I: Auburn Hair

A limo slowly began to pull up to the back of the arena and right in front of Daniel Bryan who was awaiting for the arrival of CM Punk, whom at this point in time was an ally and good friend to the newly married man. It was twenty-four hours after the match at Extreme Rules 2014 where Punk had been decimated by Dean Ambrose. And Punk, Punk was pissed.

Bryan waved at the limo to stop, as he checked to see whether it was in fact the man that he was waiting for. As soon as the passenger door opened and out stepped Punk, a weapon in hand, Bryan knew what Punk had in mind.

"I thought you might do that," Bryan said, as he watched Punk close the door silently, "Just this one time, I'm asking you to use your head. Hey, this is not a joking matter, I understand what went down. Beth means a lot to me too. Punk, I'm not going to let this happen." Punk continued to ignore the man. He was blinded by rage and the only thing that would stop this hunger for revenge was by bashing in Ambrose's skull.

"Would you please relax," Bryan begged, "Hey, would you please just chill out? You're busted up, I understand you're hurt. You can't do it this way, would you just calm your head down. I'm not gonna let it happen. The Authority is not going to let it happen. Calm down, give me that." Bryan reached for the weapon that Punk had brought with him to the arena, but Punk kept it out of his reach.

"Give me it," Bryan snapped, reaching for the weapon one more time, "Listen, just listen to me. Just listen to me. Would you chill out? What are you gonna do? You gonna go out there with Dean Ambrose, that's exactly what they want to happen." Bryan followed Punk as he made his way into the building and towards the locker rooms. He was going to hunt down Ambrose like the dog he was until everything was right again, until Beth was safe.

"Huh, you got all this," Bryan shouted, pointing to the weapon, "You gonna bash his head in, I don't think so. I don't think so." The pair continued to walk through the backstage area as Punk continued his hunt for the Hounds of Justice. He couldn't wait to free her from that insanity.

"What are you gonna do," Bryan asked, as they got closer to the Shield's locker room, "What are you gonna do now? Huh, what are you gonna bang the door down. Huh, you wanna go in there and just…fine, go in there then. That's what you wanna do? Go for it. Is this gonna make you feel better? Is this what you wanna do?" Punk and Bryan came to the Shield's locker room and Punk tried to open the lock door.

"Come on," Bryan started again, "I'm beggin' you to just listen to me. Just listen to me."

"Get out of the way," Punk warned, speaking for the first time since he had stepped out of the limo and Daniel Bryan begged him to not go through with this.

"What are you doing?" Punk raised the sledgehammer that he had brought with him and started to bang on the locked door, finally breaking into the…empty locker room. He stepped through the door as Bryan continued to scream at him.

"There's nobody in there," Bryan told him, "Come on now, listen to me. Relax! You gotta use your head." Punk exited the locker room and stalked past Bryan. If he wasn't going to be able to find Ambrose, he was going to bring him right to him.

"Would you use your head," Bryan screamed, as he followed behind him, "Remember what-where are you going, huh, where are you goin' now? Would you just stop and give me that?"

"I'm goin' to the ring," Punk growled, once more keeping the sledgehammer out of Bryan's reach.

"You're goin' to the ring," Bryan repeated, "What do you think you're doin'? Remember one thing, I'm stopping, I'm not gonna be there with you. You remember one thing, she's still Beth. I know how bad you're in pain, but she's still Beth."

He shouldn't have lost. His little protégée, the Diva from Toronto, the auburn haired, brown eyed Beth was sitting ringside begging him to get her out of this mess with Dean Ambrose and the rest of the Shield and he failed her. He lost when Ambrose hit him in the head with a sledgehammer introduced by the COO Triple H.

Grabbing the microphone that was being held out to him, he turned towards the stage not caring about all the theatrics, he wanted his revenge, he wanted to free Beth and most importantly he wanted to knock Dean Ambrose out with a sledgehammer of his very own.

"Alright, Ambrose," Punk called looking at the stage, "Come on out. Come on out, you coward. Come on out, you rapist. What have you done to her? What have you done to Beth? Damn it, you better come out or I'm coming back there-" Suddenly the Shield's music hit and the lights went out. Punk threw the mic to the ground and held the sledgehammer in both of his hands ready for Ambrose to make his entrance.

But, instead of Ambrose…it was Beth. Punk looked at the stage confused, dropping the sledgehammer from one of his hands as Beth climbed into the ring and came face to face with the man that had once meant so much to her.

"What are you gunna do with that sledgehammer, Punk," Beth asked, "What are you gonna do with it? You wanna bash Dean's head in? Do you wanna bash my brains in?" Punk looked at Beth affronted that she thought that he would even lay a hand on her.

