"Home sweet home." Liv pulled down her hood and looked around at the Performance Center, trying not to tear up. It had been years since she had been back, and she never thought she would see the place again in person. Now she was there to talk with Hunter and Shawn, two iconic wrestlers from her youth, and better yet, Rhea was with her. Since Rhea was still an active wrestler, she didn't have to disguise herself, but Liv still bet there would be dirt sheet headlines like Ripley spotted at Performance Center! in the coming days. Between her sunglasses and her hood, no one seemed to recognize her, at least.
Rhea nodded, draping an arm along Liv's shoulders. "Yeah. Lots of good times here. Not private-booth type good times," she said with a wink, "but fun."
"Are you sure about that?" Liv laughed. "I heard lots of rumours about you and the women's locker room here...."
Before Rhea had a chance to either confirm or deny, Shawn came out of his office. "Liv! Rhea! Great to see you both." He hugged them each in turn. "Hunter's back in the office, but the old man was too lazy to get up—"
"Old man my ass!" Hunter yelled back. "You're older than I am!"
"NXT keeps me young!" Laughing, Shawn turned back to Liv and Rhea, motioning for them to follow. "Come on. We've got water in the office and some snacks, if the old man hasn't eaten them all."
"Shawn," Hunter bellowed, "I swear to god...."
The sound of a chair being pushed back only made Shawn falter for a second. "Don't mind him," Shawn mock whispered. "He has a lot of teenage daughters, you know. It's stressful."
Liv batted her eyelashes. "I don't know what you're talking about. Teenage daughters are a delight."
Shawn laughed. "Somehow I think if I called your mother, she might disagree. Now come on before Hunter actually does get his ass out of his chair." Then he looked over at Rhea. "No one saw you two come in?"
Rhea shook her head. "Don't think so. Liv had her hoodie up and sunglasses on, so she just looked like any random gorgeous blonde," she explained with a grin, "and I'm on the main roster, so people would probably just assume I was coming to work out."
"Let's hope so. It's getting harder and harder to keep anything a surprise in this damn place." Shawn pushed open his office door and motioned them inside. "Take a seat."
Rhea let Liv take the one closer to Hunter. "So do you want me to help with her evaluation," she asked, "or am I just the cover story?"
"Good afternoon to you too, Rhea." Hunter sipped at his coffee. He might have sounded grumpy, but his posture seemed relaxed enough. "Liv, welcome back."
"Thank you. It's great to be back." Liv tried not to bounce in her seat. The discussion between her and Hunter at the arena hadn't been the end of things; it had merely been the beginning of a long line of paperwork, legalities, and text threads. "Rhea and Nattie have been helping me train, and Becky even came down for a few weekends. It felt just like old times."
"Glad to hear it." Hunter set his coffee cup down on Shawn's desk, ignoring the fact that his friend almost immediately lifted the cup and slid a notepad under it. "We're not too worried about ring rust. You haven't been gone that long, and it's obvious you were keeping in shape, so...."
Liv chanced a glance at Shawn. She wasn't entirely clear on who all knew about her stint as a stripper, and she didn't want to assume. "Does he...?"
Shawn grimaced a bit. "Yeah, I know. I'm not judging," he said quickly, holding his hands up in surrender. "I just know what kind of damage control we have to do for things now, and I'm hoping it doesn't come to that."
"I don't think it will." Liv glanced at Rhea quickly. She didn't want to implicate the rest of Rhea's faction in case they were under suspicion for anything else. "No one called me by my ring name, and the club had a strict policy about photos and videos on the premises."
"Well, fingers crossed." Hunter leaned back in his chair and sighed.
For a moment, Liv wondered if any of his stress stemmed from imagining his now-teenage daughters making a decision similar to hers when they were older. Money would never be an issue for his kids; they would never have to worry about being able to afford tuition. "So do I get to spar with Rhea," she asked, "or do you have someone else picked out for me?"
"Someone else," Shawn said after a moment. "No offence, Rhea, but you've been working with her for the past few weeks and... well, you're together. We don't want you trying to compensate for any weaknesses she might have."
