Her Authority

twenty four

Marina stood in front of the mirror in her dressing room and applied her red lipstick. She had done a plethora of press that day so saying she was worn out would be an understatement. It was the Monday after Wrestlemania 31 and she was scheduled to do a promo by herself. Someone knocked on the door, shifting Marina's focus over to the entrance of her dressing room. Seth stood against the door frame, in awe of Marina. 

"Is the red lip too much?" Marina asked as she walked back over to the mirror.

Seth chuckled, "you look amazing, Rick."

"I can feel my nerves in my throat," she straightened out her dress.

"You're gonna do great," he assured her as he crossed the room to stand behind her, "you have nothing to worry about."

She turned around to look up at him, "I want to give you a kiss on the cheek, but your segment is coming up."

"So?"

"If I kiss you," she straightened out his shirt as she spoke, "it will leave a mark."

"What if I want it to?"

Marina chuckled, "you can't go out there on live television with a lipstick mark on your cheek," he reached for her hand as she continued, "especially if you have to run through the crowd and everything."

He looked down at their hands and sighed, "if you kiss my wrist," he found her eyes when he looked back up, "it'll be covered by my gloves, no one will know it's there."

"Okay," she held up his wrists and chose the one that didn't have a tattoo, "it'll be a good luck charm."

He smiled as she carefully pressed her lips against his skin. She applied enough pressure to leave a mark, but not mess up her makeup. When she pulled away, a somewhat perfect lip mark was left. Marina reapplied afterwards as Seth put on his gloves. There was something about the simplicity of the moment that Marina wanted to hold onto and never let go. She grabbed their titles before they walked off to gorilla. Seth opened the curtain for her so that she could enter. Brock had already left gorilla seconds before they got there. Marina nervously watched the monitor, almost missing Seth walking out. He tapped on her shoulder, causing her to look at him.

"I'm heading out," he leaned in, making sure she could hear him over everything else, "I'm really proud of you."

He surprised her by kissing her on the cheek. As Seth was about to exit gorilla, he glanced over to her and winked before heading out. 

>>>

Later on in the night, Marina made her way back to gorilla for her promo. Seth had a backstage segment before she went on so he wasn't able to be there with her. She focused her attention to the monitor yet again as Seth spoke to Renee. Some of her nerves had subsided, but quite a few of them lingered in her chest. As the segment ended, Marina inched towards the curtain. She looked back at Hunter who gave her the nod and her music started. Her championship sat around her waist as she walked out. The crowd loved her despite still being a heel. They cheered for her as she entered the ring and grabbed a microphone as her music cut.

"I feel like there has been a lot of discussion about Seth Rollins tonight," she pursed her lips as the crowd booed, "no, no, no he deserved the title, don't get me wrong. I'm just happy that we get to talk about my accomplishment from last night."

The crowd cheered as she smiled while looking around at everyone.

"Last night, I won my first championship at my first match at Wrestlemania," she tapped the butterfly that sat around her waist, "I mean, that's pretty awesome given how much time I was allotted to do so. That's a discussion for another time."

She winked at the camera as she went off script a little.

"Now that I have this championship," she pointed at the belt, then at herself, "I want to prove that I earned it. I don't want people to run around saying that I only won because I am a part of The Authority. That simply isn't true," she shook her head, "I don't care who I have to fight to ensure that all of you and all of the Divas in the locker room understand that this wasn't a fluke. I was meant to be a champion because I have worked my ass off for the majority of my life in order to be here. To be standing in front of you as a champion."

Marina nodded as the crowd fully supported her.

"Unfortunately," she started, earning disdain from the crowd, "I won't be competing tonight. I won't make the mistake of putting my title on the line the night after I won it, just so some newbie can take it from me in less than a minute," she smiled, cunningly, "I watched what happened to AJ last year and quickly learned from that mistake."

She laughed as the crowd had a mixed reaction to her comment.

"All in all," she removed the title from around her waist and held it above her head, "I will defend this title at any opportunity that I get because I am the best in my division. I refuse to let anybody discredit my accomplishments and I will win against every single Diva in that locker room. I pride myself on being a woman of my word, so you can bet your ass that you'll be seeing a lot more of me in this ring."

She dropped her microphone, still holding her championship above her head. The promo was short due to the women's tag that followed. Marina walked backstage to an ovation from gorilla. They trusted her to have a storyline of her own. There was a higher chance that she would be on pay-per-views defending her title, rather than following Seth around as a valet. She hugged all of the women that stood in gorilla. It saddened her that AJ was leaving, but she was excited to see what her friend would accomplish outside of the company.

"You did awesome out there," Nikki squeezed her, "I can't wait to get my rematch, considering how amazing the last one was."

Marina chuckled as she spotted Seth. Nicole released their hug, allowing Marina to walk over to Seth. He embraced her as she walked up to him. She hugged his torso while he planted a kiss on the top of her head. Her chin rested on his chest as she looked up at him and he looked down at her. He smiled, loving the sight of her joy. 

"Do we have time to go to catering?"

Seth nodded as he backed out of gorilla. Marina walked beside him as he draped an arm over her shoulders. The two arrived at catering, deciding to sit near a monitor so that Marina could watch the match. Seth was in the main event that night so he still wore his gear. She turned to him and looked down at her nails.

"How are you feeling, Rick?"

Marina looked up at him, "good. I just," she sighed, "I just wish that we were given more time. I'm surprised they gave us two segments tonight."

Seth was now the one to sigh, "on the sheet, they made it one segment."

Marina groaned, resting her forehead on his shoulder, "I hate that."

"Why didn't you call yourself the Divas Champion?"

She scooted her chair closer so that she could lean into his body, "did I not?"

He shook his head as he rested his arm against the back of her chair, "you're planting seeds, Ricky."

"I've never considered myself a Diva," she traced the stitches on his pants, "I'm not on the show, I barely wrestle because they have me valet for you, but they let me take certain hits in the Shield. I don't understand why they put the strap on me."

"Because you're going to evolve the division," he rubbed her shoulder, "they put it on you because they know you'll do something more with it. They believe in you."

The realization hit Marina, "holy shit."