A/N : Hi guys, me again! This update is a little bit shorter than my usual, but i really hope you enjoy it. I'm hoping to really pick up the pace with the next couple of chapters so we'll be hurtling towards a whole lot of drama and I am super excited for that.

As always, a huge thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, commented or shared the last chapter. You have no idea how much it means to me, so thank you, thank you, thank you! Now, I should shut up and let you enjoy. Please remember to leave some love and drop your feedback and comments where possible!

"I told you – I'm fine," urged Lita, pushing her hair out of her eyes. She had been all but carried back to the skybox, with Dave threatening to rip a stage hand's head off when he stared at the crying diva for a second too long. The three men had not managed to coax an explanation from her, though they had – based on her reaction to the name – deduced that Jeff was involved. Hunter, for all his sins, had called off Ric and Dave when they'd returned to the box, ranting and raving about what they'd do to him. It was no use, Hunter had reasoned, they could wait until next week to exact revenge; Lita was in no state to see something like that. And so he'd sat on the couch he'd taken up previously, ordering himself a drink and forcing Ric and Dave to join him. It was clear the men were riled up, livid that Jeff Hardy could leave a member of Evolution in such a state, and they'd muttered angrily to their leader.

Randy was a different matter, however.

His eyes hadn't left Lita's face since they'd found her, worry clouding them as he'd helped her to her feet and led her back to the private room, his arms the only thing keeping her upright at times. Under other circumstances, Lita would have protested such a public display, yet the warmth of his arms, the concern etched in every line of his face, it all seemed to go unnoticed by her.

"Bullshit," Hunter replied, his voice lacking any malice. If anything, he looked distracted and Lita swallowed, wondering what awful things he could be thinking up for the week ahead.

"What happened, Lita? Did you speak to Hardy?" Ric asked, still pacing though he was decidedly less red in the face than he had been when they'd first seen her. Not trusting herself to speak without crying, Lita nodded. She'd hoped to keep her meeting with Jeff secret from Evolution, but that idea had been long forgotten now. She could hardly hide It, when they'd seen her in such a state. "What did he say? Did he threaten Evolution?"

It was Ric's natural assumption – for him, everything was about Evolution and he couldn't imagine, thought Lita, that anything else could garner such a response.

"No." The word had played in her mind and she had planned to say it, but it was Randy who had spoken. "He told her he didn't want anything to do with her." He spoke matter-of-factly, but Lita still flinched. "Didn't he?" His hand rested on her back, rubbing circles in a way which made her think he didn't comfort people often. Slowly, she nodded.

"That's what this is about?" Hunter said, a scoff following his words and he drained his glass in one long gulp. "What do you need Hardy for? We told you before – you don't need anyone else. You're part of Evolution."

Lita sniffed, her breath hitching slightly. "He's different – he's – he's family." The words burned in her throat, leaving an awful, acrid aftertaste.

"We're your family now." Though he was trying to sound comforting, Ric's words were more forceful than Lita felt necessary. It sounded to her more like a threat.

"But Jeff –"

"Fuck Jeff," Randy cut her off. There was more warmth to his words than Ric offered, but there was no denying the tone of finality. "He was Matt's family."

It was true, of course. They were literally family, but what she and Jeff had had went further than that – it wasn't about blood, it went even further than that. Or it had, once. "Look, they'll be turning the lights out on this place if we don't leave soon. The driver's already called me twice so…" It was Dave's way of wrapping things up and Lita wondered if he knew how grateful she was for his presence in that moment. She didn't want to fight with Randy – not here, not now. She didn't have the energy, but when he'd mentioned Matt her stomach had turned, anger rising in her.

"You guys go ahead. I'll help Lita get her shit and we'll meet you down at the limo." Lita wanted to protest and say she was ready to go, but Ric and Dave had already headed for the door and Hunter was snickering, muttering under his breath once more.

Once the other three were gone, Lita moved herself out of his reach, roughly rubbing at her eyes until bright spots burst behind her eyelids. "Lita, don't…" Randy reached for her arm, his fingertips grazing her wrist. "I know Jeff means a lot to you but…" He trailed off before trying once more, pulling her hand back to him, though he made no attempt to hold it, his fingers loosely circling her wrist. "Please," he added, and Lita was struck by how strange the word sounded in his voice. When she finally looked at him through the black smudges which had once been carefully applied makeup, he offered her a weak smile. "On the plus side, at least now you don't have to make that choice we talked about anymore…"

Lita's mouth fell open and she gaped at him for a second, words failing her. "Are you fucking kidding me?" she exploded, drowning out the young man's sigh and snatching her hand back. "Now is not the time. It's… Fuck, Randy – you really are an asshole. You really want to do this now? When Jeff…"

"When Jeff turned his back on you. Yeah. I know." Randy rubbed at his temples and allowed his head to fall back and rest on the back of the couch. "I get it. I was just trying to…"

"To what, Randy?" Lita demanded, lip curling.

