Uncommon Sense

by batistafan

Can a plan by Triple H aimed at destroying Batista's life and career be stopped before it's too late? And will a hot romance with Batista help a shattered woman regain her life or put her right back in harm's way. Sequel in progress.

18. Chapter 17

Uncommon Sense Chapter 17
By Batistafan
Rating - NC-17 for violence
Distribution: If you would like to add this story to
your site that's fine, just let me know.
Main Characters include: Batista, Triple H, Chris Jericho, Christy
Hemme, Nancy Adams (Original Character).

Disclaimer: This is a mature fanfiction intended for mature readers.
This story contains violence, coarse language, as well as mature
sexual situations (some may consider explicit), and these would not
be deemed appropriate for all readers.
I do not own nor claim to have any affiliation with the WWE, its
characters, wrestlers, staff or other affiliates. I do own any
original characters that I have created, as well as scenarios that
ensue throughout the course of this fiction. However, since both my
characters and scenarios are inexorably intertwined with those of
the WWE, my ownership of them is not autonomous.
I do not endorse nor do I discourage the use of any brand-name
products that might be referenced in the fiction and have no claim
to them as they are property of their respective companies of
license. Thank you kindly for not suing.

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"Level with a child by being honest. Nobody spots a phony quicker than a child."

Mary MacCracken

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A riotous flurry of activity and loud chatter throughout the arena would have tempted most anyone to buy earplugs and certainly tonight was no different. The pre-pay-per-view chaos was in full swing. Nancy weaved through the congested hallways and finally ducked into the bathroom so she could adjust her clothing and brush her teeth after the last-minute meal she had eaten in the bus on the way to the arena. Putting the toothbrush in her mouth she leaned over the running water and started to brush. She was bumped in mid-stroke from behind and when she raised her head she locked stares with Christy Hemme who was in the company of Maria Kanelis and Stacy Keibler. She turned back to the mirror and continued to brush.

None in the trio of girls looked particularly happy to see Nancy as they passed, dragging their heated gazes over her and then laughing, as if they had some hidden information that she herself had not been made aware of. The group of gossipers continued onward into their separate stalls and wisely, Nancy decided that she'd be better off just finishing up and getting out of there. She rinsed and shook off her toothbrush, jammed it into the side pocket of her make-up bag and swiped a coat of clear gloss on her lips. All the while, she could hear their laughter and discern the spiteful comments they were making about others on staff, people whom Nancy could only guess they would actually have to be nice to later. Most of the comments flew by unheeded as useless gossip, but her ears perked up when Christy laughed out loud and began to speak.

"Dave will be tired of her any minute now…just like he was with all the others."

Nancy blew out a puff of air, rolled her eyes and zipped her bag amidst the tinkling laughter of the two other women.

"I think he has an affinity for minimum wage employees." Stacy interposed and the murmur of their concurrence along with the trickle of giggling could be heard. Nancy felt slightly wounded, because Stacy had been unquestionably kind to her less than a couple of weeks ago, but now Nancy could see the power that Christy had to poison people against her. It made her sad that people could be so easily influenced when popularity was an issue, and surprisingly it reminded her a little bit of high school.

"He just comes back to me each and every time though, the same way he did after his little tryst with Candace." Christy was quite obviously playing it up in order to get a reaction out of Nancy and it was enough of a reason for her to keep her cool if ever there was one. Nancy heard Stacy and Maria murmur in accordance like mindless puppets and she decided that giving this little sport of Christy's any credence whatsoever was foolish on her part.

True, the thought of Dave having been in bed with another woman, especially Candace or Christy, made her resentful and proved to her that anything she might have to offer Dave Batista would pale in comparison to what they had surely already given him. But the tiny voice inside of Nancy reminded her that if Dave Batista had really wanted a woman like Christy or Candace, then he would be with one like Christy or Candace and he wouldn't have given her any more effort.

Leaving the bathroom, Nancy sloughed off the hurtful words and renewed her mind, setting it to the task of getting the wardrobe area in running order for the numerous repairs that would no doubt be coming her way during the pay-per-view. She opened the door to her domain and slipped inside, relishing the peace and quiet from this side of the door, thankful that there were no talebearers in here to steal her tranquility. She closed the door softly and turned to dump her bag in the floor. But instantly her visions of having a peaceful evening screeched to an abrupt halt. Nancy was greeted by Eric Bischoff, who had seated himself squarely on the table where she would soon be setting up her machines.

Nancy felt an unwanted pulse of adrenaline and a tremor of intimidation as he stood and straightened his dark grey suit jacket.

"Mr. Bischoff…hi." She tried to sound enthusiastic, but her attempt fell flat when her voice came out with a rasp.

"Let's talk." He said firmly, motioning for her to sit on the table where he had been and without argument, she complied.

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Dave Batista held the door open with one hand, and his bag in the other as his daughters slipped underneath his brawny arm and into the back halls of the arena. Audrey was fully attired in her combat gear, minus the sword, and Vanessa was now applying another coating of lip-gloss. He was proud and smiling as the remarks about how beautiful his girls were, came bubbling up from some of the bouncing, cooing Diva Search hopefuls and also from some of the other unattached Diva's.

Despite the kind words and their attempts to appear one hundred percent sincere, Dave Batista was prudent to their game and he knew why they complimented his children. It had recently become common knowledge that he was single again and dating, that fact alone had put a bull's eye squarely on his chest. But he nodded graciously anyway and led his girls to an area not far from where he knew Nancy would be engaged in work related commotion.

Rolling his bags against the wall, Dave spoke low to Vanessa requesting her help in keeping Audrey occupied for the next few moments. His ever dependable daughter nodded and held Audrey's hand protectively, suggesting that they go find a bathroom.

He watched his little girls walk down the hallway, Vanessa with her hand pointing as she showed Audrey several of the wrestlers that she had not yet met, and Audrey, with her helmet at a peculiar tilt and her Dora the Explorer shoes lighting up with each step as she nodded, listening to the words of her big sister.

Dave rolled his bags into the locker room and hurriedly set out to find Nancy and then attempt to speak with Eric Bischoff.

He stepped out into the hall and signed several autographs in passing, shook a hand or two, all the while determined to get to Nancy before Eric did. He had a smidgen of explaining to do for whisking her away from the arena last week and for lying and telling her that their leaving so rapidly had nothing to do with her when in fact, she was the only one it had anything to do with. Dave shuffled past several rolling trunks attached to people, and people attached to miles of sound cable, with his only intent to reach her. His heart sank, when he watched the door of her Wardrobe area open and then shut behind the short stance of Eric Bischoff himself. Dave was too late to head the general manager off at the pass and now he would be left to conduct damage control. He clenched his jaw and muttered a curse, which had recently become his habit when he found himself frustrated.

"Dave Batista…" A snide nuance in the tone of his voice, Eric regarded him with a smirk. He mulled over the delightful prospect of seeing Dave's expression when his new 'friend' was put in the ring with Chris.

"I assume you probably want to talk with me?" Dave asked, swallowing a snide remark. He let nothing about his disposition reveal the fact that he had the impulse to snap Eric in half. The emotionless look remained on his face as he waited for a response.

"No. Not really." Eric said inattentively, glancing at his watch and then turning to walk away.

Dave Batista glowered at Eric's back as he watched him saunter away whistling a cheery tune and then he turned toward the Wardrobe door, swallowing hard. He was certain that Eric's timely visit to the Wardrobe meant that Nancy already knew the about the match. Likely she would be angry with him but he just hoped she wouldn't dismiss him altogether. There were no noises coming from behind the door, so he raised his knuckles up, prepared to knock but decided instead that he might as well just go on in, lest she ask who it was and then tell him to go away when she found out. Dave closed the door softly so that she wouldn't hear him and stood awkwardly near it preparing for her fury.

She was standing with her back to the door, adjusting some mechanical component of a sewing machine, not barefoot this time, but in taupe heels with her shiny legs peeking out from beneath a baby blue skirt. The slight flirty flare at the bottom of the shimmering skirt made her look a bit taller than usual, although he suspected there might be a different reason for her stiff posture. Dave liked the way she left her arms bare, choosing sleeveless shirts…her arms were slender and elegant, reminding him of a ballet dancer, even if she did lack the grace. Every other part of her always seemed so tastefully covered that the small glimpses he did get of her skin were all the more enticing. She looked refined as she tilted over to the side of the enormous machine to fiddle with something mysterious, something on the machine with which she seemed to be familiar.

