This is a little different from what I originally planned it to be. There will probably be at least one side story that's based upon the early part of this chapter. - Juliet

ADDITIONAL NOTES: For the record, Bret Hart wasn't at the courthouse during chapters 116 - 118.

Just a heads up: I'll be in Mexico during holy week in March so we'll try to get as much as we can. Nice job Jules-Dana

118

Blind Trust

The courtroom was a bit of chaos after Helmsley was attacked. Can't really say I feel sorry for him. It WAS kinda like getting some of his own medicine. I finally recognized who his attacker was though. He was Dwayne Johnson, who had wrestled as The Rock for Vince. He helped HBK and Helmsley restrain me in Daytona. But like Uncle Eddie had said, there was no way of knowing if Johnson knew of everything Vince had done or not. Considering he nearly cold - cocked Helmsley, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Court was recessed for another 30 minutes after Johnson attacked Hunter. When Shane McMahon and Dad came out of the meeting with Vince 15 minutes into the recess, we had to explain to the two confused men what was going on; and why Helmsley was suddenly sporting a broken nose.

Austin came out near the end of the recess. Dwayne Johnson was lead out of the courthouse, but I noticed he wasn't in handcuffs. Austin was talking to Erichson. I didn't know what was being said. Court readjourned a few moments later.

Mom was the first on the stand after court resumed. Again, Vince didn't have his attorney cross examine her, but given what I heard from Vince before I left the room, I wasn't surprised. I testified after Mom and I was cross examined though I'd expected that all along. I did as well as I could and I'm glad we were prepared for it beforehand. Even so it wasn't as brutal as I thought it would be and as others had gone through. Maybe Vince did feel guilty over what Hunter had done to my Father.

When court adjourned for the day Austin was again talking to Erichson, and this time Uncle Eddie was involved in the conversation. I wondered what was going on but I was still weirded out by what I'd heard Vince say to really ask about it or anything. I briefly talked to Mom and told her I wasn't feeling too good (Well it wasn't totally a lie, I was still sick to my stomach over what I heard in that room), and told her I'd talk to her tomorrow before court. I hated lying to her but I really really didn't want to find out what she'd do to Hunter if I'd told her the man wanted me dead.

Dad came up to me. "Ready to go"

"More than ready" I answered. I was more than ready to put this day behind me. I really wasn't looking forward to court tomorrow. Eddie came up to us.

"Steve talked to Rocky, he thinks that we should meet with him at the hotel" Eddie said.

Dad sighed. "Steve tell Rocky about Owen"

Eddie nodded. "Steve said his reaction to that was comic. Eyes bug out just like he used to do in the WWF."

I expected something of a protest from Dad, but"There are somethings he might need to hear about this whole mess."

Eddie looked suspicious. "That's what's Shane said" he said"let me find a quiet spot to call Owen and tell him Rock's coming in addition to us. Danny told me what Vince said about Hunter. What else happened in there after Danny left"

Dad pinched the bridge of his nose. "That's for another conversation" he said"but some of it will come out tonight."

Eddie nodded. He went to find a secluded spot to call Owen.

Part of me wanted to ask Dad myself what happened after I left. But another part of me suddenly didn't want to find out what else Vince had done. Knowing Hunter wanted to kill me was almost too much to take.

When we got back to the hotel, Erichson was already there with Dwayne Johnson. I hadn't even realized he'd left before we had. He must have left as soon as he finished his conversation with Steve Austin and Uncle Eddie. Owen was there too but Bret, Martha, and Owen's son Oje weren't. Then I realized they must be at the hospital with Athena. Almost everybody else was assembled.

Johnson took a deep breath before he began. "Look I honestly didn't know what was going on with Vince. Everybody knows me and Steve were, and hopefully, still are, friends for years, and I had nothing against Owen or Chris. I wouldn't do anything to willingly hurt anybody and damn sure wouldn't help kill Steve."

Dad looked like he wanted to open his mouth, but Johnson anticipated him"Steve and I cleared the air about the time surrounding his walkout, but I'll try to explain for everybody else here. Basically Vince told me to say what I did the night Steve walked out. When I balked, he said that it would risk the chances of burning bridges completely with Steve and the company if I said something, hoping Steve would see it as simply storyline and not personal rather than if Triple H said it. Of course thinking back on that now, it's probably not the real reason he asked me to do it."

"Probably wanted to ruin our friendship" Steve's gruff voice answered"Vince always was into the divide and conquer stuff."

"Tell me about it" Owen snorted. I'd heard from various people how there was infighting among the Hart family after Owen 'died.' I wonder if Vince, not orchestrating, perhaps played a hand in festering things in the Hart family.

"Anyway" Johnson continued"me and Steve cleared the air about most of that stuff when he got back. We managed to patch up most of the stuff, and managed to work in the match at SummerSlam that ended the brand split. Then came Survivor Series."

"I was going to wrestle Randy Orton in what Vince had billed as the battle of the third generation stars. It was third after Benoit Vs Sting and the Scaffold match. Vince had him next in line for title grooming."

"Helmsley wasn't happy about that" Steve groused. "Didn't he try to horn in on that match? Make it a triple threat"

Johnson snorted"Yeah, he did. Vince really really put his foot down to let the match go as planned. Neither Hunter or Stephanie were too happy about it. Course I'm not sure if it was just simple jealousy, the fact that my match had a higher spot on the card than his, or that Vince had him job out to Raven as the PPV opener. Surprised he didn't do much else to sabotage the whole thing. Of course, no one, not even me thought that it was my last match, until Steve died."

