Disclaimer: I don't own anything but Valerie. This disclaimer applies to the entire story, so...so there.

Chapter I: First Appearance.

Smackdown, Thursday: September 27, 2001.

For Valerie Calaway, the wrestling world was a part of her, as surely as her red hair and blue eyes were. For as long as she could remember, her father had been a wrestler and, although by no means always on the road with him, she spent enough time with him to have grown to love it. She wanted to be a wrestler herself, but her father was protective to the point of obsession and so it wasn't likely to ever happen. One thing he did allow her to do was sit in the audience, to cheer him on.

And that was exactly what she was doing as her father stepped into the ring with Rhyno, a beastly wrestler wrestling for the Alliance, the WWE's current arch-enemy. The match was going well for her father, though she wasn't surprised. Rhyno could be beastly all he wanted but her father was called the phenom for a reason. She cheered as he prepared to hit Rhyno with the Last Ride only to swear when Diamond Dallas Page came running down the aisle, toward the ring.

The history between her father and Page had been long and bloody prior to this date but apparently, Page hadn't had enough yet. She yelled up at her father to get his attention and warn him only to have to jump back when Page took a swing at her. She stared at him in disbelief as he yelled at her to mind her own business.

Valerie ignored him and as he continued towards the ring, she climbed over the fence, going against her father's strict orders to not interfere for her own safety, and walked to the ring to try and help her father. She knew it was a bad idea, but she was a Calaway, and no Calaway stands idly by while someone attacks their family.

'Taker meanwhile lifted Rhyno up for the Last Ride and didn't hear or see Page enter the ring. Page hit the big man with a steel chair and the bell rang, signalling the DQ win for 'Taker. As 'Taker lay on the mat in pain, Page swung the chair up to hit 'Taker again only for it to be pulled out of his hands by a scared but determined Valerie.

He turned to face her and she swung the chair at him, but he caught it. She couldn't believe it, he caught the chair. She tried to pull it from his hands but he was far too strong and he easily ripped it from her fingers. She froze in terror, knowing she should move but unable to. Page swung the chair up but her father had by then gotten up and he tore the chair from Page, before slamming him down with a Last Ride.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Taker all but yelled at her.

Valerie unfroze at her father's harsh demand and had to take a moment to answer. She knew he'd be angry, she knew he'd be furious in fact, but...she'd only been trying to help. She told him so and he shook his head in anger and frustration.

"You were foolish to do what you did. You should know by now that Page is not to be taken lightly, you could have gotten hurt."

And indeed she did know that. She knew all about how dangerous Page was. Hadn't he been stalking her stepmother months prior? Hadn't he attacked both her and Sara on several occasions? Yes, she knew but it didn't matter.

"He was gonna hit you with a chair."

"And you should have let him," 'Taker said, the tone of his voice making her swallow hard.

"You're my father. I wasn't gonna stand aside and watch you get hurt." She said it in a determined voice but couldn't help lower her head afterwards. He wasn't just mad, he was disappointed. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to stop the tears from escaping but it was useless. She stepped down from the apron hurriedly, hopefully before he could see the tears. She quickly made her way backstage, furious with herself for crying.