Disclaimer: I do not own, know, or represent anyone from any real world wrestling organization. This is just a fan fiction, and the portrayal, likeness, etc are just character depictions and in no way represent the actual personalities of the men and women in the stories. It's just a little story.

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Chapter 5; Payback

The days that followed the sabotage attempt were mostly peaceful. Shelly and Melina did face some fines from the Hotel the Bellas stayed at, and there was a bit of news that drove Melina away from trusting her partner once again.

What was the news? Well, let's say for example that you were given a phone call by your best friend that they spotted your significant other swapping spit with someone else. Your friend is your most trusted resource and you take what they say to heart. Your significant other is supposed to be out of town for the weekend, but you are now hearing about where they really are; also it's at a place you two could never afford. Immediately, you assume the person they're seeing makes more money than you, and that makes you feel even worse.

You're left enraged and refuse to speak to your significant other until they come home at the end of the weekend. However, when they get home, you learn that not only were they not with someone else, but they were indeed out of town doing a recorded presentation that happened at the exact same time that your best friend said they spotted them. So you go to youtube to see the presentation, and you are at a crossroads. Either your best friend lied to inspire you to break up, your significant other was prepared for their lie, or they are telling the truth.

A very elaborate set-up right? Now, forget all of that and let's see what Melina discovered the morning of the following week's Smackdown taping!

THREE WEEKS UNTIL THE ROYAL RUMBLE… DALLAS, TEXAS

"Melina."

Shelly's voice broke the silence of the dark hotel room.

"What?" Melina was barely awake, but she answered her tag partner none the less.

"Do we have to train again?" Shelly whined, as she rubbed her sore stomach in the darkness. She'd been doing sit-ups like a maniac to try and tighten up her abdomen, but she was saying 'to hell with it' lately to spare herself the soreness.

"We do." Melina was sore all over as well, but it was all going to pay off. She hugged her pillow to her cheek and pulled her sleeping 'sunglasses' off of her face and glared at the alarm clock inside the room. "It's five A.M. We gotta get down to the arena in a few hours and work on some more cardio."

"Don't we gotta rest so we don't break our bodies?" Shelly whined again while cuddling up to Melina's side like a spoiled child. "I got a bad back, I need to rest at least a day before a match."

"One more minute of sleep." Melina sighed while starting to sit up in bed. "I'm not too anxious to get back to sleep after the nightmare I had."

"Wasn't as bad as mine." Shelly chuckled while rolling over in the darkness again.

Melina tested this theory and fumbled around to turn on the light. "I had a nightmare that Brock Lesnar beat the Undertaker at Wrestlemania before me."

"Ha! That's pretty stupid." Shelly chuckled. "Nobody likes Brock." Once the light clicked on, Shelly was seen sitting up with her sleeveless 'F-5' shirt on as her pajamas for the night. She climbed out of bed as if it was no matter at all. "Anyway, remind me to tell you somethin' later on Mel."

Melina yawned while standing up. She oddly had perfect hair when she woke up. Little did the camera audience know, Melina had woken up thirty minutes earlier, did her hair, and carefully got back in bed to get ready for potential camera feeds. She wasn't sure how the system worked yet.

As Shelly hopped off to the bathroom, Melina grabbed her phone to check her messages. "Alright. I'll remind you…" She hesitated as she checked her text messages. The only one worth reading other than the threats from the Bella Twins was a simple message from John Morrison which simply said 'Missing You'.

LATER…

After breakfast, Melina and Shelly were in their rental car well on their way to the arena for the day. The two were discussing a lot of different topics, really getting back to the friendship they had prior to their career success. They were a few minutes away to arriving early to the arena, but their conversation was still building.

"So anyway," Shelly said while her feet were kicked up onto the top of the dash on the passenger's side. "I really think you and I should try that entrance idea I had. Y'know, I go in first…hang upside down like I used to with Ariel, then I reach out for your hands. You take my hands, sashay a little bit, and then pop one leg up onto the apron. You know the rest." Shelly clapped her hands twice like a giddy child. "It'll be the best!"

