Chapter Seven: Apologize

"I'd take another chance, take a fall, take a shot for you. I need you like a heart needs a beat, but that's nothing new. I loved you with a fire red, now it's turning blue.." - One Republic

"So?" Kelly emerged from the dressing room in black micro shorts with a black and silver cowgirl styled belt, and a black and silver trimmed crop top. She placed her hands on her hips, looking proud of her ensemble. "2010 is so going to be my year!" She said confidently.

"It's cute, Kel." Michelle assured her, already dressed in her own ring attire which consisted of green shorts and a matching top with silver cross designs on it. "I like it better than the chaps."

"The chaps were getting hard to move around in, especially since I'm trying to do some basic high flying maneuvers. My promos are going to look so awesome." The young blonde said excitedly.

All the WWE Superstars and Divas were currently gathered at a large studio in Los Angeles to shoot their new promos for 2010. Many of them would be displaying new ring attire to enforce their improvement and change from the previous year. Kelly had jumped on that particular bandwagon enthusiastically, whereas Michelle had simply gone from wrestling tights to shorts.

"What about you, Haley?" Kelly turned to her friend, who was still sitting in the director's chair getting her hair styled, wearing yoga pants and a Rock hoodie. "Did you change your attire for 2010?"

"Yes." Haley resisted nodding, not wanting the curling iron Marcie, the stylist was using, to burn her scalp. "I had planned on many changes for 2010, so I thought my attire should change a little too."

"Well I can't wait to see it." Kelly shared an uncomfortable look with Michelle. "Unless it has something to do with Dave, then I say we burn it."

Haley chuckled half heartedly. "There's no Animal logo on it."

"I'm sure you'll look great, Hales, you always do." Michelle gave her a hesitant smile, hoping to melt some of the frost between them.

"I look slammin'!" The dressing room door opened with a flourished and Layla strutted out practically preening in her updated ring attire.

Layla's new ring wear consisted of glittery purple micro shorts with a white band around the waist and a matching bra top, which had two white bands criss-crossing over the top of her midsection and crossing again at the base of her lower back.

With the exception of the coloring, and the diamond shaped keyhole in the fabric between her breasts, it was nearly identical to the attire Haley had designed for herself.

And from the catty look on Layla's face, the other woman knew it too and had done it purposely to stomp on her, yet again. There was only one way she could have known about Haley's new design and Haley mentally cursed Dave for stabbing her in the back yet again.

"There is really no low you won't stoop to, will you Layla?" Haley asked her quietly, voice devoid of emotion. "You stole my title, my man and my spot on SmackDown. Now you're going to steal my ring wear too?"

"What?" Michelle and Kelly both whipped their heads back to Haley in shock.

"That's your design!" Kelly exclaimed looking livid. "YOU BITCH!" She directed at Layla.

"It's not like you had a patent on it Haley." Layla shrugged off Kelly's insult without a care. "I improved it firstly and it looks better on me. Just the way, Dave does."

"Layla," A new voice said coldly. "Just stop talking already. No one in this room likes you. No one in this room respects you. And anything you have to say is a waste of time. Why don't you find some other superstar to go blow?"

Layla's eyes narrowed in fury. "Oh that's rich coming from you, Torres. Didn't you try to do the same thing I did, except you failed epically at it. Real Talk!"

"There's a difference between you and me, Layla." Eve Torres folded her arms over her chest. "I was new to the company, scared and desperate to be able to keep my job and yeah, I wanted Dave. Back then, who wouldn't?"

"But here's the thing." Eve continued. "Dave chose Haley and it gave me the chance to grow the fuck up. My career is taking off on it's own merit, not because of who I'm sleeping with. I didn't have to steal anyone's man to do it. And I found real love with a man who actually cares about me. I found confidence. Without Dave, you're just an insecure, pathetic mess whose job would probably on the chopping block come spring when they start cleaning out the roster."

"Fuck you!" Layla's eyes blazed.

"No thanks. I know where you've been." Eve tossed back. "And I don't care to contract an STD thank you very much."

Kelly snorted out a giggle and Michelle cracked an amused grin.

"I'd go annoy someone else, Layla." Beth Phoenix spoke up from her spot across the room. "Eve's right, no one here likes or respects you anymore."

"You're all just jealous!" Layla trilled. "Because I have the Women's Championship! I have the best ring attire. And I have Dave!"

"Congratafuckinglations." Michelle retorted. "Nobody gives a damn!"

Layla let out a frustrated screech and took off out of the room, muttering something about finding Dave, knowing he'll appreciate her.

"Thanks Girls." Haley said, shooting Kelly, Michelle and Beth a grateful smile before turning back to Eve. "You didn't have to defend me."

"Please." The Latina offered a small smile. "I'm lucky you just didn't kick my ass more than you could have back then. I haven't had the chance to apologize for that."

"It's water under the bridge now and neither of us has Dave." Haley shifted uncomfortably.

"Yeah, but we're kind of on the same team now and I want to at least try and lose the bad blood between us." Eve pointed out. "Haley, what I said to Layla was true. I was terrified that I wouldn't make it six months when I first got signed to the company. I've wanted to be a Diva for so long I was desperate to get popular by any means necessary. I'd heard getting a main eventer for a Superstar was a quick and easy way to do it. And when Dave was still on SmackDown, he was kind to me, so I set my sights on him and I got carried away with the whole thing."

"At least you picked Dave." Beth commented. "My claim to dating fame is Santino Marella." She shuddered. "I don't even know what I was thinking."

That got a chorus of laughs from all of them.

