If Only You Could Save Me

-June 15, 2014; Erie, Pennsylvania-

Tessa had been busy. Busy avoiding Rami and making sure that he didn't know that's what she was doing. She was sure that he hadn't caught on – and if he had caught on, nothing had been said. Tessa had gone on many shopping trips with Nikki and Brie, had a very long spa day with Summer and even spent some long mornings with Claudio in the gym working on muscles she forgot she had.

Lying had become as easy as it had been in 2008. It was once again becoming second nature.

"Your parents weren't at the show yesterday," Brie said softly when she was alone in the locker room with Tessa. "I thought they'd be there with Jimmy. You know, home town and all."

"Well, about that," Tessa said sheepishly, her sentence trailing off.

"You still haven't spoken to them? Tessa, the longer you wait the harder it's going to be."

Tessa nodded, remaining silent. She understood what Brie was saying, it was the reason she hadn't already been to see her parents. She felt like she'd left it too long. Jimmy felt exactly the same way as Brie did though he was pushing much harder for the reunion – he had been seconds away from calling them and getting them to go to the arena before Tessa burst into tears.

"I'm going to," Tessa said confidently, though she felt anything but. "I have to go find everybody and do match stuff but I'll talk to you later."

Tessa left before Brie was even able to get a word out, ensuring that there was no chance for her to continue the conversation.

Summer met her on the way to the ring where Rami and Curt were already waiting. It was a house show so they knew that there was much room for improvisation and even more room for fun but they still needed to discuss all of their big spots.

Tessa made sure to spend as much time near Rami as possible – both to eliminate any possibility of him finding something weird in her behaviour and because she didn't know how much time she had leftto act that way around him.

-Live in Erie, PA-

Sami looked at Tia and pointed to their opponents outside the ring. The crowd roared as Tia copied his action and both of them ran towards the rope on the opposite side of the ring, bouncing off and running back towards Fandango and Summer.

Sami Zayn took the high road, somersaulting over the top rope, while Tia took the safer route and did a suicide dive through the middle. Sami's landing was flawlessly executed and he rose to his feet without any issue.

He looked to his left, expecting Tia to be standing right beside him, but she was still on the ground, cradling her left knee. Fandango and Summer stirred but neither looked like they were going to get up. Sami bent down beside his girlfriend and held her face in his hands.

"Are you okay?" he asked, looking down at her knee briefly.

"I don't know," she told him honestly. "Just help me up." He held out his hands to her and she took hold of them. He pulled her to her feet and wasn't all too surprised when she cried out in pain, leaning forward and resting on him. "I can't do it."

"We can end the match?"

"No, no, I'll tag you in just..." she sucked in a deep breath and hopped towards the apron, "I can't finish the match."

She rolled herself into the ring while Sami made a point of picking up Fandango and throwing him back to his corner before rushing around to stand on the ring's apron, his hand outstretched for a tag.

It didn't matter that Summer was still laying on the outside because once Tia was able to tag Sami in, Fandango ran into the ring and they battled it out. Tia rolled herself under the rope and sat on the edge of the ring, worriedly moving her kneepad down her leg.

In the ring, Sami Zayn made quick work of Fandango, whipping him into the corner and hitting him with the Helluva Kick, immediately getting the pinfall.

Sami didn't wait for the referee to raise him arm, nor did he wait for his title to be handed to him, he made a beeline for Tessa. Just as he had rolled out of the ring, the referee stood beside him and tried to give him the title but Sami brushed him off.

"Come on," Sami said as he stood in front of Tessa, holding her forearms, "You are going to be fine, habibti."

"I can't walk on it," she cried, staring down hopelessly at her knee – while she was sitting down it wasn't causing her any trouble but she knew from experience that the moment she put any weight on it the pain would return. "I don't have six months for this to heal."

Sami smiled at her sadly, putting an arm around her back and one underneath her knees, "You aren't going to need six months. We don't know what's happened." Tia cringed as Sami lifted her up, her arm wrapped around his neck to secure herself. The tear tracks running down her face showed no sign of clearing as she sobbed into his shoulder. "Please stop crying, habibti."

The crowd was almost silent and only spoke to quietly speculate with each other. The lack of crowd reaction only added to the weight resting on Tessa's heart.

-Backstage-

Rami carried her through backstage towards the trainer's room, neither of them answering any questions about her condition. Tessa wasn't going to say she'd torn her meniscus again until a doctor actually told her that's what she'd done.

Rami set her down on the table, taking her hand in his and squeezing it tightly. She sat there silently as the physician checked out her knee and talked to her about the possibilities.

