Author's Note: I do not own Randy Orton, the WWE or any affiliated wrestling entity. I do own the original characters. This story is fiction and intended for entertainment purposes only.

Memphis smiled as she watered her plants. From the time she was a little girl, she had always had a secret passion for horticulture. Plants of all kinds adorned the inside of her home. It had been almost a week since she had been home and her babies had suffered, wilting away from lack of water, love and attention. Not that she could complain though. She was working for the WWE as the first full time sanctioned female referee. She was making history and living out a lifelong dream. All her hard work had paid off. Finally she had made it to the place where she was trying to get to her whole life.

Opening the refrigerator door, she frowned as her eyes searched the shelves for something edible. Memphis was never much of a cook anyway and it was more than evident that a return trip to the grocery store was well overdue. Sighing, she closed the door and grabbed a nearby copy of the Yellow Pages to see what was available in the area for takeout before she could make it to the store. A knock on the door interreupted her search.

"Who is it?" Memphis called out.

"Who the hell do you think? It's not like you have a revolving door of visitors."

Memphis smiled. She'd know that voice anywhere. It could only be only one person. April Lowe.

"Well, hello to you too," Memphis opened the door.

On the other side was the pretty and tanned lifelong New Yorker with the stylishly cut dark brown hair, loud accented mouth and heart of gold. The two women were a lot alike and had met the day Memphis had walked into April's salon in Bar Harbor the first week she had moved to the Island. They had clicked and had been close ever since.

"Thanks bitch for letting me know you were back in town," April hugged her best friend before inviting herself in. "You don't know how to use a phone? I had to drive by and see all the lights and stuff on."

"Who knew you would miss me so much? Sorry, I just got in," Memphis laughed.

"No excuse. I think the whole celebrity thing is totally going to your head. Your ego is out of control."

"Oh yeah. That's definitely me, Little Miss Ego. I'm such a big star. You didn't see the papparazzi hiding out in the bushes?"

April smiled.

"Seriously kid, I missed you. How have you been?"

Memphis grabbed two Diet Pepsis for herself and her friend, the only thing she had to drink in the house. She took a seat on the couch and sat with her feet tucked comfortably underneath her.

"Good. Um, things are really great."

"Really? How is it? I want to know all about it."

"Which part?" Memphis giggled.

"All of it. Don't leave anything out, you know how nosy I am anyway. Tell me all about the road, the wrestlers, the fans, the job…"

"I love it. It's exciting. It's so awesome. The travel is insane…oh my God, it is so intense. You fly out to one city, check in a hotel, do a show, get a few hours of sleep and then you're renting a car and driving on to the next place. It's exhausting but I won't complain. How cool is that to get to see the world on a daily basis?"

"Tell me, have you met John Cena yet?"

Memphis lauged out loud.

"And how do you know who John Cena is?"

"I know he's fine as hell. I've got cable, girl, I watched The Marine. His ass could give me CPR any day. And did you see how he carried his wife to bed and kicked the door in at the beginning of the movie? Damn, I needed to soak my whole body in a bucket of ice water after that one."

"You are a nut."

"Well, have you?"

"We were introduced."

"Did you sleep with him? Are you gonna sleep with him?"

"No and no," Memphis laughed. "We met, he said hi, I said hi, he went about his business and we haven't talked since. Sorry to disappoint you, kid but I just don't see any marriage plans for us in our near or distant future."

"Too bad. I just know that this whole wrestling thing is your dream. I didn't really understand it at first but I get it, or at least I'm trying to. I just wanted to see what the big deal is, what the hype is about so I started watching."

"Really?" Memphis raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. It's the least I can do."

"So what do you think so far? Do you like it?"

April shrugged.

"It's okay. The guys are hot and I suppose the storylines are entertaining. And that whole anonymous GM thing on RAW is classic. I love that little sound it makes when he sends the e-mail."

"You watching RAW…wow, that will defintely take a minute for me to get over that one."

"Speaking of, I watched for you on Monday night but you weren't on. Where were you?"

"I was in the building, just not on TV. Haven't graduated to the big leagues yet. Right now I'm doing dark matches…"

"What's that?"

"Matches that aren't televised." Memphis explained. "And house shows. No RAW yet unfortunately but hopefully soon. I did make it onto Superstars. That comes on Thursday nights if you ever want to check it out. I refereed a tag team match this week. It was taped."

"For sure. I'm just glad to see that you look so happy. When you gave up the big bucks at the firm, everyone thought you were crazy, including me. But you're chasing a dream and I respect that. That's the only way to make a dream come true is to go after it. This life certainly doesn't just hand you anything. You worked hard for what you wanted."

"Now it's finally starting to pay off."

"That must have been a big shock for all the wrestlers and employees backstage when Vince hired you. I mean, a female referee. A hot female referee at that?"

"It was a shock. I think everybody was genuinely surprised, especially the fans. Nobody really knew how to take it."

