my question, bone head." Corey playfully hit Baron in the head for emphasis.

Baron sat up to get away from anymore of Corey's attempts at hitting him again. "You know I do; more than anything."

"Is she worth you racking your brain to figure out how to make this right?"

Shaking his head, Baron mumbled, "Matt, I swear to god…"

"Answer the question."

"Yes! She's worth whatever hell she decides to put me through for this. Or the hell you're attempting to put me through right now." Baron reached up and pulled the hair tie from his hair, running his fingers through before resting his elbows on his thighs, toying with the elastic band.

"Then you'll figure this out. You'll do whatever it is you have to do. You don't need my help. You know her better than any of us do. Make this right, Tom and get your girl back. You're even more insufferable without her around."

Baron narrowed his eyes at his friend, but responded in a curt nod. Corey wasn't wrong. He'd been more standoffish and temperamental in the past two weeks than he had ever been. At work, it was like he was invisible to Brennan. She made sure to avoid him at all costs. If he ever saw her, it was in catering and it was for a brief minute or two. Just long enough for her to grab a bottle of water or a granola bar and fruit. He would drop by hair and makeup to find the space empty. He was getting desperate – and agitated. Her absence had been shorter than the one at the beginning of their… Well, what the hell could they even call it? Baron had thought about cornering her numerous times, just so she'd talk to him, but if he knew her like he thought he did, she wouldn't hesitate to knee him in the groin just to get away.

With his workout long forgotten about, Baron was left with his thoughts. 'How can I let her know I'm thinking about her without coming on too strong by using fucking flowers? Flowers… What kind of flowers should I use? Roses are probably too romantic. Hey, that awkward moment when you don't know shit about flowers.'

"This is insane. How am I going to do this?" he mumbled as he walked outside to go to his truck. He was parked in front of a section of grass with a small patch of flowers; small white petals and a yellow center growing when suddenly a light bulb came on. Daisies; he remembered Brennan's lion tattoo on her right thigh. There were daisies and sunflowers in the lion's mane. He knew she had multiple roses tattooed on her too, but in this situation, he didn't want to seem like he was trying too hard to win her over. The daisies seemed more personal and low key to him. After putting together a plan in his head, he picked one small daisy and began looking for her unusually dusty green Toyota Camry.

Another week had passed with no communication between him and Brennan. While he usually would be at his wit's end with the whole situation, he found the familiar bubbling sensation of hope. He hadn't seen her reaction to finding the lone daisy under her windshield wiper blade, but throughout the past week, he noticed she had taken to wearing the daisies behind her ear. The day before, he had taped a single daisy to the mirror on the vanity in the area for hair and makeup. He didn't know when she'd be in the room, or even if she'd be the one to find it, but by happenstance he had been walking by when it was indeed Brennan that found the flower. She had stared at the small flower before carefully peeling the tape away from its delicate stem. He noticed the small smile gracing her lips as she pulled her long freshly done blue braids on top of her head and began to wind and twist them until she stuck the end piece around the messy, twisty ball. She grabbed the small flower and gently placed it into the side of her messy bun. She hadn't noticed him or the small smile on his face as he walked away. She had no idea.

Today, however, Baron was hoping would be the coup de grace to their silence. Three weeks of seeing her at work, but not speaking had been torture. He could and would hold out for her; he had been all this time. He had plenty of time to think about what had happened between them during the silence. He spent plenty of nights fiddling with his phone, debating calling her just once to hear her voice, but always talked himself out of it, figuring she wouldn't answer as soon as she saw his name and picture pop up on the screen. He had moments of wondering whether or not she hated him for not having control of the situation with Roxy, or if she hated him for questioning her about Dennis, or if he had done anything else to set her off in their time together for her to resort to nearly complete radio silence.