Again he realized that he could have stood there drinking in the sight of her all night…time was passing and he was oblivious to anything but what was in front of him.

"Nancy." Dave spoke suddenly, unaware at first that the name had slipped from his lips. He had said her name less like a question, as if he wanted her to turn and face him but more as if it were an admission of who she was and how he might have just realized it. He watched her jump, the same way she had when he had come in unannounced the first time they'd had an actual conversation. When he'd apologized for Christy's behavior…it seemed like ages ago…and Christy, he realized…he'd all but forgotten her, just as he had known he would.

She heard his voice from behind her, startling her out of a reverie that was something akin to a nightmare. She had been thinking about Eric Bischoff's words, scared at the prospect of getting into a ring, when Dave's deep and rumbling voice reached her ears. Nancy was mad, good and mad. Scared too, but the calming liquidity of his baritone all but smothered the embers of disquiet that she had felt a few moments prior, like a salve on a newly inflicted wound.

"Hi." Nancy said looking over her shoulder. It was such a simple word that she said, but it hit him like an informal, impersonal bullet. Her face was missing the expression of anger he had expected to see, instead there was something vaguely impish behind her eyes that reminded him a little bit of his youngest daughter, and it made him nervous. Her curls were pulled softly, back away from her face, showing clearly the twinkle in her eye that hinted that she might be planning some hidden torture or vengeance to exact on him later. He would welcome it.

Nancy fiddled for a second more with the machine and then apparently deciding that it was ready for function, she placed the cover back on top of it and turned fully to face him, leaning back against the table, both hands on the table's edge with one ankle crossed over the other.

His heart all but stuttered to a screeching halt. By God she was stunning…he had not seen her from the front and could not have prepared himself for the low dip of the neckline that revealed the slight amount of sun induced color she'd gotten from their lunch at the beach. The diamond was in its usual place, quivering with her every breath, sending out brilliant glimmers of light, and reminding him of the way her skin had felt when he'd traced the curve of it with his tongue. He watched as she raised her arm and gently wagged a finger at him making the small silver charms on her bracelet shake lightly.

"You knew…" She said and smiled. She could not have guessed how deeply relieved that smile made him.

"You knew and you didn't tell me." Nancy was trying desperately to be miffed at him, but it was hard enough to think when he was around, much less hold on to any logical sense of anger. And now he was walking toward her, the vortex of sheer sexual attraction closing in around her…she turned and moved away to the other side of the table, intent on teaching him a lesson. Nancy hefted a stack of fabric onto the table beside the sewing machine and began to look around for as many meaningless projects as possible to keep him at a distance. She had determined that as long as he couldn't touch her then she might be able to hold on to a little shred of her obstinacy.

"I'm sorry." He said, bracing his hands on the table where she had just been, strangely irritated by the fact she had moved. "I had reasons…good ones." He wished she would look him in the eye with something other than that slightly devious fleeting glance, because that peevish little glimmer in her eyes made him more uneasy than showering next to Viscera.

"Mmmm, Hmm." She nodded smoothly, still absorbed in rearranging items in a tray. Nancy noticed that he was edging around the table and so she placed the tray back into the caddy and casually walked away from him toward the serger, suddenly deciding that the thread needed changing.

"Don't you wanna hear why?" Dave asked, thumping the caddy absentmindedly with his knuckle.

"Hear what?" She moistened her lip slightly with her tongue, noticing the sudden slight flare of his nostrils and then she pushed the lid of a trunk closed. Nancy saw his shoulders slump slightly and he rolled his eyes in near exasperation. "Oh…your reasons…" She nodded coyly and then looking at him, she shook her head. "You don't have to tell me…I believe you…If you say you had good reasons, then you had good reasons." She edged around the trunk and behind the rack of hanging clothes when she saw him begin to walk forward again. She couldn't stop the involuntary tremble that came over her when he advanced on her. It was as if she were being hunted. Nancy pretended to adjust the clothing on the hangers fighting to keep the smile from her lips. The look on Dave's face told her that she was succeeding in her pursuit to frustrate him, but oddly, she found she was frustrating herself at the same time.

"Could you…could…" Dave slid several hanging shirts to one side of the rack, trying to see her. "Come out from behind there, would you?" He said frowning, making an attempt to peek around the rack that could not have possibly been more crowded with clothing than it was at this very moment, he felt like throwing it across the room.

"Oh, in a minute…I just have so much going on around here…" She said grinning behind the rack where he could not see her. When she heard him huff in frustration Nancy had half a mind to laugh out loud, but she kept silent, behind the rack. She knew he wanted to talk to her seriously and she knew she had no right to be very angry, after all everyone had reasons for keeping secrets…she knew that better than anyone. Still the knowledge that she was able to tease him, the way he had done to her, made her feel a little bit like the one in control, even if she wasn't.

Her charade however, was over as quickly as it had begun, when without warning the heavily laden rack scraped noisily out of the way, as if it were light as a feather. Dave had shoved it aside as effortlessly as you please, determined not to have to contend with it. Amidst her shock, she still battled to keep the laughter from reaching her lips and so she chose not to speak for fear he might know that she was finding it hard to be upset with him. Nancy could barely bring her eyes up to meet his and she felt the familiar flush instantly.

"Hmm…" He nodded stepping in front of her, sweeping his gaze from her head to her toes and then back up to her eyes where his stare locked and stayed. He took a satisfied breath and nearly whispered. "There you are." And she was…and so was he, reaching out without hesitation to plant his open palm against the wall beside her head. He noted with satisfaction that she was between him and the wall and she was going nowhere. He leaned in close, indulging in her sweet, unknown scent, wise to her game. He let out a small almost unheard laugh, when he saw her almost imperceptible shiver and situated himself dangerously closer to her face, mere millimeters from her skin. "Now we'll talk." He didn't ask, he commanded it…and she couldn't even breathe. "I had good reasons…for lying." His eyes moved from her eyes, to her lips and back up again.

She smiled up at him, biting her lip. "I know you did…I just don't know why you didn't tell me." She reached out and very timidly straightened his tie, out of habit, but the scorching jolt of attraction she felt when her hand grazed his covered chest made it more of a sensual act than a helpful one. "It might have been better for me if you'd just let it happen when it was supposed to happen." She put her hands back down in front of her as her back was still flush against the wall. "Now he's madder than ever, because I skipped out on the match last week."

He cleared his throat and made an attempt to clear his mind of the cobwebs that her touch and her nearness had created. He was half tempted to tell her that the only difference informing her of the match last week would have made, was in whether her beating would be televised or not, but he opted out of scaring the hell out of her with the details of a match that he was sure Eric Bischoff had sugar coated for his own benefit.

"I might be a little scared because I've never done anything even remotely close to this before, but if he gets rough I can handle it." He watched her stiffen her chin defiantly and he wanted to laugh. There was something vaguely Audrey'ish about what she had just said and the look that was carved on her features.

"And what are you gonna do? Choke him with a yard of lace?"

"How bad can it be?" Nancy shook her head with a look of confusion. "It's just an exhibition match…I may not wanna do it but Eric promises I'll be fine."

"And you trust him?" His tone was slightly mocking, as he reached out with the fingers of his free hand to touch the diamond.

"He said that I'm supposed to go into the ring." She motioned with her hand. "And just play along with what Chris does…whatever that means." Her heart was thumping wildly at the sight of his hand so scandalously close to the rapid pulse below her skin. She was finding it unspeakably hard to concentrate on his questions.

"Did he tell you what the stipulations would be?" Dave asked, knowing that no matter what Eric promised her, it would never be as simple as he made it out to be.

"Yeah, he said tomorrow night." She seemed confused.

"Nancy, stipulations are specifics about a match, things like 'no disqualification', pin-falls count anywhere…bra and panties match." He threw the last one in for a joke, but he secretly would have loved to see Nancy involved in that one, simply because he knew with her inexperience, she would have lost. But despite his attempt at humor Dave was beginning to feel very apprehensive about this farce of a match. "He must have mentioned it was inter-gender, right? Did he say anything else?"

