Okay, just a little warning. This chapter is really long. Well not like unbearably long but definitely the longest chapter of this story. I don't know, I just started writing and ahh, out came five pages. I think it's good but I guess that's for you guys to decide! The Pretenders own the song, I own the idea. Good trade-off, right? Sure, why not.



"No visitors today Miss Keibler?" The elderly nurse asked politely, bringing in a fresh pillow.

Stacy shook her head and folded her arms across her chest, staring outside at the rain that was pouring down. "No, nobody likes me anymore."

"Oh well, I find that very hard to believe. You're a very beautiful young lady." She added, picking up the chart hanging at the foot of the bed.

"Looking good isn't everything." Stacy muttered, not entirely believing those words had just come out of her mouth. "I kind of alienated myself from the rest of my friends."

The nurse looked down quickly at her watch and sat down in the chair next to Stacy's bed. "Why would you do that, if you don't mind me asking? I remember seeing that very handsome man in here for you a couple of days ago."

Stacy almost told her. In fact, she was this close to getting everything out in the open, even if it was to her nurse. "I'm not really sure." She said instead, looking down at her hands. There was a brief knock on the door and both women looked up.

"Can I help you sir?" The nurse asked, a wary expression on her face. This man hadn't been in to see Stacy before, who was he?

"I just came to see how Stacy was doing." He said briskly.

"Okay." She allowed uncertainly. "But please try and make it quick."

Stacy frowned as she saw the nurse shut the door and Steven Richards was smiling at her.

"What did you do to her?" He demanded suddenly, his eyes narrowing.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Stacy replied stubbornly, almost feeling like holding up her chin too.

"Like hell you don't." He snapped, grabbing her bad arm and applying as much pressure as he could.

Her eyes started watering from the pain and she struggled to get from his grasp. "I don't know what you're talking about." She gasped out while biting her lip to prevent the flow of tears.

"Let's see if I can make you remember."

*~*~*

"Are you sure she's going to want to see you?"

Trish nodded into the phone, even though Andrew couldn't see her. "I hope so. Listen, I gotta go. Later." She hung up and slipped the phone into her pocket, switching the flowers from her right hand to her left. "I'm just here to see Stacy." She said to one of the nurses.

One of the oldest ones behind the desk rushed up to Trish. "She has another visitor right now but go in as fast as you can. I don't think he was up to any good."

Trish's heart dropped in her chest and threw the flowers on the ground, sprinting over to her door. She heard the sounds of struggling and pushed it open. "Get the hell off of her!" She yelled frantically, rushing over and pulling Steven Richards, who was holding a pillow over Stacy's face, off of her. She quickly punched him in the nose, sending him staggering back, a scowl on his face.

A couple of security guards rushed into the room and all Trish could do was point at him while comforting Stacy.

"What happened?" She asked quietly, smoothing Stacy's hair away from her face in an attempt to calm her down.

Stacy didn't say anything at first and just watched as Richards was led out of the room in handcuffs for further questioning.

"Honey, please tell me what happened." Trish pleaded.

"I can't." Stacy whispered. "I promised her that I wouldn't and then she threatened me."

When you're standing at the crossroads

And don't know which path to choose

Let me come along

'Cause even if you're wrong.



"Who?"

Stacy took a deep breath and put a hand to her head. "Victoria."

*~*~*

Trish looked over at Stacy with a concerned look on her face, while trying to keep her focus on the road. Stacy looked pale and even thinner then usual; the sweatshirt and shorts she was wearing seemed to engulf her. Her hair, which was dirty and the blonde starting to fade, was pulled back and tucked underneath a baseball cap and she had a pair of sunglasses over her eyes. She was staring out the window and had her legs tucked up underneath her.

'How had we noticed this?' Trish scolded herself silently. 'It hadn't been that hard to see'.

"Where are we going?"

Trish jumped at the sound of the voice and was snapped out of her trance. "Andrew wanted to see how you were doing so we're going over to his apartment."

Stacy shook her head in response but said nothing, watching the buildings as they flew by.

Ten minutes later Trish pulled to a stop in front of the apartment complex. She parked the car and helped Stacy out and she looked up to see Andrew standing at the open door, a heartbroken look on his face as he took in the appearance of his girlfriend.

Stacy tried giving him a weak smile as he pulled her up into a hug and ended up bursting into tears.

"Sweetie calm down. We're going to help you." He whispered into her ear and he helped her up the stairs with Trish following close behind.

She nodded numbly and allowed herself to be bright up the stairs and finally settled on the couch while the other two began talking in the kitchen.

"So what are we gonna do?" Trish asked quietly as she hoisted herself up on the counter.

Andrew shook his head. "Not sure. But you said that Richards was there, and that she admitted it was Victoria doing all of this stuff?" Trish nodded. "And then on the car ride over she said Richards accused her of having something to do with, someone?"

Trish shrugged. "Apparently and I'm assuming he was talking about Victoria. But I called a bunch of people of nobody knows what happened to her or where she went. We might have someone on our side after all." She added with a small smile.

"It's not going to do us any good if we don't know who it is though." Andrew reasoned. "And we can't exactly get in touch with whoever it is to thank them for taking care of her."