Usually, this kind of stuff would roll from his shoulders, but Brennan wasn't his usual. Women like Roxy were. If it had been Roxy he wouldn't have cared less, but this was Brennan; Blue, his Blue. This was the woman it took him a month and some creepy ass drunk guy hitting on her to get him to talk to her. The woman he had spent countless nights with keeping his hands to himself when all he wanted was kiss her until their lips hurt. She was the woman who invited him over to her place for homemade hamburgers, cold beer and a football game on a Monday night instead of hanging at The Menace. The woman who made it take no extra effort on her part to compel him to fall for her. He missed her like crazy. He missed her so much he felt his heart tighten like a fist every time he saw her. He just wanted her in his arms again or for one last time if this was going to be the end of them.

He was standing on the Main Street pier at Daytona Beach's Joyland boardwalk looking out over the expanse of the Atlantic Ocean. He had sent Brennan a flower arrangement of sunflowers, white roses and daisies with a card that read, 'Our first unofficial date. Meet me.' He had hoped to ALL of the deities that the message wasn't too vague and that she'd show up. Daytona Beach was a tourist attraction in itself and a fun short getaway for locals. Baron had taken Brennan on the short hour drive when she mentioned she hadn't been to a boardwalk of any sort since she was a child. He wanted to see her out of her shell with no one she knew around but him. Her childlike enthusiasm about winning skee ball and eating cotton candy made him smile like an idiot. She had grabbed and held his hand a lot that day. They shared popcorn and spent part of the night trying to throw and catch the popped kernels while sitting on a bench on the pier. In the multiple times that they went, it was then that Baron knew she was the woman he could fall in love with. He could see them there during the summer with a kid or two of their own. He'd never admit it out loud though. He still wasn't willing to put that into the universe just yet.

"Tommy." Her voice broke him out of his reverie.

He turned his head slowly to look over his shoulder at his blue haired beauty. It was the first thing he had heard her say in weeks. His eyes searched her face, which had rectangular black framed glasses perched on her nose, before they drifted down her body. She was casually dressed, her braids were pulled into a high ponytail, her face had very little makeup on it, but he could tell she was tired. She was focused on him.

"Hey."

"Daytona, huh?"

"I thought it would be nice to get away."

She smirked and nodded her head.

"I wanted to talk."

"Is that why you picked a public place instead of one our places? So I couldn't lose my shit again?"

"I wanted you to know it was me."

Another smile and nod. "What made you pick daises?"

"Your lion tattoo."

Hazel eyes gazed into his brown ones. He reached out to her offering her a seat on the bench that was separating them.

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Baron was sitting face towards the open water and Brennan sitting with her body facing Baron.

"What did you want to talk about?" She finally broke the silence.

He turned slowly again to look at her. "Us, mostly. I wanted to say my piece about Roxy and Dennis." He noticed her visibly tense at the mention of their names.

"Wait, before you start, I want to apologize." She moved closer to him. His brow was creased in confusion.

"Apologize for what?"

"For overreacting about the situation with Roxy. I saw her kiss you. I know she initiated the kiss." Baron looked away rolling his eyes, but Brennan pressed on. "It's just that in that instant I felt like the same shit that always happens to me, was happening again. It was just that this time it was right in front of me. I feel like every time I think I'm getting a bit of the happiness I've been craving for so long, I get lied to or played for a fool or left alone altogether. And I just automatically thought it was happening again and I freaked the fuck out. And I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. You didn't deserve that." She wiped away the few tears that trailed down her cheeks as she looked at him. "I just had to get that…."

Baron leaned into her, pressing his lips against hers, effectively killing the words on her tongue. He could feel the wetness of her tears on his cheeks. She held his face in her hands, her thumbs stroking his jaw on both side. He slowly pulled away resting his forehead on hers. She let out a watery chuckle.

"I'm sorry too. I never expected to see Roxy again for the rest of my life, in all honesty. Roxy is a leech. When I met her, I was just getting started on my NFL career. I obviously wasn't a starter, but she was okay with that. And because she was okay with that, so was I. She was down for whatever I wanted to do. But as time went on, I realized that Roxy was just using me to try to get someone better on the roster. Someone with more money, more prestige, more… whatever the hell she was after. And after I figured her out and learned I was getting cut from the team and told her, she was for all intents and purposes, was done with me and our situation."

