Summary: 1 month after her infamous “pipebomb”, how does Y/N feel when it feels like nothing has changed in her world? What will she do next?
Word Count: 2.6K
Warnings: Quick mentions of anxiety and depression-like symptoms (loneliness), kind of proofread (my bad)
Notes: sorry for being late but better late than never
Links to other parts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
“How could she do that?”
“I mean if you went through what she went through you would do the same”
“Good riddance Y/N!”
“Please go to AEW, they need you!!”
“tbh, that was one of my favorite pipebombs ever”
“I wish her the best and hopefully she’ll come back with Sasha and Naomi”
“She should have done it differently”
“Without WWE, where is she gonna go?”
It’s been 1 month. (August 2nd, 2022)
1 month full of tweets, posts, and people just interjecting their opinions. But also 1 month of your silence. You didn’t issue any statements, no comments, no interviews. After a bold move like that, you thought you would feel better. And in some ways you did, you feel like you removed the foot that was crushing your throat; like you got rid of the poisonous thing that has been draining your life.
You felt free.
But amid that freedom was there this excruciating silence that took up your mind where you’re second-guessing everything. Now, you just wanted to be left alone with your thoughts of what to do next.
WWE removed you from all programming, posters, and promotions. They put you on blast, as they did with Mercedes and Trinity, before dropping you as a subject altogether. It’s like you didn’t exist. Liv is still the champion, but it’s only a matter of time until Ronda gets it back. No one from WWE reached out; except for Bianca, Zelina, and Liv. And you sent Liv an apology bouquet for dragging her into the situation. Christian only reached out to tell you what a mistake you were making and how you should apologize (and also how this potentially might ruin his career).
You haven’t really talked to Mercedes or Trinity as they were extremely busy in the last few months with bookings. They were off doing signings, in tv shows, and being in fashion shows (you were the first person to know that they would be in New York Fashion Week). All while you were sitting in your apartment, just trying to figure yourself out.
Daniel, Paige, and Hook all check in on you at least once a day. With Daniel and Hook living so close, they often come by to chill with you (separately of course). Paige constantly facetimed you, so in a way you didn’t feel totally alone. And today was nothing different.
“Tyler, no I can’t just magically pop up at the strip club.” You said on the phone while looking through your fridge for something to cook.
“All I’m saying is that it’s a great way to reappear in the public’s eye,” Tyler said while snickering.
You grabbed your leftovers. “And this not because you would like to go to the strip club?” You paused. “Again?”
“Noo….anyways, how are you feeling today?” He asked, changing the subject
“Better than yesterday. I feel exhausted. And I’ve spent a month doing absolutely nothing.” You groaned as you put the leftovers in the microwave. “I just want to get up and do things but I don’t know what to do or where to start.”
“Y/N, you have to take everything one step at a time. Everyone moves at different paces, you can’t rush a process that you’re not completely ready for.” Tyler calmly explained as you sat on the couch, pondering his words. “Don’t feel like you need to make a big decision now. You need to evaluate all options before making a move. And just know that you will always have people that will support you, me included.”
“That was very sweet Tyler.”
“I can be a sweet guy, sometimes.” He said making the both of you laugh. “So, how’s your lover boy? You don’t talk about him much.”
You sighed before getting up and slightly pacing around the room, “There’s nothing to talk about, we haven’t talked much these days. He’s busy doing his thing.”
“So why are you still with him?”
You stopped in your tracks before answering, “Because I love him.”
“That may be true, but are you still in love with him?”
At that moment, it felt like your world came to a stop, like when Daniel asked if you could see yourself with someone else besides Christian. It was another loaded question, yet a big question that you had to figure out the answer to sooner or later. You truly do love Christian, after all, you two have shared a lot of memories. A lot of moments where he was the sole reason for your smile, how you got butterflies in your stomach when he texted you, or how you saw your life later on with him. But now? You were tired of being cast aside by him, tired of being treated as if everything you do is wrong. You were tired of how exhausting fights were with him and how he jealous he got of others in your life. Do you feel the same way now? Do those memories and moments outweigh what has been happening recently?
