Chapter 21 – The Truth Comes Out
It was beginning to look like she would never find somewhere where she could tell him what was going to happen that night. She found herself standing in the locker room, hours having past. Rob was just talking, and she didn't know the exact appropriate time to interrupt him. I could just blurt it out, or maybe kiss him and THEN tell him…
"You seem a bit out there, Sam, what's up?" Rob suddenly asked. Or he could ask me what is wrong, that'll work.
"Actually, Rob, I…"
She felt anger boil up inside her when a knock hit their door, just as she was going to tell him. Now visibly annoyed, she marched over to the door, opened it. There stood Hurricane, but not for long. With a snap, he crumpled at her feet, holding his cheek in shock.
"I can't TAKE this anymore." She said, hopping over the stunned Hurricane before stomping off, leaving Rob staring after her and Hurricane all ready asking his trademark 'whatsupwitdat?!'
She found a indentation between a wall and a large crate the WWF techies obviously owned. She sighed, allowing herself to sit in it, shaking her head sadly. Who am I kidding? I don't want to tell him. He's never going to speak to me again. Ever. And the worst part of it, I don't blame him…
"Are you trying to be one with the boxes or am I missing something?" Her head jerked up, surprised that someone had seen her. She was half expecting Raven (because, after all, she couldn't hide from the master of the shadows…he always lurked), but instead a flash of blonde and a wide cheeky grin signaled it was Chris Jericho.
"Christopher, no one has time for your witty repartee." She said glumly. Chris smiled, shaking his head.
"Why so down, you've got that frown, mind if I try to…"
"Turn it upside down?" she raised a brow, finishing his little rhyme.
"Why would I wanna do that? I just wanted to know if I could try to find some food in this place." He explained, his tone light and joking.
"If you're going to annoy me…"
"All right, all right, whoa there girl. Anger management, will ya?" he put his hands up to show he surrendered before she kicked his ass for making her mood any worse then it was. Chris raised a brow, then sat next to her, cross-legged, as she was, which, at a better moment, was probably funny looking enough to make Sam laugh.
But there was no time for laughing, and she remained sullen and quiet. "Is there a reason why you're here?"
"Well, let's see. I find you on the ground hiding behind this big…box thing, and you look like you're either going to break something or someone in half or cry, and for some reason, it all strikes me as odd." He paused. "So what's up?"
"The mission is ending tonight." She explained, and said nothing more.
"Rob found out?"
"Not yet, but I'm telling him."
"What! Why?" Chris looked at her, surprised. When she didn't answer, it seemed to puzzle Chris even more. Yeah, this day just keeps getting better. Out of the blue, it suddenly struck him, though the idea made him make a face, because it was probably a little outlandish in his head. "You…like him, don't you?" he asked, cautiously. She kept mute, bowing her head. "Sam, are you and Rob in love or something?"
"I'm a different person now." She softly explained, shaking her head. "You wouldn't even know me any more, Chris, and Kurt…ha! Yeah, I'm in love with him." Chris couldn't help but look surprised. "I don't actually know when it happened, it was sort of gradual but…" She faltered, unsure of how to explain it. "He's changed me…actually, a lot of people have…and what is going down tonight is going to seal the change."
"What do you mean tonight…?"
"Sam! Hey Sam, where'd you go?" Sam looked up, panicked.
"Chris! Get out of here before he finds me with you!" she said, standing up. He did too, and quickly ducked behind the box as she went out in the open. Rob turned the corner and sighed in relief as he saw her.
"Sam! There you are!" he jogged up to her, and she felt her heart thudding in her chest. There was going to be no interruptions this time. He stared at her, confused at her actions. "Did I do something wrong or something?"
"No, it isn't you, Rob. Never think that." She replied suddenly. He looked a bit surprised at the outburst. "It's me. It's honestly me. Rob, I've been trying to tell you something for a while now…"
"Oh really? Well I'm all ears, sweetie." He offered, frowning at her obvious upset disposition.
