Chapter 17 – Suspicions
A/N: …Hi.
She reclined on the other bed, flipping on the TV. She was bored, no doubt, and already was regretting not going with Raven. Nothing was on TV. She had a choice of cartoons, news, or bad movies. She ended up watching the news, but she really wasn't listening. She stared at the screen and just watched the pictures on the screen move. She sighed loudly.
It was a couple seconds later that she heard the noise outside the door. It wasn't a knock, but someone was jiggling the door's knob from outside. This of course struck her as odd, and she leaned over to look at the door as the noise continued. She instantly got a bad feeling about it and, trusting those instincts, she quietly collected her things and went out onto the expansive balcony that their room had. Just as she closed the door to it she heard her own door open. She moved to the corner of it and pinned herself against the wall.
"Doesn't look like anyone's in here."
She knew the voice instantly. Shane.
"Doesn't mean we won't find her stuff in here."
Stephanie, too, was there. She instantly felt nervous – had they been caught? Maybe it was out of suspicion…
She started hearing them tear the room apart basically. She wished she could just go and kick their asses, but she couldn't…Raven would be the one to suffer the most. So she quietly stood, hoping they didn't think of the balcony.
"This is stupid, I can't believe we listened to Tommy." Stephanie whined.
"He said Raven was acting weird."
"HE'S RAVEN! HE ALWAYS ACTS WEIRD!" Stephanie huffed toward her brother.
"As true as that may be, we must check every lead." Shane explained.
"But I'm missing my important meeting!" she huffed.
"Listen, you can fuck someone later. This is business."
If Sam wasn't worried about being caught, she would have burst out laughing. What was even better was Stephanie had just shut up after that comment…
"Are you done yet?" she asked after a few minutes.
"Just have to check the balcony…you never know…"
"Shit." She muttered under her breath. She thanked god her arms were strong because she instantly put her stuff as far as it could go up her arm and climbed over the balcony. Just as he opened it, she let herself step off and tried to discreetly hold on to the bars to keep her from falling. She was just happy there was someplace she could rest her feet against. She ducked her head as he peered around.
"See anything?" Stephanie called.
"No. I guess Tommy was wrong."
He entered the room, closing the balcony window behind him. She let out a breath, even though she knew she was still in deep shit. Even though she got down alright, she realized that the bars were a bit too slippery to actually climb up. She just held on for dear life, hoping that Raven would come back soon. She heard the door open and close loudly, and she knew they were gone.
She hung there for what felt like hours. She was starting to worry about losing her grip, because her arms were getting tired. And then, suddenly, faintly, she heard the door open again. She hoped that it was Raven and not someone else that time.
"Sam!?"
She sighed in relief. It WAS him. "Raven!"
"Where are you?!" he asked, and she knew that if she could barely hear him, he could barely hear her. Suddenly the door flung open and he stepped out, looking panicked. "SAM?!"
"I'm down here." She spoke, then winced. Her arms were really burning.
He looked over the edge and saw her hanging there.
"Sam!"
"I would appreciate it if you pulled me up, thanks." She said, straining now. Raven leaned over and grabbed one hand. She managed to pull herself up with his help then, and when he pulled her over he lost his balance. He fell backwards and she landed on him. Both were panting hard, and she collapsed onto his chest.
"That hurt like hell." She muttered. She got off him, letting go of her duffle bag. He got up too, and hugged her, even though the hug was sideways a bit.
"Jesus Christ, Sam, don't scare me like that." He said, mid-breath.
"Well, sorry, but I didn't think it'd be good if I got caught here." She explained, shrugging.
"Who…what…?"
"Shane and Stephanie. Came in and wrecked the place, I guess."
"God." He shook his head. "I thought they hurt you…"
"Takes more then hanging off the side of a balcony to kill me." She offered with a half grin.
"Come on, let's get inside." He stood and helped her up. She followed him in, grabbing her bag as she went. She instantly saw the damage that was made.
