**SO sorry about the delay with this story - I've had some personal stuff going on and haven't really had time to write lately. But hopefully everything will settle down now and I can focus on getting this story finished. Thank you all who stuck with me and have left reviews. They are MUCH appreciated, especially since this is my first Shield (Jon) story ever.**

Chapter 12

"He's dead."

Mark stayed the night with Zelia to make sure she was alright, worried about her sanity since she'd completely broken down to him. She drank half a bottle of Vodka and passed out on the bed, ordering both of them a movie to watch. Crying combined with drinking had been too much for Zelia and her body shut down, so Mark stayed to make sure she didn't end up vomiting in her sleep or something. When they woke up earlier that morning, Zelia surprisingly didn't have a hangover and ate breakfast, which was Mark's stipulation before he left her. She had to eat something. He left shortly after a silent breakfast and immediately called Glen, both of them meeting in the hotel parking lot.

"No, but we are gonna teach him a lesson. This boy thinks you and Zelia are havin' a fling apparently and if you go after him you're just gonna fuel that fire more. It needs to be at a professional and personal level." Mark had a few ideas in mind, making valid points and watched Glen's eyes widen.

"What?! I'm married! I'm not doing anything with Zelia!" Glen exclaimed angrily, clenching his fists at his sides as his jaw tightened. "Why the hell would he think that?"

That was the million dollar question. "I have no idea. Zelia doesn't know either. So I think we need to figure out where he got his information from durin' his 'trainin'' session with us." He smirked, rubbing his hands together, looking positively wicked.

"He's gonna know something's up." Glen muttered, though he had to admit he was looking forward to taking the rookie to school in the ring. "Especially with me being in the picture."

Mark had to admit Glen made a valid point. "How about you let me talk to him alone, convince him to spar and then gradually head down to the ring while I'm schoolin' him? He's gotta know we're best friends, man."

"You know what? That's not a bad idea. You really are gettin' smart in your old age." Glen laughed when Mark socked him in the arm, rolling his eyes. "Like that's supposed to hurt?"

"Do you want it to?" Mark shot back in a growl, folding his arms in front of his chest. "I still got a few fights left in me."

"I'm sure you do and I might take you up on that offer later."

They parted ways and headed off to the arena. Glen had to go check on Zelia to make sure she was alright while Mark went to track down Jonathan Good. Everyone in the locker room trusted Mark and looked up to him as a leader because he knew everything about the business. He was also a good listener. Mark saw a lot of rookies come and go because of their lack of knowledge for the sport, because they didn't ask questions. Asking questions was the key. So the rookies who DID ask questions and wanted to soak up knowledge were the ones who made it.

Normally, Mark could take one look at a rookie and knew if they were going to make it in the WWE or not. Jonathan Good was definitely one of those rare diamonds and he was going to be a big star. The same went for Colby Lopez and Joe Anoa'i, who he already knew since the man was a little boy. He was good friends with Sika Anoa'i, who was Joe Anoa'i's father and Dwayne Johnson; – the WWE fans knew him as simply The Rock- who was Joe's cousin. Mark heard a lot of about Jonathan Good from the Indy's, though he went by the name of Jon Moxley. Mark paid attention to all aspects of the wrestling business, not just WWE because new stars were the key to keep material fresh and interesting.

Arriving at the arena, Mark cut the ignition and stepped out of his Chevy Silverado rental, heading inside to see if the Shield boys were there yet. Sure enough, they were all in the workout room lifting weights together. That was good; the kid was already stretched out and had broken a sweat. Well, he was about to break even more sweat and possibly some bones if Mark had his way. He merely folded his arms in front of his chest and stood there, not saying a single word while the three of them focused on lifting. Colby was the first one to spot Mark Calaway watching them and finished his reps, setting the bar down.

"I want to talk to YOU." Mark pointed directly at Jonathan Good, the dishwater blonde with intense blue eyes. "Do ya gotta second, boy?"

Joe and Colby both looked at each other and then at Jon, seeing the apprehension on his face. "Come on, Colbs; let's go get something to eat." They were done with the workout and both wondered what the hell Mark Calaway wanted with their teammate.

"What can I do for you, sir?" Jon asked, racking the bar and wiped his hands off on his black workout shorts.