"Rob, there's things you need to know about me at my current state, and how I came to you. Me and Kurt didn't have a fight." She admitted, looking down. "Vince is a nice guy, even if he is old…actually, he was impressed with me and I think he didn't mind I had the title."
"What are you talking about?" Rob asked, though she knew he was all ready understanding what she was saying to him.
"Rob, that day you found me, Kurt and I had a pretty bad fight about me and my ways, especially after my lovely boozed kiss I had with you…I was so sick of him treating me like a little kid, so I thought…what would get him really mad? Then I thought of you…he hated it when I kissed you, and I thought it would be a great idea at the time to both give Kurtie a heart attack and help the WWF a little…so I told Vince I would spy for him, because I knew you had a crush on me."
His face had visably paled, which made her squirm a bit.
"And you did exactly what I thought you would." She said quietly, feeling ashamed of herself all over again. "But I swear Rob, I know what I did was a horrible, cruel thing to do…Rob, I'm not like that anymore, I swear. You've showed me something I've been trying to hide my eyes from, and I know I don't deserve forgiveness but I want you to know that whatever you say about this…I'll still love you."
Rob didn't say anything for a long time, silence prolonging more then she liked. After a minute of no talking, she felt her jitters grow enough for her to talk again.
"Please, say something."
He looked at her with an expression that broke her heart. He looks so hurt…not that I'm all that surprised. "It's all been lies, then, huh?" he asked, his voice low. "I knew this whole thing was too good to be true."
She looked steadily down at her feet. "I'm so sorry."
"I bet you are." She looked up to see he was more angry then anything, though again she did not blame him. "You know, I thought you really were a good person, Sam, but it turns out I was just another one of your pawns. I'm out of here."
And that was that. She watched him leave, willing herself not to drop to her knees and plead for his forgiveness. She knew even if she did it would not bring him back. That information had just torn them apart for what was probably eternity.
She willed the tears welling up in her eyes away. She felt a hand on her shoulder and knew it was Chris. Without warning she flung herself into an impromptu embrace with her friend, who looked a bit surprised but hugged back, allowing her to cry into his shirt.
"I'm sorry, Sam." He said as she let him go, wiping the tears from her eyes with her sleeve.
"I deserved that." She shook her head, speaking in a quiet voice.
"What are you going to do now?" he asked, frowning.
"Well, I have to go kiss up to Austin now." She said. Jericho looked at her, obviously not understanding.
"Why?"
"So Rob doesn't lose his job." She said simply, walking away, leaving Chris standing there, obviously confused.
~~
She had been physically, mentally, and emotionally abused all in one night by one man.
Austin started off addressing the crowd. With a flurry of 'whats', he started bad mouthing her like crazy. She stood, stone-faced, and she knew people were wondering what was up with her.
"Not saying anything? What?"
He smashed his palm into her cheek. She took a step backward, the stinging blow obviously felt. She did nothing to go after him though, and by then the whole crowd was confused.
"I want a hardcore match!"
"Fine." She responded lowly.
She watched him get out of the ring, then enter back with a chair. She wasn't surprised at that blow, and fell to a knee. Austin smacked her with it again, then continued taunting her body, which was now heaving with effort.
I can't hit him…fucking bastard…
"Not so tough now, what!" his boot connected with her middle section and she crumpled over completely, wincing. "What!" Another kick.
I'm sorry…
Austin laughed maliciously, picking her up by the hair. She felt numb, and not only from the pain.
All I've ever done was cause trouble. Aunt and Uncle, Kurt…
Austin threw her into the ropes and clothes lined her. Again she was on the ground, and had no will to get up anymore.
I've hurt almost every person I came in contact with…and when finally the one person who knew I wasn't as bad as even I thought I was, I ended up breaking his heart…
She got the stunner put on her, and again it hurt, but it didn't hurt any worse then what she felt inside. Austin draped an arm over her. She heard the three hits to the mat so clearly, but for the first time in her life was too preoccupied to care she had lost her sign of power.
