Now, I will NOT take hate on Leslie. She shouldn't be the one being blamed for what is about to happen.

Continue on...

"How are you doing?" Leslie asked, glancing over at Dean.

Dean chuckled as he opened another beer bottle, "You bought me a six pack of beer to calm me down, I'm great."

Leslie rolled her eyes as she leaned back into the couch. Phil was the only one that was allowed to stay with Riley at the hospital, so Leslie brought Dean back to the house. He was doing great. He had actually accepted everything and he had a long talk with Riley.

"You woke up, screaming." She said, picking at her nails. She wasn't even asleep an hour when she heard Dean screaming. It was obvious that he was having a nightmare about the accident.

"Been happening every night since the accident." Dean said.

"Is that why you look like hell?" She asked. It was obvious to everyone that this was hard on Dean, so it was no shock that he hasn't been sleeping. How could they expect him to sleep? This was the second time that he had been in an accident like this and he's been perfectly fine.

He laughed, "That's not very nice of you, Les."

Leslie's eyebrows rose, "I meant to ask you earlier but I didn't. When did you start calling me, Les?" Leslie laughed, "We've never had a friendship like that. You know, where you would call me by my nickname."

He took a sip of his beer, "Am I not allowed to call you that? Some weird bedroom name between you and Romes?"

Leslie blushed causing him to laugh. She pushed at his shoulder, trying to stop herself from laughing.

"For your information everyone calls me Les, except you...until a few seconds ago." She said, crossing her arms.

"Ow."

Dean suddenly put his bottle down, "Are you okay? What's going on?"

Leslie rolled her eyes as she placed her hand on her stomach.

"It's nothing bad, the baby just decided it would be great to start having a damn soccer game." Leslie said, rubbing her stomach.

"Princess just misses her dad." Dean muttered. Leslie smiled, slightly.

"Her dad is never around so how would she miss him." She said. Dean looked over at her.

"I thought you and Roman were good?" He asked. She laughed, dryly.

"We were, but he expects me to do everything alone." She mumbled, "He wants her here already and he cares so much, but I'm scared. He's on the road all the time, and I'm going to be here taking care of the baby."

"Les.."

"I gave him so much, Dean, I honestly don't know what else he wants from me." Dean wrapped his arms around her, trying to comfort her, "I know that I've been a huge bitch to him, but he acts like he doesn't deserve it."

"I didn't press charges, even though I was honestly scared shit less. And then he justs-" She broke off into a small sob.

Dean cringed. Even after dealing with a crying Riley for so long, he wasn't used to comforting. He still didn't know the appropriate things to say to someone.

"Hey, hey no more tears." Dean told her, "Look at me."

He lifted her chin up so she was looking directly at him.

"We're both going through alot right now, and we're probably the only ones that understand each other." He told her, "If Roman's not going to be by your side through everything that's going on right now, then I will. I expect you to be by my side as well because no one understands what I'm feeling like you do."

Leslie sighed, shakily, "Why is everything falling apart?"

He moved a piece of her hair behind her ear, "It's only falling apart because we're letting it fall apart."

"And how do we stop that?" She asked, softly.

Dean didn't realize what he was doing when he started to lean in slowly. It be the logical thing to blame it on the beer, but he only had one, in the middle of his second. He needed comfort and this was the only type of comfort that he knew.

Leslie just stared at him. She knew that he was leaning in, but she didn't move.

"Dean..." Leslie muttered. Instead of backing away from him, she stayed in place, letting his lips come closer to hers. Her breath hitched. She didn't know what to do.

"A word of advice, I've been on the other side of Roman's fist, and it's not the best place to be."

Dean immediately pulled away, suddenly realizing what he was doing.

Leslie looked over at Carter.

"He's on his way up the stairs." Carter told her. Leslie glanced at Dean and opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. What was she suppose to do? Apologize?

Dean looked away from her, clearly feeling embarrassed. He almost kissed his best friend's girl. God, he almost kissed Riley's best friend.

"I'm going to bed." Leslie muttered, softly, getting up. He wanted to apologize, but he didn't know what to say.

