Oh...wow. Honestly, those of you who said that I wrote Raven well, that's the biggest compliment I can receive on this fic. I'm always so nervous when it comes to things he'd do or say, because he's so hard to capture. (He just refuses to fit into any stereotype well.) So to say that I do a good job with Raven...geez, I could just cry. Seriously, I've had a crush on him since back in the day. (He was the one of the ones I most wanted to see when I went to my first show...even though he was just gonna be on Heat). Man, do I miss that guy. Thank Heaven NWA is so cheap to ppv. I can't go more than about a month without some Raven-age. (Though I still owe $35 for Survivor Series...ouch.) On another note, if anyone ever wants to e-mail/IM me, it's CourtBarb@aol.com. I love to talk to other wrestling fans, and I love that ff.net provides us with this little tight community where you can really get to know people from totally different walks of life. Anyway, enough with my sappiness. Story, story, story time!
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Lita sat up on a high stack of boxes in one of the darker corners backstage. Kane and Raven were on each side of her. She dangled her legs thoughtfully, just looking around from her hidden vantage point at all the people bustling around backstage. There was Rosie, stuck in a phone booth while trying to change into his S.H.I.T. costume. There was Jericho, flirting with Trish. There was Terri, chatting pre-interview with Maven. And then in walked Evolution.
Lita scurried back against the wall, pulling her legs up out of view. Raven and Kane looked at her anxiously.
"Li, it's okay. We're not going to let them do anything to you," Raven reassured her.
She shook her head. "I can't even stand for them to look at me right now. I don't want to think about last week."
Kane tilted his head slowly, popping his neck. "I'll kill them."
"No! At least not right now. Just stay up here with me, okay?"
That was a plea that Kane, of course, could not resist. He slid back beside her, never taking his searing glare off Evolution. Raven remained where he was, appearing almost calm except for the feral tenseness of his body and the way he tilted to block Lita with fierce protectiveness. Lita kept her head back against the wall, eyes closed.
"Are they gone yet?"
"No, not yet," Raven said quietly. He looked over, and reached out, laying his palm on top of her forehead, tenderly brushing back the strands of baby hair. "Don't worry. They don't even know we're up here. And they're starting to head back towards their lockerroom."
After a pause of inheld breath by all three teammates, Kane let out a sigh of relief. "They're gone."
"Okay." Lita pulled herself up, peeked hesitantly down, and dropped to her feet. Her arms were grabbed and she was slammed back into the very box she'd just climbed down off of.
Triple H sneered at her, his cronies lined up on either side. She closed her eyes, willing herself to believe it a bad dream. How had he known? How had he snuck back around that quickly? "Will I ever be safe from him?" she wondered desperately.
Before he could even open his mouth to taunt her, Kane and Raven had jumped down and were by her side. Evolution stepped back, apparently having not noticed either of the two big men that had been more off in the shadows. Triple H backed up, palms raised in mock surrendur, that grating smirk still across his face. "I just wanted to see how my favorite love was doing," he taunted.
Lita wouldn't meet his eyes. She held hold of Kane's arm, not so much out of fear as out of desire to keep him from prematurely attacking. Raven stood almost directly in front of her, leaned forward like a panther ready to spring. If she so much as gave the signal, he'd go after all four of them.
They waited until Evolution was really gone. Lita let go of Kane's arm, and put shaking hands over her face. "Guys, let's get back to the lockerroom, okay?"
When they'd gotten back, only Tommy and RVD had arrived yet. Rob quickly noted her shaken expression. "Li, everything okay?"
"Just the usual degenerates," Raven explained.
"Li?" Rob stood up, putting his hands on her shoulders.
She looked up at him, composed herself. "I'm fine. It's just, can we talk somewhere private?" she whispered. "I don't want everyone to know all that went on."
"Sure," he nodded, and opened the door for her. "We'll be right back," he told the other guys.
Looking around for a secure spot, he pulled her into a relatively unused stairwell. "So, what happened? Just tell me what you want."
"Okay," she sucked in her breath. "It's just, I can't even stand to see Triple H now. Or rather, I can't stand for him to see me."
"Why? Are you afraid they're going to try to take you again? You know we'd never let that happen."
"Yeah, I know, it's not that. It's the way he looks at me. He's even more smug now. I just hate for him to look at me, with me knowing that he knows, well..." She looked off, taking another deep breath, and continued on in a flat, emotionless voice. "That he knows the feel of my skin, the contours of my body, the way my lips and mouth taste..." Her icy calmness broke. "Such private, personal things. And I just feel...used. And the way he looks at me makes it worse."
