Important Author's Note: This is an alternate universe where the matches are real, the fighting is real, the characters are real (sometimes a little exaggerated, but still real), the storylines are the only thing that are scripted, and those can change to fit the outcome of the matches as well as the whim of the characters.
It had been so great to have Finn around again. She hadn't even realized how much she'd missed him over the last several months. She'd seen him back in December in London and they talked occasionally, mostly through text, but she'd forgotten how much she appreciated his quiet steady ways and silly sense of humor. His intense focus and organic connection to the fans meant he was an asset to the show as well, and she knew she wasn't the only one happy to have him back.
It had been almost a year since they'd seen each other for more than a few hours at a time, but prior to that they'd had no choice but to spend a lot of time together. They'd been the champions in NXT for the better part of a year. In the eyes of their fanbase they'd both been ready to move up before they'd even gained their respective championships, but someone had to carry the weight of NXT. Someone had to be the one to get butts in the seats so that the others who were still learning had a crowd to practice in front of. Bayley didn't think for a minute that she was the main draw, she knew Finn had a special kind of magic with the fans, but she liked to think that she at least had a little to do with it.
Their positions on top had given them a unique connection that no one else could share and they'd gotten fairly close. It had been bittersweet for both of them when they finally got what they'd wanted, him going up only a month before her. Unfortunately he'd received a devastating injury the night before her debut and they'd drifted apart some while she'd adjusted to life on the main roster and he'd dealt with the long road to recovery.
Things obviously weren't the same as they'd been in NXT, but after a few awkward stops and starts they'd found an even keel in their friendship again. They hung out occasionally, texted quite a bit, and met up for a meal or coffee every now and then when it worked out with their schedules. Everything had just felt better, just a little more right in her world to have him around again, and life was looking up until Nia had caused her shoulder separation and she'd been stuck on the shelf, miserable because she was missing out on Summerslam. She knew that by the time she was healed creative would have moved on, and the chance of her getting her shot at payback on Alexa or Nia was slim. She was afraid of where that was going to put her and she was stuck in a weird place mentally and emotionally.
Right before Summerslam though she was surprised with a creative direction that was completely unexpected. Finn had posted a really sweet 'thinking of you while you're hurt' post on Instagram, and the renewed interest in the romantic storyline they'd portrayed in NXT had sparked another idea that had led to them wanting her included in Finn's current fued with Bray Wyatt. Bray was one really weird dude who had always alluded to Sister Abigail and who she was, but had never even hinted at her actual introduction until now. Why now, why against Finn, no one knew, but the creative team wanted to make the most of it. She was the closest female wrestling connection he'd ever had in storylines up until this point, and with her already out of the women's division storylines, she was a perfect fit. They were hoping that by the time she would be okay to return Bray and his mercurial moods might have shifted in favor of Sister Abigail's introduction.
Creative was always hemmed in by the combination of match results and the whims of both the wrestlers and the boss, and they had to manage to weave a story through it all that kept the fans interested, so she knew nothing was ever guaranteed, but if it all worked out she would have months of storyline to work with when she got back, plus she would get to work with Finn again as well. Finn apparently had been the one who had suggested her for the role, and creative had agreed, but in return they wanted the two of them to also further the romance angle. In NXT they'd really only played it up at shows and a little for social media, but on the main roster the mass exposure meant they would have to be even more committed to it.
The thought of going all in on it made her nervous though. She'd been Finn's friend for a long time now, but she'd never had to deal with his alter ego. The long term trajectory of the storyline and the more serious romance angle would more than likely mean that she could avoid it no longer, and she would be lying if she said she wasn't a little scared of meeting the demon, not to mention she was not the kind of girl who could easily fake romantic emotions. Their NXT storyline had been very 'first crush' and cutesy, leagues away from the more adult romance they were being asked to portray this time.
After a long discussion between her, Finn and a few members of the creative team they roughed out the beginning of the storyline and her suspicions about her involvement with his alter ego were confirmed. To tie everything into their past experiences they were going to start with her portraying a fairly innocent schoolgirl type crush, at least until she met the demon. Finn made it clear that he thought that a connection with the demon was necessary if she was going to be taken seriously in his more supernatural battles with Bray. She agreed as long as they didn't stray too far from who she was. She could tell Finn had picked up on her nervousness. Throughout the meeting he kept trying to reassure her that he knew her and that he would never let them drag her into a storyline that went against her beliefs or her character.
Though he knew she was uncomfortable he missed the reason why, and she was actually pretty happy about that. She didn't want to admit to Finn that both meeting his demon and portraying herself to be in love with him made her nervous. The last thing she needed was for him to think she didn't trust him or even worse that she really had a crush on him. Either might make things awkward between them and now that they were committed to a long story that was the last thing they needed.
