Chapter 5

Dave made his way down the corridors backstage, praying that he didn't run into any freaked out fans as he went. Usually it was pretty calm backstage….well, calm compared to out in the common areas of the arenas they performed at, but every so often there were fans that had managed to scrape up enough money for backstage passes and Dave had had more than his share of screaming teenage girls freaking out at the site of him in his ring gear. But since tonight he wouldn't be leaving the arena alone, it was probably best if he didn't have a gaggle of people and their camera phones following him around. Not that his "nonexistent" relationship with Miss Cena herself was a big secret but he had never really been the type to flaunt his personal life around and jeebus only knew that as soon as those pictures when up on the internet, he'd be getting calls left and right from his family; everyone wanting to know why he hadn't told them about his new lady. And he hadn't. Because they just wouldn't understand the stipulations on their pseudo-dating.

Smiling to himself, he rounded a corner and saw her red hair peeking out from behind some of the other guys on the roster. He always thought it funny how she could be so damn small and still have full command of all of the giants around her. Not that she ever bossed them around or anything, but for some reason all the guys loved to joke around and make her happy. Especially Hardy; but maybe that was more because she was the only one willing to deal with his ever changing antics. Dave had even joked to her once that she needed to check online to see how much some black market adult Ritalin would cost to stick into his Christmas stocking.

Callie turned around after handing out the rest of the scripts she had been given for the guys and saw the hulking figure of David coming down the hallway after his match. She hadn't gotten to see him beforehand because she'd been hanging out in the parking garage with John but her face lit up at the site of him, grinning from ear to ear. She headed over to stand in front of him and he immediately pulled her up into a hug, lifting her completely off of the floor. She pressed her face into his neck and breathed him in. She had always loved the way he smelled and it wasn't his cologne either. It was all him. Even straight out of a match, covered in sweat and not yet showered, she loved the way he smelled. And by now they'd shared the same bed enough times for her to be plenty used to the smell of his sweat.

Once again Dave became very aware of his size. It was obvious just by looking at Cal that she was shorter than most women her age but once you saw her actually in his arms it became quite apparent just how easily he could inadvertently hurt her just by squeezing a little too hard. It was probably one of the reasons he had become just as protective of her as John had. As strong as person as she had become she was so tiny it wouldn't take much to completely break her.

"Hey baby," He crooned into her ear before setting her back on her feet. "I've been missing you."

"Oh really now? So all those floozies at the other hotels just couldn't keep up huh?" She joked with him.

"Couldn't hold a candle to you babe," he laughed a little. They knew that neither one of them were sleeping with anyone else but since they'd opted to not officially get together it had become one of their little jokes. "Imma hit the shower and change."

Callie raised her eyebrow. "I thought you were scheduled to go back out the ring later and interrupt Irvine while he's doing the Peep Show."

"Nah, Stephanie changed it. Decided Orton should do it since they're going head to head an 'Mania. So," he gave her a playful slap on her rear. "I'll catch up with you when I'm done and we'll watch John's match together."

Callie watch him walk down the hall towards the locker room, staring at his ass the entire way. Before Dave, she had never known it could be so much fun to watch a man walk away before. After he'd disappeared behind the door she shook it off and went about her work.

...

He had already changed into his ring gear and warmed up for his match. Now all he had to do was wait. It had been difficult making the rounds in the back corridors of the arena with all of his coworkers. But he knew that if he didn't then they would all start to become suspicious after a while. Even if you weren't exactly a people-person there were rules of etiquette for performances. Vince and Linda had laid them out very specifically for each new wrestler when they joined the roster. Everyone stayed until the show was over (unless they had prior permission from the higher ups or an emergency demanded their attention more), they all dressed business casual and everyone was genial and polite, hanging around each other backstage and making friends. Well, he had made only a few friends in his time on RAW and even then they weren't close like some of the other guys were. He wasn't exactly into exchanging numbers and hanging out with the other guys.

For the past hour he had been going over and over the plans he had made regarding his little revenge scheme. It hadn't been hard to eavesdrop on Cena's conversation with Orton earlier and he had been delightfully surprised and slightly alarmed at the same time. Whoever had pinned that note to Orton's hotel room door, meaning it for Callie, was making his job slightly easier in some ways and slightly harder in others. On the one hand, this would probably put her brother on high alert for someone attempting to get close to his sister. That would make it more difficult to carry out the first phases on his plan. But on the other, that note was in no way connected to him and if more showed up and clues pointed them in the direction of someone else, then no one would ever suspect that a second person had carefully laid plans for her. Whoever it was sounded more like a weird stalker than an admirer which could make it harder to spy on her as well. He would have to take extra precautions to not cross paths with this person while carrying out his scheme. Whoever might be watching her might very well notice someone else spying on her as well. That could prove dangerous to him.

Glancing up at the clock, he raised himself off of the locker room bench and headed out the door for his match, decided then and there that he would have to find out who this person was himself.

...

"Oh my god!" Callie jumped up when John walked into the locker room he and Dave were sharing that night. She had also set up shop for her paperwork in there so she could be close to the guys. Her laptop nearly fell off of the couch when she ran over to her brother, immediately using a towel to dab some of the blood off of his chin.

"Sweetie, it's okay," Cena smiled as he fussed over his busted lip. "Nothing to worry about. I won't even need stitches, honey." He tried to reassure her and, finally, she backed off a little but only after she'd wiped all of the blood away and had seen the damage for herself. John never thought she would fully get used to some of the matches that he went through. She did the same thing fussing over Dave, Jeff and Punk as well whenever they had an exceptionally rough match. She knew they loved their careers and wouldn't trade it for the world but she would never get used to seeing the blood and bruises that could sometimes come with it.

John went over and plopped down on the couch, grabbing her laptop in the process and setting it back away from it's precarious position on the edge of the cushion.

"Well, either way, I'm going to go get you some ice for that swelling." Callie headed out the door and Dave and John laughed a little to each other.

"She's never gonna get used to it, is she?" Dave chuckled a little bit. "Especially with you. She get scared every time you go out there."

"Yeah," John chuckled a little right along with him. "Hell it took Liz years to get over it. Don't think CC's gonna join that way of thinking anytime soon." Even though he was lighthearted about it, it made John think back to some of the things he'd learned about her past before he'd met her and knew her reasoning behind it. She had been in foster homes with abusive parents and even a couple juvenile facilities before. She'd seen children being hit and abused before and sometimes, he thought that she might flash back to that whenever she saw one of her friends get bloodied up in the ring. "And besides," Cena continued. "It's been a while since I've had someone dote on me on the road. It's kinda nice."

"Yeah well, don't expect to nurse that lip all night with her. She's headed back with me. Haven't seen her in a month. We've got a lot of catching up to do."

"Aw man, don't remind me of what you're going to be doing with my sister later. Not cool."

That sent Dave into another fit of laughs as Callie walked back in looking confused when she saw him grinning like a fiend. "I'm not really even sure I want to know." She rolled her eyes and handed the ice to John. "And don't try to tell me that you don't need it cause you're swelling up already. Either use the ice or I go back and get the physician to come look at it."

It was John's turn to roll his eyes this time. "Yes Mom." And this time they were all laughing…..just loud enough for him to hear as he walked by on his way to his own locker room. He hated that sound. In just a couple of weeks, none of them would be laughing.