For anyone new here, I used to LOVE the pairing of Cody/Kaitlyn. You can find some one-shots I wrote about them in my one-shots reading list haha

Obviously, they're both happy now with their current partners (and Cody + Brandi are having a baby!!), but I guess I wanted to write about them again, so here we are.

This takes place during the 2018 Mae Young Classic (bring that back, WWE!).

(also, this one-shot isn't very good lmao, just so y'all know)

"I wish I could take my time, and show you that I'll be fine 'cause I would be nothing without you."
Nothing Without You | EMMA BLACKERY

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"The following is a first round match, scheduled for one fall!  Introducing first, from Haryana, India: Kavita Devi!"

Celeste watched as her opponent walked out.  Kavita was much newer to the world of wrestling than she was, but this was her second Mae Young Classic, so she had already dealt with all the thoughts Celeste had going through her head last year.

She wished she was that lucky.

"Hey, Celeste, what's going on?"

It wasn't that Cody didn't want to hear from her; it was always nice to hear from his friend.  They texted constantly; neither of them worked for the WWE anymore, but they always thanked the company for introducing them and starting the friendship.

She didn't usually call him, though.

"So..." She took a deep breath. "I got a call from the WWE recently."

"Oh?"

He wasn't not excited for her, but he knew that she wasn't wanting to return any time soon.  She had too much going on to even think about focusing on an in-ring return.

"They want me to come back," She continued. "Not full-time or anything, but they want me to be in the Mae Young Classic."

"Do you want to do it?" He asked.

"I mean, I already told them I would," She replied.

"Why - ?"

"Because I do want to do it," She interrupted. "That's not the problem, the reason I'm calling you."

"Are you okay?  What's going on?" He was confused now.  If there was one word he'd use to describe Celeste, it would be blunt.  But she was refusing to get to the point, and he was wondering what was wrong.

"Cody, I haven't wrestled in 4 years," She told him. "I'm going to make a damn fool of myself in that ring, with all those girls who actually know what they're doing."

As Kavita stepped into the ring, Celeste took a deep breath.

It was now or never.

"And her opponent, from Houston, Texas: Kaitlyn!"

She walked out.

"Well, have you been training?" He asked.

"Yeah," She replied. "I had a match not that long ago."

"And?  How did it go?"

"I think it went well."

"I feel like I would've heard something if it didn't," He said. "What about since then?  Have you still been training?"

"Yeah."

"Then you have nothing to worry about.  Sure, it's been 4 years since you wrestled regularly, but you're getting back into the swing of things," He said. "You're gonna kill all those girls and win that tournament."

She laughed. "This isn't the Tournament of Death, Cody, what the fuck?"

"Did they tell you that?"

"Nobody died in last year's tournament," She reminded him.

"Yeah, okay."

Celeste smiled when the crowd started cheering for her.  When she got in the ring, the cheers had gave way to "Welcome back!" chants, and she had to keep herself from crying.

She couldn't believe she was back in a WWE ring, and she couldn't be happier about it.

"Seriously, though," Cody said, "You're gonna do great.  You're in even better shape than you were before you left, so you shouldn't have any problems picking everything back up.  And if you do, you know I'm always here to help."

"You've got so much going on now, though, with All In and everything," She said.

"But you're my friend," He told her. "If I need to drop everything I'm doing to help you, I'm going to."

"Thanks, but that won't be necessary," She said. "I just needed a pep talk, to get out of my head, and you've helped with that."

"Just get in the ring, do what you do best, and kick some ass," He said. "The confidence will come along with it.  Trust me."

And she did.

When she pinned Kavita and won the match, she felt like she was on top of the world.  Even if she'd lost this match, she still would have been happy.

She did what Cody said she'd do: do what she does best and kick ass.  It didn't feel like 4 years since the last time she was in the ring; it felt like she was wrestling on Raw just last week.  She didn't miss a beat.

And she knew that she'd be facing Mia Yim - someone much more experienced than Kavita Devi - in the next round, and she knew she was going to do amazing.  The confidence had some, just like he said it would, and she was ready to fight any and everybody.

Thanks to him.