Sasha knocked on AJ's front door.
She got no response.
"AJ!" She yelled, knocking again.
Sasha waited about 30 seconds before knocking again.
"AJ!"
AJ opened the door and sighed.
"Why are you on my porch?"
Sasha simply handed AJ the CD.
AJ's eyes got huge as she took it, staring at it.
"There's 2 more where that one came from." Sasha said, turning around and beginning to walk down the porch steps.
"Wait!" AJ called out.
Sasha stopped and looked over her shoulder.
"Yeah?
"Come in."
Sasha cracked a bit of a smile, as she turned around and followed AJ into the house.
They both sat down on the couch.
"Where'd you find it?"
"I went to Trish Stratus's event in Harlem, and some woman bought it off of a bald, tall dude. I think she called him 'Gallows'."
"Oh boy." AJ said, sighing through clenched lips.
"What?"
"Bald?"
"Yeah."
"Goatee?"
"Yeah!"
"Luke Gallows. One of Phil's old friends. Phil was kinda going through a phase where he was helping recovering addicts, and Luke was one of the people he helped."
"Well, he sold it to some woman, and we took it from her." Sasha smiled, proudly.
"How'd you know it was in Harlem?"
"I suspected Kaitlyn, so I went to her borough, but her little goons chased us right into the CDs."
"Goons?"
"East Coast Movement."
"Really? They seem so nice."
"They're not. They burned our instruments, and they tried to beat me with a bat yesterday just because I was in Manhattan."
"Wow... Kaitlyn really has 'em protecting the territory. We'll worry about them once we get these CDs... I'm sorry I doubted you, I-"
"It's not your fault. It's fine. How will we handle them, exactly?" Sasha asked, cutting AJ off.
"I've got a big plan. Don't worry about it right now, leave that to me. I gotta call Nattie and Paige and tell them what you just told me."
Sasha nodded, as AJ left the room.
"Talk to me." Dean said, into the phone.
"Yo, we lost the backpack." Roman said.
"YOU WHAT!?"
"Kidding! Kidding, relax!"
"I'm gonna fucking kill you when I get out tomorrow."
"No you won't, all we gotta do is stay away from your house." Roman laughed.
"We're looking pretty, I say we meet with Del Rio in like... two or three days maybe?" Seth said in the background.
Dean heard footsteps and immediately hung up, tossing the phone to his cellmate.
A guard approached his cell.
"Looks like Christmas came early for you, Ambrose."
"What are you talking about?"
"Processing error, you're out today." The guard said, opening the cell.
Dean followed him out, a bit confused.
After getting processed and receiving his cell phone, and clothes from the night of the party, he was met outside by a man in a suit, with broad shoulders, and a short haircut.
"Dean Ambrose?" the man asked.
"Who's asking?"
"Officer Helmsley. Your parole officer."
"Great."
"Your trial is in-"
"Yeah, yeah, I know, you gonna give me the ankle bracelet or what?"
Officer Helmsley stared him down for a bit.
"Get in the car."
Officer Helmsley drove out of the jail parking lot, and onto the highway, with Dean in the passenger seat.
"So Helmsley, you got a first name?"
The officer rolled his eyes.
"Hunter."
They stopped at a red light.
"Aye listen Hunter, I'm gonna make your job nice and simple. I'm gonna chill out, wait a few months for this trial bullshit, then I'm gonna-"
"If you snitch on Del Rio now, this'll go a lot smoother for both of us."
Dean tried to hide his shock.
"What are you talking about?"
"They know you're running for Del Rio, they just don't have any proof yet. You give them the proof they need to indict him, and the 10-15 years of prison you're looking at turns into 2. 1 with good behavior."
"I'm innocent, I don't know what you're talking about."
"This is not a game, Dean."
"This IS a game, and you can't play it better than me."
"I AM the game." Helmsley said, staring him down.
Dean smirked.
"The light's green, Hunter."
Helmsley looked at him for a little while longer before turning his attention back to the road.
"Queens!? Why are you on the way to Queens!? Trust Fund is doing a stupid college interview, I need you guys!" Sasha exclaimed into the phone.
"We met this-" Becky was cut off, as the phone made a weird noise.
"We're doing something important, we'll help you tomorrow." Bayley said, hanging up.
Sasha sighed, putting her phone in her pocket, and parking outside of Vince's house.
She debated on calling Dana for a little while, before deciding against it. She got out of the car, and entered the house with her key.
"Sasha! Just in time!"
"Great!" Sasha said, with fake enthusiasm, realizing she hadn't done any "favors" for Vince in 2 days.
There was a knock at the Flair household's front door. Charlotte ran to open it.
"Hey, I'm Daniel Bryan with North Carolina State University, I'm looking for a Charlotte Flair?"
"You found one!" Charlotte smiled, letting him in.
