On the drive back to the motel Chris was unusually quiet. 

"Honey are you ok?" Rosie asked, laying her hand on his arm.

Briefly taking his eyes off the road, his indigo gaze probed hers before he slowly smiled.  "I'm fine, it's just been a funny day," He raised her hand to his lips and placed a soft kiss on her wrist. I love her and trust her, and I know she wouldn't betray me like Carly did, he thought to himself. 

"I know, and believe me I hated keeping it a secret, but it came as such a shock!  My whole life I've hated being an only child.  I always wanted a big brother and now I have one.  Apart from that, he's really the only family I have. Mum was an only child and since she died you've been the closest person to me." She turned in her seat to face Chris before continuing.

"Honey, I know you and Hunter have issues, and I'm not going to pry because I know you'll tell me when you're ready, but all I ask is you be civil to him.  Tonight it was like Y2J at his obnoxious best was sitting at that table, not the Chris I love.  And I know how you hate letting your in-ring persona slip out when you're not at work."

Chris gave a silent prayer of thanks for finding such an understanding woman.  "How the hell did I get lucky enough to find you?" he asked softly.

"Well let me see if my memory serves me correctly…." She laughed.

 
Tampa, Florida
July 14 2002 

Rosie sat on the damp sand hugging her knees to her chest watching the waves crash against the rocks, mindless of the heavy mist that was slowly wetting her clothes.  Today was her birthday and it was the first year she truly had no-one to celebrate it with.  Her mother had died the previous Christmas and as soon as her estate was finalised Rosie had moved from her home in rural Australia to Tampa.  She had been lucky enough to get a job in the office of a manufacturing company and was renting a tiny apartment not far from where she now sat, but she had yet to make any real friends.  She had numerous acquaintances from work but at times she still felt so alone.

"Oh Mum, I miss you so much," she whispered, bending to rest her forehead on her knees, wondering for the hundredth time in the past few months if she had done the right thing by totally relocating like she had.

With a heavy sigh, Rosie got to her feet and started walking towards the rocks at the end of the beach, brushing sand off her rear with one hand, while her sandals dangled from the other.  After taking only a few steps she felt something slice into the sole of her foot.  With a sharp cry she dropped to the sand, bending her leg so she could see the damage.  As the blood ran down her foot and dripped onto the sand the emotional dam that had been building for months burst and she buried her head in her hands and sobbed.

She felt a comforting hand rest on her shoulder and a concerned voice asked if everything was alright.  She raised her tear-stained face to look into the deepest blue eyes she had ever seen.  They belonged to a man crouched down in front of her.  He had a hard athlete's body with long blonde hair flowing over broad shoulders, bare except for a loose-fitting tank top.

 "I trod on something and cut my foot," Rosie said, drawing a shaky breath as she wiped her eyes.

"Here, let me have a look," the man ordered, gently lifting her injured foot to inspect the damage.  "That's quite a cut you have there.  It needs antiseptic on it so it doesn't get infected."

"I'll put some on it when I get home."

"I hope its not far, you'll be flat out walking on that foot,"

"It's only a couple of blocks," she shrugged.

In reply to that the man stood and took off his top.  He then bent down to bind her foot tightly.

"What the hell are you doing?" Rosie demanded, trying in vain to snatch her foot out of his grip while trying not to stare at his smooth, muscle-bound chest.

"You'll bleed out by the time you get home.  There, that should do it.  Do you think you can stand up?" He asked, wrapping an arm around her waist to aid her.

She got to her feet but couldn't put any weight on her cut foot.  "Looks like it will be a slow hop home," she remarked in an attempt at humour.

Next thing she knew she was swept up to be cradled in his arms.  "What are you doing, now!" she squealed, throwing her arms around his neck for balance.

"I'm taking you to my house, just up that path.  You need that foot attended to now." He informed her, heading in the direction of the indicated path.

"But I don't even know you!"

"My name is Chris, Chris Jericho, and you're name is……?

"Rosie Divine," she mumbled in reply.  She was acutely aware of his strong arms holding her tightly against his chest.  One arm was supporting her bent knees while the other one curled just under her bust.  As they made their way up the slight incline, his hand brushed the underside of her breast, causing her to gasp.  Chris looked down questioningly at her but she avoided his gaze by laying her head against his shoulder.  Boy he smells good she thought to herself, then another thought came to mind, causing her to lift her head: I have no idea who this half naked man is but I'm letting him carry me to his home.  I must be light-headed due to blood loss.

Chris carried her all the way to his back door before lowering her legs.  "Just lean against the house, while I let us in," he instructed, digging in his shorts pocket for his key.  After opening the door he supported her while she hopped through.  Two hops in, she stopped dead in her tracks and stared open-mouthed around the space before her.  Directly to her right was the country style kitchen, complete with hanging brass pots and huge open fire-place.  A big bench and ample storage space, coupled with ultra modern appliances, made for a thoroughly functional work space.  To her left was a huge open space that contained a pool table, dart board and state of the art stereo system, obviously a great space for entertaining.

"Wow!" was all Rosie could come up with.

"Yep, that pretty much describes it.  Pity I'm only renting it," Chris replied, nudging her towards a leather lounge chair and helping her to sit.  "You just wait here and I'll go get some stuff to fix you up."

