Just wanted to say a quick 'thank you!' to all of your that are reading this story and for those of you who have also checked out 'Reclaim'. I love knowing my work is being read and I love hearing from you!

Carter eyed herself in the mirror of the guest bathroom in her brother's house. She raised her eyebrows, looking back and forth by turning her head, then winked at herself and blew herself a kiss.

She was ready.

She pulled her hair into her hands and let it loose, draping it over her shoulder as she walked into her room.

Her nephew was sitting on her bed, kicking his feet against the side of it and playing with her phone.

"Can I help you, sir?" she smiled cheekily at him.

"I'm not old enough to be a sir," he replied, giving her a look like she had just told him the sky was pink.

"You're a little 'sir'."

"Whatever you say."

"Could I have my phone?"

He frowned at her as she held her hand out to him. He handed it over to her and she gave him an amused, half smile.

"Now what are you doing here? I thought you and Ty were helping your mom."

"Making cookies is boring and girly. I want to hang out with you."

"Well I'm going to a party little man, I can't hang out right now."

"Can I come?"

She frowned at the excited and hopeful look he gave her and she tilted her head, reaching out to ruffle his hair.

"It's for big kids, Jack. I'm sorry. Hey but if you're staying up to wait for Santa I'll stay awake with you, yeah? We'll watch one of your superhero movies."

"I guess."

"How do I look?"

He looked at her, studying her, "you're pretty. You look like a movie star."

"That's my boy. Always here for a confidence boost."

She grinned and bent over to kiss her nephew's head. "I love you, Jack. My tablet is in my bag if you want to play some games. Do not buy anything!"

"I won't I promise! Have fun!" he slid off of her bed and shuffled over to her bag.

Carter shook her head and headed down the hall to the kitchen where her brother was waiting on her.

"Are you finally ready?" he asked.

"Yes I'm ready. We can go." Carter looked at her sister in law who was happily mixing up cookie batter. "I'm jealous you get to stay here."

"You'll be fine, C."

"Yeah, yeah. Will you take a picture of us before we leave? I want to show off my handsome brother to the WWE universe."

"Oh yes get me some fangirls!"

"Honey…no."

Carter grinned at the look her sister in law gave her brother. Jacob rolled his eyes and motioned for Carter to come stand with him. Carter passed her phone over, posing with him, and smiled as she took the phone back from Megan.

"Ok, we're leaving now. Carter has an escape plan ready for us so we'll be back around ten."

"I'm going to get deathly ill, send prayers!"

"Have fun!" Megan called as the siblings headed out of the house.

Carter skipped down the stairs behind her brother, following him to his car, her heels clicking on the sidewalk. She slid into the passenger's seat and settled herself, going straight to her phone to post the picture to Instagram.

"You're obsessed with that thing."

"I am," Carter grinned at him.

Her phone vibrated in her hand and she glanced at it, the text alert on her screen.

Stop stressing out you'll have fun. Stress isn't allowed on Christmas.

She smiled at the reassuring text from Seth. She had been complaining to him all morning about the Christmas party she was attending with her brother that night. Her brother's law firm was hosting it, as they did every year on Christmas Eve, and she knew there was a large chance their dad would be there. After all, he was head of the firm.

She wasn't thrilled, or prepared, at least not until she had access to the bar.

She had given him a condense history of her problems with her dad, not really wanting to drag him deep into her issues but he had been nothing but supportive and encouraging. Mostly he had just tried to get her to stop worrying and focus on trying to enjoy herself with her brother, at the very least.

She had apologized profusely for unloading everything on him but he had brushed her off, telling her not to apologize. He owed her some good listening and venting time and he didn't mind it.

I'm not stressed. I'm apprehensive. I would rather be drinking egg nog on the couch watching How The Grinch Stole Christmas. She responded.

The only grinch right now is you.

Carter laughed aloud, getting a strange look from her brother.

"Who are you talking to over there?"

Go away, skunky. Bah humbug.

I'll be here if you need me….

"Um, one of the guys…that I work with," she shrugged.

"Oh fuck, Carter. Not again, please?"

"What do you mean 'not again, please'? You make it sound like I've hopped around from ten different wrestlers. I dated one."

"And how did it work out for you?"

"Absolutely terrible thank you for the reminder," she glared at him. "This is not that, though. We're just friends."

"Ok."

"We are!"

"Ok, I hear you. Whatever you say."

Carter huffed, rolling her eyes in the dark of the car and shaking her head. "I don't know why it's so hard for people to believe a guy and a girl can be just friends."

"Which one is it? Which guy?"

"Rollins."

Her brother chuckled, shaking his head. "Oh you do pick them, little sister."

"Shut up and mind your own business. Look I don't have explain this but I reached out to him because of his injury because I have been there and we've just been talking. That's it."

Her brother glanced at her and shrugged, "you don't have to defend yourself. I harass you because that's what I do."

