"This might be the last time I do this," Lucy said grimly as she and the other three Shield members entered the arena for Raw, pulling their cases along behind them.

"What do you mean?" Seth asked, walking beside her.

"I've got that sit down thing with Hunter and Banks tonight," Lucy reminded him. "If she starts running her mouth and I cave her face in, safe to say it will be the last you see of me around here."

"Then keep your fists to yourself," Roman suggested from behind them. "Surely you can get through a meeting without feeling the need to punch the woman?"

"Get through it without feeling the need to punch her?" Lucy asked, emphasising his exact phrasing. "I feel the need to punch her already. It's whether I can get through without actually doing it that's up for debate. She'd better watch her mouth, that's all I can say."

"I wish you'd stop talking like that," Seth said, irritated by her attitude. "You're not going to punch her in front of Hunter, we all know that. All you're doing right now is working yourself up. For all you know, this chat could be just what you and Sasha need to work out your differences. That is why Hunter arranged it, after all. Don't forget, he could have sent you home for thirty days last week for what happened, then you would have missed all of those awesome shows in England. He's trying his best to give you a chance and be fair to you."

"Missing England would have been shit," Lucy admitted. "I had a lot of fun last week. If only we could have English crowds every week, this job would be so much better. Having Lisa come to that show in Sheffield was really great, too."

"She mentioned that last night when I called her," Dean chirped up. His latest way of getting a rise out of Lucy was to keep mentioning her sister as if they were seeing each other. It followed on from the reaction he had gotten from Lucy when he had pranked her by walking out of Lisa's bedroom as if he had spent the night in there.

Lucy looked back at Dean with a stern expression on her face. "I swear, if you keep talking about my sister like that, I'm going to swing for you."

"Sounds like jealousy to me," Dean mumbled, plenty loud enough for the group to hear.

Roman chuckled, but Lucy ignored them both and returned to the subject she and Seth had been discussing. "Lisa said she had a great time, particularly joining in with that song the crowd started singing while I was in the ring that night. I have to admit, I enjoyed that a lot myself. I hope they continue it next time we're over there."

"What was it again?" Seth asked. "Thorne will tear you apart, right?"

"Yeah," Lucy said. "It's a Joy Division song they were ripping off. Love Will Tear Us Apart." She then sang the lyrics the Sheffield crowd had used. "Thorne, Thorne will tear you apart, again!"

"And then they were singing it at Sasha, too," Dean said, laughing at the memory. "I don't think she liked that very much."

"I know. The look on her face was priceless," Lucy said, not managing to actually laugh about it herself. "She looked like she'd just drank a cup of warm piss."

Seth grimaced. "You come up with the nicest images sometimes."

"I guess it's all going to change tonight, though," Lucy said, ignoring his comment. "I'll be back to public enemy number one, of course. Let's just pointlessly boo Lucy Thorne, regardless of anything. Honestly, some wrestling fans are so brain-dead."

They reached the locker room that had been assigned to The Shield. Roman and Dean walked inside, leaving Seth and Lucy to say their goodbyes.

"Lucy, you really need to snap out of this," Seth said gently. "I can tell you're in one of your negative moods, and that's when you start getting all snappy with people. That's really not how you want to be when you walk in there with Hunter and Sasha. I get the feeling he's not going to be in a very tolerant mood when it comes to that sort of thing."

"I can't help it," Lucy protested. "I had a great week back home. I got to be with you without us looking over our shoulders all the time, I got to see Lisa, I got a lot support from the fans. Now it's back to the fucking grind, hardly seeing you, getting shit on every time I go out to wrestle, and on top of that, I'm supposed to go in there and act like I want to build bridges with Sasha Banks. You know Hunter's going to make me apologise to her, too. I think I'd rather just take my stuff and..."

"Shhh," Seth said, touching a finger to her lips to stop her in mid rant. "I know you don't mean what you're saying right now. You were upset about the possibility of getting suspended. I get that you don't want to apologise to Sasha, but it's something you need to do. It's not about the two of you ever becoming friends, it's about the fact that you need to be able to act professionally around each other. Like I said a minute ago, Hunter hasn't been unreasonable at all over this, in fact he could have come down on you a lot harder. I think you know that."

"But what about seeing you?" Lucy said sulkily. "It's back to not spending time with each other for the sake of appearances, and it sucks."

"I know it does," Seth said. "We agreed that it's for the best, at least for now. It's not like it will always be this way."

Lucy sighed, feeling some of the tension leaving her. "I know," she admitted. "I'm just not good at dealing with things I don't like. I'll just be glad when tonight is over and this dumb meeting is behind me."

