I Won't Run Away This Time

-May 4, 2014; East Rutherford, New Jersey-

Tessa got much the same feelings about New Jersey as she did about Ohio. Ohio had been the location of the first car accident she had been in and New Jersey was the location of that fateful Ring of Homicide Pay Per View. She wasn't going to let her get to her, though. It wasn't going to impact her night. At least she hoped so.

Behind her, Tessa heard a pair of high heels clicking against the concrete floor and soon after felt a pair of hands on her shoulders and Summer's head was beside hers.

"Jimmy hasn't posted any pictures of you in weeks!" the blonde exclaimed dramatically before walking beside Tessa. "Why's he slacking?"

"Because," Tessa said unenthusiastically, "when I spoke to him I told him he wasn't allowed to." She had been waiting for that question.

"What?! They were the highlight of my day!"

"Yeah, he wasn't too happy about it either so we agreed that they have to be approved by me."

"You're a spoil sport, Tessa. Way to ruin everybody's fun."

"Are you kidding me?" Tessa asked with a laugh. "You have enough dumb photos of me to last you a lifetime. I'm sure you'll be fine."

Summer looked at Tessa curiously as they walked into catering and she lowered her voice, "Are you okay? You've been acting a little weird today. The last couple weeks, I guess. Is it Jimmy?"

"No, Jimmy's great – all things considering, anyway," Tessa shrugged lightly, pulling out a seat at a table away from everyone else. "I, uh, I spoke to Rami about some of the stuff that happened and we haven't really spoken since."

"Oh," Summer frowned. "Well, it wasn't going to go back to how it used to be after one conversation."

"No, of course not. I didn't expect it to," Tessa sighed. "I just didn't want him to stop talking to me."

"See, it doesn't feel great."

Tessa pouted. It wasn't like he was avoiding her – he couldn't when they had been working so closely together – but he hadn't mentioned anything she had said to him despite how good he had been at the time. It was worrying her.

"And," Tessa continued. "I'm nervous about getting back in the ring."

"You did the house shows this weekend, though."

She nodded at Summer but she still felt unsteady. She had wrestled over the weekend in tag team matches with Eva against Foxsana but they had been quick and uneventful with Eva actually wrestling most of the match so she hadn't had to worry about any injures she had sustained from the car crash.

Tessa had been cleared to wrestle but she wasn't exactly excited about being thrown around in a Triple Threat match on a Pay Per View.

-Live on Pay Per View-

The three Divas were standing in the ring, watching the referee raise the Divas Championship above his head. Summer grinned wickedly, Tamina's eyes narrowed and Tia took a deep breath. She was nervous and most would argue that she had every right to be.

On commentary they had made a big deal about how she was disadvantaged in this match type and Tia knew that's what they were saying. It was their go-to conversation for any match that was not one-on-one.

The bell rang and it only took seconds for Summer to jump at Tia. Tamina closed in immediately after. Tia was pushed to the grounds, unable to defend herself, and stomped on repeatedly by her opponents. It wasn't until she was kicked underneath the bottom rope that they left her alone to fight each other.

Tia gripped onto the apron and pulled herself up, taking a moment to watch the brawl happening in the ring. Summer had managed to back Tamina into a corner though it wasn't for long as Tamina kneed Summer in the stomach, causing her to take a few steps backward.

Tia entered the ring on all fours underneath the bottom rope, staying low to the ground as Tamina grabbed Summer Rae by the hair and sent her shoulder first into the turnbuckle. Tia stood up to full height and managed to pull Tamina into her side and grab the back of her t-shirt, as she did that, she bent her right knee so that she was hooking Tamina's legs before swinging her around and forcing her into the mat. Harai-goshi or a sweeping hip throw. Tia had a plan and that was plan was to wear her opponents down using Judo techniques.

A lot of the moves she had in mind could be related back to some used in professional wrestling but Tia prided herself on her Judo background and she wanted to use it.

With Tamina on her back, Tia instantly applied an armbar – called ude-higishi-juji-gatame in Kodokan judo – and wrenched at Tamina's shoulder, her legs across her opponents throat and lower rib cage. Tamina was using her free arm to claw at Tia's legs but it was unnecessary as Summer returned to the fray and stomped on Tia's stomach, causing the hold to be released.

Summer didn't let Tia go too far. Tia felt two hands gripping into the hair on the top of her head before she was pulled upwards. She grabbed at Summer's hands but as soon as she was lifted, Summer pushed her back down the mat.

At some point in the match Tia had been suplexed by Tamina and, no matter how hard she tried, she wasn't able to ignore the pain that was radiating through her ribcage. It wasn't a sharp pain and she was pretty sure she hadn't broken any ribs but it was enough to rattle her and slow her movements. It was noticeable enough that the referee had asked her if she was able to continue the match.