Nancy glanced up at him a smidgeon embarrassed by the fact that she was completely unschooled in the finer details of an endeavor in which she was about to be thrust into. "Yeah he, uh…he said no disqualification and..uh, inter-gender…um" She shook her head trying to remember it all. It was hard to make eye contact when all she could stare at were his lips. "He mentioned that the 'no DQ' would be great for this type of thing, since I don't know all of the moves and rules, that way if I do something really wrong I won't be disqualified."

"Oh Lord, you have no clue what your about to do, do you?" Dave suddenly felt anger hum through his veins. He had known that Eric would do that sort of thing because he had done it before with others. He could clearly see that Eric had tried to convince Nancy that it was in her best interests to see things his way, and he'd used a mix of manipulation and deceit to achieve her compliance. "The 'No DQ' stipulation doesn't just benefit you, it benefits your opponent as well." He arched an eyebrow. "What Eric didn't tell you, was that your opponent can use any means at his disposal to incapacitate you, be it a chair, a sledge hammer…whatever he thinks will help him win…and he won't be disqualified for it." He saw a flash of fear in her face just before she jutted her chin out regaining her boldness. God, but he wanted to taste the skin below that diamond, his fingers stilled on the pendant and he pulled them away.

"Well then that means I can too, right?" Nancy asked, trying hard to disguise her intimidation at the new found knowledge.

Dave sighed and looked at the wall above her head, in thoughtful contemplation. "Nancy the best thing you can do is probably just get out of the ring, allow yourself to be counted out, and lose the match."

"He did say something about no count-outs." She grimaced when she saw the look of frustration on Dave's face and hearing his near growl of aggravation sent a shiver down her spine.

"And you told him you'd do this?" His voice rose to a concerning note. He knew what Eric was planning, He knew that Eric didn't like Nancy and he had been around long enough to see the fruits of what happened when Eric used the ring to punish people he didn't care for. The former female announcer/interviewer, Terri Runnels was a prime example.

Nancy held her arms out to the sides in desperation, even though they ached to slide between his jacket lapels and touch his chest. "I had no choice, he said that we all needed to know how to be versatile and if I wanted to continue my employ here I had to be willing to try new things…he says I'm not the only one that will have to be diverse."

"Well, you're not doing it." Dave shook his head as he spoke matter-of-factly. "I'll talk to Eric myself. You have no business in the ring."

"He'll fire me Dave." She wanted to beg him not to make things worse for her, but the look on his face made ice run through her blood and she didn't feel like arguing when she knew she would lose.

"I'll be back in 20 minutes, don't leave." He spun on his heels and marched out of the room, shutting the door behind him. He was determined to find Eric and change his mind even if he was forced to pound his head against his desk repeatedly until he either yielded or lost his memory, whichever came first.

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Christy caught a glimpse of the young girl, who so closely resembled her father, as soon she exited the women's locker room. There was no doubting that she was Dave Batista's eldest daughter and a suddenly thoughtful smile curved Christy's red pouting lips. Her chance to get Dave back would be exponentially easier if she could develop a friendship with the girl. Christy knew it would be hard for Dave Batista to say no to a relationship with a woman who had such a strong influence in his daughter's life…and she planned to be that woman. She noticed that the teen was holding the hand of another little girl, no doubt Dave's youngest daughter.

Christy couldn't help noticing the disheveled look of the little girl with her helmet and breastplate and oversized soda with the straw, on which she was noisily slurping. How anyone could let a child go out in public looking like that was beyond her scope of sensibilities. She might not like it but if she was Dave's daughter, then Christy was smart enough to know that she had to accept her in all her imperfections…and Lord there were a lot of them.

She clutched her handbag under her arm and walked down the hallway toward the girls who had decided to take a seat on two chairs near the men's locker room. She deduced they were probably waiting for their father and it might not be a bad idea for her to make her move now so that Dave could come out in the middle of her talk with his girls and see how truly well they were all getting along. Christy was certain that all she to do was talk about make-up or something equally inconsequential to the oldest one and offer some…candy to the younger one. They both appeared to be fairly average in terms of interests, except for that younger one, it appeared that all one would have to do is toss a dress-up ninja costume at her and let her go her own way…how hard could it be?

Christy paused directly in front of the girls and then pasting a very bright, visibly contrived smile on her face, she leaned over. "Well, aren't you just the spitting image of your Daddy?"

Vanessa had heard that same observation a handful of times tonight alone and it was getting old. Yes, she knew she looked like her father, and yes he couldn't have denied her if he'd wanted…she had heard it all before, but prepared to heed her mother's advice about being polite, she emulated the woman's smile and said "Thank you."

"You know…your Daddy and me are special friends." Christy began trying to enforce with the young teen that she too had a place of value in the life of Dave Batista. "He's been hoping we could all meet."

Vanessa, being more intelligent than most girls her age, found that the attempted affirmation was not lost on her and the woman's voicing of it represented a very distinct threat. "My Daddy has lots of friends." Again Vanessa was unerringly polite, even if she remained wary. "I've met most of them, but I don't recall meeting you."

Christy was blown away by the fact that the young lady was so intellectual and articulate. She'd half expected a dimwitted, boy-crazy teen. "Well you know," Christy said placing her hand bag on the seat next to Audrey and then leaning down to take a look at Audrey under the hat. "I might even be getting to know the two of you better." She glanced at Vanessa, who had a look of respectful repose on her young face.

"I don't really remember my Daddy mentioning you, what did you say your name was?" Vanessa motioned for Christy to sit down on the chair closest to her. She did so…only because she had seen the impish look of interest that flickered across Audrey's face when the handbag had been placed on the chair. The teen had been hoping to gather the attentions of the Diva for the sake of depriving her little sister of an opportunity at mayhem unfortunately, Christy sat next to Vanessa without picking her handbag up.

"He didn't tell you about me?" Christy watched the young girl shake her head, and then gave her spiel. "I'm the very first Diva Search Winner."

"Oh, that's right." Vanessa said obligingly, unable to see what Audrey was doing behind Christy's back and very nervous because the purse was also out of her view. "Didn't you, like…pose nude or something too?"

Christy was chagrined by the girl's ability to be condescending and well-mannered at the same time. She had definitely underestimated her. "Well, yes I did pose in Playboy, but sometimes when a career opportunity that good comes along you just have to take it."

Vanessa nodded, "Well my Daddy always tells me that the girls who leave something to the imagination, usually end up better off in the long run…I hope your career choice works out for you." She was suspicious of the woman, and very much against the prospect of her Father striking up a friendship with a woman like her.

"Well, thank you…" Christy wanted to slap the little tart, but then there would be no chance in hell of anything more with Dave than a trespass order if she indulged that particular impulse. "Maybe we can go hang out sometime while you're here with your Daddy, maybe hit the mall or something." Christy had to try, even if the little shit was bitter and hateful under the guise of a well-bred Champion's daughter.

"That sounds nice, but I've already been to the mall…" Vanessa began, prepared to deflect the woman at all costs.

Behind the two, Audrey had been listening with only mild interest, her focus on the open handbag in front of her. She really had wanted to be good like Daddy insisted, and she would have…only this lady was making Vanessa do the face that she did when the boys on the plane said she was hot, so she must be trouble just like those mean ole' boys were. Audrey had plans for this lady and even if she didn't have a sword, she had the other weapons. She thought quickly about the consequences if she was caught, and then just as quickly as they entered her mind, they left, and in their place was the intense desire to test out the weapon she had saved from breakfast.

She had used her teeth to tear the corner of the honey packet open while she had been in the bathroom stall earlier, so that Vanessa couldn't see her, and boy, had it ever been hard to keep the packet from squishing out into her pocket before she could find just the person to use it on. And now, sensing her sister's stress and hearing the lady talk to them both like they were babies was making her mad. Audrey lent a watchful eye until she was sure that this lady wasn't looking and then she slipped the sticky weapon out of her pocket and carefully squeezed the entire packet of it into the tiny handbag, watching it swirl into heavenly, amber-colored drippings, down over the lady's keys and onto the tube of lipstick and among all of the other things that lay in the tiny Gucci bag.

