Disclaimer Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and the many other wrestlers in this story are the property of the WWE and/or the actors / sports entertainers / superstars that portray them. This story is intended as tribute only and is not intended to infringe on any copyrights.

Original characters are the property of me, and the children of my own imagination. Any resemblance to any real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

Dedications are at the end of this part, instead of the beginning.

And In This Corner
Part One

"Seth!"

The man with the dual colored hair paused in the hall and turned around abruptly. He had been walking past one of the temporary backstage offices, heading to catering when his boss, Hunter had called out to him. So much for lunch, he thought, knowing sometimes being stopped by the boss meant a meeting of some type that often interfered with any other plans he might have. But, that's the price you paid sometimes, for being one of the top stars. Seth walked back to the open door and put his head in. "Yeah, boss?"

Hunter looked up from the desk where he was sitting, a cell phone in his ear. "Were you heading to catering?" he asked.

"Actually, I was," Seth admitted, walking into the room. "Can I get you something?

"Yeah, Ambrose," Hunter said. He held up one finger, indicating Seth should wait and turned his attention back to the phone. "So, when? Okay. Yeah, that's fine. Yeah, I'll notify everyone." He pulled the phone away from his ear, looked at the front of it, then back to Seth. "Tell him he needs to come here in half an hour, okay?"

"Sure," Seth said. "Can I tell him what for, if he asks?"

"If he asks, tell him it's because his boss says so," Hunter said firmly, but there was a glint in his eyes that indicated Dean wasn't in trouble, but that he was not going to give away anything to Seth, that this was between him and Dean, at least for now.

Before Seth was out of the room, Hunter was back on the phone. Seth shrugged and headed to catering.

When he got to the catering area, he saw a group of ten or so wrestlers and divas standing three deep around one of the tables. Standing by the table was Dean, which didn't surprise Seth. Sometimes Dean could be moody and wanted to keep to himself, but other times, lately especially, he was cheerful and outgoing. And when Dean was cheerful and outgoing, people gravitated to him, because he was funny and interesting. As Seth moved closer, he saw Dean had a metal cup, about the size of a travel mug, In his hands he held another travel mug, a bit thinner, but with a lid.

"It's been three minutes!" Nattie called out.

"Okay then." Dean put the cup with the lid into the other cup and began pressing down. "Look how easy this is. You don't have to force it, you just gently push it down." Dean looked around quickly and realizing the room was full of nothing but adults, added, "Like making love for the first time, do it slow and easy." Everyone laughed, and Dean finished pressing the one cup into the other. "And that's it."

"But that's an awful lot of bother for coffee," Alicia pointed out. "Time this, press that. There's always coffee around."

"I know," Dean said, "Which brings us to he second half of our experiment here." He looked at Roman, "Is the pot ready?"

Roman held up the coffee pot, which Dean had earlier taken over and brewed a pot of coffee. There were several paper cups on the table and Dean started pouring small amounts of coffee into half them. "Okay, try the coffee," he suggested. Every coffee drinker, and most were, took a small cup and drank. "Really good, right?"

Everyone nodded. "Wow, this is a lot better than the coffee we usually get in catering," Dolph remarked. "If they had this around, I might become a coffee addict."

"Yeah, that's Cinnamon's own, personal blend," Dean said, proudly. "She used to work in a coffee shop and she's a bear for good coffee. She's made friends with the owner of a small coffee shop in West Virginia and he sells her small amounts of different beans. He's even sold her green coffee beans that she roasts herself in a popcorn maker. Yeah, that's right, a popcorn maker. But she has her own blend. This has got Arabica in it, Kona, and a few other types of coffee beans. It's her creation. Pretty good, right?"

Again, the crowd agreed it was good coffee. Dean nodded and took the travel mug and started pouring small amounts from the mug into the remaining paper cups. "I can't give as much with this, because this only makes about twelve ounces, but I can let everyone have a sip. I'll make more if you need a better taste, I'll just need another five minutes or so, to make it, but still, try this."

