Lily's POV
Months Earlier (RAW: May 27, 2013)
I was still on a high. Walking through the arena backstage with the title of Diva's champion definitely earned me more attention, even when I didn't have the actual belt on me. As a matter of fact, ever since I had won the title for the first time a week ago at Extreme Rules, everyone had been treating me differently. I finally broke through, I was finally becoming a draw ever since I started working for the main roster, and it felt damn good. All those years I had spent toiling and laboring from promotion to promotion, earning recognition painfully slow, was finally paying off.
John Cena gave me a respectful nod and I beamed at him, keeping the smile on my face when Big E. gave me a nod as well. Down the hallway I could see Paul talking with Vince and I took great care to make sure my chin was lifted as I continued my walk to the women's locker room.
"Good evening, Lily." Vince broke off what he was saying to his son-in-law to greet me. "That title looks very nice on your shoulder on television, I must say. I'm sure it feels even better to hold, eh?"
"You have no idea." I laughed. "I'd like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to represent the women. I won't make you regret it." I looked the two men in the eye, both much bigger than me, with a confident smile and hoped I looked poised. When they looked at me, I wanted them to see potential, a goldmine of future prospects. Vince gave me a nod of approval and Paul seemed appeased at least with a small smile.
"That's always good to hear. Speaking of which, I'm glad we ran into you. Be sure to check with creative before RAW starts tonight; you're going to be involved in a new angle." I tried to keep a straight face at Paul's revelation while nightmare scenarios passed through my head: please don't make me a comedy act, please don't make me kiss the Great Khali, please, oh please… Paul seemed to read my mind and smiled coolly. "I'm sure you'll be excited and comforted to know that you'll be entering an angle that involves your brother."
My brother? As long as it wasn't some incest storyline, Paul was right; I was excited. Colby Lopez had made a name for himself once upon a time as Tyler Black, and now he was creating more buzz than ever before as Seth Rollins, 1/3 of the Shield. I opened my mouth to thank Paul, before the thought struck me and slipped out instead.
"I'm going to be a member of the Shield?" Paul gave a pat to my back with an amused smirk as he walked by.
"Don't make us regret it." He said. Even with the friendly look on his face, his gruff tone still made his words sound like a threat. I stood frozen in the backstage hallway as they both walked away, continuing their business talk.
This was a big deal. Up until now the Shield was only made up of three dominant males, all talented in their own right. I perhaps knew that better than anyone else as I had spent time in FCW with all three of them. Putting me into this group was a show of trust, I could handle this job and I could do it better than any other woman on the roster.
Maybe it helped that I was also the Diva's champion, but I liked to think my talents were just so impressive that had no choice but to put me with the hottest faction in wrestling.
I turned on my heel and began to head quickly towards the creative office, stopping only when someone jumped onto my back and wrapped their legs around my waist. I gasped and stumbled forward, nearly falling from the sudden weight.
"Guess who!"
"The bane of my existence?" I grumbled, knowing there was no way I could support the weight of any other person without warning, but AJ. She hugged my neck.
"You mean your reason for living?" I laughed as she hopped off. "I saw you walking with a purpose, so that must mean you heard the news." I frowned.
"What news?"
"Oh don't do that," she rolled her eyes. "They're putting you with the Shield! You get to escort them and stand with them and ride with them…" A slow smirk spread on her face. I hit her arm.
"One of those guys is my brother, I think you've forgotten." I chuckled.
"Oh no, that's a face I wouldn't forget. However, a certain Samoan is not related to you whatsoever." She sighed dreamily. "He's a sight for the eyes." I rolled my own eyes.
"Joe's engaged, AJ." And a friend, though he wasn't much for words, at least not with me. Colby always said he was a blast. "Wait a minute, how did you know about this before I did?"
"How did you not know? Anyways, some of the girls were talking about it. More like complaining actually." AJ frowned suddenly, her eyes growing troubled, seemingly reliving the words exchanged during my absence in the women's locker. "Yeah, you might want to see if you can share a locker room with the boys too from now on."
Of course, this was to be expected, right? What woman wouldn't want to work with those three guys? There were going to be feelings of jealousy involved here, especially since I was technically new here. I could name at least three divas off the top of my head who hated me vehemently for a week or two after I debuted simply because I spent so much time with Colby. The fact that he was my brother and not a hunky late-night treat to me was something they didn't know until later, but they still didn't exactly warm up to me. AJ, on the other hand, was easy to get along with right off the bat, along with Natalya and Kaitlyn.
It was just a candid fact I didn't mind accepting; this new angle definitely wasn't going to win me points with my fellow ladies.
"I wonder what my role is going to be," I mused, continuing to walk towards the creative office. AJ's steps had more of a bounce in hers than mine as we walked side by side.
"Maybe you'll be like their queen bee. Like the mastermind behind the scenes and they all have a freaky desire to make you satisfied so they pummel guys in the ring for you and carry you around on their strong shoulders." I stared at her with an eyebrow raised. "What?"
"Stop." She laughed.
"I wouldn't be opposed." She shrugged. "They'll probably make you Dean's girlfriend." I could feel her looking at me for my opinion, but I kept my gaze looking forward.
"Probably."
"That's not a bad thing, right?" She prompted, still staring. "I mean, you two are friends right?"