Everything was in disarray. Stuff was thrown around, one bed was turned over, all the clothes in the closet and the drawers completely empted on the ground…a total, absolute mess. She sighed, shaking her head, her fist instantly balling up.
"Urgh! Fucking bastards!" she huffed. Raven sighed.
"I'm just glad you're safe." He offered. She looked at him and shrugged.
"And I'm glad I didn't get caught. That would have sucked."
"And now you're going to stay with someone else until at least the match is over with."
"Exa…wait, what?!"
"Sam, you're not going to even sway me slightly with this decision." Raven cut her off. "This is for your own good, and if you don't like it, this is for MY own good. AND peace of mind."
"But what about MY peace of mind?"
"Well, my peace of mind is better then your peace of mind.'" He declared with a finalizing tone.
"Oh, and that's real mature!"
"Just work with me here, Sam!"
"I don't want to go." She pouted, trying to make him feel guilty.
"Too bad." He smirked. "Now, who shall I leave you with?"
"I vote to stay here." She offered.
"Sam, listen. I realize you are always one for danger and never backing down, but you don't want them to figure out where you're getting all your information, now do you? You'd be an easy target after that for half-assed plans like they're making. Now, you either nicely find a place to stay besides here or I drag you someplace and have that person lock you in a room."
"Like you can drag me." She huffed.
"Try me."
He suddenly lunged forward and started tickling her side. Instantly she burst out laughing, trying to move away from the touch, cursing the day that Raven had found out about that –one- weak spot on her body. She was starting to feel the lack of oxygen coming to her and finally she managed to blurt out her sign of defeat. He stopped instantly and just smirked at her as she took huge gulps of breath.
"I'll go somewhere." She muttered, quite unhappily.
"Good. Great." He nodded enthusiastically. She glared at him, annoyed.
"I guess I'll stay at Chris's. Or the Hardy brothers. Or even Kurt…naw, never mind, I'd rather sleep outside." She smirked. "I suppose I'm being kicked out now?"
"Yes."
"But…"
"No."
"But what about…"
"Here's your bag." He handed it over. "It'll only be for a night, and then tomorrow we have the match and after that night's over I'll come rescue you from the cruel world outside my room."
She sighed as he ushered her out, but knew why he was so adamant about her getting out quickly. It was obvious by the shaking of his hands – she had really freaked him out when he came in to find the room as it was and her gone. Perhaps that's why she was so easy to be talked into letting them win that time. She carefully made her way to the elevator, trying to figure out who she was going to. Obviously first Chris, because she wouldn't have to deal with more then one with him.
But, as luck would have it, or disluck…he wasn't there. So she journeyed to the brothers Hardy room, and found a very disheveled Jeff answering it. She raised a brow instantly at the sight, and how he didn't open the door completely.
"Hello Jeff." She greeted, semi-amused. "You busy?"
"Kind of." He admitted, seeming a bit jumpy.
"Jeff, who is it?"
She could have laughed right there, noting the female tone of the person's voice. It sure wasn't Lita.
"Jeffery, are you getting laid tonight?" Sam smirked, her tone joking. He turned a lovely shade of red. "Sorry for disturbing you. Do you know where the other couple is?"
"No, sorry Sam."
"Hm, alright. Thanks Jeff." She went real close to him. "Remember, make love without the glove."
"…Isn't it with?" he asked, blinking slightly.
"With? Really? Damn, have I been misinformed." She laughed. He shot her a slightly annoyed look. "Alright, alright, I'm gone. Goodbye."
He shut the door basically in her face, but she didn't mind. She understood how frustrating it was being interrupted at such moments. But this left her with a problem – no place to go. She didn't know where Lita and Matt were. Contemplating, she looked up and down the hallway, and remembered one person she could go to…
She knocked on the door, loudly. After the third knock, the door opened, and Spike peered out.
