As always, please excuse any mistakes or errors. I proofread and edit all the time, but things can still get overlooked sometimes.
Sunday was the Shield's "Final Chapter." Lily was over Shield disbandings and reunions but this one provided an opportunity for her and Finn to be on the road together one last time because he was booked in a title match against Elias.
They'd been inseparable ever since the brand split. The only time they weren't together was when they were in the ring. Their respective locker rooms only served as a place to change because once they were dressed, they'd meet each other again.
Lily and Finn tried to make the best of the very little time they still had. But, try as they might, a looming sense of sadness tainted their every second together. They held hands and hugged all the time, but that only reminded them that soon they'd be pulled apart. In a way it all made sense. The universe had to throw a wrench into their world because they were perfect. Too perfect.
The match ended and Finn retained. She moved to gorilla. This brought on another bitter thought. Unless it was a Pay Per View, she wouldn't get to do this anymore and there'd be no one standing there to greet her after matches either.
"Welp, they can't take me and your title away. That would just be cruel and I'd have to harass Hunter more than I already am," Lily said.
"I don't think harassing him is a good idea. It might even aggravate him and make things worse," Finn replied.
Back at the hotel, they had sex, but their passionate urgency was heavy with inconsolable depression. They kissed softly for long lingering minutes, but most of the time the sweetness of their lips was mixed with the salty taste of Lily's tears.
"Hey, Lilith, come on, don't cry," he quietly assured her as he rolled onto his pillow. "We're going to be alright, okay?"
His tone was soothing but she received no comfort from it. Without answering, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
"Lilith," Finn called out as he stood over the bed.
"No!" Lily yelled into her pillow as she buried herself face first into it.
"Please?" he begged.
"I said no!" she snapped. "I'm not telling you goodbye and I'm not watching you walk out of that door. It hurts too much. Just leave or you'll only make this harder."
"No, you're making this harder. Do you know how it's going to affect me knowing that you're not okay and I won't be here to make things better?"
"You knew from the start that I wasn't going to be okay with this!" she hissed.
"Lily! Look at me!" he demanded. His tone didn't left any room for argument so she obeyed, turning over to face him. He wasn't crying like she was but his eyes still conveyed sadness. "Our age difference, Cathy, Shawn, Triple H, our breakup, the fans, Shawn again. Let me know if I missed anything but that's everything that I can think of that we've been through and defeated. This can only break us if we let it."
"Fergal, I don't need a motivational speech, I need you! How are you so calm about this?" she questioned.
"I need you more but I know that I have a job to do. This isn't something I'm looking forward to but there's nothing we can do about it. I've acknowledged that and you have to as well. We can't stop it so we have to deal with it and only hope Triple H makes good on what he said about moving you eventually."
"You're right," she reluctantly admitted.
"I know I am. Trust me, I want to tear my hair out right now but I don't think you'd accept me bald," he chuckled which made her genuinely laugh for the first time since last Monday.
"I don't know. I'm trying to imagine it. You have a nice face and smile so you may be able to pull it off as long as you keep your beard. Major emphasis on may," she reiterated. "Don't try it."
"Now that you're in a better mood, why don't you come give me a proper goodbye," Finn requested and Lily sat up to hug him. He held her tightly in his arms as she started crying again. "Please stop this or I won't be able to leave."
"Good!" her muffled voice spoke into his shoulder.
"Yeah, I know but I have a town to make," he sighed and she dried up enough for his benefit. He stood and grabbed his bags. "I'll see you Wednesday, okay? I love you."
"I love you too," she whispered, holding herself together during his exit but she completely fell apart once the door snapped shut.
The silence was deafening. It consumed the room like a living presence. There was nothing except her and it was unbearable.
Lily did nothing until it was time to get ready to report to the arena. The only thing she did was shower, not caring enough to fix her appearance. She was pale and her eyes were puffy and red from crying all night and the morning.
