Standing in Gorilla, Tessa was going through some final warm up exercises ahead of her match. Looking straight ahead, she made no attempt to make eye contact with Seth Rollins. He had been there when she had arrived, and had totally blanked her. It was fine with her; he could go fuck himself as far as she was concerned.

"You good?" TJ Wilson asked her. He had also been there waiting when she arrived.

"All good," she confirmed. If he thought Seth's bad attitude was going to throw her off her stride, he had a long way to go in terms of getting to know her. Her game face was on now, and that meant she was entirely focused on the task at hand.

"Alright, good luck," TJ said, giving her an encouraging pat on the shoulder. If anything, she would have preferred to be left alone, but she knew he meant well.

Seth's music began to play, and he walked through the curtain without so much as a word.

I'll be glad when this match is out of the way and I never have to work with this prick again, Tessa thought. On a more positive note, she heard some boos coming his way after the fans had customarily joined in with the, "Burn it down!"

Moving closer to the curtain, Tessa waited for her own cue, eager to see what reaction she received. The crowd had been supportive during her match with The Miz, so she hoped that support would continue. Ideally, it would increase.

Seth's music faded out. A moment later, Tessa's theme dropped. It was similar to her industrial-sounding Terminator theme from UFC. Although her Terminator character had been canned by Lucy Thorne, the memories of her path of destruction through UFC was still a good thing to conjure in people's minds when she came out to wrestle.

Walking through the curtain, Tessa moved at a brisk pace. She had practiced walking like a badass who was about to murder someone for her UFC entrance, where mind games had been a significant factor in beating her opponents. Keeping up the same demeanour in WWE would hopefully make an impression on those who were yet to be convinced about the legitimacy of her wrestling men.

"And his opponent," ring announcer Greg Hamilton announced, "from Concord, South Carolina, Tessa Blanchard!"

Tessa didn't like not being announced from Charlotte, but she did understand the conflict it caused with Charlotte Flair. Concord was close to Charlotte, so it would have to do. More important were the cheers she was getting. Possibly her biggest challenge was getting the audience to buy into her wrestling men. It seemed to be working, so far.

Entering the ring, Tessa posed with her arms out, facing the hard camera with a pissed off, focused look on her face. She was crafting her character as one that didn't spend much time or energy on ceremony. The same thing had been the case during her UFC career. The Terminator arrived, knocked a bitch out, and left. This iteration of Tessa Blanchard had the same mentality, even if she wasn't going to achieve the same hundred per-cent winning record.

It was time for the match to begin. Tessa paced over to a corner of the ring and turned to face Seth, who was in the opposite corner. He was looking at her with a complete lack of respect on his face. The expression fitted his new heel character perfectly. But Tessa knew that he wasn't wearing that expression for the audience's benefit. It was how he genuinely felt about her.

"The feeling is mutual, motherfucker," she said under her breath as the bell sounded to start the match. "Alright, let's go."

Somewhat surprisingly, Tessa had found Seth to be as good as his word. He had called the match professionally, worked safely, and had done nothing to try and make her look bad.

The match wouldn't win any awards, she knew. But it wasn't expected to. What mattered was that she was performing well against a guy for the second time, and learning a lot in the process. Each match was giving her more confidence. Before long, hopefully, she would find stepping into the ring with a man to be second nature.

To begin the finishing sequence of the match, Tessa had Seth down on the mat in the middle of the ring. She stood in a corner, poised, lining him up for what everyone realised was going to be something big. It was actually going to be the debut of what would become her signature move. Seth had refused to take Magnum, which was actually okay with Tessa.

"Protect Magnum," Coach Purrazzo had said to her one day at the Performance Centre. "Try to keep it out of your matches as much as possible unless you're going to win with it. The more people kick out of it, the weaker it looks." It was excellent advice, advice Tessa intended to listen to.

Seth groggily got to his feet. As he turned to face Tessa, she ran at him and jumped into the air, hitting him with a sunset flip driver that spiked his head into the mat. She was rewarded with a nice 'ohhh' from the fans.

Tessa scurried into a cover.

"One!"

"Two!"

Seth got a shoulder up at the last moment, to the disappointment of the crowd, and to Tessa. In frustration, she knelt in front of the referee, pulling at her hair and yelling at him about his count.

Insisting that it had been two, he motioned to indicate that the shoulder had been up.

The distraction born from inexperience proved costly for Tessa. While her attention had been on the referee, Seth had made it to his feet. As she started getting up, he was able to blast her in the face with a super kick.

