A/N: After seeing the recent Twitter antics with Seth, Bayley and Sasha, I just knew that Seth/Bayley fanfiction had to be a thing, so I decided that I had to write it myself!

Please note that characters will be referred to by their in-ring names as much as possible.

I wanted to title this story Authority 2.0, but that's not a valid title on FFNet for some reason. Sigh.

Standing on the stage, looking down towards the ring, Hunter Helmsley wasn't looking forward to what he was about to do at all. This wasn't the first time that one of his NXT stars - that was how he thought of them - had been called up to the main roster, only to be used in a way that Hunter wasn't particularly keen on. If he didn't know better, he might have thought that Vince McMahon was deliberately trying to make NXT stars look weak and unsuccessful when they made the step up. That wasn't going to happen this time though, Hunter was determined about that. Bayley had been left in NXT for a long time, supposedly waiting until the time was right. Now, after only a month on the main roster, Vince had decided that he wanted to throw drastic changes her way.

While the new plan that the Chairman had decided on definitely did have its positives, Hunter had immediately known that Bayley was going to be upset when she was told what was expected of her, which was why he had insisted that he had to be the one to break the news to her. She was one of his, so to speak, and he wanted nothing but success for her. What he had to do was explain to her that she could turn what would at first seem like a very negative step for her character and career into a positive, if she worked hard enough at it. After all, it was hard work that had gotten her this far in the business, which was why both Hunter and the fans liked her so much.

Wanting to put it off no longer, he walked down the ramp towards the ring. Bayley, Nia Jax and Alicia Fox were in the ring, helping each other with some light practicing. When he caught Bayley's eye, Hunter gestured towards the side of ring with his head, clearly asking her to join him for a quick chat. It hurt him somewhat to see the familiar eager smile on her face as she walked over towards the ropes, knowing that he was about to make it disappear. No one had ever said that being responsible for talent relations was supposed to be an easy job, and for good reason.

"Hey, Hunter," Bayley said enthusiastically as she climbed through the ropes and sat down on the ring apron. "Everything okay?"

Hunter took a seat on the apron beside her, which was the first indication Bayley got that he had something serious to say to her. "I've got some good news and some bad news for you, Bayley."

"Really?" she asked a little wearily. "I'll take the good news first then."

"Okay," Hunter said with as much of a smile as he could muster. "We just got out of a creative meeting. Long story short, Vince wants to change things up in the Raw Women's Division. You're going over Charlotte for the title tonight."

"I'm what?" Bayley exclaimed, totally stunned by the announcement. Emotions started to hit her thick and fast; excitement, delight, and most of all gratitude. She was only in this position because of the man sitting beside her, the man who had supported her so much since day one when she had signed for WWE. Just hearing him say that she was going to win the title brought tears to her eyes, much as she would have willed them away if she could. "Thank you, Hunter. I don't know what to say." She wiped at her eyes, not wanting to let the tears make it as far as running down her cheeks.

"There's still the bad news," Hunter reminded her gently.

"What's that?" she asked, figuring that whatever it was couldn't be all that bad, especially not when she was going to win the title.

Hunter couldn't help sighing as he said it. "We need you to turn heel."

Hearing that hit Bayley like a lightning bolt, or maybe like a knife viciously stabbing her in the heart. The fan loving, child friendly character that she had been given on NXT was her favourite part of the job. It was literally perfect for her and fitted in so well with her own personality. She was easily able to live her gimmick, and thoroughly enjoyed doing so. Nothing felt better than seeing all the kids wearing their Bayley merchandise, having the time of their lives as she made her entrance, or even more so if they actually had the chance to meet her in person. There was no better feeling than being able to give those kids such joy and excitement. And now she was being asked to do the opposite; to renounce that character, to turn on the fans, to no longer be the kid's favourite. It was awful. It was heartbreaking. Given the choice - not that she expected for a second that she might be given the choice, Vince McMahon didn't work that way - she would have rather not won the title if it meant keeping her gimmick. That was how much it meant to her.

"Oh Hunter," was all she could say before a lump formed in her throat.

"I know," Hunter said, putting a comforting arm around her. "Believe me, I fought your corner on this, but Vince was insistent. He's decided that Charlotte's heel run is getting stale, which is a fair point to be honest, and that he wants a new top heel in the division."

"But why me?" Bayley had to ask. This time she couldn't stop the tears, nor did she try to. These were very different tears. "Sasha plays a great heel."

Seeing her upset was hard for Hunter, even though he had known for sure that it would happen. Harder still was the fact that he couldn't tell her that he would go away and have a rethink on it, it wasn't his idea to rethink. What he had to do was get her to accept the reality of it and then go on and own it as he knew she could, and almost certainly would. "It's not going to be Sasha, it's you, Bayley," he told her, managing to make the statement both definitive and sympathetic at the same time.

