~ What Lies Beneath ~

Author's Note - I was debating whether or not to post this. The reason being that last chapter didn't get as many reviews. If you're reading, please review. It takes like 2 seconds and though I love writing, I spend a good few hours every chapter getting these things up, even now when I have exams I should be revising for and all I ask for is a little bit of feedback in return. I don't mean to be all whiny...it's just a request because reviews are what keep me writing. I'm not a hypocrite, I review other stories regularly. Thanks guys, especially those who review consistently. Love and hugs xoxoxo

Warnings - Strong language throughout and possible scenes of a sexual nature ;)

Disclaimer - I own no-one but Abbie in this story. This is merely a work of fiction; it all came from my brain. At no point do I suggest this story reflects reality, it's entirely made-up. Any other songs, cars or brands mentioned also belong to their respective owners.

~ What Lies Beneath ~

~ Chapter Fourteen: ~

She knew immediately something was wrong. Her arm and shoulder were on fire as she curled up on the mat, trying to regain some composure. The fans cheered loudly for Kelly, excited by the turn of events, the fans on the front row realising she was really hurt and falling silent.

The referee rolled out of the ring and leaned into her.

"Are you okay?"

She gritted her teeth and nodded, rolling onto her front and pushing herself up. Kelly looked at her with panic on her face, knowing it had gone terribly wrong. Abbie's heart sank when the ref threw the 'X' up signalling there had been an injury and to get the medics on standby.

There was no saving it now. They were screwed. But they absolutely had to finish the match and Abbie needed to win. The only problem was she couldn't possibly do her finisher with one arm.

"Carry on!" Abbie mouthed at Kelly.

Abbie rolled under the bottom rope, Kelly aiming a feeble kick at her leg. It was obvious; a child in a Cena shirt could see that Kelly had totally lost it. Abbie took matters into her own hands, jumping up and knocking Kelly down with her good shoulder. She acted angry, trying to spin the story that Kelly made her mad so now she was going to destroy her. The referee was looking worried, trying to hurry the match along. Abbie moved to stand on the outside of the apron, dragging Kelly with her. She had to do it. She had no choice.

She took a deep breath and performed the slingshot DDT. Pulling herself over the top rope with her good arm and hooking Kelly's neck with her injured arm. She screamed in pain as she landed it, fighting through the pain and flipping Kelly over for the pin. The referee counted to three and declared her the winner. It took all she had to hold herself together in that moment. She was terrified about what Vince would say, feeling like she'd let herself down.

She took a deep breath and rolled out of the ring. She clutched her injured arm, sending Kelly a kayfabe glare before heading up the ramp and through the curtain. As she feared, medics were waiting, ushering her into a room away from the other superstars waiting to go out and wrestle. Back in the day, if she got injured she was left to lick her wounds without so much as a glance from anyone else. But here there were several people crowded around her, trying to pry her hand away from guarding her injury.

She sat defiantly, refusing to let anyone touch her, insisting she was fine. Kelly wandered in a few minutes later looking terrified.

"Abbie…I'm sorry" she pleaded.

"It wasn't your fault, but I'm fine"

"I'll tell Vince it was on me" she said, running a stressed hand over her head.

"I took a bad fall, it was my idea"

"Is she okay?" Kelly asked the nearest medic.

"We don't know, she won't let us touch her" he sighed.

"SHE has a name and SHE is sitting right here" Abbie argued, getting more and more agitated. She hated being fussed over.

Phil finished his match and made his way back to the locker room, ready for a shower and some much-needed sleep. Kelly stopped him as he turned a corner.

"Phil…"

"Hey, how was the match? Sorry I missed it, I was warming up…" he started

"Abbie got hurt…"

"Shit…how hurt?" he asked.

"I don't know" Kelly told him worriedly.

"Where is she?" he asked.

"Medic"

"I'll head over now" he told her, turning on the spot and making his way down there, hoping it was just a bump.

"Phil! Can I talk to you a sec?" someone called behind him. He stopped and turned his head, finding Eve behind him.

"Sorry, I gotta go" he told her, carrying on.

"But…"

"Sorry Eve, I'll catch you later" he added as he disappeared.

He finally made it to the medics' office, seeing Abbie sitting on the table pouting.

"Phil, tell them to let me go please" she rolled her eyes.

"What happened?" he asked, sweat continuing to drip off him from his match.

"I'm fine!" she yelled, whimpering in pain as she raised her injured arm, forgetting for a second how much it hurt.

"She won't let us look at it, so until she does she can't leave" the medic shrugged, used to talent fighting off help.

Phil sat down next to her and tried a new tactic.

"If you don't let these nice guys do their job and take a look at that shoulder - which we've established is fine, I'll take your word for it - then I'm gonna hug you, and I'm pretty sweaty right now" he winked.

He leaned closer, pulling a stupid face.