"I think?" When I glanced at her, she only looked perplexed. I sighed lightly, running a hand through my brunette hair. "Jon is just hard to read sometimes. Back in FCW I always thought he couldn't stand me, until he told me the day before he went to the main roster that I was a friend of his and he hoped I made it to the main roster too." Now that I thought back on the memory, I found his words sweet.
"He called you a friend, Lily. Therefore, you are friends." AJ spoke slowly, as if she was missing something. Or maybe she thought I was missing something.
"Yeah, but, still, I don't know. Sometimes he can just be such a loner. I mean, we talk and we helped each other out in FCW, but I still feel like he doesn't like me."
"Who wouldn't like you?" AJ grumbled, eyeing me sideways. "You're only like two inches taller than me and yet you were made like a bombshell."
"Actually I'm three inches taller."
"Yes because that makes so much more of a difference. Two inches taller than me or three, you're still going to look tiny next to Jon and them. Unless, they carry you on their strong shoulders." She went back to her old idea and I was suddenly glad AJ wasn't a writer.
"They might not put me in a romantic angle at all. I mean, I'm related to one, the other is engaged, and Jon…" I tried to imagine myself standing beside Jon, being portrayed as the new power couple. The idea stirred a longing in my stomach. In my head, it painted a convincing picture. I bit my lip and pushed the thought away immediately, it simply wouldn't happen anyways. "Jon doesn't seem like the dating type."
"That's why it's called playing a character. You wouldn't be dating Jonathan Good, you would be dating Dean Ambrose. I still would prefer Reigns, but that's just me." She shrugged. I smiled, but found myself disagreeing. We slowed when the door to the office came into view.
"I'll see you in a bit once the show starts." I told AJ and she nodded.
"Okay. Oh, by the way, is Phil on the card tonight?" I was puzzled slightly at her question.
"Um, not tonight I don't think. Why?" Phil had never mentioned being friends with AJ, and AJ never talked about Phil at all really, until now. We were like one big family, however, so it wasn't too outlandish.
"Not important, I just had a question. I figure you would know since the two of you are like this," She crossed her index finger with her middle finger, smiling knowingly. I smiled back a little; I'd met Punk a few years back and we both gravitated to each other because we shared a dislike for dramatic friendships. That didn't seem to stop him from throwing hissy fits every now and then. Oh well, we could put up with each other. "See ya. I want to be the first person to see you in your new sexy vest!" She called as she walked backwards down the hallway.
"I'll give you a private viewing!" I called back with a wink before I walked inside.
Once inside, I shook hands with the team, and the head writer gave me the script for tonight. I would be defending my title-and winning- against the Bella Twins and Natalya, and after I would be cutting a scathing promo on Natalya, on her birthday no less.
Ah, the perks of being a heel.
I was actually pleasantly surprised to see I had a promo opportunity, it seemed like they were terrified to put a mic in the hands of any woman besides Vickie Guerrero, though she did do her job well. After that promo and another match, I had a backstage promo involving the Shield. I was to run into them and show no fear or intimidation, and they would watch me with great interest, planting seeds of speculation in the viewers' heads. I was to officially join them tomorrow night, when we taped the Friday night Smackdown show.
"The Shield want you in their group because they want to ensure justice in every corner and division in the WWE- including the Diva's division. Your motivation for joining is power. You would be powerful and dominate the WWE alongside them, does that make sense?" The head writer asked me as I flipped through tonight's script.
"Yes, perfect. In the long run, though, am I just going to be the fourth member…?" I didn't even need to continue, the writer knew exactly where I was heading.
"As of right now, there are no plans for any romantic involvement. I believe Paul expressed mild interest, but first claimed he wanted to test the chemistry on screen between the four of you. Of course, we'll be sure to keep you updated and as always we're here if you have any further questions. Your new ring gear is in seamstress's office, be sure to pick it up after the show for tomorrow night." I nodded at the information, though I was unsure if I was relieved or disappointed at the news of the romantic angle.
As I walked back through the hallway, on my way to find my soon-to-be stable, I decided I was relieved. Romantic relationships were rarely taken seriously on-screen in the WWE these days, and I didn't want to look like a joke. I didn't want to be known as the chick that carried around the Shield's titles or clung to their waists.
I turned the corner and saw Jon standing and talking with Kofi Kingston and stopped in my tracks. He already had on his ring gear, and suddenly the idea of me clinging onto his waist didn't seem so degrading. No, not degrading, we would look so powerful together, so dominant. US champion and Divas champion, both up-and-coming, both with so much potential.
His eyes wandered in my direction and I instantly knew that he had also heard the news; his eyes lit up and my insides lit up as well, like he had just given me a compliment. At least he was busy talking to Kofi. Wait…Kofi was walking away. Jon began walking over to me, an unreadable expression on his face. I waited with my feet planted to the ground, trying to think of words to convince him that I would be good for this stable, and how I was going to pull my weight to ensure they wouldn't have a weak link on their hands.
"So," he said, his misty blue eyes running up and down my body before he locked his eyes on mine. I felt like a target and I shifted my gaze, now watching lips speak, "I hear you're joining the group."
So, now we go back to the start of the journey. This is how it all began...The next chapter will feature flashbacks to Lily's FCW days and a closer look at the inner dynamics of the Shield. Please review and thanks for reading! x