Looking him in the eye proved to be too much for Bayley. She could tell that her mentor didn't want to be passing on this news any more than she wanted to receive it, so there was absolutely no point in giving him a hard time over it, not that it was in her nature to do so anyway. There were people in the locker room who were ready and willing to kick up a fuss over their creative if they didn't like it, but she was not one of them. Plus there was the fact that she was new to the main roster. If Vince got the idea that she was awkward to work with, she would be heading down the road to burial before she even got started. As awful as the idea of a heel turn was, she had no choice in the matter. Even that realisation didn't make it feel any better. "What have I got to do?" she mumbled, looking down at her lap, focusing on nothing.

"You're joining The Authority," Hunter revealed. That was the first part of it at least.

"Corporate sellout, like Rollins," she mumbled, without any of her customary enthusiasm.

"Actually with Rollins," Hunter corrected her. The Summerslam pay-per-view had taken place the previous night, with the main event being Seth Rollins against Finn Balor for the new WWE Universal Championship. Hunter's character had returned at the end of that match, costing Finn the match and effectively handing the title to Rollins. It was the opposite of what most of the fans had been expecting; rumors of a Triple H - Rollins rivalry had been swirling for some time, even before Seth's knee injury had ruled him out for six months. "The idea is that The Authority is being reformed properly for the first time since Seth got injured, only this time we're going to have the Universal Champion and the Women's Champion in our pockets."

The wrestling fan in Bayley wouldn't allow her not to be interesting in the idea. In any event, this was going to be what happened so she had to be smart enough to listen to what was going to be required of her. "That makes sense for The Authority. It makes sense for Seth too, that's been his character for a long time, but why does it make sense for Bayley to sell out? I don't get it."

That was part two of Vince's idea, and Hunter had to admit that he had no idea how she was going to take it. "The deal is, you're in a relationship with Seth. An on-screen relationship, I mean. That's part of what we're going to shock the fans with tonight. In due course it'll be revealed that you and Seth have been seeing each other for some time and you hatched the idea together of selling out to Triple H and Stephanie so that you could get the two top titles for yourselves."

"Wow," Bayley said, shaking her head. "People sure will hate us. From Vince's point of view I'm sure that's great, but what am I supposed to do, Hunter? I've literally lived this gimmick for so long that it's a part of me now. What am I supposed to do when I see kids wearing my stuff? What am I supposed to do when I meet kids and they want the 'old' Bayley back?"

"It will be hard," Hunter said, giving her shoulder a squeeze. "There's no doubt about that. I need to ask you if you have a problem working a relationship angle with Seth. It will inevitably involve hugging him, kissing him."

That part of the new idea didn't concern Bayley. Seth was a nice enough guy, and in any event they were only playing a part in a TV show. Every actor or actress had to do that kind of thing at some point, and to some extent that's what wrestlers were. "No, I'm okay with that," she told Hunter. "It's just throwing away my character that I hate. It's going to be such a horrible thing to do."

"It is," Hunter nodded. Trying to play it down wouldn't have made sense, not when they both knew that what she'd said was true. "Look at me, Bayley." She looked up and met his gaze, her eyes still damp from the tears. "I need you to own this for me, okay?" he told her. Whether either of them liked it or not, there was business to be done. The last thing he wanted to happen was for the idea to flop and take her career with it. She was too good for that. "I know it's not what you wanted, and it's not what I wanted for you either, but it's what we've got. You're one of the best female wrestlers we've ever had, I've told you that before. You've got the potential to be the best, I really mean that. I'm proud of everything you've done to get here, and I will be proud of how well you perform in this new role, because you are going to own it, and you are going to be the best heel you can be, yes?"

Bayley had already known how highly Hunter thought of her, but hearing him reaffirm it there and then, at that moment meant so much to her. What he'd said was right, she knew that too. Turning heel was going to be an awful thing to have to do, and she was sure that it would take a long time to get used to it, but she had to do it, not just for herself, for all of the other people who had believed in her and supported her in her career up to this point. "I'll give it everything I've got," she promised.

"That's the Bayley I know," Hunter smiled. "So, this is how it's going to go down..."

Seth Rollins could hardly have been happier with life. The serious knee injury was healed and behind him, he was back in the ring and he had already been given another title run, as the first ever Universal Champion no less. Now there was the news that he was to again be given a key role in the stable The Authority. While there was something to be said for changing things up, maybe he could have been asked to return as a face character for example, Seth liked playing a heel. He also liked working with Triple H and Stephanie, feeling that after doing so for so long before his injury they had great chemistry with each other. Adding in an on-screen romance angle with Bayley had definitely come from out of left field, but Seth liked that idea too. Everyone in the locker room liked Bayley, it was almost impossible not to, so working with her promised to be a lot of fun. The only issue with the whole thing was that Bayley would need to turn heel, and it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that would be tough on her. Asking the female Cena to throw her character in the trash was certainly a brave and bold move on Vince McMahon's part. With a smile, Seth thought back to half an hour earlier when Hunter had finished telling him about the new idea.

"You and I both know how big a deal this is for Bayley, having only just made the move to the main roster. I expect you not to fuck her around."

"No worries," Seth had smiled. "Anything I can do to help her, I will. Not that I expect she will need much of it. She's the real deal in the ring, and she's got her head screwed on out of it."

