Welcome! I've been toying around with the ideas for this story for many many months now and finally got "pen to paper" and got to work on it. I wanted to go ahead and get a chapter posted and test my waters, get some feedback, and see if it seems like something worth moving forward on and developing more. (I currently have 2 and 1/2 more chapters completed and sitting in my documents file...) So please read and let me know if this first piece gets you going!
This story takes place in the current WWE universe with a few alternate universe spins on to fit new/OC characters and my story idea. It won't be "real time" but it's only a few months behind so it may feel like it.
I do not own or have claim to anything related to WWE; all I 'own' are my original characters.
Chapter 1: A Whole New Chapter
"Yep, thank you. Have a good morning," Jennings Gray stated to the security agent, retrieving her messenger bag that was loaded down with her laptop and travel items that weren't packed away in her suitcase that was now headed towards the carriage of a plane and her flip flops which she slipped on gracefully. She began the shuffle further into O'Hare International Airport.
She slipped her earbuds into her ears and hit the mic button on the wires. Her music immediately started blaring again and she already began to feel more relaxed.
It wasn't that she didn't like flying, or even airports. It was that it was six am and she was weary and cold and would have rather been snuggled in her bed still asleep. Duty, and work, called though; so here she was.
She started towards her terminal, letting her eyes dart around and take note of the various shops and food options in the concourses. It had been awhile since O'Hare had been her main hub and either everything had changed or she had a terrible memory.
Two things became clear, though; she didn't have to travel far to get to the terminal that was bound for Orlando, and by the grace of some higher power there was a Starbucks across the walkway from it.
Good, she thought to herself, I can get breakfast and coffee. Perfect.
She staked out a seat by the windows overlooking the tarmac, discarding her messenger bag and jacket and made a beeline to the Starbucks.
Thirty minutes later she was a fourth of the way through her bagel and her eyes were blurring as she scrolled through an article on her iPad. That caffeine needed to kick in.
She set the device in her lap and looked up to scan the airport. It was surprisingly busy for a little after six am on a Thursday morning but it was also Chicago and it was always busy. Her eyes darted from person to person as they hurried through the concourses on the way to their various gatess. People watching at the airport was by far one of the prime people watching locations.
She did a quick double take as she looked over the people that had started to fill the seats in her terminal and then a small smile crept onto her face. There was no way she could mistake the disheveled, curly ponytail and 'the Black and the Brave' wording across the hood of a hoodie that was directly across from her.
She sat for a moment, thinking to herself, and then reached for one her Starbucks napkins before she crumpled it into a ball and bit her bottom lip before tossing it across the small space, aimed for the hood.
Perfect shot!
She snickered, almost snorting, at the clearly irritated and startled look that was turned on her.
He started to speak and then paused once he started to register that he recognized his assailant.
"I was ready to throw hands at you!"
His exasperated exclamation made her laugh a little harder and she grinned.
"I'm sorry."
"You should be."
She bit her bottom lip again, trying to reign in her amusement.
"What did you throw at me anyways?" he reached back to pull his hood to the side and retrieve the napkin. He held it up and raised his eye brows at her, "really?"
"It was that or my iPad…"
"Well thank you for choosing the softer option. What…what are you doing here?"
She shrugged, "waiting for this flight to board."
He rolled his eyes slightly and she chuckled.
"Come share this bagel with me and keep me company so we aren't yelling back and forth. I promise I won't throw anything else. Consider it a peace offering."
He eyed her for a second and then turned to gather his bag and slip his phone in the pocket of his hoodie. She watched him as he rounded the row of seats and then settled himself next to her.
She offered up a half of her bagel as he situated himself and got comfortable.
"What kind of cream cheese is this?"
"Honey pecan, it's delicious."
"I didn't know that was a thing…" She had a slight smile playing on her lips as he tore off a piece and tried it. "That is good."
"See I'm trustworthy."
