Hey, everybody!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend and are enjoying the story so far. Be sure to go on over to my profile and check out my other WWE fanfictions. I have two completed stories and one I'm currently in the process of writing as well as this one. So if you have a free moment, be sure to go on over and give them a read.

Also, incase anyone was wondering, when I write this story, I picture Holly looking like the actress Lily James with blonde hair. Obviously you can picture her looking however you want, but I personally use Lily James as Holly's face claim.

This chapter is named after 'Morning After Dark' by Timbaland and SoShy

Holly Helmsley's Point Of View

When my eyes fluttered open again the next morning, I immediately wanted to close them again. The bright light seeping through the tiny gap in the curtains paired with the throbbing in my head did not make for a good mix. I threw my arm over my face and immediately regretted every drop of alcohol that had entered my body the night before.

I was never going out drinking with Paige ever again, that was for sure.

I spent a few minutes letting my body awaken before cautiously removing my arm and slowly opening my eyes, letting them adjust to the light.

And that's when my eyes widened.

I didn't recognise the ceiling, I didn't recognise the walls, and the bed certainly didn't feel like the one I'd been in the night before. I slowly sat up, gazing around the alien room, wondering where the fuck I was and how I'd gotten here in the first place. It was the little things I noticed. The aftershave on the bedside table, the pair of shoes by the door, the open suitcase on the floor filled with men's clothing.

And that's when it hit me. I knew exactly where I was, exactly who'd brought me here, and exactly the reason why.

I groaned, lying back down again, throwing the quilt over my head. I wanted a black hole to appear, swallow me up, and never let me see the light of day again.

Memories of last night came rushing back, every last drunken moment of it. I couldn't believe what an idiot I'd been, how foolish I must have looked, and how immature Dean Ambrose and the rest of The Shield boys must think I was.

Of all the people to see me in such a shit state, it had to be one of the new talent. Lord knows what Dean thought of me. I must have made a terrible impression – first night on the job and they're having to help the boss's drunken sister to bed because she's too fucking inebriated to stand up.

Way to go, Holly!

They must think I was a joke, an idiot, a total drunk.

And to make matters worse Dean had had to take me to his room and offer me his bed because I couldn't remember my room number and had completely forgotten my room key.

I threw my hands over my face from underneath the quilt, fucking hating myself right then. I felt so embarrassed, so mortified, so humiliated, and I knew my cheeks were bright red.

And to make matters worse, the only way out of this room was through the bedroom door and through the main living area of the hotel room, a place where Roman, Seth and Dean were no doubt currently sitting. I'd have to pass them in order to leave and so I'd have to face them and see them after the idiot I'd been.

I threw the quilt off my body, looking towards the door, a nauseous feeling rising in my stomach. It wasn't from the drink either; it was from the sheer fear of having to face them and hear their opinions on how stupid I must be.

My mouth tasted like ass, and I knew I needed food in my stomach, so I slowly got out of the bed, cautiously making my way to the door, wobbling a little on my feet. There was no time like the present, and the longer I sat stewing in the bedroom, the less confidence I'd have to go out there and face the music. So I slowly turned the knob and opened the door.

"Well look who's finally decided to wake up and grace us with her presence," smirked Seth, the noise of my entrance causing three pairs of eyes to look straight towards me.

"M-Morning, guys," I mumbled, slowly entering the main area of the hotel room. Seth was preparing coffee whilst Roman sat at the table, flicking through the newspaper. Dean was on a sofa, watching TV.

"I'm guessing you probably want some of this too?" Seth asked, pointing at the mugs of coffee.

I nodded. "Yes please," I said, taking a seat at the table opposite Roman. "What time is it?"

"Half three," Roman said. "You've been sleeping all day long. How's your head?"

"It hurts," I said, biting my lip, not wanting to look any of them in the eye. Embarrassment was encapsulating me right now.

"I'm not surprised," said Seth as he brought over my mug of coffee. "You were rather loud when you came in last night."

I winced uncomfortably, hating what I was hearing. "Was I really that bad?"

"Well I sleep like a log and even I woke up," chuckled Roman. "I don't know how Dean got you up here by himself."

I rubbed my hands over my face, wanting the ground to swallow me up. "This is so embarrassing. I'm so sorry, guys."

"Just remember your room key next time," said Dean as he stood to fetch his mug of coffee. "You're lucky I was on my way to the gym. Lord knows how you'd fucking be if I hadn't found you."

"I'd probably still be fast asleep in the hotel lobby," I said, grabbing my mug and tentatively raising it to my lips, taking a small sip. Caffeine was more than welcome in that moment. I needed something to wake me up and ease the pounding in my head. "You got any painkillers?"

Seth moved, searching around in a bag before throwing me a box of tablets. "Here."

"Thanks," I said, opening the box and taking two tablets out. I placed them in my mouth, swallowing them along with a large gulp of coffee. "I honestly don't know what to say right now. I feel like such an idiot."

"We've all been there, baby girl," commented Roman. "It happens to the best of us."

"I'm not really making the best first impression though, am I?" I said. "Hunter is gonna kill me when he finds out."