"Damn it, Lily," Hunter hissed when he saw her. "You look like hell, rode hard and put away wet. Did you sleep at all last night? Did you eat? At least go to catering and grab yourself something."
"No, I don't want to eat. I can't wrestle tonight," she shook her head.
"The hell you can't!" he replied.
"You just said it yourself that I look like hell," she reminded.
"One trip to the makeup chair and you'll be alright..."
"No I won't!" she argued. "I'm not ready mentally or physically and if my head isn't in the game I don't want to go out there and risk my body or anyone else's body."
Hunter rolled his eyes. "Stop being dramatic. This is not The Young and the Restless."
"I'm serious," she protested.
"You are the champ and even if I don't make you wrestle, you're going out there in some capacity so you might as well suck it up," he said, authoritatively.
All eyes were on Lily as she entered the locker room. The stares she received were a mix of concern, confusion and pity. "Yes, I know. I look like hell or so I've been told."
"I won't say hell but you look like you had a rough one this morning," Nattie commented. "But we know this is hard for you."
"I don't know what I'd do if me and Jimmy were separated," Naomi added.
"Better get married by the time the next Shakeup comes around because if you notice married couples, Naomi and Jimmy, Lana and Rusev, Zelina and Alesiter, Sarah Logan and that Viking Experience guy weren't separated while you couples living in sin were," Lacey replied.
"I'll keep that in mind," Lily nodded. "But I don't think that would've made a difference in our case."
The makeup team did manage to make her look presentable as she walked out during her theme but instead of going out to the ring, she made a right at the commentary table. The match she'd be talking about was Alexa Bliss vs Alicia Fox.
"Renee, Cole...Corey," Lily greeted into the headset as she sat down.
"I bet you regret not challenging for the Smackdown Women's Championship," Corey said, referencing the separation. "Finn, if you're watching, don't worry, I'll keep her company while you're gone."
Lily head snapped. "Excuse me? Corey, I may be blonde but I'm not one of one of the ones you drool over so show some respect. I'm not Alexa, I'm not Mandy Rose and she's not blonde at the moment but I'll throw her out there too: I'm certainly not Carme-"
"Let's focus on the action in the ring," Cole cut her off.
"What action?" Lily scoffed. "You do realize this is an Alexa Bliss match, right?"
"Your whole gripe with Alexa is that she can't wrestle but I haven't seen you put on a 5 star clinic yet," Corey challenged.
"I started training 2 years ago for just like 2-3 hours after school every day. Alexa trained at the Performance Center everyday, all day for 3 years and she's been on the main roster for another 3. I'm better than her already. Do you not see the problem there?"
"To be fair, I think you being better than Alexa is subjective," Renee added.
"Maybe but compare one of my matches to what we're looking at now. I'm not afraid to get hit, I'm not afraid to take risks and I'm not afraid to try something new. That's the difference between me and Alexa," Lily said right before Alexa hit her finisher. "And just like that, it's over and I can't name one thing that stood out about that match."
Alexa climbed on the ring post facing the commentary table pointing and talking crap. Lily stood on the commentary table and held her title up.
Backstage, Lily headed back to the locker room and found a text on her phone.
Fergal: You did great.
Her: Thx. That was all I could handle tonight. :-(
Fergal: Call me when u make it to the room.
Instead of heading to Orlando Tuesday morning, she booked a flight to San Antonio. She knew she'd drive herself crazy alone in her apartment. She turned the key to her home and pushed it open. Excited barking welcomed her home.
A ball of fur happily threw himself at her and she knelt down on the floor to receive his dog kisses. She loved Frankie and getting used to the idea that she was barely going to see him was one of the most gut-wrenching things she'd had to deal with during her time on the road but at least she had Finn. Now he was gone.
"I know, I know. I missed you too. You know what, go pack your chew toys. I'm taking you with me," she decided.
"What the hell is that dog barking about?" Shawn's footsteps pounded down the hallway and she stopped when he caught sight of her. "Lily, you're home?"
