Hi guys! Thanks for your continued patience as I struggle to get chapters out. This time, it's been Guitar Hero 3 that's providing the distraction, along with my daughter demanding more and more attention every day. Still, I managed another chapter, yay!
Also, thanks to my reviewers! I'm glad I can make you smile:).
Like it? Hate it? Let me know!
Ells xxx
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The weeks and months flew past at a speed that defied logic, and I was startled to realise that we had been with the company for four months, and that Wrestlemania 24 was just around the corner. Kit and I had both been busy making friends and getting noticed within the company, and she was busy feuding with Melina after taking Ashley's side during an argument between the two. I had started out by feuding with Lita when she first returned at Armageddon as the bitter ex, but we were now working together as she helped me hone my skills so that I could go after the Women's Championship, as Steph had recently announced that the Women's Championship would be contested for on all brands.
Over the last few weeks as well, the brand extension had been increasingly ignored as wrestlers from all three brands would just pop up on whatever show they felt like. It was great for me and Kit, as we got to make friends on each brand. Kit had been claimed as a little sister by Shawn and Hunter, whereas my 'big brother' - surprisingly, as he was currently feuding with my husband - was Taker. The first time I'd met him I had fangirled all over him, which he thought was cute, and he'd decided to take me under his wing and look out for me. Of course, 'looking out for me' meant telling me to dump Edge at least three times an hour, but I quickly learned to ignore it.
Edge and I were getting on brilliantly, too - when we weren't arguing over my friendship with Matt Hardy, of course. Short of actively banning me from seeing him, Edge had tried everything in order to prevent me from hanging out with Matt. On the other hand, Matt and Shane seemed to be working together to find excuses to get me away from Edge, and on the occasions that they were successful they'd proceed in telling me that my husband was evil incarnate and that I should divorce him quick before I got sucked into Hell.
"I wouldn't mind, but I actually like him," I said to Lita as we trained. Lita was going to wrestle Beth Phoenix for the Women's Title at Mania, and I was to be her manager for the event. I was supremely excited to be involved in Mania, and channelled all of my nervous energy into training.
"You get used to it after a while," she assured me as she took me through some stretches. "In this business you're always going to get on with people who hate other people that you get on with. It's unavoidable with a roster of this size."
"I just wish that people wouldn't keep on about it, though. You'd think I'd married a monster," I muttered sullenly.
"You did." I bent backwards and smiled up at Matt and Jeff, who grinned at us both.
"So tell me, Elli, are Adam's eyes lit with the very fires of Hades and does he trail unspeakable ooze from his… you know, when you're in the bedroom?" asked Jeff innocently.
"Nope. Sorry, Jeff. I wouldn't listen to your big brother's bedtime stories anymore, if I were you," I replied, glaring at Matt, who looked offended that his integrity was being called into question.
"He does!" Matt protested. "He just does it when you're not looking."
"Give it a rest, will you?" I sighed. "I'm trying to train here."
"I know, and I could watch you train all day," replied Matt with a cheeky grin. I rolled my eyes and managed to incorporate kicking him into my next stretch. "Hey, what was that for?"
"You being a big perv, now leave us be," I ordered, making shooing motions with my arms.
"You're so mean!" Matt pouted, and he and Jeff relocated to a different part of the gym. Lita watched them go with a smirk on her face.
"You do know that he's only acting that way because he's incredibly jealous, right?" she asked, leaning forward conspiratorially, and making it look like a hamstring stretch.
"Matt? Nah," I said dismissively. "He's just a stubborn sod who can't let go of the past."
"That too," Lita conceded. "But you've got to admit, he does flirt with you an awful lot."
"He flirts with Shane and Shannon too, and I'm pretty sure he's not trying to get into their pants," I laughed.
"You're determined not to see it, aren't you?" asked Lita.
"See what? There's nothing to see. We're friends, and we'll never be anything but friends while I'm still married to Adam," I said firmly.
"Ah, you say that now, but I was with Matt for six years, I know him. All this casual flirting and random bouts of tomfoolery masks a big, burning passion. He'll eventually reach a point, I reckon around about Vengeance, where he can't take it anymore and declare his undying love for you, and there'll be fireworks and awkwardness and I'll just stand back and laugh at you all," said Lita happily.
"You're so nice," I said sarcastically.
"I know!" said Lita with a broad grin. "It's why you guys all love me. Hey, Kit!" she added, as my sister walked into the gym, chattering away with Ashley. "I was just telling your sister about how one day Matt will snap and tell her he wants to sex her up and it'll be fun."
"Yeah, you couldn't speak up a little? I think there are people in Australia who didn't quite hear you," teased Kit as Matt looked up with an alarmed look on his face.
"Oh, sorry. Matt wants to sex Elli," yelled Lita, cupping her hands around her mouth. Matt pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head, looking like he would quite like to start headbutting the wall, while Jeff just watched the scene unfold, a faint smirk on his face.
"You're mean," laughed Kit.
