CHAPTER 41:

A few days had since passed and it was now January 5th. AJ stood in her living room mirror back in her home in Tampa. Roman was due to stop by at any moment given that he had a match later on that evening in the city. Tamina was over visiting.

"And again I am so proud of you for revealing your relationship girl" she said as she sat on the couch. "Thanks" said AJ as she applied a layer of Chap Stick. "So what time is Joe coming over?" asked Tamina. "He should be here at 11" said AJ. "So basically anytime?" said Tamina. "Yeah" said AJ.

"So who has full custody of Bullet?" asked Tamina. "I really miss that furry little pall of yours". "Obviously we both do" said AJ. "But Mr. and Mrs. Anoa'i do when we're on the road". "Does it kill you to call my mother Patricia and father Sika?" asked Roman as he stepped in. "Surprise!" "Baby!" AJ shouted happily as she ran to jump into Roman's arms.

"Aw you guys are so adorable" said Tamina. "Thank you" said Roman. "Aw you gave him set of your keys?" asked Tamina. "Well of course" said AJ as she pulled Roman's luggage in. "So he's gonna stay over here?" asked Tamina. "Yeah at least for a week" said AJ. "It was so nice of Stephanie to give the divas a 2 week vacation". "Yeah well John Cena's the luckier one" said Roman. "He's off the entire month".

"Yeah why is that?" asked AJ. "I heard he got himself a movie deal" said Roman. "Only it's a cameo". "And it takes him 4 weeks to film for a 5 minute dialogue?" asked Tamina. "Apparently so" said Roman. AJ gently pulled Roman into another kiss. "I missed you" she said. "And I missed you too baby" said Roman.

"Ugh you guys don't get me sick!" said Tamina. "Trust me, we won't" said AJ. "Well since I gotta be at the studio at 4, we have plenty of time together" said Roman. "Ok, let's go get some ice cream" said AJ. "Tamina, are you sure that you'll be ok by yourself?" "Absolutely. You kids go have fun" said Tamina. "Come on, time's a wasting!" said AJ as the couple left.

Meanwhile in Los Angeles, Nikki and John sat across from one another at their kitchen table as they both had a pained expression on their faces. "Look Nicole, I just don't understand why you couldn't just be truthful with me" said John as he finally broke the silence.

"John, I didn't want to disappoint you" said Nikki. "Disappoint me?" asked John. "You nearly had me purchase a $4 million house in Tampa for a baby that didn't even exist!" Nikki sighed. "I'm sorry John" she said. "But you were just treating me so differently…like a fiancée and not myself". John took Nikki's hand. "Stephanie Nicole Garcia, I love you with all my heart and you know that but I just wish for once that you could just be honest with me".

"I am honest with you John" Nikki said tearfully. "It's just that you were moving too fast for me to be able to tell you. You started calling real estate agents left and right before I even had a chance to say my peace. I even tried calling you that night on New Year's Eve and then that redheaded klutz Eva made me break my phone which I'm still trying to get them to do something about".

John kept his hands over Nikki's. He took a deep sigh. "And now you see why I never wanted to have any children" he said. "They make life too complicated". Nikki's eyes continued to pour endless streams of tears. "So what are you leaving me?" she asked tearfully. "No I'm not" said John. "Just promise me one thing?"

"Yeah what?" Nikki asked while wiping away her tears with a hand. "Just no more lies, no more secrets ok?" said John. With these words, Nikki entered a flashback where she slept with Seth:

"Harder!" she shouted over and over again. "Fuck me harder!" "Shh you've gotta be quiet Nicole" said Seth. "You're gonna get us busted". "That's not the only thing I want busted!" said Nicole. "You're an animal" said Seth. Nikki wrapped herself even tighter around Seth as his thrusts became faster and faster. Her eyes rolled behind her back as she continued to think about all that is happening around her. Her vision became blurrier and blurrier as Seth continued pounding harder and harder.

Nikki found it continuously harder and harder to keep herself quiet. "Please…." She trailed off. She took extra pillow that since fell off onto the floor to cover her mouth with as an attempt to silence herself. Once she did, all she heard was Seth's occasional grunts as well as the sounds of their sex coming together.

"Ah!" shouted Nikki through the pillow as she tossed it back onto the floor. "I said quiet Nicole!" Seth hissed. This time he seemed so much more serious. Nikki continued to lay there as her visual surroundings continued to become foggier".

"I can't for any much longer" said Nikki.

"You can't what?" asked John. "What on Earth are you talking about?" "I mean…ok" Nikki nodded as the two gave a hug. As they parted they looked into each other's eyes.

"So what about the house in Florida?" Nikki asked while trying to change the subject. "Well I'm going to call Mr. Lancaster on my limo drive into the studio" said John. "Maybe you don't have to" said Nikki. "What do you mean?" asked John. "What if we can have both houses?" asked Nikki. "Nicole, I dunno" John hesitated. "The mortgage is gonna be like…half a mil".

Nikki placed her hands back over John. "I think we can make it work" she said. "Ok" said John. "I'll call him back later on and I'll try to see what we can work out". Nikki nodded as John headed upstairs. Once alone, Nikki's heart began to race. "I….slept with Colby?" she asked horrified. "I slept with Colby and I didn't even remember it?"

Nikki stood up as she turned on her iPad to read all of the missed messages she has. Of the several hundred she has, 10 are from Seth. Nikki took a scared breath as she backed up against the refrigerated, dropping her iPad to the floor, cracking it. "I slept with Colby Lopez and I…didn't even remember it?" Nikki trembled as she slid to the floor, silently breaking down.

"What am I gonna do?" she asked. "What am I gonna do?"