It felt like the final straw for Alexa Bliss. She literally could not remember the last time she had been booked in a match on Monday Night Raw. It had been months, she knew that much. The entire time, she had done everything she could to earn herself an opportunity, from pitching ideas about changing her character to suggesting taking on the role of backstage interviewer. That was what her desperation to make something of her WWE career had reduced her to.

A couple of years earlier, Alexa had received a surprise call up from NXT to the main roster. Despite predominantly being used as a valet on the developmental brand, and despite the fact that she had never held a championship in NXT, she had been told she was wanted on Raw as a wrestler. It had been one of the best nights of her life. Since then, however, things had gone downhill. She was now the forgotten woman on Raw, to the point where some of the fans were getting behind her online purely because of how little WWE were using her.

Give Alexa a chance had been the hashtag that had started going around. She doubted it would make any difference. She was used to showing up every Monday night and finding out there was nothing for her. It was hurtful and depressing. This week, Vince McMahon had found a way to twist the knife even further.

Alexa had been excited to learn a few days back that she was going to have a match with Sarah Logan on Raw. Sure, she had thought, it would likely be a quick one and she would probably lose, but it was a match on Raw. She had dreamed of it being a start of something for her.

But no. That dream had been crushed before it even got started. A few minutes earlier, she had arrived for Raw feeling determined to give everything she had in the ring. It had all come crashing down around her when she had picked up a copy of the format for that night's episode from a steel chair at the side of the hallway, where someone had left it. To her astonishment, her name was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Logan's.

"Where's my match?" Alexa had despairingly asked TJ Wilson, one of the road agents, who had happened to be passing by as she made the discovery.

"Time was tight, so it had to be pulled," had been the matter of fact reply from TJ.

"But Sarah and I spent two days talking over ideas and rehearsing," Alexa had objected.

"Sorry," TJ had said, giving her a sympathetic smile before continuing on his way.

Sitting on an equipment case, Alexa was still looking down the hallway after him, even though he was no longer in sight. She felt like her stomach was tied in a knot. Her head was spinning. This is it, she thought, her heart breaking. She could take no more. It was time to walk into McMahon's office and quit. It was time to leave her dream job behind and accept that she was a failure.

Hearing someone approaching from the other direction, Alexa turned around. Walking towards her was Clementine, the undisputed star of women's wrestling. Alexa was never a jealous person, but she felt a pang of it now, looking at the former three time Raw Women's Champion. Clem was on TV every week. She got the best segments, the best matches and the best opportunities. She also arguably got the best fan reactions of anyone in the company, such was her popularity. Sure, she deserved it. Her charisma in front of a camera was something else, to the point where it didn't seem to matter that she was a pretty average worker in the ring. WWE seemed to love it all the more because Clem was African American. They had drawn criticism in the past for not having any non-white performers in the main event scene. Clementine had changed that.

Alexa would have given everything to have an ounce of what Clementine had. It just wasn't fair, she thought, feeling tears stinging her eyes.

"Hey, how are you?" Clementine asked, giving Alexa a smile.

"Not good," Alexa blurted out, then burst helplessly into tears.

"Oh god, what's wrong?" Clem asked, hurrying over. As she leaned down and gave Alexa a comforting hug, her trademark white and purple baseball cap fell off.

"I'm going to quit," Alexa wailed. "I can't carry on like this anymore. I can't."

"Hey, hey, calm down," Clementine said delicately, embracing her tightly.

"I can't," Alexa said through her tears. "I try my damn best, Clem. I train as hard as everyone else. I show up every week. I never complain. I always try and be positive, contribute ideas and stuff. And I get nothing in return, not a single match." She realised she looked and sounded pathetic losing it like this in front of Clementine, but she hadn't been able to stop it all pouring out.

Clementine released the embrace, picked het cap up, sat down on the equipment case next to Alexa and put a comforting arm around her shoulders. "You're not quitting, Alexa. That's not the thing you want to do."

"Why not?" Alexa asked defiantly, wiping her eyes. "Give me one reason not to. What is the point of any of it?"

"I'll give you a bunch of reasons," Clem said, her tone encouraging. "Your pride. Your professionalism. Your family. Your friends. Your Blissfits." She had left a pause between each thing she listed, finishing up with Alexa's nickname for her fans.

