Tell Nikki Bella six months ago that she'd be willingly seeking out a McMahon's office - she'd never believe you - not in a month of Sundays.
Regardless of what she thought months ago, or even as soon as last week, Nikki's here now; she drove to the arena that Raw's being held in, and she refuses to leave until her and Stephanie have at least spoken. With her sister's happiness at stake, there isn't much Nicole won't do.. hell, she'll even beg if she needs to. With that being said, she has absolutely no idea what to say; hopefully, a conversation will naturally develop, if Stephanie even agrees to speak at all.
Finding her office is easy enough - the lady sitting on reception gave a clear direction, and the door is marked with a plaque stating 'Ms. S. McMahon'. Nikki's heart begins racing as she lifts her hand up to knock, and she can only imagine how Brie must've felt doing the same thing; to be honest, knowing it's for Brianna's wellbeing is the only reason Nikki would subject herself to this anxiety, especially while pregnant.
Brie has been staying in Nikki and Artem's spare room ever since her argument with Bryan; besides giving Brie some space from his anger, Nikki feels alot happier about being able to keep an eye on her. With how somber Brie's demeanour has been recently - being away from her leaves Nicole's mind conjuring up the most horrible thoughts of her twin doing something awful - hurting herself, or sometimes worse. Thoughts like that linger in the young woman's nightmares, and she needs to have Brianna around for her own sanity.
Despite her determination for this to work out, Nicole can't help but be reluctant to knock. After all, she only gets one chance at this conversation, and if she screws it up, it's her sister that'll feel the repercussions.
"Nikki..?" A voice questions from behind her.
Turning around, Nikki lays eyes on the person she came in pursuit of.. Stephanie. The older woman seems almost unrecognisable to Nikki - her eyes appear to have sunken inwards, and she's visibly lost an unhealthy amount of weight. Wether you're an enemy or an ally to Steph - she's always had an authoritative presence about her.. and it's just completely vanished.
"Wha-what are you doing here..?" She asks shakily.
"I uh.. I was hoping I could talk to you..? In private?"
Sighing deeply, Stephanie clearly doesn't want to talk. In fairness to her, this is the woman whose sister practically broke her heart, and it's all still so fresh. Thinking about everything already hurts so much, let alone saying it out loud. However, she can't exactly turn an ex-employee away from her office, despite any personal matters that might've occurred between them.
Reluctantly, Steph opens her office door and gestures for Nikki to step in.
Once they're both inside, and the rest of the world is shut away, Nikki can feel the tears already beginning to flow; she hopes that Stephanie will just assume it's pregnancy hormones, but they both know her tears are about something much more significant. The older woman doesn't know if Brie told her sister about what happened when they were last together.. but it's safe to think that Nikki wouldn't be here had that not've occurred.
"I know I'm probably the last person you want to see right now.. but, I needed to come here.."
Stephanie nods her head slowly, encouraging her to continue. Without meaning to sound rude, Nikki's right - she really doesn't want to see her - she's quite literally physically identical to the person she's desperately pining after. Looking at a pregnant Nikki just reminds her of the pregnant Brie.. and that hurts. Perhaps that sounds pathetic? But any reminder of Brianna makes Stephanie feel as though someone's stabbing her in the chest.
"How are you..?" Nicole asks, surprisingly sincerely.
"I.. I don't know how to answer that.." Steph admits, her emotional wall breaking as she begins crying openly.
Feeling incredibly guilty, Nikki wraps her arms around the sobbing woman, giving her a shoulder to cry on. Even though it's probably an irrational thought, she can't help but feel the whole weight of this; not only is Brianna miserable without Steph, Steph is clearly just as miserable without Brianna. What if she's permanently broken apart two people who need each other more than anything..?
"I'm sorry.." Stephanie mumbles onto Nicole's shoulder.
"Don't say that.." she comforts. "Brie's been exactly the same, you know..? She misses you so much.."
The moment that name hits her eardrums, Steph shuffles out of Nikki's grasp and hunches her body inwards, wiping her eyes dry. Maybe Brie does miss her.. but Stephanie's missed Brie for months now. No matter how much she wants for Brianna to just appear before her, and act as though nothing happened - so much has happened, and she can't pretend there isn't resentment because of it.
"Look, Nikki-"
"Please.. please, just hear me out.." Nicole pleads.
Judging by the look in Nikki's eyes, she wasn't getting out of listening to this. The older woman takes a breath to prepare herself.
"I.. I know you probably think that Brie just blanked you one day.."
"She did!" Stephanie cries out, clearly in pain.
"Because I asked her to!" Nicole finally reveals, her heart aching with the guilt.
Her face dropping, Stephanie's eyes go wide as she attempts to comprehend what Nikki means.
"B-brie had a panic attack one day.. I was trying to comfort her, and.. well, she told me she had feelings for you.."
Instantly, Brie saying 'I love you' flashes across Stephanie's mind; at the time, hearing it caused so much pain, because it felt like a lie.. it was easier to think it was a lie. After all, if Stephanie had allowed herself to believe Brie actually loved her, she'd be forced to confront her own love for the younger woman. Imagine being in love with someone who left you without a word.. how pathetic could she get?
But what if.. what if she did mean it? What if the love Stephanie has for Brianna is somehow reciprocated?
"I thought that you were confusing her, or that you were bad for her.. I forced her into blanking you, and I hate myself for doing it, but it wasn't her fault.." Nikki explains, welling up as she does.
Saying it out loud now, Nicole can't quite believe what she did to her sister, or to Stephanie for that matter. In the moment, she was convinced that Brie was panicking because of Steph.. but she was wrong. Brie needs Stephanie, now more than ever.
"So she.. sh-she still wanted to come see me..?" Steph asks, with innocently wide eyes.
"It absolutely crushed her to leave you.. please, Steph.. give her another chance?" Nikki weakly pleads. "I've had to watch my sister cry almost everyday for so long and.. the last time I saw her smile was when she last called you.."
Keeping back the tears is really hard for Nikki - mainly because, she isn't lying. Brie puts on this smile, she acts like everything is perfectly fine.. but Nicole can read her sister like a book, and she knows that smile is 100% fake. If only she'd done something sooner, maybe Brianna could genuinely be happy; wether that be with Bryan, or Nicole herself.. or even with Stephanie McMahon.
"Here.." Nikki says, passing a piece of paper over to the older woman.
Upon inspection, the paper states 'The little cafe on Mabel street. 1:30pm, Saturday.' Stephanie can't help but smile softly - the Mabel street cafe is where her and Brie first became friends..
"Brie wanted me to give this to you.. I can't force you, but.. please just consider it..?" She asks, taking a deep breath as she walks towards the door.
Stephanie stares at the paper intently. Obviously, she knows this is genuine.. but her hurting mind still allows for doubt; what if the twins have set up some elaborate trap to make her seem foolish? Of course that isn't true, and Steph would never believe something so ludicrous.. but then again, she never believed that Brianna would ghost her.
"...She loves you, you know..?" Nikki adds.
"She told you that..?"
"No.. I can just tell." She finally states with wide eyes, slowly walking out of the office.