Flames

Roux Crew, part 2

"We have to stop meeting like this." Seth sighed as he propped his phone up on yet another hotel dresser. "Or celebrating, at least."

"I know." Becky was already a world away—back in the United States while he was in Saudi Arabia for Crown Jewel—and the combination of distance and time zones made her sound impossibly far. "Next time, maybe. Hopefully. At least I'm on the East Coast, right? Makes the time thing a bit easier. You should still be getting to sleep, though." Her brow furrowed with worry. "You're... what, eight hours ahead of me right now?"

Seth waved away her concern. His event was done; hers had yet to start, and he wanted to at least have a quick conversation with her before she had to leave for the arena. "I'm fine," he insisted. "I can sleep on the plane. Thanks to Sami, I'm still champ, so I'm pretty sure they'll let me back in first class."

"Gingers for the win," Becky replied. "He's the best. I wish he and Kevin had more time with the tag titles. I think they could have done really cool things."

"I hope they'll get another shot. In the meantime...." Seth paused for a moment. He had been keeping a ridiculous pace this year, defending the new World Heavyweight Championship at least once a month since he won it. If he remembered correctly, the upcoming Survivor Series would be the first big event where he wasn't in a title match. And watch someone complain about it, he thought, trying not to roll his eyes. He was doing everything he could to spotlight the title and elevate competitors like Shinsuke Nakamura who deserved more respect, but there was only so much one person could do. "I talked to Hunter, and they're going to let me fight Sami for the title on Monday."

"Really?" Becky's face lit up like a Christmas tree. Kevin and Sami were two of her closest friends in the business, almost like brothers to her, and she was their biggest supporter backstage. "That would be awesome. He deserves it so much. His work with The Bloodline was just incredible."

"Yeah. I mean, I know Hunter isn't going to put the belt on him right now...." Seth hated even saying that out loud. To him, Sami deserved far more opportunities than he received and he definitely should have been a multi-time champion by now. "But maybe if we can have a really great match, it'll open up some eyes, you know?"

"I hope so." Becky sighed deeply. "It... it just feels weird, you know? Like so many of us are slowly approaching retirement and then we'll all be doing different things. I'm going to miss seeing them every week. I already miss Trinity and Mercedes and Claudio...."

"You'll have to organize a reunion," Seth teased. "Or someone will have to get married."

"Who's left?" Becky joked. "Maybe a baby shower? But... same thing."

Before Seth could reply, there was a knock on his door. "Hold on." He went to the door and sighed with relief when he saw Sami on the security screen. There weren't many people he felt like dealing with at that late hour, but Sami was one of the few. "Hey, man," he greeted, hugging Sami as he entered the room. "I'm just on a call with Becks."

"Oh! I don't want to interrupt," Sami said quickly, already starting to step back. "I can talk to you tomorrow at breakfast—"

"Sami!" Becky's voice came through loud and clear.

Seth grinned. "Nope. You're committed now. Come over and say hi." Seth went back to the couch and sat down somewhat off-centre so Becky would be able to see them both. "See what you did?" he told his wife. "Talking about missing friends and trying to organize reunions, and who shows up?" After Sami sat down, Seth slung an arm around his shoulders.

Becky grinned. "My favourite actual ginger!" Her enthusiastic wave reminded Seth of Roux. "Thanks for helping him out today."

Sami smiled back. "Anything to keep Judgment Day from getting more gold. You know me. How are things back there? How was your show?" Then he glanced down at his watch and laughed. "Oh, right. Your event hasn't even started yet." He started to rise off the couch. "I really should let you two finish your conversation before you have to go."