Author's Note: Been suffering from some huge writer's block lately, but I had the urge to write a Paige story. I love Paige, and I felt there was a disturbing lack of her in my portfolio. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Wings of a Butterfly

It was a New Era in the WWE - at least that's the message they'd been shoving in Paige's face for the past couple of weeks. How would she know? It's not like she was around enough to see this 'New Era' unfold with her own eyes; on draft day, she was barely on TV, her only appearance being in the opening few minutes before trudging along disappointingly to the backstage area. Stephanie McMahon didn't even have the courtesy of drafting her live - the awful woman!

Paige took a deep breath, trying not to let her bitter feelings overtake her completely. Things hadn't been going her way lately, and although this draft was supposed to be a new start for everyone, it felt like she was getting lost in the shuffle. Again. Like she had been ever since last Fall. Was it really that hard to take her seriously anymore? Did management lose faith in her? Was she going to be released soon?

"Don't be bitter, Paige. Don't be bitter."

She told herself this - through clenched teeth, because she was still not bitter whatsoever - but it was difficult to put into practice. Opportunity after opportunity seemed to pass her by, and she didn't know whether it was because of her own failings as a wrestler, or the success of every other wrestler in her division. Maybe both.

She hoped it wasn't both.

With nothing to do during the third hour of Raw, the first Raw since the draft only one week prior, Paige debated calling a friend. With Natalya being drafted to SmackDown (Live!), she didn't even have anyone to talk cats with. Not that she particularly enjoyed talking cats twenty-four seven with her, but that wasn't the point. The only people she occasionally talked to were the three eccentric members of The New Day, though they'd pretty much talk to anyone they could rope into dancing or playing a niche game. It wasn't the type of friendship she was looking for.

Her finger hovering over the 'call' button on her phone, Paige gave one last sigh before letting it drop onto the screen. A few rings later and a lazy-sounding, yet still somehow coherent voice came from the opposite end. "How goes the Raw thing?"

"I'm sure you've been watching enough to know that I don't have a match tonight." Dean Ambrose was an extremely good friend of hers, the best actually, but sometimes he was just too out there for her to deal with. Typical, she thought to herself.

"I mean, yeah. But I can't just pick up the phone and go, 'Hey, how's it feel not being on TV again!' you know? Wouldn't exactly be the best way to stay on your sweet side."

"I don't have a sweet side."

"Sure you do. It's the side that doesn't kick my ass whenever we're together."

Paige giggled, despite fighting against it. Dean had that natural goofiness about him that was impossible to not laugh at. Her attitude changed immediately, practically hearing his stupid smirk in her ear. "That's not fair! You can't say dumb things like that and expect me not to laugh."

"That's what you called me for, isn't it? Feeling down and all that? That's the vibe I'm getting anyway."

"Get out of my head."

The Cincinnati native responded with a loud, grunting noise in what Paige could only assume was an act of over exaggerated stretching. Before she could scold him and warn how he's going to pull a muscle doing that so violently, it dawned on her that this was Dean's one day off for a while. Great, now she felt inconsiderate on top of everything else.

"Crap," she started, her tone now apologetic. "You're off today. I completely forgot, I'm so sorry."

"Nah, don't be. I was getting kinda bored by myself. A one man party ain't exactly all that amusing." When Paige didn't reply right away, he took that as a sign to continue. "Seriously, Paige, I'm good. If we're not going to see each other around, we should get used to talking like this, right?"

Dean was absolutely right, but hearing him speak the words served as another painful reminder that she had no one to talk to here. Her closest friend was on SmackDown, and any of her old friends on Raw wanted nothing to do with her anymore. She didn't blame them - she hasn't been the easiest to get along with lately. That didn't stop her from feeling alone, and she wasn't sure if phone calls and video chats were going to be enough to quell those feelings. "This is the worst."

"Hey, don't get all negative on me now." Dean wasn't outwardly emotional like many people, but he definitely had a soft spot for those close to him. He'd known Paige for a long while, and she earned the prestigious title of being one of the very few people he could trust. "You'll be fine, alright? You don't have to be a freakin' social butterfly or anything, but it wouldn't kill you to make nice with some of the people you'll be seeing every Monday night. Just do your best - you'll be fine. I have faith in you, and I don't put my faith in things easily."

It wasn't often that Dean broke out into spiels of positivity and optimism, but when he did, it always helped to ease her worries. Sometimes he just said the right things. "Why do you always know what to say to make me feel better?" Paige asked, a smirk of her own plastered on her face.

"Didn't you hear?"

"Hear... what?"

"I'm a psychic. I'm looking through my crystal ball right now. It says you'll be fine."

"Oh, I see. Fair enough. Can you tell me what my life will be like in ten years then?"

"Eh, only one glance into the future per person. I didn't mention that?"

