Disclaimer, etc., in part 1.

Part Twenty-Six

Eve pushed her hair back from her face, the woman now dressed for her tag team match later that night - teaming up with Kaitlyn - the men of the Shield having stepped out long enough for her to get ready. During that time, however, Seth had apparently told the other two men what she'd told him about what had really happened at Night of Champions several months before, and now it seemed that it was time for more questions.

"Why didn't you tell us before?" Dean Ambrose wanted to know, the man leaning forward in his seat as he spoke. His elbows were resting against his knees, his face turned toward her, his expression intent as he met her eyes.

"I didn't see it as a big deal. It's over and done with now. It has nothing to do with... any of you," she said, and Ambrose shook his head.

"Not entirely true. I mean, yeah, it was before you got assigned to manage us, but the thing is... You're sitting here telling us that Teddy Long had Kaitlyn attacked in order to frame you. He didn't care that she got hurt, and he didn't care that he was using someone as incompetent as Aksana of all people to do his dirty work. You said that Aksana did it because he promised her your job, right?"

Eve sighed. "Yes, he did. But obviously it didn't work-"

"But obviously he's willing to go to some pretty extensive lengths to try and get rid of you," the man stated, pushing himself to his feet and starting to pace the floor. "He not only tried to get you fired by framing you, he arranged it so that Kaitlyn spent the past four months coming after you for what ended up being no reason."

"Which makes her a victim, too. She got hurt because of this, and she got played for a fool. She has as much reason to be angry about the situation as I do," Eve told them. "Since she found out the truth... She's been cool. Which is why I'm teaming with her tonight."

"We have no problem with you teaming with her... Aside from the fact that she's the manager of Team Hell No, and I don't really trust those guys," Ambrose said, and Eve snorted, arching a brow at him.

"You think I do? Daniel Bryan once ditched me in a tag team match, and Kane spent part of last winter terrorizing me. I don't like those guys, either, and Kaitlyn was a little worried about being assigned to them," the woman said, and Ambrose blanched slightly at her words, likely because he'd forgotten about her dealings with Kane the year before... Not that she could really blame him for forgetting or anything. The Shield hadn't exactly been on the main roster at the time. And really, who could be expected to remember everything that Kane had done in the past anyway? Over the years, he'd probably terrorized half of his coworkers at one time or another.

"Well, Kane's not likely to bug you while we're around. We'll make sure of that," Roman said, and Seth nodded his agreement to the big man's words. Eve gave the two a small smile.

"Thank you. But he's left me alone for the better part of a year now, so... I'm pretty sure I'm well off of his radar, and I'm hoping to stay there," the diva said, then turned back to Ambrose, who was still pacing around the room, a frown evident on his face.

"This changes things," he muttered, and Eve arched a brow.

"What does?"

"The fact that Long was the one behind what happened at Night of Champions. He had Kaitlyn hurt just so he could frame you for it, he actively campaigned for you to get fired because of it... Hell, he thinks he's gotten away with it-"

"Not entirely," Eve said quietly, shrugging when Ambrose turned to look at her.

"What do you mean?"

"The other night, after Seth and I won our tag team match and we all ran into Teddy backstage..."

"I'm pretty sure we all remember that. He threatened to take you away from us, then attempted to follow through on that last night at SmackDown," the wrestler said, coming to stand in front of her, his arms crossed over his chest, and rather than having to crane her neck to look up at him from her seated position, Eve got to her feet as well, meeting his eyes.

"He attempted to have me reassigned, but it didn't work. And he knows that both Kaitlyn and I know what he did at Night of Champions. That's what I told him the other night, when he confronted us after the match. That we both knew what he'd done. He knows that he can't manipulate Kaitlyn any longer, and he also knows that Aksana isn't exactly one to stand strong when someone pushes her for the truth."

"Yeah, so now I guess he knows who he can't count on when he comes at you again, and I'm guessing he will," Ambrose said, taking a step back from her, the man resuming his pacing while Eve sat down once again.

"Dean, we can handle it. We can handle him," Seth put in, and Ambrose shrugged his shoulders in a jerky motion, the man running a hand through his hair.

"Maybe so. But how much damage will he do? So far, in his vendetta against Eve, he's hurt Kaitlyn - I guess he saw her as collateral damage or something - he framed Eve for it, and then when he couldn't get her fired for the misdeeds she did not do, he went for something else... He came up with this idea about all the divas being managers, and he put you with us. Now I'm standing here wondering if he came up with the manager idea in the first place just because he thought it would be a good way to mess with you. We already know he would mess with Kaitlyn's career to get at you; I wouldn't be surprised if he messed with all the divas' careers to get at you."

"And now you think he'll mess with yours," Eve said, her tone stiff. She could sense Rollins and Reigns glaring at Ambrose, but she didn't look their way, instead looking at him as well.

Ambrose arched a brow. "We can handle ourselves and anything he throws at us. He sends people after us - and I really don't know who he would have at his beck and call to send - and we'll take them down one by one. I'm not worried about that."

"He may be running out of ideas. We screwed up the last two for him... He put Eve with us, then tried to take her away when it didn't work out the way he wanted," Roman said. "He doesn't strike me as much of a big ideas man. It was more than three months between the frame job and what he's done the past couple of weeks. It may take him awhile to come up with something else," the wrestler continued, and Ambrose gave a slight nod.

"Maybe so. But whatever comes, we damn sure better be ready for it."