"Hey, we discussed this last night, didn't we?" asked Dean, dropping down into the seat beside me. "We won't tell if you don't."

I looked over at him uneasily. "R-Really? You honestly won't say a thing?"

"Course not," said Seth, my head turning to face him. "Why would we? If we did, we wouldn't be making a great first impression either. Just promise us to be more careful in future."

"I will," I said, nodding vigorously. "I'm never drinking like that again. It was stupid and I won't be repeating it in the future. Believe me."

"You must have really gone to town to be as bad as you seemed last night," said Roman. "How much did you drink?"

"Too much," I replied. "Way too much. I just needed to forget what happened at Raw and I clearly took it way too far."

"You mean the Sheamus segment?" Seth asked, my head nodding in response.

Dean's eyebrows furrowed. "That really fucked you up that much?"

"It sounds pathetic, I know," I shrugged. "But I've never been so scared in my life. I just wanted a drink to forget my troubles and lose every memory of last night."

"You should go to someone next time," Ambrose suggested, drinking from his coffee mug. "You know, talk it through. That would be way better than going out and drinking till you're paralytic. Not a good idea, princess."

"I know that now," I said rolling my eyes. "I already feel bad enough, and knowing that you had to drag my sorry ass to bed is enough to get my backside into gear to never do that again."

"Well I'm glad you learnt your lesson," he said. "I didn't sign on to be a fucking babysitter."

I looked over at him with amused eyes. "You're not exactly used to this sensitive, cry on the shoulder, kindness stuff, are you, Dean?"

"How'd you guess?" he smirked, letting out a breath. "Look, I'm not being a dick. I'm just saying be careful in the future, okay?"

"I will," I smiled.

"Because next time I might just leave you chasing your lipstick along the floor," he teased, winking at me before standing up and taking his empty mug to the sink.

I smirked as I watched him, Roman breaking me from my stare.

"So do you need any help getting into your room?" he asked. "Dean mentioned that you left your key behind."

"I'll be good, thanks," I replied, finishing off my coffee. "I'll just go down to reception and ask for a spare."

"Do you remember your room number?" Seth asked.

"I do now all the alcohol is out my system," I replied. "Thanks for giving me a place to stay last night, by the way."

"Anytime," grinned Seth. "We couldn't exactly leave the boss's sister drunk on the floor could we?"

I laughed lightly. "No, I guess not. It was awfully kind of you, so thank you."

"We're Authority bodyguards and security. And that sometimes means doing our job outside of the ring too," Roman said, causing me to smile.

"I can see why Hunter hired you guys," I said brightly. "He made a good choice."

We talked for a short while before I decided it was best to make my exit. I still had to go down to reception and fetch a spare key. So I quickly excused myself and returned to Dean's bedroom, changing into the clothes I wore last night. With one final goodbye, I left the boys to their own devices, eager to get a new key and sleep in my own bed tonight.

xXx

I didn't see The Shield much for the rest of the week. I saw them in passing at shows, but Hunter was keen to have them in the ring during live shows in 6 man tag matches. He really wanted to establish them and show them off to the fans, something that was clearly working. The WWE Universe absolutely loved them, and Hunter's vision for them was really working out. They appeared strong, united and menacing. He'd really hit the jackpot with these guys.

I couldn't help but smile at how good they had come across as I got out of my car on Monday afternoon and began walking towards the arena.

"Hey, Holly! Wait!" called a voice, and I turned around to see Orton running towards me.

"Hi, Randy," I smiled as he joined me. "Long time no see. How's things?"

"Good," he replied. "I saw you get out of the car so thought I'd catch you up. Haven't seen you much, what with all the live shows last week."

"Yeah, I know you've been busy. You had a match every night, right?" I asked.

"Yeah," he replied. "Was just glad I had the weekend to recover. Though it could be worse, Hunter had The Shield guys fight every night."

"Wow," I said. "They've been busy."

"Very," he said as we flashed security our passes and gained entrance into the arena.

"You changed your mind about them yet?" I asked, smirking up at him.

He shrugged. "I dunno. You can't establish yourself in a week. How do I know it's not a fluke? They need a few weeks of live shows and TV tapings yet to win me round."

I giggled, causing him to look confusingly over at me. "Randy Orton. Are you still showing a little jealousy over these guys?"

"Course not," he said. "I'm the fucking champion. I'm the best WWE currently has. I am definitely not jealous of three newbs."

"Yes, you are certainly the champion," I replied as we walked to Hunter's office. "And you are the best. The Shield are just different is all. And they're new. You'll grow to like them soon enough."

We knocked on the door of the office when we reached it.

"I wish I had your optimism," he said as we were granted access. We opened the door and stepped inside. Everybody was already in there, Hunter and Stephanie behind their desk, Big Show, Kane and J&J Security all in seats. The Shield stood at the back, leaning against the wall. I offered them a small smile as Randy and I took our seats.

"So welcome, guys," Hunter said in greeting. "We have a packed show tonight so I wanted to discuss what will be going on. First of all we have Big Show in a match with Ryback tonight, so I hope you're prepped for that."

