After closing the door behind her, Ronda had taken off and virtually ran along the hallway towards the bathrooms. When Orton had suggested the finish of the match, it had immediately made her start to panic about her neck injury. Fielding questions about it from Seth had made it even worse.
When she rushed into the bathroom, she was thankful to see that it was empty. She hurried over to the sinks, ran some cold water and used it to splash her face. After that was done, she found herself staring into the mirror and hating what she saw. Staring back at her was a woman with a pathetic, frightened look on her face.
Slowly, she reached her left hand, which was almost trembling, up and around to the back of her neck. Her fingers needed no guidance to find the small, rough mark on her skin caused by the scar from her surgery. They had done it so many times since the accident that it was now an instinctive thing that happened whenever the injury was on her mind.
Touching the scar had the same effect that it always did; bringing back the memory of her horse rearing up and sending her crashing to the ground, landing on the top of her head. Then there had been the brief feeling of being dazed by the impact, followed by her mind telling her that she was fine. Her helmet was designed to stop impacts like that, so she would not have a head injury. Her next instinct had been to jump up, laugh it off and tell her mother that she was fine. That would put her mind at ease before she got the chance to rush over in a panic, fearing the worst. It was only when she had tried to jump up that the fact that she was seriously injured revealed itself because nothing happened. She had tried to get up, but her legs had not responded in any way at all. Instantly fear had taken control of her as she tried once more to move and again nothing happened.
"Ronda? Are you okay, sweetheart? Come on, up you get." Her mother's face had appeared above her, the older woman smiling nervously and holding out a hand for her to use to help with getting to her feet.
"Mom," Ronda gasped out in panic, "I can't. My legs. I can't move my legs..."
The memories caused the feeling of nausea to become too great, and Ronda emptied the contents her stomach into the sink in front of her in two heaves. Tears stung her eyes as she washed the mess away as best she could, before cupping some water in her hands and drinking it to wash away the putrid taste of her vomit. Again, she splashed water onto her face as her mind raced. What if she hit the ringside barrier later in the night and her neck got injured? Everyone would be keen to tell her that the odds of that happening were billions to one, as close to impossible as you could imagine, but that did not mean that it actually was impossible.
"God damn it," she cried out in frustration and anger at herself. This was hell. No one would understand how she felt, so what was the point in talking about it? A few minutes before, she had only just managed to catch herself before she started blabbing to Seth about it, but what would that have achieved aside from making the guy think she was both a weirdo and not fit to do the job that she been appointed to do? And all of this was without anyone knowing what the real results had been of her final scan during rehab. That was her most closely guarded secret.
The doctor's voice came into her mind as clearly as if she was still sitting in his office. "Well Ronda," the old guy had said softly, "I've looked over your scans..."
"Hey!" Summer Rae's loud, cheerful greeting as she walked into the bathroom made Ronda almost jump out of her skin. "Oh, sorry, didn't mean to startle you."
"No, my fault. I was day dreaming or something," Ronda mumbled as she hurried out of the bathroom, keen to avoid anyone else asking if she was okay.
Trying to figure out what the deal was with Ronda was proving to be hard for Seth. After she had hurriedly left the room, he had sat there for over half an hour running things over in his head, making little progress. With a sigh, he stood up and left the room. There was nothing else for it, he was going to have to discuss this with his two brothers. At least he could rely on Dean and Roman to keep his confidence and not go around talking about Ronda's personal affairs. A couple of minutes later, he pushed the door of the locker room that the three brothers were sharing open and walked in. Both of the men whose advice he was seeking were there, but Roman was on his cell phone. By the sound of his end of the conversation, he was talking to his wife.
"I thought you'd fucked off home," Dean greeted him sarcastically as he pulled on the jeans that formed part of his ring attire.
"I was going over the match with Orton and Ronda," Seth revealed, not rising to the obvious bait. "Listen, when Roman's done on there I need to talk to you guys about something."
"It's okay," Dean smirked. "Dating a woman who's meaner looking than you are is nothing to feel ashamed of. No one thinks..."
