Part Thirteen

"Ms. Hardy? Christine? Are you ok in there?"

Lita was startled immediately out of her stupor as she stood blindly in the living room. Someone was at her door, knocking loudly. Quickly, she picked up the remote control and flipped the tv over to an old movie channel, then picked her way across the glass and water to the door.

"I'm coming!" she called, hoping to calm whomever was knocking so ferociously and calling her name. Who in the world would be knocking on her door at this time of the evening anyway?

Cautiously, she opened the door a crack, seeing a youngish man, late twenties or early thirties standing there. A worried frown graced his handsome features.

"Yes, can I help you?" she asked, opening the door wider. She hoped this stranger couldn't tell she'd been crying.

"Ms. Hardy?" the man asked. "Are you alright? I heard a lot of noise and a loud crash. Everything ok?"

"Uh, yes, it is. Everything's fine," Lita commented, not really knowing why this stranger was at her door asking if she was ok. She lived out in the country for goodness sakes. No one could have heard her. The look on her face must have transmitted those thoughts, as the strange man quickly saw the need to explain.

"Well, I'm sorry to bother you at this time of night. My name is Dalton. Dalton Markley."

"Zeb's son," Lita added, quickly figuring out who this man was.

"Yeah. Zeb's my daddy. He asked me to come out and get those kitchen pipes fixed up for you. I hated to stop by so late, but I have to go all the way to the city tomorrow to get the right parts and I happened by and saw your lights on. I hope you don't mind if I quickly measure the size of the pipes. It'd save a ton of time."

Lita relaxed a little, realizing her cover hadn't been blown. "Oh sure, no problem. Come on in Dalton. Excuse the mess though. As you can see I've had a slight accident," she said, motioning to the glass shards all over the floor.

"What happened?" Dalton asked, gingerly stepping across the glass and making his way into the foyer.

"I'm afraid I'm a little clumsy," Lita lied. "I was trying to juggle the glass with some other things I was carrying, and as you can see, I dropped the glass."

Dalton laughed. "Must of hit the floor at just the right angle. There's glass everywhere ma'am." He looked up into her eyes.

"You could say that," Lita half-smiled. If the right angle means being hurled directly against the wood door.

"I'm sorry if I frightened you by the way. I thought I heard crying, then the noise, and I guess..."

Lita cut him off. "Oh don't worry about that. The crying you heard was the movie," she nodded her head towards the tv. She hated lying to this man, he seemed so nice. But she also couldn't really tell him she'd just witnessed her boyfriend, er, ex-boyfriend? She wasn't sure. Anyway, she couldn't exactly explain to this man that she just witnessed the love of her life get pummeled and knocked out cold on live television. Not to mention that if he saw her watching wrestling, he might put two and two together and recognize her.

"Ah, I see," Dalton answered, apparently believing her. He stepped further into the room and disappeared into the kitchen. Lita sighed a breath of relief. Running over to the tv, she quickly flipped the remote back over to wrestling, muting the sound as she went. She groaned in frustration as she saw La Resistance on the screen. She'd hoped to find an update on Matt, but no luck.

"Well, Christine, I've got the pipe measurements I need," Dalton called, leaving the kitchen. Lita quickly flipped the channel back over to the movie and dropped the remote on the sofa.

"Thanks so much for letting me stop by. Again, I hope I wasn't too much of an inconvenience."

"Oh no," Lita answered, "Not at all. Glad to help you." She was anxious to get Dalton out of there so she could call and check on Matt.

"If it's ok, I'd like to come by tomorrow afternoon and work on the sink. Is that alright?"

"Sure," Lita answered nonchalantly. "Maybe tomorrow you won't have to pick your way through a bed of glass," she chuckled, trying to remain light-hearted. She didn't want him to sense the panic hidden beneath her surface.

"Here, let me help you get this picked up before I go," Dalton offered. He disappeared into the kitchen before Lita could refuse, returning with a broom and dustpan.

"It's ok, Dalton. It was my mess, I'll clean it up."

"Nah, it's ok. You could cut yourself," he chided. "I don't mind. After all, I am the property caretaker." He swept at the broken shards, capturing them in the wisps of the broom.

In her haste to hurry the man out of her house, she dropped to her knees to help, using the sides of her palms to carefully scoop up the bits of glass as best as could. It was a stupid idea.

"Ow! Dammit!" she exclaimed, raising her hand to her lips.

"Here, are you ok?" Dalton asked concerned. He reached down and took her hand carefully, lifting her to her feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she muttered, "stings like you know what though."

"You have a first aid kit?" he asked.

"Bathroom," she answered, holding her hand out so the little drops of blood wouldn't drip on her clothes. She watched him head off down the hall in search of her kit. She nervously glanced over at the television again, wanting more than anything to get an update on Matt's condition.

A few minutes later, her hand was patched up. Dalton had an incredibly soft touch, not hurting her at all. "There you go," he said. "Good as new."

"Thanks a lot Dalton. I appreciate it."

"You're welcome Christine." He smiled sheepishly. "Well, look, I guess I'll be going now. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yes, I'll see you then. Good night." Lita walked him over to the door, and watched until she knew for a fact he'd gotten into his car. As soon as she heard the engine turn, she ran back over to the television, flipping back to the original channel. She grunted in frustration when she saw that wrestling had gone off the air, some type of car show now on instead.

"Dammit," she muttered. Going over to the phone, she picked up the receiver and dialed a number she knew by heart. She paced the living room while she waited for the line to be answered.

"Took you long enough to call. I figured you'd ring before they even had him out of the trainer's room," replied the female voice on the other end of the line.

"Don't start with me Stephanie. I saw what happened, and I'm mad as hell about it. How dare Kane do that? Who does he think he is? But right now, I don't care and I only want to know one thing."

Her voice suddenly softened as she sank to the couch. "Is he ok?"

tbc