disclaimer, etc., in part 1

Part Four

She stood quietly in the ring, the diva surrounded by the men that were basically going to be fighting for her freedom. Eve could sense them looking at her, Morrison mostly sending her sympathetic looks from his position standing next to John Cena. R-Truth stood at her right, alternating between looking over at her and glaring at the rampway that the New Nexus would be walking down shortly. Cena was on her other side, standing between her and Morrison. Cena had put his hand on her arm earlier, given it a squeeze, but now his attention was mostly focused on the ramp. Randy Orton stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders, and she knew that the gesture was meant to be comforting or reassuring. Funny, really, that a man that wasn't really known for his compassion toward, well... *anybody* was trying in some way to give her a little reassurance.

Eve jerked slightly as the music began to play - Punk's music, actually, not the music of the Nexus, which the others still walked out to whenever they weren't with CM Punk. They were with Punk this time around, though, and the brunette diva couldn't help but be struck by the fact that Punk and the New Nexus came out as a group, a single unit... And all four of the men she was out there with had walked out separately. She couldn't help but hope that wasn't a bad omen for the match. That the men that had come down as a unit would work as a unit to win and that the others wouldn't.

The hands on her shoulders gave a careful squeeze, and she could sense Orton's presence getting closer, so the closeness of his voice - almost in her ear - didn't surprise her when he spoke. "It'll be okay," he told her, and while part of her wanted to tell him that he didn't know that for sure, she knew he was just trying to make her feel better, so she nodded slightly, then moved to step toward the side of the ring as the New Nexus entered. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of CM Punk holding the ring ropes as if he expected her to exit there, but she ignored him, refusing to do so much as look his way as she went to leave the ring, stepping between the ropes as John Morrison held them open for her. Before she could hop down from the apron, however, a hand on hers stopped her, the diva turning her head to meet Morrison's eyes. He didn't say anything, just gave her a nod, his expression serious, the look in his eyes telling her that he was going to fight just as hard as Cena, Truth, and Orton were to win this match. To keep her from being forced to join CM Punk's group. She returned his nod with one of her own, then got down from the ring apron, making her way to stand on the outside at the proper corner as the bell rang to start the match.

Cena and Punk were the ones to start out the match, and Eve's close proximity to the announcer's table from where she stood allowed her to hear Michael Cole's snide remark as the man mused about why the man she managed - R-Truth - wasn't the one to start out the match that would seal her fate, the annoying announcer saying that maybe Truth didn't care enough about her to want to protect her. King replied by saying something about maybe they thought that Cena was the best chance to win, but after that, Eve tuned out the arguing between the two men, the diva instead having to work hard to follow the match that was unfolding in front of her. Technically, it was a four-on-four tag team match that meant only one man in the ring from each team at a time, but that wasn't really what was happening. There was too much interference, too many attempts at one-upmanship for it to really be a regular match. If Otunga tried to help Punk with a double-team on John, then suddenly Orton was there to send Otunga flying off the ring apron. R-Truth knocked Husky Harris out of the ring and started brawling so close to Eve that she had to run around to the other side of the ring, and even then she wasn't completely safe, the diva having to duck as Morrison flung himself out of the ring in an attempt to take out McGillicutty. Unfortunately, McGillicutty managed to duck, too, which meant that John Morrison would crashing into the barricade instead of one of his opponents.

Moving quickly, her eyes wide, the diva made her way over to Morrison to check on him, not knowing what to do to help him, but knowing she had to see if he was okay. After all, any risks he took tonight were at least partially in an attempt to help her. Yes, he and the others wanted to beat the New Nexus just to beat them, but she'd seen it in their eyes earlier: it wasn't just about that anymore. They all really wanted to help her out of the mess that she'd somehow gotten into through no fault of her own. And it was then, just as she was trying to help Morrison to his feet - the man leaning heavily on both her and the barricade that he'd crashed into - that it happened. The referee was distracted by both the brawl on the outside and her attempts to help Morrison, his attention away from the ring, where the two legal men were once again Cena and Punk - or maybe it was *still* Cena and Punk; she couldn't be sure that either of them had ever tagged out - and then, suddenly someone else was there. Someone Eve had never seen before. Someone that attacked Cena from behind, seemingly nearly taking the West Newbury native's head off with the hard blow. And then the man was sliding out of the ring, leaving John alone with Punk, and CM Punk was lifting Cena up on his shoulders for the GTS... And before Eve could do anything about it, before Morrison could reach the ring with a desperate lunge, it was over. The referee, no longer distracted, turned back to the match to find Punk pinning Cena, and he got into position... and counted the three. The match was over. The New Nexus had won.

And Eve, like it or not, was now a member of the New Nexus.