She looked over to Rob for his reaction. His head was down, his shoulders trembling with rage, his hands clenched into fists.
"Rob...please...don't do anything crazy, at least not yet."
"It's just," he choked out with anger. "It's not just that he hurt you, but now that you feel this way, about yourself, he keeps hurting you. I can't stand it, Amy. You're hurting and there's nothing I can do about it. I can't stand it."
"You do enough for me as it is," she reassured him. "Just being here with me...you don't know how much that means to me." She scooted over next to him, leaned her head on his shoulder, looked up at him with questioning eyes.
He looked down at her and couldn't help but smile. He wrapped his arms around her, pulled her close. He didn't think he'd ever felt this comfortable in his whole life. Lita sighed against him, a small, contented sound. "It's gonna be okay now," he whispered soothingly. "I'm not going to let him anywhere near you."
It was a huge, impossible promise, but in that moment, Rob meant it. He knew then and there that he'd die before he let harm come to her again.
"You know," Lita murmured, eyes closed against his chest. "You're the only one I can really let be stronger than me. I know you'd never let anything hurt me. I'm just not sure I understand why."
"Because I love you." She looked up, searching his eyes, and he gazed back down at her. "I wish there was a better, less-cliched way I could say it, but I don't know how. I don't have Raven's gift with words. I just know it, and I mean it, but I can't explain it. I love you. Take that how you want to."
Her lips parted in surprise, and he capture them with his, quickly and gently, a sweet, giving gesture. He pulled back softly. She stared at him, confused.
"What do you want from me?" she whispered hoarsely.
"I want you to be happy."
"No," she shook her head, debating within herself. "Everyone wants something from everyone else."
"Listen to yourself," he argued. "You're starting to sound like Kane."
"Maybe that's because I'm starting to understand why he thinks the way he does."
"Why?"
"Because I'm scared!" She drew back from him, chest heaving in panic. "I trust you, but I don't want to. I've witnessed firsthand what people can do to each other, the betrayals they can achieve. If you turned on me, too..." She shook her head. "I'm sorry; I couldn't handle it."
"I'm not going to turn on you."
"How can I know? I mean, part of me knows...but I'm still so scared. I'm sorry, Rob." She stood up, walked away from him. "I'm just not ready," she said as she left.
He stared in bewilderment at her as she walked away. "Give her time," he thought, trying to calm himself. "It's only been a week."
He stood up, walked back to the lockerroom. He sat in the back, looking no one in the eye as a once-again in-control Lita told everyone the plans for the night.
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Lita agreed to accompany Raven and Tommy out to the ring for their match against La Resistance for the Tag Team Titles that night. She was still wearing her street clothes, having only already changed into her wrestling boots in case she needed to interfere in their match. She still had the flannel shirt Raven had lent her when she was cold the other night and had it tied around her waist as she walked up to meet them at the gorilla position.
"Hey guys, you ready?"
Both men stared at her, wide-eyed.
"Guys? Everything okay?"
"Um, yeah," Raven said quickly while Tommy assured her, "Uh-huh."
"I mean..."
"It's just that..."
"You look so..."
"...dead sexy."
"...HOT!" Raven finished uneloquently.
Lita blinked at them. "Guys, I look like I've been raiding the homeless shelter for clothes."
"But you look so..."
"...HOT!"
Lita shook her head, trying to understand. "Okay, so the outfit women need to turn men on involves ripped jeans, combat boots, wifebeaters and flannel shirts? Sorry, I'm just not seeing the sexiness in that."
"I'm seeing the sexiness," Tommy stated, staring at her.
"...Right. I forgot that y'all had whacked taste in women. Um, do you think y'all could cut it out with the Beulah and Francine flashbacks at least long enough for your championship match, after which I could change into something more feminine and therefore, less 'sexy'?"
Both nodded, swallowing hard.
"Guys," she snapped her fingers in front of your faces. "Raven, I think that's your music hitting. Unless there just happens to be someone else here who uses 'Come Out and Play'."
"Oh yeah...right." He rushed through the curtains just as the line, "You gotta keep 'em seperated," was hitting.
"Tommy," she addressed him curtly. "Alice in Chains is going to start up any time now. You ready?"
"Yeah," he finally ripped his gaze off of her. "Sorry about that."
She rolled her eyes. "No problem."
Sure enough, "Man in a Box" came on a few seconds later and Tommy walked out, Lita following a few feet behind. All three of the ECW members paused inside of the ring, waiting for the two frenchmen. Lita patted them each on the shoulder. "This one's in the bag. No worries."
