Meant
to Be: Chapter Four
… One look and I was in over my head.
(15/08/05) Raw – Montreal, Quebec
Ella weaved in and out of the crowd of crewmembers huddled backstage. She had a cup of coffee in one hand, held above her head to avoid spillage and in the other a stack of papers. Which she was attempting to read while dodging various obstacles. She was trying to make her way to the medic room, her eyes never left the papers in her hand but she still managed to avoid an elbow to the face and quickly ducked into the room.
"Well hello Miss. Lewis, what do we owe this pleasure?"
"What did you do this week?" Ella asked as she flicked through her papers, handing John her coffee cup as she perched on the table next to him.
"Took a cheap chair shot the wrong way."
"What is it with chairs lately?" She asked quickly scribbling a signature on several of the pages.
"Huh?"
"Batista, then you."
"You've been hanging around Smackdown?"
"Hmm." Ella flicked over the papers again, "Sign here." She handed the papers to John.
"I'm not signing my life away or anything am I?" He took the pen from Ella's hand to sign his name at the bottom of the form.
"Ironically this is health and safety stuff." She took the forms from him and placed them back into her bag. "Thanking you."
"My pleasure."
She took her coffee back and took a sip, thankful to find it'd cooled considerably since she'd made it only minutes ago.
"Want to cover for me?" She asked staring up at the ceiling.
"What's the matter?" He asked.
Ella brushed it off, "Oh nothing," She slid off the table. "Just a million things to do before the end of the night." She fixed a smile on her face, "Nothing I can't handle."
Before she could leave the room John called her back, "You hanging around tonight?"
"What? For the dark match?"
"Hogan, Cena and Batista." He spread his arms out to signify the magnificence of the match, "Enough to win you over?"
"Hmm, it does sound promising. Who knows, I might stick around."
"I'll take that as a yes then."
She rolled her eyes, "I suppose you've won me over."
He grinned as he waved her off, "I expect to see you front and centre at ringside then Miss. Lewis"
She rolled her eyes again as she stepped out into the corridor. She had a primitive script edit in her hands for Summer Slam. The person she needed to discuss it was supposed to be backstage. The only trouble was no one knew where they were. She rounded the corner to the catering area and was nearly knocked over by a spinning Diva Search winner.
"Ohmigod, I'm so sorry." Ashley exclaimed as she helped Ella to steady herself.
"It's ok." Ella replied, "Congratulations."
"Thank you! It's Ella isn't it?"
Ella nodded, "One and the same."
"Am I supposed to see you about Summer Slam?"
"Yeah," Ella checked her watch. "You know what, we've got plenty of time to do that. I'll catch you in the week at one of the house shows. Go out and enjoy yourself tonight, there's plenty of time to go over the rundown."
"Thanks Ella."
Ella soon spied her target over Ashley's shoulder. Excusing herself she threw her coffee cup in the bin and made her way over through the rows of tables.
"Trish Stratus?"
The blonde looked up from the identical script Ella held in her hands.
"Ella Lewis?" She asked as Ella took a seat in front of her.
"Pleasure to meet you." Ella said as the two women shook hands. "I'm the new creative producer."
"I've heard some good things about you."
Ella laughed, "It's good to hear."
"So they tell me things have changed since I last spoke to Steph."
Ella nodded, "Just a bit, we were going to have you come back tonight. Throw off the Diva Search contest, but if things go to plan we're going to move you to Summer Slam this Sunday. I'm sorry nothings been set in stone and we're keeping you hanging."
"It's no problem, it's good to be back out on the road in the mix."
"We just want to make a big deal out of your return, you're the Women's Champion and we want you back with a bang."
"I like your thinking." Trish smiled as she closed her script.
"We also wanted to establish Ashley on her own for a while." Ella pulled out a script for that Sunday's Summer Slam. "This is the first draft, there's bound to be changes through the week. But I promise that's the basis of what's going to happen." Ella watched Trish flick through the new script, "I'll leave you to look over it, and if you've got any questions my number is on the front." She pointed out her scrawled contact details on the front.
"Any ideas or problems just give me a call."
Ella pushed out her chair and stood stretching her arms above her head. Trish stood also and shook Ella's hand again.
"It was great meeting you Ella, thanks for the help."
Ella smiled, "It's no problem, it was a pleasure meeting you too."