When Chris returned he was carrying a small first aid box.  He sat cross legged on the floor before Rosie and rested her wrapped foot on his thigh.  As he bent his head down his hair fell forward, partially covering his face.  Right at that moment Rosie would have given her soul just to reach out and run her fingers through those silky strands. 

 Mentally shaking herself she turned her attention to gaze at the various photos scattered around the walls.  Several were of a younger Chris with an older man in hockey gear, his father she guessed by the resemblance between the two men.  There were also quite a few photos of Chris in what appeared to be wrestling attire, proudly displaying various gold belts.  The one that caught her attention most was of a beaming Chris with his arms wrapped securely around a woman with waist-length red hair.  They look so happy.  She must be his girlfriend, Rosie thought with a twang of disappointment.

"Are you a wrestler?" she asked, turning her attention back to Chris.

"That I am, known throughout the industry as Y2J or Chris Jericho," he replied without looking up.

"Isn't all that stuff fake?" she blurted out before she could stop herself. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked that."

Chris chuckled before answering.  "Well in a manner of speaking it's fake, in that we have writers that script all the story-lines and we know who's going to win a match before we step into the ring.  We also learn how to fall and block and make it all look real, but I've gotta tell you that it's not for the faint of heart.  People have actually died in the ring as a result of things going wrong."

"Really? That's terrible!"

"I really love the business though."

"How does your girlfriend like being with a pro-wrestler?" She couldn't help but ask, pointing to the photo that had caught her eye earlier.

Chris glanced up on the wall.  "Nan? The business is in her blood.  She even owns her own arena, but she's not my girlfriend any more.  She's been going out with another wrestler, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, or Triple H, now."

"But why do you still have her photo on your wall?" Rosie slapped her hand over her mouth.  "I'm so sorry, you don't have to answer that.  I think I'd better stop talking now before I say something else totally stupid"

His eyes met and held hers.  "You don't have to stop talking, I really like your accent."

Tearing her gaze away before she threw caution to the wind and jumped into his waiting lap, she drew a deep breath before answering, "I usually think before I talk but my brain seems to be frazzled today."

Chris smiled as he finished doctoring her foot.  "There you go, all done.  Can I get you something to drink?"

"A drink would be great, thanks."

Chris got to his feet and disappeared again before returning with two glasses of juice.  He handed one to Rosie before sitting in the chair facing hers.  "So tell me a bit about yourself.  You're obviously not American?"

She took a long drink before answering.  "No I'm not American; I was born and bred in Australia.  I moved over her a few months ago, after my Mum died."

"What made you pick Tampa?"

"It just looked like a nice place on TV.  Kind of a lame excuse I know but I just wanted to get away."

They sat and talked some more before Rosie decided she had better get home.  Chris offered to drive her home… 

~<>~ 

"And the rest, as they say, is history!" Rosie finished, just as they pulled into their motel.  "You know, you never did tell me why you and Nan broke up.  Not that it bothers me, I'm just wildly curious."

"She'd had the hots for Hunter for quite some time, well before we got together she told me later.  But he was living with Chyna at the time and he later married Stephanie.  When I asked her out she had just lost her fiancé so I guess I sort of caught her on the rebound.  He had been ill for a long time and she had been taking care of him.  Anyway, as soon as Hunter was free they got together." 

Rosie had a sudden flash of awareness.  "That's why you dislike Hunter so much, because Nan loved him, even while she was with you." 

"That's part of it.  We were always more like brother and sister than lovers anyhow, and when we broke up we were just really good friends. There was just this one time when she wouldn't speak to me for months."

"Why was that?"

Chris got a noticeable glow in his cheeks.  "Well at the time I was the Undisputed Champion, the first one ever.  For about 7 months I was the best of the best.  During that time I formed what could only be described as an unholy alliance with Stephanie.  She and Hunter were going through the motions of their divorce and she was acting like a first class bitch.  She confiscated their dog Lucy and she had me tending to its needs. To cut a long story short, I accidentally ran over and killed Lucy, and of course Stephanie got as much mileage out of that as she possible could, because Hunter thought the world of that dog and he was devastated.  I'm sure Nan has never forgiven me for that.  In fact when she did start talking to me again, she let her fists do the talking, socked me one right in the jaw and sat me on my ass.  Now we just have an understanding that the whole episode is never mentioned." 

Chris and Rosie both got out of the car and walked into the motel lobby before he continued.

"Anyway Stephanie would always tell me how big a bastard Hunter was and I guess if you hear something enough you start to believe it.  On top of that I was pretty pissed off that Hunter won the titles off me so soon after his operation and she fed that anger every chance she got.  To be fair, though, I now realise that most of what she told me was bullshit.  Maybe it's more habit than anything else specific these days that causes me not to like him."

By this time they had reached the elevator and as they waited for it to arrive Rosie turned to Chris.  "Ok, all that I understand but it seemed to really affect you when Hunter told you he was my brother.  Why was that?"

For several seconds Chris remained silent and Rosie could see he was waging an internal battle with himself.  As the elevator arrived he grabbed her hand and led her in.  "Rosebud, I really don't want to talk about things anymore tonight.  Can we just leave things alone for now?"

Rosie smiled up at him.  "Sure, we can talk about that another time."

Chris pulled her into his arms and rested his chin atop her head.  "Just know that I love you and I will try and get along with Hunter for your sake."

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