He took a deep cleansing breath before he continued. "Then I guess, after I left and decided to pursue professional wrestling, she couldn't get anybody better and circled back around to me. But by then I had moved and was training and wasn't worried about shit in Arizona. Then the excessive phone calls, emails texts starting rolling in; I had to change my phone number and get rid of the email address and it stopped. But now, somehow, she's figured out that I'm Baron Corbin NXT superstar and she's wanting to sink her claws back in."

He paused briefly searching Brennan's face. "But it's different now. I'm different. I have this new career that I'm not going to let her destroy. I have a new found determination and focus. And I'm more involved with a woman than I ever expected myself to be involved with. And I'll be damned if I let Roxy take any of that away from me."

Brennan was pressed into his right side. His arm draped around her shoulder. She stayed quiet letting it all sink in.

"And as for Dennis…" He went on, "I had no business coming at you like I did over him. I had no right, but something about him didn't sit right with me."

"What even made you think I had a history with him?"

"The way he was looking at you the first night we kissed and how he acted outside of the bar after I blew up at Roxy."

She pulled away slightly, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you looked good enough to eat in that skirt and those boots. He couldn't keep his eyes off of you and it made my blood boil."

"Jealousy isn't a good shade on you."

"I know. You didn't seem to notice the attention you were getting."

"I noticed it. It just didn't matter. I only wanted one man's attention and I had it. That's all that mattered to me."

'How can she be this impossibly sexy?'

"Fuck…" Baron grumbled shaking his head before leaning in and kissing her again. He'd never get tired of that.

"What happened outside the bar?"

"He came out after I told Roxy off. He was questioning me about what happened and I accused him of sitting the whole thing up to break up what we were just starting. He denied it, of course, because there was literally no way he could've known Roxy. Then he said some shit about he didn't care about me and all he cared about was your happiness."

"My happiness?"

"That's what he said. He said he had never seen you as happy as you were when you were with me."

"Dennis doesn't give a shit about my happiness. I'm glad you went home to change and then came to my place, because this story would be a lot different right now."

He chuckled, "How so?"

"I'd probably be in jail." He full on laughed at that. "He would've come by as soon as the bar was closed and tried to play the 'I'm sorry you're hurting if you need a shoulder to lean on, I'm here for you' card as a means to get back in my good graces, but I'm sure with his wife being pregnant, he had to go straight home."

"That could've been you."

"What could've been me?"

They stood and began walking back towards the end of the pier on the shore, towards the boardwalk.

"You could be the one pregnant, waiting at home for Dennis to show up." As they walked, their hands brushed and she grabbed his hand much like their very first night and intertwined their fingers.

They both felt the overwhelming feeling of calmness and peace wash over them.

"Why would you put that into the universe, Thomas? And thank god it's not me. I'd be so pissed."

"Why would you be pissed?" He suddenly tensed at her response.

"I mean, Dennis is a decent guy, minus the shitty things he's done to me, but looking back, he wasn't the one for me. All of that happened for a reason. And could you imagine what my kid with Dennis would look like?"

"I'm not entirely sure I'm the person you should be asking that."

"Well… Have you imagined…" She started then let the question die on her tongue.

'Ah for fucks sake, Brennan.' She mentally face palmed. Was she really going to open this can of worms?

"Have I imagined what?" He spoke as he glanced at her.

"Nothing."

"Oh, come on. I haven't had any of your quirky little theories to analyze for weeks. Tell me."

"It's not a theory."

"Tell me anyway."

'You asked for it.' Yes, she was definitely going to open this can of worms.

"Fine, I was going to ask if you had imagined what our kids would look like. But we haven't even had sex yet. And I don't want to think about that really until we've had sex at least three times." She teased.

Baron chuckled, "Three times, huh? You wanna talk about kids the first night?"

She playfully slapped him in the stomach. "What makes you think you can last that long?"

"Oh baby, you have no idea."

"Neither do you."

They were quiet as they walked hand in hand.

"I'm really sorry for being such a pain in your ass about this."

"It's okay. I get it. We've talked, it's done; let's just leave it at that. Besides, you're a pain in my somewhere else."