Everyone took the small sample of coffee, no more than an ounce or so, and took a sip. "It tastes different," Nattie said. "Richer, like it has more..substance in it. I can't explain, but it tastes like a... more well-rounded, better version of the first coffee."

"It's the same thing!" Dean exclaimed, as if he was imparting the wisdom of the ages on the crowd. "The same coffee! It's just one was drip brewed and the other was done with this." He held up the travel mug. "Cinnamon got this for me as a gift the last time I visited her. She gave me some of her coffee too. All in vacuum packed little one dose bags. You get used to this and you will never want to drink the sludge that catering always makes for us."

Luke Harper shook his head. "You can't expect catering to make French Press coffee for all of us, that would be way too much work to make coffee in that fashion for everyone."

Dean frowned. "Well, I was thinking maybe we could demand every catering company have at least two baristas and a full coffee bar. C'mon a lot of companies have something like that now, why shouldn't we?"

"Because nothing is free," Roman pointed out. "To do that will cost money and they'll pull the money from us, one way or another."

"But it's worth it!" Dean exclaimed, his voice earnest as if this might be the most important thing in the world. "I mean, imagine if you could get coffee like this, every day? Aw, c'mon!" He looked around and realized that while everyone was in agreement that his coffee was excellent, they weren't ready to storm the gates in search of baristas and a traveling coffee house to come with them on the road. "Okay, but will you at least back me if I ask Trips if we can at least get a better quality of coffee than this sludge?" He pointed to the automatic coffee pots that were set up for people to help themselves. "At least a good coffee shop blend, maybe a dark roast, medium roast, and a light roast? Hey, did you guys know that light roasts have more caffeine in them than dark roasts? Isn't that weird?"

"Speaking of Hunter," Seth said, speaking out for the first time. "He wants to see you in about-" He fished out his phone and looked at the time, "-twenty minutes."

Dean frowned. "Did he say why?"

Seth shook his head.

"Did he seem upset?"

Again, Seth shook his head.

"What exactly did he say?"

Seth thought. "He asked if I was going to catering, I asked if he wanted anything and he said he wanted to see you in half an hour. That was ten minutes ago, so I figure you have twenty minutes."

Dean frowned as he thought about what it would be that his boss would want from him. "He didn't seem mad, right?"

"Nope, not mad," Seth said. "But firm, like you'd better not argue or debate, you'd better be there."

"Hm.." He looked around at the group still gathered around the table. "Who wants to go with me, we can ask about the coffee, too."

"No thanks," Dolph said, laughing. "Boss is asking for you? You're on your own." More than a few people joined in with him.

"Yeah, yeah, leave me to fight the coffee battle on my own," Dean muttered. "Roman, do we have any hot water left?"

Roman nodded, picking up a thermal carafe that Dean had gotten catering to fill with hot water for him. "This still feels pretty full and the lid is on, so it should still be hot, why?"

"Because if I'm going to face the boss, I want some more coffee," Dean said.

Dean was knocking on the door to the boss's temporary office nineteen minutes later. In truth, he wasn't too nervous, he hadn't really done anything wrong lately. He was actually hoping this might be about his request for time off in June. He just wanted two days, two days he could know about in advance, so he and Cinnamon could get married. They had been discussing it, and God Bless Cinnamon, she was not crying and moaning for the dream wedding that would take months to plan, she was willing to accept a simple ceremony with a JP. But, even for that you needed some time to plan and a date to fix it all on. Feeling as if he was on a bit of a "naughty" list over his long leave when Neil was injured, Dean had told Hunter and Stephanie that he needed one of the last two weekends in June off. They could pick which weekend it was, but he just needed to know as soon as he possibly could. They hadn't told him yet and he knew Cinnamon was getting anxious about it, just as he was.

"Come in," Hunter called out.

Dean opened the door and walked in. "Seth said you wanted to see me?"

