AN: Okay I really shouldn't be starting another fic but I couldn't help it. The whole GM thing got me thinking about a possible storyline and I couldn't pass up the offer to write it. I'm definitely not gonna let it get as long as my other fic 'Not Like This' because then I'm sure I'll certainly procrastinate. I'm aiming for longer chapters but probably only 5 or 6 chapters max. Hope you guys enjoy and review!

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Triple H stood in the middle of the ring with his Evolution entourage having a laugh and celebrating over their successful prank they pulled last week with Benoit. With champagne glasses in hand, the three men were ready for some female loving.

"You know what guys, we did such a good job last week that I think we shouldn't have to wait for our rewards until later, I'm ready for some sweet loving right now" Triple H laughed cockily. The three men turned their attention to the entrance ramp waiting for the ladies to come flocking down. However, instead of the ladies, the men were greeted by the music of Chris Jericho. Jericho walked out with a devious grin upon his face as he sauntered back and forth along the stage waiting for the crowd to calm down after being delighted with his presence.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you…." Jericho gushed.

"Sorry to interrupt you H, but tonight is my night…..tonight is literally Raw is Jericho! And when I'm done with you, you won't be finding much to celebrate about because I'm gonna take that title from you, right here….tonight!" Jericho paused as the fans went wild. Hunter looked less amused, but in truth, he had expected it nonetheless.

"BUT….." Jericho interjected,

"Aside from the big news that there's going to be a new World Heavyweight Champion tonight…." he grinned, "there's also another big match tonight that I just had to make at the request of one of my dear friends……Tonight in a no disqualification's match in the middle of a steel cage with a special guest referee is going to be the Queen of Extreme, Lita! facing the she-devil herself for the Women's Championship belt…Trish Stratus!". Once again Jericho paused as he waited for the fans to stop their Lita chants.

"And there's something awfully special about the special guest referee for the match…..It's me" he grinned. The fans went crazy, as far as they were concerned, with the history between Jericho and Trish, they were going to have a new Women's Champion as well. Jericho dropped the mic and pointed to Triple H who still stood in the middle of the ring holding tightly onto his heavyweight title, and indicated that the gold would soon be his, before he made his way to the back where his office for the night was.

When Chris entered, there awaited his three pals: Maven, Benoit and Randy. After high fives and words of praise for the main matches of the night, there was a loud knock at the door. Without waiting for an answer, the visitor burst through the doors. Chris turned around to meet his guest with an amused grin. The gorgeous petite blonde looked a lot less amused and she was justifiably fuming as she clutched her belt tighter.

"What the hell was that?" Trish demanded.

"I'm not even cleared by my doctor to wrestle yet…." She continued. Her mask was taken off earlier that week but she was left with strict instructions that she couldn't aggravate the injury because it might cause complications in the healing process. The doctor even wrote a note exempting her from work tonight. She had only shown up to cut a stupid promo.

"What ever do you mean my broken-nosed, bottom feeding, trash bag ho?" Chris asked with mock innocence. Trish clenched her teeth together at Jericho's words and she was sure she was going to chip a tooth or more as she bit down harder after hearing the snickers elicited by the other three occupants of the room.

"What's wrong Trishy? Cat got your tongue?" Benoit piped in. Maven and Randy kept quiet but couldn't help the snickers that escaped their lips. They passed a knowing glance between each other.

"There's no way I'm gonna walk out champ tonight if you're out there with your bias refereeing" Trish countered. She just knew that Jericho was going to pull something so that Lita could walk out of the arena as the new Women's Champion.

"Are you sure you're worried about my bias refereeing or the fact that there's no way you can avoid showing the world your true colours….and that's that there's only one thing you're good for and that's laying your back earning your championship belts….". It was a low blow but the men didn't care, Maven, Benoit and Randy couldn't believe the balls of Jericho but it was amusing nonetheless. Waiting for another entertaining response by the blonde vixen, they folded their arms and comfortably waited. When nothing came, Maven jumped in.

"Come on Trish…..it's not going to work anymore, you know…trying to elude everyone…by opening your big mouth…."

"And legs…." Randy supplied.

