Author's Note:

Hello my lovelies!

First of all I wanted to thank my very kind (and only) reviewer! :)

Also thank you to those who actually but this story on their alert list, favorites and whatnot!

THANK YOU! I still would love to actually hear from you... Say 'hi' to me, I promise I'm a nice person!

One a side note - to those who may (or may not) have wondered how Faye looks like,

I've put a link to a picture of her on my profile!

Disclaimer:

Uhm. No. Still not mine. *le sigh*

Breathing in deeply Faye tried to push her upper body as far towards her left foot as physically possible, her other leg bend as well. Wincing slightly when she felt her muscles protest as her nose reached her knee she breathed out audibly again and went back to her normal sitting position.

Stretching was a must these days, especially after her doctor had given her green light to start training again. Nothing too excessive, her kneecap was still not fully capable of being resilient to the maximum but – she was on a good way to be her old self again. And ever since she had decides to turn her second spare room in her apartment into a small training room, she did a lot of Yoga, Pilates and running on the treadmill at home, only using the Gym and her personal trainer when it came to practicing her wrestling moves.

Some may would call it stubborn, she liked to call herself driven – one way or another, Faye knew that she wanted to be ready to go back on the road again as soon as possible, back to SHIMMER, to Ring of Honor, to where she belonged.

Or so she thought.

With a loud sigh she switched her legs, leaning her slim and lean body over until she felt the familiar ache of her muscles again as she gripped her light blue Nikes while her mind drifted back to the letter she opened yesterday.

She had felt restless ever since she read it over and over and over again.

Sleep that night? No sir!

Her mind revolve around dozens of questions that left her head in pain and impossible for her to find rest. Her heart was pumping so fast that after several hours of tossing and turning in her spacious bed that night, she had decided to get up at 4.16 in the morning, starting her day with a long run around her Detroit neighborhood.

It all came back to the question of how obliged she felt to the people who had pushed her from the day she set a foot into the business. What would Cathy say? Cathy – or better known as Allison Danger – who ran SHIMMER together with Dave Prazak who Faye also owed a lot to.

"Urggh!" the brunette let out a frustrated grunt as she let herself fall back onto the Yoga mat rather ungracefully. Of course she couldn't thank them enough for pushing her the way they did, without their help her gimmick Riott wouldn't have been so popular. Well, she worked hard for it, no doubt, but things definitely went easier with the two owners of the company standing behind everything she did. The question was, would they take it very personally if she would left SHIMMER...

Absently she started massaging her left leg, something her doctor told her to do to remove the stiffness of her muscles after her injury, letting her mind drift again. She knew that she wouldn't be the first nor the last to leave the Illinois based brand. She thought about Kia Stevens – known as The Awesome Kong or now Kharma under her WWE name and those who jumped back and forth between various promotions – did they worried so much before they signed their new contracts. It would be easier if she –

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING RIIIIIIING RIING

"Fuck!" she cursed loudly, her blue eyes wide open all of a sudden. Absolutely lost in her thoughts the sudden violent ringing of her apartment door nearly made her jump out of her skin.

"Geez..." she breathed out, trying to steady her rampaging heartbeat as she placed her hand over the thumping organ, before rolling off the black mat.

RIIIIING RIIIIIIIING

"Alright, alright-" Faye huffed as she made her way out of her training room, down the hallway towards the main door, freezing slightly as she realized that she had forgotten to close the windows of her living room. Skipping a few steps she was passing many framed pictures that smiled down on her from their position on the walls, trying smooth out the wrinkles of her black and gray The Dirtbombs shirt she used during her exercises in a rush.

"I'm on my way damn it," she mumbled as the ringing continued "I swear if it's nothing important-" Faye managed to jump aside as the door swung open, otherwise there would have been a high chance of her being tackled to the ground by the familiar pair that was now rolling on her wooden floor.

THUMP.

She winced slightly as they collided with the hard floor audibly.

"AARGH. Give. It. Back."

Faye couldn't help but roll her eyes at their immaturity not even trying to hide the smile on her lips. She could deny it all she wanted – she had missed their crazy antics when she was on the road.

"NEVER!"

"Hey guys." she spoke lazily, kicking the door shut again with a shove of her hips.

Anyone else would have probably stopped and stared at the two grown – yes, she often had to remind herself that they where indeed older than herself – men, but not Faye. With nothing but a shrug of her shoulders she skillfully climbed over the human pile on the floor – she knew better than to interrupt or interfere in whatever they where doing right now, for whatever reason. She had stopped questioning the combined sanity of Joshua Harter and Patrick Martin long time ago.

"Faaye," she heard Pat whine behind as she made her way into the living room, drawling her name out.

"Paaat" she mimicked her brother's long time best friend as she turned around, making her brown her fly around her. He still lay on the floor while her brother had already sat up, snickering in what she assumed was victory.