Hunter nodded and although he looked serious, Dean saw a glint in his eyes that he wasn't sure was a good thing or not. Hunter was dying to share something with him, but Dean had no clue what it was. "There are a couple of fans who want to spend some time with you before the show, and I took the liberty of saying you would be happy to."

"Really?" Dean frowned. He didn't mind meeting fans, but it was awhile until the show, and that was a long time to entertain people. He just hoped they weren't idiots or hyper-fans, or this would be a very, very, long afternoon. "Where are they?"

"Security is bringing them," Hunter said. "They'll be here any minute."

"Oh, okay," Dean said, "Uhm.. why me? Are they big fans of mine?"

"The biggest," Hunter said and Dean could see that gleam in his eyes get brighter. "They assured me that you were their absolute favorite wrestler of all time and that no one else would do."

"Really? Not even Roman?" If they loved Roman too, it was likely they were women, likely even hot women. And while he would never cheat on Cinnamon, the idea of walking around with some hot women was a lot more appealing than walking around with a couple of creepy dudes as some of his fans were wont to be.

"Not even Roman, although they did say they liked him. But really, they were quite insistent that it be you."

"Oh." Dean wanted to ask a million more questions, like what made these people so important that Hunter would decide that he should assign Dean as their personal backstage babysitter. It wasn't something that happened very often to any wrestler, which told Dean these were people of some importance. Make a Wish kids? he thought, then dismissed it. If they were Make a Wish kids, Hunter would have told him immediately, and given him a fact sheet about the child or children, letting Dean know what he was getting in for with the general health of the child. While all the Superstars were used to dealing with these kids in various stages of poor health, it was good to know what you were getting into so you wouldn't be shocked. Most of the Make A Wish kids didn't want your pity or your shock, they wanted to talk to you, to see everything, to be kids back stage at the WWE. This was their chance of escapism too, and everyone at the WWE did their best to make sure the experience was as enjoyable as possible. He was about to ask Hunter if he could tell him anything about these people, when he heard Stephanie's voice in the hall.

"Thank you, Dave," she said. Dean thought it likely that it was Dave, one of the security people she was talking to. Certainly not Dave Batista, that man hadn't been around in ages. "I'll take them in." A brief pause and then the sound of a hand turning the door knob. "He's right in here."

Dean turned as the door opened. He barely had a chance to register who he was seeing when someone shot into the room and threw himself at Dean. "Dad!"

"Neil!" Dean caught his son in his arms and hugged him tightly, instantly both shocked and thrilled. "Wow! what are you doing here?"

"Mid term report cards came out," Cinnamon explained, walking over and hugging him, even as he was still hugging Neil, and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Your son got all A's, so I asked him what he wanted as a reward. He told me the only thing he wanted was to see his Dad. Since it's a vacation week, and since Pennsylvania isn't that far from home, we decided to come and see you."

"Wow," Dean said, still in a stunned state where he half expected Neil and Cinnamon to vanish and to wake up with Hunter telling him that he was going to be in a rivalry with Luke Harper. Nothing against Luke, but he didn't think it would work well for either of them, which of course meant that someone was going to insist on it, eventually. "So, are you here for a couple days?"

"Yes, at least," Cinnamon said. "Mr. Helmsley says you're here for Raw tonight and to tape Smackdown and Main Event tomorrow. Then you have some house shows and media engagements in Virginia. We might be able to stay with you for a day or so in Virginia, then we can head home."

"Wow," Dean once again said. He was aware that he sounded like an idiot, but he was still in shock that they were here; his fiancee and his boy. He had been looking forward to having a whole summer with them joining him on the road, but he wasn't even sure he'd get to see them until the wedding day, and here they were, for at least a couple days. As his brain struggled to absorb it, the reason why Neil had gotten his wish came back to him and he focused on Neil. "All A's?"

Neil nodded. "Mid semester honor roll. I got One A-, one straight A's, the rest A+"

Dean looked at Hunter and Stephanie. "My kid is brilliant," he said, unable to keep a little bit of smugness from creeping into his voice. "He's always on the honor roll. He gets that from his mother."

