A/N: There will be a reference to Roman Reigns' daughter in this chapter. As with The New Authority, I won't be referring to wrestler's family members by their real names as I don't consider it to be appropriate. Therefore, I have made up my own name for Roman's daughter.
At first, Bayley hadn't been happy when she'd been given her locker room assignment. She knew that the locker room assignment policy had changed during her time off the road, and teams were now expected to share locker rooms. That policy change meant that Seth was now required to share with Roman and Dean, although Dean was currently on the injured list for a few weeks with a badly sprained ankle. They would both have preferred to go back to having a locker room of their own now that Bayley was back on the road, but she had been informed that the women were divided between two locker rooms; The Queen's Court in one, and the rest of the women in another.
Another reason the news made Bayley unhappy dated back to her time as Commissioner of Raw. She had been asked to appear on an episode of Smackdown, after denouncing the show, its wrestlers and its fans for weeks beforehand. At the time, the reaction she'd gotten in the Smackdown locker room had surprised her. The women had seemed off with her, cold, even, as if they believed she really meant the things she had been saying in-character. Even Becky Lynch, who had been her friend for a long time, hadn't had much to say.
Thankfully, when she had arrived for Raw she had been greeted with nothing but kindness by everyone she was sharing the locker room with. It had made her wonder how much of the cold reception that night on Smackdown had been real and how much of it had been in her own head. Either way, she had told herself, it didn't matter now. The girls seemed glad to have her back, especially as her previous character. That was all that really mattered.
"How do I look?" she asked, stretching her arms out wide after finishing changing into her new ring attire, which was very similar to what she had worn for the first iteration of the hugger character. The side ponytail was also back.
"You look the Bayley we know and love," Sasha said, smiling. "It's like you never went away."
"The fans are going to go crazy, particularly the kids," Emma added.
"Right," Becky joined in. "And these things are going to sell like hot cakes." She picked up one of the new items of Bayley merch that were to go on sale that night on WWE Shop, after her return had been shown on Raw. The item in question was a smaller-scale inflate replica of the wacky, wavy tube men that were the centrepiece of her entrance. Available in a choice of bright colours, they had now been rebranded with the catchy and marketable name of Bayley Buddies.
"I love the name," Bayley said excitedly as Becky handed the toy to her. "It's so cute." Then she turned more serious, looking around at all of the women in the room with her as she spoke. "I want to say thank you to you all for being so nice about welcoming me back. I know some of you weren't keen on me while I was playing Commissioner Martinez, but I honestly never meant any of the things I said back then. You all know that, right?"
"Of course we know that," Becky said, scrunching her eyes up in confusion. "Why would you think we didn't know that?"
"Well," Bayley stammered, already put on the back foot by the way the question had been asked. Becky clearly had no idea what she was talking about. "That time I had to come to Smackdown, it seemed like you and the others in the locker room were off with me, like you'd decided you didn't like me or something. It really upset me."
"Come here," Becky said sweetly, getting up and offering a hug, which Bayley gladly accepted. "We thought the same thing about you; like you didn't want to talk to us. You just came in and sat in the corner, and didn't engage when we tried to talk to you. We felt kind of hurt by it at the time. It seems like it was a misunderstanding all round."
"You don't know how glad I am to hear that," Bayley said, gripping her friend in a tight embrace. "It seems so silly now that I was nervous to change in here with you guys."
They all had a good-natured laugh at that, then Bayley made her excuses to leave, wanting to go and see the women in the Queen's Court locker room, after stopping by to quickly catch up with Seth now that she was changed into her new ring gear. The Shield's locker room wasn't far along the hallway, and she was knocking on the door in under a minute.
"Oh, hey, Bayley," Roman said when he opened the door, giving her a warm smile as he stood aside to let her in. "How are you?"
"I'm good, Roman. How are you and the family? It's been ages since I saw you."
"We're all great, thanks," Roman said.
"So, what do you think?" Bayley asked Seth, beaming as she stood in front of him, spreading her arms wide again as she had in her own locker room.
"Cutest girl in the world," Seth announced judiciously. "I'm a lucky dude."
