Chapter Text
Ruth crinkled her nose as a loud knock at the door woke her up from a deep sleep. The sun still hadn’t risen, so it was surprising that someone was at the door.
“I’m coming!” Ruth shouted, pulling on her robe as she hurried over and wrenched the door open. It was Sam. He was still wearing the same clothes from yesterday and had a heap of papers in his arms.
“Oh, hey. What are you doing up? It’s not even sunrise?” Ruth said, leaning against the door frame.
“Yeah, I know, sorry to wake you. I stayed up all night writing the script, and I’m almost done. But something just feels, I don’t know just a little off, and you’re gonna want to change it anyway, so I thought I’d just get ahead of that now,” Sam said.
“Is this you asking for help with the script? You? Asking for help?” Ruth asked, eyebrows raised.
“Shut up. Do you want to help or not?” Sam growled. Ruth laughed, nodded and gestured him into the living room. The two sat down on the couch. Sam spread the papers out on the coffee table, and they got to work.
Two hours later, the script was finished, and Sam and Ruth had passed out on the couch. The sun started peeking out, and a ray of early morning sun hit Sam in the face, waking him. For a moment, he forgot where he was. Sam’s heart skipped a beat when he realized that somehow during their sleep, Ruth ended up using his chest as a pillow. He looked down and smiled at her softly. She looked so peaceful. If only he could wake up to this every day, Sam thought wistfully.
“Hey, Ruth, wake up,” he said softly. Ruth stirred and blinked the sleep out of her eyes. When she realized she was laying across Sam’s chest, she jumped back.
“Sorry! I didn’t mean to sleep on you!” she said quickly, looking down at the floor.
“Yeah, you should be. You snore like a damn freight train,” Sam quipped, “Anyway, I better get ready for rehearsal. See you there.” Sam gathered the mound of papers and left.
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3 weeks later after countless hours of rehearsal, it was opening night. The girls were all getting ready when there was a knock at the dressing room door. Reggie opened it, and in walked Ray.
“Ladies!! You all look wonderful! We’ve got a great crowd out there tonight. Just wanted to pop in and say break a leg!” Ray said, beaming.
“You should use a different saying, Ruth actually did break her leg,” Jenny said sassily, sewing a rogue rhinestone back onto Melrose’s costume.
“Ah, yeah, right, sorry Ruth! Well anyways, I know you girls are gonna do great. See you out there!” Ray waved and turned back out into the already loud crowd. The girls went back to hurriedly getting ready.
“All right people, 10 minutes until we start off the show, let’s go, let’s go,” Sam yelled. He left the dressing room and walked over to the opening of the tunnel where the girls would run out as their character was introduced. It certainly was a sizable crowd, though it wasn’t completely sold out. His eye scanned the sea of fans, and he saw Justine sitting in the front row with her mom and Billy. He smiled and waved across to them. Seconds later, the smile slid off his face. Russell was with them too.
Sam pulled himself together. Of course Russell would be there, he thought. Ruth would be so upset if he wasn’t there for opening day, so it’s a good thing he’s here. Sam wanted Ruth to be happy. It just sucks for him that happy means Russell. Sam turned back around and went down the tunnel to the AV room.
Even though they weren’t filming, they still needed cameras to capture close ups and other angles for the jumbotron. Sam checked all of the feeds. Everything seemed ready to go. He checked his watch. Five minutes to go.
“Knock knock!” sang Ruth as she skipped into the room.
“Hey, you got five minutes until showtime, what are you doing?” Sam said grumpily furrowing his brow.
“I know, I know, I just wanted to come in and say good luck. You’re gonna do a great job directing,” Ruth said.
Sam smirked. “Yeah, I know I will, and I don’t need luck for that. I do however need you to actually be where you’re supposed to be or we won’t have a show, so scram.”
“Ok, ok, I’m leaving. See you after the show!” Ruth turned and left the AV room. Back in the dressing room, everyone was lined up and ready to go.
“Alright ladies, let’s go kick some ass!” Cherry shouted out to a chorus of cheers. Bash’s microphoned voice cut through their pep rally announcing the beginning of the show.
“You ready?” Tamme asked Ruth.
“Yeah, definitely, bring it on, Welfare Queen!” Ruth said.
“So who came up with Welfare Queen and Zoya joining forces to take down Liberty Bell once and for all?” Tamme asked as the pair took their place at the end of the line, waiting for the title match.
“Sam and I actually both sort of came up with it. I thought Welfare Queen should team up with someone, and he said it should be Zoya,” Ruth answered.
“Mmm well good, I think it’s a great plot for the year, way to go!” Tamme said, playfully shoulder bumping Ruth. A couple minutes later, Bash started to introduce Zoya. Ruth threw her shoulders back, got into character and marched out from the tunnel to take on Tamme.
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“Ruth! RUTH! Hey! Hey, that was amazing way to go!” Russell shouted, maneuvering through the crowd to find his way to Ruth. He reached down and kissed her deeply.
“Thanks, Russell! I’m so glad you were able to come see it! I missed you,” Ruth said, her arms still looped around his neck.
“I missed you too, and I wouldn’t miss opening night!” Russell said leaning down again to kiss her.
The couple walked out of the chaos hand in hand. It was nice to have Russell back, Ruth thought as they strolled through the lobby of the Riviera. Ruth hadn’t seen Russell since the team left LA. They spoke on the phone once a week to catch up and wrote letters back and forth, but it wasn’t the same. Ruth leaned into Russell as they walked and looked up at him with a smile.
“So, the cast is going out on the town tonight to celebrate, do you want to come with?” Ruth asked as Russell pressed the up elevator button.
“Yeah of course! That sounds fun!” Russell responded.
“Great! We have a little bit of time though before they leave. Wanna go do a different kind of wrestling while we wait?” Ruth said with a mischievous wink.
“Oh, fuck yes,” Russell said, practically sprinting into the elevator. As soon as the elevator doors started to close, Russell started kissing Ruth’s neck and cheek. Ruth giggled and looked out towards the lobby as the elevator doors closed. Instantly, she wished she would have looked anywhere else because she made direct eye contact with Sam, who was standing in the lobby looking back at her, cigarette in hand. He gave a closed lip smile and then turned away, head turned down.