Pairings: Autumn/? and Torrie/Randy Orton
Rating: PG-13-or whatever the equivalent is for very mild language.
Summary: Didn't you just read that?
Warning: Contains rude reference to Trashley Massa-ho..ooops I mean Ashley Massaro. You've been warned.
Notes: This is the first of two parts. For the sake of this fictional masterpiece both Torrie and Randy are still on SmackDown. However ECW and SD do combined shows. Follow me? And for the love of all that is ...this is just a fictional piece. A fiction that I wrote for the purpose of entertainment. It's pretty fluffy with some angst, not much but some. Underneath the Stars is dedicated to the fabulously wonderful Mentally-Unstable. She graciously gave me the plot turtle to with which to work. So here it is. For you MU with all the love under the stars and all that crap.
It was exactly 15 days until Christmas and counting. Autumn knew that not because she was excited but because the count down to the big day was continually shoved down her throat. There was no escaping the holiday madness once she left the confines of her anti-Christmas home.
Now as she sat on the plane headed bound for Philadelphia, she felt a wave of sickness. Christmas was the worst time of year for her. Autumn was definitely a scrooge of sorts, or maybe more like the Grinch. She adjusted her Ipod and settled in for the remainder of the flight.
One hour later Autumn was awakened by a sharp whack to her shoulder. "What the..." Apparently she had dozed off and slept through the landing as passengers were now getting off the plane.
"Oh, excuse me miss. I'm terribly sorry." Said the passenger who was unsuccessfully trying to make his way down the aisle with an armful of gifts, one of which was now halfway in her lap.
"Yeah, no problem." She mumbled as she gathered her things.
"Merry Christmas!" The man called out as he continued off the plane.
The cab ride to the arena was longer than she'd expected due to the extra holiday traffic. Once Autumn arrived at the arena and gathered her bags, she paused momentarily to study the sky. A funny thing it was, this is supposedly the merriest time of year yet the sky was a dull gray and gloomy, a lot like her current mood.
Inside the building she quickly made her way to catering to grab a cup of coffee. She dropped her bags at a nearby table, loosened her scarf and sat down.
"It's about time you got here."
"Hi Torrie." Autumn replied before she closed her eyes and took a sip from her cup. "Why are you bothering me?"
Torrie pouted and sat down across from Autumn with her dog Chole on her lap. "Is that anyway to treat your best friend?"
"Yes it is, especially when said best friend is intruding on my me time."
"Me time? Isn't that what your flight was for?"
Autumn set her cup down and propped her arms on the table. "Ok Torrie, what gives?"
The blonde diva smiled and ruffled Chole's head. "Well, since you ask. It's secret santa time and you'll never guess who I got!"
Autumn drew a blank. It was as if her day just couldn't get any worse. How could she have forgotten the annual secret santa?
"Hello, did you hear me? Guess who I got."
"Uhm, I don't know. Who?"
Torrie shook her head. "You're no fun. I got Randy."
"Joy."
Torrie frowned at her friend. "Look I know you hate this time of year but can't you at least muster an ounce of authentic happiness for me? You know how long I've waited for the right opportunity to let Randy know how I feel."
Autumn smirked. "I'm quite sure he knows how you feel with the way you giggle and twirl your hair whenever you get near him. And it's safe to say he feels the same way about you considering that he never takes those big brown eyes off you."
"You are just mean!" Torrie grabbed Chole and stood up to leave. "I know Kip hurt you badly. But it's no excuse to hurt those of us who love you. It's been more than two years. You can't let bad memories ruin Christmas for you. Or for the rest of us, for that matter."
"It was two years ago tomorrow actually."
Torrie bit her lower lip and Autumn stared into her empty coffee cup. Awkward silence fell over them. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to be so cold."
"It's ok Torrie. You are right about everything you said. I'll try to be nicer but don't expect full on jolly from me."
