Christmas day passed in a whirlwind of family, food, wrapping paper and pictures. Evie had forgotten how tiring it always was. The immediate family had all finally left for their own homes and her father was dozing on the sofa in the family room while her mother finished cleaning up in the kitchen. Evie stretched out on her bed with her laptop to check her mail. She had plugged the line into the phone jack and as she waited for it to connect, she popped a cd into her stereo to listen to while she worked.
Once she was online and in her mailbox, she went through several Christmas e-mail cards, spam, junk mail and old folders. As she was responding to an e-mail from a friend, she heard a knock on her door. "Yeah?" she asked distractedly.
The door opened and her mother came in. When she noticed what Evie was doing, she spoke up. "Am I disturbing you?"
Evie looked up and smiled. "No, come on in."
Lillian entered and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Are you working? Because I can come back later."
"No, I'm just clearing out my mailbox and I can talk while I do that." She tapped on a few more keys. "What's up?"
Lillian watched as Evie typed and clicked. "I thought I'd come up and talk to you for a bit. We haven't had much of a chance to visit since you came home, what with everything going on."
"Yeah it's been a bit crazy. Especially since I haven't seen a lot of people in a while." Evie quickly finished up what she was doing, closed out her mailbox and her internet connection. As she pushed the laptop to the side, she looked up at her mother again. "What's on your mind mom?"
Lillian tucked her hair behind her ear absentmindedly. "I just wanted to know how things are going for you," Lillian said. "We don't hear from you very often and I want to make sure you're doing okay."
"I'm doing okay. Things are going fine. Work is work. Sometimes a little stressful and sometimes not," Evie responded. She had a feeling that this was leading up to something and was pretty sure that something was Hunter. But she didn't jump the gun. Instead she waited for her mother to bring it up.
"Well with all that traveling you do, I'm not surprised that things get a bit stressful." She looked at her youngest daughter. She had been debating all day whether or not to bring up what she actually wanted to talk about. But then again, Evie had always appreciated honesty. She went ahead and asked, knowing that if Evie wanted her mother to mind her own business, then she'd say so. "How are things with you and Hunter?"
Evie remained nonchalant about the question. "Do you mean, how is our work relationship or something else?"
Lillian eyed Evie. "I mean, is there something going on with you two that we should know about?"
Evie grew quiet for a minute, then- "Why? Do you thing there's something going on?"
She gestured to Evie's neck. "Well there must be because I've never seen that necklace before. And you haven't taken it off since you got here. Usually when you buy yourself jewelry, you take it off after a while."
Evie smiled. "He gave it to me as a way of thanking me for sticking around as long as I have. He's not exactly the easiest person to get along with."
Her mother made a face. "Pull the other one Evelyn. A man doesn't give you jewelry unless he's serious about you."
A chuckle escaped from Evie. "That's what Lauren said."
"Who do you think she heard it from?" responded Lillian. "Besides, every time you talked about the man, you couldn't stop smiling."
Evie put a hand up to her cheek to cover the faint flush of embarrassment. "Am I that obvious?"
Lillian smiled at her action. "Only to those of us who know you well." She chuckled. "Actually, your father noticed it first."
Evie rolled her eyes. "Oh great. That means that he'll be giving me a hard time about it won't he?"
"No more than usual." Lillian became serious. "What is the nature of your relationship Evelyn?"
Evie took a breath and blew it out slowly, to give herself a little time to think. She wasn't quite sure how to phrase it, then decided just to be blunt about it. Her eyes met her mom's. "He loves me and I love him," she simply said.
Her mother had figured as much. When Evie had come home, there was something different about her that Lillian wasn't quite sure of. She'd had her suspicions, especially on hearing the way Evie talked about Hunter, but nothing definite until now. "How long has this been going on?" Lillian asked quietly.
"Things didn't become serious until about two weeks ago. It took him a long time to admit it to me. In fact he was afraid to."
Lillian tilted her head to one side. "Why?"
"Well, the last time he said it to someone, things got really messy and ended on a bad note. He didn't want to go through that again."
"Meaning his ex-wife?" When Evie nodded, Lillian spoke again. "How would he know if things would be like that again? You're not his ex-wife."
