Title: Haunting Me
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Anything that is recognizable, does not belong to me. I'm debating if I'll use all wrestling people or toss in some OC's.
Summary: When one of the RAW Diva's is attacked, it brings the unlikeliest group of people together.
Pairings: All worked out for plot purposes.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! This chapter and the next will be mostly downtime, but with some plot seeds.

-x-

Chapter 25

April 16, 2004

By the time they had wandered into the seventh store on Dawn's list, John and Randy were reaching their limits. That was brought on by the fact that Dawn insisted on spending at least half an hour browsing merchandise, with an additional half an hour should she find anything worth trying on. Added to that, whatever the New Jersey native decided to buy, John and Randy had to carry. Between the two, they were now toting three bags stacked to the brim with shoes, two garment bags each and an additional two bags full of various clothing. Of course, the two weren't entirely alone.. Lita was equally miserable, but for entirely different reasons. While John and Randy got out of trying anything on, Dawn's main purpose...or so it seemed...was picking out clothing for the Sanford resident. And had it not been for the constant arguments between the two about the clothing, Randy and John figured they would've been done with the shopping trip awhile ago. So, while they waited for the two Diva's to emerge from the dressing room, John and Randy discussed Dawn's crazy plan. The third generation wrestler had fully admitted his doubts in the plan, pointing out a few flaws of it here and there. In turn, the United States champion questioned whether Randy really wanted to go through with it. The fate of the plan, after all, rested on his decision alone. Of course, Randy didn't take into consideration.. That with his being on Smackdown, Adam would have that much more time to move in on Stacy. To himself, Randy wondered if it was too late to change his mind about making the jump to the Smackdown roster with Dave.

"Unless the two of you want to be sitting here longer," Lita's tired voice began, "I sugest you get up and head towards the exit."

Randy raised an eyebrow, "What happened to Dawn?"

The redheaded Diva gestured over her shoulder, "Still in the dressing room.. She's trying on a few things for herself right now.." She then held up her own armful of clothes. "And these, she wants me to buy."

John rolled his eyes, grabbing the bags at his feet. "Don't y'all have enough? I mean, shit, you'd think you were goin' away for weeks."

Lita rolled her eyes right back, "That's what I've been trying to tell Dawn.. But does she listen? No." The Sanford resident shook her head, "I just need to drop this off somewhere and we'll wait for Dawn outside."

"Sounds good to me," Randy grabbed the bags he had been put in 'charge' of. "Is this the last store or what?"

The redhead smirked, "If I have any say in it, this will be the last store." She paused to drop off the armful of clothing. "Believe me, I am more than ready to just go somewhere else and at this point? I don't care where we go."

John snorted, "Yeah? We're prolly gonna have to stop back at the hotel.. Drop off all this crap before we go anywhere else."

"More than likely, considering that she bought so damn much." Lita agreed easily, a thoughtful frown crossing her features. "I should see if Stacy would be willing to go shopping with Dawn. Those two would have a picnic."

"An' all this crap is for you?" John held up a bag of shoes and a garment bag. "Why do you need all this.."

"I don't." Lita shook her head, "But yeah.. Most of it's for me. Dawn thought I deserved a treat and needed to relieve some stress.. So, she's using retail therapy." Shrugging slightly, the redheaded added: "If I really wanted retail therapy, I would've gone to Trash and Vaudeville."

The two eyed her curiously, Randy speaking first: "And where is Trash and Vaudeville?"

"St. Marks, which is in the East Village." The redhead leaned back against the corner of the building. "I want to head over that way tomorrow, if there's time anyway."

John shrugged, "I guess that all depends on what Dave and Nidia want to do. As long as I ain't dragged into every store in sight, then whateva is aight with me."

"What he said," Randy set down the bags in his posession. "As long as we aren't walking everywhere and stopping everywhere.. Then whatever."

"Thanks for ditching me.." Dawn stated dryly as she joined the three. "I take it you three have had enough for today?"

