The morning after the night before. There were a lot of tired faces in the hotel's restaurant at breakfast. Jay and Erin rarely got room service breakfast these days when they were on the road. Erin liked to be seen by 'her people' and to interact with them outside of the busy, all-business atmosphere backstage on show nights.
Jay noticed the atmosphere change a bit when he and Erin walked in. They both knew it was her presence that caused that to happen. She didn't like it, but nonetheless it was a fact. People took notice when the boss entered the room, and made sure not to bring any negative attention on themselves.
What Erin liked to do was join people while they ate and shoot the breeze. Her theory was that it showed her wrestlers that she didn't consider herself above them, and that she was approachable. Whether it worked or not, Jay wasn't entirely sure.
On this particular occasion, they were a little late coming down. A lot of the tables were full, with wrestlers or other hotel guests. Some people had probably already finished eating and gone about their day. For instance, he couldn't see Raquel and Zelina in the room. He knew they were awake because Raquel had sent him a selfie to show off her nasty black eye and busted lip.
"Let's go sit with Clem," Erin decided, spotting Clementine and her partner Alexa as the only people sitting at a table for four.
"Okay," he agreed. Walking over there, Jay saw that Clem didn't have her customary baseball cap on. Instead, there was a big medical plaster stuck on her forehead, covering the cut just above her hairline from the match the night before. Jay well knew how much of a pain in the ass those kinds of cuts could be, re-opening easily if you weren't careful.
"Mind if we join you?" Erin asked politely when they approached the table.
"Go ahead, boss," Clem said comfortably. Jay imagined Clem genuinely didn't mind. He got on pretty well with her, and he knew she respected Erin. Possibly even liked her, too.
Alexa smiled at them. Jay smiled back. She was a gorgeous little woman. Clem had done very well for herself.
"How are you feeling?" Jay asked Clem as he and Erin sat down.
"Like I was in a car wreck. You?"
"My match was fairly routine. I'm fine. Not surprised you're hurting though. Raquel sent me a selfie. She's seen better days too."
Jay noticed Alexa looking uncomfortable around the subject of what Clem put herself through for her job. Non-wrestlers often found that tough. Meanwhile, Erin had set about her egg on toast breakfast, listening to the conversation.
"That woman is a freaking terminator or something," Clem said, shaking her head in disbelief. "I accidentally kneed her square in the face. Thought I'd knocked her out cold and ruined the match less than halfway through when it connected. Yet she didn't even go down."
Erin chuckled. "That's Raquel. I'm pretty sure she's indestructible."
Alexa seemed to have brightened up a bit now. There was a smile on her face. "Clem's not far behind. Wrestling over an hour, and losing a lot of blood. Don't know how you did that," she added, looking at her lover.
"Right," Erin agreed. "I'm giving you both the rest of the week off after the show tonight. You can go home and rest up."
Somewhat to Jay's surprise, Clem looked relieved.
"Thanks, boss. I need it."
That said as much as anything about how much she was hurting. No doubt Raquel felt just as bad.
"Speaking of tonight, what's next?" Clem went on. "You've kept your cards very close to your chest as to what would happen once I won the championship."
Erin glanced at Alexa while eating some of her food, obviously trying to decide if she was willing to talk creative plans in front of someone who didn't even work for WWE. Jay watched the little moment with interest while eating his bacon and eggs.
"Don't worry about Lexi," Clem said. "Nothing that's said at this table will pass her lips. Right, babe?"
Alexa nodded.
"Alright," Erin decided, considering the word of the two women to be good enough for her. "I'm going to make you and Raquel a team."
"I suspected that," Clem said, looking pleased about the news. She wasn't the only one. Jay had wondered for some time what could happen if those two ladies were put together. On the face of it, the answer was a pretty unbeatable team.
"Great idea," Jay said to Erin. "But will they be babyfaces or heels?"
"Faces. I don't have plans to turn Clem. Don't think it would make sense creatively or commercially. Raquel, on the other hand, I think could use her character freshening up."
Jay chose not to argue the point. Erin made the final decisions, and he wasn't even on the creative team. As a producer, he looked forward to working with Raquel, Clem and the other women on whatever the intended new storyline would be.
"It sounds great to me," Alexa said. "One of the things I've wanted to see is Clem team with someone. It's probably the only thing you've not done?" she asked her girl.
There was a grin on Clem's face. "Never been a tag team champion. Boss, now I know what that little segment you had us shoot last night was about."
Jay was intrigued. "What segment?" he asked, not bothered about who might choose to answer. He drank some coffee, which actually wasn't bad as far as hotel coffee went.
"I can show you. And you, Alexa, if you want to come round."
"Don't leave me out," Clem said. Both she and Alexa got up and came around to stand by Erin, as Jay leaned over to look at her phone.
Erin found the video she wanted, sent to her by one of the WWE's video package editors. This wasn't a video package though, Jay saw when she hit play. Clem appeared, sitting on a metal chair in a locker room, looking exhausted, covered in sweat and dried blood. Beside her was Dr Mikami, who was working on cleaning the blood off Clem's face. The Women's Championship sat on its new owner's lap.
After a few moments, Raquel limped into the shot, also sweaty and bedraggled. Clem got up as quickly as she could manage, perhaps expecting another fight. The title belt fell on the floor.