Ella sighed as she ran a hand through her hair as she made her way out of catering. She wasn't supposed to be running around after wrestlers to inform them of script changes, which was part of the writers and script supervisor's jobs. She was starting to wonder what it was she'd actually agreed to take on when she said yes to joining the road crew.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ella slipped on her jacket as she put away the last of her paperwork. Stretching her arms out she yawned; it'd been a good night. She'd even managed to get everyone down to the ring without a fuss and complete her promos with time to spare. For only her third week she wasn't doing too bad. The promo she'd overseen that evening with Eric Bischoff had been slightly tense, she still wasn't sure on how to approach him. He didn't say much, which had pleased Ella a great deal.
But the highlight had been when she saw an idea she pitched in a creative meeting with the writers the previous week come to life. It was her idea to have Eric and Carlito convert to honorary Canadians alongside Jericho, and then have Eric brandish a Canadian flag as he escorted them down to the ring. The reaction from the crowd had been fantastic; the heat the trio received from the Canadian fans had kept people talking all night. It'd sealed the fans interest for Jericho's match against Cena that coming Sunday. Ella gave herself a congratulatory pat on the back; she was chuffed with the results.
Throwing her bag onto her shoulder she took one last look around her office to make sure she had everything she'd came with. Satisfied she hadn't left anything behind she turned to leave and walked straight into the man stood in her doorway.
"Ooof." Ella covered her nose with her hand in hope it'd stop the stinging pain, "Oww, John!" She slapped his shoulder, "What are you doing right outside my door?"
"Looking for you. Heard you were still about."
Ella couldn't help but laugh as she rubbed at her nose, "It better not be broken!" She said, knowing all too well it wasn't. Though this wasn't going to stop her from milking it.
"Let me have a look." He lifted her chin to look at her nose, "Well, I'm no doctor. But I think you've going to live, looks ok to me Miss. Lewis." He ran his thumb down the bridge of her nose that sent a shiver down her spine.
"One day, we'll be able to start a conversation without you causing me any pain or the need for a new shirt."
"Hey that wasn't all my fault." He argued playfully.
The pair started to walk in step towards the backstage doors, which lead to the main arena. There was still some time before the advertised dark match was due to start.
"Well, it's starting to become quite problematic."
"Promise I'll be more cautious." He noticed she was wearing her jacket and had her bag on her shoulder. "So are you sticking around for the match?" He asked hopeful.
"Yep, you convinced me that much. I'm going to go watch with some of the production crew."
"Well I hope I hear you cheering on the Doctor of Thuganomics!" She raised a weary eyebrow, "Can't have you cheering on the wrong team."
"Well–" She began before being interrupted, a third voice answered from behind.
"She knows there's only one true champ, the Animal of course."
Ella rolled her eyes as she turned around to face Dave, "You know this ego thing, still isn't growing on me. She crossed her arms across her chest, a smirk playing on her lips that was replicated on Dave's face.
"I take it you two have met already?" John asked, a little disappointed Dave had interrupted the pair.
"Oh we had a run in a couple of weeks ago." She replied, with a smile still across her face. "He's been telling me a lot about you guys. Apparently the egos need to be fed constantly."
Dave shrugged as he hitched his belt onto his shoulder, "What can I say?"
"Well good luck gentlemen, I'm going out to watch the match. I'll see you later John."
He nodded curtly in response, "See you out in the ring big man." John said as he slapped Dave on the back before turning around and walking down towards the ramp.
"What's this? I don't get a goodbye?" Dave asked in mock disbelief.
"Well Mr. Batista." Ella opened the door to the arena, "I guess I'll just be seeing you tomorrow afternoon."
"So you're joining the blue team?"
"On a temporary basis, yes."
"So I guess we'll be seeing a lot more of one another then."
"I think so."
"I'll see you around."
"Maybe."
Before he could answer Ella stepped through the doors and made her way down to ringside, where several of her colleagues were waiting for her. It'd been a long while since Ella had last been to a live wrestling match and she hadn't been disappointed. She wasn't much of a fan, but she had to admit it was thrilling. Her excitement had been peeked by the fact Hulk Hogan was in attendance. The match ended with a pin on JBL by Batista, who'd run in soon after the start following JBL's entrance, turning it into a three-man tag.
Ella didn't miss the odd winks and nods in her direction as both John and Dave took turns to climb the turnbuckles in celebration. Ella had a pretty good feeling that the next couple of weeks were going to be very interesting.