The pair of friends continued their conversation for another twenty minutes, before falling into an abrupt silence as Dean tried to remember something that he'd wanted to bring up minutes beforehand. "Any time now, nutcase."

"Hold on, hold on." Dean sat for an extra minute, before a light bulb - an extraordinarily dim light bulb - went off in his head. "Who'd you get to travel with you?"

Unfortunately for Paige, after all that waiting, she didn't understand the question one bit. "Huh?"

"Travel. Around the country? You used to ride with Nat, right? I was just asking who you got to replace her."

The English woman's heart skipped several beats, her face now paler than normal, if that were possible. With all of the draft nonsense going on, Paige had neglected to find a new travel partner. After all, it's not like she could drive all that well - "Driving on the right is so stupidly complicated," she'd annoyingly told Natalya one day - and even if she could, driving alone, for hours and hours, could be disastrous if one were to get tired or sick behind the wheel. No, this couldn't be happening, it couldn't.

"Don't tell me you forgot. Come on, Paige. You can't be serious."

"Shut up! I've had a long couple of weeks, okay? It's been stressful!"

Dean sighed, the mental image of him pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance embarrassing Paige to no end. "You should ride with Rome. I told you before, the only reason we never let you ride with us in the first place was because of all my junk taking up space. He wouldn't mind." Dean did a mental double-take, his hand slapping the whole of his forehead. "Damn. Forgot. He's been on the warpath lately with everything going on. He's still beating himself up over the suspension."

"Christ. His piss is ruining my life!"

"Take it easy, alright? There's gotta be one person around that'd be willing to drive you."

"It's not 'driving me,' it's driving with me!" Paige corrected.

"I know what I said."

And sometimes Dean just said the wrong things.

"Dean."

"You've only got about an hour or two to beg someone to drive with you. I'd get on that."

"Fine. I'm going." Paige made a motion to end the call, but was stopped when she heard him say her name one final time. "Yeah?"

"Let me know when you're all settled, okay? I'm not saying I'd be too worried, but I'd like the comfort of knowing that you're okay."

Paige smiled, a full-on genuine smile, knowing that in spite of the distance that would be between them for the foreseeable future, their connection would always remain strong. "I will. Bye." With that, she hesitantly hung up, already dreading the next couple of hours of her life.

Now, where to start?

With no one else in mind at the moment, her first inclination was to talk to Summer Rae, and maybe renew their old friendship. Last year, Summer and Paige weren't really seeing eye to eye on many aspects, which led to them gradually ceasing communication with each other. However, that was a year ago. Surely there'd be no ill will between them. Surely Summer would be willing to listen to Paige and offer support.

"Ugh, what do you want?"

Or not.

Paige had barely taken two steps in Summer's direction before the blonde shot with a venomous, preemptive response. What, did she own the women's locker room now? Easy, Paige internally told herself. Escalating the situation wouldn't help put her butt in a comfy hotel bed. "Can't I say 'hi' to an old friend?"

"No," came the quick reply. Summer flipped her hair as she turned away from Paige, signaling that she wanted nothing to do with her.

"Harsh! I just wanted to talk."

Summer bit her lip, wondering if she should bother giving Paige the time of day. Maybe this was important. With a roll of her eyes, Summer turned to face Paige again. "What is it?"

Paige fought the urge to do a celebratory dance, but she couldn't get ahead of herself - she had yet to even plead her case. "Okay. So you know I used to ride with Nattie, right? And now she's on SmackDown, so-"

"No."

What was with Summer and one-word replies? She'd make an awful girlfriend, Paige mused. She shook the thought away; she had more important things to worry about, like why Summer Rae was such a jerk.

"But you don't even know what I'm going to ask!"

"You're going to ask if I can drive you around the country, because Natalya's not here. Am I right?"

"First of all," Paige began, trying her best to not blow up at the woman who was clearly not interested in hearing her out. "It's not 'driving me,' it's driving with me. And secondly… yes. But! I have no other way to get around. Please, Summer! For old time's sake, yeah?" Paige put on the most adorable puppy-dog face she could muster.

Summer, however, was not moved nor impressed, rendering Paige's efforts fruitless. "Even if I did want to travel with you, which - ugh - I don't, I couldn't."

"What? Why?!"

"I'm already riding with Foxy, who, like me, would rather not see your face."

Paige couldn't believe what she was hearing. There was no way that Summer was serious right now.

"You've got to be joking. Is that how it is? My two ex-best friends are just FRIENDING it up? This makes no sense."

"Uh, actually, it makes perfect sense. You're out, I'm in. Simple," Summer stated matter-of-factly.

Paige could no longer hide her growing irritation, but rather than succumb to every horrible thought in her mind - and there were plenty - she decided to end things here. "Whatever. By the way, Foxy snores. Loudly. Have fun." Before Summer could protest, Paige turned and left the women's locker room.