Seemingly just to contradict her, Bischoff's music hit. He walked, a forebodingly cheerful grin on his face, just to the top of the ramp.
"As much as I'm sure we'd all love to see this match get underway, I was just worrying about the fairness of all this. It seems to me that two of your very own teammates would be equally, if not more deserving for a shot at the tag team titles. So, at this moment, I would like the Dudley Boyz to come out."
Bubba and D-von walked out as their music hit, glancing suspiciously at Bischoff before going to join everyone else in the ring. Bischoff continued with his spiel.
"So I was thinking, why not have these two fine teams fight for a shot at the titles with La Resistance last week?"
Lita turned to the four men. "He's just trying to cause trouble. He hasn't gotten rid of us yet, so he's trying to rip us apart from the inside. D-von, Bubba, would you let Tommy and Scotty have this one if I could get you a match for something you value far more than tag team gold?" She whispered first in Bubba's ear, then D-von's. Their faces lit up with excitement, and both nodded their affirmations enthusiastically. Lita picked up a mic and turned to Bischoff.
"The team of the Dudley Boyz has agreed to forego a shot at the Tag Team Titles in exchange for a match against two opponents of their choosing, for a prize of their choosing."
Bischoff appeared intrigued. "Go on."
"The Dudleyz wish to challenge Test and Scott Steiner for the managerial services of Miss Stacey Keibler." The crowd roared its approval. Bischoff feigned being deep in thought.
"An interesting concept, but it doesn't seem quite fair to me. After all, Test and Steiner have nothing to win and everything to lose. So..." he smiled at her with an evil glint in his eye. "Perhaps ECW should put something on the line. Like, perhaps, your managerial services. If the Dudleyz win, they get Stacey. But if Test and Steiner win...they get you."
"Don't do it," Bubba whispered in her ear. "Yeah, it's not worth it," D-von added in. "We'll find some other way to save her." Ignoring them, Lita squared her shoulders and glared back up at Bischoff. "Agreed."
"No!" The guys around her pulled her back, yanking the mic out of her hand, trying to force her to reverse the decision.
"Agreed," Bischoff said. "Then it's final. The match will take place tonight. Oh, and Lita," all of the ECW wrestlers in the ring looked up at him. "If there's anything you want to say to your team, you'd better do it now. Because after the match, it's going to be too late."
The guys were all ranting furiously at her as they walked backstage. "How could you do this?" "Are you crazy?" "Steiner and Test; who knows what they'll do?"
"Guys, GUYS!" she hushed them. "It's okay." She glared seriously at Bubba and D-von. "You'd just better win."
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mwahaha...I know what happens...but I'm not tell you yet! You have to wait, and see...Will Lita be stuck working for Test and Steiner? Will they rescue Stacey? Will I ever get over this freakin' migraine? Time shall tell!
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Lita sat up on a high stack of boxes in one of the darker corners backstage. Kane and Raven were on each side of her. She dangled her legs thoughtfully, just looking around from her hidden vantage point at all the people bustling around backstage. There was Rosie, stuck in a phone booth while trying to change into his S.H.I.T. costume. There was Jericho, flirting with Trish. There was Terri, chatting pre-interview with Maven. And then in walked Evolution.
Lita scurried back against the wall, pulling her legs up out of view. Raven and Kane looked at her anxiously.
"Li, it's okay. We're not going to let them do anything to you," Raven reassured her.
She shook her head. "I can't even stand for them to look at me right now. I don't want to think about last week."
Kane tilted his head slowly, popping his neck. "I'll kill them."
"No! At least not right now. Just stay up here with me, okay?"
That was a plea that Kane, of course, could not resist. He slid back beside her, never taking his searing glare off Evolution. Raven remained where he was, appearing almost calm except for the feral tenseness of his body and the way he tilted to block Lita with fierce protectiveness. Lita kept her head back against the wall, eyes closed.
"Are they gone yet?"
"No, not yet," Raven said quietly. He looked over, and reached out, laying his palm on top of her forehead, tenderly brushing back the strands of baby hair. "Don't worry. They don't even know we're up here. And they're starting to head back towards their lockerroom."
After a pause of inheld breath by all three teammates, Kane let out a sigh of relief. "They're gone."
"Okay." Lita pulled herself up, peeked hesitantly down, and dropped to her feet. Her arms were grabbed and she was slammed back into the very box she'd just climbed down off of.
Triple H sneered at her, his cronies lined up on either side. She closed her eyes, willing herself to believe it a bad dream. How had he known? How had he snuck back around that quickly? "Will I ever be safe from him?" she wondered desperately.