Rhea nodded. "I understand. I wouldn't do that, and I wouldn't have to, because Liv's been working her ass off, but I get it."
Liv didn't take offence. She had practically been living at Natalya's for the past two weeks, and Rhea would stop in whenever she could, but Liv knew she couldn't just keep fighting Rhea and Natalya and occasionally Becky. "That's fine. I'm happy to go up against whoever you have."
Shawn clapped his hands and stood. "All right then. Let's do that first and then if everything looks good," he explained, "we'll talk about how we want to introduce you back into the fold."
Hunter sent a quick text and stood as well. "Okay. She's heading to the ring now. Get changed," he said, nodding to Liv's small tote bag, "and we'll see you out there." Then he and Shawn left the office and closed the door behind her.
Liv looked around for a moment. "So... just change in here, I guess?" The Performance Center was closed for a few hours to keep her evaluation as secret as possible, but there were obviously other people—like her mystery opponent—in the building.
Rhea nodded. "Good a place as any." Then she gestured to the door. "I can leave if you want."
"I'm surprised they didn't make you go with them," Liv laughed. She wasn't above an office quickie, but she didn't want to jeopardize her chances at wrestling again. Besides, there's plenty of time for that later, she told herself. She undressed quickly and put on one of her older sets of gear. "Good thing I didn't sell any of these off to make a quick buck."
"Wouldn't look nearly as good on anyone else," Rhea replied, standing up and kissing her. "Ready?"
"As I'll ever be." Hand in hand, they left Shawn's office and headed to the practice rings. Several rows of chairs were set up in front of the closest one, and Hunter and Shawn were sitting in the front row. Ivy Nile, an NXT wrestler, was waiting in the ring, bouncing from foot to foot. "Hi, Ivy!" Liv waved up at her opponent before stopping in front of Hunter. "So what do you want us to do?"
"Start with a simple lock-up," Shawn instructed, "and we'll call out moves. We'll let you know when to stop. Rhea, you up to stepping in later depending on how things go?"
Rhea nodded as she sat beside Hunter. "I didn't bring gear with me," she answered, "but as long as you're cool with me wrestling in jeans, I'm good to go."
That threw Liv off a bit, but she quickly walked up the ring steps, wiped her boots on the apron, and stepped inside. "Thanks for coming in today, Ivy. I appreciate it." She held out her hand to shake.
Ivy shook it firmly. "My pleasure. It'll be good to see you back."
"Hope so." Liv stepped back a bit, slightly thrown by the lack of referee. "Ready when you are."
"Lock up!" Shawn called out.
Ivy was a bit shorter than Liv, a rarity in her experience, but she was tough and sharp. She's perfect for Diamond Mine, Liv thought as she grappled with her. She absorbed Shawn's instructions almost instantly and her transitions were incredibly smooth. Why isn't she on the main roster yet? At times, Liv thought she was struggling to keep up, but when she could steal glances at Hunter and Shawn, they both seemed invested in the match; Rhea shot her a subtle thumbs-up.
By the time Shawn finally called the match to a close, Liv was sweating and had never been happier about it. Stripping had been a way to perform, but it didn't compare to the physicality of being in the ring. "Ivy, thank you so much for coming in and helping out today," Shawn said, rising from his chair. "We really appreciate it."
"My pleasure." Ivy turned to Liv and shook her hand, then gave her a quick hug. "I hope I helped," she whispered in her ear.
"Thank you," Liv replied, hugging her back. After Ivy left the ring, Liv went over to the ropes and leaned on them. "New NXT is something else," she declared. "What are you feeding these kids?"
Shawn just laughed. "Dreams and ambition, same as you. Come sit. I think Hunter and I both agree you're ready to come back."
Liv let out a long breath and slid out under the bottom rope, going over to hug Rhea. "Congrats," Rhea murmured, kissing her cheek and giving her ass a subtle pinch.
"Thanks." Liv leaned back against the apron, facing Hunter and Shawn. "Thank you. I appreciate it. I really do."
