Their plane touches down early Thursday morning in Dublin Ireland. Two tour buses await the Smackdown roster to take them to their destinations. The heels board one bus and the faces take the other. They're on their way to their first hotel shortly after boarding. While most of the roster tries to get some sleep before tonight's show Ravyn and JJ are too excited to sleep. They run into Becky in the lobby of the hotel renting a car. They sidle up on either side of her as she's finishing the rental paperwork.
"Whatcha doin?" JJ asks curiously.
"Rentin' a car for a few hours," the Lass Kicker's accent is easier to understand when they're surrounded by even thicker Irish accents.
Ravyn moves closer to Becky, "Where ya goin?"
Becky shifts on her feet nervously, "I'm going to visit some friends. Get a workout in maybe." Ravyn and JJ make their very best sad puppy dog faces until Becky relents. "Do you guys want to come?" They nod excitedly. "Sheesh, ok, go grab your bags and I'll bring the car round."
The girls run to grab their gear from their rooms and rush back to meet Becky out in front of the hotel. Becky starts their adventure with a quick tour of the surrounding area. Then they're on their way to a secret location. They pull into the parking lot of a beat up back alley warehouse. Becky hops out and grabs her bag, urging them to do the same. She leads them around a corner to a rusted metal doorway. They watch in silence as she turns the knob to the door set deep into the metal sided building. They follow her through the archway and are met with a wonderful sight. A wrestling ring. With barely enough space on the sides fore someone to walk by. Off to one side of the small space is a little room with a rack of free weights. In the ring a group of 3-4 students run through a match, their trainer standing on the outside with their back to the doorway. Becky leads them up to the trainer. He turns around before the girls reach him. Ravyn and JJ are shocked to see Finn Balor before them in this tiny gym in Dublin.
"Finn!?" Ravyn can barely believe her eyes.
He smirks, "The one and only."
JJ is equally perplexed, "What are you doing here?!"
Becky smiles, "Finn started my training. He still stops in to do some of the training here."
"Hunter has me recruiting for the UK Tournament next month too," Finn adds.
Finn explains the tournament to them. He and Ravyn exchange shoulder rehab updates then the girls go to get changed. They meet back up in the ring with Finn's group of students and jump right into running drills with them. Finn is hard on his students, but they're better because of it. Once they start to take bumps Ravyn rolls out of the ring to stand alongside Finn. They watch JJ work with Jordan Devlin, Finn's star student. Ravyn comments on how Jordan could pass for Finn's younger brother. Becky tags herself in by slapping JJ's shoulder as she get whipped into the corner. Ravyn notices her friend step between the ropes gingerly. Becky and Jordan finish up shortly after the tag. Ravyn walks over to meet JJ on the side of the apron.
"Hey friend," she says quietly. "You ok?"
"I'm fine," JJ tries to assure her.
Ravyn looks her friend up and down skeptically, "You sure? Because you don't look fine. You're moving pretty cautiously."
JJ hates when her friend can see through her facade, "My hip is sore. But it will be okay."
"Take it easy," Ravyn advises. "No need to kill yourself. This is going to be a travel heavy tour. Lots of buses and cramped quarters. Keep stretching so you don't stiffen up."
"Thanks mom," JJ jests. Ravyn just sticks her tongue out at the other woman.
The girls finish up with Finn and head back to the hotel just in time to catch the bus to the arena for that evenings show. Their first show in Ireland goes off without a hitch. The crowd is hot and loud all night. By the time the final bell rings Ravyn can't wait to get back to the hotel and start catching up on the jet lag. A quick text to AJ, who's only seated a few rows away from her on the bus, confirms that he will meet her in her room a bit later.
The next few days are a blur of activity. The entire roster bounces back and forth between signings, live events, travel, and other promotional appearances. Some of the superstars even have visits to local children's hospitals on their itinerary. Early Tuesday morning the crew arrives in London at Kings Cross train station. Buses pick them up from the station and bring them directly to the arena to prepare for Smackdown Live from the O2 in London.
