A/N: Thanks, everyone! Forever appreciative of your reviews. Keep 'em coming. Because...YOLO.

Shout out to Roman Reigns for finally winning the belt. Can't stand Sheamus.

Okay, so Seth wouldn't exactly listened to Dolph's warning. But it's not like he was to blame.

Just moments after Dolph had exited, leaving the current champion seething, Kevin Owens pushed his way right back in. Seth had his head buried in his hands, not even noticing that his friend had come back into the room.

"So, that's why you've been so weird lately," the Canadian accent made him jump; and he stood up quickly, startled by the fact that he wasn't as alone as he'd thought.

"How much did you hear?" Seth demanded, grabbing a fistful of Kevin's authentic WWE t-shirt. He was in a frantic panic, not wanting any more rumors to be started than there already would be. And as good a friend as Kevin was, he couldn't keep quiet about anything.

Kevin nonchalantly pushed Seth's hands off from him, a small smile playing on his lips. "Seriously, man, knock it off. Your secret is safe with me. Especially now that I've literally heard everything. AJ Lee? That's bad ass. I'm not even mad. Seriously, anything is a step up from the witch you were seeing before. But it's extremely noble of you to agree to leave her alone just so that she can avoid the publicity," Kevin patted Seth's shoulder in an encouraging manner. "But to be honest, that's not going to get you anywhere, and I don't agree with it."

Seth wasn't sure if he should be angry or not. It wasn't a huge surprise that Owens was right outside of his locker room, perhaps anticipating a showdown between Rollins and the Show-Off. He as probably expecting he'd be breaking up a locker room scuffle, instead hearing the dumb-ass drama bullshit that always seemed to circulate. But what should he do? Play it off like it was nothing? Or admit that somewhere, deep down, he actually may have feelings for the former WWE Divas champion? What was surprising, however, that he'd expected Kevin to agree with Dolph, given Seth's prior relationships.

"Yeah, well, you know. We've all seen AJ's personal life explode in front of our very eyes. The last thing I want is for anyone to speculate that we've got something going on. Especially since we agreed on friend-zoning each other..." Seth could feel his confidence breaking, and he knew he had been caught in a small form of a white lie.

Kevin rolled his eyes, not bothering to hide the fact that he wasn't buying in to Seth's story.

"I won't say a thing, man. I mean it. Because I get it. But don't tip-toe around me. I get it...you like her a lot, and you feel like you don't deserve something good. But did you ever think that maybe that's not up to you to decide? Maybe it's up to her to decide whether or not you're worth investing in. So what if she's been burned? That doesn't mean a damn thing."

Seth stood there, unsure of what to say. So, he said nothing.

Kevin ran his hands through his hair, something he did often when he was uncomfortable in a situation. "You can tell me I'm wrong if you want. But I know I'm not. And I know you've got some feelings there...I mean, I just heard everything. And it makes sense that you had been with her, I texted you six times over the weekend. Admit it, Seth, you've caught feelings!" Kevin was getting sort of childish with his tone, teasing his friend like this was some sort of playground crush.

Seth shot his friend a cold stare. "So what if I feel something for her? She said she was on a date with Balor."

Kevin shook his head. "So what? Sounds like you guys had fun, enjoying each others company. At least, that's what Ziggler's implying. So that means you need to fight for her if you've got any interest at all. Maybe all you've got to do is show her a little fight...after all, it's pretty clear that her ex didn't fight to keep her around..."

Before Seth could offer a reply, a technician came tearing into the room. "Hey, Rollins, what are you doing? We've been looking everywhere for you! We've got Kane out there dragging on and on, trying to fill time. Get to the curtains, man, and cut him off! You were scheduled to be in the ring almost five minutes ago!" he was waving his clipboard around, muttering something on his headset. He pointed to the doorway, urging Seth to get a move on. Flipping his belt over his shoulder, he gave one more shitty stare to Kevin as he got into character quickly. It wasn't too hard to play a bad guy when you actually were a pretty bad guy.

After Seth was out of sight, Kevin quickly swiped his buddy's phone, noticing that he still had a blank text open to AJ. Taking matters into his own hands, he smiled a cool, sinister smile as he swiped his fingers over Seth's keypad, asking AJ how her date was going. It seemed like something Seth would say, and it probably would make AJ at least subconsciously aware that he was jealous. After all, one thing Kevin Owens never understood was why people would try so hard to keep the way they felt under lock and key. He had been straightforward with his wife, and it worked out for him spectacularly. So who was to say it wouldn't be the same for Rollins and AJ?