"Don't say it like that." Trish said forcefully. "You make it sound like they killed Victoria or something."

"Would anybody care?" Andrew questioned and Trish was silent so he smirked. "Exactly my point."

"Did you call Bischoff yet to tell him the situation?"

"I tried getting in touch with him but his secretary said he was out." Andrew replied as he started to open some cupboards, taking out random things as he went along.

Trish watched for a minute before curiosity came over her. "So whatcha doing exactly?"

"Did you see her? She's apparently sick and way too thin, so I'm going to make her something to eat." Andrew said proudly as he pulled a pot out from underneath the stove.

"Your intentions are noble." Trish started with a grin. "But I have yet to meet a man who can cook a decent meal. You go sit with her and I'll make the food."

He reluctantly agreed and Trish shook her head and smiled to herself. She'd have to remind Stacy not to let that one get away.

~*Two Weeks Later*~

"It's about time you woke up Sleeping Beauty." Andrew joked as Stacy shuffled into the room that Monday morning, her eyes still not completely opened as she stumbled into a wall. She mumbled an answer in response and pulled the robe tighter around her as she made her way to the couch where he was sitting.

They watched television for a few minutes when he broke the silence.

"So you've decided to come back today?"

She nodded sleepily and then rubbed her eyes. "Yeah, I'm gonna kick Victoria's ass."

Andrew nearly choked on the juice he had just taken a sip of. "Excuse me? You're going to do what?"

Stacy grinned and it changed the way she looked completely. "I talked Eric into giving me a match against the psycho bitch tonight. He was very reluctant but I told him Trish had been working on some moves with me."

"Trish has been doing what?" Andrew repeated, still dumbfounded.

"Calm down." Stacy ordered, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "I asked Trish to give me a few lessons and Edge was there so he helped me out too. I gotta pretty good résumé behind me if I do say so myself." She said, sitting back with a proud look on her face.

Andrew put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to him and kissed her on the forehead. "I just hope you know what you're doing."



I'll stand by you

I'll stand by you

Won't let nobody hurt you

I'll stand by you

As soon as Stacy stepped backstage she knew they had been talking and gossiping again. Only a few of the wrestlers knew what exactly had happened as well as nearly all of the Divas and they were the ones who gave her the encouraging smiles. All the rest didn't know what to say or even how to look at her, so they avoided her.

She shook her head and grinned, hoisting her bag over her shoulder.

"How ya feeling Stace?" Bubba called from the other side of the room she entered to get the script.

"I'm doing really good." She replied sincerely. "Thanks for asking." He had a concerned look on his face and she laughed. "What is it?"

"Why do you want to fight her?" He asked simply, holding up the script to the allotted page.

She shrugged. "Just something I feel I need to do I guess. Or else I just really want to put all of this behind me."

He nodded understandably. "Fair enough. Just know that if Richards starts some shit like interfering in the match or something, me an' D-Von will be out there in a split second to kick his ass for ya."

"For some reason I don't doubt that." Stacy said with a grin. "But including you guys, I should be pretty well protected."

"What do you mean?" Bubba asked.

"Well." She started. "I've already gotten the same offers from RVD, Jeff, um, Jericho, Trish, and there was someone else." She paused and tried to remember the last name. "Oh yeah, Kane." She finished.

"We're gonna come out too." Bubba promised. "I'll see you later." He called over his shoulder as he left the room.

"I know you guys will." Stacy said to herself, feeling extremely fortunate to have the supportive friends that she did. She took a deep breath and headed towards the locker room she was sharing with Trish and Jackie.

She made it through the halls with no troubles from Victoria and her psycho boyfriend and pushed open the door without bothering to knock.

Jackie and Trish were already both there. Trish was standing in front of the mirror and applying some make-up and Jackie was lounging on the ground, a book in one hand and a 5-pound weight in the other.

"Hey girls." She announced, setting her bag on the bench.

Trish waved from her spot and Jackie set the book down and grinned. "You look a lot better then last time I saw you." She commented, standing up and giving Stacy a hug.

"Thanks." Stacy replied, unzipping her bag. "Trish and Andrew played doctor for two weeks so I'm feeling-"

"And looking." Trish added with a smile.

"A whole lot better." Stacy finished, grinning at her friend.

"Well I know you're going to do just fine." Jackie assured. "When do you go out?"

"Second match, I believe." Stacy remembered, pulling on a pair of dark pink shorts and a matching halter-top from her bag. She pulled her hair into a ponytail and then glanced at her not-so-Stacy-like appearance in the mirror. "This looks so weird." She complained loudly.

Jackie and Trish both rolled their eyes.

"No it doesn't." Trish assured. "You just look like a regular woman wrestler instead of some eye candy, T and A, for the male fans."

Stacy thought about this for a minute. "Yeah, I guess you're right." She grabbed a magazine from the bench and settled back, trying to calm the butterflies in her stomach before they announced her entrance.



OMG! What's gonna happen? Is Stacy gonna kick ass, or get her ass kicked? How many people are going to come out to help her, if any? Who was the mysterious guy who "took care of Victoria"? All these questions plus more answered in the next chapter of 'Stand By You'!

READ AND REVIEW PLEASE!! It honestly means the world to me!