Audrey glanced up quickly and was relieved to find that Vanessa, who would kill her if she knew, was still talking to the lady, who hadn't seen what she had done either. With a complacent smirk, she put the empty honey packet back into her pocket, next to the other weapon and her pack of Bubble Yum, gum. She had fixed this lady for sure and now it was time to sit back and be really good…for awhile, or else Vanessa might know she had been a bad girl and she would make that other face and tell Daddy on her.

"Well, if you change your mind, maybe I could show you some tricks for your hair and nails…all that girlie stuff!" Christy tried in earnest to break past the teen's defenses but realized that it might take more than a day. "Why don't you let your Dad know that I can take you with me tomorrow when I go to the Mall with all the other Divas? You can hang out with us. You'd like that right?"

"I think my Daddy's taking us somewhere, I don't know yet." How many refusals did she have to give before the lady got the hint? All she knew was that if her Daddy didn't have plans she would darn sure fake sick before she'd go anywhere with this lady, except maybe to a basketball court where Vanessa knew she could get the better of her.

"Well…if you change your mind…" Christy let the sentence trail off and turned her attention to the littler of the two pieces of Dave's marital baggage. "And you cutie…you could always go with us too if you want."

Audrey slurped her soda loudly and smiled from behind the straw. "Thank you." She mimicked Vanessa's behavior.

"You are just an adorable baby girl." Christy had no clue how to talk to the child. She just knew that she didn't want to get too close to the little girl, because of the hazard of the sticky hands now clutching the soda cup. "I love the, uh…little hat."

"Helmet." Audrey corrected.

"Oh that's right, and this…uh…" She pointed to the breastplate.

"It protects me from other people's weapons." Audrey explained, her leg swinging, kicking out a furious beat against the metal leg of the chair.

Just what Christy needed, to be the stepmother of a little girl with a huge imagination, and a propensity to be a tomboy.

Audrey was glad she had used the secret weapon, because this lady had said she was a baby and she was no baby! She was a big girl like her Daddy had said and only her Daddy could call her a baby girl, because he knew not to say it in public. "Vanessa, I have to go pee."

"Well it was nice to meet you girls." Christy ground out through her teeth…this was going to be harder than she thought, as she clutched her handbag and walked away. Her only consolation was that Dave didn't have his kids all the time, and maybe after she got him back and moved into his home, she could conveniently take a trip to a spa on his visitation weekends.

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"This is lunacy." He breathed, shoving his hands in his pockets. "She can't do this…she can't take bumps, she doesn't know how to time things properly…she's gonna get hurt and you know it." Dave's voice, though low was markedly strained as he spoke. Pulling his hand out of his pocket and pointing at Eric, he said. "You're working an angle, I swear I can smell it from here…this benefits you in someway, I'd bet my life on it."

"Why would I be working an angle? I just think this would make an excellent, fresh rivalry that people would really grab onto." Eric clutched his hand in the air, smiling as Vince McMahon sat in the chair watching the exchange with interest. "She can always be sent for training later, if things go well, and she'll learn everything she needs to know at that point."

"She doesn't want to wrestle, not tomorrow night, not in the near future, not ever." Dave Batista furrowed his brow. "She's a designer, she knows as much about wrestling as you do about sewing…she's scared and I'm telling you she's gonna get hurt…please call off this match." He wasn't in the habit of saying please, but for her he would do it.

"Dave…" Vince piped up. "I hate to sound facetious, but I really think Eric may be on to something, I think that having someone from behind the scenes, someone completely unknown, out there in a rivalry with a well known heel, though not completely inconceivable, would be a way to refresh things around here."

"Refresh?" Dave couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Why her? Why not someone else?"

"Because she and Chris have exchanged words and because after the incident with her throwing his keys in the trash, it makes for a good rivalry and forcing them to work together might force them to solve their differences." Eric explained, hashing out the details of the skirmish between the two.

"And he actually saw this happen?" Dave probed. "He saw her throw his keys in the trash?"

"Well, no, but he was told by someone and so was I." Eric shook his head.

"And you're basing this whole bullshit circus on the word of someone else?" Dave laughed derisively "Did you even bother to ask her?"

"I didn't have to…I don't have to reveal my sources or my reasons to you or anyone else." Eric was surprisingly brave.

"Fellows I don't have to remind you that we have a show starting in an hour, let's get this lined out so we can hype it tonight and go our own ways, shall we?" Vince huffed. "Or else we can drop the whole damned thing for the sake of time."

Dave glowered and shoved his hands back into his pockets as a way to restrain himself from doing bodily harm to either of the men in front of him. "I prefer the latter."

"Here's the deal in a nutshell." Eric stated. "No disqualification, no count outs, we'll announce that she can win by pin fall or submission…obviously we will want Chris to go over for the sake of building the rivalry…he'll just do a little bit of roughing her up and then we plan to have him put her in the walls of Jericho and she'll tap out…that's all."

"And what if something goes wrong? What if he tears her knee out when he puts her in 'The Walls'? What if she loses her balance when he's yanking her around and falls through the ropes and lands on her head? What then?" Dave said his jaw pulsing. "There are a hundred different unknowns that you can't even factor into something like this. Professionals get hurt, Eric, and even they know what they're doing."

"The match is set, period…I'm gonna have Jericho run a promo here in the first half of the show for the match tomorrow night." Eric stated.

"While you're at it, why don't you just sign her up for the next Lumberjack Match? We'll all just strap her a few times and have a good laugh." Dave spouted. "Next thing you know she'll be ready for a Hell in the Cell!"

"Don't tempt me!" Eric spat.

Just as the conversation became even more heated, a producer popped his head into the office reminding Vince McMahon of his responsibilities elsewhere and the group of men began to disperse. The door closed behind Dave and he prepared to revisit Nancy with the bad news, when Stephanie McMahon-Levesque sidestepped a sound cart and placed herself in front of him, asking for a moment of his time.

"I heard about what Eric wants to do and even though I think it's a good idea for business reasons…I know how it feels to be in the ring with someone and be scared." She said, looking up at him with all seriousness. "I want you to kick an idea around, for me." She motioned with her hands.

"What idea?" Dave was still frowning.

"He may have said 'no DQ', no count out, all that other idiocy but if you'll recall, he never mentioned a rule for no ringside interference." She smiled and patted him on the arm. "Just think about it, huh?" With that, she walked away.

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"He mentioned that the rivalry started because you threw Chris's keys in the trash." Dave said as he watched Nancy hem up the leg of Trish's pants.

"What?" Her head popped up along with a look of confusion followed by a laugh. "No…I told you, I ran into him when I wasn't looking, which obviously I am prone to doing and when we collided, all of his stuff fell. I tried to give him his keys back and he was so busy spouting off obscenities that he walked off without them." She lifted the foot and pulled the fabric out from under it snipping the excess thread and laying the pants aside. "I had to get moving, so I gave the keys to Max and he said…" Nancy paused for a split second, her mouth popping open in surprise as reality dawned revealing what must have happened. She gritted her teeth as she pushed the chair back from the table. "Max!" She closed her eyes, a feeling of smoldering anger washing over her. It had been him with the red shirt, and now him with the keys. And each time, she had been the one left holding the bag. "Bloody hell…" She muttered, covering her face with her hands.

"It's gonna be okay." Dave laughed softly just to mask the fury he felt. This entire incident was a result of Max's constant meddling. He stood above her and rubbed his hands up and down the sides of her arms to rid her of the goose bumps that had popped up and then he enfolded her in a hug laying his chin on top of her head. "I was planning on going to the gym tomorrow after breakfast, but I think maybe I should use that time to show you a few things." If there was nothing else he could do at least he might be able to show her a way to keep from getting her neck broken.

She listened to the pleasant rumble of his voice and the steady beat of his heart. "There's no chance of me getting out of this one is there?" She joked, imagining that she could stay right here, this way for along time without discontent.

"Well, we could always run away again." And the idea was more appealing now than ever, he was just afraid that he might not want to come back. He brushed her curls back with his hand, so tempted to kiss her, but nervous that anyone could come in and find them. "I have to go now, but I don't want you to worry…I'll have you ready by tomorrow, and since we know the match is set for you to lose, it won't be hard." He winked and headed toward the door.