Tessa went down, dazed. Not knowing where she was, she managing to make it to a crawling position. It was the worst situation for her to be in.

Seizing on the opportunity, Seth ran at her, jumped into the air, and stomped her head into the mat. Almost no one joined in with the count, although the outcome was not in doubt.

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

Tessa was eliminated from the Intercontinental Championship tournament, tasting defeat for the first time in WWE. Lying there looking up at the lights, she considered that in her two matches, she had given a great account of herself. No right minded person could say she hadn't made her matches with the guys look like realistic contests, which was the first thing she had needed to achieve. As far as that was concerned, she was happy to have gotten the job done.

While Seth celebrated, Tessa rolled out of the ring, heading for the back. She walked up the aisle, selling the fact that she received an ass kicking, as was required after any defeat. Some of the fans near the aisle applauded her and called out encouragement. She didn't acknowledge them, but they were appreciated.

"Nice work, Tessa. Good job," Lucy Thorne called out from her seat at the production desk when Tessa walked through the curtain to Gorilla. Hunter Helmsley also called out a few kind words.

"Thanks," Tessa said, not hanging around. She had soon learned that people were expected to walk right through after matches, not to hang around.

Proceeding through to the hallway, Tessa stopped to wait for Seth. Yes, he was an asshole. Yes, he had appallingly disrespected her to her face. But even so, he had put on a good match with her, and for that she was going to thank him as she would thank anyone else. No one was going to accuse her of lacking professionalism or of refusing to go along with the unwritten rules of the locker room.

A couple of minutes later, Seth came through the curtain into the hallway.

"Thank you for the match," Tessa said, offering her hand.

"Yeah," Seth said, giving her a weak handshake and barely making eye contact. He barely stopped walking, continuing past her before there was a chance for any further exchange.

Christ, that guy is such a monumental prick, Tessa thought, glaring after him. The upcoming night out and a few drinks could not come soon enough.

Blowing off some steam had been just what Tessa had needed after a long day that had been a lot more stressful that it had needed to be, thanks to Seth Rollins. A few beers at a club had helped with that, as had the good company. Sonya, Mandy, Nikki and Clementine were all good fun to be with, and Tessa felt comfortable being on a night out with them all.

The only problem she had was her burning attraction to Nikki, who looked hotter than ever in the classy but revealing dress she had chosen to wear. The problem was that Nikki seemed to be interested in being friendly, and nothing more. None of Tessa's attempts at subtlety or body language had been acknowledged in the slightest.

"What's up with you?" Clementine pretty much yelled at Tessa over the very loud dance music.

They were standing on the far side of the busy club to the dance floor, working on their drinks. Sonya and Mandy were on the dance floor together, and Nikki had gone to the bar to get another drink.

"What do you mean?" Tessa yelled back.

"You looked like you were on another planet."

Fuck it, I'm going to talk to someone about it, Tessa thought. Inhibitions were not exactly a big thing for her at the best of times. They never had been. "You want to know what I was thinking about? I was thinking how hot Nikki is. Clem, she's gorgeous. I'd love to..."

"Girl, get real," Clementine interrupted, laughing at her. "Nikki's taken, and in case you missed the whole thing with getting engaged to John Cena at Wrestlemania, breaking up with John Cena, and starting dating the guy from that dancing show, she's also straight."

Fuck, Tessa thought. "A good point well made," she admitted, managing to laugh at herself. How had she allowed herself not to consider that?

Clementine also laughed. "I agree she's hot, but yeah, you're going to get nowhere with that, I'm afraid."

Tessa downed her beer, hoping it would also drown her newfound sorrows. Nikki Bella was off the market. In fact, she had never been on the market in the first place. "Want another?" she asked Clem, raising her beer bottle.

"Sure," Clementine smiled.

Heading over to the bar, Tessa couldn't see Nikki anywhere. She had probably gone to the bathroom, Tessa figured. She managed to find a tiny empty spot at the crowded bar and settled in for a long wait for service.

"Hey, Terminator. Can I buy you a drink?"

Tessa turned around, finding herself face to face with the incredibly handsome, ever smug looking Adam Cole.

"Did you really just call me Terminator?" Tessa asked, grinning in amusement.

"Sure did. And I asked if I can buy you a drink. Didn't get an answer."

I guess it's a day for arrogant men, Tessa thought. The big difference was that she instinctively liked Cole's arrogance. It just suited him, somehow, making him even more attractive.

"Alright, you can buy me a drink."

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

No joy for Tessa with Nikki, but will there be any with Adam Cole?