With her dark wig on and her sunglasses over her eyes, she had arrived at the Staples Center the day before Summer Slam. No one had seen her arrive for their rehearsal. It would be a full run through of entrances and some moves that needed a second run through, like how she was meant to take down Kane after the match. Her entrance was kept under wraps, with only the creative team knowing about it. They wanted as much of it to be a surprise as possible and with less chance of anything leaking out.

Kane took the move like a pro and she was thankful that he both made it easier for her and made it look believable and real to the crowd. Ava knew the pressure was on; the creative heads were there, including Vince, Stephanie and Hunter, not to mention Regal watching on with a proud smirk.

She wanted to make him proud, after her extensive time to FCW and NXT, she had wanted to show him that their extra training hadn't gone to waste. She wanted to make him proud. She couldn't imagine the telling off she would get if she botched a move. Ava could already see his pained cringe.

A few wrestlers were dotted around the arena, lounging in seats nearby, watching on with eagle eyes. But it didn't bother the blonde one bit. Just because she hadn't been wrestling on tv in the past few months, didn't mean she had lost any speed. If anything, the break had made her want it even more, made her work harder and push herself further.

She had the Bellas and Claudio to thank for that, taking up regular practice sessions at either NXT or at gyms around the country. She didn't want to suffer from any ring rust that would hold her back before her big debut.

After all, she had waited 8 years for this moment.

Which also meant she wasn't going out drinking the night before her debut either. Not even if Nikki said it was to celebrate her debut. Ava had to roll her eyes at that, the twin tried really hard; shooting her a dazzling smile.

"One drink."

The twin let out a squeal before rattling off a few other names of those who would be coming with them. Nikki booked a table at a nice restaurant and together, they headed out straight from the arena that evening.

Ava made a vow to herself that she wouldn't go past the one glass of wine with dinner. She couldn't. She had to keep her focus set on Summer Slam tomorrow and being as fresh faced as possible. Afterall, she was getting there before any of the talent, travelling along with the crew in one of their crates to hide her.

It was one of Stephanie's ideas, one she had joked about, but then Hunter took it seriously immediately and then it was set in stone, despite Stephanie's joke claims. Nope, it was happening because Hunter thought it was gold. She was not a morning person, and getting to the arena before 9am would feel like torture. She wouldn't even get the chance to have breakfast with Nikki.

Would catering even be set up by 9am? She wondered as they sat eating their meal that evening. Ava leaned across to grab another piece of bread, thinking this may be her last meal until midday tomorrow.

Maybe I will have that cheesecake.

Her heels clicked as she entered the hotel with Nikki on her arm. The twin was there for SummerSlam, as a show of support for her sister who had a match tomorrow night, so it wasn't like she had to be in tip top sober condition tomorrow. The three glasses of wine had already taken their effect on the twin and she giggled beside her incessantly, "it was your fault!" Ava protested, cringing.

"We need to get you out there more, doll. We can't have you embarrassing yourself again."

"He was hot too."

"Ew!" Ava and Nikki turned to Brie at the same time. "You're married." Nikki said.

"You can't say that. What about Bryan?"

"What, I can't recognise a good looking man when I see one?" Ava and Nikki spared each other a look before shrugging. "Thank you."

"Whatever. Ava spilt her drink on him so her chance with him went out the door."

Her cheeks flushed red again. "It wasn't my fault!"

"What, the drink just flew out your hand?" Brie joked, sniggering beside her sister. "A, you shoulda seen his face."

"Oh my god, stop, the both of you!"

"Has it been that long since you've had a date?" Nikki asked, her face falling, moderately, serious.

Ava's mind flashed to Jon instantly. It wasn't that she hadn't been with a guy recently; she had been with Jon on Monday. She just hadn't been on a date in a while. She wasn't awkward around guys, just a bit clumsy.

Evidence A being this guys white shirt tonight.

"I mean... it's been a little while, but not long enough for me to forget how to act around someone."

"Just someone that flirts with you?"

She shot a glare at the giggling twins, "stop it."

"I'm gonna set you up with someone."

"No."

"Why not?!" Nikki protested. "Are you still benefitting with that guy?" She went silent and Nikki's voice boomed through the hallway, "you are!"

"Keep your voice down." Ava leaned across to put her hand across her mouth.

"What guy?" Brie's eyes were wide and the blonde rolled her eyes at Nikki's inability to keep any form of secret. Not that she told her it was a secret, it just wasn't general news consumption. She guessed Brie fell outside of the 'general' category though, so it probably didn't count. But still, the whole hotel didn't need to know her business.

"Yes, I am, thank you Nicole, and he's... just a guy in Orlando." She mumbled, removing her hand from the twins mouth, but not before giving her a stern look. Nikki just bit back her smile and sucked in her lips.

"You have a home fling?"

"Ew. That's not what you call it, Brie."

"If she wants to call it that, she can." Ava nudged the older twin.

"For how long? Who is he? Nicole – have you met him?"