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Dave Batista emerged from the men's locker room, fully dressed and ready for his match, now all he was lacking were his little girls. A quick word with the producer Ted Phillips, reassured him that his girls had been taken to ringside, front row and were already seated, next to another female producer, in order that they could watch their father's match.

He looked on the monitor that was used to scan the crowd, and spotted his daughters. Audrey was front and center complete with the helmet and a large pink bubble, growing larger by the second, from her mouth. Vanessa was talking to Audrey, no doubt instructing her on the finer points of how to chew bubblegum properly, he knew they were fine and he could rest easy during his match. Now on his way to the ring he realized that he was halfway wishing the monitor would have scanned the rafters so he could see if she was there again.

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Nancy had hoped that she might be finished with all of the wardrobe requests in time to get a glimpse of Dave Batista's match, but the hopes of that were growing ever slimmer as the pile of 'to do's' was growing larger, and she was worried and incensed with her assistant whom she hadn't seen all night. She snatched up her sewing kit and prepared to head in the direction of the ladies locker room for a quick fix on Victoria before her match with Christy, when like a mind reader, Max finally walked in.

"Oh God…I'm sorry I'm late." Max looked unusually pale and sickly.

Nancy instantly went weak on the issue of yelling at him the moment she realized something was wrong. She tossed her kit down and with concern, she went to his side. "What's wrong with you?" She didn't coddle him, but rather she waited, thinking he might be playing possum. He was known for that sort of thing.

"Two things…" He said weakly, as if he might double over. "Puerto Rican food, and the information that Vicki just spoon fed me."

"Well then that's your whole problem, Max." She snapped, knowing that he wasn't nearly in as bad of shape now as he would be when she got through with him. "If it's not your mouth getting you into trouble, it's your mouth getting me into trouble."

"I know…" He looked in pure anguish. "And believe me you're not the only one who thinks that." Max dropped his bag and hung on to his stomach. "Vicki just told me that she heard from her assistant Paulo that you are going to be wrestling tomorrow night…please tell me that was a joke intended to stress me out."

Nancy decided against a full fledged tirade, thinking her energy would be better spent elsewhere. "It's the truth…I am going to wrestle tomorrow night…I don't want to…" She began, her temper rising. "But I don't have a choice…and can you guess why I don't have a choice?"

Max edged away from her, he wasn't all together sure she wouldn't harm him physically. "Is that a rhetorical question?"

"Someone in the upper echelon of management got the idea that I was somehow responsible for tossing Chris Jericho's keys in the trash." Nancy stated, narrowing her eyes. "You wouldn't happen to know where they might have gotten that idea, would you?"

Without letting him finish, she began again. "So instead of firing me, Eric Bischoff decided that he would give me a chance to redeem myself by my eager participation in a match that stems from a new rivalry created by my having thrown the keys in the trash."

She rounded the table and snatched her sewing kit up again. "But the funniest thing is…I remember having handed those damned keys to you, Max I even asked you that night if you gave them back and you said yes!" She was angry and hurt.

"Correction…" Max said putting a finger in the air. "I said they were in the perfect place, and for him the trash was the perfect place…I never said I gave them back." He knew he shouldn't have said it as soon as the admission came out of his mouth, and he blanched when he saw her shoulders stiffen.

"Damn you Max!" Nancy fumed. "Do you just really hate me? Because thanks to you I have half of the RAW Roster thinking I am a childish prankster."

"I really am sorry, please believe me…but none of this would have happened if you had just stood up for yourself instead of letting that Red haired Barbie walk all over you…" He tried desperately to rationalize his actions. "I only did it because I was sticking up for you!"

"Sticking up for me?" She scoffed. "You're gonna get my ass kicked, is what you're gonna do!" Nancy felt sorry for him, when she saw his head duck in apparent remorse. He had only acted with her best interests at heart, but simply put…he had little forethought to the consequences.

"Max…" She said sitting next to him, half tempted to put her arm around his beefy shoulder, but she clasped her hands on her lap. "You…are a really good friend and I love you…God help me, I don't know why, but I really love you, and I believe that you meant well when you did what you did, but you've gotta stop interfering in my affairs…"

"You're having an affair?" He joked

"Shut up." She said firmly, without smiling and continued. "That means, when I am being reamed by someone, you can't go behind my back and visit revenge on them, and you've gotta stop barging in when Dave and I…" She blushed and frowned. "What I mean is that I am a grown woman and I can handle things that come my way even if I do it differently than you would do it. I promise, I wouldn't have survived this long if I weren't tough as nails…I just don't feel the need to prove it to everyone, okay?" She watched him nod. "And another thing…I…really need you not to put my job at risk again. I don't have…a huge ranch in Colorado and a loving set of parents just waiting for me if I fail…" She swallowed back a lump. "I have a post office box on the shit-hole side of town in a city I'd rather not even go back to…and that's it. I need the exposure that this job can give my designs, it's really important to me and to my future, so please…think about that when you're tempted to get revenge on my enemies." She reached out and hugged him. His shoulders still slumped as he held onto her. Nancy might have been angry before, but now all she could feel for him was pity, she knew how hard it must have been for him to hear her say how she felt, especially when he had only been doing what he thought would help her.

"Well, I guess I was wrong about you…you seem to be running your own little player's club." The chilling female voice from the door caused Nancy to whip around.

"And here I was thinking you two were just friends and co-workers."

Nancy put her tongue against the roof of her mouth and closed her eyes. "Well I guess the night can get worse than it already is." She muttered.

A laugh and then the distinct plop of clothing could be heard as Christy slapped down a shirt on the table. "I think maybe we got off on the wrong foot."

"Oh really?" Nancy gave Max a warning glare when he appeared ready to bite and she turned around to face the Diva. "I didn't think that common accidents were enough of a reason to hate someone, but I guess in your case, maybe I was wrong about that one."

Christy smiled, un-phased. "You'll forgive me if I stick around while you do the repairs on my shirt…the last time I left it in your capable hands, I found myself in a bit of a bind."

Nancy lifted the shirt up and noticed that the hem was unraveling. "I'll have to trust this one to Max I have a repair to do in the bathroom for Victoria." She kept her tone light, but with an edge of stern composure.

"I guess it would be too much to ask for you to rig her shirt like you did mine." Christy laughed as if it were funny.

"It would be." Nancy responded narrowing her eyes and picking up the sewing kit.

True to form, Christy couldn't let her leave without getting in one last verbal jab. "You know, speaking of Dave…"

"I didn't realize we were speaking of Dave." Nancy could have simply left, but the mention of his name gave her pause, just as Christy knew it would have.

"I just had the most interesting conversation…with his daughter." She reveled in the slight aversion of Nancy's eyes.

"Good, I'm glad you were able to be civil to someone." Nancy felt a stab of jealousy, she had no right to feel that way, she knew it, but she did. She remembered how he'd asked her if she would be open to meeting his daughters and yet Christy had already gone and met them. "I really would like to continue this, but I have someone who needs my help."

"Are you sleeping with him?" The verbal dart was the equivalent of a well aimed harpoon, and Nancy was so caught off guard that for a moment all she could do was stare. "Trust me honey it's not that tough of a question." Christy's face was harsh and unyielding.

"What is it you want me to say?" Nancy asked, anger and shock, mixing together to form an old, almost forgotten emotion.

"You know...it's not hard for me to see what he's in it for…men rarely give effort to an innocent when they've experienced something profoundly life altering, like he has with me." She dragged her nail across the table as she took another step closer. "I just…for the life of me am not able to figure out what it is that you're getting out of this."

Nancy swallowed the urge to vomit, and chose to speak guardedly. "If what he had with you was so 'profoundly life altering'…then why wasn't he in your bed last night?"

The red headed Diva let out a swirl of false laughter, but not before Nancy had seen the furious dilation of her piercing eyes. "What makes you think he wasn't?" Her voice was deadly calm.

This time it was Nancy's turn to laugh, only it was for real, because she had known quite well where he had been last night. Choosing to give her answer without words, she simply smiled reticently, narrowing her eyes and then gave Christy a wink that told it all as she spun around and walked spryly out of the wardrobe room.

