The match I had with Matt was slated for a number two slot, so I had to get ready. I changed into a pair of black baggy jeans, a Hardy Boyz shirt I cut, and the boots. I searched around for a purple bandana, when I found it, I put it on my head and was set. For a few minutes, I was playing with a purple strand of hair. Kurt kicked off Smackdown.
"I am still laughing over the match I have tonight." He said. His street fight against Jeff was the main event. Jeff was getting ready for it. You really can't talk to Jeff before his match, no matter what number it was. "I mean, how can someone who totally lacks my three I's have any shot against an Olympian? Jeff Hardy compleatly lacks the three I's. Intesntiy? Ha! Yeah right. Integrity? I don't think so. Intellegence? Lets face it, Jeff Hardy lacks more intellegence then even you people in Miami." The crowd got on his case.
Jeff watched intensly(one of the three I's) as Kurt continued to diss him. Jeff wasn't going to go out there and make a scene about it. Kurt was going to pay for what he said when the match came around.
Matt took me aside before our match to go over a few things. We sat in two chairs in the hallway, discussing how we wanted this match to go.
"I don't think we really have anything to worry about." Matt said. "Just have to stay on your toes, Dean's developed a cheating streak."
"I've noticed." I replied. "I think if we just watch our backs, we should be fine." I leaned over and kissed his cheek, very near his lips.
I got up and walked to the curtian. I had a feeling Matt was watching me. I stood outside the curtian and watched Raven walk up and then a few minutes later he was followed by a limping Rhyno. Matt soon joined me at the curtian.
The Hardy Boyz music hit and we went out and did our thing. Then, out came Dean and Perry, along with Lita and Terri. Matt grabbed my arm. I calmed down, and tried to block her out of my mind.
Matt started the match out against Perry. I kept one eye on Matt and Perry and the other on Amy. If she just as touched Matt in the slightest way, I would go after her.
Matt snapped me out of my thoughts. His hand was reaching to me. I looked and saw Perry doing the same to Dean. I reached in and made the tag. Perry got his tag off.
I went out with clotheslines, knocking down both Dean and Perry. Matt joined in, knocking Perry out of the ring. He beat him up a little and went back on the apron.
I still made sure I had one eye on Amy as I took it to Dean. Amy and Terri just stood there, cheering Dean on. I wasn't sure if Amy and Dean were an item, or if she was just with him and Perry. I was pretty sure she was just with Dean and Perry, they were probably the only team willing to take her.
Anyway, my battle with Dean changed as Dean tagged in Perry while I was on the ground. Perry gave me a few good kicks before I got up and fought back. I was running low on energy and needed to tag Matt. He was banging on the turnbuckle and yelling my name. I managed to get in a chokehold and drag him to Matt. I tagged him in. I lifted Perry's arm up and Matt gave a few good kicks to Perry's midsection.
As I was standing in the corner, Matt whipped Perry into the opposite corner. He ran half way at Perry and got on all fours. I smiled, and ran and jumped off him, just like Jeff. Dean was next. After our double team, I got back on the apron and matched Matt, and Amy at the same time.
Matt made it to the ropes in time. Dean was trying to make him tap. I knew Matt was hurting. The submission hold was to the knee, and Dean and Perry had been going after Matt's knee the whole match. It was time to get Xtreme.
Matt threw Dean outside of the ring. I got off the apron and ran along the security barrier and jumped on him. Amy ran over and slapped me. I hit her pretty hard. I threw Dean into the ring. Dean kicked out.
Matt tagged me in, and Dean just made it to Perry before I got a hold of him. Terri was over with Amy, making sure she was all right. I started doing moves with flips and anything I could think up. I was whipped into the corner, jumped on the turnbuckle, and did a Corkscrew to Perry. He kicked out of my pin.
A few tags later, I was back in again against Dean. I had him down and went to do a Diving Moonsault. He moved out of the way, well Amy pulled him out of the way. I landed hard on my stomach and yelled in pain. I managed to tag in Matt. Dean got back in the ring and he and Matt fought it out. Matt got him set up for the Twist Of Fate. I climbed the turnbuckle, and after he finished the move, I landed a perfect Swanton Bomb. Matt went for the cover, and the win.
