PART EIGHT

Standing outside Brock's hotel room, Nicole felt the tears welling in her eyes. Brock had kissed her, then thrown her away like she was nothing. She hated to admit it, but she had enjoyed the kiss. She had liked Brock kissing her, she thought they were getting somewhere. Now they back where they started. Brock obviously didn't want to kiss her; he had made her leave right after he did it. But then… why did he do it?

"What the hell is wrong with him?" Nicole questioned, blinking back more tears. She didn't want to cry, she couldn't let Brock Lesnar make her cry. Shaking her head of the thoughts, she decided to head back to her and Britney's room. As she approached the door, she stopped. Britney would want to know how things had went with Brock, and she could never lie to Britney. But, she didn't feel like explaining.

Unsure of what to do, she walked past the room Britney and Adam were in, and she kept walking, not sure of where she was going.

"Hey Nicole." Looking up at the voice, Nicole forced a smile as she noticed John Cena and Dawn Marie walking towards her, holding hands. Apparently, Matt and Adam's plan to get them together had worked.

"Hey guys." Nicole greeted quietly.

"Hey, where are you going?" Dawn questioned, flashing a bright, happy smile. Nicole only wished she could be that happy. Everyone else was… Britney had Adam, Dawn had John, Amy had Matt… she was always the odd one out.

Pushing the thoughts into the back of her mind, Nicole smiled again. "Just walking around. Don't want to disturb Adam and Brit." She joked, partly telling the truth. She really didn't want to disturb them, but she also didn't want to explain anything to Britney.

"So, they finally got together?" John questioned, grinning.

Nodding, Nicole glanced back at Brock's locker room, frowning as she saw Paul Heyman walk in.

"Nic?"

"Oh, sorry. I was just… thinking."

"Okay… well we were going to get some breakfast, do you want to come?" Dawn questioned, smiling at her friend.

Shaking her head, Nicole replied. "Nah, you guys have fun. I don't want to interfere."

"You won't be." John assured her.

"No, I'm not really hungry either. Have fun though."

"Okay, if you're sure."

"I am, have fun."

Smiling, they both walked away. Nicole couldn't help but feel jealous as she watched them leave hand in hand.

"BOO!"

Jumping, Nicole spun around. Sighing when she realized it was only Matt, she smacked him lightly on the arm. "What the hell was that for?"

"Just seeing if I could scare you… so what's up?"

"Nothing, just wandering around. You?"

Shrugging, Matt smiled. "I'm leaving in a minute, I'm going to see Amy."

"Oh, that's cool. Have fun."

"I will, I actually have to get going now." Matt explained.

Nodding, Nicole gave him a quick hug and watched him walk away.

Upon hearing noise down the hall, Nicole turned around. She let out a small gasp when she noticed Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar walking out of Brock's hotel room. She wasn't sure what to do when she realized that they were walking towards her.

As they walked by, Paul Heyman just shot her a look, while Brock avoided looking at her altogether. She watched them walk away, not believing the whole thing. Thinking back, she remembered what Brock had said to her. 'I have to be an asshole to you because quite frankly if I'm not, Paul will pull the plug on my big push.'

"Heyman." She said quietly. Paul Heyman controlled what Brock did. If Brock didn't listen to Heyman, he could lose his Championship push. Well, Heyman didn't have all control over Brock, other people had some say in the storylines and what happened. "Steph." Nicole realized. "I can talk to Steph about this." Stopping for a second, Nicole thought back to the other day, when Stephanie had listened to Heyman over Britney, her own cousin. Stephanie always thought in terms of good business, but it was worth a try. Making up her mind, Nicole set off down the hall, in search of Stephanie's hotel room. This was her last chance to help free Brock of Heyman, and maybe help herself in the process.

BRITNEY'S HOTEL ROOM
"Do you think Nicole is talking to him now?" Britney questioned, looking over at Adam.

Looking away from the TV, Adam shrugged. "I don't know. She might be. I'm sure she can handle it though. She is a big girl."

Sighing, Britney sat up on the bed, running her hands through her blonde hair. "That's not what I meant… it's just that Brock has been so weird…"

"Brit, I know. It's Heyman, the man is a brainwasher." Adam explained, sitting up next to Britney. "Heyman only does things to help himself. Having Brock with him makes him bigger, higher profile. It does the same for Brock. Heyman is very well known. Brock being with him makes him bigger. That's one of the reasons for Brock getting a title push so fast. And for Heyman, if he's with Brock, he always has a bodyguard, someone to save him from the problems him mouth gets into."