Torrie smiled. "That's good enough for me." She gave Autumn a hug. "Now that you've decided to be a little more accepting of this holiday thing..."
"What are you plotting? Just because I said I would be nicer doesn't mean I'm ready to go around singing 'Deck the Halls'."
Torrie smiled a little too deviously and scooped up Chole with one hand and grabbed Autumn with the other practically dragging her down the corridor.
"Torrie let me go! Where are you dragging me?"
"You'll see."
"Oh no Torrie, you can't be serious." Autumn tried pulling out of Torrie's grasp but the blonde steadily pushed Autumn into the room with the big cheery box of secret santa names.
"Go on Autumn. It'll be fun! Remember, baby steps. One gift and that's it. It's not like I'm trying to get you to go all out and put up a Christmas tree, buy gifts for the whole roster or bake cookies, you know, the stuff you use to do."
"No, but you're one step away from it. I know you Torrie, you won't rest until I'm drowning in a sea of colorful lights, big huge bows and strands of ribbon. UGH! Just thinking about it makes me ill."
Torrie smiled proudly as Autumn slowly walked toward the box. All she wanted was for her friend to move past the horrible incident that was keeping her from enjoying a holiday that the brunette had previously loved.
Autumn stared at the box while hating everything that Christmas stood for. The magic, joy and celebration. None of which she believed in or cared for.
Not any more at least.
She unfolded her arms and took a deep breath. But before she could grab a name a familiar voice interrupted her.
"Do you have x-ray vision with which you are desperately searching for my name?"
"You wish." Autumn mumbled under her breath.
"Quite the opposite. I hope anyone but you draws my name as I hear you are quite the scrooge."
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah well I hear you are an amazingly conceited jackass."
He feigned hurt. "Who would say such a thing about me?"
"Me actually. Now if you will excuse me, scrooge that I am,I have to draw one lucky person's name to give a lump of coal to."
"Ooh, you Americans are so cruel."
Autumn drew a folded piece of paper out of the large box and started walking away.
Rene smiled. "Aren't you curious to see who's name you drew?"
She shrugged and shoved the piece of paper in her pocket. "Why? Are you scared it's you?"
He paused long enough to draw his own piece of paper and read the name to himself.
"No, I'm not scared at all. See you in the ring."
Autumn sat in the corner of the empty locker room reading over the matches for the night when Torrie excitedly burst through the door.
"So tell me. Who did you get?"
She glanced up from the clipboard she was reading and looked at Torrie in confusion.
"Who did I get?"
"Yeah, about thirty minutes ago you drew a name out of a box. You are supposed to buy that person a gift. Duh."
Autumn refrained from laughing knowing it would only irritate Torrie even more. "Oh, that's what that was!"
Torrie stomped her foot. "Ugh! I swear you are incorrigible."
"I don't know who it is, I never looked."
"How do you not look?"
Autumn shrugged. "I don't know. It's just not that big a deal to me."
Torrie shook her head in disbelief. This was going to be harder than she thought. "Where's the paper?"
"Over there in my bag."
Torrie carefully unfolded the paper, her face dropped. This definitely wasn't going to help bring Autumn out of her funk.
Noticing the look on her face Autumn put aside her papers and nervously waited for Torrie to read the name out loud. When she didn't Autumn grabbed the paper from her.
"Torrie, are you pranking me? This has to be a joke."
Torrie laughed. "You act like you got Umaga, Trashley Massa-ho or someone just as bad. It's not that bad."
Autumn laughed. "I guess you're right. But Chole? Isn't that taking this gift giving a little too far?"
"Hey it wasn't my idea. Mr McMahon put all the names on the roster in that box. And as you know Chole is on the SmackDown roster."
Autumn dug through her bag until she found her wallet and retrieved a fifty-dollar bill. "Fine. Here you go. Buy Chole some of those doggy treats she likes or a new outfit."
Torrie frowned as she watched her best friend walk out the door.
