Title: Secrets and Lies (1/?)

Rating: M for cursing, slash and het content

Pairings: Orton/Jericho, OC/Jericho, and many, many others.

Disclaimer: Don't own anyone except for Allie Pearson

Summary: Allie has a reputation for causing trouble. When she signs for WWE, she comes face to face with someone with whom she shares a deep secret. Will she destroy everything in her quest for peace and happiness?

Author's note: This originally was started about 5 years ago, the first chapter was posted at ffn then forgotten. As I want to get back into writing I thought this would be a good way of doing it. It's brought up to date as much as possible and changed a fair amount.

"So she finally signed, did she?"

The advisor nodded, satisfaction evident on his face, "two year contract."

"And you intend to book her how? You know her history with Jericho?"

"I'm aware of that," the man shifted uncomfortably. "However, she maintains that she is professional enough to not have a problem with him. She will initially be booked in the women's division. She's been out of the business for a couple of years so I'm not sure how long it'll take her to get back into it. If she does as well as she is capable of, we can look again in a few months."

"OK, I'll leave it up to you to sort it all out. I'm warning you though," Vince McMahon leaned forward menacingly, "she causes backstage problems and she's out. And you'll be following her."

He nodded. WWE was taking a risk signing Allie Pearson, he knew that. Her tantrums and liaisons were the talk of every organisation she wrestled for. She had a history with Chris Jericho that went way back to when she first started wrestling. No one was sure what happened between them, but they hadn't both worked in the same organisation since, and that wasn't a coincidence.. There were rumours and stories of what might have occurred, most of them completely unbelievable. The only two people that knew the truth were Allie and Chris. Most people figured that the true story had stayed a secret for so long, both would want it to stay that way.

Xxx

"Fucking hell, I just saw Allie Pearson, has she really signed?" Ted DiBiase burst into the busy men's locker room almost shouting the news.

It usually took a few weeks for Allie to become the talk of a new locker room, but she'd got such a reputation by now, stories of her past conquests were more than enough to keep the gossips in business for weeks. She'd been spotted coming out of Vince's office and within minutes the well oiled gossip mill was grinding away.

David Hart Smith smiled, "well, you know she got run out of TNA a couple of years back for sleeping with Angle? And that was final straw after she split up about seven different relationships. Dixie was not happy."

"So what's she doing here? My wife's gonna freak when she hears about this!" Mark Henry shuddered. His wife's temper was legendary, and the last time he'd got caught messing around on her she'd given him an ultimatum. The words made him cringe: 'mess with another woman again and I swear to God I will rip your balls off and make earrings out of them'.

"What you worried about man? Keep it zipped up and you don't have a problem," Mike laughed.

"Yeah, well. I know she's a good wrestler but she's a fucking liability backstage. She's a fucking slut. It's like having a ringrat on the crew." Mark shook his head, he couldn't work out why Vince had agreed to WWE signing her, and was predicting only bad things could come as a result.

"Hey, she's a good wrestler, she's good for the TV product, and the fans can't work out why she was fired from TNA or where she's been for the last few years, so there's gonna be a buzz about this." They were all surprised to hear Jericho defend her. They all knew she had a history with him. They watched as the wrestler stood up and stretched, and walked to the door. "If you think with this head," he touched his forehead, "instead of that one," then motioned to his crotch, "you'll be fine with her."

After he left the other wrestlers shook their heads and got on with changing. They knew he had a point, she wasn't irresistible. Sure, she was a good wrestler, and fairly attractive, but nothing special. There were far better looking ringrats out there. Those that had met her before also knew that she was prone to massive mood swings, often going from happy to miserable in five seconds flat with no apparent cause. How she had ended up with so many different wrestlers seemed like a mystery to most of them.

Randy Orton often listened but rarely participated in backstage gossip, but even his curiousity was piqued by the current buzz in the locker room. He was intrigued at the legend that followed Allie's name. Even more so because of her links with Jericho. His Chris. A nervousness shifted in his stomach. Why had she suddenly decided to come back to wrestling, and not only that, but to the same show that Chris was on? The uneasiness set Randy on edge.

