Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to the WWE or its superstars. The only thing I own is my original character. This is a complete work of fiction.

Keeper

Chapter 10

RAW

By the following Monday I was feeling pretty much healed up and back to normal. I was grateful for that because I could walk into the arena tonight with my head held high and looking strong. I'd gone toe to toe with Lesnar, an MMA fighter and pro wrestler and I'd come out rather unscathed. I was proud of that fact and hoped that it showed my resiliency.

"You ready kid?" Hunter asked me. I snapped my head in his direction.

"As ready as I'll ever be!" I replied a little nervously as his bus pulled into the arena parking lot.

"Good. He's not going to get his hands on you again! I can promise you that, Kenz," he said seriously.

"I know. I'm not afraid, Hunter."

"I know you aren't. You are a tough girl!"

"You say that but at the same time you are hovering over me very over protectively!" I shot back with a smile.

"If I let something happen to you I'll have to answer to two people: Vince and my wife. Neither one of those are people you want to make angry."

"Oh believe me, I know," I said with a soft chuckle.

"Shall we?"

"We shall."

I grabbed my bag and followed Hunter out of the bus. He slowed his pace a little so I could keep up in my high heeled boots. He was constantly scanning the environment to make sure Lesnar wasn't coming towards me. He was quite protective. We entered the arena and walked through to corridors to my office. I set my things next to my desk and plopped into the chair. Hunter stood near the doorway.

"I'm not allowing security to stand at my door all night," I said without him having to ask. He shot me a look.

"I knew you were going to say that. So I wasn't even going to ask. I came up with a different solution because you are stubborn as hell."

"Am I going to hate it?"

"Probably!" He said with a chuckle. "But in all seriousness, You see the door across the hall?"

"Yeah."

"Well that's my office for the night. Sheamus and I will be in there all night. We can see your door and what's happening…" I opened my mouth to object but before I could get out the words he cut me off. "It's not negotiable, Kenz!"

"What? Everything is negotiable!"

"When you stay stuff like that I can tell who raised you!" he joked.

"Guilty as charged."

"But seriously, you have no choice in the matter. Last week I let you decide even though your decision was against my better judgment. I let you decide instead of listening to my gut and it ended up badly. I refuse to listen to anything other than my gut this time. So, you are stuck with me and Sheamus across the hall and A-Ry here with you. You are not to go anywhere without one of us escorting you," he insisted.

"You've got to be kidding me!"

"Nope. I couldn't be more serious. Don't make me be the bad guy here!"

"Too late. Now go away, I have work to do!" I said with my hands on my hips.

"Fine. I'll be watching!" He said loudly as he left the room.

"Creeper!"

I sat in my office watching the show when the 'best in the world' waltzed into my office. I could see Hunter leaning over watching from across the hall. I took a deep breath.

"What glorious reason has blessed me with your presence today?" I said sarcastically.

"Like I need a reason to come and piss you off," he said with a sly smile.

"Fair enough. So what can I do for you?" I said with a sigh.

"I don't need anything I just wanted to talk to you."

"Really?" I asked unconvinced.

"Really."

"About what?"

"Well first of all, I wanted to apologize for Paul's behavior last week. I didn't have anything to do with it but still, he shouldn't have attacked you like that. So for that…I'm sorry," he said with a shrug.

"Uh thanks."

"And I wanted to thank you…for giving me the match against Undertaker for Wrestlemania. I know I probably wasn't on the shortlist from the board…so I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate it," he said seriously. I felt my facial expression soften.

"You are welcome but to be honest, I thought you deserved it most. Plus you've surpassed every obstacle I've thrown at you. I give credit where credit is due."

"Well I assure you that you've made the right choice. I'll prove it at Wrestlemania."

"I hope so. I don't want to catch heat from the board on this."

"Alright. You'll just have to see then."

"I will."

Punk headed out of my room through the door, making his exit. Hunter was making faces at me like the goof he was.

"Fuck you Hunter!" I yelled. He began to laugh. I grabbed my stress ball out of my bag and tossed it at him. It nailed him in the chest.

"God damn it Boots!" He yelled. My jaw dropped and Hunter realized what he'd just called me. I immediately became a little nervous because I had no idea who was in the hallway and heard him call me that nickname. Nobody knew that Hunter and I were pretty much family. I was hoping that if anybody heard it they wouldn't think twice about it.