"Okay, okay I give in!" she laughed, trying to push him away and whining in pain again.

"Good job Phil" the medic chuckled as Abbie reluctantly let go of her arm. "We're gonna have to take your top off" he observed.

Abbie looked horrified and shook her head.

"Come on Abs, I'll avert my eyes" Phil laughed.

"You better fucking had Phillip" she sighed.

There was no way she could lift her arm above her head so Phil looked away as they cut open her top to get a better look at her shoulder. It was already swelling badly and moving it all caused Abbie huge amounts of pain.

"Bad news guys, you're gonna have to go to the hospital…that needs a second opinion" the man said, taking off his rubber gloves.

"What?" Abbie asked through gritted teeth.

"I'll take you, come on muffin" Phil said cheerily, hopping off the table.

"The fuck you will! I'm not going anywhere, there's nothing wrong with me" she continued to argue.

"Raise your right arm above your head then" Phil challenged, expecting her to admit defeat.

A defiant look crossed Abbie's face and Phil regretted taking her on. With tears of pain in her eyes, she slowly forced her arm up, letting out a yelp as it refused to move any more.

"If you want any chance of getting that title shot you better do as he says" the medic added.

With a look of disdain, Abbie reluctantly slid off the table.

"You ruined my top, I can't go like this"

"Here" Phil said, throwing her his jacket and watching her struggle to put it on. "Want some help?"

"No" she said defiantly, getting frustrated again.

Shaking his head, Phil took the jacket and held it for her while she put her good arm into the sleeve, draping the other side around her.

"Better?" he asked.

"Can we just get this over with?" she moaned.

"Can you let Vince know that I left too, he'll go spare if we just leave" Phil asked the medic.

"Sure…hope they sort it out for you" he called after them.

Phil looked at Abbie's face, showing clearly the foul mood she was in.

"You can stop pretending now…how bad is it?"

"It's fine" she maintained.

"Abbie for fuck's sake, we're going to find out tonight one way or another, can I not just have a straight answer? I swear you love making things difficult"

"I'm sorry okay…I'm just worried about what Vince is gonna say, I just started to like it here…and yeah okay, it's bad…it hurts like a bitch" she sighed.

"It'll be fine, accidents happen"

"You talk like I wet myself, not fucked up on live TV" she laughed.

"Well, we can always ask the doctor about some incontinence pads while we're there" he winked, taking her mind off things.

Phil felt his eyelids drooping as they sat in the busy emergency room waiting area. Abbie was resting her head on his shoulder, wishing she could sleep but pain keeping her awake. It was nearly four in the morning now and they still hadn't been seen by a doctor.

Just when he finally succumbed to the paradise that was slumber, he was jerked awake by the tannoy.

"Abbie Susie Evans, room 104" the monotone voice announced.

"Abs" he whispered, checking that she was awake. She looked up at him, confused.

"Huh?"

"We can see a doctor now…finally" he yawned, standing up and working the stiffness out of his back. She got up and followed him wearily, finding the room and taking a seat on the bed. Actually, it was less of a room, more of an open space surrounded by curtains. They could hear a child crying next door.

"What seems to be the problem?" he asked Abbie, a middle-aged man with a friendly face.

Abbie explained where the pain was and how it happened.

"Wow, I've never treated a WWE wrestler before" he laughed.

She took off Phil's jacket so the doctor could take a look, her shoulder very swollen by now. He pressed different areas gently, feeling for the bone before determining what was wrong.

"It's hard to feel the bone through all of the fluid in it now…did you feel it pop when you landed?" he asked.

"I think so…" she answered worriedly.

He took another look, noting the way she held back whimpers of pain when he touched certain spots.

"You've dislocated it" he said finally.

That didn't mean much to Abbie, but the look on Phil's face told her it wasn't going to be nice.

"Let me go see if there's a more private room we can do this in…" the doctor trailed off, leaving.

"What does he mean a more private room?" she asked Phil nervously.

Phil grimaced again.

"Phil?"

He just patted her thigh, knowing she was definitely not going to enjoy this next part.

The doctor returned not long after, leading them to a proper room with a door this time.

"Okay first, do you want some drugs for the pain?" he asked. Suddenly Abbie could feel Phil's presence weighing down on her. She knew he wouldn't object to her saying yes, even though he wouldn't accept anything himself…but her pride protested. She looked across to him, their eyes meeting in a silent request for guidance.

"Should I?" she asked when he didn't offer any advice of his own accord.

"It's your choice" he shrugged, trying to be neutral.

"What are we even doing?" she asked.

"They're gonna pop in back in" Phil pulled a face.

Abbie's jaw dropped as she cringed.

"It's painful, so if you want pain drugs then don't say no on my account" he urged her.

"Most people have drugs before we even start moving it…I'd recommend it" the doctor advised her.

