by Kyizi
Disclaimer: The WWE and all related items do not belong to me; only the story is mine. No copyright infringement intended.
Rating: PG
Distribution: Please ask.
Pairing: Chris/Steph, Matt/Lita, and Jeff/Torrie
Spoilers: Up to and including "No Mercy" 2001.
Feedback: Please, it makes me smile :)
Dedication: To Kittie, who's been a complete gem at reviewing my fics, thanks for the continuing feedback, honey/mwah
Notes: This story was written a long time ago and left unfinished. It's the only Matt/Lita story I've ever written and it's likely to remain so, so I hope you enjoy it!
In case this is too far back in the timeline that you've all forgotten what was going on, here's a brief synopsis. Basically, the Alliance invasion is at its peak and the Rock and Y2J just fought for the WCW title. Y2J won after Steph threw a chair into the ring. Matt and Lita are still fighting (Matt got a special preview of Stacy's lingerie) and 2 weeks ago in the timeline the Dudleys tabled Torrie. I think that's about all you need to remember… it's certainly about all I can remember, anyway.
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Chapter One: A Long Fallxxxxx
Chris looked down at the belt he held in his hands. It was his. He'd won it…but at what cost? He might have proved he wasn't the choke artist everyone was saying he was, sure, the Great One might think again before telling Chris he 'just wasn't that good', but could he believe it himself?
He might have got the pin on the Rock, 1, 2, 3. Man, that had felt good...but would it have felt better if he'd done it without a chair? He'd been floating on cloud nine when he'd heard his name announced as the new WCW Champion. For so long he'd waited for his turn for a chance, but he'd never got one and, when he had, he'd made a mess of it. Well, not this time, this time he'd won. So why did he feel like a complete jackass?
Because you still don't know if you can beat him fair and square.
The little voice in his head had been taunting him since he'd come backstage. Yeah, his friends had congratulated him, just as he would do for them. It had been the look in Jeff's eye that started everything. His best friend had known how much he simply wanted to win, to show that he could do it on his own. No steel chairs, no Stephanie McMahon, just him, one on one with the Great One.
He watched the replay again, watched as the Billion-Dollar Princess made her way to the ring with the chair. What had she been thinking? Oh wait, does the woman ever think? And it was then that he noticed it. That glint in her eye when she'd looked at him. Not the usual, 'I'm going to make sure you lose. I hate you' glint. No, this was something new.
He rewound the tape and watched again. Had the McMahon Family Ho actually been trying to tell him something? He watched in slow motion and then it struck him; the chair had landed at his feet. She had thrown it in the ring for him. He resumed normal speed watching as he lunged for Stephanie and then he pressed pause. Walking right up to the screen, he watched as Stephanie looked up at him. She was speaking to him, pleading with him, more like it.
He pressed rewind and watched again, his eye catching on the gold WCW belt in the corner of his eye. Why had she thrown him the chair? Was she determined to make sure that he'd be sitting here after winning his first big title, beating himself up about fairness? Yeah, that sounded about right, definitely something that the youngest McMahon would try. Sure he'd been on cloud nine, but she'd made sure he'd have one hell of a long fall.
But he was still left with one question: what, exactly, had the Princess been trying to tell him?
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End of Chapter Onexxxxx