Disclaimer: I own no one except Nicole Austin.

Author's Note: Here's the next chapter, I hope you all enjoy it. I know i haven't updated my other stories in a while, and i'll be gone on vacation for a little while, however when iget back i promise to update :)

Chapter 22: Pretender

As soon as she was gone Trish turned over to Chris, "She seems better."

Chris eyed Trish, "She would be fantastic if we hadn't screwed with her and Orton."

She gave him sharp glance, "You know I had her best interest at heart. I did this for her; so she wouldn't get burned by him."

"How can you still say that? After everything Randy did for Nicole, you still think he would hurt her. He broke up with her, thinking she'd be better off with us than him. Now if that's not love, then I don't know what is."

"I'd he'd so willingly give her up like that, then no, I don't think that's love."

"You gave him no other choice Trish. What the hell was he supposed to do? Watch Nicole sulk over the fact that you didn't want anything to do with her," Chris raised his voice.

"Keep it down," she glance around the room making sure the Divas weren't listening. "So what, now you're sympathizing with Orton; I thought you hated him!"

"That was before my best friend fell in love with him."

This same conversation kept replaying over and over in his mind. Why would Trish willingly aid in the breaking of someone's heart? It just didn't make any sense.

I knew Trish didn't exactly get along with Orton, but to do this is just cruel, he thought to himself.

Add to the fact that Chris is somehow involved in this too, just makes it even more confusing. On some level he knew Trish was capable of something of this caliber, but not Chris.

And he's supposed to be her best friend; running around acting all sympathetic for her. I could punch him for this, he thought.

Further more, what is Trish holding over Randy's head. There has to be something that's preventing Randy from calling this entire thing off.

Now if only I knew it, then maybe I could do something about it, the man thought, walking into his locker room for the evening.

Carlito Caribbean Cool and his lap dog Jesus walked the halls of the Fleet Center when they were suddenly attacked from behind, by none other than John Cena and his manager Nicole Austin.

John picked Carlito up and threw him headfirst into the steel garage door, followed up with a spear to his ribs by Nicole. Momentarily forgotten, Jesus was able to nail Nicole with a kick to the back. John having seen Jesus nail Nicole from behind, picked up a chair that was nearby and swung, knocking him unconscious to the floor.

He looked to his right, where Nicole was now leaning against the wall. Seeing that she was okay, he turned Carlito over and kicked him in his face.

"That's for attacking my manager like you did. Next time, if you have a problem, you better make sure you take it up with me, bitch."

"And cut," the director called. "That was great you four. See you for tomorrow's scene."

"You okay Nicole?"

"I'm fine Aaron. I just tensed up when you kicked me in my back, and so now I have a minor back spasm."

"There is nothing minor about a back spasm. You should go get that checked out by the trainers."

"Honestly, I feel fine Aaron. Trust me, all I need is two Advil Liquid Gels and some sleep."

Aaron stared at Nicole for a minute longer before nodding and walking off. That just left Nicole and John, standing in the hallway.

"So...I guess we're done taping for the night."

"Yeah, we're done taping scenes," he returned. They stood in silence for a about a minute, when John decided to be the first to speak. "Are you accompanying me to ringside, tonight?"

"What do you think Cena?"

John smirked and tossed an arm around her neck, leading her back towards their locker room.

"Just checking, Austin, just checking."

Randy Orton stood in the shadows watching Nicole be lead away by John Cena. He had seen them leave catering earlier hand in hand, from another one of his hiding spots. At first he didn't think anything about it. But now seeing them leaving with John's arm around her body, gave him second thoughts.

His mind was saying that it was over, while his heart was telling him a completely different story.

Face it Orton. You brought this upon yourself. Now all you can do is hope that this plan was worth it. On that thought, he pushed off from the wall, and began his trek back to Evolution's locker room.

"So Dave, how'd Nicole look," Ric asked.

At the mention of Nicole's name, Randy slowed down and stood outside the closed door to listen to Dave's answer.

"She looked better than the last time we saw her. But I can tell that she's still hurting."

"Did you try talking to her about Randy?"

"No, Paul, it just didn't seem like the right time to discuss it. Instead, I extended an invitation to her; so she could come and talk to me."

