"Hmmm……if you could wrestle anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?" Hope questioned as she and Aden sat in the middle of the wrestling ring talking after their second show together.

"Man, I'm not sure. There's so many great people out there. It's hard to pick just one," he thought out loud.

"Well, you have to pick one!" Hope chuckled pulling her knees up to her chin.

"Okay, if I had to pick, I would say Chris Jericho."

"Good one. Chris is really a good guy. And an excellent wrestler."

"What about you?"

"Who would I wrestle?" she asked. Aden nodded as he sipped his water. "I guess I'd pick Shawn Michaels."

"Good choice. Now my turn," Aden paused for a second to think.

"No, wait. You just asked me a question!" Hope laughed.

"Hey, this game doesn't work that way! I asked you the same question you asked me. Not my own original question. So that doesn't count! Are you trying to cheat me out of questions?!" Aden exclaimed.

"Oh no! That's so wrong! That definitely counts as a question you butt monkey!"

Aden began to laugh uncontrollably. Hope just sat there staring at him, wondering why he was laughing. "Butt monkey?! Did you just call me a butt monkey?!" Aden spoke between his laughs.

"Yeah, so what of it?!"

"Where the fuck did you come up with that?"

"I don't know. Seemed appropriate."

"You think I'm a butt monkey?"

At this time, Hope began to laugh at her own name calling. "Apparently if I called you one!"

"Oh, no, that does it! Your ass is SO mine!" Aden exclaimed as he lunged at her. She stood as quickly as she could and took off to the other side of the ring. Aden climbed to his feet and ran after her. She laughed as she ran circles around him, but it came to a point when she couldn't run and laugh at the same time so he quickly caught up to her and pulled her down with him. They both laid back, trying to catch their breaths, Aden's arm under Hope's neck.

"Aden?" Hope spoke, finally able to form words, she turned her head to look at him.

He turned his head to face her. His blue eyes connecting with her green ones. "Yeah?"

"What's your favorite part about our storyline?" she questioned.

"I guess I'd have to say getting to know you and working with you," he answered with a smile.

"I think I'd have to agree with you on that one," she replied returning the smile.

"Are you seeing anyone?" he asked her out of the blue.

"Um, no, I'm single."

"Are you working Thursday?"

"Wait a second, that's two questions."

"Okay, sorry."

"Are you seeing anyone?"

"Possibly you on Thursday," he replied with a sly smile.

"Oooo……..good one," Hope grinned. "Can I change my answer to your previous question?"

"Yeah, I think we can bend the rules for that."

"Well then, my answer is, yes, I am seeing someone. In fact, I'll be seeing him Thursday night at 6."

"Oh really? And who might that person be?"

Hope just looked at Aden for a second to think about her answer. "My brother, Jeff."

Aden's mouth dropped open in shock, completely speechless. Hope just started to laugh when Aden began to sit up, causing him to remove his arm from under her neck. He still couldn't form full sentences as she followed him to a sitting position.

"Just kidding Aden. I would love to go out with you Thursday night," she smiled at him as his mouth went back to its normal position.

"That was just cruel," he laughed pulling her into a headlock.

"So how has Hope been doing in the ring?" Shane questioned as he lifted weights next to his long time friend Aden Connley.

Aden took a deep breath as he lifted the weights one last time before setting them on the floor. He looked over at his green haired friend and smiled. "She's doing real well, Shane. I'm really enjoying working with her."

"Good. So she isn't scared to get in and wrestle?" Shane worried.

"Dude, she's awesome. Like she hadn't left."

"I've been really worried about her, ya know? I wasn't even sure if she was really ready to get in a ring again for real. I'm just glad I was lucky enough to know someone in the company!" Shane laughed as they both stood and return their weights to their rightful places.

"Shane, you know, she's a really awesome person. Inside the ring and out. I'm really getting to know her."

"Yeah, she's a great friend. Even if she is a little weird sometimes!"

"We can all be a bit on the weird side."

"Very true. But with a brother like Jeff, how could you NOT be a little weird!"

"Not that you can really escape the whole "weird" virus, bro. You did dye the top of your head green. And you do fly around the ring with a cape on," Aden laughed.

"Whatever Aden. You can't talk much, Mr. Blue hair, multiple piercing, multiple tattoo, hot topic manager!"

"I'm not sure any of that really made sense!"

"Whether it did or didn't, you get my point."

"Well, at least I've always been like this. What's your excuse?"

"I've been hanging out with the Hardy twins for too damn long?"

"That'll work!" Aden grinned. "Look, I really meant it when I said I'm enjoying getting to know Hope."

"Yeah, I figured you did. It's not something you would normally lie about," Shane chuckled.