"Hmm…" Melina thought it over while she drove through the crowded streets. "Sounds okay. It gives us both a little spectacular little moment for the fans. Just remember to keep your clothes PG. I don't want your boobs poking your chin in a turtle neck." The two shared a light laugh, but soon Melina continued to speak. "Hey, let's play a game, okay? Let's see how compatible we are as far as weaknesses go. We can help fill up our weaknesses and balance each other out by talking about it, you know?"

"…You go first." Shelly did not sound very enthusiastic, but that was because she had a few things to hide.

Melina thought it over a little bit while drumming her fingers on the steering wheel. "Okay," She chuckled a little nervously and took a deep breath. She was working on trusting Shelly more, and she kept reminding herself that this was to better their bond and help springboard her solo career. "Okay, here it is. My weakness is time. The longer a match goes, the harder it is for me to keep my head in the game. I get worried about the pain I'm in, how serious it is, and if I can even continue. Especially in tag team matches, it gets a little difficult to know where I am in the ring when I've been dropped on my head eleven times." She shrugged a little bit. "I think you can help keep my head in the game. Shout at me if you have to, so I can remember where our corner is. Also I need you watch my blindside. Shout if anything fishy is going on, especially with the Bellas." Melina glanced over to Shelly to gauge her reaction. She was surprised her partner wasn't laughing at her or anything.

Melina now felt curious as to why Shelly was so serious suddenly. "Hey, you okay? This isn't making you uncomfortable is it…?"

"Vegas." Shelly said as she looked out of her window with a solemn tone in her voice.

"What?" Melina wasn't sure what Shelly was talking about.

"My weakness is Las Vegas." She spoke up a little bit, but she was starting to close up about the whole topic. "I don't do well there at all…"

"What happened?" Melina asked, now sincerely concerned about her partner's dislike for Vegas.

"Don't worry." Shelly drummed her fingers along the tops of her knees and pursed her lips together while watching the cars they passed by. "Remind me to tell you something later."

"Um..alright…"

LATER…

Smackdown was about to begin filming in a few minutes. All the WWE Superstars and Divas were getting ready for the show. Some were stretching in the halls, others were warming up in the locker room area, and some of the top guys were roaming around and hanging out since they did not have to go out until much later on in the night. Since the Divas Battle Royal, a lot of matches had taken place for the Diva's Tag Team tournament. Some matches were held on RAW and RAW's Pre-show, some were held during NXT, and now some were going to continue on Smackdown.

Melina was sitting up on a prop crate while checking her phone for the updates on the tournament. Thus far, The Beautiful People defeated Maria and Lena Yada, Gail Kim and Victoria defeated Jazz and Tamina, Molly and Maryse defeated Sereena and Kana, Daffney and Isis The Amazon won a violent Extreme Rules match over Christina Von Eerie and MsChif, Shaul Guerrero and Charlotte Flaire defeated Naomi Night and Cameron Lynn, and the tournament was continuing tonight. Sarah Stock and Kharma were going against Beth Phoenix and Natalya where the winner would face The Beautiful People. AJ and Hamada were facing the Shirai sisters to decide who would face the winner of SnM vs the Bella Twins.

Melina felt the pressure of the match building up. They were going to be on first, and she was really concerned about making a good impression in the match. She wanted everyone to see how truly talented she was. She didn't want all the praise to stick to AJ Lee, Lita, Mickie James, and Trish Stratus. She knew she was in their class, and better yet she knew she was at the top of that class.

Her moment of preparation was interrupted when the voice of John Morrison came from down the hall.

"There she is." J-Mo said as he continued walking toward her. Of course, he had to show off by wearing his ring attire and ridiculously stylish fur coat along with it. "Ready for the big night?"

Melina's face presented an enticing grin as she placed her phone down beside her. "I don't know; not sure I can ditch Shelly and the cameras long enough to say."

"Ha." John moved in closer until he was right in front of her. He placed his hands down on the crate she sat on, purposefully not making physical contact with her just yet. As much as he wanted to, he knew the close proximity was probably driving her crazy already. "Are you trying to say that you want the Shaman of Sexy to work a little magic, pull a few threads of fate, and somehow find a nice secluded place for a 'big night' for the two of us?"

