Hey guys, I'm back with another chapter! As y'all see, Rosie and AJ are going in the right direction! Let's hope and see they can continue to do so! Sending love out to my girls JustCherry73, wwechristina and GoldenGirl1920 for your continued love and support! Love you ladies so much!

I don't own anyone affiliated with the WWE. I only own Rosie and the storyline.

Now let's go!

AJ POV

I just finished my meeting with creative on what my new storyline will be and while I'm not 100% okay with it, I'm certainly intrigued. But I'm also pissed that they're not putting me in the damn title picture where I belong. I'm good enough for it and I know I can beat Roman one on one if they gave me the damn chance to do so.

But it's finally time for my lunch break before my meet and greet. I think it's time I go and check up on my girl. I still haven't heard from her since my last text. It worries me she hasn't replied; I know I've been intimidating the hell outta her lately with how strongly I've been coming off, but I also know she is loving my attention and that she craves it.

And I'm loving her attention, too. I need it. I want it. I have to have it. Even though she and I became something only just this morning, I still need Rosie. I want her. I can't lose her. Even when I was keeping her at arms length, she was the only one to keep me calm. She was and is the reason I come to work, outside of the fact that I love what I do. I know I wouldn't be where I am right now if she wasn't within the company. Behind every great man, is an even greater woman. And she's mine. I can't screw up what she and I can create because I know when she gives me the chance and completely lets me in, I know our bond will be unbreakable. But I know I have to meet her halfway. She was invested in me way before I was with her, so I owe her at least that.

As I get closer to my intended destination, I can hear Rosie talking about us. While it puts a grin on my face, I become a little irritated because don't want people to think I'm going soft all of sudden now that I have the attention of a woman. A woman who actually appreciates me, no less. But my irritation dies the second I hear Mia's voice. Ahh, so she's been talking to Michin about me…us. I have no doubt she's been pushing my Rosebud in my direction.

I lean against the doorframe and listen to my girl and who I consider a little sister talk. If it wasn't about me and her, I wouldn't be listening the way I am, but hearing Rosie praise me the way she is, I can't help but not. It makes me feel good knowing I can make her happy.

"You ladies talkin' about me?" I speak up and it earns me a small scream from both women. Smirking, I enter the room and walk up to my brunette beauty.

"Goddamn it, AJ. Again? Really?" She scolds me with a slap to my chest, but goes into my hold willingly when I wrap my arm around her waist. Leaning down, I place a kiss to her lips and feel her pressing her body into mine with a content sigh.

"Sorry darlin', I didn't mean to scare you," I reply quietly, pressing one more soft kiss to her lips. Lifting my eyes up, I look at Mia, finding an amused, but happy smile on her face. "Hey Michin," I greet her, wrapping Rosie up in my arms when I feel her body rest comfortably against mine as she wraps me up in her own embrace.

"Hey Unc," she greets me back, "I'm glad you finally found someone to make you happy. I couldn't have picked a better person than Rosalie for you," she tells me and I grin at her comment, pressing a kiss to the top of Rosie's head.

"Thanks Mia; she is pretty damn amazing, isn't she?" I reply back, looking down at Rosie when I feel her chin rest on my chest as she looks up at me. The smile thrown in my direction is sobering because it's not one that I'm use to having directed at me. It's been a long while since I've had someone look at me with such happiness the way Rosie is looking at me right now. I can't even remember the last time Darcy looked at me that way before things started going south between us.

"She is, so you better not fuck it up. And I mean that in the nicest way possible. We're family, so I gotta give you shit," Mia tells me when I look over at her with a hard scowl. Also, because I know she's right. I may have the love of a woman again, but with the way I've been burned…that sticks with a man. I haven't been on the dating scene for almost 25 years and I already know I'm gonna be rusty when it comes to doing the right thing. Regardless of having being married. I never saw Darcy all the time…I get to see Rosalie almost every single day, so there is already that difference of having a healthy relationship right there. That is…like Mia said…if I don't fuck it up.

"I can see she makes you happy, Al and that's all I want for you. She's the one constant who hasn't given up on you. And with the way she feels about you…I know she won't," she adds on.

"She's right. And any time I feel you slipping away from me, I'll find a way to bring you back. I didn't give up on you when we were friends. I didn't give up on you when you made us acquaintances the past couple of months…" Rosie says and I visibly flinch at that because she's unfortunately not wrong about that. Rosie reaches up and strokes my beard, forcing me to put my attention back onto her, "and I'm not going to give up on you now that we finally found each other. I love you, Allen Jones and in time, I know you'll love me back," she tells me quietly and I literally have to hold back the emotions flooding through me.

