Whether it was the unfamiliar surroundings, the excitement of her main roster debut, the emotional breakdown she had suffered when thinking about her mother, or a combination of all of those things, Grace's first night on the tour bus had been a pretty sleepless one. She estimated that she might have slept for two hours at the most.

Being on the bottom bunk below Roman wasn't ideal either. She had felt a little closed in, as well as irrationally wondering whether his huge frame was going to fall through his bunk and land on top of her.

The lack of sleep did bring one positive, in that Grace was the first one into the bathroom to take a shower. The water pressure was surprisingly powerful, which she liked, and she indulged herself with more than ten minutes in there.

Refreshed, she stepped out of the small bathroom dressed, with a towel wrapped around her wet hair. Roman was now awake, and was in the galley, making coffee with a machine that had appeared from somewhere. It was now on the small work surface next to the sink. Grace guessed it was stashed in one of the cupboards when the bus was on the road.

"Morning," Bayley said groggily, still under her covers. Elena was either still asleep or wishing she was.

"Morning," Grace said pleasantly before moving through the living area and repeating the same greeting to Roman.

"Good morning. Coffee?" he offered.

"Please," Grace said as she sat down in her chair.

"How did you sleep?"

"Pretty bad, to be honest," Grace admitted. "I think I might have been too worked up after last night. Plus the bunk will take a bit of getting used to."

"In what way? Did you find it uncomfortable?"

"No, not uncomfortable. I felt a little bit claustrophobic is all. I'm sure I'll get used to it."

Roman walked over with two cups of coffee and handed one to her. "Do you think you'd like it better on the top bunk? If so, I'm okay to switch."

"Yeah, I think I would. Are you sure you don't mind?"

"Not at all," Roman said, sitting down in his chair. "To tell you the truth I don't know why I didn't move down to that bunk while it was unclaimed. I was only on the top in the first place because I lost a bet with Bobby."

Grace laughed. "Then it's settled. I'll go on top, you go on the bottom."

"Careful who hears you say that," Seth said, entering the galley area behind them.

"Oh god," Grace said, feeling her cheeks warming up.

Roman laughed. "Don't let him embarrass you. He always makes comments like that."

Seth and Grace laughed. "So, what do we do about breakfast?" she asked.

"We wait for everyone to get themselves sorted, then Daga finds us somewhere to eat," Roman said.

"Sounds good. I'm starving."

Roman set his coffee cup down on the floor by his chair and got up. "While the bathroom's empty, I'm going to make my move." He hurried down the bus to the bathroom door, drawing a groan of annoyance from Bayley, who was just getting up.

"Ugh, I was about to go in there," she complained.

"Too slow," Roman said with absolutely no sympathy, disappearing inside and locking the door behind him.

Grace smiled as she sipped her coffee. The group had such a comfortable atmosphere about it that she already felt at home.

Next to enter the living area was Zelina. More good mornings were exchanged, and Seth fixed coffee for the two of them. As they went and settled down on their couch, Bayley walked over to Roman's chair and sat down. She was wearing a large Toy Story t-shirt that came down almost to her knees. Grace found it quite cute.

"Hi, how are you?" Bayley said, a hint of concern in her voice.

"I'm good. You?" Grace said, wondering what was wrong.

"I'm okay. I don't mean to pry, but I heard you crying last night," she said, quietly enough for Seth and Zelina not to hear.

"Yeah, it was a bit much for me with everything that happened. I was missing my mom," Grace said, taking a heavy breath.

"Oh, of course," Bayley said, recalling the back story with the plane crash that had happened while Grace had been a relative newcomer to NXT. "I'm really sorry for your loss. I can understand why it must have been painful last night."

"Thanks, Bayley," Grace said. "I miss her every day. Big days like yesterday are especially tough."

"I get that. I'm sure your mom is very proud of you and everything you've accomplished."

"Thank you. No offense, but can we change the subject? I don't want to get upset again. I'm okay unless I start talking to people about it."

"No problem," Bayley said in her usual upbeat manner. "Just know that if you ever do need to talk, I'm here."

Grace nodded. "I appreciate that."


Elena had located a restaurant that was open early for breakfast. They only drawback, the group had discovered upon entering, was that tables for four were the biggest they had.

"Not a problem," Roman said to the group. "You guys go ahead. Grace and I will take a different table."

A further inconvenience was the fact that there were no two free tables close to each other, so the group of four found themselves seated near the entrance, while Roman and Grace ended up near the back of the room.