"I guess. I just… Heyman is bad for Brock." Britney admitted, sighing deeply. "Brock is a good guy, I don't think he wants to act like he is. But… Heyman hates us, so if Brock's with him, then he has to hate us too. But I don't think he wants to."

"If he didn't care, he wouldn't have saved Nicole last night." Adam pointed out.

Nodding, Britney had to agree. "I know… that's one of the things that makes me think that Brock doesn't want to do this. But, just because he isn't fully behind Heyman's evil schemes, doesn't mean he won't go along with them. That's why I'm so worried about Nicole getting as involved as she is."

"Nicole knows what she's doing though. She's doing this because she wants to. She knows Brock saved her and she wants to thank him. That's all."

"I don't think so." Britney disagreed.

"What do you mean?"

"I think… I think Nicole might have developed feelings for Brock. And I think the feeling is mutual."

"You really think so?" Adam questioned, pondering the thought himself.

Nodding, Britney replied. "Yeah I do. I just don't want Nicole to get herself hurt. And if Heyman gets involved, I have feeling we're going to have trouble."

STEPHANIE'S HOTEL ROOM
Taking a deep breath, Nicole picked her hand up and knocked twice on the door to Stephanie's hotel room.

After a few moments, Nicole heard the door being unlocked and Stephanie opened it, looking tired.

"I'm sorry Steph, did I wake you up?" Nicole questioned, feeling like she had started off on the wrong foot if she wanted to talk to Stephanie.

"No Nic, I was awake, just tired." Stephanie admitted.

"Oh… well I wanted to talk to you, but I can wait." Nicole explained, turning around.

"Wait… you can talk to me now, come on in."

Shrugging, Nicole gave Stephanie a smile and walked in the room. Taking a seat on the bed, she tried to prepare what to say.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Stephanie questioned, sitting next to Nicole on the bed.

"Um… actually… Brock Lesnar."

"Okay, what about him? Did something happen with him and Heyman?"

"No, um… I just wanted to know… whose idea was it to give Brock his title push?" Nicole asked, hoping that was the best way to start.

"Paul Heyman." Stephanie answered.

'Damn.' Nicole thought to herself. If it was Heyman's idea, then Brock wouldn't have gotten it without him, he'd been right. He needed Heyman, he wouldn't be anywhere without it.

"But of course, I thought it was a great idea. Brock is marketable and he should be a great champion." Stephanie added.

Nodding, Nicole asked her next question. "Um... so if Heyman hadn't been involved with Brock, where do you think he would be now?"

"Honestly? He would still be getting a push, just not a title push. Heyman is a good person to have as an agent. He maybe be sneaky and underhanded, but that helps sometimes."

"So, basically, without Heyman, Brock's nothing?"

"If you want to put it bluntly, yes." Stephanie agreed.

"Shit." Nicole cursed quietly.

"Why are you asking all this?" Stephanie asked, confused as to why Nicole suddenly cared.

"I just… I don't think Heyman is what's best for Brock. He's turning him into an ass…"

"If Brock lets Heyman turn him into an ass, then he was one to begin with. Heyman isn't that powerful Nic. Brock may act like an ass, but I doubt that's what he is."

"I guess, but he's so…"

"So what? Since when do you talk to Brock?" Stephanie questioned, growing more and more curious by the second.

"I just don't think Heyman is a good influence on Brock. Heyman hates us, and he could make Brock hate us."

"Since when do you care if Brock hates you?"

"I… I don't." Nicole attempted to cover up, knowing Stephanie didn't believe her. Sighing, she ran a hand through her hair. "I just don't think Heyman should have as much control over people as he does. He convinced you to give Adam that match by lying. He told you that he was watching us to come up with a new storyline. That was bull, he was just covering up his spying on us."

"Look Nicole, if you don't like the creative control Paul has on this company and its employees, you either have to deal with it or do something about it." Stephanie explained.

Standing up, Nicole nodded. "I guess I'm going to do something about it then." She replied before walking out the door, leaving a confused Stephanie behind.

Hey peeps!  Here's the next part… review please!  Hope you all like it!