A couple of days later, Jay had an opportunity to catch up with Raquel backstage prior to a non-televised WWE event. They hadn't talked much recently, thanks to his production work and Raquel putting time into filming for Florida Treasure Hunters. Filming for the upcoming season had now wrapped up, he knew that much from a text that she had sent him.

"Would you do me favour?" Raquel asked once they had entered an empty dressing room for some privacy.

Since Jay was planning to ask Raquel for something he could hardly say no. Not that he would have anyway.

"I have a pinched nerve or something in my neck/shoulder area. See if you can work it out for me? If not I'll have to get Doc Mikami on it."

"Sure. Grab that chair over there and show me where the pain is."

Pinched nerves, muscle strains, bruising and all kinds of other physical ailments were common for wrestlers. Jay often had to get Erin to help him with similar things. Raquel moved the metal chair that Jay had referred to into the middle of the room and sat down. She moved her hair to one side and pointed to the bottom of her neck.

"It's right there."

"You didn't get Z to have a go at it?" Jay asked idly as he went to work on the affected area. Her toned, muscular physique had always impressed him, but he could never find himself attracted to her. To him that would almost be like being attracted to a sister – wrong on every level.

"She did this morning but it still hurts. Damn, that's the spot."

"So, you finished your treasure hunting? I know you can't talk about what you found or didn't find, but did you enjoy the experience?"

"Enjoyed it a lot," Raquel said, wincing in pain as Jay continued to massage the side of her neck. "You know how much I love diving. I belong underwater as much as I belong in a wrestling ring. The work is very challenging, but challenges are rewarding, aren't they?"

Jay noticed, not for the first time, that her accent became more Mexican when she spoke passionately. It was endearing. "They can be," he said. "Or they can be terrifying. Like I've said before, I cannot imagine wearing all that scuba gear and getting into one of those drill shaft things you told me about that are only a few feet in diameter, full of water and with no lighting. Makes me shudder thinking about it."

"The 'drill shaft thing' is called a can. They're driven into the ground by a huge oscillating machine. The last can I went down had an underground cavern at the bottom, about a hundred feet below the surface."

"Sounds absolutely terrifying to me," Jay said, hoping he didn't sound disrespectful of something she obviously enjoyed doing.

"It's not. All you can hear unless someone talks over the communication system is your own breathing. It's relaxing to be under water."

"Maybe I'll try diving one day," he said, having no real intention of doing so.

"That would be cool. Erin could come too. Ow, that's really the spot. Keep working there."

Jay dug a finger into the small knot he had found in Raquel's muscle, and she groaned in pain. He well knew from his own experience that it was a good kind of pain.

"So, mami, there's something I want to ask you."

"Go ahead."

"Erin and I want to get married soon. I'd like you to be my best man. Or woman," he quickly corrected.

Raquel laughed. "Best man I'd struggle with. Best woman I can do. I'd be delighted to."

"That's great, thank you. We've not started making plans yet. I think Erin wants to get started real soon though. My hope is that she doesn't want a big wedding with loads of people there."

"You might have to brace yourself for that though. One piece of advice I can give you is to let her have as much of what she wants as possible. A woman's wedding day is special to her in a way that it just isn't for men. You can stop massaging me now, I think you've got it."

"That's good," Jay said as Raquel got up slightly and turned around with the chair so that she was now facing him. Jay sat down on another chair. "Thanks for the advice too, although I already decided Erin can have the wedding however she wants it. I was just telling you what I hope. Loads of people fussing around me isn't what I'd prefer at all."

Raquel put a reassuring hand on his knee. "Erin will be well aware of that, and I'm sure she'll keep it in mind."


After the catch up with Raquel, Jay went to the catering area to grab a coffee. He was feeling happy now that Raquel had agreed to be his best woman. As ever, his brain had found a way to make him expect something negative to happen and part of him had been waiting for her to turn him down, even though at the same time he knew she would never do that to him.

At this particular arena there was only one coffee machine in the catering area and a short line had formed as people waited to use it. Jay happened to line up behind Clementine, someone he felt moderately comfortable talking to on a social level.

"Hey, Clem," he ventured.

Clementine turned and greeted him with a smile. "Jay. How's it going?"

"Pretty good. You?"

"Hanging in there. Want to grab a table? I'll fix your drink."

"Sure. Thank you," Jay said. He felt kind of backed into a corner, but he knew it was good to push himself into more social situations.

They were soon sitting opposite each other at a table. Clem had fixed his coffee how he liked it without needing to ask him. Apparently she had paid attention at some point in one of many creative meetings. Attention to detail was very much her thing.

"How's Erin doing?" was Clem's opener. "Haven't talked to her much lately."

"That must mean you're happy with your creative," he replied with a grin. "She's doing good. Just crazy busy all the time. I have no idea how she does it. How's Alexa?"

"Really well," Clem said, her face lighting up as soon as she thought of her girl. True love, Jay recognised.

"What does she do? I know pretty much nothing about her other than she seems nice, and she's real pretty."

Clem beamed at the compliment. "Isn't she? She's such an amazing partner in life, more importantly. I wouldn't be sitting here right now if it wasn't for her. To answer your question, she's a behaviour analysis expert and an interrogator for the FBI."

"Is she really?" Jay said, raising his eyebrows. His interest was very much piqued. He could only imagine how some suspects would easy work for someone who looked like Alexa. That no doubt made her formidable at her job.

"She is. Safe to say it teaches you to be honest, dating someone in that line if work."

"Right," Jay said, laughing. "So, doing a job like that, she must be reading people all the time. That's actually terrifying now that I think about it."

"She does read people. Like I said, I wouldn't be sitting here without her. When I was at the point where I had decided to leave WWE and Erin was trying to convince me to stay, Lexi told me to give her time to come through on her promises to fix thinks. She told me she saw Erin as an honest person who wants to do her best for people, although she, Erin I mean, was wary that she might be out of her depth."

"Damn," Jay breathed. "She got that from a few casual conversations backstage?"

"She's very good at her job. If I could tell you half of the stuff she's worked on for the FBI you'd be amazed, but I'm not supposed to know myself."

"Has she told you what she thinks about me?" Jay asked. He dreaded the answer, but he still couldn't help himself asking.

Clem suddenly seemed awkward. "Well, to be honest I'm not sure if you want me to answer that. Maybe we should talk about something else?"

"No, I want you to tell me," he insisted, now wondering what was so bad that Clem didn't want to say it.

"Alright, if you're sure..."

Jay nodded to confirm that he was.

"Lexi said that based on some of the behaviour, mannerisms and body language she's seen when you're around people, she's confident you were a victim of child abuse. I'm sorry if me saying that hurts you, but you did insist."

Jay felt himself choking up. Alexa had read him like an open book, and somehow it really hurt. "She's right," he said, feeling himself tearing up. He looked down at the table so that Clem couldn't see.

To his surprise, Clem put a hand on top of his in a comforting gesture. "I'm sorry, man. God doesn't pay his debts in money. Whoever hurt you will answer for it one day. If you ever need someone to talk to, all you have to do is ask. That's a serious offer. I wasn't abused as a child but I sure know a lot about childhood suffering. Talking might help."

"Thanks. I'll think about it," Jay muttered.


A/N: Jay has his best woman lined up for his wedding. I'm sure no one doubted Raquel would get the job.

Alexa Bliss being a body language led Jay to tell Clem he was abused as a child. Do you think he should accept her offer to talk about it?