Hazel

“Holly, I’m not on my deathbed.” I chuckled as Seth’s mom walked into the room carrying a tray of food. “You can relax. I’m fine. I swear.”

She placed the tray down on the coffee table before putting her hands on her hips, shaking her head disappointingly. “I can’t relax. You’ve barely eaten and anytime I take my eyes off of you, you try to disappear off to the gym.”

I leaned back against the couch, shaking my head. “Well how do you think I’m going to stay in shape if I can’t be at the gym? All I’m trying to do is some cardio and leg stuff. It’s not like I can do much with my arm.”

“That’s none of my concern. What I care about is you giving your body some time to heel. I swear getting you and Seth to just sit your butts at home for a few days is impossible.” She scolded. “Where is that boy anyway?”

I shrugged, immediately regretting my decision as pain for through my body. “He had a meeting with his agent earlier. Should be getting back soon.”

“See this is exactly what I mean, you two can’t rest for a single second.” She threw her arms up in defeat before leaving the room to go to the kitchen, muttering something about grandchildren.

I laughed, sitting up with Kevin still on my lap, to take a bite out of the sandwich she made. Her phone went off in the other room and he barked at her as she hurried across the room to grab it.

“Laurie! … Yup, she’s doing better … I was just saying these two can never just be sitting. Every time I turn around she’s trying to do some type of workout… I know! … I know!” She laughed over the phone. “Anyway, the kids are back on the road in a few hours, are you doing anything?… You know a girls trip sounds amazing! … Alright, we’ll talk more about planning it … Of course dear. I’ll tell her to call you. Alright, send kisses to Rob for me. Bye.”

“Was that mom?” I asked, taking another bite.

“Yes ma’am.” She responded, coming back to sit next to me. “She said you weren’t answering your phone.”

“It’s probably charging in the bedroom. You guys taking another trip?”

She nodded, taking a chip off of my plate. “Probably. It’s been a little while since we got away.”

“Should I be concerned with how much time you two spend together?” I cocked a brow jokingly.

She laughed, leaning into me as we sat back on the couch together. “Look, Leighla was a sweet girl but we never got to know her family in all of those years. You came along and your whole family is inviting and full of life. Your mother left me a voicemail the same day she met my son. I remember it word for word.” She chuckled, pausing to reminisce. “She said -‘Holly, you don’t know me but my name is Laurie. My daughter is dating your son and I just had the most wonderful conversation with him. Of course without my daughter because that girl never seems to answer her phone, but anywho, I can’t wait to meet the people who raised such a sweet kid. I have no doubt we’ll get along fabulously’.”

We laughed and I nodded my head in understanding. “Yup sounds just like her. You are basically attached at the hip now. You know, minus the two hour drive.”

“When you get to be our age, you need a friend like that.” Holly smiled as we heard the front door open.

Kevin immediately jumped off my lap, sprinting to see who was at the door.

“Babe, I’m home!” Seth called out, walking down the hallway to the living room. “Hey mom.” He smiled giving both of us a kiss.

The smile didn’t quite reach his eyes and I knew something was bothering him. It had for days now and I couldn’t put my finger on it. Not like I was able to pay much attention. All I could think about was how I wasn’t going to compete at Payback.

“What’s going on?” He asked, dropping down onto the couch.

“Well, our mom’s are planning another trip.” I informed him.

“On our dime?” He laughed, raising a brow.

“Well think of is as a payoff for when we stay home to take care of your children!” She returned, looking at me expectantly.

Seth laughed and I rolled my eyes. “Oh my god Holly, It’s literally like having a second mom when she’s not around! All in due time, we’re not even engaged!”

“That’s what Laurie focuses on whenever we’re over there.” Seth laughed again. “Every chance she gets she points out how we’re not getting any younger.”

“Well you’re 26!” She pointed at me, then at Seth. “And you’re 28! You’re at the perfect age.”

“Yeah but Holly, our careers are literally our whole lives right now. I can’t just retire and have a baby.” I reminded.

“Fine! Fine!” She stood, kissing my forehead then Seth’s. “I’ll get out of here. Laurie and I have a trip to plan.”

