A/N : Thanks for reading so far, would love to hear your thoughts/reviews on this one !

Grit

Travis wasn't happy. " No I don't think so Cassie, we got Aubrey here and she has her set routine. It wouldn't be right to move all that around and not fair on her". Cassie looked at him , trying to control her temper " I will work around her schedule, this is an amazing opportunity for me and for the family , we can do a lot with the extra money". She deliberately kept her voice light, sometimes you had to treat Travis like a kid and reassure him. " I don't think I want you to be part of that world , it all seems a bit much. I earn enough money to keep us here in this nice house. Aubrey seems so happy here , let's not disturb that, maybe when she is a little older and in school for longer you could find something". Cassie was thinking of her earlier conversation with Joe and what he said about change , but mostly she thought about the confidence that both Joe and Paul seemed to have in her. She rounded on Travis , with a look in her eyes that he hadn't seen in a while. " You know what Travis , this is something I really want to do. Something for me. I remember a time when you did things for you and I accepted that . So right now , I think its time you returned the favour". She watched as a number of emotions washed over Travis's face, but she knew she had him. He wouldn't dare open the door to that conversation and they both knew she had been more than understanding in the past of him. "OK" he said gruffly before leaving the room and walking down the hallway , where he banged the bedroom door closed . Cassie let out a breath , she had not stood up for herself in a while , choosing always to put others first. For once it was her time and she was going to grab it with both hands.

Paul was over the moon to hear the news. " That's really great kid , Joe will be very happy. I am going to give him your number if that's alright. He wanted to ask you to write out a promo for him. He had an idea overnight. "Sure" Cassie answered, excited to hear what Joe had in mind. As she hung up she began to run numerous scenarios through her mind of where Roman Reigns could go next. Who could he feud with? Could she choose who with? . She realised there was so much more for her to learn about this business in general besides just putting the stories together. She was lost in thought when her phone popped up with an instant message. The picture told her it was Joe , he had his hair pulled back in a sleek bun and wore a red t-shirt and smiled at the camera , it was a good picture. She added the number quickly to her contacts and turned her attention to the message " Hey you. Paul told me the good news. I wanna run something by you. Have a workout at a gym down by Lake Eola Park, think you can meet me there, I guess Aubrey is in school?". Cassie smiled to herself before typing back " Hey! Yes she is in till 2pm so I got time. Meet you at 10am?". . He replied immediately " Sure , talk then. Nice profile pic by the way" . Cassie felt her heart stop for a second as she looked at the smiley face at the end of his message . She forgot her picture was of her and Aubrey at Disney land, they both wore mouse ears and were pulling a face to the camera. She immediately blushed before she sent him back the monkey covering its eyes emoji. He responded with a laughing face along with "its a cute picture". Cassie couldn't help but smile, she had a feeling after a rocky start, her and Joe would get along just fine.

When she parked her car by Lake Eola Park she checked her phone again and saw that Joe had messaged her a few minutes earlier saying that he was running late and would meet her outside the door of the gym. It was about a two minute walk so Cassie threw on her sunglasses and walked in the direction of the gym. It was a hot day so she had tied her brown hair into two French braids her hair parted in the centre. She wore black denim shorts with a white t-shirt tucked in and a pair of white Chuck Taylor converse . As always , she looked casual yet cute. As she neared the door to the gym she saw it swing open and Joe emerged in a pair of dark blue Nike shorts and a white t shirt. He too wore sunglasses and she watched with interest as he held the door for another man who Cassie knew from watching WWE , his cousin Jey. She crossed the road in their direction and waved when she saw Joe notice her. " Hey" she said as she got closer to them. Joe hesitated and she could tell he was the type of person who would normally hug a friend when he met them. Instead he turned to his cousin " This is Jey , we were just working out together. Jey , this is Cassie , Paul's niece that I was telling you about". Jey wasn't as standoffish as his cousin and extended his hand "Nice to meet you girl , Uce here says you gonna help him make Roman Reigns the best in the business". Cassie couldn't help but laugh , this man's energy was infectious and she liked him immediately. " No pressure then. Its nice to meet you Jey.". Joe fixed his sunglasses "There is a coffee place down the street there that does takeaways , let's get something there first. You coming Uce?" he asked his cousin. "I'll go with y'all to get a cup but I gotta go then Takecia needs me to do some things in the house". Cassie presumed that was his wife or girlfriend, she didn't like to pry in people's private lives, preferring instead to let them tell her things when they were comfortable to.