There was no answer other than yes.

Tamina was able to hit the Superfly Splash on Summer and she covered her only to have the pin broken up by the champ. Tamina stood up and started to grapple with Tia while Summer rolled underneath the bottom rope.

Tia kicked Tamina square in the gut, causing her to double over and enter the perfect position for Tia to set up her Gory Bomb finisher. She felt the pain in her chest increase as she lifted Tamina over her shoulder before dropping to the mat and releasing Tamina onto her face and stomach.

Tia wasted no time in covering her opponent, looking around for Summer as she did so. The three count was counted by the referee and Tia emerged still as WWE Divas Champion.

-Off Screen-

Tessa closed her eyes as she inhaled; even the most shallow of breaths was painful. She had been to see the trainers and was given some pain killers but from experience she knew that it was best to take them before she went to sleep.

"Yeah, I thought you'd hurt yourself out there."

"Just sore ribs," she responded curtly, not wanting the 'I told you so' speech. It was Colby, though, and she had been expecting it.

"I knew you weren't ready to do this."

"This has nothing to do with that," she insisted. Though the effort that went into her speaking forcefully only made Colby more aware of her discomfort.

"Sure it doesn't."

Tessa turned around and started walking towards the Divas locker room. Colby followed her down the hall.

"I don't have time to talk, Colb, I have to get ready for Sami's match."

"I'm just looking out for you."

"You don't have to," Tessa said exasperatedly as she pushed in the handle to the locker room. "Honestly, Colb. I know my limits."

He nodded at her as she closed the door behind her.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah, of course." Tessa smiled at Summer who was changing out of her ring gear. "I just wish I had time to shower."

She had 20 minutes to get changed back into her clothes before she was expected to be back at Gorilla with Rami and Curt meaning that a shower was out of the question and she would have to settle for lots of deodorant.

Summer helped her do her hair, braiding it into a low side ponytail as Tessa touched up her own makeup. If Summer noticed the shallow breaths Tessa was taking she didn't say anything. It wasn't just her chest that was keeping her silent, though.

Tessa knew that it was far from the best match she had ever had and she couldn't shake it from her head. What she wanted was to get back into a ring and prove that she could wrestle better than that. That she could wrestle more than just a beginning and an end to the match. It didn't matter that she had done it a thousand times before; in the wrestling industry one bad match tended to overshadow all of the good ones.

"You're all good to go! Any word on when the title will actually change hands yet?" She asked as they left the locker room and made the walk to Gorilla.

"London, I think," Tessa answered, picking up her pace when one of the production crew told her that she had 90 seconds before she was due out on stage. "They just really want to drag this storyline out."

"When was the last time a storyline was just the right length of time?" Summer asked with a smile. "The crowd are loving it, though, so I guess I understand why they're waiting."

Both Rami and Curt were at the curtain when Tessa and Summer arrived. Summer wished them all luck and took a step back as Sami Zayn's music hit. Tessa looked at her on-screen boyfriend quickly and followed him out onto the stage.

Tessa hadn't expected any conversation after the match – Sami Zayn had won via disqualification and, as such, the title did not change hands – so she didn't stop after she walked through the curtain, just continued through to get her bags and drive to the hotel with Summer.

It had been two weeks since she had spoken to Rami and she highly doubted that he would want to talk to her when they were in East Rutherford. So when she was leaving the building to put her suitcases back into the rental car, the last person she expected to have come up behind her was Rami Sebei.

"Hey," he greeted happily with a smile, taking her suitcases from her and putting them into the trunk for her.

"Hi," she said back a little cautiously. "Did you come all this way just to help load my car?"

He laughed lightly and shook his head, "I was hoping we could talk, actually."

"You want to talk to me?" Tessa asked, surprise written all over her face. He furrowed his brow at her question. She shuffled her feet. "Sorry, I just assumed that – it's been two weeks and I guess that – I just thought that maybe you actually do hate me."

"Far from it, Tessa."

Tessa sighed and shrugged at him hopelessly. She didn't have anything to say to him, she had told him everything she needed to already.

"I wanted to know about Colby."

Or maybe not.

The colour ran from her face and all breath left her body at the request. Her palms started to sweat and she tried to take a deep breath, only to cringe at the tightness of her chest. Rami noticed the pain on her face and started to speak but Tessa was quick to talk before he could.

"Now?"

"Well – are you okay? You're not going to puke are you?"

Tessa shook her head and wiped her palms on her skirt.

"Summer's driving me back to the hotel," she said as she looked over her shoulder to see if Summer was on her way. "I can't really keep her waiting."

"I'll drive you back. We can send Claudio with Summer and we can go get a coffee."

"Coffee?" Tessa asked, instantly remembering every coffee date they had ever been on.

"While we talk, yeah."