Trish instantly looked up at the two younger men in the room. She understood Jericho's hostility and even Benoit's. After Jericho's little bet, Trish had severed all times with a her once good friend Benoit, already assuming that Benoit was going to take Jericho's side. Looking back now, she knew that she shouldn't have done it, but what was done was done and it couldn't be changed. However, the crude comments by Maven and Randy were completely unwarranted. She had never done anything to them, in fact, she had never had any business with them before, except for tagging with Maven in a couple of matches, and she was completely nice to him. Their comments through her off her little bitchy act; the act that she put on every week because she had to learn the hard way that when you're the nice girl, people just walk all over you. She was tired of being used and Jericho's little stunt before Wrestlemania 20 was the last straw for the blonde Canadian.

Several moments passed and the men wondered if Trish had even heard what Maven and Randy even said. Before Jericho could remind her, she spoke up. Trish looked down at the ground and shook her head, refusing to meet any of the four men's eyes.

"Forget it…I don't know why I bother…." she said. The dejected tone in her voice actually made the grin on Jericho's face, of all people, falter. She actually sounded hurt. The four men looked on as she simply walked out of the room without turning back.

"I think we should have just shut up….I think we took it too far man…" Maven said to Randy, concern etched on his face. He didn't normally mistreat women like that and he felt even worse now after noticing the reaction on Trish. He had worked with the blonde before and she had been nothing but sweet and nice to him. He wouldn't say that being a bitch was in her natural character and though he wouldn't admit it to Jericho, he did kind of bring the whole Wrestlemania situation on himself. He tampered with the girl's heart first. In some ways, Maven really couldn't blame her.

Randy turned to his friend. He had to admit that Trish truly did look hurt by their words, especially what Randy himself had said to her. But at the same time, what did she expect?

"Look Maven, after seeing her reaction to what we said, I do feel bad, but what can she expect? If you act like a bitch then you're obviously gonna have people who are gonna call you on it…." Randy said, trying to justify their actions. It wasn't working because he still felt bad and so did Maven. Both Chris's just looked at Maven as if they he grew two heads.

"You guys….this is Trish we're talking about….she's a good actress…don't feel sorry for her…." Jericho ensured.

"And like Randy said, when you act like a bitch, you gotta expect people to treat you like one too…." Benoit said to Maven in defence of Jericho and Orton. Maven simply nodded his head before politely excusing himself from the office. Randy watched the retreating back of his friend and knew that if his father was here, he would have gotten a swift kick in the behind for ever speaking so ill-mannerly to a woman, no matter what her reputation was.

"Earth to Randy….you there man?" Jericho asked, snapping Randy out of his reverie.

"Yeah yeah… sorry…..look, I've gotta go prepare for my match with Batista" Randy said. "Thanks again Chris for making the match for me….I really appreciate it, someone needs to show Dave that as long as he's with Hunter, all he's gonna be is his lapdog. I just hope that when I beat him he'll realize that Hunter is of no use to him because he only looks out for himself….." Randy said vehemently. He hated Hunter with a passion and since breaking away from Evolution, he had made some great friends in the most unlikely people. After his long feuds with Jericho, Benoit and even Shelton, he thought that he would be a loner in the locker room with more enemies made from his Evolution days but he was proved wrong. If there was one thing he missed though, it was his friendship with Dave. He was like his older brother and he wished that Dave could realize what he later did, and that was that he was much better off not having to kiss Hunter's ass week after week. This business was about being the man and as long as Batista was with Triple H, he would never be the man, he'd just be the lackey that kept Triple H on top.

Randy exited the room and walked down the long hallway, towards his locker room. He assumed Maven would already be there preparing for his match but a familiar voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Look….I'm sorry okay….I shouldn't have said anything and I really had no right to….Every other encounter I've had with you and all the times I've worked with you, you were a complete sweetheart and you made me feel welcome even as the new guy….I know this isn't the real you but for whatever reason you're doing what you're doing, it's not my business to butt in". Randy pressed his ear to the door as he listened to his good friend Maven fumble out an apology, who Randy could only presume was directed to the one and only Trish Stratus. Randy didn't hear a reply but hearing Maven thank her, he could only assume that she had accepted his apology. He heard some noise and realized that Maven was coming out. He quickly dashed behind the wall. He didn't want to be caught listening in. After he was sure that Maven was out of sight, he came out from the corner and was about to proceed to the his locker room when something else behind Trish's closed doors made his stop. At first he couldn't make out what the noise was but with an attentive ear, to his astonishment he realized that Trish was crying. He felt so wrong for spying on her but he was intrigued. He would have never thought that Trish Stratus, the same woman who acted like she was untouchable and that no one could hurt her, was sitting inside her locker room crying. His conscious screamed at him to move away from the door but a phone conversation with her mother kept him there.