"It might just be that you've twisted it – maybe even dislocated it – but we're going to send you to the hospital for scans just to make sure that you haven't re-torn your meniscus."

"It didn't dislocate," Rami said, looking down at Tessa's knee. "I didn't see it dislocate."

"It might have happened and then relocated itself if she'd landed in a particular way," the trainer said to Rami before turning back to Tessa. "Just keep positive, Tessa, it might be nothing."

"It's not nothing," she spoke up, shaking her head. "That's what they said last time and I was out for six months rehabbing a dumb injury."

"We need to send you for scans, Tessa," the trainer told her firmly, sending out someone who returned less than a minute later. The sight of a wheelchair prompted her to hide her face in her hands.

Rami asked the trainer to make the ambulance wait so that he could go to the hospital with her –he wanted to put on some clean clothes and grab their bags.

She waited on the table, staring blankly at the wheelchair as her hands reached down to rub at her knee. She could feel no swelling which was a sign that things could be worse but she knew that swelling could be delayed.

Tessa heard people leave the room and she was left alone to think about her impending trip to the ER. When someone joined her she didn't need to look up to know who it was – his cologne and the sound of his footsteps was enough to make her know that Colby had just walked in.

"What do you want?" Tessa asked with more snark in her voice than she had intended, though she didn't bother apologising.

"Just wanted to make sure you were okay," he answered, not reacting to her tone of voice or the expression on her face.

"You need to stop pretending you care," she deadpanned. Her eyes never left the wheelchair, even as he stepped further into the trainer's room.

"I wouldn't come see you if I was just pretending."

Tessa rolled her eyes. "I'm fine and you can leave."

"Tessy," he sighed, stepping closer to her, "I'm genuinely concerned. They're saying that you can't walk."

"Yeah? Is that what they're saying?" she asked pointedly, gesturing to the wheelchair that had been brought in for her. "That's fantastic but right now I'm trying to work out why karma is so determined to ruin my life while you're running around being pushed to high heaven," she spat, finally lifting her head to look at him.

"How do you know I'm getting pushed?" he asked, finally reacting to her sour demeanour by taking a step backwards.

"You joined The Authority, Colby – am I supposed to think you're going to be relegated to midcard jobber?"

"They're taking a chance on me – they took a chance on you by making you champion as soon as you got here."

"And right now I'm paying for it," she said with gritted teeth as her eyes darted towards the open door. "You really need to leave before somebody finds you here."

Colby looked over his shoulder to the door and she could tell that he wasn't feeling as anxious about somebody walking in.

"Fine, Tessy, sorry for caring," he said, holding his hands up as he backed away.

He had just walked out before Rami walked back into the trainer's room. Rami turned to look toward the door after he came back in, then turned to Tessa with a raised eyebrow.

"Colby was here?"

"He just popped his head in," Tessa answered, her eyes drifting to the wheelchair. "There's no avoiding this, is there?"

The trainer walked back into the room as Tessa was asking the question, "It's just a precaution. Are you ready to go?"

"Habibti..." Rami sighed from his seat beside the bed. Tessa had been staring blankly out the window for nearly 10 minutes, she was completely silent except for the occasional sob.

She had been taken into the hospital and sent straight for scans on her knee. They wasted no time in admitting her to a bed and she had gone quiet after that. The hospital bed and single room were, to her at least, a sign that she'd done something serious.

"I don't want to do it again," she responded quietly, not looking at him. "I don't know if I can be away from it again. I had that plan, right? I was going to wrestle and be married by 26, then I'd turn 30 and I'd retire. I'd start a family and be there for my kids. I could still be married by 30, not being married has nothing to do with it, but I don't want to leave. I got the bug."

"You won't be alone this time." Tessa looked to Rami when he took hold of her hand, warming it between both of his. "If this is something serious, then we'll work it out together."

Tessa smiled at him and was unable to contain herself, "I love you."

"I love you," he said back, smiling at her warmly. Tessa giggled lightly, happiness filling the room. "We've got this."

Tessa stretched out her hand, reaching onto the table for her phone. She extended it to Rami.

"Can you call Jimmy for me?"

"You don't think you should do it?" he asked, taking it from her slowly.

"I'll start crying again and he won't be able to understand me," she said with a shy, embarrassed smile.

a/n super mega thanks to starsxhearts23, KarleeKathleenDaniels, Guest, AeonBlue, Straight Edge Queen and Pinayprincesa for reviewing! Extra thanks to Aeon for helping me out - check out her stuff!

Two more chapters of Fade To Black!

My birthday is next week and you should all be super kind and review this as a birthday present :D You should also do me a favour and check out the poll I put up on my page.