After the writers had left the meeting she and Finn sat there for a while longer hashing out details. He offered to handle the bulk of the work for social media and she teased him about being able to 'troll with the best of them.' He grinned at her and sheepishly admitted it was true. She marveled at the fact that they were stuck in this same storyline for the second time and Finn told her,
"Hey it worked last time. We gave the fans what they wanted and they loved us for it, that's all we're doing now."
"I know, I just didn't think they would ever want to revisit it after we left NXT."
He looked at her searching her face for something before he hesitantly asked,
"Are you okay with all of this?"
"Yeah I think so. It's just unexpected, and I guess I am a little nervous still. It's not NXT, it's going to be different, you know? It's going to be a lot more complicated than a few Instagram posts and cheesy segments."
"Yeah, but we can do it. If it makes you feel any better there isn't any one else I would have trusted with this. I pushed pretty hard for you to be the one they asked."
"Yeah of course it does. I understand too, I wouldn't be comfortable doing this with anyone else, and I do appreciate it. I was pretty down about what my prospects would be when I get back, and now I don't have to worry about it, so thank you."
"Don't thank me yet. We still have to deal with Bray and he is completely unpredictable."
...
The next night she knew Bray must have given his okay to her involvement because where he'd mostly ignored her before he now looked at her through the corner of his eye when he saw her and the slow smile he gave her made chills run up her spine. The fact that she was totally creeped out is probably what made her seek out Finn even earlier than she'd originally planned, but he hadn't minded. He commiserated with her over how eerie Bray was, introduced her to his circle including the brash, but affable Karl and the giant Luke, and welcomed her to spend her time with them anytime she wanted.
In fact, he decided that now was as good a time as any to start dropping hints on social media, and had Karl take a few pictures until they had one he liked. It was just a picture of them laughing at something, but she had to admit out of context it would certainly start a buzz. Within half an hour of him posting it, the social media guy came to find them to let them know that twitter was going just a little crazy over it.
They should have know that Bray had something up his sleeve, and Finn probably should have been a little more focused on the fact that he had a match with him that night. He'd taken the loss but even worse Bray had dumped blood all over him after the match, and Finn told her later that it wasn't just blood, it had something in it that made his skin burn. Finn said it had stung like acid when it first touched his skin though the effect had worn off before he'd even got to the back. She'd known as soon as she'd seen it on the monitors that he would be furious. He'd gone straight to the GM's office, not even bothering to clean up first. While he'd been in Kurt's office, a member of creative had rushed up to her and told her that they wanted her on camera waiting for him when he got out. They hadn't planned to start any on camera stuff yet, and she wasn't prepared at all, but knew she would just have to wing it. At the last second someone handed her a towel, and she stood there awkwardly. To his credit he hadn't even blinked in surprise to see her there.
The fact that she wasn't prepared may have even worked in her favor. She'd stumbled almost embarrassingly over asking if he was okay, easily portraying that she was nervous. She awkwardly handed him the towel.
"Oh, um, here. I thought you might need this."
"Thanks," he said as he turned to start walking to the locker rooms. She fell in step beside him and after a long pause she asked,
"You're going to have to bring him out again aren't you?"
"Bray may think he knows all about demons, but he's going to find out soon that he knows nothing. He's never met my demon." His eyes had that dark brooding look she'd known was always lurking and it made something inside of her shiver, though whether it was with fear or anticipation she wasn't sure. They reached the men's locker room door, and he looked at her. "Thanks for the towel."
"Sure." She had a feeling that they would focus on her last so as soon as his back was turned she tried to look excited like a giddy school girl who'd just talked to her crush.
...
That night Finn texted her that he'd seen the playback and that she'd done an 'awesome job' and 'played it perfectly.' She tried not to think about the fact that the text had made her feel a bit too much like the girl with the crush that she was playing on screen.
She didn't get to see Finn again until that Saturday. She was planning on going with Sasha and Becky to see Takeover that night, but she got a text from Finn in the morning asking if she wanted to grab breakfast. She'd been out late the night before at the 2K18 VIP party and despite the fact that there had been no drinking involved she'd felt hungover. The work that she was putting into rehabbing the injury left her feeling drained all of the time. She was trying to text him to see if he would take a raincheck when she heard a knock at her door. She opened it up, bleary eyed, to see Finn standing there, practically bouncing on his toes. How he had any energy when she knew he'd been stretched thin as well with everything leading up to Summerslam, she didn't know.
They'd often been early morning coffee buddies because so many of their friends were not the early riser types and they were, but today she just didn't have it in her, so she wanted to kiss him when he produced two cups of coffee from behind his back.
