Flames

Process of Elimination (Chamber), part 2

"Will you still love me if I say I'm all coffeed out for the day?" Becky slumped in the front seat of their SUV and sighed when her sunglasses slid down her nose. Testing coffee flavours for an afternoon shouldn't have left her exhausted, but she couldn't remember the last time she had focussed so intensely on her sense of taste. The aromas mattered too, but after a while, all the coffee beans had started smelling the same to her. "I don't think I've craved plain water this much since I was pregnant. Which I'm not," she added quickly. "So don't give me that look."

Seth lifted his hands off the wheel and held them up in surrender. "I was looking at the GPS, I swear."

"Right." Becky pushed her sunglasses back up and glanced over at her husband. "You're not tired?"

"Sure. A bit. But it's fun." He started driving, sneaking looks at her every so often. "Are you having second thoughts about the coffee thing?"

"What? No!" Like a lot of coffee aficionados, Becky had dreamed of having her own coffee shop. Then she married Seth, who actually had one. Starting a coffee brand was different but in some ways more difficult. It was well known that Seth was an investor in 392 Davenport, but there were other people to consider. This coffee would primarily be theirs, and it would succeed or fail mostly because of them. "I love coffee! You know that!"

"Almost as much as me and Roux, I know," Seth chuckled. "But loving it and enjoying it are very different things from crafting it. I know it's a cool idea, but there's still time if you want to push it back on the schedule or—"

"No," Becky insisted, hands tightening around the samples box on her lap. Art for packaging, flavour profiles, small samples to try again at home with their own machine: so much to consider in such a relatively tiny space. "I love it. I do. I just.... I don't know. I worry that I'm not focussing enough on wrestling, I guess."

Seth reached across the console and held her hand. "Becks, you can love wrestling and not be thinking about it 24-7. I know it was our lives when we were younger, but... wrestling was our future back then. Now? Now we have other things on our plate. We have Roux—and yes, I know she's more than welcome to come along with us, but with school, that's not as easy anymore."

"I know." As hard as bringing their daughter on the road had been, Becky missed Roux and her energy when they were gone. The presence of kids backstage—Roux, then Quill and sometimes Alexa's daughter Hendrix—made for a nicer atmosphere. It definitely made it harder to swear, but somehow the kids seemed to calm everyone down, or at least put things in perspective. "I just remember people going after Cena or The Rock for wanting to act or do stuff outside the company...."

"Different times, Becks. People are more open to it now," Seth pointed out. "Now it's seen more as a good thing, preparing for our future."

"I hope so. And it's not like people haven't figured out that we like coffee." Becky laughed as she adjusted the samples box on her lap. "And if we can convince Hunter to showcase our coffee instead of Prime, then fans will love us. I know the carts haven't been around for a while, but it couldn't hurt, right?"

Seth chuckled. "Let's maybe start with getting our coffee in Catering and see how it goes. I can't see Hunter having a problem with that."

Becky chuckled softly. Lately it seemed like she had two gears: chill and panicked. It had been harder to achieve and maintain the middle ground as of late, despite her best efforts. The only place she seemed to be able to keep level was when it came to Roux, which was a good thing when it came to parent-teacher conferences, at least. There were a lot of celebrity kids at Roux's school, so tantrums and tirades weren't uncommon, but Becky also didn't want to known as one of the 'problem parents'. "Yeah, that's a good place to start. We don't want people hating us right off the bat because we have our logo on the mat or anything." Then she glanced down at her lap. "We did decide on a logo, right?" There were so many choices to make that she had lost track of what was out of the way and what still needed their attention.

"More or less." Seth gently took the box from her and put it behind her seat. "We're taking the rest of the day off," he declared. "We'll pick Roux up from Joshy and Jen, see if they want to go out for dinner, and then watch a movie or something. No more decisions."

"But... we could call Claudio." Now that her hands were empty, Becky felt her anxiety starting to rise, so she pulled her purse onto her lap and looped the strap around one of her hands. "He would probably have some good advice...." The process should have felt like a breeze after getting pregnant during a pandemic and having a baby, but every time Becky came up with a solution to one problem, her mind launched two more troubles like a fireworks display.

"We could," Seth agreed slowly. "But let's just... see what we can do on our own first, maybe? Trust your instincts, Becks." As they waited for a pedestrian to cross the road, he smiled over at her. "Sure, you've got a good palate or whatever, but you also have a knack for knowing what works. How many female wrestlers do you think could pull off The Man and make it believable? Not Charlotte...."

Becky listened to her husband list other names and explain why the gimmick wouldn't have worked for them, but she kept her replies to herself. One of the most common insults levelled at Charlotte was that she looked like a man, so she wouldn't have wanted the gimmick anyway; it would have brought on too many nasty comments. Rhea might not have been ready at the start of her main roster run, but she could definitely handle the gimmick now. "I'm not so sure that was instincts. Part of it was just... luck. Timing. I think the fans were ready to see the women in the spotlight more. I'm not saying I didn't work my ass off," she added quickly, "but there were a lot of factors at play. If I tried starting that now, I'm not so sure it would work as well."

"Why? I'm not judging, just... curious." Seth's tone softened in the way it did when he was truly considering something, mulling it over and letting it settle among his other thoughts to see how the new addition fit. "Because you're married? Because you have a kid?" Then he smiled. "You started a bit of a trend there too, remember?"

"Not entirely true, but I'll take it. Only because it gives Roux another accolade. We have to bulk up her nepo baby credentials, you know," Becky laughed. "It's not enough to have famous parents anymore."

"Beating Shayna Baszler at WrestleMania isn't enough?" Seth shook his head and grinned. "You better call Naomi and let her know. Maybe she can sneak in a title match before she gives birth...."

"Hey, now!" Becky straightened up in her seat. "Just who do you think is going to be the first three-time Women's Intercontinental Champion?"

"I wasn't saying she should go for the IC. She can go after Stephanie. She promised to do that anyway," Seth pointed out, pausing while making sure it was safe to make his turn. "Promised or threatened? And I think Stephanie needs some injury time, so...."

Becky deflated a bit again. The women's division was just taking one knock after another, and for some reason the powers that be figured the solution was to bring back wrestlers from the Divas era. She knew there were NXT call-ups due to land after WrestleMania—and was secretly hoping Sol Ruca would be signed to RAW—but she also couldn't blame the girls who wanted to stay in NXT a bit longer. Shawn's booking of the women's division had women from both RAW and SmackDown envious. "I hope the new NXT girls can make a splash," she sighed. "God knows the women's division needs something."

"Well, if Rhea beats Jade at WrestleMania," Seth reasoned, "that'll shake things up a bit." He parked a few spots away from Joshy and Jen's condo and looked over at Becky. "Are you up for a social dinner? They don't know we're here yet, so we can always take off and go somewhere quiet and come back...."

It was a tempting offer. Even though Roux didn't come on the road with them often anymore, it still felt like they hardly got any time for just the two of them. There was always a photo shoot or an interview or one of their side ventures—and now they were adding another one with their coffee line. But Becky also knew that sometimes the remedy for being overwhelmed was being around others, at least for her. Joshy and Jen would be happy to talk coffee with them, and equally happy to talk about anything but. "Let's see how Roux behaved," she replied at last. "What about ice cream? Maybe I need a brain freeze."

Seth rolled his eyes, but he still hopped out of the driver's seat and went around the SUV to open her door. "You're just saying that because we don't have a mint chocolate coffee in rotation."

Becky smiled. "Not yet."