Mel was still grinning. She leaned back on the crate with both of her hands resting flat on the surface behind her. She kept eye contact with him, but she too was playing a little teasing game with him by staying out of kissing range. "If that big night includes a few movies, popcorn and/or pizza? You just might be driving a hard bargain to beat."

"What kind of movies?" John brought his right hand up. He was the first to lose their little game on who was going to touch the other first. The knuckle of his index finger brushed over her cheek and gently pushed back her curly hair behind her ear.

"Well…I was thinking…" Melina basked in the warmth of John's touch. Just as she was going to speak, they were interrupted.

Kane was suddenly standing near them, once again in his full ring attire and mask. "May I recommend the groundbreaking film adaption of The Green Lantern? It's vastly superior to Man of Steel, The Dark Knight Trilogy, and Marvel's 'The Avengers'."

"…Uh…" Melina cleared her throat. "No Kane, that's fine…" She suddenly felt as if her life was in danger. No one truly knew how terrifying Kane was until he was talking to them in person.

Morrison backed off of Melina a bit and he too cleared his throat. "Are you kidding? Man of Steel was decent at best…; I still don't understand why he flew away from Metropolis to the middle of the Indian Ocean to destroy that…machine. Why not just use his heat vision and save the people of Metropolis first?"

Kane smiled and nodded slowly. There was an awkward few moments of silence that followed until Kane spoke up again. "Brilliant scripting." The sad part was he was entirely serious, and not sarcastic.

"Anyway," Melina slipped off of the crate and collected her phone. "I'm on in a few minutes. I'm going to go catch up with Shelly." She leaned up and kissed Morrison on his cheek and quickly ducked out before Kane could say another word to her.

After she departed, Melina moved toward the women's locker rooms to find her partner. However, as she entered the unusually empty hallway…she began to slow down. Many people were gravitating away from the women's locker area except for a few of the women. There were EMT's entering the room swiftly, and Melina's mind immediately expected the worst.

"Shelly?!" She called out as she hurried up toward the locker area. Once she squeezed past a few of the bystanders, she entered the locker room to find her tag partner propped up against a wall with doctors tending to the gash over her forehead. There was a bent steel chair lying beside her. "What happened to her?!" Melina quickly approached the EMTs, but she was held back by a few of the security guards inside. Despite her thrashing, she couldn't get any closer to Shelly.

"They're…sayin' I could have a concussion…" Shelly groaned as she continued to be cared for. "…The Bellas…payback, I guess…" She said as she pointed to her currently patched up forehead.

Melina's blood was boiling. If Shelly couldn't compete, they would have to forfeit the tournament. Even though it was selfish, Melina also considered her big solo career re-launch. She knew it was going to take a major hit if she did not pull out a win in the tag match.

When Booker T finally arrived to get a hold of what was going on, panic hit the General Manager like a Semi-Truck. He knew he was in a tight spot and the match needed to happen. Ratings were at stake, and the buildup to Wrestlemania as well. There were literately seconds before the match was to start, and he had to make a decision once the EMTs assured him that Shelly was not fit to jump into a match of this caliber.

"…Alright…" Booker T groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay…, so here's whassup Melina." He turned to face her while checking his Smartphone to contact the ring announcer before the match started up. "You can either do this as a handicap match or you'll have to drop out. Too late to find a replacement. I can't do nothin' to the Bellas but fine them, so the call is on you."

Melina grit her teeth firmly. All she could think about was giving the Bella Twins a beating worthy of a Dragonball Z episode. Nobody did this to her friends on her watch, nobody. "Put me in the match and get the hell out of my way…" She growled at Booker T as she stormed from the locker area and back out into the hall.

-

Author Notes:

LONG WAIT, I know. I got incredibly caught up in shenanigans, but I'll try to update this more. Sat down and powered this chapter out to get my writing flow going again, and I think it's a serviceable cliffhanger for the match I'm going to put together. I KNOW the WWE storylines are much different now, and there is a lot going on right now I'd like to mess with, but I'm going to stick with my pretend version of the WWE for this tale of partnership.

Tell me what you think, even if this was just a little bit of character development. Sort of.