"You got that right," Roman quipped from over in the corner of the room. "What she sees in your scrawny ass, I'll never know."
"Aww, don't pick on my man," Bayley said, feigning sadness. The reality was that she was more than used to the banter that seemed to be a constant part of life on the road with the Shield brothers, no matter what the combination of the three was at any one time.
"What's that you're holding?" Seth asked, taking the bright blue inflatable toy from her and studying it.
"It's a Bayley Buddy," she told him proudly. "Isn't it great? They're making them in a bunch of colours. They go on sale tonight."
"The kids are going to seriously love these," Seth decided, studying the bottom of the toy, where the valve was located to inflate it. "They're all going to want one."
"Can I have a look?" Roman asked, walking over.
Bayley found herself grinning like an idiot as Seth handed the toy to his friend. If only people could see the two tough guys from Shield standing there playing with a Bayley Buddy toy.
"Maya would love one of these," Roman said, referring to his daughter.
"Give her that one," Bayley said. "Tell her I gave it to you to take home for her. And tell her she has the first ever Bayley Buddy."
Roman smiled broadly, still looking down at the toy. "Thanks, Bayley. She'll love it even more, knowing it's the first one and that it was a gift from you. She used to love hugger Bayley."
"So did I," Bayley grinned. "That's why I'm so happy tonight."
"Meanwhile," Seth said, "Roman and I have the pleasure of getting our asses kicked in a four on two match, for the second week in a row.
"Good times," Roman said, with a hint of sarcasm. "Still, I guess it makes sense. They're building up for when Dean comes back, with this whole deal about Shield not being the same when there's only two of us."
They chatted away for a few minutes about the ideas, or lack of them, that creative had for Shield of late before Bayley said, "I can't believe they've not put the tag titles on you since Shield reformed."
"I don't mind that so much," Seth shrugged. "What annoys me is the way they put us back together as a team because they knew people would love it, but they had no idea what to actually do with us when we were back together. I mean, from their point of view it was crazy of them to have me off screen for a month or whatever it was because they got rid of your Commissioner Martinez character. I get that I was kind of associated with it from the past angle of us having an on-screen relationship, but I don't know, it just seems like they made a real mess of the whole thing."
"Maybe things will change in the rumours are true," Roman put in.
"You mean about Vince retiring?" Bayley asked, knowing full well that was what he meant. Although she hadn't been on the road herself, Seth and her friends had of course kept her up to speed with the backstage gossip over the last few months. Rumour had it that with the ratings sliding once more, which, Bayley realised, had probably played a large part in the decision to have her return to her original character, Vince McMahon was considering stepping aside. Whether or not the old man would leave completely or just hand over a large amount of control to Hunter and Stephanie, no one in the locker room knew at this point. Sad as it would undoubtedly be to see Vince go, a lot of people thought it would be for the best, and that creative and booking would improve as a direct result.
"Yeah," Roman said. "I think Hunter would be able to turn it around, in time. It's a shame, but I just don't think the old man has what it takes anymore."
"I'll believe all that when I hear it from the horse's mouth," Seth said cautiously. "I think we'd be seeing signs of things changing already if Vince was leaving. It would be a gradual handover process, not just one day, boom, Vince is gone and Hunter's in charge. That's not how business works."
"That's a good point," Roman conceded.
Bayley had a thoughtful expression on her face. "Maybe it's already happening. What if it wasn't Vince who wanted me to come back as hugger Bayley at all? What if it was Hunter's idea, but they don't want to say so because it would seem odd to us? Even The Queen's Court might have been Hunter's work. Let's be honest, it is pretty good creative. At least, I think it is."
Seth considered that for a few seconds and then nodded slowly. "You know, you just might be right, babe. It was Vince who shelved your character, and he's not usually one to go back to a character that's been done away with. And we know Hunter didn't like the idea of turning you heel. He even admitted that to you at the time, so you can bet there was a big disagreement about it behind the scenes. That's another reason I don't see Vince deciding to go back to it; he's not the kind of guy to admit that he was in the wrong like that."
