A/N: Thank you everyone for enjoying this story as much as you do. Hope you continue to enjoy it, and reviews are always welcome and loved. :)

"Ahh, the inner sanctuary."

"I feel like that's a comic book reference that I'm just not going to get," he told her as he set his bag down by the door. Her place looked roomy enough. It was a two bedroom, something she was oddly proud of, and insisted that he stay with her. Seeing as how it saved him a couple hundred dollars, he was all for it, though he insisted on paying for her meals as a kind of odd compromise that worked for them.

"No, if that were the case, I would have called it my Fortress of Solitude, but I'm not a huge Superman fan," she told him, "come on, I'll show you to your room."

"Okay, thanks," he said, picking up his bag again.

"Thanks again for coming home with me," AJ called over her shoulder as she walked down a short hallway with a few closed doors. She opened the one on the right and walked inside. "I don't' really have anyone to practice moves on anymore. I used to with Kaitlyn, but we both know how that turned out."

"It's not a problem, besides, I can take a lot more punishment than she can," Dolph said, walking into the room. It was neatly decorated, the walls a light gray, a bed with a sunny yellow bedspread, a nightstand, and a small chest with a TV on top of it. It was a nice room, and cozier than any hotel he could have booked.

"Is that a promise?" AJ asked coyly.

"You bet it is, did you want to go today?"

"No, today was a travel day, that means we get to sit around and do nothing and get take out and catch up on TV shows and everything. Do you like The Office?"

"Yeah, I do," he nodded.

"I'm so sad this is the last season, I almost don't want to watch the episodes because I know I'm one episode closer to the end, the same goes for Burn Notice, and with the loss of 30 Rock in a few weeks, I don't know how I'll survive."

"You like 30 Rock?" he asked, his face lighting up a little bit.

"Do I like 30 Rock? Are you kidding me?" she scoffed, placing her hand against her hip as she gave him an incredulous pose. "I'm like the living embodiment of Liz Lemon, you know, completely unlucky in love, a total nerd, the woman who every kind of treats like crap, but still manages to get up everyday and run things."

"I love that show, I've always felt like a Jack, you know, impossibly handsome, and always the most handsome man in the room," he said, "I can't believe you like it too."

"Of course," she laughed, "oh well, this is the room, it's not much, but there is a TV in here, so late at night, if you get bored or whatever, you can turn it on, we don't get porn, so don't get any ideas," she teased him gently. "I'll let you get settled in, I'm going to unpack my things, take a shower and get into some pajamas."

"It's 3 in the afternoon."

"Oh, I know," she told him, "I always put on my pajamas as soon as I get home. If you hear the doorbell ring, it's my sister, she takes care of my dog when I'm traveling, so if she comes over, can you answer it?"

"Yeah, sure," he nodded.

"If you want to take a shower, feel free—"

"Is that an invitation?" he joked, raising one eyebrow at her.

She blushed deeply, something he wasn't expecting, but still found incredibly adorable. "I didn't mean that, I meant like after me, if you want to, I can show you where the towels are and everything."

"Great, thanks, maybe later, I mean, I know you want me to naked and around your apartment, but I think I'll wait for you to finish first."

"You're horrible," she told him, but she could barely keep the smile off her face as she said it. She gave him a small smile before she turned and left the room, leaving Dolph to his own devices.

As he went about putting his clothes into a drawer, just so he wouldn't feel like such an outsider, he was struck with how…normal AJ was. Oh, sure, he knew she was just a regular person like anyone else, but somehow when he saw her onscreen, when he saw her backstage, that personality, that person seemed to seep into his conscious until he forgot that she had a life outside of wrestling. Yes, they went to lunch and ate together, and hung out together, but that was still under the cloud of work.

She'd been so sweet the entire plane ride over, telling him about her time in Tampa so far, how she looked for the perfect apartment, how excited she was to have her own space, the delight she got when she bought her first car, something she hardly ever drove because driving in the city made her nervous. He simply sat there and listened to how normal she was, and again he wondered how all those men could have been so wrong about her, how he could have been so wrong about her.

She wasn't crazy. She was just a person who put her heart out there too many times, and the men she trusted burned her time and time again. How was that her fault? How could she have known they would all treat her so badly? She just wanted to be loved, and she tried so hard to find it, and the thanks she got was humiliation. Those men didn't know what they were missing because this AJ was a blast to be around.

When he was done putting his things away, he stepped out into the hallway. He heard the shower running from behind the door across the hall from him, and he walked down the hallway towards the living room. There were pictures hanging on the walls, and he walked over to them, looking at them, studying them. They were probably her friends and family, if he was going to make a wild guess. She looked so happy in them, and again he was struck with how she had a life outside the WWE.