To help hold those emotions back, I bite my lip, nodding my head while I look down at Rosalie and I can see she meant every single word. "I know," I rasp out in a whisper and seconds later, I feel her lips on mine.

"I'm gonna go and leave you guys be. Go have your lunch date and I'll see you both later. Thank you again for doing my hair, Rosie Cheeks," Mia said to us in parting.

"You're welcome girl, I'll see you later. Good luck on your match, tonight," Rosie replies to my fellow OC sister. While her sights are on Mia, I can't help but look down at Rosie and admire her. I honestly don't know how I got to be so damn lucky to have her and how she hasn't given up on me.

"How long?" I voice and Rosie looks up at me in confusion.

"How long, what?" She asks in question with a small head tilt.

"How long have you felt this way about me?" I ask her and Rosie's eyes soften before a dusty rose color flushes her cheeks. So that's where Mia got Rosie Cheeks from. I love it. She breaks eye contact by looking down at my shirt and traces the lettering on the fabric, but I end that distraction fast by gently placing my finger under her chin and raise her face to look up at me once more. "Please don't hide from me, Rosalie. I want to know," I tell her softly.

"Since the beginning. I fell in love with you almost instantly, but when I discovered you were married, I kept my feelings to myself. You were happy and I wasn't going to ruin that or the friendship I had created with you. So when I saw the person you had become towards the end of your marriage, it hurt me so much because I knew there was nothing I could do to help you…especially when you pushed everyone, including me, away once you came back," Rosie tells me quietly…too quietly. The feeling that shoots through me, hits me straight to the core and it's a feeling I don't like. I honestly didn't realize I had gotten that bad nor almost completely pushed away the one person who cared most about me.

"Oh baby, I'm so sorry. I had no idea…" I reply with pain in my tone and Rosie shakes her head.

"You weren't meant you, AJ. We're together now and that's all that matters," she retorts softly before pressing her lips to mine with a kiss that sends my heart into a frenzy. "Come on, let's go get lunch. I'm starving and I'm sure you are, too," Rosie adds on quietly and as if on cue, my stomach begins to growl, earning an amused grin from the woman in my arms. "Your stomach has spoken; let's go," she comments and grabs my hand, leading us out of the room and towards catering.

As we make our way into catering, I pull Rosie in close and tell her quietly into her ear, "just so you know, I'm not playin' nice with anyone, just because we're together now. They bother us, I will…well you know." Rosie looks up at me and the stone cold look I know she sees on my face isn't going to change. I'm being serious when I tell her I'm not going to be nice.

Sighing in defeat, Rosie nods her head and rubs my arm comfortingly. "I know, baby. One person at a time. I'll take care of them if they do, okay?" She replies and I grumble out my annoyance at the thought of even being bothered, but I accept what she says.

"Fine," I ground out and I feel Rosie lace our fingers together before her lips press against my cheek.

"Thank you," she whispers before pulling back so she can look up at me. She looks into my eyes and mine immediately softens when I see the smile on her face and the happiness in her own eyes. I nod my head and press a chaste kiss to Rosie's forehead.

"Go pick a table away from everyone else and tell me what you want to eat," I gently order Rosie as my eyes survey the room. I wanna know who is here. Who is not here and who I need to keep an eye on.

"Get me a chicken caesar salad with a coke. Please and thank you," she tells me.

Rosalie POV

"You got it, darlin'. I'll be right back," AJ tells me and he presses another kiss to my forehead before walking off. I watch him with a smile and do as he requested and pick a table away from everyone else.

Sitting down, I pull out my phone and check my social media as I wait for AJ. My eyes will occasionally check on him every few seconds until I see out of the corner of my eye someone approaching the table. Looking up, I smile thinking it's AJ, until my eyes land on LA Knight and the smile is instantly wiped off my face, being replaced by a large scowl.

"What the hell do you want? You've already tried to cause enough trouble. Now, you're really pushing it, Shaun and it's not going to end well for you," I ground out and my body stiffens, getting ready for a fight.

He holds up his hands, wearing a smirk on his face that says nothing but trouble on it. "Hey now, I mean no harm. I saw you sitting alone and thought you'd like to have some company," he tells me and I snort at his comment, looking at him like he's lost his goddamn mind.

"Company my ass. You're just trying to get under AJ's skin by bothering me. I guess Randy's interference and AJ's ass kicking from last night didn't get through to you," I retort, becoming angry and annoyed.

"Last I checked, sweetheart…I won that match last night. Not your little boy toy," Shaun replies, inching closer to me, leaving me nowhere to go.

