Disclaimer: own nothing

TORRIE WILSON: BENEATH THE FACADE

The World was full of people, packed in to watch the PPV. You couldn't move for fans in WWE t-shirts or home made ones, waving signs and plastic belts. Maven smiled and eased his way through to the reserved table, Torrie Wilson following him, clinging to his arm so that they didn't lose each other in the crowd. Maven couldn't believe that he was on a date with her and it was being paid for by the WWE. After the office had heard him ask her out on Smackdown, they'd volunteered to pay for it if they were willing to have their date at The World in New York. He had to keep checking behind him to see if she was still there or a figment of his imagination. God she was beautiful. He'd liked her for so long and now he was going on a date with her. If only his friends back home could see him now. They probably would do if they watched the show

Maven spotted their table; someone was waving them towards it. He pushed forward and reached it quickly as people recognised him and hurriedly moved for him to get through. He smiled and said hello to the people who greeted him. He could hear Torrie doing the same. He loved the sound of her voice, always so cheerful and sweet. She was willing to talk to anyone, be it a fan, a crew member or a wrestler. He loved that about her, she didn't put herself above anyone.

He remembered the first time he saw her. Dressed in a turquoise leather skirt and bikini top, sent by Shane Mcmahon to seduce Vince and leave him in his boxers to the wrath of his wife Linda. Maven had laughed long and hard at that, he'd thought she was so beautiful and clever to play Vince like that. But when he made his debut, he knew she was off limits. She was Alliance for one thing and taken for enough. She'd been with Tajiri. Maven had been surprised to find her one day talking in rapid Japanese to her boyfriend in the hallway as they walked. He hadn't known she could speak Japanese, no one did. They all thought she was this dumb Barbie who was pure eye candy and nothing else. There was obviously more to her than she was willing to reveal. Then she began wrestling, feuding with her ex-best friend Stacy.

Maven pulled out her chair for her. Torrie smiled her thanks and gracefully sat down. Maven quickly seated himself beside her and looked at the menu. His hands were shaking, he hoped Torrie didn't notice. He chanced a quick side glance at her, she was looking at her own menu, a sweet amused smile on her face creating those adorable dimples in her cheeks. Maven swallowed hard and quickly looked back to his menu. It was going to be hard to talk to her.

It had been hard to speak normally when he'd gone to find her at her hotel room earlier. He'd knocked, nervous about what he was going to say. He knew that Tajiri wanted to kill him. That was too bad, Tajiri had lost Torrie when he'd tried constricting her into that awful geisha girl outfit. Now Maven had her for the night. She'd opened the door with a huge smile. She looked stunning in a tight black thin strapped top, low cut enough to reveal plenty and tight black pants, leather probably

"Hi Maven, ready to go?" she'd asked sunnily, slinging her bag over her shoulder as she stepped out

"Uh yeah, you?"

"Of course, I love going to the World, the fans are so sweet and the food's awesome" she bubbled, locking her hotel room door and flashing a smile over her shoulder at him

He'd smiled, nodded and taken her arm as they walked down the corridor. His heart was beating so fast, he didn't know if he'd be able to get through the night without making a complete ass of himself. Now they were at the restaurant and they didn't know when the cameras would appear and start rolling.

"Ok, I think I've decided" Torrie exclaimed, putting her menu down "you know what you want Maven?"

"Sure, lets order"

He signalled for a waiter to come over and took the opportunity to look Torrie up and down as she looked around the restaurant. She looked so radiant, the black of her clothing making her hair seem to light and pretty and her eyes more blue. In a word, perfect.

A waiter appeared as though he heard and stood patiently for them to order.

"Um... I'll have the chicken and salad dish please" Torrie said

"And I'll have the small steak" Maven added

"Right away" the waiter said disappearing as quickly as he'd arrived

"So um..things have been going pretty good for you at the moment" Maven tried

Torrie smiled that smile again that temporarily blinded him before replying

"Yeah I guess so, I mean I'm on Smackdown and the fans like me and the people are so nice, well most of them"

"Different to WCW?"

"Yeah very different" she laughed "I mean I didn't know many people, the only person I was really close to was..."

She trailed off, her eyes full of sadness. Gently, Maven moved his hand to cover her own as it fiddled nervously with the fork. She smiled at him in thanks

"It was Stacy" Maven finished for her

"Yeah it was" sighed Torrie "I just don't like thinking about it because you know, we're not such good friends anymore, I mean she had me put through a table by the Dudleys and then I beat her at No Mercy in the Lingerie match and the funny thing is, it was all about Tajiri, Stacy laughed at me because I was with him and that's how it all started, I gave my best friend up for him and now...now I'm not even with him anymore"

She looked so sad. All the sunlight had gone out of her face.

"You've got me for tonight anyway" tried Maven

Torrie lifted her head and smiled.

"Yeah I guess I have" she replied "thanks for taking me out"

"That's ok, I wanted to take you out" Maven blurted out

"You're sweet" declared Torrie with a smile

Before Maven could stutter out an answer, the waiter reappeared with their food. With a wink at Maven, he laid out the plates in front of them and then placed a large glass between them.

"Courtesy of the manager" he said, gesturing to it "enjoy your meal"

"Thank you" replied Torrie, dazzling him with a smile

Maven smiled at her. She was so good at keeping this sunny façade up most of the time but he could see that there were times when she was hurt badly. There was so much hurt beneath the surface. Her best friend had abandoned her because of her choice of man and had made her life miserable for a long time. Her boyfriend had forced her to dress up as a geisha girl, hiding her sexy curves which had made her so popular in the first place. He'd belittled her and screamed at her in the middle of the ring. She'd been put through a table, beaten down by the more people than she'd like to remember and had suffered her fair share of humiliation. She'd been through a lot. Now though, the sunny prettiness he'd come to adore was back in place and any sign of sadness was carefully hidden. It was the way she got through life; putting on a smile and pretending everything was fine when it often wasn't. Just for a few moments, he'd been able to see beneath it all. Perhaps the only person who had.

As Maven thought about what to say next, a crew member rushed up to the table

"Sorry to interrupt your evening but we're ready to feed you live to Judgement Day, JR and King'll ask you some questions, just look like you're having a good time" he said

"Alright, you've got it" replied Torrie

She turned to Maven as the crew member dashed off to find the camera man

"Ready for the show Maven?" she asked

"As always Torrie" he answered his eyes never leaving her face "as always"

*

Torrie and Maven were an item until Maven suffered a leg injury, cutting their romance short. She then engaged in a rivalry with Dawn Marie over her own father when Dawn romance and eventually married him before he 'died'. Recently, Torrie has been improving her ring skills, has appeared in Playboy and is in a rivalry with Sable. She has made huge leaps forward since first joining the WWE in 2001 when she was just eye candy, now she can kick a bit of ass too! In real life, she and Billy Kidman are engaged to be married in July.