To say that Cole was slightly nervous would be an understatement.  For the past hour, his movement had been a flurry of motion.  The contents of his luggage tossed about and strewn across the floor of their hotel room.  He just had to make the right impression to Melissa.  What shirt would look best?  What was her favorite color?  No, he wore that one the first time he met her in his locker room.  Nothing was good enough in his view that would get him off on the right foot with what little family Brooke had left.  His drive to perfection was tap dancing along the border of insanity, and it was really starting to bug the hell out of her.

Pulling her tight-fitting faded blue jeans smoothly up her legs and over the smooth snow-white cotton of her turtleneck, she buckled her belt at her navel.  She was almost ready while he was running around their room like a maniac still clad in just a pair of boxers.  As much as she wanted ogle his barely clothed body, she had to focus on calming him down so he could just relax.  She had lost both her mother and father when she was just a young girl, so Xavier and Melissa were really the only family she had.  That she kept in touch with at least.  Their mother, Aunt Jessica, was not that sensible anymore to say the least.  Still though, a dinner with her cousin was no reason to go into a mad panic over.

"Hey, Hun," he asked in a squeaky, high-pitched voice as he held up a shirt in a god-awful shade of yellow against his chest, "How 'bout this?  Think she'll like how this looks?  She like or hate yellow?"  Brooke hated the color but would not be that blunt with him.  His confidence was in a shambles as it was.  What he needed now was a comforter to tell him that everything would be fine, not a fashion advisor.  She merely showed him a smile as she tied her hair back into her usual ponytail.

Her feet sheathed in the white cotton of the socks padded across the rough carpet as she strode towards the foot of the bed and sat down on it.  Her palm slide over the blanket as she spoke, "Sit down, baby.  Just take a deep breath and sit."  "I can't Brooke, Hun," he said in a panicked, hurried voice, "This has to be right.  They don't like Kameron.  I don't want them thinking you're marrying his double."  "If you'd just stay calm," she rolled her eyes at him, "You'd be ready by now.  I am."  He eyed her up and down for a moment and seeing that she was right, he shrugged and said, "Yeah, but you're you.  You could be wearing a bunch of rags and still look like a damn princess.  I don't have that kind of luxury.  I can't have Melissa hating me and go back telling Xavier all kinds of shit."

She blushed a smile.  Even in the throws of a near panic attack, he was still the flatterer.  He obviously was not in the right frame of mind to do what she was asking as simple as it was, so she would just have to go to him.  She stood back up and wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her clothed body against his near naked one.  The motion and show of affection seemed to take him by surprised, as if he had not seen her coming, too wrapped up in something as simple as choosing an outfit for dinner.  "And if they don't like you?," she shrugged, "So what?  How they feel about someone isn't gonna change how I feel about them, especially not you.  We're getting married in a week regardless of what anyone thinks, no matter what kind of wedding we have.  I don't care if it's just a thing in front of a judge, just as long as I have you."

She waited a moment, longing to see that soft and gentle Cole she knew and loved.  His face softened, the muscles in his face relaxed enough to permit a smile.  That was what she wanted to see, him smile and be happy.  She bent her head closer, softly connecting her lips with his; the kiss was warm and tender, exactly what he needed to get his feet back on the ground.  Brooke enjoyed the feeling herself, but that went without saying.  Slowly, she pulled her hands from behind his neck, sliding down his chest as she patted his tight pectoral muscles a little too lustfully.  "I like the red one," she said with a now hurried pat and backed away to return to the bed.

Now on her side of the hotel bed, she slid her feet into her white Skechers sneakers.  Bending her leg up, she tied the laces one foot at a time, casting a look back behind her every few seconds to see Cole now buttoning the red silk shirt she bought him a week earlier.  Good.  He's much calmer now.  "How's your shoulder feeling?," he said now finally relaxed enough to talk about something other than Melissa's favorite color or if having his elbows on the table would annoy her.  "Fine," she lied.  She hated lying to him, but she did not want him going back to being Mr. High Strung.  It was not hurting her too badly at least; the match with Gabriella had not worked it too much.  Hopefully Troy would have much the same effect.

She stood back up to her feet and walked towards the bathroom, casting a glance over her shoulder to see Cole putting on the best pair of pants he had.  At least he's trying to impress them.  Shows how much he cares about me.  He doesn't have to be in their good graces though.  She closed the door shut behind her, isolating her in the chamber of the bathroom.  Locking the door behind her, sure he would not come in at the worst possible moment, she opened the medicine cabinet and pulled out the small bottle of generic painkillers.  Ibuprofen.  Eat your heart out, Lindsay.  This is all I need to stop it from hurting.  She spilled out a couple of the capsules into her cupped palm. Eh, one more won't hurt.  Brooke quickly tossed them into her mouth as a child would with a handful of Skittles, cupping her other hand under the water spilling out from the faucet and used the stale liquid as a chaser and washes them down her throat.

Just over-the-counter stuff.  Nothing Cole needs to worry about.  She wiped at her eyes sleepily.  That early morning followed by the whole day out with Cole probably was not a good idea in hindsight, but Melissa was not exactly a night owl.  With any luck, the whole night would go off without a hitch and Melissa would go back to Xavier expounding just how wonderful Cole really was.  Her match with Troy Gafgen, she would worry about that in the morning.  Cole had made a reservation with a gym and wanted to show her a few more moves.  Hopefully the pain rippling from her shoulder would not be made obvious to him.

It was all just training... all of it going towards the bigger picture of her future match against Reese Black for the Women's title.  Melissa's old belt that she had last year before getting pregnant with Kelsey.  Being a champion, that would solidify her position in GEW and not just the boss' cousin anymore but also a honest-to-goodness competitor.  Married to Cole and being crowned the Women's champion, she could think of no other way to make herself feel so whole.  One filling the void deep inside her personally, the other professionally.  Troy and Reese, the latest two separate roadblocks lain down in front of her on her highway of life.  Losing would not be overly devastating to neither her future nor her confidence, but winning would do wonders for her outlook on just what she could achieve.