Jey was hilarious , he had Cassie laughing all the way to the coffee stand. "Big Uce here been working me hard in the gym. At one point I couldn't feel my toes no more. He's back with a vengeance". He smiled at his cousin " Yessir" Joe said and put an affectionate arm around his cousin for a moment. Jey elbowed him softly. Cassie looked at them both " I bet you two were trouble as kids. I can see it now". Joe and Jey exchanged looks and laughed " We had our wild days , no doubt" Joe said , not giving too much away. Jey enjoyed ribbing Joe, it was obvious. Cassie turned in time to see a guy cut in front of them in the queue. Jey was about to say something when she saw Joe place a calming hand on his shoulder " Leave it cuz, not worth it". Jey shook his head and Cassie heard him mumble " Ma real name is Joe". She looked at him in surprise. " What does that mean? "she inquired. Joe looked at Jey " Nah man". But his cousin was smiling wildly " Let me tell you a little story C , imma call you C. We got a family joke here about our boy. Usually Joe here is all manly and tough but once in a while he allows someone or something to make him real soft. When that happens we have a saying " Ma real name is Joe" , which if you remember WWE speeches well is the first line he used when telling everyone about the return of his leukaemia a few years back". At this point Cassie turned to look at Joe who she could tell was rolling his eyes behind his sunglasses " Wait , so you guys say a line from a speech from one of his most vulnerable moments and use it against him when he is being all soft?". Jey nodded , unsure of what she was going to say. Cassie looked from one to the other and laughed out loud. "Y'all are mean , I like it . It shows how close you are as family. But damn". Joe was smiling " This is what it's like to be in our family, got to have a tough skin" . Their family sounded crazy , but she could see just from the way the cousins interacted that they loved hard too . Jey bought them all a coffee , cappuccino for Cassie and some soy milk espresso for him and Joe , before he took off. " I guess I will see you at the arena then C , big love Uce" he said patting Joe on the back before he left.

They walked into the park with their coffees in hand , they found a bench overlooking the water and sat for a moment enjoying the sun. "So do you not have to get home to the kids then?" she asked , wanting to learn a little bit more . She really wanted to like Joe and this whole Liv situation was still on her mind. " We have a nanny to help she is there most of the day so it's good . The older ones are at school". Cassie was feeling brave " and your wife , does she work?". She couldn't read his expression from behind his glasses " No, the twins are still only a few months old so she is busy with them". Cassie was disgusted slightly, his babies were really young and he was off cheating with Liv , it made her a little mad. The logical part of her brain kicked in, maybe Liv was lying , making it all up. Or maybe Joe was one of those wrestlers who messed around on the road and cheated , I mean WWE was known for their talent having relationships. Either way it was none of her business what happened in his private life all she had to worry about was Roman Reigns. "So you had an idea you said?", she changed the subject. "Yes so I think I need to do something really drastic to make the full heel turn complete. Right now we don't have fans so it's not like I can talk down to them to make them dislike me. I thought the best thing would be a feud with a fan favourite. What you think ?". Cassies wheels were turning they had been since she had met Jey earlier. " How much do you trust your cousin?" she asked . Joe looked at her "Go on" " I noticed earlier that you guys can say stuff to each other that others possibly couldn't, but that's because of the love and history you have. From what I have seen so far Roman Reigns is a family man , they always come first. What if " he cut her off and finished her sentence " I feud with Jey?, for the family?". They shared a smile " I love it Cass, and there is a lot of back story there we can work off. Plus with Jeys brother Jimmy out injured , it gives me a chance to make sure he is working shows etc."

They spent an hour on the bench talking animatedly , they threw many different ideas around but agreed that initially it would be a slow burn. " So maybe on Fridays smackdown we have him come up to you and be all friendly and you be ok back with him, but when he walks away your facial expression changes or something. I will think it through and write out some ideas and dialogue" she said. Joe was beyond excited and he liked how Cassies brown eyes would light up when she discussed an idea , her enthusiasm was infectious. He felt like this was the beginning of something great, his gut was telling him. " Sounds great, why don't you email me or message me during the week as you think of ideas . I will call Jey later and run it by him and Paul". Cassie looked at her watch " Shoot I gotta go , that was the fastest two hours ever.". Joe said he would walk her to her car " So your husband was OK then with this I am guessing". He wasn't prying, didn't seem like the type so Cassie shared a bit more than she usually would "At first , he wasn't for it. But I reminded him of sacrifices I have made in the past and that brought him around. Once it doesn't interfere too much with things then we are good". They were standing at her car now, she had forgotten how old and run down it actually was but Joe didn't mention a thing about it. " Well um , I am glad that you decided to come on board" he said , pushing his sunglasses up so she could see into his eyes. They really were so kind she thought. Realising she hadn't spoken and was just looking at him she became a little flustered and blushed slightly. "OK, I have to go". She opened the door and climbed into the car , he closed the door behind her. " Drive safe" he said and she nodded , gunning the engine. As she pulled out she watched him the rear view mirror, he was standing on the sidewalk looking at her car as it drove away.