"Right, well, I'm about to get to know her a bit better."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that we're going out tonight."

"What?!"

"I asked her out. And she said yes."

"Aden, I swear to God if you hurt her………" Shane trailed off threateningly as he began to close in on Aden.

Aden threw his hands up, surrendering to his friend. Shane backed down, but crossed his arms menacingly. "Shane, we've been friends since high school. You should know me better than that!"

"I do, that's why I'm telling you that you'd better not hurt her!"

"That was ONE time dude! One time that I cheated on that girl."

"That girl happened to have been one of my best friends!"

"I know, and I apologized for that! But I promise I won't hurt Hope. I really like this girl. I can see now why you're always raving about her," Aden smiled as Shane began to calm down.

"When I asked you to look out for her, I didn't expect you to fall for her."

"Expect the unexpected, Shane."

Hope looked at herself in her full length mirror. She had changed her clothes about 50 times in an hour for her date with Aden. Not only was she not dressed, but she had yet to do her make-up or her hair. She was having one of those "ugly days", when nothing looked good on her and she didn't feel good in anything either.

"No, no. This won't work either!" she exclaimed releasing an exasperated sigh. She began ripping off her clothes once again, and then realized she had one last outfit to try on. She pulled on the tiny, form fitting, plain black tee and a pair of low riding jeans. She moved to her mirror once again to look at herself. "Hmmm…….this isn't so bad. Simple, yet extremely cute!" She smiled as she ran her hand across the small portion of her mid section that was bare. "This will work." She moved to her closet and pulled out her black boots. She slipped her feet into them before moving to her bathroom to start on her hair and make-up.

She glanced at the clock on her shower radio and groaned realizing Aden was scheduled to be at her house in 5 minutes. 'Please be one of those late people!' she thought to herself as she began applying black eye shadow. She had not such luck because not 5 seconds after she had that thought, her doorbell rang. "FUCK!" she screamed as she ran to her bedroom window to see if Aden was really at her door. Unlucky for her, he was. "Shit, shit, shit!" she exclaimed as she ran through her room, picking up the clothes on her floor and bed. The door bell rang again. "Damnit Aden! Why couldn't you be late?!" She threw everything into her closet before running back to her window and throwing it open. "Aden!"

"Hope?!" he exclaimed looking around him, trying to find out where her voice was coming from.

"Up here!" she laughed.

He looked up and smiled. "Hey!"

"Hi!" she replied with her own smile. "Look, I'm not ready yet, but the door is open so come on in and make yourself at home!"

Aden nodded and entered the large home. Hope sighed and closed her window before moving back into the bathroom. Aden moved around the entryway and found his way into the living room. He began to sit on the couch when he heard Hope start to yell to him. "What?" he questioned as he moved to find the stairs.

"What?!" Hope exclaimed she walked to the top of the stairs, hoping she'd be able to hear him. "Dude, I can't understand you! Just come up the stairs!"

"I would if I knew where they were," he laughed to him self as he stumbled upon them. He glanced up before beginning his ascent. "Oh, there you are." He smiled at Hope as she stood there staring down at him with a smile on her face.

"Yeah, sorry I'm running late. I'm almost done with my make-up," she said.

He laughed as he climbed the stairs up to her. "You don't need make-up. You're naturally beautiful."

"Nice line! Do you use that with all your dates?" she grinned as he stood in front of her.

"No, just you. Except it's not a line, it's the truth."

"Charming!" she chuckled leading him into her bedroom. "Have a seat." She pointed to her bed.

"Wow, made it to the bed in under 5 minutes! That's got to be some sort of record!" Aden joked.

"Haha! Very funny Aden!"

"What did you say when I was downstairs?" he questioned glancing around her room as Hope stood in front of her bathroom mirror.

"Huh?" Hope thought aloud. "OH! Yeah, I asked if you had any trouble finding my house."

"No, no trouble at all. It was very easy actually."

"Good."

Aden stood and walked to Hope's bathroom. "Your house is beautiful."

Hope smiled as she glanced over at the man standing in her doorway. "Thank you. I love it." She took another look at herself in the mirror and backed away. "Alright, I think I'm done."

Aden chuckled as he took her hands and pulled her into her room. "You look beautiful."

Hope blushed a bit as she smiled at her date. "Thanks."

"You ready to go?" Aden asked as they started to move towards the front door.

"Yeah, I'm ready," Hope replied grabbing her jean jacket on the way out. "Where are we going?"

"Well, I thought we'd go to Raleigh for dinner and then to City Limits," Aden answered opening the door to his '98 celica for Hope.

"On a Thursday night?! That place is gonna be packed."

"Is there someplace else you wanna go?"

