Chapter 24:

Backstage

Maven was the first to greet her once Soraya exited the Gorilla and entered the corridor. She was grateful to bury her face in his chest to hide some of the tears and try and get herself under control. It was one thing to display such emotion with the fans, but with her co-workers and some future adversaries, she had to be careful around them, weakness made her a target and now that she was Champion she was an even bigger target.

"Soraya, you were fantastic!" He cradled her against him for a moment. "I knew you could do it, but wow, it was really something to see."

She laughed, wiping at her eyes as she pulled back enough to look up at him. "Well, I'm still not sure I'm not dreaming."

Maven reached for her hand that still clutched the belt tightly and raised it up between them. "Nope, it's all real. You're the Women's Champion, congratulations!"

"Thank you!" She stared at the belt again breathlessly. "I'm still reeling, you know. I mean, I did it, on my first try."

"That's because you should have been given your shot a long time ago." He surmised. "Time's just finally catching up with you."

Before Soraya could respond, the sound of exciting shrieks and squeals echoed down the hallway. Moments later, Jessica McMahon and Lita barreled around the corner, laughing and cheering as they flung themselves at Soraya, showering the small blonde with hugs.

"You did it!" Jess exclaimed. "Finally! You were awesome out there!"

"You kicked that bitch's ass!" Lita agreed with just as much excitement. "We're so proud of you, Soraya. Congratulations!"

"Thanks you guys!" Soraya felt her eyes water again. "My God, this night is freaking surreal!"

"Nope!" Jess shook her head defiantly. "It's all real, Soraya. You're the Champ now and it's about damn time. You earned it."

"Your roommate was cheering just as loudly as we were." Lita pointed out, referring to Candice. "I think you're like her idol or something."

Soraya giggled. "Shut up." She ducked under Maven's arm for a second hug. "You guys are the best, thank you for being here right now. It would have been a sadder victory, or no victory at all if it weren't for you."

"They'll come around, Raya." Lita assured her, while Jess shot her a sympathetic look.

"If it makes you feel better," Maven squeezed her shoulders affectionately. "Jericho was grinning like an idiot when I left the locker room and Benoit was looking kind of choked up."

"It does." She looked down at her belt again. "It doesn't fix it, but it helps."

Evolution Locker Room

"She did it, woo!" Ric clapped and cheered. "That little spitfire pulled it off! She won the Women's title!"

Hunter nodded in satisfaction. "Good for her." He smirked evilly. "And since Benoit's not speaking to her right now, she did it without him or that idiot Jericho."

Batista, who had been beaming as he watched Soraya secure her very first title, suddenly frowned. "She's devastated by that, by the way. She won't say anything, but I can tell it's killing her."

Hunter shrugged. "We just have to hope it's doing the same to him."

"We should congratulate her, Hunter." Ric suggested. "It would probably make her feel better, and then we can maybe convince her to celebrate with us tonight, since the World Heavyweight Championship will finally be back where it belongs."

Hunter grinned at the idea. "That's not such a bad idea, Ric," Then he suddenly glared into the far corner of the room. "But we did suffer a great loss tonight as well."

Randy Orton remained silent, staring at the wall. His expression was murderous. Earlier tonight he had an Intercontinental Championship match against Edge, and he had lost. Edge was now the Intercontinental Champion and Randy was left title-less and the black sheep of his locker room. Now he had to sit there and listen to them go on and on about that annoying little blonde again, who by some work of God, had won herself the Women's title from Trish Stratus.

"I already apologized for that, Hunter." Randy glowered. "I'm invoking my re-match clause tomorrow night. I'll get it back."

"See that you do." Hunter seemed appeased by his answer. "Evolution is always more effective the more gold it carries."

"Consider it done." Randy promised.

"Good." Hunter cracked his neck. "Then by tomorrow, Evolution will hold RAW's biggest jewels, making us the most unstoppable force today."

"We already are the most unstoppable force today, woo!" Ric was practically dancing around the locker room. "There is no one that can stop us and thanks to the romantic work of Big Dave, Benoit's going to lose for sure tonight."

"We can't forget little Eugene too." Hunter's expression turned sadistic. "As an honorary member of Evolution, he plays a role in my winning of the title too."

