Solace

Chapter 1

It was not a good night.

Anisa wanted to kill someone. From the moment she walked into the arena, the production manager, Rick Heidman, came up to her with the night's work she had to do. Anisa didn't mind it if Rick didn't treat her like a doormat half the time, but it also came with the territory of being his assistant. Basically, anything Rick needed done that he couldn't do, Anisa had to cover it. She had a lot of love for Rick, but sometimes he rubbed her the wrong way and reminded her of an older brother picking on a younger sister. Tonight, it was Anisa's responsibility to go to every wrestler's dressing room to let them know when their segments were for the show. She also had to make sure every single employee in the company scrawled their signature on the sign-in sheet, which severely annoyed her to no end. How hard was it to scrawl a signature on a piece of paper, honestly?

Sometimes it felt like Anisa worked with a bunch of children who didn't know their heads from their backsides. It was bad enough she loathed talking to about 80% of the WWE roster because they were douchebags and didn't know the meaning of the word respect. Not to mention they couldn't wrestle out of a paper box. However, this was her job and Anisa loved it for the most part, so she did whatever necessary to maintain her position in the company. Rick handed her a small packet with a clipboard that had every employee name on it. She had to go down the list to see which employee hadn't signed off on the paper and then report back to Rick once it was completely filled out.

Oh the joys!

"I'm sorry, Ani, but Vince is changing everything at the last minute again." Rick sounded annoyed, so that made her feel a little better. "And let every employee know who didn't sign the sheet if they don't start following protocol, their asses will be written up."

Anisa rose a slow brow at him, wondering if Rick was serious and could tell by the slight fire in his brown eyes he wasn't messing around. "Got it, anything else?" She suddenly felt obligated to help him since he looked ready to keel over due to all of the last minute changes with the shows lately.

Rick shook his head with a sigh and planted a hand on her shoulder. "Thanks again, honey. I owe you a beer for this." He turned and walked off to start making changes, popping two aspirin to try curtailing a building headache that would turn into a migraine.

"You owe me several."

Rick waved his hand over his head, acknowledging he heard that and agreed. Shaking her head, Anisa looked down at the list and wasn't the least bit surprised to find the first name on it was John Cena. The man could not remember to sign-in for the life of him, no matter how many times he was reprimanded for it. If his very existence was at stake and the only way to save it was to sign on this piece of paper, Cena would've been dead already. He was the epitome of irresponsible and had zero respect for any of the company's policies, always doing things his way. This would not be fun at all, but it was her job and Anisa would do it to the best of her ability – unlike others.

Standing outside John Cena's dressing room, Anisa immediately heard grunting through the door and pinched the bridge of her nose. Apparently, he was getting an impromptu workout from his current girlfriend and WWE Diva, Nicole Garcia-Colace – one half of the Bella Twins simply known as Nikki. Anisa had the unfortunate task of interrupting them and rolled her eyes, pounding a few times on the door. The grunting immediately turned into cussing and shuffling around, amusing Anisa to say the least.

"Cena! Rub it out already and open the door!" She called through it, adding more fuel to the fire and simply stood there while chaos ensued behind the door. Anisa could be a complete bitch when the situation called for it.

5 minutes later, the door ripped open and Cena stood there scowling darkly, the paper instantly flashing in his face. "Look…"

"Sign it and have your little girlfriend do the same."

"Shit girl, you totally iced my flavor!"

"Not my fault you can't handle your responsibilities. Now sign it or Rick will have both of your asses." Anisa ordered, watching John scrawl his name on the paper agitatedly and then handed it over to Nicole, who did the same. Smiling sweetly at Nicole's icy glare, Anisa took the paper once the Diva handed it back to her and tucked it under her arm securely. "And now back to your…session or whatever it was you were doing. Have a nice night."

"Bitch." Nicole muttered, slamming the door shut and went back to the task at hand with her boyfriend.

"Of course I am."

"And that's why I love you so damn much." Mia Malik crowed from behind, having witnessed the whole exchange and tossed an arm around Anisa's shoulders. "That was very well done, if I do say so myself."