"To lighten the mood. It was supposed to be a joke. That's all."

"Is that what this is to you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about anymore."

Lita let out a frustrated groan and buried her head in her hands, red hair creating a curtain between them. If truth be told, she wasn't entirely sure why she was so angry, why he was on the receiving end of her anger. He hadn't turned his back on her. "I thought it would be different with Jeff," she admitted, mumbling into her hands. "I didn't think it would have been a choice." She couldn't muster the words to explain how strongly she and Jeff had been connected and instead she sniffed, the words "He was family…" slipping from her lips as new tears pooled in her eyes.

"It's better this way… Trust me." Lita's head shot up and she wiped at her nose with the back of her hand. Randy's eyes were closed, his head tilted backwards, exposing his throat and Lita watched as he swallowed, waiting for him to elaborate.

"How can this be better? Better than what?"

"Than walking away from your own family." The words seemed heavy, as though it were a great effort for him to say them and Lita continued to watch, willing him to open his eyes and look at her. "You think its bad having Jeff turn his back on you? Imagine how it would have felt if you'd had to be the one to turn your back on him. You wouldn't have done it. I know you wouldn't."

I would have, she thought, thinking back to their earlier conversation but when the image of Jeff's face came to mind, she knew he was right. She could never have hurt Jeff like this, never made him feel this awful, this hollow…

"I haven't spoken to my family in a year," Randy said, snapping her from her thoughts. "Not since I joined Evolution." His tongue poked between his lips as he tried to wet them and he sat up a little straighter, opening his eyes before he continued. "Hunter gave me the same choice you had – if I joined, I had to turn my back on everyone else in the business. My friends…and my family." They hadn't asked her to turn her back on her mother or Billy and Lita's brow furrowed as his words sunk in. "I didn't think my old man would count – he's been retired for years – but he knows so much about the business… He was always trying to help, you know? I didn't think Hunter would count him…" He trailed off in a way which told Lita that Hunter had, indeed, counted him.

"When I got injured I had to go home – see the family, you know? And my dad, he told me that Evolution would ruin me. That I didn't belong in that world. In this world." He was trying to sound nonchalant, she could tell, but bitterness seeped into his words and Lita forgot all about Jeff. For a second, all she could think of was Randy. The person who could make her so mad by doing absolutely nothing, but who somehow occupied almost every waking thought. "At first, I believed him. I was never meant to be a wrestler – but he convinced me it was a good path. That he'd be in my corner the whole time. That I could do it." His voice faltered. "I thought he knew what was best for me but…" Randy took a deep breath and shook his head, preventing himself from continuing. "He was jealous – couldn't face it that I had a bigger chance within a year than he'd had in his entire career." Lita could hear his voice and the anger which filled him. As he worried his bottom lip between his teeth, she tried to catch his eye which he continued to avoid. He did, however, reach out for her hand again. While a childish impulse told her to pull away, the diva relented, lacing her fingers with his and gently running her thumb along his finger. "Anyway, doesn't matter what happened, but uh, I made my choice. I walked away." It felt as though she were intruding on something, something private, and she wondered if he'd talked about his father with anyone else.

"Do you regret it?" Lita asked, her voice a whisper.

It took him a second to respond but when he finally said 'no', she believed him. "I made the right choice. But that doesn't mean it wasn't hard," he said, finally looking back at her, those blue eyes startling her in a way she never seemed to get used to. "So I'm glad that Jeff walked away because I don't think you could." Lita's lips pursed, but she gave his hand a gentle squeeze. She wanted to argue that she was stronger than he gave her credit for but, admittedly, she had done very little to show it in the few months they'd been around each other. "Because I'm a selfish asshole and I don't want you to leave me, just yet." A beat passed and he smiled. "I didn't waste my Survivor Series favour for a couple of months."

Lita dropped his hand and slapped his arm, just hard enough to make it sting. "You are a fucking asshole," she replied, biting back a laugh. She could feel the weight of his gaze and, for the first time, she was aware of how frightful she must look. The tears, the makeup, the way she'd wiped at her face… And yet here he was, watching her with such a strange look, one she couldn't quite understand, though he didn't seem disgusted. "We should get going before Hunter has a conniption…" Pushing to her feet, she gathered her things in a matter of seconds and headed for the door, Randy close behind her. "And for what it's worth…I don't want to leave you just yet, either."

Perhaps it was the sound of the door closing behind them, but Lita could have sworn she heard Randy laugh.