Title: Welcoming the Unexpected
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognize
Spoilers: None
Summary: It was only a mistake, she never intended on growing attached.
Notes: So yeah.. I needed another mini-break, but that was mostly to get myself organized. Another problem I faced, was the untimely and unfortunate loss of Eddie Guerrero. Whilst I don't use him in every story, he is in a great deal of them. Non related to my writing, I was a huge fan of his. I found it difficult to write this chapter, so I hope it's okay.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and my utmost thanks and gratitude to everyone who has reviewed this story.
Pertinent Note: Ignore their real lives for the sake of fiction, okay? I know it's far fetched and asking for a lot but.. Otherwise it wouldn't work.

xoxox

While Jeff, Rey and Tyson assisted with putting groceries and necessary 'supplies' away; Victoria, Chris, John and Torrie took care of creating 'work stations'. Dawn and Eddie, meanwhile, took it upon themselves to set up the stereo system in the living room with appropriate music. Of course, that did result in a few friendly debates as to what was appropriate for the group at hand.. Just given their varied tastes in music. But, when any well meaning individual made a move for the stereo, Dawn put her foot down.. Stating that it was Christmas music and that was all they needed to know. That in turn, resulted in more than a few wary people, but rather than arguing with the brunette.. they left it at her judgement. And while all of this was going on, Stacy watched from the stairs, her expression unreadable, but from what little the group downstairs could decipher.. It didn't look like good news. Still, the leggy Diva waited until the downstairs was fully prepared for the day's activities before relaying whatever news she had received from the corporate heads- McMahon and Bischoff.

"Okay.." Stacy cleared her throat as she took a seat in the living room. "I just got off the phone with Mr. McMahon.. and I've got some news."

Dawn raised an eyebrow, "Good news or bad news?"

"Well.." the Baltimore native clasped her hands together, "It involves a change in events.. and location."

Victoria eyed her curiously, "What kind of changes? We're still going through with the sock puppet show and whatever else was planned.. Right?"

Stacy nodded hestiantly, "That hasn't been changed.."

"Then what has?" Dawn prompted from her spot near the stereo, "Stace.. Come on, just tell us."

"I'm sure she would, if y'all would stop interrupting her." Lita smirked to the brunette before turning her attention back to Stacy. "So, what's the news?"

Stacy held in her breath a moment, fingers twisting in the hem of her shirt. "They wanted a progress report.. Just to see how everything was coming along, you know? And I told them things were going great. Which they are, really.. We have our play picked out and that the living arrangements were fine and that we're on track for this and--"

"Stace.." Torrie interrupted gently, "you're rambling."

The leggy Diva offered a weak smile, "Sorry.. I'm just.." She trailed off, taking another deep breath before she continued: "I'd say everything was going okay, until they asked for a list of people working on the project." She paused again, glancing towards Jeff before she looked back to the group at large. "They didn't have any problems until I mentioned Jeff."

Dawn raised an eyebrow, "What's the big deal about that though? I mean, if not for Jeff.. We wouldn't have a play to work with."

"That's what I told them, but.." Stacy shrugged, "I didn't seem to matter. Because this is for a WWE sponsored event, they want all WWE employees."

Chris shook his head, "But we don't have that much time.. If we had more time, I'd say let's find someone else and fill them in on everything but we don't."

The Baltimore native nodded in agreement, "I know Chris, believe me, I know. We've already put a lot of work into this and I don't want it to go to waste but--"

"Did they offer another plan or something?" Rey sent the leggy Diva a questioning look. "I don't know about everybody else, but I'd say lets just go through with it anyway."

"They gave me two options," Stacy frowned slightly, recalling what the first option was. "Our first option was to take Jeff out and replace him with someone else.. They mentioned that Triple H was available to help or Kurt, plus they said I could mention it to Molly."

The assembled shuddered in near unison, Randy speaking up first. "Please.. If we have to work with Triple H?"

"Molly might not be a bad idea," Lita stated with some optimism. "As for Kurt, I'm sure we could handle that.. But I refuse to work with Triple H."

Stacy nodded, "The other option.. We go through with this as planned, just not for the WWE event."

Eddie sent her a look, "So what would that mean, mamacita? We take our show on the road?"

