Sometimes the hardest part isn't letting go but rather learning to start over

—-Nicole Sobon

Epilogue

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{o}-{o}-{o}

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"Mox-my-man!" Sami said, as they high-fived each other in the locker room. "It's good to see you back! How's your brother doing?"

Mox continued putting gear into his new locker. He liked the new training center. Everything was bigger and cleaner, including the lockers. He could put his duffel bag easily into these. And, they had real padlocks too, not combination locks that could be figured out in an instant. "Roman is doing great," he said. "He's even got enough hair to make it look like a hair style of choice, not some in between garbage."

"And it's as soft as a kitten's belly," Seth added from the locker next to his.

"Dude, I'm not sure I want to know how you know how soft Roman's hair is," Sami laughed.

"It's not as weird as you might think." Mox came to Seth's defense. "May is amazed by it and tells everyone, 'go ahead, touch it!' Roman's cool about it. He says he remembers Lance's hair being soft like that when his grew in after chemo. But, when Seth came to pick me up, May told Seth to touch it."

"And like most tiny women, she's got that way of making you feel that requests are really orders," Seth said.

"Yeah," Mox agreed. "But yeah, Roman is in complete remission. He's putting his business degree to work by doing all the administration stuff for SPWA. Which is great for Mom and Dad because it means less work for them. Especially Mom."

"Even better, when he's fully recovered? He's going to go into wrestling," Seth said eagerly. "I mean, I'm sorry his football career is over, but if he can't follow that dream, he should be a wrestler."

"You just want to reform the Citadel," Sami said with a laugh, then clapped Mox on the shoulder. "Again, glad you're back. I'm glad Roman's doing good, too. I've got a meeting with The Powers That Be. I'll catch you later."

"Yeah," Mox said. "I've got drills."

"Let's hope they don't start you at the bottom," Sami said, heading for the door. "I saw your SPWA shows on YouTube, you don't have ring rust on you."

He didn't talk about the time when Mox wasn't on because he was recovering, which Mox was relieved about.

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It was strange being back, because everything had changed while still remaining the same. It wasn't FCW anymore, it was NXT. They had a brand new training center that smelled like citrus cleaning products and not citrus cleaning products covering the smell of sweat and mold. It wasn't just the building that was new, everything inside of it had been replaced, except for some of the work out equipment and wrestling rings, but those even had been cleaned, polished, and refurbished as needed.

They were going to have weekly shows in front of a live audience at Full Sail University. In an arena that had been built just for them. Triple H was already in negotiations to get their shows put on TV. Maybe not live, but an hour show that would be made from the best of the three hour weekly performances. There were even whispers and rumors about how Vince McMahone wanted to start a private network just for the WWE and the NXT shows might be able to be seen on that. Seth though, had told him that according to Hunter, that was going to take "quite a bit" of time and effort before it would happen, but still, it was something that might happen and that was exciting too.

But, a lot of the faces were the same. Yes, some had moved up in the time he'd been gone. Some had decided this wasn't the life for them, or were told this life wasn't for them. Hunter was still the boss, but it seemed like he had less to answer for with Vince. Dan was still around, but he had two other folks working with him, which meant he was the head writer.

There were new faces too, Mox had seen them passing him in the halls as Seth had shown him around. He hadn't introduced him to anyone, but there had been a few waves and Seth would tell him their name and how long they'd been there. Mox thought he'd meet these folks soon enough.

It was good to be back. He missed home. But he didn't miss all the days of misery while they waited to see if Roman was going to beat this. He didn't miss the feeling that his wrestling career was going to go stagnant. He loved the feeling that his life was back on track.

He did miss Alexa. Even though their last intimate moment had been that kiss on his bed, after a few weeks of awkwardness, they had settled into being friends, maybe even good friends. She'd hugged him when Seth had come to get him, telling him that he'd better work hard to move up, or else he'd risk running into her before he did. He teased her that he'd warn all the Diva's to expect her. Lance had been there, home on a vacation break and commented that Mox would bellow, then explained that it was a Star Trek reference, that Klingons would scream when one of them died to warn the dead a Klingon Warrior was coming. Okay, the joke fell a little flat, but Mox got the sentiment.

Even better, his family, including his mother, had started to accept her. His mother had been the hardest to bring around, but after a lot of discussions, Mox managed to get her to understand that Alexa was as much of a victim as he was. "The only difference is how we handle it." Jen still wasn't treating her with the same warmth and love that she gave to May or Raven, but she'd thawed a lot, especially as Mox got better.