Carter watched as Leslie quickly walked past him. Dean covered his face with his hands before letting out a deep sigh.

"You're complete sober and you just tried to kiss Leslie." Carter said, completely stating the obvious. Dean cringed. It didn't seem real until Carter said it out loud.

"God, I'm a dumbass."

Carter nodded, "Yes, you are."

He had no clue what he was going to do.

□■□■□■□■□■□

"You know, Roman may be oblivious to the tension between you two, but not everyone else is as oblivious."

Leslie crossed her arms as she looked down at the floor. They were waiting for Phil to come home with Riley. Dean and Leslie had not said one word to each other. It was normal to Roman, so he didn't suspect anything.

Dean looked over at Leslie with a sigh, "Give us a minute."

Carter sighed, getting up from the couch and walking out.

Minutes passed and nothing was said between the pair. Neither knew how to start the conversation off. They didn't know what to say.

"I'm um sorry about last night." Dean said, scratching the back of his neck, "I would blame it on the beer, but I hardly had two."

Leslie sighed, "It's not entirely your fault. I should have pushed you away."

Dean laughed, trying to clear the awkward atmosphere, "We shouldn't be acting so weird towards each other. We almost kissed, but we didn't -- that's all that should matter."

She laughed along as she ran a hand through her hair, "You're right. We didn't kiss."

Leslie tried to tell herself that it was okay because they didn't actually kiss, but she couldn't. It didn't matter that they didn't kiss because either way, the almost did. They both had wanted to kiss each other.

Dean sent her a look, "I know you're stressing about it, but there's honestly no need."

"God, Riley may not know it, but I almost kissed the guy that she's in love with." She muttered. She was so stupid for almost letting it happen. What would have happened if Carter hadn't walked in on them? They would've kissed and it would have made everything more complicated.

"Hey, stop stressing." He told her, "Look, we're both very vulnerable right now, and we both wanted comfort. It was wrong, trust me, it was terribly wrong, but no one can blame us for leaning on each other."

"We can't let that happen, again." She said, sternly.

"Trust me, I know. We have to just rely on each other without getting like that." He said, running a hand through his hair, "Like I said, I have your back and you have mine."

"Roman will have your head if he ever found out." She said, softly. Dean sighed as he nodded.

"There would be a high chance that he would kill me." He said, "But, trust me, he isn't going to find out. No one is going to know about this, besides Carter."

She sighed, "Okay."

"Now let's go back to normal, without feeling awkward." He told her.

Leslie smiled, "If you ever lean in on me again, I will punch you in the face."

Dean laughed, "Yep, we're definitely back to normal."

Riley looked at Dean, confused, "I don't understand what you're doing in my house."

It had been a couple of days, so she kind of got used to seeing Dean. She would still get excited, but she wouldn't get overly excited. She knew that he was obviously here for a reason.

Dean gave Phil a look, "The doctor said we can give her things to bring back her memory, right?"

"Yeah, he said as long as we don't tell her." Phil said, crossing her arms, "Her memories have to come back because she remembers them, not because we tell her what happened."

Riley looked from Dean to her dad, "You guys act like I'm not sitting right here."

Dean went and pulled a packet out of his bag. He had to basically beg Vince to give it to him before he came down. He actually didn't think that Vince would give it to him because Vince didn't actually approve of their relationship. He only gave it to him because he needed Riley to remember, so she can get in the ring in three weeks.

"What is that?" She asked, looking at the packet in Dean's hand. He handed it to her, clearly hoping that it would trigger a memory.

"Read the front page." Dean told her.

"World Wrestling Entertainment: NXT three year contract." Riley looked over at Dean, confused, "What does this have to do with anything?"

Dean sighed, "Continue to read."

"Issued to new NXT diva, Riley Brooks on February 2, 2015."

Riley immediately gasped when the memory came back to her.

"Look at me." Dean muttered. Riley's hair was all over her face, but he could feel her eyes on him, "You're not losing this match."