"How's the shoulder?" he asked as he walked past her into her hotel room. She snatched a cup out of one hand and gave a muffled reply as she inhaled the hot liquid, and he laughed at her. She was out of the sling finally though she knew she would be wearing kinesio tape for the foreseeable future. She'd even had to wear it last night despite the fact that she'd been dressed up for once. She glanced over and realized said dress was still in a heap in the floor with the rest of her clothes from the day before. She couldn't even muster up the energy to be embarrassed about the mess of her hotel room. Finn wasn't the type to judge anyway, but even if he had been, right now she just didn't care.
"No seriously, how are you holding up?" he asked when she didn't say anything else. She smiled at his concern.
"I'm okay. Really tired, but it's healing slowly. I know now what you meant last winter about rehab being a full time job."
"No kidding, but I see you're out of the sling already. You'll be back before you know it, and be back to being tired for a whole different reason."
"I know, and I know you know exactly how it feels, but it's just disappointing. This was supposed to be my first Summerslam, and I'm sure I would have been able to get that title back."
"Yeah I know. Don't worry though, you'll still get it back, and at least this new direction with me and Bray will keep you out of the pack and in the spotlight in the meantime."
"True."
"So I know you've been nervous about the demon."
"I didn't say that."
"I know, but I told you I know you, we've been friends too long for me not to have eventually picked that up, so I wanted to give you fair warning."
"About what?"
"They've changed their minds about the segment you are going to do at Summerslam. They want you to have a run in with the demon."
"Already? Why are they escalating the timeline so much, and what about the scene they want me to do with Sasha?"
"Apparently the response they got from that picture I posted and the segment we did on Raw was much bigger than they expected, and they are cutting the scene with Sasha. It's going to be a little while before they will be able to do any kind of feud with you two anyway, so they think dropping any hints of tension can wait. Kurt let me know this morning, and I asked him if I could tell you."
"Okay," she replied unsure of what to say.
"I don't want you to be nervous about the demon, Bayley."
"I'm sorry, I don't mean to be."
"I know, and I'm not upset with you, I just want to figure out how to help you so you're not. You know I'm always there right? I created the demon. It's kind of like I'm riding shotgun, but I do have ultimate control in the end. If he tries to do anything I don't want him to do I can stop him."
"So what do they want us to do?"
"I think they are actually leaving the details up to us. They just want a scene where you meet the demon, and since he will conveniently be present tomorrow and they don't know when he will be again after that, they don't want to miss this chance. If you agree I think we can keep it simple. Since you were waiting on me at Raw, you can just do that again only instead of me that comes out it will be him."
"I guess that's fine, but I hate the idea of going into a segment on a show that big without a more detailed plan."
"I can't predict the demon. I have no idea what he will do, there's no way for me to plan beyond that, but I have a good feeling it won't be a problem. It doesn't have to be a long segment. As long as you can keep up the part you've been playing so far, and I know you can, it will take care of itself."
"If you're sure."
"I am, and I've never led us wrong before have I?"
"No, I guess not." He smiled at her.
"So I can tell you probably aren't feeling up to going out, and I would normally let you slide, but we kind of need to make an appearance together somewhere today, so any chance I can talk you into breakfast?"
"Why do we have to make an appearance together?"
"Creative requested. They want people buzzing again before tomorrow night."
"I guess since you brought coffee I can't really turn you down, but you are going to have to give me a little time to get cleaned up and feel human again."
"No problem. Do you want me to wait in the hotel lobby?"
"No you can hang hear. I can get cleaned up and dressed in the bathroom, just you know excuse the mess."
"Already excused, I'm sure my room looks pretty bad too."
"Yeah right. I've seen your apartment Finn. There is no way the OCD in you would let your room look like a tornado has blown through the way mine does right now."
"Okay, yeah you're right, but I was trying to make you feel better."
"I know, and I do appreciate it, but I'll live."
By the time she was feeling like a person again, Finn had dozed off on her bed. He'd sat right up when she said his name though, easily switching back into waking mode, a trait she knew was a product of having to catch sleep whenever possible throughout his career. They'd picked a place not far away, and walked there giving plenty of opportunities for them to be spotted together. By the time they'd sat down at the restaurant though they'd forgotten about the purpose of their mission, and simply enjoyed sharing a meal like they'd done so many times before. Afterwards they parted ways for the day, and made plans to see each other at the arena the next day.
...
Their breakfast had had the desired results. Twitter and Instagram blew up over the fan posted pictures of the two of them walking together. They'd been careful to walk a little closer together than they normally would have and that was all it had taken to really get the speculation going. Thankfully most of the other wrestlers hadn't bugged her about it, they were all more likely to assume that something like this was for a storyline.