"Your brother sucks" he said flat out as he stared up to her from the floor with that big grin of his, knowing very well that it never failed to make the younger Harter smile in return. She rolled her eyes playfully, placing one hand on her hips.

"Well, duuhh," Faye replied mockingly, her blue eyes twinkling with amusement. Only absently paying attention to Josh's protest and his useless try to hit her with a bubblegum wrapper, Patrick laughed loudly as she unfazed by their behavior turned around again.

Before she could make more than two steps ahead she was grabbed by her waist in surprise and with a sudden shriek pulled up in the air, "JOSH!" she gasped out with a laugh before she was put on the ground again.

"How's my favorite sister?" he said, spinning her around, lifting her up again in a bone-crushing hug. "Only.. Sister" she managed to breathe out, "Urgh, Josh-, air.."

She tried to shoo his hands away as he lovingly ruffled her hair into a wild mess. Josh's hair hidden beneath a beanie did not get the same treatment, despite her tries.

"Damn, Fe-" Faye looked up at Patrick concerned voice with a raised eyebrow in question.

"That looks nasty-" he said, driving his hand through his brown and blond signature hair, his eyes fixed on her exposed leg. Wearing her short dark green "Michigan State University" pants showed enough skin for them to examine the leftovers of her knee injury. Blue and purple, the bruises were a darker color around her kneecap and turned lighter towards her shin, fading already yet it was clearly still visible.

"Hmm," she agreed, touching her leg in response "much better than the first two weeks though, I'm back training already – thank god!"

Silence followed and she suddenly felt the urge to defend herself. "What?" she shrugged off the concerned looks of both of them, "my doctor said it would be alright!" They still looked unconvinced and shared a look that clearly said that they did not believe her. Or agreed with her to put it better, which made her huff in response.

"Oh, shush you two, " Faye said quickly, nudging Josh away from her, "come on now, I have to speak to you."

A demonstrative cough made her turn towards Patrick again, who still lay on the ground, grinning sheepishly. "Why Mister Shelly," Faye grinned "need help getting up?"

"Why please Miss Riott, if you'd be so kind." Both grinned at the mentioning of their wrestling gimmicks.

"He hurt me," he pouted dramatically as she offered a hand to pull him up. Suddenly he reminding her very much of a very lost puppy, the resemblance made her chuckle loudly as she imagined him with big dog ears. "Aw, poor, poor Alex," she played along "was Chris mean to you?" Faye mocked, using the ring names of her brother and Patrick, who just nodded eagerly, simulating a tear running down his cheek with his finger.

"You could kiss it better you know- " he said as she pulled him up, immediately gaining a harsh slap over the head by Josh.

"Damn- man," Patrick whined, rubbing the back of his head "Geez, I was only kidding asshole."

"You better be," Josh said with narrowed eyes "'Cus this-" he pinched Faye's cheek anything but softly "is a 'Shelley-Free-Zone'."

"Woohhoohohooo," Faye imitated her best cheesy ghost voice, muffled slightly due to her cheek still pinched by his fingers "really scary Josh."

Patrick's smile was back on his face after she exaggeratedly rolled her eyes and teared her face away from her brother's pinch of death.

"Hey, I'm trying to have an older brother moment here," Josh said, huffing slightly as the two others continued to chuckle. "Sure you are man." Pat said with a good-natured clap on the shoulders of his equally tall best friend, pushing himself pass him, following Faye into her living room. As serious as he took his role as an older brother, whenever Josh decided to get all protective with her when it came to Patrick, Faye couldn't take him seriously. Heck – even Josh probably did not take his comments seriously. After all, it was Patrick. Pat. Josh's Pat. Alex Shelley. Motor City Machine Gun Alex Shelley. Well, the latter probably would be a reason for anyone else to get protective of their female company but Faye knew Patrick Martin for as long as Josh did – he was like another brother for her.

Now, she wasn't blind to his charms and looks but she knew how to play along, and to be honest, she hadn't met a female who did not get shaky knee's being in his presence, especially when he went all I'm Alex Shelley on them. He was funny as hell, a character trait she always had found rather endearing, a goofball, and despite being almost 30 he was still a kid at heart. Which pretty much summed up her own brother as well. Probably a reason they got a long so well and a reason that she had never seen anything else in Patrick Martin than the kid her older brother brought home from his first wrestling training sessions all those years ago...

"Soo," Josh let out after he threw himself on the spacious brownish couch in her living room "what's the reason for having us over in such a hurry-"

"Except for enjoying or glorious presence of course?" Pat piped in with a smug grin, him taking the seat next to Josh's right side.

"Yes, the reason I called yesterday-" Faye fidgeted slightly as she walked over to the large desk next to the couch, carefully walking around it to avoid more bruises to grace her leg, "is this."