Mia Malik was a beautiful woman with long black hair that hugged her waist to perfection and deep brown eyes. She had thick eyelashes Anisa would've killed for along with an outstanding body. Mia was also full-blooded Indian, though she rarely followed her culture, just the style, and had been disowned for her career choice. None of it bothered her because wrestling was her passion, she was good at it and enjoyed all the traveling, seeing the world.

"I swear, it's like pulling teeth to get them to follow ONE company policy." Anisa grunted, cracking a small smile up at her good friend and they began walking down the hallway together. "So, what's up with you?"

"Just finished a workout and got to undress Joe with my eyes again. I swear, that man drips sexuality and he doesn't even have to try!" Mia groaned, burying her head in Anisa's shoulder with a pout. "Not fair at all."

Anisa couldn't help laughing at her friend's distress and shook her head, shoving Mia playfully off of her. "M&M, you need to suck it up and just tell the man how you feel." Mia had a huge crush on Joe Anoa'i –He was 1/3 of the group known as the Shield along with Jonathan Good and Colby Lopez, who portrayed the characters Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins- ever since he came into the company, which was over a year ago. "Otherwise you're gonna become a stalker and nobody wants that label – nobody sane anyway."

"That's easier said than done, Nis." She grumbled, turning the corner with Anisa since she had nothing to do for an hour. "I'll figure out what to do. It's just gonna take me a little time…"

"You've been saying that for over a year now, you know that right?" Anisa pointed out the obvious and glanced down at her paper, rolling her eyes at the next name on the list. "Great, you might wanna run and duck for cover. I have to go visit…Curtis now." That name left a bad taste in her mouth and Mia grew somewhat pale in the face.

Joseph Curtis Hennig was the late great Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig's son and completely different from his father, having zero class or respect for the wrestling business his father helped build. Everyone called him Curtis because he looked like his father and there were too many Joe's on the roster already. He wasn't bad looking, but lately he'd been giving Mia a hard time and pestering her about going on a date with him. The man didn't understand the word no or any part of the concept apparently. Mia wanted nothing to do with him because her heart and mind belonged to Joe Anoa'i, who didn't even know it. She told Curtis countless times she wasn't interested, but the man was unwavering and stubborn, refusing to leave her alone.

"I-I'll be okay…" Mia hoped, not wanting to leave Anisa alone to deal with this douchebag and looped her arm through her friend's. "I'm here in case he tries intimidating you."

Anisa smiled appreciatively and squeezed Mia's arm, letting her know everything would be fine. They arrived at Curtis's dressing room and Anisa reluctantly knocked on the door, watching it open a few seconds later. Curtis stared down at first Anisa Brooks and then the gorgeous Mia Malik, already feeling his dick jump in his trunks at the sight of her.

"What can I do for you ladies tonight?" He asked in his best suave voice, never taking his eyes from Mia and smirked, folding his arms in front of his bare chest.

The way he looked at her friend didn't bode well with Anisa, especially since it made Mia extremely uncomfortable. "I'm here to inform you per Rick that if you don't start signing in like you're supposed to, you will be written up." She slapped the paper against his chest and planted her hands on her hips, not afraid of anyone on the roster. "Now sign it and stop perving on Mia. She's not interested in you or did you forget?"

Curtis scowled at the smart-mouthed woman and snorted, scrawling his signature on the paper. "Rick needs to take it easy before he has a stroke or something. It's not a big deal to sign a stupid piece of paper." He thought the sun shined out of his backside because of who his father was in the company. "And I'll look at anyone I want, it is a free country after all, Anisa. Isn't that right, cupcake?" He directed that to Mia, always using that term of endearment with her.

"No it's not and stop calling me that, Curtis. I'm not your cupcake, get it through your head." Mia was fed up with walking on eggshells around this idiot and folded her arms tightly in front of her chest. "I don't appreciate the way you look at me. I'm nobody's piece of meat. And for the last time, I don't want you in any way, shape or form. I'm in love with someone else, so the sooner you accept that and leave me alone, the better off we'll both be."