"I know that and so does he. I think he just wanted to make sure I wasn't telling him because of all the things he has, or that I wouldn't use him or treat him like she did." Evie sat back against the headboard. "Kinda like the way I was after Davis," she said quietly.
Lillian patted Evie's leg comfortingly. "That was understandable though, with all that you had gone through. And I suppose it's understandable on Hunter's part too. At least he was being cautious about it." She tentatively asked the next question. "How does he treat you?" She braced herself for the answer.
Evie lifted her head and a smile appeared. "He treats me fine. I mean, we have our disagreements sometimes, but he's not like Davis mom. You don't have to worry about that."
Lillian relaxed a little. "I'm glad. But even so, I'll still worry because I'm your mother. I just don't want you to go through all that again. None of us do."
Evie laughed softly. "I don't think you have to worry too much mom. If something does happen, there are at least three people that would stick up for me."
"One of them being your sister I'm assuming?" Lillian said in amusement.
A nod of Evie's head confirmed the question. "I think she'd be the first in line."
"That's your sister all right." Lillian clasped Evie's hand in hers. "Not that I'm expecting it to, but you know that if anything does go wrong, we're always here for you."
Evie hugged her mother. "I know and I appreciate it mom." She pulled back. "I hope everything does go fine, but there are never any guarantees in life. Right now we're taking it one day at a time."
Lillian smiled. "That's the best thing to do. Take things slow. I know you're not a child anymore. I don't want to see you hurt, but your mind is your own and you make your own decisions." She glanced at Evie, a twinkle in her eyes. "I don't know about you, but I could use a little ice cream. There was some left, unless your father woke up and ate the rest of it."
Evie's dad was an ice cream addict. Which is why it never lasted more than a few days in the house. Or a few hours. Evie laughed as she followed her mom down to the kitchen.
********************
Hunter and Evie arrived at her parents' home in the early afternoon. They were greeted at the door by her father and he helped them with the luggage. As the bags were set down in the foyer, Evie's mother appeared.
"You made it," she said as she smiled. She held out her hand. "Good to see you again Hunter."
Hunter shook her hand. "Nice to see you again too Mrs. Mackenzie."
Evie's mother chuckled. "Just Lillian is fine. Why don't we take your suitcases upstairs?" she asked as she gestured to the luggage.
Hunter picked both his and Evie's suitcases up as her dad took the carry on bags. Evie shouldered her computer bag and they followed Lillian up the stairs.
"Hunter, you can stay in Tom's old room." She opened a door and let Hunter take his things inside. "The bathroom is at the end of the hall."
He set his suitcase down and glanced around briefly. The room was sparsely furnished with a king size bed, an oak dresser and a matching desk. A few pictures decorated the walls, which had been painted a dark green. He turned around, Evie's suitcase still in his other hand. "I take it Tom is tall."
Lillian laughed. "Yes he's maybe an inch or two shorter than you. He just wouldn't stop growing, so we had to buy him a king size bed to accommodate his height."
Evie's dad, David, entered the room and set Hunter's carry on bag on the bed. "We thought Tom might play basketball, but he went in for computers instead."
Lillian gestured at Evie's suitcase. "Just follow me and you can put that in Evelyn's room."
Hunter trailed her out into the hall and into the next room. Evie was unpacking her computer. She turned around as Hunter put her suitcase down. "Thanks Hunter."
Once Evie and Hunter got settled in, they went down to the kitchen where Lillian fixed some lunch. They chatted amicably as they ate. Once they were finished, Evie helped Lillian clean up. As they worked on the dishes, David motioned for Hunter to follow him.
"Put your coat on and I'll show you the tree house we built for the kids."
Hunter obliged and the two men went out the sliding door and into the backyard. David pointed out the tree house to Hunter. It was in the midst of a stand of trees but wasn't built like a regular tree house. It stood up on four wood beams approximately 15 feet high and was reinforced with criss-crossed beams. A set of stairs went up to the door. From where Hunter stood, he could see a couple of windows, complete with glass and screens.
"Pretty nice," Hunter remarked.
"Wait till you see the inside," David responded.
They went up the stairs and into the house. It was one room about thirteen feet square, with an assortment of bean bags, a few old kitchen chairs, a couple of side tables, a small television and a mini refrigerator. Berber carpet covered the floor.