"Your athletic profile is really impressive, and you meet the academic scholarship requirements, I'm just going to ask you a few questions to learn more about why you want to go to NC State."
"Sounds great."
Bayley and Becky walked down the sidewalk in downtown Queens.
"Why couldn't we tell The Boss or Charlotte?" Becky asked.
"Because this has nothing to do with them." Bayley said, looking down at the card she received on the train yesterday and opening a door.
The girls walked in, seeing a man in the corner playing saxophone.
Teddy stood behind the bar.
"Welcome to Club Caesura."
"I like it." Becky smiled.
"The hottest Jazz club in the 5 boroughs of NYC."
"Wait what?" Bayley asked.
"That's right. Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, Manhattan, Staten Island, you won't find a more popular place for Jazz than here."
"We don't really... we've... we've never played any Jazz before." Becky admitted.
"Neither did Dizzy Gillespie before he started." Teddy said, with a laugh.
"Who?" Bayley asked.
"You see... Jazz music has a certain power to it."
Bayley looked even more confused.
"Power?"
"Quincy Jones once said that Jazz has the power to make men forget their differences and come together."
"Power is an interesting concept, is it not?" Vince asked.
Sasha simply nodded, laying naked, under the covers.
"I mean... this agreement between us for example. One might view it as, me, using my power over you to get what I want... or is it really vice-versa?"
"Well, yeah, I... I get pretty much whatever I want, and a place to stay."
"See? Power is a tricky thing. I was reading a book on it the other day. Forgot the title. Just got me thinking."
"I get it, you're young, you want money and power, but I'm telling you, Del Rio is the one with the power over you. He's a king, you're a pawn." Helmsley said, applying Dean's ankle bracelet in his office.
"With all due respect, Hunter... I don't know who Del Rio is or what you're talking about." Dean said, putting a piece of chewing gum in his mouth.
"I'm trying to save your life and you're bullshitting me."
"I don't need your little fake 'good cop' act, I'm not admitting to something I didn't fucking do. I don't know who the fuck Del Rio is and I don't know why I'm even involved in this bullshit. They searched my house, and found nothing. There's zero evidence against me. You're not scaring me into taking a plea deal when I can win this trial."
"I'm not acting, you're the one acting like you're innocent."
"I don't have to be innocent, I just have to be not guilty." Dean said, with a smirk.
Helmsley sighed, turning it on.
"Define power, in your own words." Daniel said.
Charlotte thought for a second, caught off-guard by the question.
"Um... uh... I guess I'd define power as the abilities and capabilities to do something. Like... you have the power to determine whether or not I get a scholarship from this interview, as do I, depending on my answers, and... I'm sorry, that was a dumb answer."
"I liked it." Daniel shrugged, writing on his clipboard.
"It's that power that willed the Civil Rights movement. You girls ever heard of the Harlem Renaissance?" Teddy asked.
"Yeah, in the 30s, with the black artists and musicians and poets." Becky replied, nodding.
"To have jazz is to have the power of being part of something bigger than yourself. It doesn't matter if you're ready for jazz, it's ready for you. It's a shame you guys don't have a guitar player."
"Actually, we-"
"Actually, we don't need one, it's kind of our thing, ya know. Sisterly dynamic duo." Bayley said, cutting off Becky.
"You guys got a name?"
"Not exact-"
"B&B Music Factory." Bayley smiled.
Becky looked confused, and slightly annoyed at being cut off by Bayley again.
"Oh, like C&C Music Factory, I like that, modern twist on the old. You girls feel free to come down here and play something. If I like it, we'll talk about making you paid regulars here."
"Great!" Bayley said.
The girls both shook hands with Teddy and left.
"B&B Music Factory!? What about The Horsewomen!?" Becky asked, as they walked back towards the train.
"What Horsewomen, Becky!? Charlotte quit! The Boss quit! Have you seen Dana lately!? Cause I haven't! The Horsewomen are over. It's dead. We have to move on."
Becky simply frowned a bit, continuing to walk.
"We don't need them. The only reason the band even existed was because of Charlotte's daddy issues and The Boss's obsession with AJ, they didn't care about us in the first place." Bayley said.
"If it weren't for the Horsewomen, you would still hate me right now."
Bayley sighed, as they got onto the train.
"If it weren't for Charlotte, we wouldn't be doing music at all."
"Becky..."
"If it weren't for The Boss, we wouldn't have gotten on this train and met Teddy."
"Okay, yes. Some good came out of the band, but that doesn't change the fact that literally everyone else in the band was looking out for themselves except us."
"Dana was cool."
"Dana knew 4 chords!"
"I just think that the band is going through a rough patch right now, and it's kinda disrespectful to just branch out and do our own thing without telling them."