Randy didn't hear any sound from inside for about a minute. So he figured it was safe to go back in, when Ric started talking again.

"Say, weren't you in catering with Randy, before Nicole came?" Dave must have nodded because, Ric went right on talking. "That means they had to of seen each other face to face, right?"

"Yeah, that's right. But that was a few hours ago and it's nearing the end of the show."

Now Paul spoke, "I wonder how they took it."

By now, Randy had heard enough, so he squared his shoulders and calmly walked into the locker room. Paul, Ric and Dave looked up at his entry.

"Hey Randy," they chorused.

"Guys," he answered, heading straight to his bag.

He began pulling out his suit, since he already wrestled for the night, and headed straight for the bathroom. He materialized twenty minutes later, and began to look for his dress shoes.

"Ask him," he heard Paul and Ric whisper to Dave.

Randy listened to them quietly go back and forth for another couple of minutes, before he decided enough was enough,

"Ask me what?"

He watched as they looked at one another, before Paul stepped forward.

"Nicole's back on the road again."

"And I should care why again?"

Paul cocked his head to the side, and studied him for a moment. Shrugging his shoulders he took a seat next to Dave and let Ric speak.

"Why would you not care?"

"Funny I thought we already established that: why I don't care."

"Randy, c'mon we know you care, and you know you care. So why are you trying to give us the impression that you don't?"

"Because I really do not care," he said.

"If you don't care, then why do you still have that picture of you and Nicole in your bag?"

"Look I just haven't found the right time to give it back to her alright. Get off my back about this already."

"You know we can't let this go yet, Randy."

"Why can't you guys let it go yet, Ric? Please tell me why."

"Well, for one, you never told us why you broke up with her in the first place. Or how about how you went from trying to help her to trying to hurt her, Randy."

"Why I broke up with her isn't relevant to this conversation any more. It's a completely different can of worms all together, and the same goes for the second question. As a matter of fact it doesn't matter, because it looks like Nic...Austin is dating John fucking Cena, now."

"You didn't tell us Nicole was dating Cena, Dave."

"Nicole never mentioned anything of that sort to me when I talked to her earlier," he responded to Paul's question. Dave turned back and looked at a now fuming Randy Orton. "Say, who told you she was dating Cena?"

"Fucking nobody. I've been watching them be touchy feely with each other all damn night."

Dave moved his head to the side and stared at Randy. He looked about ready to explode thinking about Nikki and John together in any sense.

"This may just be me, but I'm sensing a little jealousy on your part."

Randy whipped his head so fast, it looked like he might get whiplash.

"Me jealous of Cena? Not even on my worse fucking day would I ever envy trash like him. What Nicole sees in riffraff like him, I'll never fucking know."

Randy was so interested in ranting he never noticed he said Nicole and not Austin, but Dave, Ric and Paul noticed and they began smiling. They were happy, because this was the most they had gotten out of Randy since he broke up with Nicole.

"What the hell are you three smiling about, now?"

When he got no response from them, he threw a pillow at each of them, and left with his bag on his shoulder.

Dave's POV

They waited until the door fully closed before they began to laugh.

"Did you see how mad he got at the thought of Nikki and John as a couple,"Paul asked in between laughing.

"Are you kidding? He looked about ready to commit murder on spot. I've never seen him with that glint in his eye off camera before."

"You saw that too, Ric? I thought it was just me," he said, wiping the tears out of his eyes. "At least now we know, he still cares, right?"

"Boy, we know more than that. You just haven't figured it out yet."

They stood there laughing for another couple of minutes, before Randy called them from the car, threatening to leave them stranded if they didn't hurry up.

"Okay, let's go and get the Legend Killer back to the hotel, so he can get his beauty rest" Paul spoke, opening the door.

"You know you'd swear he was a girl, the way he acts about getting his rest so he can look good."

Dave laughed at Ric's comment and shut off the lights. "Yeah well, at least you don't have to share a bathroom with him. But that's a whole other conversation for later."

Laughing Paul shut the door and together they walked down the hallway, all the time laughing about Randy's disturbing sleeping habits.