"Yeah, but you love me for it," said Lita, getting to her feet. "It could have been worse, though. I could have yelled out about the immense attraction you have for Jeff." Kit shot me a sideways glare but otherwise kept her face impressively neutral. Jeff's face went carefully blank apart from one eyebrow, which was half-raised.
"Don't know what you're talking about," said Kit convincingly. Convincing, that is, to anyone that hadn't known her for years; I saw the half glance she sent towards Jeff, and the almost imperceptible nod he gave back to her. Those two had been subtly flirting from the moment she had set foot in the RAW locker room, and Shannon was running a book on who would cave in first and ask the other out on a date, and when. And if Jeff was waiting for Kit to show any sign that she was interested, he'd be waiting until the end of time; she could be quite stubborn when she wanted to be.
"Well, what have we here? Just what I like to see; three lovely ladies dressed in skin-tight gym wear." Kit went very tense and Lita rolled her eyes as Chris Masters smarmed his way into the room. We all had major heat with Masters; he loved the ladies almost as much as he loved himself, and was constantly trying to sleep with one of the Divas. Lately, his attention had been focussed on Kit - probably because she was quite vocal in her dislike for him.
"GAH!" Kit shuddered and moved out of the way as he tried to snake his arm around her shoulders.
"Aw, don't be that way, beauty," he said with a smirk. "You know you want me. Why fight it any longer?"
"How can I put this in words you'll understand? Fuck off, you slimy, oily creep," said Kit.
"Baby, why are you so hostile? You see, when God made me as perfect as I am, he intended for me to have a beautiful woman by my side…" began Masters, but Kit interrupted.
"Well I'm sorry to say that it looked like he rushed your ass. Did you lose the bit that said 'Please do crunches in order to prevent this ass gaining its own gravity field', or did you need help with some of the longer words so you couldn't be bothered to read it?" snapped Kit. Lita hastily turned her giggle into a hacking cough and I turned away so that Masters wouldn't see me smirking. I always loved it when Kit verbally owned Masters, although it wasn't hard; it was like Big Show going up against Hornswoggle when it came to a battle of wits between those two.
"Baby, you don't mean that," said Masters, once again displaying remarkable talent for not hearing anything that didn't fit in to his deluded world.
"Hey, the lady said for you to leave her alone," said Jeff warningly. Although he hadn't changed his position his general manner indicated that should the need arise he would love nothing more than to pound Masters into the ground. Masters ignored him, and took a step closer towards Kit.
"Step. Away. From. The. Princess." Masters jumped a mile as Hunter growled in his ear; he'd been so absorbed in getting what he wanted that he'd failed to notice Shawn and Hunter arriving in the gym a moment before. Hunter stepped forwards and jabbed Masters in the chest. "I've told you before, Masters, the Princess is off limits," he snarled.
"You do realise he's going to be like that with every guy that shows interest in you, don't you?" asked Shawn, wrapping his arm around Kit's shoulders while Hunter got on with menacing Masters.
"Yeah, I know," sighed Kit heavily.
"You know that if he could, he'd go out and buy you a chastity belt, right? And I fully support that idea," Shawn continued. "We shall be your Lord Protectors from now until the end of time, ensuring that you never shall be touched by man! And, you know, it's a good thing that you're not interested in anyone in the company, otherwise Hunter would have them strung up from the arena lights," Shawn added.
"Yeah, great," said Kit sarcastically. "What have I done to suffer enforced chastity?" she asked of the world in general.
"You're my superfan, and Hunter's princess," said Shawn, as if he was amazed that she was even asking the question.
"So it's chastity belts and chaperones for the rest of my life?" asked Kit.
"Yep! Unless a guy passes Hunter's very strict, very demanding guy test, which won't ever happen because Hunter keeps changing the rules," said Shawn happily. "And hey, are you going to complain if it keeps guys like him away?" he asked, as Hunter forcibly ejected Masters from the gym.
"I guess not," sighed Kit.
"Well, then!" Shawn slapped her on the back and went to join his friend in a warm-up.
"Shoot me now?" asked Kit hopefully. Lita laughed and shook her head.
"You're on your own here, Princess. I'm not interfering in one of Shawn and Hunter's schemes, not after the last time."
"Coward," she muttered sullenly. I checked my watch and yelped.
"Sorry guys, I've got to run, I'm due at a signing event in half an hour," I said. "You don't mind, do you?" I asked Lita.
"Not at all, I'll just work with Kit," said Lita, waving her hand dismissively.
"Thanks. I'll see you guys later." I grabbed my gym bag and headed for the exit, ignoring Matt's sarcastic shout of goodbye.
The rest of the time before the start of 'Mania was spent attending promotional events with Edge or helping Lita prepare for her match against Beth Phoenix. I barely had enough time to even start feeling nervous - until about an hour before Mania was due to start.
"Will you sit down! You're making me nervous," Lita barked, as I nervously paced the locker room. As usual, we were hanging out in the men's' locker room. It was always more lively in there, the guys weren't bothered by our appearance and in fact actively encouraged it, and there was also the added bonus of not having to deal with Melina, Jillian or Beth. Kit was currently sat with Paul London, Brian Kendrick and Ashley and if she felt nervous, she wasn't showing it. But then again, she didn't have a match.
