Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with WWE nor own the rights to any of the superstars or workers, including CM Punk. I am making no money off of this in any way. Please don't sue me.

When Kayley entered the arena for the Rumble eyes were immediately on her. Word had broken that Phil left UFC and rumors were abound that he was heading back to his old stomping grounds. Backstage, everyone knew. The saw him come in quietly an hour ago. His head down, he didn't look at anyone until he came across Daniel Bryan who embraced him. Kayley, however, received the stares. They all seemed to be wondering how she would react and how far, exactly, they needed to stay away from her.

"Kayley?" Nicole's voice made her jump as the announcer walked up beside the diva. "You're jumpy."

"Sorry, people are just looking at me like I'm going to go all 'Carrie' on them."

"I'm sure we can find some pigs blood."

"Not helpful, Nicole."

"No, but oh-so funny." She answered as she quickened her pace to keep up with Kayley. "He's been here for an hour, you know?"

"Chris text me. How's it been going?"

"Not great." Nicole answered honestly. "People are still really pissed at him. He only stayed in the locker room long enough to change. Even though no one has had the balls to say anything to his face, he's gotten a lot of cold shoulders. He's been in Steph's office with Paul ever since."

"That's how you know it's bad."

"What do you mean?" Nicole asked.

"Paul and Phil never got along." Kayley explained. "More than that Paul took it personally when Phil said what he did."

"Yikes." Nicole's eyes widened. "So, you going to go talk to him?"

"Maybe." The diva answered honestly. "I don't know what to do right now. I don't have a match. I'm only really here under obligation. I could sneak up to one of the nice boxes and sit with someone up there."

"You could, but you won't."

"Oh you think?"

"No. I know." Nicole was confident. "I know you, chica. I've known you for a while. You're my sister. And if you haven't talked to him within the next hour, then... You can have Bertie." Kayley's eyes widened. While the bet wasn't serious, Nicole must have been pretty sure.

"Just to beat you I am going to the boxes. Word has it Shane McMahon is here and I could certainly use some Shane O'Mac."

"He is?"

"HmmMmm... Keeping it quiet though." Kayley pressed her finger against her lips. "So no telling."

"I love getting all the good gossip from you."

"Want another piece?" Kayley asked and Nicole nodded vigorously.

"Jeff Hardy's in talks with Vince."

"No way." Kayley nodded and lowered her voice.

"Nothing is certain yet. Dixie Carter wants him back on TNA bad, but Jeff is holding out, weighing his options. He probably wouldn't even be able to wrestle until mid-March because of his leg."

"That's just in time for Mania."

"That's exactly what I told him."

"Something something great minds thinking a like and all that." Nicole offered and Kayley laughed. "Okay, I have to go get ready and sing the National Anthem."

"Break a leg."

"Go talk to Phil." Nicole called over her shoulder and Kayley let out a sigh.

"And the home.. of the... brave!" Nicole finished to loud cheers. "Welcome to the 2016 Royal Rumble!" The fans roared again. Nicole's dress that Rami bought her shined in the spotlights and men could keep their eyes off of her. "Up first, we have a Fatal Four Way match and the winner will Qualify for a spot in the Royal Rumble. "introducing first, the team of Mark Henry and Jack Swagger!" Nicole waited as the noise died down. "Next up the team of Damien Sandow and Darren Young!" An unorthodox group, the crowd wasn't feeling it. "The Dudley Boys!" The crowd went nuts. For as long as the Dudley's had been in WWE they always drew a crowd. When they were in TNA there were always letters at the Connecticut office asking them to be brought back to the company and finally Vince listened. "And finally... The Ascension." Nicole climbed out the ring with the help of D-Von Dudley and took her place beside the bell ringer. She was practically bouncing in her seat for the actual Rumble to start. She was sure Rami was backstage warming up, his nerves almost out of control.

"Nicole!" Cole's voice caught her attention and she walked over to the table.

"What's up, boys."

"We hear you and Sami Zayn are an item." JBL blurted out. News sure did travel fast around the WWE. Not that she was surprised. When Kayley and Punk broke up, she was pretty sure the management knew before Kayley did. Granted, AJ had been running her mouth that she was going to take him.

"Yeah, we are." Nicole affirmed.

"Good for you, darling." JBL said with a big smile. He might play a heel most of the time and he might have ideas that she didn't agree with, but he could be a good guy. "You tell that boy if he hurts our girl he'll have to deal with us."

"Aww, thanks JBL." Nicole smiled and took her seat again. When she came in to replace Lillian Garcia she wasn't sure how it would go over. Here she was, four years later and she felt like she found a family, not just a job. Trying to focus on the dark match, she began zoning out waiting for the real thing to start.

It looked like Kayley wouldn't be getting Bertie as she stood outside Steph's office shifting her weight from foot to foot, trying to find the courage to knock. When she finally did and Paul answered the door, he looked less than happy.

"Come in." He mumbled as he shut the door behind the diva. Phil was looking down at a comic book, not even bothering to see who came in.

"Hey Phil." His head shot up.

"Kayley." Immediately he closed the comic book and stood. "How are you?"

"I'm okay. How are you? Ready?"

"Yeah." He answered, thought she could see his tell-tale signs of nervousness.

"Paul?" She turned toward her boss. "I know this is Steph's office, but could Phil and I talk in private?" Paul looked her up and down for a moment. For the most part the two of them had a pretty easy going relationship.