"Hello Sam." He greeted, opening the door wider. He fumbled with his glasses that he had in his hands and put them on. "What's up? More talk about the match?"
"Actually, I need to ask you another favor. I need a place to stay tonight, and I swear I wouldn't be bothering you if I didn't need it…"
"So you want to stay in my room?" he asked, cutting her off from what could turn out to be an excessive ramble. She nodded.
"Please?"
"Sure." He agreed, shrugging nonchalantly. She smiled, relieved.
"Thanks, Spike. It'll just be for a night, I swear."
He opened the door wider and allowed her in. She instantly noticed how dark it was outside, and wondered what time it was. This whole ordeal DID start pretty late in the day, and she was roaming the halls for a long time…it made sense. She dropped her things in a corner, checking out the room.
"The usual hotel room." He offered, noting what she was doing. "So, why did you need a place tonight, if I may ask? You and that Raven guy have a fight?"
"Stephanie and Shane are getting a little too close finding out about him being a basic spy for this company and hanging out with me."
"He's not that much of a spy, really. Just tells you stuff about what they're planning on doing to you." He paused. "Then again, it would really suck if you got taken out, like they want to do. You're the basic leader of us, even though the real popular wrestlers would never admit it."
"Leader? Me? No way." She shook her head.
"Well, you are the only one that has managed to beat basically every person that's gotten in your way. Especially ever since that night when you…" he stopped abruptly, and then quickly cleaned his glasses out of nervous habit.
"Kicked your ass?" She frowned, remembering instantly of the situation that had happened in her rampage. "Listen, Spike, I'm really sorry about that…I had a rough night and I…"
"It's okay." He shook his head. "I've heard what happened. I wasn't that badly hurt. Just kind of stunned. Would you like to sit? Some food? I don't have much, but you can take your pick from what I have."
"No thanks." She declined. "But yeah…so even if you don't think it to be a big deal, I still want to apologize."
"Apology accepted then, I guess." He gave a half smile, ruffling his own blonde hair. "Um…well, you can have either bed, I don't mind. And the offer of food stands if you get hungry later."
"Alright." She sat on a random bed, not really caring herself. The room was nearly identical to Raven's, with the difference that it wasn't ripped apart like his was. Very neat and tidy.
"Are you nervous about that match?" he asked, sitting on the opposite one. She looked at him and shrugged slightly.
"Not really. I have enough people backing me up, I figure."
"Well, what are you going to do to Rob?"
She pondered over this question, because she hadn't actually thought of exactly how she was going to go about it. "I don't know." She replied honestly. "I guess I'll see when I get face to face with him."
"That's true." He agreed. "That's how I would go about it. Stuff takes you over when you're in situations like that. Like I remember when…"
She had remembered seeing Spike going off at Austin that one time, before when Molly was still with him. And she was thinking as he spoke of it – would she really let her rage take over again when she saw him again? Was that what she really wanted? She remembered what Raven had told her, and how he didn't approve of her destroying him. She wasn't even really that mad at him anymore, it was getting pointless to keep such aggression to a guy who hasn't even tried to mess with her ever since. She wanted some kind of revenge, beating him up a little, but to no extent that she felt toward him before.
"So it's kind of like that." Spike nodded, and she snapped out of her thoughts.
"You know Spike, you're an alright guy." She said, a bit abruptly. He looked a little surprised and embarrassed at the same time. "Really, I don't deserve any friendliness that you always seem to project toward me."
"I don't like holding grudges." He explained. "Gets kind of old after a while, and you end up being all bitter."
"There's only a few things I can't forgive, and now that those reasons are gone, I'm pretty much back to normal."
They talked a little bit more, and Sam, still tired from the activities of the day, decided to go to sleep early. She ended up lying there for a long time, thinking. By the time she fell asleep, it was two in the morning and Spike was already snoring away, not even tossing a little. And all that time lying there…she realized she had managed to decide nothing at all.