Hunter looked around and noticed electrical outlets along the walls. "You've got this thing wired for electricity too?" he asked.
"Yeah. We ran the lines out from the house. Had to bury them though. Didn't want to run them over with the lawn mower."
"Pretty nice for a tree house," Hunter said with a smile. "Mine was whatever wood we could find nailed to the two lowest branches of the only tree in our backyard."
"Gavin, my son-in-law, and I figured it would be nice for the boys to have someplace to hang out when they got tired of being around the old folks. They don't come out here much in the winter because there's no heater. But in the summertime they like to sleep out here."
Hunter chuckled. "Wish I'd had a tree house like this."
David smiled. "Yeah I do too." His smile faded after a few seconds and he sat down. "Actually Hunter, I figured we could talk out here without any feminine interference." David gestured to one of the chairs and Hunter sat down.
Hunter looked at Evie's father. "What's on your mind sir?"
David cleared his throat. "I wanted to talk to you about Evie."
A faint smile appeared on Hunter's mouth. He knew this had been coming. Evie had warned him that her dad would probably give him what she called "the talk". She explained to Hunter that her dad had done this with every boyfriend of hers or Lauren's. Basically it boiled down to how he expected them to treat his daughters.
David continued. "I know that you two have been working together for over a year now. I also know that some feelings have developed between the two of you. Evie told us that your relationship has progressed from a working one to a romantic one."
"Yes it has," Hunter replied.
"Now I know that when relationships develop pretty quickly, they sometimes dissolve that much quicker under some circumstances. Knowing that you two are together almost twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, I'd wonder if that might take a toll on things."
Hunter shook his head. "So far it hasn't. That's not to say that it might not, but Evie's taken everything in stride and has handled things pretty well." He looked at David. "We do have days off though, so we're not always around each other."
David looked Hunter squarely in the eyes. "Do you love my daughter?"
"Yes I do," Hunter responded quietly.
David didn't hesitate to ask his next question. "Does marriage come into the picture?"
Hunter leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. "This is still pretty new to the both of us. You see, it took me a long time to even tell her that I'm in love with her. I don't want to rush into anything else. I rushed into my first marriage without much thought for the consequences and that failed pretty quickly. Right now, we're just taking it slowly."
David nodded at Hunter's answer. "I'm glad to hear that. After what happened to her in California, she wasn't too quick to jump into dating again. I don't know if you're aware of it or not, but Evie was in an abusive relationship in the past and that's something we don't want her to go through again. Even though she can take care of herself in situations, we still tend to worry."
"I am aware of it sir. Evie told me what happened." Hunter leaned back in his chair. "I met the man and I wasn't too impressed with him."
David's eyebrows shot up "You met that son-of-a-bitch? How the hell did that happen?"
Hunter explained to him exactly what had happened in the hotel that night. He stopped at the part where Evie had finished crying, not wanting to go into further details. "She did pretty well in dealing with the situation. I'm just glad I was there before things got out of hand. I know she's quite capable of defending herself, but still..." he trailed off.
"Yeah, she can be a hellcat when she wants to," David chuckled. "But you did the right thing."
Hunter chuckled as well. "I was kind of doubtful of that. I almost expected her to give me hell because I didn't let her beat the crap out of him. But she didn't."
David nodded in response and stood up. "I appreciate you being honest with me Hunter. Like I said, she's been through a rough time already and I want to make sure that's not going to happen again." He sighed. "Your child is still your child, even though she may be grown up. I just don't want to see her hurt."
"I understand your concern sir. I know that if I had a daughter like Evie, I'd be checking up on her boyfriends too," Hunter said with a smile as he stood up.
"I'm glad." David smiled in appreciation as he clapped Hunter on the shoulder. "Suppose we better go in before the women get suspicious."
*********************
Evie and Hunter spent a quiet five days at his home in New Hampshire. They had gone to his neighbor's for New Year's Eve, but left promptly after midnight and had their own celebration.
When they were done, Evie lay in the crook of his arm, her head resting on his chest. "Hunter?" she asked quietly.
"Mmm?" he murmured in response.
She asked him the question she'd wanted to ask since they left her parents' house. "My dad wasn't too hard on you was he?"
A smile drifted across his mouth. "No he wasn't.
