Notes: This is from Athena's POV. We're also going to see, sort of, from another dead character in the next part. You'll see what we mean.

This takes place a day after 93 timeline wise.

Sorry for the long wait. Laptop finally died on me. - Juliet.

You all were going to get a long note from me but I forgot my disk but luckily I had my other one. If Jules keeps her promise you'll have 95 today. But that's only if she finishes it while I'm at the library. So cross your fingers you get it tomorrow! But don't worry she'll finish it today. Enjoy! -Dana

94

Beyond the Grave Part 1

Athena's POV

I went with Debra Austin over to her house to help her get some clothing and things to take back with her to the hotel room she was sharing with her husband. Everybody decided that since I was really the only one that hadn't been in the public eye during all of this I was perfect to go and help Debra without causing a commotion or attracting unwanted press. It was small compared to my mother's but then again from what I gathered Debra Austin never had any children of her own and didn't have much of a need for a big house; unlike my Mom and Danny's Mom who had two or more small children after their husbands died and Danny's mom even adopted one. The house reminded me of the house of one of my childhood friends who grew up in the country. It had a very quaint homey feel to it.

It seemed that like my Mom, Debra kept a few clothing and other things of her husband around as well. I noticed coming in above the fireplace a wrestling belt incased in a plaque that had a gold skull in the middle with what seemed like silver or platinum smoke coming out of where it's ears would be. I also saw Debra go into a jewelry box and dig out a skull ring from a corner of it. Very strange.

As we got done packing both her stuff and a few of her husband's stuff, the doorbell rang.

"You weren't expecting anybody were you?" I asked.

Debra subtly shook her head as she headed towards the front door. She looked through the peephole and had an expression of somebody who was happy and yet confused. So it probably wasn't one of Vince's men, but it also wasn't somebody like Eddy or Eric either.

She unlocked and opened the door for the graying man in front of her.

"Al!" She exclaimed opening the door and hugging the man.

I knew who Al Snow was. He was the color commentator on for the WWF's RAW and occasionally SMACKDOWN TV programs. He was also out of a job depending on whether Shane McMahon folded the WWF or not. I wondered how he felt about that.

"Hey Debra," he said coming into the house. "How are you holding up?"

Debra gave him a tight smile. Of course if he was a close friend of hers, she couldn't tell him the whole truth. I wonder how hard that will be on her. "I'm doing fine. How are you? I mean with Vince getting taken down and WWF being shut down and everything? And I thought you were doing a promotional tour for your book in England?"

"Well, to answer your second question, I wasn't expecting to come back until after the trial, but somebody, or rather, two somebodies had a hand in making me come back early. As for the first, about as well as could be expected upon learning that your boss arranged to murder some of your closest friends," he replied, sitting down heavily. He glanced over towards me. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize you had company Debra."

"Oh, I'm sorry. How rude of me," she exclaimed, suddenly remembering that I was here with her. "Uh, Al Snow this is - " She trailed off wondering how to introduce me.

Oh well, it was going to come out when I testified provided that Stephanie didn't vindictively leak it out first.

"Athena," I said, stepping forward to shake the man's hand, "Athena Hart."

Al Snow's eyes widened at that. "Hart?" he choked out looking from me to Debra Austin. "As in?"

"Owen's youngest, yep," she nodded. "Bret's here for the trial, among other people."

"It's the other people I kinda wanted to inquire about," Snow said, "more specifically, have you seen Eddy around Atlanta or know where I may find him?"

Debra and I sort of exchanged this look. Usually anybody inquiring about Eddy was almost never good in my experience because that usually meant that person was about to find out about the secret. Good thing the trial's about to start.

"Why do you ask Al?"

Al Snow sighed. "One of the reasons I'm back early is that Colette called me and asked me to come to New York for a couple of days."

"How's she doing?" Debra asked softly. Then she turned to me. "Colette is Mick Foley's widow."