Slipping Seth's phone into the open compartment of his duffel, Kevin walked out like he knew nothing.

"Let me just walk you to your room," Finn Balor offered after they'd come back from their dinner. They were in the lobby, and not a superstar or diva was in sight. It wasn't even that it was late, and it was almost eerie. The only noise seemed to come from the front clerk, typing on her keyboard quietly.

They shared a small smile as they waited for the elevator, and AJ knew she probably look like he'd caught her off-guard.

"Of course," AJ agreed, surprised that he was such a gentleman. Yes, he had caught her off-guard; she wasn't used to such old-school, chivalrous efforts. It appeared that he was one of the nicest guys she'd ever met in her time, and even though she hadn't felt glorious fireworks with him yet, he was the type of guy she needed. Comfortable. And he was seemingly always positive and upbeat, a tragic change from CM Punk. Seth Rollins, too, for that matter.

The elevator came to an abrupt stop, opening the doors to let them exit on to the fourth floor.

It was nice, too, that he never pried about her relationship ending. He didn't even mention what he'd seen online. He was just...a good guy.

"Well...this is me," she stopped in front of the room she'd be staying in, along with Carmella and Bayley. She grabbed her card that Bayley had given her before she'd run out the door, opting to wear her boots and black skinny jeans rather than a pair of her Chucks. Maybe that made it a real date, and maybe not; but the NXT women had given her their nod of approval before she met Finn in the lobby just a few hours ago.

He gave her his warm smile, stepping closer to her and wrapping his arms around her shoulders. He kissed the top of her head, and AJ couldn't help but be slightly annoyed by his gesture... she felt like a little kid. Trying to ignore it, she stepped back, offering a pleasant smile much like her in-ring character would do. She had given this cute look to everyone, peering at Finn from beneath her lashes. The last thing she wanted was to feel like a toddler, so she was going to turn up the flirtatious look just a little bit.

Tilting her chin upwards, his lips twitched just slightly as he lowered his head. "Thank you, AJ," he said quietly, almost a soft whisper. "For even giving me the time of day."

He lowered his lips to her, and AJ felt the weird fluttering in her stomach...until she felt a quick rush of wind hit her, and she turned, startled to see...

"HEY AJ, GUESS WHAT-OH! Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" Bayley stood in the doorway, the NXT champion's cheeks flaring with a pink tinge immediately upon realizing what she'd just interrupted. "I can...uh, I'm sorry, Finn!" she shut the door quickly, leaving the two standing across from each other, the moment completely ruined.

Finn put a finger to his lips, as if he was telling someone to be quiet. "Next time, we'll get it right," he said, tucking AJ's dark hair behind her ear. "Goodnight, April."

He walked by her, leaving her confused...but also a giant, yucky mess of girl. She couldn't believe how easy it was for her to begin falling for him...and now, all she wanted to do was go give Bay a Shining Wizard for ruining their first kiss. Who knew? It might've been the greatest thing she'd ever felt. And, judging by the way she felt right now, she believed that maybe her journey moving forward would be much easier than she thought.

AJ was wide awake, going over every motion of her evening. Like a play-by-play of sorts. She felt like she was possibly back to her "crazy chick" persona, analyzing every single thing Finn had said to her. Considering his mannerisms. Was he flirtatious? Or just being nice? Looking for someone to take to bed? Or just someone to talk to?

Maybe it was because she didn't know him as well as she'd known all the other guys on the main roster. She was watching her footing now, especially having her heart thrown into a blender just a short bit ago. Finn, though, he acted differently than any other guy she'd dated in the past; Phil had shown her zero interest at first, only beginning to speak to her regularly after he'd caught her reading an old comic book called Demonic Toys.

She flipped open her phone, making a mental note to not log into her Twitter account. No, she figured it would be best to let her WWE representative tweet for her for awhile. She was afraid she'd publicly lash out at...well, everyone. She re-read the message she'd received from Seth earlier in the evening, still without proper response. She didn't want to gloat about her evening...but it was nice. Just, nice. To not be bombarded with questions. It was even kind of nice not being around Seth, who both pissed her off to unfathomable extents and made her heaven open as angels sang at the same time. Finn had fallen asleep on her about an hour ago, sending each other short messages as they were just a small distance from each other.

Dinner was nice. I kind of miss you, though.

She panicked as the text began to send, mashing the 'end' button in hopes of cancelling the message. That seemed awfully forward...and knowing Seth, he'd think it was a solid attempt at coming on to him or something. For all she knew, he'd already found his way back to one of those glamorous women he showcased himself around, forgetting that she existed except in form of a good friend. But not that it should matter...they weren't anything to each other.