"No, City Limits is okay, it's just a little rowdy on Thursday nights with the bull riding and everything. Plus my friends and brothers will be there."

"Is that a problem?"

"No, I guess not," Hope replied a little disappointed that she wasn't gonna get Aden to herself.

"Good, so dinner and City Limits it is!" Aden smiled.

"How's your steak?" Hope questioned as they began to eat their dinner.

"Excellent. How's your chicken?"

"Great. Do you wanna try a piece?" Hope asked raising a piece on her fork. Aden nodded as he leaned across the table a bit to get the chicken off her fork.

"A piece of steak for you?" Hope smiled as she leaned across the table to meet Aden's fork. "Can I ask you question?"

"Sure. Isn't that what a first date is about? Asking questions and getting to know someone?"

"True," Aden smiled. "Why'd you quit wrestling?"

Hope sighed deeply as she placed her fork on her plate and leaned back in her chair. "I had a bit of an accident at a show a couple years ago."

"Every wrestler has their accident's sweetie."

"I'm fully aware of that. However, I landed head first onto cement and had no memory for a week. Do you know what it's like not to know your own name or where you live?"

"Ouch, sorry. It's great that you were able to over come that fear though."

"It's a miracle actually. I basically owe it all to Shane Helms."

"Well, you had to want it bad enough to even attempt it."

"Yeah, I suppose. But it was hella hard."

"I can only imagine."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Certainly, it's only fair considering I asked you something."

"Where the hell else do you work?! Cause I know I'm not getting paid at Extreme Chaos. So if you are I'm gonna have to go and bitch at someone about it!"

Aden laughed. "I'm a manager at Hot Topic here in Raleigh."

"Oh, well, that kinda makes sense," Hope laughed.

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Well, you do have that stereotypical Hot Topic look and all."

"Right back atcha!"

Hope stood next to Aden in the long line waiting to get into City Limits. She swore she could hear Jeff, Shane, Shannon, Lizzie, and few other friends towards the front already having a good time. Hope just laughed at them as she heard Lizzie squeal out, figuring one of the guys had just done something gross or stupid. Aden looked over at his date and smiled before grasping her hand in his. Hope instantly looked down at her hand, forgetting for a second she was on a date, and then looked up at the gorgeous guy she was with, with a smile on her face.

"Are you having a good time so far?" Aden questioned.

"I'm having an awesome time. But I think anything we would have done tonight would have been fun cause I'm with you," Hope replied as her cheeks began to grow red.

"I think so too. I really like being around you," Aden spoke softly as they moved up in the line.

"Me too."

"Question game?" Aden suggested.

"Um, sure! Why not? Looks like we may be out here for a bit.

"Good, cause I have question for you."

"I figured!" Hope laughed as they moved up again.

"What's your favorite move that you do?"

"Probably Jeff's 'whisper in the wind'. Or Matt and Jeff's 'poetry in motion'. Which was actually Jeff and my move."

"What happened?"

"Well, they're the one's in the big time, ya know? Only made sense that a great move like that go with them to be shown to the world."

"Why aren't you wrestling for the WWF? Don't you want to?"

"No, not really. That was never my thing. It was Jeff and Matt's dream to be the famous professional wrestlers. I like wrestling in my bottom of the food chain feds," Hope paused to chuckle. "Actually, I was offered a position by Vince himself when I first started in wardrobe. But I don't want to be a part of the Hardy Boyz legacy. It's bad enough that I work in the same company as them."

"Makes sense I suppose," Aden shrugged and they were almost to the head of the line.

"What about you? How come you're not in a bigger and better company?"

"I have so many ties to Extreme Chaos. I'm practically a co-founder. Maybe someday I'd like to move up. But for now, I think I'm happy where I am," Aden smiled as he paid the bouncer the cover charge for the both them.

Aden and Hope walked into the club, with music blaring, people already basically sloshed, and girls grinding against each other, just trying to turn on any guys. Hope looked around for her brother and friends, but couldn't locate them. That was, until someone jumped on her shoulders, causing her to jump in shock. She turned to face Lizzie who stood there with a dumb smile on her face and a beer in each hand.

"Hope! What the fuck are you doin here?!" Lizzie yelled, obviously she had started her drinking at home, for she seemed to be a little over the edge of tipsy.

"I'm on a date!" Hope yelled over the music as she pointed to Aden. He stood there and waved with his free hand as he was slightly shoved by a couple chicks who were dancing. They apologized with a laugh and went about their dancing in a new spot.

"Hey!" Lizzie seemed to scream as she began to wave, only to have beer start flying around them. She laughed before licking the outside of the bottle dry.

"Aden, this is my best friend, although I'm not sure why sometimes, Lizzie. Lizzie, this is Aden!"