"After Steve died, I was done in the ring. I wrestled Undertaker in a memorial match for Steve and that was it. I showed up occasionally as a favor to Vince, but I never wrestled again."

"What about Daytona? What about restraining my son and helping Vince get WCW off the air" Dad asked with an edge to his voice.

Dwayne Johnson winced. I guess he had a feeling this was going to come up.

"Again, Vince asked me too. He said it was business and he was taking back WCW since it didn't seem that Shane was coming back to claim it. Old man got a big surprise on that score I guess. But he said Me, Hunter, and Shawn was to restrain whomever was helping them out with hijacking WWF's broadcast. I swear, Chris, I didn't know it was your son and I didn't do anything beyond restrain him."

"It's the truth Dad" I said quietly. It was the first time I'd really spoken since I'd talking to Eddie about what Vince said.

"Vince said he was asking a favor. I don't know something in his eyes told me it was more than that if he wanted me to help Helmsley and Michaels."

Dad pinched his nose again. "It probably was Rock" Dad sighed.

"Let's just say we got some information from Vince, that makes us believe Danny's life might have been in danger if you hadn't been with Helmsley and HBK at Daytona" Shane McMahon said. Uncle Eddie had a grimness to his face; Dad gave Uncle Ric a look that clearly said "Explain later." At that moment Bret, Martha, Oje, and Athena came in.

"What's going on" Athena asked confused. I wondered if she was still feeling the effects of what Joanie Laurer had done to her.

"Martha, take Athena to you and Owen's room. Me and Owen will be in to check on how she's doing." Martha Hart took Athena to the room she and her husband shared. Oje went with them. Bret sat down, making it clear he was joining the conversation.

"I'm with Athena, what's going on" Bret asked point blank.

"Rocky here was explaining, that he knew nothing of what Vince did to everybody" Austin explained. Short and to the point.

Bret snorted. "Surprised Vince or Hunter didn't try to kill you as well" he said.

"Hunter wanted to" Shane stated.

Well, nobody was prepared for THAT bombshell.

"Uh, Shane, what did you say" Rock stuttered somewhat.

"From what Vince said, Hunter wanted you AND Benoit dead. You retired after Survivor Series and rendered that a moot point. Dad said that he thought your death would just raise too many eyebrows with everybody but there maybe more than that."

"The bloodlines" Johnson said.

"Exactly" Shane agreed. Bret Hart, Uncle Eddie and Chavo nodded knowingly, as did Dad and a few others.

I must have had the most confused expression on my face, so they decided to explain.

"For a lot of families, wrestling was and to some, still is a family business. It was never unheard of for the sons of famous wrestlers to follow in their dad's footsteps like you're doing now. There have been whole families where wrestling has been all it's known" Eddie said. "It was only in our generation that third generations have shown up"

Shane continued"The main families, have included mine, The McMahons, which was build the WWF with my grandfather, and later my father and my sister at the helm; the Harts, the Guerreros, the Runnels, the Jarretts, the Von Erichs, the Funks and the Somoan lineage, which Dwayne belongs too. All of those familles at one time or another worked for my family and the WWF. There are very few of those families left today actively participating in the business."

"That reminds me" Chavo broke in"Eduardo wants to join OVW next year after he graduates high school."

Eddie groaned. "Great, now I have to not only keep Danny and Athena out of trouble, but I have to keep my nephew's kids out of trouble as well."

Everybody laughed, Bret looked a little confused and I hoped Eddie didn't decide to tell him right then about Kemper. But the moment of levity passed and things got serious again.

"But anyways, there was always a connection with all those familes. The Samoan wrestlers may perhaps be the most tied to Vince" Shane continued.

"My Grandfather worked for Vince's Dad, and my father worked for both father and son. I joined the business in '95 and debuted in the WWF the following year, never really considered going anywhere else. Suppose you could say it was in the blood" Johnson interjected.

"That may have been why Vince, even though you were loyal to the company through and through, didn't want you involved in any of his more lethal schemes. In a strange way he probably considered you just as much family as he did me or Mom because of your family's longevity in the business. That may have been why he didn't want Hunter to get his way on killing you" Shane explained.

Nice to know Vince would go out of his way to prevent Hunter from killing somebody who had bloodties in this business but he wouldn't try to figure out something to save my father!

"That may explain what happened after Survivor Series" Johnson said with a sigh.

"What happened after Survivor Series" this was from Steve Austin.

"I went to Vince to tell him I was done. Much like JR and Undertaker had done. Given what I just heard Vince probably knew Hunter wanted me dead next, but at the same time knew I was too valuable to the company to lose completely. So he struck a deal with me. If I would do occasional guest appearances, promos only, but the possibility of having a match or two had been implied, then he'd let my contract expire in December of '04 and we'd do things on more of an honor system from then on. I don't think Vince was ever going book me into a match after Survivor Series and I think he figured I wouldn't go anywhere else at that point, not with my movie career taking off at that point. So I agreed to it. When my contract ran out we went to an honor system, and I never did sign another official contract with the company. Bastard probably knew what was coming if I stepped into the ring again."

There was a bit of silence after that. I understand that. It is kind of hard to process the fact that your marked for death by an obsessive jackass.

Everybody started talking about other stuff that really didn't have nothing to do with the trial, or I felt me, so I went to check on Athena and found that she was asleep. I made a mental note to talk to her in the morning and give her a heads up on Dad, Erichson and Eddie knowing about her being at Kemper. It was only fair. I went into my own room to try and get some rest.

I never got to sleep that night.

Okay Dana, ball's in your court.