At least the kid had respect, Mark thought, and stroked his goatee, trying to figure out how to word this without ringing the boy's neck. "I've been watchin' your matches and you're good. I ain't gonna deny it. You've got skill and talent, kid, but there's more to this sport than that. I think you're a little tense when you get in the ring. Was wonderin' if you'd like to come down to the ring and I can show ya a few things to help ya. Up to you though." Mark didn't just give advice and help to anyone, so if this kid was serious about making it big in this company, he would take the offer.

"You mean like sparring?" Jon wiped sweat from his forehead with a towel and wrapped it around his neck, staring back at one of the main legends in wrestling.

"Yes. I've been outta the loop for a while and could use a sparrin' partner today since mine is currently busy." That was an easy enough excuse and completely believable. "So what do ya say?"

Jon shrugged, deciding it couldn't hurt to learn something new from Mark Calaway and tossed his towel to the side. "Lead the way, sir."

"Just call me Mark, boy. When you gain my respect, I'll start callin' you by your name, but until then you're simply boy to me." Mark informed him, walking out of the workout room with Jon following suit.

2 hours later, Jon felt as though he'd keel over at any moment from the strenuous sparring Mark put him through. His arms felt like they'd fall off along with his legs. Jon had been through some brutal matches throughout the years in his Indy days, but NEVER had he experienced this within a 2 hour span. Mark not only sparred with him, but basically beat the hell out of his body with moves he normally didn't do in the ring. Mark merely nodded and told Jon his reasoning was simple: variety. That was such a load of crap, but Jon didn't complain once, knowing his back would be heavily bruised later that night from this. He looked up when a whistling Glen Jacobs came sauntering down to the ring and had to fight the urge to glare in his direction. What the hell was he doing down here? Jon looked up at Mark, knowing he was close with Glen and started wondering if this was all a setup.

"Come on boy, get up and do it again." Mark ordered, clapping his hands and nodded once at Glen as he remained on the outside looking in. "Come on, you gotta push yourself to make it in this business."

"You think I don't know that?" Jon snapped, gritting his teeth because he couldn't get the thought of Zelia and Glen Jacobs being together out of his head. "No offense, Deadman, but I've been in this business since I was 16 years old. I'm not exactly wet behind the ears; I know what it takes to make it. That's why I was champion in several different promotions – world champion in fact – at the same time. Because they trusted me to promote their companies the correct way and I did." He wiped sweat from his forehead, his blood boiling. "And I'm done with the sparring session today. You obviously have some business to take care of with others. Thanks for the opportunity."

This kid had balls of steel, Mark thought, as he watched Jonathan Good hop out of the ring and walked right past Glen, waiting for the explosion to happen. He was pleasantly surprised when the kid didn't do or say a word to Glen, apparently trying to keep things as civil as possible. Mark had never let anyone walk out on him during a sparring session, but Jon wasn't like others. He did things his way and he didn't give a damn what others thought. It sort of reminded him of his good friend, Steve Austin, who singlehandedly saved the WWE –WWF at the time- from extinction back in the old days.

"So did you question him about Zelia?" Glen asked, slipping through the ropes after Jon was gone.

"No, we sparred and I showed him a few moves that he already knew. He's very intelligent, definitely not your typical rookie. I still ran his ass ragged though and he'll be sore tonight."

Mark tried not to sound angry with Glen because the man had showed up a little too soon for his liking. He didn't want Jon to have the mobility to walk out of there on his own, but the kid had made it clear he was finished for the day. It was because of Glen's presence, that much was obvious, but what was Mark supposed to do? Force the boy to spar some more and threaten him if he didn't, just to piss him off further? That wasn't the way to handle this situation, no matter if he'd been a total dick to Zelia.

"How come you didn't set his ass straight just now?" He tossed at Glen, leaning against the ring ropes with his arms folded in front of his chest.

"Why bother?" Glen snorted in a retort, raising a brow. "He wouldn't believe me anyway. He's gonna have to dig his own grave and then deal with the consequences. He's gonna think and believe what he wants when it comes to Zelia. It's obvious they have to talk if they want to resolve this."

"True." Mark couldn't argue with that point. "I just hope it doesn't interfere with his work ethic and wrestling because he could hurt someone if he's too distracted."

