you might not know this, but i'd go out of my way just to make sure you're okay.

The fleece blanket was wrapped loosely over Lucy's body. The television continued to drone on the rerun of a soap opera as the family dog, a golden retriever named Ripley, lightly snored from the other end of the couch. Her body seemed mostly drained as this had been one of the few moments she had to relax since returning home.

A month seemed to go by within a blink of an eye to her. With all the legal situations she found herself in since returning caused her life to move at a mile a minute. Trying to give leads on where her father may be, helping plan her mother's wake and funeral, and figuring out paperwork around her property kept her on her toes constantly. Grieving became especially hard because of the constant activity, making her feel like she would never be over it.

When the spinning seemed to cease, friends in the area tried to help lift her spirits, taking her out to eat, getting her out to town to see the sights, and generally trying to help her get out of her funk. She appreciated their efforts and even found it helping relieve her stress. However, she couldn't deny the fact that she was still hurting.

What seemed to make her feel the most happy was hearing from her co-workers and friends on the road. They made sure she was caught up on all the backstage life, as well as their personal lives. It made her feel better than she was included in details she was missing, but when they asked her when she would be returning, she was disheartened to tell them that she just wasn't sure.

As the show ended, her heart felt warm up as she noticed RAW coming on. She had kept a watchful eye on the show for the booking once she started to come back around. This was mostly because she noticed Rami was facing a bit of a troubled spot in his career, a fact she learned from some of the ranting sessions they had. She decided to check it out for herself.

Something she picked up on instantly was how the company was treating those like Tenille "Emma" Dashwood, Victoria "Alicia Fox" Crawford, Danielle "Summer Rae" Moinet, Frederick "Darren Young" Rosser III, Benjamin "Neville" Satterley, and even Rami. Such wasted talent thrown aside, and for what? Was it because they weren't big enough, weren't liked enough, weren't championship material?

The thing they all shared in common was that they were underutilized, underestimated,

underrated.

It sickened her, really. In a pro-wrestling promotion, it seemed necessary for there to be others to be the bigger guys over. But at what expense? Talent was being wasted because the company was too blinded to see their potential. If you were no Roman Reigns or John Cena, it seemed you were overlooked.

Lucy groaned as Rami fought in his much demanded Last Man Standing Match against Adam "Braun Strowman" Scherr. The thing that scared her about his matches was Rami was never the type to give up, wanting to show the company that he was championship material. However, in doing so, he disregarded his own health and safety. She'll admit, there was moments she had to turn away because she couldn't see him go through that.

"Hey, I see you're up." Olivia's voice was soft as she walked into the room. Ripley perked up at the sound of her, his tail thumping against the cushion. In her hands was a warm bowl of homemade soup, which she kindly accepted, "You look better today. How're you feeling?"

Lucy shrugged, her eyes looking back at the television to see Rami bodyslam Adam off the stage to the hard floor. Olivia looked over her shoulder at the screen watching the man slowly get back to his feet. Since coming home, she had noticed the young woman spend more time talking to him. He seemed to be a sort of comfort to her. Lucy claimed that they were nothing more than friends, but she could see that he felt otherwise.

"I heard that the boys are taking you up to camp tomorrow. That sound like fun." She attempted to make small talk.

"Yeah." Lucy voice was monotone, methodic like a machine. That had been her usual response as of late. Olivia couldn't help but groan. She thought the young woman had had enough time to grieve over her mother's lost, granted she hadn't known her for that long. Perhaps it was because of the massive amount of stress and responsibility that was forced upon her after the fact. She just wished she could lessen the pain.

"Just let me know if you need anything." Her voice filled with defeat as she left the room. It wasn't the fact that she had given up on Lucy ever getting better; she gave up on her attempts to help her. For her to get better, she just needed time.

She knew these times were hard on her, but they would pass, eventually.

As Lucy looked back towards the television, her heart sank as she saw Rami being stretchered out of the arena. Meekly, she started to spoon some soup into her mouth, silently hoping for the best for the man.

