Option 2 wins, sort of. It's Option 2 with a twist. And this update will be in two parts. Enjoy.
This was a big day for Lucy, she was going down to the ring for the first time in her short WWE career. Her nerves were on edge, she didn't know if she could do it without freezing. Trinity and Nessa were making sure that she would be prepared all day. It was hard for Joe to see her so uncomfortable, she had disappeared before the start of the show and no one could find her. Nessa insisted that she did this the first time she had to act. She's just scared, she needs to ready herself.
She was shaking, near panic. Lucy had found a back hall in the arena there in Lexington, just to get away from people. Tears fell from her eyes, and with shaky hands she pushed them away. Lucy sniffed as she rubbing at her nose. Suddenly there was a tissue being presented to her and when she looked up, she stepped back in fear.
"It's okay." Brad Maddox said, still holding his hand out. "I promise I'm not going to hurt you, Lucy. Everyone's worried that you just disappeared."
"I wanted to cry in peace. I'm scared." She said, taking the tissue from him, trying not to touch his hand.
"Yeah, we all get that way sometimes. I know I was half assed scared when I was brought up from FCW. I bet you can ask Joe, he had a similar entrance at a WWE pay-per-view. It's nerve wracking fearing that you have to follow the script and make sure you don't mess up. It's hard to think, I won't hesitate to tell you that. Sometimes you have to think on your feet, adlib a little but keep it clean. I'm not going to lie, Lucy, we all get like this. But acting is your thing. You can turn off your own personality and acquire a new one. Just do what you do, pay attention to Vickie and you'll do great."
"Um, okay." She nodded.
"I'm going to go before Joe..."
She saw it, on his neck. "Did Joe give you those bruises? Did Joe give them to you?"
The bruises she was talking about Brad were faded. Yet even though they were faded she could make out two handprints. It was as if someone had wrapped both of their hands around his neck and squeezed. He tried to cover them up but they still showed over the collar of his shirt.
Brad stepped away from Lucy. "No, no it's nothing. Joe or any of The Shield had anything to do with it. Don't worry about it, Lucy."
"If it wasn't Joe, was it my brother John?"
"Look, I need to go." His voice was shaking, he had this absolute fear etched on his face. "Just...just keep your head straight. You'll do good."
She watched him leave, sure that someone had hurt him into being scared. If he was telling the truth and it wasn't Joe, who would have done something like that? Just as she was thinking about it, Joe appeared.
"Babygirl, there you are. I was worried you'd run off." Joe said, rubbing his thumb over her cheek, getting rid of the remaining tears on her face. "Why were you crying?"
"I was scared, and everyone was starting to get on my nerves."
"Scared about going out there tonight? In front of the fans, right?"
"Yeah. First time out there, and I was getting cold feet."
"Come on, I'll walk you to gorilla so I can get ready for my part in the show." Joe said, rubbing her arm slightly. "Remember, I'll be out there."
He wasn't going to tell her. He wasn't go admit that he heard what Brad Maddox had said to her. He heard everything that was said, and it worried Joe that he wasn't the only receiving bruises on Lucy's account. Could there be more people?
When Lucy was called out to the ring she wasn't prepared for the reaction by the crowd. They were cheering for her, and she nodded at them from where she stood at the top of the ramp before taking brisk strides down towards the ring. She kept deep breathing, trying to calm her racing heart. Brad's words clicked as she stopped at the bottom of the ramp and she stood looking up at Ms. Vickie in the ring. It was now or never.
She knew from watching other divas by stepping between the bottom and second rope. It was a good thing she wasn't wearing a skirt, otherwise she would be showing too much. Lucy's appearance mirrored Stephanie McMahon, but she wore flats instead of heels. A grey pant suit with a red button down shirt. Her hair was back in a business bun, as she called it and Lucy knew that soon all of that was going to change soon enough.
Once she had gotten into the ring she recieved a microphone and went to stand in front of her employer.
"How's the arm?" Vickie asked, a tone that was snide. As she had to be.
"It's okay, Ms. Vickie."
"Do you know why I've called you out here, Lucy?"
"I think it has something to do with what happened last week, at a bar." She responded.
"I'm going to ask you a few questions and you better answer them honestly, Lucy. I have no place for liars."
Lucy's face hardened at that word. It had been repeated so much over the years it wasn't funny to her. Lifting her chin and keeping her face emotionless, she waited.
"Were you stringing Brad Maddox along since you've started working here?"
"No."
"Have you ever been in association with The Shield in any way?"
"No, that night was the first night I ever met one of them."
"Right, and I'm supposed to believe you. I mean, all you do is be a thorn in my side. Really, I should just drop you."