"I'm serious, man," Seth cut into the banter. "Can we sit down for a few minutes?"
There was a time for ribbing, actually there was a lot of time for that where the three Shield brothers were concerned, but equally when one of them had a problem they would be there for each other and it now became clear to Dean that this was one of those moments. Seth had that look on his face; the look that said his mind was dwelling on something. Seth was the the thinker of the group. At times that was a good thing, at other's it could be a pain in the ass when things played on his mind for way too long. Lately it had been happening more often, and it was beginning to be a concern that the pressure of being one of the main men in the WWE was getting to him a little. Of course the fact that the idiot had screwed up his previous relationship by cheating had not helped.
"What's up?" Dean asked, his tone now devoid of sarcasm as he sat down beside Seth.
The younger man gestured towards Roman. "Let's wait for Roman."
Seeing that something a little out of the ordinary was going on in the room, Roman finished his call as soon as he could without being rude to his wife. "What's up bro?" he asked Seth as he also took a seat on a bench opposite the two other men.
"This stays in this room, okay?" Seth began, receiving nods of agreement from both of his bothers. "There's something going on with Ronda."
"What, you think she's got another guy on the go?" Dean asked, heading down totally the wrong path, as was often the case with him.
"No!" Seth exclaimed as if he found the suggestion offensive somehow. His reaction seemed overly defensive even to himself, considering that he had only had one dinner date with Ronda, at least as far as his two brothers were concerned. There was no way for the other two men to know that he had been halfway to fucking Ronda in her locker room less than an hour earlier. They would not be finding out about it now, either. Having sex in a locker room was not his style, and it would not have been a good idea. In a way, on reflection he was grateful to Brie Bella for interrupting them. If something was going to come of this with Ronda, then their first time definitely should definitely not be a quick and cheap fuck in a locker room.
"It's not something with Ronda and I, it's something with her," Seth clarified. "You remember I told you about her neck injury? Well, there's still something going on with that."
"What, you think she's still hurt?" Roman asked, raising his eyebrows in surprise.
"No, I don't know, maybe," Seth sighed, his confusion obvious. "I asked her, but she said that her neck's fine and that WWE put her through fitness tests before they would sign her. But when Orton suggested that she could take a bump off the apron onto the barrier as part of our finish, I noticed how she reacted to it. It wasn't a big reaction, I don't think Orton even saw it, but I definitely did. I saw that she was afraid to do the spot. After Randy left the room, I asked her if she was still hurt. I may have been a little too direct, but she was about to walk out and I had to make her stop. She had her back to me, but I'm sure she thought for a second about telling me something. Whatever it was, she changed her mind and just said that her neck is fine, and that she doesn't want to talk about it. So, what am I supposed to do?"
"She doesn't want to talk, and she said she's fine. Do you actually have to do anything?" Dean asked. At times, talking with Dean could be frustrating. He often saw things as black and white when in fact they were grey. If he was honest, Seth would have admitted that it was really Roman's advice that he was seeking on this occasion, but the three men always discussed things as a group. Besides, Seth knew that Dean meant well and was trying to help in his own way.
"Don't be an idiot," Roman said, without any hostility in his voice. "Of course he's going to try and help her. It sounds like it's obvious Ronda has some kind of problem. Listen," he ordered Seth. "This is obviously a sensitive subject for her, so you can't go at her with guns blazing, throwing questions at her and demanding that she speaks to you about it. From what you described, it sounds like she thought about talking to you, but then decided that she wasn't ready or didn't want to. She'll talk to you when, if, she's ready and willing to. That's her decision to make, not yours. As for her injury, or lack of it, WWE must have put her through tests, as she says, and she doesn't seem like an idiot to me. I can't imagine that she's out there still carrying a bad neck injury and putting herself in danger of hurting herself even more. I'd guess that what's going on is that she's frightened."
"Frightened?" Dean asked doubtfully, eyes narrowing at what sounded to him like a very strange notion. "Frightened of falling off the ring apron? Fuck off, man."