As the night progressed I became more and more at ease. Nothing too eventful had occurred and that was a relief…

Cameras were rolling, showing an interaction between Laurinitis and Teddy. He was berating the poor man for a very minor and trivial mistake. I immediately began to feel bad for the tag team match enthusiast.

"That poor guy…" A-Ry said sympathetically.

"I know. He is such a sweet man too," I said agreeing.

"Is there anything you could do to help him out?" he asked. I was quiet a moment, wracking my brain for a way for Teddy to still be employed.

"You know what…I think there might be….lets go on a little trip, shall we?"

"Okay, Boss."

I began to quietly walk/sneak out of my office when I heard Hunter call out. I froze. I was busted.

"Where are you going?!" he yelled.

"Just down the hall!" I fibbed.

"Take Sheamus!" he ordered.

"I have A-Ry…I think I'll be fine." He shot me a serious look. "Oh fine. Come on Sheamus!" He got up and followed us down the hall. "Sorry you got dragged onto Kennedy security detail service," I said feeling a bit bad.

"Ah, it's alright Ken. It makes it more interesting. I'd just be sitting on my arse otherwise," he said pretty assuring.

"Well I still feel bad! Remind me I owe you one!" I said with a chuckle.

"Will do…even though it's quite unnecessary."

Five minutes later I was walking towards Johnny Ace's office with a camera crew in tow.

"Okay, both of you can wait out here," I said softly outside the door. They nodded obediently.

"Good luck!" Alex said happily.

I burst through the door and into Johns office.

"What the heck are you doing in here!" Johnny yelled.

"Whoa, is that any way to greet your commissioner?" I asked with a cocky smile.

"Well…I uh…Teddy! I thought I told you to keep people out of my office!" he complained to poor Teddy as he entered the office.

"I was running the other errand you asked me to run!" he said defending himself.

"You are a worthless pi-" Johnny Ace began.

"Shut up!" I interjected. "Stop treating him like garbage! He's human being."

"I'll treat him however I see fit, Ms. Steele," he seethed. "Now why are you in my office?"

"I came to see Teddy actually."

"Well what can I do for you Kennedy?" Teddy asked politely.

"I'll cut to the chase. Last week we had a referee quit. If I remember correctly, you were a referee once upon a time for this company, So I'm offering you the position so you don't have to put up with his crap!"

"Are you serious?"

"As a heart attack. Teddy, would you like to be my new ref?" I asked. A big smile crossed his lips as I held out a referee shirt.

"I would love to, Kennedy!"

"You can't do that, Teddy!" Laurinitis argued.

"I can and I will. I quit playa!" Teddy said proudly as he grabbed the shirt and headed out of Johns office, a giant smile on his face.

"Ouch. See you later Johnny boy!" I said with a chuckle as I left his office.

Sheamus and A-Ry escorted me back to my office.

"That was a good thing you did there, Kennedy," Sheamus said softly.

"Yeah. He's a good guy and he deserved better than the way he was treated."

"Well it was something you didn't have to do but you did. It was nice."

"I guess so."

Once back in my office, I continued to watch the show. It seemed to be another trouble absent show…until the end of the show. Brock Lesnar's music hit and Paul Heyman emerged as he was permitted. Brock was suspended but I did approve Heyman's admittance into the building. Heyman by himself wasn't much of a threat. I wasn't even slightly surprised that Paul would emerge to speak. He couldn't ever resist an open microphone.

Once in the ring, his whiny voice began.

"My name is Paul Heyman. I am here to represent my client Brock Lesnar. My client has been wrongfully suspended. Suspended for doing absolutely nothing at all that was unprovoked…." My jaw dropped. I couldn't believe him coming out into my ring to tell such blatant lies.

"Hey, A-Ry? Can you run this over to Hunter across the hall?" I asked sweetly.

"Absolutely. Be right back!" He said grabbing the papers and walking out of the room.

I immediately jumped up and ran down the hall, my stilettos smacking against the concrete floors. I made it to the curtain easily and grabbed a microphone. My music was cued.

I stepped out onto the stage with a sly smile on my face.