"Oh my god, Tommy, shut up." She chuckled.

"Home sweet home." Brennan spoke as she pushed open the door to her apartment. After removing the key from the lock, she blindly reached behind her for Baron's wrist, pulling him inside. He chuckled as he tried not to step on the backs of her feet, before he took his wrist from her grasp and wrapped his arm around her waist, lifting her from the floor. She made a sound that was a combination of shock and a squeal. He carried her down the hall and to the left into her bedroom.

"I don't know what you think is going to happen, sir." She spoke as she stepped closer to the bed.

He closed small distance between them, his fingers sliding along the side of her neck, curling around to grip her neck as he pressed a long hard kiss to her lips. He licked his lips, before whispering in Brennan's ear. "I thought I'd go lock door before we got comfortable." He backed away from her with a mischievous smirk on his lips.

"You're such a tease, Thomas Pestock!" She shouted after him. She toed out of her sneakers before she climbed into bed and laid directly in the middle of it.

"Move over."

"I can't."

"Well, I guess I'm just gonna have to…" He fell into bed, catching himself as to not head butt Brennan in the chest or really crush her into the mattress.

"You're also a child. Get off of me." She struggled against his weight and pushed at him.

"Nope."

"Can I at least move my legs?"

He climbed off of her, standing as she still stayed in the middle of the bed, but moved further up towards the headboard. "Okay, now you can lay down." Her legs were bent at the knee and as he laid down, he gripped her thighs, wrapping each of her legs around his hips. His head was resting on her chest, listening to her heartbeat. After a few minutes, she was running her fingers through his hair.

"Stop, you're gonna make me fall asleep." He kissed her covered collarbone before moving to the side of her neck.

"You're being a tease again."

He lifted up and slid down the bed before standing.

"What are you doing?"

"I know how much you hate sleeping in jeans." He deftly unbuckled her belt and began undoing her skinny jeans. She lifted her butt and hips so he could wiggle them off, taking her black socks with them. She sat up and tossed her black hoodie at him too. He had a playful smile on his lips as he took in her appearance. He knew she still needed to take off her glasses and makeup and take her ponytail down, but she looked amazing in cotton black cheeky panties and her Avenged Sevenfold shirt. He was 100% certain she was wearing a black bra under the shirt too.

"What?"

"You're gorgeous, you know that?"

"Nah… But this one guy with long hair and tattoos tells me whenever it suits him." She sat up and got on her knees, walking on them until she got to Baron. She went about undoing the buttons on his shirt, running her hands across his broad shoulders, making an inverted triangle shape as she moved from his shoulders diagonally across his chest until she ran both hands down his flat stomach.

He watched her intently. There wasn't anything sexually charged about the way she was touching him. This wasn't a new thing. She had traced over almost every inch of his body, as he had done hers. It was a test of wills and neither of them were willing to crack. It was meant to be innocent. It was a way to get reacquainted without the expectation of sex.

His brain comprehended that, but his dick didn't. He knew that Brennan knew what kind of effect she had on him. She had felt it plenty of times and while most of the women he had come across and grown fond of would've shied away, Brennan usually surprised him with a breathy sigh or some smart ass quip about him being happy to see her. But for the sake of their "situationship" he had always backed down from going any further even though he wanted more. Deep down he knew tonight would be no different. He and Brennan had just gotten back on the same page and he wasn't about to complicate the whole thing by trying to dick her down the first time he got the chance.

'Think of anything else right now because once she gets my pants off and she notices I'm getting hard, I'm not sure I'm gonna be able to stop myself tonight. I'll try like hell, but I might just cave to whatever she wants; if she wants anything like that tonight.'

Brennan had his belt, button and fly undone. She was still on her knees, but her body was pressed against his. Her lips were leaving feather light kisses on his neck and her hands sliding down his back before resting on his ass. He was sure she could feel his erection pressing against her stomach.

"I've missed you."

He barely made out her words over the sound of his blood rushing through his ears.

"I've missed you too, but this isn't what I had in mind for tonight."

She pulled away slightly, with a devilish glint in her eyes. "Are you sure?"

