The Woman Behind the Eradicator

I Do

The next morning comes around and Rhea fell asleep with her head on the side of Sam's bed, still holding her hand. Soft snores escapes her, the exhaustion finally taking over.

Sam stirs in her sleep, waking Rhea. She pops her head up and looks at Sam, who's frowning and groaning, eyes still closed. Rhea reaches up and caresses her cheek softly, which seems to calm Sam as her eyes open.

"R-Rhea.." she croaks.

"I'm here, Sweetness." Rhea says and gives her hand a squeeze.

"Where..where is he.." Sam asks, her eyes darting around the room.

"Jail baby. He's in jail." Rhea replies.

Tears roll down Sam's cheeks.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She cries.

"Shh. What on Earth are you sorry for?" Rhea asks.

"I didn't fight back." Sam sniffles.

"Baby you didn't have time to. It happened so fast. Do not blame yourself, okay? Nobody blames you."

"The boys...saved me." She says and Rhea nods.

"I'll be sure to thank them for that later."

"Where were you?"

Rhea's heart breaks at the question. She knows it wasn't accusatory, but it hurts that she had no idea what was happening to her girl just because she wanted to put on a show.

"I..I was announcing your addition to the Judgment Day." Rhea sighs.

"What?" Sam asks, surprise in her eyes.

"I cleared it with Creative. We were going to bring you on as my girl. The team's good luck charm."

Sam can't help but smile a little, even though it hurts.

"You did that for me?" She asks.

"Of course. I wanted to share my world with you." Rhea smiles.

Sam sighs and closes her eyes for a minute, trying to ignore all the different pains she feels in her body. She opens her eyes again and sees Rhea kneeling down on the floor, a ring box in her hand with a dainty, but very nice, ring in the box.

"Samantha. I was going to do this at my next match. But after last night...I realize life is way too short to wait. Sam, I love you with all of my heart. I hope you don't think this is too soon, but you are everything to me. I can't imagine my life without you in it. So...Sam...will you marry me?" Rhea asks.

Sam finds herself speechless. She wishes she could stand. That she could hug Rhea and be spun around in happiness. But instead she's lying in the hospital bed after narrowly beating death. Even after all of that, Rhea still wants to marry her.

"Y-Yes!" Sam gasps and Rhea stands before putting the ring on Sam's finger.

She places a gentle kiss on Sam's lips before sitting back down with the biggest smile on her face. Sam looks down at her wounds and her smile fades. Rhea notices and grabs her hand again.

"What is it, Sweetness?" She asks.

"I just..I'm going to be broken for a while. Are you sure you want to stick around for that?"

"What?? Of course I do! I love you, Sam. I'm not going to just up and leave when things get hard. No. I'm going to hold your hand the whole way through it." Rhea replies.

Sam smiles and blushes happily. She's never had anyone talk to her this way before. Not even Jordan before he turned abusive. He never once spoke to her like this and it makes her wonder why she ever put up with him in the first place. Rhea is setting the bar high. Though Sam doesn't plan on getting divorced again.

"When you get to come home I'm going to pamper you so hard. We'll do whatever you want." Rhea smiles.

"Whatever I want, huh?" Sam asks.

"Anything at all." Rhea replies earning a smirk from Sam.

"You'll let me top?" Sam suggests.

Rhea laughs and her smile turns into a sinister smirk.

"You focus on getting better and maybe Mami will oblige. Maybe." Rhea says.