Upon their arrival at the building Ravyn heads to the trainers room for a scheduled meeting with Doc. He executes a thorough exam of her shoulder. Checking range of motion, strength and stiffness.
"So what's the verdict?" Ravyn asks expecting the worst. Since arriving in the UK her shoulder had been stiffer than usual from all of the bus travel.
The head doctor flips through her paperwork before looking at her seriously, "Well... I'm not saying you should go out and work an Ironman or hardcore match. But I think you'll be fine to start taking some bumps again."
Her eyes light up, "Really?!"
He nods, "If you can start back slowly. Set a routine and keep training consistently I see no reason you can't be back in the ring by the Rumble."
"Doc," Ravyn beams. "This is the best news I've heard in a long time!"
Ravyn almost skips out of his office to the women's locker room. She's texting Tyler at the same time as she bursts through the door to the locker room. She spots JJ sitting on a bench with an ice pack on her hip.
"Friend... I know you're sore..." She pauses, hoping her friend is up for this. "But I need you to grab your gear and meet me in the ring." Ravyn grabs her kneepads and zips out of the room before JJ can ask any questions. Down the ramp and rolling into the ring she wastes no time pulling her kneepads on. JJ walks down the ramp with Tyler close behind her.
"J, I know you're in pain," she starts. "But you promised you'd be the first person back in the ring with me when I got cleared."
The statement doesn't click right away. "You got cleared!?" JJ exclaims when it finally hits her.
Ravyn just nods excitedly as JJ squeals and rolls into the ring to hug her best friend. Tyler steps between the ropes and joins in on the hug. "Now we can torture you with so many drills. Lance will be so proud," he smiles reminding the girls of where they all came from. "Really though. Glad you're back."
The three of them start to run drills and then start getting into more intense moves. Ravyn takes her first bump back like a champ. JJ smartly backs out and let's Tyler handle most of the difficult stuff, trying to protect her hip as much as possible. Sweaty, but happy, they all head back to get cleaned up before the show begins.
"Hey Ravyn, I need you for a vignette in an hour," Mark Carrano calls to her on her way towards the locker room.
She shoots him a smile and a thumbs up as she disappears through the doorway, intent on taking a hot shower. She ties her hair up to keep it out of the water as she lets the streams of hot liquid pelt her sore body. Once she's clean she puts on her Fashion Police gear then touches up her hair and makeup, having no idea what Carrano has in store for her. Satisfied with her appearance she leaves the locker room to try and hunt down the location of this vignette. She dips and weaves through the labyrinth of backstage hallways, desperately trying to figure out where to go.
She rounds a corner after passing catering for what feels like the fifth time and literally runs into AJ. Unlike the first time she had run into his chest full force this time she's met by a playful grin. "Where are you off to in such a hurry?" His accent drips with amusement.
"Trying to find Carrano. He needs me for a pre-tape in half an hour," she explains. "Have you seen him?"
"Half and hour huh?" AJ looks around the hallways slyly.
She nods and before she can ask him if he knows where Carrano is again he's dragging her down the hallway by the wrist. Halfway down the hall he pulls her into a doorway. Inside the room is a couch, a wall full of wooden locker cubbies and a private bathroom. He clicks the lock on the door and pulls her body to his. Their lips meet sending butterflies cascading through Ravyn's stomach distracting her from what she had been doing completely. Their hands grope at each other as their desires take over. AJ spins her around and with no wasted movements has he bent over the arm of the couch. He flips the back of her skirt up and sags his tights just enough to start going at it hot and heavy. He buries one hand in her thick hair until her moans become too loud. Not wanting to get caught his hand moves from her hair to cover her mouth as their bodies continue to slam together.
Through muffled cries of pleasure her body shudders. Both of them raggedly take in short desperate breaths as they both reach their climax. His hands caress her body as they finally pull apart. Her legs weak and eyes filled with lust she kisses him once she regains her breath.
He chuckles, "You've got ten minutes to find Carrano."
"Shit," she cusses trying to straighten out her clothes. "I'll see you at the hotel later?" He nods and she takes off running out the door to find Carrano for the pre-tape.