A/N: This story is part of my Lucy Thorne world. You can find the list of stories in the series on my profile page. You should be okay to read this one without reading all of the others, but I do recommend at least reading the story called Clementine before starting this one.

It felt like every muscle in Clementine Rollins' body was aching. Utterly exhausted, she breathed heavily, grateful for every previous second of rest. She was lying flat on her back in the middle of the ring, almost an hour into the Royal Rumble match. Having entered the match at number one, she was now in the final three, having just bundled surprise entrant Becky Lynch over the top rope before collapsing to the canvas.

Several minutes earlier, Clementine had been on the receiving end of an awkwardly delivered powerslam, taking most of the impact on her left shoulder. There had been no dislocation, so there was unlikely to be lasting damage, but right now moving her arm was very painful.

"We're down to three!" The Miz exclaimed on commentary. "And Clementine Rollins is still in there. She entered at number one, almost an hour ago."

"I don't know how Clementine is doing this," Renee said in awe. "Almost everyone who has entered the match has gone after her, yet she's managed to somehow survive. She's already set a record for the longest time spent in a women's royal rumble match. The previous record actually belonged to her mother, Lucy Rollins, who won four years ago from the number five position."

Always booked as the underdog fighting against the odds, Clementine was incredibly popular with the fans. The Royal Rumble marked a year since her first main roster match, and she was yet to win her first Women's Championship, having been screwed out of it several times in various ways when a victory had seemed to be within her grasp. It was for that reason that virtually everyone in the arena was desperate to see a Clementine victory, hoping that it would lead to her getting her hands on some gold at long last.

The other two women left in the match were Sonya Deville and Elena D'Agostino, both heel characters, as if the fans needed any more reason to side with Rollins. As Sonya walked over to Clementine and started to haul her to her feet, boos rained down on the ring as people feared elimination of their favourite.

Once Clementine was standing, looking barely conscious, Sonya hit her with a savage kick to the side of her head – her finishing move. The crowd groaned and booed, realising that was probably the end.

"Clementine gave it everything she had," Graves said as Sonya hauled her back up again, mouthing off at the fans about how she was going to throw Clem over the top rope. "No one could say it wasn't a valiant effort, but it's going to be over…"

He had been talking as Sonya ran towards the ropes, dragging Clementine by the head, but Clem took her by surprise and broke out of Sonya's grasp, reversing the hold and throwing her over the top rope instead, to a tremendous roar of approval from the fans.

"No it's not going to be over!" Renee yelled. "Not yet, anyway! Clementine eliminates Sonya! We're down to two women, and they're both down."

It was true. Clementine had fallen back to the mat, lying on her front, while Elena was slumped with her back propped up against the bottom turnbuckle in a corner on the opposite side of the ring.

A cameraman managed to get a zoomed in shot of Clementine's exhausted face as her eyes focused on Elena.

The shot then changed to show Elena, taking a deep breath as she locked eyes with her opponent.

"It comes down to this," Renee said, hyping it up as the noise from the crowd started to build. They were on their feet in anticipation of the final confrontation. "Clementine Rollins and Elena D'Agostino, who have fought so many times over the past year. They're about to go at it one more time, and the winner will be going to Wrestlemania, having the choice to compete for the either the Raw Women's Championship or the Smackdown Women's Championship."

"I've got to make Elena the favourite," Miz said, backing the heel as usual. "She's much fresher than Clementine, having entered at number twenty five."

"Don't count Clem out," Graves said. "The Diamond in the Rough guaranteed a victory here tonight. She's fought all the way through the match. I don't think she's done all that to fail now."

Slowly, Clementine and Elena got to their feet, meeting each other in the middle of the ring. If it had been two other competitors, they might have exchanged some words before getting the final battle underway. But there was too much water under the bridge between Rollins and D'Agostino. They started swinging hard right hands at each other immediately, with the crowd roaring them on.

"And here we go!" Renee called. "Look at them go! Clementine at Elena going at it one more time! One of them will go to Wrestlemania, the other will fall at the final hurdle!"

The fresher Elena got the upper hand in the exchange of punches, forcing Clementine back into a corner, then knocking her down with one final, stiff shot to the face.

