AFTER BEING AWAY FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS,
healing from her injuries, she watched from home, watching as the flames began to spark between the shield and the authority.

they protected jerry, who was a fan favourite in his hometown, from corporate kane, but the smirks on their faces started the second they realized that they were now beginning to become one of the faces in the company- one of the good guys.

and when aurora arrived, her stomach and ribs bandaged up, a grin on her face as this felt like she was on cloud nine, but that was shortly ruined by being stopped in the middle of the hallway by her least favourite couple.

"hunter, looks like rory here is ready to fight-"

"i'm cleared. i'm here to put on a show, unlike you who thinks he can win a title against daniel bryan." she had the same shit eating grin she typically had as she dethroned the couple weekly, the cheers from the crowd heard as she was arriving late, her gear already on with her duffle bag in slung across her shoulder.

"you think you're lucky- those nails and chairs were just the beginning, aurora." hunter smirked, before walking passed the brunette, his wife soon following.

"i hate you, aurora. i don't know who thought to hire you for this company, because you've been nothing but a disappointment."

once the camera stopped rolling, aurora hurried towards her locker room, her eyes meeting the faction in wwe that was making headlines most recently.

the raw she was first absent for was when they defied kane, brutalizing him. then once again as they fought against kane in the next couple of weeks.

"rory," the second she heard his raspy voice, she was dropping her duffle bag and latching herself into his arms.

the male unexpecting this type of response, he was quick to welcome the gesture, his larger arms wrapping tightly around her small frame. "hi dean."

soon she was embracing the two remaining members, only to go instantly back towards dean who was seated on her loveseat she was seemingly given this time around. "i'm sorry, darling." he mumbled in her ear, her nodding as she leaned against his warm body she was craving since they hadn't seen one another for three weeks.

"thank you," she said to the entire group, all eyes on her as her back pressed against dean's chest, obviously feeling much more comfortable around him than the others. "you guys finally broke away from them."

"we did it for you, baby girl." roman offered her a simple smile, the warmth she was feeling from the faction made it feel like an easier decision to forgive them for the weeks prior. "it was hard to watch you go through that alone. now you can't go through it alone anymore."

"we have been talking about it- and dependent on your reaction to us now, i think we can all agree that we should start accompanying you to your matches-"

"that's not what this is for, seth. i appreciate the offer, but it doesn't even make sense for a storyline. all of a sudden you guys are walking me to the stage? there's not reasoning behind that as i almost beat this one here," she poked his arm with her nail, a shit eating grin resting on her face once more. "i should still be technically hating you guys. i also should be having a title match against you, ambrose."

"you'll never win against me, darling."

"i always win."

"time to break that streak, huh?"

it was obvious to the two others in the room that they were going to end up being a couple, seeing how close they bonded without knowing much about each other. but how would that work? crazy and a dream girl? that wasn't exactly the easiest pairing, especially with both of their clashing personalities.

neither of the individuals who dean considered his brothers had seen him swoon over a girl like he does with aurora, and their connection alone was enough to convince his teammates that they were not to get involved unless necessary.

plus, they liked the idea of aurora being around more. she was practically going to become one of them.

but how do you forgive people who have caused you physical damage? the knee injury she's had since her match against dean truly still affected her wrestling skills. when batista had grabbed ahold of it, that was one fault she had; aurora was injured and didn't tell anyone.

every thought anyone had about her was that it wore off, that the same injury wasn't being an issue as the brunette girl was fond of her job, especially due to this close group she slowly was letting into her life.

"rory?" dean mumbled into her ear, clearly her mind had drifted elsewhere as she sat in his arms.

there were so many questions left unanswered. yet as her eyes reflected pain, wincing as he patted her lower thigh, closer to her knee that was injured. "what's wrong?"

"it's nothing."

but it was never going to be just 'nothing'.