Chapter 2

As soon as John heard word that he would be in a handicap match against Shane and Triple H, he wasn't the least bit surprised and had to admit, was a bit annoyed. With Shane in the ring, he prepared himself mentally to expect the worst.

As time drew near for his match, John waited back stage. An intensity in his eyes. John was always pretty intense when preparing for a match, but tonight he was even more focused than anyone back stage had seen before. So when Stephanie McMahon came up behind him for encouragement, he almost jumped out of his skin.

"Good luck John." Stephanie said as she delicately placed a hand on his shoulder.

John spun around almost ready to swing and take out whomever dared bother him before a match.

"Whoa, Steph. You scared the hell out of me." He admitted.

"Listen, sorry for the match you got booked into tonight. Shane approached Vince about it and Vince thought it'd be a great way to get you over with the fans. I think you would have been just fine facing either one alone, but Vince has final say." Steph said.

"Yo, don't sweat it. It'll be fine." John said as he smiled back at the billion dollar princess.

John wasn't about to tell Stephanie how he really felt about the match. He knew this would be a work and that her brother was responsible for it. As John watched Stephanie leave he wandered how she and Shane could even be brother and sister. Sure, Stephanie really couldn't be trusted either, but hell, Shane was a full out selfish punk who used his last name to throw his weight around. Regardless of what Triple H and Shane might try to do to him in the ring, he would not be their rag doll.

ooOOOOOOoooooooOOOOOOOOOOO

As soon as Cena's music blared from the loud speaker, the fans went crazy. Cena made his way to the ring totally pumped and on fire. The fans could feel his energy and this made them even more electric. Both Triple H and Shane had already made their way to the ring. They watched and waited like birds of prey as John made his way down the ramp. Both had smug looks on there faces. Triple H had the typical "I'm a bad ass and no one can beat me" look, while Shane had the typical half smirk that begged to be wiped off his face.

As John got closer to the ring, he refused to back down. Neither Triple H nor Shane scared him, especially least of all Shane. Triple H was definitely a good competitor, no one could argue that, but his weakness lie in his contempt. John knew if he kept his focus on Triple H, he would get out of the match without a scratch.

Backstage Lita stood near a video monitor waiting for John's match to begin. She was concerned for John the moment she heard about the match. John was a friend of hers. She respected him for all that he had earned in the WWE and how he had earned it. She often thought to herself that had she not been with Matt when John arrived, she and him could be together. As the thought teased into her mind, she couldn't help but to also admire John's well built physic. Shoving her hands into her pockets she dismissed the thought immediately. This was no time to be day dreaming especially while John was about to enter into a snake pit.

With her hands still buried in her front pockets, she remembered that she had left a note there to be read later. Lita had worked out early that morning and when she got back to her car, found a note stuck under the windshield of her rental car. She was in such a hurry to get to the arena, she just grabbed the note and shoved it into her front pocket to look at later. It was only now that she actually remembered it being there.

Lita looked around and then pulled out the note and read it to herself:

"Thinking of you baby. All my love."

That's it, no signature or anything. Again, Lita's first thought was that it was a fan, but the fact that the note said "baby" again made her wander if it could possibly be Matt. Although their relationship had been over for quite some time now, Lita still loved Matt dearly and she knew he still thought of her. True, he was now seeing another diva, but you never forget your first love. Reading the note and remembering the flowers she had received a few days earlier almost made her hope that both were Matt's little way of saying that he wanted her back.

OOooooOOOOOOOOOoooooooo

Back in the arena, John jumped into the ring and immediately he and Triple H went at it, exchanging blows at a rapid rate. Shane tried to get a cheap shot in from behind, but John countered with a right hand slap to his face. That was enough to leave him on the ground holding his chin until the ref could get him out of the ring.

With Shane standing outside the ring now, John and Triple H continued on with their match. All in all it was a pretty good match with each move being executed to perfection. To John's surprise, Triple H made no attempt to tag Shane in, nor did he allow Shane any cheap shots when he had him up against the ropes. This only meant that something really bad was coming John's way.

While the crowd cheered both John and Triple H on, Shane jumped down from the ring apron and started looking for something underneath the ring. Moments later he re-emerged with a chair. As Triple H continued to pound John, and at this point take the advantage, Shane slithered in the ring and stalked John from behind. Without John knowing that he was behind him Shane reared back and slammed John hard across the back with the chair. John immediately crumpled to the ground. The look on Triple H's face was one of surprise and concern as the shot had obviously done some real damage to John. As much as Triple H didn't like John, he still respected him as a wrestler. They both had to endure the same day in and day out abuse to their bodies while trying to entertain a crowd. Something someone like Shane, a non-wrestler, would never understand.

As soon as Shane saw how painful the chair shot to John actually was, he stood above him and smiled. Now that he was on the ground, he could do to him whatever he wanted. He pointed to Triple H to leave the ring as he wanted to take credit for the pin himself. Triple H hesitated, but then obliged. He knew his time would come at Wrestlemania.

Maliciously Shane started kicking John in the gut. The crowd booed, but Shane didn't care. His purpose was to make John look weak and to steal his thunder knowing that Stephanie would be watching. Once Shane had John completely immobile, he started climbing up to the top rope in order to execute a flying elbow into John's chest. But, just as he was about to make a leap downward, Lita came rushing through the crowd and shook Shane off the ropes from behind, causing him to straddle the top rope and wither in pain. As Shane fell hard to the mat, Lita quickly climbed into the ring and grabbed John by the arm, pulling him with all her might until he was safely outside the ring.

Triple H was just as surprised as the fans were to see Lita emerge from the crowd. While the fans cheered both John and Lita on, Triple H gave her a warning stare, more so just to play up to his role as a heel than anything else. He actually thought what Lita had done to Shane was quite funny. It's not like he didn't deserve it.

As Lita and John made their way backstage, Shane had finally regained his senses and stared long and hard at the both of them. It was obvious from his look that he was not happy. Lita was actually quite pleased she managed to piss Shane off as much as she did. While Shane lay on the mat giving her and John a malicious stare, Lita simply smiled and blew him a kiss. This of course pissed Shane off even more as Triple H helped him to his feet.

Even though John was still in a lot of pain, the fact that Lita had been the one to come to his aid made John smile inside. Her hands around his waist shot butterflies through his stomach. He wanted to embrace her, kiss her, make love to her, but at the moment his broken body kept him from doing much more than getting back stage as soon as possible to see a doctor.