Her Daughter's Father
Chapter 1
--December 14th, 2010—
"Wow…" Lita blinked, looking down at Tara as she gaped at the arena, "It's big!"
Lita smiled down at Tara, squeezing her hand, "Yes, it is," she agreed. Her gaze followed alongside Tara's, staring up at the arena that swam in the dark. Butterflies ravaging her stomach, she tore her eyes form the arena, and over to Jessica, who walked next to Tara, holding her sister's hand as her breath fanned out around her.
"Lita!" one of the guards said as she approached.
Lita bowed her head and smiled, "Hi Jim," she replied. He asked her how she was, before noticing Jessica and Tara as they walked through the metal detectors. Lita gathered her purse as Jim talked with Tara.
"We have to get going," Lita said, placing a hand on Tara's shoulder.
Jim smiled, and nodded, "It was nice seeing you Lita. Hope it's not the last time," he added, waving to Tara enthusiastically as they left. Lita looked around the hallways, letting out a breath as she maneuvered her way through the throngs of stagehands. Nodding at the ones who acknowledged her, she tried to pry her mind away from her impeding talk with Chris.
"Guess who?" Lita felt hands cover her eyes, elbows knocking against her shoulders. The redhead thought for a moment. It couldn't be Jeff – he'd long since left the business.
"Chris?" she asked, holding her breath in hope that it wasn't him. She wanted to put off what she had to tell him as long as possible.
"Nope," was the response.
"Rob?" Lita asked. She felt the hands drop away from her eyes, and turned to face her long time friend. She'd gotten to know him somewhat in ECW, and then she'd met up with him again, when she was still on RAW.
"Hey," he said.
She smiled back at him, "Hi," feeling Tara tugging at her hand, she sighed with a smile, pushing her forward gently, "This is Tara."
Rob kneeled down to her level, holding out his hand to her, "I'm Rob." Tara nodded, shaking his hand the same way that she'd seen her mother do to other people.
"Hi," Jessica spoke up, holding out her hand, "I'm Jessica." He nodded, shaking her hand.
"Lita?" the redhead tried to hide the wince that came at the voice. She gritted her teeth to stop her stomach from rolling.
"Rob, can you stay with them for a little bit?" she asked, not waiting for his nod to step away from them, walking up to the person who called her, meeting him mid-stride. He grabbed her around the waist gently, hugging her to him tightly. They exchanged familiar greetings, and then there was silence. Lita swallowed the lump rising in her throat.
"Chris?" he looked back down at her, cocking his eyebrow. "We… We need to talk," she told him nervously, looking down at her hands.
Chris Jericho looked down at her, concern written over his face as he studied her. Her face was drawn together tightly, her eyes were downcast and filled with an emotion he hated to see on her face.
Fear.
"Where do you want to talk?" he asked.
Lita shifted her weight from foot to foot, "Uh… How about your locker room?" she suggested quietly, twirling a strand of hair around her finger until it broke. The redhead avoided his eyes. She didn't want to see the reminder of Tara in his eyes, nor the concern in them.
"Okay," he replied, leading her to his locker room. When they were in the fancy locker room with the door shut firmly, he looked back to her, "Are you okay Li?" he asked, sitting on the coffee table in front of her, his knees brushing against hers.
She was finally able to meet his eyes.
"No."
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