Quitters

Perhaps an unexpected friend could be the one to pick you up when you're down...

Daphne Consuelos sat in the couch of what her cousin, Connie Mitchell called the "Holding Room". She had no clue, why this was called the holding room because she had never watched Rising Star before. She had never had the time because she was always on the road, doing one wrestling Live Show event to another. It was basically difficult to find some time to do things for herself because she would always have to be back to work on the very next day. The only days that she got off were Thanksgiving and Christmas. Her professional wrestling career was not compared to Connie's singing career. She would go on tour about every two years, but she always had a break for herself. Daphne did not have that luxury because no work meant that she was not making any money for herself. Plus, she didn't want a break until she won the WWE Divas Championship again.

That was her goal.

"So, red means no and blue means yes," Connie's manager, Rose Malone informed her as Daphne had out her iPhone 5s because she had downloaded the Rising Star app because apparently, the people in the studio had encouraged her to be part of the show and vote if she liked a performance or not, "The television will inform you when the voting window will be closing. So, make the vote as soon as you feel like you have seen enough of the performance. Also, Connie wants you to stay inside this room until the show is over and do not talk to any of the contestants because it will disrupt their train of thoughts and they need to be focused." she informed Daphne, who nodded as she went away, so she can take a seat in the front row, where Connie wanted her to seat.

After three performances, she noticed Jesse Kinch coming her way as he played the strings of his guitar one last time as she assumed that he was performing next. Jesse acknowledged that Daphne was in the room, but did his best to ignore her because he did not want her to stress her out any more than he felt at the moment. Connie had already made a vow that she will swipe no for him, but what will the other Experts think about his song choice?

"I like your guitar," Daphne broke the silence as Jesse turned around to face a woman with fair skin, long raven black hair and blue eyes that were darker than Connie's. Daphne tried to keep it cool, not wanting to freak the guy out, "I mean, I've seen clips of you with these electric guitars, but to see you with something acoustic is kind of cool. I felt like I never introduced myself properly, I'm Daphne." she extended her hand out for him to shake it. She wondered if he was going to be as nice and soft-spoken as Connie talked about.

"I'm Jesse," he accepted her handshake as he sat down her with next to the couch, "Don't worry. Connie and I never had a proper introduction," this conversation was weird because this was the same woman that almost made Connie cry about an hour ago and to seem them talking like nothing happened felt so strange to him, "By the way, how's Connie doing? Not that I am worried about her, but I feel like she tries to make herself to be a strong person, but she might be sensitive on the inside."

Daphne chuckled, "She's fine, but she's going to be extremely picky with everyone tonight. I think that she might be easy with you. I don't know why. I think you really have been proving her wrong each and every week." she assumed as Daphne did not know the fact that Connie vowed to give Jesse a no tonight because she could not find a connection with the song.

"I think I might get a no from Connie tonight," Jesse admitted as Daphne raised a brow, "I know, but at rehearsals on Thursday, we got in a disagreement because she thought that I sold out on my song choice, but what she doesn't know is that I really worked hard on this song. I had it done a week before I even did Rising Star—in my basement. All the lights were off and I was trying to make the chords and melodies my own and to find that Connie doesn't like my version of the song kind of stings me because she is someone that is so successful in Hollywood and she has sold so many albums that this song might not connect with a larger audience. The fact is that I didn't sell out at all."

Daphne giggled, when she heard him say sell out because that was her gimmick in the WWE—she was the sellout! She was the one that traded her soul to the devil, "I believe you, when you say that because I'm playing the role of a sellout, so I should know what selling out is all about and you are not doing that, Jesse. Look, I do not believe for a minute that Connie will swipe no for you. I think that she'll do the right thing in the end and she will be begging for your forgiveness." she assured him as he stood up.

"Hopefully, that occurs, so wish me luck," Jesse said with a smile on his face, "Do you have any last advice?"

"Don't suck." Daphne said, bluntly.

