Twice a year, once in April and once in November, WWE brought the Raw and Smackdown rosters to the UK. Ahead of time, Sonya, Charlotte and Valentina had known it would be a special tour for Lucy, traveling back to her own country.
What had surprised the trio was an invite to stay at the Thorne family house one night, when the show they were working was at an arena only an hour away. Although Lucy had warned that because her father, mother and sister were all doctors they would likely be working, the visit was still something to look forward to. Lucy had said there were enough bedrooms for all of them, so the house had to be something special.
Before the visit, there was a live event to work. It was the third event in as many nights. One of them had been a Smackdown episode at the O2 arena in London, on which the narrative of an unlikely partnership between Lucy and Valentina had continued to be teased when Lucy had come out to save Valentina and Ember Moon from a beat down at the hands of Flairville following a tag team match.
For every live event on the tour, the same tag team match had been booked every night: Lucy and Valentina against Sonya and Charlotte.
"I feel bad for Ember," Valentina said to her three friends. They were sitting in the catering area backstage before the live event, with the intent of putting that night's tag match together. While the booking was the same, they couldn't put on the same match each night. The only constant would be the face team winning. Faces always won at live events, to ensure that the fans had a great time.
"I know what you mean," Charlotte said. "They put Ember in the fatal four way with you guys, then Vince got high on the Lucy and Val team and he's putting more effort into that. Nothing is being built up for my European title, either."
"It will be," Lucy said, short and to the point as was her style.
"Yeah, I'm sure it will too," Sonya said. "But back to tonight. Lucy, Monday night and again last night on Smackdown, the fans were going crazy for you."
"We're in England. These are my people," Lucy said, showing genuine passion for something for once. Her patriotism could not be doubted, and her English fans loved her for it.
"I know," Sonya said patiently. She was getting used to the fact that Lucy wasn't the easiest of people to put ideas across to. "I'm thinking that since we're not on TV, you might play up to the crowd a bit. You know, really get them fired up. It would be great for them."
"I don't do that," Lucy said simply.
"We know," Charlotte said patiently. She and Sonya were at the point now where they could sometimes tell what the other was thinking. This was one such occasion. "It's not like you suddenly have to come out like Val, running around the place. With your manner in the ring, you could get a reaction just by looking at the crowd in the right way at the right time. That's the unique charisma you have."
Lucy shrugged slightly, taking the compliment at face value. "Alright, what are you suggesting?"
Standing in the heel team's corner of the ring with Charlotte, Sonya kept character while internally delighting at the ovation Valentina received from the sold out crowd of three thousand fans when she came out to the ring. It was followed by the loudest pop of the night so far when Lucy's music played. The roof nearly came off the small arena, and the fans kept up the noise level while their fellow countrywoman walked slowly to the ring without acknowledging them in any way, as was usual.
The reason Sonya took such pleasure in the responses her two opponents and friends received was that she knew it was partially because of how well she and Charlotte were working lately that Val and Lucy were getting over. It took top quality performances from both the heels and the babyfaces to make the magic happen.
Getting into the ring, Lucy didn't bother to acknowledge her partner, either. The current deal was that Val acted like she wanted to befriend and team with Lucy, while Lucy was indifferent at best, and seemed to care only about getting her hands on Flair and Deville at any given opportunity.
Valentina proudly handed her title belt to the referee so that he could pass it out of the ring for safe keeping. With that done, her focus became talking strategy. "Lucy, I'll start the match, okay?" she said, loud enough for some of the crowd to hear. "Trust me, I've got this."
Looking down at her, Lucy barely registered a reaction. She simply turned and walked to their corner, stepping through the ropes. Some of the fans laughed at the interaction between the tall, unemotional woman and her small, bubbly partner. It was a dynamic that people definitely liked, which explained why every crowd they performed in front of urged Lucy to accept the team.
As was almost always the case, the heel team soon began to dominate. Working like the well oiled machine they had become in the ring, Flairville isolated and picked apart Valentina, with Lucy stuck out on the apron, unable to legally do anything about it.
As the minutes wore on, Valentina was grinded down more and more by the relentless Sonya and Charlotte. Eventually, the only way to stop Val losing to a Natural Selection was for Lucy to rush into the ring and stamp on Charlotte's back to break up the count.
With the fans cheering loudly merely because Lucy had done something, Sonya got into the ring to confront her. Before she could do anything, Lucy landed an uppercut that took Sonya clean off her feet.
Turning around, Lucy saw Charlotte getting up near to the ropes on the entrance side of the ring. Jogging across the ring, Lucy clotheslined Charlotte over the top rope to the floor.
Turning around again, Lucy found Sonya running towards her. Reacting quickly, she ducked down and used Sonya's momentum to send her out of the ring with a back body drop. Sonya landed on Charlotte, taking both of them out.
Roughed up from the ass kicking she had taken, Valentina unsteadily got to her feet. It took her a moment to realise that Sonya and Charlotte were outside the ring.
As Val looked at the two opponents, the fans suddenly realised what might possibly happen. Everyone could remember the way Lucy had thrown her out of the ring a few weeks earlier; there had been a multitude of memes and amusing tweets featuring gifs of the incident.
"Throw me at them!" Val shouted at Lucy, receiving a loud cheer of approval.
Lucy just stood there, looking at Valentina as if she was an idiot.
Not to be deterred, Val repeated her suggestion, this time by running towards the ropes and making a throwing gesture.
