"What do you think of AJ?"

"I've told you what I've thought of her," Mike said, "we've met before, you know, actually, we've met a lot, we've gone out to dinner together, remember?"

"I know that, which is why I'm asking you."

"What's this about? I thought you were like head over heels for her," Mike took a sip of coffee and looked closely at Dolph. He didn't seem different, not upset or sad or anything like that so he didn't suspect anything happened between him and AJ. Plus, they seemed chummy the night before, never seeming to be that far away from each other at the after party.

"I am," Dolph said, looking off at something Mike couldn't see. "I'm definitely head over heels. She's amazing. You know how they say when you're really in love, you'll know it, well, I never understood that until I was with her."

"So I'm failing to see what the problem is," Mike said slowly. "If you're so in love with her—"

"Do you think we'd work?" Dolph cut him off.

"Huh? I'm a little bit confused as to why you're asking this now."

"It's not that far-fetched a question, especially if I see a future with her. I just don't want to get in there—"

"You two haven't had sex?" Mike hissed.

"Of course we have, shut up," Dolph said, making a face. His sex life with AJ was very good, and he didn't even need to brag about the details it was that good. Suffice it to say, while AJ looked like an innocent, nerdy girl, in the bedroom, she was anything but, a fact that pleasantly surprised him every time they had sex.

"So what do you mean by getting in there?"

"I mean like the future."

"The future."

"Like you and Maryse, you get what I'm saying?"

"Oh, the future. So you're thinking that AJ is the one, like the only one?"

"I feel it, I already feel it, it's not even a thought, it's something that I really feel, but then I don't know if we'd actually work."

"Why not?"

"We live very different lives, we're very different people," Dolph launched into the very speech he'd been repeating in his head since the night before. He'd been distracted since he saw AJ and Punk talking. AJ even tried to seduce him last night, and he feigned not being in the mood, instead choosing to stay up half the night thinking about what AJ might really need in her life, and the thought, the fear, that it might not be him.

"So what?"

"What if it's good now, right now, just months into it, but then down the line…she's not…we have almost nothing in common."

"You have a lot in common."

"No, we really don't," he argued. "I don't like comic books or video games or any of those things. She doesn't like Britney Spears or old comedy specials or Don Rickles—"

"To be fair, those are all very specific things."

"You know what I mean. It's like, sure we're happy now, we're fine now, but what if in the long run, it doesn't work out because we're too different. What if she becomes bored with me? What if she decides that she can't handle the lifestyle of a WWE wife? What if she realizes that we're way too different?"

"Why is it always her being the one to discover things?" Mike asked and watched as Dolph looked away again. "Okay, something had to have happened, I know you say that nothing did, but something clearly did. Hey, didn't you meet her friends? Did they say anything to you about her?"

"No, we haven't met them yet," Dolph explained. "We were going to meet them today then have them come to the show tonight. I think we're still planning to, but I haven't spoken with AJ this morning."

"What did you do, run out of the room before she woke up?"

It wasn't far from the truth. He, for some reason, didn't want to face her this morning, so before she woke up, he changed for the gym, wrote her a note saying he'd see her later then left the suite. It wasn't too out of the box for him, there were a lot of mornings where she slept in and he got an early start. He liked to beat the rush for the gym most days anyway.

"No, I went to the gym, there's Raw tonight, dude, I have to be in tip-top physical shape," Dolph scoffed.

"I don't think you should be scared," Mike said, "God, I feel like a girl gossiping with her friends over brunch or something, but I've been out with you and AJ several times, we've hung out, I've talked to her, she's a great person."

"That's not up for discussion, that's just a fact."

"Would you let me get to the point?"

"Sorry, sorry, I did ask you for your opinion."

"There's nothing wrong with being different. It could be a good thing, it could be a great thing, actually, because you don't want to marry someone that's exactly like you," he said. "There's no fun in that, you want someone who keeps you on your toes, who makes you question things, who opens you up to new things. What did AJ know about wrestling before you two were together?"

"That Hulk Hogan was a big thing in the 80's, that's about it."

"And now?"

"She loves it," Dolph conceded. "She watches all the shows, and I've seen her watching older stuff on the network in order to learn more about what she hasn't seen."

"So see, that just goes to show that you aren't so different after all, and it shows that she's willing to adapt to you. And I'm sure you've watched or done some things that you didn't think you would like simply because she does them, right?"

"But you look at us and it doesn't seem right."

"And I seem right with Maryse? I mean, the woman is the hottest thing on the planet," he scoffed. "Looks aren't everything, but seriously, what prompted this?"