You became deep in thought before being pulled out by a knocking at the door and Tyler’s voice growing louder. “Y/N? Y/N, hello?” Your head snapped back to reality (oops there goes gravity-sorry).
“Hey, sorry Tyler. I’mma have to call you later, someone’s at my door.”
He sighed but understood. “Okay, but just remember if anything happens or if you need someone, my bed always has a place for you.”
You giggled before hanging up and answering the door, to the sight of Daniel. You briefly hugged before letting him in and going to get your hot leftovers from the microwave. “Why are you here? I thought you were training today.”
“Yeah, but I haven’t heard from you.”
“Danny, I’m fine. You can go to your training session.”
“No can do, I cancelled it.”
You put down your fork, looking at the man who was now occupying your couch. “You mean to tell me that just because you didn’t hear from me, you dropped everything to check on me?”
“Hell yeah. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay and safe. I needed to lay eyes on you.” He said getting up and walking towards you. Your heart swelled at his words. You were blessed that someone saw you that important in their life. “I just need you to call like once a day to know that you’re okay.” He said grabbing another fork and taking a bite of your leftovers. “You always make the best stirfry.”
“Danny, what should I do?”
“About the entire situation?” He raised his eyebrows. You nodded as he sighed. “To be honest Y/N, in my opinion, you need a clean slate. Then you can build whatever your heart desires. But the thing is that you already caused drama at WWE, to the point where if you go back something is sure to pop off again. You don’t need that and you damn sure don’t deserve that.”
“To be honest, I don’t know what I deserve at this point.”
Daniel sighed before grabbing your hands and staring into your eyes. “Y/N, you are an incredible woman and you deserve all the fine things in life. And if you don’t see that, you are dumb as hell.” He said making you laugh. “Anyways, what were you doing before I got here?”
“I was just on the phone with-“ And you cut yourself off, trying your best not to finish the sentence (for fear of making Daniel upset).
“Hook?” You shyly nodded as you avoided eye contact. “I don’t care if you guys talk.” “You hate him.”
“I hate his stupid perfect hair. And the way he does his suplexes. And the way that he just gets everything he wants.” He said slowly letting go of your hands. He cleared his throat as you side-eyed him. “But yeah he’s a cool dude.”You rolled your eyes as he started to rant about work, you grabbed your phone. Your eyes started to scroll around before they widened on one particular text from an unexpected person. You started to drown him a bit as you kept in the text. “Y/N, are you okay?”
You blinked with a blank stare on your face. You slowly nodded and just said, “I have a meeting tomorrow apparently.”
“With who?”
“I don’t even wanna discuss it.” And you threw your phone across the room and placed your head under a pillow.
(August 3rd, 2022)
You woke up nervous as hell.
You didn’t know what to expect from this meeting. Will this make things worse or better for both of us?
You put on a semi-business outfit with nice shades, you did your makeup and hair very quickly. You grabbed your purse before passing Daniel (who was knocked out on the couch after all had drinks and game night) and left to rush to your meeting. You couldn’t decide if it was a blessing or a curse that your meeting was close to your apartment; you couldn’t shake your feelings as your anxiety grew to be pounding in your ears, making you almost hyperventilate. As you approached the building, you took a deep breath before walking into the plaza. You made talked to the receptionist before getting the clear to go upstairs.
You took the elevator and got out at your stop. Walking straight ahead to the doomed door. You took another deep breath before putting on a fake smile and knocking on the door. You heard a grumbled and muffled come in.
You opened the door to see the person with a smile behind a stack of papers. “You know Hunter, I never thought I would see you like this.”
“Y/N, I told you numerous times to call me Paul.”
“Hunter just rolls better.” You shook his hand as you two sat at the wooden coffee table.
Before the whole situation, Paul (Triple H) has also been one of your mentors when dealing with the wrestling business. You credit him with a lot of business moves and how your character was booked. Before your walkout, you two would talk every week (sometimes even multiple times a week). Now, this was the first time you were communicating before in a little over a month.
