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Dom was exhausted. It had only been 6 weeks, and he hadn’t expected to feel so rusty. It certainly didn’t help that Gunther seemed hell bent on chopping his chest in. For a guy on a sort of reverse retirement tour, he hadn’t shown much mercy toward the young talent he’d shared the ring with tonight.
But it was more than that. Everyone was miserable and everyone was tense. But everyone didn’t matter. Liv mattered, and she was in a state like he hadn’t seen her in a long time. Maybe ever. He didn’t know why Vaquer’s tirade had struck such a chord with her, and admittedly he felt utterly clueless about how to help.
His phone had a slew of missed calls and messages when he got back to the clubhouse. JD, apologizing for not being ringside. A few of the guys offering a ride back to the hotel. Otis, asking if the wanted to grab food or a drink. Raquel had sent a picture of Liv exhaling a thick plume of smoke, a streetlamp on the hotel property reflecting off her hair.
“Grass successfully touched” she’d written.
He answered Raquel first. Well. He texted her first. It would be stretching the truth to say he answered, as he ignored her text entirely. Instead, he asked simply, “how’s my girl?”
The three little dots jumped to life immediately.
“Good, I think. We went for a walk when got back to the hotel and then I tucked her in with a soda and a movie.”
Dom frowned. So Liv was already alone again. He didn’t think Raquel meant any harm, but getting Liv high and then leaving her alone with her thoughts was far from what he'd had in mind when he asked their teammate to take care of her.
His phone buzzed in his palm again. As though she’d sensed his dismay, she’d added, “I tried, Bud, I did. But I think she just wants you.”
He sighed, holding his phone to his chest. It was worse than twelve of the angry Austrian’s chops, knowing that she was alone and needing him.
He fired back a quick note of thanks, and beelined to the locker room. He skipped the showers, changing directly into his street clothes. He could shower later; maybe he could even convince her to join him. But he needed to get to her. He texted the guys that he was grabbing an uber, and would see them at the gym in the morning. He ignored JD completely. He understood, and he wasn’t terribly mad, but he knew any response would open the door for a conversation about Finn Balor. It was a conversation they’d need to have, but he wasn’t even touching it tonight.
And then finally, outside the arena with a bag slung over his shoulder and his suitcase at his side, he called Liv.
It took a few rings for her to answer, and her voice was soft, but steady. “Hi baby,” she greeted him, “How’d it go? How are you?”
‘About as well as the rest of the night…’ he thought bitterly.
“It was okay, guerita, I’m alright” he sighed. “I’m not going to Chicago, but it was good to get in there. Get loose before next month.” He squinted at a dark colored sedan approaching, trying to determine if it was the blue Honda Accord he was waiting for. It was not.
“It’s over, and I’m on my way to you. That’s the important part.” He shifted his weight back onto his heels. “How are you, mi amor?”
He could hear the hesitance on her end of the line. She wanted to say something, but not like this. Not on the phone.
“I’m okay. Really.” she lied. She hated herself for it, but she knew he was not fooled, nor was he mad. He was genuine in wanting to know how she felt, but he knew her better than to expect her to start this conversation now. “Just glad you're coming back now.”
She heard a car pull to a stop on the other side of the line, and the pop of a trunk opening.
“Car's here,” Dom confirmed, shrugging his backpack off his shoulder. He eyed the trunk carefully, and, pleasantly surprised by how clean it was, placed his bags inside. “I’ll see you in like ten minutes, sweetheart. I love you ”. And both phones snapped back to their home screens, bearing the same photo of the two of them.
He slid into the back of the car with a grunt. The driver offered him a bottle of water, which he took gratefully. It was the first time he'd sat down since he sent Liv off with Raquel, and he was surprised to find his body aching. Ten minutes suddenly felt entirely too long.
Liv stared at the door waiting for Dominik’s return, but somehow the click of the lock still startled her. She was already in the bed when she watched him walk in with long slow strides, like there was a minefield between them. Or maybe like she was the minefield. She tried not to be irritated, but she had never been one to be treated with kid gloves.
“I'm so glad you're back,” she sighed. She tried to force a smile, but it did nothing to convince either of them.
“God, me too,” he agreed, towing off his shoes. He slung his backpack into a corner. “I came straight here… I should have just brought you back myself. All that match got me was some new bruises.”
He started the water in the shower to let it warm, and then stood in the doorway to the bathroom while he began to undress. “I should have been with you. I'm so sorry, mi amor…”
“I just…” Liv cut him off abruptly. She shook her head apologetically. “I really don’t want to talk about her anymore.” She pulled the comforter around her shoulder like a shield.
