a/n thanks to Showni13 and Mistress Merows for reviewing! I hope everyone enjoys this chapter!

-August 31, 2010; Backstage at NXT; Post Show-

A huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders; everything had gone off without a hitch. Kaval had been crowned the winner and the bitter eliminated contestants had naturally attacked the final three, but I didn't have to worry at all about what was going to happen next. The Divas who would be competing in Season 3 were none of my concern; I was no longer required backstage at WWE events.

Though, none of that changed the fact that I had to speak to Michael. I shouldn't have been scared, there were no signs that he would even care about me leaving for good. And besides, if he really wanted to see me he lived down the street. But he deserved to know before an official statement was released, he deserved to be told by me.

"Are we doing this here?" he asked, and I turned around to see him leaning against a wall.

"Can we go for a walk?"

"Yeah," he said slowly, kicking off and beginning to walk beside me. "Why do you need to speak to me?"

"I'm, uh, just going to do this quickly." I breathed in, "I'm leaving the company at the end of the month."

"Are you working for Corporate?" he asked without thinking twice. He didn't even look at me as I spoke; we just kept walking towards the car park.

"No, en fait, I decided to leave for good." He slowly came to a stop and shook his head. He looked at me with a curious look.

"What do you mean?" his face fell, "Are you- are you okay?"

"Yeah, I feel great. Perfectly healthy." He turned away from me again. "I just, I need to get out, you know?"

"No," he said solemnly, "I don't. Why would you want to leave when you struggled so much last time?"

"I'm not wrestling; I can't be here if I'm not doing what I love." I answered him. The conversation was more natural than it should have been. "It's going to suck but it sucks so much more when the ring is so close."

"Why are you telling me this?" he asked me suddenly and I stalled. I looked up at him with a confused face, only to have him return the look. "I'm not trying to be rude, but this isn't something you need to be telling me."

I moved my eyes to look at the ground and closed my eyes briefly. A montage of our relationship ran through my brain and I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from crying.

"But you are."

"I am what?" he asked, his voice becoming cold and distant.

"Being rude! I'm telling you because you mean something to me. I don't want to leave and have you thinking I've run off again."

"Why would I think about you?" he snapped at me and I gasped. "You broke my heart; you mean nothing to me anymore." A tear slipped down my face as I felt my heart rip in two. He didn't even sound as though he was convincing himself that I was no longer an important person in his life. He was well aware of that and he took joy in seeing it break me. "You broke up with me for something I can't control. For doing what I love which is also what you love. You should know better than just about anybody that this job is fucking hard, that getting a day off is near impossible yet you still hold it against me."

"No!" I shouted at him, "It's got nothing to do with that! We talked about this! It's because you didn't tell me. I'd have dealt with it if you had just called me and told me. You couldn't even do that!" He stared at me blankly and I hastily wiped the tears from my eyes, "Forget it. I don't know why I'm telling you this either."

I shook my head and turned away from him. I paused for a second before quickly walking away from Mike.

"Fuck it, Claire! Get your shit together!"

"I need to tell you something." I sobbed once the door to the Rookie locker room had opened. I knew that only one person had remained behind and that was because his ride to the hotel hadn't left yet – I had been speaking to him less than five minutes beforehand.

"Are you okay?" he asked quickly, pulling me into the room so no one else would see me in such a state.

"I'm leaving the company at the end of next month."

"Shit." He swore, moving me to a seat. "What's wrong? Is it the… You know? Are you sick?"

"No." I laughed through my cries and shook my head, "I'm fine, perfectly healthy!"

"Then why are you leaving? Why are you crying?" he asked in a small panic.

"Kevin, I fucked up so bad." I whimpered. He quickly pulled a seat beside mine and put his arm around my shoulder. "I don't know what to do."

"This has everything to do with Mike, doesn't it?" he asked me and I cried louder.

I didn't even tell him why I was crying, I couldn't stop crying long enough to say anything so when Ted came looking for me fifteen minutes later, I hadn't even began to explain why I was crying so hard. Kevin had been good about it and just comforted me while I had a mild psychological breakdown in the middle of the Rookie's locker room.

Ted wasn't as confused as Kevin though he had basically just assumed that it had something to do with Mike. He pulled me out of the locker room, told me all of my things were in the car already and that we were going straight back to the hotel.

Though, we hadn't even made it to back entrance of the Times Union Centre before we saw Mike. I had stopped crying but I knew I had tear tracks running down my face and make up smudged around my eyes. Ted harshly pushed him with his shoulder as he walked past, making sure he knew just what he had done.

"Claire…" Mike trailed off looking at my face and (hopefully) realising just how much he had hurt me.

"You're scum, Mizanin. Absolutely scum." Ted spat at him and curled his hand into a fist. "You couldn't have heard her out?"

"Why should I have?" he asked back, returning to his previous stone cold expression.

"Because she loves you!" Ted barked and my eyes widened in shock. I gasped and moved to stand behind him, hiding myself from Mike. "Man, she hasn't stopped. You don't have to like her back but you don't have to be an asshole about it! Show some respect! You wouldn't be anything without her."

"Ted!" I cried, tugging on his arm to get him to walk away, but he planted his feet firmly on the ground. "Arretez!" I shouted but I was ignored.

"What's the supposed to mean?" Mike asked through gritted teeth.

"You still haven't realised that she's the reason you were never released? You're an idiot! She's done nothing but protect you from day one!" Mike scoffed but that only made Ted angrier. "You really think that you made it this far by being arrogant? If she hadn't begged Vince to let you keep this job then you'd be jobbing on TNA."

"Don't be stupid." I mumbled to Ted, violently tugging on his arm so he turned around. "I can't believe you." I whispered at him harshly. "Leave it the fuck alone. Take me home." And by home I meant to the hotel, but when you're on the road so often hotels are home.

Ted put his arm over my shoulder and hugged me tight, whispering apologies to me as we walked away from a very confused Michael.

"Am I ever going to get to tell him myself?"

"Uh?"

"That I love him? Last time Cody told him and now it's you."

"Let's be honest, would you really have told him?" Ted asked me seriously and I sighed.

"I would have gotten to it… Eventually."