"Do it," Beth ordered, causing Punk's eyes to widen, "Raise that hammer high above your head and bash in my brains." Punk looked at her lowered the sledgehammer, he tried to reason with his former protégée, but she wasn't having it.

"That's the only way you're going to get to Dean," she told him, "Because like it or not, Punk, we're married." Beth held up the ring that lay on her finger and wiggled it in front of Punk's face.

"You see, Punk," Beth started, "It's always been about what you like and what you want even at the expense of your own relationships. I did love Colt, but I wasn't ready to get married. That's what you wanted." Punk continued to watch Beth in confusion. He had no idea how the sweet girl that just wanted him to teach her had become the woman that now stood in front of him.

"And you know what Punk," Beth asked, "I'm not the Second City's Saints' go to girl anymore. I'm doing things my way and it feels damn good. You know, I have to admit, I use to get butterflies when Dean would look at me. I didn't want to, I didn't really mean to, but just the way that he would stand up to those who thought they had power, he was so strong and powerful himself. And he out smarted you by making business personal and that's something you know all about, Punk isn't it, making business personal." Punk looked at her trying to make sense of everything that was coming out of her mouth.

"Oh, you look confused, like you don't remember," Beth acknowledged, "I guess it's been a long time. It's been almost a year, since you had me abducted. You had me locked in a rat infested basement with no light. I thought no one was coming for me and you put me there. You put me there, and then you had someone riffle through all of my personal and private things in my bedroom at my parents' house. I didn't know what kind of person had been through all of my private things. You made them do it, you did." The crowd began to boo as Punk looked at Beth apologetically. It was true, he did do all of those things, but it was for her. It was all for her.

"And then the icing on the cake," Beth said, looking at him miserably, "You had me strapped to a symbol and carried down to this ring to be sacrificed to the Wyatt Family in a wedding. You did it. I was sacrificed alright, at the expense of the man who claimed he wanted nothing more than to protect me simply, so you could screw the McMahon family." Punk looked up to the ceiling, silently begging her to stop. Silently begging for her to become sweet little Bethany Rose again.

"But, you know what Punk," Beth asked, "Like I said a couple weeks ago on SmackDown what goes around, comes around. You hurt me and what's the best way that I could hurt you back by marrying one of the men that you hate the most, my husband, Dean Ambrose, a member of the Shield." Beth turned to walk away, but turned back before she fully exited the ring.

"Oh, oh and by the way," Beth stated, "Punk just so you know, Dean really turns me on."With those final words, Beth turned her back on Punk and made her way up the ramp as once again the Shield's theme began to play throughout the arena and at the top of the stage stood Dean. Beth made her way towards her not so estranged husband a wide smile on her face.

"Punk," Dean started, "The one mistake I made last night was leaving you in a puddle of your own blood, unconscious, so you couldn't see the deal get sealed. So, Punk, one more time just for you, let me put the sealer on it. I'm gonna seal it with a kiss." Punk watched in dismay as Dean pulled Beth to him and placed his lips on hers. The pair separated after a few long moments that to Punk felt like an eternity and turned to smirk in his direction.

"So," Phil started as soon as both he and Jon were through the curtains, "Are you gonna tell her?"

"Tell who what," Jonathan Good asked the Best in the World looking confused, as he watched Beth run off to the Divas locker room.

"Beth," Phil clarified, "Are you gonna tell Beth that maybe this storyline isn't so fake after all, are you gonna tell her that you really do like her and that you enjoy working with her?"

"She's dating someone," Jon said, not taking his eyes of the spot where the auburn haired Toronto Native had disappeared, "She's with that actor Stefan Smoak or whatever."

"Stephen. Stefan is a character in that show about the lovesick vampires that she watches for some unknown reason," Phil corrected, "And yeah, but that doesn't mean that you can't tell her. I'd prefer you to him actually…at least you wouldn't knock the fact that she and I have matching tattoos." Jon chuckled as he thought about said tattoo. Several months after they had first met, Beth and Phil went down to a local tattoo place had and gotten matching tattoos of the roman numeral for four (IV). It was a symbol of luck, love and family for Beth, the symbol making its way onto all of her ring gear, and while Phil didn't believe in luck, he believed in Beth and thought it would be the perfect symbol for their friendship.

"He's just jealous," Jon muttered to Phil as some of the Divas walked by them, "Not to mention you haven't exactly hidden your hatred of him."

"Well one of us has to let her know how we feel," Phil said, "Not to mention he puts her in all kinds of danger. Have you seen how that man drives?"