"Yeah but don't get too excited. I'm only here to escape the silence. Very early tomorrow morning I'll be on a flight back to Orlando," she replied.
"Well, since you're here come on back to the 'narcissist room' as you call it," Shawn said and she followed.
He'd expanded her collection to pictures: the superkick she gave to Becky to win the title, the ref handing the title to her, the ringside picture of Lily hugging her mom, the picture of her and Shawn hugging and her official WWE profile picture with the title. There was another backstage shot after the match that should've featured Finn but Shawn cropped it to the point where all you could see was his ear.
"Ah, this is why I haven't received my replica belt yet. You have it," she noticed it behind the glass as well.
"Do you even have a display case or were you just going to sling it carelessly over the dresser in your room like you do everything else?" Shawn asked. "It's safer here."
"No, I don't have a display case but Fergal has all of his titles framed and hung on the wall and I was going to do the same," just mentioning his name caused her to sniffle.
Shawn responded by rolling his eyes. Over the phone she wasn't sure if he was telling the truth or not about having a hand in Vince's decision but now, his annoyed body language told the story. "You need to get over it, Lily. You're Raw, he's Smackdown. No amount of tears and pouting is going to change a draft that's already done."
"Andrade was just moved back to Smackdown," she replied.
"He was moved because FOX wanted Latin stars," Shawn said.
"I'm sure WWE knew that from the beginning. I'm not falling for it. If anything, they're using that as an excuse to put him and Charlotte back together."
"Well unless we shake your mom's family tree and a Hispano ancestor she wasn't aware of falls out, you aren't Latin so what will be your excuse?"
"Trust me, I'll think of one," she nodded determinedly.
Just like she said, the next morning she was back in Orlando. She made breakfast and waited. 11:00 came so she started on lunch. Every time she heard footsteps on her floor, she stopped what she was doing and looked through the peephole. Disappointment. She wondered if this was how WWE WAGs felt waiting on their men to come home. At noon, she was hopeful when she finally caught a glimpse of someone from the Smackdown roster. If they caught the same flight out as Finn, he'd be walking through the door momentarily.
She heard her phone ringing and ran back into the kitchen to grab it. It was him. "Hello?"
He sighed into the receiver. "Hey."
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know how to tell you this but...I was all set to fly home today when WWE asked me to do media and promotion for next week's Smackdown in Columbus, Ohio next week," he replied.
"What?" Lily was shock. She couldn't react and didn't know what to say.
"Yeah, I'm so sorry," he apologized.
"Are they actively trying to split us up? Why do you need to do media? Smackdown Live is quote unquote, 'Roman's Yard Now' so make him do the promoting."
"Roman has a family and kids so they shifted the responsibility to me…"
"Please tell me you're coming home tomorrow?"
"Unfortunately, WWE UK is having an event that I'd already committed to before the Shakeup. I didn't remember it until this morning and I tried to back out but they've already advertised it," he revealed.
Now it was time to turn on the waterworks. "So that means I won't see you at all this week."
"Afraid so. I..." he trailed off and she heard barking in her home and through the phone. "Shh!"
"Wait..." Lily walked into the living room. Finn was standing in the door with Frankie wagging his tail enthusiastically.
Finn looked up and saw Lily. With the phone still pressed to his ear he said. "I have to go now, bye."
"Why would you do that to me?" she asked.
"I thought it would be a prank and then as soon as you got upset, I'd sneak up behind you. It would've gone as planned if Frankie didn't blow my cover. How did he get here anyway?" Finn asked. "Did you go to San Antonio?"
"Yeah, I didn't want to be here alone and I don't want to be alone on the road so I'm going to start leaving him in the hotel while I'm at the arena from now on," she punched him on the shoulder. "Don't change the subject, that was a cruel freaking prank and just mean!"
"I know, I'm sorry," he hugged her, resting his chin on top of her head. "I missed you. I've been on the road without you much longer than I have with you but it's just not the same."