"I'm sorry, I'm just a little wired," I replied. "It's the biggest pay-per-view of the year, what if I fuck up?"
"You haven't on any of the previous pay-per-views, have you?" asked Lita reasonably.
"No, but none of the previous pay-per-views were Wrestlemania," I pointed out.
"Chill, baby," said Edge, grabbing hold of my shoulders and starting to massage them with his thumbs. I started to relax immediately and closed my eyes, enjoying the sensation. "You're just nervous because it's your first. It gets better with every one you do." He wrapped his arms around me when he was done and I leaned into him, enjoying the hug. I would be the first to admit that Edge and I weren't in love and, if I was completely honest with myself, I couldn't see myself falling in love with him. But he was good company, funny, attractive, and - let's face it - it was convenient.. Without him there was no way I would even be considered close to the running for the Women's Championship this early. Kit and I had improved considerably under the tutelage of Fit Finlay, but Vince was still wary of pushing us too far, too fast.
Mentally, I ran through the scheduled card for the evening. Jeff was due to face Randy Orton and Hunter in a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship, and Edge was due to face Taker in a Casket Match for the World Heavyweight Title. Matt, Rey Rey, MVP, Ken Kennedy, Chris Jericho, Cody Rhodes, Johnny Nitro and The Miz were in the traditional Money In The Bank Ladder Match, Paul and Brian were facing off against Deuce and Domino, Jesse and Festus and Cade and Murdoch in a WWE Tag Team Title Unification Match, Jamie Noble against Chuck Palumbo in a Falls Count Anywhere match, Umaga was facing Santino Marella and Carlito in a Handicap Match, and then there was the big announcement that Steph had promised sometime during the event.
And then of course there was Lita, with me as manager, against Beth Phoenix. I whimpered, shook myself free of Edge, and started pacing again.
"Stop it!" Lita yelled, throwing a shoe at me. I ducked; it missed and hit Jamie Noble. "Look what you made me do! Sorry, Jamie," she added.
"'S okay," said Jamie pleasantly, his attention momentarily diverted by the sight of his nemesis entering the room.
"Okay guys, this is it, Wrestlemania 24 is just a few hours away." The general background babble ceased as Vince started speaking; I hadn't even noticed him come into the room. "Our goal, as always, is to make this the biggest, the best, the most financially successful Wrestlemania ever!" There was an almost manic gleam in his eye as he said this, as was usual whenever he was talking about money. "So get out there and put on a good show, people. Noble, Palumbo, you're up first." He jerked his thumb towards the door, and Chuck and Noble scurried out obediently. The butterflies in my stomach seemed to increase as Vince locked eyes with me and smiled.
"Elli, can I have a word?" he asked, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and leading me away from Lita and Edge. "I just wanted to say," he added, once we were out of earshot, "that you have really impressed me these last few weeks. I admit, I was sceptical when Steph suggested we run with two untried girls from the Indies, but thankfully it's a gamble that's paid off."
"Thanks, Mr McMahon," I said warily, unsure of where this was going.
"No need to thank me just yet," said Vince, his eyes shining. "The fans love you. Your merchandise is selling well. I think, even without your husband, you have the potential to be profitable to me, very profitable indeed. How would you like to be the face of the WWE women's division?"
"W-what? I mean, yes, sir, I would, very much," I stammered. "A-are you sure I'm ready, though?"
"Your merchandise sales speak for themselves. Of course, should this gamble not pay off, you'll be relegated to jobber status faster than you can say 'decline in profits'," he warned. "I'm prepared to take that risk. Are you?"
"Well, yes, who wouldn't be?" I asked, still feeling slightly shell-shocked.
"Excellent," said Vince, smiling a smile not dissimilar to that of a huge marine animal with sharp teeth. "Then here's what I need you to do…"
We were up after Chuck and Noble's match, which Noble ended up winning. I was so wracked with nerves as we waited by the gorilla that I was sure I wouldn't be able to move, but as usual once the music hit and I strode out onto the ramp at Lita's side, the nerves dispersed as I got on with working the crowd. She slid into the ring and stared down a very haughty-looking Beth Phoenix, while I took my position in the corner.
My nerves vanished completely as I focused on the match. I didn't have much to do, although I did manage to distract the referee, after Lita had taken a brutal chokeslam from Beth, long enough for her to recover. Lita was a fighter but Beth was strong, and I was worried that even Lita's ability wouldn't be enough to get the win. I got in the ring and headed towards Beth; she turned to chase me out, which distracted her for long enough for Lita to hit the Twist of Fate and pick up the win.
Lita's music blared out of the speakers, and she held the title aloft while I ran over to her and gave her a hug. She hugged me back - and I turned, delivering a brutal DDT that left her - and everyone else in the arena - stunned. I picked up the belt and smirked as I held it over her prone body. She stared at me in disbelief, and I dropped the belt beside her and rolled out of the ring, my ears ringing to a chorus of boos from the crowd.