A/N: Thanks for the reviews, enjoy the chapter! :)

AJ pulled Dolph's face down and kissed him.

She was getting used to it although this kiss was not as involved as their first two were. She could feel him pressing his hand against her lower back, and her skin tingled slightly from his warm touch. She pulled away, giving him a soft smile before she turned towards the front and the ring. She looped her hand around his waist as they sauntered down to the ring, E following closely behind them.

Dolph hopped up onto the apron, holding the ropes so AJ could climb in. She liked that about him. He was more of a gentleman than she'd ever realized. He was constantly doing little things like that, even though they just got together a short while ago, he would shoulder one of her bags, open doors for her, insist that he pay for meals. Sometimes she protested, but sometimes she was warmed by the genuine concern for her well-being.

She grabbed a couple microphones and handed one to Dolph. Then she turned towards the Miz, "We don't owe you or any of them," she pointed out towards the audience, "an explanation."

"So you two just decided to come together and create an unholy alliance?" Miz asked. "I mean, I knew you liked them old, Dolph, but I didn't know you liked them crazy."

"She's not crazy, are you, babe?"

"No, that's only what small-minded people think," AJ glanced over at Miz and gave him a sickly sweet smile. "People think I'm this crazy chick, but I've been picking up things from everywhere, from everything, and everyone. I know how to use all that to my advantage now, and to Dolph's advantage."

"Why Dolph?" Miz wondered.

"Why not Dolph?" AJ countered. "Vickie wasn't doing him any good. She was putting him in matches that he didn't belong in. He shouldn't have had to put his briefcase on the line, he earned that briefcase, and Cena didn't deserve it."

"So you just, out of the blue, decide to push a guy off a ladder? And you don't think that's crazy?"

"I don't," AJ shook her head, "I think that's protecting my boyfriend's rightful property is completely rational. It was a ladder match, John Cena knew the risks going into that match."

"Boyfriend?" Miz raised an eyebrow. "So now he's your boyfriend?"

"Yes, he is," AJ beamed up at him. "Dolph is the only man around here who could really handle me."

"So he has a collection of strait jackets," Miz joked sarcastically.

AJ was about to open her mouth to respond when Dolph cut in. "Miz, Miz, Miz, your jealousy is really getting ugly. I'm sure you've had your eye on AJ because, let's face it, what guy wouldn't want someone so beautiful on their arm, but you're not going to get her."

AJ felt slightly warmed by his comment. Did he really find her beautiful? Nobody had called her beautiful in such a long time. She'd had to endure names like the crazy chick, the psychopath, the mental patient, but never had someone called her beautiful and meant it. And she could tell that Dolph meant it. She wasn't sure how she could read him so easily already, but she was finding that he was actually a guy who wore his emotions on his sleeve. She liked that things were so uncomplicated with him. For the first time in a long time, she felt like she had a friend, maybe even a best friend.

"I wouldn't want her if she was the last woman on Earth," Miz made a disgusted face.

"Yeah right, I've seen you eyeing her," Dolph said, glancing him over, "I found out that AJ wasn't what everyone thought of her. AJ is smart and she knows what she wants and what she's doing. She not a bad kisser either." He winked at her, and she fought to keep the blush off her cheek. What was this man doing to her? "And she's mine. You want to talk about her like you have, I will end you. That goes for everyone. You talk bad about my girlfriend, I will take you down."

What they were saying wasn't planned, and when he said that, she felt her heart swell. He was going to protect her. He was going to protect her from the words and the barbs, and he would protect her from the stares and snickers. Finally, finally, she had someone on her side that was just going to be there when she felt her lowest. Dolph was so different from what she thought, so much better.

"But why should I waste the energy, we're done here, E!" Dolph beckoned their bodyguard, and the next second, Miz was down on the mat, completely out. Dolph smirked down at Miz before turning his head up. "If anyone wants to question me, you can come down to this ring right now and challenge me, I dare you."

Nobody came out.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Dolph said, "come on, babe, we've got better things to do than to cater to any of these idiots."

Dolph walked to the ropes, holding it open for her. Before they left though, AJ wanted to say one more thing, "Oh, and John, if you're not careful, you'll end up just like Miz here. And I wouldn't want to see your pretty face get so bruised."

She smirked, threw her microphone down next to the Miz, and climbed out of the ring. She waited for Dolph, holding his hand as they walked up the ramp, smiling the entire time. Miz was just a cog in the grand scheme of things, but he was a message. Dolph and AJ weren't lying the night before when they said they were going to run through this company. It started tonight, but it was far from the end.

"So what are we going to do for the Rumble?" AJ asked. "Are you going to enter into it or are you going to challenge John for a match?"

