"Rebecca…"

The word sent a chill down Becky's spine. She hadn't been called that in a long time, and here, in the WWE Performance Center, hovering over her laptop in the kitchen, that word was filling her ears. Her stomach did a backflip, she knew this day was coming but it still made her heart beat fast in her chest as she turned around.

There he was, in the flesh, wearing the gray Performance Center tshirt and smiling wide. His blue eyes were sparkling.

"Sorry, does everyone call ya Becky now?"

"That's alright," somehow she'd convinced herself this moment wouldn't happen, she was at a loss for words. "Hi Fergal."

"Hi," he grinned and came in for a hug. He felt just like she remembered, his short beard rubbing against her cheek. He pulled away and smiled at her, "It's so good to see you."

"Yeah you too, I mean, they said they signed you. It was all anyone could talk about for weeks."

He blushed as he sat down in the stool next to her. "I uh, I meant to call but, I mean I don't even know if the number I have for you is still good, y'know?"

"No, yeah, probably not. We both lost touch. It happens."

"I jus' feel bad 'bout it."

"It's okay, really. I'm here, you're here."

"You are here," he said with a nervous laugh, "When was the last time we were in the same place?"

"Bray, right? 2006."

"How is that possible?"

"I honestly wish I knew," she shook her head, "it's been…a ride"

"You were always meant to end up here."

"That's not…"

"Yes," he placed a hand on hers, "it is. I am tellin' ya."

She looked down at his hand on hers, the hair on the back of her neck standing up. He lingered a moment too long and then moved off of it, blushing slightly.

"Uh what're you watching?"

"Tape. I debuted like, yesterday."

"Yesterday?"

"Last week."

"Ah." He reached over her and hit the space bar, playing the video

"The entrance is cringey."

"You'll find your voice," he watched it careful. "Wow. This is…really good, Bex. Summer's no joke, I saw her working with Sami this mornin'. You're hangin' with her just fine."

He met her eye and smiled.

"I'm not really feeling the character."

"That's normal here, right?"

"Yeah, fairly."

"They told me I could pick my own name, I don't know how long that'll last."

"What're you thinking?"

He smirked, "Finn Balor. Like the demon king."

"Like Adventure Time?

"Also like Adventure Time," he nodded and laughed. "Do you like it?"

"Yeah…I guess I should get used to calling you Finn."

That made him grin. "And I should get used to calling you Becky."

"Our lives are so weird," she laughed, "but they're behind you 100%, Ferg. I can tell."

"I hope so. Look, I gotta get down to strength training but um, if you ever want to watch tape or… y'know, just let me know."

He started to walk out and her stomach did another backflip. She took a deep breath.

"How about dinner?"

He turned around, a smile creeping onto his face. "Yeah?"

"I'll show you an Orlando hotspot, we'll catch up. It's been a while."

"It has been a while," he smiled slyly. "Tonight?"

"You're on."

XXX

"Finn Balor. That's majestic." Matt Bloom laughed to himself, standing next to Finn doing his squats. They were old friends from Japan, Matt was instrumental in making sure his reel got in front of the COO.

He finished his set, breathing carefully, and placed the barbell down.

"Cut it out, it's cool."

"I'm agreeing! It's a sweet name. Do they know you're riffing off Adventure Time?"

"That's what Becky said, too." He started the next set off reps.

"Becky Lynch? You trained her, right?"

He nodded.

"She's gotten really good, one of the best we've got."

That made him grin. He knew how special she was, he saw it long before most did.

"Total package, good mat work, decent mic work, good looking, charismatic."

Finn put down the barbell again.

"Yeah I mean, last time I saw her she was 19. She's really…grown up."

"You blushing, man?"

"No, I jus', I'm proud of all she's done, y'know?"

"Sure," his eyes narrowed but whatever he wanted to say he kept to himself. "Anyway, Hunter's coming in on Monday to work with you."

"Really?"

"Dude you're the biggest signing they've gotten. He's taken a special interest in making sure you're fast tracked."

"Better be on my best behavior then," he said with a laugh as they walked towards the locker room.

"Just be that badass I know you can be, and don't bring up Legos please?"

"It's endearin'!"