Elena backed off, waiting in the middle of the ring to mount her next offense.

"Elena poised and ready to strike," Miz shouted as Clem used the ropes to pull herself up. She staggered out of the corner, walking right into a hard kick to the stomach. She was then setup in position for a suplex, or, more accurately, Elena's sitout suplex slam finishing move.

"Here is comes!" Graves exclaimed.

Elena hoisted Clem in the air, into a vertical position, but Clem somehow managed to launch herself out of the predicament, landing on her feet behind her rival in an incredible feat of athleticism similar to those displayed by her father for so many years.

Surprised, Elena turned around, right into Clementine's finishing move, a copy of DDP's Diamond Cutter which had the same name as her character's nickname. The crowd exploded as she connected with the move for only the second time in the match.

"The Diamond in the Rough!" Renee screamed. "Clementine hit it!"

Finding a rush of adrenaline from somewhere, Rollins leapt to her feet, dragged Elena up and sent her flying over the top rope.

"She did it!" Graves shouted as the roof almost came off the arena.

"Clementine wins! Clementine wins!" Renee yelled.

"I can't believe it!" Miz added.

Fans could be seen literally jumping around, going out of their minds in wild celebration, while Clem collapsed the mat again, not really needing to sell her exhaustion. Lying there with her eyes closed, she listened to the phenomenal noise in the arena. No stranger to big crowd reactions, even she had never experienced anything like it before. The bell rang, and her music began to play as JoJo announced her as the winner.

Renee said, "Clementine Rollins was the number one entrant, and somehow, some way, she was able to outlast the entire field and win. I've never seen anything like it in my life, and look at these fans! Everyone's standing and applauding, as well they should."

"You said it exactly right, Renee," Graves said. "As well they should. Clem has been a star for a long time in the eyes of the fans, but tonight? She made the big time. Clementine Rollins is going to Wrestlemania!"

"But who will she choose to face?" Miz asked. "She has the right to face either the Smackdown Women's Champion, Andromeda, or will she go for the match I know I'd love to see."

"Oh my, I hadn't even thought about that," Renee cut in. "Lucy Rollins successfully defended the Raw Women's Championship earlier tonight. Could we really see a mother versus daughter match at the grandest stage of them all?"

"That'll be Clementine's decision," Graves said. "Hopefully we'll find out tomorrow night on Raw."

"I've just got confirmation of the match time," Renee said. "Clementine went an hour and one minute tonight. Over and hour in a Royal Rumble match. That's an out of this world performance."

In the ring, Clem was getting to her feet, feeling on top of the world despite how fatigued she was, and how much her shoulder hurt. Tears stung her eyes, taking her by surprise. She hadn't been brought to tears many times in her career, but the tremendous honour she had been given on this night was almost enough to get it done.

The crowd roared her back to her feet. It was an incredibly humbling moment, seeing how much her victory meant to these people who she would never even get to meet. It was one of the things she considered the craziest about the privileged position her job put her in: hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people around the world wanted success for her, even though they didn't know her personally.

Wanting to avoid the terrible stereotype of pointing to the Wrestlemania sign hanging high above the back of the ring, Clem instead stepped through the ropes and climbed to the middle turnbuckle in the corner to deliver her traditional pose, arms raising in the air, hands forming a diamond shape. Looking out at the fans, she saw most of them returning the gesture in kind.

Pyro began to go off on the stage to further celebrate the monumental victory. For about twenty seconds, explosions rocked the arena, with Clem standing there posing, trying to commit every single second of what she was experiencing to memory. Even the best wrestlers didn't get many moments like this in a career, and she knew her first big win would always be extra special when she looked back on it.

When the pyro display ended, Clem knew that she couldn't waste too much time getting to the back. The cameras were to follow her the whole way up the ramp, and with the men's rumble still to come, there wasn't a lot of time to kill in the process.

Clem climbed down from the turnbuckles and walked down the ring steps. The fans with ringside seats were all shouting and stretching their hands out towards her, hoping to be acknowledged. For her, the ability to do small things to acknowledge people for their support was one of the best parts of playing a face character.

She began walking along the side of the ring, touching as many hands as she could without lingering.

