Flames

Down Payment on Violence, part 2

At least the plane trouble didn't have a sequel. Seth only felt slightly guilty for thinking it. For Crown Jewel, Becky had been in Dubai, so it had been relatively easy to meet up with her afterwards—and he had still missed her. This, so close after her birthday and the anniversary of when they started dating, was much harder to bear. Knowing that some of the women—Naomi, Bayley, Lana—had gone to Saudi Arabia made it even more bittersweet. Becky had already done so much in such a short time to help move the women's divisions forward; he couldn't help but look forward to a day when they were on every card together, without any special requirements needed. For now, he would just have to be happy with no flight delays and getting back home to her without incident.

In theory, all the wrestlers had designated seats, but as soon as they were free to take off their seatbelts, many of them were wandering around, chatting with friends in other rows. Seth was sitting by Roman since they saw each other so rarely these days, but Roman had fallen asleep a couple hours in. Just as he was about to put his headphones on, Seth realized someone was standing by his shoulder. "Hey, man." Bayley gave him a friendly punch to the shoulder. Then she tapped his headphones. "You busy? Ready to zone out?"

Seth shook his head. Bayley was another friend he missed, and he could listen to music any time. "Nah, I'm good." He motioned to the seat across from him, vacated by another wrestler who had wandered off to chat. "Congrats again."

Bayley sat and raised her water bottle in a toast. "Here's to making history, right? I wish more of the girls could be here," she added with a sigh, "but this is something, right?" Glancing down the aisle, she waved at someone. "Hey, Naomi! Found him!"

"Oh fuck." Seth tried sinking further down in his seat, but there wasn't much leg room to begin with. "Bayley, don't. She's going to start asking about when the wedding is and when we're having kids and—"

"Hey!" Naomi bounced up and sat in the aisle between Seth and Bayley. The flight attendants wouldn't be around with the carts for a while, so several people were stretching out in the aisle, making their section of the plane look rather like an adult slumber party. The grin she shot at Seth was pure trickster god. "So, about those babies. . . ."

Seth held up his hands in surrender. "Talk to Becky, not me. That's on her schedule"

Naomi rolled her eyes and leaned back against Bayley's legs. "But I want to be an auntie!"

"You already are! And you've got stepkids." Seth jerked a thumb back at Roman. "He's got kids too. Why aren't you bugging Miz or Daniel for baby time? Just how many kids do you need in your life?"

"But those aren't your kids." Naomi just kept grinning. "Come on. Like your babies wouldn't be little ring rats from the start, hanging out backstage at all the shows. "

Seth rolled his eyes. "So you're volunteering to babysit then?"

"YES!" Bayley and Naomi were in perfect unison.

"And I'm going to make sure your kids have some damn colours in their wardrobe," Naomi declared with an authoritative nod, "so they aren't wearing all black from day one."

Bayley tapped Naomi's shoulder eagerly. "Oh! Get them some glow booties like yours!"

"Girl!" Naomi half-turned in the aisle. "They make them! For real! I saw some the other day and I took pictures to show Becky." Bracing herself on Bayley's knee, she stood quickly. "I'll go get my phone and be right back. These boots are the sweetest thing, Seth, I swear." With that, Naomi bounded down the aisle to her official seat.

A moment later, Bayley stood and left her water bottle on the seat as if it were a flag staking a claim. "Wait—where are you going?" Seth asked. Part of him thought he should have just stayed quiet and maybe both the women would have forgotten about their baby fixation, but he knew he wouldn't be so lucky. Maybe I should pretend to be sick and go to the bathroom. . . .

Patting his shoulder, Bayley grinned. "Did you know there's a bunch of companies that specialize in making baby-friendly versions of rock songs? All instrumental, all toned down, but still totally recognizable. Rockabye Baby seems to be the most known one, but there's Twinkle Twinkle Little Rock Star and a few others. And there's a Pearl Jam one," she added, "which of course I bought to try because I know Becky loves them. I think I still have it on my phone, actually. I'm gonna go check. Be right back."

"See, this is why you put your headphones on and shut your eyes." The voice was low, but it still startled Seth, and when he turned to look at his friend, Roman's mouth twitched in a small smirk. "Naomi's going to be on you for at least an hour, man. You've been warned."

"Have you been awake the entire time?" Seth demanded.

Roman quickly adjusted his headphones and slumped back in his seat. "Who's awake?" Still wearing the subtle smirk, he made a small snoring noise that sounded annoyingly genuine.

Seth was about to punch his arm just as Naomi returned, phone in one hand and a catalogue in the other. "Is that boy still sleeping that hard? What the hell? Maybe he was up late talking with Galina. Whatever." Then she perched on the edge of Bayley's abandoned seat and opened up her phone's gallery. "I have video of the boots too, because they were too damn cute, but here's a few pictures. Aren't they the best?" Naomi smile was almost as bright as the light coming from the soles of the shoes.

Becky would love those, Seth admitted to himself. He had already resigned himself to the fact that their kids would have ridiculous wardrobes, so the addition of light-up shoes wouldn't be much of a stretch. "They'd make the kids easy to find," he allowed.

"And then they could learn to dance with Auntie Naomi, right? Right?" Just as she was about to open up the catalogue, Bayley returned. "Bay! Aren't these the best?" she crowed, holding her phone out to Bayley.

"They are." Then Bayley tugged gently on Seth's headphones. "Here, take a listen. I know 'Black' is one of her favourites. . . ." While Seth connected to her phone, Bayley queued up the song.

Roman gave him a small, soft jab with his elbow, but Seth ignored it. It would have been better if Becky had been there to help divert some of the baby talk, but he knew it all came from a place of love. Their kids would have the privilege three extended families—his, hers, and the WWE roster—and that wasn't something to take lightly, even if it did mean a shoe rack full of light-up boots. Next time, Seth thought, listening to the familiar but altered melody of the song. Next time she'll be here too.