"When you aren't throwing things at people in an airport. I'm surprised that isn't grounds to escort you out of here."
"Please don't tell on me."
"Stay on the straight and narrow and I'll keep security out of this."
She gave him a sweet, small smile and then made a face at him.
He watched quietly, taking another bite of the bagel and watching her swipe a few crumbs away from her maroon leggings. He could see the slightest bit of the tattoo on her forearm peeking out from the sleeve of her lightweight long-sleeved shirt that she had pushed up her arms.
"I feel like I haven't seen you in five years," he stated matter of factly out of the silence.
"Yeah it's been a few months; Mania, I think."
Jennings and Seth Rollins worked together in the WWE but their history as friends ran much deeper than the last couple of years. Jennings was currently a backstage reporter and ring announcer but she had previously been a WWE Diva. Seth had introduced her to professional wrestling and they had always managed to stay in each other's lives even when their paths took them in separate directions, personally and professionally.
"And now we're in the same terminal at O'Hare. Are you going to Orlando?"
"Yeah I was summoned. Why are you going down there?"
"They want to do some stuff at the performance center for the 2K promotional stuff."
"Oh I forgot you're getting you're going to be the cover boy. You've really hit the big time, Lopez."
His eyebrows rose as he inhaled deeply. "It's kind of bizarre."
"I better get an autographed copy."
"You still haven't answered my question 'why' you're here, in Chicago. You don't come around these parts very much these days."
"Well why are you here? Don't you usually fly out of Moline?"
He cut a look and a frown at her, he almost rolled his eyes. "I do. Do you always have to be difficult?"
"You aren't new here, you know this."
"I know you act like you're hard to handle because you think you are."
She gave him a bright smile and batted her eyelashes quickly.
"Stop," he chuckled lightly at her overly satisfied response. "You always get under my skin."
"You always take yourself too seriously," she countered. She took a sip of her coffee and exhaled slowly. "I'm back in Chicago; I moved back. I've been here for about 2 weeks; I'm really just getting settled again."
"What?" He asked, almost stuttering his response.
"Yeah…" she trailed off and offered a small shrug.
He had turned his head to look at her, silent, and she returned his look with her own soft, silent look.
"I'm sorry," Seth said after a moment passed between them.
"It's ok," she replied quietly. "I'm um, staying with Jamie. It's actually been kind of fun. I've missed my sister time."
"Jamie, wow. I haven't seen her in ages. How is she?"
"Oh Jamie is Jamie. She hasn't changed other than she's tall and gorgeous. She's still doing graphic design, still breaking hearts…"
"Brandon deserved it."
"It amazes me how much alike you are."
Seth scoffed, loudly, and then chuckled. "I'm insulted."
"So why are you in Chicago?" She countered, determined to get her answer since he had been so determined to get his.
"They had earlier flights and I needed to be down there early. I stayed the night here last night."
She raised her eyebrows at him and gave him an amused look as she reached over to tear off a piece of his half of her bagel that he was still working on.
"Not like that."
"Hey, I wasn't saying anything…" she shrugged.
"You didn't have to say it, I could feel it." He scoffed again as she reached for the bagel. "If you were going to steal back half of what you gave me you shouldn't have given it to me to begin with, you know?"
"I'm sorry, I have zero impulse control," she chuckled and folded her hands in her lap, fingers clasped together. "There rest is yours I promise."
He settled in to the seat a bit as he continued to eat, relaxing in to the hard plastic and so-called cushioning of the airport chair. They shared a comfortable silence and Jennings couldn't help but quietly muse to herself about all the time they had spent in airports together.
"Do you know what you were summoned for?" He asked out of the blue.
"Not entirely, no. I had a Tapout shoot planned for tomorrow already, with Lana, but Carano called me Wednesday morning and asked me to come down early for a meeting."
"You're still doing the shoot?"
"Yeah so at least I know I'm not getting fired," she grinned.
