"You're WHAT?" Hunter asked, stunned.
"I'm pregnant. It's Chris's. And you know how bad this is going to look if...if..."
Hunter finished for her. "We don't get married before you have the baby."
"So, wait, why do you need me then?" Lita asked.
"If Hunter and I get married, my family will go back to England. Jericho is a guest of my family, he'll go back too, and he'll never get to see his child."
Jericho lowered his eyes.
"However, if the doctor has to stay here to romance Hunter's cousin, and my cousin by marriage, no one will think it strange that he visits our house, let alone that he's still in France."
"So, you want me to pretend to court Lita? Even though she's not even Hunter's cousin?"
"Yes."
"Stephanie, how long do you think this will last?" Hunter asked her. "It can't go on forever."
"We have to try Hunter."
"Viva la Resistance!" Jeff cried out as he was dragged into the cramped prison cell. He was shoved harder for his troubles.
"Quiet, boy!" the guard ordered him. "Your mouth is what got you in here in the first place!"
The guard locked the door, and then nodded to another guard, a shorter man with curly brown hair pulled behind his head. He looked into the cell at the prisoners.
Jeff stormed to the barred window in the door. "Let us out of here! We've done nothing wrong!"
Matt reached out for his brother, finding himself stopped in mid lunge by Shannon. "Let him go," Shannon said. "They already arrested us and we've been beaten more times than we can count, what else can they do to us?"
"Kill us?" Matt suggested.
The guard growled back at Jeff. "Calm down!" he ordered Jeff.
"Never!"
Christian looked over at his friend. "Matt may be right," he pointed out.
Jeff pulled against the bars, hard. "FREEDOM!" he screamed
The guard finally responded by bringing his face in to meet Jeff's, only the bars separating them. "Calm down..." he hissed. "It would be in your best interest!"
With that he left.
"All right, so I agree to help you with this, and you agree to help hide me. There's just one catch. I'm going to have to pass as an aristocrat, right?"
"Correct," Hunter agreed.
"Well, there's a problem. I'm not an aristocrat...so how do I act like one?"
Stephanie grinned. "Give me a week, I'll have you rubbing elbows with the finest and fooling them completely."
"A week?" Lita asked.
"Yes, that should give us time to try and get you some dresses of your own. I'll devote the next week to teaching you everything, and trust me, what you don't know you can make up and pass if off as either `foreign' or `the latest trend.'"
"You're joking, right?" Lita asked.
"No, I'm serious. Now, let's get you something to eat. I'm famished."
"Of course you are," Jericho reminded her. "You're pregnant."
But Stephanie had already taken Lita by the arm and was dragging her towards the kitchen.
"I don't know what to say," Jericho said. "I can't believe we're going through with this."
"Well, I know exactly what to say." Hunter extended his right hand, motioning for Jericho to shake it.
When the other man grasped his palm, Hunter shook fervently. "Congratulations."
"I'm telling you, I'm NOT a thief!" Mark yelled as the officers beat him down and accused him of a crime he hadn't committed.
"Well, that's not how we seem to see it," Austin gloated over the man. "A woman reported to Monseur McMahon three weeks ago that you robbed her and gave him an exact description of you. Now, what did you do with her things?"
"I'm an innkeeper! Not a thief! I don't even know who McMahon is!"
Austin held his bayonet at Mark's throat. "I advise you come quietly. You wouldn't want us to burn your inn down, would you?"
Remembering that his wife was in the building, Mark resigned himself to his arrest.
Tori sat in her cell, cursing her luck. She was still awaiting her trial and from what she'd seen it wasn't going to be a fair one.
But then again, what was fair to a notorious thief wasn't always what was fair to everyone else. In fact, in her eyes, fair was what she did for a living.
The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. The only way to bring about some kind of equilibrium was for people like her to take what they wanted from people like the McMahons. It was a world where she could only survive like a parasite.
Not that she minded it of course.
However, as much fun as it was to rob the status quo blind, getting caught was definitely not an up side.
She sat with her back to the wall, wondering how long it was going to be before she was out of here. Preferably out of here of her own accord, as opposed to the out of here when they kill you. She was bored out of her mind.
That was when she saw the face outside of her door and gasped. "YOU?" she cried out.
"Lita, I have news!"
Vince had burst in on Lita's latest dance lesson with the news. Lita was dressed in a blue housedress and had Stephanie walking her through the final steps of the dance.
"They...they have?" Lita asked slowly.
