DISCLAIMER: I own no characters mentioned in this story and they were written for entertainment purposes only.

STANDING ON MY OWN

CHAPTER ONE: Hungry for Action

Imagine a woman, happily engaged. Imagine a man in a healthy relationship with his girlfriend. If Cupid struck these two lovers to a bittersweet serenity of affection, who is truly at fault in this kind of situation? Would you blame the mythical Greek legend that is usually involved in these problems? Or would you blame the uncontrollable urges between the two that has resulted in crimes of passion? The question at hand; however, is this: Are you going to try and stop it?

He was walking alone in the halls of the corridor; the brash and bleached young upstart had a rough duffel bag hanging over his right shoulder while wearing the most casual of clothes after going through a workout routine at the gym. Ken Kennedy pushed through the entrance to the backstage area where some people usually gorged into a meal of luxury provided to them from the company if they did not wish to eat out.

"Jimmy served us some Chinese!" Gregory Helms would always say around some of his friends like Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, Shannon Moore and an amused Jimmy Wang Yang. But Ken wasn't really looking for a table to eat lunch on; he already did so at a local diner. He was inquiring in his own mind, "What's for dessert?"

The answer was just right at the corner – literally. There he saw the vending machine that also contained what he was craving for at that moment and that was a good bar of Snickers to help vitalize him for a while. He dropped his bag at the nearest empty table and went over to the machine. Waiting for his selection to be dropped on the space below for his to claim, Ken whipped out his phone and noticed that he had received a message that put a smile on his face. It was from his girlfriend.

They have been dating for two years and Ken hoped to keep her longer. He opened the message and read the usual "I love you, I miss you" kind of note that most wrestlers were used to from their loved ones. He also replied with the same message, just adding the word "too" after "you."

He put it back inside his pocket and squatted down to get his Snickers bar but felt surprised as he ended up with nothing. It was like having your wallet snatched away without you knowing. He looked up and saw the Snickers bar that was about to fall down to the hatch. Tapping the glass, he groaned and felt like he got screwed out of his money. Ken slowly got up, staring daggers at the machine until a slightly raspy voice behind Ken caught him by surprise.

"That happens to me all the time, man." He turned around and looked at none other than RAW Superstar, Randy Orton, who was also in his own casual clothing. It was a WWE Super Show that night with not just RAW and SmackDown like before but with the revised ECW as well.

Getting back to the small chit-chat, Ken replied to him, "Really? What did you do about them?" Randy shrugged his shoulders and stepped in front of him. He gave the machine a small hit and the Snickers bar fell into its proper place. "Sometimes it falls down, sometimes it doesn't. Eventually, it will fall down into the right place. The thing is it usually won't for you but for somebody else if you don't give it a whack. But what the hell, at least you made one person happy." Ken reached into the machine and got his Snickers bar out, examining it for a while. "Thanks, Randy..." he said.

"Don't mention it, man. You're that Kennedy guy, right? Ken Kennedy?" Randy asked, making sure he got things right. Ken slowly nodded while chewing into his newly claimed chocolate bar. "Yeah, I like your announcing thing." Both of the guys walked over to the table Ken laid his bag on, sharing a few laughs. Randy said, "Hey, man. After you're done with that, I'll show you something neat around the locker room." Ken had a gut feeling that it was going to be a rib. He just wasn't sure if it was for him or for somebody else. Either way, he was curious. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all.

After a while of conversation, Randy led Kennedy through the hallway and they arrived at their destination. "The Women's Locker Room," Ken read from the sign on the door with an inquisitive tone of voice. "Randy, this isn't Porky's. You should know that by now." Randy chuckled along with Ken, showing that he knew what he was doing. He peeked through the small opening along the door and watched the exhibitionist, Kelly Kelly, dressing up with a towel around her body.

"Hey, Ken. Get over here and check out the goods on K-Squared."

"Who's K-Squared?"

"You know... Kelly Kelly? The stripper chick in ECW. We call her K-Squared because both of her names start with the letter K and sometimes, she could be a real square. She'd get lost in the building sometimes and she's really gullible. She makes it easy ribbing."