"Hey mom…." Trish's voice cracked. Her mother was used to the weekly phone call, listening to her baby girl cry over the fact that she hated acting the way she did but it seemed like the only way people took her seriously. Every week was another reminder of how low she had gone to prove to people that she wasn't a stupid Barbie doll. She was a beautiful, intelligent, and talented woman and she couldn't understand why people couldn't give her the credit that was due to her. After a quick phone call, Trish hung up and dried her eyes. She had a match coming up in less than 10 minutes and she had to start making her way down to the gorilla. She opened her locker room door and was met with a tall figure colliding into her.

Randy was completely unaware of the fact that she was making her way towards the door, so by the time she flung the door open, he didn't have time to move and instead, fell over, sending both of them to the floor. For a moment his weight completely rested upon her tiny frame and he was at a loss as to what to do. Should he make an excuse for why he had his ear pressed up to her door, or should he just apologize for using her to break his fall and get up and leave?

He waited momentarily for her to start yelling at him and questioning him as to why he was outside of her door but she didn't. she simply slipped out from underneath him and tried to get up. It wasn't until she tried to balance on her right leg that she realized that she had hurt herself. The pain was searing and she automatically tumbled back down. She didn't hit the floor however, because Randy's strong arms caught her around her tiny waist and pulled her back up. He braced her against his bare chest and was about to examine her leg for her but she quickly moved away.

"I'm fine" she mumbled before limping out the front door. Randy walked ahead of her and turned around to face her.

"You shouldn't be competing tonight on a bad leg…." he lectured her. He couldn't help but notice the slight puffiness around her eyes and he now knew for a fact that she had been crying. Trish whipped around, infuriated.

"Oh…I get it, I get out of the match, which wouldn't be so bad since I already know that Jericho is gonna screw me over…but if I get out of the match then you could go around telling people how you were right…that all my accomplishments weren't about what I did to get where I am today, but rather WHO I did… but I believe your words, for the correct term, was 'opening my legs'….." Trish said. She was angry but she was hurt and she was normally good at hiding it, however, any chance of that was shot to hell as her voice wavered as she repeated the crude words of Randy earlier on that night.

Before he could respond, she trotted down the hallway without looking back. Okay, now he was sure there was no explanation to possibly make him feel better about what he had said to her. Maven was right….he should have just shut up.

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Trish and Lita both crawled to a corner of the ring, trying to regain their breath. They had been fighting for the past 15 minutes and Trish had already claimed three chair shots to the back, that Jericho so conveniently didn't see as he was too busy trying to get an imaginary piece of dust from his eyes. Trish had miraculously kicked out of all three attempts Lita made at a pin, but now she was tired and her back was killing her. She noticed Benoit cheering Lita on and telling her to keep going that she was almost there. 'Son of Bitch' Trish thought as she heard the crowd chant Lita's name. It had been only five minutes into the match before Benoit, Maven and Randy came to the ringside. Apparently, because they were such good friends of Jericho, they were promised the best seats in the house. And apparently the best seats were the ones where they could see her get her ass kicked.

After several moments, both women made a dash at each other only to incur a double clothesline and they both went sailing to the ground. Trish heard the chants once again but there was a small voice that she could barely hear. She turned her head to see Maven knocking the apron, calling her name and telling her to get up. She noticed Randy standing beside him, intensely looking her way. He probably noticed how she was having problems with her leg and worried that she would sue him or something. Lita was first to her feet and gave Trish a kick to the stomach before picking her up and setting her up for the DDT. Trish countered by putting her right leg between Lita's and tripping her. When Lita hit the mat, not only did Trish put her in a submission move, she put her in the walls of Jericho. Her leg was killing her and she was sure she wouldn't be able to stand when she was finished but she held on. She could hear Lita screaming in pain and then she finally heard it…the sound of Lita's hand hitting the mat. She had submitted. Trish waited for the bell to ring and for her to be announced as the winner but when she turned her head slightly, she noticed Jericho standing in the corner admiring his nails as though he had just gotten it polished and painted. Trish immediately let go of the hold and limped her way over. She poked her finger in his chest and demanded to know what he was doing. They argued for a good five minutes before Trish felt herself being tumbled backwards. Lita rolled her up from behind and held onto the ropes for support as she attempted the pin. Trish easily grabbed onto the rope to break the hold but to no avail. Not only did Jericho ignore the fact that Lita cheated and Trish was in fact cleared from the pin, the jackass actually made a fast count!