"That little creep can't figure out his head from his ass." Randy groused. "We're so much better off without him."

"No, no." Hunter shook his head and smirked. "He has his uses after all. He's the other part of the reason Benoit and Soraya are fighting. Benoit's so focused on what we're doing to Eugene and now Soraya, there's no way he'll be focused for our match tonight."

Corridor: Twenty Minutes later

"Well hold up here, Naitch." Hunter's voice oozed with charm, as they came upon the woman they had been looking for. "It's our new Women's Champion."

Although Lita eyed the four-man stable with a slightly wary expression, she didn't stray from her friend's side, as Soraya blushed. She agreed with Soraya on the possibility of Batista being different from the rest of Evolution, he was a little too quiet outside the ring to know exactly what he was thinking, and he had shown compassion in the past. It was the other three she was leery of. Well, Randy was more of an arrogant asshole than anything, but the man could work a wrestling ring.

Ric Flair was virtually harmless in his older age, but he was all caught up in the vision of Triple H. The Cerebral Assassin was the deadliest of them all. He was cold, cruel and calculating. There was no compassion in him. Everyone knew that he was only toying with Eugene to get what he wanted, and once he was through, Eugene would be "taken care of" Evolution style, which was why Benoit was so adamantly against them these days.

Batista moved around Flair and the Game, showing his softer side, one rarely seen, to embrace Soraya tightly, lifting the petite blonde right off her feet. "Congratulations." He murmured. "I knew you could do it."

"Thank you." She smiled with eyes only for him in that moment. "I'm still convinced I'm dreaming, and any minute something's going to wake me up."

"You're not dreaming." Lita chuckled uncomfortably and shook her head. "You earned this."

"Yes, it was a good match, O'Toole." Hunter complimented almost backhandedly. "Come on, Dave, we've got a World Heavyweight Title to reclaim."

Batista saw the pain that flashed through her emerald eyes at the thought of the current World Heavyweight Champion. "Remember how you just said you thought you were dreaming?" He stroked a hand over her hair to comfort.

"Yeah?" She peered up at him in confusion.

"Well, in all the fairytales, the sleeping beauty always wakes with a kiss." He gently brought his hands up to frame her face. "So let me know if this convinces you otherwise." He softly laid his mouth over hers, ignoring the whoops and catcalls from Hunter and Flair.

When he pulled back from her, she was blinking rapidly in awe. "See, you're not dreaming. It's all real, baby." He assured her, backing up a few steps to fall back in line with his teammates. "I'll see you later tonight."

As the four men continued down the hall, Soraya stared after them in bewilderment, only coming back to reality when Lita nudged her. "Oh, you're going to get in very deep with that one."

Soraya laughed breathlessly. "It's been a very long time since anyone's stirred me like that. He's definitely one of the most intriguing men I've ever met. Let's hope I still feel that way in the morning."

A/N: So…sad because Benoit and Jericho still aren't speaking to her, but nice because Lita, Jess and Maven are there and so is Dave.

Up next…Dave breaks a promise to Soraya and Benoit, Jericho and Raya make up. :)

Also guys…I'm posting a new fic tonight that I'm co-writing with one of my Triple Threat Girls, Christal, known on here as Christal-R. It's called Stolen and it's a Candice Michelle and Chris Jericho fic. Give it a chance; I think you'll like it.

Review Responses:

Edward's Josie Black: Yeah, I used to dislike Kelly a lot too, but she's been growing on me since she's come to RAW. But she's no Trish, that's for sure lol. And my plan is to update every other day with this story and on its off days I'll do my other one.

Dreamin'BIG: Yup, the Animal, Lita, Jess and Maven were there for her :)

FrequentlyDazzled619: Yup, let the good times keep rollin rollin rollin :D

Xinn Lajgin: A swirly?! Hahahahaha That's your best one yet! LMFAO!

Jewelgirl04: See, it was nice, but a little sad cause no Benoit or Jericho. But hey, the make ups in the next chapter.

I luv drama and Jeff Hardy: See you try not to scream…I do scream every time I see him. I almost lost my voice when he got drafted to RAW back in June.

Kennedy's Friday Night Delight: Things with Evolution are going to really start heating up right about now and Benoit and Raya make up next chapter.