Do No Harm

13. Losses

---

Raw

Houston, Texas

"Hey! I've been looking for you everywhere!" Autumn announced as she burst into the locker room, duffel bag slung over her shoulder, "What are you doing?"

Melony was dressed in her ring attire, sitting on a bench close to one of the mounted tv screens in the corner, "Hey, traitor!"

Autumn stuck her tongue out, "Shut up. You two worked things out didn't you?" She walked over and sat next to her, and Melony shrugged, "Yeah, we did. But now something else is up."

Autumn frowned, "What do you mean?"

"I don't know. I mean, Carlito was just acting weird the whole plan trip. Like, I could tell something was wrong, he just wouldn't tell me what." Mel shook her head, "I'm worried."

"You think..." Autumn bit her lip, "You think Tavious might've got to him again?"

"I don't know." Mel ran her fingers through her hair, thinking about Carlito, and the devious Montel. He was dead-set on destroying their relationship, she no loner denied that. She knew it for a fact. However, she didn't know to what lengths he would go and truth be told, she was afraid to know. She shook her head and faced her sister, "Anyway, what about you? I mean, you know you're supposed to..."

"Yeah, I know." Autumn sighed, "And I'm going to. I'll parade Chris out to the ring without a word, and when we get back here, I'm gonna tell him it's over and he need not try anything else."

"Holla!" Melony snickered, "Are you sure though? I mean..."

"Yeah, I'm positive. Oh!" Autumn pointed to the tv screen, "You're up next."

"Ah!" Mel stood and headed for the door, "Hey, if you see Carly, will you try to get him to talk or something?"

"Of course. Now get out there. Good luck!"

Melony exited the locker room and that left Autumn alone with her thoughts, which was always a bad thing. She opened up her bag and pulled out her outfit for the night, which was a matching blue-and-black vest and pair of pants--a feminite duplicate of what Chris would be wearing.

Who was she kidding? Breaking up with Chris was going to be a helluva lot harder than she made it out to be. Even knowing Chris was no longer the man she'd fallen in love with, deep down, she had to wonder if he was still in there somewhere. If he could somehow change.

"People don't change." She muttered, "Atleast not for the better."

She heard the door open behind her and she let out a small laugh, "What happened--did you forget something?" She turned, expecting her sister. Instead, she got quite a shock. "What the hell are you doing here?"

---

"He said what?!"

Carlito nodded as he snapped on his knee pad and sat down, "Yep. And I'm ready to make the son of a bitch pay."

Kennedy clenched first his jaw and then his fist, punching the stone wall he stood beside, "What the hell is goin' on man? I mean, first Chris goes all Fatal Attraction, and now Montel's a psychotic version of Indecent Proposal?! What next, huh?!"

Carlito shrugged, "You could go all Single White Female on me."

Ken arched an eyebrow, his lips tugging into a smirk, thankful for Carlito's attempt at lightening the moon, "In your dreams, Caramelito." He snarked, walking over to sit down next to Carly, "So what are you gonna do?"

Carlito shook his head, his thoughts drifting back to the chilling phone call he'd received from Tavious. "Honestly man, I wanna kill him. I just wanna wrap my hands around his neck and squeeze."

"Let's not go that far just yet. I can't afford to bail your ass outta jail."

Carlito frowned, "Hey, I didn't say I was going to--just that I wanted to." He ran his hands over his face, feeling the sweat beading on his forehead and the back of his neck, "Just hearing him talk like that, man. Claiming my girl, the woman I love, you know?" He huffed, "It makes me crawl inside. It makes me crazy! I just...agh!" He sighed deeply, "You wouldn't understand."

"I might." Kennedy mused, averting his eyes, "Right now, I can...honestly imagine how that feels."

Carlito's eyebrow rose, "Somethin' you wanna tell me?"

"Huh? Like what?"

"I dunno. Might have somethin' to do with a certain pretty girl I saw you kissing."

Kennedy groaned, shaking his head, "Agh! Don't make this about me, ok? This is about and Montel, and what the hell you're gonna do!"

"I don't know, ok?! Short of anything illegal, I'm drawing a blank." He closed his eyes, his mind reeling. He could truly, honestly see himself choking the life out of Montel--a man he'd once called his friend.

---

"I came to ask you for a favor."

Autumn scoffed, "And just the hell do you expect me to do for you?"

"Talk to Mel." Montel stepped forward, brown eyes pleading, "That's all I'm askin', little sister."

Autumn crossed her arms over her chest, staring him down without fear, "And say what exactly? Leave your soul mate for your ex-plaything? I don't think so, Montel. Get out."

Montel whimpered, feigning hurt, "Listen girl, I know for a fact that your sister will listen to anything you say, and vice versa. You're each others weakest link, as ironic as that sounds."

"Wow! You obviously don't know half as much as you think you do, Blingy!"

"You do this for me, I'll give you anything you want." Montel's lip twitched, "I have more power in this company you think. One phone call, and you could be Women's Champion next week. Vince owes me a favor."

"Get the hell outta here, Tavious. And don't look back. Stay away from me, and especially Mel and Carly. They don't need your bullshit. You think you love Mel? I got news for you, okay? You're not in love--you're obsessed. And you're in serious need of help. Get out of here before I call security."