Carter gave him a light punch across the console. He laughed and reached over, ruffling her hair.

"Ew stop! I actually looked presentable!"

She flipped on the overhead light and pulled the visor down to fix her hair in the mirror on the sun visor. She huffed, glaring at him as she turned the light off.

She looked down at the phone in her lap.

What was so wrong with being friends with Seth? Any person that knew about their talking came back with the same reaction. It was annoying. At the core of it all, she had tapped into a source of support for her and that was something she needed; outside of her girlfriends. She loved them but she needed a different point of view; fresh eyes and ears.

And so what if she flirted with him occasionally? It was innocent and harmless. Everyone does it.

She opened up her phone, pulling up his text thread and studied the screen for a moment. Before thinking about it any longer she selected the picture Megan had snapped of her and Jacob earlier and sent it to him.

Seth had set his phone on the coffee table, next to his half empty bottle of beer, after his last text to Carter.

He and his brother, Brandon, had just started a game of Madden and he knew he needed to be distracted unless he wanted his brother to never shut up about who he was talking to. He also knew that Carter was headed to a party and despite her reservations about the night, she needed to be focused on her family and the evening.

He glanced over as his screen lit up. He could see the notification and could see it was a picture.

That was intriguing.

He passed some glances over at his phone a few times, debating on if he wanted to look at it or wait, and then reached for it and his beer. He sat his phone in front of him and unlocked it, pulling up the text from Carter.

He glanced down at the picture and paused for a second.

She was in a black lace top with cap sleeves and a high waisted gold, sparkly pencil skirt that came down to her knees and it hugged her like a second skin. She was standing with her brother, her long hair falling around her shoulders, and she was smiling. For all the pouting and grief she had been dishing out about the night to him the whole day, she looked happy. She looked incredible.

He couldn't help but smile slightly.

"Who is that?" Brandon interrupted his thoughts, leaning over slightly to look at his phone.

Seth cut a sharp look at his brother. "Can you keep yourself out of my business ever?"

"It's taking up the whole screen it's hard not to notice. She's kind of hot."

Seth sighed heavily, locking his phone and shifting it to the side.

"I'm aware."

Brandon chuckled, "so?"

"So what?"

Brandon shrugged slightly, "who is she?"

"We work together."

"Does she have a name?"

"Carter."

"Who was the dude?"

"Her brother."

"So she's single?"

"Brandon."

"Ok," Brandon rolled his eyes slightly and sighed heavily at his brother's short tone.

"What?" Seth asked, obviously annoyed with his brother.

"Nothing. Are you going to respond to her?"

Seth looked at him, "I will when you're not leaning over my shoulder like a teenage girl trying to read my conversation."

"Fuck you, you like her. That didn't take long at all." Brandon laughed, pausing the game from his controller and standing up from the couch, "I'm getting another drink, you want one?"

"Sure. And it's not like that. We talk but that's it. You can stop interrogating me any time now."

"So your dick pics aren't going to end up on the internet again?"

"You're a fucking asshole."

"I'm just making a point. I know this last whatever of yours just left and that was a big fucking neon sign of a mistake, yeah? So I don't know if you're actually getting over her or not. And maybe you are just talking or just friends or whatever bullshit you want to tell me about Carter but…" Brandon came back into the living room and handed the bottle to Seth, "I saw the look on your face when you looked at that picture and I'm not an idiot."

Seth sighed, leaning back against the back of the couch. "I can't help that; she's beautiful. The company is nice, the friendship. She went through all of this a few years ago when she was in college, the surgery and recovery, and it's helped. It's helped a lot. That's it though. This really is different."

"Ok."

Seth studied his brother for a second and sat up again, "even if it wasn't, it's not exactly good timing for either of us. She's not a fan of wrestlers."

"Why did she get dicked over by one of you?"

"Don't put me in that category."

Brandon chuckled, "well if it was me I wouldn't take too long to respond to her. You'll hurt her feelings."

"She's at a party with her family."

"So?"

"So I'll talk to her later. I don't need any words of advice from you. Can you shut up about it now?"

Later came a few hours later. Brandon had left for the night and Seth had settled in on his couch, nursing the beer that was still left in the current long neck bottle in front of him and surfing mindlessly through the channels on his television.

He reached for his phone which had been mostly silent since his last text, with the exception of a few ESPN alerts. He returned to his text thread with Carter and sent her a hello to check in.

Carter was just walking in to her room when her phone sounded. She balanced on one foot, removing her shoe, and looked at her phone at the same time. She smiled at the simple 'Hi' from Seth.

Hello you.

She tossed her phone on the bed and set to work on changing out of her party clothes in to her comfortable 'Christmas Eve on the couch clothes'.

She doubted that Jackson had managed to stay awake but she was going to check on him anyways since she had promised him hang out time and a movie.

