CHAPTER 10

All Shawn could do was stare at the monitor, watching with wide eyes as Raine literally dived for David, just as he literally dived for her. He was frozen in shock, several thoughts racing around his mind but none sticking for more than a brief second.

Who had reinstated Batista? When had he been reinstated? Why hadn't anyone said anything about this? Why were they sending him out there when Raine was out there? Who was footing the inevitable hospital bill?

"Shit!" He yelped when the grappling pair fell off the stage, regaining his mobility and hauling ass towards the entranceway.

"Shawn, no!"

"Fuck off, Stephanie!" He shouted over his shoulder.

"Michaels, go out there and you're fired."

He skidded to a halt at Vince's voice, wondering just when Satan had decided to pay them a visit; throwing his boss a dirty look. "This is YOUR doing, isn't it?"

Vince looked pleased with himself but just shrugged. "It's good for ratings. People like seeing those two go at it."

"You-"

Paul intercepted before Shawn 's fist could land. "It's not worth losing your job over."

"Hell if it ain't!"

"Shawn…" Paul sighed, then whirled around and punched Vince in the jaw. "There, see?" He glowered down at his father-in-law. "Go ahead, fire me."

Stephanie shot her father a 'don't you dare' look.

***

Raine was in a lot of pain. Landing on cables with a near three hundred pound man directly on top of you wasn't something easily walked off, no matter who the hell you were. But she sucked it up. "Get off me!"

"Fuck you…" He grunted, reeling from that himself.

Her response was to punch him in his face.

"Rai!"

Now Glenn was coming, this was about to get fun. Groaning, Raine let Dave pull her up, by her hair no less and when she was vertical; lashed out with a boot. Screw going for his stomach, she went for his nuts.

A few less David's in the world wouldn't be a bad thing after all.

But he intercepted that kick, grabbing her leg and spun her right around; following up with a push.

Raine felt blood gushing into her mouth, wondering just what she had bit. A stinging pain later told her it was her lip.

"Now…" David bent over to grab a handful of her hair again; jerking her upright. "Time to retire you."

Her mind was going 'what?' at this point, than she felt him 'lining' her up, glancing straight ahead to see a very real, very steel crate.

Oh shit.

***

"Get Raine out of there!"

Stephanie, Paul, Shawn and the bleeding Vince all looked up to see Shane limping as fast as he could down the hallway.

Vince was red with anger, and some humiliation. "What the hell are you doing here?" He barked.

Shane ignored Vince, looking directly at Shawn. "Bautista's contract is contingent on the fact that Raine doesn't walk out of here."

This time Paul stepped aside so Shawn could have the honors.

***

David was just about ready to launch Raine when he felt a hand on each of his shoulders. Growling, he dropped her and shook free; spinning around.

To find a very pissed off Mark Calaway looming over him.

Glenn was already on his way to get Raine out of there, groaning when she automatically tried to go after David again. "Oh no honey, time to go get cleaned up. Let the big boys play."

"I'mma kill you Glenn!"

"You can try, AFTER you get your face looked at."

"It's just a busted lip!"

"Well Mark's busy busting Dave so relax." He physically had to cart her backstage, his eyes narrowing when he seen Shane McMahon's back. It took a minute to realize that Shane was watching Paul and Stephanie restraining Shawn.

And Vince was currently unconscious.

Raine calmed down, astonishment all over her face. She knew Shawn had a temper but it was hard to make him explode. Well, in an extremely violent manner at least. "What happened?"

Shane slowly turned around, looking hesitant.

Raine let out a yelp when Shawn pulled her into his arms. "Pops!"

"Are you okay? Is anything broken?"

"Well if it is, her mouth is running overtime to make up for it." Glenn grunted, ducking the backward kick she threw at him.

Raine suffered in silence as Shawn held her out at arm's length, letting him go through his inspection before just tapping her lip. "This is it."

Shawn frowned, seeing it was still bleeding. A second later he was pulling her bottom lip out, ignoring her undignified squeals and examining the bite. "You're going to need stitches."