"I just don't want you to be uncomfortable around him."
"I like your dad. He was pretty direct with his questions, but it didn't make me uncomfortable at all." He dropped a brief kiss on her forehead. "You know, you're pretty lucky to have a family like that. They all care about you."
Evie lifted her head to look at him. "I know. Sometimes they're a little too protective, but I know they mean well."
Hunter's hand smoothed away a few strands of red hair that had fallen across her face. "I like your family." He smiled. "Especially your nephews. They were asking me a million questions once they got over their shyness."
Evie chuckled. Colin and Jacob had asked him questions about other WWE personalities, what it was like doing all those moves in the ring and a thousand other things. Hunter had taken it all in stride and politely answered their inquiries. The two boys had even talked him into playing video games with them. They had played WWE's SMACKDOWN! Shut Your Mouth that they had gotten for Christmas. Gavin, their father, Jacob, Colin and Hunter had taken turns at the game console. Jacob gave Hunter advice on which buttons to push while Colin cheered on their dad.
"At least you can actually wrestle in real life. If you wrestled the way you did in that video game, you'd be out of a job," Evie teased. "They whipped your butt."
Hunter grinned. "Yeah well, who would have thought I'd be taking wrestling advice from a ten year old?"
Evie laughed softly as her head rested on his chest again. He absentmindedly ran his hand up and down her arm as he thought about the past couple of weeks. Christmas at his parents' home had been nice, but they were always so formal with everything. Christmas Eve dinner, Christmas Day breakfast and even opening gifts was all done in an orderly manner.
It had been nice to spend time with Evie's family. They weren't so rigid or formal. The three days he had spent there had been much more relaxing than the time spent with his family. He almost envied Evie.
Hunter felt her stir and he glanced down. She draped an arm across his chest as she nestled closer to him. Her eyes were closed. Hunter sighed inwardly as he thought about the changes that had happened to their relationship over the past few weeks. He mentally chided himself for having been too much of a coward to tell her that he loved her. Or that he had actually thought about letting her go. She had become so much a part of his life over the past year and a half that he couldn't imagine what it would feel like to not have her next to him. Well, he could and he didn't like it. With her, there was a sense of certainty; a sense of safety. It was like closing the door on the world and knowing you were home. It sounded a bit strange to him, but that's what she felt like. Like home.
His arm tightened around her as his eyes closed. "G'night Evie," he whispered.
"Night," she mumbled sleepily.
***********************
Monday night it was back to work. Evie and Hunter had flown in that morning and gotten checked in at the hotel. Hunter met up with Ric and Batista at the hotel and they went down to the restaurant and talked over their holidays and plans for dealing with Steiner that night.
No immediate altercations took place between the two men, but Steiner had challenged Hunter to an arm wrestling match, which Hunter had lost. However, Hunter was not upset about it. Instead he challenged Steiner to a pose down. But the judges had a hidden agenda concerning Steiner. Hunter had handpicked them and they ambushed Steiner, but Steiner fought back and made quick work of the three men, much to Hunter's chagrin.
Evie watched the monitor quietly as Hunter walked back up the ramp and disappeared behind the curtain. Batista grinned as he sat down on the sofa next to her. He and Ric had demolished the Dudley Boyz earlier in the show, per Bischoff's request.
"Didn't seem to make much difference trying to beat down Steiner did it?" she asked Batista.
"Triple H is just playing with him. Trying to keep him off balance for the Royal Rumble match." Batista shook his head as he grinned again. "He's just fuckin' with him."
Evie turned her attention back to the screen when it was announced that Shawn Michaels was going to be in the Royal Rumble. Then Jericho and Christian appeared onscreen announcing their entry into the 30 man match.
Batista snorted in derision. "Those three couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag. Let alone a 30 man match."
Evie didn't comment. She was still angry at Shawn. She couldn't stand Jericho and she had no opinion of Christian. Shawn had not called her or approached her since Hunter had beaten him at Armageddon, which was fine by her. After their argument in the hallway, she definitely did not want anything to do with him. He had proved to her that he was just as capable of using people like everyone else did, despite his claim of being a changed person.
She had seen Jericho earlier that evening. He hadn't approached her, but gave her a knowing smile, tapped his head with a finger and walked away. For the life of her, Evie could not figure out what he was up to. But if he was leaving her alone for now, it really didn't matter.
