Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, and they are just the characters represented on tv and not the real people behind them. I am not making any profit from these. All ideas represented are mine, as are any spelling or grammar mistakes.

Standing backstage, attention split between the list of tasks on his iPad and the match in the ring Spud found himself watching the action more and more. His first impression of Madam Carter's nephew had not been favorable, the other man was both highly attractive, rich and very much aware of those things, leaving an air of entitled arrogance around him. But after watching him wrestle he was forced to reevaluate that assessment, Ethan Carter had something special, something that called to his own rebellious spirit and made him want to get to know the other man.

That second of doubt had him chaffing under the label of typical British stereotypes when he next encountered Ethan Carter, he might not have been brought up with a silver spoon in his mouth, but he did know how to put together a good holiday meal despite the other man's condescending opinion and he most certainly had better manners. Forcing the scowl off his face he made sure to keep his eyes firmly fixed on the meal in front of him, listening with only half an ear to the talk of private planes and special family holidays.

After Mrs. Carter had given him his first task and he'd assured her it would go well with all the self-confidence he could muster Spud stared after the retreating figures of his boss and her nephew. Their closeness reminded him acutely that he was alone in a foreign country, and so far had failed in making friends in the locker room, he had the horrible sinking feeling that none of the other wrestlers would accept him in his current role of Chief of Staff. Certainly Mr. Carter had made his opinion clear on how he viewed him. Well, he'd never let anyone stop him from achieving his dreams before, and he certainly wasn't going to now that he was so close. He'd be the best damn Chief of Staff Dixie Carter had ever had.

Shouting at the group on miscreants in the ring who had made a complete disaster out of the Thanksgiving celebration meal Spud realized he should have seen this coming. It almost never failed, get a diverse group of wrestlers together in one area something went wrong, Mrs. Carter was not going to be pleased with the fiasco this turned into. His first task a complete failure played out nationally on tv he anxiously paced backstage after sending the requested update, worried he'd be fired before the day was over. It was an agonizing twenty minute wait until he got a reply, not from Mrs. Carter as expected but from Ethan Carter, simple sentence telling him not to worry about it, that his Aunt had been amused by the food fight rather than angry. It was oddly thoughtful from a man that hadn't even looked twice at him. Maybe his first impression had been right after all, maybe Ethan Carter the Third would be worth getting to know.