Her response was to hock a wad of blood on the still unconscious Vince's pants, finally looking at Shane and sighed, resigned to the fact that something was up. "Okay, what's goin' on?"

"Why don't you go see the trainer first?" He suggested, worry in his eyes as he took the blood streaking down her chin and onto her wrestling top. When she shot him a 'look', he did smile. "I'll come with you and explain."

"We'll all come with as we'd all like an explanation."

Glenn was torn between tagging along to find out what the hell he was missing and waiting for Mark to explain what he knew of the situation so Mark didn't put anyone else into the hospital. Groaning, he kept his feet right where they were.

***

Alex grinned when he seen Raine, though there was no humor in his eyes. "At least it's not for broken ribs, eh?" He teased, watching as she plopped herself in a chair and decided not to test out her patience, she looked ready to snap.

So did her pappy for that matter.

"Her lip." Shawn grunted, settling himself against the wall beside her, too tense to sit; clenching and unclenching his fists.

"Bit it?"

Raine nodded, her green eyes fastened on Shane.

Stephanie was also staring at her brother, aware her husband had gone over to keep close to the still near the surface of exploding –again- Shawn. "What's going on?" She asked softly, wishing he'd just sit down because she knew his knee had to be hurting after that hurried pace he had been using.

"Dad resigned Bautista for one night only." Shane said quietly, wishing he had brought the contract. His receptionist had been going over a current list of contracts being tentatively offered, developmental contracts when she had said Dave's name. At first Shane had thought there was some mistake, at least until he started reading the fine print.

The wording was incredible, just this side of legal but there it had been, once you deciphered all the unneeded phrases and whatnot.

"And?" Stephanie prompted, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"And he would get a new contract, a proper contract, if he managed to retire Raine." Shane had to give it to Vince. Using the term 'retire' had been a good call, because generally when people thought of the word retire, it meant heading off to Florida to enjoy white beaches and constant sunshine.

Not going to the damn hospital on a gurney with some career ending injury.

Since everyone present was in a business where that was the general way of 'retiring', they all understood the true implications of that one little word.

"You couldn't have just called?" Paul snapped, hazel eyes flashing. Not for the first time, he wondered just what sort of family he had married into.

"I tried. But for some reason, nobody seemed to be answering." Shane said dryly.

Stephanie reluctantly procured her cell phone from its clip at her waist, groaning softly. She had missed calls from early this morning. "Did you try calling anyone else?" She asked finally.

"Raine."

Raine couldn't talk at the moment, shooting them all annoyed looks.

"I have Raine's cell so calling her didn't do much good." Mark announced, stepping into the room, looking angry. "Security pulled me off him before I could actually do anythin' good."

"You sent him to the E.R." Glenn chided from right behind his friend.

"With a concussion, big hairy." His green eyes studied Shane, having heard enough to know that either Shane was a really good actor or he was trying to do something right, for once. Mark moved around Shawn to kneel besides Raine's chair, watching Alex tend her lip. "How bad?"

"Not too bad, not as bad as it could have been. If she'd of bit down any harder, she'd of gone clean through."

"Ew…"

Raine snorted.

Mark glanced over his shoulder, catching the look on Shane's face and inwardly rolled his eyes. He was surprised Shawn hadn't kicked the bastard's legs out from under him or something, tempted to do it himself but that might upset Raine.

***

"What's wrong with you?" Paul asked as he and Shawn walked down to the hotel's gym. It was much later in the night, or was it early AM now? Mark had taken Raine back to his hotel room and nobody was questioning it since Raine couldn't talk anyways thanks to Alex injecting her with a painkiller that had left her unable to work her jaw without drooling and slurring.

"Shane." Shawn said softly, his temper having ran its course, for the moment.

"What about him?"

"I'm tryin' to figure out what his game is."

Paul had known that was coming.

"I mean, is he out to win her back or is he actually doing whatever it is he's doin' out of the kindness of his heart?"

"Both?"

"That's not helpful."

Paul sighed, glad his kids weren't that age yet and made a mental note to keep them under house arrest until they were at least thirty. "Man, she's with Mark and everyone knows it."

"They're just datin'."

"Sure… keep telling yourself that, old man."