Sasha walked into the women's locker room two weeks later where RAW would be airing live from North Little Rock, Arkansas—and was surprised to find a huge box of Black and Brave and Seth Rollins merchandise stuffed inside one of her shelves. "What the hell," she laughed, scanning the contents and finding a hand-written note from Seth. "So you can put me over every single day. ;)"

"What's this?" Charlotte entered the room as well, glancing at the box and smirking. "Let me guess? Rollins?"

"Yeah, I think he took it too literally when I told him I'd only wear his merch if he gave me some. I didn't mean all," she laughed again, pulling out the Black and Brave leggings she jokingly requested from him on Twitter.

"Real subtle way of marking his territory, don't you think?" Charlotte grinned. She had to admit—she wasn't always particularly fond of Seth, given his history with women, but somehow, seeing his actions lately convinced her that his intentions for Sasha were genuine.

"Stop. No one is marking anybody," Sasha shook her head, closing the box.

"Sash," Charlotte sat down. "Talk to me—why are you so adamant about not having any feelings for Seth when it's clear you both have something for each other?"

"There's nothing, Char," Sasha said again. "Whatever it is you guys think, just stop."

"Point blank—do you not want to be with him?"

Sasha looked down. "I don't know, okay? My heart wants it, but my brain just says otherwise," she said softly. And it was true—she wanted nothing more than to be with him in that way, but a small part of her was scared he'd end up running.

Charlotte smiled sympathetically. "Look, I get where you're coming from. But babe, he's been nothing but good to you. And he tries really hard, you know? I don't think I've ever seen Seth that way before. Maybe you just need to trust him a bit more," she shrugged.

Later after the show, Sasha packed as much merch as she could into her bag before asking for an extra-large eco bag from one of the staff and packing the rest inside. Her conversation with Charlotte made her overthink a bit, and she was relieved she managed not to see Seth the whole night otherwise she would have been a stuttering mess.

Hurrying over to catering to catch a ride with New Day, she heard his playful voice from behind. "I just gave you an entire box of my merch, and you still won't put me over."

She turned around and laughed a bit, letting him take one of the bags. "You riding with New Day?" he asked her.

"Yeah, I was just on my way to catering."

"Don't. You already have a ride," he said, placing an arm around her shoulder and leading the way towards the parking lot. "You want to eat?" Seth asked as soon as they reached his rental, opening the trunk and placing their bags inside.

"Dinner? I'm still a bit stuffed from catering. How about dessert?"

"Hm, I'm not really feeling it tonight," Seth made a face.

"You're insane. You can never go wrong with dessert."

Seth chuckled. "How about drinks?"

"Okay, but where?"

"There's an Irish pub nearby. We can check it out."

"Sure," Sasha shrugged, though she was a bit nervous—remembering her conversation with Charlotte earlier but pushing it at the very back of her mind.

He drove them to Creegen's Irish Pub, ordering a pint of beer for himself and the usual mojito for Sasha. "So what's the color of your gown for Bayley's wedding?"

Sasha raised an eyebrow. "Uh, eggshell yellow."

"What the hell kind of color is that?"

She fought the urge to snicker. "It's a pale kind of yellow. Why does it matter?"

"So I know what kind of necktie to wear," he shrugged, leaning back to take a long swig.

Sasha smiled—that was actually kind of sweet. The thought of them attending something formal together made her feel extremely giddy, and she couldn't help but blush. Seth always looked devilishly handsome in his suits.

"What are you smiling for?" he asked her, though his eyes had a gleam in them.

"Nothing," Sasha shook her head. "Just excited to see my best friend get married."

"You ever think about getting married?"

"Yeah, in five years maybe. Not right now. Do you?"

"Sometimes," he admitted. "I guess it's all about waiting for the right girl," he glanced at her quickly, coughing a bit. "What about you?"

"I guess you could say the same," she avoided his gaze. "Maybe date around first," she mumbled sheepishly.

For some reason, Seth didn't like hearing those words. He tensed up—jaw clenching as he looked at her curiously. "Are you seeing anyone right now?" he asked all of a sudden.

"What? No!" Sasha shook her head and laughed nervously.

He cocked an eyebrow. "Really? Not even Perkins?"

"What?" Sasha hissed, narrowing her eyes. "What makes you think I'm seeing TJ?"

"I don't know—you tell me," his voice was cold as ice.

"Well, I'm not. TJ is sweet, but—"

"So you like him."

"What?!"

"Just admit it, Banks," he rolled his eyes. "You get all flirty when he's around."