"To me, because I already know how much of a dork you are. Anyway, Saturdays you just do your half day of strength and conditioning and anything else you wanna catch up on. Sara and I are around for if you wanna work on the mat, most people save promo work for Dusty during the week."

"I don' even know what the word half day means."

"Well we close up by 2 or 3, so get used to it. What're you doing tonight? There's a bar down the street that's pretty good if you can take a break from organizing your comic collection."

"How else are ya supposed to find them efficiently," he laughed, "uh but actually I did make plans already. Breakfast tomorrow?"

"Plans?"

"Yeah, plans. There a diner somewhere around here?"

"There's a shitty Ihop."

"I love shitty Ihop."

"I know you do, okay. Sure. 10?"

"Sounds good to me, I'll see you then," he nodded as entered the locker room and Matt went off back to the office.

He wasn't really sure why he didn't just tell Matt that his plans were with Becky. It was just dinner between two old friends, why did it feel like so much of a big deal? Probably because the last time he saw her she was a shy 19 year old with so much potential and big bright eyes that always seemed to be on him. She'd hung back as he cleaned up the gym his last night before leaving for Japan. At that point she was starting to work for European promotions, but still came and trained with them regularly. He could still see her sitting on the apron of their ring with that look in her eye, and leaning in to his lips. He kissed back, despite his better judgment, despite being 25 and always saying he was too old for her, and despite insisting for years that he'd never make a move on her. He kissed back, in a rare moment of impulse. When they pulled apart he almost pulled her back in, but she whispered just needed to know, and wished him luck in Japan. The next day he was on a flight, his lips tingling with the feeling.

XXX

Becky watched the window out of the corner of her eye, applying a lip stick and smacking her lips. She took a deep breath and backed up, looking herself over nervously. The printed romper she'd spent half an hour picking out was loose around her hips and plunged low on her chest. She pulled at it, was it too much? The doorbell rang and she jumped. Too late now. She opened it to Finn standing in snug fitting jeans and a button up shirt, his face turned pink when he saw her.

"Hey, uh, am I dressed okay?"

"Yeah, yeah 'o course."

"I would've thrown on a tie if I knew you were gonna wear...uh, that," he smiled at her.

"Don't be silly, I'm in shorts," she grabbed her handbag from the table next to the door, and for a second thought she saw him eying her up and down.

She directed him to the restaurant, a hip fusion place and they slipped into a corner booth along a long bench. Their knees touched as he slid into the adjacent seat.

"This is cozy," he said with a smile. What he meant was that it felt like a date, which made Becky blush.

"Drinks?"

"Hah, no fake ID this time?"

"Oh shush, I only came out that night because it would draw attention if I hadn't."

"I found out anyway," he laughed with an eye roll.

"And ya weren't that mad that I lied."

"No, I was actually pretty impressed that you worked out I'd ask for proof if you said you were just 16."

"I'm crafty," the waiter came by to take their orders, and she sipped on her water for a moment before bringing the subject back up. "You followed me that night. When they finally caught my fake?"

"Yeah I…couldn't let you walk home alone."

"Everyone else did," she shrugged.

"I wasn't gonna just put you on a bus and go about my night."

"We had a good time."

He broke out in a grin, "We did. I took you to the arcade."

"That was a little on the nose."

"Yeah well, you lied to me for a year."

"And then I kicked your ass in skeeball."

"Alright settle down." He smiled at the waiter as their drinks came.

She leaned over to sip on the straw of her mojito and caught his gaze on the neckline of her romper. If the cleavage was too much, he was enjoying it. He blushed and looked away realizing he'd been caught, and she smirked to herself.

"You aright, Devitt?"

"I uh," he met her eye apologetically and sighed. "You look good Bex. Happy, confident..." he paused, "beautiful."

She ran her fingers through her hair. "I'm not 19 anymore."

"I noticed. And I think," he leaned in close and dropped his voice. "You wore that to make sure I would."

Her cheeks flushed, she had forgotten about how strong his dirty side could be. It sent a shiver down her spine. He'd kept a leash on it around her back then, said it was inappropriate anytime someone made a comment or a joke about her. But occasionally he'd let something slip about a girl he was with or let it out for a heel character, and her whole body would feel it.

"Maybe I did."

