Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or people in this story. The characters belong to WWE, and the real people own themselves.

Since the Dolph/AJ break up, I've been contemplating a fic, and so I decided to go ahead and write one based around that. It was hard since I hate the break up so very, very much, but I also like angst (although I like to read it more than write it, hint hint for any writers out there) and this is what happens when I try to write angst.

Anyways, this was written after SmackDown but before Raw, so everything after SmackDown is going to be pretty much ignored as I'm taking it in my own direction. So that's what you need to know, hope you enjoy it, and reviews would be very welcome, let me know if it's actually worth continuing! Be brutal too if you want, I'm not thin-skinned. :)

It wasn't supposed to end this way.

But then, she thought it would never end.

Naïve? Perhaps, but when something was so good for so long, you let yourself believe that it could always be that good. Sometimes, you let yourself believe that you could actually be loved by someone who you love back. Sometimes, you even think that for once, something isn't going to be one-sided, that your affection will be returned in kind, that your love will not be thrown back in your face. Sometimes, you let your guard down in a way you haven't in such a long time because you so fervently believe that everything good will stay.

It never does.

And when it falls apart, what's left? The bitter disappointment of what could have been. The lingering agony of all you could have done differently, all you should have done differently, that's what you're left with. There's nobody there to catch you either, so there's just an abyss, a dark cavern you stare at face first. You let your arms go because falling is all you do. You fall further and further into the murky darkness because your safety net was not so safe at all.

He never even let her explain.

She should have noticed the change, but it was so subtle at the time. Now, looking back, it was glaring, all of it, just glaring at her, eyes narrowed, arms folded, flashing red signs telling her to beware, and she ignored them all. She should have seen it coming though, but how could she? How could she when he took her on a mini-vacation, how could she when he wanted to wear her shirt in front of God and the world in order to show his support? How could she have seen it? How could she have noticed the glare when she was blinded by the light?

"Dolph, please answer your phone, please?" her voice sounded strange even to her own ears. So many months had passed since she used this voice, this desperate girl voice, pleading and whimpering, and worst of all, sad. Not since Cena started to phase her out had she used this particular voice, and so it didn't even sound like her anymore, not the confident woman she'd become in seven short months. "Please, please, just let me explain. I don't want to do it over the phone, not like this, please, just let me explain."

She thought he would. The Dolph she grew accustomed to would have let her explain. The Dolph she knew wouldn't even ask her to explain because he would have known she only had his best intentions at heart. He would know she saw Del Rio going for his head, he would have felt the fear coursing through her like a shot of adrenaline to her heart. He would have known because he always seemed to know, always seemed to understand what she was about before she could even figure it out.

He wasn't her Dolph anymore. Not like it was before. Was it the concussion? Did the concussion knock something loose in his brain that made him blind to her, that made him suddenly not want her around? She wracked her brain constantly trying to pinpoint the moment when everything changed, but it never came to her, no matter how hard she thought, no matter how many pictures she looked through, shows she watched, tweets she read. She could not find the moment where it all changed, and it frustrated her.

Should she have acted out of pure spite like she did on Monday? No, she shouldn't have, but it was another heartbreak, another loss in a long line of losses. She loved him more than the rest combined. Daniel, Punk, Kane, Cena, they all became figments of her imagination, muddled, fever-like memories, things you conjured up when you were delusional. Her "love" for them had not been real, but with Dolph, it was real, and it was more, and it was devastating to know that he threw it away because she made a mistake…and she didn't even really see it as a mistake. She saw it as her caring more about her boyfriend than some silly power couple title.

He was angry with her, she got that, she understood it, but to not hear her out, to just dump her, leave her in front of everyone, make her the laughingstock of the WWE once again, she went crazy, and Big E, the only one to see her distress, immediately jumped on board to help her. He was a good friend, and she was happy someone was on her side in a time when it felt like nobody was. After it was over, she convinced herself that it could not get worse. That seeing the man she loved beaten by her own hand was the worst it could possibly get.

"I'm sorry I didn't do it a hell of a lot sooner."

"I'm sorry I didn't do it a hell of a lot sooner."

"I'm sorry I didn't do it a hell of a lot sooner."

The last bit of hope, confidence, everything just kind of broke inside of her. It wasn't like a dam, with every emotion flooding her all at once. It was like what she imagined drowning to be, slow, painful, and with an imminent death you tried so hard to stop by treading water as long as you could, but eventually falling as your limbs became heavy and the water consumed you. She felt consumed and she lashed out because what was there left?

Big E was there, and suddenly, he was in front of her, consuming her vision, and she was confused, and weirded out, and when she thought he might kiss her, he instead kissed her forehead. She stood there, watching as he walked away and she didn't know what that was, what was going on in his head, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know. She just knew that her lungs were filling up with despair, and she had no idea what was going on. So she just stood there. She just stood there backstage and stared at an empty future that once seemed so filled.

