A/N: So, I originally posted this as a one-shot, but after a couple of suggestions I decided to split it up into a few chapters. Tried to add more detail and such to it. Shout out to LadyEvil21, Iakarie, and caz21 for reviewing on the original post!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter One – Not everything is as it seems.

When the Director of Operations had first approached Emma, she was quite terrified. The former Big Red Machine known as Kane was certainly massive and intimidating. He could probably crush her with just one of his huge fingers!

The Australian was sure she looked like a trembling imbecile, looking up at him with wide eyes and nodding slowly when he spoke to her.

She hadn't known what to expect from Kane. Another match against Summer Rae? Sending her back to Developmental? Hell, maybe he'd demand her to get him a freaking coffee or something!

But never in a million years had she expected him to tell her that she'd be teaming up with the Shield for mixed tag match against Summer Rae, Fandango, and the Real Americans on Monday Night Raw.

Apparently, the Shield hadn't been expecting that either. Because when her music hit and she came dancing down the ramp, they didn't look all too pleased.

Needless to say, Emma had been afraid that they would refuse to work with her. That they'd walk out and leave her high and dry.

But in the end, she must have impressed them somehow because they didn't abandon her, they worked with her and they even let her join fists with them showing their unity and success. They wouldn't do her dance with her though. Which was a shame, but expected.

And she thought that was the end of that.

But then she had a match with them again on Smackdown. And this time around they approached her to discuss battle strategies—as Seth liked to call them.

Was this a dream come true for her or what? How many people could say they got to work so closely with Shield? Not many, that was for sure. She felt like she was in some elite club!

They surprisingly worked well together. Emma, still so very eager to learn new things, took in everything they said and did with stride.

And maybe she wanted to impress them some more, but who wouldn't want to impress the Shield? Those were guys you wanted on your side.

A week rolled by, and it was Monday Night Raw again. The card showed that she would be teaming up with the Shield against Aksana and 3MB.

She was almost skipping down the halls (she didn't want to copy crazy AJ) in search of her Shield brethren (yes, she dubbed them as such!) to talk over strategies for the match.

And maybe she also just wanted to be in the presence of three incredibly attractive males. Who could blame her, really?

Rounding a corner, Emma finally spotted her new teammates. Their backs were turned to her, and her smile was so large her cheeks almost hurt. She was about to approach them but stopped short when she heard their conversation was about to center around her.

"So, we've got another match with Emma tonight." Seth stated.

"Another one?" Dean groaned sounding frustrated. Uh-oh. Emma thought, a feeling of dread beginning to chill her skin. "They trying to make her our valet now or something?"

Emma was taken aback, but it made her think. Were they trying to do that? As far as she knew, the Shield never had a female partner. So, why her? But, it was a good thing they had her wrestling… right? A valet usually just followed them down to the ring.

"Pretty sure this is just another way for Kane to punish us. He's counting on her to embarrass us." Roman's deep voice broke down the wall.

The proverbial wall that had prevented Emma from seeing what was right in front of her all along.

I'm… punishment? Much to her displeasure, tears stung at Emma's eyes as the hurt clenched at her heart.

"Don't know whether Kane's an idiot or a genius." Dean laughed and Roman joined him with a chuckle, adding salt to the fresh wound.

"Come on now, guys." Seth piped in, sounding amused. "She's got some pretty impressive in ring abilities. Not so much dancing abilities, though. Do you think she knows Kane's using her?"

Well, now I do! She thought, feeling about ready to vomit.

She quickly decided that she's heard enough and swiftly turned on her heel before any of them could notice she overheard their conversation. Her heart hammered against her chest as she practically ran back to the Diva's locker room.

She didn't know how to feel about all of this. Well, her feelings were clearly hurt, but maybe they shouldn't have been. She's only partnered with the Shield a few times, and sure, they worked well together and got along well enough, but that in no way meant they were 'friends' or even partners. This was a temporary thing until Kane got tired of it.

