Flames

Another Belt for the Wall, part 1

"Grand Slam Man." Seth repeated it a few times. "It has a nice ring to it."

Looking up from lacing her boots, Becky grinned at him. "Of course it does. Shawn Michaels knows what he's doing." As she straightened up, she sighed. "Just look at the women's division over here. There's so much potential. If he'd been booking when I was here originally...."

You would have been champion. You would have been called up sooner. Seth didn't like to let himself dwell on the what-ifs too much. So many random things had to happen in order for his path to cross with Becky's and he wasn't sure if they ever would have gotten together if her career had skyrocketed earlier. Maybe we wouldn't have even stayed friends. She could have been too busy. Hell, she probably would have already been married....

He must have looked pensive, because Becky set down her wrist guards and went over to him. "Hey. What's wrong?"

Seth shook his head. "Nothing. Just thinking. Once you're champ, you'll need some backup down here," he replied with a wink. "Nathan Frazer probably owes me a favour or two from his Black & Brave days. I could chat with him...."

Becky just laughed. "With all the grads you have now," she quipped, "pretty soon you'll be able to start your own wrestling company."

Kissing her, Seth gave Becky a playful poke. "First women's champion, right here."

"Nah, nah. I'd like to keep nepotism wins off my records, thanks." She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed tight, resting her head against his chest; she would have buried her face in his shoulder, but she had already gone through make-up and didn't have time for touch-ups. "But I could be a trainer. Or promoter."

"Or a manager." The thought was intriguing and terrifying in equal measure. Between Becky's mastery on the microphone and her incredible shrewdness, she could work wonders for someone's career. "Watch out, Paul Heyman."

"Or a booker!" Becky said suddenly, stepping back. Seth had been expecting some sort of response to the Paul Heyman comparison, but his wife's thoughts were clearly elsewhere. "I remember seeing a Twitter comment that I should be booking the women's division. That could be fun."

"Twitter?" Seth echoed.

Becky rolled her eyes. "I'm not calling it X. No one does."

Laughing, Seth kissed the top of her head. "Not quite what I meant, but still true. I just thought you had deleted Twitter from your phone, that's all. Don't you have someone in Communications dealing with your tweets now?" Becky had been a master of social media for years and had even weathered the onslaught of negativity surrounding their relationship like a pro, but now that people were starting to insult—and in some cases even threaten—their daughter, she'd had enough. The content of her tweets still came from her, but she had left her account in the control of someone else so she wasn't as tempted to read the replies.

"I do," Becky hedged, giving his beard a sharp tug. "But I'm going to have to start promoting my book now, so I need to be more aware of what's going on."

"True." Seth shook his head in wonder. "Actor. Author. Mother. Wrestler. You're building up quite the resume there."

Becky narrowed her eyes. "I notice you didn't include wife."

"Because you're a natural," Seth replied smoothly, giving her a quick kiss. "The other ones are things you've worked for."

"Nice save." Then Becky wrapped her arms around his waist and gazed up at him. "Thank you for coming tonight. I know you won't be able to make every NXT...."

"I wouldn't miss this one for the world," Seth replied. He knew what NXT meant to her—it had been her second chance, a resurrection of her wrestling career—and now she was finally going to win what she should have won years ago. "I know I'm on a house show for No Mercy, though, so if you have a defence, I won't be there...."