Before he could even open his mouth to taunt her, Kane and Raven had jumped down and were by her side. Evolution stepped back, apparently having not noticed either of the two big men that had been more off in the shadows. Triple H backed up, palms raised in mock surrendur, that grating smirk still across his face. "I just wanted to see how my favorite love was doing," he taunted.
Lita wouldn't meet his eyes. She held hold of Kane's arm, not so much out of fear as out of desire to keep him from prematurely attacking. Raven stood almost directly in front of her, leaned forward like a panther ready to spring. If she so much as gave the signal, he'd go after all four of them.
They waited until Evolution was really gone. Lita let go of Kane's arm, and put shaking hands over her face. "Guys, let's get back to the lockerroom, okay?"
When they'd gotten back, only Tommy and RVD had arrived yet. Rob quickly noted her shaken expression. "Li, everything okay?"
"Just the usual degenerates," Raven explained.
"Li?" Rob stood up, putting his hands on her shoulders.
She looked up at him, composed herself. "I'm fine. It's just, can we talk somewhere private?" she whispered. "I don't want everyone to know all that went on."
"Sure," he nodded, and opened the door for her. "We'll be right back," he told the other guys.
Looking around for a secure spot, he pulled her into a relatively unused stairwell. "So, what happened? Just tell me what you want."
"Okay," she sucked in her breath. "It's just, I can't even stand to see Triple H now. Or rather, I can't stand for him to see me."
"Why? Are you afraid they're going to try to take you again? You know we'd never let that happen."
"Yeah, I know, it's not that. It's the way he looks at me. He's even more smug now. I just hate for him to look at me, with me knowing that he knows, well..." She looked off, taking another deep breath, and continued on in a flat, emotionless voice. "That he knows the feel of my skin, the contours of my body, the way my lips and mouth taste..." Her icy calmness broke. "Such private, personal things. And I just feel...used. And the way he looks at me makes it worse."
She looked over to Rob for his reaction. His head was down, his shoulders trembling with rage, his hands clenched into fists.
"Rob...please...don't do anything crazy, at least not yet."
"It's just," he choked out with anger. "It's not just that he hurt you, but now that you feel this way, about yourself, he keeps hurting you. I can't stand it, Amy. You're hurting and there's nothing I can do about it. I can't stand it."
"You do enough for me as it is," she reassured him. "Just being here with me...you don't know how much that means to me." She scooted over next to him, leaned her head on his shoulder, looked up at him with questioning eyes.
He looked down at her and couldn't help but smile. He wrapped his arms around her, pulled her close. He didn't think he'd ever felt this comfortable in his whole life. Lita sighed against him, a small, contented sound. "It's gonna be okay now," he whispered soothingly. "I'm not going to let him anywhere near you."
It was a huge, impossible promise, but in that moment, Rob meant it. He knew then and there that he'd die before he let harm come to her again.
"You know," Lita murmured, eyes closed against his chest. "You're the only one I can really let be stronger than me. I know you'd never let anything hurt me. I'm just not sure I understand why."
"Because I love you." She looked up, searching his eyes, and he gazed back down at her. "I wish there was a better, less-cliched way I could say it, but I don't know how. I don't have Raven's gift with words. I just know it, and I mean it, but I can't explain it. I love you. Take that how you want to."
Her lips parted in surprise, and he capture them with his, quickly and gently, a sweet, giving gesture. He pulled back softly. She stared at him, confused.
"What do you want from me?" she whispered hoarsely.
"I want you to be happy."
"No," she shook her head, debating within herself. "Everyone wants something from everyone else."
"Listen to yourself," he argued. "You're starting to sound like Kane."
"Maybe that's because I'm starting to understand why he thinks the way he does."
"Why?"
"Because I'm scared!" She drew back from him, chest heaving in panic. "I trust you, but I don't want to. I've witnessed firsthand what people can do to each other, the betrayals they can achieve. If you turned on me, too..." She shook her head. "I'm sorry; I couldn't handle it."
"I'm not going to turn on you."
"How can I know? I mean, part of me knows...but I'm still so scared. I'm sorry, Rob." She stood up, walked away from him. "I'm just not ready," she said as she left.
He stared in bewilderment at her as she walked away. "Give her time," he thought, trying to calm himself. "It's only been a week."
He stood up, walked back to the lockerroom. He sat in the back, looking no one in the eye as a once-again in-control Lita told everyone the plans for the night.
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Lita agreed to accompany Raven and Tommy out to the ring for their match against La Resistance for the Tag Team Titles that night. She was still wearing her street clothes, having only already changed into her wrestling boots in case she needed to interfere in their match. She still had the flannel shirt Raven had lent her when she was cold the other night and had it tied around her waist as she walked up to meet them at the gorilla position.
