Heartbreaker

Winter of 1996

CHAPTER NINE:

(And the technically part 2 of chapter 8. Enjoy!)

Sunny couldn't believe it. When Shawn kissed her, it was unlike anything she'd ever felt. Unlike any other kiss they'd ever shared. This one… this one was real. She could feel it in the kiss; it was love, not lust. Shawn loved her! And she loved him. And that Kelly bitch was going down.

After they walked backstage hand in hand, she hadn't cared about anyone else. What they thought, what they said. She didn't even care about Chris. She knew it was cruel, but it was true. How could she? She had won. And Shawn was hers.

She smiled now as she thought of Kelly's dumbfounded look. Poor girl. She probably thought Shawn was on her side. He would come running back to her, and they'd be together.

I've been there, Sunny thought bitterly. The only difference was, he WAS hers.

And he would stay that way, that newbie skank Kelly be damned!

It had been a week since Shawn had kissed her that perfect night at Raw. They'd walked backstage, and Vince had pulled Shawn into his office. Sunny remembered cringing. The boss hadn't looked too happy.

She had sat anxiously awaiting Shawn's return. It didn't come for a long time. Vince was talking to him for a long time, but once Shawn had finally come out, he'd been smiling.

"I talked to him. I told him I was sorry for crashing his show, but that I'm crazy about you and couldn't stand it anymore. I needed the world to know. I needed YOU to know," he had said, looking meaningfully into her eyes. "I needed you to know that I made a mistake, ending it with you. I can't live without you."

And things had been perfect ever since. Shawn was still suspended, but Sunny had another match with Kelly tonight. If the poor thing dared to show her face. After that VERY public humiliation last week, Sunny didn't know if the kid had it in her.

Smiling deviously, Sunny applied her lipstick and felt a sick sense of satisfaction at the thought that she might have run Kelly off for good.

Regardless, she had won the game, the war, AND Shawn. And with any luck, not that she'd need it, she'd win their match tonight, too.

She had to admit, it was a little worrisome walking into the arena by herself, no Shawn by her side, but she knew that she could do it. Shawn would be here for her if he could. He was last week, after all.

So she put on a brave face, and marched through the door.

Vince had warned her no funny business, so she kept her chin high and ignored all of the not-so-subtle stares and whispers that followed her down the hallways.

She was about to push into the locker room when someone grabbed her arm from behind.

She sighed deeply. "I guess Kelly decided to show up after all," she thought as she turned around.

Her eyes widened in surprise, then cast downward in a surprising rush of shame she'd had yet to feel. Because it wasn't Kelly. It was her boyfriend-ex boyfriend-of three years, Chris "Skip" Candido.

Chris' eyes were clearly swollen and puffy from crying. He had purple bags under them, and it looked like he hadn't slept in… well, a week. He looked dumbfounded. So shell shocked that it was a little pathetic, and Sunny felt a stab of sympathy.

But then she thought of Shawn. The REAL love of her life. The MAN that had fought for her. She'd never loved Chris. Sure, he was a nice guy and everything. But she'd never loved him. Never. Was she more to blame for pretending to? Or was he more to blame for being too stupid to realize her acting?

All that time, he clung to her like a lovesick puppy dog. How pathetic. Ice rushed through Sunny's veins, freezing out the guilt and replacing it with cold, hard contempt for the man standing in front of her. And "man" was a loose interpretation of the word.

"Chris, dear. You look awful," she said, pursing her lips cruelly. "You should really get some sleep."

Chris assessed her like she was crazy. "I CAN'T sleep. I haven't been able to since… how could you?" he asked, suddenly breaking. He looked utterly weak, totally heartbroken. "I thought you loved me. I thought we were soul mates-,"

"HAH!" Sunny laughed, throwing her head back at the phrase 'soul mates.'

"Chris, please. You think that a girl like me," Sunny said, gesturing to herself. "Could love someone like YOU?" she sneered. "I mean, if you and I aren't enough of an example of how much of a fool you are, look at you… and look at Shawn."

She watched as his face fell. She told herself that it was only because he knew she was right. He'd always known. It was his own fault, really.

She turned with one last, sarcastically apologetically smile at Chris, and pushed into the women's locker room.

The talk fell silent at once, and all of the girls either turned to blatantly stare at her, or hurried to their stuff, pretending to bustle around.

She rolled her eyes. The politics were giving her a headache.

Headed toward the showers, she noticed the plain black bag amongst all the neon pinks and green and patterns, and stopped short. She knew that bag. An even crueler smile than she'd awarded her "soul mate" with spread over her face.

"Oh, Kelly!" she called, her voice ringing through the paper thin walls of the locker room.

A herd of girls in the corner separated, revealing a red-eyed Kelly in the center, who hysterically resembled Chris.

Faking sugary sweetness, Sunny lounged toward Kelly, frowning in faux sympathy. "Oh, no. My, we really wrecked this place, didn't we?" she said, laughing out loud. "I don't think there's a dry eye in the company!"

She watched Kelly with a predator-like venom. "I WARNED you not to mess with me, little girl," she said suddenly, viciously, stepping toward Kelly. Her eyes narrowed. "Now you're paying the price I always told you you would. And it's all… your… fault," she said, pointing at Kelly.

Turning around, more triumphant than ever, she marched off to get ready for her match tonight.

Shawn looked around the room. He had been here for hours, and he was getting impatient. Although, he could have been here for minutes and been impatient. He looked at the clock. Not much time now.

Kelly took a deep breath. Just like she had on her first day walking through the doors of a WWF arena. Only that was back before.

Before she knew Vince, Pat, Bret, Sunny, or even Shawn. Back before she rode with the Kliq, saw a now infamous Bret/Shawn fight, severely pissed off the top girl in the company, and… fell in love.

