Title: Solving Problems (16?)
Rating: We'll go for a nice safe R, M in 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?

Laura was worried about Lita. Randy had mentioned some stuff the last time he was home. She'd been going off the rails, getting drunk a lot and neglecting her work. From what Randy had said, Trish and the other girls were really worried, but Lita was lashing out at everyone, seemingly unwilling to confront her behaviour.

Laura decided that she'd kill two birds with one stone. At five months pregnant, she was still ok to fly, so she booked a flight out to New York, where all the wrestlers were doing a couple of shows. She could surprise Randy and look out for Lita at the same time.

She decided to let Chris in on her plan, and he met her at the airport, driving her first to her apartment, and then to the arena. He was pleased to see her looking so happy; pregnancy was obviously agreeing with her. He was also glad that she'd decided to visit, as he to was worried about Lita. He'd known her for years, and had never seen her so upset or off the wall.

"Has anything happened Chris?" Laura knew that the Canadian would be honest with her, "what's made her so unhappy?"

Chris shook his head, "I don't know what's gone on. It's not Edge, he's moved on to someone else now, I don't know if she's been in touch with Matt or not."

"She loved him, didn't she?"

"I can't believe everything that happened. Matt didn't deserve all that."

Laura gave Chris a pointed look, "Lita didn't deserve to have everyone calling her a slut either. Matt didn't deserve to lose his job, but you can hardly lay the blame for that at Lita's door."

"I know." Chris knew that Laura was fiercely loyal to her friend, and wasn't about to argue with her. She had a vicious temper when provoked.

They were nearly at the arena. Once they'd parked up, Laura called Randy.

"Hey babe," there was surprise in his voice, she wasn't supposed to call him until later on.

"Hey honey, you ok?" She could hardly keep the laughter out of her voice as Chris led her to the catering room, where Randy would be.

"I'm good." There was still confusion in his voice, "is everything ok love? You're early calling me."

"I wanted to surprise you." She hung up, and stood at the door. It took about two seconds for Randy to look up and spot her.

"Laura!" He nearly jumped over a couple of chairs and knocked over a table to get to her, finally pulling her into a massive hug and kissing her thoroughly. "What are you doing here babe?"

"I missed you." She couldn't keep the grin off her face, and her heart nearly melted there and then when Randy bent down to kiss her stomach too.

"I missed both of you. How's the little one been?" He held his hand on her baby bump and grinned as he felt the baby kicking.

"Active. Fidgets all the time, much like daddy."

Randy laughed, "it's so good to see ya babe. What made you decide to visit?"

"I thought, New York, may as well come as we're got my apartment here. As well, I wanted to see Lita. After everything you said, I'm worried about her."

Randy nodded, "she's not doing great. I don't even know if she's here yet."

"If you don't mind angel, I'm gonna give her a call. We'll hook up later, yeah?"

"I guess." He kissed her again, reluctant to let go. "See ya later darlin'."

She went out into the corridor and pulled up Lita's number. The redhead sounded exhausted when she answered.

"Yeah?"

"Lita babe, it's Laura."

"Hey sweetness. How's the baby?" Laura heard in Lita's voice something that scared her. It was something that showed exactly how close Lita was to completely falling apart.

"The baby's good. How are you angel?"

Laura could hear Lita's voice dissolve into tears. It was as if she really couldn't take any more.

"Darlin' I'm here in New York, tell me where you are and I'll come and find you. It's ok Lita, I promise, whatever it is you're not on your own."

"I'm at my hotel… same one everyone's at, room 517." Lita was so exhausted she couldn't even remember the name of the place she was staying.

"I'll come straight over, love."

Laura hung up. She hadn't expected Lita to be this bad. She walked back in to Randy and asked him to drive her over to the hotel. Once he saw how upset Laura was he immediately agreed.

When she knocked on Lita's door she didn't know what to expect. Lita looked dishevelled when she answered, her eyes were almost swollen shut and she looked like she hadn't slept in weeks. The redhead fell into Laura's outstretched arms, crying even though she'd been convinced that she didn't have any tears left.

Gently Laura led her over to the couch and sat her down, stroking her hair tenderly and whispering soothing words.

"It's all got too much for me Laura. I can't do this anymore."