I don't deserve to have anyone care about me…
Austin left her lying, curled on the mat, wishing all the pain away. She felt something touch her and she flinched. She looked up to see Chris.
Why do you help me? Why do you care, Chris? I don't understand it…
"Come on, sweetie." He whispered, coaxing her to at least get to the edge of the canvas. She managed to crawl there, and he pulled her out under the ropes and got situated to carry her. She wanted to curl up and die in his arms.
She blacked out soon after.
When she woke, she found Chris hovering over her. She attempted to move.
"Don't move, rest." He said softly, and she winced when something warm touched to her forehead. She knew whatever it was, Chris was doing it, thus it was couldn't be anything that bad or harmful. She sighed and closed her eyes again, quietly wishing the headache away.
"Where am I?" she asked, opening her eyes to look up at him again.
"I brought you to my hotel room. I didn't think you wanted to go to the hospital." He explained. "Feeling better?"
"No." she replied bluntly.
Chris frowned considerably. "Well, if it's all the same, Sam, what you did for Rob tonight was probably the most loyal thing I have ever seen anyone do for anyone." He was attempting to cheer her up. "He must have meant a lot to you."
"He did." She said, her voice still a hushed whisper. "Chris, why do you keep helping me?"
"What do you mean?" he asked, looking at her.
"All I've been to you is a bitch…yet you always help me when I need it…why?"
He smiled warmly at her. "That's what friends do, Sam. They forgive." He said, shrugging. "And anyway, I don't want you to beat me up for not helping you."
Despite her horrible mood, she cracked a small smile at his joking tone. Sam felt herself almost doze off again, but vaguely heard the knock at Chris's door. She looked toward it.
"How is she?" she heard a voice ask. Instantly the voice and the face clicked.
"Kurt." She said, looking at her cousin.
"Sam, oh my god, are you all right?" he asked, pushing past Chris to walk towards her. She sat up and at that moment Kurt bended down and embraced her like he hadn't seen her in years and actually felt sorry about that. She was a bit surprised that her cousin was worried, but she found herself accepting the hug and hugged back herself. He let her go, and stared at her, puzzled. "Sam, what the heck were you doing out there? I mean, you almost killed Austin the last time you guys met. It was amazing!"
"You saw that match?" she asked, a bit surprised.
"Of course! I was so wrong about you Sam, you were doing as good as I am with him!" he admitted.
She suddenly felt just a little bit better. "Do you mean that?"
"Yeah!" he nodded, enthusiastically. "But what about tonight?"
She sighed and turned away at this, obviously confusing her cousin.
"She did it for Rob." She heard Chris explain to Kurt.
"Why would she…oh." He paused. "You're going out with that psych…I mean, hey, that's good, I'm glad there's someone out there for you…"
Both Chris and Sam rolled their eyes.
"Just shut up, Kurt." Chris told him.
"What! I was just saying…"
"We broke up." Sam informed Kurt glumly, turning back to him. Kurt frowned.
"Oh, I see…listen Sam, there's more fish in the…"
"If you're about to give me cousinly advice, I am going to shoot myself. Got it?"
"Sorry. I'm just…" he searched for the words. "I just don't like seeing you upset."
Sam sighed at this. "I know, I know…" she paused. "Thank you, Kurt."
"Listen, I said I'm sorr…wait a second, what did you just say?" he asked, staring at her in shock.
"I said I'm sorry. I'm sorry I was a bitch to you, I'm sorry I never gave you a chance…you're really not that bad of a guy, and I'm glad I'm your cousin." She admitted.
Kurt blinked, almost disbelieving he heard right. "Um…really?"
"Yeah."
"OH SAM!" He proceeded to basically choke her in the big hug he gave her, which she made a face and attempted to breathe. Even though it wasn't the best time, Chris burst out laughing, obviously wishing he had a camera.
Sam did not know Chris, though, was silently planning on a way to get Rob to reconsider leaving her. He would not stand to have her heart-broken as she was without trying to make it better.