Autumn stood in the center of the ring, the microphone in hand as ECW got ready to kick off the show. She announced the first match and quickly got out of the ring and took her seat next to the announce table. Normally she would watch the matches going on in front of her with enthusiasm but tonight she wasn't in the mood. Her mind was bogged down with the past and her need to get over it and move on. She would never admit it to Torrie but she had gotten into the idea of being secret santa that was until she drew Chole's name and all hope left her. Now she was tragically thrown back into depression.
The rest of the night Autumn announced the matches and sat idly by with her thoughts haunting her. Therefore, she was completely oblivious to the dangers in front of her. Rene Dupree was dumped out of the ring by an enraged Sandman who was now going for his kendo stick. Rene was already busted open from being bounced head first off the ring post. Autumn cringed as Sandman lashed into Rene with brute force. She shifted uncomfortably in her chair as Rene stumbled backwards into her and Sandman continued after him. This was the part she hated most about her job as ECW ring announcer, having to be on your toes and prepared for anything. In the heat of a match you never knew who might need your chair for a weapon or decide to use you as a human shield. Before she had time to react, Sandman gave a bloody Rene on last forceful whack across the sternum sending him reeling back into Autumn. The chair she was sitting on collapsed under the weight of both her and Rene, who was half consciously sprawled across her. Pieces of the chair poked into her ribs and when she tried to wrench herself from under his massive weight a sharp throbbing pain convinced her to stop.
"You ok?" Rene asked in a whisper.
"I..I think so."
"Just hold tight, don't move. I'll get some help."
Rene pulled himself up slowly and made his way to the side of the ring where Sandman was already celebrating his victory with a beer. He leaned against the apron and told the referee to motion for the medics.
In the medics room backstage Autumn stared at the ceiling as she waited on her x-rays. Thankfully this arena was state of the art and had a portable x-ray machine right there, saving her a trip to the hospital, unless of course something was broken.
As she lay there on the table all she could think about was how stupid she was for letting this Christmas crap get under her skin to the point that she was now injured. Maybe not severely but all the same she was physically hurt. A broken body for a broken mind she guessed. Before she could beat herself up even more, a soft knock at the door stopped her. Expecting the doctor or Torrie she almost fell off the table when Rene walked in.
"Anything broken?"
"That's what I'm waiting to find out." She slid up on the table and adjusted the ice pack on her side.
Rene pulled up a chair and sat down. Inwardly he searched for the right words and drew in a breath. "Autumn, I'm really sorry. You know how it is out there. I lost my senses and didn't realize you were right there. Can you forgive me?"
She smiled at his gestures or maybe it was the accent that suddenly made her feel like smiling. "It's ok Rene. It wasn't your fault. I should have been paying closer attention."
Rene shook his head. "No, do not blame yourself."
"That's what I'm good at but I digress. That was one ass kicking Sandman laid on you. What's your total damage?"
Rene chuckled. "That drunk bastard gave me twenty stitches on my forehead and a few gashes across my chest."
"That sounds like Sandman." She paused for a moment and cocked her head as if to study the man sitting across from her. "Rene I really hate to sound rude, but why are you here? I know you could have gotten an update on me from anyone else."
He frowned and genuinely appeared confused. "I'm not sure I understand."
"Well, it's just that you've never really held a real conversation with me. You only speak to me in passing. Now you're here being all concerned. It's just odd."
"I am concerned about you. I wanted to make sure you were ok since it is my fault that you are all banged up. I apologize if I've offended you in anyway."
Autumn rolled her eyes. The French certainly seemed to have a flair for being dramatic or at least this one did. "I've already told you it's not your fault. It's no big deal. It was bound to happen at some point but I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself."
Rene stood up to leave but before he reached the door he turned to face her. "I understand that you are the Christmas scrooge, that you are dark and brooding and that you are independent. But does that also give you the right to be so bitchy?"
Before she could pick her jaw up off the floor to respond, he was out the door.