“I’ll get right to it. Neither Vince nor John are here, so you can be as open and honest with me as you want. Whatever is stated here will remain between the two of us.” Paul said. You nodded but you didn’t want to start right away, instead, you were trying to organize your thoughts. What could you tell him? That you were mad that things were being unfair and no one else saw that but you? That you couldn’t stand being in this company anymore as days go on. “I’ll start if you want.” He said, you nodded again.
He sighed as he tried to find the words to say. “Y/N, I’m incredibly sorry for not speaking up in the past for you. I knew of the plans and voiced my displeasure about them when Vince wanted to give the title to Ronda. I’ve tried telling them that there needs to be more substance within the women’s division and constantly giving Ronda a title is not the way to go about it, no matter how well I get along with her. But I know, what you said and done is not just based on Ronda and how Vince operates with her. It’s something much deeper”
You sighed as you started agreeing with him, “That was literally what I was trying to talk about. The women’s division needs more attention, storylines, and substance. We have women who have been with the company for several years who have been put on the back burner, women who have not been allowed to showcase their talent or improve in the ring and then get ridiculed for it, and we have the same people showing up with all the time with the same storylines with the same opponents. Or even worse, we get the short end of the stick and get our times cut when shit does over the time limit. I’m just tired of it all. And I’m tired of being the one who is always sacrificed for Ronda or someone else’s agenda. And then to top it off, we don’t get paid as much as we should, unlike our male counterparts.”
You paused before continuing, “I will admit, the way that I stated my grievances was distasteful and a bit selfish, but I didn’t know how else to get anyone to listen to me. I want to apologize for embarrassing you, and the company, and putting you and Liv in an uncomfortable position. That was never my intention, I intended to state my displeasure with the treatment of the women’s division and how we are ultimately nothing more than stepping stools to a particular figure.” You avoided his gaze and just focused on everything in the room, but him.
Paul chuckled before shaking his head, “Y/N, you did not embarrass me.” He said, making you look up at him with shock. “Shit, I mean what you did actually brought a smile to my face, that I had to hide from Vince. It made me think back to the Curtain Call incident in a way. You should never have to compromise your feelings and beliefs for this business, instead stand up for what you believe in. And you did exactly that, you stood up for what you think is right and you should do without remorse. Sometimes we have to be selfish with our agendas, cause we have to look out for ourselves at the end of it. Mercedes is doing it, Trinity is doing it, and now so are you.”
Giving a small smile, you responded, “How’s Vince taking it?”
“He wasn’t happy with it at first. But then he saw how much interaction WWE was getting and soon just decided to make it into a work. He’s open to talking and compromising, especially since your contract is expiring soon. But the question is, do you want to talk? Do you want to compromise? But first, let me ask you; when you did this, did you ever think what was gonna happen afterward?” You shook your head as he continued, “Well, then what do you want to do? Everything is your call now and I’ll explain this later, but you put us in a hard spot.”
You looked to Paul before saying, “I want a clean slate. I deserve a clean slate.”
Paul sat back in his chair, quiet for a moment. He widened his eyes as if he just thought of something, “What if I can make a deal with you? And I can give you that clean slate.”
You smiled, “I’m listening.”
—Time-Skip 1 hour later—
You walked out of the building feeling so much better than how you felt coming in. You squealed with excitement as you believed everything was coming into place and you were gonna get your peace back. That your slate, your canvas was clear. But then you shortly realized that it wasn’t, your slate wasn’t all the way cleared. You sat down on a nearby bench, getting out your phone. You pressed the phone icon before scrolling to a certain contact, your finger hovered over it before pressing it to dial. Lifting the phone to your ear to speak, the call quickly went to voicemail after two rings. You brought down your hand to end the call, but after quick consideration, you put it back up just in time to hear the voice message beep.
You took a breath in and said, “Hey, I just wanted to say thanks for everything for the past couple of years. Even though shit’s been going south lately and we aren’t what we use to be, I love you and I’ll still love you. I know you’re thinking about deleting this message already but I just want to say one more thing….