"Oh Paul…you disillusioned asshat!" I growled into the microphone, walking down the ramp.

"Kennedy Steele…nice to see you up and walking about!" he mused.

"Of course I am! The beast, Brock Lesnar, couldn't keep me down. Kind of sad isn't it? A big bad MMA fighter and wrestler couldn't do little ol' me in. No broken bones or sprains or even concussions….just a few bumps and bruises."

"Well we weren't trying to kill you! Had we been out to harm you, rest assured, you'd be injured, Ms. Steele!" he barked.

"Paul, Paul, Paul…you are full of it. You think you can just do whatever you want….to bully me into doing what you want. That isn't how it works," I said getting close to him.

"We really made a simple request from you, Ms. Commissioner. All my client and I want is a very simple rematch at Wrestlemania. Brock Lesnar versus Triple H needs to happen at the show of shows!" He insisted.

"I already told you, Paul, I cannot force him into a match with Brock. Hunter isn't on the active roster. He is on the part time roster, therefore, he decides when he'd like to come back for active competition, not me. Plain and simple."

"Well…why don't you talk some sense into Hunter?"

"Why would I do that?'

"Because I can't guarantee the safety of anybody around here until we get that match…especially you…" he said with a bit of threat in his voice.

Surprisingly, Triple H's song began through the arena to a chorus of cheers. Hunter made his way down the ramp with an angry scowl on his face. I winced. I knew he wasn't especially happy that I snuck off unattended. He entered the ring and approached us. He placed a hand on my shoulder.

"You okay?" he asked sans mic. I nodded.

"I'm fine, Hunter." He nodded and took the microphone from my hands. He then stood protectively between me and Paul.

"Triple H! How nice of you to join us!" Paul cheered sarcastically.

"I'm not going to stand idle while you beat and threaten people here!" Hunter yelled.

"Well you know what we want!"

"So? I don't care what you want," Trips said sternly.

"You should, you really should," he insisted.

"Why?"

"Because we already injured your father-in-law, Vince McMahon….and we have already attacked the precious, spitfire, Kennedy Steele…"

"What's your point?"

"Well I think you should grant us the match or else…Boots won't be safe anymore…."he said pointing past Hunter to me. My eyes widened at the use of my nickname.

"What did you just call her?"

"I think we both know what I just called her."

"Come on, Kennedy…we're getting you out of here!" Hunter said putting his arm around my shoulders and ushering me out of the ring. Wordlessly, I did exactly what he said to do.

We began to walk up the ramp as Paul leered with a pleased smile. Hunter walked me to the curtain but didn't follow me through it. Sheamus and A-Ry were waiting there for me. We all stood next to the monitor to watch the show down.

"Smart move ushering your Mistress out of arms way, Hunter," Paul quipped.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Hunter said angrily as he walked aggressively down the ramp. He looked like he was about to snap.

"You heard me perfectly clear, Hunter!"

Unfortunately for Heyman, the cerebral assassin had made it to the ring and tacked him to the ground, delivering a round of vicious punches.

Utterly humiliated, I rushed back to my office with the boys in tow.

"Are you okay?" Sheamus asked timidly as I sat down in my desk chair.

"No…no, I'm not…." I said honestly.

"Is there anything I can do for you?"

"I need to get out of here. Walk me to the bus?" I asked softly.

"Absolutely." He bent down and grabbed my bag. "Let's go."

He followed me all the way to Hunter's bus. He was silent which I greatly appreciated. I just wanted to be out of here. The Irishman placed my bag on the bus. He looked as if he was about to leave but stopped himself.

"It's goin' to be alright, Kennedy," he said giving me a big hug. Although I didn't know him very well, the hug was actually what I needed.

"I hope so."

"I'll be seein' ya."

"Alright. Thanks for everything." He nodded and left the bus.

I sat on the couch and put my head on my hands. I was absolutely and completely mortified. Now all of the WWE Universe thought I was Hunters dirty mistress and I didn't know how to come back from it. What a tangled mess my life had just become.

I hope you all are enjoying Keeper and will keep reading to see what shenanigans Kennedy gets into on the road! Things are getting interesting! I also want to thank you so much for the support for this story and my writing in general. You guys are the best.