"And the new Women's Champion…..Lita!". Her music hit and the crowd went wild. Trish lay in ring frustrated as she tried to compose herself. She looked up from her position on the ground to see that Jericho had invited his three friends into the ring where Benoit and himself hoisted Lita on their shoulders while Lita grabbed Maven and Randy's hands and held them up in victory. It was like they were a new stable or something. Trish noticed Maven look over and gave her a sympathetic look. How ironic that not even an hour before this moment, he was in her locker room and after a sincere apology, they had agreed to be friends. She had agreed to make an exception and let herself have one person that she didn't have to play 'the bitch' with. Now he was holding up Lita's hand in victory. She wasn't going to hold it against him. He was all she had right now and she was willing to take it. She needed a friend.

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Raw had ended an hour ago and Trish was still in her locker room getting her things together. She had spent most of the remainder of the night in the trainer's office getting her right leg looked after. To think the biggest injury she suffered tonight and it wasn't even because of her damn match. She heard a knock at the door. Maven quietly slipped inside and closed the door behind him.

"Sorry bout your match earlier….how's your leg doing?" he asked. Trish gave him a small smile before reassuring him that she was just fine. As for her match, "Hey… that's life for ya" was the only reply she offered him. He sat down on a bench and chatted with her as she gathered her things together. It was actually nice to be able to have a conversation with someone and just be real. She hadn't done that in a long time. It was also nice to talk to a someone from the male species who didn't really think that she was just an easy lay. Contrary to what a lot of people thought about her, she had never slept with anyone in the company. She got where she was because of hard work and determination. Even the whole story with Christian, she didn't really sleep with him. It was a business agreement. Christian felt that Jericho had betrayed their friendship and Trish felt that Jericho had lied and betrayed her trust. They both came together to teach Jericho a lesson. All they did was kiss and what that was only for the benefit of Jericho. She and Christian weren't friends but he was man enough to treat with respect and for that, Christian would always be her choice between him and Jericho.

As she continued to talk to Maven, she even learned that he had a thing for the diva search contestant Christy.

"Too bad I've already soured that relationship, I could have put in a good word for ya…." she said. Maven laughed and reassured her that it was alright, he find some way to get the spunky red head's attention.

"Hey do you need a ride back to the hotel?" Maven offered. Trish smiled.

"You know….I'd love a ride, I was booked at a further hotel because the closer ones were all booked…." she said.

"Yeah I know, I was booked at the same one….in fact a lot of us were….it's quite a bit of driving so I bought food to take for the trip…."

Trish giggled. She could have sworn the man's stomach was a bottomless pit. He had already eaten a countless number of things while he was in her locker room.

"I'll meet you in my rental in five minutes…you can have shot gun" he said laughing.

"Actually, I think I know someone else who should have shot gun….give me ten minutes and I'll have it arranged…." she said with a wink. Maven just smirked before leaving the room.

Ten minutes later and Maven noticed Trish walked out of the arena with Christy by her side. He gave her a confused look as she approached closer to the SUV. She only smiled before immediately moving for the back door. He rolled the passenger window down and Trish quickly poked her head in and laughed.

"Hey I can be charming…." she giggled and moved out of the way so Christy could jump in.

Trish jumped in the back and as she turned to set her bag down on the seat beside her, she noticed that she wasn't the only one in the backseat.

Randy had immediately focused his attention on the blonde, from the moment she came out of the arena doors to the moment she stepped in the vehicle. He couldn't take his eyes off of her. He knew she was beautiful but for the first time in a long time, he saw her genuinely smiling and he had to admit that it was a pretty feature of hers. Too bad she didn't do it more often. He didn't miss the look that came across her face when she noticed that he was there too. Obviously Maven had forgotten to mention that. She gave a deep sigh before turning her body towards her window and rested her head back and looked out as Maven began the drive to the hotel.

Twenty minutes later and Maven and Christy were hitting it off quite well. Trish could tell that Christy was just as much into Maven as he was into her. A part of her wished that she hadn't invited Christy because at least then Maven would have remembered that there were other people in the back who were just as starving as he and Christy were. She didn't so much care about Randy but she was starving and in the midst of such interesting conversation between the Tough Enough winner and Diva Search winner, they ate all the food and didn't even offer any. Trish put her hand to her stomach and let out a small groan. She wasn't sure if she could make it to the hotel without eating first. She was about to beg Maven to make a stop at a fast food joint or something when she saw a hand extended in front of her holding a burger. She looked to her left and saw Randy looking at her, prodding her to take it. Her pride got the better of her and she shoved his hand away before once again turning herself to face the other way.

