Chapter 3

All black. Again. Her chestnut caramel hair was up in a haphazard bun on top of her head, still wet from her shower. Shorts and a regular tank top with black shades over her eyes. They were bloodshot and swollen from crying, so she was waiting for the swelling to go down. Sitting down, Tressa put her head in her hand to rub her temples and popped aspirin she had in her hand, ordering a cup of coffee with biscuits and gravy. She needed something to soak up the alcohol in her system and made sure they made the gravy with bacon instead of sausage.

Eating alone had become customary for Tressa and she preferred it.

"Yeah, no, don't-"

Joe sighed when Jon got up, plate in one hand, drink in the other. Exchanging looks with Colby, they also followed suit. Jon wasn't really the 'leader'; they were friends off-screen as well as on, for the moment anyway, but they learned early on that Jon had a tendency to do what Jon wanted. They generally went along for the ride.

"Mind if we join you, Tres?" Jon asked without waiting for an answer, dropping down beside her, while Joe and Colby took the other two seats at the small table. She looked…like crap. But at least she was eating, so there went another potential theory: She wasn't starving herself. "Want some powdered eggs?" He held up his fork, eyeballing the slightly weird-looking mass of 'scrambled' eggs.

"Don't feed her that crap." Colby muttered, flashing her a small, apologetic smile.

He and Joe had tried talking to her, hanging out with her and she had shut them down at every turn. She had made it very clear she wanted to be left alone. Jon wasn't exactly someone who would take a hint, or he'd just ignore it and do what he wanted anyway.

"I wouldn't eat that shit if you paid me a million dollars." Tressa remarked flatly, looking at the three men at her table and finally landing on Jon.

Didn't she tell him to leave her alone and to stay away from her? Yes, yes she had. Did he listen? Obviously not. Joe and Colby had stayed away from her, for the most part, but now that Jon was back in the picture…she understood why they were following him. Jon did whatever he wanted, when he wanted and how he wanted…mostly. Not when it came to his character, but other than that, he was a free spirit and roamed wherever he wanted.

"What do you boys want?" She reluctantly asked, leaning back in her chair with her cup of coffee, and blinked when Jon pulled the shades from her still slightly swollen eyes. At least the redness had diminished. "That was rude."

"Wow, that's quite a beautiful look you got going."

Come on, they all knew the signs! The WWE had drug policies and they were very stringent about them, anyone who wanted to 'wind down' just stuck to booze if they wanted to keep their job. Ten to one she had been drinking, though it registered her eyes could be swollen from crying, or maybe even allergies. He couldn't remember if Tressa had allergies; he didn't think so.

"It's rude and douchey to wear sunglasses inside, darlin'." Jon folded them and set them down by his half-eaten plate, next spearing a bit of sausage and considered it before popping it into his mouth. "You're the one who said only douchebag, college frat boys wear sunglasses inside."

Joe choked on his own bite of hash browns, trying not to laugh because he was now coughing, as well as not trying to spray anyone with food.

That she did. "Did it ever occur to you that I'm wearing them for a REASON, Jonathan?" She only called him that when she was irritated, setting her coffee mug down by her plate. Maybe she would invest in cucumbers or something to help with swelling since she cried every morning and night when she was alone. It'd been three months, she just wondered when this became easier to deal with and wondered if her heart would ever stop hurting. "I know Joe and Colby aren't over here just to check up on me. They're following you, so what can I do for you?" She took a tentative bite of her biscuits and bacon gravy, rubbing her eyes since she had to adjust them to the light.

"Tres…we're worried about you." Colby decided to give Jon a break and cracked a small smile. "We're your friends, sweetie, you can tell us anything."

"I know you're closer with Jon than us, but…we're still here for you." Joe added, knowing Tressa and Jon had a connection they would never be able to understand. She was the only one Jon gravitated to when he came to the main roster.

When she started working on their Shield attire, they became closer as the months and years progressed.

"I know…"

"So, why won't you tell us what's going on? Maybe we can help."

Tressa started chuckling, the sound pure bitterness and sadness. "Nobody can help me with this. Sometimes, things just can't be fixed that are broken, boys." That was exactly what she was – broken and shattered.

"I think you're wrong," Jon argued flatly, his eyes fastened on her, not wavering, not looking away, just focused on Tressa. "If you were truly broken, you wouldn't even say things like that. You'd just walk away each time someone tried talking to you."