Glen couldn't argue that point either and started sparring with Mark since they had some time left in the ring.

Meanwhile, Jon was irate as soon as he walked through the black curtain, heading back to the Shield locker room, only to run into Zelia. He didn't plow into her physically, but she was standing there talking to one of the stage technicians. Why did she have to look so beautiful? The WWE shirt she wore was tucked into a pair of skinny blue jeans that hugged her legs and ass perfectly. Her soft black hair was pulled up on top of her head in a fanned messy style to keep it out of her eyes and he saw the utility belt around her waist, knowing she'd be working on the lights on the catwalk again. Before Jon knew what he was doing, he grabbed Zelia and pulled her with him down the hallway into the first available dressing room, shutting the door behind him.

"What are you-?"

"Let's get one thing straight right fucking now, I don't appreciate you sicking your lovers on me." Jon growled angrily, practically spitting venom as his words dripped with pure malice. "Goddamn, I knew you got around, but seriously I didn't think you'd go for two old farts like THEM." Tearing a hand through his dishwater blonde hair, Jon had to maintain his distance before he did something reckless like he did at the club the previous night. "You're definitely not who I thought you were, Zelia."

Zelia had NO idea what the hell was going on and just stared at Jon with wide jade eyes, breathing somewhat heavily. "I-I have no idea what you're talking about." She stammered, trying to keep the tears at bay because she'd cried enough to last a lifetime the previous night with Mark. "Who are THEM?"

Jon scoffed, not believing she was actually playing dumb and fought the urge to strangle her with his bare hands. "Why don't you go down to the fucking ring and find out for yourself? Stop lying and stop playing with me, girl! I know what you're doing and it's not gonna work! I just got my ass HANDED to me by your fucking old wrinkly lover and had your other one WATCH! I'm warning you right now, Zelia, stay the fuck out of my professional and personal life or I will make you regret it."

"Jon, I don't understand…" Who the hell was down in the ring? Who the hell was he talking about? She was completely clueless and the tears she tried fighting off instantly spilled from her eyes down her cheeks. "I just fucked you last night, why would I do that if I was with someone else? I'm not like that and you're not making any sense…" Then the light bulb suddenly clicked in her mind and everything began falling into place, Zelia's jade eyes narrowing. "That son of a bitch…"

Jon could see the revelation in her eyes and nodded stiffly, gritting his teeth. "Gonna stop lying to me now?"

Zelia didn't have time to deal with this right now because she had a certain Deadman and Big Red Machine to pulverize. "Think what you want, I'm done fighting with you about it. Have a good match tonight." She walked out of the room and slammed the door behind her, stalking toward the gorilla position.

Mark and Glen were both laughing as they appeared moments later from behind the black curtain, not seeing a very irate Zelia heading towards them. Glen was the first to spot her and swallowed hard at the murderous look in her jade eyes, his jaw dropping as the sound of flesh smacking flesh echoed in the hallway. Zelia had just slapped the taste out of Mark's mouth, putting her full force behind the blow. Apparently, Jon had gotten to her and ratted them both out, the little prick.

"Zelia…"

"NO!" Zelia growled, feeling some sort of satisfaction at the sight of the beat red handprint on Mark's cheek and shook her head. "Don't you dare say a fucking word to me. I don't want to hear it. You both were WAY out of line with what you did to Jon. I don't even know what the hell you did and, quite frankly, I don't give a shit! You sparred with Jon and did some other things that were uncalled for, I'm sure of it." Mark was famous for his 'sparring' sessions with the rookies of the company to show them who the dominant one in the ring was. "I'm only saying this once, so both of you listen damn good and well, stay away from Jon and from me. Because now, thanks to your sparring session, he thinks I'm fucking BOTH of you. So thanks a lot for driving THAT assumption home further for him."

Blinking, Zelia could feel hot tears scorching her cheeks and took off down the hallway before Glen and Mark could stop her. Just wanting sometime alone to reflect on everything that had happened since Jonathan Good arrived in the WWE, Zelia arrived outside and sat on one of the trunks. She lit up a much needed cigarette and closed her eyes, letting her pain out to the silence that surrounded her. What the hell was she going to do now that Jon thought she was screwing not one, but two of the top WWE Superstars?