Title: To Watch You Go Down

Author: Karen U/revivingophelia

Pairing/Character: Eve Torres/CM Punk, Jeff Hardy, Kelly, Melina (eventually), others

Disclaimer: No one you recognize belongs to me

Rating: R/M

Summary: She knew he had problems, but it took one defining moment to realize the extent of them.

Spoilers: set in the summer of 2009, but with the twist that Eve has been Jeff Hardy's manager for several months at that point

Warnings: language, violence, adult situations, talk of drug use.

Author's note: First of all, this story is actually completed. I've been working on it for quite awhile now, and it's 61 parts (and over 125,000 words) long. Depending on the response to it, I'll be posting once or twice a week until I get it all up. Also... As an FYI, this fic isn't exactly kind to Jeff Hardy.

[ ... you've become what you despise... a stereotype... you think you're so rock and roll... but you're really just a joke... had the world in the palm of your hands... but you fucking choked... ... I'm not sticking around to watch you go down... -Katy Perry, Circle the Drain... ]

Part One

She leaned her head back against the roof of the car, the woman closing her eyes and trying to enjoy the feeling of the sun on her face despite the fact that she wanted nothing more than to climb inside the car and get going once again. Unfortunately for her, that wasn't exactly an option at the moment, since the car was locked and she wasn't the one with the car keys. Heaving out a sigh, Eve Torres lifted her head and opened her eyes, the woman raising her arm so that she could see the watch she wore on her wrist. She'd only been waiting for a few minutes, but it felt like more. The seconds ticked away like minutes, and she was getting more and more frustrated as the time ticked away. She couldn't understand why it was taking so long. If the rest stop was crowded, if there was a line, then sure... But there was only one other car in the parking lot at the moment, and it had pulled in while she was standing there waiting for her traveling partner, who just so happened to also be the man she managed. She vaguely considered the possibility that maybe he was sick or something and that's what was taking so long, but he'd seemed fine earlier, and she had been the one to request that they stop when she saw the sign for the rest stop.

"Come on," she muttered to herself, kicking at a small rock that was near the tire, the diva making a face as she took in the worn toes of the tennis shoes she was wearing. She needed to buy new ones; she just hadn't found the time lately. Shaking her head, she lifted her gaze again, staring at the building that housed the restrooms as she silently urged her traveling partner to finally reappear. She'd been waiting for him for seven or eight minutes now, and it was getting a little ridiculous-

And there he was. He reappeared suddenly, shoving his way through the door with an odd little bounce in his step, but that wasn't too weird. Jeff Hardy seemed to bounce almost anywhere he went. It was something that she'd had to force herself to get used to during the eight or nine months since she'd started managing him.

"Finally," she said aloud as he approached the woman unable to stop the word from slipping out. For his part, Jeff barely even glanced at her as he made his way back to the car, and Eve rolled her eyes as she stepped away from the vehicle, waiting for him to pull the keys from his pocket and push the button to unlock the doors. The lack of acknowledgement made it obvious that he was in one of his moods... He seemed to be in them a lot lately, and it was starting to drive her crazy. Yeah, okay, she understood that after all the stuff his brother had done to him this year, he had the right to be a bit moody, but really... Why did he have to take it out on her? She was the one that had stuck by him, not the one that had turned against him and cost him the damned championship. And now... He had a chance at the title again. He would, after all, be facing Edge in a ladder match at Extreme Rules in a couple of weeks for the World Heavyweight Championship. Of course, the added pressure of the upcoming championship match could be part of the reason why he was being so moody lately... Or he could just be acting like a jerk.

Heaving out a sigh, Eve got into the passenger seat of the car as Jeff got behind the wheel, the diva kicking off her slip-on tennis shoes, then buckling her seatbelt and leaning her head back against her seat. She winced a little as the music came blasting out of the speakers... Jeff's choice in music, not hers, and listening to it too often and at such a loud volume had a tendency to give her a headache. Unfortunately, the last time she'd asked him to turn it down, he'd been in one of his moods and had turned it up instead. As the engine revved but they didn't seem to be moving, Eve glanced over, noting that they were indeed in reverse, which meant...

"Don't forget the parking brake," she told him, having to raise her voice a bit in order to be heard over the sound of the radio, and Jeff sent a glare her way before he released the parking brake, the car jerking back violently when he did so because his foot was too heavy on the gas. Eve swore under her breath in reaction, the diva careful not to say or do anything else because Jeff already seemed annoyed enough. At what, she wasn't sure. She just knew that he was in one of his moods again, and it seemed to be getting worse. It always seemed to be getting worse lately.

The brunette turned her head to stare out the window as he left the parking lot of the rest area, a frown on her face as she gazed at the side of the road, which was nothing but a bunch of grass and the occasional trees. Shaking her head slightly, she reached into her purse to take out her phone, intending to play a game on it, then frowning when she realized that it was showing a low battery. With a shake of her head, Eve pulled out her car charger, then plugged the phone in to charge, once more leaning back into her seat... Her frown deepening when she realized that they seemed to be going much faster than they should be. Quickly, she leaned over slightly to look at the speedometer, finding that it was already at eighty and still seemed to be climbing. On top of that, Jeff was getting dangerously close to crossing the center line. Granted, no one else seemed to be coming, but...