Christy was about to open her mouth again, but then she smiled sweetly to cover up her rage and turned to hand the shirt to Max, who was biting his tongue in an effort to keep from doing a verbal 'shock and awe' on the red headed demon.

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"Can you give me 15 or 20 minutes and then we can go eat?" Dave asked, sweat dripping down his face and chest.

Vanessa nodded to her father. "Please no Mexican food this time though." She pleaded and smiled when he raised an eyebrow before agreeing.

"Audrey, no mischief…" He leaned down, sweaty and still breathing heavily, so he could be face to face with his daughter. "Don't leave Vanessa's side." He straightened her helmet, thankful that he'd made her leave the sword behind in the cabana. Others might not believe it, but he was wise enough to know that such an innocent plastic toy to one child…became raw power in the hands of his pint-sized punisher. If left alone for even a minimal amount of time and with any inanimate object, she could do untold damage.

"Watch her while I shower." He kissed Vanessa on the top of her head and disappeared behind the locker room door.

"Okay, Audrey, we need to sit down, my legs are tired…and you can't sit in my lap like out there." Vanessa rubbed her thighs which had just now regained their sense of feeling, after having a bouncing Audrey perched on them through the entire match, save for the few moments when she was jumping up screaming out unspeakable horrors for their father to inflict on his opponent.

"I don't want to sit on your lap…I wanna play 'lava river'." She referred to the game that they played at home by throwing all of the cushions from the sofa onto the floor and used them as rocks to cross the imaginary lava from the family room to the kitchen.

"You can't play that game, Audrey. We don't have any pillows here." Vanessa rubbed her eyes and yawned.

"There's napkins over there…" Audrey pointed to the concession table. "We can use napkins!" She started to take a step toward the table, when Vanessa, quick as lightning, snatched her by the back of her breastplate and hauled her up onto the chair beside her. "Oh, no you don't, the last thing we need is a huge mess out here in the middle of the floor."

"Don't yank!" Audrey blurted and shook her torso furiously until Vanessa released her, but obediently she sat on the chair. "You always yank…" She whispered spitefully, feeling more and more like she might want to put the pokey weapon in her sister's shoe.

Vanessa rolled her tired eyes, hoping her father would hurry so that she could get something to eat, Audrey might be able to live off of cotton candy and slurpees, but Vanessa would have given her right arm for a good burger. She watched as the busy, back hallways became less and less a circus, and then the sign that read 'Wardrobe' on the door just across from her caught her eye, mainly because a very chubby man had just stepped outside of the door and pulled the sign off. "I'll bring you coffee." She heard him say and when she peeked past him just to be nosy, she caught a glimpse of a woman who looked familiar to her.

Vanessa watched the man pass by with a smile and nod, and then she turned her eye to Audrey who was fiddling with something deep in her pocket. She looked down the hallway and noticed Christy Hemme, making her way out of the women's locker room and Vanessa rolled her eyes…the last thing she wanted to have to do is share dinner with her Daddy and a woman who probably couldn't stop talking long enough to eat a complete meal.

"Hey Audrey…" She whispered, prepared to act fast. "Let's go look around." Vanessa knew this would get Audrey's attention, because sitting still obviously took its toll on her sister's tiny, restless body.

"Okay." She popped up off of the chair, causing it to slide noisily backward and then as her usual routine, she snatched hold of Vanessa's hand with her own sticky fingers and began swinging her arm. "Let's go."

Vanessa marched straight across the hall, thinking that she could come up with a good excuse for being in here if she had to…she just didn't want to have to pay anymore lip service to Christy. She opened the door and stepped inside, with Audrey behind her noticing the woman who was leaned over her work. Vanessa's eye was drawn immediately to the racks of clothing that were near the far wall, the huge volume of machinery and the standing rack of colored thread. It was like a miniature design warehouse. There were even mirrors for dressing and free-standing, hinged screens to hide behind while you tried clothes on.

Vanessa noticed that the woman looked up from the fabric she was pinning. "Hello." The woman smiled and then a sliver of recognition dawned on the faces of both. Vanessa knew her as the woman from the pool last night, but she was sure the woman only knew her because she looked like her father. And she swore if she heard that remark one more time tonight she might puke.

"Hi." Vanessa said softly, still holding Audrey's hand. She looked around awkwardly, the idea of an excuse failing her.

Nancy knew exactly who the little girls were. She recognized them from the pictures Dave had shown her the very first night when they'd eaten at the diner together. "Vanessa and Audrey, am I right?" She finished pinning the last fold and stood up.

"Yeah," Vanessa responded, surprised that she hadn't yet mentioned the likeness between her and her father. "Do you know my dad?" She asked, wondering if this lady were anything like Christy.

"I do." Nancy said, leaning against the table, unsure of how much about her his daughter knew.

Vanessa looked at her closely, trying to determine if she had an ulterior motive. "You work here in the WWE?" Of course she did, Vanessa fumbled. She couldn't just yet think of anything good to ask.

Nancy nodded. "I fix clothes when they get torn up, and I do some design work for the Divas."

"Really?" Vanessa ignored the persistent tug on her arm. She released Audrey's hand, thinking that she couldn't do a whole lot of damage in here. "Have you ever had to fix my Dad's clothes?"

"Once." Nancy nodded, turning back to straighten the table behind her.

Vanessa watched as Audrey promptly seated herself in the chair at the back of the room behind the sewing machine table, and she stepped beside the clothing rack so she could keep an eye trained on her. "How come these clothes don't have tags?" Vanessa freely peeked at a few of the designs hanging on the rack as she watched Nancy load a cart with miscellaneous supplies.

"Well…um, they do." Nancy said smiling. "It's just…let me show you." She lifted the hem of the shirt and showed Vanessa the tiny tag stitched into the side seam. It was a simple iridescent black tag with Nancy printed in silver scroll lettering. "When I started design school, my teacher always talked about spending less on advertising and more on your product quality…I guess that one lesson stuck."

"These are yours?" Vanessa was suitably impressed.

"Mmm, Hmm." Nancy nodded. "You're a fan of fashion?"

Vanessa admitted she was and animatedly explained how she had been sketching designs for so long and keeping them all so that she had piles of paper in her room. "I mostly have to just kick them under the bed, but Mom bought me a plastic storage bin that rolls under the bed so I put them in there, she's supportive of my career choice."

"That's good…and I'm sure she finds it easier to vacuum now too." Nancy glanced in the tall cheval mirror catching a glimpse of Audrey, hand out, finger headed toward the needle of the sewing machine that regularly injured Nancy. Without turning her head to face Audrey, she spoke. "I wouldn't do that if I were you…that machine bites, trust me I know." She held up her band-aid covered finger so the little girl could see it and then continued her conversation with Vanessa.

Audrey was shocked and surprised. This lady hadn't even been looking, so maybe it was true what her Mommy said about having eyes in the back of your head. She pulled her hand back slowly, not wanting to have an injury like the lady had. She also found that the pokey weapon was really starting to hurt, and she hadn't had bubble gum in a long time since her Daddy's match so she dug her hand deep into the pocket of her skirt to retrieve them both.

"He was really picky when I tried on swimsuits at the mall, he said I couldn't have either of the ones I tried on, because they showed too much." Vanessa explained her dilemma to Nancy as she fingered the fabric of a shiny grey swimsuit that was a prototype for one of Nancy's designs for the next Viva Las Divas photo shoot. "I would love something like this but I know he would tell me 'no way'."

"Well it wouldn't have to be exactly like this..we could alter it so that it's tasteful." Nancy offered to help her with the problem. "I'm sure if he knew we would change the footprint of the design, he would agree that it's okay."

"I got a stupid Nemo Swimsuit!" Audrey piped up from the back of the room.

"I'll bet you hate it right?" Nancy said holding in a laugh.

"How did you know?" Audrey was amazed again, not only could the lady see things that were behind her, she had known that Audrey hated the Stupid Nemo suit.

"Just a guess." Nancy said, turning to regard the little girl with a grin.

"I plan on putting duck tape over Nemo before I swim so people can't see him." Audrey announced nodding her head with resolution.

"Dad says you're not allowed anywhere near duct tape, Audrey." Vanessa reminded her with sisterly firmness.