"Remember when I said you were a pain in my somewhere else? This is exactly what I meant." He playfully pushed her backwards on the bed before climbing on top of her again. He leaned down towards her, his hair creating a small veil.

"There's lube in the drawer if you need it." She joked just as his lips were about to meet hers.

"You're such a pain in my dick, Brennan." He grumbled as he rolled off of her and on to his back. She laughed at him as she rolled out of bed to go take off her makeup.

When she came back into her room, Baron was underneath her dark purple sheets. She had a queen sized bed and she fit perfectly, but Baron hung off of it. It always amused her to see him try to fit on her bed lengthwise, but it always added up to some much adored spooning time. Seeing him in her bed was something she could get use to.

She chucked her t-shirt in the direction of the hamper, the noise causing Baron to look in her direction, before climbing into bed.

'Always in a black bra.' He thought as she pressed herself against his right side.

"So, I have to ask. Whose idea was it for the flowers?"

Baron chuckled, "Where are they anyway? Did you throw them away?"

She draped her right leg over his and her arm over his waist. "The daisies are in a small jar on my coffee table and the bigger arrangement are on the breakfast nook table as a center piece."

"So I take it you liked them?" His fingertips danced across her shoulder blades. She only nodded. "They were Corey's idea. He said flowers and candy usually got him out of shit so I went with flowers even though I wasn't exactly sure how you'd react to them. You've told me on plenty of occasions you're not a flowers type of girl and I told Corey that too. But in his infinite wisdom, he told me you'd appreciate the gesture."

"We should start calling Corey Master Splinter or Yoda or something because that was really wise."

"You still aren't a flowers type of girl though, right?"

"Right, but I really did appreciate the gesture." She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.

"Is that all I get, a measly kiss on the cheek? I left daisies on your car and at your spot in hair and makeup."

"Ah, quit your whining."

"Give me a real kiss and I will."

She narrowed her eyes at him with a small smile playing on her lips. He stared at her expectantly, playfully batting his eyelashes.

She laughed at him, "You're such a fucking goober, I swear."

"Yeah, but you like it." He spoke positively and gripped her right thigh pulling her on top of him.

Their eyes locked. It looked like there was something Brennan wanted to say to him, but as soon as it was in her eyes, it was gone. She leaned down and pecked him hastily and tried to resume her spot next to him.

"Hey! Not so fast. I've literally gotten better kisses than that from Xander."

"You did not just compare me to your dog!" She playfully smacked him on the chest, causing him to laugh.

He sat up, having her slide down more so into his lap. "You definitely give better kisses than him and I'd much rather kiss you, but that was a shitty kiss and you know it."

"I can't believe you just compared me to your dog, you asshole." She chuckled as he reached up to hold her chin between his thumb and forefinger.

"But I'm your asshole if you want me." He placed a chaste kiss on her lips.

She broke the brief kiss, resting her forehead against his, "You're all I've wanted for months, Tommy." She pulled away, her thumb running up and down the back of his neck, staring into his eyes.

"Yeah?" His arms were loosely wrapped around her hips. He adjusted his arms a bit gave them a gentle squeeze encouraging her to go on.

"I know you doubted it there for a second, but yeah. I've known since… Since we crammed ourselves in that tiny ass photo booth in Daytona."

He chuckled at the memory. It took them one whole strip of the machine snapping photos of them to even get situated. They took another set and split them both in half. It was a well kept secret that he kept his halves in his wallet.

"This means I can now officially call you my girlfriend."

She smiled without showing her teeth as she shook her head. "And I can officially call you my asshole."

He playfully growled at her as he gripped her ass and pressed an aggressive kiss to her lips, causing her to whimper. She rutted her hips against his. He flipped them over and pressed the beginnings of his erection against her warmness.

"Easy, wolf boy, we just got you settled." Her voice lowered and held a teasing edge.

He growled again, "You really are a pain in my dick, B."

She chuckled before she pulled him in for another scorching kiss.

You know what to do. And if you're new here, that means please leave a review, (or several), favorite and/or follow. I appreciate any and all feedback from anyone willing to take the time to give it.