Cinnamon flushed quickly, and looked at Dean. "You're not exactly stupid either, you know."

"Yeah, but I'm not as good at the book stuff like you and Neil are." He looked at Hunter. "On top of that, my kid can wrestle. Seriously, ten years old and he can wrestle. He's been trained by guys in the WVW since he was a tiny kid. He learned to run the ropes by running the middle rope, because he was too small to hit the top one. He can do a-"

Neil quickly interrupted, "Dad!"

Dean realized what he was doing and stopped. "Sorry, I just, well, I don't see you often." He looked back at Stephanie and Hunter, who if anything looked amused. "Oh, where are my manners? I guess you met Stephanie in the hall, sort of, but I'll do it again. Stephanie, Hunter, this is my fiancee, Cinnamon and my son, Neil."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Helmsley," Neil said, so politely that Dean couldn't help but puff up, just the tiniest bit, with pride. His kid was terrific. Neil might have his moments at home where he could be a little bratty, but they weren't that often and he was always well behaved in public. Heck Dean had met plenty of other wrestler's kids who weren't as polite or smart as Neil. And he was pretty sure none of them could wrestle like Neil, either. Yeah, his kid was the best, no arguing that. Of course, most of the credit for that politeness belonged to Cinnamon, but the gift for wrestling? That came from him.

"It's nice to meet you too, Neil," Hunter said, smiling at the boy, who was still looking a little embarrassed at the effusive praise pouring from his father's mouth.

"We've heard a lot about you," Stephanie added with a warm smile.

"Well, despite what you may have heard, I don't walk on water," Neil said, then froze realizing he had just spoken his mind without thinking. He swallowed hard and looked around, nervously.

Hunter did his best to look serious, but his eyes were glittering. "Your father is very proud of you, that's true. But he hasn't mentioned that you walk on water."

"I'm glad to hear that," Neil said, a grin playing across his lips as he relaxed a little.

"Hey, I can't help it if I have such a great kid," Dean said, sounding slightly defensive. "I have nine years of bragging about you to make up for."

"You don't have to do it all in one afternoon," Cinnamon suggested, but she was smiling too, looking pleased that Dean was so proud of their son. "Save some for the summer."

"And I'm not that great," Neil said, refering to his father's compliment of his wrestling skills. "I've got some of the moves, but I don't have the presence. The idea of talking on the mike in front of a crowd, still makes me want to pee my pants."

"Yeah, but you're working on it," Dean said. "You're ten years old, you've got time."

"Well, Dean you know you have a match with Cesaro tonight," Hunter said smoothly, realizing that Neil probably did not want to discuss this in front of strangers. "Get together with him and go over things at some point, but maybe you could take your fiancee and your son on a backstage tour?"

Dean nodded. "Sure, that sound great." He looked at Neil. "Do you want to see how things work?"

Neil nodded his eyes shining. "I'd like that a lot! But..." he looked over at Hunter. "Before we leave, can I get your autograph? I-I have the program from when we went to see Raw, the night I met my Dad, but the only ones who've signed it are my dad, Uncle Roman, and Uncle Seth. I was hoping I could get some more autographs, if it's not too much trouble."

"I'll be happy to sign it," Hunter said, smiling warmly at the boy.

"Thank you!" Neil exclaimed as Cinnamon dug the program out of her back pack along with a Sharpie, which she handed to Neil, who carefully brought them over to the desk. "Can-can I get your autograph, too, Mrs. Helmsley?"

"Of course."

As Hunter was signing the program, Stephanie smiled. "Since you're both here, this would be a good time to let you know, that we're giving you the last weekend in June off. We'll need Dean back on Monday for Raw, but we're giving him Wednesday through Sunday off. Will you be able to work with that?"

Cinnamon nodded. "I'm sure I can. Thank you!" Her eyes were shinning brightly.