She nodded, taking a deep breath in anticipation. "So you moved me to another room so people wouldn't hear me scream right?"

"That's the idea" the doctor said, filling in a form on the desk next to him. He reached onto the tray next to him, finding a needle and syringe full of painkiller. He stood up shortly after, ready to start. She started to panic, finding it hard to let go of all control and let some stranger put her in even more pain.

She felt a sharp prick as he injected her and massaged the spot, helping it get into her system faster.

"You may want to have a hand to squeeze for this" the doctor hinted, looking over at Phil.

Phil obliged and sat down next to her good side. He held out a hand, palm up. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before placing her hand in his. It was of some comfort that she had someone there with her for a change.

The doctor went straight for it, trying to get it over with as quickly as possible. He grasped her shoulder with one hand and her upper arm with the other, lifting and pushing the bone. She held back a scream as pain shot through the joint and the urge to fight him off and run away flooded through her. She squeezed down hard on Phil's hand, turning her head away, burying her face in his arm.

She would have been fine, had it not been for the time it took. Having her shoulder jerked in a hundred different directions, pushed and pulled was excruciating. Trying not to cry out took a lot of effort and was almost impossible. As she felt the disgusting sensation of the bone popping back into the socket, a loud whimper escaped her lips despite her efforts and a few tears rolled down her cheeks.

"I might need four fingers popping back in after that doc" Phil laughed, noticing Abbie was yet to release her vice-grip on his hand.

"I'll give you some painkillers to take with you and then you can go" he smiled.

"How long until she can wrestle do you think?" Phil asked.

"You'll have to speak to your trainers, they know better than I do what she can and can't do but I'd say no less than two or three weeks"

Phil felt Abbie sigh shakily into his arm.

"Come on, I think it's bed time" Phil said, thanking the doctor and collecting Abbie's pills.

"How the fuck can you deal with this stuff with no painkillers?" Abbie asked, munching on the onion rings they bought on the way back to make her feel better. It was gone five am now so they decided they may as well pull an all-nighter.

Phil just shrugged, stealing some of her food. "If you never have them, you can't miss them"

"Thanks for coming with me" she told him.

"You're welcome, you were very brave" he smiled.

"Don't patronise me Phillip"

"I wasn't…oh, shit" he said, looking serious all of a sudden.

"What?" she asked worriedly.

"We forgot those incontinence pads" he said as they burst into fits of laughter.

The meeting with Vince McMahon the next day was something Abbie was dreading. Less than twenty-four hours later and her shoulder was black and blue but at least it was in the right place to heal so she could get back in the ring. At the moment her arm was in a sling, much to her annoyance; she didn't like people knowing she was injured.

"He's not as unreasonable as you'd think, stop worrying" Phil said, reading her mind as they sat around a table in catering with Mike and Kelly.

"I'm gonna go…better to be early" she said, surprised that she was so nervous. It wasn't like her to give a shit. But lately this job started to become more than just paying the bills.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come? I'm to blame too…" Kelly offered guiltily.

"Kelly, I told you. This is all on me"

"Good luck, you'll be fine" Phil winked, Mike offering a smile too.

She wound her way through the tables, many of the superstars chatting and eating before the rehearsals for the show. She stood outside the door to his office, gathering her thoughts before knocking twice.

"Come in" his trademark booming voice replied.

She took a deep breath, pushing open the door.

"Have a seat Abbie" he said, pointing to the chair on the other side of his desk. She obliged, sitting down and placing her good hand in her lap.

"How's the shoulder feeling?" he asked seemingly sympathetically.

"It's not so bad today thank you sir"

"Call me Vince Abbie. And that's good to hear. What I wanted to talk to you about was the title shot you were scheduled for…" he started.

"It's okay, I understand…"

"Oh no, I hadn't finished. We're just going to tweak the storyline a bit so when you return you can demand that you're owed a match and so on. Then in a few weeks at Royal Rumble you and Beth can have an epic match I hope, wow the fans" he smiled.

"That would be amazing…" she started.

"What I wanted to ask though…what happened out there?"

"It was my decision to go to the top rope…it wasn't planned very well I guess…I wasn't expecting Kelly to be up so fast and I was caught off guard. To avoid landing on the cameraman, I took a bad fall" she explained. "I'm sorry that it happened, it doesn't look very good on me when I only just got here" she apologised sincerely. She prided herself on being someone a company could rely on.

"I think it was a freak accident, and part of it was my fault for giving you so little time to prepare so for that I apologise. However I would like to praise you for saving it…it could have gone very wrong but you finished it and did the fans proud"

"Thank you" she responded, surprised at his reaction.

"Just be careful in the future okay? And I hope that shoulder heals up okay. I trust you're enjoying your time here so far, fan reaction has been great. The booking team are starting to book you on signings and whatnot along with other superstars so you have that to look forward to" he smiled.