"Yes, found him posing as an innkeeper ten miles from Paris. He kept insisting that he was the wrong person, however it had to be him. Large red haired man with a deep voice, correct?"
"Yes," Lita choked. She hadn't meant for anyone to get arrested for this. She didn't think they'd actually go looking for him.
"Excellent. They'll want you at the trial of course, to identify him."
"Of...course," Lita shot Stephanie a helpless look.
"Father, can't you see she's overwhelmed? She's not ready for this now; we have so much to do before the party tonight. Now, if you'll excuse us, Lita was just about to teach me that new Spanish Dance that I want to try."
"Of course, I understand. Ladies." Vince nodded at them before leaving.
As soon as he was gone, Lita's eyes widened in fear. "Stephanie, an innocent man?"
"Just tell them it's not him when you go in for the trial. If you tell them it was someone different they'll believe you."
"Stephanie, who am I kidding? I can't keep going on like this."
"You have to, please Lita. For me," Stephanie begged. "Besides, if you tell the truth now, they'll arrest you, throw you in prison, and you'll never see Hunter again!"
Lita looked at her friend. "Why would that matter?"
"Don't play with me. I've seen how you look at him. I'm willing to let you have him when this is all said and done."
"So, you pretend to marry Hunter, I pretend to marry Jericho, and then we simply borrow each other's husbands? That is even assuming that I actually feel that way for him..."
"You can't fool me Lita, you look at him the way I look at Chris, like he's something you want but can't have right now."
"Stephanie, sooner or later someone is going to figure us out. You'll start to show, I'll do something that will give me away, or else they'll find out that Hunter doesn't really have a cousin. What are we going to do?"
"We're going to keep on fooling them," Stephanie told her. "No matter what."
Tori was still amazed at the face outside her door. "Scott?" she asked in a whisper.
"Of course," he smirked at her. "Who else would it be?"
"What are you doing here?"
"Working from the inside," he whispered back.
"I never thought I'd see you again."
"Well, imagine my surprise when I found out they'd brought in Le Chat Noir."
"Yes, well, now I know why they still haven't found The Raven."
The dark haired man narrowed his eyes. "Do you want me to break you out? Or do you want to sit here and rot?"
"Enticing as rotting sounds, I'd be forever grateful if you could get me the hell out of here!"
"Tonight. Jailbreak, then...revolution."
At the party that evening, everyone noticed the intense looks of love being shared by Stephanie and Hunter, as well as by Lita and Dr. Christopher Jericho. "Perhaps," Ric Flair whispered to Vince, "we'll be seeing two weddings very soon."
Jericho looked at Stephanie with pride all over his face. A father, he was going to be a father.
Stephanie smiled as she caught Chris's gaze. A mother. Finally, she was going to be a mother.
Hunter followed Stephanie's gaze and settled his eyes on Lita. A revolutionary. It had to be a revolutionary.
It was well after sundown when the revolutionaries heard the clinking of keys outside their prison cell. When the wooden door swung open, they saw the guard who had growled at Jeff earlier, with Tori standing by his side.
"What is going on?" Christian asked.
Tori motioned to the man. "Allow me to introduce the second most well known thief in France, The Raven. A close friend of mine."
"What's he doing here?" Gregory asked.
"Getting you out of here. Unless, of course, you have no interest in following through on that little barricade plan of yours."
Christian shook his head. "What good is that going to do us? They'll kill us by morning."
"Either that or a life rotting away in prison," Adam stood and joined Raven and Tori. "I'd rather go out fighting."
"You're admirable," Tori complimented. "When you're not stealing my identity to impress women, that is."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Adam shot back. Then, to the others, "Come on, what are you waiting for? Are you willing to sit and plan and not follow through? This is our last chance to do what must be done. We either do this now, or we spend our lives locked here, our message never heard. Jeff, you're willing to take beatings to speak your mind, but is that as far as you'll go for freedom. We may lose our lives tonight, but tomorrow morning we will be heroes."
Slowly, the others stood and joined him.
"Viva la Resistance!" Jeff finally said.
The party was in full swing when the noise in the streets began. Everyone gasped when Shane came running into the ballroom, gasping for breath.
"There's been an escape. They've barricaded the streets with debris and are threatening to retaliate if attacked."
Shane's eyes cut through the crowd to focus on Lita. "And they're demanding we tell them who is holding their fellow rebel Mademoiselle Lita."
All eyes turned to the red haired girl in the blue silk ball gown.
