Aidan stayed on the lookout for the next few days but Dean was nowhere to be found. There were only a few days left before the new season of NXT would start. The creative team had left it up to the pros to get to know their rookies. In that respect, she had completely failed.

She felt bad for talking so harshly to him, but she knew some boundaries had to be set. Besides, who was he to hold her hostage over something that happened years ago, and she still wasn't sure exactly what he knew. Every time they tried to talk it resulted in failure. She thought back to the night she'd found herself alone with him in that conference room.

The encounter had been brief but had horrified her to an unimagined level. She'd walked in the room to find him standing there leaning against the wall, his arms crossed, a typical stance for him it seemed.

"Hello, Sunshine," he'd said using the nickname she'd come to hate in the short span of time she'd known him.

"Dean. I didn't know you'd be here."

He raised his eyebrows, his lips pursed together.

"You're surprised?"

"Well…I…" she'd stammered stupidly.

"Don't worry, Sunshine. You're not the first to sell me short."

She laughed nervously and then an uncomfortable silence settled in. She'd pulled out her phone, trying to look engaged. She noticed out of the corner of her eye that he was moving closer. She didn't look up until he rather noisily snatched the chair up beside her, spun it around backwards, and sat down. He stared at her a moment longer before he spoke.

"You don't remember me, do you?"

"I remember you. We met the other night at the—"

"No, no, no. I'm talking about the party. We met at a party a few years ago."

She blinked, unbelieving, her stomach twisting up in knots.

"Party?"

His lips split into a grin.

"Of course you don't remember. You were so wasted you barely knew what planet you were on let alone who you were talking to that night. But I remember."

He looked her up and down.

"It seems like you've cleaned up your act. When I first saw you on TV a while back I couldn't believe my eyes. Now look at you: America's squeaky clean girl next door with a championship to boot. You sure fooled them, Sunshine."

Completely dumbfounded and unable to fathom how this guy had the nerve to talk to her this way, she began to retort but was stopped when some of the others arrived.

She was barely able to pay attention throughout the meeting. Her eyes kept falling on Dean who was watching her right back. When they'd announced that he would be her rookie he'd had the most disgusting smile on his face. It made her sick to think about it.

The thought of meeting with him again repulsed her, but time was running out, and if she didn't get with him soon and have a real conversation, she would be going into this competition blind. She may not want to deal with Dean Ambrose, but she really didn't want to look incompetent as a mentor.

It took some investigating, but she finally tracked down his phone number. She took a deep breath as she punched in the numbers.

The phone rang five times before he answered.

"Hello?" his gruff voice answered.

"Dean. It's me, Aidan."

He was silent for a moment.

"Aidan, huh? I wasn't expecting you to call."

"Look, I know we've gotten off to a rocky start in this whole NXT thing, and I take full responsibility for that. If we're going to do this we're going to have to work together. I wanted to see if you'd be willing to meet with me over the next few days. I just want to get to know you better and give you a chance to get to know me."

Another long pause. When at last he spoke, she could hear the skepticism in his voice.

"You want to get to know me?"

"Well, yeah. We're supposed to be a team and I know nothing about you."

"So you think if you know my life story you'll be better able to deal with me? That sounds like complete bullshit."

A little hurt, she said, "It was just an idea. You don't have to if—"

He cut in, screaming into the phone.

"Oh, no. I want to do this. I want to sit down and discuss with you every detail about what makes me the way I am, and then when we're in that ring together everyone will look up at you with big fucking grins on their faces and say what a great person you are for having the balls to work with a monster like me!"

Once again, Aidan found herself confused. This was an entirely different attitude than what she had seen from him before. She assumed he must still be angry over what happened a few nights back.

"I'm sorry if I've made you angry—"

"I'm not angry. I'm ecstatic that you called. In fact, I've been waiting for it day and night since you told me, in so many words, to get lost. Name a time and a place and I'll be there sweetheart."

She winced, his words cutting her like knives and filling her with unease.

"Will you be at the house show tomorrow night?"

"I'll be wherever you want me."

When she hung up she sighed heavily. She suddenly became aware that she was shaking. She picked up the phone and dialed Phil's number.

"Hey, babe. I've been waiting for you to call."

She was silent as she struggled with what to say.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"Phil, I don't know if I can do this."