Saying things like that, she wanted to talk or at least have someone there. She just didn't know it or know how to vocalize it. Ignoring Colby and Joe's disapproving looks, -they should have been more than used to the way his mouth ran without a filter after all this time- Jon reached out to take her hand, squeezing gently. He could feel how thin her hand was, betting if he held her wrist, he'd feel the bones acutely.

"Don't," Tressa ordered, snatching her hand away from him, acting like Jon just burned her. "I AM broken and there's no fixing me. What would you have me say? You want me to fall into your arms in tears and tell you what happened? You want to be my knight in shining armor? Go find someone else to save, I'm not interested." She kept her voice perfectly neutral and stood up from the table, tossing bills on top of it before snatching her glasses away from Jon's plate. "Stay away from me, all of you, unless it has to do with your work attire."

Slipping them over her eyes, Tressa grabbed her luggage and wheeled it behind her, immediately pulling a cigarette out as soon as she was outside. Damn him! Damn him for trying to comfort her! She didn't want to be comforted because she didn't deserve it! She deserved to be completely alone after what happened to her husband because, in her mind, it was her fault he was gone.

Tressa had begun backing her rental out when Jon opened the passenger side door and slid in, ignoring her disbelieving look. "Well, let's go." He ordered, rapping his knuckles on the dashboard. "You don't want to talk about what happened? Fine. But if you don't want people to be curious or pry, then maybe you should stop speaking cryptically with key phrases and words like 'broken, fixed, and saved'. All it does is invite curiosity."

He wasn't even looking at her, instead of out the windshield. See, it was easy to pretend everything was all right because then nobody asked him what was wrong. He wondered if her way was any better than his except…no. Colby and Joe would hound the piss out of him.

"What part of I want to be alone do you not understand?"

This man really had no sense of boundaries and Tressa could recall the first time they met. He had walked up to her, slapped the awful turtlenecks on her desk, and said he hoped she was up to the challenge because their careers were in her hands. Tressa had more than delivered and when she showed Jon, Colby, and Joe their new attire, Jon had been the one to lift her up to spin her around in circles, hugging her. Joe and Colby thought she was going to slap Jon silly since they barely knew each other, but Tressa just touched his face with a brilliant smile and told him she liked being challenged.

Their friendship blossomed from there.

"Fine, duly noted. Buckle up." She ordered gravely, driving out of the parking lot shaking her head, and keeping her shades on since it was sunny outside.

Hey, he had offered her a solid bit of advice. If she wanted to be left alone, then her best bet was to either not say anything at all, or not say things that just automatically triggered human curiosity. Jon, by nature, was a very curious person and people loved to tell him how 'curiosity killed the cat'. He had one reply to that: Satisfaction had brought the cat back. He folded his hands behind his head after fastening in and just watched the scenery.

Joe had said he'd bring Jon's gear, his luggage, which was great because all he had on him was his wallet. The silence wasn't overly uncomfortable, but it was definitely heavy. She was radiating misery in waves and he turned his head to stare out the window, letting his own mind wander. On the bright side, he had a feeling he wouldn't have to pull any facades with her. Tressa was too wrapped in what was going on with herself to pay him any mind.

Perfect.

This was the tensest, uncomfortable drive Tressa ever experienced in her life. Jon looked perfectly content with it, and it didn't make her feel any better. In the almost 6 years she'd known Jon, never had they shared a vehicle without a conversation of any kind. She had spent plenty of nights keeping him company on the road when he didn't want Colby or Joe to deal with. They were his brothers, his best friends, but Jon had said it was great to get a woman's perspective on life sometimes.

"I need to use the bathroom." She announced 2 hours into the drive. They still had another 2 to go before they arrived at their destination for the house show that night.

"The next rest area is in 3 miles."

He pulled his head away from the window, having been counting the mile markers. It was boring, sure, but it kept his mind busy and his tongue still. Jon wanted a cigarette anyway and to stretch his legs. This wasn't exactly an overly large car, but he hadn't bothered to think things through before hopping in either. One of the downfalls to being as spontaneous as he was…sometimes he had to deal with the crappy outcomes. Silence reigned for the next 3 miles and they felt like the longest 3 measly miles in the history of miles. Once she parked, he was out of the car stretching his arms over his head. He pulled a pack of smokes from his t-shirt pocket, lighting one up, before folding his arms on top of the car and just stared at her, once her feet were on pavement.