"They wouldn't fire you anyways..."
She shrugged silently at him and then both of their attentions and gazes jumped to the flight attendant as she started to announce they were beginning to board the flight to Atlanta that would then continue on to Orlando.
"I swear if we ended up having seats next to each other I'm getting right back off that plane," he mumbled as the two of them stood and gathered their minimal collection of things.
"That's rude."
He threw a wink at her with a soft smile before popping the remaining bite of bagel in his mouth and motioning for her to lead the way to the door.
Later that night Seth found himself propped up against the headboard of the bed in his hotel room, laptop open in front of him, and spacing out as he stared blankly at the football game on his television. He was bored and restless and couldn't seem to keep his focus. It had been a long day.
He reached for his cell phone from the night stand next to him with no real reason other than just looking at the screen; checking the time, hoping for some kind of interesting news alert.
The screen lit up with a text message just as he was lifting it. It was Jennings.
"I'm a fucking wizard..." He mumbled to himself as he unlocked his phone to read her message.
It wasn't' even a message, it was just a picture of a basket of wings and a basket of fried pickles. Two more messages quickly came through.
I have mozzarella sticks on the way, too. I don't know why I'm doing this.
Please come help me eat all of this, though. I know you aren't doing shit but sitting in your room.
He frowned at the phone and her implications that he was boring before shrugging slightly. She wasn't wrong.
Where are you? He fired back before moving his laptop from his lap and beginning to move about the room.
He quickly slipped on athletic pants over his shorts and reached for his hat that had been discarded since he got back to his room. He checked his phone again for Jennings's response.
Across the street from the hotel at the little oyster bar.
See you in a few minutes. He pocketed his phone, grabbed his wallet and headed towards the door as he made sure he had his hotel key tucked away in it.
The trek from his room to the elevator was short and quiet. He let his mind wander slightly as he waited for the familiar ding of the elevator arriving to his floor and the doors opening before him.
He and Jennings hadn't ended up having seats next to each other but they had been across the aisle from each other. He had fallen asleep on the flight just long enough for a picture of his sleeping image to end up all over Jennings's social media accounts. He had no doubt that she had done it just to try and stir up the pot, with the fans, and with him. She knew he hated having his picture taken without a warning.
They had pretty much gone their separate ways once they made it to Orlando. It was really kind of absurd. If either of them had known they could have at least planned to share a rental car. Their paths had crossed a few times that evening at the performance center.
Truthfully he was happy he had heard from her. Not just because it gave him a distraction from his boredom but because he was curious about what her meeting had been about. He had been itching to ask her but didn't want to just ask her out of the blue with no prompting.
They were friends, they were close, but they had been distant over the last year or so. He wasn't sure if it was something it was just okay for him to dig his nose in to, so he had just let the thought of it float around in his head.
Now, he could ask.
She was easy enough to spot when he entered the bar. It was a small place but warm and cozy. TVs were lit up with various sporting events; mostly the Thursday Night Football game.
She was in the corner of the bar at a high-top round table, feet propped up on a chair across from her, settled back in her seat with her eyes on the TV ahead of her. He watched her run her fingers through her long black hair that was falling over one shoulder before her eyes moved and caught him in her line of view.
She smiled as he finished walking the small distance to her table.
"My hero," she teased.
He smiled as he settled in the seat across from her. "What kind of a gentleman would I be if I turned down a lady in distress and free buffalo wings?"
She shrugged slightly, a genuinely amused smile on her face, and sat up in her seat while simultaneously pushing the basket of wings towards him.
"What are we working with?" He asked.
"These 8 are teriyaki, these 8 are spicy garlic and these are the standard missionary 'hot sauce'," she replied to him, motioning with her finger as she spoke.
He lifted his gaze at her in question.
"Look, I'm stressed out, ok? I stress eat. So naturally I thought my best bet would be to have fried pickles and wings the night before I'm supposed to prance around in workout gear for a photo shoot. So, don't give me that judgey look and just enjoy your food."