"You know," Jon started, "If I didn't know better I would think that you were her father rather than just her best friend."

"Hardy har har," Phil fake laughed, "I'm serious, have you seen the way that man drives even without her in the car? I know he's part of those car racing movies, but he doesn't need to drive like that all the time." Jon just shook his head as the two men made their way towards the locker room.

"I was in the car with the two of them when we were in LA for Summerslam and I swear to you, he was going eighty over the speed limit," Phil recounted, "Beth was holding onto her seat, her knuckles were white from how hard she was holding on." Jon looked at him.

"Then why does she get in the car with him?"

"Because she 'loves' him," Phil complained, "Ha, what does she know about love?"

"Who doesn't know love," said Colby Lopez, as the Best in the World and his fellow Shield stable member walked into the locker room.

"Beth," Jon explained, as he started getting ready for the match that they were going to have later on in the night.

"Oh," Colby answered, "He complaining about Smoak again?" Jon nodded as Phil continued to complain about his friend's boyfriend as two of the three Shield members looked on. Phil, Colby and the other shield member Joe Anoa'i were aware of Jon's feelings for Beth and all of them shared a hatred for the man that she was currently dating Stephen Smoak.

"And God," Phil continued to complain, "Have you noticed that if any of us are even near them, he can't help, but maul her in front of us. It looks like he's trying to swallow her entire face. I swear, I've vomited in my mouth a few times when they start."

"How do you think he'd feel if we told him Beth has said the same thing about him and April," Colby whispered to Jon causing the other man to almost burst into laughter. This however went unnoticed by Phil as he was still complaining about Smoak.

"And don't even get me started on that pathetic smirk that he does," Phil continued, "And no matter what we're doing when we are forced to sit through those torturous moments in which Beth makes us actually speak to the slime bag, that smirk finds its way onto his face. And don't even get me started-"

"Phil," Beth called from the other side of the door, causing Phil to shut up almost instantly.

"We're still clothed Beth, you can come in," he answered. Beth quickly opened the door and looked at the three men that were sitting in the locker room. She had her baby pink phone in her hands and a sheepish smile on her face.

"No," Phil said, almost instantly as if knowing what she was going to say, "No, no, no, no, no."

"You don't even know what I was going to say," Beth told him, rolling her eyes at him.

"Does it involve Stefan," Phil asked, purposely getting his name wrong.

"You know his name is Stephen and yes."

"Then the answer is still the same," Phil said, pulling his wrestling attire out of his travel bag, "Not that you even need my permission to do anything despite what Good and Lopez over here think, I am not your father and nor do I act like him."

"But, it's technically your bus even though you are currently letting me-" Phil's eyes widened at the same that Jon and Colby crushed the soda cans that they had previously been drinking from in their hands causing the soda to go everywhere.

"And he's in the parking lot right now and I can't go back to the hotel until after the main event and he took out the convertible tonight," Beth continued to explain. The guys couldn't believe what they were hearing and more importantly they couldn't believe that Beth thought that Phil would actually give her permission to…

"Well in that case," Phil started finally recovering from his shock, "My answer is…"

"Oh thank-"

"Hell no."

"Phil," Beth whined, "I just need to talk to him somewhere where a bunch of nosey paparazzo's and Divas won't overhear what's being said."

"Oh in that case," Phil said, looking as he was about to change his mind, "No. Beth, you know how I feel about strangers on the bus-"

"But, he's not a stranger," Beth argued, "He's-" Phil held up a hand and Beth instantly quieted. Jon and Colby watched in slight amusement. This was why they said that Phil acted more like her father rather than her best friend. They definitely had more of a father-daughter relationship than that of best friends.

"Beth," Phil started again, "Maybe stranger wasn't the correct word to use. I don't want Stephen Smoak anywhere near our bus and that's final." Beth looked at her best friend and nodded. What she had needed to tell Stephen wasn't important enough that it couldn't wait until after the show.

"Okay," she relented, "It's probably for the better anyway, the last thing Stephen needs is rumors starting from a set of scandalous photos that some creepy pap might get of me and him entering or leaving the bus." With those final words she left offering a small wave to the group of men just as Joe Anoa'i entered the locker room. Phil groaned as soon as she left the room.

"What's his problem," Joe asked his stable mates, as he watched Phil run his hands over his face in frustration, "No wait, let me guess. It starts with an 'S' and ends with a 'moak." His stable mates nodded, but the look on Jon's face told him something was bothering him as well.

"Smoak bothering you too," Joe asked, as he nudged Jon's shoulder with his fist.

"Was it just me or did anyone else notice…"