"Yeah!" Dean did a quick fist pump. "five days! This works." He grinned to Hunter, who finished signing and pushed the program and Sharpie over to Stephanie. "Now if you'll just get some better coffee in this place, I'll be all set."

"What's wrong with the coffee? Hunter asked.

"It's lousy!" Dean said, quickly switching gears to his latest cause. "Every catering company just gives us terrible coffee. We need better coffee. We should have a full espresso bar with at least two espresso machines to make espressos, lattes, and other specialty coffee drinks. At least two to three baristas, and instead of drip coffee, they should use a french press."

"What?" Hunter asked, as if not believing what he was hearing. As far as he knew, Dean had never mentioned a problem with the coffee before. "That's a little... over the top?"

"Well, okay," Dean said, not really giving up on the idea of the full coffee bar, but deciding he should do this slowly, try for a little at a time. "If that's too much, can you at least tell the catering companies to get some reusable filters that won't suck up all the oils in the coffee? Electroplated gold ones? And to grind the coffee as we need it, not use preground coffee? And-"

"-When did you become such a coffee connoisseur?" Stephanie interrupted to ask, as she capped the magic marker and handed both that and the program back to Neil, who looked at the signatures with a grin on his face.

"Since Cinnamon showed me how great coffee could be, and how lousy the coffee I was drinking was," Dean said. "I've become kind of a coffee snob, I admit it. But good coffee is awesome, seriously, there is such a difference, this is why we're always sending people on Starbucks runs, but with the right-" Cinnamon blushed and put her hand on Dean's arm. Dean paused and looked at her.

"Well, maybe we can discuss that another time?" Hunter suggested.

"You're blowing me off, aren't you?" Dean asked, eyes narrowing, slightly.

"Yes, I am." Hunter admitted, not looking the least bit guilty. "Give me a break, Ambrose. I arranged for your fiancee and son to be allowed back stage, we've given you five days off to get married, that's enough for now. You can fight the coffee fight later."

Dean pretended to think about this, and nodded. "All right, but this isn't over." He looked at Cinnamon and Neil. "You wanna take the tour?"

"Yeah!" Neil said, his voice rising in both excitement and happiness. But before they walked out the door, he turned again to Stephanie and Hunter. "Thank you again, for letting me spend time with my dad, and for the autographs. I really appreciate it."

"You're very welcome," Stephanie and Hunter said, almost in unison.

Both Dean and Cinnamon were pleased and proud of Neil's manners, that much was obvious. "We do good work," Dean whispered into Cinnamon's ear. "We should have a few more."

Cinnamon looked at him and smiled. She didn't say yes, but she didn't say no, either. "Let's discuss that on our wedding night." she suggested.

Dean was far from the first person to bring his family through one of the arenas, in fact, in some areas, it was common place to see a wrestler with his family. When they performed in some areas of Florida, Roman's family was sure to come. Go to Iowa and Seth's girlfriend was there. Dean had met a lot of his fellow Superstar's families in back stage situations. But this was the first time he was backstage showing around his family. Not Roman's family that had taken him in (which he'd always be grateful for) but his own immediate family. His fiancee, his son. Yes, Cinnamon and Neil had come to a Raw and then Smackdown/Main event show when Dean and Cinnamon first reconnected, but it wasn't the same. They were still feeling their way around each other and he and Neil were literally strangers. Dean hadn't felt comfortable introducing them to anyone, because he wasn't sure where he fit into their lives, or even if he did. Things were different now.

They went down to catering, where a fair number of stars were still gathered, not just eating, but discussing the show that night, going over the scripts. When Neil saw Roman, he broke away from his parents and headed over. "Uncle Roman!"

Roman looked up and grinned. "Hey, Neil!" He gave the boy a hug and looked across the table he was sitting at to Barrett, who he had a match with that night. "Wade, this is Neil Ambrose, Neil, this is Wade Barrett."

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Barrett," Neil said politely.

Dean and Cinnamon had caught up to Neil by then. "That's my son," Dean said, as if it wasn't obvious.