"Are you gonna wear sexy referee clothes? I had an idea. Maybe you could spice it up, you know, get rid of those stuffy black pants and godawful striped shirts. What about sexy boots and a halter? I bet we could find some funky outfits in the Village…"

"Hold your horses, kid. As cute as that sounds, I'm gonna have to pass on that one. Sorry."

"Memphis!"

"I don't want to be a novelty or passing fad in this company. I'm here now so the next goal is longevity. Dressing sexy won't accomplish that. I would be drawing attention to myself for all the wrong reasons. I want people to respect me based on what I do not how I look."

April nodded.

"I get that. Makes sense. I know you want to be taken seriously."

"We've got a long way to go on that one but it's the plan," Memphis mumbled under her breath, taking a sip of soda.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not complaining. I have no reason to. It's the WWE for pete's sake. But even though it's awesome, there are some parts of it that aren't what I expected at all. I don't know, I just thought it would be different."

"Like? What do you mean?"

"You know how you hear all the time that it's just like a family and everybody gets along and they welcome the newcomers and blah, blah, blah?"

April rolled her eyes.

"Let me guess, it's a bunch of bullshit, right? Memphis, you know better than that. That's so goddamned cliché, it's what you're supposed to say but that's never the way it really is. Actors say it about movie sets when they know good and well that so and so was a diva and made everybody miserable. We say the same thing about the shop on our website and you know that Nicole, the one with the bad dye job, is a psycho slut with a big mouth that nobody can stand."

Memphis chuckled.

"I guess so."

"Are they mean to you or something?"

"No, not really. They're not exactly nice, you could say that."

"Who?"

"Everybody. The wrestlers, the other referees…especially the other referees. They think I'm a joke."

"Then you're just gonna have to prove them wrong."

"Girl, that's exactly what I intend to do. This is my dream, my time and I'm not gonna let anyone ruin it or run me away even though one asshole in particular tried to my first night."

"Who?"

"Randy Orton," Memphis rolled her eyes.

April tried to think for a moment.

"Randy Orton, Randy Orton…the one with the tattoo sleeves? He's the Champion."

"That would be the one and only."

"He's sexy."

"He's a jerk. I bumped into him accidentally and he made a federal case about it. He was so rude, you wouldn't believe it. He went on and on and got in my face and was trying to intimidate me. It was so ridiculous but I wasn't surprised. Besides everybody says he's a dick backstage."

"You'll just have to let his undeniable sexiness make up for it. Who knows, maybe one day one of your arguments will lead to red hot, passionate, kinky, angry monkey sex in the middle of an empty ring before a show. That would be awesome."

"Um, not it wouldn't, number one and number two, your imagination scares me," Memphis laughed. "I don't think that's a likely scenario. He is hot but he is such a prick that I wouldn't want him touching me with a ten foot pole."

"Give him my number then," April joked.

"Now that would be an interesting pairing. He would meet his match in you."

"You're not exactly a punk, either. At least tell me you stood up to the guy."

"I did which pissed him off even more but I don't care."

"Good for you. I'm proud of you. You're tough."

"I have to be to be in this business."

"You've had to be the whole time to get what you want."

"What can I say? I love it. April, it's hard to explain but it's seriously the best thing ever. It's a different crowd, a different arena, a different city every night. The fans are pumped and the energy…it's just insane. It's amazing. For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to be a part of that world. When I watch from backstage in the Gorilla position or walk down that ramp…the feeling is indescribable but I feel whole like I've finally found my home. That's a feeling I never had before, not in college or in any courtroom. This is what I want to do with my life. I worked damn hard to get here and I'm not going to let anyone or anything stop me or ruin it or stand in my way."

"Well good for you. Keep your head up. Everything is going to work out, it's going to be okay. Pretty soon you'll be officiating the main event on RAW and at pay per view's all over the world. Your co-workers will come around. You grow on people and once they get to know you, they'll love you."

"It's cool. I'd like that to happen but if it doesn't, I'm totally okay with it," Memphis tried to shrug it off.

She was a strong woman, one who often hid her true emotions. The last thing she wanted was for people to perceive her as weak but beneath the tough exterior was a fragile heart. She did care what people thought of her. She did want them to accept her, like her even. She had done the unthinkable and stood up to the likes of The Viper, Randy Orton but their confrontation had left her shaking and dreading anything similar. It was hard but it was the price of her dream, one she was more than willing to pay.

"So how long you home for this time?"

"A whole two days, then I'm back on the road for a whole week. Vince wants me to watch both RAW and Smackdown events from backstage to get more familiar with everything and more comfortable."

"Sounds exciting but I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you, too, hon."

"Want to do dinner and drinks later tonight?"

"Of course."

Memphis smiled. It was nice to be home among real friends. It used to be her norm but she had voluntarily traded in that normalcy for a new life, one that was exciting, rewarding and fun but could be incredibly lonely. And she wasn't willing to trade it for anything in the world.