The rest of the week went by in a rush as they all adjusted to being back on the road after a two week hiatus. The following Monday in Connecticut, things became interesting. Apparently Vince McMahon was not happy with the way Bischoff was running things on RAW. He had phoned Bischoff last week to let him know that he would be making an appearance at the show tonight. Bischoff had gone into a frenzy making sure that things were controversy free. He confronted Chief Morley and told him he wanted an orderly show tonight because of McMahon's appearance.
He sent Morley off to deal with a couple of disgruntled referees, when he was approached by Scott Steiner. Steiner demanded a match against Hunter that very night, but Bischoff refused, stating that he would have to wait until the Royal Rumble for that. Instead, he booked Steiner and Hunter in a bench press contest. Steiner complained that he was tired of playing games and walked off.
As the show progressed, Bischoff suspended the Dudley Boyz after they attacked Chief Morely. Bischoff had threatened to fire them, but Bubba Ray Dudley told him that if that was what would happen, then they would go to SmackDown. Bubba said he was pretty sure that Stephanie McMahon would appreciate them much more than Bischoff did.
Vince McMahon finally arrived, exchanged words with Bischoff briefly and then headed out to the ring. He started talking about the RAW tenth anniversary show, but was interrupted by the Dudley Boyz. They complained about Bischoff and the job he was doing. Vince commiserated with them, reinstated them and gave them a table match against Lance Storm and William Regal at the Royal Rumble.
The Dudleys left and before Vince could finish what he had been talking about before the Dudleys interrupted, Chris Jericho came out and down to the ring. Jericho had a proposal for Vince about his position in the Royal Rumble, but Vince proposed that Jericho shut the hell up. He told Jericho that he would get to pick his entry number for the Royal Rumble if he won the over the top rope match against Batista, RVD and Kane tonight. When Jericho said eh would take the number one spot, Vince told him that wouldn't happen because that spot had already been given to HBK. Vince then asked Jericho to leave the ring.
The next interruption came from Bischoff. He complained to Vince that all his work on RAW was being undermined by McMahon and Vince stated that Bischoff had 30 days to turn RAW inside out, upside down and shake it to its foundation. If he didn't do that in 30 days, the only words Bischoff would hear would be "You're fired!" Vince then left the ring.
Evie chuckled as the monitor displayed Bischoff in the ring with a stunned expression on his face. She didn't feel sorry for him at all. He wasn't exactly the most scrupulous business man. Nor was he high on Evie's favorites list as he had made her face Jericho in the ring in the past.
Batista caught her chuckle and he looked at her. "Don't like Bischoff either?" he asked. He had remained behind when Hunter and Ric left to talk about the bench press match. Hunter had decided that he wasn't going to play this particular game.
"Let's just say he's not exactly my favorite person," she replied. "Especially after he put me in a match with Jericho."
A look of surprise crossed Batista's face. "He did what?" he asked.
"Mr. Bischoff was kind enough to put me in a one on one match with Jericho after Jericho attacked me." She sat down next to Batista and told him how Bischoff had come to that decision.
When she was done, Batista shook his head. "Shit. No wonder Hunter doesn't like you being left alone. He told me that Jericho had it in for you, but never told me why."
"I can't figure it out either. I don't know why he continues to harass me. Originally he started doing it because Stephanie had talked him into working with her last year to bring Hunter down, but now... ?"
Batista grimaced. "Maybe he's just trying to put Hunter off his game through you. You know how bad Jericho wants that title."
"With Jericho, who knows anymore?" There was a knock at the door and Evie got up to answer it.
Bischoff stood on the other side; a no-nonsense expression on his face. "You. My office. Now," he said tersely.
Evie looked back at Batista. "I'll be in Bischoff's office. If I'm not back before Hunter is, let him know will you?"
Batista nodded and Evie left the room, following Bischoff through the hallway. Bischoff said nothing until they got to his office and he closed the door. He stood across from Evie.
She eyed him warily. "What's this about?" she asked.
Bischoff started pacing. "I booked Triple H in a bench press match with Scott Steiner tonight. Knowing Triple H, he probably has something up his sleeve. Since you are his personal assistant, I want you to find out what it is and report back to me." He looked at her. "I can't afford to have anymore screw ups around here. My job is on the line."