"Can't it just be something I've been thinking about?" Dolph asked. "I mean, I do plan to have a future with this woman, shouldn't I be looking at things like that?"

"Yeah, but like two days ago, you were so stoked to have her here, and you wanted her to show you around everywhere that she's been from, did she by the way?" Mike asked. "I know you wanted the grand tour."

"Turns out the grand tour isn't so grand," Dolph bit his lip. "I knew she had it rough, you know, that her childhood and teenage years weren't the best, but I think seeing it in person, it just hit home."

"Where did she take you?"

"To this decrepit, rundown motel that I wouldn't even want my worst enemy sleeping in, and she shared one motel room with her parents and her brother and sister. I don't even know what that's like, another difference between us."

"Like I said before, so what."

"Okay, fine," Dolph had to say it out loud because it was killing him. "I saw her talking with Punk, I've seen her talking with him a few times, and I don't know, they have more in common, don't you think?"

Mike threw his head back and laughed. "Punk? Selfish, egotistical Punk?"

"Come on, their interests, not their character."

"Yeah, they might, but I don't think that she's going to hop into bed with him any time soon if that's what you're worried about."

"I don't know, it's just a reminder that we don't have much in common, and maybe it's not Punk per se, but a guy like him. I'm scared some guy like him, someone in her world, is going to come along and she'll find out he's better."

"I'm not sure it works that way," Mike said, "besides, she hates Punk."

"What?"

"You heard me, she hates him."

"They've seemed like they get along."

"Yeah, I don't think so."

"What makes you so sure?" Dolph asked, wanting it to be true. He needed to get these fears out of his head as quickly as possible because if he didn't, they would get in the way of his daily functioning.

"Maryse."

"What about her?"

Mike rolled his eyes, sometimes his friend could be so dense. "AJ's been hanging out with the divas all weekend, they love her by the way, that comes from Maryse's mouth, and AJ has been telling some of them what a jerk Punk is. She definitely told Nikki, which is just one jump away from Maryse."

"A jerk, really?"

"Yeah, there was something about how he saw her and thought she worked for us or something, anyways, yeah, nothing to worry about there, but if you don't believe me, maybe just ask her…" Before Mike could say anything more, Dolph noticed he was looking at something over Dolph's shoulder. Before he could turn around…

"Hey!" two arms slid down his chest from behind. Dolph looked over his shoulder at AJ, who looked like she'd just showered and gotten dressed. Her hair was in a bun and there were still little droplets of water falling onto her shoulders. She kissed his cheek and slid into the chair next to him. "Hey, Mike."

"Hey," Mike raised his eyebrows at her in greeting. "Your boy over here was just talking about you."

Dolph's eyes widened in shock and a little bit in anger. Mike just smirked at him and stood up. "Where are you going?" Dolph asked, more like squeaked really.

"Just thought you two might like to talk, besides, Maryse is probably up, later, AJ," Mike said then nodded to Dolph.

"What was that about?" AJ asked as she grabbed Dolph's coffee and took a sip. "You were talking about me?"

"Um," do or die time, take Mike's advice or just bottle it up. Dolph was a guy who bottled a lot of things up, he'd always been that way. He'd always been so motivated, but there were a lot of times where he failed, and when that happened, he would just put on a smile and act like it never affected him as deeply as it did. "I was just wondering about us, that's all."

"What about us?"

"Just how different we are."

"I see," she said, looking contemplative for a second before she grabbed his hand, lacing their fingers together, "but you do know that we're actually really similar right? Like you understand that differences are good."

"Yes, I know," he told her, finally looking over at her and smiling. "Do you like Punk?"

Now she was taken aback. That wasn't what she expected him to say at all. It seemed to come out of left field. Actually, no, it came from the parking lot outside the stadium. "What?"

"I don't mean like that, unless that is what you think, but um, like as a guy?"

"No, I don't," she replied, being honest, "I think he's a jerk and rude."

"Okay, I just saw you guys talking last night—" He thought back to last night and seeing them talk. God, he was so insecure sometimes, and he probably didn't have a reason to be. The way she laughed at him, giggling really, eased some of the tension building in his shoulders.

"I couldn't get a drink at the bar because of the height thing," she laughed, "he helped me out, trying to make amends for his continued rudeness. Don't worry, I'm not into him or anything, gross. So when are we going to see my friends?"

He felt relieved, and he felt like a weight was lifted from his shoulders. There were still little nagging voices in the back of his mind that questioned whether or not he'd ever be the man AJ would want in the long-term, but he pushed them away to be thought of for another day. She was looking at him so earnestly and with such love.

"Whenever you want."