"And I just think that sitting around and waiting on people who ditched US in the first place to come back is a waste of time." Bayley said, rolling her eyes.
"Agree to disagree."
"I love you, Sasha."
Sasha said nothing, wishing she didn't hear it. As much as she hated it, she was used to pretty much everything living with Vince entailed at this point, but for some reason, the thought of a real relationship with Vince deeply disturbed her. She wasn't sure if Vince expected her to say it back or not.
"Did you hear me?" Vince asked, softly.
"Hmm?" Sasha replied.
"I said, I love you, Sasha."
"Oh... uh..."
The room fell silent, as Sasha cringed at the awkwardness.
"I love you too." She said, with a weak smile.
He grabbed her head and kissed her on the lips, as she gritted her teeth, pretending she enjoyed it.
Officer Helmsley and Dean entered the Ambrose household. His mother immediately hugged him.
"His trial is pending, they're aiming for a few months from now. He has his schedule of when he's supposed to meet with me. He can only be out of the house between 7 AM and 7 PM. If you get a little eager and run outside of this door at 6:59 AM, or you're coming home late, and you're not in the door by 7:01 PM, you're in trouble."
"You think I'm gonna be awake before 7 AM?" Dean laughed.
Helmsley simply glared at him, before opening the door to leave.
"Peace, Hunter."
"Okay, one final question-"
"CHARLOTTE! CHARLOTTE I FOUND IT I FOUND ONE OF THE CDs!" Dana yelled, running through the unlocked front door.
"DANA! I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF SOMETHING! I am so sorry, Mr. Bryan. Dana can you please get out of here?"
"BUT THE CD!"
"I DON'T CARE!"
"You don't care?" Dana asked confused.
"No! I don't care about AJ Lee and I don't care about those stupid CDs! Go give it to The Boss or something, this is kinda important!" Charlotte said, pointing at Daniel's clipboard.
"Wait... what is this?"
Charlotte sighed.
"Hi, I'm Daniel Bryan, I work in the Freshman Advisory Department at North Carolina State University, I was getting to know Charlotte a bit since the school is considering giving her an athletic scholarship."
"...I am so sorry, I'll just leave this here and-"
"Are you a good friend of Charlotte's?" Daniel asked.
"Y-yes."
"Describe Charlotte in one word."
Dana briefly looked up at Charlotte, who gave her a look that read "please don't screw this up".
"Ambitious."
Daniel nodded, as Charlotte sighed in relief.
"If Charlotte wants something, she goes out and gets it. Any goal she has, she achieves it, because she isn't afraid to step outside her comfort zone, or work extra hard for something."
"Thank you." Daniel said, as Charlotte smiled.
Dana put the CD down on the counter and left.
A few hours after midnight, Becky returned to the train station. No one was there, except the mysterious girl, who was spray painting something onto a blank space of the wall.
"Hey." Becky said.
The girl turned around, nodded at Becky, and turned back around.
"I'm gonna go ahead and assume you're Storm."
"You know what happens when you assume." The girl said, not even looking back.
"Why did you paint over top of my flower?"
"My name is Naomi."
"...but you're also Storm, you're using neon paint right now, I'm not stupid."
"Who told you I was 'Storm'? Have I ever introduced myself as 'Storm'? Have I ever answered to 'Storm'? My name is Naomi."
"So you're not Storm?"
"If I start calling you 'Tyler', does that make you 'Tyler'?" Naomi asked.
"...so you don't like being called Storm?" Becky responded, confused.
"I don't care what people call me. I just don't define myself on what other people say. It don't matter what people call me. I'm Naomi."
Becky began to get annoyed.
"That's not the point. The point is you painted over my picture."
"I don't like the way you paint." Naomi shrugged, turning to face her.
"What's wrong with the way I paint?"
"You get sad, come here, paint some sad shit, other sad people come, and they say 'hey, that's a good painting, I'm sad too', then they paint more sad shit. I get sad, come here, paint something lit and happy, sad people come and say "hey, that's lit", and they feel a little better. Maybe they don't paint their sad ass painting, and paint something happier instead. Then it's a chain reaction."
"I just paint what I feel." Becky shrugged.
"I paint how I WANT people to feel. You're a good artist. You got talent. Use it to help people around you, don't just mope around painting dead flowers and shit."
"What if my sad stuff makes other people feel better in knowing that they're not alone in being sad?"
"I'd rather someone cheer me up instead of just going 'it's okay, I'm sad too'... sorry for messing with your art, I just can't stand sadness."
"It's cool." Becky said, looking down at the flower.
"There's a party a few nights from now. A couple of artists are going. You wanna go?...with me?"
"Uh... sure. What kind of party?"
"Just... a party. It's 3. I gotta go."
"See you around."
"I doubt it." Naomi said, leaving.
Becky chuckled, nodding.