The following week on Smackdown, Matt and Amy had just arrived at the arena and Amy had already tried to run off because she had just seen food, and was dragging her dad towards catering.

Amy: Daddy, come on!

Matt: Okay, Amy! I'm coming!

As Amy dragged Matt to catering, they arrived to see Pamela talking to Leah, and Amy ran straight for them and hugged them both after she got food.

Pamela: Aww, hey Ames!

Amy: Hi Auntie Pammy! I've missed you...

Pamela: Aww, I've missed you too, sweetie! How's your dad been?

Matt: Fine thanks!

He grabbed a chicken salad and then joined the girls.

Matt: So whats the plan for tonight?

Pamela: I'm facing Ash, in a non title match. She wanted it for the title, but this was the best she got.

Leah: I'm in a fatal 4 way to see who faces Pam at Backlash against Mandy, Ember, and Cassie. No idea if I'm winning it or not...

Matt: Anyone could win that, but personally, I'd love to see you win it.

Leah blushed a little as she watched Matt finish up his salad and get up out of his chair.

Matt: Anyway, gotta go. Hunter wants me to do a promo about my arrival here and my first challenger. Amy, you stay with Auntie Pam, okay?

Amy: Okay, daddy!

She hugged her dad's legs before he went off to gorilla. As he jogged down the corridor, Leah couldn't help but look and admire him. Unfortunately for her, both Pam and Amy caught her staring.

Pamela: Ahem... Why were you staring at Matt?

Amy: You like my Daddy?

Leah knelt down and looked into Amy's eyes.

Leah: I dunno, short stuff. I mean, your dad's amazing and all, but even if I did like him, I wouldn't want to get in the way of your relationship with him. You two are always together!

Amy smiled and giggled at the mention of her dad.

Pamela: What I think she's trying to say, Amy, is that she does like your dad, but she doesn't want him to know yet.

Amy: Like a secret?

Pamela: Exactly! You can't tell him! Can you do that?

Amy nodded frantically.

Amy: Yeah, yeah! I'll keep secret for you, Miss Carmella!

Leah: You don't always have to call me that, you can just call me Leah, if you like. Okay?

Amy nodded once more before grabbing one of Pamela's hands and one of Leah's and heading to Pamela's dressing room to watch Matt's promo.

In the ring, Matt was receiving a loud cheer from the WWE Universe, and made his intentions clear.

Matt: When I arrived here one week ago, I had 2 goals. One was to solve any issues that were brewing. I did that when helping Carmella from that freak, Lars Sullivan. And the other was to win championships. That's why... Shinsuke Nakamura, I'm talking directly to you. You have held the Intercontinental Championship hostage as of late, and I am here to change that.

The second Matt finished speaking, Shane McMahon's theme hit, and out he came, flanked by Elias and Nakamura.

Shane: Matthew, I understand you are still very new to this company, so allow me to remind you of something. Title shots are EARNED and got, not spoken and got. It's how I earned my way to becoming The Best In The World.

Matt: And you earned that, did you? Cos I remember things differently. You see, when Miz was injured you stuck your nose in where nobody wanted it and you put yourself in his place. You didn't earn anything that night, Shane. But mark my words, someday, I will earn the right to beat you senseless and wipe the smug grin from your face, daddy's boy.

Shane laughed at the whole speech, but his expression changed to one of anger when being called daddy's boy.

Matt: Since the day you came back, you have been doing nothing except riding the coat-tails of that sack of crap you call a father and what he has left behind. You haven't earned a damn thing in this business, Shane, and sooner or later, I will prove it.

Shane: Prove it? Hmm... Prove it... Okay then, if you're so confident of proving it, then prove it. Tonight, you have a match. And if you win that match, you get a shot at the intercontinental Championship. Simple.

Matt didn't really react, but he did raise a wry smile.

Shane: There's just one small catch. Your match tonight is no normal match. It's going to be a HANDICAP match. And your opponents are Elias, and...

Freak then played through the arena, and Matt's smile grew even wider as out came the man he confronted 1 week ago, Lars Sullivan. The Freak also had a smile on his face as they stared a hole through each other.

Backstage, the girls and Amy watched that whole segment and were stunned when Matt went off on one about Shane.

Pamela: Wow... He really went off on one!

Amy looked a little scared at the size of Lars as she hid behind Pamela's legs.

Amy: He's scary...

Leah just watched in wonder. If she wasn't attracted to Matt before then she certainly was now.

Leah: I haven't seen someone go off on one like that about Shane since Kevin and him had that rivalry a couple of years back. And believe me, that was one heck of a match they had at Hell In A Cell.

Pamela and Leah then walked Amy to gorilla to meet with her dad, as she had her match against Charlotte up next. As soon as Matt walked through the curtain, Amy hugged his legs.

Matt: It's okay, sweetie. Nothing bad is gonna happen.

Amy: Pinky pwomise?

He wrapped his little finger around hers and picked her up.

Matt: I promise, sweetie.

As the two left, Leah just kept staring at Matt and realised how good he was with Amy.

Leah: He's just amazing. How he's coped this long on his own is truly amazing.

Pamela: Well, maybe you should actually tell him how you feel.

Leah: Not yet. It's too soon, he's only been here a couple of weeks.

Pamela's music then hit and out she went for her match with Ashley, which she won thanks to a Bayley-to-Belly from the top rope. Soon after that, it was the fatal 4 way, and Matt, Amy and Pamela were all watching in Pam's locker room.

Matt: So who do you want to win, Ames?