Tressa didn't pay him any mind, pulled cigarettes out of her purse, and walked away from the car to head down to where the restrooms were located. Once inside, she peed and then washed her hands, looking at her reflection in the mirror staring back. No makeup on her face. Tressa used to wear makeup all the time, but after Joseph's untimely death, there was no point. He always did tell her how beautiful she was without it, maybe that was why she chose not to wear it anymore. Just Carmex to keep her lips from getting chapped and that was it. No foundation, eyeliner, gloss…nothing. The swelling of her eyes had gone down, thankfully, and she didn't need to drop anything in her eyes since she'd actually gotten more than 4 hours of sleep. Sighing, she splashed her face with water, patted it dry with a paper towel, and headed back up to the car, lighting her cigarette up in the process.

Jon decided the only way to answer his question, since Tressa wasn't obviously going to volunteer information, or give him any answers willingly, was to start asking direct questions. He didn't overly expect her to answer those either, but body language could do the talking for him. "So, darlin'," He had handled his own business and returned to park himself on the side of the car, the driver side to be more specific, sort of blocking her path, as well as her escape. Now, in the past, he wouldn't have banked on her leaving him stranded at a rest stop, but now…he wasn't so sure. "I've been meaning to ask, how's Joseph?" If they were getting divorced, or having issues, maybe she'd let something slip.

Not expecting that question to hit her as hard as it did, Tressa slowly lifted watery greys up to meet curious electric blue, her hand beginning to tremble. Nobody else in the company had asked her about Joseph because either they didn't care, or they were too busy wrapped up in their own lives. She shut her eyes tightly and looked away from him, taking a long drag of her cigarette while wiping the few tears away that fell. Her eyes glanced down at her wedding ring still on her left ring finger and tightened her hand into a fist, keeping her eyes closed.

"I-I'm not doing this with you, Jon." She stammered out, cursing her voice for shaking as much as the rest of her body, and had to take deep breaths to calm down.

How was Joseph? Joseph was dead. Joseph was gone. God had taken her wonderful husband away from her and she hated the entity for it!

It was a crisp, late April morning when Tressa woke up to use the bathroom, something she always did. She had a flight to catch at noon to make it back on the road to do his job. The first thing Tressa noticed was the slew of water FLOODING the floor leading to the bathroom and the door was closed. She swallowed hard, hearing the shower going, which was the second thing she noticed. Usually, Joseph was on the road by 5 AM when he had to go back on the road after having 3 days off to recuperate. It was one of the few times they had the same days off and they had spent the majority of it making love, trying to conceive a baby. They both wanted to be parents in the worst way and Tressa already promised she would quit WWE once she became pregnant.

The moment Tressa walked into the flooded bathroom and saw Joseph laying in the tub full of cold water, she knew he was gone. She knew she had lost her husband. Her whole body trembled while she stared down at him, her voice choked up as she sat on the edge of the tub and cupped his face, his entire body had a sick bluish tint to it.

"Baby, baby please wake up! Wake up, Joe!" She cried, tears already stinging her eyes and suddenly, she rushed out of the bathroom, nearly slipping on the water, to grab her cell phone.

Calling 911 for an ambulance, for help, was her next step and she was forced, by the 911 dispatcher, to do chest compressions on her husband's dead body. Even though she knew he was gone, dead, she still did them while shaking like a leaf and holding the phone to her ear with her shoulder. Sure enough, the ambulance arrived with the EMTs and Joseph was pronounced dead a few minutes later.

Joseph was gone – the love of her life ripped away from her and Tressa had been numb throughout the rest of the day while traveling to her sister-in-law's house, which was just down the street from where they lived.

The funeral services were all planned by her since she was the wife while his mother and father paid for everything. Joseph's stepmother was a complete cunt about everything, claiming the parents should've been the ones to plan the funeral instead of the wife. Tressa ignored her, refusing to fight with the bitch while planning her husband's funeral and preparing to say goodbye to him forever. Not only that, but she had her own family to contend with, which consisted of her very eccentric, loud mother and sister. They had come up for the funeral and stayed with her and the girls in the house until after the services. The entire week was a whirlwind of emotion and, when all was said and done, Tressa packed up and took off to live with her mother, to start her life over.

Joseph's family never liked her or supported their marriage.