"Hi," Aden spoke trying not to laugh at the brunette in front of him.

"LIZZIE!!!" They heard a yell from across the club. The three of them turned toward the voice. Standing by the bar, waving like a maniac was Jeff, obviously drunk.

"That's Jeff!" Lizzie yelled as she waved back at him, causing more beer to spill out.

"I can't believe I associate with these people sometimes," Hope laughed as she looked up at Aden.

"I'm sure it's never a dull moment though!" Aden laughed with her.

"That's for sure!" said Hope as she started being pulled away. Thankfully, Aden held onto her hand tightly as they were dragged across the club by little old Lizzie, who had moved her beer bottles into the same hand.

"Jeff, look who I found!" Lizzie yelled as they stood next to Jeff.

"Lizzie, I can hear you just fine!" Jeff laughed.

Lizzie tilted her head in confusion and then started laughing. "Oh, yeah, I suppose you can."

"Hi Jeff," Hope chuckled as she shook her head.

"Hey little sister!" Jeff wrapped his arms around his sister causing her to drop Aden's hand.

"Dude, I'm only 4 minutes younger!" Hope growled crossing her arms as Jeff let go.

"Whatever, you're still younger," Jeff argued.

"Aden, this is my stupid assed brother Jeff. Jeff, this is Aden."

Jeff reached out to shake Aden's hand. "So YOU'RE Aden!"

"Um, yeah, guilty," Aden chuckled as the rest of the crew showed up.

"Oh Jesus," Hope whispered as she rolled her eyes.

"Hope, who's this?" Shannon questioned with a cool nod.

"Everyone this is Aden, Aden this is EVERBODY!" Hope answered.

"Hi Aden!" everyone chorused and waved as if they were part of some AA meeting.

Aden laughed at them before gripping onto Hope's hand once again. "Do you want a drink?" he asked before ordering himself a beer. She nodded and ordered her one too. Shane walked up to the couple and pulled Hope aside. Aden looked over at him but Shane waved him off.

"How's shit goin with Aden tonight?" Shane questioned crossing his arms.

"Everything's good, why?"

"Just wondering, making sure he's being good and all," Shane replied.

"Dude, why do you care?" Hope asked.

"You're my friend and I just worry about you sometimes."

"I'm a big girl. I can't handle myself on a date," Hope sighed before walking back to her date.

It didn't take too many more beers before they were able to talk both Lizzie and Hope into getting on the bull with the rest of the girls. The two of them didn't do too bad considering they were basically wasted. It also wasn't long before Aden had stopped the beer supply and switched to water to help sober up his date.

"Aden, dude, be good to her tonight. She's drunk. Don't take advantage of that," Shane spoke as they stood outside of the club around 1:30 in the morning.

"Shane, I wouldn't do something like that man. Besides, she's sobering up quickly. She's fully aware of what she and I are doing," Aden responded as the rest of the group joined them outside, ready to leave. Everyone said their goodbyes and got into their designated drivers' cars.

Hope slide happily into the passenger seat of Aden's car, she was worn out and still extremely tipsy. Aden looked over at his date, who was currently slouching in the seat, about to fall asleep, and just smiled. He didn't mind that she had, had a bit too much to drink on their first date. He still had a good time with her, and her friends. Though he did keep going back to Shane's conversations about Hope. He kept feeling as though Shane was hiding something. Maybe hiding the fact that he had feelings for her. He tried to shake those thoughts away and did just as he pulled into Hope's driveway.

He got out and opened her car door for her, and helped her out. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah, sorry about that. I guess I drank a bit too much. I'm a lot better now," she replied as he followed her to her door.

"Don't worry about it. I still had fun."

"Me too," she smiled as she unlocked her door. "Did you want come in? You never did get a tour of my house."

"Um, yeah, that sounds good," Aden replied with a smile as he followed her inside.

"So this is the guest bedroom," Hope said before pulling Aden into her room. "And this, as you probably remember is my room."

"Yep, I remember. Nicely decorated. You're art work?"

"Some of it. Some of it is Jeff's," Hope smiled pulling him to her bed. They sat down next to each other as Hope threw off her jacket.

"You both are talented," he replied.

"Thanks," she said biting her lip. They stared at each other for quite a bit before Hope let out a deep sigh. "Are you gonna fuckin kiss me or what?!"

Aden laughed before he moved in for the kill, attacking her lips with his. Hope laid back on the bed as things began to get heated. She started to pull off Aden's AC/DC band tee when he stopped her.

"Are you sure you wanna do this? Cause I don't think I'll be able to stop," Aden said staring into her eyes.

"Aden, I'm done with thinking. Like Nike says, JUST DO IT!" Hope laughed. Aden shrugged and went back to her lips.