Well, she thought to herself, that didn't go exactly as planned. There had to be someone around here that'd be willing to help out.

There had to be.

Paige huffed, her arms crossed in frustration as the man before her continued his laughing fit. "Are you done yet?"

"Wait, wait. Hold on. Hahahaha. Haha. Okay, I think I'm good now."

If there was one person that Paige considered to be an incredibly unlikable and overall horrible human being, it was Kevin Owens. So why was she asking him for help? Because although he was a horrible human being, he was a living, breathing human being. At this point in time, that was Paige's only criteria for a travel buddy.

Wiping a solitary tear from his eye, Kevin Owens took a minute to catch his breath. "Oh man, thanks. I really needed a good laugh today."

"I was serious."

"Okay, let me get this straight." Paige groaned as Kevin began to speak. She wanted to punch him square in the jaw, but she really needed him. Paige needed Kevin Owens. The thought made her want to cleanse her mind with bleach. "You want me to drive you? Can I ask, in what universe did you think that was going to happen?" He chuckled that oh-so-Kevin Owens chuckle that made her skin crawl.

"Okay, one: it's driving with me," she punctuated with a wag of her index finger.

"Sure."

"Two: I'm desperate. Can't you think about it?"

He put his hand to his chin. "Thinking. Thinking. No."

Paige was growing increasingly tired of the word 'no.'

"Come on! Have a heart! You would leave a poor, defenseless, foreign lady all by herself - stranded in a strange city?"

"Tch, I know how you are," Kevin stated, the scowl on Paige's face feeding his sadistic side tenfold. "'Lady' is probably the last word I'd use to describe you, and you're delusional if you think otherwise. Why don't you ask one of your stupid friends?"

"I don't have any friends here!"

"Yikes. Well, I guess I can't blame them. You're a pretty big screw up, if I do say so myself. And I do say so. You might be as big a mess as Sami. Now, if you don't mind - and to be honest, I personally don't care if you do mind - I'm off to find Jericho. Please, be a stranger."

Paige thought she couldn't feel any worse than she had been over these past couple of weeks, but this might be the worst she's felt in the past year. Verbally tearing her down while she was already at a low point was cruel. Watching him walk away without a care in the world, while she struggled day in and day out with her own issues and emotions, made her feel like garbage.

She made a mental note to never speak to Kevin Owens again. Unless the sentence specifically was, "I'm glad that you were fired."

Forcing herself to put her fantasies on hold, Paige focused her attention back to the task at hand. After receiving such a verbal thrashing, she wasn't looking forward to talking to anyone else, but it was getting late into the night. She figured the only people around would be the stragglers packing up to leave.

Why did the world despise her?

With nowhere left to go, Paige made herself comfortable by laying her head on one of the hardwood tables in the catering hall. Devoid of any and all human life, it was the perfect scene to accurately describe her own life - alone. She'd spoken to Sasha Banks, Finn Balor, Enzo and Cass, and a few others, yet no one seemed capable of helping her, either due to vehicle capacity or their preconceived notions of her - the latter being the majority. Those negative, preconceived notions. She took a minute to ponder over the choices that had led her to this exact moment. Was she really such a terrible person? The only people that wanted anything to do with her were in another state, and even then, she could count those people on one hand - she could probably do it with four less fingers as well.

She wanted to cry, to let her frustration out in a way that didn't cause bodily harm to another person, but she just didn't have the mental or physical energy to bother. All she wanted to do was lie there forever. And ever. And ever.

And ever.

A loud 'bang' on the table woke her up from a peaceful slumber that she didn't realize she was having. Someone had purposely woken her up, and when it was apparent that said person wasn't leaving, Paige lifted her head. To her surprise, Seth Rollins stood before her, his face impossible to read. "What are you doing here?"

Paige had no idea how to answer that question. What was she doing here? A quick trip down memory lane reminded her of the past two hours filled with complete failure and broken hopes. "This is where I live now."

"Okay. I'm going to need more than that." Presumably tired of standing around, Seth took a seat next to her.

"Long story short, I have no way to travel around and everyone hates me. Or so I've been told. So basically I've had a fun night!" She gave Seth a sarcastic smile, coupled with a thumbs up, before letting her head fall back onto the table with a thud.

"Wait, what do you mean by travel around? Can't you drive by yourself?"

"I'm not exactly the most familiar with… anything, really. Outside of where I live. I don't fancy getting lost in some backwoods town." She'd gone through this speech too many times already tonight.

Seth seemed to be taking her words in, before replying. "So you need someone to drive you?"

"Why does everyone keep saying that?!"

"Uh, sorry…? You could come with me, if you want."