"Where the heck is this coming from, and what the hell is with that attitude?" Sasha glared at him. "You're being so pissy," she told him, using a term he liked to use on her.

"I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"Will you just finish your drink?" he said impatiently, gesturing for a waiter to hand him their bill. When he paid for their orders, Sasha was forced to down the rest of her mojito as she followed him out of the pub with a huff.

The car ride to the hotel was uncomfortably silent, as they snuck furtive glances at one another. Sasha crossed her arms and looked out the window—she was definitely not at fault here. She couldn't even pinpoint where the conversation had gone wrong, before Seth went all hot-headed on her—like he had his period or something. The thought made Sasha snort, as she fought back a giggle.

"What the heck is so funny?" Seth asked defensively, as she glared at him again.

"Nothing," she answered. "Just drive."

"Wow," Seth glared back at her. "Yes, ma'am," he said sarcastically.

When they reached the hotel, Sasha slammed the car door a little too loudly as Seth rolled his eyes and watched her head up without another word, bags slung against her shoulders. He had to admit—he hated seeing her walk away without so much as an acknowledgment.

With a sigh, he headed up to his own hotel room. He let his jealousy get the best of him tonight, and it screwed up a perfectly good evening with Sasha. He'd have to make it up to her somehow.

…

A few days later, at a live show in Binghamton, Seth spotted Sasha alone at catering, reading a book. He sighed and walked over, taking a seat across from her. "Hey," he looked her up and down quickly—she was wearing the Black and Brave leggings he gave her, paired with a white tank top and an I'm A Hugger hoodie. "Still not putting me over, but I'll take it," he said, referring to the leggings she was wearing.

She scoffed at him without looking up, turning a page instead. "What makes you think I'd want to put you over after what you pulled last Monday?"

Seth wanted to groan—he almost forgot how savage Sasha could be. "Look," he started. "I was a real jerk, and I'm sorry."

She looked at him; her features softened a little. "What was up with you the other night?"

Seth hesitated. Did he want to be completely honest with her? A huge part of him wanted to just let it all out—tell her everything he felt about her. But the other part was scared shitless—not knowing where he stood with her. She did say she wanted to date around a bit—and to be honest, it hurt him a little that he might not even be an option for her, though she never said anything about closing her doors on him. Still—if they dated, he didn't want to share her with anyone else. If she would let him have her, he wanted to have all of her—exclusively, and with no other guy in the picture.

"It was just a weird night for me," he told her. "Can we forget about it? How can I make it up to you?"

Sasha shrugged, a little disappointed. It wasn't exactly the answer she was looking for, but she'll take it. For now. She hated fighting with him—hated tossing and turning in bed at the thought of them not talking. "I was supposed to have training with Ashley Horner tomorrow, but her son is sick, so I need someone to take her place," she started. "I've been doing dead lifts lately, and I wanted to take it up a notch at 220."

"Sure. You know I'm you're guy when it comes to that."

"Good. Pick me up at 8?"

"Oh, so I guess I'm the driver, too."

A small smile crept up Sasha's lips, as Seth smirked. "Why don't I throw in free breakfast while you're at it?" he teased.

Her smile broke into a full grin, as Seth's heart skipped. "I like the sound of breakfast," she nodded.

And so they were back to normal—normal in a weird sense that Sasha was no longer being cold or aloof, and Seth kept his temper and jealousy at bay. He picked her up at 8am sharp, before heading towards Gaslamp to start their workout.

Seth watched her carefully as she balanced herself and bent her knees, gripping the metal rod of the heavy weights. She looked so tiny to be carrying a 220, but she was tough, and he would never try to stop her from doing it—unless he had a death wish. But still—seeing her break a sweat and struggle made him a little too overprotective—like he just wanted to pick up the damn thing for her so she wouldn't have to.

After four more reps, he made her do additional workouts to further strengthen her quads and lower back, knowing full well these were her weak areas.

"You good?" he asked when she finished the last set, collapsing on the mat and almost panting.

"Yeah," she said out of breath. "That was such a challenge. Thanks, Seth."

He shrugged. "We should do this more often."

She smiled and agreed, telling him it was a different style from her usual workouts. After breakfast at a waffle house, they drove back to the hotel and grabbed their stuff before heading to the airport to fly to Dayton. Their schedules would be packed for the next two weeks, with live shows all around the country—Seth had invited her if she wanted to be his travel buddy.

"I might need to travel with Bayley sometimes," she told him. "Just so we can finish ironing out the last few details of the wedding."

"Oh," Seth said in a disappointed tone. "Well, whenever you can."