"Yeah, I can see the resemblance," Wade commented in his thick English accent. "He looks like someone stuck you in a miniaturizing machine."

"Then dyed my hair," Neil added.

"Your dad has some red highlights," Wade pointed out. "And looking at your Mum, it's not surprising you're a ginger."

"And what's wrong wit' bein' a ginger?" Another accent, this one a lilting Irish one, called out.

Wide eyed, Neil turned. "Sheamus," he said, softly.

The tall, red haired man came over and looked Cinnamon up and down. "You'd fit right in at the family reunion," he commented with a grin.

Cinnamon laughed. "Until I opened my mouth, then everyone would know I was an interloper."

"I dunno, there are a few family members who went 'cross the pond. You can claim to be one of them." He grinned to Neil. "You too, even though you're the spit of your Da,"

"Sheamus, this is my fiancee, Cinnamon," Dean said, "And my son, Neil."

"So," Sheamus said to Neil. "You're the future wrestler your Da's been talking about?"

Neil nodded. "I love your brogue kick, it's trill!"

"It's what?" Cinnamon asked, raising a brow.

"It's great!" Neil quickly said, and added, "I wanna learn to do it someday."

"Oh?" Sheamus looked at him, brows raised. "You thinkin' of stealing my finisher?"

"Oh no!" Neil's eyes widened and he looked mortified. "I'd never do that!"

"Don' worry, little fella," Sheamus said, ruffling Neil's hair and grinning to show he hadn't been serious. "I wern't the first person to do that kick, I won't be the last. If you find it's a good finisher for you, you'll just have to come up wit' your own name for it.

"I might," Neil said, thoughtfully. "I mean, someday I hope that I'll be able to do one of Dad's finishers, but I know most wrestlers have several and they use them at different times, in different promotions. So, I might be able to use it."

"My Fiancee works at WVW as their EMT/Paramedic," Dean said. "So, Neil has grown up around wrestlers. He knows a lot about the business, and he wants to be a wrestler too, don't you?"

Neil nodded. "I always have, too," he said. "Even before I knew who my dad was." He paused, looking as if he was debating if that was wrong of him to say, if it was short changing his dad, then added, "And when I found out he was my dad, I wanted it even more."

Sheamus and Wade exchanged grins. It was hard not to be a little affected by the scene. Tough-as-nails, certified crazy, Dean Ambrose becoming like an eager child with his own family. His son obviously so proud of his father. And Cinnamon, the tall and lanky fiancee with the hair you just had to notice. Cinnamon may not have been drop dead gorgeous, but she and Dean complimented each other very well and had this look like they just belonged together. It's the attitude, Sheamus thought, as he looked at her. He had seen and met a number of sister, girlfriends, and cousins of wrestlers backstage and a lot of them were intimidated by the divas, most of whom looked more like professional models, actresses, and Playboy centerfolds than female wrestlers. Most of these relatives of wrestlers were ordinary women and seemed to see nothing but their own flaws in this situation, but not Cinnamon; she held her head as high as if she were any Divas equal. If she wasn't as perfectly of face and body, she had other talents that more than made up for any physical flaws. She didn't look stunned as if she was questioning if she had the right to be with Dean Ambrose, WWE Superstar, she carried herself as if she had every confidence that this was her man and damned well knew they were destined to be together too. And yet, there was also something sweet and open about her too, as if her confidence would never be mistaken for arrogance. They make it work, Sheamus thought, focusing on the both of them now. And god knows it's hard enough to make a relationship work when you're in this business, but they'll find a way to do it.

"Mr. Sheamus, Mr. Barrett," Neil began, sounding both earnest and respectful. "Can-well, if it's not too much trouble, can I get your autographs?" He looked at his mother, who again removed the program and the Sharpie from her backpack and handed it to him.

Both men agreed and took turns signing the book. As Barrett was capping the Sharpie to give it back to Neil, Cesaro came over. "We should discuss our match," he said to Dean, while nodding to the others.

