NaNoWriMo Story Snippets

41. Excerpt from FLAMES

Last excerpt of the month! I got a bit stuck with the Coffee Shop AU, so I started a FLAMES scene tonight. This part deals with the Becky/Charlotte title swap/confrontation. Subject to editing, etc.

"Uh-oh. Mama doesn't look very happy." Seth wasn't scheduled to be on SmackDown that night since the trades were finished, but once he saw the expression on his wife's face, he was glad he had decided to come anyway. The fury in her eyes would have been terrifying even if she had been wearing one of her more outlandish outfits, but since she was in her ring gear, it was practically a declaration of war.

"Mama?" Roux squirmed in his arms, trying to find her mom. "Mamamamama?"

The affectionate babbling softened Becky's expression somewhat, but it was easy to see that something was wrong. He turned Roux around in his arms slowly, giving Becky time to calm herself down a bit. "Not good news, I'm guessing?"

Becky shook her head, her smile only slightly strained as she tapped Roux's nose. "No. They should have had Charlotte lose to Bianca on Monday, I swear."

"Mamamamama!" Roux reached out for her mother with both arms, and Seth could see Becky's heart melt a little bit as she took the baby from him.

"What about Dada?" she cooed, kissing Roux's head. "Dadadada?"

Roux shook her head before resting it on Becky's shoulder. "Mama."

"You've been told." Seth moved in closer and kissed Becky's forehead. "And no, I didn't coach her to do that either."

Becky laughed as she let him lead her to some chairs in a quiet part of the backstage area. "She's a little young for coaching—even if she is the GOAT baby." Resting her cheek against Roux's head, she added, "Isn't that right, GOAT baby? We just need to get you to sleep through the night."

Seth sat beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her in as close as he could. He would have rather gone to their tour bus, both for comfort and for privacy, but he wasn't sure when Becky's next camera call would be. "So what's wrong?" he asked, dangling his hand over Becky's shoulder so Roux could grab his fingers.

"This whole title swap thing is a mess," Becky muttered, shutting her eyes—a sure sign she was trying to keep her temper in check. "They should just rebrand the belts or something so this isn't an issue all the time. But then they can't bump up the princess's title count, so...."

Ah. Charlotte. Seth knew Becky was against the concept of the title swap to begin with, but her problems with Charlotte had been going on for a while—and the jealousy and envy that had been brewing had started long before the infamous 2018 punch. "Charlotte's in favour?"

Becky shrugged. "Don't know, don't care. Creative told us how they want it to go down and how it's supposed to lead in to a Charlotte-Sasha rivalry, but...." She paused and glanced around, checking for anyone who might be eavesdropping. The dirtsheets were getting more and more information as of late, and Vince wasn't happy about it. Becky would never leak anything on purpose, but she didn't want to give anything away accidentally either. "I don't know. Maybe I'm not giving her enough credit. For all her failings, and God knows she has enough of them, Charlotte can usually be relied to be professional, but... I don't know," she repeated. "I just don't think she's going to stick to the plan. She's going to want to make it about her since SmackDown is 'her show' now."

Seth felt the quotations around her show like jabs to the gut. Becky didn't mind the move to Monday Night RAW in theory, but he knew her heart would always bleed SmackDown blue: it was where she was first drafted, where she had won her first championship, where her career had really taken off. "What do you think she's going to do?" Even if she and Charlotte weren't as close as they were, Becky probably still knew her better than anyone, and Seth knew Becky was good at reading people and reacting on the fly regardless.