The video package was beautifully done.Fit for an incoming Hall of Famer.

While he'd learned about the big announcement of Dave and Selena's upcoming induction forty-eight hours before during a quick lunch break, the sound of Michael Cole shouting the name of Selena Sky still shocked Randy Orton away from what he was doing, which was lacing his boots. He was already dressed in his ring gear, in his standard black trunks with a sleeveless, unzipped RKO hoodie. Stormy slate eyes snapped to the flat screen TV on the wall across the room, where Xavier Woods and several others were hooting and hollering at the sight of Selena Sky on WWE TV for the first time in over a decade.

There were eyes on him. It took Randy a few moments to register there were some people staring. Even through the shining lenses of his expensive sunglasses, LA Knight's gaze seemed to burn every exposed patch of Randy's skin.

He didn't acknowledge anyone. Instead, he kept his eyes on the TV.

Set to La Roux'sBulletproof— a perfect fit, he begrudgingly admitted — Randy watched, expressionless. Once again the WWE video production team had knocked it out of the park, the crew putting together an incredible showcase of Selena Sky's WWE career.

Trish Stratus was the first colleague to offer words during the piece, joking about how she'd earned her paycheck every time they'd stood in the ring across from one another. Tegan Nox followed after, happily telling the cameras about how much she'd loved Selena growing up. She told the cameras that she'd been inspired by Selena's devotion to doing the right thing, no matter the cost. Randy had snorted at that; he supposed that was one way of interpreting things. It took Randy a moment to realize that he'd audibly — and quite bitterly — reacted. Aware of new eyes on him, Randy shook his head, and said nothing. Nobody else did, either.

Never let them know what you're thinking.

That was the first lesson Triple H had taught him, back when Randy was a punk kid, when he was new to the business and trying to make a name for himself outside of his father's shadow. It was a lesson that served him well in his two decades-plus career. He wasn't sure how far it was going to get him in this developing situation.

Natalya was on the video, too, because of course she was. She was there to tell everyone that Selena's name belonged in the conversation of great Canadian wrestlers. They'd had good chemistry when they'd wrestled each other, Natalya divulged, and she said she wished they'd had a chance to work together more than they had.

Shane McMahon was there, too. The sight of him made Randy's nostrils flare and his eyes narrow. Of course he'd be there, smiling as he put over Selena's fearlessness and tenacity, his words laid over what was arguably Selena's most famous moment — the night she'd fallen off the top of the cage to become the first-everSmackDownWomen's Champion in July 2004. She'd defeated Rio in the finals of a tournament to win. Randy remembered that whole thing vividly; Rio had used every McMahon and Evolution-backed resource she had to buy her way into the finals of theSmackDowntournament, despite being aRawDiva. The odds had been stacked high against Selena, but she'd managed to prevail in the end. For her valiant efforts, Selena had spent her first night as champion in the hospital.

Speaking of Rio, even Selena's ex-best friend-turned mortal enemy had come through for the vignette. Her presence surprised Randy, since it looked like a recent interview. He supposed it made sense, only because Rio Batista had never met a camera that she didn't like. To Randy's surprise, Rio praised Selena's work ethic. The two women had come into the company together, two Canadian girls chasing a big American dream. Rio admitted that the dream had been Selena's first, and it had started young, back in her childhood when she'd been watching wrestling with her long-departed father.

Then, there it was. The moment he'd been dreading.

Footage of himself and Selena together, in their youth, in both more stressful and happier times. Randy wasn't at all surprised to see himself there, but he was surprised that nobody asked him to interview for this. The two of them had entered the company during the same time period, and it hadn't been long after that when they'd found themselves ensnared in each other's webs. Their bond only finally broke after the accident.

He was surprised to find himself wrestling with mixed feelings. Part of him was relieved that he hadn't been asked to say anything, but another side was mystified and a little offended that he'd been left out. They didn't even use archived interviews. Sure, they hadn't parted on the best of terms, but did the office really think he'd have nothing nice to say about her? Especially inthiscase?

He wondered if that was by Selena or Shane's — or both — request.

Piper Niven gushed about Randy Orton and Selena Sky, the couple. Bayley and Shotzi reminisced on what a great pair they'd been, bringing balance to each other somehow. Xavier Woods said he still "shipped it", whatever the hell that meant. Randy certainly wasn't about to ask.

There was a brief mention of the car accident, along with a photograph of the wreckage. Randy winced. It dawned on him that he'd never seen the car, and looking at it now, he wondered how she'd survived. The video package concluded, and the locker room was predictably quiet. The absence of a Randy Orton sound-bite wasn't lost on anybody in the room, Randy included. His silence spoke volumes, and Randy knew that people were going to have questions that he had no answers to.

He had questions, too. He also couldn't make heads or tails of what he felt. This Hall of Fame stunt had Shane McMahon's fingerprints all over it. Randy wondered just what kind of power play Shane had pulled with Hunter and the office to secure her the nomination this year.

Not that he thought she didn't deserve to go in. She did. But almost fourteen years will have passed by the time of her induction. Why now? Why not then, after the accident, when she was both retired and healed? Why not Rio this year, since her husband was the one headlining the class?