As Dean spoke, Seth had been considering what Roman had said. "No, he might be right," he said thoughtfully. "Like he said, Ronda's not stupid. She's a professional. Hell, she's an Olympic athlete, so I can't see her putting herself at risk if she was still injured. And in any case, WWE wouldn't allow it. They wouldn't have hired her if there was any doubt about her carrying a serious injury. Let's say for a moment that you're right, Roman, that she's frightened, and let's say that she talks to me about it. How do I help her to deal with it?"
All three men sat silently in thought for a moment before Dean mumbled to himself, "When I was a kid and I fell off my bike, my dad would always say the best thing to do was get right back on." Then he spoke up, "Hey, that's it. You've got to get her in the ring and make her take a bump, a proper one. Once she knows she can do it..."
Seth's eyes lit up and he cut in, "No, that's not what I'm going to do. But, I do know what I am going to do. Thanks guys. Dean, you're the man." With that he took out his phone and headed for the door.
"Don't worry," Dean grinned at Roman as the door banged closed behind Seth, "I'll be the one who pretends to know what the fuck's going on."
The match to decide who got the spot in the triple threat match at the Royal Rumble and whether or not Randy Orton would be forced to leave the WWE had the crowd enthralled. It was not the loudest crowd ever on Monday Night Raw by any means, but they were cheering and booing at the appropriate times, which at least showed that they were invested in the contest.
Ronda got the call in her earpiece to start bringing the match to a close, which she passed on to Randy Orton. In turn, his attempt to line up an RKO the next time Seth was down was the cue to Jamie Noble to play his part. Orton lay coiled on the mat, ready to strike, but before he could deliver the move, Jamie reached into the ring and grabbed his foot, yanking him towards the ropes. As Michael Cole complained loudly that it should be a disqualification, Orton stood and pulled Jamie up onto the apron before nailing him with a right hand to the face.
The diminutive Noble fell to the floor, where he was quickly attended to by his sidekick Joey Mercury. Ronda stepped through the ropes and yelled at them, "Hey! You two, you get involved again and I'm ringing the bell! You hear me? Stay off the apron!"
As planned, Seth was whipped into the ropes at that moment, bumping Ronda as gently as he could without making it look lame. It was the moment she had been dreading, but Ronda followed through on what she had agreed to do and jumped off the apron, making sure to hit the barrier, cushioning the fall with her hands before falling to the floor. Fear gripped her stomach tightly, but as she lay on the floor she quickly discovered that all of her extremities moved and felt the way that they should. She had survived the fall uninjured.
As Ronda breathed a sigh of relief on the floor, Noble and Mercury took advantage of the fact that there was no referee and rushed the ring, attacking Randy from behind as he stomped Seth in the corner. The crowd booed loudly at the blatant cheating as the beat down commenced. Quickly, Seth regained his feet and joined in with his two security guards, all three men stomping Randy mercilessly.
A loud cheer broke out as Dean Ambrose ran to the ring. Dean was no ally of Randy Orton, but he had in his opinion been screwed out of a victory against Seth the week before, and wanted revenge. Dean hit the ring and set about dismantling Noble and Mercury with right hands before hitting Noble with Dirty Deeds. As Dean regained his feet, Mercury got a right hand which staggered Dean onto the middle rope, but he used his own momentum to come off and deliver his signature clothesline, sending Mercury almost for a back flip.
From her position on the floor, Ronda had been able to sneak a glance at the huge screen at the top of the entrance ramp, waiting for the right moment to get up. Selling her supposed injuries from the fall, she climbed awkwardly onto the apron as Dean reversed a move from Seth and got him in position for Dirty Deeds. The crowd cheered loudly, but Ronda waved her arms, signalling to Dean not to deliver the move. Ignoring her instructions, Dean hit the move, leaving Seth flat on his face in the middle of the ring.
Ronda charged across the apron, motioning for the timekeeper to ring the bell. The bell rang several times as Ronda walked down the ring steps. Lillian Garcia walked over, unsure what to announce. Dean stood at the ropes in the ring, staring down at Ronda as she gave her decision to Lillian. A cameraman got around to film the conversation between the two women, but not in time and all that his mic picked up was Ronda saying, "...wins the match and advances to the Royal Rumble."
