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Part Two

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"I'm sorry, did you just say Chris Jericho?" Edge shook his head, unable to believe what he was hearing.

"Yes, I did." Lita sighed. She had known that Edge wouldn't take their old friend's recent contact well, but she was too tired to even think of dealing with it. She was tired, upset, cranky, and preparing for her and Jeff's first match back since Matt had turned on them.

"What did he say?" Edge demanded.

"Nothing much," she said, shrugging, even though the man couldn't see her. "He just wanted to say sorry and…well, that he wanted to make sure we were okay."

"And you believed him?"

Lita paused slightly, remembering the cautious tone in Chris' voice, the undercurrent of worry that she had long since forgotten could ever come from the man. "Yes," she said softly, "yes, I believe him."

Edge sighed. "Look, just…just be careful, Li. Promise me you'll be careful."

She wanted to tell him that it was too late for that, but she wouldn't. Instead she bade Edge a hasty goodbye, knowing that her match was up soon.

"Thank you."

The soft voice startled her and she spun around to look at the doorway. Chris was standing with his hands in his pockets, looking at her hesitantly. She took a deep breath before indicating that he should enter the locker room.

The silence was permeable as she watched him walk slowly towards her. His gaze never faltered, but he still appeared unsure of himself. Stopping in front of her, he shifted, as if only just realising that he had nothing to say. She tried to offer him a smile, but the brief look that passed over his face told her she had been completely unsuccessful.

"Where's Jeff?" he finally asked and she knew he was just trying to break the uncomfortable silence.

"He, uh, went to see Stacy."

Chris frowned and glanced away from her for a moment, working things through in his mind. Her lips curled slowly into a smile as she watched the familiar lines on his forehead change whilst he tried to make sense of her words.

"That whole thing with Matt was a set up?"

Lita nodded slowly. "Yeah, well, sort of. She just wanted to prove to me that Matt wasn't what I thought…I guess she was right." Chris opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off, not wanting to hear 'sorry' from him again, because she wasn't sure what he'd be apologising for this time and there were some things that, deep down, she didn't want him to be sorry about.

Instead she continued filling in some blanks. "Stacy and I knew each other a long time ago. We met on holiday when I was a Camp Rep just out of High School. She latched onto me like an annoying little sister for the whole summer and after that we used to write each other."

"What about invasion?"

"Well, we had a bit of a falling out over that, as you can imagine."

Chris chuckled. "Yeah, I guess I can." He frowned and opened his mouth to speak, but seemed to think better about it and opted instead to allow the silence to return.

"What?" she asked. As much as there were some things she didn't want to hear, saying anything was better than nothing at all.

"I was just wondering. That night, the phone call, was that her?"

Lita nodded, knowing exactly to what he was referring and knowing even more why he had been hesitant to bring it up. "Yes. Her cousin, Ashley, was in an accident and she was freaking out. I was the only one she could think to call."

"So…So I really wasn't the reason you left?" Her eyes widened and he stepped back, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"Chris, why would you think you were the reason?"

He laughed humourlessly. "You really need to ask?"

Lita closed her eyes for a brief moment, before stepping closer to him. "Chris, you knew that Matt and I were having problems and you knew that I…I couldn't even think about-"

"I know and I'm so sorry I put you through that."

Lita nodded. "You were stressed."

Chris cocked an eyebrow at her. "And I was being a jerk."

"That too." Lita frowned. "Was it me? I mean, was I the reason? Or is that just wi…me being conceited?"

Chris let out a breath trying not to think about the fact that it sounded as though she had almost said 'wishful thinking' and stepped back, running a hand through his hair. "That's a loaded question, Li. No matter how I answer it I'll sound like I'm making excuses or passing the blame elsewhere." He sat down on the bench along the far wall and Lita joined him, sitting so close that her shoulder brushed against his arm. He leaned forward, elbows on knees, resting his head on his clasped hands.

"You don't have to explain to me."

"Yes, I do." Chris took a moment to look at her out of the corner of his eyes. "But not now. Not while all this is going on. I just need you to know that…I wanted to stop. I wanted to go back to the way things were, but I didn't know how. It was like I was watching myself from above and I was screaming 'what the hell are you doing, jackass?' but I couldn't seem to stop."

"You never did like criticism," Lita said with a small smile. "Especially self-criticism."

"Yeah, well, there are a lot of things I don't like and, for a while now, the main thing I haven't liked is me. Not one little bit."

"You were the champ."

"I used a chair."

Lita placed a tentative hand on his shoulder and he jumped slightly at the contact. "That really eats at you, doesn't it?"

He shrugged, but didn't answer. They sat in silence for a little while, only this time it wasn't uncomfortable, but it was tinged with sadness because they had once been closer, sadness brought on by the fact that their silences that had once said so much were merely empty now.

A sound from the hallway made them both jump their feet and Lita tensed. Chris looked at her and, for a moment at least, it was like they'd gone back in time, because no words were necessary; his eyes told her that, if it was Matt Hardy having finally tracked her down to the one place he knew she'd be, Chris would protect her. In fact, the look in his eye almost made her feel sorry for Matt as much as she wished it was him, because he deserved to pay for hurting Jeff and, a small voice in her head that sounded eerily like Chris' said, for hurting her.

"Hey, Li, have you…"

Letting out a breath she hadn't even realised she was holding, Lita smiled at Jeff. "Hey," she said softly, "look who came to visit."

Jeff eyed Chris warily for a moment, but whatever he saw in the other man's eyes was clearly enough. He offered his old friend a tentative smile. "Nice to see you again," he said. "Been a while."

"Yeah, it has." Chris took a deep breath and moved slowly towards the door. "I should really go. Good luck with your match tonight, both of you." He looked at each of them in turn and if Jeff noticed that his gaze lingered on Lita, he had the courtesy not to say anything whilst the other man was still in the room.

"Chris," Lita called before he left. The blond man turned his head and Lita smiled at him. "You always have the choice. You can always change things back."

"Things will never be the same," he said softly and Lita nodded.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that they can't be better." Chris flashed a quick smile at her before leaving the room and Lita turned to Jeff, who was regarding her curiously. "What?"

"Somethin' tells me there's more to all this that I don't know about."

Lita sighed and sat down. "He's just…confused."

"Something tells me he's not the only one. I have a question for you," Jeff asked. "What did Chris mean when he called? When he said he was sorry he hurt you?"

Lita cleared her throat and looked away, clearly not comfortable with the idea of talking about it, just yet. After a moment she looked at his patient gaze. "I don't think I even know where to begin."

Jeff nodded. "When you're ready."

"Thank you," she whispered. Things were a mess, but, somehow, in all the confusion and all the hurt, she could feel something inside, some hope that she wouldn't be disappointed when she reached the other side.

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End of Part Two

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