It didn't make sense to take their words to heart. But how was she supposed to feel when she was considered a damn punishment? Even the toughest of Divas would be hurt by such an offense!

Unintentionally, she slammed the locker room door behind her and plopped down on one of the benches, ignoring the strange looks she received from the other divas.

Their judgment hardly mattered to her. At the moment, the only thing that mattered was the fact that she was being used as a tool by Kane to humiliate the Shield.

Perhaps it had been foolish of her to think that Management had been so impressed with her in ring ability that they decided to team her with the greatest faction the WWE had seen in years. She should have known there was more to this scheme considering the current issues the Shield was having with the Authority.

But to have her be used to embarrass them? Could there be a bigger insult than 'you're so freakish we're going to use you to embarrass our greatest threat'?

Well, there was the fact that the Shield seemed to agree that she was embarrassing enough.

Why had they been so nice to her though? Was it simply to put up a show to backfire the Authority's plan and get rid of her? Why couldn't they just talk to her about it? She would have made up some excuse to the Authority not to work with the Shield. It wouldn't have been a hard thing to prove that she feared to continue working with them. Though it was hardly true. She didn't fear them. She liked them.

That feeling was currently up for debate, however.

How could she still like them after this? How could she still possibly work with them after this?

How was she supposed to go through with this match tonight?

Like a bloody professional, Emma! She scolded herself, suddenly sitting up straight, a fierce determination making her feel braver. You're a professional and this changes nothing!

But it felt like it changed everything.

"I don't think she'd be so eager to be around us if she knew the truth, Seth." Roman declared after Seth's question.

It bothered them, really. That Kane would stoop so low to try and use the poor girl against them. She's an impressive woman—and that's certainly something coming from them. Sure, she's a bit strange, but they all had their quirks. They figured, Kane thought they would do something drastic for having a newbie latched to them. But it was actually quite the opposite. They didn't mind having a newbie around to learn from them. That may not sound like the oh-so intimidating Shield, but the women's division needed some spice and they thought Emma could bring that to the table.

Hopefully, Management would use her correctly.

But considering what they were trying to do with her now with them, they doubted they would unless she truly proved herself.

"Should we tell her then?" Seth questioned, thinking it only fair to let her in on their suspicions.

"Now ain't the time for that, Seth." Dean spoke up gruffly. "We have a match with her tonight. That's not the kind of bombshell we want to put on her right now. She needs to keep her head in the game. Something like that would take away her focus."

Seth nodded in agreement. "You're right. But we eventually have to say something to her, right? I mean she deserves to know what Kane's doing."

"We'll tell her eventually." Dean shrugged, seeming uncaring.

"We'll tell her tomorrow night." Roman stated firmly, giving Dean a hard look.

"Whatever." The blonde replied nonchalantly.

Dean knew it looked like he didn't care. Because he wasn't supposed to care. He rarely cared about other people's feelings. And he needed to keep up with that image.

Because the fact of the matter was, that he did care about what Emma thought. He did care that she would be hurt when she found out the truth. He didn't want to see the wounded look when they told her that she was a pawn in Kane's games.

It was bizarre that he felt so strongly about this—for a woman he hardly knew. Emma was pretty enough compared to the other divas. She didn't have much on the other divas, he'd admit. But he liked that. She had her own type of beauty. She was strange.

And there were plenty of people in this business who would tell you that he was strange, too.

That hardly explained his feelings, though. Why he cared so much about how Emma felt about all of this?

And that frustrated him to no end. He didn't like not being able to understand his own damn feelings.

"Yo, Dean." Roman's voice tore him from his thoughts.

Cold blue eyes darted over to the Samoan, "What?"

"In your own world again? I just asked you if you wanted to grab something to eat before warming up for the match." Roman said, used to Dean going into his own universe at times.

Though he wasn't hungry, Dean was eager for the distraction. "Yeah. Let's go."

Review, please and thank you!