Flames

Time After Time, part 1

Of all the times to win a title, Seth thought, gazing down at the United States Championship. He thought back to the picture Becky had taken of Roux reaching for her SmackDown Women's Championship; it was one of his favourite photos of Roux and he still had it on his phone, even though they had taken thousands more since. Being on the road without his wife and daughter after having them with him for so long was difficult enough, but not being able to share his victory with them in person was that much harder. Picturing Roux's little happy dance made him smile, at least.

So what if this is just to free up Lashley for Lesnar at Crown Jewel, he told himself as he positioned the belt on the hotel bed, trying to find the best lighting for it. It was his first time winning the title since it had been redesigned, and his first singles title in almost three years. It was strange to think of it that way, since he had once been so fixated on titles—checks and championships, as Booker T loved to say. But his past three years had also been so filled with other things that it hadn't sunk in. "Second two-time Grand Slam Champion of the modern era, baby!" he declared, lining up his cell phone and taking a picture to send to Marek.

Then he called Becky, waiting for the video link to connect. At least I'm an hour ahead of them right now, he thought. She had promised to let Roux stay up for his match, but once their daughter got too tired, it was best to let her sleep if they wanted to have any measure of peace the next day. He hoped Roux had been able to make it through. Having both his girls there in person would have been amazing, but a quick call would have to do until he made it back to Davenport.

He expected a screen full of dark eyes and messy curls, but instead saw Becky's hand. "Hey, you!" Becky's accent crackled a bit as she propped her phone up on the counter. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks." Seth looked around and waited for a familiar happy shriek, but the background was suspiciously quiet. "Where's Roux? Did she zonk out already?" He couldn't blame her, of course—she was a bundle of energy and when she needed to rest, sleep tended to fall fast—but he was still a tiny bit disappointed that he wouldn't get to hear her thoughts on seeing him win the title.

Becky shook her head. "No, she's still up. Fighting sleep all the way, but still up. Darrell finally woke up and made it off the couch, though, so you know... exciting things happening at the house."

Seth laughed. Darrell had always been a pretty chill cat once he had reached adulthood, but age had made him even lazier. "I'm not sure I can compete with that."

"Mama! Mama!" He could hear Roux puffing in the background. "Show Dada!"

Becky raised her eyebrows and then went off-screen for a moment, returning with a grumpy-looking Darrell in her arms. "He's very proud of you too," she declared, laughing when Darrell gave a half-hearted mrrr and batted at her arm. Once she set him back down, she lifted Roux and settled her on her hip. "But not as proud as we are."

"DADA!" Roux was so loud that Becky reared back a bit. "Dada has the bling!"

Seth grinned and held his phone closer to the title. "That's right. Dada finally has some new bling."

"New addition to the wall," Becky declared. "You're setting a really high bar, you know. I'll have to team up with Bianca and go for the tag titles or something when I get back."

"Yanka!" Roux did a little imitation of Bianca's dance, or at least as much of one as she could while seated on Becky's lap. "When Dada home?"

"I'll be home tomorrow, sweetheart." Seth patted the title. "With the bling. The one for the wall might have to wait, though. What have you and Mama been doing?"

Roux regaled him with a fanciful recap of going for coffee—or, for her, hot chocolate—and visiting Black & Brave and having supper with Grandma. "And walkies with Kevin!" she remembered, launching into another five minutes of talking about her day. Half the fun was listening to her enthusiasm for small, everyday things. The other half was watching Becky's expressions change: eyebrows rising or dripping, a smile turning to a grimace, nose twitching as she struggled not to interrupt or correct.