"Sure, I'd love that," she smiled at him, tip-toeing to give him a light kiss on the cheek.

…

To Seth's dismay, he rarely saw her during live shows and only got to catch up with her on Mondays before or after RAW aired. On the occasions that he did see her, he would treat her to their usual milkshake dates, getting her to tell stories about her week, how her mom was doing, or how planning Bayley's wedding was going. His favorite stories, he had to admit, were ones where she would talk about her childhood and all the things she used to do prior to getting signed as a WWE Superstar.

He discovered how much of a mama's girl she really was, that she had a lot of unresolved issues with her biological father (which actually explained a lot), that she often got anxiety attacks after her brother died, and that it was all of these disputes combined that made her such a private person. You couldn't even Google much about her personal life—mostly just her in-ring stints.

There were rare moments she opened up about her past relationships—she'd only dated a couple of guys, and had one serious one, who was a lot older than her—even older than Seth, and she was so blinded that she believed he would be the one person to change everything.

"What happened to that?" Seth asked while sipping on a banana smoothie.

"Well, I found out I was just one of three," Sasha rolled her eyes. "It was so dumb. My heart was so broken, I thought it would be the end of the world," she laughed at how dramatic she had been.

Seth chuckled. "We were all dumb at one point. I think my past two relationships can prove that."

Sasha swallowed. He had never really opened up about his past, though she had an idea. He had a girlfriend from college whom he was with up until he got signed, before cheating on her with an NXT Superstar, ultimately ending his relationship with the former after which he tried to make things work with the latter.

"I haven't seen you with anyone since Zahra," she told him.

"That's because I haven't been with anyone since then."

"You tried to make it work?"

"I did," he nodded. "But the more time I spent with her, the more I realized how different we really were."

"Do you regret leaving Layla?"

"To be honest? I don't," he shook his head. "If anything, it made me realize that instead of growing together, we'd grown apart—and the only reason we've stayed together for so long was because we were each other's firsts. I just tricked myself into believing we still had something in common."

Sasha nodded sympathetically as he continued. "If I could turn back time, the only thing I would have done differently was doing it right and ending things clean with Layla before I got together with Zahra," he shrugged. "But I didn't know any better back then."

...

A couple of weeks later, Royal Rumble aired at the Alamode Dome in San Antonio as Seth psyched himself up for the rumble. He would be coming in at 31 where he would then proceed to eliminate the likes of Chris Jericho, AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose, and eventually be left in the ring with Triple H. It was a feud that they had been building up for a while now—a feud that would spill over until Wrestlemania, where Seth would be put in a triple threat match against Triple H and Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship. Nothing was set in stone yet, but he had been tipped that he would be winning the title then—finally giving him the Wrestlemania moment he wanted so badly to relive.

He paced around the large arena, jumping once in a while and stretching his legs and knees to get rid of the nerves. The weeks leading up to Wrestlemania always got them skittish—it was the biggest event of the year after all. All roads led to that one moment.

Reaching the very back of the arena, he heard familiar sobs coming from a dark corner. "Sash?"

She looked up at him, wiping her eyes and forcing a smile. "Hey, Seth," her voice croaked.

"Nervous about your match?" he walked over and hopped on the production crate she was on, placing an arm on her shoulders and letting her lean on him. They'd be having a separate rumble match for the women, and Sasha was set to go 2nd—she would then have to last until it was down to just her, Bayley, Charlotte and Becky—giving everyone the dream fatal four-way match they had wanted to happen for so long.

"Yeah," she nodded. "Just needed a good cry to get all the nerves out."

Seth placed a kissed on her temple and rubbed her shoulder. "It's alright."

Sasha looked up at him and smiled, as Seth ran his hand through her hair. Without really thinking, he leaned in and placed a soft kiss on her lips. She gasped at first, but eventually let Seth pull her close—hands on either side of her face, making the kiss deeper. She closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of his lips on hers as she kissed back, his beard scratching her chin. They stayed in that position for a while, before the wheels in Sasha's head started turning, causing her to overthink the situation.

She pulled back quickly, eyes wide as she stared at Seth, who looked a little hurt.

"I have to go," she hopped down fast, avoiding his gaze, as she made a move to leave.

"No, wait," Seth grabbed her arm. "Let's talk about this. I think this conversation is way overdue."

"There's nothing to talk about, Seth," Sasha said softly, shaking her head and pulling her arm away. "Can we just get through the night?"

"Okay, but there's no way you're avoiding this."

"That kiss doesn't mean anything, okay?" she said in a hurry, before turning around to run away.