Rami groaned as he adjusted carefully into his hotel bed. Still hot from his match against Adam, he hadn't said much to a concerned Kevin Steen. 

He definitely noticed an attitude change in his best friend since Lucy left. Why, he didn't know. Maybe it was because of the bad booking he was facing. Even Kevin couldn't wrap his mind around why he was being treated in such a way. Ever since their match at Battleground, he saw a shift in their careers: Kevin was given title opportunity after title opportunity, while Rami was forced to put over the bigger guys. He didn't think it was fair, but what was he to do?

The sound of a phone ringing caused both of them to perk up. When realizing it was his, Rami reached over despite the pain to check it out. The name of the contact seemed to lift his spirits, causing a smile to come over him.

"Hey." He said softly. Kevin admittedly tried to listen in on the conversation, wondering what caused the sudden change of attitude.

"Don't scare me like that." The familiar voice of Lucille sounded in the receiver, causing a smile to come over Steen. He knew that the bearded man definitely felt something more for the revolutionist, and he couldn't deny how happy she made him. But he feared that Rami was backing himself up into a corner of sorts; if she didn't return the emotions, he would be heart broken.

"You watched?"

"Of course I watched, though I had to turn away sometimes. God, I hate seeing you go through that. However, I noticed some pretty interesting things tonight."

"Oh yeah. And what's that?"

"That the company is pretty fucked up when you're the outsider looking in. I wonder how that makes the fans feel." She gave a small giggle, causing him to chuckle.

"Trust me, many of them are very vocal about their opinions."

As their conversation progressed, Rami seemed to forget that he was in pain. He seemed to forget about everything for just a moment. In his mind, it was just them, him and Lucille. She seemed to have that affect on him a lot. She was the light of his life. She made him genuinely happy. He would admit: she was a badass with a good heart, soft but strong, unapologetic and honest. She's the type of woman you go to war beside - not against. 

Seconds turned into minutes, which turned to hours before the pair decided to end their conversation. Kevin couldn't help the smile plastered across his face. When Rami looked over at him, he was confused.

"What?"

"You want to explain all that?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Rami feigned ignorance as the pain was starting to catch up to him once again. He turned on his side to face opposite his friend. But he couldn't get away that easily.

"Oh come on, Sebei. The smiles. The laughter. The overall happiness. You feel something strong for this woman, I can tell. Maybe you won't admit it because you just don't know what to call it, do you? Because you have no idea if she could possibly feel the same."

Rami knew exactly what Kevin was getting at. Trying to toy with his emotions to get him the spill every last detail that his brain was thinking and his heart was feeling. And, sadly, it was working. Despite the pain, he sat up in the bed and looked over towards his friend.

"Actually, there is a word for that. It's love.

I'm in love with her, okay?

If you're looking for the word that means caring about someone beyond all rationality and wanting them to have everything they want no matter how much it destroys you... it's love. And when you love someone, you just... you - you don't stop, ever. Even when people roll their eyes or call you crazy, even then, especially then. You just, you don't give up because if I could give up, if I could just, you know, take everyone's advice and give up on chasing her and find someone else, that wouldn't be love. That would be... that would be some other disposable thing that is not worth fighting for. But that - that is not what this is." 

It surprised Rami, the words he spoke. Although he did have a tendency to speak before he thought, this time felt different as a stir in his chest followed. He frantically tried to wrap his head around what exactly it was that his mouth said. His heart got the better of him, and he seemed to prove it to himself.

Rami Sebei was in love with Lucille Moreau. The thought itself caused a big smile to come across his face.

Kevin rose from his bed to pat his friend on the shoulder, "Better?" When he nodded, he nodded right back before proclaiming he was heading to bed.

When the lights went out, Rami became restless. His heart was beating quickly against his ribs, his smile still as wide as he replayed the thought over and over again.

He loves her.

I hope you enjoyed. Also, thank you guys so much for over 2,000 reads on this story. It's definitely one of my favorite's to work on, so to know you guys are enjoying it too means a lot. So thank you. Anyways, how did I do? Let me know in the comments. Thank you for reading. And until next time, heart you. <3