It was mystifying. In the years that had passed since the car accident that claimed her career, Selena had never once stepped foot inside another wrestling show from what he'd heard. Not to take in a match, or to see up and coming talent or old friends. After her career had been abruptly taken from her, Selena Sky had pulled off the one thing Randy never thought she could do — she'd made a clean break fromeverythingrelated to wrestling, an obsession she'd held since childhood.

Life had been such a strange, complicated journey for Randy in the years since he'd pulled the plug on their relationship. By his design they'd never kept in touch, so he honestly had no idea what her post-wrestling life looked like. Two months after he'd broken things off with her, he'd quickly gotten married to Ex-Wife Number One, eager to move on and put Selena in his rearview mirror. Within a couple years, that marriage had imploded spectacularly. That had been his fault entirely. It was only with the benefit of hindsight that he understood he'd still had a lot of growing up to do back then; hell, given that he was currently going through divorce number three, he guessed he still had more growing to do.

Whenever a marriage collapsed, he'd find himself wondering about her, about what she was doing. Sometimes he'd try to look her up online, but he'd find himself down a rabbit hole to nowhere. It was almost like magic, the way she'd disappeared into thin air.

In recent years, curiosity ate away at him. As retired wrestlers began emerging into the Internet sphere with podcasts, YouTube channels, and Twitch streams, Randy had been surprised to find Selena wasn't among them. There were no social media accounts, no Facebook, Instagram, or even Twitter. Her IMDB page was empty, save for her WWE appearances. There were no TV or movie credits, not even small Canadian projects.

Sometimes he got direct messages from people claiming to be her. He knew that was about to increase. Those were always irritating, but he was always able to burst their bubbles quickly.

Besides…after everything, Randy couldn't ever see Selena reaching out to him.

Time and a parade of beautiful women helped him think of her less and less, but as hard as he tried, Selena Sky never fully disappeared from his mind the way that he'd wanted her to.

And now she was coming back.

Selena Sky, WWE Hall of Famer.

Christ.

Randy wondered when Shane had picked up the ability to move Heaven and Earth. He knew that was what it had to take to talk Selena into coming back. Because she was going to step back into the WWE fold within the next few months. In spite of the separation she'd created between herself and the business she'd loved so much, Randy knew that there was no way in Hell that Selena wasn't going to come and get her Hall of Fame ring and plaque in person.

Shane and Selena were still clearly thick as thieves after all these years. The thought of that filled him with an all-too-familiar surge of anger. All these years later, and Shane was still guarding her like some kind of state secret from everyone. From him. And for what?

After their split, Randy had waited. He'd waited through Shane's seven year absence, and his return. Randy had expected some kind of scandal involving Shane and Selena to rock the front office, but to his surprise, nothing ever came to pass. Business moved along like it always had, with the notable exception that Selena was no longer there.

As deeply as he believed in the two of them having a romantic relationship, Randy could never prove it.

He took a breath. He wasn't rattled by this. Not at all. After all, he was The Viper, and vipers don't get rattled. Selena Sky had been gone a long time now, and at this point, they'd been apart longer than they'd been together. A whole lifetime had passed between them, he reasoned. Selena had more than likely moved on, like he had. He bet she went back to Canada and was currently tied down to an average husband with a few kids. He was sure he'd see them at the ceremony.

Rising, he left the locker room without a word, ignoring the eyes on him. The room was so quiet he was sure he could have heard a pin drop. Randy inwardly shuddered at the shrill shouts of Corey Graves and Kevin Patrick behind him. They were sitting behind their desk at ringside gushing and raving about Selena Sky's imminent return.

He needed to get away.

Stepping into the hall, Randy reared back when he nearly careened into backstage interviewer Cathy Kelley, dressed in a vinyl periwinkle dress that fit her body like a second skin, the deep V-neckline exposing a fair amount of cleavage. Her dark brown hair was piled high on her head in an elegant up-do, her makeup dramatic and nude. She flashed him a million-dollar smile while he inwardly groaned at the sight of the WWE microphone in her hand and the cameraman standing behind her.

"Randy, a quick word," she greeted. His eyes narrowed. Had she been lying in wait for him? What the hell was he talking about — of course she was! It was her job, to lie in wait and spring questions on the annoyed and exhausted.

"What do you want, Cathy?" he asked gruffly, crossing his gigantic arms over his chest as he shifted his weight onto his left foot.

"I'm sure you just heard the blockbuster announcement with the rest of the WWE Universe that Selena Sky is finally taking her place in the WWE Hall of Fame." Randy nodded. He kept his gaze on the floor, on a black spot in the concrete about an inch from his boot. He didn't want to meet Cathy's gaze. She didn't seem to notice; instead, she continued. "It's no secret that you and Selena have a long, storied history. The two of you were together for the majority of her time here. I just wanted to get your thoughts on this big news."

She wouldn't be asking if I'd been able to speak in the video.