Matt and I were hurting as the ref held our hands up. Amy slide into the ring and went to Matt. I was leaning in the corner. She picked his head up and kissed him. I got in a jealous rage and went to her. I kicked her hard in the stomach and nailed a perfect Twist Of Fate. Matt yelled a few things to her before we walked out.
"What a whore." I said to no one really.
"I had no idea." Matt replied to my comment. "Honest."
"I know." I stopped at the door to our locker room. Our alliance gave us a standing ovation. I bowed.
"I loved the little touch at the end." Chris said with a smile.
I sat next to Jeff. "Getting ready?" I asked.
"Yeah." He answered. "Deciding if I want to kill Kurt fast and easy, or slow and painful."
"Slow and painful." I told him. I stood up and went over to talk to Steph. Dwayne took my place. I looked over at them.
"I know Kurt." He told Jeff. "You have to watch your back. He's one tough bastard. He doesn't go down easy."
"I know, I watch."
"You need to pick a target on him. Attack his strenghts. Always go for the strengths, not the weaknesses. You have to break him down. His strength is his strength. He's a tough tough man, and you're going to have to break that down."
"Thank you." Jeff said.
"Just trying to help." Dwayne replied. "I'm telling you, though, make sure you get to him early. That way, all you'll have left is his weaknesses."
Jeff left the locker room two matches before his. He always makes sure he has that time alone. If his match is first or second, he'll disappear before the show starts.
Kurt Angle's music filled the arena. The ego maniac walked down the ramp holding his WWF Title proudly. He got into the ring and showed off his medals too.
Jeff came down next. He did the gunz, somewhat, but was looking at Kurt intensly(again, one of the three I's). This wasn't a title match, but a lot was on the line. Jeff took Dwayne's advice and started out early. Breaking apart, slowly, the wreslting icon. You had to give Kurt that, he was an amazing wrestler.
But, Kurt also knew Jeff's game. He was breaking him apart as well. But, Jeff didn't give up, he didn't back down. He kept pushing, harder and harder. It was a street fight, anything goes. Jeff went under the ring and pulled out trash cans and signs. He beat Kurt with the signs and put his head in the trashcan. Then he rolled the trashcan, with Kurt in it, out of the ring. It hit hard on the floor.
Jeff waited for Kurt to get out before he dived over the ropes and on to him. Jeff landed wrong and hurt his arm. He shook it off, but that gave Kurt some time to regain his composure.
Now Kurt was the one pounding of Jeff, going for the arm. Jeff kept remembering what Dwayne said, go for the strengthes. Well, Jeff always told me he thought Kurt's biggest strength, and weakness in one, was pride.
Jeff started slapping Kurt, embrassing him. The crowd didn't get it at first, but when they saw the Olympic Hero break, they understood. Jeff gave Kurt a low blow and tossed him over the stage, from the top of the ramp. But, Kurt grabbed a hold of Jeff's pants and brought him too. The table broke Kurt's fall, but Jeff landed on nothing but the floor.
I jumped up and screamed when I saw that. I wanted to run out there and make sure he was all right. But, Jeff told us he didn't want any of us running in during that match. He didn't move for a long time and I was getting scared.
Angle laid his arm over Jeff to get the cover. Just before the three count, Jeff put his shoulder up. I still, to this day, have no idea how he kicked out of that. Angle was pissed. He kicked Jeff every time he tried to get up. Jeff was fed up with that and just rolled out of Angle's way.
He struggled to his feet. He and Angle exchanged right hands for a while. Jeff kicked his midsection and wanted to do the Twist Of Fate, but Kurt pushed him down and he fell back.
Jeff recovered quickly from that. The two were still feeling the fall. The fall from at least ten feet in the air. They tried very hard to beat the other one. Each delevering hard blows. This wasn't like any wrestling match. They were really hitting eachother and really trying to hurt the other one.
