A/N : Hi everyone! I'm so sorry for ghosting the regular readers on FFTB and AFILAW - life got in the way and then I've been bombarded with inspiration for this story but I promise I will have updates for both of those stories really soon. However, at the moment, I really want to try something different so I present to you my first ever F/F writing, as well as my first completely AU WWE fanfiction.

Please allow me some creative license with names and relations, it was the easiest way I could do this while still writing the 'characters' rather than RPF.

As always, I love feedback so please let me know what you think! Enjoy x

Chapter 1 - Precious

The hair went first, falling into the sink in thick, blonde locks. She could see how terrible the cut looked, ragged and uneven, as she hacked at her hair, again and again until it sat above her shoulders. It wasn't the most professional of jobs she'd had done over the years, but professional jobs called for time and money, two things which Rhea was rather short of at that moment in time. Placing the dull scissors on top of the sink, she ran her hands through what was left of her hair and swallowed thickly. She still looked all wrong, not a bit like the real her. The pearlescent polish that adorned her fingernails and the sparkling diamond which rested on the third finger of her left hand made sure of that.

She slipped the ring from her finger and turned it over once, then twice. It was worth a pretty packet, of that much she was sure. She didn't know quite how much, of course, but Hunter did nothing by halves and she had been more than aware of the insurance that had been taken out on it. On her. She could have sold it, she supposed, but a diamond like that one was sure to attract questions she couldn't answer and she already had enough of them to write a book. She tossed the ring unceremoniously to where the scissors lay and headed back into the small bedroom she had obtained with the few dollars she had on her when she left the estate. It smelled foul, a thick stench of smoke and sweat and god only knew what else, and Rhea winced as she sat on the edge of the bed. The comforter - if it could be called that - was pink and frayed, littered with cigarette burns and questionable stains that made her lip curl in disgust. She was far from a prude but… The thought made Rhea laugh, a low chuckle that started in her chest. She'd been Demi for too long, clearly.

It happened sometimes. She'd seen it with Finn, when he'd come back from that job with the bikers. How he flinched when an engine revved too quickly, or how he wouldn't answer to his real name, forgetting that he wasn't Fergal anymore. She wondered what he'd say when she turned up in her pretty pink nail polish and expensive dress. Even the bag she'd used for her getaway would be ridiculed; it was a Louis Vuitton number that couldn't carry half the things she'd needed - but she'd had to fit the part. She'd had to completely become Demi Bennett, heiress to a forbidden fortune back home in South Africa. And the problem was that she had done just that.

Reaching for the stupidly small bag, Rhea retrieved the burner phone she'd hid for the best part of eight months, sending covert texts to Finn and Damian when she could sneak a chance. He should have called by now, she thought, her lip finding its way back between her teeth, a nervous habit she had picked up since beginning the job. Had he forgotten? Rhea shook her head, attempting to chase the very thought from her mind. Adam would not have forgotten. He timed everything to the very second, no detail too fine. It was what made him so good at his job, what made her so good at hers.

There had been times, though, times when she wondered if she was actually good at her job, or if she really was just as cruel as Hunter was. She'd largely been kept out of his business, but that didn't mean she hadn't known about the people he hurt, the money he took from poor, innocent families or the bodies that swept to shore miles away from where he'd had them dumped. She had been privy to some of his darkest moments, found the passports he held, the weapons he hid…. She'd stood by his supposed best friend's hospital bed - and later his graveside - and wept fake tears, all the while knowing that her fiance was the reason that Shawn's children would grow up without a father. And she had done nothing. The logical part of her knew that she couldn't have, that she had to hold on until she'd had undeniable proof, something that could put him away for good and bring him down once and for all. And yet, there was another part of her, a much smaller part, that kept her up at night, worrying that perhaps she could have found that proof much sooner, if she hadn't grown accustomed to the lifestyle.

It wasn't the riches she'd enjoyed - Adam had told her multiple times that she'd never have to worry about money. She'd earned more than enough money over the years, but she'd never cared about all of that. There had been something about being Demi though, about being the delicate flower that people rushed to protect… She'd never felt like that before. She'd never felt…precious. A gentle breeze from the window hit her exposed back and Rhea shivered. Or at least she blamed the breeze.

"For fuck's sake, Adam," she huffed, pushing to her feet and stomping across the tiny room to slam the window shut. "What the hell are you doing?"

Even her voice sounded foreign to her, the strong, Australian accent that had been masked by a false, South African lilt for the best part of a year, and her brow furrowed slightly when she heard it. Demi rarely swore, her voice sweet and light and everything that Rhea wasn't. She couldn't help but smile at the thought of Hunter, apopleptic with rage as he realised his darling fiancee had been a fictitious character, a facade created purely to tear him down. He never would, though. Sure he might realise that she'd been the one to ruin him, but he'd never know the truth - Adam had made sure of that. No matter how much digging he did, he'd never discover that Demi wasn't real. But still, she liked to imagine him. She could see him now, grabbing fistfuls of his hair, his face turning redder by the moment as Ric explained to him who she really was.

The ringing of her cell phone was much too loud, cutting through her thoughts like a whip and causing her to jump, finger clumsy as she tried to answer the call. "Adam?" she said, though she knew it could only be him. No one else had the number unless you counted Finn or Damian, but they'd never be allowed to call. Not today.

"Who else would it be?" came the voice on the other end of the line. Rhea's shoulders relaxed, the tension in her jaw easing a little and she knew he would be smiling as he spoke. She could almost hear it in his voice. "You okay?"

"Is it done?" she asked, avoiding his question. The small talk could come later, when she was in her own clothes, in her own home, surrounded by things that weren't covered in badly cleaned bodily fluids.

"You don't have a tv in that motel?"

"Nah, it was another twenty dollars for that and I had to buy scissors," she replied matter-of-factly. This elicited a loud bark of laughter from Adam and she held the phone away from her ear as he laughed, his words unintelligible, though she made out 'Goldilocks' in the gibberish. "C'mon, Adam, is it done? I need to know."

"He was arrested less than seven minutes after the story went live on The Edge," he replied, all laughter suddenly gone from his voice. "You did good, Rhea. You saved a lot of lives." She replied with silence, scared that her voice would betray her. She had done it. She'd taken down one of the biggest crime lords in North America. "You still there?"

She had been silent too long, she knew, but she struggled to speak. How could she accept praise when she'd spent the last eight months doing the very opposite of 'good'? "Yeah, I'm still here," she replied eventually, her voice barely more than a whisper. "Adam, does this mean I can come home now?"

It was weakness, this lingering after-effect of being Demi for so long, she reasoned, that caused the warmth she felt when he replied, "I thought you'd never ask."