"I'm going to enter into the Rumble," he told her as he held the door to his locker room open. She slipped inside. E walked in behind them silently, taking a seat and watching the conversation between them. He really was a man of few words.

"And if you win?"

"I'm going after the WWE Title then I'll win the World Title, and I'll hold both belts, you should challenge Kaitlyn to a match at the Rumble too so you can hold that belt, and E, you should go after the Intercontinental or US title, we should all hold belts, it'll make us look more intimidating as a group."

"That's actually a great idea, E is a really good wrestler," AJ threw him a smile and he gave her a slight nod of thanks. "I should challenge her, I can beat her…oh, and um, thanks for what you said out there about me, you know the beautiful part and the not being a psycho part."

"Just telling the truth," he said nonchalantly. "Besides, what does the Miz even know? He has a stupid show that most people hate because they hate to see his face. Then he has the gall to come out there and insult you? You know, I think I'll ask for a match with him. I'll probably get it since Vickie's not in charge, you know, just show him and everyone else we're not to be messed with."

"I'm really starting to like the way you think," AJ said.

"What? That I'm a lot more ruthless than you originally thought? You're not the only one here with an agenda, AJ," he teased her. "If I can capture both titles, can you even imagine how much power we would hold? I'll get John before then though, I can probably get a match with him soon too, just to finish him off once and for all."

"I'm sure he'll be in the Rumble too."

"Then I will personally eliminate him for you," he told her, smiling at her.

She was finding his smile to be so charming, and actually, all of him was pretty charming. He always smelled heavenly, this intoxicating fragrance that he said was a mixture of his cologne and his own personal musk, which she knew he was joking, but there was this kind of spiciness to his smell that she couldn't immediately attribute to his cologne. And his entire face was disarming when it caught you unawares. Sometimes the light caught his eyes just right and they were so blue and clear.

She shook her head free of these kinds of thoughts. She was just partnering with him because he was the most convenient person to partner with. He hated John Cena like she did, and that was why she asked him to be her partner-in-crime. They were friends, and that was such a good thing. It was what she needed. She needed friends, she didn't need another man in her life who would take her heart and stomp all over it. She didn't need that kind of heartbreak again. This past year had been a series of starts and stops and feelings getting crushed, and she wasn't going to let this new year be the same way. She had to keep her steely resolve.

"Maybe I'll toy with him, keep him until the end, make him think he has it won then I just eliminate him," Dolph ruminated, his eyes dancing at the possibilities. "Just eliminating him is going to feel so good then I can challenge for the WWE title, and hey, if Punk keeps his title, I can go against him at WrestleMania, win that damn title from him, and eliminate one more guy who hurt you."

She smiled slightly at that, "I would like that."

"Like we said, take them out one by one," Dolph said, liking this plan more and more. He wanted to show everyone how good he was.

For years he'd languished around, and with hindsight, he realized that Vickie was holding him back. She'd used him as her personal boy toy then her personal enforcer, and everything was on her terms. When it started to be on his terms last year, she didn't seem as receptive, and it was because he was starting to think for himself, he was starting to make new goals, and Vickie just couldn't handle that. She was the one that kept him from reaching his full potential.

But AJ was different. AJ wanted him at the top, and he knew, he'd seen how far she was willing to go to help him. To have someone in your corner who believed in you so readily, and who was always there to help you out, it was a different and nice feeling. Yes, they had their own agendas, but that didn't mean they couldn't be friends in the process, and if she needed help against Kaitlyn, he could count on her.

"You need to get some competition too," he blurted out, and she turned to him.

"Excuse me?"

"If you're going to go against Kaitlyn, we need to get you out there, actually, we need to find a way to get you into that match," Dolph thought for a moment, "maybe we just get you kind of like a warm-up match tonight, and next week, you can get a non-title match against Kaitlyn, and if you beat her, bam, number one contender."

"That's…not a bad idea, I have been feeling a little bit rusty as of late. I haven't gotten in as many matches as I would have hoped."

"See, we're both doing things, we're both making things happen, pretty soon, we'll have the titles, and nobody is going to stop us."

"I've actually had this move kind of in my back pocket, and I was hoping, maybe we could train together?" she asked, wondering if he would actually want to spend more time outside the ring with her. It was one thing to eat meals together because it was convenient, but to actually spend time together, that might be another thing. This friendship, whatever it was, maybe it only extended to work environment. The thought saddened her.

"Absolutely, sure," he nodded, "I can come to Tampa this weekend, and we can get to NXT and we can use the ring there, right? What kind of move?"

She grinned at him. He wanted to spend time with her, maybe she finally had someone who might just stick around. "Oh, just this submission move I've been kind of thinking out, but I haven't really had anyone to practice it on."

"Consider me your crash test dummy, minus the dummy part. What are you going to call it?"

"The Black Widow."