Ken felt a bit uncertain about Randy's actions but just one visit from a locker room leader turned everything around. And they were female. "Randall Keith Orton!" a hot (in more ways than one) Mickie James shrieked and raised her voice at the heinous crime. Randy was startled and he pretended that he wasn't able to look at Kelly Kelly as he stared into an angry Mickie's eyes. She then turned her attention to a man she was much more familiar with and cooled off. "Wow! It's you, Ken!" she continued, "I haven't seen you since 2005 back in Kentucky! We finally meet again! Good to see you!"

It was suddenly a mood swing when she met eyes with Randy. She poked his chest saying, "I still don't approve of your actions! You should be ashamed of yourself, sneaking up on Barbara like that." "She's acting like a damn feminist..." Ken thought to himself as he watched Mickie ramble on in front of a bored Orton. "I take it, Randy. You do this every time?" Ken asked. "K-Squared knows what she does!" he retorted. Mickie shot him another glare and got into another rant, "And that's also one thing to call her K-Squared! She has a name you know... You could settle with Kelly, Barbie, Barbara, etc. but you dare to even accompany a reason with calling her that silly algebraic monomial!" "Gee, Mickie. Online college really took a toll on you." Orton remarked, snickering afterwards. Mickie didn't find it amusing, Ken was just indifferent. However, Ken added up, "In his defense, he didn't want to make her feel like Barbara Walters."

Mickie sighed and gave up on Randy's case and turned her attention to Ken who was just watching her bicker all that time. Her cheeks turned red in embarrassment and started apologizing to him. "I'm so sorry that you had to listen to that, Ken. Randy here just has to learn his lesson, that's all. With Trish and Lita gone and all, I stepped up and became the locker room leader for the girls here. I have to set the example, y'know?" Ken grinned and gave a little chuckle, "That's totally fine, Mick. You just got to keep guys like Orton here and put them in their place." Randy got a bit annoyed and playfully yelled out to Ken, "Whose side are you on, man?"

They had a small shoving match to their shoulders, all in good fun of course. Mickie giggled in amusement at the two. She started up, "But seriously, guys. Quit it, alright? Wrestling may be a dog-eat-dog world but we still got to respect each other." She put her two thumbs up with her eyes that said, "Got it?" Orton and Ken replied with small nods and quiet answers of agreement under their breath.

Mickie excused herself from the conversation and walked through the doorway of the Women's Locker Room where Kelly Kelly just finished dressing up in her own clothing and made her exit through the same door. She scanned Ken and Randy from head to toe and told them, "Smooth move... But not smooth enough." She especially looked at Ken a funny way and giggled. As she walked on by, Randy put his hand on her shoulder and asked her to stop for a while.

"Wait, what was that supposed to mean?" he questioned. Kelly turned to look at Ken and replied, "I overheard your conversation with Mickie earlier. Your tone of voice explained it all to me. I know your little secret." Kelly winked and flicked her hair as she turned to walk away. What she said left Randy and Ken really confused, especially the blonde who was even living up to his stereotype: a blonde. "How the fuck do women do that?" Randy wondered. Ken shook his head and tried to get it all out of his head. He answered, "I don't know, man. Let's just go."

After a while, they got bored along the corridor and sparked up a small conversation to pass the time as they tried to reach their destination of nowhere. "So, how are Mickie and Kenny? Are they still dating each other?" Ken asked, putting his arms up and his hands behind his head as he took every step. "They're engaged." Randy said bluntly like he didn't care but for some reason, it jerked Ken to stop abruptly and stare into the air.

Randy commented, "I doubt they'll be able to commit to each other completely anyway... Their age difference, their clash of personalities... Mickie is this sweet Virginian girl while Kenny... Ken's a rear canal. A Grade-A asshole." "Much like you?" Ken remarked. Randy couldn't keep a straight face at that one. He knew it was true but he still had to deny it. Laughing, he said, "Right back at ya."

"Doane... He's a lucky guy, scoring a girl like Mickie." Ken said, putting his hands into his side pockets. "Mickie, Mickie, Mickie... Why do you always talk about that girl?" Orton asked, annoyed. Ken shrugged his shoulders and looked up, he really didn't know why either. It just came out like word vomit. They both pondered to the earlier events as they advanced through the hallway. Suddenly, a wild idea struck through Randy's mind like a bullet to the brain. "Why didn't I see this before?" Randy stopped at his tracks and said under his breath. And then he looked at Ken and pointed at him, yelling. "You've got the hots for Mickie freaking James, man!"