When he saw his new partner walk into catering and then start heading towards him, the first thing he noticed was that she looked upset. In fact she looked like she had been crying. The news about the heel turn must have hit her hard, as expected. Seth had only just started on his meal, a surprisingly nice chicken salad sandwich, and had just started telling Roman Reigns, who was sitting opposite him, about the new creative plans. That conversation would have to wait though. "Here's Bayley now," he told his close friend. "I'll catch you later."

"Sure," Roman replied easily.

Scooping up his sandwich in its wrapper, Seth stood up and greeted Bayley as she approached. "Hey, Bayley. Are you okay?"

"Can we talk?" Bayley asked him with the best smile she could manage.

"Yeah, let's sit over here," Seth said, leading the way to a nearby empty table. "You got the news then, obviously. Are you okay?" he asked as he sat down and put the sandwich on the table.

Bayley took the seat opposite him and shook her head, deciding that she had to be honest with her new partner. They were obviously going to be working closely together for the foreseeable future, which would mean spending a lot of time with each other on the road. For that to go well, she figured that there needed to be honesty and trust between them. "To be honest, no, not really. Asking me to turn heel really came from nowhere and hit me hard. I really love my character, I love the kids, I love all of it. Now I have to suddenly leave it behind and play a corporate sellout, cowardly bitch. It's a lot to take in."

Seeing how much she was struggling - her eyes had dropped to the table top as she talked and remained there - Seth decided to offer something from his own past experience in the hope that it might make her feel a little better about it. "I know it's an easy and cliche thing to say, but I really do know how you're feeling right now."

"Oh?" Bayley looked up, eyebrows slightly raised.

"Remember the breakup of Shield? I came to TV one night and got the news out of the blue that I had to do that, that I was going to be the one to end it all and turn heel, joining The Authority."

"I hadn't thought about that," Bayley said, realising just how similar the two situations really were. Shield had been the popular thing at the time, even more popular than she was now. Seth had been lumbered with the burden of ending all of that as well as no longer teaming with the two men he had worked with night in, night out for years. "Wrestling really can be cruel, can't it?" she asked him. "It must have been so bad trying to get used to not teaming with Roman and Dean anymore. How did you do it?"

Remembering his manners, Seth finished his mouthful of sandwich before replying. "Honestly? I did the same thing you're going to have to do: I struggled for a while. I felt awkward, I felt out of place and I wanted things to go back to the way they were. But over time I got used to it, and now? Well, put it this way, Hunter asked me before I came back if I'd like him to talk to Vince about give me a face run. I told him no thanks, I'd rather be a heel."

"You would?" Bayley asked, leaning forward, totally engrossed in what he was saying now. He wasn't sugar coating anything, but he was telling her that there was light at the end of the tunnel.

"Damn right," Seth said with the kind of grin that he often used when in character. "Being a heel is just more fun. You can say more, you can do more, and it's your job to carry the rivalries you're put in. Hell, you don't need me to tell you those things. You know just as much about the business as I do. I'll just tell you what Hunter told me about my heel turn at the time."

"Go on," Bayley urged.

"You might think right now that Vince is screwing with you and wrecking your character. What he's actually doing is pushing you because he believes in you. I'm sure that's as true with you now as it was with me then." Pleasingly, he saw her usual much happier demeanour starting to return - she was actually smiling at him now.

"Thanks, Seth. I'm glad I came to speak with you. I do feel a bit better about the whole thing."

"Good," Seth smiled. "Like I said, it will be a struggle for a while. If you need to talk to someone, vent at someone, have someone to throw things at, whatever, you feel free to come to me, okay?" He knew for a fact that Bayley had other friends in the locker room, particularly Sasha Banks and Charlotte, but still, she was his partner now and he wanted to feel like she could rely on him as such. That had been one of the best things about Shield; having two brothers on the road with him.

"Thanks. I appreciate that," Bayley said, meaning it sincerely. "So what about them putting us in a relationship as well?"

"What can I say? You're a lucky woman," Seth said deadpan, deciding to try and add some humour to the conversation.

"Hmmm," Bayley replied, playing along by looking at him skeptically as he took another bite out of his sandwich, dropping lettuce and mayonnaise down the front of his black shirt in the process.

"God damn it," Seth groaned at himself, looking down at the mayonnaise stain. His next bright idea was to pick up the sandwich wrapper and try to wipe his shirt with it, only succeeding in spreading the mess around even more.

Bayley was laughing at him by that point. Glancing around, she saw that someone had left some napkins on a nearby table. She got up and fetched them, then handed them to Seth, still chuckling at the mess that he'd made of his shirt. "Here, use these. And just so you know, any boyfriend of mine would at least have to know how to eat a sandwich properly."

Seth set about cleaning the mess up, glad that he had managed to pull off his little stunt without being caught faking it. Letting the salad fall out of the sandwich had served the intended purpose of giving Bayley something to laugh it. While it was true that she had some tough times to come, not least when she actually performed her turn later in the night, he had at least managed to turn her mood around for now.

They spent another few minutes talking about the match, particularly the proposed ending, then Seth made his excuses and headed for the men's room. Bayley went and got in line to get herself a sandwich, thinking that maybe, just maybe, this new direction for her career wasn't going to be as bad as she had first feared.