Chapter Fourteen

Tara woke the next morning from the best night's sleep she'd had in weeks. For a brief moment, due to the disorientation of just waking up and being in a different hotel room, she forgot that she and Jeff had split up. She rolled over in bed and saw the bed was empty. She frowned as she suddenly remembered. This had been happening a lot recently and it was driving Tara mad. I need to forget the bastard, she thought, feeling annoyed with herself yet again, he was no good for me. Then she heard the voice from the balcony.

Reality set in. She had spent the night with Dwayne. She had crashed in his room as she didn't want to be on her own, not when Jeff had been stalking and harassing her for weeks since they broke up and Tara sold their home. From what she had been hearing, he had been descending further and further into drug abuse; using harder drugs and apparently he was also now drinking on top of it. Stupid as it seemed, part of Tara couldn't help but feel his further descent into the madness was her fault; if she hadn't left him and she had tried to convince him to go to rehab, he wouldn't be acting even more unhinged.

As she turned back towards the window she could now see Dwayne. He was dressed in jeans and a plain light coloured shirt and was bare foot. He had his back to her. He was talking on his cell phone. From the way he was speaking, he was obviously talking to his wife. That was then when Tara felt that tiny pang of envy. So much for her hopes for being married and having children with Jeff. She hoped Dwayne appreciated how lucky he was that his relationship with Dany was strong and the fact that they now had a child together.

The way her luck seemed to go with men, Tara wondered if she'd ever meet someone worth it. After all the previous boyfriends she'd had, Tara had honestly thought Jeff had been the one she would settle down with and have a family with. So much for that idea. Stop thinking about Jeff dammit! Her inner voice shouted. That's what he wants; for you to be constantly stressed and frightened. Tara wondered if maybe she should date women instead after all the bad luck she was having with men. That would give my parents something to think about, Tara thought, a small grin crossing her face briefly.

Tara slowly sat up. Now that her best friend was back Tara didn't feel so bad about work or being alone in hotels any more. Dwayne was back to support her. Phone calls and emails were all very well and good but she preferred having him around in person. Dwayne had finished his call and had come back into the room.

"You're awake now then," he stated more than asked.

"You think?" Tara answered, trying not to smile and make a comment back along the lines of 'like it wasn't obvious Mr Genius of the year'.

That cute boyish grin appeared and Dwayne sat on the bed, facing her. "At least you appear to be in a better mood this morning. I know when you're in a crappy mood as I don't get the sarcastic comments or get called a Diva."

Tara shrugged. "Don't you worry, I'm working up to the verbal abuse," Tara replied. "I guess it's because I slept so well last night. I haven't done that for a while. Maybe it was knowing you were with me."

"Well, that's what I'm here for." Dwayne pushed a strand on of hair away from her face. Tara dropped her gaze and sighed. "What is it?" He asked.

"I guess I was hoping things wouldn't end up like this. I thought Jeff and I would get married and eventually have a family. Hearing you talking to your wife made me wonder if I'll ever be happy." She shrugged. "The way things are going, guess not."

The fact that Tara was convinced she would never be happy made him feel a little sad. She was beautiful and funny and, unlike some of the Divas that had been through the company, she actually had a personality to back up her looks. She also worked hard and had earned a great deal of respect from most of the locker room. The only person she probably hadn't really gotten along with was Shawn Michaels.

There had been far too many occasions when he appeared to have deliberately caused trouble for other stars and Tara had even admitted to Dwayne that it wouldn't surprise her if it had been him who had started the rumour that they were sleeping together especially as he had apparently done the same to Bret Hart. Dwayne didn't particularly like Michaels either if he was honest. Tara didn't like people who did such things so she generally kept away from him as much as possible unless she had to work with him. In such situations she would suck it up and get along with it.

In an attempt to lighten the mood, Dwayne stood up and decided he was going to order them breakfast from room service. Tara smiled slightly and agreed that she would like that. She climbed out of bed and showered and dressed. After enjoying breakfast together, it was only a short drive to their next destination. They became travel buddies after that day. Now that Luna had left the WWE, Tara had gone back to travelling alone, which she found boring. It was nice to have the company again. His excitement over becoming a father was endearing and Tara liked hearing about what Simone was learning to do and say. Room sharing started to become a regular thing with them too. Tara felt a lot safer sharing a room with her friend rather than sleeping alone.