"Hey guys, you ready?"
Both men stared at her, wide-eyed.
"Guys? Everything okay?"
"Um, yeah," Raven said quickly while Tommy assured her, "Uh-huh."
"I mean..."
"It's just that..."
"You look so..."
"...dead sexy."
"...HOT!" Raven finished uneloquently.
Lita blinked at them. "Guys, I look like I've been raiding the homeless shelter for clothes."
"But you look so..."
"...HOT!"
Lita shook her head, trying to understand. "Okay, so the outfit women need to turn men on involves ripped jeans, combat boots, wifebeaters and flannel shirts? Sorry, I'm just not seeing the sexiness in that."
"I'm seeing the sexiness," Tommy stated, staring at her.
"...Right. I forgot that y'all had whacked taste in women. Um, do you think y'all could cut it out with the Beulah and Francine flashbacks at least long enough for your championship match, after which I could change into something more feminine and therefore, less 'sexy'?"
Both nodded, swallowing hard.
"Guys," she snapped her fingers in front of your faces. "Raven, I think that's your music hitting. Unless there just happens to be someone else here who uses 'Come Out and Play'."
"Oh yeah...right." He rushed through the curtains just as the line, "You gotta keep 'em seperated," was hitting.
"Tommy," she addressed him curtly. "Alice in Chains is going to start up any time now. You ready?"
"Yeah," he finally ripped his gaze off of her. "Sorry about that."
She rolled her eyes. "No problem."
Sure enough, "Man in a Box" came on a few seconds later and Tommy walked out, Lita following a few feet behind. All three of the ECW members paused inside of the ring, waiting for the two frenchmen. Lita patted them each on the shoulder. "This one's in the bag. No worries."
Seemingly just to contradict her, Bischoff's music hit. He walked, a forebodingly cheerful grin on his face, just to the top of the ramp.
"As much as I'm sure we'd all love to see this match get underway, I was just worrying about the fairness of all this. It seems to me that two of your very own teammates would be equally, if not more deserving for a shot at the tag team titles. So, at this moment, I would like the Dudley Boyz to come out."
Bubba and D-von walked out as their music hit, glancing suspiciously at Bischoff before going to join everyone else in the ring. Bischoff continued with his spiel.
"So I was thinking, why not have these two fine teams fight for a shot at the titles with La Resistance last week?"
Lita turned to the four men. "He's just trying to cause trouble. He hasn't gotten rid of us yet, so he's trying to rip us apart from the inside. D-von, Bubba, would you let Tommy and Scotty have this one if I could get you a match for something you value far more than tag team gold?" She whispered first in Bubba's ear, then D-von's. Their faces lit up with excitement, and both nodded their affirmations enthusiastically. Lita picked up a mic and turned to Bischoff.
"The team of the Dudley Boyz has agreed to forego a shot at the Tag Team Titles in exchange for a match against two opponents of their choosing, for a prize of their choosing."
Bischoff appeared intrigued. "Go on."
"The Dudleyz wish to challenge Test and Scott Steiner for the managerial services of Miss Stacey Keibler." The crowd roared its approval. Bischoff feigned being deep in thought.
"An interesting concept, but it doesn't seem quite fair to me. After all, Test and Steiner have nothing to win and everything to lose. So..." he smiled at her with an evil glint in his eye. "Perhaps ECW should put something on the line. Like, perhaps, your managerial services. If the Dudleyz win, they get Stacey. But if Test and Steiner win...they get you."
"Don't do it," Bubba whispered in her ear. "Yeah, it's not worth it," D-von added in. "We'll find some other way to save her." Ignoring them, Lita squared her shoulders and glared back up at Bischoff. "Agreed."
"No!" The guys around her pulled her back, yanking the mic out of her hand, trying to force her to reverse the decision.
"Agreed," Bischoff said. "Then it's final. The match will take place tonight. Oh, and Lita," all of the ECW wrestlers in the ring looked up at him. "If there's anything you want to say to your team, you'd better do it now. Because after the match, it's going to be too late."
The guys were all ranting furiously at her as they walked backstage. "How could you do this?" "Are you crazy?" "Steiner and Test; who knows what they'll do?"
"Guys, GUYS!" she hushed them. "It's okay." She glared seriously at Bubba and D-von. "You'd just better win."
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mwahaha...I know what happens...but I'm not tell you yet! You have to wait, and see...Will Lita be stuck working for Test and Steiner? Will they rescue Stacey? Will I ever get over this freakin' migraine? Time shall tell!