The next day she only saw Finn briefly before the show. She and Sasha had arrived early planning on getting in a workout and avoiding the madhouse that the place would be in few hours. She'd been on her way in trailing behind Sasha when she saw him walking up as well. He'd stopped to give her a hug, greeting both of them and he'd walked with them until they parted to their respective locker rooms. He'd asked if she was ready, and Sasha had butted in asking what their segment would be. Sasha of course knew about their original segment being cut, but Bayley had kept pretty quiet on what she would be doing instead. The truth was she was still nervous and hadn't wanted to talk about it with anyone, even Sasha.
Finn filled her in and Sasha had given her a long searching look. Sasha could probably read her better than anyone besides Mella, so she knew she would be in for an inquisition later. She knew she probably should have told her. Sasha would read more into the fact that she hadn't said anything than if she had just told her in the first place.
After they parted ways she tried to avoid Sasha's gaze, and it wouldn't have worked if it hadn't been for the fact that they were interrupted by a member of creative. He wanted to know since she was there already if she would sit in on a meeting they were doing to fine tune details and talk long term planning for their post Summerslam storyline. Finn of course couldn't attend since he would be tied up with the long process of his transformation to the demon, but she wasn't needed for quite a while. It hadn't really been in her plans for the day, but she knew that any time creative invited you to be involved in their process that you didn't turn it down, so she followed him and inadvertently escaped Sasha at the same time.
By the time she got out of the meeting it was almost time for the show to start, and everyone was in showtime mode. Even those who were normally pretty loose before a show were keyed up, after all this was the second biggest show of the year. With everything going on around her the time passed quickly, and she was surprised when she was told it was almost time for her part. She'd already been through makeup and she'd decided to wear one of the original black 'Boss' tees to help support her friend and to go with a slightly darker look instead of her usual bright 'Bayley' colors for her segment with the demon.
She was directed to where they wanted her to stand and she'd had to channel the nervous school girl again. Even though she was expecting the demon, he still took her breath away and she let out a breathless 'oh' when he stepped out. He'd stared at her, his eyes burning right through her, and the lights flashed red to the deep echo of a heartbeat. She knew the lights and sound effect had not been a planned part of the production, and that alone would have sent shivers up her spine, but the way he held her gaze with his caused a deep throb inside of her. She was mesmerized, unable to look away. She felt like prey paralyzed by the predator. She didn't snap out of it until she was standing there staring at his back as he got further away having never even realized he'd moved in the first place. She'd had to catch her breath as she stood there and trembled.
She couldn't decide if the whole scene had been reassuring or not. Finn had obviously been right. They hadn't had to say a word, the segment had taken care of itself, but at the same time she wasn't any more secure or any less nervous about future encounters with the demon.
...
Afterwards she found Sasha to congratulate her. She was happy her friend at least got the chance to give Alexa a little of her own medicine. Sasha was on cloud nine, it was her fourth title win and she deserved it. She wasn't sure what that meant in terms of creative and the story they were telling with the title, since she wouldn't be competing with most of the women for a while she hadn't been told about the direction they were going in, but she really hoped they would come up with something compelling for her friend. Alexa wasn't the easiest to work with, and she remembered how much trouble both she and creative had had getting Alexa to agree with anything both interesting and logical unless it put her firmly in the spotlight at all times.
Sasha would be tied up with media for most of the night so she let her friend get back to work and went to find a quiet spot to watch Finn's match. It was no surprise that the demon completely flattened Bray, though she had a bad feeling about what that would mean for Finn's future. Bray was the obsessive type, he wasn't going to let this go that easily. Of course she knew Finn knew that as much as he would love to move back into the title picture, he wouldn't be free of Bray that easily, after all that was why Finn had suggested her inclusion. Eventually Bray was going to pull out his trump card to try and turn the tables on Finn. Bray had lost to many over the years and it always seemed to roll off of his back, but he'd been different with Finn, perhaps because Finn was the first one to be able to compete with both the physical and the mythical. No one expected sweet innocent Bayley to be able to compete in that world which is probably why Bray had looked almost triumphant when Finn had chosen her as his counterpart to Sister Abigail. Even Bayley wasn't sure how Finn expected her to counteract the supernatural elements involved, but she trusted Finn. He wouldn't have asked for her if he didn't think she could do it.
Once she was released she headed back to her hotel, planning to crash for the night. It had a been a long week, and she was ready to catch up on sleep. She was officially off of TV until her shoulder was healed, which was both a relief because now she could put all of her focus on getting better, and disappointing. You always wanted to be on TV if at all possible, time away sometimes helped, but too easily could be detrimental, and she couldn't imagine going home right now and how she would have felt if she hadn't known that she had something to come back into. Right before she crashed for the night she shot Finn a text to tell him congratulations. He sent her back a thanks and knowing she was flying out tomorrow and they probably wouldn't see each other for awhile he made her promise that she would call and keep him updated on her progress.
