Playing With Fire

Part 3

She was exhausted, muddy, bloody (she'd cut her arm hopping a fence and hadn't even realized it) and starving, but this had been one of the best nights she'd had since joining the main roster.

Finn was grinning like an idiot clutching the now mostly destroyed red t-shirt as their friends surrounded them, celebrating or commiserating, but she was pretty sure they'd all had as much fun as she had regardless of which team they'd been on. For once Alexa and Sasha weren't arguing, in fact they might have actually gained some respect for each other (okay that probably wouldn't even last twenty four hours, but for now she'd take it), and the only one who wasn't happy was Seth. He was pouting like a lost puppy, but she knew he'd be over it before the night was done. He'd always been the type to take a hit and bounce back stronger anyway.

After awhile people started drifting off until it was just three of them. Seth said,

"You two don't fight fair do you?"

"Of course not," Finn answered at the same time that she said,

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"It's like that is it? The evil demon king and his sneaky little sidekick. I can't prove it, but I know you too had something up your sleeve. I swear, it's always the quiet ones." She and Finn grinned at each other, sharing a look before she answered Seth,

"You were playing against the masters Seth, you never had a chance."

"Fine, but next time I'm taking both of you down. And I'm bringing back up." They both just laughed at him, but then Finn said,

"Give it your best shot, but you're never going to beat the two of us together."

"Ah, so I need to divide and conquer then."

Finn reached out and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her in close to his side, and to her dismay that stubborn, fluttery feeling returned, he said,

"Sorry mate, never gonna work." Seth smirked at them and started walking away, but then called back to them,

"I'm the kingslayer demon king, I'll find a way."

"Not when I got a queen to watch my back," Finn shouted back at him. Seth laughed, but kept on walking. After he was gone she looked up at Finn, who had her stilled wrapped tight against him and asked,

"What was up with him referring to the demon all night?"

"He's still kind of pissed he never got a chance to face off with him after all of those matches we had at the beginning of the year, especially after I let him out to play during Summerslam."

"Yeah, but you completely flattened Corbin, why would he be mad he missed that?"

"Cause it's Seth. You know how he is. He's never going to beat the demon, but he's always going to want to try."

"Well I'm sure you can oblige him at some point," she said and Finn laughed. They started walking together, making their way back to the hotel. Finn still had his arm wrapped loosely around her shoulders, so she had no choice but to stay in step with him.

He was silent but everytime she glanced up at him, she could see him smiling lost in thought. He had to step away to open the door for her and after they walked inside he didn't put his arm back, but instead stepped close enough that their shoulders brushed as they walked. Once they were in the elevator Finn said,

"We never did get that room service I promised, wanna do that now?"

"I'm starving, food sounds great."

........

After they'd both finished their meal, Bayley flopped down across his bed groaning lightly and rubbing her stomach.

"I ate too much."

"Me too, scooch over," he said. Despite the fact that it was a king sized bed she'd managed to fall directly in the middle so she moved over to one side giving him plenty of room and he mimicked her actions and flopped backwards making the bed move. Both of them lay there for a moment enjoying the quiet. Bayley finally got up the courage to ask,

"Can I ask you about what happened earlier?"

"Yeah, you probably have the right to know."

"What did....who...I mean, um, was she talking about me?"

"She was."

"I'm sorry Finn. I never meant to cause you any trouble."

"Hey, who said anything about you causing me trouble. You didn't do anything wrong. This is all on her. Her issues, her insecurities. You just happen to be the scapegoat because it's convenient. She knows we've always been good friends and since we did that whole story in NXT it's easy to use it as an excuse, but don't you dare let her make you feel like you're to blame. You've done nothing but be a good friend to me even when I didn't deserve it."

"What do you mean?"

"I know you wanted to be my partner earlier this year. I wanted it too, and I told you that then turned around and changed my mind without even telling you about it and I shouldn't have done that. You deserve better than that, and I'm sorry. My only excuse is I was still at the point where I was trying to salvage my relationship with her, but I shouldn't have treated you that way regardless."

"Hey, it's okay. I understand. If you'd told me then that you needed to do that for the sake of your relationship, I would have understood."

"I know, and I should have talked to you, but I felt guilty about it. That should have been my first clue that I was making a mistake."

"It's okay though. It all worked out in the end. Elias is actually a good guy underneath all of that ego, it was cool to get to know him, and Sasha said you guys had a lot of fun with it."

"We did, but I still wish it could have been you instead," she wasn't quite sure how that made her feel, or how to respond so she just reached out and grasped his hand like he'd done to her earlier and squeezed it lightly before letting go. He turned a little towards her and smiled before turning back to stare at the ceiling. After a few minutes passed she said,

"We probably should be getting in bed. It's really late."

"I'm already in bed."

"Very funny. You know what I mean, we both need sleep."

"Hey you wanna crash here you're more than welcome, though I have to warn you, I'm a snuggler."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"If you fall asleep I'm just giving you fair warning, I've been told I'm a cuddler. In fact, I've been called a leech before. Most of my exes couldn't stand it."

"Really? You'd think they'd enjoy it. I've aways been a very cuddly sleeper myself, I thought that was normal."

"I never got it either, apparently it 'suffocating' for some. I don't know, it's not like I can control it anyway," the mixture of bitterness and sadness in his tone made her ache a little for him. She didn't want to leave. She felt like she hadn't managed to completely cheer him up like she'd been hoping, but if she didn't make herself move soon she really would fall asleep, and she knew that would be a bad idea.

"Okay, seriously I need to go to bed."

"Nothing stopping you. You're kind of in my bed, not that I'm complaining, but I can't really help with your problem there. I was halfway kidding a few minutes ago, but the offer still stands if you don't think you can make it."

"You offer your bed up like that to just anyone?"

"No," he said yawning, "but you're not just anyone, are you?"

"I can't. I just gotta..," she trailed off yawning then tried to finish, "make myself move."

"Hmm?" Finn asked sleepily. She couldn't blame him she was having trouble remembering why she couldn't just rest her eyes for a moment. She yawned again feeling herself drift off, part of her knowing she shouldn't, the rest of her not caring.

AN: so, what do you think? Is Bayley setting herself up for a world of trouble here?