"Where have you been?" Seth Rollins asked when Dean walked back into The Shield's locker room.
"The crapper," Dean lied easily.
"You need to eat more fibre if it takes you that long to have a shit," Roman quipped, making the finishing touches to his ring attire in the mirror at the far end of the room.
Never one to be outdone when it came to banter, Dean had a quick comeback. "It wasn't doing it that was the problem, it was breaking it in half with the brush so I could flush it."
"That's disgusting," Seth said, laughing.
"It'll be a danger to shipping if it gets out to sea," Dean went on, now that he had the upper hand.
"Makes me wonder what you've had up your ass for something that big to come out," Roman hit back, making the other two men laugh hard.
"Looks like he's onto us, Seth," Dean grinned.
"It was bound to happen eventually," Seth said. With that, the joking was over. He got up off his steel chair and made for the door. "Come on, Hunter wants to see us now you're back."
"Time to find out what they're doing next with this new angle of ours," Roman added as he walked past Dean and out of the door.
Dean thought better of announcing that he already knew one aspect of the news they were about to get. The Shield's new gimmick was that they had made themselves available for hire by other superstars, effectively as security or bodyguards. In many ways, it was similar to the APA gimmick from way back when, only now with a larger and more dominant team. Lucy Thorne, the team's fourth member, was going to be hired by Alexa, Dean knew. Whether Seth's girl would take kindly to that was anyone's guess. Lucy was temperamental at the best of times. In any event, Dean had bigger concerns about the new angle. "I don't really like this idea," he complained, trailing his two brothers along the hallway.
"I know what you mean," Roman had to agree. "The Shield are supposed to be the hounds of justice, not mercenaries."
"True, but they're trying to evolve us," Seth countered. Of the four members of the group, he was the only one who had admitted to liking the idea when they first heard about it. "Look at someone like Jericho. How many different versions of his character have there been? And he's probably got the best one of the lot going on right now. You have to be willing to change things up, or you risk going stale. I say we get behind this and show some faith in Hunter. It was his idea, not Vince's."
"We've got no choice but to get behind it," Roman said matter of fact. "I just hope they don't screw us over with it. I don't want our entire gimmick to become standing guard for other people."
"Come on, Rome, that's not going to happen. We're one of the company's best assets, and everyone knows it. It's not like you to be negative."
"I'm not being negative, I'm just not convinced," Roman clarified.
"Good, because it's bad enough with Lucy," Seth said with a small sigh. "She's not been happy with our creative since they pulled the plug on the idea of turning us heel."
"Good thing they did," Dean put in. "Having us kidnap Steph and make Hunter give up his position of power was about as likely to turn us heel as if we'd decided to beat up Michael Cole."
They were approaching the women's locker room, and they could see Lucy waiting outside for them, clearly also having gotten a summons to see the boss. To Seth's surprise, his girl looked happier than he had expected.
The women's locker room was full when Alexa returned from her trip to see Hunter, her diversion into an office with Dean, then a hurried trip to the bathrooms. "Lucy, have you got a minute?" she had asked carefully, approaching the English woman, who was talking to Bayley, one of her few close friends in the locker room.
"I suppose," Lucy said indifferently, looking down at Alexa, who was fully eight inches shorter than her. "What is it?"
"Can we, uh…" Alexa said, gesturing to a quiet corner of the room where they might be able to talk without others joining in. She wasn't exactly sure how she wanted to approach this conversation. It was well known that Lucy could be awkward to speak to, and was as likely to react negatively as positively to suggestions, largely depending on what kind of mood she was in. But, as proven by Bayley and Charlotte, it was possible to become friendly with her. That was the ideal outcome for Alexa, who didn't want to find herself in the situation of having an on-screen partner who she didn't get along with off-screen. That kind of thing could make the job particularly unpleasant.
Without comment, Lucy led the way over to the corner. "What's this about?" she asked when they had some privacy. Her tone wasn't outright hostile, but she clearly wasn't in a particularly patient frame of mind.
Alexa decided it would be best to get straight to the point. "I just came back from Hunter's office. He wanted to see me about the new plan they have for me and my title reign."
"I've got to go and see him myself in a minute," Lucy said. "So, let me put two and two together and guess, he's going to tell me I'm working with you?"
"Right," Alexa said, glad that Lucy didn't seem overtly hostile to the idea so far. "Obviously there's the thing with The Shield being for hire for security now. The idea is that I'm going to hire you to be my partner, basically to protect the title."
