Attending the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony for the first time was something that Sonya was very much looking forward to. Although she likely wouldn't know who half of the people being inducted were, it was still a chance to get dressed up and have a good time with her colleagues. There was also the prospect of walking the red carpet with Mandy to look forward to. They didn't plan on coming out as a couple, but it would have been naïve to expect questions not to be asked when they showed up together, neither of them bringing a date.
That was a problem for later, though. Before they got that far, there was the lengthy process of getting ready. Unlike with other WWE events, the Glam Squad were not available. Luckily, Mandy had found someone who had been able to come to their room and glam them both up and do their hair.
With that done, they were ready to leave. Sonya had stepped into the bathroom to give herself a once over in the mirror. She had gone for a black dress with see through finishes that made it quite revealing in a classy way. Mandy had certainly approved when she had seen it for the first time.
For her part, Mandy had chosen a silver dress with a short skirt and a sleeveless top that showed off her cleavage beautifully. She looked so good that Sonya had toyed with the idea of saying to hell with the ceremony and staying in the room for a night of enjoyment of a much different kind. Sadly, their attendance was compulsory and the sex was going to have to wait until afterwards.
As happy as she was going to be with her appearance, Sonya walked back out into the room, finding Mandy rummaging around in her clutch as she made her own final preparations to leave.
"I think I'm all set," Sonya said. With nothing else to do while she waited, Sonya gravitated towards the mirror on the wall near to the corner of the room, giving herself a second final check over. "I'm ready to go when you are. I know they've got cars downstairs ready to drive everyone to the arena."
"There's one more thing I need to do first," Mandy said.
"Oh, what's that?" Sonya asked vaguely, pulling a stray blonde hair that she had spotted in the mirror off her dress.
No response came from Mandy. "I said what's that?" Sonya asked, turning around to investigate what was going on. Her mouth dropped open as she found Mandy on one knee with a ring case in her hand.
"I need to ask you to marry me," Mandy said. She opened the ring case, revealing a silver ring with a bright red diamond.
It was the most striking and gorgeous thing Sonya had ever seen. A marriage proposal was the last thing she had expected. She was totally shocked. They had never even talked about getting married. Now that Mandy was on one knee in front of her, though, Sonya knew that she wanted it as much as Mandy did. She felt herself tearing up at the amount of love she felt for her girl in that moment. There was no doubt in her mind that she wanted to spend her life with Mandy, and she had no hesitation to make that commitment to her. "Yes. Yes of course I'll marry you," Sonya said emotionally.
Mandy got up, looking relieved, and they embraced each other tightly. "I was honestly worried you might say no," she said quietly into Sonya's ear.
"I could never say no to you, Mandy Rose. I think you're supposed to put the ring on my finger now," Sonya added with a chuckle.
Mandy laughed, wiping a tear of delight from her eye as she stepped back. Sonya offered her hand, and the ring slid perfectly onto her finger.
"It's stunning, Mand. That diamond, just wow."
"I went for rose colour for the same reason as when I chose your necklace for Christmas."
Sonya had known that without needing to be told, but she smiled adoringly at the woman who was now her fiancée. "I need to buy you a ring now. Oh my god, we need to talk about which of us is going to take the other's name, if we're going to do that at all."
"I'd love to change my name to Amanda Deville. I've already thought about it," Mandy said without hesitation or doubt.
"Amanda Deville. I love that so much," Sonya said. She was so happy that she felt giddy. "Oh my god, we're going to the Hall of Fame and I have a ring on my finger. And I keep saying oh my god."
Mandy laughed. "I think that's understandable. I did just propose to you out of nowhere." Taking Sonya's hands, she turned serious. "As you can imagine, I've spent a lot of time running through how tonight might go in my head. I spent a lot of it panicking about what I'd do if you said no, as stupid as that probably sounds to you. But I also thought that maybe we might announce our engagement tonight. I love you more than I ever thought it was possible to love someone, and I'm not afraid to show that publically. If you'd prefer not to, that's fine too."
Sonya totally understood what Mandy was saying, and she felt the same way. Displaying her love for her partner was not something to be ashamed of, and anyone who thought it was could go to hell as far as she was concerned.
"Okay, let's do it," Sonya said, before leaning in for a kiss. "Whoever is doing the red carpet interviews, we'll go up to them and say we have some news, and I'll show them the ring."
Mandy kissed Sonya lightly on the lips. "I love you so much, you know that?"
"Yes, I think I do. I love you just as much."
