Title: Solving Problems (4?)
Rating: We'll go for a nice safe R, M in ffn parlance
Content: mentions of domestic violence, drug use, swearing, sex
Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters mentioned herein, except for Laura, no offence meant.
Summary: Laura hasn't been around the wrestlers of the WWE for a while. When she returns, things have changed, schisms have formed, and all is not well. Can she sort things out?
The girls decided to go to a raucous bar in the centre of town. They all sat round a huge table, and once Laura had instigated a few drinking games, the drink and chatter was flowing freely.
"So Laura, Trish said you write…"
Laura blushed, "yeah, I had a book published last year, got another one going through right now."
"Anything we might have read?" Maria asked.
The others laughed. "Since when did you read anything other than National Enquirer or the back of a cereal packet girl?" Trish asked.
Offended a little, Maria changed the subject, "so how do you know everyone?" She winced as Lita kicked her under the table. "What did I say?"
"It's ok, you'll probably hear all about it anyway. I used to date Jeff Hardy, travelled with him for a while. We split up just before he got fired. I needed some time away, but I really missed everyone." Laura shrugged, "we used to have a lot of fun."
"We missed you too," Lita put an arm around her friend's arm appreciatively. "Really did. This girl…" She stopped dramatically, and took a drink, "this girl is incredible. If you ever have a problem, talk to her. She's got this way of making you look at your problems and seeing them differently,"
Laura blushed, and decided to change the subject, "and I can party! Speaking of which, we really need to liven this up. Tequila anyone?"
Steph shrieked and waved over to a waiter. Laura leaned over and placed her order - she figured a bottle of tequila would liven things up, and allow the women to bond a little more. She'd noticed some tension between a few of the women: some were very quiet, others ignoring certain people. While she could understand that some had known each other for longer than others, they were all in the same boat, all trying to make it in a male-dominated industry, so she figured they would be better off supporting each other rather than fighting. If only they could see that.
Laura was surprised how quickly she got back into the routine of travelling with the wrestlers. It was a hard life, but fun. She busied herself in getting to know all of the new guys, watching and listening to her friends, working out the dynamics of how things were currently working.
It was interesting. She had soon worked out that people had perceptions of others that they accepted, and that these perceptions were not always accurate. From listening to locker room talk and gossip, she also learned a little more about what may have been the root causes of the strife and turmoil currently splitting the Raw roster.
One problem had solved itself. Steph was pregnant. Both she and Hunter were delighted, although keeping it quiet right now until they had got through the all important first three months. They couldn't resist telling Laura though. They knew she wouldn't tell anyone. As hard a secret as it was to keep, she at least knew that she only had another month to pretend that she knew nothing. It was hard though, as Steph kept dragging her off on surreptitious shopping trips for baby clothes.
Christy was having a tough time getting accepted, that much was clear. Laura could see both sides, as many of the women had worked damn hard to get into the wrestling business, so to see someone just walk in and get a great contract must have been galling. It wasn't exactly Christy's fault though. She didn't ask for preferential terms. She just took what was offered, and was now doing everything she could to gain the acceptance that had so far eluded her. Laura offered her a shoulder to cry on, and talked to a few influential people about the situation, hoping that if Christy could be accepted for her efforts by a few, acceptance by the others would soon follow.
Stacy seemed to have taken a dislike to Laura, which Chris attributed to her spending so much time with Helms. It did upset Laura, as she didn't want to be the source of any discord. Laura went out of her way to be nice, but figured that unless she could convince Shane of her innocence, she would have little chance of changing the blonde's mind.
Randy Orton was an interesting case. Laura had heard some horror stories about his behaviour - putting horrible things in the gym bags of some of the girls, being rude and obnoxious to them. It seemed that all of the girls had experienced his misbehaviour in one way or another. However, Laura had only experienced politeness from him, and had also not seen him treat any of the ladies with anything other than respect. Chris had implied that Randy had been attempting for a while to change, but that the girls had good reason to be wary. Laura could see their point of view, but also realised that unless people are given a chance to change, they would find it very hard to. She had discussed the situation with Trish, and had ascertained a few things that Randy could do to get back in the graces of the girls, and hoped that she would be able to build up enough of a relationship with him to be able to suggest what he could do to help his case.
Batista was an enigma to the young brunette. He seemed to have some sort of a grudge against Hunter, or Steph, or their relationship. It was difficult to work out exactly what was going on in his head, as the big man was difficult and intimidating to talk to, and when Laura did get the chance to talk to him, he was extremely reticent about his feelings. Fortunately, Batista was also very good at hiding his feelings from others too, so very few were aware of his animosity, or what the cause might be. At the moment, it didn't seem that his behaviour would cause a problem.