Alexa felt so many emotions all at the same time. Frustration, indeed anger at the way WWE were treating her. Ashamed that she had broken down in front of one of her senior peers. Lastly, she felt the fire starting to burn inside her again. It had briefly been extinguished, but it was there again thanks to Clem. It was true, her family, friends and fans were still pulling for her. How would she ever face them with the news that she had thrown the towel in? No, she couldn't do that. She was not a quitter.

"I see it on your face. You know I'm right," Clementine said kindly.

"You are right," Alexa admitted. "But even so, how do I get out of this hole I'm in? I've tried everything. Literally everything. I'm the forgotten person around here. It's awful."

Clementine patted Alexa on the shoulder and got up. "Keep doing what you're doing. Work hard. Train your ass off. Keep bugging Vince and the writers with your ideas. Have faith, things will get better."

"Thanks," Alexa said, managing a smile.

Clementine nodded and walked away.

Wiping her eyes again, Alexa still felt glum. Have faith. Some advice that was for someone who wasn't religious. Even so, Alexa resolved herself to pick herself up and carry on. "Maybe I should say a prayer?" she muttered with some sarcasm. "It might be the only thing that does me any fucking good."

Three weeks had gone by since Alexa had been reduced to tears by the frustrations of her dying career. As she had promised herself, she had redoubled her efforts in training and had left nothing in the ring in her live event matches. The reward for her hard work? Nothing, as usual. Yet another two Raw episodes in a row with her name nowhere near the formats.

Now it was week three. As hard as it was, Alexa arrived at the building on Monday afternoon trying to feel positive. When all was said and done, there were a hell of a lot of people in the world who had it worse than her. Also, she had an idea to pitch that would see her romantically involved with Drake Maverick, who was getting over in the 24/7 Championship picture. Who knew, maybe McMahon would go for it? If he did, it would get her on TV. That would be a start.

On her way to the locker room, Alexa saw Paul Heyman, the recently appointed Executive Director of Raw. He was talking to a few of the male wrestlers, but he looked at her to get her attention as she go near to the group. "I've got something for you tonight. I'll catch up with you later."

"Great!" Alexa squealed, instantly thinking how pathetic it was that she was so excited to go after whatever crumbs were about to fall off the table in her direction.

Continuing her journey to the locker room, Alexa encountered a female member of the writing team hurrying in the opposite direction, carrying a bunch of paperwork and looking flustered. Her name was Ashley.

"Hey! Congrats! I'll need to spend some time with you later, okay?" Ashley said, charging past before Alexa could get a word in.

Alexa stopped walking, trying to process what the heck was going on. Congrats? Congrats for what? Before she had much of a chance to think about it, Renee Young's voice came from behind her, sounding cheerful.

"Big night for you, Lexi. I'm pleased for you."

Alexa turned around, shaking her head in confusion. She had always gotten along well with Renee, so she knew she could seek the missing information that she desperately craved. "Renee, I just got here. Heyman wants to see me. Ashley said congrats to me. I have no idea what's going on. Help!"

Renee laughed, amused by her comedic plea. "Girl, you're going over for Tag Team Championship tonight. We all know you've been busting your ass for an opportunity, here it is."

Totally dumbfounded, Alexa just stared at her friend. "If this is a rib, it's not funny," she said after a moment.

Renee smiled. "It's not a rib. You're on Raw tonight, and you're going to become a Tag Team Champion."

"I'm not even in a tag team!" Alexa cried.

"You are now."

"But with who? This is surreal."

"It's you and Clem," Renee took pleasure in saying.

No way, Alexa thought, feeling excitement rising inside of her. Right away, she recalled her breakdown in front of Clem. Maybe a good word had been put in on her behalf as a result? It wasn't how she would have wanted to get an opportunity, but in the place she was in, she would most definitely take it.

Alexa had no idea how the hell her character was going to get Clementine of all people to team with her and go on to win the titles in the space of three hours of television, but she couldn't wait to find out!

A/N: Thank you for checking out this first chapter. My regular readers will be familiar with Clementine. If you're new, I hope you'll come to love her as much as I do!

This probably won't be a long story by my standards, but I do have some fun stuff planned for it. Next time, we'll see the Raw episode that was being discussed. How do you think Alexa's barely used character is going to pull off getting on a team with Clem and winning a championship? Leave your predictions in a review!