The doorbell rang, and he figured it was her sister coming with her dog. He walked towards the door, still hearing the shower going, and he didn't want to be rude and make her sister wait out there until she was finished. He walked to the door and opened it. On the other side was a woman who looked to be a couple inches taller than AJ, but had very many of the same features.

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him, "What are you doing here?"

"Um, hello," he said, feeling scrutinized at the moment. "I'm Dolph."

"I know who you are, you're the latest in a long line of guys who's probably going to break my sister's heart. I can't believe she's doing this again, I was hoping that maybe she'd come to her senses, and I was going to talk to her, but you're here—"

"AJ and I are just friends," he cut in, feeling the need to clarify his position in AJ's life. "I'm just helping her get revenge on the other guys, she's helping me too, we're friends, I have no designs on your sister."

"Friends? You call making out with her friendly?"

"It's a ruse," Dolph said, suddenly feeling defensive. He didn't like the tone of her sister's voice. It was like she didn't believe him, and that bugged him. He cared about AJ now, yes, he cared about her, he thought to himself.

Wait, he cared about her.

He cared about her. He cared about what AJ was feeling, he cared about what AJ was thinking, and he didn't want her sad. He didn't like what the other men did to her, and he didn't just want revenge on them because it meant AJ would help him win the title. No, he wanted revenge on them because they hurt someone he cared about. That was startling. He'd only been around AJ a short time, but it was almost like caring for her was just as natural as breathing.

"So you're using her?"

"No, I'm helping her," Dolph said, "because she's my friend, and I care about her, and I care about what happens to her, and I don't want to see her hurt by those guys anymore, so they're all going to pay."

"You care about me?"

Dolph turned around and saw AJ standing there, a hopeful look on her face. She looked so young in that moment, in a t-shirt with Harley Quinn on it with a baggy pair of pajama pants that looked two sizes too big. Her hair was wrapped up in a towel, but he didn't even see any of that because her smile was so luminous.

"Yeah I care, I do care," he asserted, looking over at her sister. "Your sister is here with your dog."

"April…"

"Hey, Erica," AJ came over and took Nacho from her arms, "thanks for taking care of him."

"April," her sister repeated.

"He's here to help me train," AJ explained. "There's nothing going on between us, I've learned my lesson. Believe me, I've learned it well. I don't want to be with anyone right now, maybe not for a long time. Dolph is just helping me and is a friend."

"Okay," Erica said, but she was unconvinced. She'd watched her sister get hurt too many times, and she wished all men would just leave her alone for a while. Her sister didn't need her heart broken another time. "I guess I'll call you later." She gave her sister a pointed look that indicated she would be calling her tonight when Dolph wasn't around, probably to chew her out.

"I'll see you, bye, thanks again for watching Nacho," AJ practically shut the door in her sister's face. She turned to Dolph, "I'm so sorry about her, she gets protective of me, and she met Daniel once, and ever since then, she's wanted to beat him up."

Dolph laughed, "I'll do that for her, believe me."

AJ put Nacho down, letting him run into the living room, "I know you will, even though you don't have to, I know you will."

"Because I care," he reiterated, "that wasn't just some spiel I was giving your sister to get her off our backs, that was genuine. You're…you're a friend, and I like you, and I like hanging out with you, so yeah, I care, and—"

Before he could finish his sentence, she was throwing her arms around him, hugging him tightly. He would have hugged her back, but her towel was smashing against his face, so he awkwardly moved his head around so he could lightly hug her. She tightened the hug, the both of them just standing there, hugging, probably looking silly to the little dog who was now watching them. Finally, AJ pulled away, staring up at him like she'd just gotten a new lease on life.

Maybe he had though, maybe friends was just what she needed. It had to be lonely being her sometimes, losing everyone close to you, yearning for love that never came. It was probably terrible, and it made him care all the more. "So, how about I take a shower, put on my pajamas—"

"You wear pajamas, I always figured you for a naked sleeper," AJ joked, poking him in the side.

"That can be arranged."

"My sister is probably just waiting in her car…"

"Okay, regular pajamas and we'll just do whatever until we have dinner and catch up on TV shows, actually, you can tell me more about this Black Widow, or just…you know, talk, get to know each other more."

"I'd like that," AJ told him.

"Okay, you said towels were…" She went to her linen closet and grabbed one, bringing it back to him. "I'll be out in a little while."

"Okay," she watched him go, hardly able to keep the smile from cracking her face.

He cared.