"What's the decision?" Michael Cole demanded.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Lillian announced, "The winner of the match, as a result of a disqualification due to outside interference, and the man who advances to the triple threat match at the Royal Rumble..." She left a theatrical pause. "Seth Rollins!"
The crowd erupted in boos and Randy Orton, who was now up and on his feet, kicked the ropes and buried his face in his hands in frustration and anger. Losing the match meant that he was gone from the WWE.
"No! That's ridiculous!" Michael Cole yelled. "Rousey saw Noble put his hands on Orton before Ambrose even came out here. That's two weeks in a row she's aided Seth Rollins, and I don't like it at all."
"Now, wait a minute, let's not go too far," Booker T cautioned. "I wouldn't say she aided Rollins. I mean, Ambrose did hit him with Dirty Deeds right in front of her. What was she supposed to do?"
"You saw Ronda Rousey telling Ambrose not to give Rollins that move as clearly as I did," JBL joined in. "She told him not to do it, and he did it. That's a disqualification any way you look at it. Orton is out of here, and Seth Rollins is in the triple threat match at the Royal Rumble. That's where cheating gets you, Randy."
In the ring, Orton took out his frustrations on Ambrose by hitting him with an RKO, changing the direction of the commentary and preventing Cole from continuing the argument. Seth, already having evacuated the ring, retreated to the entrance ramp where his hand was raised by Ronda. Raw went off the air moments later, leaving Seth and Ronda to walk through the curtain to the backstage area side by side.
As the pair walked through the curtain, they found Hunter approaching them. The boss told them that he was very pleased with the ending of the match and their execution of it, handing out praise to both Seth and Ronda before moving on to Orton as he also walked through the curtain.
"I really enjoyed that," Ronda smiled at Seth as they walked into the hallway which would lead them to the locker rooms. "It's great getting that kind of reaction from the fans. I think they're going to start to hate me real soon."
"I know, right?" Seth smiled. "Being a heel beats being a face any day of the week, for me at least. Seriously, nice job out there."
"Thank you," Ronda smiled. "As I said, I really enjoyed it."
"Even the fall from the apron?" Seth asked gently, unable to resist the opening that Ronda had left for him.
A couple of seconds of silence hung awkwardly between them as they walked, before Ronda responded. "No. That part I didn't enjoy."
Seth remembered Roman's advice about pushing too hard and letting Ronda to be the one to decide when or if the conversation about her injury happened. For that reason, he decided not to push any further. "Do you have anything planned for dinner?" he asked instead.
A different kind of smile appeared on Ronda's face as she stopped walking. Seth stopped beside her and they stood facing each other. "I'm in the same hotel as you guys are," she said. "I was going to eat in their restaurant. As we have something to continue from earlier, I guess you should join me?" she teased, thinking back to how Brie had interrupted them in the locker room.
"I guess I should," Seth pretended to consider the offer, feeling lust begin to burn inside him. He could see the same emotion in Ronda's blue eyes as she bit her bottom lip softly. Before either of them knew what was happening, they were locked in a passionate kiss which lasted for a long moment before Seth pulled away. "Not here," he breathed. "Too many people with big mouths wandering around. When you get in the locker room, get my number from Nikki or Brie and text me so I have your number. I'll call you later, okay?"
Ronda nodded her agreement and turned away, quickly heading for her nearby locker room quickly and closing the door more forcefully than necessary, leaving Seth with the impression that she had not trusted herself to keep her hands off him if she remained around him any longer. Walking off towards his own locker room, he could not keep a smile from his face.
Standing unnoticed at the end of the hallway, Dean Ambrose also had a smile on his face, having just witnessed the pair talking and then kissing. He knew his brother well enough to see that he was already lost on Ronda Rousey. It seemed that the same could be said of Ronda in return. Seth deserved some happiness after the way his previous relationship had ended, even it had been his own stupid fault for cheating. At least that lesson seemed to have been learned.
"Good for you, bro," Dean mumbled to himself as he sauntered off after the younger man to join him in the locker room, having already decided not to mention what he had just seen.