"I'm not sure this is a conversation you'll want to have in public," she said slowly. He was being nice to her and while she appreciated that he was talking to her, the niceness was making her heart beat soundly in her chest.

"Then we'll take it to a park," he offered with a smile and Tessa agreed. She had been seconds away from asking him where they were going to find a park that was anywhere near the arena but thought better of it. She knew that Rami would offer suggestions until she agreed.

Summer had no qualms about driving Claudio back to the hotel, though she had been very sceptical about Tessa going anywhere with Rami. It wasn't because Rami couldn't be trusted – far from it – it was because Tessa didn't look up to the task. There were tears sitting in Tessa's eyes waiting to be released and Summer didn't want that for her or for Rami.

"Where are we going to find a coffee place open at eleven thirty on a Monday?" Tessa asked when she was seated in the passenger's seat of Rami's rental. She had come to realise that Starbucks were open late everyday but eleven thirty was just that little bit too late.

"Did you know that McDonalds makes a fair decent coffee nowadays?"

Tessa furrowed her brow, "You – the coffee snob – are willing to go to McDonalds for a coffee? Pigs are flying, hell as frozen over and all of those sayings." She laughed at herself. "I haven't had a cheeseburger in like 3 months so we should probably go to McDonalds."

"3 months? Yeah, we're going to McDonalds."

It wasn't too far from the arena so they hadn't been able to talk about much other than Tessa's performance on the show – Rami assured her that everybody had off nights and, given the state of the Divas Division, her match would be forgotten soon enough. She wanted to believe him but when he went inside to get their coffees, Tessa was drawn to her phone and the twitter hashtag for Payback

The comments she was reading all varied from comments about how she was clearly injured and did the best that she could to people saying that she didn't deserve to be champion.

This is why AJ should be champ. She would put on a heaps better show than Tia. #WWEPayback

I'm sure there's a reason. She hasn't been wrestling on TV in a couple of weeks... #WWEPayback

I thought she was supposed to be GOOD at triple threat matches? #WWEPayback

Summer Rae should have won before Tia did! #WWEPayback

i heard so many things bout tia being the best thing to happen to the divas in a long time what happened #wwepayback

Tessa sighed. Maybe things would have been different if she had a Twitter account. Maybe people would be more cautious about the things they said if they knew there was a better chance of her seeing it. She didn't know what the point was, really, to say those things. Freedom of Speech was a constitutional right but surely there was an asterisk next to it with the disclaimer 'as long as you aren't being hateful'.

Rami returned carrying a coffee tray with two coffees and a paper McDonalds bag. Tessa put down her phone and smiled at him, reaching over to open the car door for him.

"One soy latte and one cheeseburger for June Jacobs and one full cream cappuccino and two cheeseburgers for El Generico."

Tessa took the coffee tray from him and set it in her lap, waiting for him to get in and drive them to the park they were supposedly going to. As he drove, clearly unsure of where exactly he was going, Tessa sipped at her coffee and stole glances at him.

It was a familiar scene, too familiar. The two of them always drove alone if possible, with frequent stops at coffee shops of McDonalds restaurants. Most of the drives involved Tessa watching Rami closely as he drove and Rami trying to concentrate on the road in front of him.

"Do you know where we are?" Tessa asked after a few minutes.

"New Jersey," he said confidently.

She laughed, "Where in New Jersey?"

"Shotgun means navigator," he teased. "Knowing where we are is your job."

They gave up on trying to find a park shortly after and opted to just find a spot to park the car while they ate, drank and talked.

"Is there anything specific you wanted to know?" Tessa asked warily, her eyes remaining on the coffee cup she had in her hands.

"How long. Why. Why Colby."

"Um, well, it started at Warped Tour. So, June," she started after struggling to breath in deeply. "I felt really unsafe around Gabe and around a lot of guys – especially guys I didn't know. Warped Tour wasn't great for that and Colby was there. Colby made me feel safe."

"And I didn't?" Rami's question was quiet and Tessa knew that she had heard him by saying it.

"No!" she said abruptly, looking up at him with wide eyes. "No, of course I felt safe with you but you weren't... I spent a lot more time with him. That's not your fault, I know. It's just how it was."

"You loved him, too?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

"I don't understand how you don't hate me," Tessa sighed desperately.

"This would probably be a lot easier if I did, huh?"

"Probably not," Tessa said honestly. "The last two weeks weren't exactly easy."

"Sorry... It was just a lot to take in."

"You don't have to apologise. I'd say you don't have to apologise to me ever again after what I did."

"Do you want to ride with me to Albany tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Tessa nodded, "I'd like that."

a/n heyo! Thanks to AeonBlue, UntilNeverDawns, Imagineer1392, CarolReigns, Straight Edge Queen and piper14789 for taking the time to review! I hope everyone's 2015 got off to a good start!