They had made their way back to the ring. Jeff had a table out and started bringing it to where the table Kurt fell to was. Kurt was on the other side of the ring getting whatever he could find. Jeff replaced the broken table with the one he just got. Then, he met up with Kurt half way back to the ring. They fought it out for awhile, getting back into the ring. They were bloody and battered. Jeff was knocked out of the ring. As he recovered he went to get another tabled and placed it outside the ring. Then, he pulled out a ladder. He then beat Kurt onto the table and started climbing. Once at the top he was ready to jump. To everyone's surprise he didn't do a Swanton. He did some other jump that I forgot the name of.
After he recovered a little, Jeff went for the cover, Angle kicked out. Now Jeff was pissed up. He started beating on Angle. Angle pulled Jeff's feet feet and made him hit his chin on the ring. Blood was coming from Jeff's mouth.
They were back where the table Angle had fell through was, and where the new table was. Jeff had found a sledgehammer and went Triple H on Kurt knocking him out cold. Jeff ran as fast as his hurt body could up the ramp. He then did a Swanton from the top of the ramp onto Kurt. He rolled over for the cover, and the win.
Angle was still out cold after Jeff had won, and Jeff was in a lot of pain. EMTs took the two backstage. Angle was going to the hospital to be checked out. I ran to Jeff.
"I am so proud of you!" I told him.
"I did what I had to." He said. He had bit through his lip when he hit the ring with his chin. He too was on his way to the hospital. He told me to go back to the hotel with Matt and everyone and he would be fine.
"I give him a lot of credit." Paul said as we all made our way to our cars.
"Matt, I want to go see him." I told Matt. We were in our car.
"All right." Matt said. He turned the car on. "Paul, we'll meet you back at the hotel. We'll have Jeff with us." Paul nodded.
Matt and I started driving to the hospital. He looked over at me. "Our match was a good one."
"I know. Dean and Perry didn't even try and cheat." I smiled.
"We got lucky I guess." He looked back over at me. "What you did to Amy was cool."
"I can't believe she kissed you! You should wash your mouth out when you get back to the hotel."
He laughed. "We really should thank Stephanie for watching Matt today while we were out there doing what we had to do."
"I know. She's going to watch him until we get back."
"I know you're worried about him and about the road and everything. Don't be." He told me. "You're doing a great job. I know you don't think so, but you are." He put his hand on me. "I don't think there's anything you can do that's not perfect." I blushed, and he knew it. "I'm serious."
"Matt, I am far from perfect." I told him. His grip on my hand got tighter.
"I'm not going to begin to understand how you feel about everything you've been telling me. I know life for you has never been easy. But, you are perfect." He kissed my hand.
We didn't say anything for the rest of the ride. When we got to the hospital, Jeff was laying in the bed, asleep. Kurt, oddly enough, was in the same room. He was looking at the wall. I didn't notice he was there for awhile.
Matt tapped Jeff lightly and he looked over. Jeff noticed Kurt there. I think he was in too much pain to even care.
"How are you feeling?" Matt asked.
"Like crap." Jeff answered. "You come to take me out?"
"Yup." Matt answered. The two couldn't help but to glance over at Kurt.
"You did amazing tonight, Jeff." I told him. I found it hard to talk with Kurt there. He had fallen asleep by now.
"Thanks." Jeff replied. "That match took a lot out of my back and my left leg, and my arm, shit does my arm hurt too."
"I'd stay away from the ring for a little." Matt said.
"Are you kidding? I'm going to be at ringside." Jeff replied.
I shook my head. "You're crazy."
"Aren't we the ones who say 2Xtreme isn't a mood it's a lifestyle?" We couldn't disagree with that. "I won't fight, because I can't fight, but I'll be there at ringside."
We got Jeff out of the hospital. He laid in the backseat. Matt and I sat up front. Jeff began talking about the match, and what was going through that complicated mind of his.
"I don't know why I did it. I just thought it would be a great way to end the match." He answered. Matt had asked why in the hell did he jump that ten feet, doing a Swanton none the less, onto Kurt. "I wasn't really thinking about the pain. And, after I did it, I didn't really feel the pain from it."
