the following August; a year later

All of the superstars were preparing for Summerslam. Excitement was filling the air. So many returns were expected this night. Who knew what was going to happen? Stagehands, runners, lighting crew, everyone was running around as if they knew something special was going to happen. This show was going to pop like no other; and that was saying something, considering the standards that the new creative team had set. Still people knew that one person was missing from day-to-day operations. Melissa had been off the road on maternity leave. Her return date had been a closely guarded secret although no one knew why. The creative team had kept her in the loop with upcoming storylines but really hadn't gotten much feedback lately.

Today, though.

Today.

Today there was a post. A post on the fanfiction site.

Once upon a time there was a princess. This princess had beautiful brown hair and chocolate brown eyes, just like her father, the Warrior King. The princess missed her father while he was off in battle, fighting the evil Celtic Barbarian. Her protector knew how to keep her safe, wielding the sword of protection against the Irish Curse and Brogue Kick, delivering the Princess to her father without any threat of danger.
The Warrior King was thrilled to see his princess. He wanted to reward the protector for taking the treacherous journey, but the protector's job wasn't done. More threats loomed. The Swiss and the Samoan…

Jon paced in catering. He wasn't mentioned in the story. Did Melissa have plans for him? Oh, but the precious princess was coming and he hadn't seen her in days! Excitement bubbled inside.

"Did you hear? Do you know what she has planned?" an excited Claudio bounced next to Jon.

"Nope."

"Come on. Give me a hint." Claudio begged.

"I know nothing." Jon told his friend.

Joe dropped his hand heavily on the Swiss man's shoulder. "And even if he did, do you think he'd risk the wrath of that Writer to tell you? You know the storylines she comes up with." All three men chuckled.

"Speaking of," John Cena approached the men cautiously. "Would someone please talk to her about the apparent ban on giving me decent storylines? I know that I seemed to dominate airtime in the past, but in the last year it has really dwindled. Can't there be some equity? Dolph and The Bunny get more t.v. time than I do."

Jon raised an eyebrow at Cena. "Did you just mention Dolph Ziggler and The Bunny in the same sentence? And you want us to talk to the head of creative about you? Hmmm…"

"Nah. Speak up for yourself." Joe said.

"Good advice." Four heads spun as a decidedly female voice was heard speaking up.

"Mel! Great to see you!" Jon greeted. "Where's my girl?" His question clearly contained more excitement than his greeting for her mother.

"She is with her father in his locker room. She's napping, Jon!" Melissa called after the running man, shaking her head.

"Care to share storylines?" John asked.

"Welcome back!" Joe greeted with a glare at the other man. "Are you ready to give up your life of leisure to deal with these clowns?"

"Who has a life of leisure?" Nick Nemeth, the man who portrayed Dolph Ziggler asked as he approached the group with a smile.

"I am more concerned about the use of the term clown. We are talking about the writer who dressed Daniel Bryan in a goat face costume for his return to the WWE. She also put Miz and MizDow in a Siamese Twin match against Luke Harper and Erick Rowan. Do we really want to see what happens when the idea of clowns are planted in her brain?" Stu Bennett asked as he joined the conversation.

Melissa reached out to shake hands with the man also known as Wade Barrett. "So…You would like to wrestle in a Three Rings of Clowns Under the Big Top match. Nice to know. I think we can work on booking that for Hell in a Cell, two months from now. I need to work on getting a tent for the parking lot and working out the other logistics…"

"Aw, crap." the British brawler muttered, walking away shaking his head.

Once he was out of hearing range, Jon, Joe, and Melissa covered their mouths to stifle the gaffs that erupted. "What am I missing?" Nick asked, bewildered.

"This is the same woman who handed Lopez a boat-horn-in-a-can to gently wake us up last summer. She has a devilish sense of humor. Don't mess with her. You will lose." Joe warned, rubbing the back of his head at the memory of hitting his head that morning.

"I have got to hear about this!" Nick chortled.

The rest of the men shook their heads as they walked away from the laughing blonde.

"I can't believe that the Divas get to open the Pay Per View!" The Bella's seemed so happy as they headed for the curtain.

"Is anyone going to tell them that they aren't going to win?" AJ asked.

"How do you know?" Claudio asked. "We have been trying to find out what the storylines are and we can't get any hints."

"Try talking to the stagehands. They are in the know and have the latest script changes." AJ suggested before bouncing down to the ring. Claudio went off in search of a stage hand to pester as the Diva's Fatal Four Way began. To the shock of the audience (and the roster), Lana was able to pull off a win in her short skirt and teeny suit jacket.

As the Bellas threw their dramatic temper tantrums, Luke Harper headed for the ring to defend his title. Melissa tapped Dean on his shoulder. "Go get 'em, Uncle Dean."