Nancy nearly laughed out loud, when she saw the look of annoyance on Audrey's face. "It's a good thing you wore your body armor." Nancy announced noticing how crooked her helmet was and how loose the straps on the breastplate had become. "Wrestling matches are dangerous places."

Audrey's mouth flew open in surprise. "I told you so!" She roared, pointing at Vanessa accusingly and then turned to Nancy she confessed. "They made me leave my sword behind and I needed it a couple of times tonight already."

"So they did." Nancy said a look of consternation on her face. "You never can do without your sword." She rounded the table and picked up a long roll of white felt batting. The batting had been used almost down to the last two layers, but that was still plenty of padding to keep someone from getting pummeled. Inside was a fairly sturdy cardboard tube to help keep it from collapsing. "I know the night's already almost over, but this should help just in case someone comes at you when you're getting in your car." She slipped a rubber band over each end of the tube to keep the felt from unrolling and handed Audrey the sword.

"Oh, Man…thanks a lot!" Audrey said taking hold of the batting tube and swinging it with lethal force in circles. She made sound effects as she swirled and turned back toward the chair from which she had just come. She leaned her new spare sword against the table, hopping up in the chair while the nice lady talked with her sister. The pokey thing was hurting again and she had swallowed her gum, so back into the pocket she dug for both items. Audrey liked this lady, mostly because the lady knew how much she had needed a sword, and so because she found she liked this lady, she decided she wouldn't use her last weapon on her. She laid the pokey weapon on the chair, next to leg, and then pulled out the pack of gum, snatching another piece and popping it eagerly into her mouth. 'Only four left.' She thought, reminding herself to ask Daddy for more tomorrow.

"As for the swimsuit…" Nancy continued, "If you want, I can take your measurements before you leave and whip one up in a couple of hours."

"Really?" Vanessa decided that she liked the shiny grey swimsuit better than any of the ones she'd tried on in the mall. She pulled it off of the hanger and held it up in the air. "Yep..." She nodded. "This is the one for me."

"Oh, NO. …uh…uh." From behind them rumbled the deep and disapproving voice of her father. "No way."

"Daddy…" Vanessa groaned. "It's just a swimsuit." She frowned, determined that her father would never let her have one that she liked. She'd surely be swimming in shorts and a black t-shirt until she was forty!

"I know it's a swimsuit…" He said smiling through tightened lips. "But it's not your swimsuit…nor will it ever be." He then smiled at his youngest daughter, who came flying across the room with her new sword and a garbled run-on sentence spewing out of her mouth. Audrey flung herself against her father's leg with enough force to nearly put him off balance.

"I told you people that rasselin' matches are dangerous places!" She hollered backing away from his leg for a moment. "See? Even she knows that!" Audrey pointed to Nancy, who was now caught under the watchful perusal of Vanessa, who held on to a glimmer of hope in possessing the swimsuit.

Dave didn't bother informing his daughter of how absolutely true her statement had just been. "You have a sword." He noted, reaching out to inspect the batting covered tubing. "Nice workmanship." He grinned at Nancy and then turned to Vanessa.

"Daddy, you said you'd get us suits, and you got one for Audrey in the gift shop, but you hate every single one that I like." Vanessa began, a pleading look in her eyes.

"Which I don't love Nemo anyways and you can have mine!" Audrey shouted, satisfied with her solution.

"That is no kind of swimsuit for a young lady…I'm not even going to consider that one." He said taking a deep breath…He wouldn't admit that he might have considered it for Nancy.

"I don't want to intrude, but if I, uh…" Nancy began, nearly blanching when his firm stare locked on her. "If I were to make a different one in this same material, but, uh…" She gestured toward Vanessa's upper body. "If I make it cover way more than this one does…I mean borderline one piece, would you consider it?" She knew she was treading in dangerous waters, and she knew that the swimsuit in question was risqué, but she was also well aware of her own talents for redesigning clothing and she knew she could help the two reach a compromise.

Vanessa held her breath, partly because she was wondering how this lady could be brave enough to ask her Daddy to change his mind on something that he was firmly set against, and partly because she loved the material so badly she would have worn it even if it were made into a sweat-suit.

He crossed his arms over his chest and breathed in staring at Nancy for a long moment, and then casting a sideways glance at Audrey who was swinging her sword and then at Vanessa who was holding onto the skimpy swimsuit for dear life. "If it's tasteful…" He let out a breath. "Then, yes…she can have it."

Vanessa broke out into an excited squeal and a series of small hops. "Thank God, I finally have a swimsuit!"

Nancy looked down, unable to meet his eyes. She knew she had butted in where she didn't belong. When she finally got the courage to meet his stare, she saw that his lips were curling slowly into a knowing smile.

"That's very nice of you to do that for her." No one could have guessed the turmoil that he felt at having heard the interaction between his daughters and Nancy from out in the hall. He had wanted them to like her and for some reason he had expected her to use some form of coercion on them, but she hadn't, he'd never even told her about what Audrey had said when he'd denied her the accompaniment of the plastic sword, but somehow she'd had the same childlike opinion about needing it. She hadn't treated Vanessa like a child or used the old 'you look like your Daddy' line, she'd just answered his daughter's questions and then offered a solution for a problem that Vanessa had imagined was insurmountable. He appreciated her for that. "Thank you." His voice was slow and even, his eyes never wavering as he looked at her.

"Well, don't think it's not gonna cost you." Nancy said, her voice emerging with a tremor of relief and then she took Vanessa behind a dressing screen to take her measurements.

He didn't stop to tell her that at that very vulnerable and confusing second, he would have given her anything she wanted. He listened to the ceaseless chatter of Audrey who told of how happy she was to have two swords because she could fight with Vanessa now. "And you too, Daddy, only you have to be on your knees like Mom does."

"Thanks for asking my Dad." Vanessa whispered from behind the screen as Nancy pulled the measuring tape taught around her hips.

"Well, it won't be Sports Illustrated, but you have an absolutely perfect figure…you don't need skimpy things to show it off." Nancy smiled. "But you are welcome." She finished up her measuring, memorizing the numbers as she rolled the tape back up. "Okay so that's that…and you'll have a new swimsuit by lunch tomorrow."

Vanessa smiled and bounced on her feet again. Her nose crinkled up when she smiled and her deep ebony eyes sparkled with the delight of a teen wish granted. "Thank you so much…he never would have said 'yes' if you hadn't talked him into it." She reached out and wrapped her arms around Nancy in a surprisingly swift hug.

Nancy was so shocked by the gesture, that she dropped the tape measurer. "You're more than welcome." She patted the girl's back and then before she was released, she heard Vanessa whisper. "I'm really glad you didn't get hurt last night at the pool."

Nancy pulled away and with a slight frown, she said. "You saw that?"

Vanessa nodded crooking her lip and looking down at her shoes. She took a deep breath and looked back up, "My Daddy is a good man." She smiled and thanked Nancy again, slipping out from behind the screen, to plant a kiss on her father's cheek and give her thanks again to him.

Nancy cleared her throat and then came out from behind the screen to wish them good night. "So, I'll see you guys tomorrow night here again?"

Both girls nodded, but Vanessa piped up. "Maybe I could help you with some of your work when I'm not watching my Daddy's match?" She looked hopeful.

"I could use better help." Nancy nodded and then turned to Audrey. "Do you think you could guard the door for us while we work?" She spoke as if Audrey were a grown soldier, no baby talk, which was something that she knew the girl would appreciate.

"I could keep you guys safer than ever with this sword and nobody would never get you even that red hair lady that called me a baby!" Audrey gave a dangerous swipe with the sword.

Nancy knew instantly who she had been speaking of and so did Dave she realized from her sidelong glance. "Well in that case…if you want the job then it's yours…it'll be a big weight off of my shoulders not having to watch my back all night."

Dave listened as Nancy spoke to Audrey as if hiring miniature mercenaries were an everyday occurrence, there was no condescending ring in her voice, only the reassurance that she was really looking forward to the safety that Audrey could provide with her felt batting sword. Her gestures toward his children hit him squarely in a place that he had been ferociously guarding since his divorce. He felt like someone had taken the wind from him.

