Flames

Circle of Life, part 1

"Don't get me wrong. A good brunch is definitely the way to my heart," Becky began, "but that doesn't mean I don't want to fight you." She smiled across the table at Sasha. Bayley was sitting between them, laughing so hard she nearly snorted orange juice from her nose. "Look. I even brought the belt to entice you. See how shiny it is? How precious?" Becky actually had her belt with her because of an appearance she was scheduled to make later that day, but she still grabbed the title from the other chair between her and Sasha and held it aloft, giving it a quick kiss. "You can't have the precious."

Sasha nearly choked on her laughter, and waited until she caught her breath to take a long drink of water. "Becks, don't even. You know I'll be back when I'm ready. And when I'm ready, I'll come for that gold and that one," she declared, pointing at the RAW and SmackDown women's titles in quick succession, "and then there will be a legit champ champ."

"Sure, sure." Becky set the belt back on the chair and leaned back, sipping at her coffee. "Don't forget to bring your yoga goat."

"Come on, kids. We only have another hour before Becky has to leave, and we hardly ever get to all hang out together." Bayley glanced at the chair occupied by the belts. Charlotte had been invited as well, but she already had plans with Andrade.

Becky leaned over and poked Bayley's arm. "I know. I just keep hoping I'll convince Sasha to come back. Seriously, though, you know I mean it." She reached across the table and put out her fist to bump. "Whenever you're ready, I'm game."

"Same." Sasha winked as they bumped fists.

"Me too!" Bayley touched fists with the other two before they could draw back. "We're like the SHE-ild!" she said with a grin.

Sasha rolled her eyes. "Great. Becky finally gives up the puns, and then Bayley has to pick them up." Then she pointed to Becky's phone. "So no more puns. If we've only got an hour, I want to hear about you and Seth. Sorry some people are being so shitty. I mean, how is it that Charlotte and Andrade can post a picture of themselves literally in bed together and it's okay, but you and Seth looking at each other is too much?"

Bayley raised an eyebrow. "Said by someone who hasn't been in the room when they're looking at each other. To quote Naomi, 'Whew, chile'." She mimed fanning herself. "Seriously, I don't know what those people who say you don't have chemistry are smoking, because damn."

"I don't know. I try not to let it get to me," Becky said with a shrug, "but there's days when it's hard. If we say something, it's the wrong thing; if we say nothing, we're hiding. You can't win."

Shaking her head, Sasha reached across the table and squeezed Becky's hand. "Fuck that noise. As long as you two are happy and you aren't hurting anyone else, that's what matters, right?" As she settled back in her seat, she said, "Bayley said he commissioned a portrait for you?"

Becky nodded, opening up her phone's photo gallery to find the picture Seth had taken of her standing beside the Eddie Vedder portrait. The only downside was that with them splitting their time between California and Iowa, she didn't get to see it all the time. "It's made up crushed-up records," she explained, turning her phone around so Sasha could see.

"It's not a ring," Sasha said, raising an eyebrow, "but still cool. Hey, your notification light is blinking. Did you miss a call?"

"Don't think so." Becky sat back and closed her gallery, then checked her notifications. She had her Twitter set up to notify her of mentions by certain wrestling journalists so she could stay on top of rumours, and she let out an Irish curse when she read the tweet that triggered the alert. "Just have to say this," she read aloud, affecting a mock serious tone, "if BeckyLynchWWE would have screwed WWERollins last night—we would have been OFF TO THE RACES." She pitched her voice extra low for the last four words. "What the fuck?"