"Kind of," the leggy Diva settled back in her seat. "It wouldn't take me too long to place a few phone calls around the Baltimore area. What we could do is present the play to one of the children's hospitals or at a shelter or something. We'd bring the presents and stuff to them, celebrate with them. We might have to present the play and stuff earlier though.. Like right after the Smackdown people get back." She paused again, gauging their facial expressions before adding: "Plus, there's another event for at risk youth.. It's at a sleep away camp, four days and three nights. If you all wanted to do that, we'd be done in time for the company Christmas party."

Silence fell over the living room, the gathered processing the news with mixed reactions. And silence continued until Torrie spoke up.

"As much as I was looking forward to presenting this for the kids of the troops, but.." the Boise native sent a smile towards Jeff, "We can't do this without Jeff... We could, but I don't think it would turn out as well."

Tyson nodded, "As bad of a cook he is, I don't think we can pull it off without Jeff either."

"That's what I thought.." Stacy chewed on her lower lip a moment, hands clasping together in her lap. "And that's what I told Mr. McMahon and Bischoff. They did insist that we take some extra help though.."

Lita sent her a hopeful look, "When are Kurt and Molly getting here then?"

"Kurt will travel back with those guys," Stacy nodded between the Smackdown stars, "And Molly will be flying in tomorrow."

Dawn nodded hesitantly, "Where would we stay though? I mean, no offense Stacy, you've got a great place in Baltimore.. But I doubt all of us, plus Kurt and Molly are going to fit."

"We stay here until the event and we'll probably have to make do for one night in Baltimore." Stacy frowned in thought, "Or if there are hotel rooms available, just stay one night there before heading up to the camp.. If you guys want to."

Victoria grinned, "I've got nowhere else I really need to be until after the company Christmas party.. Count me in for the camp."

Dawn nodded, "Count me in too, even if just three of us end up going--"

"Four," Rey spoke up next, "I don't have anywhere I need to be either."

In turn, everyone else voiced their agreement to going to the camp, a greatful smile forming on the Baltimore native's face in response. Despite the not so good news from Corporate Headquarters, everyone still seemed to be in good spirits. Of course, there were some unvoiced doubts amongst them.. Especially with the prospect of having to present the play earlier than planned. They hadn't had one full run through of the play yet and the 'set' wasn't even ready. But, most of them recalled, the only speaking parts in the play were assigned to the narrators and one line by Rey at the end. So really, it was just a matter of co-ordinating it all and getting it to work as smoothly as possible. But, there was another concern in the forms of their two new additions. While they all knew what was going on, Molly and Kurt had no clue. Realistically, of course, they could just leave Molly and Kurt out of the play.. Or they could assign them to assist Jeff. Whatever the case though, the group eventually split up for different parts of the house.. Morning plans going on as intended, the chosen Christmas music blaring in the background.

xoxox

With Stacy's announcement out of the way, the group now assembled themselves into smaller groups to work on the set. Stacy, on the other hand, had returned to one of the upstairs bedrooms to make the necessary phone calls. And while she was doing that, Jeff was directing 'traffic' downstairs. A space had been cleared in the living room, the coffee table now situated on top of a sheet with poster board, paintbrushes and paint set up on the coffee table itself. The necessary items for the village were arranged on the dining room table, more 'supplies' waiting on the kitchen counter. But as prepared as they seemingly were, nobody had a clue as to what they would be doing. Granted yes, they knew they had to prepare the sets, but they didn't know what they would look like. That in turn, lead to some arguments amongst the group settled around the coffee table. At any rate, Jeff had arranged for Victoria, Chris, Tyson, Lita and Randy around the dining room table while Dawn, Eddie, Rey, Torrie, John and himself were situated in the living room.

"Alright, Jeff.." John sent the Cameron native a questioning look, "Just what is this set supposed to look like?"

"Like the movies," Jeff replied vaugely, "Y'all must've seen it enough, right? It's a Victorian era."

Tyson snorted from the dining room table, "Victorian style gingerbread houses? I don't think so."

Jeff rolled his eyes in response, "Well, here's what I'm thinkin'.. We paint ourselves a partial village here, plus the scenery, right? Make one for night time an' one for daytime."