He grinned again, but dropped the subject for the time being. They ate their dinner and talked about everything. His time in Japan, her odd jobs throughout the past 8 years. Her debut on NXT, her struggle to find a character, and uncertainty about what being a Diva would mean. His plans for his career with the WWE, how he felt like this was the last chapter of wrestling for him. She gave him the rundown of the locker room at the Performance Center, how'd she'd gotten really close to these three other girls, Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Charlotte.

"We wanna change the game, they're givin' us real time down here. They're expectin' real matches. I jus'…I feel like we're on the verge of somethin', you know?"

"Yeah I know that feelin', and if there's somethin' happening, you'll be a part of it. It's who you are."

"I'm not-"

"You were the only girl to try out for the school. You didn't care, you knew you would have to work twice as hard and you did it every day. I'm tellin' ya Bex, this was your destiny."

Her heart felt heavy in her chest as he held her gaze. He smiled and moved on.

"So is it one of those incestuous locker rooms where e'ryone is hooking up or?"

"Uhh a little but not too bad. There's a few couples, like Carmella and Collin. Sometimes people get a little crazy when we tour,"

"It's always the tours isn't it?"

"It really is."

"Do you…" he blushed as the words came out of his mouth and he shook his head. "You don't have to answer that. It was nosey."

"It's okay. There might've been one." She smiled smugly. "But I've never dated anyone in the company. Honestly dating hasn't really been on my mind since I got here."

"Oh. You were always such a romantic."

"I know, but right now I just wanna focus on my career, not waste it away on another guy. So I…have my fun when I need it," she smirked again, "and don't get wrapped up in the complications."

"That's kinda my style too."

"Oh I remember." She raised her eyebrows.

"Hey," he blushed, "I am not a kid anymore, I'm not that bad. But, y'know, sometimes it's good to fall asleep with someone."

"Mhmm falling asleep, that's what you're after."

He laughed, licking his lips and another chill down up her spine. Their check came and he shooed when she pulled out her wallet.

"It's my treat, you were nice enough to show me 'round."

"You sure?"

"You can get the next one."

"Okay. The next one."

XXX

They pulled up to her yellow condo, and he saw Becky take another one of those deep breaths.

"Do you fancy comin' up? Have a cup of coffee?"

He fixed his eyes on her, his lips parted into a smile. "Yeah, I'd like that."

The condo was small but bright with string lights and lamps around the living room.

"This is cute," he said, following her into the tiny kitchen.

"It's not much but, nothing's promised so I try to save as much as I can."

"You can take a girl out of the indies," he smiled watching her turn on the Keurig and search through the cabinet of k-cups.

"I have regular, french vanilla, decaf or herbal tea, what d'ya want?"

He didn't answer. Instead, he found himself suddenly very close to her, her face and hair in his hands and his lips pressing to hers. It was just as good as he had remembered it, better even. After a moment of shock she kissed back, and with authority. Her lips were soft and he'd never quite forgotten the taste of her mouth against his. They pulled apart and he looked at her for a moment before offering an explanation.

"You shouldn't have to always be the bold one," he whispered.

She kissed him again, her hands behind his head. He tilted his hips forward, pushing her into the cabinets. She would feel him, but he didn't care. A moan, soft and warm, assured him she was on the same train of thought and he rolled his hips against hers. She pushed him into the living room and onto the couch. Her hands were on his collar, and than snuck down lower, unbuttoning the top of his shirt. He returned the favor, pulling her straps down off her shoulders and revealing a black strapless bra underneath. His shirt was completely open and jeans unbuttoned by the time he stopped for a moment.

"Hey, hey hey hey," he said moving her hand from the top of his boxer briefs. "Are you sure about this?"

"Fergal. You know the answer to that," she leaned into another kiss, but he caught her.

"No, I don't. Becky, you don't have to do anythin' for me."

"I'm not doin' it for you. I'm doin' it because I want to. Because I've always wanted to."

He blushed and sighed, her sureness was striking. Part of him had always loved her, if he was being quite honest, which he normally wasn't. But he'd never indulged the thought of wanting her the way he did now. Her hand was around him and he groaned, leaning back on the couch. Even that was self assured, completely confident in what she was after and what her touch would do to him. He blissfully gave her what she wanted.