She grabbed her phone and trekked down the hallway into the living room where the Christmas tree and the television were both located. Jackson was asleep on the couch and she smiled softly to herself. There was movement behind her and she looked over her shoulder to find her sister in law coming into the kitchen.

"Is he still asleep?"

"Looks like it."

"He said he was waiting for you and Santa," Megan smiled.

"Yeah I told him I would watch a movie with him. I'll get him to bed, go get some sleep Mrs. Claus."

Megan smiled and turned down the hallway, leaving Carter alone.

Carter headed for the oversized chair that was diagonal to the couch, snatching the remote from in front of Jackson on her way. She looked at her phone before tossing the remote onto the seat.

Sorry I didn't respond to you sooner I've been with Brandon. How did everything go tonight? You survived.

Family comes first. Hope you had some good brotherly bonding time. Tonight was fine. I avoided my dad for most of it and I'm fairly sure that I got propositioned. So...success...

It didn't take long for his response to come back. What do you mean propositioned? Like a hooker?

Carter chuckled. I have some aunt duties to handle but I'll tell you about it. Call me in like 20 minutes...

She tossed the phone on the seat with the remotes and turned to the couch to survey if she would be able to move Jackson without waking him.

She couldn't but she managed to get him awake and to his bed with only a few grumbles. She returned to the living room and settled in the chair, tossing the light blanket over herself and slipping through the channels to look for a movie or a TV show to watch.

Despite her slight buzz from the drinks she had at the party, she wasn't really sleepy, and the peace and quiet of the deserted living room and the glow of the Christmas tree was calming and comforting.

A few minutes had passed, long enough for her to settle on a movie, when her phone started vibrating on the arm of the chair. She glanced at it and then reached for it.

"Hello Rollins."

"Twenty minutes felt like kind of an odd amount of time so I went with thirty."

"Well I shouldn't be surprised that a man had trouble following directions," she dryly responded, getting a chuckle from him.

"I will try to do better next time. What kind of aunt duties did you have to do?"

"I promised one of my nephews before I left that I would watch a movie with him when we got back, he was sad he couldn't go with us, so he ended up falling asleep on the couch waiting on me. I told Megan I would get him in bed. Then I poured myself a glass of wine."

"Lush," he responded. "How old are they? There are two?"

"Yes; Jackson is 7 and Tyler just turned 12. I forgot I haven't really talked about them to you yet. You're lucky, I usually talk people's ears off about them. I guess it's because you're a guy..."

"What does being a guy have to do with it?"

"I don't know, I guess I just don't feel like gushing about my nephews to a dude. That's got to be some kind of faux paux."

"I like kids," he replied. "They don't always like me, though."

"Because they think you're really a bad guy?"

"Yes."

"Yeah, Jackson isn't a fan of you. Tyler is a big fan but Jackson isn't."

"Let me guess...he likes Cena?"

"To be fair, Nikki played a big part in that. She and Brie and John sent him some stuff and autographs for his last birthday. So they kind of bribed him but you know…"

"I'll have to send you something for them."

"You don't have to do that…"

"Nah it's fine, I don't have anything else to do right now and I am not above bribery."

"Well I would be the coolest aunt ever for that. I'm already pretty cool but that would seal the deal."

"Have you brought them to a show yet?"

"Not the kids but my brother has come to quite a few. He's a lifelong wrestling fan. My dad took us to a pay per view back in like 1995 and I have vivid memories of being put in the sharpshooter a few times after that. I think he lives vicariously through me now."

"Wait, 'us'? So you aren't a total newbie…"

"No."

"You worked me."

"I did no such thing."

"Oh? What happened to the 'let me pick your brain, Seth. Educate me'?" he mocked a girl's voice and she laughed, not missing the teasing tone to it.

"I never once said that I didn't have any knowledge apart from what I've experienced the last couple of years. You assumed that. And yeah I wanted to learn stuff from you, from your view of things, not a fan's view. I've never gotten to sit down and have that kind of conversation and you really love all of it. I like listening to you talk."

"You dated a wrestler."

"We never really talked about wrestling unless he was bitching about creative."

"You're crafty."

Carter scoffed, "I am not."

"Well I'm on to you now; your game."

"What game?"

"That you're full of shit."

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes despite him not being able to see her. "I'll let you have this round."

"So tell me about tonight, about being propositioned?"

Carter chuckled, "oh yes, that. Okay well, let me ask you this, what's the craziest thing you've ever said to a girl to try and pick her up? Like when you're out with your friends or Brandon…"

"I don't use pick up lines. Women throw themselves at me, remember?"

The sarcasm in his voice was unmistakable and she sighed.

"Look, I'm sorry that I insinuated that you're a vagina slayer, ok? You have to stop being offended by that. Take it as flattery."

Seth was mid drink and he started laughing, almost choking on the sip of beer he had just taken, and then he started coughing.