"No, no, it was a great match!" Dolph slapped Zack on the shoulder. "I mean, I won, didn't I? And without anyone's help, and I was outnumbered because the jackass had his two jackasses with him, and I still won."

"Yeah, yeah, we get it, bro, you're the best," Zack rolled his eyes. He looked straight ahead and saw AJ standing there, looking practically catatonic. He stopped and nodded his head forward, making Dolph look over and see AJ standing there.

Her hands were limp at her sides, and her hair was still mussed from her tantrum earlier. Her shirt looked rumpled and her back was hunched over. What struck him most was her lack of movement. She was just standing there, doing nothing, looking at nothing, acting as if the world was stopped around her. He frowned a little bit, and sent Zack off.

"Dude," Zack whispered to him, "look, maybe you shouldn't—"

"No, it's cool, whatevs," Dolph shrugged, "I'll just tell her to, you know, go."

"But—"

"It's fine," Dolph insisted, "I'll catch up with you so we can get out of here in a little bit."

"Okay, sure," Zack said, taking a detour down another hallway as Dolph thought about how to approach AJ, who still hadn't moved. He licked his lips a little bit before he walked over to her, standing next to her, but she barely seemed to notice his presence.

"AJ." She startled, as if waking from a dream and she lifted her head up, turning it to look at him. Her hair fell into her face sloppily, shrouding much of it from him, but he could plainly see the dullness of it all. She was such a vibrant person usually. "What are you doing standing here?"

"When?" she croaked, her voice sullen with emotion.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, staring at her.

"When?" she asked a little louder, but with the same tone of emotion.

"When what?"

"When was it?" she asked, standing straighter now, her back arching as she side-eyed him. Her look didn't hold venom, just sadness. She felt sad looking at him, looking at a future she planned out but would never have. That's what she got for making plans. They always fell through. Maybe she just wasn't meant to have plans.

"I don't—"

"You should have broken up with me sooner, when?" she asked, still not fully facing him. "I just want to know the when, Dolph, that's all. Please, just give me the when."

"Look, AJ, we had a lot of fun, it was fun, but it's time to move on, you know," he said quickly, "and it's just…we were moving in different directions, and Sunday was the last straw, you know, I was thinking about it for a while, and it was just the last straw."

"I loved you," she told him, simply, plainly, without histrionics or breaking down, no tears or whimpers, no hissy fits and tantrums. "I gave you everything, I gave you everything that I never gave any of the others."

"I've got to go, AJ," he told her, his voice stern, like she was going to start begging. She wasn't. She'd begged before, and she'd been humiliated then. She wasn't about to put herself through that again. If Dolph wanted nothing to do with her, he would have nothing to do with her. He was headstrong and stubborn, and he would stick with his conviction, the conviction telling him that he did not need her, that he may have never needed her.

"Okay," she responded because what more could she do? There were no words to make him say, no magic.

"Look, if you and E are…well, if you and him are whatever, I mean, you just…that wasn't a thing when we were together, was it?" he asked, sucking at his teeth a little bit. He stared at her this time, capturing her eyes, making it so she couldn't look away even if she tried.

"I don't know what that was," AJ admitted, "it was weird…way weird…I don't…it was not anything I wanted."

"Well, just…be careful," he said lamely, forcing an awkward smile on his face, "like, I mean, you know, whatevs."

He walked away from her then, quickly, not looking back once. She watched him go, looking around to see if anyone was near her, but she was alone again. She had to at least try and talk to him. She started jogging towards him and grabbed him by the arm, surprising him as she stood there, gazing up at him. He opened his mouth, and she had the urge to just launch herself into his arms and kiss him. It worked once, maybe it'd work again, but no, that's not what this was about.

"Can I at least explain to you?" she asked. "You don't have to take me back, I'm not asking for you to take me back, I promise, can I at least just explain what happen? Can we at least talk because I'm so confused, Dolph, please."

"AJ, like I said—"

"I heard what you said, but you never listened to what I had to say. You just…you just dumped me, without letting me talk, without hearing me out, and that was not you. That was never you. When I cost you the Elimination Chamber spot, when it was all my fault, you didn't even get mad at me, and I know this was for the World Title, I know it was, but you would have let me explain. I don't understand why this time was different."

"I just…I can't right now," he told her.

"Then you just dump me," she continued without listening to what he said, "and I know I went kind of crazy, and I'm sorry, I just…I was hurt, and you said those things tonight, and I just…I didn't understand, I don't, and you never let me explain, and…you always let me explain!"

"AJ, get a grip," Dolph held her by the shoulders, leaning down so he could look into her eyes. She used to love it when he did that. It was like he never expected her to look up because he would always make sure to come down. "Everything is just…it's too much, okay, just take care of yourself."

Then he was gone again.

It just wasn't supposed to end like this.