Lucy took a moment to ponder that, then, to Alexa's relief, she gave a hint of a smile. "Not so much a partner then. Sounds like more of a bodyguard to me."
"Yeah, in some ways I guess it will play out like that," Alexa agreed, sounding as positive as she dared without wanting to push it too far. "I can picture myself running and hiding behind you when someone like Nia or Sasha is trying to get their hands on me."
That image made Lucy laugh. "I can see that. I'm imagining you peeking out from behind me and telling me to get them."
"Yeah, then you wade in there and hit some of your power moves. When you're done, I get the cheap win and make like I did all the hard work."
"Then I can lay you out as well," Lucy chuckled.
"That's one thing that could happen for sure," Alexa agreed with a grin. "I think there's a lot we could do with this. Some of it good storytelling, some of it really funny comedy. Wrestling doesn't always have to be serious."
Lucy nodded slowly. One of the things she had tried to do a lot more since she had been with Seth was to enjoy her wrestling instead of just looking at it as a well-paying job. It was true that there could be some comedy in the little and large dynamic between her and Alexa. It was also possible that they might make quite a tag team. As champion, Alexa played the part of a cowardly champion, but she was rarely booked to look weak in the ring. "Alright," she decided, "I'll tell Hunter I'm on-board with this. I think it could be fun, but I do have one condition."
"Okay," Alexa said, using the word almost as a question.
"My character has to act like she's reluctant to take your money and help you. That's the only way I can see this working, or making sense."
"Definitely," Alexa said, nodding. "I was thinking the same thing." The more she thought about the new team, if that was the right word to use, the more she felt positive about it.
"Right, well, I'd better go and see Hunter," Lucy said. "Apparently he wants to see the guys as well, so I'll wait for them outside."
"Catch you later," Alexa said politely. As she watched the English woman leave the room, she let out a sigh of relief. The conversation could have gone really badly if Lucy had hated the idea of their partnership, but instead she was up for it. Ever the dreamer, Alexa already had grand visions of moments that could possibly happen in the ring with this new team. She couldn't wait to get started.
Outside in the hallway, Lucy had to wait a couple of minutes before the rest of her team showed up, on their way to Hunter's office.
"Hey," Seth greeted her, then gave her a peck on the cheek. "You look like you're in a good mood."
"It's not that uncommon, Seth," Lucy said, feigning offense.
"That's not what I meant," he replied with a chuckle. "I meant you've obviously heard why we're going to see Hunter, yet you don't seem like you're ready to give him a piece of your mind about this Shield for hire idea. You've not been positive about it before now."
"Well, now I am. Apparently I'm going to be working with Alexa. She'll be hiring me as some kind of bodyguard. I actually think there's something in the idea, and we might be able to work well with each other."
All three men were pleased to hear that, most of all Dean. As Roman, Seth and Lucy chatted, he was thinking that the last thing he had wanted was to have to break the news of his relationship with Alexa, whenever the time was right to do so, if she happened to be disliked by Lucy. That could have made things very awkward, and could even have been a divisive influence on the group. But thankfully, that didn't seem like it was going to be a problem. Now all they had to do was keep their relationship quiet for long enough to avoid a shit storm with the rest of the locker room, who would be quick to jump to Renee's defense if his infidelity was revealed, or even suspected.
"Don't get too excited Dean, whatever you do," Lucy quipped at him, making him realise that he had been quiet for too long, lost in his thoughts.
"Sorry," he fumbled. "It's, uh, good that you like what they're asking you to do."
Roman punched him on the shoulder. "He's lost for words because you mentioned Alexa."
That took Dean totally by surprise. Had the guys already busted him? If so, he didn't know how. "What are you talking about now?" he asked, trying to play it cool.
Raising an eyebrow at him, Seth said, "Do you really think we've not seen how you've been looking at her anytime we've seen her these past couple of weeks; in catering; in the tour bus; whatever."
Dean sighed. Yes, he was busted, at least as far as being attracted to Alexa was concerned. They didn't seem to think that he had done anything about it yet, however. He would keep it that way for as long as he could. "Fine, I think she's hot," he admitted. "But it's still soon, after Renee."
"I get that," Lucy said sympathetically, another surprise for Dean. They were coming thick and fast in this conversation. "You two can leave him alone," she ordered Seth and Roman. "Now, come on, before Hunter sends out a search party."
A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed chapter one. The support was much appreciated and very motivational. So, after reading this second chapter, I'd like to know how successful you think the team of Alexa and Lucy will be?