"Don't die," she laughed.

"Did you just call me a vagina slayer?"

"I did."

"Whatever you're drinking please continue because you're an absolute treasure right now," he continued laughing.

"Same to you, but seriously, what's your go-to line?"

"I don't use lines, seriously. Firstly you have to remember this is the first time in a long time that I've been single. Secondly you have to remember that I don't know how to do the whole sex symbol thing. I'm an idiot. I know music and wrestling and video games and I'm kind of an asshole. I don't...approach women."

"How do you meet them then?"

"They give me their phone number backstage at a house show...and I don't mean you. Although you did do that."

"Hmm, so you what you're saying is women do throw themselves at you?"

"One, it's not plural."

"And you aren't an asshole, you have a little arrogance about you. You have charming moments. though."

"Well thank you. Where is this going?"

"So I went to the bar to get a drink tonight. My brother was schmoozing and I was bored so I figured I'd just slip away and get something other than champagne and there was this guy there in his tux and he was ordering a bourbon and he asked what I was drinking and I was like, whatever, free drink, I'll bite. So he got me a jack and Coke and he lays down a black credit card; a black fucking AMEX, and gives me this 'please be impressed by me' look and goes 'if you play your cards right tonight you could have your name on one of those'."

"Shut the fuck up."

"True story."

"Did you punch him in the face?"

"I gave him my number."

"Carter."

"I didn't give him my number," she chuckled.

"Good! Jesus…"

"It was so gross. Like I just felt dirty. He put his hand on my back and was just…gross. I honestly think he would've been my sugar daddy had I been stupid enough to not be sleazed out by him."

"Just listening to that made me really uncomfortable."

"Well, unfortunately I have been in a handful of uncomfortable situations. That's part of a woman's world. It was fine, though. I walked away and I got a free drink out of it."

Seth sighed, Carter could pick up on it over the phone.

"That doesn't mean you'll always be able to just walk away. You…you just gotta be careful, C."

Carter smiled to herself and bit the inside of her lip.

"Rollins…"

"Hmm?"

"You don't have to worry over me. I'm perfectly capable of handling myself."

"I have no doubt that you're perfectly capable of doing so but that doesn't negate the fact that you're a little bit reckless. Just…I don't know, don't be reckless. Be smart; protect yourself. Don't travel alone over night and don't let douchebags buy you drinks."

"Well how much does it cost to hire you as a bodyguard?"

"I am slightly out of commission right now. Plus you don't have one of those black AMEX cards so I don't think you could afford me."

"Well I'm just screwed I guess." Carter shifted around in the seat, snuggling further under the blanket she had grabbed. "You would've punched him the face wouldn't you?"

Seth was quiet for a few seconds before responding, "had I been around and you told me that happened? Probably."

"Yeah? You got a temper on you?"

"I can. Sometimes."

"When is your birthday?"

"May 28."

"Oh you're a Gemini. That explains a lot."

"Do you really believe in that stuff?"

"I don't not believe in it. I don't put all my eggs in that basket but you have to admit some of it is eerily accurate. I'm a Leo, by the way, if you get curious."

"Duly noted."

Carter jumped, almost dropping her glass of wine and mentally thanking the universe that it was empty, and let out a string of curses when a stuffed bear landed in her lap, startling her from her conversation.

"You okay?" Seth asked.

"Yes," Carter responded, partially growling. She turned, throwing the bear back at her brother who was laughing in the doorway. "Santa Claus just showed up and scared the shit out of me."

"Ah…I guess you need to go be a good elf and help out."

"I probably should."

"Well, have fun. Uh, text me when you're done. I imagine I'll still be awake."

Carter glanced back at the entryway for her brother. He had back tracked into the kitchen, giving Carter some space to finish her conversation.

"I will. Don't sound so sad."

"Merry Christmas, Carter."

"Merry Christmas, Seth."

She dropped her hands to her lap as the call ended and she looked back at her brother who was back in the doorway.

"'Merry Christmas, Seth'" he mocked her. "That sounded very friendly, Carps. Indeed."

"Shut up."

"Look at you, you're blushing."

"Do you want my help or not?"

"Yeah," he laughed, grinning. "Most of it is at the office, though, so we're taking a road trip."

"That's fine. Let me get some shoes on."

She untangled herself from the blanket and headed towards the hallway to her room. There was a slight smile on her face that she was determined to get rid of once she was back in the kitchen. She didn't want to hear her brother's shit right now. She was pulling her fuzzy boots from her bag when her phone vibrated on the bed.

She was trying to slide the shoes on as she picked up her phone to see if it was a text or an email and she paused.

It was a text from Seth.

I didn't get the chance to tell you this but you looked beautiful tonight. Say hey to Rudolph for me.

Carter smiled and then sighed. Damn if he wasn't charming.