"Come on….I know you're hungry….." Randy said softly. He expected her to ignore him as she did all the other times he tried to even strike up a conversation, but this time she turned to face him.

"And what do you want in return?…." he said angrily. Randy immediately knew what she was referring to and he desperately wished that he could turn back time. He was trying to make things better but apparently Trish was having any of it. Making nice with her wasn't going to make her forget. There was only one thing left to do and given the uncomfortable situation, Randy was going to suck up his pride and do it. At least he could admit to himself that she at least deserved it. He took a glance at Maven and Christy in the front, who had no clue about the situation in the back.

"Look….I'm sorry…..about what I said earlier on tonight. I shouldn't have said anything , it wasn't my place to say anything…."

"Your entitled to your opinion" Trish replied with a shrug as she looked down at the floor as if it were the most fascinating thing in the world. She didn't want to look at him because she didn't want him to see how much his words had hurt her. What Maven said wasn't half as bad and he had instantly come and apologize to her because he truly didn't mean it. He really was sorry. She wasn't sure of Randy's intentions and the cynic in her only told her that they weren't good. Trish wasn't an idiot. She knew what people thought about her but it was a whole different story when people said such lies to her face to purposely hurt her though she had never done anything wrong to them. That was the case with Randy. She didn't want to admit that if it had been only a few other people, that she would have been as hurt as this.

Randy kept his gaze on her for several moments as he watched her contemplate a swirl of emotions in her. He cautiously lifted her chin so that she would look him in the eyes. She pulled away from his touch but she let her eyes focus on his.

"You know Mr. Orton, I would have thought that you of all people would have understood. How long did you walk around kissing Hunter's ass and parading around as his number one lackey? What good did that really do you, huh? In the end, the people you trusted most turned on you…and all for what? Because you were making a name for yourself, you achieved something that they wanted…. For years I've busted my ass to accomplish everything that I have, but in the end, it has no value. It's like when I pull out a win, it's miraculous or something…no one thinks I'm capable of actually using my talent. Victoria's the athletic one, Molly's the technical wrestler, and Lita….don't get me started on Lita. She the high flying queen of extreme…she's hardly extreme and the woman doesn't even have one single fucking high flying move. So she where's baggy pants and comes out to rock music, doing some stupid dance that looks like she's got ticks or something, and everyone loves her. She's so respected and adored. Being the nice girl didn't get me anywhere, at least now people take a bit more seriously…..you know…the only difference between our situations, is that, at the end of the day, even as the bad guy, you still get paid your due respects….I'm just some tits and ass, but hey….that's life…..".

Randy look on in astonishment as Trish had ended her angered speech. He could tell that she had been holding that in for a long time. It wasn't until she mentioned it that he realized how similar their situations were, just the opposite. And she was right…now that he thought about it, everyone took advantage of her when she the good girl, when she was being real, and the incident with Chris must have definitely been the last straw for her.

"Alright guys, we're finally here…." Maven said as he turned around to look at the two in the back. He felt bad that he hadn't even talked to them during the whole trip because he was so busy with Christy. In fact, they were so into their conversation, Maven had no idea if Randy and Trish even got along while they were in the back. His two friends gave him a slight smile and he figured that would do, so he hopped out of the driver's seat to get the luggage from the trunk. Of course, Christy was nice enough to help him.

Trish turned to Randy and gave him an appreciative look.

"Look…I've been wanting to say those things for a long time now…and whether you were listening or not, I just wanted to thank you for letting me say, nonetheless" she said.

Randy gave her a small smile and quickly jumped out of the SUV and made his way to her side and opened the door for her. Trish grabbed her handbag and exited the car.

"Thank you Mr. Orton….." Trish said softly.

"You know Trish, my friends just call me Randy…." Randy said with a slight laugh. Trish looked at him and gave him a sad smile.

"I'm not so sure I'm your friend…In fact, I don't have much of them now a days….." and with that she proceeded to make her into the hotel, Maven at her side pulling her luggage for her, while Christy laughing at something Trish said. Randy looked at her retreating form. She definitely wasn't a bitch or a slut. It was all an act. Randy could now see that the blonde beauty had so much more to offer than she let on, the only problem was…..she was just so misunderstood.