Disclaimer, etc., in part 1.

Part Twenty-One

"We're teaming up tonight."

Eve turned her head at the sound of the voice, the diva pushing her hair back from her face as she caught sight of Kaitlyn headed in her direction. The younger woman's gaze slid to the man next to Eve for a moment, and she gave CM Punk a tentative smile and nod before turning her attention back to Eve.

"We're teaming up to take on the Bella twins, and Kelly is the special guest referee this time around," Kaitlyn continued. "They're supposed to try twin magic, Kelly catches them, and I'm pretty sure they want you to do a moonsault for the win. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be Brie or Nikki taking the fall, though."

Eve shrugged. "With those two? They'll probably thumb wrestle to see who has to take the pin. Or rock, paper, scissors or something," the woman stated, then glanced over at Punk. "I should probably head over to the divas' locker room-"

"Probably. And I should probably go and hunt up the Miz. I think I'm supposed to face him tonight," the man said, rolling his eyes at that, mostly because he didn't like the Miz very much. Yeah, he tolerated him better than he did when they first met, but there was still something about the Miz that rubbed him the wrong way... And Eve didn't really blame him for it. She liked Mike well enough, but mostly she preferred to deal with him in small doses, or when a lot of other people were around.

"You have fun with that," she replied, and Punk rolled his eyes, then arched a brow at her.

"See you later?" he said, his tone not really that questioning, but she nodded anyway.

"Count on it," Eve told him, very aware of his eyes on hers, just as she was aware of the question he was trying to ask without saying anything... Her nod was almost imperceptible, but it was enough for Punk to know she was on board with what he was about to do, the man meeting her gaze for just another moment before he leaned forward, pressing a quick kiss to her lips... Meeting her gaze again for a moment after the kiss ended, then shooting a look at Kaitlyn, giving the diva a slight nod before he turned and headed off, leaving the two women alone. Eve watched him go for a moment, then turned to look at Kaitlyn, who looked like she was having some sort of an inner debate with herself.

"So, you two are..."

"No, I just kiss everybody," Eve replied with a slight smile, and Kaitlyn actually smiled at that.

"Really? I hadn't heard that one yet. I guess I missed out... Or do you just kiss all the guys?" she asked, and Eve laughed, shaking her head, glad that Kaitlyn seemed to be taking the kiss between her and Punk in stride instead of playing twenty questions like Kelly undoubtedly would be doing.

"Okay, okay, so I just kiss the tattooed guys from Chicago," Eve finally said, and Kaitlyn smirked at her.

"So I noticed. And, uh... I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to," the younger woman said as the two of them started to walk down the hallway. When Eve shot a look at her, she shrugged. "I know that this place can be a bit of a gossip mill or whatever. I may not have been on the main roster very long, but I've still managed to notice that much."

The older diva nodded slightly at that, fully aware that, at times, the WWE locker room could seem a bit like a high school or something with all the gossip and childish behavior - from both the men and the women. "You do have a point, but..." Eve took a deep breath, knowing that she and Punk had talked about this earlier - when they'd taken the long way around in order to get to the arena - and that, even though she liked Kaitlyn well enough, she didn't know her well enough to trust her with the truth, so she had to stick with the lie. "Punk and I have decided... I mean... We kept it quiet for awhile, but now... We're kind of tired of being so careful. We only kept quiet because it was so new and now..."

Kaitlyn stopped short in the middle of the hallway. "Wait a minute... You and Punk have been... This has been going on for awhile? And now I'm being a nosy gossip like... Well, like some of the others," the younger diva said, and Eve wasn't sure who she'd been thinking about naming before sticking to the more general 'some of the others'. Nikki and Brie could be pretty gossip-y when they wanted to be, but then again... So could some of the others, like Kelly and Alicia. Especially Kelly.

Eve shrugged again. "It's not... You're not..." She took a deep breath. "It's no big deal, Kaitlyn. People are going to find out anyway. I mean, we went out with the Bellas and Dolph and Daniel last night, and I'm pretty sure some other people saw us, so... Not really a secret. Although no one really knows how long we've been together, well, besides Nikki and Brie, and I guess Dolph and Daniel," she said, which was true, since no one besides those four - and her and Punk, of course - really knew that they weren't together at all.

"Wow... Nikki and Brie know, and they didn't spill the beans? I mean, I know they're your friends, and they seem nice enough, but... They do kind of gossip," Kaitlyn said, then frowned. "Wait a minute... When you say that you and Punk went out with the Bellas, Dolph, and Daniel last night-"

"Brie and Daniel are dating," Eve said, pretty sure that wasn't a secret, either, but given the way Kaitlyn's eyes had just widened in response... "I guess you didn't know."

"Either I'm out of the loop - which is entirely possible - or the Bellas are better at keeping secrets than I thought."

"Well, to be honest, I haven't known about them that long, either," Eve confessed, though she didn't tell the other woman that she'd only known for about a day. "I guess they wanted to see if things were going to work out before going public."

"Like you and Punk," Kaitlyn said. "Have y'all been dating for very long?"

"A few months," Eve replied, knowing that was what they'd decided to say... Nothing too specific, just saying they started seeing each other in the early fall if anyone pressed the issue.

"I guess that explains why you seemed so not-thrilled when Zack tried to flirt with you last night."

"One of the reasons," the older diva muttered and, thankfully, Kaitlyn didn't question that, instead nodding.

"Yeah... I kind of... Zack seems kind of like a big kid, and not in a good way some of the time. Doesn't strike me as your type. Does, uh... Does Punk know that Zack was hitting on you?"

"He does."

"That could be interesting... But if you and Punk are going public... Well, Zack will probably leave you alone once he finds out you're dating someone, right?"

"One can only hope."