"May I plead my case, your honor?" Lucy asked, getting a good response from the crowd. "Do you know why I never came to you in regards to my issues with Mr. Maddox?" When she got a simple shake of the head from Vickie, she continued. "You are not a very approachable person. You know it, I know and Hell, I'm sure they know it." She pointed to crowd as it roared in approval. This is where she didn't have a script to go by, she had forgotten most of what to say in her bout of anxiety towards going down to the ring. "What would you have told me if I had mentioned that Mr. Maddox was harrassing me? I'm pretty sure you would have said something like 'It isn't my problem, you deal with it."
"Lucy..." Vickie warned.
"No, you listen to me for once, Ms. Vickie. Would you, would you have done that? Are you that kind of person?"
"Yes, yes, all right. Yes, I would have said that. There, are you happy now?"
"Ms. Vickie, I pride myself in helping you. I've gone out of my way to make you comfortable, at ease because of everything going on with you right now. Being attacked from all sides can't be that easy on you. I just wish I could have trusted you."
"Oh what, you're going to quit on me, because of one little accident you probably caused?" She all but squeeled at Lucy.
Before she could answer the familiar sounding music came over the arena. It wasn't The Shield's music, instead it was Vince McMahon's entrance theme. The energy in the building was almost too much for her, Lucy ducked her head as her hand tightened around the microphone. Taking a deep breath, so deep that her shoulders visibly raised, Lucy looked back up and stood in place while Vince entered the ring.
"Is there something going on here that I need to be aware of?"
"Uh...no, Mr. McMahon, absolutely nothing to worry about. Right, Lucy?" Ms. Vickie turned to look at the auburn haired woman.
"I'd rather not say something incriminating against either Ms. Vickie or myself, sir." That wasn't the line but since she threw the script out a while ago, it seemed plausible.
"Very well worded, Lucy. I'm impressed. You have the business flare down great. But, I'm curious, Vickie Guerrero, what are you going to do about this?"
"Do about what, Mr. McMahon?"
"Well, are you going to punish Brad Maddox for what he did?"
"Why should I, I mean it was obviously a misunderstanding."
"So you are going to keep Maddox and Lucy working together after what happened?" Vince pondered, looking at Vickie questionably."
"Wait, wait, wait! Mr. McMahon, sir." Brad Maddox called, running down to the ring. "May I have a word, please. Just for a short second?" Even as he spoke, it was hard to hear over the booing and jeers coming from the audience. "Please, can you hear it from my mouth yourself?"
Lucy stepped back, away from Brad. She knew what she had to prepare for. It was coming.
"You see, sir, Vickie, she's...well she's right. It's all Lucy's fault. She led me on, and I was drunk of course, but...well, everyone knows what happened."
A doctored version of the arm grabbing incident appeared on the big screen. The crowd got a rile out of this, and cheered as Dean Ambrose, in his street cloths, appeared and shoved Maddox off of her.
"I mean, look. I was not in the right state of mind but it's because she led me on for a month. Oh come on, look at her. The only reason why she's here is to screw around with the men. I bet she had Ambrose in on the whole thing."
And then the music she was preparing for came on.
Sierra...Hotel...India...Echo...Delta...The Shield
The Shield, in all their glory, didn't come in through the audience per se. They were already down near the front row ready to pounce. Brad Maddox had nowhere to run, they had the ring partially surrounded. Lucy zipped by Maddox so that she was standing closer to Vince since she was supposed to stay next to him during this ordeal. Ms. Vickie was stuck on the other side of the ring, nearer toward the announcer's table.
Lucy jumped when she felt the ring shake as the three men rushed it. She was awstruck. She had never been so close to her friends when they were known as The Shield. They seemed bigger, especially with their trademark vests on. Lucy felt her back press up against the top rope, preventing her from escape the normal human way. She was trapped in a four corner ring with three men that were beating the pulp out of one man. Do the math, this was dangerous for her.
When Maddox was given the Triple Power Bomb, the three black clad men stood over his prone body. Vickie had her hands over her face, and all three were staring at Lucy, smiling in a way that could turn water to ice. Vince was smiling, she saw it when she looked at the WWE CEO. One more conquest for The Shield. Next was the part that she was more familiar with.
Once backstage Lucy could finally breathe. But with all the jitters of what happened out in the ring, Lucy was shaking like a leaf. She hadn't realized that her three male friends had gotten back there until she felt someone touch her back.
"Hey, Babygirl. I wanted to ask you something." Joe said as Jon pulled Colby away by the front of his vest.
"Yeah, Joe?"
"I was wondering if after the show we can go out for dinner. As a date?"
Also I want to thank benova13 for helping me. Your PM gave me an idea on how to go about this chapter. I also want to thank everyone for their PMs and Reviews. I'm sure I'll do it more often if I ever get stuck again. You know if you don't want to Review, if you don't feel comfortable doing it, you can always PM me. I enjoy getting feedback on my story.