With those words, it dawned on Seth. Lucy was putting up her front of bravado again because she was nervous about the meeting. All the talk about punching Sasha Banks and walking out on Hunter was not what she was really thinking at all. She was actually afraid that Hunter might still suspend her for what she had done the previous week. "I get it now," he said, wishing he could risk hugging her. Unfortunately, the hallway was not the place for that. "You're worried about how this is going to go, aren't you? You can talk to me about how you really feel, Lucy. We're together now. That means you don't have to pretend to act like you're going to walk in there and give Sasha a beating or tell Hunter to kiss your ass. Be honest with me, that's all I ask."

Lucy closed her eyes for a second to compose herself. The fact that Seth had seen through her and figured out what was really going on should not have been a surprise; he was already getting good at reading her. Feeling angry with herself, she realised that she had to start trusting him with her problems. A relationship without trust was destined to fail rapidly. She definitely didn't want him to feel like he was being pushed away. "Can we get out of this stupid hallway?" she asked. "We can't have this conversation here."

It did not take them long to find an empty office where they could talk without crew members and potentially other wrestlers walking past and overhearing them. "Okay, I'll level with you," Lucy said after she closed the door behind them, leaving her case next to Seth's, just inside the door. "I'm nervous about the meeting, alright? Actually, I barely slept last night because I was thinking about it. I know what I'm like, Seth. Sasha knows how to push my buttons like no one else, and I can see myself losing my cool in there. You were right before when you said I won't hit her, but I can see one hell of a row kicking off if she starts with her attitude."

While Seth was happy that she had been honest with him, he had to admit that there was no ideal solution that he could provide for the problem she had. With that in mind, he knew that he had to do the next best thing. He had to be supportive. "I'm sorry you've been losing sleep over this," he decided to open with, being as sympathetic as possible. "I wish you had opened up to me about it before. I would have tried my best to help you. Having said that, I don't think there's really all that much I can suggest. It's going to be difficult, sitting across the table from someone you have so much negative history with. All I can say is, try your best to keep your cool, speak to Hunter respectfully, and if you can, offer your hand to Sasha after the conversation is over."

"Offer my hand to her?" Lucy said, making it sound like he had told her he had just arrived from Mars. "Why would I want to offer my hand to her? Fuck that."

"It would show both her and Hunter that you're serious about wanting to move past all of the drama," Seth pointed out. "And it would also put her in a bit of a position. If she doesn't shake your hand, you look like the bigger person. It's a no-lose situation for you."

"I guess," Lucy said reluctantly. "Even after this is over, I've still got to do the anti-racism campaign with her. I'm sure that will be about as much fun as eating a razor blade sandwich."

"Who knows, maybe by then you'll be on okay terms with her," Seth offered optimistically. "What a turn up it would be, if you actually ended up enjoying each other's company."

Lucy snorted. "Yeah, and a pink pig just flew out of my arse."

Seth chuckled, which in turn raised a smile from Lucy. That was one of his objectives completed at least. "You've got this," he said confidently. "I'll tell you what, I'll come to your room tonight and I'll buy us a bottle of something nice to drink. How does that sound?"

Lucy eyed him seductively. "It sounds great. And there will be sex afterwards."

"There you go, lots to look forward to," Seth grinned. Spreading his arms to offer a hug, he said, "Come here."

Lucy embraced him and rested her head against his chest. "You must think I'm hard work," she mumbled.

"No doubt about it," Seth said, holding her tightly. "But I wouldn't have you any other way."

They stood there in each other's arms for what could have been one minute or five, they had no idea. It was so nice to hold each other, it felt like they could have stayed there forever.

"I suppose I'd better go," Lucy reluctantly said, pulling away from him. "If I know Hunter, he's going to want to get on with the meeting before things start to get busy. Tell me I'm not going to screw this up, Seth."

Looking into her eyes, Seth saw vulnerability there for the first time since he had known her. He leaned in and gave her a gentle kiss before saying, "You won't screw it up. It will be fine, I promise. If it starts to go badly in there, I want you to take a breath and remember that I'm waiting for you when you're done. You can vent any frustrations at me in private. Maybe that will help in some way."

Lucy hugged him again. "Yeah, that will help a lot," she said quietly. "Thank you, Seth. It means a lot, how supportive you're being."

"You got it," Seth said, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead.

They reluctantly left the office and Lucy headed for the women's locker room. As she approached it, she saw Hunter standing in the hallway, on a call on his cell phone. When he saw her approaching, he spoke to the person at the other end of the call, saying, "Give me a second." Then he addressed Lucy. "Drop your case in the locker room, Lucy. Meeting room three, please, when you're ready." With that, he returned to his call and walked away.

Lucy worked out from his no nonsense tone that 'when you're ready' actually meant 'now.' Hunter was in no mood to mess around, just as she had expected. Walking into the locker room, she was greeted by the ever-cheerful Bayley.

"Hey, Lucy! How are you?"

Lucy set her case down next to Bayley's. Grimacing, she said, "Ask me in half an hour."