Dave

After leaving Jamie's hotel room I decided that I needed to clear my head, sort out my feelings. There was two possible ways that I could do so; work out or go for a walk and as I wasn't familiar with Houston I decided to head to the arena to work up a sweat. Usually the arenas have a gym and if not WWE trainers will have a few Bowflexs set up that anyone can use, however if someone who holds the championship or is number one contender wants to use it whoever is on the Bowflex at the time has to give it up. Luckily the arena we were in had a gym and I was able to go hammer myself on the treadmill before lifting some weights. I was running the treadmill when my cell rang; it was Jamie asking if I wanted a lift to the arena. I suddenly wished that I was still at the hotel and able to take her up on the offer yet I was also relieved as the work out was helping to clear my mind.

The gym began to fill up which caused me to lose interest in working out; I struggled to focus with the growing noise. So I finished working out and absently headed back to my locker room. It seemed like I had left the gym at the perfect time because as I rounded the corner I saw 'King' Booker trying to put the hard word on Jamie.

"I do believe that I heard the lady turn you down!" I announced making my presence known; I saw so many of the boys taking advantage of their strength and 'celebrity' status it made me sick. Admittedly I'd done similar but I'd never forced a girl into something she didn't want. I got the feeling that Jamie wasn't all that unfamiliar to the scene and nobody deserved to go through that once let alone multiple times. As soon as he recognised my voice young Eli cried out my name, it was easy to see that he was distressed by the situation.

"Jamie take Eli and go to my locker room. I'll be there in a minute," I ordered in a strong voice before watching the woman take her child into my locker room and close the door.

"I thought I told you to stay the hell away from Jamie," I hissed grabbing Booker by the scruff of his shirt,

"Hey no one tells me who I can or can't have"

"Not even the person you want, right?"

"No never really means no, you've been around you should know that," Booker's smirk and smug voice made me lose it and without thinking I smashed my fist into his face sending him flying in the wall stunning him slightly. Using his stunned state to my advantage I pushed the man to the ground twisting his arm behind his back and standing on his wrist, feeling the bones crack under the pressure. Not even his yelp of pain and the knowledge that I had broken his arm could stop me, then with pressure still on his twisted arm I leant down and started pummelling my fists into his face. It is an undeniable fact that Booker is a good wrestler, however when a person is attacked unprepared and with such fierceness, it is easy to be seriously injured and even possibly knocked out. That is what had happened to Booker yet I was so angry that it wasn't until I heard Sharmell's high pitched scream I realised the man under me was unconscious. I automatically realised that Vince was going to have my ass on a plater for what I'd done however I was too worried about Jamie and Eli,Eli; I think I could have killed the man in order to protect those two.

As I entered the locker room a tearful Eli cried out my name and ran towards me causing me to pick him up and hold him close. Jamie seemed a little confrontational at the fact I had stepped in, if what had happened in her hotel room early had confused me they had no doubt confused her and me stepping in between Booker and her must have confused her even more. If my suspicions about Conner were true what had happened out the front used to be quite a common scene however no one had ever butted in, I felt that Jamie had always been alone when up against the father of her child. Despite her insisting that she was fine she was clearly freaked out and no longer wanted to leave Eli alone with me, not that she was frightened of me just that she was petrified of putting Eli at risk of being hurt, she was scared of letting him out of her sight. Eventually I was able to convince the woman to go through with our plans of me looking after Eli and walk her where she needed to go. I yearned to put my arm around her shoulders as a form of comfort yet I figured it would just cause her more distress than necessary, so simply I walked besidebesides her holding Eli in my arms.

Once Eli and I had said goodbye to Jamie we headed back to my locker room and I put the boy down on the bench,

"So, what do you want to do?" I asked the boy unsure what to do yet.

"Color!" The boy answered cheerfully,

"Do you have any coloring books?"

"In my bag," he replied, so I opened his bag and rummaged through hoping to find a coloring book and crayons.

"Will you color with me?" The boy asked as I finally pulled a book out. I took a quick glance at the clock on the wall and saw that I had plenty of time before I had to meet with Finaly to discuss our match and besides I hadn't colored since my girl's were about Eli's age.

"Sure why not" I smiled down at the boy and saw his reaction, he was ecstatic that I was willing to take the time to play with him. I dropped down beside the boy and grabbed a crayon to begin coloring, I felt like I was a father playing with his son; at that moment things were perfect. However the feeling didn't last all that long, we'd barely been coloring 10 minutes when someone knocked on the door before pushing it open,

"UNCLE SHANE!" Eli screamed at the sight of Vince's eldest child, all thoughts of coloring were abandoned as the boy flew across the room and into the arms of Shane.

"Uncle Shane?" I asked confused, I knew that Jamie had both an older brother and sister but they both lived in Australia and her neither of her step siblings or their partners were McMahons.