The noise from the crowd got even louder, trying to encourage Lucy to do what was being asked of her.
Lucy turned her head slightly to look at the fans, as if asking them if they wanted her to throw Val out of the ring. It was a small gesture, but it was probably the first time Lucy had acknowledged a crowd directly. It brought the people on that side of the ring to their feet, roaring her on.
Val ran back to Lucy, remonstrating with her to hurry up. Sonya and Charlotte were back on their feet.
With a swiftness that surprised everyone, Lucy grabbed Val with one hand on her shoulder and the other holding the waistband of her shorts, and picked her up off her feet.
As Lucy ran towards the ropes, the fans increased the volume of their cheering, finishing with a flourish when she launched Val over the top rope, flying through the air and taking out Sonya and Charlotte like a bowling ball hitting a couple of remaining pins.
With the crowd cheering in delight, Lucy emphatically rubbed her gloved hands together in a gesture that indicated the trash had been dealt with.
Lying outside on the floor with Charlotte next to her and Valentina sprawled on top of her, Sonya found it hard not to smile. Moments like that were what live events were all about.
After the show, Lucy had driven the group to the house where she had been raised, where her parents and sister still lived. Upon checking her messages, she had confirmed that all three of the doctors were at work as expected. Lucy and her guests would have the place to themselves.
"Three doctors all at the same hospital, all called Thorne?" Charlotte had asked. "That must get awkward."
"I bet it does," Lucy had said with a rare chuckle.
Sensing that they were nearing their destination in one of the city of Leicester's richest suburbs, Sonya tried to get a look at the houses they were cruising past. It wasn't easy as most of them were set back significant distances from the road, and some were also hidden behind walls or hedgerows. Nonetheless, Sonya soon came to the conclusion that this was the kind of area Charlotte would feel accustomed to.
Shortly, they reached the Thorne house. Lucy drove up the driveway and parked near the front door. She got out and unlocked the front door while the others unloaded the luggage.
Some of the lights had been left on inside the house, affording the visitors the chance to have a look at the place.
"Lovely home, Lucy," Valentina commented in something close to awe.
"Beats the crap hole I've got in Orlando," Lucy replied. "Can't wait to get something better."
Sonya smiled, comparing what she had just heard to her own situation.
Lucy led them inside and briefly showed them how the rooms on the ground floor were laid out, so that they could find their way around if they needed to.
Sonya took in the living room, dining room, office, and a kitchen which had another, smaller dining table. All of the rooms were almost clinically clean, and furnished in a manner that made them look like they had been lifted straight from the pages of some lame interior design magazine and placed into the house without any regard for the comfort of the people who lived there.
The kitchen alone must have cost an absolute fortune, Sonya realised when she saw it. She could tell it was one of those custom, specially designed jobs that people with more money than sense went for. During the drive over, Lucy had mentioned that the house had been extended by her parents in the past. Judging by the length of the room, Sonya figured that the kitchen had to be one of the extensions.
Overall, while she could appreciate the money that had been spent on the home, Sonya didn't like it much. It just was not the kind of place she would want to live. She imagined she would constantly feel like she was cluttering the place up simply by being there. Of course, she was too polite to say so.
Everyone accepted Lucy's offer of a welcome drink - a stiff shot of malt whisky that was the best Sonya had ever tasted, not that she was an expert.
"Honestly, guys, I'm jet lagged to shit and need my bed," Val said after finishing her whisky.
"Same," Charlotte said, stifling a yawn.
"No complaints from me," Lucy said. "We can decide who's cooking breakfast in the morning, because it sure as shit ain't going to be me."
Everyone laughed as they got up from the small dining table in the kitchen and Lucy led the way to the stairs, saying she would show them all to their rooms.
"Are you coming to me or am I coming to you?" Charlotte whispered to Sonya. For obvious reasons, they weren't about to request to stay in the same room. But equally, they had no intention of sleeping separately
"I'll come to you," Sonya whispered back.
Within moments, Sonya was the first to be shown into a bedroom on the first floor. After wishing everyone a good night and closing the door, she heard Lucy's usual strong voice quite clearly down the hallway. "Char, you can have this one. Me and Val will be upstairs."
Perfect, Sonya thought. She changed into her nightwear, washed up in the en-suite that her room had and then sat on the bed to wait. She wanted to give it at least ten minutes before sneaking to Charlotte's room, enough time for Lucy and Val to settle down for the night.
When the time came, Sonya opened her door slowly and carefully. She wasn't sure if it would creak or not. Thankfully, it didn't.
Sonya's room was at the far end of the landing from the stairs. There was a bedroom between her room and the stairs, with a sliver of light coming out under the door. Charlotte was in there.
Treading lightly and walking slowly, Sonya crept towards the door. There was not a sound in the house. Just when she was about to gently knock on Charlotte's door, she noticed a tall, dark shadow standing at the top of the stairs that led up from the ground floor. Scared half to death, she screamed.
Charlotte's door flew open. "Honey, what is it?" she asked, rushing to Sonya.
As soon as the door had opened, the light from inside the room had shown Sonya that it hadn't been a ghost or an intruder she had seen. Lucy was standing there in her nightwear, holding a glass of water. And she had just caught them red handed. Sonya had been sneaking to Charlotte's room, and Charlotte had addressed her as honey. Now they were both standing there looking like rabbits caught in headlights.
"Fucking Norah," Lucy breathed, in the most English expression of surprise Sonya had ever heard.