Set in Stone

Chapter 1

A/N: This story takes place in the same world as La Arquitecta and Executive Orders, and follows on from those stories. However, I will do my best to ensure that reading those stories isn't a requirement for enjoying this one.

It has been a while since I made a new O/C, as I prefer to re-use the ones that are already established throughout my stories. However, I decided that it was time to go with something new for this story. I have chosen to base the character's name and appearance on a character in the TV show Manifest, but all of the other details (backstory etc) will be my own.

Speaking of something new, I have never written Roman as a main character before either, so I'm going to give that a try as well!

Grace Stone's call up from NXT to the main roster had not gone as planned. What crap luck it had been to pick up an injury on the very night that she had received the news about her promotion.

"This is going to be your last match with us, Grace," Hunter Helmsley had said minutes before she went out to the ring to wrestle the match in which she was going to drop the NXT Women's Championship to Io Shirai. His reason for letting her know had been to give her the chance to informally say goodbye to the fans after the Takeover match, who recognised an impending call up when they saw one.

Unfortunately, Grace had dislocated her left elbow during the match. Her injury hadn't changed the finish of the match because she had bravely continued as planned, putting Io over clean. What the injury had changed was the plans for her call up. Instead of appearing on Monday Night Raw the night after SummerSlam, she had been sent to Florida for a thorough examination, the result of which had been two months on the injured list for rehab.

Initially, Grace had been depressed by the cruel hand that fate had dealt her. She had feared that her call up might be cancelled, imagining Lucy Thorne, the Chairwoman on WWE, telling Hunter, "Keep her down there for a few months when she comes back."

However, to Grace's relief, it hadn't turned out like that. Out of the blue one Thursday afternoon she had received a phone call from WWE headquarters, from none other than the Chairwoman herself.

"How's the arm?" had been Ms Thorne's first question, her well-spoken English accent quite crisp. As if she hadn't already received a report from the company's medical staff to tell her that Grace Stone was cleared to get back in the ring, Grace had thought.

"It's great, thank you. I've been back in full training for a couple of weeks now," she had said a little nervously. It was pretty much the first time she had spoken to the boss, and definitely the first time she had been the beneficiary of a personal phone call.

"That's good," Thorne had replied. "Then I think it's time we talked about how we're going to bring you back to TV. Why don't you come to the office tomorrow and we'll have a chat. Let's say noon."

"Sure. I'll be there. Thank you," Grace had stumbled. She had heard stories about Ms Thorne's preference to handle a lot of her business face to face. With the instruction she had been given, she had learned first-hand had how accurate those stories were. She was required to fly from Orlando to New York and back again for a meeting that would likely only last a matter of minutes.

Grace wasn't stupid, though. She knew full well that the meeting would be as much about the Chairwoman getting an impression of her personally than anything to do with her return to the ring. Since buying a controlling share in WWE from Vince McMahon when he opted to retire, Lucy Thorne had built a reputation among WWE's wrestlers as a firm but fair boss who looked after her people when they needed it. Like any boss, she did seem to have people she preferred over others, and that was sometimes reflected in booking decisions. For that reason, Grace knew that making a good impression might go a long way to helping her make a successful start on the main roster. Often, getting that first decent push was the hardest hurdle for people to get over. Those who failed, well, they failed.