What if Laura had become a wrestler?

Laura Hart commands attention. Her attitude can be felt from around corners. It's a surprise to most people to find that the humble Hart family produced such an ego.

It is common knowledge on the independent circuit that Laura spends a lot of time with her cousin Teddy and the two had bounced off of each other creating what had been dubbed as the circle of arrogance. Laura had deemed it her god given right to be the top of every company she worked for and she expected to be the main Diva in the WWE the moment she stepped through the door.

"So, is Vince free?"

"He's in a meeting, Miss Hart. You're early." The receptionist receives a glare as Laura puts her hand on her hip and taps her foot.

"I'm not early," she argues. "I'm on time, like always, and waiting is not something I'm good at." The receptionist looks down at her computer, biting her lip. No good comes from arguing with Laura Hart.

The receptionist directs Laura to the lift and tells her to take it to the fifteenth floor and that someone else can help her. Laura does so without as much as a smile or thank you. Vain as ever, Laura checks herself out in the mirror on the lift's back wall.

The second receptionist she meets is significantly less of a push over. The lady, in her mid 30s, instructs Laura to take a seat and wait her turn, earning a grumble from the third generation wrestler.

It's hard to not be impressed by the office's interior; Laura's eyes scan every visible corner of the area and immediately feels at home. The no doubt expensive furnishings are exactly what she aims to have in her house. She knows that it is a feat only manageable with a WWE career.

"Miss Hart, Vince will see you now." Laura stands up and walks slowly to her new boss's office. The slow walk is not at all out of fear; she does not want to appear too eager.

"It was great speaking to you, Matt." Laura stands back as the door opens before she gets to it. Matt Sydal walks out and shakes Vince McMahon's hand.

"You too, sir." the wrestler looks at Laura Hart and smiles at her kindly – they had after all met a few times on the independent circuit.

"Sydal," she greets, her voice as hostile as ever.

"Laura," he greets much more politely, the smile still on his face. When Laura does not make an attempt at conversation, Matt leaves with one last nod at her and Vince McMahon.

"Please, come on in, Miss Hart." The CEO extends his arm and allows her to walk past him, following her into his office. "Have a seat just there."

"It's such an honour to finally meet you in person, Mr McMahon." It is clear that Laura has her best suck up voice on; her expression tells the same story. Vince does nothing to draw attention to it and conducts the meeting as he would any other. He is no longer surprised by sycophants.

Vince takes a seat behind his desk, directly opposite Laura. Laura sits up straight and brushes her hair out of her face, her most professional posture and facial expression being demonstrated.

"I'm glad to have you in my office. It's been a long time coming, I must say. I've had my eye on you since I signed your cousins."

"Right," Laura says, trying to maintain her smile at the mention of her family. "I'm not so sure I want to know what they've said about me."

"What they've been saying is hardly as incriminating as some of the things other people have said," Vince tells her casually but it catches Laura's attention. For the first time in her young life she is worried about her reputation.

"Teddy and I like to have fun," Laura tells him, her voice wavering slightly.

"Be rest assured that the people who have expressed their concerns about you... Let's just say that I don't value their opinions too much." He was no doubt talking about CM Punk, a man who was never quiet in expressing his opinions of Teddy Hart, and Laura by proxy.

"I can't thank you enough for this opportunity, Mr McMahon. I hope you don't let my family's history at all affect my time with your company. I don't hold grudges, sir."

"If you did you wouldn't be sitting in my office, would you?" Vince is nonetheless pleased to know that his newest acquisition has expressed a clean slate. "The plan for you, Miss Hart." Laura leans forward slightly. "We're going to send you down to FCW for some finetuning but we hope to have you on WWE television in the near future."

"I've had years of finetuning," Laura all but interrupts her boss. "I've worked the independent circuit for years in preparation for this, sir. I don't think I need any finer tuning." Laura sits back up straight, her smile disappearing.

"Everyone can afford to be finetuned." Vince's declaration is final and he soon after says goodbye to the Diva. Laura leaves with her head held high despite having been told that she needs more practice. Proving herself will hardly be difficult.

Three months was all it took for Laura to get onto WWE television. She debuted as Lara Hart – a name change she deemed stupid but was forced to use – for FCW and clearly Vince was happy with her improvements.

The halls of a WWE event make those of FCW seem like elementary school. Laura has to deal with all of the stares as she makes her way to the dressing room. The people she met on the independent circuit glare holes through her and whisper to each other comments of disbelief that she had made it so far. Her attitude had prevented many a promotion pre-WWE and not one of them understood why Vince had given her a job. The looks of confusion she receives from those she has never met before only make her more determined to reach the top of the company.

"Laura." She is stopped by the voice of one of her former co-workers. She doesn't smile at him, nor does she pretend to be happy that he has spoken to her.

"Sydal," she says back bitterly. "Can I help you?"

"We have the ring in half an hour to work out this match," he explains to her, watching her eyebrow raise. "I'm your partner in this mixed tag match."

"Of course you are," she sighs. "I'll go get changed and be down."

Having no time to change into her proper gear, Laura changes into a pair of shorts and a Randy Orton shirt she bought during her time at FCW. Making her way to the ring, she knows why people are looking at her with such confusion. The presence of her father had been expected given his sudden change of heart in regards to appearing on WWE television.

Her meeting with Vince had taken place in November of the previous year and she was horrified to hear that less than a month later her father, Bret Hart had signed to the company she had worked so hard to reach. Bret was on WWE television by January and had in fact had visited Laura at FCW but she had voided him like the plague. When she had been called up to the main roster, she was both delighted but also worried about having to speak to her father.