He held his hands up in defeat, "Fine. Just think about what I said, okay?" With that, he turned and left and Autumn let out a loud groan. What the hell was wrong with all these people?

She heard the door open again and she whirled around in fury, "Damn it, I just told you...!"

Chris stared at her, blue eyes wide, "I just wanna talk."

Autumn was in a state of shock. She fumbled over her words before taking a deep breath and looking at him, "Get out, Chris."

"Not until you hear me out!" He moved forward, swiftly closing the gap between them with a few steps and then was right in front of her--inches from her, in fact, "Just listen to me."

She stared up at him, but stayed silent, and he took the opportunity. "I'm an idiot." He stated bluntly, "Actually, that's an understatement, but it's the best I can do right now. Baby, all I can think of is what I did the other night. I can't believe I ever laid a hand on you that way. I swear, if I could take it back, I would. But baby, you have to believe me when I say that will never happen again!"

She shook her head, closing her eyes for a minute so she could think. She couldn't agree to anything he said. She'd made up her mind that it was over, and nothing he said could change that decision. "That's good, Chris."

"Autumn, look at me!" He grabbed her shoulders, shaking her, "I know what you're thinking, ok? Ad you can't. This can't be over, Autumn. It can't..."

"But it is." She choked back a sob, "Chris, I was going to wait until after your match, but..."

"No!" He yelled, "No, no way! I fucked up once, and it's over? That's not fair!"

"You didn't fuck up just once, Chris!" Autumn yelled back, "You purposely hurt me twice! You've change completely since I came back! You've accused me of things, you've acted like I was your property, you've treated me like shit, you tried to kill me and Ken by drinking and..."

"That's all this is about, isn't it?" Chris growled, "You and Ken?"

"And then there's that! You're convinced I'm having an affair with Ken?! He barely even likes me!"

Jericho's eyes went from angry to pleading as he gazed down at her, "Please, baby, just give me one more chance."

"Chris..."

"Autumn." He cupped her face in his hands lovingly, lowering his head to capture her lips in a fervent kiss. Without hesitation, she reciprocated, reaching up and wrapping her arms around his neck to pull him closer to her, shocked to find that she felt absolutely...nothing.

When Kennedy had kissed her, she'd felt the passion, the heat, like the could've died just then and would've died happily. The whole world had stopped. It was just the two of them. But now, Jericho's lips on hers felt lifeless, meaningless. She felt nothing but awkward.

She pulled away quickly, taking several steps backwards, "I'm sorry, Chris. It's over. It has to end, ok? I can't..." She sucked in a breath and turned away, not wanting to see him anymore. She wanted to catch up with Carlito and watch Mel's match and then go back to the hotel and crash in a big cozy bed in front of satellite television and forget all lifes problems.

She felt Jericho's hands on her shoulders and she let out a sigh, preparing to negate anything he was about to say. Instead, he shoved her as hard as he could, and she felt something snap as she connected with the concrete floor. Jericho was screaming at her, but she wasn't paying attention. Kennedy and Carlito burst into the locker room, and she wasn't sure what happened, but Chris shut up. Then Ken was beside her, on his knees, his face close to hers as he spoke softly and he placed his hand gently on her shoulder, "Autumn! Answer me! Are you okay?"

She stared up into his green eyes as she choked back tears, "Ken, I can't move."

---

Melony's title was on the line, and she was prepared to defend it with everything she had.

She made her way out to the ring in her usual style, waving to the crowd, shaking hands where she could, before jumping in the ring and handing her belt to the referee, Charles Robinson. Her opponent, Beth Phoenix, was walking down the ramp now, accompanied by Santino Marella. Melony shook her head to clear her thoughts, reminding herself to be on the lookout for Santino's trickery.

Beth completed her ring entrance, and the bell rang, signalling the start of the match. Santino was shouting from outside the ring, trying to psyche Mel out, but it wasn't going to work on her. She was focused.

Beth tried a sidesweep but failed, as Melony kicked her leg out and tripped Beth, sending her flying face-first to the mat. Mel quickly got down and grabbed Beth's leg, locking in a tight ankle lock. "Tap!" She screamed, and Beth screamed, struggling to break free or reach the ropes. Santino slid into the ring, shouting in Italian at Melony, and the ref got in his face, telling him to get out of the ring or go backstage. Mel wasn't distracted, but Beth managed to flip over, thus breaking Mel's hold. She made it to her feet and grabbed a handful of Melony's hair, dragging her across the ring and slamming her into the corner. Before she could make her move, Mel hopped to her feet and swiftly climbed to the top rope, ready to perform a diving crossbody when she saw him running out to the ring.

"What the hell?!" She muttered, and then she felt Beth's shoulder driving into her midsection. She doubled over in pain, and Beth picked her up and flipped her over her shoulder, causing Mel to land painfully on her back.

"Come on, Mel!" Montel yelled from outside the ring, and though he was cheering her on, there a taunting edge to his voice.

Beth covered her for the three count, but Mel kicked out, and Santino jumped in once again, complaining to Robinson. Montel got in then, jumping on Santino, and while Robinson tried to break them up, Beth removed a turnbuckle cover. When Mel managed to stagger to her feet, Beth grabbed her and threw her headfirst into the exposed turnbuckle, busting her forehead open on contact. Beth threw her down and covered her, the ref just then paying attention, and it was over. A three count, and Beth Phoenix was the new Women's Champion.