"Anything you feel you would like to tell us?"
"I'm pregnant. It's Chris's. And you know how bad this is going to look if...if..."
Hunter finished for her. "We don't get married before you have the baby."
"So, wait, why do you need me then?" Lita asked.
"If Hunter and I get married, my family will go back to England. Jericho is a guest of my family, he'll go back too, and he'll never get to see his child."
Jericho lowered his eyes.
"However, if the doctor has to stay here to romance Hunter's cousin, and my cousin by marriage, no one will think it strange that he visits our house, let alone that he's still in France."
"So, you want me to pretend to court Lita? Even though she's not even Hunter's cousin?"
"Yes."
"Stephanie, how long do you think this will last?" Hunter asked her. "It can't go on forever."
"We have to try Hunter."
"Viva la Resistance!" Jeff cried out as he was dragged into the cramped prison cell. He was shoved harder for his troubles.
"Quiet, boy!" the guard ordered him. "Your mouth is what got you in here in the first place!"
The guard locked the door, and then nodded to another guard, a shorter man with curly brown hair pulled behind his head. He looked into the cell at the prisoners.
Jeff stormed to the barred window in the door. "Let us out of here! We've done nothing wrong!"
Matt reached out for his brother, finding himself stopped in mid lunge by Shannon. "Let him go," Shannon said. "They already arrested us and we've been beaten more times than we can count, what else can they do to us?"
"Kill us?" Matt suggested.
The guard growled back at Jeff. "Calm down!" he ordered Jeff.
"Never!"
Christian looked over at his friend. "Matt may be right," he pointed out.
Jeff pulled against the bars, hard. "FREEDOM!" he screamed
The guard finally responded by bringing his face in to meet Jeff's, only the bars separating them. "Calm down..." he hissed. "It would be in your best interest!"
With that he left.
"All right, so I agree to help you with this, and you agree to help hide me. There's just one catch. I'm going to have to pass as an aristocrat, right?"
"Correct," Hunter agreed.
"Well, there's a problem. I'm not an aristocrat...so how do I act like one?"
Stephanie grinned. "Give me a week, I'll have you rubbing elbows with the finest and fooling them completely."
"A week?" Lita asked.
"Yes, that should give us time to try and get you some dresses of your own. I'll devote the next week to teaching you everything, and trust me, what you don't know you can make up and pass if off as either `foreign' or `the latest trend.'"
"You're joking, right?" Lita asked.
"No, I'm serious. Now, let's get you something to eat. I'm famished."
"Of course you are," Jericho reminded her. "You're pregnant."
But Stephanie had already taken Lita by the arm and was dragging her towards the kitchen.
"I don't know what to say," Jericho said. "I can't believe we're going through with this."
"Well, I know exactly what to say." Hunter extended his right hand, motioning for Jericho to shake it.
When the other man grasped his palm, Hunter shook fervently. "Congratulations."
"I'm telling you, I'm NOT a thief!" Mark yelled as the officers beat him down and accused him of a crime he hadn't committed.
"Well, that's not how we seem to see it," Austin gloated over the man. "A woman reported to Monseur McMahon three weeks ago that you robbed her and gave him an exact description of you. Now, what did you do with her things?"
"I'm an innkeeper! Not a thief! I don't even know who McMahon is!"
Austin held his bayonet at Mark's throat. "I advise you come quietly. You wouldn't want us to burn your inn down, would you?"
Remembering that his wife was in the building, Mark resigned himself to his arrest.
Tori sat in her cell, cursing her luck. She was still awaiting her trial and from what she'd seen it wasn't going to be a fair one.
But then again, what was fair to a notorious thief wasn't always what was fair to everyone else. In fact, in her eyes, fair was what she did for a living.
The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. The only way to bring about some kind of equilibrium was for people like her to take what they wanted from people like the McMahons. It was a world where she could only survive like a parasite.
Not that she minded it of course.
However, as much fun as it was to rob the status quo blind, getting caught was definitely not an up side.
She sat with her back to the wall, wondering how long it was going to be before she was out of here. Preferably out of here of her own accord, as opposed to the out of here when they kill you. She was bored out of her mind.
That was when she saw the face outside of her door and gasped. "YOU?" she cried out.
"Lita, I have news!"
Vince had burst in on Lita's latest dance lesson with the news. Lita was dressed in a blue housedress and had Stephanie walking her through the final steps of the dance.
"They...they have?" Lita asked slowly.