Dean nodded too. "Yeah, you're right, but first, Cesaro, this is my son, Neil and my fiance, Cinnamon."

More pleasantries were exchanged and Neil collected another autograph for his program. While Dean and Cesaro then tried to discuss their upcoming match, other wrestlers and divas were coming over, which meant Dean kept pausing to introduce Cinnamon and Neil.

"Maybe Neil and I should go someplace?" Cinnamon suggested at one point, worried that Dean wasn't getting the time he needed to plan for the night. "Maybe we could go to the hotel for a bit and come back for the show?"

Dean shook his head. "Nah, Cesaro and I could run a match in our sleep, couldn't we?" When the other man nodded, Dean turned his attention back to Cinnamon and Neil. "See? We'll be fine. What else do you want to see, Neil?"

"The ring," Neil said, his voice almost a hushed whisper as if he was talking about a bit of Holy land. "I know I'll see it tonight, but I'd love to see it when there's no one there."

Dean grinned, remembering when he was a kid, watching wrestling and wondering too, what it would be like to see the ring, to touch it, to maybe even walk in it. Yes, Neil had his own ring and Neil had been in and out of WVW rings since he was able to walk, but there was something almost magical about a ring you only saw on TV. Even when Dean was older and working for Heartland wrestling, he wanted to see what the WWE ring was about. And he remembered when he had his first chance to be in one, back in 2006, how he'd felt when he first stepped into the ring and how he had wished he'd had a chance to step in it without the crowd, had a chance to walk around in it and get the feel for it. "Anyone know who's in the ring now?" he asked to the group.

"Seth and Cena, last I heard," someone called out.

"Oh, good, we can interrupt them," Dean said. He looked around. "Hey, you guys should see my kid in the ring. Seriously, he's awesome."

"You've mentioned that a time or two," Roman said, grinning.

"Well, now I can prove it all to you," Dean said, "C'mon."

End of Part One

Dedication: This story goes out to Lauraxxx, and many others who suggested I do a story about Neil being able to visit back stage of the WWE. And to Psion53, who helped inspire the "Dean fights for coffee" scenes. I doubt this story is anywhere near what people pictured, but it's the story that came out of these ideas. And I hope you folks enjoy it.

Special Thanks To:

Guest: I'm glad you liked Chasing The Darkness, and I'm glad you're enjoying the "Cinnamon" series. I really appreciate your taking the time to tell me you're enjoying it, too.

Nancy: First, don't worry about the tears, they were good ones. Also, I hope as you're reading this, your son is doing well and you too.

I understand being reluctant to review at first. I can see where it would be really easy to think, Well, this person must know he/she has talent, and what can I say besides I liked it? Which is one of the many reasons I started my whole, argument for reviewing anyway. I don't expect to convert people who are really determined not to review. They have all the excuses they need right in their head, and at best they'll ignore me, at worst they'll be like Madison and flame me for having the nerve to question their rights to always take and never give. I'm trying to get to the folks who may feel that they have nothing to contribute, maybe the ones that tried to review before, but were blasted by an overly sensitive writer. I want people to understand that reviewing means you're part of this. And no doubt about it, this is a community. The more you give, the more you'll get out of it. And thank you for realizing it and taking the time to review. I so appreciate it!

Taj14: I'm glad you're enjoying the stories and I appreciate your taking the time to let me know. I would have sent this via PM, but you have the option of receiving PM's turned off. so I put my thanks here. I hope you don't mind.

PipeBombDreams: What can I say, Pipe? (Or, do you prefer PBD? Let me know, I'm flexible!) You are the chocolate shavings and dollop of whipped cream on my daily dose of humble pie. I don't know if I should hate you or love you, but I do know that you have yet to do a review that didn't in some way, make me smile. Probably not what you intended me to smile about, but smile none-the-less. And laugh too. You have single-handedly brought myself, my significant other and my betareader to tears of laughter.