Dominik paused where he stood having rucked up the edge of his tshirt, and he studied her. She’d been facing him since he came in, but was looking straight through him as he’d started to strip away his outside clothes.
“What about you?” he asked before pulling his shirt off over his head. He sat on the side of the bed and tugged off his socks. “Can I talk about you? And you only have to listen?”
She nodded, almost imperceptibly, and scooted backward to make room for him to join her in the bed.
He held her, and it struck him how small she felt in his arms. Her body, as petite as she is, always seemed so powerful. Even he, who saw her at her most fragile, didn’t usually get a physical sense of any weakness from her. In fact, in those moments where one might have expected to see cracks in the armor, she somehow made herself even tougher. When she lost a match, she went to the barn and refined her techniques. When she was hurt, she gritted her teeth and bullied her way through rehab. When she came undone for him in their bed, she did so with beautifully wild abandon. Her vulnerability truly was her power.
But tonight, she curled up beside him with her face buried in his chest. Silent, and with shaking breath, like a child who’d woken from a nightmare. He kissed the crown of her head and began combing his fingers through the lengths of her hair.
“I see a woman who moved mountains, when she should have been riding bicycles. And who was fighting for the mere existence of a future, rather than chasing a passion, or a dream job.” She sniffled, so he held her tighter before continuing.
“I see someone who is every bit as persistent as any other person, not just on our roster, but anywhere on the Earth. Someone who was thrown to the wolves while she was learning, and instead of using it as an excuse to fail, used it as motivation to succeed. Someone who didn’t seek opportunities by following them, but created them from nothing, everywhere she’s ever been.” He could feel his shirt getting damp from her tears. Shifting back, he tilted her chin so that he could look at her. Her eyes were grey and watery, and she tried to swipe at the tears on her cheeks with the back of her hand, but he caught her and wiped them away himself. He let his hand linger, cupping her face gently as he went on.
“You see the best in everything, and in everyone. God knows you didn’t give up on me, even when you should have.” He kissed her forehead. Neither of them liked to think about the time lost between them, but sometimes he couldn’t help it. It was a strong testament, not just to their love, but to her indelible persistence and faith. “You’re an inspiration not because you wanted to be, but because people choose you to be. Liv, you make everyone around you better, because we want to be like you, or even just worthy of you.”
Liv wrapped herself around his neck, feeling her chest tighten with love for the man in her arms. There was, between them, an almost overwhelming honesty. For Dom to say these things, they felt truer even than her telling them to herself.
She’d never say it so bluntly, but she knew it was part why she’d been so affected by a woman she barely knew, let alone cared to impress. They may have been Stephanie’s words. But it was Dominik’s voice she’d heard. His soft cadence. His breath against her cheek, and his hands on her thigh. She knew it wasn’t real, but it had felt real to her. And it had felt like she might die on the spot. Hearing him now, saying what she knew was his truth felt like taking a breath after hours underwater.
“Thank you, baby.” She whispered against his shoulder. “I needed that. So much.” She sat up and tucked her hair behind her ears, a physical manifestation of her locking in. “And you… need a shower.” She cracked a tiny, but genuine smile, for the first time in hours, and he laughed with relief. “Really, love, you do.” She nodded, starting to giggle as well. “You smell like sweat, and new leather and… ugh, terrible concession stand fry oil...”
“Okay, alright,” he grinned, “I get it.” He threw his hands up in surrender, but the God’s honest truth was he’d sit there and take her ribbing all night if it meant seeing her in good spirits. He stood and resumed undressing. Her eyes followed him, this time watching intently, and he felt his heart skip a beat. After nearly two years, that look in her eyes and the bite of her lip was still enough to knock his breath from his lungs.
“Will you join me?” and “Can I join you?” They asked each other in unison. Her cheeks flushed while a smile bloomed across his face, reaching all the way to his eyes.
“Let me wash your hair for you, and braid it back the way you like,” he offered. He reached for her hand, and she let him pull her off the bed and into his arms. He wrapped her against his body, and swayed with her gently as his hands skimmed under her tshirt.
She hummed and kissed along his collarbone toward his shoulder. “I'd like that.” she agreed.
He led her into the bathroom, swirling with steam from the water which had been running all this time. He undressed her delicately, and when she opened her mouth to protest, he silenced her with a deep long kiss.
“Just because you don't need me to be gentle with you,” he murmured against her skin, “doesn't mean I won't be.” She trembled as he left a trail of kisses across her jawline on his way to her ear. He nipped playfully at her earlobe before whispering “I'm so grateful to get to love you, Liv. Let me show you…”
And so, rather than look forward to ending the day and starting fresh, they reclaimed this night as their own. And separate from their routine as partners, or the still ignited lust between them, they spent the next long hours wrapped up in each other's unconditional love.