"Maybe you'll get immune to pain." I said.
"If Jeff was immune to pain, he'll deffinatly kill himself in the ring." Matt said. Jeff made a weak atempt to hit Matt.
"I saw your match. I didn't have the chance to say how good you did." Jeff told us. "You guys make a good team." Matt and I looked at each other and smiled. "Loved the Swanton, Des, really good. And, your Twist Of Fate on Amy was sweet."
"Naturally." I said. "I learn from the best."
"I can see it now, six man tag matches to come." Jeff said. "It's no secret that Dean and Perry aren't the best of friends with Matt and myself. And, well, your deal with Amy is huge."
"Yeah, but will Vince go for it. He doesn't do anything we want him to." I replied. I turned to face Jeff. "He does the opposite of what we want."
"It's a guaranteed good draw." Jeff said. He shurgged. "Whatever he wants."
"Unforgiven's coming up." Matt said. "Maybe we can get a match in."
"I could ask Regal." I said. I had gotten a good idea. "Regal likes me I could get him to make a title match, the APA vs Dean and Perry. APA losses to them because of Amy and Terri. Our match at Unforgiven can be for all the belts."
"Regal likes you?" Matt asked.
"Uh-huh." He smiled.
"It's always worth a try."
It was too late to see Regal that night, but I was going to tomorrow. I wanted that Women's Title back so bad. And, I knew Matt and Jeff would do just about anything to get the Tag Team Titles back.
Matt and I helped Jeff into the room. He was barely putting any weight on his left leg and he was holding his left arm close to him. I thanked Matt for helping me and went to Jeff on the bed.
"You're staying here tomorrow." I told him. I went to the door.
"Where are you going?" Jeff asked.
"To get my son." I answered.
Stephanie was tired when she answered the door. She handed me Matthew and I went back to Jeff. He was sleeping when I got in but woke up with he heard me. I put Matthew to bed and helped Jeff get out of his clothes and into his sweatpants.
"You and Stephanie are going out tomorrow?" He asked.
"Yup." I answered.
"Have fun."
"I'll be thinking of you." I said. I kissed his forehead.
"I need to catch up on my writing. I've got so many ideas spinning in my head right now."
"At least I'll know you'll be busy."
"I'll keep Matthew here with me too." He said. "Give you a break tomorrow."
"Thanks." I kissed him again. I started getting into my PJs.
"You're really going to ask Regal about that match?"
"Why not? It's worth a try." I answered. "If he agrees, we'll be the new owners of the belts."
"You sound very confident that we'll win."
"You think we wont?" I sat down next to him. He moved over a little to make room for me.
"Not that." He said. "You just seem to have a lot of faith in us."
"Jeff, my career started with you and Matt." I told him. "To me, you guys are like Gods. I admire everything you've accomplished and done." Jeff smiled. "Now, I'm very tired." I turned the light off and fell asleep.
The sun poured into the window. I woke up and saw that Jeff wasn't by my side. I rolled over and saw him sitting at his desk writing, a piece of his hair was out of the ponytail and in his face. I smiled. Matthew was in his lap and was very content. The hand Jeff wasn't writing with was around Matthew.
I got up and walked over to them. I rested my head on Jeff's shoulder. He closed the notebook he was writing in and looked over at me. He kissed me and then smiled.
"Since when have you hidden you writing form me?" I asked.
"There's a first time for everything." He answered. He stood up and adjusted Matthew. "Stephanie came by a few minutes ago. I told her you'd call her room when you woke up."
"Thanks." I said. It was now eleven. I picked up the phone and called her room.
"Hello?" Paul asked.
"Hey, Paul, is Steph there?"
"Des, hey hun. Um, yeah, she's just getting out of the shower." He answered. "You two are going out right? Well, she told me to tell you to meet her here in a half hour."
"All right, thanks a bunch."
"Not a problem."
I told Jeff I was going in the shower. I went through mine and his bags to find something to wear. I took a quicker shower than normal. I wrapped a towel around me and opened the door and walked into the room.
"Matt." I said surprised.