"Jeff, you're weaving all over the road," she told him, her hand gripping the console between then as she noted that he was now going nearly ninety. She also noted that, while his right foot was firmly on the gas pedal, his left leg seemed to be moving restlessly, as did his left hand, which wasn't even on the wheel.

Eve knew that a lot of the fans thought that Jeff was the type of person to be full of energy and in constant motion, but thereality was, that actually wasn't true. Despite being crazy and reckless at times - whether it be in the ring or on his dirt bike - he was also the type of person that could sit in one place for hours. He wasn't the type of guy to be restless or have nervous tics. Well, not usually. But Eve knew all too well the sort of things Jeff did that made him act like this. And, unfortunately, it would kind of explain why he had taken so damned long to come back to the car earlier. He hadn't been going to the bathroom; he'd been doing something else.

"Damn it, Jeff," the brunette spat out as they car wove into the other lane once more, the diva quickly reaching out and tugging on the wheel, startling Jeff as she did so, but managing to get them back into their lane.

"What the hell?!" he yelled, yanking the wheel to the side even further and hitting the brakes as he did so, sending up a spray of gravel from the shoulder of the road as the car skidded to a stop, partly on the shoulder, and partly still on the driving lane of the road. Furious, he turned his head to glare at her, and Eve shook her head as she looked at him. The nervous twitches and erratic driving had clued her in, but the dilated eyes told her that he was, without a doubt, on something. She just wasn't sure what.

"What did you take?" she demanded to know, and he sneered at her.

"Nothing."

"Bullshit," the diva tossed back at him, unable to hide her fury. The fact that he'd gotten high on something, then gotten behind the wheel - with her in the car - made her angry beyond belief. Part of her had stopped giving a damn what he did on his own time - part of her had given up on him, she supposed - but the fact that he'd made the decision to get high in a public bathroom, then go out and put other people at risk... That was more than she could take. "You're shaking, your eyes are dilated, you're obviously high as a kite. What the fuck were you thinking getting behind the wheel like this? You can't drive in this condition."

"I'm fine."

She glared at him. "Like hell you are. You were weaving all over the road. You put us in danger... and anybody else that might be on the road. What were you thinking? Oh, wait. That's right. You weren't thinking at all," she snapped at him. "Get out of the car."

"Excuse me?"

"We're switching seats. If you're going to get fucking high, then I'm going to be the one driving," Eve declared, the woman refusing to back down despite the absolute fury that she saw in his eyes. Sometimes it was easy to forget that, while a sober Jeff was pretty calm and laid-back, a Jeff that was drunk or high was a different story entirely. Even so... There was no way that she was going to let him get away with this. He was on a public road, for fuck's sake. He could kill some family on vacation... Not to mention them as well.

"You're such a pain in the ass," Jeff muttered, his words a bit slurred. "I don't know why I put up with you-"

"Maybe you put up with me because I'm the only one that puts up with your shit," she shot back at him, taking advantage of the fact that he was sitting there with his foot on the brake to reach out and put the car into park. "Now... We're going to switch places. I'm driving because I'm actually not high as a kite and therefore, I'm capable of being behind the wheel without practically running the damn car off the road."

With that said, the diva unbuckled her seatbelt, her hands shaking a bit as she did so - whether it was just from anger or from a combination of anger and something else she wasn't sure - the woman jerking as Jeff suddenly reached across her and opened her door. He shoved it open with more violence than was necessary, though she wasn't really surprised by that. When he was high, he tended to get pissed when he didn't get his way, and at the moment, she was definitely going against what he wanted. Still, it seemed that he was actually going to do as she wanted at the moment, which came as a bit of a relief. He could be so argumentative at times that she'd thought it would be more difficult than this.

"At least you're being reasonable," she muttered as she started to reach for the shoes she'd slipped off a few minutes before, then she let out a scream as a sudden sharp shove sent her sliding partially out of the car, another shove, this one harder than the first, sending her sprawling in the dirt as she fell entirely out of the car. Something hit her in the head almost immediately, then she heard the car door slam, Eve quickly getting to her feet. "Jeff, what the hell?!"

"I'm sick of your self-righteous bitch attitude. I'm driving. You can fucking walk," he spat out before peeling away, Eve too stunned at his actions to even try to stop him, the diva standing there barefoot, her purse - the object that had hit her in the head - laying at her feet. She had no shoes - they were still in the car - and, with a sinking feeling, she realized that wasn't the only thing still in the car. Her bags were there, of course, but since she'd put it on the charger earlier, her phone was still in the vehicle as well, which meant she couldn't call anyone to come and get her.

"Oh, God," she managed, blinking back the tears that threatened as she realized exactly the situation she was in. No shoes, no phone, and in the middle of nowhere. She had some cash, since she had her purse, but that wouldn't do her any good since there weren't going to be any cabs suddenly appearing, and she wasn't about to try and hitchhike. Of course, she didn't really have any other options... The road was deserted, no one in sight, and it seemed like the only choice she really had was to turn around and start walking back to the rest stop - which had to be at least a few miles back by now - and hope they had a payphone or something so she could call someone. Either that, or she could stand there and hope that Jeff came to his senses and came back for her... But that didn't seem all that likely.

Eve turned in the direction of the rest stop and began to walk.