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Challenge, part 2

Becky's past three days had been pretty great. Getting to do a spot with The Rock on Fox's first Friday Night SmackDown had been delightful, with the added bonus of beating up on Corbin. Then Sunday had been Hell in a Cell, where her match with Sasha was widely regarded as the best of the night, as well as a Match of the Year contender. Seth hadn't been so lucky, with yet another attack from The Fiend on Friday night and a convoluted match at the pay-per-view. The heckling afterwards was so rude that Becky almost stormed out, kayfabe be damned, but Charlotte kept her backstage. "Going out there won't help him," she'd said, and on some level Becky knew she was right. It didn't make it any easier to witness, though.

The next blow came on Monday night when they went to Creative. Becky had two segments, one right after the other: a brief chat on MizTV followed by a tag match with Charlotte versus Asuka and Kairi Sane. The talk show would be predictable, but Becky's eyes lit up when she started reading through the general run-through of the tag match. "Yes!" Pumping her fist in victory, she did a little victory dance. "Heel Asuka! FINALLY!" When Seth didn't comment right away, she turned to see him staring blankly down at his copy of the script. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Seth flipped through his pages slowly and deliberately so she could see. Normally someone in Creative highlighted each wrestler's relevant parts for them; if someone had more than one segment, sometimes they used different colours for continuity, in case the second part ended up being filmed before the first. Seth's script was pure black and white. "Nothing." He jabbed at a small video editing note on one page. "A highlight package. That's it. It's like they're trying to pretend the damn match never even happened."

"Seth, don't." Becky set her script aside and hugged him tightly, burying her face in his shoulder. They'd both been aching on Sunday night, but she had done whatever she could to console him. Once they had finally cuddled up to sleep, they barely moved for the rest of the night, content to be warm and quiet and together. Now, though, she could see all the frustration and doubt starting to seep back into his gaze. "You did nothing wrong. Neither did Bray. Creative should have known that was a shitty ending."

"Sometimes I think Cody had the right idea," he mumbled into her hair, so quiet that not even Joshy, who was attending most of the events with them that weekend since they were so close to his home base for once, could hear him.

Becky kept her arms tight around him and stayed quiet. With so much riding on Fox's investment in SmackDown, mentioning AEW backstage in the current climate, was touchy; some people avoided even talking about Dusty Rhodes, let alone his sons. It's just frustration, she told herself as she stroked his back, using one finger to trace his bushido tattoo. He didn't really want to leave. She had just re-signed this year and he wouldn't want them to be separated. "If you don't have a segment," she suggested, "why don't you and Joshy take off and go hang out? I can get Char to drive me back to the hotel." Bakersfield wasn't that long of a drive to Los Angeles, but they had booked a hotel anyway just because they were both so sore from Sunday.

Seth shook his head. "You know we're supposed to stick around just in case we're needed." The bitterness in his tone made Becky's guts twist a bit. He tried to muster up a smile for her, but it was small and strained. "Besides, I want to watch your match, and you know how much I like your rose gold gear."

"Hm, wonder why?" Becky went on tiptoe to kiss him, whispering a few loaded promises in his ear, and then stepped back. "Look after my ring for me?" She hated taking it off, but it wasn't safe to wear it while she was wrestling, and she hoped that leaving it with Seth might make him feel like part of her was with him. When his fingers closed around it, making it look so delicate and small, she kissed his hand and gave him a wink. While Seth was tucking her engagement ring in his fanny pack, she went over to Joshy and gave him a hug. "Watch him for me, will you?" she whispered in his ear.