"Hey, Destiny." He replied.
"I'm just going to go back into the bathroom." I said, turning around. I got in there and couldn't help but think about Matt's face when he saw me.
I changed and got ready to go. I came out and Jeff and Matt were talking. I walked to the bed to put my shoes on.
"Sorry about before." Matt said.
"It's all right." I replied. "I don't know when I'll be back."
"I'll be here." Jeff said. He was laying on the bed Matt wasn't sitting on. I went over and kissed him good-bye. I kissed my son and I messed with Matt's hair before I left.
"Des, come in." Paul said. "Steph's getting her makeup on." Paul was in his boxers.
"Do you plan on doing anything today?" I asked him.
"Yeah, me and Chris are going to an autograph signing."
"Have fun." He smiled.
"Destiny!" Steph said, coming into the room. She hugged me. "Lets go."
I said good-bye to Paul and we left. We got into the car Paul and Steph rented. I told Stephanie about my idea with Dean and Perry. She liked it and said she wanted to come with me to tell Regal about it.
"Shove it in my dad's face." She said. "I love the idea."
"Just have to see if Regal's gonna do it. He might not because of your father."
"But, our match, that's still on, right?" She asked.
"Of course."
We got to the strip and went into every store. We tried on outragous outfits, ones we'd never buy. Stephanie, like I've said before, was the only girl I got to know in the WWF. She really was the only one worth getting to know. She was so far from her character. Most of us drew our characters from within, Steph's was compleatly opposite from herself. I never got along with anyone of the female gender that well anyway, it was nice to know there was someone out there who was worth getting to know.
Steph started laughing. I looked over at her. "You should try this on, I'm telling you, this is so you." She brought out a short short skirt and a shirt, if you could call it that.
"This looks like something I'd wear when I walk with Shawn." I said.
"What ever happened to that?" She asked.
"I don't know." I shrugged. "It doesn't bothre me. Wearing next to nothing bothers me." We walked out of that store. "Now this is my store."
"This store scares me." She said. We walked into a freaker store.
"This is a Team Xtreme store." I walked around.
"You guys are so weird." She replied. "I've never met anyone like you three."
"I take that as a complament." I smiled.
"They have to have had an influence on you."
"No doubt. But, I was pretty much that way coming into this place." I started looking at fishnet shirts. "Steph, can I give you a new look, just for that one match?"
"What?" She asked.
"I want to give you a new look. Only once. Come on!"
"How come I have a feeling I really have no choice?"
"You do." I said. "But, I really want to."
She thought about it for a few minutes. "All right, I guess, why not." She finally said.
I hugged her. I went through the store, finding things for myself, and for Steph. We paid for everything and went to have lunch. She wanted to know just what I had in mind.
"I won't dye you're hair. Just put those extentions in. Dress you up, make you a Hardy for the night."
"I'm trusting you." She said.
"I know." I replied. "You don't have to worry." I took a sip of my drink. "You know, I didn't even tell Matt and Jeff about this. Oh well."
"I didn't tell Paul. What can they really do? Stop us from fighting? I don't think so."
After lunch, we worked the strip some more. Stephanie needed a new gold chain for her cross. The old one broke. The last time I was in a jewlery store was when I was with Matt and Jeff. I looked down at the ring I bought then. It was still in tact.
"I want Paul to buy me a ring." Steph said.
"What is your relationship statis with Paul anyways?" I asked, looking around.
"What do you think?" I looked at her and she smiled.
"Paul doesn't tell me these things." I looked down at a ring. "So, how far have you gotten?" She burst out laughing. "What?" I asked.
"You're crazy." She said.
"I could have told you that."
She laughed as we went onto the next store. Stephanie and I were partners in crime. I never really went into a lot of the things we do together. Mainly because I'm stressing over Kurt Angle at this point in the story, and Matt as well. But, Stephaine and I were always getting into trouble, most of the time we looked for it.