Now, it was time. Her second match with Sunny would be starting soon.

Moving down the hallway, she didn't even notice the shadow following her for a minute. When she noticed, she spun around, a scowl on her face.

The "Hitman" was smirking at her. Gloating. Rubbing it in her face.

"Let me guess," she snapped. "You're here to say I told you so, too? What, you 'warned' me? I should have listened? What is it?" she said, her anger rising with every word. If there was anyone in this company she despised as much as Sunny, it was Bret Hart.

Bret held up his hands, his eyes widening. "Hey, partner, relax."

Confused for a minute, she threw her head back when she realized; they WERE partners. The storyline hadn't exactly been the top thing on her mind as of late.

"Storyline," she growled through her teeth. "That's it. We're partners in the ring. Outside of that, we don't have to be anything." She spun on her heel and marched away from him.

Keeping up easily, he was beside her in seconds. "Listen, I feel like we got off to the wrong foot," he started, and Kelly rolled her eyes. "But if we're going to be working with each other for a while-which we are, especially now that Shawn's suspension is extended-"

Kelly stopped and spun to face him. "What do you mean extended?"

Bret smiled slowly. "Well… I'm not for sure. But he was in Vince's office for a while after his little Sunny fiasco." The smile turned into a sneer. "What else could it be?"

Kelly, suddenly infuriated, pushed Bret back. He stumbled and looked at her in surprise and confusion.

"Don't you ever get sick of this?" Kelly said, close to yelling. "All this… this ELEMENTARY bullshit? This, run-to-dirt-sheets routine, the drama and the rumor spreading? This is a professional environment, and you're acting like it's a gym locker room your sophomore year of high school!"

Bret stared at her in shock, but she wasn't quite done.

"You run around, ruining people's names and reputations and lives! For what? Just so you aren't bored? So you can get what, street credit?" Kelly laughed bitterly. "Let's get one thing straight, 'Hitman.' We are not, and will never be, 'partners.' Not really." Kelly paused, breathing.

"I will only ever have one partner in this company."

And then she turned, and walked to the ring. Her music was starting.

Sunny stood in the ring, lips pursed in a smirk. She was so ready for this match. Kelly stood across from her, but the referee had yet to ring the bell. Sunny watched him expectantly, but he seemed to be waiting for something. To her surprise, Kelly stepped forward into the middle of the ring with a smirk of her own.

Sunny watched cautiously as Kelly smiled sweetly at her, and then held one arm out in a dramatic gesture toward the entrance. The crowd fell silent. Nothing happened for a moment.

And then…

"OH! OH! OH! I THINK I'M CUTE! I KNOW I'M SEXY!"

The crowd exploded as his music hit. Kelly smiled triumphantly as she watched the man of her dreams spin out into the aisle.

Sunny's mouth fell open. As predicted. Kelly hoped they got a good shot of that.

Shawn made his way to the ring, smiling at Kelly as he entered. Already prepped with a mic, he slid into the middle of the ring. Kelly rolled her eyes, stepping back. Even on an occasion like this, he had to make a proper entrance. Of course.

Once he'd finished and the music cut out, Kelly stepped up proudly to join him, giving a backwards glance at Sunny, whose shock was fading into pure fury.

"Ladies and gentlemen… I guess you could say the Heartbreak Kid is back, and better than ever!" Shawn said, and the crowd cheered even louder.

"Now," he said continuing. "I know that I owe all of you a little explanation. And here goes." He took a deep breath, and Kelly smiled and took his hand in encouragement. "When Kelly first started here, I was screwing things up pretty badly. She saved my life." He squeezed her hand, and continued.

"I had the occasional spat with The 'Hitman', although I doubt that's ever going to change, but the real problem was with…" Shawn trailed off, looking at Sunny. "Sunny. We had a relationship. We've had one for a while." The crowd gasped as his words took effect.

"And that was wrong. And I regret it. But I tried to move on. I fell for Kelly, and I ended things with Sunny. But she… she didn't go down without a fight. She sabotaged me. She indirectly got me suspended from the company. She attacked Kelly weekly, verbally, mentally, and emotional. And she tried to ruin us both." Shawn glared at Sunny disdainfully as her eyes widened the farther into his story he got.

"Sunny is manipulative, evil, and cunning. She almost ruined my life, just because of some… illusion she had. When Kelly figured it out, she called me to let me know. That's when we came up with the plan. Kelly?" he said, throwing the ball to her.

Kelly smiled, and muttered, "my pleasure." Then she began. "We knew we had to catch Sunny off guard. To do that, we had to do something truly shocking. Something just crazy enough to be believable. We didn't tell a soul." she stopped to gloat a little, smirking at Sunny.

"We watched as she believed her diabolical plan had worked. That she had got everything she wanted. We watched her be cruel to Skip." Kelly gestured to the big screen that hung far above the ring. To Sunny's shock and horror, a clip of her earlier encounter with Chris played. Every cruel work she'd said. The fans gasped in horror.

"We watched as she, once again, threatened me," Kelly continued. Another clip played, this time of the locker room incident earlier between the two.

"And we watched as she slowly fell farther and farther into our trap," Kelly said, triumphant, but a sad edge to her voice. "She had to feel secure for us to truly expose her for who she was. Once she let her guard down, she let her inner monster shine." Kelly looked at Shawn, and gave her closing statement:

"Sunny needed to be shown to the world for the bitch that she is," Kelly said bluntly, taking a page out of her arch rival's book with the venom in her voice.

And just like that, Shawn and Kelly gave one last gloat, one last 'I told you so' and walked out of the ring.

Together.

Just like she'd walked in.

( LADIES AND GENTS, BOYS AND GIRLS, CHILDREN OF ALL AGES: this is the last chapter of Heartbreaker! Technically. But there is an epilogue after this! (: )