The West Newbury native smirked, "More like we've had enough of bein' dragged here an' there. Are you done shoppin' now?"

"Yeah, I think I'm set.." Dawn set down the lone bag in her hand. "If it all comes down to it, I'll just do some more shopping tomorrow."

Lita rolled her eyes good naturedly, "You'd think you were all shopped out after today.. And I know you aren't made of money, Dawn."

The brunette Diva shrugged, "No I'm not.. But, it's been awhile since I've had a good shopping trip." She paused to pick up her bag, "So.. Where to now?"

"Well, we can't walk around carrying all of this.." Randy picked up the bags near his feet. "So, we might as well head back to the hotel and drop all of this off."

Dawn nodded her agreement, a tiny yawn escaping her before she spoke. "I think I might take a nap after we get to the hotel.."

"With all the shopping you've just done.." Lita teased, the two taking the lead on the search for a taxi. "Plus whatever else you have planned for tonight. Or, we could just skip out on whatever was planned.. Grab dinner and then call it a night."

Dawn shrugged, the two stopping to hail a taxi. "We'll see, I guess.. Right now, I just want to head back to the hotel and take a nap."

Conversation came to a stop as the four piled into the taxi. Bags were tossed in the trunk or settled at the feet of the three on the bench seat. It was on the way back to the hotel, that the four discussed plans for the remainder of the day. As Dawn had already stated, she just wanted to take a nap. If they went out later, they went out later.. Otherwise, it wasn't a big deal. That brought a low sigh of relief from the redhead, Lita thankful that she wouldn't be dragged to any clubs that night. Tomorrow night, on the other hand, Lita had a feeling that she wouldn't get off so lucky. But, that was tomorrow night.. And tomorrow night didn't factor into the plans for the rest of the day. Of course, if they hadn't just spent three hours shopping, perhaps they'd have more time to do some casual sightseeing. Added to that, just having spent the last three hours mostly on their feet, the three really weren't up to going anywhere. John did want to visit the toy store, while Lita was still interested in visiting the Museum of Modern Art or the Metropolitan Museum of Art. When the two questioned whether Randy was interested in joining them, he merely shrugged in response.

-x-

After the bags had been dropped off, Dawn settled herself in the hotel room while Randy, John and Lita ventured back out. And while Lita did enjoy spending time with Dawn, she was silently grateful that Dawn was now taking a nap. Granted, the redhead hadn't spent that much time around either Randy or John.. But from what little time she had spent around them, Lita figured a couple hours wouldn't be that bad. They had, after all, carried the many bags without too much complaining. And given how many bags there were, plus the many stores they had gone to, Lita had to give them some credit. If they were good for anything, they were good for toting numerous shopping bags on a shopping spree with Dawn. Maybe there was more, but what exactly.. Lita didn't know. Whatever the case, the three arrived back to Midtown, but this time in front of the famed F.A.O Schwartz toy store. Both Randy and Lita questioned why John wanted to go into the toy store, the West Newbury native just gesturing to the doors in response. Before they went into the toy store, however, Lita had the good sense to ask a hotdog vendor about the exact locale of the art museumes and the proximity from the toy store.

"Well.." Lita jammed her hands into her back pockets, "The museums are all located near Central Park West.. We just happen to be at Central Park East."

Randy raised an eyebrow, "Meaning what exactly?"

"Meaning, that if I want to go anywhere, I either pay for another taxi or walk." The Diva shrugged, "I can either walk through Central Park or along Central Park. The galleries are cleared at 8:45 over at the Met and further up is the American Museum of Natural History and the Guggenheim, but they close before 6:00."

John nodded after a moment, "We're supposed to head back to the hotel by 7:00.. See what Dawn wants to do, but if you want to hit the Met, we'll go. All I wanna do is go in here an' then we can leave."

"That works," a slim hand crept upwards, tucking rebellious strands of hair behind an ear. "Though, I still don't see why you want to go into a toy store to begin with.."

