"Sasha? Baby can you hear me?" the foggy voice seemed far away, like it was above water and she was under it. "Sasha please, say something."

She groaned, struggling to open her eyes, "Wha?"

"I got a response!" she heard the foggy voice say. "Sasha, you need to open your eyes for me, can you do that? Sasha…"

Her eyes flickered open, then squeezed together again from a bright light. "Uuggh."

"Sasha I'm right here baby,"

She felt pressure around her hand, though she was still having trouble putting together the pieces of the puzzle.

"I'm not going anywhere. I'm right here."

Again, she tried to open her eyes and make sense of the figure above her.

"Seth?"

"Hey. I'm right here."

"Wha-" she started to sit up but he caught her, pushing her back down to the hard surface.

"Shh, easy, easy," he said to her softly. "She's awake doc,"

Looking around she realized where they were, the back of an ambulance. A young guy in blue overalls came over from in behind him.

"Sasha, I'm Christopher, I'm an EMT. Do you remember what happened to you?"

"I uh…I had a match…Nia."

"Do you remember the spot?" Seth asked.

"Let her talk," Christopher told him.

"The last thing I remember, uh… I went up to the top rope…for a frog splash."

"That's right baby."

"And then, nothing…"

"There was a botch," Seth told her, "a really nasty one."

"No I've…I've done that move a thousand times."

"I know, shh. There was a miscommunication. You weren't where Nia thought you were supposed to be or something, she must've hit wrong. You fell head first, got knocked out. Badly."

"I have to go through the concussion protocol," Christopher told him.

"Sure, Sash, I'll be right over here okay?"

He slipped out of the back of the ambulance, waiting on the pavement of the parking lot. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nia walking up in her street clothes.

"Is she okay?"

"They're doing protocol but she's awake and lucid."

"Seth I don't know what happened," her eyes were watering. "I feel awful."

"I know, mistakes happen, it's okay Nia."

"I just don't understand," she was shaking, probably hadn't been involved with a bad injury before now.

"I don't know. She says the last thing she remembers was going up for the frog splash-"

"The frog splash?" she shook her head, "that's not the spot she called. Seth, I wouldn't have messed something like that up I-"

"Nia, calm down. There must've been a miscommunication. It's alright."

"I know she took a bad bump earlier but I-"

"Wait, what kind of bad bump?"

"She didn't tuck her chin on the power bomb, she said she was fine and then we went into the combo." She was shaking her head, "I'm really worried about her."

Seth gnawed at the side of his mouth. That was a nasty habit he was developing, but he wasn't worried about it right now.

"I think I know what happened. Look, go get something to eat, I'll text you when we know what's up with Sasha, okay?"

"Okay. Thank you, Seth."

He turned back to the ambulance, Christopher was finishing up and waved him over.

"Okay so she does have a concussion, she needs to rest for a couple of weeks. Looks like she hit it pretty bad, so just keep an eye on her for the next few days. She says her ankle is hurting so I'll call the hospital and she can get an x-ray tonight. If it's broken she'll want to get in a cast as soon as possible. We can take her if-"

'That's alright, I'll take her with me. You guys should be here if there's another emergency."

"Okay, I'll call for you."

"Thanks man," he nodded and helped Sasha down from the ambulance carefully. She winced from the pressure on her right ankle. "Easy, lean on me, there ya go."

He waited outside the women's locker room for her to finish changing. She handed him her bags and rested her weight on him again as they limped her to his car. He waited until she had settled into the passenger seat of his Tesla. She looked over for him to go, but he didn't put the car in drive.

"Did you get the concussion before the top rope spot?" his voice was heavy, low but stern.

"What?"

"You didn't tuck your chin during the powerbomb."

"Yeah but I…" she closed her eyes and sighed, "I just got my bell rung."

"How hard?"

"I don't know-" she was getting defensive now.

"How. Hard. Sash. Did you see stars?"

"Yeah I guess…"

"Feel disoriented?"

"A little."

"Sick?"

She nodded her head slowly, looking down at her lap.

"DAMMIT SASHA." He slammed his hand on the steering wheel. "The hell were you thinking?"

"I thought I could make it through the end of the match."

"You should've ended the match. You had no business getting up to that top rope like that. No business."