Yet, guilt gnawed at the pit of her stomach whenever she thought of how close she'd come to kissing Finn Balor.

A tiny notification popped up in the corner of her phone's screen. Message: Delivered 12:38 AM. Her mouth fell open in a silent scream; if she hadn't been in the same room as the sleeping Carmella and restless Bayley, she might've thrown her phone against the wall. Seriously? As fate would have it, the one time she wished her phone didn't send a message, it did.

Maybe Seth would ignore her. That would be fine, and most likely what he'd do anyways. Yep, she was probably the furthest thing from his mind. Out of sight, out of mind.

She tucked her phone under her pillow as she normally did so that her ridiculously early alarm didn't wake up the entire hotel in just five hours. Shifting around to get comfortable on the lumpy mattress and pancake-flat pillows. She was too hot, so she kicked off her sweatpants under her blanket so that she only wore her light blue panties and sports bra as makeshift pajamas.

Her phone pinged quietly under her pillow, and she squeezed her eyes shut wishing that she dreaming. Of fucking course Seth was awake, too. And it would just be her luck that he'd read her overly-attached text. He was probably telling her now to lose his number.

Pulling it from under it's hiding spot, she squinted at the too-bright LCD screen. Yeah, it was from Seth.

Glad that you & Finn had a nice nite. Hope you can talk tomorrow. Goodnight, AJ.

Seriously? That was it?

She'd just sort of half-ass told him that she was thinking about him more than Finn during their mini-date, and that was all he had to offer? She'd given a pretty decent attempt of laying her cards out on the table for him to see, and he just blatantly ignored her effort, choosing to keep her as an interesting person to talk to.

Even though there was chemistry...or, something, anyways...

Well, at least now she knew how he'd felt. He didn't think of her that way, and there was solid proof now. As if whatever they had going on for that split second never existed at all. He was giving her the go-ahead to continue pursuing the NXT talent. Even worse, AJ was mortified; she couldn't believe she'd put herself out like that, only to be shut down. Seth didn't miss being around her; he was back to the big dogs, and she was going to have to keep floating on.

She decided that she wouldn't call him tomorrow night. Or the night after. Or next week. She was right all along: Seth Rollins was the same sort of scumbag that she'd just divorced. He would never change, and even if they ended up in a relationship or anything romantic, he'd fall in bed with someone who had much more to offer than her barely-there boobs and boyish hips.

Just like Punk had.

She was setting herself up for heartbreak, so she might as well take the easy way out and pretend it never happened.

Focusing on how Finn Balor looked in his dress shirt, she forced herself to fall asleep, blissfully unaware of what was going on a thousand miles away. Blissfully unaware of all the drama that she never wanted to be involved in, anyways.

Did I really ask AJ how her date was going? Seth wondered to himself as he re-read his sent messages. She hadn't responded; she was probably exploring Finn Balor's many talents as he stared at the ceiling, counting sheep and re-positioning himself a million times.

He didn't know why it kept bothering him so much that she was out with another guy. Nobody was gonna be good enough for her, anyways. She deserved the best, and as far as he could tell, Finn wasn't the best fit for her. But, then again, neither was he. He couldn't expect her to just sit in her hotel room and be lonely all the time when women were literally throwing themselves his way...but it wouldn't be that bad. At least she wouldn't get hurt that way.

He kept weighing the options here. Dolph had given him a pretty solid warning, yet Kevin had encouraged him to go for it. He wondered if she was back from her little rendezvous, and if she was, why she hadn't responded to the text message he'd apparently sent to her.

I really don't remember responding. I was pretty pissed. But maybe that's why I don't remember shooting her something so shitty...

His phone's screen lit up, and a quirky picture of AJ he'd taken spread across his screen. His stomach tightened just looking at her photo, her messy hair and thick-rimmed glasses still a far-cry from the forced, modelish pictures Leighla had forced him to take of her in the past. AJ was flawed, but rather than cover them and be embarrassed, she chose to embrace her imperfections. It was one of the many things he liked about her; especially because despite it all, she was beautiful.

He clicked on the text box that had appeared, reading her message. His heart beat way too fast, and he knew exactly the feeling. He was falling, deeper and deeper.

Dinner was nice. I kind of miss you, though.

Seth felt like a million dollars; like he was in a musical and a pivotal moment in one of the main actor's life had just created a symphony from the background. He wanted so badly to tell her he'd be there in four hours, that he'd book a red-eye flight straight to her just to be with her for another night.