"Fine, I have to get ready anyway." He said before nodding toward Phil and leaving the room.

"Okay, how are you really?" Kayley asked.

"Nervous." He admitted. "People are pissed."

"Do you expect anything else?"

"No." He answered and sat back down. She sat in the chair next to him. "I didn't expect you would come to see me."

"Yeah, well. I'm easy to predict for some, tough for others."

"Nicole?" He asked and she nodded.

"I saw her with her guy. Sami Zayn?"

"Yeah, his real name's Rami." Kayley added.

"She looks really happy."

"She is."

"Kayley... I'm sorry I came over on Christmas. It was impulsive of me. I just really wanted to talk to you so we didn't have to have our first real conversation at work."

"I'm okay, Phil. I can do this."

"I know you can, and I know I've said I'm sorry a lot."

"That you have." She said with a small chuckle.

"I need to say something else, just hear me out?" Kayley took a deep breath in and nodded. "That night when I told you we were over..."

"Oh, I remember it vividly." Kayley mumbled.

"I couldn't say I didn't love you because I did. I will never be able to fully understand why I did what I did. I don't think I even loved AJ. She was just safe and easy. It was stupid. I don't have a good answer because there can never be a good answer for what I did. I regret it every day." The silence hung for several seconds before Kayley nodded.

"Maybe it needed to." She finally said and his eyes widened. "Phil, I fell for you when I was 20 years old. I was a kid. I've been able to live a little since then. Grow up. Maybe that's what I needed."

"You don't want me anymore, do you?" Phil asked, focused on her.

"It's not as simple as that."

"Yes it is." His eyes bore into hers. Kayley rubbed her forehead.

"Phil I would be lying if I said you weren't always in my head." Kayley started. "For a little over 2 years I hated it. I can't lie to you and say that being around you doesn't somehow make me feel normal or that when you kissed me I wasn't happy."

"Let me do it again, then." He suggested, his handsome smirk playing on his face.

"But when you do there's something else there now. It goes through my head what you did. I wonder if your touch was the same for her as it is for me. I wonder if you kissed her like you kissed me. It's there and I don't know if it can go away." She admitted and his face hardened, determined.

"I will keep trying." Phil answered.

"I know you will, and I'm not saying not to. I'm saying I can't promise you anything, Phil."

As the Rumble started Nicole was almost bouncing in her seat. They were on number 19 and Dean Ambrose just ran out to a roar. She could almost picture Rami backstage. He would be jumping up and down, trying to keep his muscles loose. Taking deep breaths to make sure he was as calm as possible. Going over anything that they prepared and deciding what he could do to make a little bit of a mark while he could. This would be the first time Rami was in a real PPV and it would start his career on RAW. As of that morning the tech wizards had quietly moved his profile from NXT to WWE. Nicole laughed as he must have refreshed the page 100 times waiting for it to happen, then taking a screen shot of it and e-mailing it to his family. His kissed her over and over again as she jumped around the hotel room. She was pulled from her memory as she heard the fans counting.

"3...2...1!" The loud buzzer went out and Sami Zayn's music started.

"Ohh ohh ohh oh oh oh!" The fans sang along as the roar went through the crowd. They hadn't seen him in a long time and the crowd was happy to have him. Nicole couldn't hide her smile as he slid into the ring. She turned to look at the announce table and JBL was giving her a thumbs up. The better pops that the new guys got, the more the writers wanted to use them. Sami was immediately on his old NXT rival, Kevin Owens. The two, who were close friends in real life, made excellent on-screen adversaries. Sami got the upper hand and threw Kevin out of the ring, to the surprise and cheers of the crowd.

"Sami Zayn has eliminated Kevin Owens!" Cole shouted and Nicole used everything she had to resist cheering. He looked great and it didn't seem like his shoulder was bothering him at all as he went after another competitor. However, he was only in the ring for five minutes when Braun Strowman threw him over the top ring and hard onto the floor. The ref checked on him and held up one hand, signaling he was alright. As he stood up his eyes connected with Nicoles and he gave a wink, she felt her heart race.

It was almost time for the 25th competitor to come out. The crowd was counting down again.

"3...2...1..." The music hit and everyone seemed to be on their feet in an utter state of disbelief.

"Look in my eyes... What do you see? The cult of personality!" Punk walked out from behind the back as the crowd roared. It was so loud that the music was almost completely drowned out from where Nicole was sitting. He made his way into the ring and immediately went after Bray Wyatt. Nicole knew why. That's where they were putting him for now. The enemy of the Wyatt's. Vince figured he would come back to a big pop and he did, an immediate face. A few guys in the ring turned and stared, pretending to be shocked as the Wyatt family soon was on Punk. He fought them off quickly and threw Erick Rowan off the top rope before turning his attention back. Nicole watched with a small amount of awe. It was apparent just how much Phil missed the ring, practically nothing could wipe the smile off his face. After several minutes the field was down to 5. CM Punk, Sheamus, Triple H, Dean Ambrose, and Roman Reigns. As Dean and Roman tagged on HHH, Punk grabbed Sheamus, easily gaining the upper hand and throwing the Irishman out of the ring. He turned, however, to a waiting HHH and a big boot which pushed him over the top rope. He punched the ground as the fans booed loudly, but he had made his mark, CM Punk was back.