A/N I thought I'd have finished this story by Chapter Ten, but Charlie is a pain in my ass and has so many more issues than she did when this was just my own little mental wank. She's starting to get a clue, finally, I think..or at least finally deciding to give the attitude a little rest. I want to thank everyone for reading along!

one month earlier

John's publicist called him early one Friday morning.

"Hey John, I was going through all the direct messages on your twitter account last night, there were a couple I kept for you to answer from fans and a couple from Make a Wish parents thanking you that I know you'll want to reply to, and there was one that was weird enough that sounded like it might be from someone you knew or about something in your personal life."

"Uh, okay", said John. "Can you read it to me?"

"It's from an account called tealmedic, and it says 'It's about Charlie, there's something you need to know, please get in touch.' and this person left an email address and a phone number."

John was glad he was alone, because he had jumped up out of his chair, ready to do something. He just wasn't sure what.

"Don't delete that, I'll take care of it." he said, while he was booting up his computer. "Thanks for the heads up, I'll definitely get all those done", he said with as much calmness in his voice as he could muster. He answered a couple more quick questions and hung up.

He logged into Twitter and read the message. Then he picked up his phone and dialed. When the man on the other end answered, he said "Hi, this is John Cena. Is Charlie okay?"

Michael said "Thanks for calling. She's not injured or anything, so in that sense she's fine. I have spent more time with her than anyone else has, and know precisely how her mind works, and she is torn up about you. She just doesn't know how to handle it, and her MO for things like that is to run away."

"Well there's not a lot I can do, I mean...I've tried. A lot."

"Yeah, I know. She finally told me everything. There are just things you don't know. She's not like other girls, and by that I mean that she has different motivations. She has the things that she finds physically attractive-and by the way, you're on that list-but a man that will show him her mind and that he's smart and can keep up with her intellectually will get her attention and keep it. She's literally the smartest person I've ever met, and she considers that a burden and not a blessing."

"Tried that. Tried talking medicine with her, and discussing some conditions that mutual friends have. Got nowhere."

"The thing at Children's? Nah, you joked with her about it and when she asked you what you knew, you didn't answer. To Charlie, when that happens, it's in her mind a redirect because you had no answer."

"Wow, she really does tell you everything. Did she tell you that her reaction to being kissed made me feel like I'd done something really bad?"

Michael cleared his throat. "She's going to kill me when she finds out I told you this. She felt out of control and like-and I quote-her senses were assaulted. She'd never had that happen before and it scared her. So, in very typical Charlie fashion, she ran. I told her how so many people never get to feel that way and only she would think it was bad. I don't think she thought it was bad though, just scary. The princess has a whole lot of castle walls up to keep everyone out. There's a drawbridge in there, though."

A lightbulb went on in John's head. So much made sense now. "I can't tell you how much I appreciate you getting in touch. Do you know if she's going to be at the show next month?"

"She's already said she had taken herself off the schedule for that, and so I'm going to be there-but you know, I think I feel a cold coming on, or perhaps an injury-she would take it if I suddenly couldn't be there and asked her to go in my place."

"If you could make that happen, I would genuinely be in your debt."

"Consider it done. She's the best friend I've ever had, to and I would do anything to see her happy. Heck, my wife thinks of her as a sister, and figured out how I could contact you."

.

Raw was almost over. Charlie was watching John's match on the monitor and now that she knew a little bit more, she was impressed at how well John and his opponent Punk worked together. After it went off the air, things got busy for her for awhile, and it was an hour and a half before she got the last person out and her people checked in and signed off for their hours.

One of the security team came in and said "Hey, could you grab a kit and come look at someone, they've got a pretty good cut and all their people have gone."

"Yeah, of course", she said...thinking that she hoped John didn't think she bailed on him.

"He's right there."

Sitting down in one of announcers chairs, was John; blood pouring out of a cut on his neck.

"What the hell did you do to get that?", said Charlie.

"Zigged when I should have zagged. Hit the actual metal turnbuckle when it was uncovered. My own fault, I was too busy mugging at the camera to see that Punk had called the shot."

"You are kind of...intense, when you look directly at it like that. People on the other side could think you were looking right at them."

"Well, sometimes, that's the point. I am."

Charlie started to clean the wound. She hadn't been this close to John in awhile and she was trying to be totally professional and was almost succeeding, until she noticed that his eyes were closed.

"Does it hurt a lot?"

"Not really." John said in a tense voice.

"Way to be convincing."

"You really want to know what's making me do that?"

"Well, yeah. I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to know. It's hard to treat something when I don't know what's wrong."

"It's you. I'm trying not to feel your hands on my skin. I know it's totally screwed up thinking because you're doing your job, but if you had any idea about what being in physical contact with you does to me..."

"Well, I might have a clue about that, actually. One of the reasons I haven't moved from where I am is that you're breathing on the back of my neck. The little hairs there are standing up. It's killing me and giving me the shivers all at the same time.

"Can we get out of here? Is your house an option?

"Yes of course, I'm sure my dog will be happy to see you. I do need to finish this so it stays closed and has a shot at healing well."

"You know, I like your dog. I'd like it if you wanted me there more."

Charlie finished taping the final bandage and smiled at him. "Let's go."