Evie remained polite despite the request. "With all respect Mr. Bischoff, why don't you ask him yourself? You are the GM and he is a contracted employee-"
Bischoff cut her off. "And so are you!" he exclaimed as he pointed a finger at her. "Do I have to remind you that you are under contract to the WWE? And since you ARE employed by the company and on MY show, you do what I tell you to!"
Evie folded her arms across her chest, a defiant look on her face. "You need to read that contract a little closer Mr. Bischoff. It states that I am under the direct employ of Linda McMahon and Hunter. Linda is the person I report to; not you. She is my boss; not you. I do not have a contract with RAW. I am not a wrestler. Therefore I am not your employee. So you can take your request and stick it where the sun doesn't shine. And if you have a problem with that, you can talk to Linda McMahon."
Bischoff stood face to face with Evie. His skin was mottled with red; a sure sign that he was pissed, but he knew that if what she said was true, he had no authority over her. Then something hit him. He smiled. "Well, if that is the case, then you aren't signed to any particular brand are you?' he asked in an acidic tone. "And if you aren't assigned to any particular brand, then you can be transferred can't you?" His grin grew wider. "Or I could put you in another match with Jericho. I'm sure he'd love that."
Evie cocked her head to one side, regarding him as one would a piece of gum stuck to the bottom of a shoe. "You are a piece of work Bischoff. And apparently you're deaf too. Or maybe you're a little slow on the uptake? Let me repeat it so that you understand." She cleared her throat. "I am not your employee. Linda McMahon assigned me to Hunter, and even though Hunter has a contract with RAW, that does not mean that I work for you," she said slowly and deliberately. "And I spoke to Linda after that match. She said that next time something like that does happen, someone will answer for it."
Bischoff grew angry again. He knew who the someone was that Evie was referring to. "I understood you the first time. You know, Linda McMahon is only the CEO. Vince McMahon is the owner of the company. I could take this to him and see what he says."
Evie smiled. "Seeing as you aren't doing a very good job as it is, and Mr. McMahon gave you 30 days to turn things around, I somehow doubt he would listen to something that petty that doesn't even affect the show."
"Maybe not," Bischoff acquiesced grudgingly. "But you better watch yourself or I will find a way to get rid of you." He drew himself up to his full height, trying to intimidate her.
Evie remained where she was, not backing down. She wasn't afraid of him. She knew what Linda McMahon thought of him and wasn't worried about losing her job. She spoke again. "You could always take this up with Hunter. I'm sure he'd be more than interested in knowing why you plan on transferring me to SmackDown."
Bischoff stepped back after realizing that she wasn't going to cower. "Get out of my office," he said tersely and gestured to the door. He definitely did not want to take this up with Triple H. He needed him on the show and didn't want to do anything that would piss him off enough to take himself elsewhere. Or to take it out on Bischoff.
Evie smiled at him and left without another word. As she headed back to Hunter's locker room, she reminded herself to give Linda a call and let her know what happened, at least to give her a heads up in case Vince decided that Bischoff's complaint was worth looking into.
As she passed by a doorway, she glanced over out of idle curiosity. What she saw was Chris Jericho speaking to Scott Steiner. Steiner seemed to be listening intently to what Jericho was saying. Evie wondered what Jericho was up to now. Not wanting to have him catch her looking, she sped up her pace and in no time, was back in Hunter's locker room. As she shut the door behind her, she heard Hunter's voice.
"What did Bischoff want?
Evie turned around to find him standing in the door to the bathroom. She glanced around, noting that both Ric and Batista were gone. "Where is everyone?"
Hunter smiled. "They went to talk to Bischoff about the over the top rope match and then Batista was going to warm up."
Evie returned the smile. "I'm afraid they won't find him in a very good mood."
He moved closer to her. "I'm assuming that he got pissed off at you for something."
Evie nodded. "He wanted me to find out if you had anything planned for your match with Steiner tonight and report back to him. When I simply asked why he didn't ask you himself, he got mad at me and told me that, and I quote, 'Do I have to remind you that you are under contract to the WWE? And since you ARE employed by the company and on MY show, you do what I tell you to!'."