Well, everything turned out well for this Jesse fellow, but that was last week. This week, she intended the Rising Star finale as she had promised Connie that she would take at least a week off until she knew if she wanted to remain in Los Angeles with Connie or go back to Ajax and be with her family. She knew for a fact that she was not emotionally ready to return to the WWE. She was not ready to see those familiar faces that saw her make an ass out of herself in front of national television. She refused to be the laughing stock of the entire locker room. For the past week, she had avoided any text, calls and social media because she knew that she would be looking at the messages of her friends that were worried about her. She was radio silent for the past week and she used her week well, she had been staying with Connie in her hotel as she prepared for her performance for Sunday's show. Connie would be performing with her rock band Compelling Addiction as they sing their number one single, "Goodbye, My Love".

Today was Sunday, the day of the finale as Daphne was in sweats and a blank tank top in her cousin's dressing room for the evening. She had finished painting her nails back as she waited for the show to begin. The past week for her felt odd. At this time, she would have been used to getting to the next city for RAW, but she wasn't doing that. She was relaxing and doing nothing at all. This was unheard off for Daphne Consuelos to not get ready for wrestling. For the first time this week, she got into her Twitter page and decided to tweet something.

However, just like Punk, it was not about wrestling.

DaphneAnne: Ready to watch the #RisingStarFinale. Who are you rooting for to go all the way?

Then, she posted the picture in which she took with all four of the finalist, Audrey Kate Geiger, who was a sultry singer, Dana Williams, a woman with such a timeless voice, Austin French, who had a fun voice and Jesse Kinch, who was the rocker of the competition. After she had read through everything, she posted the tweet and after thirty seconds that she had sent the tweet, her account was flooded with responses that were mostly: Jesse all the way! Austin French! Audrey! Dana! Jesse! However, there were several ones that asked her if she was going to return to the WWE, obviously hearing the news that she had walked away, in which she considered it to be going home. She just read past them, not ready to give an answer of any sorts. The tweet that stuck out to her was from someone that she knew very well and that was her boyfriend, Colby Lopez.

WWERollins: DaphneAnne guess where we're at?

She clicked on the picture on her phone as she noticed that Colby was sitting next to Nicole Garcia-Colace at a certain area. Daphne studied the photo for a moment, trying to get a clue about, where him and Nikki were and her jaw dropped, when she came to the realization of their location.

They were in the same location as she was.

"Man, I can just imagine Daphne's reaction right now!" Jonathan Good exclaimed as he looked at Colby's tweet from his girlfriend, Renee Paquette's iPhone, "I mean, this bitch has been AWOL for a week and everyone is having a freaking heart attack about, where she is, not knowing the fact that she has been with Connie all this time! It is not possible that she was with Connie and that she is still alive, knowing that the two of them are different in so many ways."

"The picture that she just posted, explains where she was last Sunday. I mean, you could still see Daphne in her ring attire," Brie Danielson pointed out to Jon and Renee, while looking at the photo that Daphne had posted a few minutes ago, "The thing is why would she reach out to her cousin out of all people? It seems a little odd to me because you never hear Daphne talking about her. It was like Connie and Daphne were total strangers to each other."

"Daphne told me bits and pieces about Connie, but I don't know why she is a hidden secret because she seems like a sweet girl with a level head," Renee added on to the conversation as she noticed that she had never met Connie Mitchell, who was Daphne's younger cousin. She had seen her in the television, but Daphne never brings her up, "Daphne once told me was that Connie really left her at her time of need. The two of them were quite close, when they were young, but now, it's like they never even had a relationship."

"Connie did something and Daphne took it personal," Colby interjected from a few seats ahead of them as the three of the people turned to face him, "It's always been a habit with her. It could have been something that was never intended to be taken that way, but she took it that way because she did not know how to respond to it." he added on as everyone shook their heads.

"I think that we all have experienced that at some point," Nikki said after Colby was done talking, "I mean, I don't blame Daphne for reacting the way that she did last week or even with Connie. I knew if Brie ever left my side, that I would be pretty crushed about it because one day, we are sisters and united, but the next day, we hate each other and grow apart."

"Nicole, how many times do I need to tell you that I don't ever plan on leaving your side?" Brie said in a motherly type of way, knowing that she was always assuring her twin sister that she was not going anywhere and that she was always a phone call away.