She grabbed the big envelope from the table, waving it around slightly. Handling it to her brother she took the seat opposite to them, watching them with an equally curious and worried expression as they eyed the content of the oh-so-ominous letter who's content had Faye called them in her distressed state the evening before.

"Damn," Pat laughed loudly and whistled in approval as they opened the first page, the infamous emblem printed over 1/3rd of the paper immediately making it clear who the sender was. "The WWE? That's quite something!"

Both read through the three pages of text which basically was summed up to the really simple statement that Vince McMahon wanted to hire her.

"I-I'm really not sure what to think of it to be honest," Faye replied, her right hand nervously playing with wisps of her her. Her eyes kept shifting back and forth between Patrick, who read the letter half-heartily, yet with a huge smile on his face, and her brother – who stayed unusually quiet.

"I mean, it would be a huge chance for me you know?" Faye continued, twirling her hair around her finger, trying to steady her thumping heartbeat.

"But?" Josh spoke up for the first time, yet he didn't look up from the letter he still held in his hands, his eyes still following the text lines.

"I-" Faye realized that she sounded way more unsure than the time she went through this conversation in her head. "I don't know."

She gulped loudly and looked back at Patrick.

"I mean, I feel so obliged to SHIMMER, is that really so wrong of me? I've been there for several years. Years! Is it so wrong that I feel like I have used them now? Jumping to the next best brand once I get the opportunity to so so? I-I feel bad. Somehow. It's just that I-"

"But this isn't any kind of brand, Fe." Patrick pointed out and she nodded slowly in response. "Sure, not as good as TNA, of course," he said with a grin, and Faye couldn't help but smile as well at the little skip, "but hey, we aaaall have to start somewhere, and everybody moves on eventually."

Faye smiled slightly, knowing deep down that it was the truth. She just needed someone else to tell her that, shooing away the voices in her head that where telling her that everyone would hate her if she'd leave SHIMMER...

"And you know," Patrick continued, leaning back against the backrest with his arms crossed behind his head so his well-defined arms where visible "Dixie will always have her doors open for you should you feel, ahh- I don't know, misplaced there."

Resting her chin on her bend leg Faye nodded again, knowing that the TNA founder Dixie Carter would sign her up in a heartbeat if she ever decided to show up in her office - yet for what reason Faye wasn't sure. Talent? Probably. Yet Faye couldn't help but feel that it would be for one reason only – and that was her brother...

"What are you planning on doing now?" speaking of which, Josh's light blue eye's meet her own ones for the first time ever since he started reading the letter and Faye sighed loudly, letting herself fall back into the soft fabrics of her seat.

It was a good question, which resulted a lot of answers. And even more questions after that. But seeing the look in her brother's eyes she knew that her greatest fear turned out to be false – him not being supportive of her. Pat seemed eager enough about everything, she knew that, it was something she cherished about him, but what really would decide over 'yes' and 'no' would be her brother's opinion. Idiotic in a way, she was a grown woman after all, but she could not help it, Josh was always someone she looked up to, and if he really had voiced out his concerns about going to a big company like the WWE, she would probably reject the offer...

But who was she kidding, Joshua Harter would always be supportive of her, that she knew. Instead fueling her worries he smiled that little know-it-all smile of his like he wanted to say 'whatever you decide to do, you are going to rock it'. He was simply the greatest older brother she could ever imagine.

"Well," she spoke hesitantly, pinching the bridge of her nose slightly "I... I guess I'll be heading to Stamford, Connecticut soon?"

As soon as the words left her mouth it felt like a huge weight was being lifted off her shoulders. Her brother began grinning wildly and Patrick was – being Patrick, rooting and cheering loudly, nudging Josh, cracking jokes that his best friend's sister going to be a Diva.

"One that's going to kick ass I hope!" he roared and even Josh laughed.

It all seemed so – surreal.

"Them better hold on to their silicone!"

Faye chuckled. Despite her feeling extremely happy in that very moment, she knew that she had to make some very unpleasant phone calls to do in the future which dammed her happiness for a short moment. She allowed herself to sick further into her chair, absently listening to Patrick and Josh, who where currently arguing about who to inform about their new found news first.

"Guys I haven't even signed anything yet!" Faye tried to interrup them, but they just threw a cushion in her direction. She caught it, leaning back once again.

"WWE headquarters, here I come..." she whispered slightly, suddenly feeling very, very exhausted.

Next Up: THE WWE - Meeting "the boss" and... who knows? :D

Please review, I'm open for criticism, suggestions... anything, please?

Just so I know I'm not writing this story for my personal entertainment only.

Oh and I apologite, still no DB in this chapter, but I do not want to rush things and I'm trying my best to

have an actual storyline in here :)

Thanks a lot for taking the time to read my humble story.

Moony M.