"Yes, found him posing as an innkeeper ten miles from Paris. He kept insisting that he was the wrong person, however it had to be him. Large red haired man with a deep voice, correct?"
"Yes," Lita choked. She hadn't meant for anyone to get arrested for this. She didn't think they'd actually go looking for him.
"Excellent. They'll want you at the trial of course, to identify him."
"Of...course," Lita shot Stephanie a helpless look.
"Father, can't you see she's overwhelmed? She's not ready for this now; we have so much to do before the party tonight. Now, if you'll excuse us, Lita was just about to teach me that new Spanish Dance that I want to try."
"Of course, I understand. Ladies." Vince nodded at them before leaving.
As soon as he was gone, Lita's eyes widened in fear. "Stephanie, an innocent man?"
"Just tell them it's not him when you go in for the trial. If you tell them it was someone different they'll believe you."
"Stephanie, who am I kidding? I can't keep going on like this."
"You have to, please Lita. For me," Stephanie begged. "Besides, if you tell the truth now, they'll arrest you, throw you in prison, and you'll never see Hunter again!"
Lita looked at her friend. "Why would that matter?"
"Don't play with me. I've seen how you look at him. I'm willing to let you have him when this is all said and done."
"So, you pretend to marry Hunter, I pretend to marry Jericho, and then we simply borrow each other's husbands? That is even assuming that I actually feel that way for him..."
"You can't fool me Lita, you look at him the way I look at Chris, like he's something you want but can't have right now."
"Stephanie, sooner or later someone is going to figure us out. You'll start to show, I'll do something that will give me away, or else they'll find out that Hunter doesn't really have a cousin. What are we going to do?"
"We're going to keep on fooling them," Stephanie told her. "No matter what."
Tori was still amazed at the face outside her door. "Scott?" she asked in a whisper.
"Of course," he smirked at her. "Who else would it be?"
"What are you doing here?"
"Working from the inside," he whispered back.
"I never thought I'd see you again."
"Well, imagine my surprise when I found out they'd brought in Le Chat Noir."
"Yes, well, now I know why they still haven't found The Raven."
The dark haired man narrowed his eyes. "Do you want me to break you out? Or do you want to sit here and rot?"
"Enticing as rotting sounds, I'd be forever grateful if you could get me the hell out of here!"
"Tonight. Jailbreak, then...revolution."
At the party that evening, everyone noticed the intense looks of love being shared by Stephanie and Hunter, as well as by Lita and Dr. Christopher Jericho. "Perhaps," Ric Flair whispered to Vince, "we'll be seeing two weddings very soon."
Jericho looked at Stephanie with pride all over his face. A father, he was going to be a father.
Stephanie smiled as she caught Chris's gaze. A mother. Finally, she was going to be a mother.
Hunter followed Stephanie's gaze and settled his eyes on Lita. A revolutionary. It had to be a revolutionary.
It was well after sundown when the revolutionaries heard the clinking of keys outside their prison cell. When the wooden door swung open, they saw the guard who had growled at Jeff earlier, with Tori standing by his side.
"What is going on?" Christian asked.
Tori motioned to the man. "Allow me to introduce the second most well known thief in France, The Raven. A close friend of mine."
"What's he doing here?" Gregory asked.
"Getting you out of here. Unless, of course, you have no interest in following through on that little barricade plan of yours."
Christian shook his head. "What good is that going to do us? They'll kill us by morning."
"Either that or a life rotting away in prison," Adam stood and joined Raven and Tori. "I'd rather go out fighting."
"You're admirable," Tori complimented. "When you're not stealing my identity to impress women, that is."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Adam shot back. Then, to the others, "Come on, what are you waiting for? Are you willing to sit and plan and not follow through? This is our last chance to do what must be done. We either do this now, or we spend our lives locked here, our message never heard. Jeff, you're willing to take beatings to speak your mind, but is that as far as you'll go for freedom. We may lose our lives tonight, but tomorrow morning we will be heroes."
Slowly, the others stood and joined him.
"Viva la Resistance!" Jeff finally said.
The party was in full swing when the noise in the streets began. Everyone gasped when Shane came running into the ballroom, gasping for breath.
"There's been an escape. They've barricaded the streets with debris and are threatening to retaliate if attacked."
Shane's eyes cut through the crowd to focus on Lita. "And they're demanding we tell them who is holding their fellow rebel Mademoiselle Lita."
All eyes turned to the red haired girl in the blue silk ball gown.
"Anything you feel you would like to tell us?"