"I said nothing," he responded, chuckling lightly and holding his hands up in surrender.
"It was in your eyes."
He rolled his eyes at her this time and shook his head before acknowledging the waitress that had approached them. She provided him with a small plate and he gave her a quick drink order of water.
"For the record," he leveled a look at her, "there was no judgment in any of that. I also don't think that having a couple of wings and some fried pickles is going to affect how you look in the slightest."
"Thank you."
"I am here to help, though. Thank you for inviting me."
From there they settled in to a comfortable and shared silence that was mixed in with comments about the football game playing on the televisions throughout the bar and other various pieces of small talk; mostly filling each other in on what was going on behind the scenes of their shows. It was light and fun and comforting; it was familiar to both of them.
By the time they had managed to devour their various bar snacks, Jennings was settling back in her chair and folding her arms across her.
"What?" Seth asked, picking up on her shift in mood just from her actions.
"I'm a little surprised by you tonight," she replied.
"Why?"
She shrugged meekly and bit her lip. "I don't know...I just expected you to be a little bit nosey and you haven't been."
"Oh trust me," he settled back in his own seat, "I've been dying to be nosey but I've been trying to keep it all in. I didn't think it was my place."
"Since when?"
He replied with silence and a shrug.
"You want to know what my meeting was about today?"
"Mostly."
"Mostly?"
"Mostly."
"Well ask away...I'm giving you a place."
"Why are you back in Chicago?"
She inhaled deeply and leaned against the table, reaching out to stir her glass of water with her straw. "Would you believe me if I told you that L.A. just wasn't my scene?"
"No," he replied flatly. "You were pretty pumped about moving to L.A. if I remember correctly so I wouldn't believe it in the slightest. Who broke who's heart?"
"I broke his heart...I think." She cut her eyes up at him and raised her eyebrows. "I've been doing my best to ignore and avoid him, give it some time and space, so I can't say for sure but the 'please Jennings, let's work on this' messages I get every day seem to say 'heartbroken' to me."
Seth tried to bite back a smirk at her deadpanned reply to his question.
Jennings's boyfriend or apparent ex-boyfriend now, was a trainer with the Los Angeles Dodgers. She had moved to California from Chicago over a year before to start up a life with him.
"What happened?"
"Long story short, he pretty much forced me to choose him or WWE and we all know how that one is going to play out. I, apparently, traveled too much. I wasn't home enough. I didn't care enough. Blah blah. It's been a point of contention for the last couple of months, especially with their season being in full swing, and it just boiled over. He told me he wanted me to cut back on days and I told him no, other things were said, accusations were made...and here I am."
"Doesn't he travel with the team?"
"Right!" She responded in agreement. "When I was home, he wasn't, and when he was home, I wasn't. We didn't get a lot of time together, and I get that and I acknowledge that, but if I had told him he needed to get a new job and stop working for MLB he would've reacted the same way. There's always a compromise available, always, but it's always coming from me and I didn't want to compromise this time. I...I almost lost this once...I'm not going to just walk away from it. He's an athletic trainer, too, he sees careers end every other day, and he's supposed to understand that."
"Hey, you don't have to argue your case with me, I just...I was curious."
"I figured you would be."
"He wasn't my favorite, anyways."
Jennings rolled her eyes. "You and Nick have never, ever, liked any guy I have dated. Ever. I could bring the Pope to meet you and you would hate him. You've always been that way."
"You have no room to talk and you wouldn't bring the Pope anywhere because A- you aren't religious and B- you have awful taste in men. You…jump in to things, you always have. That's just your M.O."
"Really? Do you really want to compare our tastes in significant others and dating history right now? Let me consult google real quick..."
"No."
She raised her eyebrows and narrowed a look at him. "Can we move on?"
"Yes, we can move on...what was your meeting about?"