"I just wanted to-"

"I don't really care Sash! You could've been paralyzed if you had landed on your spine, you realize that right?"

"I'm fine."

"You are barely fine. I can't believe that you would make such a boneheaded decision like that. You should know better-"

"Do we really have to do this right now?" she shouted at him, her eyes welling up. "I'm sorry okay?"

He stopped and breathed. "Of course, of course not. Oh shit Sasha, don't, baby don't cry," he reached his hand around the back of her head and pulled her into his shoulder sobbing. "Shh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled. I was just so scared there…"

"I didn't mean to-"

"Shh, I know," he kissed her cheek. "C'mon lets get your ankle checked out."

She sniffled, "okay."

"I swear to god, Banks," he chuckled, "you'll be the death of me."

XXX

Seth was in the hospital waiting room when his phone rang. He took it in a corner, speaking softly.

"Hey, Hunter."

"Hey, how is she?"

"She'll be okay. She's getting the cast for her ankle set right now."

"So the ankle then too, huh?

"Really did a number to it on the fall, looks like it caught on the rope."

"Ouch. How long do they think?"

"At least two weeks for the concussion and then a six to eight for the fracture. Then rehab."

"That's a real shame. She holding up okay?"

"You know Sash," he chuckled.

"Stay out of the crosshairs."

"Unlikely. Listen, I'm glad you called. I gotta take her home and get her settled. Her mom's in the middle of an assignment, she won't be able to make it back right now."

"Yeah, of course, we'll pull you from the live show tomorrow."

"And Friday?" he asked hopefully.

Hunter sighed, "I'll rework some things for Friday. But we need Saturday for your hometown."

"That's fine I'll be there already."

"You're not taking her back to Boston?"

"No, my house is close. Better not to have her fly."

"That's true."

"My brother can stop by and check on her Sunday."

"Okay, give her our best."

"Thanks, I'll see you Saturday."

He hung up and watched as Sasha limped through the doors of the hospital on her crutches. Those things were far too familiar to him. Meeting them by the desk, he gave her a reassuring smile, though her expression was beaten and exhausted. Damn he really should've waited to ask her about the concussion. There was no need. Just his selfish brain freaking out at the idea of her putting herself in danger like that.

"Okay she's good to go, when you get back to Boston you can check in with your doctor there and set up your appointments. Hopefully it'll be able to come off in 6 weeks."

"Thanks," she said to the doctor before looking to Seth. "You ready?"

"Yeah let me go pull the car around," he said placing the bags down by her feet. "You wait here."

When they finally managed to get everything all taken care of, he started off in the direction of the hotel. After a moment, he looked over at her.

"I was thinking I'd take you to Davenport tomorrow."

"Davenport?"

"You don't wanna fly like this and we're scheduled for Buffalo on Sunday anyway so I'll get you settled and join them there. Brandon can check in on you when he walks the dog and take you if you need to go anywhere. Plus my parents are there if you need anything while I'm away over the next few weeks-"

"Weeks?"

"We'll sleep in the guest room on the first floor and I'll take care of you when I'm home. I'll try to talk Hunter into giving me off some more house shows where he can." He paused for a moment, "what?"

"Do I get a say in this?"

"I think this is what's best, Sash."

"And what about what I think?"

"Point blank. Do you not want to come home to Iowa with me?"

Sasha sighed heavily, running her hand through her hair.

"I'll make sure you're taken care of," he said softly. "Injuries suck, but I'll be here. I'll do everything I can for you."

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah, okay."

Seth nodded, "Okay."

XXX

"Here," Seth reached out a hand on the top of the few steps up to his front door. Sasha took it and let him help her up one by one.

"I'm good," she said as he opened the door, her hobbling through on her crutches.

"Let's put you in the living room, I gotta wash the sheets in there."

She nodded and hobbled ahead of him, slinking down to the sofa and leaning her head back."

He placed two of their bags in the guest room, realizing how much it had gone unused. His parents lived 15 minutes away, why did he think he needed a guest room? At least it'd come in handy now. Going back out to the car, he rolled their suitcases behind him and locked it.

"You want anything else in the wash?" he called, rolling the suitcases to the guest room.

"There's a laundry bag," she called back.