But he knew better. All he could think of was how badly this would inevitably end, and as much as it pained him...oh, fuck it. She'd offered him a small insight of her own feelings, so he should offer the same courtesy. Nothing sucked more than being left in the dark, and whatever they were right now was questionable. Especially after the weird thing that happened when he'd tried to hop in the sack with Zahra...

Thinking quickly, Seth typed out a response, reading and re-reading it what seemed like a thousand times.

I want to say I miss you, but it won't change anything so I'll keep pretending that I don't.

Seth wasn't sure if that sounded mean or made him sound like a walking vagina. He wasn't ready to admit to AJ how quickly she'd captured his attention; and besides, she seemed to be fine letting Finn distract her from the explosions that surrounded her life. Maybe Dolph Ziggler was right; and the best thing for AJ was to stay out of the public eye for awhile, far away from someone like Seth. She seemed to be content enough; something that Seth knew that in the long run, he could never do for her. He couldn't have a relationship, and he couldn't fall in love. He was so far gone as far as being attached that the only thing he knew for sure was that he'd be alone for good. And AJ...she deserved happiness. She was entitled to those things, and perhaps fuckin' Finn Balor would provide those things in the long run. He'd just have to give AJ that chance...

Pushing 'end' on his phone quickly, Seth figured that it was best not to give her any hope of anything. Perhaps that was why his pseudo-relationship with Zahra had worked so well for so long; neither of them had a real interest in a monogamous relationship. And if he was with AJ, he'd be pledging his allegiance to her and only her.

And she was worth being devoted to. And he couldn't even devote himself to a regular workout schedule, so why would he be able to devote himself to a solid relationship again? Keep her around as a friend. Yes, if he couldn't do relationships, he wanted to at least have her as a friend.

Quickly re-typing a response so that AJ knew that he was still interested in her life but not as a potential suitor, he did the hardest thing he could do. He had to let her go, attempt the very thing Finn Balor might be able to offer her: a future.

Amy Dumas, better known as Lita, smiled to herself contently as she laid back in bed as she snuggled close next to the love of her life. She'd gotten up to pee in the middle of the night, something she'd been doing much more as of late. For the first time since the end of her relationship with Matt Hardy, she felt as though she had a reason to look forward to the next day.

She deserved to be happy. She'd been wandering through life for the last few years, showing up here and there on WWE productions and spending more time with her bestie, Trish, than her own family. Now, things were brighter than they'd ever been for her. She was finally growing up from the rebellious woman that had displayed her thong for the world to see ten years ago.

She'd received plenty of heat, and she supposed rightfully so. Fans left and right had offered both support and thrown shade, telling her she was a homewrecking bitch. Even if some of the awful comments, tweets, and messages were deserved, Amy refused to feel badly about how things had turned out. If she could change things, she would. But sometimes, things happen outside of anyone's control; and she knew that no matter what anyone said, this was going to be good for her. For them.

Just about two years ago, Lita had given her protege and her dearest friend a thumbs-up; a go-ahead to get married, and quietly left them alone to experience wedded bliss. She didn't expect him to come to her so quickly, if at all. He'd seemed so set on the tiny, dark-haired chihuahua-like woman; more bark than her bite. He told the whole world he was madly in love with the woman who dressed like a teenage boy. She was definitely talented and pretty, but even Amy had to admit she couldn't compare to the women that threw themselves at the superstars on an everyday basis.

Perhaps that's why he'd gone straight to Amy once he'd grown bored.

And the more time he'd spent alone in Milwaukee texting her, the quicker Amy was reminded how in love she was with him way back when. Once the little lap dog wifey was less in the picture, Amy had taken the chance and asked her former beau to hang out for a night. And as guilty as she'd felt for the way things had evolved since the first time they'd gone to dinner, she couldn't help but believe that all of this had happened for a reason.

Folding her body around her man's, she kissed his dark hair as he quietly snoozed on their Vertlo mattress, unaware that she had even risen at all. All images and ideas of his short-term wife had disappeared, like their relationship hadn't existed at all. Amy had done well to erase her, and the home he'd shared with her once upon a time had become the home he shared with the red-haired woman he'd casually dated before.

She smiled to herself once more before letting herself fall into a deep sleep. Finally, she had everything she'd ever wanted. True love, a place to live, and a family. And as fucked up as it was to get there, Amy Dumas didn't care. Little AJ Lee was not her problem, ever again.