—

The Shield’s match at payback went off without a hitch. Despite all the bumps and bruises of a no-holds-barred match with Evolution, the guys beat their asses and we’d managed to finally pull away from the arena to have a little night out. Seth would usually put in the effort to pick a nice low key place to grab drinks and a bite. Tonight he’d picked a rooftop bar overlooking the water. He’d thrown on a pair of dark jeans and a Killswitch Engage black t-shirt before helping me get dressed in torn skinny jeans and a crop top. Like a gentleman, he helped me adjust my sling and the two of us were out for the night.

“For the record, I think we’d have adorable kids.” Seth said across the candlelit high table.

I smiled, taking my eyes away from the lights reflecting across the water and nodded. “I know for a fact we would. Y’know as long as they weren’t as hairy as you.”

He laughed, pointing a finger at me as he took a swig of his beer. “Don’t act all high and mighty. I could knit a sweater with the amount of hair you leave in the drain.”

“Awh, I didn’t know you knew how to knit!” I teased, trying to hold back a laugh. “I love learning new things about you.”

“Shut up.” He laughed. “Would it really be so bad to have kids right now?”

The question caught me off guard. We’d been dodging our parents questions for a while, I didn’t know he had been considering it.

“No?” I replied taking a pull of my beer. “It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world but it’s just not where we’re at on our lives yet. I’m only 26. I’ve only been on the main roster for a little over 2 years. I can’t just retire now to have kids. When we decide to, I’ll need to quit wrestling and prep my body. It’s a whole thing with vitamins, the workouts have to change, tracking ovulation…”

“So you have looked into it.” He laughed, dipping a tortilla chip in guacamole.

“Well of course I have, I’m a woman! I’ve also thought how amazing you’d be as a dad.”

“Or you as a mom.” He smiled lovingly at me, wrapping an arm around my waist to kiss me.

“You love me?” I asked, leaning into him as we kissed.

“With every fiber of my being, baby.” He replied, pulling away to look into my eyes.

I could see that he meant it. The love behind his chocolate gaze was eminent and genuine. It brought a blush to my cheeks seeing something that pure all for me.

“I love you and when the time is right, we’ll have it all. The careers, the house, the kids, the marriage…” I wiggled my ring finger for him to take the hint.

He chuckled and nodded. “like you said, when the time is right.”

---

Seth

What was wrong with me? Why did I keep taking these meetings with Hunter?

I could answer that. It was because he was my childhood idol. I’d dreamed of working with him long before I even started wrestling. I’d watch the man on tv and I’d act out his matches with friends in my living room.

None of that changed the fact that he was a piece of shit and an enemy of the shield. Not just the shield, my girl too.

I turned my head to see her fast asleep beside me. One arm thrown lazily above her head. Her injured arm laying across her stomach. As much as I loved when she slept naked, seeing her in one of my t-shirts was just as good.

She would hate me if she found out I’d been meeting with the Authority. After all, her beef with them is what got us started to begin with.

Maybe if I could just convince her that they weren’t that bad. She’d always had my back in and out of the ring, maybe she’d be open to amends.

I didn’t make get this far – try this hard – just for my career to plateau with the Shield. I loved my brothers but I wanted everyone to know my name.

Hazel groaned as she tried to turn over but was stopped by the pain. The poor thing had been trying to work so hard to recover in time for her match with Charlotte next week. We knew for a fact that her shoulder would be the main target and her trainer was trying to work with her for counters, regardless of the doctor’s orders to rest. But this was going to be a tough one. I’d seen her work hard before, but never as much as this past week.

She moaned again and woke up, sitting on the edge of the bed holding her shoulder. A long sigh escaped her lips. It was that of disappointment. Disappointment in her body for not acting the way she’d like. She was harder on herself than anyone could ever be.

Without even noticing I was awake, she got up slowly, making her way out of the room. My heart ached seeing her struggle like this. I was helpless to help her with her pain, but I could help her with the match. I could talk Stephanie and Hunter into stopping these constant title matches. With all the shit they were promising, maybe this could be part of the conversation.

I walked out to the hallway looking for her only to find her in the kitchen. She had her back towards me, sitting on the kitchen island. A glass of water sat next to her and she had an icepack on her shoulder, her head hung low. She looked so small and vulnerable.