"Yes, boss," replied Big Show.

"Kane, you're taking on Daniel Bryan," Hunter said. "And Randy, we want to hold you back this week on the Sheamus feud."

"How come?" Randy asked.

"Well, we saw how well Holly's interference with his speech went last week and how well The Shield's debut went, so we want to send her out there again tonight."

W-What did he just say...?

I froze in my seat, my face dropping.

"Wait… What?" I asked.

"Sheamus has a match against Ziggler tonight," Steph explained. "And we want you out there again. We plan to have you on commentary, making nasty remarks, distracting the Irishman a little. Really rile him up."

My mouth went dry, my heart sinking at my sister in law's words. "Steph, I don't think-"

"Then when he clearly gets pissed off, we'll send The Shield boys out again to give him the beat-down he deserves," interrupted Hunter. "The crowd will love it."

I tried to swallow down the lump in my throat as I fought with all my might to hold back my tears. "I don't feel comfortable with this, Hunter. Can't you send Kane out? He's Director of Operations too."

"Kane already has a match tonight," Hunter explained. "And it was your interference that people enjoyed."

"I just don't like the sound of this," I said, my voice pleading with him to drop this whole idea.

"Why not?" he asked. "It went so well last week. We really think we can build on the momentum you gave yourself and the guys over there."

"What if it gets out of hand?" I asked nervously. "You know how unpredictable Shemaus can be."

"What's he going to do, Holly?" my brother argued. "Do you seriously think he'd hurt you? He knows that if he even touches my sister his contract would be terminated and his time with WWE would be over. He wouldn't dare risk it, so you'll be perfectly safe."

I genuinely felt sick to my stomach at the prospect of going out there and facing Sheamus again. Last week had absolutely terrified me. I'd been scared to the point where I went out and got insanely drunk just to forget about it. I gripped the arm of my chair tightly in order to stop my hands from visibly shaking, finding it hard to believe that I was being sent out there again.

"H-Hunter," I tried again, but he ignored me.

"That plan okay with you, boys?" he asked, looking over my shoulder at The Shield standing against the wall behind me.

"Uh, yeah," said Seth, though his voice didn't sound wholly confident. "Whatever you say, boss."

"Good," he smiled, standing up and straightening his tie. "The match order list is posted outside so you all know when you're due out into the ring. Let's have a good show, shall we?"

And with that everybody stood up, slowly filing out the room, my body refusing to move. My eyes were fixed permanently on the floor, my breaths coming out short and sharp. My anxiety was sky high and I knew I was probably on the verge of a panic attack.

"You okay, Holly?" a concerned Randy asked as he stood.

"Fine," I muttered, not wanting him to see me so vulnerable and scared. "I'm fine."

Thankfully he soon left and I took that as a cue to let a few terrified tears tumble down my cheeks. It took all the strength my body had to stand and walk away from my chair.

I was facing him again. I was provoking Sheamus in the ring in a way that I didn't want to. Sheamus was Randy's problem, not mine. Randy had the belt and Sheamus had the briefcase, I had nothing to do with it. And yet here I was being thrown into something that was none of my business. I couldn't believe my brother was doing this to me, but he was. So I freely let tears fall, not caring if my makeup was smudged or not.

I was about to leave the room when a hand was suddenly thrust in front of me, a tissue held between the fingers. I looked over to see it belonged to Dean.

"Here," he said. "I think you need this."

"T-Thanks," I muttered, taking the tissue from him and wiping my eyes.

"Try not to worry, okay?" he said. "We'll be there in time. Trust me."

I simply nodded at him, leaving the room, knowing I had to prepare for my segment of the show.

A huge thanks to angelsdee327, Tantoune, sebastianm101, Hollarious969, dutchangel1979, Raquel the writer, crazy-wild-and-free and my guest reviewer for their kind words.

Angelsdee327 – I'm glad the scene came across as humorous. That's exactly what I wanted. Hunter, I think, was too preoccupied with the success of the segment to truly see his sister's reaction. You're right, at least she had Dean to check up on her.

Tantoune – Even the lunatic can be a gentleman sometimes. Especially with a wild lipstick on the loose!

Sebastianm101 – He's definitely warming to her. It's a bit of a slow burn, but that spark between them is there.

Hollarious969 – His dark side will be coming out soon, don't you worry. I truly want to show him as the lunatic.

Dutchangel1979 – Glad you liked it and thank you for your constant support. I'm seriously thankful for it

Raquel the writer – Hi there! And welcome to y story. I hope you're enjoying it so far

Crazy-wild-and-free – They will come together eventually. This will be a bit of a slow burn as people don't just meet and get together so quickly in real life, and I wanted to make it as real as possible. Keep reading, and thanks for the support.

Guest – Sorry I can't reply to you personally. If you review again, make sure to leave a name so I can reply properly :) As I said in my author's note at the start, when I write this story I envision Holly as the actress Lily James with her blonde hair. Obviously you can face claim her as whoever you want when you read, but personally I picture Lily James as Holly. That's who I'd pick as her face claim.