"It's a long story,"

"I have time"

"Actually no you don't, dad is furious about what you did to Booker…"

"Uncle Shane Davie saved us from King Booger, he was scary! Davie's not going to be in trouble is he?" Eli said shaking slightly when he remembered what had happened.

"It's ok Eli; dad just wants to talk to him"

"But he has to look after me," Eli explained with his lower lip quivering.

"I know that but you what?"

"What?"

"Declan is here, when he heard that you were going to be here he made me bring him."

"DECY! Sorry Davie but I have to go with Uncle Shane to see Decy,"

"It's ok; I'll come get you after I finish talking to Vince ok? Do I get a hug?" I asked knowing that I was going to be in so much trouble and hugging Eli would give me a good moment to hang on to. Shane put Eli down who ran across to me giving me a tackle hug that nearly knocked me over,

"That is one good hug! Now you be good for Uncle Shane"

"Ok Davie, I'll miss you"

"My office is next to my dad's so we'll walk with you. Eli you can walk too"

"But can't Davie carry me Uncle Shane?"

"Nope, you're a big boy now and you've got to show Declan how to be a big boy too"

"Ok, will you hold my hand though?" Eli asked as I put him on the ground,

"Of course we will, come on" Shane replied taking one of the boy's hands and indicating for me to take the other.

We walked down the hallway in relative silence, while I was close to his sister I had never gotten along all that well with Shane, we just didn't seem to have all that much in common. Eli however regaled the man with stories of his week, including his trip to the zoo and the death of his hero, while I grew more and more nervous each step we took towards Vince's office, I nearly wanted to run and hide in my locker room, lock the door so he couldn't come find me. The walk took forever and I felt like I was a man on Death Row, taking my last long walk down the corridor. When we finally reached Vince's office I gave Eli another massive hug not wanting to let the boy go,

"Davie you're choking me"

"Oh sorry buddy" I sighed pulling away and telling Shane I'd come pick Eli up that is based on me actually surviving the meeting.

"Uncle Shane are we going to see Decy now?"

"Yep, he's waiting for us with Aunt Stephie in my office," Was the last thing I heard before entering Vince's office.

"David, did you have to pick the one night of the month that I'm at a Smackdown event to kick Bookers ass? You've got some explaining to do boy! Sharmell wants to press charges!"

"Jamie is the one who should be pressing charges!"

"Jamie?"

"Yea, you know, Jamison Alister, Smackdown's newest photographer, mother of Eli Alister, you know that three year old that refers to your children as his aunt and uncle," I was angry and the little issues, the ones that were confusing me, like Eli's connection with the McMahons were turning into massive issues just making me even angrier. I was watching Vince's face as I spoke, slowly his face softened as he began to realise who it was that I was talking about.

"What did Booker do to Jamie?"

"Nothing but that is only because he didn't get the chance. He was however attempting to force her into a private rendezvous and was not going to take no for an answer."

"You broke the guy's wrist and gave him concussion, not to mention several stitches in his forehead and some possible internal injuries"

"If I hadn't stepped in when I did he was going to rape the girl in front of her three year old son! Imagine if that was Stephanie, your daughter, if I'd stepped in and stopped him hurting Steph, there would be no questions asked I'd be getting a hero's thank you. Booker got off lightly, if Sharmell hadn't shown up he would have a hell of a lot more to worry about than a broken wrist, concussion and stitches."
"I hate to say it but you're right. However the thing is that Sharmell is going off the deep end and when Booker wakes up he's going to want some justice, I can settle him with a title match but they're still going to want to press charges. If you can get both Jamie and Eli to confirm that something was going on before you stepped in I can convince them that pressing charges would be a bad idea."

"Eli is three friggen years old! What do you want him to say?"

"I don't know, that Booker is scary and a bad man that you came to look after them?"

"What about Jamie? She's not going to want to talk about it,"

"Not even to save the ass of her son's babysitter? If you get charged you're going to have to loose that title, I'll have to suspend you and the two of them are going to be dragged into court to defend you. All she needs to say is that he made an unwanted advance, that way no one will be charged and I can deal with Booker. Actually, can you go next door to Shane's office get him to bring in Eli and Declan? And I'll call and ask Jamie to join us."

"Certainly sir" I muttered before leaving the room, perhaps with both Jamie and Shane in the same room I can get some clarification about Eli referring to Shane as Uncle Shane.

I walked to the office next to Vince's and knocked before letting myself in,

"DAVIE! You have to meet Decy" Eli cried as he ran towards me,

"Eli, Dave has already met Declan. How did it go with my dad?" Shane said attempting to puttingput a halt on Eli's running around.

"Alright I guess, except he wants you, Eli and Declan to join us in his office."

"Oh great! Declan, Eli bring me your bags we're going next door."