"What?!"

"Yep. You are fighting for the Intercontinental Championship. Do you want a title or not?" she asked with a smile.

"Are you serious right now? Do you realize how long I have waited for another title shot?"

"If you don't get to that ring soon, you won't get one for years, dude." Melissa said leaving Jon and heading for Colby's locker room. "Princess should be waking up soon. Only champions can hold my princess."

"Ha. Her father is a toad. He doesn't have a title belt." With that insult, Jon whirled about and raced for the ring. Only a lunatic would say something like that to the woman with the power to take his dreams of being a champion and dash them to ground.

"Look, sweetie. Momma's back." Melissa shut the door gently behind her so no one would know that the little girl was awake, giving the family a few minutes of privacy. She walked over to her heart and soul, accepting her precious baby from the strong arms of her father. As soon as Colby's arms were empty, he wrapped them around Melissa. "Nothing better than holding my princess and her momma." Mel curled into his bare chest, pressing a kiss to his collarbone. When he drew in a quick breath, she licked along the base of his neck. "Now you are just teasing me." he groaned.

"Can't you focus?" she whispered.

"Focus? While you are playing with my erogenous zones?" Mel sucked on his pulse point quickly before giggling. "Oh, princess. Daddy's been using a thesaurus again. I bet he's been cheating on Words With Friends."

"I don't cheat. I use creative enhancements." He quickly denied. Melissa chuckled right along with Colby.

A runner knocked at the door. "The US Championship is almost over. You are almost up."

"Oh! The twists you have planned." Colby laughed.

"I've got princess. Get going." Melissa gave Colby a quick kiss and a shove.

"Um, this is my locker room." Colby said.

"Riight. I'll just take my darling, innocent, infant out into the cruel, cruel world." Melissa sighed and headed for the door as Colby laughed at her guilt trip.

Melissa was in the hall when Nick Nemeth swept her up in a circle from behind. "I'm the United States Champion! I've waited so long for this!" The happiness in his voice was contagious. "Hi, princess." he said gently to the baby in Mel's arms.

"Congratulations. You've earned the recognition." Melissa responded.

"Thank you for the faith. I'll let you get to your man."

Melissa headed for guerilla position to watch The Uso's head for the ring. Hidden off to the side, she watched as Antonio Cesaro and Seth Rollins decimated their opponents and took tag team gold. The friends celebrated in the ring while the Uso's returned backstage. Melissa waited, but Cesaro and Rollins remained at ringside for the Heavyweight Championship match.

"This isn't what I wrote or approved." she grumbled. "What are they doing?"

"Sorry, boss. Quick change." One of the runners mumbled as he flew past. "Rollins didn't have a chance to run it past you."

Melissa wondered what Colby could have possibly changed in the match as she watched Sheamus and Roman battle for heavyweight gold. Once the match reached its conclusion – just as she had approved – and Melissa had just started to breathe again, she saw Dean Ambrose coming through the crowd with his Intercontinental Championship belt. Sheamus came through the curtains and touched her shoulder. "It's planned. Just go with it." he said with a smile as he gestured towards the opening.

Melissa watched as Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose hopped into the ring with Roman Reigns. All three held their belts over their heads. Antonio Cesaro knelt below them with his belt and a microphone and spoke. "It's been a while, but there is finally gold around the waists of…"

The crowd roared, "THE SHIELD!" The original members held their fists together. Antonio raised his fist from below before handing the microphone to Seth.

"As the original Architect of this group, I want to say only one thing would make this better."

Roman and Dean reached for the mike and called, "MELISSA!"

Blushing fiercely, Melissa approached the ring. When she climbed the steps, she expected someone to hold the ring-ropes open. Instead, Seth Rollins reached over the top rope and scooped her into his arms. The crowd cheered. Setting her on her feet, he kept one arm around her waist. "Okay, woman. Here's the thing. This beautiful princess is all ours. The brotherhood is strong. WWE Creative appreciates you. The WWE Universe thinks you are the best thing since Seth Rollins." The crowd tittered at that remark as the other men in the ring groaned. "Me? I think you are my reason for breathing. My reason for getting up in the morning. I need you in my life to make it worth living. I don't want you to be my girlfriend anymore. I don't want to be your significant other or your man." He dropped to his knees and put one hand on her hip, holding a jewelry box in the other hand. Every person in the arena rose to their feet and began chanting 'Yes! Yes! Yes!' and the rest of his words were drown out. Tears tracked down Melissa's face as she murmured her answer.

So now we have checked in with Melissa and Colby. Who knows, maybe...sometime...?

I plan on checking in with Parker from New Beginning as well in the near future, for those of you that had closely followed that story.