"Thank yourself. You did the work," Hunter said with a shrug. "If it had been up to me, I wouldn't have let you go in the first place. That said, we're glad to have you back. We already have some ideas on how to bring you back in, but we'd like to hear your thoughts."
"Oh. Uh, well...." Liv faltered for a minute. It was a fine line. She didn't want to undersell herself and fall back into jobber territory, but she didn't want to waltz in and demand a title shot either. What was a happy medium? "I could always be someone's mystery tag team partner," she suggested. It was overdone, but usually effective, because the anticipation could be drawn out over the course of a few weeks: would the person find a partner in time? If they were unlikable, would they be able to find someone who could coexist with them? "Or if there's a multi-woman match to determine the number one contender, I could be the mystery entrant. Not win," she added quickly, lest they misunderstood, "but just someone the other competitors couldn't prepare for."
Shawn tapped his chin. "I like that one. Nikki Cross needs surgery soon, doesn't she? We could have the champ attack her, take her out, make her think it improves her odds, and then Liv can step in."
Hunter nodded. "Sounds good." Then he turned his attention to Liv. "You've got everything else all wrapped up? If we do that, we'd need you next weekend."
"Next weekend?" Liv echoed. WWE didn't have weekend television shows anymore, only live events—and pay-per-views.
Rhea grinned up at her. "You didn't think they were going to waste your comeback on some random RAW, did you?"
"But... but I'd need new gear and...." Liv blinked rapidly. There was so much involved in getting prepared for a big event, and she was sure she was forgetting half of it.
"Worry about that later," Hunter said gruffly. "No one's going to care if you're wearing the same outfit from seven months ago. Well, no one but Twitter trolls with too many numbers in their usernames." As he stood, he added, "We're going to have you as a face, at least for the first while, so wear something bright, okay?"
Rhea rolled her eyes affectionately. "That won't be a problem for her."
Shawn stood as well and shook Liv's hand. "Glad you're back. I think you're going to add a lot. And if you ever get sick of this guy," he added, bumping Hunter's shoulder, "don't quit again, okay? Call me and I'll get you brought to NXT. You know how great the women are here."
"Yeah, Hunter." Rhea shot Hunter a pointed look. "NXT knows how to treat its women."
"We're working on it, Ripley. That's why Liv's back." Hunter checked the time on his phone. "Okay, I think that's all we can do for today. I'll work on an attack against Nikki. Maybe Alexa? We could rehash that old friendship."
Shawn nodded. "Alexa's not doing much right now, is she? And she's not in the contender match, so that could work. She could think that taking Nikki out would get her put in, only to discover there's someone returning...."
"It could work." Hunter turned to the women almost as an afterthought. "Liv, congrats and welcome back. I'll get Travel to set you up with tickets and I'll be in touch, okay?"
"Okay. Thank you." Liv barely remembered to go and shake Hunter's and Shawn's hands again. "Oh, my tote's in your office—"
"Go ahead," Shawn said. "The locker room should be quiet if you want to clean up. Don't worry about locking anything up; we'll be here for a while yet."
Rhea stood and gently nudged Liv back down the hall, not saying anything until they had rounded the corner. "Good job," she grinned, lifting Liv up and kissing her. "I'm proud of you."
"Thank you." Liv rested her forehead against Rhea's. "None of this would be happening if it weren't for you. You and Becky," she corrected. "But mostly you. You trained with me and believed in me and—"
"You did all the hard work," Rhea insisted, carrying Liv effortlessly to Shawn's office before setting her down. Liv quickly grabbed her bag and they headed to the women's locker room. As they entered, Rhea looked around. "Shawn said it would be quiet. Do you think...?"
The idea of fucking Rhea in the showers was awfully tempting, but Liv hadn't even technically had her first day back; it would be like making a mistake before the ink had even dried on her contract. "I think we should wait until we get back to the hotel," she said reluctantly.
"Fine," Rhea huffed. She locked the door anyway. "Can I still watch, though?" she added with a wink.
Liv peeled off her gear and tossed it to Rhea piece by piece. "Of course."