Flames

"Roux-ined", part 2

Seth had lost track of how much of his adult life had been spent sleeping in hotels—or at the very least, not at home. His indie days hadn't been glamorous, with most of his nights spent in crappy hotels with three or four other wrestlers to cut down on expenses. Sometimes there was couch-surfing if he had any friends in the area. Then he had graduated to hotels—mediocre at first, then good and eventually posh—and when he was injured and finally able to spend more than a weekend at home, he learned to appreciate the stability and comfort of a house. Once he and Becky had gotten together, hotels weren't so bad, but he still preferred to be at his place or hers.

Now that they had the tour bus so they could bring Roux on the road, home was a more nebulous concept. The bus certainly didn't have all their creature comforts, but once Seth tuned out the traffic noise, it was strangely cozy. Anywhere that Roux and Becky were was like home to him anyway and he was used to spending most of his time on the road, so it seemed like a natural pairing. "Imagine if a bunch of us had wised up and rented something like this together?" he said as Becky stirred beside him. Roux was having an uncharacteristically good sleep, so they were taking advantage of her slumber by enjoying some time to themselves. The sex had to be quiet, but they made up for that in other ways.

Becky laughed against his chest. "The Shield's bus would have been legendary, I'm sure. I don't even want to know what one of the Diva era buses would have been like."

Seth joined in the laughter. "DX's would have been the worst. Or the best, depending on how you look at it. Nattie's would be one big cat tree. One of those big interconnected ones with all the tunnels and platforms. And Xavier's would have every gaming system available."

"Rhea would travel with a tattoo artist," Becky added. "And Maryse would have the Miz's bus looking immaculate—"

"Dada, up." The chirp of Roux's voice startled them both, and they turned as one to see her peering over the edge of their bed. She could climb onto their bed at home on her own now, but this one was a bit too high for her yet.

"This doesn't look like a Roux bed," Seth teased gently, reaching over to grab Roux and giving Becky time to shrug into her abandoned sleep shirt. Then he plopped their daughter between them.

Roux opened her eyes wide and gave him the look that meant she wanted another bedtime story. "Did you bring a book with you?" Becky asked. When Roux shook her head, Becky opened the nightstand drawer and picked one out without letting her daughter see all the options. If they gave her choices, they might lose their voices from reading all night long. "There you go, Dada." Becky cuddled up to Roux. "Don't forget to the do the voices."

Seth took his time with the story, knowing that Roux would catch on if he tried to rush. He stopped on occasion to ask questions just to make sure she was paying attention and by the end, she was drowsy enough that he could carry her back to her own bed. When he returned, he was only slightly dismayed to see that Becky hadn't taken off her shirt. "I know, I know," he said when Becky raised her eyebrow. "She's just going to be back in half an hour. I thought she was having a good sleep tonight, but apparently not."

"You weren't either." As soon as Seth was back in the bed, Becky snuggled up to him. "What's on your mind?" she asked, patting his chest.

"Everything?" he quipped. "On the bright side, the Deadboys details for WrestleMania weekend are finalized, which is a relief. Marek's got everything sorted for the Black & Brave booth and I finished signing the posters this morning."

"Has Vince confirmed your opponent yet?" Becky grabbed his left hand and ran her fingers over his wedding ring. He didn't have a silicone one to wear in the ring yet and he didn't wear his at Black & Brave either, so having it on was a little treat. "I know we're assuming it's Cody but...."