They hadn't spoken in four years.

"Get lost?" Matt asks when Laura finally makes her way down to the ring.

"I took the long way," she tells him casually, entering the ring as normal – over the middle rope. "I take it we're facing you two? Do you even wrestle?"

"Okay," Matt cuts off Laura before she can say anything else. "Ryder and I are going to work most of the match."

"Of course my first match means nothing," Laura grumbles. She moves to the corner and sits on the top turnbuckle, watching disinterestedly as Evan Bourne and Zack Ryder begin to work on their match.

Her mean disposition melts away as she begins to take in their in ring ability. Wrestling always had a way of calming Laura down. She admires their mat work but even more so their ability to work in the air, she finds herself taking mental note of what she's seeing.

"Did you want to try something with Rosa?" Matt offers, slightly out of breath.

"But you were doing such a good job." Laura doesn't know if she's being sarcastic or not because for a moment she sounds mesmerised by the artistry being performed by the men. The second she realises her face hardens and she shakes her head. "I'm good up here."

And she means it. She's quite content watching Matt Korklan and Matt Cardona work out the match from the best seat in the house. Her mood changes drastically when her father walks down the ramp five minutes later. She freezes, almost forgetting to breathe when he stands at the bottom of the ramp with a stern look on his face.

"Can I speak to you?"

"I'm busy," she tells him, gesturing to the match set up going on.

"It won't take long," Bret says with conviction, not taking his eyes of his daughter. The men in the ring stop and move to the side, unsure of how to take the encounter.

"I'm working, can we do it later?"

"No," Bret responds quickly. "You'll make sure I can't find you. Now, Laura."

Jumping down from the rope she finally notices that both Matts and Milena are looking at each other, entirely unsure of what to say. Laura averts her eyes in embarrassment.

"It couldn't have waited?" Laura asks her father when they are finally away from prying eyes. "I'm either going to get no ring time or botch what I do get."

"I've seen your work, you'll be fine."

Laura listens intently as Bret talks to her about the past four years as though she hasn't heard. She's come to terms with the fact that the entire Hart family think she is out of the loop but she has been in contact with her siblings and they tell her everything they think she needs to know.

"I have to work, dad," Laura sighs.

"I don't like that you've cut me out of your life, you're my daughter."

"I know. It just got hectic and you were with what's-her-face and... Things had changed. I wasn't your little girl anymore. I'm not your little girl anymore." Laura stresses with a pout.

"I am very aware of that."

Laura quickly says her goodbyes before Bret starts another topic. She doesn't want to screw up her first appearance for the WWE so she has to leave to get changed and have her make-up done. The conversation with her dad barely plays through her mind – it wasn't half as terrible as she was expecting and it didn't change her mind about not speaking to him, either.

Her tag team partner comes to find her just before the show starts and he explains to her what she has to do – simple things before Rosa makes a desperate tag back to Ryder.

"You okay?" Matt asks her when he notices that she's not exactly paying attention. "Nervous?"

"More than I ever thought I'd be. This is what I've worked so hard for and I don't want to fuck up the short amount of time I get out there." She looks him in the eye for the first time since she met him. She has to ignore the uneasy feeling she gets in her stomach when she sees him smiling at her.

"It's totally normal and, in all honesty, it doesn't really go away. It's just adrenaline." He assures her, taking one of her hands in his and giving it a squeeze. "You're gonna be great."

Laura runs through the curtain behind Matt and cannot stop herself from throwing her arms around his neck when he turns around.

"That was incredible!" she exclaims as Matt hesitantly wraps his arms around her waist. "Let's do that again!"

"Maybe next week," he laughs in her ear. She pulls her arms away and he does the same. She smiles at him widely, proudly, thankfully. "We should go out and celebrate. This is a huge deal."

"With other people?" Laura asks quietly, her excitement diminishing quickly.

"We'll make you some friends," he smiles at her but it drops when she laughs bitterly. She crosses her arms over her chest.

"I don't do friends. People don't like me."

"That's because you won't let them. You'll have friends if you stop this," he forcefully uncrossed her arms, "and if you smile and don't belittle people. No one in this company is beneath you, Laura. You're the rookie."

"Don't remind me." She grumbles slightly but smiles ever so slightly up at him afterwards.

They part ways so they can shower and change, Matt says he'll meet her in the same place when they're ready. Again she feels people looking at her as she walks past but she isn't bothered. Their prying eyes don't matter now that she has an ally, a friend.

As the night goes from exciting to otherworldly, Laura begins to understand what it's like to have friends. Being around Teddy for so long left Laura with very few friends so to be surrounded by so many people who don't seem bothered by her reputation makes her happier than she's even been.

"See, people like you."

"People like you," Laura drops slides into the booth beside Matt. "That's the only reason they're here."

"But they're your friends now, too." Matt smiles warmly at her, watching her sip at her drink, the straw gently between her lips.

"You made me normal in a few hours. You must be magic," she puts her drink down and rests her head against the back of the booth.

"Maybe it's the lack of Teddy combined with being the littlest fish in the biggest pond." Matt suggests and Laura shrugs at him, moving closer to his side. Before he can register what's happening, she's kissing his cheek and then resting her head on his shoulder.

"No, I think you're just magic."

a/n so that's Laura as a wrestler. Things are quite a bit different but it's Matt that makes her change her mind. I honestly cannot picture Laura with anyone else. I can see Claire having a life with Mike, Sheamus, Randy and even Cody but Laura with anyone else just makes no sense to me. What did you think?

Do you have any alternate universe scenarios you'd like to see?