However, on the off chance that you are serious, I shall attempt to answer your review.

1: I know you didn't say it was against the rules. But you still implied that I was somehow "wrong" for having two stories on the front page. And again, I really didn't. In order for me to have two stories on the front page, you had to use filters that allowed you only to see complete stories. First, it's not my fault that so few stories are completed around here. Second, again, no rule against it. I can write fifty small stories and flood the entire front page if I want, and FFnet won't do a thing, as long as none of those stories violate any of the real rules. I will tell you I didn't do it deliberately. I didn't sit down and go, "How do I get two stories on the front page? DAMN IT! THERE MUST BE A WAY!" It was a mere coincident. And no, I will not change and always say the "Between the Lines" series is incomplete. The whole point is that these are short stories (no more than two parts) and when they are completed, they are completed and I will mark them as such.

2: Uhm.. first of all, Tale of the Cat, the Punk/AJ story you refer to. Forgive me, I have to shout a bit here, but I don't know how else to get you to understand. PUNK WAS NOT A CAT! No one turned Punk into a cat, AJ was not suddenly married to a cat, in the story. The whole point of the story was that AJ's friend pointed out that Punk ACTED like a cat. ACTED. That Punk had many CAT LIKE QUALITIES, but never was it said that Punk indeed was a cat. He's not. He's a former wrestler, a UFC fighter, a husband, and many other things both good and bad, but he is NOT A CAT. So, do we have that clear?

3: Your Idea. As interesting as it is, I'm going to have to take a pass on it for now. I have a lot of ideas floating about in my head and while I see some merit in yours, it just is not inspiring me at this moment. If I change my mind, I'll let you know. But, I think the WWE would have a rule about someone winning the MITB contract and then handing it to someone else (even someone as truly magnificent as the beautiful and talented daughter of CM Punk and AJ Lee) And, if she's that fantastic, why shouldn't she win it by herself? But again, I appreciate that you like my stories enough that they have inspired you so much that you find yourself wishing for things to happen in my universe.

4: I was unaware that I had a reputation for being obsessed with both animals and being on the front page. Are you sure this is a full fledged reputation and not just something you, yourself feel? If there are others who, like you, are painting me with this brush of shame (obsessed with animals AND being on the front page? My God, how WILL I go on?) please tell me who so I can talk to them and plead my case? If you feel uncomfortable telling me, ask them to PM me and we'll discuss it.

5: I don't write those arguments about reviewing talking only to you Pipe/PBD. In fact, since you do review, I am really not referring to you at all. So just relax, we're cool, I'm not yelling at you.

Author's Notes:

This would normally be the time where I'd write another one of my arguments for "Why You Should Review." And I know I should write one. Just... not today, all right? I do have more arguments and I do want to write them, but this has not been my day today, in fact, it hasn't been my week. I thought I was going to escape this virus/bug that has everyone around me feeling like death warmed over but I'm starting to feel like it's sneaking up behind me, getting ready to knock me sideways. Someone I've been trying to keep out of my life because he's emotional poison for me, is threatening to come roaring back in with a vengeance. I was hoping this story would help take me away from my issues and instead it proved to be hard to write. Harder than I thought it would be, for some reason. So, for those who love my arguments, sorry, hopefully I'll have one for part two. For those who are irritated at my arguments? Well, you get a break this time.

However, that being said, this doesn't mean I won't appreciate getting reviews on this. You folks know how I feel about reviews, I love them, I respond to them. Even the weird ones. And yes, for those who need to be reminded, I can take critical reviews, providing the person giving them sincerely wants to see me improve. If you see any glaring mistakes in spelling and/or grammar, point them out so I can fix them, I don't mind. If you don't want to leave a critical review for fear of being blasted by others? Then send me a PM and we'll keep it between you and me.

But, if you liked the story, and just want to write, "Hey, good job," or "Nice story," I'll appreciate that, too.

Until next time, take care of yourselves.

Peace Out

Willow