"That was so much fun!" Bayley said as the two of them stumbled back through gorilla and the backstage area. She felt so happy with the way things had gone and how useful she'd been able to be, and okay, maybe a little embarrassed too about accidently groping him, but mostly happy.

"Damn that felt good. You were amazing, just like old times, huh?"

"Yeah, it really did feel like we brought a little of NXT back there for a second."

"It did, I don't think I've had this much fun on here in a long time."

"Me either, thank you Finn. I know you asked for this, and I appreciate it."

"You're welcome. As much as I like Sasha, I knew no one could make a better team than the two of us, and I'm glad we finally made it happen."

"Me too. Hey, you want to go out and celebrate tonight?"

"I wish I could, but I've got some stuff to take care of. Can we tomorrow night after everything instead?"

"Yeah of course. You want me to see if I can get a group together?"

"We can do the group thing another time, it's been a while since we got to hang out just the two of us, if you're okay with that."

"No, that would be great. I'll be looking forward to it," she replied before she instinctively went in for a hug. There was an awkward half second where she realized what she was doing and started to pull back away before he grabbed her and pulled her in against him, enveloping her in his strong arms. It felt nice. It had been too long since she'd felt this kind of closeness with him. A long time ago this had been a normal part of their friendship, but then life had happened. They'd been on different shows, he was injured, then she was injured, and they'd drifted apart. They'd also both had to deal with jealousy and suspicions from their significant others, which hadn't helped matters.

They hadn't talked about it much, but she'd known that his girlfriend at the time had objected to some of the things he'd posted on social media. She'd been friends with her too, or at least she'd thought they were, but after her's and Finn's on stage story became more romantic, it was like they'd never even spoken before. She'd assumed jealousy was the problem, but she'd tried to stay out of it.

She'd been dealing with a similar situation of her own, and she hadn't had the time to worry about Finn's problems too. Her boyfriend kept fluctuating between seemingly having a good sense of humor about it and being completely irrational over it. One minute she'd think everything was good, then he'd see a post or a video, and turn into a jealous asshole.

It almost hadn't been worth it, except they'd had so much fun together. That time period was absolutely the best she'd had so far in her career, and the bond between them was something neither ever expected. They'd never crossed a line, had always been nothing more than good friends, but they'd clicked in a way that she never had before with anyone, male or female, including her boyfriend, and she suspected he'd known that. She'd let him get away with treating her like shit on a few too many occasions because deep down she'd felt kind of guilty even though she had no control over it.

Things had improved immensely with her boyfriend after Finn had been drafted, and the few occasions she'd gotten to interact with Finn over the last couple of years hadn't seemed to be a problem. She'd learned to stand up for herself a little better too, stopped letting guilt prevent her from speaking her mind, and their relationship had gotten ten times better for it. She'd accepted his proposal, and even moved halfway across the country with him so he could work on his career. For the most part life had been alright, though not quite the same as it had been back then.

She'd never regained that same magic with her now fiance that they'd had before they'd moved to Florida, and sometimes he seemed to resent how well her career had gone compared to his. He'd asked her to marry him, but then refused to talk about setting a date or making plans for the future. He kept using the excuse of her career, which she was still struggling to understand. There were scores of couples in the wrestling business who managed to get married and maintain careers, but he wouldn't even consider it.

As far as Finn and his girlfriend, she honestly wasn't sure. She hadn't pried, but the rumor in the lockerroom was that things had been rocky for them for several months and that they'd finally broken up a little while ago. He hadn't shown any indication that he wanted talk about it, so she'd left the subject alone.

Finn and her parted ways, but she hadn't made it very far down the hall when she realized she'd forgotten to ask him about what they planned to do the next night for their commenting section. She decided she could probably catch him and turned back around, but before she found him she heard voices arguing.

"You're full of shit, you know that right?"

"What the hell are you on about now?"

"It didn't take you long to make a move at all."

"If you're talking about my mixed match partner, you're damn right. I never should have let you talk me into requesting someone else the first time. It's easy to see now that it was petty jealousy that motivated you, and I let you manipulate me into hurting a friend over it. I'm sure as hell not stupid enough to do that again."

"I manipulated you? That's just great. I should have seen the writing on the wall two years ago. You can act all high and mighty all you want but the fact is you never even tried to make our relationship work. It was just a distraction to keep you from thinking about how you couldn't have the one you really wanted."

"That's not true. I never would have asked you out if I had feelings for someone else. I did everything I could think of to make you feel more secure about our relationship, to make you realize that I was worrying about us, not someone else, but you were blinded by your own insecurities, too busy worrying about the fake front of social media to see what was really going on."

"It's all my fault of course, like always."

"Look, it doesn't matter anyway. We've been around and around with this argument too many times, and I just don't want to do it again. It's over, we're over, there's no reason to rehash it anymore, and my choices are mine to make and no longer your concern."

"You've got to be kidding me. You can't even be man enough to admit it now."

"You know what? Think what you want. I don't care."

It was too late for Bayley to move when she realized he'd exited the situation and was headed straight for her. She was literally like a deer in headlights when he rounded the corner straight into her, and he'd had to grab a hold of her to keep them both from tumbling to the floor. She was about to immediately start apologising but he stopped her from speaking by bringing a finger up to her lips, and very quietly shushing her. She could hear the sound of someone kicking at the equipment and cursing then finally the sound of footsteps headed in the opposite direction.

After a few moments, once she was sure it was clear she said,

"I'm so, so, so sorry Finn. I really didn't mean to eavesdrop on you. I was just coming back to find you and then I heard you, but I couldn't move, and I really wasn't trying to..." as she'd been speaking her words had gotten faster and faster until he'd stopped her.

"It's okay, I know. I'm sorry you had to witness that actually. I keep thinking I've put it all behind me, then it rears it's ugly head again. My own fault I guess, I should have know this would set her off."

"Huh?"

"Oh. Sorry, look I don't want to drag you into that mess anymore than you already have been. Suffice to say I'm no longer with her, and honestly kind of relieved about it more than anything, but I'd really appreciate it if you wouldn't talk about it. In fact I'd rather pretend this never happened."

"Of course. You know I would never talk about your private affairs or anything."

"Oh no, I do know that, that's not what I meant. I just, well, we had so much fun tonight. It was amazing, and she just kind of sucked all of the fun out of it. I want that back."

"We could go shoot some hoops, or go find Kevin and wake him up if you want to. Seth wouldn't kick us out if we want to bang on his door either, he's always up for a chat or to play something."

"That would be awesome, but I kind of have a breakfast face-time date planned with my parents in a couple of hours."

"Breakfast?"

"Breakfast for them, late night room service for me, but it's the best time that works for everyone."

"Oh, okay, well I'm sure they will help you feel better."

"You're right, they will, but you know what, they haven't seen you in a while, you want to join me?"

"Are you sure? I don't want to intrude."

"You won't be. I do this at least a couple of times a week, they won't mind seeing a new face."

"Okay, yeah, sure. Let me go back to my room and shower and change first, but I'd love to see them again."

"Great!" he said and reached out and initiated a hug this time. Before he walked away he stopped and said, "Hey Bayley?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you. I feel better already."

"You're welcome," she replied.