"You have worked too hard for too long to not get this damn contract Riley." Dean said, "Think about all the people that you'll be proving wrong when you get the contract. You'll be making your dad proud, making Leslie and Carter proud, making me proud, and most of all you'll be making your mom proud."

"Think about how happy she would be seeing you do this." Dean said. He didn't even finish his sentence when Riley had already flipped Paige over and had her in a headlock.

Riley watched as Dean gave her a small nod. Riley jumped on Paige's back, immediately applying the sleeper hold. She had her hold on tight, making sure that Paige either tapped out or passed out.

Just as Paige was going to pass out, the buzzer rang, signaling the the match had reached its time limit.

Dean smiled. No one won the match, but the match lasted until the time limit, longer than any of the other matches that happened.

Riley's hold on Paige loosened, and she landed on her feet, holding onto the ring rope. She had her forehead leaned against the turnbuckle. She knew that she messed up multiple times during the match, and it made her upset thinking that she didn't give her best.

"You did amazing." Dean muttered, looking up at her. Riley shook her head, softly. She didn't need Dean lying to her, she knew that she did terrible.

"Miss Brooks." Riley looked up. All three of the judges were staring at her, clearly ready to tell her if she moves on or not.

"I got to say the ending of the match was pretty amazing." Trish said with a smile. Riley smiled back, slightly, "The middle of this match though, it was a little rough around the edges."

Riley nodded, clearly knowing that she did do a bad job during the middle of the match.

"I think that you're still trying to get on your feet. You know what you're doing, you just don't know how to get it done." Trish said, "There was a really bad crossbody that you tried to do from the top rope. I feel like you were really confident about doing it, but when you got up there and jumped towards Paige, your knee connected with her face."

"Wait, timeout, Trish." Everyone watched as Paige walked over and leaned against the ropes, "Are you honestly about to tell her that she's not getting her contract?"

Riley looked over at Paige.

"Pardon my language, but she's fucking amazing. She reminds me of myself when I was her age." Paige said, "Trust me, I doubted that she had skill, but she does. I have never had someone break free of the PTO so fast, then immediately lock in a sleeper hold. I'm not going to lie she made a couple mistakes, but she came back from those mistakes."

"It would be a great mistake if you don't give this girl her contract." Paige finished, looking over at Riley, "You're an amazing wrestler, Riley, don't ever let some contract determine what you do with your talent."

Riley smiled, softly. She knew that what Paige said wouldn't change the judges minds, but Paige was right. If she didn't move on this year, she could just work harder this year to come back better for next year.

"We never said she wasn't getting a contract, Paige." Steve said. Riley looked over at them, clearly in shock, "She is an amazing wrestler and she is moving on, but she will spend at least two more months in developmental."

Dean smiled at Riley.

"Congratulations, Miss Brooks, welcome to the WWE."

Riley immediately looked at Dean, "I got signed to NXT. I lasted thirty minutes in a match with Paige and she praised me for it."

"You did." Dean told her.

"When am I supposed to start?" She asked, confused.

"Three weeks." Dean answered. He obviously would have asked Vince for more time to get Riley back in shape. She didn't have much head trauma, but her memory was gone, no concussion...nothing.

"I can't remember anything, though." She muttered.

"That's why I'm going to help you." He told her, "I'm going to train you and get you into shape for your debut."

He didn't know how difficult it would be. He had to reteach everything that he taught her in those two months. She obviously knew how to wrestle, but she didn't remember the small things that Dean taught her, that did put her over the top.

"Seriously?" She asked, excitedly.

He still wasn't used to her acting like fan. When he had first met her, she kind of kept her fangirling to herself because she had realized how much of a jerk Dean was. He was not showing her his jerky side, so she showed her love for him.

Dean smiled, "Seriously."

He knew it was going to be a long road ahead of him, but he was willing to take the journey for Riley.

Now, for those of you who haven't realized, Leslie will play a larger part in this story. I will not take any hate on her character.

And because he was so loved in the first book, Kenny will be in this book as well...for obvious reasons. We can hate on him all we want.

I've been writing a lot lately, and it's just been making me happy.

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter!

Love you guys,
DianaUnstableAmbrose ❤💋