"Busy, isn't it?" Grace asked after they were sat down and had started to look at menus.

"Yeah," Roman said. "Hopefully a sign that the food is good here. To be fair to her, Daga is a master of finding good places for us. I hope you didn't mind me saying the two of us would sit apart from the group?"

Grace lowered her menu and looked him in the eye. "After the way you were there for me last night? Of course I don't mind. I'm just sorry for losing it like that. Someone blubbering on your shoulder was probably the last thing you needed. It all got too much for me when I started talking about mom. Honestly, I feel bad because you were in the middle of talking to me about your daughter before I lost it. How old is she now?"

"She's ten," Roman said proudly. "She's literally the best thing that's ever happened to me. Becoming a parent changes so much about life. I never imagined she'd end up in a broken home, and I feel so bad about that. My ex, Andrea, and I stayed together for a while for Layla's sake, but it became so awkward that it was counter-productive. We decided it was time I moved out. That was by far the toughest day of my life."

Grace shook her head slowly. "I can't begin to imagine. You do get to see her though, right?"

"Yeah, I do. Andrea is good like that. We didn't divorce on bad terms, the marriage just wasn't working. So yeah, I can go over and see Layla whenever I want, so long as I let Andrea know beforehand. They live in Orlando, and I'm back in the small place I bought when I first moved there for NXT, so I also get to have Layla stay over with me whenever I'm home for any decent length of time."

"Which isn't often," Grace imagined sympathetically. The main roster travel schedule was not something she was looking forward to dealing with.

"Which isn't often," Roman agreed. "But I take her swimming, we go to Orlando Magic games, and I'm planning to take her to Tampa for baseball too. She loves sports, so I want to encourage that as much as I can."

Grace smiled at the loving way he spoke about his daughter. She could already tell he was a good dad. "I bet she loves that. You can't beat a baseball game."

"You like it?" Roman asked.

"I do. I've never really followed a team as such, but I love watching games. I've been to see the Rays a few times. It's only an hour so from home."

"Yeah, I've been too. They suck most of the time, but they're our local team. What can you do?" Roman said with a laugh.

"Exactly," Grace said, also laughing. "Hey, if you ever fancy going to a game and need some company, let me know. I've sometimes wanted to go but haven't because none of my friends were interested."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," Roman said, clearly meaning it.

The conversation moved on to what to choose from the menu. In this particular establishment, orders had to be placed at the counter. When Grace had decided what she wanted, Roman went up to order for them.

When Roman returned to the table, he found Grace putting money on the table to cover her order. "Keep it," he said, gently pushing it back towards her. "This one's on me."

"Are you sure?" she asked, reluctant to take the money back.

Roman smiled as he sat back down. "Sure. You can pay for our next breakfast if it makes you feel better."

"Alright, deal," Grace said, smiling broadly.

Over the breakfast, they talked about their childhoods. Grace recounted her early years in Canada after having been born there. At the age of eight, her family had moved to New York when her father had landed a high paying sales job in the city. Brooklyn had been her home until she signed for NXT and moved to Orlando.

After hearing Grace's story, Roman told her his own. They were so engrossed in the enjoyable conversation that they lost track of time. It was only when Seth walked over to the table that they realised it was time to leave.

"Ready when you are, guys," Seth said with some amusement.

Roman and Grace quickly got up and joined their friends as they left the restaurant. Grace ended up walking with Zelina at the front of the group of six, while Roman and Seth brought up the rear.

"You two seem to be getting on well," Seth commented. Usually, he was not at all shy of ribbing his best friend, but the subject of romance was one to avoid. Not enough time had passed since Roman's divorce for that topic to be fair game.

"She seems like a very nice girl," Roman said quietly. "She's fully hot, too. That smile blows my mind. But I'm not ready to be involved with anyone. It's all still to raw, if you know what I mean?"

"Of course," Seth said in an understanding tone. "You were with Andrea for so long, I totally get why you wouldn't want to move on quickly. But yeah, Grace is hot. Don't tell Z I said that though."

Roman laughed, as he often did around Seth. "I'll file that away for blackmail use at a later date."


A/N: Thank you to everyone who left a review last time.

Grace and Roman are making a connection. Although he said he doesn't want to get involved with anyone, he admitted he finds Grace attractive. Will his resolve last?

Next time, The Stone Roses' second Raw appearance. How will they build on their debut?