Victoria sent a questioning look from the dining room table, "And what about the houses? We can't exactly make a replica here."

The Cameron native frowned in thought, "Then jus' make a few buildings. We'll need ourselves a bakery, a toy store, a school, a factory, one small office buildin' for Scrooge an' one beat up lookin' house for the Cratchit's. We'll take care of paintin' on a church but if y'all can fashion up a graveyard an' maybe some furniture--"

Rey raised an eyebrow at that, "Furniture? How are we going to make furniture?"

Dawn shook her head, "Why don't we just buy dollhouse furniture or Barbie furniture when we go Christmas shopping for the kids? It'll save us some time, not to mention a lot of headache. We can also look for some fake trees or something."

"That works," Chris nodded his agreement from the dining room table. "But, uh Jeff? I thought you said this was a 'modern' adaptation.. So, what's the deal with the Victorian era?"

Jeff expelled an over dramatic sigh, "Everyone's a critic these days.. Fine, alright? Make yourselves a ghetto for the Cratchit's, but make sure you have a graveyard." At that, Jeff turned his attention back to the group assembled around the coffee table. "An' like I said already, we need some scenery.. One for night, one for day."

Torrie shook her head, "Actually.. We'll need three of each. One to represent the past, one for the present and one for the future."

"That's what I meant to say," the Cameron native seated himself on the floor. "So, let's get this broken down, yeah? How 'bout Eddie an' Dawn work on the present, John an' Torrie can work on the past.. While me an' Rey work on the future."

Chris shook his head, glancing towards the living room before looking back at the supplies in front of him. "I think they have it easier.."

Lita nodded, "They do have it easier. For one, there's more of them working on the scenery and for two.. We have to make buildings."

"With graham crackers, frosting and candy." Tyson glanced incredulously at the boxes of graham crackers, frosting containers and bags of candy. "So, who's doing what?"

Randy shrugged, "I say we leave the factory for last and we can all work on that."

Victoria nodded, "We should also leave the school for last, then we can just divide up the three houses amongst us."

"Actually," Lita glanced between the supplies in front of them and the people around her. "We have four major things to work on.. The factory, the school, the toy store and the ghetto, but all we really have to do for the first three is make the fronts. They can paint on a grocery store along with a church. So, really we just need to make the bulding for Scrooge and the graveyard."

"Uh huh," Tyson shook his head. "So how do we do that?"

Lita shrugged, "Make a two story building for Scrooge and we'll use those gumdrops or something for headstones or broken graham crackers."

"That works," Chris declared before anyone else could say a word. "Me and Vikki will take care of the graveyard.. We can smash up some of those cookies for the dirt and use the powdered sugar for snow."

"Which was the plan anyway," Tyson pointed out with a wry smile. "Then we'll all work on the store fronts and the ghetto."

"Right," Lita grabbed a box of graham crackers. "Two story building for Scrooge.. So, we'll need eight graham cracker squares, plus the frosting."

Tyson raised an eyebrow, "What about windows and doors?"

The redheaded Diva blinked, "Good question.."

"Y'all have food colorin' don't ya?" Jeff called out from the living room, "Jus' paint on the doors an' windows."

Lita rolled her eyes in response, but took out the necessary graham crackers none the less. "Might as well get started then.. We still have Christmas shopping to do."

At that, the three started on Scrooge's office building.. But not without some debate. Since he was Scrooge, Tyson argued that the office building should be more than two stories. Both Lita and Randy argued back, they couldn't exactly go big scale here as they needed to use most of the graham crackers on other building fronts plus the ghetto. After some compromising, the three agreed to make it three stories, with a three graham cracker square width. Of course, they did end up breaking a few squares while trying to assemble the foundation.. Chris and Victoria scooping up the broken squares for the graveyard. And while those five were trying to assmble buildings, the group in the living room was working on the scenery. Like the five in the dining room, there were also some debates.. But, in the end they argued that since the play was set in different era's of time, there could be some differences.

Additional Author note: I'm going to try and update this more.. I want to get it done by Christmas, but I don't know if I will.. And.. Happy Birthday to the story! It's been up for a year (and would've been finished I think if not for fickle me, hehe).