Hunter's eyes narrowed. "He actually told you that?" When Evie nodded, he noticed the grin twitching at the corners of her mouth. "What did you tell him?"
"I told that I don't work for him and that he could stick his demand up his ass," she said with some feeling.
Hunter smothered a laugh. "And what did he say to that?"
"He threatened to transfer me to SmackDown, but I told him he would have to go through Linda McMahon to do that. Then he threatened to go to Vince since Vince owns the company. I told him that with the ultimatum Vince gave him, it was highly unlikely he would even consider the request as it didn't directly impact the show." She raised an eyebrow. "I suggested that he talk to you about it, but he didn't seem too eager to do that."
"Smart girl," Hunter said with a grin. "I think you've been hanging around me too long. I must be starting to rub off on you." His arms wound around her waist.
Another smile tugged at her mouth. "I think you already have," she murmured as she tilted her head up for a kiss. He obliged her, but the kiss was brief. She sighed as he withdrew from her.
He smiled at her as he adjusted his tie and jacket. "There'll be more of that later," he said suggestively.
"Aren't you going to change?" she asked before he left.
Hunter shook his head. "No. I don't think I'm going to give Steiner the satisfaction of competition tonight."
Evie chuckled as he walked out the door to face Steiner in their bench press match. Evie picked up a bottle of water from the bucket on the table and sat down to watch the events unfold.
******************
The camera cut to the stage, where the equipment was set up and Jonathan Coachman explained the rules of the match. Steiner had been introduced first and he took the mic from Coach.
"I'm tired of beating Triple H at all his challenges, so we're gonna see if Triple H can bench press as much as Big Poppa Pump can." He turned to the crew and told them to put 585 pounds on for starters.
The show cut to commercial, but the camera in the arena kept rolling. Evie watched as the guys put on the requested weight for Steiner. When the show came back, Hunter's music hit and he made his way out. The crowd booed as the saw that he wasn't dressed to compete. Instead, he was still wearing his suit and tie that he had come to the arena in. He passed Steiner on the ramp and climbed into the ring. After he removed his jacket, someone handed him a mic.
"These past few weeks, I've simply been toying with you Steiner. These contests, they mean nothing to me. The only thing that matters is the World Heavyweight title."
Hunter walked to the front of the ring and leaned on the top rope. "What makes you think that you're different than all the guys I've beat in the past. Guys like Undertaker, Mick Foley, Austin, The Rock and even Hulk Hogan. All of them thought they were the one man who could knock me off the mountain, but they fell short. Just like I've beat them before, I'll do it to you at the Royal Rumble."
Steiner lifted the mic to his mouth. "Why wait till the Royal Rumble? Why not right now?" He dropped the mic and headed to the ring.
They began throwing punches as soon as Steiner was in the ring. Hunter managed to toss Steiner to the mat, but Steiner came back with a belly to belly suplex and commenced tearing Hunter's shirt off and shoved him into the corner where he delivered a few shots. They grappled in the corner and Steiner managed to somehow strip Hunter down to his underwear and even smacked Hunter with his own shoes before he tossed him out of the ring.
In the locker room, Evie rolled her eyes as she stood up. "You'd think that since they're grown men, they'd act like it," she muttered to herself. Quickly she grabbed a pair of track pants and a t-shirt from Hunter's bag and left the room to meet him at the curtain.
Hunter backed up the ramp, not heeding the catcalls and laughter from the crowd. He kept his eye on Steiner as he got to the top of the stage. Steiner leaned over the top rope, waving the remains of Hunter's shirt and talking trash. Hunter pushed through the curtain and saw Evie waiting for him.
"Are you okay?" she asked as she handed him the clothing she had brought.
He took them from her and pulled them on. "Yeah I'm fine."
When she asked him something else, he waved the question away and they headed back to his room. Once they were inside, Evie close the door and turned to face him. "Were you expecting that from Steiner?"
Hunter pulled his gym shoes out of his bag and sat down to put them on. "Sort of. I didn't think he'd go that far after ripping my shirt off." He laughed softly as he tied the laces.
"What's so funny?" Evie asked.
"Just the fact that he thinks he has the upper hand now. Did you see the look on my face as I went up the ramp? Like I was nervous?"