"That may be so, but he still kicked your ass and you know it," I snap back before looking away from Shaun and I see AJ making his way back to me and he does not look happy. "Good luck…you're gonna need it," I tell Shaun with a shit eating grin.

"For what?" He asks in annoyance.

"You best get away from my girl, Ricker or I'll beat you worse than I did last night," AJ snarls out, placing our lunch on the table before he closes his hands into fists. I push the food aside and quickly get to my feet, getting ready to interfere if need be.

"Oh she's your girl, now? If I remember correctly, I recall you saying that you don't care about anyone. That everyone around you is a nuisance and nothing more. And you lost last night, Jones…or did you forget? You're the loser here," Shaun retorts, getting in AJ's face and I can see the look on AJ's turning feral.

"AJ, baby…don't. You're better than that; you're better than him," I tell him, closing any distance between us and press a hand to his stomach, keeping him at bay before turning my attention to Shaun, "would you just go away, we're minding our own business. You're the one looking for a fight…not AJ. I don't care if you hate him to the ends of the earth, but you're not going to take him down with you," I ground out and Shaun looks at me with mild disgust.

"Control your girl, would you? She turned herself into a loser just by associating herself with you," He said to AJ and I can feel AJ's body become stiff at Shaun's statement.

"I'm not gonna do that because she doesn't need controlling; it's your sorry ass that needs to be controlled. And I may have lost our match last night, but I won because I got the girl and I didn't have to sleep with or seduce her to make her mine. Unlike some of us around here. That's one of the reasons why you hate me so much, isn't it? You like her and she won't show you the damn time of day…but she does me. She gives me the attention you want," AJ retorts sharply, eyeing Shaun like he's a piece of trash.

My eyes widen and jaw drops when I hear what AJ had just said. I have to force myself not to react the way I want because I know it's going to cause even more issues than what Shaun has already created.

I hear the growl escape Shaun before he points a finger in AJ's face and AJ swats it away, "you're going to regret saying that," he said, trying to sound menacing.

"And you're not going to do anything about what he said. I know that look on your face, Ricker…because if you do, I'll go straight to Nick and Paul with this," Randy inputs, walking towards us with his phone held up, giving it a little shake as he keeps his eyes on Shaun. "I just got the whole thing on video…even before AJ got back to the table," he adds, standing beside AJ and myself.

I look up at AJ and I see the smirk on his face at the revelation of what had just transpired. He knows nothing is going to happen and that he just won this battle. It better be the last fucking battle because I can't keep dealing with this shit! My eyes shift over to Randy and as if he can feel eyes on him, he looks down at me and gives me a supportive wink before turning his attention back onto Shaun.

"You haven't heard the last of LA Knight," Shaun said before storming off and I breathe a sigh a relief.

I put my full attention onto AJ, taking his face into my hands, forcing him to look down at me. A mixed set of emotions are in his eyes, but when his land on mine, the look he directs at me calms me instantly. He's going to be okay. "I'm so proud of you, baby. You handled that very well," I praise him and his smile paired with the kiss AJ presses to my lips, takes my breath away.

"Your touch calms me and just being around you makes me a better man. I can tell you now…if you weren't here, that would have ended differently. So, thank you," AJ tells me in reply, pulling me into his arms.

We've already gained the attention of everyone in the damn room and Randy seems to have noticed, too, after Shaun left it. "Alright! Show's over! Mind your damn business and go back to what you were doing! There is nothing to see here!" He yells at everyone in catering before he puts his attention onto me and AJ.

"Thank you…again for your interference. I'm just glad I had AJ with me this time around," I tell Randy and before he can respond, AJ speaks up as his hold on me tightens.

"What do you mean 'this time around'? Am I missing something?" He asks, his tone hard, but I can hear the underlying concern in his voice.

"Rosie was in here yesterday eating lunch alone and he bothered her then, too. I confronted him, telling him he needed to leave her alone or I'd tell you about it. Despite you shutting everyone out, I knew you had a soft spot for Rosie and I wasn't going to ignore that. If someone was harassing somebody I cared deeply about…I'd want to know," Randy replies with a shrug, but then a giant grin develops on his face, "and I see you two found your way to each other a hell of a lot sooner than I thought," he tells me and I can't help but blush as I burrow further into AJ's hold with a big smile.

"I think we can thank the hotel for screwing up his reservation," I reply, but look up at AJ with a closed mouth grin when I say this. I find him already looking down at me with a grin of his own. His hair gets in his face, but he quickly flips his head back, fixing the issue before looking back down at me and I can feel his fingers digging into my hips, but not in a painful way.