There was a long beat of silence between them. Cathy's smile never faltered, her gaze never wavered. Part of Randy wanted to turn and walk away without saying a word, to ignore all of this until he could make sense of the weird cyclone of emotions swirling inside his head.

But he knew doing anything other than answering her questions would invite more questions and attention that he didn't want to deal with. To ignore her would be disastrous, would make things more awkward.

"It's well-deserved and it's overdue," Randy told her honestly. "If you'll excuse me, I need to go and get ready for my match with Jimmy Uso."

"Of course. Best of luck in your match tonight."

Randy said nothing else. He just wanted to get the hell out of there and find a space of his own to take a deep breath. Turning, he walked away, only half-hearing Cathy send the camera feed back to the commentary team at ringside.

He honestly had no idea where he was headed. There was still plenty of time to kill before his match. But he'd needed to get out of the locker room, away from curious eyes and nosy colleagues. He needed to take stock of whatever situation was impending.

Because this was a Situation. Their inevitable reunion was going to meet the definition of a Situation.

His search for solitude led him through the catering area. He came to a stop at a side table to grab himself a bottle of water. Randy had been so deep in thought about things that he didn't hear anybody approach until it was too late.

"Hey."

Turning his head, Randy found Bayley standing beside him. She'd recently declared for the Women's Royal Rumble match, something Randy knew had to be bothering her Damage Ctrl teammate, SmackDown Women's Champion Iyo Sky.

"Hey," he returned with a nod. He'd hoped to just take his water and leave, but Bayley took his acknowledgment as a sign to continue their conversation.

"Did you see that video package for Selena?"

"I did."

"It was incredible, wasn't it?"

"Yeah. We really do have the best video team in the business."

Quiet fell between them. Thick, uncomfortable silence. Randy was about to shrug and leave, but Bayley broke the silence by asking him what everyone else was thinking.

"…So…you really didn't want to say anything for it?"

Randy shrugged. "Wasn't asked."

"Really?" Bayley couldn't keep herself from sounding incredulous. Her brown eyes narrowed in suspicion, her arms crossing over her chest. Randy nodded. Cocking her head, Bayley's face crinkled. "That's crazy. Feels like kind of a big oversight, don't you think?"

"I don't get paid to think," Randy quipped. Bayley opened her mouth to respond but Randy cut her off with a shrug. "It's fine. They didn't need me anyway. Video turned out great. Rio was a crazy twist, but a nice touch." He held up the bottle of water in front of her face. "Nice chatting with you, but I need to go get ready."

Defeated, Bayley nodded. "Yeah, sure. Good luck out there tonight."

Randy grinned. "I'm not the one who's gonna need it."

Bayley nodded. Randy left, inwardly cringing at their talk. He couldn't help but feel like Pandora's Box was opening, and that was the last thing he wanted.

Randy made a mental note to punch Hunter when he saw him.

"A heads up would have been nice. Dick."

Yeah, he and Selena had split up a long, long time ago. But somehow, for whatever reason, it felt wrong to Randy that he was finding this out with everyone else. Randy knew he had no real right to know, that nobody needed his opinion or permission to induct her or include her. But everyone was looking at him oddly now, and he didn't like it.

And he knew things were going to get worse.

Randy thought about cornering Hunter before his match, but he knew the guy had been busier than usual since taking things over from Vince. Randy figured he could try and wait until before the show ended next week, when the shock of the announcement wore off and the excitement inside the locker room had ebbed.

Or he could hunt him down after the show. Either way, Randy knew he was going to have to wait for some kind of explanation, which he wasn't all that enthused about .Huffing in frustration, Randy unscrewed the cap from his water bottle and drank half of it in a single gulp.

After the way things ended between them, Randy knew he'd be the last person she'd want to see or to induct her. Would he want to if he were asked? He wasn't sure. He supposed he was lucky he didn't have to waste a lot of time wondering what he was going to do, because he wasn't in the running. It didn't stop his mind from asking what if and engaging in stupid fantasy, but Randy was realistic enough to know that she wasn't going to ask.

If he had to guess, she'd already asked Shane. She asked him to do everything with her, Randy's feelings be damned.

He needed to push all of this from his brain, needed to push all the hard and complicated feelings from the past back down. Jimmy Uso was no slouch in the ring, and that's before having the Bloodline in his corner. Randy knew he needed to go out to the ring with his A-game equipped if he had any intentions on walking out.

Once he found a quiet corner to stretch and reflect to himself, Randy let himself lean against the wall and he took a deep breath before he finished the bottle of water. The next few months were going to be an exercise in mental torture, he knew.

Even with everything between them, Randy still looked back on their time together with a weird sense of fondness and wistfulness. In the early days, he and Selena had been just about every trope in the weird romance novel that had been their lives during the Ruthless Aggression era. Star-crossed. Forbidden fruit. Those days had been exhilarating and exhausting in equal measure, but Randy only grew to know that in hindsight.

Back then, he would have done anything for Selena. Being with her in those days felt like walking a tight rope with no safety net.

He missed those feelings.

As hard as he's tried in the years since, he could never seem to find those feelings again.