Disclaimer, etc., in part 1.

Thanks to those that have reviewed/followed/favorited this one.

Part Ten

He wasn't fast enough. Eve was already gone.

"Damn it," CM Punk muttered, the wrestler looking around the parking garage, desperately wishing for something to kick... and feeling like he wanted to kick his own ass at the moment. He'd had no business leaving Eve alone. Well, not alone, technically... She'd been with the trainers when he'd left her. And he'd only left because both the trainers and Eve had told him to. But instead of standing outside the trainers' room and waiting for her to emerge - or for them to tell him he could come back inside - he'd gone back to his locker room to talk to Kofi and, after that, he'd actually taken the time to clean up and get ready to leave. Granted, his plan had been to go and get Eve and help her collect her things and then take her back to her hotel... To look after her as much as she allowed him to do... But now...

"Shit," he whispered, jerking a hand through his hair. He'd hoped that he would get to the parking garage before Eve had managed to actually leave... Thought that maybe her injuries would keep her from being able to get her stuff loaded very easily, but apparently he'd been wrong. Either that, or she hadn't been kept by the trainers as long as he'd figured she would be. Whatever the case was, she'd managed to drag her things to her car and now she was gone. Or, if she wasn't, she sure as hell wasn't anywhere that he could see her.

"No luck?"

He spun around at the sound of the voice, and the only reason he wasn't instantly ready to attack was because he'd registered that the voice he'd heard was distinctly female. He frowned slightly as he looked at Kaitlyn. "What?"

"I came out here to see if you'd caught up to her. I was hoping you would." The diva shook her head. "I didn't know. I really didn't know she'd come back and gotten her stuff and left." Kaitlyn dragged her teeth over her bottom lip. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," he muttered, reaching up, pressing his fingers against his temples. "You weren't even there when she came back, so it's not like you could have stopped her. And hey... She pinned Beth Phoenix earlier despite having a partially dislocated shoulder. Even if you had been there... I'm not sure you would have been able to stop her."

"You have a point there," Kaitlyn said quietly, then looked around the garage. "When Laurinaitis put together that match tonight, I thought... I really thought-"

"You and me both," Punk replied. "Which means I just feel even more like shit now. I didn't trust her, never thought for a moment that she would do anything to help me hold onto the WWE championship and now... She not only fought her ass off out there, she got the pin for our team, and she did it hurt. And instead of taking care of her like I should have, I left her alone with the trainers and now... Who knows where the hell she is?"

"You know, it's not like you just deserted her or something," the young diva said, shrugging when he sent a look her way. "Well, you didn't. You made sure that she got to the back, and you took her to the trainers. You made sure she was being looked after. And, from the sound of things, you didn't intend for her to take off by herself afterwards."

"Of course I didn't-"

"And did you just... Dump her with the trainers, then leave?"

He shook his head, staring down at the concrete floor of the garage. "No. I wasn't going to leave, but... They told me to leave. She told me that she was in good hands. So Kofi and I left," he said, looking over at Kaitlyn as he said the last bit, noticing the frown on her face at the last few words. He shrugged. "When I got Eve to the back, Kofi met up with us, and he walked with us to the trainers room." The wrestler heaved out a sigh. "I never intended... I talked to Kofi for a little while, and then he took off, and I cleaned up and got dressed and went to find her... And she was gone. They'd released her, so I went straight to the divas' locker room, figuring I'd catch up with her there..."

"And she'd already left."

"Yeah. She'd already left." He shook his head. "Why didn't I... I didn't think she would just... I don't know."

"It's not your fault," Kaitlyn told him, then heaved out a sigh. "Look... I'm guessing that you're not going to be reassured about how Eve is until you've seen her again and made sure of it. Right?"

Punk shrugged his shoulders, the gesture restless. "I'd feel better if I knew she'd made it back to her room okay. She's hurt. She's out there with a bad arm, and she's trying to get herself back to her hotel and get all of her stuff upstairs and..." He shook his head. "I should have stood outside of the trainers' room and waited for her instead of going back to my locker room. That was my mistake."

"And in the greater scheme of things, it wasn't a huge one. You didn't know she would leave."

"I know that she put herself at risk tonight to help me. Not just physically, but her career..." He shook his head. "Laurinaitis put her in that match tonight, and he fully expected her to make sure that I walked out of there with a defeat. She was supposed to make sure that I lost that title, and she didn't do it. He's going to try and make her pay for that."

"I'm sure he is. He's the vengeful type. I'm guessing you're going to try to be the hero type now," Kaitlyn said, tilting her head as she looked at him. "No offense, but I see you as more of an anti-hero."

"Kaitlyn-"

"Well, I do. Anyway... I saw Eve earlier. Before the show. At the Holiday Inn Express. Heading into room 219. In case you're interested," the woman told him, smiling when he gave her an incredulous look. "What? I can't have information? I figured you would want to check on her." That said, Kaitlyn spun on her heel and went to head back inside, pausing only when she heard the sound of Punk's voice.

"Kaitlyn?"

"Yeah?"

He gave her a slight smile. "Thanks."

"No problem."