Unsure if she'd heard him properly, Paige shot up in her seat, staring him in the eyes. "You're for real? You're not just doing this to get a rise out of me, are you?" Paige had to make sure, ignoring Seth's proclamation that her stare was creeping him out. "'Cause let me tell you, I ran into Owens today. That guy's a real piece of work."

Slowly backing away from Paige, Seth nodded his head. "Yeah, I'm serious. I ride solo - I could use some company. I took a quick look at the touring schedule, and there's going to be a lot of long hours spent on the road. Someone to talk to so I don't lose my mind would be nice, if you're down."

"You don't hate me?"

Seth was taken aback by this statement. "Just because other people might hate you doesn't mean that I do." He'd meant for that to sound uplifting, but it practically sounded like a backhanded compliment of sorts.

"True, but you hate my friends."

"I don't hate Natalya."

"You hate Dean, and don't even try to lie."

Paige's ears picked up on the low growl released from Seth at the sound of his former friend's name. And was his eye twitching? "Alright, I admit. I hate Ambrose. I hate him with every fiber of my being. But that doesn't mean I hate you too. So, yeah. That offer's still on the table, if you w-"

Paige cut off the man's words with a tight hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! God, I was not looking forward to living out the rest of my life in catering."

"At least you'd always have food."

"Are you calling me fat?" Before Seth could defend himself, Paige jumped up from the table. "Enough talk! Let's just please get the hell out of here. I'm dying for you to drive me." With Paige's small joke receiving a mumbled "Oh brother," from Seth, the two made their way towards the exit, Paige finally in good spirits for the first time all night.

"Seth's kind of a scumbag, but he's not such a bad guy, I guess. You know, underneath that coat of slime he's always got on him."

"Oh, shut up. I actually had a lot of fun. This could be the start of a beautiful friendship."

After Seth and Paige miraculously reached their hotel for the evening - "Do you want me to drive you instead?" Paige had teased, Seth's driving abilities not up to her standards. - the young woman kept her promise, making a call to Dean Ambrose once she was properly settled in. While he wasn't too pleased with the idea of Seth Rollins and Paige traveling together, his overprotective nature getting the better of him, he had to (begrudgingly) admit that he wasn't necessarily a bad guy to most people.

"See, didn't I tell you?" Dean stated.

"Tell me what?"

"That my psychic powers foretold everything would be fine."

"Well, I'm lying on a bed in my own hotel room instead of on the floor outside so… I guess you were right. For now. It does suck," Paige continued, "knowing that a majority of people I work with cannot stand me."

"I can stand you."

Paige had to laugh at Dean's silly attempt to cheer her up. "Gee, thanks."

A brief moment of silence followed before being broken by Dean. "Hey, Paige."

"Yeah?"

"I miss you already."

She never knew what to expect from Dean - did anyone ever? - but it certainly wasn't anything like that. She never once doubted that Dean truly valued their friendship; he was secretly a sensitive guy. To hear him say so aloud, though, tugged at her heartstrings. Blinking away a few tears, she responded in kind. "I miss you too. Dammit, Dean. Are you trying to make me cry?"

"I can't help that you're a wuss."

"Please, you're like a literal stuffed bear."

After another short back-and-forth, Dean spoke up yet again. "Hey, don't let Seth get too close. He's a sneaky bastard."

She could tell what Dean was getting at, even if he didn't say it. He wasn't the most subtle person she'd met, that's for sure. "Relax, you jealous dummy. No one's going to replace you, got it?"

"I don't see how that'd be possible anyway, considering that, you know, I'm kind of a unique individual. That's what Cole keeps saying anyway."

"And he's right, so don't worry."

"Fine, fine. Ah, damn. It's getting late. Gotta be up early."

Paige agreed. "Yeah, the tiredness is creeping in."

Paige didn't do a good job of masking her disappointment, something that Dean picked up on. "I'm only a phone call - or a Skype call - away. I mean, not literally. You get the point. Anytime. All the time. Whenever. I'm here."

"Be by your phone tomorrow - don't miss another exciting episode of 'The Life of Paige.'"

"Wouldn't dream of it. Night."

With the call now disconnected, Paige could only think of everything as bittersweet. It was going to be tough, incredibly tough. Monday Night Raw was a whole new world now, and with her closest friend no longer in it, she knew it'd take time to adjust to the new landscape. She had to take charge of her life again, aim for the top of her division. She knew she could soar to new heights; her wings weren't broken just yet. Maybe people would hate her, and maybe people would grow to like her, but if her encounter with Seth taught her anything, it was that friendships could form in the most unlikely of places.

And if it came down to it, Paige knew she'd always have Dean Ambrose. If ever her wings were ever clipped, Dean would be there to catch her when she fell from grace. For the first time in months, she knew that everything was going to be fine.

Perhaps Dean was a psychic after all.

End