Steph's the exact opposite of myself. We really don't have anything in common, really. I guess it was because she was the first person who ever gave a liking to me on the bus way back when. And, I couldn't really give you a reason why she was so nice to me. But, from that day on we were very close. Like I've said probably a million times all ready, she's the only girl I ever really became close with. Chicks suck, I'm sorry to have to say it, and being one too, but they do. So fake most of them, it's really hard to find a good chick, I can see why it's so hard for guys. Chicks really are so unreliable at best.
Anyway, getting the chance to show Stephaine the "other side" so to speak was something I was looking foward to. She had always poked fun at me for the style of clothes I wore. I always poked fun at her back. The more I talked to Steph about the idea, the more comfortable she became. I don't think she ever was so wild about it.
"OK, there's a catch to this whole make-over." Steph brought up. We were walking around one of her stores.
"What?" I asked.
"The next time we tag, or appear in the ring together, you let me give you a make-over." Now this was something compleatly different. Go prep? Go, Stephanie McMahon? Sure, talking the talk with Stephanie about changing her was a lot more fun, and eaiser, than having to hear it from her point of view. She egged me on the whole time we were in the store. Telling me that if I didn't agree, I couldn't make her over. But, she had all ready gotten the things from that store, something I didn't realize then.
"Whatever." I gave in. You should have seen her smile. "But, don't go all out."
"That would all depend on how much you do to me." She said. I felt like I had swallowed a brick. I had every intentions on going all out with Stephaine. Damnit! I guess I should start taking notes from Steph, I was going to be a full on prep.
We had planned on not telling anyone else about the idea. It was going to be hard to sneak this around. I mean, no one has ever seen Stephanie McMahon look something on the "freak" side. And, Heaven forbid I go somewhat prep. I couldn't help but laugh inside about it all.
Stephanie and I walked around the strip for a little while longer. We had been out there at least two hours. This form of theropy worked. I was having a great time with Stephaine. I also didn't worry too much about Kurt anymore. I figured, Jeff kicked his ass so badly, he's got to back down. I was naturally thinking about my son, but not in a way that made me depressed. I'm not saying my son depresses, but you know. And, Matt wasn't on my mind. In fact, I hadn't felt this good in along time.
"My feet hurt." She complained. We stopped at a bench. "Damn shoes."
"Are they new?" I asked.
"Yeah, I figured I'd break them in now. Damn, they hurt my feet." She took them off.
"That's why I go for boots." I said. "I never have to worry about breaking them in. They never really hurt."(This is totally irrelevent to the story, but Allie, another reason boots are better than snearks...sorry I had to say something).
But, anyway, we felt like going back. We had pretty much been in every store and bought everything we could ever want. I picked up two Pearl Jam CD's "Vs" and "Yield". I forced Stephanie to listen to them on the ride home.
I went into my room laughing at a joke Stephanie and I had said. I placed all my bags down by the door and walked into the room. Dwayne had taken Matt's place in the room. I smiled at him and kissed Jeff.
"Did you get me anything?" Dwayne asked.
"Sorry, D.J., I didn't." I answered. "And, sorry sweety, I didn't get anything for you, either."
"That's all right." The both of them said together. It was freaky almost. Anyway, I sat down next to Jeff.
"What did you get?" He asked.
"Clothes, CDs, just the same old crap." I answered. "You'd like what I got." I had the bag full of what I was going to put Stephanie in. She held onto my bag.
"Clothes are always good." Jeff replied. He and Matt were ones of the few men I knew who were so into shopping for clothes, Dwayne was also one of those guys. Damn, did they love clothes. Compleatly different style, but loved them none the less.
"Where did Matt go?" I asked.
"Took Matthew out for a walk." Dwayne answered. "He's so into that kid. He doesn't give a shit what anyone says about it. They don't say anything about you, mainly it's all drawn to Matt. But, he just keeps his head high and doesn't let them bring him down. He's riding on cloud nine."
"Has anyone said anything about me?" I asked. I knew people said things about Matt, but D.J. was giving me more information.
"Not really." He answered. "They say things, but it's not bad. It's worse for Matt. Which I think is horrible. But, he doesn't seemed bothered by it."
"What do they say?"