Their in-ring characters occasionally worked together on-screen but it appeared the creative team wanted to push Tara more as a competitor in her own right. It appeared that the fans loved seeing Tara act like an insane bitch towards the other Divas by claiming she the better than all of them, causing her to end up in many-a-scrap with the other women, usually Trish or Jazz. The fans were crazy for it so the creative team stuck with it. All the time she was still enjoying being the crazy super bitch, and the fans still liked it, Tara didn't see why the character should be changed.

Wrestlemania 19 was a scream for Tara. Not just because it was to be her first Wrestlemania she would actually be involved in a match herself, after ten years with the company, she was to be involved with the Stone Cold V The Rock match.

In the weeks leading up to Wrestlemania, there had been rumours hinted at on-screen that Tara was planning to be at ringside during the Stone Cold/Rock match. This proved to be somewhat of a distraction for the Rattlesnake and The Rock played on the obvious – if somewhat unintentional – mind games that Stone Cold's ex manager was playing with him. Or maybe it wasn't so unintentional as some speculated.

But hadn't Tara always played mind games when it came to the Rattlesnake ever since she betrayed him? She has always used that to her advantage against him, whether it be for her own ends or to the advantage of The Rock. But I wouldn't put it past her to do it just for the sheer hell of it,one of the commentators pointed out on air one week.

On the night, the fans were on tenterhooks. Would she be there for The Rock – Stone Cold match? Or was she just deliberately misleading everyone to mess with their heads? Tara was scheduled to wrestle that night in a four way match against Trish, Victoria and Jazz for the women's title but nothing had been confirmed as to what Tara would do for the men's match. She had been deliberately ambiguous over it.

That evening, as the event approached, Tara paced around the locker room. She was nervous about competing in her first Wrestlemania match. Jazz, sensing Tara's nervousness, sat with her for a while and just spoke positive things to her.

"Stupid, isn't it," Tara admitted. "I've been in the company all this time and I'm getting scared over a Wrestlemania match."

"It isn't stupid at all," Jazz replied. "I think we all get the days where something that wouldn't normally bother us suddenly does because we're doing things a little differently. You're a great performer, you'll do just fine."

Although it wasn't Tara's turn to become women's champion that night, all four women gave an outstanding performance for the fans. Tara's body hadn't hurt so much in her entire career but she didn't complain. She felt it had been worth it and she looked forward to the day that she and Trish would have a rematch in which Tara would win and become the champion, as Vince McMahon was thinking of pushing her as women's champion. He felt it was the least she deserved after ten years of working her backside off and taking a heck of a lot of bumps along the way including a broken neck.

Backstage all four women had a group hug and her three competitors also apologised for their previous behaviour if they had made her feel bad over what had happened with Jeff. Tara couldn't help but develop a tremendous amount of respect for Trish, Jazz and Victoria after that night. She had always respected them as fellow athletes but her respect grew even more after that.

Pulling off her wrestling attire and taking a shower, Tara found her ringside outfit for the upcoming Stone Cold – Rock match. It was different from her usual trademark tiny denim shorts and tiny vest top. It was black trousers, a white shirt tied up at the front and heels. It had been Tara's idea as she thought it would add to the mind games her character was already playing. Tara waited backstage a the men got ready to go to the ring. As Stone Cold was about to go, he joked to Tara, "if you're going to hit me with a chair again, can you not do it quite so hard this time?"

Tara laughed. "What's the matter tough guy? You getting so old you can't take the bumps any more?"

"Not the way you keep dishing them out, you sadist! I like my head attached to my neck."

Tara made her entrance around the midway point of the match. All she did was stand a few feet away from the ring and watch the match, her arms folded across her chest. It proved to be all the distraction The Rock needed and it eventually won him the match as the Rattlesnake seemed more bothered about is ex manager than his opponent. Once the Rock had won, all Tara did was walk away smiling. It left the fans confused. Why had Tara just stood at ringside then walked away without any involvement in the match?

There was to be a continuation of Tara's mind games with the Rattlesnake, which was to lead to a very physical feud between them resulting in Stone Cold finally getting his revenge on his treacherous ex manager. But sadly it was to turn out that Wrestlemania was to be Austin's last match, although no-one knew it at the time.