"So basically," Eve said around a giggle. "I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am for all the pain I caused you, between losing Dave, losing Randy and being injured."

"She lost Randy because she chose Dave." Michelle reminded her. "Not because of you, Eve."

"But I was the starting point. Randy was nearly as desperate as I was and because he helped in my charade, he and Haley stopped being friends." Eve sighed. "I still feel really bad about that. I keep thinking that if you two had stayed friends maybe he wouldn't have gone so psycho last year."

"What happened with Randy is no one's fault but his and mine." Haley assured Eve with a serious look. "Our problems were there before you entered the picture, Eve. But for what it's worth, thank you for the apology. I'm going to do my best to move past it."

Eve grinned. "Thanks Haley."

"So what are we going to do about your promos?" Kelly asked, looking worried. "She stole your ring gear!"

Haley flashed her first almost real smile. "I always have a backup plan when it comes to ring gear."


"Whoa, what's the rush, Pal?" With a firm grip on the Animal's shoulder, Triple H half pushed, half dragged Dave into one of the side hallways, giving them a little privacy. "It's not like you to walk on by and not say hey to your best man. Well, former best man now."

"If you're here to give me shit about breaking up with Haley, save your breath." Dave glared at his former teammate and mentor. "I don't regret my decision."

"Really?" Hunter looked unconvinced. "You don't even feel the littlest guilty that Haley's not eating right, not sleeping right, wrestling like brand new Diva Search contestant and stressing out about cancelling your wedding. Which you left in her hands entirely, you charming bastard."

"No." Dave swallowed, trying not to flinch at Hunter's information.

"That's bullshit, Dave." Hunter snapped. "I know you better than you know yourself. I not only helped mold you, I became your best friend. And no one knows better than me how much you love that girl. You went back on your own oath never to marry again just to put a ring on her finger. So the way I look at it, there's two possibilities. You're either a really good liar and this douchebag is the real you, or you're protecting her from something. And knowing how your moral compass spins, I'm going to go with the latter."

"This is the real me." Dave said out loud, but the flash of panic in his eyes said differently.

"Stop fucking lying to me, Dave!" Hunter was quickly losing patience. "What the fuck are you protecting her from that's so important that you have to break her heart and dreams to do it?"

Dave shoved Hunter away from him. "None of this matters. Haley and I are done. We're on different paths now and that's not going to change. Leave me the fuck alone, Hunter." He said starting back out to return to men's changing area.

"I never thought I'd see the day where Dave 'The Animal' Batista became a coward!" Hunter called after him.

"Then I guess you should be glad Haley's rid of me then." Dave snapped back before leaving Hunter fuming in the hall behind him.


When Haley came out of the women's changing area, she wore Candice Michelle's pink and white trimmed capris, with the holes cut out of the sides and her own white and pink trimmed crop top with the crossover under her bust and again at the base of her spine. She borrowed a pair of Kelly's white wrestling boots and wore her hair in loose curls over her shoulders. It wasn't how she had planned her attire originally, but it was different enough from Layla's now that it worked for her.

As she head towards the backdrop area designed for the Divas, she nearly cursed out loud when she spotted Randy Orton, oiled up and in his own gear. She was pretty sure she grimaced when he caught sight of her and slowed his pace.

The right corner of his mouth lifted in half of a smile. "You look great. Very you...and shades of Candice."

"They're her pants." She blinked at him in surprise. "Layla copied my new design so I had to improvise."

Randy stared at her for a moment before groaning in disgust. "What a bitch."

Haley didn't respond. She merely shifted uncomfortably, trying to figure out the best way around him.

Randy's expression changed. "Haley, I need to say something. I just need to get this out, just this once and you need to hear it. You don't need to say anything back, you don't even have to react to it."

She inclined her head, unable to help being curious. "Okay?"

"Last year, I lost my way, Haley. I let my pain and rage turn me into something I'm not proud of. And I hurt you. Nothing excuses what I've done to you. I terrorized you. I brutalized you. And I did everything I could think of to try and break you." Self-disgust flickered through his eyes.

"You came pretty close." Haley admitted quietly. "If Hunter hadn't been there…"

"I'm glad he was, even knowing that meant a brutal ass kicking for me. I deserved it." Randy cut her off. "I will never be able to repent enough for what I've done. I just want you to know how much I regret being that person, the one who hurt you like that. I hate myself for it. And I don't expect forgiveness because I don't deserve it. But I am so sorry, Haley. For everything, all of it."

"You're sorry?"

"You don't have to believe me." He smiled with resignation. "I'm not I would if the roles were reversed. But you deserve to hear it, even if you don't believe I mean it. I can't take back what I've done. I can't change it. This is the only thing I can do."

"I don't know what to say." She spoke softly, the expression of her could only be described as dumbstruck.

"You don't have to say anything." He assured her with a half-hearted shrug. "I needed to say it and you deserved to hear it. What you do with it is up to you from here on out."

He straightened up and began to walk past her, but paused right when he reached her. "For what it's worth, and it might not be much, I promise, I will never hurt you like that ever again. You can still hate me if you want, but you don't have to fear."

Leaving those final words between them, Randy continued on his way back to the men's changing area to wash off the baby oil and put on his casual close.

Haley was left completely flabberghasted in his wake.


A/N: So this was a pretty big step for Randy. Apologies aren't easy, but this changes their relationship enough to start at least in the right direction, even though they still have a long way to go.

Also, if you think Hunter's going to let Dave off the hook that easy, you guys don't know Triple H at all. haha