Edge was a problem. His attitude was the problem, rather than the man himself. Had he shown some contrition, some sympathy towards Matt Hardy, the other wrestlers would have accepted his indiscretion as something that happens on the road. However, he almost seemed to revel in the notoriety, and that just annoyed people. Matt had been a popular guy, and people really felt for him. Laura knew that this problem would soon die down. This sort of scandal always did in the wrestling world. It would be talked about in folklore, but it would soon cease to be a day to day issue.
Defining the problems had been the easy part. It was solving them that would be the problem.
"Can I talk to you about something?" Laura seized the opportunity to talk to Randy Orton: he was on his own, and seemingly in a pensive mood.
"Sure," his smile brightened as he saw who was addressing him, and made a space on the luggage crate he was sat on for her to sit down.
"I've seen the effort you've been making to get back into the girls' good books."
Randy nodded at Laura, noticing for the first time how green her eyes were. He didn't think he'd ever seen eyes that colour before, and he thought it was very cute.
"It's gonna take a long time for them to accept that you're genuine though."
"I know. I accept that, I was a bastard."
"What happened?"
"I was an asshole."
"But why? You seem like a nice guy to me. Something must have made you want to behave like that."
Randy was touched. It was the first time in ages that someone had taken an interest in how he felt. "I… I was dating someone, back home. She cheated on me… I was so angry and hurt; I lashed out at the nearest targets. I was stupid."
"You were hurt," Laura had figure the reason would be something like that. "And now you're paying the price."
"I wish I could take it all back. I never wanted to cause trouble, I just didn't think."
"It's gonna take the girls a long time to forgive you."
"What can I do?" Randy ran a hand through his short dark hair, "I've tried being polite, being nice, going out of my way to help them if I can, but they just won't accept it."
"Who did you hurt the most?" Laura hadn't heard the finer details of what had happened.
"Amy Weber. She quit because of me." Randy felt shame burning in his cheeks.
"Have you apologised to her, or anyone else?"
"I tried to apologise to Stacy for RKOing her, but she wasn't willing to listen. I'd apologise to everyone if I thought it would make a difference. I doubt that Amy would even talk to me though."
Laura flinched at the mention of Stacy, she felt bad about the coldness between them. Randy picked up on her discomfort and sadness, but didn't mention it. He was just appreciative of having someone to talk to. She decided to choose her words carefully, "the people Stacy's with at the moment, they aren't exactly forgiving. It puts you in a difficult situation, but you've done what you can with her."
"What about the others?"
"Maybe you could write to Amy, deal with it that way if you don't think that she'd listen to you in person. At least you could say then that you'd apologised, done all you could. I think she's friends with Christy still, they might talk about it."
Randy nodded thoughtfully, "would you help me compose a letter? I'm not great with words… you are, obviously."
"Sure," she nudged his arm playfully, "you're not a bad guy really. Momentary lapses of taste and decency maybe, but not as bad as people make out."
"That means a lot. I appreciate it, especially from you."
"Why me?" Laura looked at him in confusion.
"Because everyone respects you, and with good reason. You're an incredible person. I can see that and I've only known you a few weeks. You're… you're pretty and smart and I can see why everyone speaks so highly of you."
"Thanks." Laura looked down in embarrassment; she didn't take compliments very well. "I'd say you're wrong, but thanks."
"Nah, I'm right. You're sweet. No wonder Chris and Hunter are so protective of you."
"Ah, that's just because they blame themselves for not knowing what was going on with me and Jeff." Laura tensed: in one way she didn't mind talking about what happened, but there was a lot that she hadn't told anyone, including Chris and Hunter, and she intended keeping it that way.
"Partly. I don't think there's many people out there that would want to see you hurt again though. I may be an arrogant idiot, but even I see that."
Laura smiled uncertainly, at once relieved when she heard Hunter's voice, "Laura, hey babe, you OK? Randy, you monopolising our girl's attention here?"
"She's just helping me with some stuff." Randy was immediately on the defensive. He always felt intimidated by Hunter. The older man had helped him a lot, and they were good friends most of the time. Hunter's accomplishments were overawing, even to someone who had been the youngest ever WWE champion.
"Well, if you don't mind sweets, but Lita's in tears in the women's locker room and Steph figured you had the soothing touch."
The small brunette jumped down off the crate, "poor Lita, I'll go now. See ya later Randy." She looked at Hunter, who seemed preoccupied, and spoke quickly to Randy, "write something out, and I'll have a look at it with you later. Room 219."
He nodded his thanks, and watched as Hunter led her away. He really appreciated what she'd done for him so far, and wondered what he could do to say thanks.