Disclaimer: I own nothing, except the storyline.

FYI: Slight AU here, I'm happy Nikki's champion now, but to make this story work, I had to make her win the title at NOC already.:)

A big shoutout and thank you to all the people who have left favs, follows and reviews, you guys are amazing, it means so much!

I hope you like this one, please let me know. :)

Chapter 5

Night of Champions

It was like time had stopped, if only for a few moments. Everything seemed to slow down, the noise of the audience, the hand of the referee as it slammed down on the mat for those distinct three times, AJ's lifeless body right in front of her, the voice of Justin Roberts as he proclaimed the outcome of the match, and finally, how the referee grabbed her arm and raised it, signalling her victory – everything seemed to fade into each other, like one fluent motion. For a moment, Nikki almost couldn't believe what was happening, what had happened – until she saw Paige standing at the corner of the ring, screaming and crying in despair, because she had lost her title without being involved in the outcome:
Nikki Bella had just won the Divas Championship for the second time in her career, by delivering the Rack Attack to A.J. Lee. Paige had been out of the ring at the time, and had not managed to get back between the ropes quick enough to stop Nikki from pinning A.J. to win the match.
Nikki couldn't believe it. She felt overwhelmed. Yes, she had felt confident heading into the match, she had told herself to be fearless and that she would deserve to come out as the new champion. But had she fully believed herself? Had she truly believed that all of the hard work she had invested over the last few years would truly pay off?
Judging from the incredible wave of emotion that was overcoming her, definitely not.
Just as she realized that her dream had truly come true, that she was the new Divas champion, Nikki grabbed the title that was now rightfully hers, and raised it up above her head.
It didn't matter anymore that Brie had had some bad words for her before the match, and it didn't matter that not all of the people in the arena were cheering for her, but most of the audience was booing her, in fact. It didn't matter anymore. Because now, she was the champion. She was the face of the Diva's division. And nobody in this arena was able to take it away from her, neither Brie nor anybody else.
Nikki confidently put the belt around her waist and left her defeated opponents behind. She knew that there would be an aftermath to this – Paige still had her rematch clause that she was able to evoke at any time – but right now, Nikki didn't care. All she wanted was to revel in her success of tonight, to make that wonderful feeling stay as long as possible.
She walked backstage and headed straight back to the locker room, when she heard Stephanie McMahon, her boss and fellow member of the Authority, call out to her.
Nikki turned around to see Stephanie smiling at her. "Nikki, I just wanted to congratulate you on your incredible win! You did great tonight, and you deserve it. I'm very happy to see you succeed. This not only is a major step-up in your career, it is also another brick in the wall of success and dominance of the Authority. I am proud of you, Nikki. You told me you would not let me down and you certainly kept your end of the deal."
Nikki was surprised, Stephanie seemed genuinely happy for her. Maybe she had misjudged the older woman a bit. She smiled back and said: "Thank you, Stephanie. Not only for this, but also for giving me this title shot, without it, I wouldn't stand here as the new champion."
"You're very welcome", Stephanie said. "You see, your choice to join us was definitely what's best for business. But I'm sorry Nikki, I have to go, my husband wants to see me. I'll see you later." And with that, the Billion Dollar Princess was gone, and Nikki continued her way back to the locker room, still feeling as happy as before.
As soon as she entered, some of the girls immediately came up to her to congratulate her – Cameron even ran up to her to pull her into a hug, which made Nikki laugh, while others simply ignored her or sent her some envious glares.
To Nikki's surprise and joy, Natalya congratulated her, too, pulling her into a deep hug, although some of Brie's closest friends were present. Brie herself had left the locker room earlier, probably to escape the celebration of her sister.
She never believed in me, anyway. It's good she's away, that way she doesn't spoil my amazing evening, Nikki told herself, although there was still a part of her, no matter how little it was, that felt disappointed that Brie had not stayed to at least look at her face to face.
After she had celebrated her win with the other girls, she showered and changed her outfit. As soon as she was ready to leave, Natalya came up to her once more, and gestured she wanted to talk to Nikki more privately this time. The two of them left the locker room and found a more quiet place for them both to sit down and talk.
"So, now that we have celebrated your win properly", Natalya said, smiling, "why don't you tell me how your date with Mr. X went the other night?"
Nattie started to wiggle her eyebrows a little, which made Nikki laugh.
"Well", she answered, "to be honest, you were definitely right. It was a good idea I didn't cancel it. It actually went… pretty well, even though that surprised me." She smiled.
"That's good to hear. I feared that he may have behaved like a total jerk and you were sorry for listening to me in the first place", Natalya laughed.
"No, no that was definitely not the case. And even if he had behaved like an idiot, I would definitely not blame you for it."
"So", Natalya said, "I'm not entirely sure if I should even ask you this, and if you don't want to answer, then you don't have to, but… do I know this certain someone?"
Nikki tried her best not to blush, but failed.
Natalya laughed. "So I'm guessing this means I do know him?"
"Well…", Nikki replied, unsure if it was too early to tell Nattie that it was, in fact, the Authority's golden boy who she had gone out with.
"You don't really know him, personally, I mean. But if you're asking if he's in the WWE, then… the answer is yes."
Natalya looked at Nikki and seemed to read her friend's thoughts.
"If you don't want to tell anyone who it is, I understand. Sometimes it's better to wait until you're sure of something before telling anyone about it. But if you need someone to talk to, I'm here, you know that, right?"
Nikki smiled at her older friend. Nattie seems so wise sometimes, like she really knows how someone feels, she thought.
"Thank you Nattie, it means a lot. And you'll be the first I'll talk to, I promise", Nikki smiled.
"You're welcome. I have to leave now, but I'll see you around. Congratulations on your win, once more. Have a good night, Nikki!" Natalya waved at her friend once more before leaving.
A smile formed on Nikki's face. After her talk with Natalya, she felt even more confident than before. She made her way to the parking lot to leave, when she heard a familiar voice call out her name.

