Fic: Just An Act (A.J/Karen, 1/1, PG)
Fic: Just An Act (1/1) Written for i_d_tap_it Comm on LJ Author: ohgollygosh And Pairing: A.J Styles/Karen Angle Category: Couples – Storyline Rating: PG Disclaimer: I own nothing, all belongs to TNA and themselves. Summary: She’d only meant to make Kurt jealous and then something changed. Spoilers: Impact 21st February 2008. Warnings: None. Words: 742. Notes: First attempt at the A.J/Karen pairing. Big thanks for Kori for her help.
Karen Angle stood alone in the hallway outside A.J’s hotel room. She raised her fist to knock at the door but quickly lowered it again and took a deep breath instead. This was turning out to be harder than she’d originally thought. Her plan had been simple to make Kurt jealous but somehow during the course on the night Karen had found herself captivated by A.J and all the things he was willing to do for her. And then he’d given her that snow globe. The same snow globe that Karen was now clutching tightly in her hand, the snow globe Karen knew she had to give back to him. She raised her fist again, this time she knocked loudly. The door was answered moments later.
“Karen? What are you doing here? Where’s JB gone?”
“I sent him back to the car, I needed to talk to you alone,” Karen said quietly. “Can I come in for a second?”
“Sure.” A.J stepped back to allow her access to the room. He followed her inside, “take a seat.”
Karen sat down carefully on the bottom edge of the bed, “A.J, I came to give you this back.” She held out the snow globe. “It was very sweet of you to give it to me but I can’t accept it.”
A.J frowned, “but it’s a gift, you can’t give it back.”
“And I really don’t want to. I just don’t want anything to happen to it. It’s got too much history for Kurt to end up smashing it in temper.”
A.J sat down on the bed next to her, “then don’t show it to him. It will just be our little secret.”
The brunette made a face, “how it that possible? The whole world saw you given it to me. Kurt would have seen the video. I really think it would be better if you kept hold of it.”
“If you’re worried about breaking it, don’t be. It’s a lot tougher than it looks.” He glanced away from her for a moment and then looked directly into her eyes, “I dropped it once. I was shaking it real hard and it slipped out of hand. It bounced on the floor but it didn’t break.”
Karen sighed, “you’re not going to make this easy for me are you? Please A.J just take it back.” She placed the snow globe in his hand.
The dejected look he gave her broke her heart, “I have to go.” She stood to leave, intent on getting out of there before she did something stupid like admitting that she’d fallen for him.
A.J however, seemed to have other plans and caught hold of her arm and spun her back around gently, “please keep it. Remember what I told you earlier, as long as you have this snow globe you’ll always have me.”
“I remember that A.J, it’s just …”
“It’s just what?”
“I’m married to Kurt. It’s not fair on you for me to keep it.”
“I thought you said earlier that Kurt didn’t care about us?”
“Just give it to somebody who deserves it, okay?”
“But you do deserve it. You deserve that and so much more.” He placed the snow globe back into her hand.
Karen shook her head, “no, I really don’t. I’m a horrible person A.J.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“I am. I was using you tonight to make Kurt jealous.”
“No you weren’t. You were having a great time.”
Inwardly, Karen sighed and then ducked her head to avoid his blue eyes, squaring her shoulders she shook her head. "It was only an act, A.J."
A.J blinked, even more confused than before, "how can you say that Karen?"
"Because it's true," she said as calmly as possible, still refusing to meet his gaze in fear of losing her resolve. "It was just an act. We can't be together and--"
“And what Karen?”
“We just can’t okay.” She turned away from him again and headed towards the door. This time he didn’t make an attempt to stop her. She paused as reached the door, “I’m sorry, A.J. I’m really sorry.” She yanked open the door and ran down the hallway as fast as she could until she reached the elevators. It was only as she waited for the doors to open that she realised she was still clutching the snow globe. “Damn it, A.J. Why did you have to make this so hard?”