Jay had watched the end of Raquel's match with Bayley Martinez from the production area. Hank hadn't minded a couple of people hanging around as it was the last match of the night.

As Raquel celebrated in the ring, now a Women's Champion for the first time, Jay looked at Zelina, who was standing beside him. She was biting her bottom lip and her eyes looked wet. He hadn't expected to see that kind of emotion from her, but he definitely understood it. He felt a little choked up himself, knowing what the huge win meant to his best friend.

"I'm so proud of her. No one deserves this more than she does," Zelina said. She was biased of course, but so was Jay.

"For sure," he said. "She killed that match, and she'll be a great champion once she had debuted the new character."

"It's a shame Erin couldn't be here right now. She spoke to Raquel and I earlier and said things have to be different at work now. She can't be seen to be favouring certain people over others now that her promotion has been announced. We both totally understand that."

"Yeah," Jay sighed. "It's a shame in some ways. But you know she's here in spirit. Erin adores you and Raquel. That's why she invited you to join us for a private party in our suite tonight. Do you think you'll come?"

"I'd like to. Let's see if Mami is up to it. She's the one who had a long match tonight."

"Good point," Jay said.

Bayley soon arrived backstage. The loser of a match almost always left the ring first, which gave the winner their chance to celebrate. As a former teammate in the Lethal Latinas, and a close friend, Zelina gave her a hug and congratulated her on a great match.

Jay decided that offering congratulations himself was probably the right thing to do. In the past he would have stood there and minded his own business, but now, thanks to Erin helping him to improve his social skills, he could do better than that.

"Great job out there, Bayley. You guys killed it," he said, feeling awkward about talking to someone he barely knew.

"Thanks, Jay," Bayley said tiredly. "You and Kev have got to follow it tomorrow night."

Jay gave a single laugh. "We'll do our best."

Shortly, Raquel came through the curtain. She looked overwhelmed by the biggest moment of her career, and had been crying. But she also looked badass, Jay thought, with the Raw Women's Championship belt over her shoulder. In accordance with tradition, Zelina allowed Bayley to go to Raquel first.

The two women hugged each other, and Raquel said something in Spanish. Gracias was the only word Jay understood, but he could figure out what was being said. He would be saying something similar to Atwater after their match tomorrow – thanking him for losing for him on the biggest stage of them all.

Mami was the only word Jay understood in Bayley's reply, or in what Zelina said when she stepped forward next and hugged her lover. But he started tearing up when Raquel burst into tears, easily picking Zelina up off her feet in a hug and kissing her. Their relationship was so close and so special, Jay knew he would have been jealous if he didn't have one equally as special himself. Thankfully, he had Erin in his life.

When Raquel put Zelina down, it was Jay's turn to step forward. "Thank you for being here," Raquel said, tears still rolling down her cheeks. She gave him one of her special tight hugs.

"Of course. How could I not be?" he said emotionally. "Congratulations, Mami. You were incredible out there, and you deserve this so, so much."

"Thank you. I love you," Raquel said.

"Love you too," he said, and with that the embrace ended. Jay knew that he would get to talk to her more at the little celebration Erin had planned in the suite at the hotel, assuming it happened. For now, Raquel had to take some time to shower, and most importantly to process the most important victory in her career.

"It sucks that I couldn't be there," Erin said to Jay. They were sat closely together on a couch in their suite, expecting the arrival of Raquel and Zelina momentarily, as they had agreed to come. Erin had ordered in beer and champagne, and pizzas were on the way. She had managed to find somewhere that had a vegan option for Zelina. Vegan pizza sounded preposterous to Jay, but he told himself not to judge.

Jay had just told Erin, for the second time, about the moments after Raquel had returned backstage after the show. The more he had thought about it, the more it had affected him. He was so thankful to have such a close friend in his life, something he had never had before, and proud of himself for living up to his end it. At times, he didn't find that easy. But he had never let Raquel down so far. He didn't intend to start.

"I wish you could have been too. But you're doing the right thing by keeping a neutral appearance at work now that you're VP of Creative. God, I'm so proud of you, Erin," he blurted out, suddenly feeling emotional again.

"Thank you, Jay," Erin said, putting an arm around him. "It means so much to me that you said that. And I'm proud of you too. You've grown so much since we've been together. I love you."

"I love you too." He gave her a peck on the lips.

They sat together in contended silence for a minute or so.

"I've watched Raquel's celebration after the match a bunch of times," Erin said. "Gives me chills, you know? It meant so much to her."

"Yeah, it did," Jay said. He knew exactly which part Erin meant. Right after the three count, Raquel had knelt in the ring and punched the mat several times, a gesture that said, 'Finally! Finally I have achieved my dream!'