"Talk to me Lita. Tell me. I might not be able to make it better but if you don't talk about it it's just going to eat you up inside until there's nothing left."

"I feel…I feel defined by what I did. I cheated on Matt with Edge, and now I think that's all people see when they see me." Lita sniffed and wiped at her eyes with her sleeve, "it's like, I think people are talking about me, like all the old rumours about me have resurfaced and this time people really do believe them. I wasn't an angel in Mexico but I wasn't as bad as people make out."

Laura nodded thoughtfully. She'd heard all the rumours about Lita and the ways she was alleged to have paid for her wrestling training in Mexico.

"Now though, I don't see how I'm gonna get past this. I've worked so hard all my life to do this, to be here, and I feel like it's only a matter of time before it all gets taken away from me. Matt had it all taken away and that was my fault."

"Matt's a grown man Lita, he was hurt, but he didn't exactly handle the situation well, did he? He's doing well out of the situation career wise. He's never had so many fans interested in him. This isn't about Matt though. This is about exactly what's happened to make you feel so low. Babe, I've known you a long time now, I've known you go through some really bad stuff, and always come out the other side. Has something happened, or are you just tired of fighting?" Laura wasn't sure she was taking the right approach here. If something had happened, maybe Lita wouldn't be ready to talk about it yet.

"I miss him so much… I love him still, even after everything. I'm tired. I've lost my faith in myself and I don't feel capable of fighting any more. I guess I don't think I deserve anything any more. If I don't believe in myself how can I fight to make others believe in me?"

Laura nodded. She could see where the redhead was coming from, she was in a similar place to the one Laura had been a few years ago. It hurt to see pain so raw. She was formulating a plan in her mind. "Lita, I'm gonna make a few phone calls, will you do something for me sweetheart?" Lita nodded, "go and have a shower, freshen up and look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself that the girl in the reflection is special. Keep telling yourself that, because I promise you it's true. Then we're gonna go over to the arena, and I'll tell you what I've done. Is that ok?"

Lita was intrigued, and nodded. She didn't know what Laura had planned, but if it would help to ease the aching in her heart, it was worth a try. She trusted her friend.

Laura got straight on the phone to Matt. She knew he'd be surprised to hear from her, and she also knew she was taking a risk, but she figured if Matt could forgive Lita, then maybe she could forgive herself.

"Matt, hi it's Laura… really good… that's right yeah… we're really happy… how are you?… Really?… tell me about it love… you do?… babes I know, really… it's not helping… really? That would be good… She's not doing great… that's why I called… I know… you're both hurting… would you make amends if you could? She blames herself still… she's killing herself over this… over everything… would you?… Can she? That would be great… no promises… I know, it's hurting us all seeing her like this… you too… miss you too babes… hopefully not for too much longer… yeah… I know happy endings don't always happen… I've got my fingers crossed for you though… I'll tell her… yeah, New York for two days and then three days off… Wednesday that would be then… ok… thank you so much Matt… I hope it does too. See ya darlin'."

Laura breathed a sigh of relief. Matt was missing Lita desperately, and he'd watched her on WWE programming with dismay, seeing her pain behind her eyes, even when she thought she was hiding it. He'd agreed that Lita could go and visit him. There were no promises, but he promised to give her a chance to try and sort it out.

Laura sat down and waited for Lita to finish. When she came out the bathroom she looked a lot better, and almost had a smile on her face. She'd done what Laura suggested, and actually felt better for it.

"So, what is your plan?"

Laura bit her lip, she hoped Lita wouldn't go crazy at her. "I called Matt." She watched as Lita's face turned pale, worried about having interfered perhaps too much, "he misses you… he watches you on TV and he knows you're not happy. He said that if you want to go visit him this week, maybe you two could try and work things out. No promises, but he's willing to give it a go."

"Really?" Lita didn't dare believe that it might be true. "Thank you so much… I wanted to call him so much but I was scared to. I was so scared that he'd…" She didn't want to finish that thought. Matt had said some hurtful things when they'd broken up.

"No promises love, but it's a chance." Laura was worried, but it was in the hands of her two friends now. "Shall we go to the arena? I think you've got a match tonight, haven't you?"

It was a different Lita who left the room to the one that had entered it.