It was like she'd been taken back years past Evolution, past the leg injury, past the second DX, back to the original DX, back to the days when she fell in love with him. Getting up she pulled out a scrapbook opening it to a single picture. It was mostly just a head shot, but it was one of her favorites. Long blond hair, skin sporting a natural tan, not the orange look he was prone to these days, red colored sun glasses, black leather jacket, black tight fitting t-shirt, but what the picture didn't show was a muscular, but at the same time lean body unlike the puffy look that he had been sporting for months. It also didn't show a smile that changed his whole face. It didn't show a laugh that could light up a room. It didn't show a man whom she had fallen deeply in love with.

But he'd had a relationship back then. He was involved with Joanie, so what should have been had to stay what could have been. Her memories, which should have been more than enough to fill a lifetime, had been confined to a few weeks of pretending. She'd pretended that this man was hers. She'd pretended that the rest of the world didn't exist. She'd pretended that there wasn't someone waiting for him, and he hadn't helped matters much. The look in his eyes when he spoke those words so heartfelt, confessing things that he probably would not have otherwise. She'd always had that way about her however, drawing people out of their shell, making them feel at ease, making them believe that their faults and shortcomings were ok with her.

Shaking her head she set the album down and made her way back to the sofa and rewound Raw to the beginning… she loved her DVR. She'd never liked Joanie before she'd met Paul, and certainly didn't like her after, but she didn't want to dwell on that. They'd stayed in contact after that for awhile. They had a couple mutual friends, which was how they had met in the first place. He'd call when he needed a break, when life got to be too much and he needed something that didn't live in the spotlight to hold onto.

She'd known about Stephanie, she'd been concerned about what he was doing, and in her heart she'd been more than slightly jealous and hurt because she'd never been able to get rid of the what if's or the maybe someday's. Once he'd taken up with Stephanie they'd lost track. She'd moved and changed her phone number. As much as she didn't like Joanie, she trusted Stephanie even less, but he seemed to be in love and their phone calls had grown to be less and less frequent. It had just grown to be too painful to hold onto the hope and have it rubbed in your face every day that your longings and your dreams would never come true.

Not that she'd ever let go of him in her heart. Despite all the time since they'd talked last, despite how she'd heard that he'd changed she still held that man in her heart, the one that had laid in her bed and confessed his fears and regrets. She couldn't help but wonder what he feared now, what regrets had been added to his big strong shoulders. She saw what people said about him. She knew which ones were lies, which ones were the truth and which ones were somewhere in between. She worried about him though. Worried about the strain he kept putting on his body, worried about the people he was surrounding himself with, worried that if at the end of the day he was more alone than not.

She wished that she could see him, wished that she could hear his voice, wished she could touch him and lay her head on his chest again feeling his fingers move thru her hair as he talked. She'd heard that he and Stephanie hadn't worked out. She'd worried about his job, worried how Vince would react, but she'd been assured that he would be ok. Wasn't he always though? At least that is the picture that he painted for people so that they could believe he was.

Hearing a knock on her door she sighed and paused the DVR. Raw had been over for so long that the guys were back in the states by now, so a few seconds for someone selling something probably wouldn't kill her. She didn't even bother to look and see who it was. She probably should have, but afterwards she was glad she hadn't. The first thing she saw was a massive chest encased in tight black cotton and for a few moments she forgot how to breathe. Slowly her eyes traveled upwards until her brown ones connected with his hazel ones. She saw the nervousness there so unfamiliar to the man she was used to seeing on her television unafraid of anything except maybe Batista. "Hey." The sound of his voice made the goose bumps raise up on her arms. "Hey," she responded softly not sure of what to say when so many things came to mind like I love you, I need you, I want you to be mine. "Shane says hi."

She chuckled softly and bowed her head for a moment. Shane McMahon, terminal matchmaker and hopeless romantic. "I should have known he'd do something like this." Smiling she looked up into his eyes once more and again lost her breath. "God I missed you," she breathed unaware she'd spoken at first until his eyes changed and his lips parted. "Not nearly as much as I missed you," He confessed and quickly she found herself wrapped up in his arms holding on for dear life. "Please tell me you're mine this time. Please tell me there isn't someone waiting to take you away from me. Please just tell me you're mine."

"I think that we're both waited long enough," he confessed, "and baby I don't wanna wait no more." Burying his hands on her hair he leaned down and breathed in deeply inhaling her scent glad that for once it wasn't just a memory. "I need someone real. I need someone that I can just be myself with. I need someone that doesn't expect me to be 'on' 24/7. I need you." Pulling her head back slightly so that she could look at his face again she felt her eyes mist at the pain in his eyes and knew that she wasn't the only one that regretted the shoulda been's. Wrapping her arms around his neck she pulled him into a kiss as she led him inside of her home. Shutting the door she ran a hand over his chest and smiled up at him knowing that this time she'd have all the memories she ever needed.

The End!