A/N: Sorry for the delay. Internet issues. Meep! Enjoy!

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Part Eleven

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"Where is she?"

The frantic voice caused Jericho to turn a little too sharply. He hissed as his ribs screamed in protest. "What the hell are you talking about and what the hell was that out there?"

"They've got Lita," The Game ground out, barely stopping to wipe the blood from his head as a stagehand gave him a towel, and Jericho's eyes widened. "Trish Stratus heard Dave and I talking earlier. She told Ric and now they've got Lita."

Triple H was already heading in the direction of the locker rooms and Edge and Chris quickly followed, leaving a confused Stephanie McMahon behind them.

"You got all that out of Orton in the ring?" Edge asked, as he quickened his step.

"I can be persuasive," Triple H said and the deadly tone in his voice was answer enough as to how he had got Orton to talk. Chris glanced at his friend and he knew they were both thinking the same thing; it was hard to believe that Lita could have fallen for the man. Hunter's reaction, however, gave them something else to think about, but Chris decided he'd really rather not. The last thing he wanted was to see The Game as a decent human being with feelings. It was just…against the laws of nature or something.

"Look," he said finally, "the others have got Lita with them. There's no way they'd ever…" he trailed off as he spotted something ahead of them. Before he had time to think, Triple H had already approached the Diva and, ignoring the woman's tantrum, addressed her.

"Where the hell is Lita?"

His voice quickly incited fear and Trish pointed to her left. "My locker room."

"You'd better pray I find her unharmed."

Trish scampered away from them, letting out a yelp when she walked into someone. Chris couldn't help but smirk as Batista softly said, "Boo" and sent the woman running away. He hadn't even realised the man was behind them.

Chris turned back around only to see Triple H disappearing into a locker room half way down the corridor. He sighed and turned to face Batista.

"He actually cares about her, doesn't he?" he asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

"Yeah, he does. You planning on making something of it?"

Chris sighed and rubbed at his eyes. "He's no good for her."

"Don't you think that she should get to decide that?" Batista asked and it was Edge that answered.

"I don't think we have much of a choice."

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Broken. It was the only word that he could think of to describe what he saw when he looked at her. He had barely taken two steps into the room when he spotted her; it was something he had got used to over the months, this ability to suddenly find her in a room even when he didn't know she was going to be there. He knew the others in the room were watching him, but he didn't even acknowledge their presence. Stepping towards Lita, he was focussed only on her.

"Lita," he said softly, but there was no reaction. She didn't even blink.

Knowing he didn't have much chance of getting too close to her without Ivory moving, he glanced up at the brunette, silently pleading with her to move out of the way. She was reluctant, but slowly let her grip on her sister drop and stepped back into Shawn's embrace.

"Lita," he said again, swiping a trickle of blood off his forehead and finally closing the gap between them. When she still didn't acknowledge him, he reached out a hand to turn her face towards him. The moment he made contact, she snapped out of whatever trance she had been in and thrashed out, cracking him soundly on the chin. She was yelling and scratching, but he pulled her into his embrace, trapping her arms at her side.

In his peripheral vision he saw Shawn holding Ivory back and he knew that the Hardy brothers, Victoria, and Kane were behind him somewhere, but he was more concerned about Lita than what they were doing. He continued to hold her steady, talking in slow murmurs until she stopped fighting him and, instead, began to clutch at him. He turned her around in his embrace and she clawed at his neck, burying her face in his shoulder blades.

At first he thought she was crying, but there were no tears, only dry, wracking sobs that caused her to shake. He held her tighter and said he was sorry over and over again, promised her that he wouldn't leave her, promised her that Ric and Randy would never get near her again, promised her that he would protect her and their baby…and he intended to keep those promises.

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She yawned and stretched, jerking slightly when her arm came into contact with solid mass; breathing, solid mass. She frowned and lifted her head from its current position against said solid mass' shoulder and glanced around the darkened room. Her eyes made out the harsh red light from the alarm clock on the bedside cabinet, which told her it was about three fifteen in the morning.

Something made her think she should be afraid, but she felt safer than she had in a long time and she knew why. She recognised the body next to hers, practically had it memorised and categorised. She just had no idea why she was currently lying next to it. Slowly she went back over the night in her head and, just as she was beginning to remember everything, just when she felt herself beginning to hyperventilate, he reached out for her. He pulled her into his embrace and murmured things into her ear, told her everything was going to be all right and, at that moment, she almost believed him. Almost, because then he murmured three words that she just knew couldn't be true.

And that was when Lita began to cry.

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End of Part Eleven

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