"We seeing grandpa?" Shane's two year old asked smiling at the idea,

"Yep, jump on, the daddy express is leaving in one minute" Shane said squatting down so that his son could jump on his back,

"Can I ride too?" Eli asked shyly,

"Of course, hop on next to Declan." Watching Shane manoeuvre the two boys, so that he would be able to carry them both, reminded me of what it was like to have young children and I felt a pang of loneliness, I hadn't spoken to my daughters in close to a month they were growing up and were too cool and too busy to talk to their old man. I followed the 'daddy express' into Vince's office and was able to witness Declan taking a flying leap off his dad's back and racing across the room to his grandfather, acting as though he hadn't seen the man in months as opposed to an hour. Being a good friend of two of Vince's family members; Steph and Paul, I saw Vince outside the work environment quite regularly yet I could never get over how the man changed whenever his grandchildren entered the room. He became a totally different man, he seemed fulfilled, when the company went to Australia for the first time in 20 years he said that he only had one more thing to accomplish in his life and that was to become a grandfather, now he had three grandchildren and he was truly happy. He was even preparing to retire soon which was why Shane was around so much, Vince was teaching his eldest all that he needed to know to take over the company and if, when the time came, Shane didn't want to take over the company it would go to Steph and Paul yet everyone knew Vince secretly wanted his son to take over.

"Grandpa, I got to play with Eli! Daddy said to play the quiet game, but itsit's boring!"

"Oh that's no fun; it seems like your daddy has just forgotten how to be a little boy. You know when he was your age your daddy used to drive your grandma and me insane, always running around with his little friends then when your Aunt Stephie was born he would do so many mean things. Your daddy once tried to mail his sister to Australia," I watched as Declan's little jaw dropped and he looked at his father before turning back to his grandpa and back to his father in absolute shock that his daddy, his hero could do such a thing.

"That's where Aunt Jamie is from"

"Yep"

"Uncle Vince?"

"Yes Eli?"

"Did Uncle Shane REALLY do those things?"

"Yes, he did! Then when he met your mommy he took her under his wing and those two created havoc all over the place, even though she is 9 years younger than him."

"Uncle Shane you made mommy do bad things?"

"I didn't make her do anything, she did it all by choice"

"Who did what?" A familiar young voice asked,

"MOMMY!" Eli cried racing towards the door, I loved how young kids were always so happy to see someone that they loved whether they had just seen them or not.

"Dad was just telling Eli about what you and I used to get up to"

"Uncle Vince please don't fill my son's head with ideas"

"Who me? Would I do that? Now come here and give your uncle a kiss,"

"Ok, I can't stand it anymore, what is the deal with the Uncle thing? Can someone PLEASE explain?" I cried in frustrated after watching Jamie give Vince a kiss on the cheek, the whole situation was annoying me, and I kind of got the feeling that I wouldn't be able to move on to the Booker thing before the family link was dealt with.

"When I was 14 I went on a 3 month student exchange to Connecticut and the Mc Mahon's were my host family. During my stay Shane, Steph and I got very close, we were nearly inseparable despite our age differences. Then when I went home we kept in touch, by that time Vince had become Uncle Vince and I was part of the family. Then when I got serious about my photography Uncle Vince made it possible for me to get a professional camera and then helped pay for me when I moved to Minnesota to study teaching and live with my parents. When Eli was born Shane and Steph became his Godparents and naturally his Aunt and Uncle"

"That's how you got the job here isn't it?" I asked slightly angered at the favouritism used in the business,

"No! Jamie got the job here because she is an excellent photographer and because she worked hard to reach her dream, she applied and she got this job before I even knew she was in the running for it, despite what Paul might tell you" Vince explained passionately.

"Now that Dave is a little less confused, we've got a slightly more serious situation to deal with. One of my main eventers is in the ER and Dave put him there. Eli can you tell me what happened?"

"I don't know," he shrugged wrapping his arms around his mom's legs,

"You were with your mommy when King Booker spoke to her?"

"Yes"

"What happened then?"

"Uncle Vince… Don't get Eli involved" Jamie pleaded but Eli kept his attention on Vince,

"He was scary, King Booger said mean stuff and he called me Elijah and he called me a brat. I didn't like him, he made me cry"

"Thank you Eli, now Jamie I need you to tell me what happened"

"Uncle Vince it was nothing, just Booker being the ass that he is"

"Jamie, if you don't tell me your side of the story I'm not going to be able to stop Booker and Sharmell pressing charges and Dave could lose everything, he might even end up in jail" Vince explained,

"Alright, he tried to get me to sleep with him and I said no but he didn't like that and wasn't prepared to accept that answer, he upset Eli and if Dave hadn't shown up I have a feeling things were going to get a bit intense. Look Dave I know I jumped down your throat earlier but thank you." There was silence in the room, the facts were finally out there, Booker had been in the wrong and he had put Jamie and Eli in a bad situation. Jamie walked over and wrapped her arm around my shoulder kissing my cheek lightly in turn I put my arm around her shoulder.

"Hey Jamie, I don't know why this fool really likes you and you've been talking about him constantly for the past week so why don't you give him a shot. I can look after Eli tonight and you two go out?" Shane offered.