Dangerous Business

Chapter XXX

Smackdown!

          Rob Van Dam sighed wearily as he walked down the hallways.  Stagehands scurried past him, some clumped in groups by the walls.  Wrestlers mingled in the halls as they made their ways to locker rooms, cafeterias, and what not.  Rob pressed a fist to his forehead as he walked, pushing past the throngs of people.  He remembered the last clip of RAW too clearly.  His stomach twisted as his mind replayed it over and over…  RVD saw it-the way her palm slapped the ramp first, her body flying over it, likely breaking her wrist.  He saw the way her back hit the ramp with untamed force, the way her body bounced from the impact, and rolled back to have her land on her neck, her legs crashing against the ramp uselessly. He needed to know how she was…

            "Tommy!" Rob cried out, spotting the wrestler.  Tommy turned, slowly acknowledging Rob's presence as he came closer. 

            "Hey," he greeted, reaching for the bottle of water he'd set on a storage case nearby. 

            "Listen, Tommy," Rob commanded, the words spilling out of his mouth quickly, "I need to know how Liz is," he explained earnestly, and felt his heart twist at the expression on Tommy's face.

            "I thought you two were over," Dreamer replied.

            "We are," Rob said quietly, "Please, just tell me."

            Tommy said hesitantly, "I'm not really great friends with her…"

            "Just tell me how she is," pleaded Rob.

            "Last I heard she had a shattered hand, broken wrist, about 3 broken ribs, and a hell of a lot of bruised ribs.  Jeff said that she was headed in for X-Rays on her neck and back." 

            Rob closed his eyes slightly, and said, "What do you mean, shattered hand?"

            Tommy shifted, and replied, "Well," he pointed to outside of his hand, pointing to the bones that led to his fingers.  "3 of these are shattered."

            "Shattered?" Rob echoed.

            "Parts of them," Tommy corrected.  "They had to go into surgery, because of one piece slipped, and hit a vein or something…"

            "What happened?"

            "As far as they can tell, the surgery went fine.  Her hand is in a cast for awhile-about like 3 days.  They repaired what they could of the bones, but her fingers would be weak, but when they take the cast off…" he paused, "She might not be able to move any of her fingers on her left hand."

            "Is she okay?"

            "Yeah, I guess," Tommy said evasively, "Haven't really gotten the chance to talk to her for long.  Jeff Hardy was cursing HHH to all sorts of hell while I was there, and I got the impression that it would be best to talk to her when he was calmed down.  She said she hurt like hell, but she'd be okay."

            Rob closed his eyes, and let out a small sigh of relief.  Things could've gone a lot worse-and they still could, seeing that the X-Rays hadn't come yet-but for now…  She was okay.  And that was all that mattered.

            *                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *

            Edge winced to himself as he walked into Liz's hospital room.  The bed was propped up, and the TV was on to Smackdown!.  Her left arm was in a cast up to her elbow, a neck brace was tightly wrapped around her neck, and a large bandage was wrapped around her head.  She gave him a small smile as he walked in.  "Seriously," she said, her voice raspy, "It looks worse than it is," a small grin appeared on her face, "You should see Triple H.  I think he broke his collarbone."  He shook his head, a slight smile prying at his face at the gleeful tone in her voice.  Liz watched him intently as he sat down in the chair next to her.  "You should be at the show," she told him.

            "Rey is covering for me," replied Edge. 

            After a silence, Liz said, "The X-Rays came back.  My back and neck are fine…  The doctors say that it's going to be really sore.  I have to wear this thing until Sunday."  She fell quiet as Edge nodded.  Her eyes focused on the TV screen, which was flipped to Smackdown.  "I have a match on RAW," she announced, pursing her lips tight together. 

            Edge was concerned, "Are you sure that you'll be before then?"

            Liz gave him a small smile, "Déjà vu," she whispered hoarsely. 

            "Then you were tossed into the steel steps.  This time you speared HHH and feel 20 feet to a steel ramp," he told her.

            "That really sounds horrible," she admitted. 

            He rolled his eyes.  "So who's your match against?"

            Her expression faltered for a moment, and she responded, "It's a tag team match."

            "Who's your partner, then?" Edge questioned.

            "Rob," she answered calmly, her face tight. 

            Edge stopped, and almost groaned out loud.  "I can have it changed…"

            "No," she snapped sharply, cringing at her own tone of voice.  "It's fine…"

            "Liz, what's wrong?" Edge pressed. 

            Liz's eyes didn't waver from the television as she responded.  "I think I'm still in love with him."  Edge leaned back in his chair, his eyebrows lifting as he digested the information.  

            "Well…   That's…a predicament…" he mumbled cautiously.  She laughed hollowly. 

            "Yeah," she said sourly.  Sighing, her eyes fell to her hands, clasped in her lap.  "How's Dominique?" she asked softly. 

"She's okay…  The nurses say that she moves every so often, and her eyes are open a lot…  I guess that's a good thing."

            "The longer she spends in the coma the less chance she has of coming out of it," Liz said, repeating what the doctor had told her.  She closed her eyes, a single tear skittering down her face.  "It's my fault," she whispered.  "It's because of me that she's in that coma…"

            Edge put a hand on her arm, "It's not your fault.  It would've been you or someone else lying in that bed in a coma one way or another." 

            "It should be me," her voice was flat, leaving no room for arguing.  After a brief silence, she said, "Will you call Willow for me?  Have her fly up here?  Tell her that it's important."

            Edge shrugged, "Sure."  He stood up, heading out the door. 

            "I'm going to kill him," he turned at the controlled anger in her voice.  "He would deserve it," she carried on through chapped, cracked lips, her eyes glued to the television. 

            "No one deserves to die," he told her quietly. 

            "But everyone does."

            "They go to a better place."

            She glanced over at him and said, "I can't believe that, Edge," she told him quietly.

            "Why not?"

            Liz turned her jade eyes away from him.  "Because then I'll stop fighting for this."

            *                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *

Author's Note:  Please review!!

DiscoInferno1:  On regard to your review on Chapter 27…  I messed up the sentence.  It's supposed to read: "She was using him as a distraction from Rob, but all she was really doing was imaging Rob in Brock's place."