"This would be the fifth thousandth time," Nikki teased with an eye roll as Brie shook her head, knowing that she was right, "Even though we have this Bella versus Bella angle, I will still love you no matter what." she smiled as Brie smiled back at her.

"I will too." Brie responded.

"Connie and her family moved to San Antonio," the gang looked up to find Phil Brooks, also known as CM Punk in another row of seats behind Colby and Nikki. Each and everyone of them was shocked that Phil would decided to show his face around with any of them again. The last time that all of them were in a room with each other, Phil walked out on the WWE and went home, "Connie wanted to do America's Got Talent and Daphne felt betrayed because the two of them had made a promise that they would never leave each other's side. Daphne had already had an issue with her mom always leaving with her uncle in these business trips, so she felt like she had lost someone that she could be open with. Daphne had been going through therapy for some issues that Connie knew about. So, with all the leaving in her life, Daphne put her focus on wrestling. She did a match a week for about twenty bucks and then, when she was older, she did more Indy shows and began to put her heart on getting a WWE contract. Looking by the result of everything that has happened, she hit rock bottom."

"Daphne did not hit rock bottom," Colby retorted like Phil was delusional, but the straight edge man laughed at the younger man, "She just had a little emotional breakdown, but I can promise you that when she goes to work that everything will be fine with her."

Phil laughed directly at Colby's face, "You honestly think that Daphne is alright? This breakdown that she had at SummerSlam had been building up for months; maybe, even years and it was let out. What she needs to do is be at home. Perhaps, I'll find her and try to talk her into coming back to Chicago with me. I think that I can place her in the right direction and show her that wrestling is not everything in her life. I want to show her that there are good things outside of wrestling and maybe, she'll consider not going back to the WWE."

"Do you think that April, your wife, will not have a problem with Daphne staying at your guys' place in Chicago? I think the best place for her is to stay at my place in Davenport, help around my training school, until she can get back up on her two feet. I don't want her to be away from the job that she loves. I would hate it if someone took me away from wrestling, so I wouldn't want to do that with her." Colby explained as Phil sighed.

"I know, you're trying to be a good boyfriend, but your girlfriend is not herself. She can't afford to make a straight decision. I feel like I need to talk to her and prevent her from losing passion for wrestling. I do not want her to be quitting in about a year or two because she is so young and I cannot afford her to be irrelevant. I think that Daphne is the future of the Divas Division, but I need her to gain confidence within herself. I want to help her relax and get her mind in ease. Is that too much for me to ask?" Phil asked as Colby remained silent, "I promise you; nothing bad is going to happen to her, under my watch."

"I trusted you for one day and you two were having sex in a janitor's closet. What makes you think that I can trust you for about a month or two?" Colby asked, feeling disgusted, when he reminded himself of walking on Daphne and Phil getting it on in a janitor's closet in a NXT taping. Phil face palmed, he could have went on the rest of his life, not being reminded of what occurred at that one NXT taping.

"How about the fact that I am a married man? How about the fact that I am older and wiser? Look, I'm married to April and Daphne's dating you. I think I can control myself just fine. So, what do you say?" Phil asked, hoping that the two toned wrestler was finally agreeing with him. Colby remained silent as he looked at his group of friends, hoping that they can shed some light on what he should do.

"I want to do the Brie Mode and Bitchsuelos angle, so I would say let her be with Phil, but keep a close eye on her, when you can." Brie advised him as Colby nodded.

"Fine, but one slip up or screw up for you and she's going to Davenport." Colby agreed, but was not happy about it.

Now that you have finally met Punk, do you think that he will be the one to finally put Daphne on the right track? What will it take for Daphne to finally return to the WWE? The next chapter will take place about a month after this chapter with Daphne in Chicago with Phil. What issues will they talk about? Also, the Punk comparisons will come up again and will be called out on.

Anyway, I just want to thank everyone that favored, followed and reviewed. It was so overwhelming about the attention that this story got and I hope you continue to express your love for the story. The next chapter will begin Daphne's recovery mentally, spiritually and physically! Please favorite, follow and review! :)