"Got it,"

He riffled through the suitcase to find a pouch filled with a weekend's worth of clothes. She wouldn't have anything other than what she packed for maybe two weeks, he hadn't thought of that. Stripping the bed of its sheets, he piled it all together and headed for the mudroom.

"Is any of this like….fancy?" he looked at the tag on one of her tight dresses, baffled by the symbols.

"Some of it needs to hang," she called back. "Do you want help?"

"No, no, you stay there. I'll figure it out."

It took him a few minutes to actually manage to sort it. With the exception of his gear, which was usually dry cleaned, his collection of tshirts and sweatpants went in an overfilled heap in the washer. Ruining the expensive clothing she acquired through brand deals and promotions didn't strike him as a great way to make her feel at home.

He collapsed on the couch next to her when he finally finished it. Her right leg was stretched out long-ways, and she leaned against his shoulder, letting him place a kiss on the top of her head.

"I'll go shopping in a few, pick up food for the rest of the week,"

"Alright,"

"Do you want anything?"

"Nah whatever you get is fine."

He nodded, still feeling like she didn't want to be there. "You should take Brandon's number," he pulled out his phone, "for after I leave on Saturday."

"I have Brandon's number," she said with a small laugh.

"You do?"

"Yeah I have for a while."

"You two talk?"

"Yeah?" she laughed again, "why is that weird?"

"What do you talk about?"

She sent him a coy smile and rolled her eyes.

"What? Do you talk about me?"

"We talk about a lot of things."

"Including me?"

"Oh my god," she laughed, "you're ridiculous."

"I just wanna know!"

"If I tell you I'll call him if I need something, will you calm down?"

"Yeah…alright," he grumbled, holding her closer to him with his arms around her.

Later in the evening, he watched her from the kitchen as he placed the veggie lasagna in the oven. She was lazily watching a rerun of the old Batman cartoon, half asleep all day from the concussion and the pain meds for her ankle.

"Who's your favorite joker?" he asked, hovering behind the sofa.

"Jack Ni-" she turned and stopped, laughing at the sight of him.

"What?" he put his oven-mitted hands on his hips.

"I'm just surprised the apron doesn't say 'kiss the cook'." She laughed and turned back to the television.

"I'm trying to do something nice here and make your favorite," he grumbled, leaning in on his elbows.

"You wanna do something nice," she said with a smirk, "you could've worn the apron alone."

"Not while your brain is mush," he kissed her on the top of her head and returned to the kitchen. Her sigh was audible even so.

He came back to her with two plates a while later. Passing hers over, he settled in next to her. She took a bite and nodded.

"Pretty good," she smiled.

"I gave it a shot,"

"So domesticated."

"That's me,"

She laughed, and flipped the channel. The SmackDown theme started playing and he glanced at her from the side of his eye.

"Saaash…"

"Drop it, Rollins, it's not worth your time."

"I just think-"

"You think I won't storm out of here with this thing on my ankle, and you are very mistaken."

"Fine, but I don't approve."

"Good for you."

He slumped in his seat, watching Becky and Nikki Bella square off in a match on the screen. She seemed in higher spirits despite watching them do the thing she couldn't do for at least two months. Maybe it was good for her to see her friends out there, she definitely seemed to be smiling more as the show went along. He took her plate on top of his and brought them to the dishwasher.

"You want some ice?" he called over his shoulder.

"I'm alright."

"You sure? You really ought to-"

"Okay! Sure, fine."

Ignoring her shortness, he wrapped an ice pack in a dishtowel and brought it over to her. He held it to her ankle and looked up into her eyes.

"That good?"

"Yeah," she said softly, "that's good."

He leaned in and kissed her quickly. She lunged for another and he pulled away, running his hand over her hair.

"Easy."

"Seth, it's just a concussion. I am capable of deciding I wanna kiss you."

"I just don't want you to over-exert yourself."

"By kissing you?"

"Our make out sessions get pretty steamy sometimes, babe."

She sighed heavily again and leaned back in her seat. He looked over at her, feeling bad about it, and took her other foot in his hand. Rubbing it gently he caught her eye and gave her a smoldering smile.

"Better?"

A little moan escaped her lips, "better."

He kissed her lightly again, feeling the hungriness of her lips this time.