Amy: Carmella, cos I wanna see her against Auntie!

Matt smiled at the mention of Leah, as he secretly wanted her to win as well.

Matt: How about you Pam?

Pamela: Personally, any of them would be a good match, but me and Leah haven't had a one on one match together since NXT, so it would be nice to battle it out on the main roster for the first time.

All three were in agreement that they wanted to see Leah win. After a 15 minute match, it was coming to the end. Ember nailed Mandy with the Eclipse, but Cassie then hit Ember with her Fisherman's suplex. But then after being out of the action for a while, Leah then hit a super kick on Cassie before locking in her Code Of Silence submission. With nobody to help her and the ropes just out of her reach, Cassie had no choice but to tap out. As the bell rang, not only did the crowd cheer but so did the three backstage.

Greg: Here is your winner, and NEW number 1 contender, Carmella!

Leah then had her arm raised in victory, and as she made her way up the ramp, Pamela made her way out to meet her. Because the two were close friends, Leah extended a hand towards Pamela. But instead of shaking it, Pam gave her a hug to the loud cheer of the WWE Universe.

Pam: May the best woman win!

Leah: You bet, girl! This will be one to remember, without a doubt.

The two made their way backstage, where, to Leah's surprise, Matt and Amy were waiting. Struggling to keep the smile off her cute little face, Amy ran to Leah and hugged her the best she could, her arms wrapping around the tops of her legs.

Leah: Aww, thanks Amy! You little cutie! Did you want me to win?

Amy: Yeah, so you can face Auntie for that!

She pointed to the belt and Leah just smiled at the 4 year old.

Leah: So, Matt, reckon you can win?

Amy smiled and winked at Matt before he looked around him and sighed a little.

Matt: With a support system like this, how can I lose?

All 3 girls hugged him as after Andrade beat Apollo Crews, it was main event time. Matt took some time alone to psych himself up and spend some time to remember Katie. He looked up and spoke.

Matt: Katie, sweetheart, I will never stop loving you. Tonight is for you.

He kissed his hand before he made his entrance, to a loud crowd. He gave a small high five to a kid who reminded him a little of Amy before getting in the ring. He posed with a finger in the sky and lowering his hood, in the exact way AJ Styles does it.

Elias then made his entrance, accompanied by Shane, and even both of them were intimidated when Lars then made his own entrance. The only person who didn't look afraid of Lars turned out to be Matt himself. He just stared daggers through all three men. This was going to be more than just your average handicap match.

Matt: You don't intimidate me, big boy. Now come on, come and see who the real freak is.

Lars ran and missed a clothesline, and Matt siezed up the big man for a Throwback, which he nailed, but only for barely a one count. This only made Lars more angry. After getting some offence in, Matt then fell victim to a splash in the corner from Lars before Elias tagged in and hit a jumping knee.

Ref: 1... 2...

Matt knew he had more in the tank. He quickly got back up, hit a Spanish Fly from the top rope as Elias climbed to the top. Giving himself some time to recover, Lars then tagged back in again and hit his massive running sit out powerbomb, but opted not to go for the cover. Instead, he saw Elias wanting the tag once again, but Lars just ignored him. Sensing a loss of confidence in the team made Matt more inspired. He hit 3 roundhouse kicks which got Lars down to a knee before hitting a DDT.

Elias: MAKE THE TAG!!!

Elias shouted, which made Lars furious. Matt watched on in surprise as he saw Lars get up, make the tag to Elias, and then throw Elias into the ring before nailing him with a Freak Accident before 2 running sit out powerbombs. Matt and Lars then came face to face. Surprisingly, Lars stuck out a hand to Matt, showing a sign of respect. Not knowing what to do, Matt shook it before Lars left the ring, and watching on as Matt then hit the Throwback on Elias, and going for the pin, while looking at Lars.

Ref: 1... 2... 3!

Greg: Here is your winner, and new number 1 contender, Matt Jenkins!

Matt got up in surprise, as he didn't expect Lars to do what he did. The Freak smiled as he then got back in the ring and hit Elias with another Freak Accident. Shane and Drew then ran out to try and stop the attack, and both confronted Matt and Lars. They went for an attack of their own, but Lars grabbed Drew by the throat and threw him into the corner and hit a massive running powerbomb. Shane could only watch as he was then caught off guard by Matt, and was hit by a Throwback. Matt and Lars then shook hands once more as this signalled the start of an unexpected alliance, one which the crowd didn't know whether to cheer or boo.

Matt: Let this be a sign to everyone in the back. Whoever you are, if you think you can challenge us, we dare you to even try.

Lars just smiled evilly as the two then headed to the back. When the two shook hands on a good night's work, they went their separate ways, before Matt met up with the girls. Amy sprinted to him and hugged him.

Amy: Daddy, that big man is scary...

Matt: Don't worry, sweetie, he's actually a really good person when you get to know him.

Pamela: So you and Lars are gonna be a team?

Matt: Yeah, so I've been told. After I'm done with Shinsuke for the Intercontinental title, which I'm winning, me and Lars are going for the tag titles at Summerslam.

Leah: Wow, so you could be a double champion!

Matt: Yeah, I'm excited!

They continued talking until Pamela had to go for an interview, taking Amy with her, leaving Leah and Matt on their own together. In her mind, now seemed like a good time to tell him how she felt about him. She took a deep breath and out came the truth.

Leah: Matt?

Matt: Yeah?

Leah: I've gotta tell you something... Like, a secret.

Matt: Go on then...