Disclaimer: I own nothing. Everything and everyone (characters) affiliated with the WWE belong to Vince McMahon.
A/N: This story takes place before the draft but will later become more current since Maria is now on Smack Down. Doesn't really follow the timeline.
It began as a storyline but grew into so much more, or at least on one side. Raw's youngest and most bubbly diva Maria was in a relationship on and off screen with Santino Marella. Everything was perfect or so Maria thought. Funny how one person can destroy everything and how another can fix what was destroyed.
3 Months Prior
Vince McMahon owner of the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) was walking down the corridor towards the arena to make an announcement when he noticed that Maria was walking towards him. He remembered that he was going to send someone to let her know that she was to go to his office to discuss her job.
Vince waved to Maria and motioned for her to stop. "Maria may I have a word with you in private please? " He asked as if giving her a choice. Everyone knew that you don't dismiss Vince McMahon if you want to keep you job.
Maria was hesitant but answered back with a fake smile. The real reason that Maria was nervous and worried was because Vince never sought out people in the corridor unless something bad was going to happen to their character or they were in some kind of trouble.
"Don't look at me like that, its nothing serious I promise that you're not in any kind of trouble and before you ask your job is not in any kind of jeopardy." said a reassuring Vince and was rewarded with an honest smile from the bubbly diva.
"Oh well thanks then. So what can I help you with?" Maria asked walking down the corridor with Vince until they reached his office and went inside. She sat down in the chair across from Vince's office.
"Well as you may know you first started with the company as a backstage interviewer, mainly because you were a little shy to get into the ring. It has come to my attention that you have been doing some training in hopes of being able to be a wrestler and not just a piece of 'eye candy'. Am I correct?"
"Yes, its true that at first I was a little hesitant, but I have been here for awhile now and am hoping to become a wrestler in the ring."
"Well since you will be new to the wrestling abilities we and by we I mean me and the creative department have decided to give you a push. We are going to start you off in some small matches with the other divas to begin with as well as having you compete in some contests so that the fans will get to know you and come to like you."
""Okay that sounds easy enough." Maria was getting ready to leave when Vince called her back.
"Wait I forgot to mention that creative will also like to put you into a storyline with Santino Marella which could evolve into a romantic storyline depending on the chemistry and if you two are able to pull it off."
Maria nodded in agreement and walked out in search of her friends to tell them the good news. True enough Maria was given the push that Vince had talked about. She began with contests such as a Halloween costume contest and bikini contests among others. She even started in some matches with the other divas such as pillow fight, cheerleaders and bras and panties. Granted they weren't really wrestling matches but hey they were a start.
As for the storyline that seemed okay. Maria become comfortable around Santino and had good chemistry that creative decided to turn the storyline into romance. Maria was a little worried at first because she knew that Santino was viewed as a hell especially after what happened in the match between Jeff Hardy and Carlito.
At first she didn't want to be near Santino, considering how close she was with Jeff Hardy nobody could blame her. After a while Maria began to see Santino outside of work and ended up becoming friend then a romance off screen as well as on screen with the Italian superstar.
"Maria, are you sure about Santino?" asked a worried punk diva (Ashley).
"Ash for the last time, yes I'm sure about Santino. We are taking things slow to see where this relationship will go, that is if we are to pursue a relationship," replied a happy Maria.
"Okay if you say so. I just don't want to see you get hurt again."
"I promise I know what I'm doing and if I do get hurt I will come straight to you and you will fix the problem as usual," replied a giggling Maria to her friend who just rolled her eyes.
"Whatever, just remember that I have connections if you need anything done," replied a smirking punk diva.
Maria seemed a little confused because she knew that Ashley was not involved in anything to do with the mall. Ashley saw the look on Maria's face and couldn't help but laugh. "It's not what you think. You know me the whole mob "business" scares me. I meant the connections here in the business. You know John, Randy, Jeff and others will be more than happy to teach Santino a few lessons on how to treat a girl right."
Maria and Ashley couldn't help but laugh as they were walking down the corridor on their way to their match against the "paparazzi princess" Melina and the wannabe "Britney Spears" Jillian.
According to all her friends not just Ashley, Santino was bad news and Maria deserved better than a wannabe 'Italian Stallion'. At first Maria ignored her friends warnings and concerns and proceeded to hang out with Santino. Since she refused to listen to them and they kept saying things about her budding relationship Maria stopped talking to her friends and hung out with Santino's mainly his tag team partner Carlito, not to mention the divas that she normally would not associate with Melina, Beth Phoenix and Jillian Hall.
"You know what Ashley, I am sick and tired of having to defend my relationship to you and the others. If you were my friend you would be happy for me and not question me," with that said Maria stormed off in search of Santino.
After several days of the silent treatment from Maria, Ashley along with her other friends noticed that she was not going to change her mind. She was stubborn like that; they all decided that they would tolerate the obnoxious Italian so that they could still talk and hangout with Maria. Easier said than done.
"Okay Maria you win. If you want to continue your relationship with Santino there is nothing any of us can do." Ashley spoke when she cornered Maria in the locker room.
"Yeah Maria we will tolerate Santino if that is the only way we can still talk to you…" commented Candice "…right Mickie?" Mickie nodded in agreement.
Maria however continued to stick up for her boyfriend when her friends would talk about his faults. Especially how he would cancel plans at the last minute and usually would let her know by leaving a message on her phone or having one of the crewmembers pass her a note. Santino would also make her change her plans whenever he didn't want to spend time with her friends or do things that she wanted to do. Slowly but surely Maria began to lose her self-confidence and would check with Santino before she made any plans with the other divas.
Present
Looking back how regrets that she ignored her friends concerns and warnings. Her life would be so much simpler if she had listened. All she wanted to do know was return to the hotel to sleep and pretend that the past three months or so never happened. How she missed her best guy friend at times like these. Oh well she would be seeing him in about three more months or so, depending on his recovery.