"Damn," Roman breathed. "You might be right. Maybe it has already started. We'd better not say anything to anyone else though. If word gets around that we're talking about this, whether it's really a thing or not, we could end up in deep shit."
"Right," Seth said as Bayley nodded her own agreement.
"Well, this conversation didn't go they way I thought it would," Bayley chucked a moment later. "Guys, I'm going to go and see Charlotte and the other girls. I'll see you a bit later, okay?"
"Catch you later," Roman said, walking back over to the corner of the room where his case and his ring attire were.
Seth gave Bayley a hug and a kiss on the forehead, possibly her favourite sign of affection. "See you later, babe. It's great to see you so happy."
"Thank you, baby." Bayley gave him a quick kiss on the lips, then left the locker room. Next on her list of things to do was to go find The Queen's Court's locker room, and catch up with Charlotte, her best friend. It had been months since they had seen each other in person; another reason that Bayley had hated her enforced time off from WWE.
A couple of minutes later, Bayley had found the locker room with a small plaque on the door bearing the name The Queen's Court, with a little crown logo underneath. She had to smile as she looked at it, giving the door a knock. There literally could not have been a more perfect character for Charlotte to be asked to play than this one, and she was doing so well with it.
Charlotte opened the door herself a moment later. "Bay!" she exclaimed in delight. "Great to see you! Come in, or do you want to go get a coffee or something?"
"Let's go get a coffee," Bayley smiled, a hint of shyness present in it. She didn't particularly want to have their catch up conversation in front of Nia, Nikki and Alexa - the other members of the stable, who were all in the locker room.
"Sure," Charlotte agreed.
"Bayley!" Nikki called out, walking over towards the door. "Welcome back. Look at that ring attire! That's the Bayley we all missed."
Bayley stepped into the locker room for a minute to say hello to the other women, then she and Charlotte made their way to catering, where they could chat with a little more privacy over a coffee.
"So, how are you enjoying the new stable?" Bayley asked five minutes later when they sat down at a table near the back of the catering area.
"Loving it," Charlotte said enthusiastically. "As you know, I've always preferred being heel to face. It comes so much more naturally to me. And there's no doubt that I have heat with this whole Queen Charlotte angle."
"That's for sure," Bayley said with raised eyebrows. "People really hate you, and the others. It will be great to go up against you all. I think we're going to have some epic matches as this all plays out."
"And hopefully they'll give you a proper run with the belt," Charlotte said, sipping from her coffee cup. "A decent run for hugger Bayley is a no-brainer."
"I'd love that, of course I would. First things first though, it's just awesome to be back, and back as a face at that. You and I had some great matches while I was the commissioner, so I know we will do again. Add the whole team dynamic to it with your Queen's Court and the plan to make a team out of the face characters, and the match they have planned for Survivor Series is going to be off the charts."
Charlotte grinned. "It really is, especially if the negotiations they're in right now work out."
"What negotiations?" Bayley asked, nonplussed.
Charlotte glanced around to make sure no one was trying to listen in to their conversation, then lowered her voice significantly. "Don't repeat this to anyone, okay?"
"Of course not," Bayley said, lowering her voice also and leaning in slightly to make things easier.
"I heard a little whisper that they're trying to bring Ronda in again, on a more regular basis this time. I heard they want her on the face team at Survivor Series."
"Oh, shoot," Bayley breathed, eyes widening as she thought over that prospect. She had done battle with Ronda twice, in both of the wrestling matches that the former UFC star had had so far. The chance to team up with her was something new, and Bayley found herself hoping that whatever whisper Charlotte had heard was true. "A more regular basis, you said?" she wondered aloud. "That means we might get a Ronda - Charlotte rivalry. I'd pay money to see that."
"Or it could be the three of us in a triple threat," Charlotte said, being carried along by her friend's contagious enthusiasm.
"That's Wrestlemania stuff you're talking right there," Bayley said, struggling to sit still out of excitement.
"Obviously I would win," Charlotte said, now pretending like she was in-character.
"Not a chance," Bayley countered, grinning. "Wrestlemania is the time for hug life!"
Charlotte giggled, then took another sip from her coffee. "You know, I really missed having you around, Bay. We all did."