Instead of sounding aggressive or angry, when Raquel spoke she sounded worn out. Maybe even slightly humbled. "It's over," was all she said. Her tone suggested that she was possibly glad about it.
"You're god damn right it's over," Clem said, sounding equally happy not to go toe to toe with Raquel again.
Raquel offered her hand. Clem took it almost without hesitation, then they pulled each other into a hug, patting each other on the back several times.
When the embrace ended, Raquel bent down and picked up the title belt. She handed it to Clem, then left.
Clementine flopped back down onto the chair and allowed Mikami to go back to work.
"That's respect right there," Clem said tiredly, and the video came to an end.
"My, I look rough there," Clem commented.
"It's great TV though," Alexa said. "Sets up you and Raquel working together perfectly."
"Agreed," Jay said. "When are you going to air that?"
"During the show tonight," Erin said. The gleam in her eyes was one Jay liked. It was the one she got when she was 'cooking', as Clem sometimes described it.
After breakfast, Jay and Erin had parted ways. She had media to do, as was always the case the morning after a pay-per-view. At least she would be fielding positive questions since there had been no major injuries or screw ups on the show, and it had received a positive reaction from the audience.
With hours to kill before needing to head to the arena for that night's show, Jay had sent a text to Raquel to find out what she was doing. She had replied to say that she was resting in her room, and that Zelina had gone out to buy some good quality ice cream, potato chips and pain meds. It was a well-deserved cheat day, apparently. Adding her room number, Raquel had invited him to come up if he wanted to. Now, Jay knocked on the door of room 221.
"It's open, Jay!" Raquel called out from inside.
He entered the room and found it dimly lit. The curtains were closed. He walked further in and discovered that the room had two double beds. One of course hadn't been slept in. Raquel was lying on the other one, dressed but resting.
"Did I wake you?" he asked.
"No. I'm just taking it easy. Feel like I got hit by a bus, in the face. You can take the other bed."
Considering that a good idea, Jay took his shoes off. "Just had breakfast with Clem. She said something similar. Before I lie down, let's see your face. Has it bruised up any more?"
"You tell me." Raquel sat up and even in the dim room Jay could see the bruising and swelling around her eye. Her busted lip was also swollen.
"Sure looks painful. But it's no worse than in the selfie you sent to me," he said sympathetically, recalling Clem's comment about kneeing Raquel square in the face and Raquel not even going down to the mat.
"Surprised I didn't lose a tooth. I have no beef with Clem over it though. It was an accident. She's usually one of the safest to work with."
"What we do isn't ballet," Jay agreed as he got onto the other bed and lay on his back. Raquel also lay back down. They could lie and talk without looking at each other and be perfectly comfortable with it. There was always a relaxed, natural vibe between them which showed the strength of the friendship they had.
"Right. So, I'm going to dose myself up on meds when Z gets back, take it easy as I can today and that should let me get through the show tonight."
"Yeah," Jay said. "Erin's giving you both the rest of the week off after tonight. She said so at breakfast. No doubt she'll let you know later."
"Thank God for that. I need some healing time."
Jay had the distinct impression that other than Zelina he was the only person she would have admitted that to.
"I'm not surprised," he said. "A week off with do wonders for you."
"Yeah. Then I'm back to filming for Florida Treasure Hunters next week. I'm really enjoying it. Wish I could talk to you about it more."
"But you had to sign an NDA," Jay recalled. Raquel, and presumably everyone else on the show, was prohibited from talking about what they had or hadn't found until the show had aired. "The fact you're clearly enjoying it is what matters."
"It's a blast," she assured him.
Jay wasn't sure he would call scuba diving into very confined spaces 'a blast'. But then he wasn't the one choosing to do it. He decided to change the subject.
"I saw the backstage that you and Clem shot last night."
"Yeah? Do you think Erin wants to team us up? That's what Z thinks."
"She's right," Jay said. He would have smiled at her if they hadn't both been lying on their backs, looking at the ceiling.
"Wait, she is? Like, you know that?"
"Erin just told us at breakfast. So act surprised or something later when she tells you, I guess."
Raquel laughed. "I won't let on that you told me. Based on how the backstage went, I guess I'll be turning babyface rather than Clem turning heel."
"Yeah, I think so."
They lay in silence for a while. It was a relaxed silence, the kind friends could share without it feeling awkward. Jay imagined Raquel was thinking about what storylines and matches might come her way once she was teaming with Clem. For his part, he was thinking about something of a more personal nature.
"You know what I really want to do?" he asked.
"No. What?"
"I want to go somewhere with Erin, even if it's just for a day, where we'd just be Jay and Erin. She's always so busy with work, and I get it, she's running WWE. It's impossible not to be busy when you're in charge of a company this big. But it stops us ever being able to get away from it all and spend time together."
"You need to tell her that, Jay. Tell her you want some quality time together and ask her to take a day off or something. If possible, sell her on the idea of taking one personal day a month, maybe? There's no reason why she couldn't, I mean she owns the place. And I'm sure she would enjoy spending the time with you as much as you would with her."
"Right," Jay said thoughtfully. "That makes sense. I'll put some thought into where we could go. Then I'll need to hope she goes for it."
A/N: What do you think of Clementine and Raquel putting their long-term rivalry behind them and ending up becoming a team?
Will Erin agree to take a personal day out of the office to go somewhere with Jay? Where do you think he might suggest taking her?