"Making moments like that happen is going to be the best part of my job. The worst part is going to be the opposite: having people lose matches when a win would have meant that much to them. It's going to be tough, Jay."

"It is going to be tough," he replied, choosing honesty over sugar coating it. "But you know what? You're tough, Erin. You're going to do a brilliant job. I don't doubt that for a moment. Hell, you're already doing a great job. You killed it with Clem's interference in your match. The fans were losing their shit."

"It went well," Erin acknowledged modestly and contentedly.

"You know what just dawned on me?" Jay asked. "I actually feel happier about Raquel's win tonight than my own tomorrow."

"That just shows how much you've grown as a person. I couldn't be prouder of you, I mean that. You've tried very hard, and it is paying off."

"Only because of you always encouraging me and having my back."

"I do my best. But the hard work is all yours," Erin said lovingly.

There was a loud knock on the door.

"That's got to be Raquel's knock," Erin said with a chuckle, getting up to go and open the door. Jay stood to, but waited near the couch, allowing Erin to greet their guests first.

Erin opened the door, and sure enough Raquel entered, followed by Zelina.

"Hey, guys," Erin said happily, hugging Raquel. "Congratulations, Mami. I'm sorry I couldn't see you sooner but you understand why."

"I do," Raquel said as the embrace ended. "Professionally, thank you for the opportunity and the honour of holding the championship. I won't let you down. Personally, thank you for the support. I truly hope our friendship can remain this strong."

"It had better," Erin said with another chuckle, making it clear that nothing would be changing on her end. "Come in and make yourselves at home, guys. There's beer and champagne, and I've got pizzas on the way."

"You're spoiling us," Zelina said, greeting Erin with a hug.

As was often the case when the four of them got together, soon after the pizzas were delivered, they separated into pairs. Erin and Zelina ended up on the couch, gossiping away, while Jay and Raquel sat at the dining table. They chatted while sharing a large double pepperoni pizza. Even on a momentous night like this, Jay was glad that work wasn't what Raquel wanted to talk about. Not WWE work anyway.

"So, I have my second video call meeting this coming week about that TV show I told you about," she said.

"The treasure hunting one?" Jay asked after swallowing a mouthful of pizza.

"That's right," Raquel said with her mouth full. "They want me to do some diving for them. Exploring at considerable depths, in cramped conditions. Anyway, Adam and Britt, they're the people who own the land and are funding the treasure hunt, liked me when we had our first video call. They now want to talk to me about becoming a regular member of the crew, not just doing guest appearances when they need me."

"That's amazing news," Jay said, smiling. "When will you start? And is Hank okay with it?"

"They did say it might not be in the season they're about to start filming, but the next one. That's because they've had some interesting finds elsewhere, and they're not going to be needing any diving this season. But that's fine, it gives me time to give my full attention to working on establishing the new Raquel Victoria Gonzalez character with WWE. As for Hank, he said he wouldn't stand in my way, but I am required to work Raw every Monday."

"Of course," Jay said. "Well, it sounds like you've landed a great opportunity. So many good things are happening for you, Mami. It makes me very happy."

"I'll drink to that," Raquel said with a big smile on her face.

They touched their beer bottles together and drank.

Later, when everyone had eaten their fill of pizza, Zelina got up from the couch. "Right, I want the three of you together for a picture. I've been thinking that this is quite a momentous time for all of you. Mami won her title tonight, Jay will be WWE Champion tomorrow night, and Erin is now Head of Creative. Times like this need to be remembered."

Jay didn't like getting his picture taken, but he actually agreed with Zelina, and it didn't matter that she had gotten Erin's job title wrong. He stood up, as did the others. Erin came and cuddled up to him on his right side. Raquel put an arm around his shoulders from his left side, and they all smiled as Zelina took the photo.

"That's a really nice picture," Zelina said, looking at her phone's screen as she brought it over to show them.

Jay looked at the picture, to his own surprise finding it a rare one of him that he liked. Of course, it did have his two favourite people in it with him.

"Aww," Erin gushed. "I'm going to get that framed. That's going to be one of those pictures you look at years later and say, 'That was a good day.' And things are only going to get better for all of us this year. I just feel it."

Little did Erin know in that moment, life would through her a major curve ball before the year was out.

END OF BOOK ONE

A/N: Thank you to everyone who showed support for this story. It really does mean a lot to me. Some of you figured out early on that this was not a story about wrestling, or about romance. It was a story about personal discovery and growth. I hope you enjoyed travelling that road with Jay?

As you can tell by the ending, I do have ideas for a second book. If you're interested in seeing that, let me know.