Audrey reached forth and grasped Nancy's hand in her sticky one and announced that they should 'shake on it'. "I agree." Nancy said shaking her hand and nodding eye to eye, submitting to the terms Audrey was now spouting forth…rules about not going to the bathroom without an escort and not drinking soda's unless she tasted them first, and not answering the door. "That's my job, and there's all kinds of danger that you might not know about so you just let me do my job, okay."

"I will, I promise." Nancy gave her hand one final fearless shake and then let her cling again to her father's leg. She looked up to see a strange expression on Dave's face. She wanted to go with him, but she knew she had things still left to do.

"I didn't even get a chance to introduce you." He said, his voice strangely low, his eyes never wavering, never leaving her face.

"Well they wandered in and the rest is history." Nancy played nervously with the hem of her shirt.

"I will meet you in front of your cabana at 10 a.m. and we'll go find a place to show you some things for your match." His eyes held hers captive and she was disturbed by the intense scrutiny he had her under. It wasn't threatening in the least just a continuous stare that had her wondering if she had something on her face.

"Don't go out by yourself, huh?" He smiled, breaking the stare.

"Okay." She answered, and then turned to Audrey and gave her a salute, nearly laughing again when the little girl saluted her back, causing her helmet to topple off of her head. "Bye Vanessa." She watched the teen smile and wave and silently mouth the words "Thank You" and then the trio left the wardrobe room, leaving Nancy to wonder what in the world had just happened.

"So sorry it took forever." Max apologized as he hitched the door closed behind him with his foot. "I have never seen such a throng of brainless, bikini-wearin' women in all my life! They just hovered in front of that free drink table, like they were waiting for someone to pay!" He set the coffee down and then noticed Nancy's flushed expression and smile. "Oh, shit…I missed it again, huh?"

"You'll never believe who I just met." Nancy said shaking her head.

"Dave Batista's kids." Max said nodding his head.

"How did you know that?"

"I saw them sitting on the chairs in the hall when I left." Max shrugged. "That oldest one, she's the spitting image of her Dad. No mistaking that one."

Nancy nodded "The funniest thing happened though." She stood up and began to pack away a few more of the supplies. "She hugged me…and I got a sticky handshake, now that I'm someone's new boss…and I made a sword…and I butted in where I didn't belong and I didn't even get creamed for it." She smiled. "I had a better time in the last twenty minutes than I have in this job the whole time I've been here."

"Did you inhale spray adhesive while I was gone, because you are making no sense whatsoever." Max tilted his head and stared at her as if she had just unhinged her jaws for fun.

"Never mind…you had to have been here." She looked at the sticky residue on her hand and grinned. She was about to explain it better to Max when he sat down in the chair behind the sewing table to sip his coffee and let out a blood curdling yelp, succeeded by a howl and a flurry of curses. Coffee flew in slurries from the lip of the cup bathing everything in reach.

"What's wrong?" Nancy hollered above the din of his panic, and as he danced around in pain, she glimpsed something very shiny and somewhat tangled looking, impaled in Max's backside. "Okay be still so I can help you!" Had he been wearing denim, it might not have stuck into his skin, but his linen slacks afforded him little or no protection from the strange metal object. When she finally was able to get him to slow down, she reached out and plucked the gnarled metal burr from his rump.

Rolling it over in her fingers, she looked at it with curiosity. 'Hmmm." She mused over it a moment longer while Max rubbed his sore rump and threatened countless tortures that he would inflict on the one who had done the terrible deed. It didn't dawn on her who might have done it until she saw the half empty pack of Bubble Yum on the floor by the chair. Audrey must have laid them both there and Max had pushed the package of gum off into the floor with his oversized butt when he'd sat down, but looking at the metal burr, she could see why it hadn't fallen off of the chair but rather caught hold of the leather and gouged Max's flesh. She was impressed that Audrey had been able to make such an intimidating weapon, even though she surmised it had been left on accident rather than planted. She sat back in the chair after giving it a quick look and leaned her head back, holding the burr and laughing until her sides hurt. She sighed as her laughter died down, and then she looked at Max's confused and peeved expression. "Praise God for irony." She said. "We just talked earlier about how things can come back and bite you in the ass…or stab you…in the ass." She burst into another fit of laughter.

"I'm glad you think it's so funny." Max snapped, rubbing his sore cheek. "Let's see if your laughing when I charge my tetanus shot to your Master Card!"

"I'm sorry…it's just Audrey…" She laughed again thinking about the little girl and her warrior spirit.

"Dave's kid?" Max watched as Nancy nodded, still laughing. "Maybe you should tell him what she did, that shit's dangerous!"

"No, she didn't do it on purpose." Nancy shrugged, a smile still tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Besides…I rather think you deserved that one."

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"Daddyyy." Audrey whined, as the rental car pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant. "We have to go back to the rasselin' match." Her eyes were pleading and filled with worry. She had been intent on chewing one last piece of gum before dinner, when she realized with horror that she had left her gum and her new weapon on the chair where that nice lady would sit. She hadn't meant to….it was just that the weapon was pokey and she had only taken it out for a second, she had never wanted to leave it there where the nice lady might get her butt poked.

"Audrey, we're going back tomorrow night." Dave glanced at her in the rearview mirror.

"No Daddy, we have to go back now." She whined. "I forgot my gum." Her words came out in the most pitiable voice as her chin started to quiver.

"Baby, I'll get you more gum, I promise." Dave felt sorry for her. "But we can't drive all the way back to the arena right now, they've locked the doors."

She looked as if she might cry. "Okay Daddy." It might be too late already, the nice lady would have a sore butt, she probably screamed too and now Audrey just knew that her job protecting her sister and the nice lady would be over before it even got started. The nice lady would hire someone else…someone who didn't leave weapons behind to get sat on. Audrey wanted to sit on her Daddy's lap and get a hug and tell him the truth, but she knew that if she told him about the pokey weapon, she might end up with a sore butt too.

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Hours later, after reassuring himself that Nancy was nowhere near the pool alone, Dave Batista walked away from his window and prepared to kiss his little girls goodnight. Vanessa was still glued to the television, viewing Three's Company reruns and so he gave her a set time to shut it down and kissed her head, ruffling her perfectly straight, shiny black hair. "Daddy, thanks again for the swimsuit." She smiled up at him.

"You're welcome, again." He smiled back at her and headed for the girls room where he was dismayed to find no war whoops. Audrey had not been behaving normally since she had left the arena, and it concerned him. She seemed more worried about leaving behind a pack of gum than most people would have been about leaving a wallet. It wasn't like her.

He walked in to find her already between the sheets, with her helmet on the pillow beside her, eyes wide open and a stuffed Power Ranger doll in her arms.

"You didn't tell me you were going to sleep already…I would have tucked you in." He frowned when he noticed the tear sliding down the side of her face from the corner of her left eye. "What's wrong, Audrey?" He said quietly, leaning down to rub her hair.

"Daddy…" Her chin quivered and he felt his heart plummet. "Is it mischief when you didn't mean to do something bad, but something bad happens anyways?"

He chewed his lip and prepared for her imminent admission of guilt. "This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with the empty packet of honey I found in your pocket, would it?" He remembered wondering why the packet had been empty and where the honey might have gone when he'd tossed the girl's clothes in the washer an hour ago.

"No Sir. "She shook her head, she meant to do that, but she'd never tell her Daddy about that one, because he hadn't actually asked if she'd poured honey in something…she was safe on that one.

"Did you do something else?" He asked rubbing his thumb down her cheek to swipe at the tear.

"No Daddy." It was sort of true, she told herself, because she didn't mean to do anything.

"Well then in that case, it would be an accident and accidents aren't really mischief." He rubbed his chin trying to find the right words to ease her tiny conflicted heart. "But sometimes even accidents need an apology, even if you didn't mean to do something, you might be prepared to say you're sorry." He wondered what she was talking about but he knew her well enough to know that she would tell him sooner or later because as big a prankster as she was, she was a good kid and she wouldn't be able to hold it in for long.

Audrey nodded, still saddened over the prospect of giving up the job protecting her sister and the nice lady who now had a sore butt. "Okay Daddy." Her voice was still heartbreaking.

He bent over, kissed his baby girl on the cheek and snapped out her lamp. He stood up rolled his massive shoulders and headed to his room to plan some mischief of his own.