"I wouldn't worry, Des, I wouldn't" Jeff spoke up.
"You know what they say?" I asked.
"I hear things." He answered. I looked at him. I wanted to know now.
"Well, what do they say?" I asked again. "Trust me, I'm sure I've heard it before."
"They just say things." Jeff told me, again. Dwayne nodded. "I wouldn't let it eat at you, it's no big deal." The fact that he knew killed me.
"I want to know now." I said, firmly. "I want to know."
"Fine." Dwayne said. He looked at me. "They call you names, names like slut and whore. But, I wouldn't really worry about it. They rank on Matt more."
"Who says this?" I asked.
"I just hear things, I don't pay attention." He told me.
"Well, you obviously have to if you know what they say." I said. "Who says these things?"
"Destiny, really, it's no big deal." Jeff told me. "You're turning this into a way bigger deal than it is."
Yeah, maybe I was. And, like I said, I was used to the name calling. I couldn't tell you why it got to me like it did. I never give a shit what people thing about me, honest, I really don't. Well, I can safely say I try very hard. But, for some reason I can't explain, this struck a cord with me and I was pissed. My first asumption was that it was Amy. It makes the perfect sense. She's been calling me that basically since day one. Not like I ever cared what she said, it was just an excuse to kick her ass.
D.J. told me a million times to stop worring about it, and eventually I dropped it. I didn't tell them about the match idea. I was going to, but then I just didn't feel like it. Dwayne left the room about ten minutes later. I was with Jeff alone now. He was still in pain, but he tried hard not to show it.
"Jeff, relax." I said, I noticed he was trying to move around and he was grunting to himself in pain.
"I was slated for a match on Heat." He said. He laughed. "Against Taka."
"I'm sorry." I replied.
He looked over at me and his face lit up. "Why don't you take my place."
"What?" I asked.
"You can do it, easily. I mean, it's Taka. You can handle it easy. What do you say?"
"I guess I could do it." I replied. He smiled. "Why do you want me to do it?"
"It's a number one condender match for the Light-Heavyweight belt." He answered. My heart skipped a beat.
"It is?"
He nodded. "It is." He looked at me. "Winner goes against Crash on Smackdown."
"Thanks, Jeff." I said. "But, I can't take it. It 's a number one condender slot. You deserve it more than me."
"Bullshit. I've been Light-Heavyweight Champion plenty of times. This could be a big break for you. Take it."
He was right. My chances of getting another shot like this were very slim. So, I agreed to take Jeff's place in the match, and try and become the number one condeder. I had beaten Taka before, no big deal. But, it was going to be a very big deal.
Jeff said not to tell anyone about it. If Vince heard about it, he'd probably change the match. And, he was right. So, my involvment on Heat was going to be low key. Pretty much between Jeff and myself.
Jericho was hosting Heat on that night. He was his typical witty self. Cracking jokes about Cole and talking with Tazz. By the time my match came around Jericho had predicted a Jeff Hardy win. They had talked about Jeff's injruies, but weren't aware of the full effect. The Hardy Boyz music hit and I came out, alone for one of the first times in my whole year here.
It was clear no one had expected this, at all. But, I went out there with the huge pop from the crowd. Taka came out next, with Funaki. I knew Funaki wasn't going to get involved. He wasn't like that.
I walked around the ringm skipping around Taka. Then, we engaged in a lockup and the match started. I tried very hard to beat him, and I was doing a good job too. I wanted to prove to everyone that I wasn't just some Women's Champ, I was more. Also, Vince was watching for sure and I wanted him to see this. And the funny thing is, to this day, Regal hasn't said a thing to me about the match. I think that deep down inside, he was glad I pissed Vince off when I did.
Anyway, I was really taking it to Taka, really getting to him. I really wanted the win over him. Funaki really didn't do much, he'd pull at my feet, but that didn't do much. It was all he really could do. He knew that I would kill him if he tried anything else. He somewhat knew how important this match was for me and he knew I'd rip him apart it he tried anything more. In about a day or two, I would eventually apologize.
I got Taka down to do a Diving Moonsault and pick up the victory.