I nodded. The name Foley wasn't unfamiliar to me (Even having next to nil knowledge on wrestling history thanks to Mom, even I know who Mick Foley was thanks to people at OVW idolizing him and all the coverage given to his death). I overheard Dad and Uncle Bret one night at the cabin discuss Mick Foley and my dad had said at the time "Vince may have pushed him to an early grave with all the killing he ordered but he didn't cause his death directly, I know that much." I wondered just what made Dad so sure about that.

"She's doing better. Probably the only one of us who is," Snow responded. "She still misses him"

Debra nodded. "We all do. I can't believe it's coming up on a year since he passed away. Sometimes I still expect him to call and say ask how I'm doing."

It was Al Snow's turn to nod. "At least he got to die on his own terms. Not many of us can say that."

Debra seemed to understand that.

"Anyways," Al said, reaching back for the package he had with him when he came through the door. It looked thick and the older man handled it like it was a fragile glass.

"Colette asked me to give this to Eddy. She didn't tell me what exactly it was or why. Only that it had to do with Vince getting taken down, I should give this to Eddy and he'd know what to do with it." He handed the package over to Debra.

She gave it a slight shake. "Seems like a cassette inside."

"Yeah, well I wouldn't be surprised. Mick never did like advanced technology. He wrote all his books by hand," the man said ruefully. Then his expression got serious.

"Debra, I have to ask you something rather bluntly. Is Steve alive?"

I looked at Debra in shock. Both of us were stunned by the rather pointed question.

"Wha - why are you asking this Al?" she asked, thrown by the sudden question.

Al Snow sighed and walked out of the house. He came back a few minutes later with a blonde girl, about my age with these blue eyes that looked familiar.

Debra gasped. "Cassidy?! My word, aren't you supposed to be in England?"

"Jeanne probably thinks so," the lone man in the room snorted. "I touch down in England, and suddenly find her waiting outside my car," he said pointing at the woman Debra had identified as Cassidy.

Debra looked concerned. "Cassie, does your mother know your here?" the older woman asked worry in her voice.

"No, and if what she and Darren were talking about was true, then I never want her to know where I am!" the younger woman nearly shouted with a British accent. She looked to be on the verge of crying.

"What?" Debra looked shocked.

We all sat down in Debra Austin's living room and Cassidy and Al began to explain. Apparently Cassidy was Steve Austin's youngest daughter (so that's why the eyes looked familiar) and she overheard her mother and either a friend or a boyfriend Darren Matthews, who Al explained used to be a British wrestler who wrestled in the states under the names of Steven Regal and William Regal, arguing about how Steve Austin didn't deserve to have her daughters know that he was alive. Apparently things went extremely sour between Austin and his first wife and she moved herself and their two daughters to England to keep them away from Steve. Time obviously hadn't changed his ex's enmity towards him. Cassidy looked torn between being really angry and crying.

Debra looked extremely upset about hearing this. She yanked forward the first thing within arm's reach on the chair she was sitting on, which was the package Al Snow had brought from England with him. A VHS tape tore through the fragile packaging and fell to the floor followed by an envelope.

Debra sighed and picked it up preparing to put it back into the wrapping it been in when her hand started shaking. The rest of the people in the room went to see why she looked like she had suddenly seen a ghost and figured out why.

The tape had a label with one single handwritten word on it: Steve.

What were the odds that Colette Foley would want Eddy Guererro to have a tape addressed to a person that had the same name as Debra Austin's husband?

And apparently that was only half the story as Al took the tape from Debra.

"What? Why would Mick address a tape to a dead man? Debra?" Al looked at her with a warring mixture of confusion, hope and anger.

Debra shook herself out of her shock.

"I think," she said in a somewhat shaky voice, putting the envelope that was addressed to her and the tape addressed to her husband. "That we better go see Eddy."

She looked at Cassidy as she grabbed her keys.

"And it's time you saw your father."

Cassidy's tears overflowed and she hugged the older woman.

"Come on," I said to Cassidy, "there's some things that need to be loaded into the car and I'll explain a few things." I figured Debra probably wanted to tell Al Snow in private about Dad and Chris Benoit before we left.

Well, things continue to get interesting.