Alexa had taken Sefa's requirement that she see someone about her anger issues and unlike Mox had been at first, she took it seriously. For awhile, every time Mox saw her right after a session, it looked as if she'd been crying and while he didn't like seeing her in pain, he knew sometimes you had to go through the darkness before you saw the light. One night when she was at dinner, which sometimes she still took with the family, she mentioned that her therapist had proposed the idea that she should reach out to her parents, let them know she was alive and try to start a relationship and Alexa was considering it carefully. Mox had the feeling this was going to happen sooner than Alexa herself might realize.

One of the last conversations he'd heard between Alexa and Jen, was Jen telling Alexa that should she reach out to her folks, that she was welcome to invite them to the camp, if that would make her more comfortable, rather than trying to go to Ohio, where it might be overwhelming. Mox had smiled, thinking Jen was remembering how it had been for him to go and meet his mom and her family. She's trying to think of ways to make it easier on Alexa. She's accepting her. He wondered if some day, she might become a surrogate daughter, much as May and Raven were. That might take a little, maybe even a lot longer, but he could almost see that day.

God is in his heaven and everything is all right with the world he thought, as he changed into his work out gear. He smiled to himself, thinking how pleased Roman would be that he'd had the thought. Almost as pleased as Lance would be irritated.

The only thing he still wasn't sure about was his romantic future. Twice, May had set him up on dates. Okay, they weren't really dates, it was more of a situation that some friend of May's, be it from wrestling or gymnastics, would be in Florida and since that friend, herself, and Roman were going to dinner, Mox might as well tag along. They had been fun nights, in both cases the girls had been attractive, intelligent and in the case of one woman, very funny. But he hadn't felt any type of spark. The funny one had even grown serious enough to suggest maybe they could 'get together' while she was in Florida, making it clear it would be nothing more than an extended one night stand. He wasn't interested. He saw a variety of very attractive women at the camp, and he could acknowledge they indeed were beautiful, but that was as far as it went, he never had the desire to ask them out, he was willing to appreciate them as he might appreciate a beautiful painting at a museum. Something to admire, but not to make a part of his everyday life.

That was okay too, though. Roman said things took time and maybe it was time, or maybe that part of him wasn't going to get fixed. Sure, he'd love to experience romance and sex, but he also knew he was never going to be the type to go for casual sex, but there wasn't anything wrong with it. He wasn't worried, either it would happen or it wouldn't. I've got time, he told himself, heading toward the door. Nothing has to be rushed.

He opened the door to the locker room but as he stepped out, something, no, someone crashed into him, knocking him to the floor. "Hey!" he shouted, more in surprise than anger. He looked up to see a thin blonde woman wearing a pair of black jeans and a pretty blouse.

Something lurched inside of him. He couldn't explain it, but even though she was flustered, he thought her eyes were beautiful. He almost wanted to stand up and kiss her on the tip of that adorable little nose of hers.

"I'm so sorry!" she said, reaching out her hand to help him up. He accepted it and realized as she helped him that under her skinny frame, she was no weakling. "I'm just running late this morning. I have a meeting with Mr. Helmsley. But that doesn't excuse not being careful. Again, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay." He smiled. Her rushed explanations even seemed cute, but those eyes… those eyes of her, they didn't appeal to the cute side of him at all. Her eyes might sparkle, but he could see a lot more than innocent mischief in them. Before he could think about it, before he could even stop himself, he blurted out, "If you really want to make it up to me, you could take me for coffee."

She stopped then, and looked him over. I am the biggest fucking idiot in the world he thought, expecting her to squirm and try to figure out how to get out of this. But to his shock and delight she smiled. "That sounds fair," she said, and her eyes told him she thought it was a little more than "fair," that it was actually a pretty great idea. "How about after work, tonight, uh, oh crap, I don't know your name."

"Mox," he said, then remembered that wasn't his name here. "Well, Mox is my real life nickname. Around here, I'm Dean Ambrose. And tonight sounds great." He realized that he'd have to depend on her for a ride home or ask Seth along, since Seth had the only car, but he didn't care. He'd happily walk home if he had to, just to spend some time with this woman who made him feel so wonderfully strange.

"Nice to meet you, Dean, or Mox, whichever you'd prefer." Smiling, held out her hand to shake. "I'm Renee Young."

Thank you, anyone who read this far.

And Lynn? One last question... what do you think this society should do about their immune compromised? I mean, should we wait until hospitals and everyone who is at risk has enough of the N-95 masks and gloves so we might be safe while you go out for your pizza and hang at your bar?

Or is it just all about killing off the weak?