"Clem! Clem!" a teenage girl yelled desperately at the top of her voice.

Clementine glanced at her and noticed that she was wearing the latest Clementine Rollins shirts, and was holding out one of the white and dark blue baseball caps with a C on the front - by far Clem's best selling merchandise item. The girl shouted something else that Clem couldn't hear over the music and cheering, brandishing the cap towards her.

"What?" Clem asked her, stopping and taking a step closer.

"Take my cap!" the girl pleaded.

Clem smiled. Everyone who knew anything about her was aware that she wore one of those caps literally all the time, whenever it was socially permissible and physically possible to do so. Wearing a cap wasn't just a signature for her character, it had been something that had made her feel comfortable her entire life. For that reason, this fan was willing to hand over one that she had paid good money for.

"Are you sure?" Clem asked.

"Take it, please!" the girl insisted, making perfectly clear that it would mean the world to her.

"Alright, thanks!" Clem grinned, taking the cap and putting it. She heard another cheer go up; the fans watching on the big screen and loving the gesture. The girl who had given her the cap was in tears by the time she walked away, thinking that there would never be a time when she got used to meaning that much to people.

Clem got a move on, walking up the entrance ramp before turning and giving the diamond pose one more time, with a cameraman standing in front of her to capture it up close.

With that, Clem's music cut and the lights in the arena went off in preparation for the video package prior to the men's rumble. Her part in the show done, she turned and walked through the curtain.

Applause and a standing ovation from everyone in Gorilla greeted her as she came through the curtain. Clem felt humbled yet again. Hunter and Stephanie, the chairman and CEO of WWE, were both there to greet her.

"Congratulations, Clem, you were amazing out there," Hunter said, stepping forward first and offering a hug.

"Thank you," Clem said, accepting his embrace.

Hunter spoke his next words quietly, meaning them only for her. "I know we made you wait a while for a big win, but it was worth it."

"It sure was," she agreed as he released her and stepped back. "That reaction... I don't even know what to say."

Stephanie came forward and offered another hug and more congratulations. With that, it was time for Clem to get out of Gorilla. The first two male entrants for the rumble match were already there, ready to make their entrances in a few moments, and the bosses had to busy themselves with producing the show.

Walking out into the hallway, Clem found the two people she had really been wanting to see waiting for her. Seth and Lucy Rollins, her parents who had adopted her at the age of ten, were both standing there with tears in their eyes. Seth, now only a part time performer at best, wasn't in the rumble, and Lucy was already changed out of her ring attire after her earlier successful title defence.

"Clem!" Seth said, just beating Lucy to the first hug. "Oh my God. I'm so proud of you, sweet pea. You were on another level out there. Congratulations. You deserve this more than I could ever say. I love you."

"Thanks, dad, I love you too," she croaked, holding him as tight as she could despite the fact that it hurt her shoulder to do so.

Seth let her go after a moment, so that Lucy could step forward for her hug.

"Mom, that was something else," Clem gasped as Lucy kissed her on the cheek, then squeezed her every bit as tightly as her dad had done.

"You stole the show, sweetheart," Lucy said, her voice breaking. "We're the proudest parents in the world. I always knew this moment would come. I always knew. I love you so much."

Clem finally burst into tears, which immediately set Lucy and Seth off as he well. He wrapped his arms around them both, making it a group hug. Clem's cap was knocked off in the process, but no one seemed to notice.

Another thing none of them noticed was a WWE photographer capturing the moment, getting pictures that would soon be setting the company's social media on fire.

A minute later, the tearful family moment had passed and the group hug broke up.

"I need to get some ice on my shoulder," Clem said. "I took a nasty landing on it. Nothing serious, but it's painful."

"Alright, let's go and get you checked out," Lucy said. She was glad that in the emotion of her victory, Clem hadn't yet asked any questions about what her Wrestlemania match was going to be. That was going to be a discussion that brought tears for a very different reason.

A/N: I've been getting requests for some time for another story about adult Clementine, so here we go! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter?

Clem got her first big victory! Next time, she's going to learn who she'll be facing at Wrestlemania, as well as another piece of news. Who can guess what that is?