"Hey Nikki! Where are you going? You haven't even given me a chance to congratulate you!"
She turned around to see Seth Rollins walking toward her, with a smile on his face, although he did look exhausted.
"I'm very sorry, Rollins", she said sarcastically, "but what's the matter with you? You look exhausted."
"That idiot Ambrose showed up out of nowhere and we had a pretty tough fight. It was pretty unexpected", Seth answered, clearly infuriated at the interruption by his former Shield brother.
"Oh wow. Sounds like you had one hell of a night", Nikki answered, raising her eyebrows. Even though she would never admit it to him, she felt worried at the thought of him getting hurt.
"Yeah, but I survived it. I'll make him pay for it soon enough", he said, before focussing on Nikki again. "But let's talk about your night. Congratulations. Not that I was surprised, I was sure you were going to win the title. But congratulations, nonetheless." He smirked.
"You were sure I was going to win the title?", Nikki asked, raising her eyebrows. "And why is that, Rollins? A.J. and Paige were pretty tough competition. It's not like it was easy."
"I know", he answered, still looking at her with that ever-so-confident smile on his face. "But I was sure you would win. Simply because have what it takes to be a champion, and you deserve it. The way you talked about what the title means to you that night we went out – you were so passionate about it. That's why I was sure you were going to win."
Nikki was speechless for a moment, and couldn't help but blush.
He remembers what I talked about that night, and even how important it was to me?
She couldn't help but blush. He chuckled at her reaction. "Uhm… Thank you, Seth", she said.
His eyes widened at hearing her calling him by his first name. He looked her straight in the eyes. "You're welcome, Nikki."
They stood there in silence for a moment, before Seth said: "Oh, you do remember that tomorrow will be the start of our storyline, right? I talked to Hunter before and he said they want us to meet up with them at his office before Raw tomorrow to discuss what they want us to do and say."
"Oh yeah, right. Thanks for letting me know." Shit, I completely forgot about that!, Nikki thought. Oh my God, what if they want us to kiss? It's a love storyline, after all. And what kind of couple doesn't kiss?!
Before she could continue to think about potential scenarios of their storyline, she was brought back to reality by Seth:
"So, I was wondering…" he said, scratching the back of his head and looking away.
He almost looks like he's nervous, Nikki thought.
"You were wondering…?" she asked him to continue.
He smiled at her. "I was wondering if maybe you wanted to celebrate your win with a glass of champagne, maybe? We could go down to the hotel bar or… or I'll just let them send one up to your room and we could toast to your win?", he asked her, looking at her.
"Oh.", was all she managed to get out. She certainly didn't see that coming. "Yeah, why not?" she finally replied.
He smiled. "Alright, then I'll see you later, Nikki." He winked at her, then turned around and walked away.
Nikki let out a sigh before making her way to her car and driving back to the hotel. Although she was trying her best to stay focussed on the road, she found her thoughts drifting back to Seth and their conversation from earlier all the time.

Nikki sat on the edge of her bed, trying to distract herself by playing around with her phone. She decided to send Nattie a message.

Seeing 'Mr. X' again in a few minutes ;)
-xoxo Nikki

Nikki had to smile at the answer from her friend:

Haha wow! Have fun and let me know how it went tomorrow! ;)
-Nattie

Just as Nikki thought about sending Natalya another message, there was a knock at her door. She breathed in slowly, took a last look in the mirror, and then walked to the door and opened.
Seth had a bottle of champagne in his right hand, smiling at her.
Nikki stepped aside to let him come in. She grabbed two glasses, handed him one of them and he filled both of them with the champagne.
"To our new Divas Champions!" Seth proclaimed, smiling at her. They toasted, and Nikki took a sip from her drink. Even though it was supposed to calm her nerves, she still couldn't help but feel nervous. Seth looked at her, their eyes locked, and she had the feeling of falling, getting lost in his brown orbs. He suddenly cleared his throat, and said: "You know, since Stephanie and Hunter want us to be some kind of couple to represent the Authority, they will probably want us to… kiss."
Nikki could feel her cheeks turning all kinds of red. "I know", she answered, her voice low. "I have thought about that possibility as well."
She looked down, and he said: "Well, that's the thing. Because I really don't want our first kiss to be in front of thousands of people."
Her eyes widened. "B-but Seth, it would be a staged kiss anyway,... right?" she asked, and she didn't know what answer she should expect, what answer she wanted to hear, in that moment, she had forgotten everything. Except for him.
He looked at her for a moment, then asked: "Is this staged as well, Nikki?"
Before Nikki could ask him what he meant, she felt his lips on hers, softly, almost as if he was waiting for to return the kiss. She hesitated for a moment, then kissed back, just as softly. When Nikki felt his hand on her neck, pulling her in, and his tongue begging for entrance at her mouth, she felt like she was losing all of her senses. But in that moment, she couldn't have cared less. She returned the favour, grabbing his neck and deepening the kiss.

So, what do you guys think? I really hope you like it. Next chapter will be Raw plus the aftermath of the kiss - drama all the way! :D
Cheers!