Shaking her head, she ignored Brie's incessant questions and turned for the elevator. Pressing for the doors, she looked over at Nikki to see her sniggering.

"You two need to go to bed. I can talk to you in the morning."

"What!" Brie exclaimed, drawing a few side eyes from onlookers. "You can't leave me hanging like that. Especially not after a few glasses of wine!"

"I'll tell you more in the morning."

Nikki went to drag her sister to the other elevators to take them to the higher up rooms. "I'll tell you in the room."

"Nicole!" Ava protested as her elevator doors pinged open. The older twin's laugh sounded through the hotel as she pulled Brie alongside her.

Ava shook her head at the twins as they disappeared into their elevator, Nikki giving her sister a shove for good measure. The ping of the elevator arriving drew her attention back to the sliding doors, as a handful of smartly dressed people exited the box, she stepped to the side for them, giving them room to leave, before she could step in.

As she looked in, her eyes locked onto a pair of blue ones.

Speak of the benefitting-devil and he shall appear.

A smirk appeared on his lips, his eyes creasing at the edges. His hair was messy as always, he had a towel slung over his shoulder and wore a pair of shorts and a tank top. She tried not to stand too long looking at him and his bulging muscles. But it was harder than she thought to look away.

"You gonna get in, sunshine, or just stand there for the rest of the night checking me out?"

Thank god Nicole and Brie were in a higher up room.

Cocking her head at him, she stepped inside and a scoff left her lips, "I was not checking you out."

Jon snorted at her. "Course you weren't and I'm Big Bird." She gave him a look as the doors slid shut. His sarcasm knew no bounds late at night.

She cast a brief look to the towel on his shoulder, using it as an excuse to check out his arms, not that she would tell him that. "Going for a swim?" His arms flexed and she knew he did that on purpose.

"No, I just walk around the hotel like this, going up and down the elevator."

She shot another glare at him, her eyes narrowing. "Arshloch." She muttered under her breath and his smirk returned.

"You wanna join me?"

"I have a big day tomorrow. I gotta get some sleep."

"That doesn't sound like a no."

She watched as the floor numbers dropped to the basement swimming pool. Her body willed her to follow him, but that wasn't anything unusual, it always wanted to follow him.

"It is tonight, Jonny. Maybe next time"

A small growl rumbled in his chest as the doors pinged open. He really hated that name. He rounded on her in the elevator, his mouth moving to hover closer to her ear, "your loss, sunshine. Skinny dippin' is perfect this time of night."

A shiver left her body, his warm breath hitting her skin. The Shield member slipped out the doors before they closed, with a wide grin on his face.

Jon 1 – Ava 1

Her slippers shuffled along the winding hallways on the evening of SummerSlam. The doors were due to open in about 15 minutes and a ball of nervous butterflies had cemented themselves in her stomach.

She didn't think she would be this nervous for tonight. She had spent so long thinking about it and now that it was finally here, she would have to pinch herself until she was bruised to make herself believe it was actually happening.

All of the talent walked in the opposite direction of her, returning from ring practice and entrance practices. As she passed them by, some stopped to wish her goodluck, Bryan swiped a noogie to her head and she caught a tight hug from Claudio too.

As soon as she stepped through those curtains, Ava would be no more and the world would meet Sister Abigail. She was thankful creases didn't matter to the white lace dress she wore, because after sitting on the floor chatting with Brie for the last half an hour, it was no longer pristine.

With her phone gripped in one hand and her water bottle in the other, she practically skipped up the ramp to the Gorilla position. Her red rimmed eyes landed on a fellow messy haired person and she felt the butterflies swarm.

What was he doing here already?

"There she is." Hunter called out, his eyes locked on her small self. He took a step closer to her and away from the men he was talking to. "We were just waiting for you. You ready?" A smirk touched her lips and she opened her mouth, but Hunter raised a finger up before she could say it. "Don't say my catchphrase."

She closed her mouth with a 'hmph', a frown appearing on her forehead. "You asked."

Hunter shook his head, "this is it, kid... your big shot." He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her over to the men.

"Way to make me even more nervous."

"You'll do great, darling." Bray nodded her on, Luke by his side agreeing. "We'll all be in there with you."

She nodded, "now I just have to make it through the whole kick off show and not be seen." Ava saw the confusion past Jon's face, "you gotta watch to find out."

"I can't exactly do that when my match is in the kick off show, sunshine."

She pursed her lips, "oh. Well no you can't, but you can watch the Wyatt match."

"I wouldn't miss it. Especially if there's a chance you'll get squashed by Kane."

"Hey!" She swatted him and he dodged her hit by a split second.

"Children." Regal's voice echoed through the small space. "Behave. You ready?"

She sighed and nodded, "Yep. Let's go."

As she passed the Wyatt brothers, Hunter opened the curtain for him and Regal fell into step with her. Before stepping out, she reached out to pinch Jon in the side before hotfooting it through the curtain to safety. But his yelp was enough to make her smile.