"Why not?" John shrugged, opening the door for the two. "I mean, it's not like we really have to be anywhere, so--"

Randy rolled his eyes as he walked past, "There are plenty of places to go.. But, you just had to pick a toy store."

John rolled his eyes as he joined the two just inside the lobby area. "And? It's not like I dragged ya here wit me. You coulda gone somewhere else."

"Whatever," the third generation wrestler replied absently. "That still doesn't mean you had to pick a--"

"A toy store with a big ass clock," Lita blinked at the clock in question. "A singing clock none the less."

The West Newbury native nodded, "An' that's not somethin' you'll see everyday." He gestured next to the elevator, "Jus' like you ain't gonna see an elevator that looks like a robot every day."

"Uh huh," Randy took a quick look around, the third generation wrestler seemingly not impressed. "So, remind me why we're here again?"

"The piano," John stated first, "that an' I heard that they got this big ass collection of Star Wars stuff."

The redhead soon found herself near a display of stuffed animals. "They look so realistic.." Hazel eyes drifted to the price tag, "and no wonder."

"Well.." John spoke up from his spot next to her, "You could go sell some of them clothes that you got today, that'd prolly get you enough."

Lita rolled her eyes good naturedly, "That's Dawn's money for the most part.. Besides which, I'm happy with my own dog."

The dark haired wrestler shrugged, "Jus' pointin' it out.. You stayin' down here or you headin' upstairs?"

Randy made a face, "The line to get on that elevator is long.. You're better of taking the escalator or looking for stairs."

"Now what's the fun in that?" John glanced towards the escalator before looking back to the long line at the elevator. "We're in here, we might as well go."

Lita could only shake her head, "It's too bad Jeff isn't with us.. I know he'd have a blast in here. It calls to the inner child."

"It is a toy store," John pointed out as he and the redhead ventured to the long line. "I'm surprised that Jeff hasn't been here though.. I mean, from what I know of him an' whateva."

The Diva nodded, "Yeah.. I'll mention it to him the next time I talk to him."

"So.." he waited until her attention was partly on him. "You still not wantin' to go to Smackdown?"

Lita shrugged, "I'm not sure actually. I mean, the part I'm really not looking forward to is that I can't compete for the belt." She fell silent a moment, her lower lip drawn between her teeth before she continued. "On the other hand, I felt safer on Smackdown.. Not having to look over my shoulder every five seconds."

"There's no sayin' you won't go back to Raw though," he rolled his shoulders then. "An' besides, it ain't all that bad on Smackdown. Plus you don' hafta worry 'bout Triple H."

She nodded easily, "That's very true.. I just have to worry about Triple H re-creating Evolution on Smackdown." Lita shook her head, a short sigh expelled. "I'm not saying that I dislike Batista and Randy, I just don't see why Triple H is re-creating Evolution."

At that, John could only shrug. "Maybe Dave'll know more.. It don't make sense though, I mean they got almost all the gold on Raw, why break that up?"

Lita frowned, "That's the part I really don't get.. They're the most dominant force on Raw, what more could they want?"

Since he wasn't Triple H ... thankfully so, he felt... John didn't know what else he could say or what else he should say. It was odd that Triple H wanted to split up Evolution at their peak, but.. Why was he doing it? Really, the only one without gold in the stronghold, was Triple H himself. Of course, they didn't have the women's title either, but that didn't mean they couldn't acquire it. And that was if they even wanted it. But, if that was truly the case, why hadn't they asked the current women's champion? It was a frustrating situation in more than a few ways. One because nobody but Triple H knew the exact motives behind his moves. Another reason, was why they wanted Lita when they could easily ask Victoria.. And another reason that it was so frustrating was that, the answers could only be obtained from one person. Lita didn't feel like dealing with said person more than she had to, so that was just out of the question. Whatever the case though, the redheaded Diva did her best to push all thoughts of Evolution and Triple H to the farthest corners of her mind. She was determined to enjoy herself and forget about what the future held or might hold.

Additional author note I know the chapter is short.. Bear with me as I'm trying to get back into a more regular schedule for my stories.