“I only have 7 more days until my match with Charlotte.” She said, not looking back at me..

“I know.” I replied, coming around the counter to stand in front of her.

She lifted her eyes off the ground to look up into mine. “I don’t know how I’ll be able to pull this one off.”

“You’ll pull through like you always do, baby.” I said, running my hand up her thighs to wrap them around her.

She rested her head on my shoulder and I breathed in the sent of her freshly washed hair. I could hold her like this forever.

“Have you thought about talking things out with Stephanie?” I asked, pulling away slowly to look at her reaction.

Her face contorted into confusion and partial anger at the audacity of the question. “I would rather go through a million injuries and be unable to perform than apologize to her. I did not get this far to be someone’s puppet.”

Well, that answer went exactly as I expected and the opposite of what I’d hoped.

—

With only a few minutes until our match, I met up with Dean and Roman. Roman had a match with Orton but the two again were in some stupid argument that would undoubtedly get in the way of the match tonight.

“This again? Come on man, we need to focus on the match. We already lost our tag team titles. Last night was a huge win but you two need to get your shit together.”

They turned to look at me and Dean scoffed. “We need to get our shit together? All you’ve been focusing on its fucking press. That’s all you care about nowadays.”

“Press is what keeps people coming to our shows. The more people that come for us, the better opportunities we get in the company. The better the opportunities the more money. Its that simple.” I defended.

These idiots didn’t get it. They didn’t get how any of this worked.

“Whatever. Let’s just get out there.” Roman interjected.

We followed him into the back hallway, waiting for cue before walking down to the ring with Roman. The man was deathly calm for his match with Orton, climbing into the ring after Dean and I.

Dean grabbed the microphone, facing towards the camera to address the crowd. “How do we look?” He asked the crowd. “We feel great. Bruised beaten up. For sure. Last night, we faced our biggest challenge to date. A no holds barred elimination match against Evolution. When that napalm settled we did exactly what we said we were going to do. A clean sweep. We eliminated every single member of Evolution without suffering a single casualty. Now that is what I call domination.”

The crowd cheered and I stepped forward with a mic. “Adapt or perish that was the whole deal right? Last night at payback. The Shield adapted while Evolution perished. Earlier tonight that whole world was a witness to their implosion. And the reason Evolution perished is because even though they are three of the greatest superstars in WWE history, last night they were not one like the Shield. In the end, they were just three strangers who happened to be standing on the same side of the ring.”

“Like brothers.” Roman began. “The men standing in this ring are brothers. This is Evolution.” He said with an open hand, then closed it tightly into a fist “This is the shield. So Randy Orton bring your ass out here and let me break your jaw with the symbol of excellence.” He said throwing the microphone behind him.

Randy’s intro music began to play and we all turned towards the entrance. Triple H had decided to accompany him, sledgehammer in hand as the two walked. After last night’s no holds barred match, it was clear they wanted to continue things that way. I dodged out of the ring, grabbing two chairs before climbing back in holding one in hand.

Then I stopped, taking a look at the men I called my brothers and the man who held my entire future in his hands and I knew I had a choice to make. I could go down with the men I called my brothers, or I could rise up aside my hero. Triple H looked me in the eye and I saw opportunity behind them as he approached the ring with Orton.

“In case you haven’t figured it out yet. What I do better than anybody is adapt. Last night was plan A. Tonight is plan B.” He said, looking at his sledgehammer before looking at me again. “There’s always a plan B.”

This was it. We’d talked and talked for weeks but he wanted me to prove myself right here. Right now.

Roman and Dean stepped forward, shouting at them to get in the ring and I knew what I had to do. It was all going to change at this very moment. Lifting one of the steel chairs, I stepped forward hitting Roman as hard as I could in the back, knocking him out into the ropes.

Dean couldn’t believe his eyes as he looked at Roman than at me, wrapping his mind around what just happened. He charged towards me and I hit him in the stomach with the chair before hitting him upside the head to knock him down as well. Suddenly I couldn’t control myself, hitting him and Roman both over and over.

With every hit I was solidifying my independence. With every hit, I could see my future Hunter had promised more and more clearly. The crowd would chant my name. I would hold titles. My own merchandise. When they look back in the history books, they’re going to remember the name Seth Rollins.