Randy quickly got up and followed Chris out of the room and down the corridor, "Hey Randy," he turned and smiled at the younger man.

"Hey gorgeous. You good?"

Chris nodded, "you heard the guys all bitching about Allie, right?. I tried to put them straight, but even I don't think Vince knows what he's let himself in for."

"You ever gonna tell me about you and her?"

Chris shook his head ruefully. "It's not my place to tell babe. If she starts to trust you, she'll tell you. Why do you think that no one else knows?"

"She's never trusted anyone enough…"

"And I'd never break her confidence," he finished. "Much as I love you darlin', I can't do that to her."

"Does she know about you and me? Is that why she's back? Does... does she want you back?"

Chris sighed, "I don't know. She knows I'm bi. I don't think she'd be surprised… but I don't know how far rumours travel and I don't know how much she buys into them. I know she won't want me back, if there's nothing else I'm sure of that." He smiled gently at Randy, "you don't have to worry about me and you."

Randy nodded, content with that for now, "you gonna talk to her?"

"Think I should?"

"Yeah." Randy squeezed his lover's shoulder affectionately. "She's been avoiding you for so long… don't you think you'd best find out why she decided now was a good time to reacquaint herself with you?"

"Maybe." Her decision had confused Chris too. He could understand why she'd avoided him all of those years, so her reasons for coming back were a mystery to him. "I'll talk to her if I see her. If I know anything about Allie she'll seek me out before long anyway."

xxx

Chris was right, she did seek him out., walking into the men's locker room as everyone else had left. She'd remembered that Chris always liked to take his time when showering and changing.

"Hey stranger," she drawled, a shy smile flickering across her face. "Long time no see."

"Allie." Chris had no words. What could he say to this woman?

"I'm sorry."

Those were not the words he expected to hear from her. He looked up in surprise, "why? What did you do wrong?"

She smiled remorsefully, "you know… at least some of it. I should never have run out on you."

"Why not? My numerous… liaisons were enough to try the patience of a saint. You said from the start that you wouldn't accept second best… and that's what I gave you."

She shook her head. "Still doesn't excuse what I did to you."

"It's past now though, yeah? You made your decision… and I have to live with that."

"Yeah…" She looked down at her feet, as if she were about to tell him something more. "Chris, are you with anyone?"

He nodded, blushing slightly, "Randy Orton. And yes it's serious and no, it's not common knowledge and we'd like to keep it that way."

"I understand." There was a short silence. "Does he know?"

"No," Chris smiled briefly as he thought of his lover, "he knows we have a history, but he is willing to respect your privacy. I told him that you'd tell him if and when you trusted him."

"Can I trust him?" Allie wasn't the only one who had been the victim of locker room gossip over the years, and she wasn't sure which quarter of what she heard about Randy would have been true.

"I do." Chris didn't trust easily, so for Randy to have earned this trust meant that Allie knew she could confide in him if necessary.

"Good. Thanks." Allie seemed somewhat perturbed and upset.

"Is there something you're not telling me?" Chris knew there was something not quite right, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"No… nothing Chris, I swear." Inwardly, she thanked her ability to lie convincingly.

"Sure?"

"Yeah." She sighed sadly. "I just wish things had worked out differently between us. But, I made a bad decision… I've made plenty of those over the years though."

"You're not the only one kid."

"Do you think things would have been different… if I hadn't… you know?"

"Maybe."

"You've never been one for 'what ifs' though, have you?"

Chris laughed, "no, I'm not one to dwell on my regrets. Not many of them anyway."

"I should meet up with Randy, reassure him I'm not here to try to steal you away from him."

"If you would speak to him, I'd appreciate it. He doesn't doubt how I feel, but he's more insecure than you'd expect him to be and I don't want him hurt."

"You never stray far from type do you Chris?" Allie smiled sadly.

"You know me," Chris grinned. "Tell me Allie, why now?"

"I can only run for so long, can't I?"