"I can't tell you."
He frowned at her and glared slightly, "don't give me that bullshit 'industry secrets' nonsense. Talk to me; tell me. You always told me these things."
She sighed heavily and reached for the two pickles that were still left in their basket. She dipped them in the spicy ranch sauce and popped them in her mouth before letting her eyes meet his again. She could read his curiosity and his pleading across the table, even in the dark, and she sighed again.
"They want me to get back in the ring," she answered his initial question.
"What? When?" Seth quickly sat up and then leaned lightly on the edge of the table. "Seriously, you're getting back in the ring?"
"If I say 'yes' it would be at the start of the year, right at new year's; on RAW."
"You're coming to RAW?"
"If..."
"Fuck that, Jenn. This isn't something you turn into an 'if'. You say yes. What is there to think about?"
She silently looked at him across the table.
"I'm serious."
"I know you are," she replied, almost too quietly for him to hear over the television noise being piped through the bar's main speaker system.
"Jennings..." He started to speak and then paused for a moment, thinking over his words. "Jennings, you didn't quit...you didn't even really 'retire'."
"No, I was forced out," she responded quickly. "I had to take time to heal and I got replaced and pushed in to ring announcing. And yes, I am still very grateful that I get to be a part of this business and be with the WWE and travel and all of that...but..."
"But what? This is a shot at redemption, Jennings. You can have your comeback that you didn't get and you can kickass and it'll be like old times."
"I don't even know if I can..."
"You were never told you couldn't wrestle, were you? It's not something you just forget how to do. January is months away, you have plenty of time to train."
There was a pause between them; a silence that settled over them. Jennings let her eyes shift to the nearest television and Seth watched her intently, trying to read her body language. He could tell there was a little bit of excitement coming from her but it was mostly apprehension and stubbornness. She was bitter, and he got that.
"You know I won't let you say no to this, don't you?" He asked.
"Why do you think I told you?" She questioned him in response.
He tilted his head slightly, giving her a questioning look and settled back in his seat again. "What do you mean?"
"I have until Summerslam to make a call on this and I don't plan on making it a widely known thing because if I do come back, it has to be a surprise. But I'm torn on it and you may think I don't have anything to question or think about but I do...and you're my..." She stopped and licked her lips, pausing. "You've been around from the start and I don't know anyone, our age, who loves this like you do. If I was going to get advice from one person it would be you."
"You don't generally ask my advice on things anymore..."
"That's a horse of a different color."
He nodded and took his own moment to inhale deeply. "You know I'll push you to do it. I know what it's like to sit on the sidelines and watch people have their moments and feel like you'll never get that again and if you have the chance to make another run, if it's your last run or the start of a whole new chapter of your career, you can't turn it down."
She nodded in acknowledgement of what he was saying.
"Plus, I can help you."
She raised her eyebrows at him, "what?"
"You're a couple hours away from me, now. Come train with me, and Nick; get the team back together."
"No," she shook her head. "I will heed your advice but you are not training me."
"Come on."
"We'll kill each other. You're a fucking drill sergeant as a coach. I'll punch you in the face."
"You will not punch me. You never have before."
"Do you not remember how many water bottles I've thrown at you and awful names I've called you?"
"Yeah, that's what we do. I never took that personally."
She shook her head, trying not to laugh at him.
"I know I'm an asshole sometimes but is there honestly anyone else you'd rather do this with, to have next to you?"
"Ferg, AJ, Becky, Bryan…" She trailed off and shrugged.
He narrowed his gaze at her, frowning. She seemed to get the hint of what his look meant and offered him a soft, small smile, and a 'sorry'. "At least come check out the gym. You haven't seen it."
"I'll think about it," she replied, this time a smile forming on her lips at the frustrated noise he made at her response. It was accompanied with an eye roll and head shake. "It's not a no."
"I'll take it for now but this isn't the end of this," he responded.