"Oh yeah…I was pissed alright and then this little spitfire gave me a piece of her mind. Never in a million years would have expected the attitude that came from her," AJ adds.

"But it ultimately brought you two together and you finally have your girl, Jones. I'm happy for you, man…truly. Everyone deserves to have that special someone and I'm glad you were able to find her. But I'll leave you guys to it; I know you're on your lunch break right now, so I won't jeopardize anymore of your time," Randy replies, holding out a closed fist towards AJ.

AJ fist bumps Randy with a grin, "thanks, man. Good luck with your match later," he tells Randy as he wraps me back up in his hold.

"I appreciate it, brother. I'll see you later. Take care, Rosie," Randy replies, leaving AJ and I alone once more.

I look up at AJ in shocked happiness and he playfully rolls his eyes at me. "What was that? Did I actually just witness you get along and be nice to someone that wasn't me?" I lightly tease him as I rub my hand against his chest.

AJ grabs my hand that rests on his chest and holds onto it, "he came to your aid and protected you…twice, when I couldn't be there for you," he tells me before pulling me back to the table and takes the seat next to mine.

"But the only two times he ever did was just now and yesterday. Yesterday, we weren't even…" I begin to say and when I meet AJ's eyes, his eyebrow is raised with a knowing look and my mouth snaps shut.

"Exactly. Even when you weren't mine…you were my girl, Rosalie. I may have acted like a complete jackass to you, but I still watched over you; I still cared," he tells me and I'm literally left speechless.

"Kiss me…please," I whisper.

AJ's eyes soften and he leans in, pulling me into a soft kiss, putting everything he has into it. I can feel it. "Eat, baby. You need to keep up your strength," AJ says, pressing one more soft kiss to me before digging into his own food.

Later that night, AJ and I finally make it back to the room and I collapse onto my back on the bed, tired from being on my feet all day. I close my eyes and throw an arm over my face with a quiet sigh.

I feel the bed dip beside me and I turn my head in AJ's direction, but I keep my eyes closed. "You alright, darlin'? Anything I can do?" AJ asks, placing a hand on my stomach as he gently rubs it. After a few moments, I feel him slip his fingers under the hem of my shirt that had risen up, revealing a sliver of skin of my stomach. A shiver runs through my body at feeling his skin touching mine in such an intimate way.

"I'm sorry, do you want me to stop?" AJ asks quietly, removing his hand from me and I shoot my hand out to grab his, halting his movements.

My eyes slowly flutter open and meet his blue ones. He has a small smile on his face as he hovers over me while he waits for me to answer him. Shaking my head, I tell him, "no…don't. It feels nice." I take AJ's hand and guide it under my shirt, placing it onto the skin of my upper stomach, letting his fingers graze my bra.

"Rosie…what're doin'?" AJ asks and I can hear the fear in his voice.

Reaching up, I frame the side of his face and smile up at him. "Come down here and kiss me," I order him gently and glide my hand up higher, threading my fingers through his hair on the back of his head and pull him down to me.

AJ let's me guide him and with a little bit of body shifting, he positions himself in between my legs. It suddenly becomes hard to breathe and my heart begins beating like an erratic jackhammer. Leaning down, he captures my lips with his own, framing one side of my face as the hand that is already touching me moves up to cover my breast.

I moan into the kiss, but break it with a shuddering breath and I know he can both hear and feel my heart because he looks down at me with worried concern. "I can stop, Rosalie. We don't have to if you're not ready," AJ tells me as he goes to pull his hand out from under my shirt, but I stop him.

"N–no…I–I want this. I want you. I just…I never thought this would be happening. At least, not with you. I've wanted you for so long and now that we're here…" I whisper, but AJ silences me with a soft kiss.

"Now that we're here, I'm going to take care of you, Rosie. You're mine now and I take care of what's mine. I promise you that I'll make you feel good. I don't want you to be afraid or nervous to do this. Do you trust me?" AJ asks me quietly, looking directly into my eyes.

Nodding my head subtly, I reply, "I do. More than anything." AJ leans down and presses another chaste kiss to my lips before pulling back to look at me once more.

"Then trust me when I tell you that I want this just as much. I've wanted you for just as long. But I don't want to force you into something you're not ready for, baby," AJ tells me and begins to remove his hand from under my shirt.

My eyes widen in a panic and I halt his movements. "No, please…don't stop. I love you and I want you…so damn much that it scares me. But in a good way. I've been yours from the beginning. So take me and make me yours, Allen…completely," I reply softly, looking up into his eyes and the feelings I hold for him…I see those same feelings being redirected right back down to me.

"You already are mine, Rosalie…and from here on out, I'm yours and yours alone."