"I do look forward to it" she nodded, getting up and shaking his hand. She left quickly, hating formal meetings.

She took the sling off; deciding its best use - getting sympathy from McMahon - was up. As she made her way down the hallway to grab her painkillers from her bag, she spotted the one person she definitely didn't want to see. Making to walk straight past her nemesis, she felt Melina intentionally collide with her injured shoulder. She cried out, gritting her teeth against the pain as she leaned against the wall.

"Oh? Did I hurt you? Sorry" Melina apologised sarcastically.

"Fuck off"

"Hmm, I don't think so…what did I tell you huh?" she spat.

"I believe you told her to get lost…in as many words" Randy sneered, appearing around the door frame to their left.

"If I had two good arms…" Abbie growled.

"What? You couldn't do shit" Melina replied. "Why are you here?" she asked, placing a manicured hand on her hip.

"Because I can wrestle…not because I'm a failed model like you" Abbie replied, still clutching her arm. She knew why Randy was there…because if he hadn't been there Abbie would have ripped Melina's extensions out one at a time by now even with a bad arm.

Melina looked furious. "You know what? No one here likes you…no one. You think Kelly likes you? Everyone thinks Kelly's a slut so she needs someone to talk to…guess you two suit each other…" she mocked. "And Phil? I can't believe you haven't seen through that yet? You must have heard the rumours…he's slept with practically every diva on the roster, why else would he hang around with Kelly or…you" she spat, disgust on her face. "He only wants to get in your pants; he's just more patient than the average guy. Some would call it cunning…or straight-edge"

"Is someone bitter? Because I'm pretty sure Phil never slept with you" Abbie retaliated angrily, even though what Melina said stung a lot. Was it true? Maybe…

"I'm not that easy…not like you anyway"

Abbie swung for Melina, unsurprisingly being caught by Randy who pushed her back against the wall.

"Why are you siding with her? She's the one who started all those rumours?" Abbie asked Randy.

He wrapped a hand around her upper arm, pulling gently. Even that caused her immense pain.

"Get your fucking hands off me!" she screamed at him, aiming a kick for his shin.

"While that's true, you need putting in your place" he said unfazed, his deep monotone voice making a change from Melina's high-pitched bitching.

"And I plan to do that…next time I get anywhere near a ring with you…I'll do so much more than dislocate your shoulder. I'll end your career…and make it look like an accident" she taunted.

"Let her go! What do you think you're doing?" Kelly yelled from down the hall, having heard what had just been said. Mike and Phil were just behind, Phil flying into a fit of rage having already warned Randy what would happen next time he laid hands on one of his friends.

Catching Randy off-guard, he grabbed him around the neck and shoved him into the locker room. Randy let go of Abbie, jerking her arm painfully in the process. Melina jumped back, watching the scene unfold in horror. Kelly checked on Abbie as they gathered around the door and watched what was going on.

"I told you! I fucking told you!" Phil shouted in Randy's face, knocking the air out of him as he pushed him into the lockers hard. "You're a fucking bully! There's no lower form a life than scum like you…I told you I'd kick your teeth down your throat and you fucking asked for it"

"Phil no!" Kelly shouted, scared by the scene in front of her. While it wasn't unusual for guys to get into fights in the locker rooms, she knew that when Phil flew off the handle…he really lost it. A brawl between him and Orton had been brewing for years.

Quick as a flash, Randy turned the tables. He was a little bigger than Phil, giving him some kind of advantage. He kneed Phil in the gut, making him double over.

"Mike! Help him!" Kelly cried, hands over her mouth. Mike fought through the crowd of Kelly, Melina, Abbie and now Beth Phoenix to try to break it up. His efforts were in vain as Phil swung a fist at Randy, missing and leaving him open to one of Randy's own punches. He caught Phil square in the nose, blood starting to flow.

Touching his face and realising, Phil was angered further by the smirk on Orton's face. Surprising him, he pushed his head hard into the locker behind him. Mike managed to get a hold on Phil as a few of the other guys heard a commotion and pushed through to help. Wade Barrett blocked a floored Orton with the help of Daniel Bryan while Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne tried to calm Phil down.

Everyone went silent all of a sudden as the imposing figure of Vince McMahon appeared in the doorway.

"What's going on gentlemen?"

"Phil just attacked Randy!" Melina piped up, ratting Phil out immediately.

"That's not true! Randy hurt Abbie!" Kelly chimed in.

"Only because she threatened us!" Melina lied.

"Okay, shut up everyone!" Vince yelled over the arguing. "I don't want to hear about your petty quarrels! Someone just tell me why two of my top guys are behaving like animals in my company!"

This wasn't going to end well…how could it? They had no proof of anything…and Phil did technically start the fight…

"I know what happened Sir, I heard them from the next room" Beth told him…

Well there you go. This one was even extra long. Hope you liked the chapter, please review and all that…