Mandy bit her bottom lip for a second. "There is one more question. Does this mean I'm engaged to Daria as well?"
"Oh yes," Daria said, immediately making an appearance. "You already know you belong to Daria."
Lust filled Mandy's eyes for a moment, but Sonya switched back to her regular persona. "We'd really better think about moving, Mand. We don't want to be the last ones to arrive. Is my makeup okay? I might have shed a tear or two."
"You look perfect. Stunning," Mandy assured her.
"And so do you," Mandy said, giving her fiancée one more kiss on the lips.
"Thank you. Okay, future Mrs Deville, we'd better go."
After a final check that they had everything they needed, they hurried from the room.
Twenty minutes later, Sonya and Mandy were ready for their walk on the red carpet at the Barclay's Centre. To their surprise, they had learned that it happened inside the arena, not outside as they had been expecting. They had both realised that they might have been better served to have watched the Hall of Fame ceremony last year instead of going out drinking.
"Any second thoughts?" Mandy asked just before they walked onto the red carpet, referring to their previously discussed plan to announce their engagement.
"None," Sonya said definitively. "You?"
"I say let's do it."
Mandy took Sonya's arm, and they walked slowly out into the arena. Cathy Kelley and Mike Rome were handling the red carpet interviews. Mike was busy with Hunter and Stephanie Helmsley, so it was Cathy who stepped forward to get a word with Sonya and Mandy.
"Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville, the Golden Gloves," the interviewer said warmly. "Good evening, ladies. This is your first Hall of Fame ceremony, I believe?"
"It is," Mandy said, smiling. "We're delighted to be here, Cathy."
"We have a bit of an announcement we'd like to make, if that's okay?" Sonya asked, deciding to waste no time.
"Uh, sure," Cathy said, doing her best not to sound confused or apprehensive while a live camera was filming them.
Sonya held up her hand to flash the engagement ring on her finger. "We've kept it secret, but Mandy and I have been in a relationship for a long time. Today, she asked me to marry her, and I said yes."
"Oh my god," Cathy cried. It was apparently the phrase for the day. "Congratulations to both of you. What lovely news that is. I'm so happy for you both. And that ring, it's gorgeous."
"Thanks, Cathy," Mandy said while Sonya nodded her agreement with the comment about the ring. "It's a big step for us to come out like this, but we wanted to share our happiness with the world."
"I'm sure everyone's as delighted for you as I am," Cathy beamed.
"That means a lot," Mandy said appreciatively.
"Can we get a kiss from the happy couple?" Cathy asked, unapologetically putting them on the spot in front of the camera.
Even so, neither Sonya nor Mandy hesitated in turning to face each other and sharing a gentle, loving kiss. Some of the fans in the arena happened to be paying attention, and a small cheer went up.
"Aww, you both look so happy. Have a great night," Cathy said, needing to move on to her next interview before a backlog was created.
"Thank you," Sonya said. Mandy took her arm once more and they walked over to where the wrestlers were seated. Each seat had a person's name on it, which meant that they now had the task of finding which seats were theirs.
It soon became apparent that the NXT roster had been located towards the back on the right hand side of the wrestler's area. Heading over there, Mandy spotted her name on a seat at the end of a row. "There we are," she said, pointing.
"Woah. Look who we're next to," Sonya said quietly. They approached their seats and smiled at the person she was going to be sitting beside for the night.
"Coach Purrazzo, hi," Mandy said, offering a smile.
Purrazzo seemed to have a different air about her outside of the Performance Centre. She greeted the new arrivals with the biggest smile Sonya had ever seen from her, and then gestured to the bearded man in a smart black suit who was sitting beside her. "Sonya, Mandy. This is my partner, Marty."
Greetings were exchanged, then Sonya and Mandy took their seats.
"I've heard quite a bit about the two of you," Marty said to them.
"Oh? That's probably not good," Sonya said with a laugh.
Coach Purrazzo studied them both for a moment. When she spoke, her words meant more to Sonya and Mandy than she could possibly have realised, especially as they came from such a strict teacher. "Don't be silly. I only have positive things to say about you guys. You're doing great in NXT, and you killed it last night at Takeover. You need start valuing your own abilities a lot more. You're not new recruits anymore, you're hot prospects."
END
A/N: Many thanks to everyone who has read this story from beginning to end. As Coach Purrazzo said, Sonya and Mandy are not new recruits anymore, so I felt like this was a good point to end the story. I may do a sequel in the future, possibly with Sonya and Mandy on the main roster. Would you guys like to see that?