"Yeah," she responded.
"Making him think that he can beat me will make him even more overconfident than he is now. And when people get overconfident, they become focused on themselves instead of their opponent."
Evie shook her head. "So all that was just a way of throwing him of his game, so to speak?"
"Yup," Hunter simply said. He sat back in the cushions, draping one arm across the back of the sofa. He looked at her expectantly.
"What?" she asked innocently.
He patted the empty space beside him. "Why don't you keep me company?"
Evie rolled her eyes and sat next to him. When his arm came around her shoulders, she shook with laughter.
He glanced at her in exasperation. "What?" he demanded.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," she said in amusement.
Hunter grinned despite himself. "I'll give you more than a bad feeling, but that'll have to wait till later."
She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. "You're such a charmer," she murmured before pulling away.
They turned their attention to the over the top rope match that was underway on the monitor.
Much of the match consisted of RVD and Jericho pairing up with Kane and Batista doing the same thing. They all took turns trying to push each other over the top rope, but it didn't work. The four men went back and forth for a while, using backhanded chops, suplexes and Kane applied a double handed choke slam to Jericho, who had jumped off the turnbuckle to attack Kane. Batista confronted RVD and was about to give him a power bomb when Kane countered the move and ended up getting thrown over the top rope by Batista and being eliminated. RVD wasted no time in making Batista follow Kane. That left RVD and Jericho to battle it out. RVD laid Jericho out with a blow and quickly climbed tot eh top turnbuckle to give Jericho a Five Star Frog Splash when Batista shoved him of and into the top rope. While RVD was hung up on it, Jericho finished him off and won the match.
As soon as the bell ran, Jericho grabbed a mic. "Now, logic would say that I'd pick the number 30 spot in the Rumble, but I don't care. I want to prove to everyone that I am the best. So I'm going to enter at number 2; right after HBK."
At that instant, Shawn hit the ring and tossed Jericho over the top rope. Shawn stood in the ring, inciting the crowd to cheer loudly for him. He left the ring and walked back up the ramp, posing at the top as his fireworks went off. The screen faded and went blank.
There was a knock at the door and Hunter got off the couch to open it. He briefly spoke to whoever was on the other side and then closed the door with a bang.
Evie turned her head to look at him. She noticed that he was holding what was left of his clothes from his altercation with Steiner. He said nothing as he stuffed them in his bag and zipped it up.
The door opened again and this time Flair and Batista came in, both looking peeved. Batista said nothing as he headed to the bathroom, grabbing his clothes along the way. Flair sat down next to Evie with a sigh. He spoke before anyone else could. "At least RVD doesn't get the satisfaction of picking his entry number for the Rumble."
"Don't worry about it Ric," Hunter responded. "Batista will definitely kick some ass at the Rumble."
Rick looked at Hunter. "And what about Scott Steiner?"
Hunter smirked. "Oh I'll definitely be handing Steiner's ass to him next Sunday. Don't worry about that."
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A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews on the last chapter! I love that you all keep coming back to read more. Thanks for all your support and encouragement. You don't know how much it means to me. I've reviewed this chapter quite a few times, but don't always catch things. So if you see anything that might be out of whack, drop me and email and let me know. Thanks!
Vronica03: Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Jericho as the next foil eh? Probably, but he'll have some help in that area this time around. Yeah it was a bit cliché, but I can see Hunter doing something goofy like that.
sugarshanesgirl: Hey! It's nice to see you again! I'm glad you're keeping up with the story. Hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.
Erica: Yay! I'm happy you came back for more! Delighted that you liked the last chapter and hope you enjoyed this one as well.
karisma: Thanks! Happy you liked it. Since things have calmed down now, I'm going to try and update on a more regular basis. So stay tuned!
Xtreme-Jewell: Ah! You would guess right on that. And Jericho will have some assistance this time around too. Thanks for coming back for more!
Jessi: Thanks girl! I appreciate that you keep coming back to read more!
Disco Inferno1: Thank you! Just that they meant that she was missing out on a great time by not going with them. Of course with Flair, we all know what he meant. I figured Batista might be the kind of guy who would be like that. He's just trying to keep things as comfortable for everyone as possible. Jericho? Hmmm… you'll just have to wait and see on that one. Heh heh heh!