Looking out at the arena, her eyes practically lit up at the thought of this arena being full to brim of eager and excitable fans. She felt like she was still one of them really. She would have to fight back the squeal and jumps that she would want to do when she stepped into the ring later.

She could do that after the show.

Or maybe right after they finish the match.

"So there's definitely, like, 100% chance the ring won't drop on me, right?" Ava said as Hunter stopped at the ring in front of her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Regal smirk.

"We made triple sure of it." Hunter said, nodding to under the ring as he lifted the curtain. "There's water, a monitor of the live feed and headphones under there and the tray of mud."

"Mmm, delicious mud snack." She saw Hunter narrow his eyes at her. "Okay, okay, I won't forget to dip my feet."

"And don't drink too much either." Regal spoke up beside her.

Ava just rolled her eyes, "I won't. Is there any actual snacks underneath too?"

Regal then too rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I put an energy bar and an apple under there for you."

"Thanks." Ava beamed, immediately happier at the thought of food.

"It's only two hours, poppet, you'll be fine." Regal said.

Taking a final walk through from hunter about the order of events, she slipped under the ring and got comfortable for the couple of hours. She noticed a blanket under there too and smiled, the blonde knew that was Regal again. Shortly, the fans would be entering the arena, they would gather in their seats and then in about an hour, the kick off show would begin.

Then they were the first match on the card.

She just had to make it through the next two hours.

The bundle of nerves quickly returned and she started on the apple.

It was amazing how bored one person could get when they were alone and stuck in a small space. It was a great chance to snoop around under the ring; they had a couple emergency med kits, weapons galore including kendo sticks, a couple of tables and chairs, random cables, a box full of ring tape... but it was the box of extra mens shorts that confused her.

Finishing her apple, she noticed there was no bin or anything to put it in. Shrugging, she set it back on the tray and resumed her position on her back in the centre of the ring, with the blanket wrapped around her legs.

She sent a photo of herself to her group chat with Nikki and Brie. The former was the fastest at texting back, which was always the case. She ignored the hum of excitement around the crowd, and their rising voices, and instead focussed on sending as many texts as humanly possible to the twins.

A few more selfies later, the announcers had arrived to applause. Then as the promos thundered through the arena, she had a sly FaceTime to Claudio. Then before she knew it, it was time for Jon's match on the Kick Off show.

Ending the FaceTime, she rolled over onto her front, not having enough room to sit up right, plus she was still marginally worried about the bouncy ring floor knocking her out. Getting comfy, she slipped the headphones over her ears and watched as he made his way down the steps, through the fans.

Damn he looked good... and wet.

Sucking her lips in, she tried not to think about missing out on skinny dipping with him. There would be other times for that she was sure of. Well, she hoped there would be.

As he launched himself over the barricade, he casually strolled up to the ring, hopping inside and awaiting RVD's arrival. As he waited, she watched as he did a little dance in the ring before pacing back and forth. He stopped in the centre of the ring, exactly more or less above her and then did a few hops, and then a final big one.

She felt the ring mat bounce and her whole body tensed up, preparing for the collapse. But it never did. Hunter was right. Plus, it would probably take more than Jon jumping to break it. More like Big Show or Mark Henry bouncing would do it.

He jumped again.

Asshole.

As the match began, punches were thrown, as were bodies across the ring with a thump. At one point Jon was thrown outside the ring and onto the barricade, before being struck by RVD and knocked to the floor.

As she watched the monitor intently, her eyes trained on the screen, watching as Jon crawled closer and closer to the ring curtain. Ava froze on the spot when his head disappeared underneath and nearly yelped when she looked up to see him staring at her, in the low light underneath the ring, with his tongue hanging out. He didn't say anything but instead winked and then grabbed the kendo stick before rolling back out.

Arshloch.

Eyes returning to the monitor she watched as he lifted the kendo stick to RVD, then whipping it through the air at him, but before he could hit him, the other man had speared him to the floor, kendo stick discarded.

The thunderous scream signalled the Shield's arrival, Joe and Colby walking down the stairs to their partners side. But it was what came next, which made her whole body tense up underneath the ring.

Big Show and Mark Henry had arrived.

I hope Hunter triple checked it with Show. She cringed as their made their way down, but as soon as the men had arrived, the match had ended in a disqualification as Joe speared RVD inside the ring and they made a speedy getaway.

She was going to punch Jon when she saw him next.

Shrugging out of her blanket, she removed her slippers and placed her feet in the tray on mud, getting them good and dirty.

As SummerSlam began, the bundle of nerves returned to her stomach and sent one final text to the Bellas and then Claudio. The latter just sent a thumbs up before she closed her phone off and placed it with her slippers; she would get them after the show.

All too soon, she heard Bray's voice echo around the stadium and saw on the monitor as the lights switched off and darkness took over.

It was time.

A/N: Okay, the big debut is up NEXT. But I'm really really just excited for more and more Ava and Jon encounters… What about you?