"Is that right, cupcake?" Curtis took a step forward and glared down into the defiant dark eyes of Mia, squaring his shoulders. "You have no idea what you're turning down. I'm giving you too many chances enough as it is and you still refuse to admit how you really feel about me." He shook his head sadly and gritted his teeth, suddenly grabbing her upper arms roughly. "You're in love with me, admit it!"

Mia gasped at the tight grip on her upper arms and shook her head, spitting directly in Curtis's face. "Fuck you!" She spat vehemently, trying to break free from him, but it was impossible since his hands felt like iron cuffs. "Let me go right now!"

"Let her go, asshole! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Had Curtis completely lost his mind putting his hands on Mia like this? Anisa didn't know what to do and closed her eyes when a voice sounded behind them, relief washing through every part of her body.

"You've got 3 seconds to put her down or else I'm putting your ass to sleep, Hennig."

Curtis mentally cursed at the sound of Phillip Brooks' voice and knew he'd been caught red-handed manhandling Mia, immediately releasing her. She stumbled back against Anisa, trembling from head to toe and felt comforting arms wrap around her. Mia already knew her upper arms would be bruised, which meant a change of wardrobe was in order before the show that night. She had a match against Brianna Garcia-Colace –Brie Bella- in single's competition for the #1 contender slot for the Diva's championship, currently being held by WWE Diva AJ Lee.

Phillip could tell this confrontation shook the girls up and felt the anger welling up inside of him. "Take her to Michael and tell him what happened. I'll deal with this asshole." He watched the women take off down the hallway with Mia leaning against Anisa and waited until they were out of sight before turning his hardened hazel eyes on Curtis.

"Look man…"

Not bothering hearing the crap spew out of his mouth, Phillip throttled Curtis and slammed him against the wall, making his head bounce off of it harshly. "Let's get one thing straight right now: The next time you put your hands violently on a woman who works for this company, you'll be put to sleep PERMANENTLY." He squeezed Curtis's throat harder and drove his knee into the man's abdomen, making him double over in pain. "And remember one thing, when pussy like you fucks with my family, you'll pay the price. See you in the ring tonight." Clapping Curtis on the shoulder, Phillip took off down the hallway toward the trainer's room to check on the girls.

Inside the trainer's room, Michael was showing the newest addition to the medical team, Krystal, around the office while they had a moment to themselves. That was until the door opened with both Anisa and Mia walking inside, a pained expression on Mia's face. Michael immediately got to work and instructed Krystal to roll over the tray along with retrieving ice for Mia's upper arms. Krystal silently did as she was told, glancing at the two women and knew they worked for the company, but she hadn't met them yet. Just as she pressed the ice to the raven haired beauty's upper arm, the door crashed open and an auburn haired woman rushed over to them with wide leaf green orbs.

Coralie Rose worked for the WWE ring crew, setting everything up and taking it down on a daily/nightly basis. She had a half sleeve of tattoos on both arms, some on her legs and back with a few piercings, including her tongue. Tattoos and piercings were her addiction like Phillip, which was one of the reasons they were together. Coralie, Mia and Anisa were great friends and had been for a few years, but Anisa had been in the company the longest.

"Are you alright, Mia?" Coralie asked, frowning at the deep bruising already forming on her friend's upper arms and wanted to kill Curtis for doing this. "Phil told me everything already and had a promo to cut, so he asked me to check on you."

"I'm fine, just sore." Mia looked up at Anisa and knew Curtis's actions had scared the hell out of her. "Nis…"

"Don't worry about me." Anisa assured her, sharing a worried look with Coralie and glanced at the woman currently treating Mia. "I haven't seen you around here. She new, Mike?"

Michael nodded with a smile, trying to lighten the mood a bit. "She is Paul Levesque's sister and training to be part of the medical staff since we're shorthanded ever since Larry retired."

Mia smiled up at the shy woman and could instantly see the family resemblance, but there was one difference she noticed. "At least you don't have your brother's big honker."

That got a round of laughter going in the trainer's room, especially when Krystal agreed with Mia with a silent nod.