Title: The highly educational demonstration of how to drive guys off

Written by Professional Scatterbrain.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Rating: Pg – 13 to R

Summary: See challenge set by Karen U

#3 – Karen U

-Lita/Edge, Lita/Jeff, Lita/Christian, or Lita/Jericho.

-A bet between Lita and the divas in which Lita says that she know sure fire ways to drive guys off (Lita is, of course, down about her love life).

-Instead of being driven off, the guy falls for her, and Lita, of course, falls for him as well.

-Happy endings.

-No roster split.

-Other divas should be chosen from the following (at least three other divas): Stacy, Stephanie, Lillian, Torrie, Dawn Marie, Victoria, Ivory, Trish: I chose Stephanie, Torrie, and Dawn Marie.


Chp10: Metamorphosis


The car ride to TNA had been quiet and that had only served to increase her nerves.

The sudden decision in Stephanie's office quickly was doubted and double doubted within Lita's troubled mind. Whispering voices inside her head taunted her with bleak visions of possible outcomes which could result from visiting him. In her hand the check was crinkled and balled up. Yet every part of her body felt its presence, like a silent threat casting her into the shadows. Her eyes looked out of the car window, but she didn't see a thing. The only thing that filled her vision were the words Jeff had written on the back of the check.

'You earned it – Jeff'

She had never meant to hurt him, but she had.

Torrie hadn't spoken much on the ride over. Not that Lita would have been a source of easy conversation if the blonde had. None the less, something noticeably had changed in Torrie. Something had transformed her. Something more than being deceive and turned on by Candace and Victoria within the ring on Raw a few weeks previously. Bitterness did not seem to stain her, and Lita wondered just what her friend was thinking. Christian adored her. He really did, and somehow Lita got the feeling nothing else really mattered for Torrie. The blonde was happy, and after so many years of bouncing from relationship to relationship it was a welcomed change.

Yet it wasn't just Christian that had altered her.

Torrie was strong. Stronger than people would ever think she was. Perhaps Christian had seen it long before everyone else. He had pined over the blonde for so many years, even before they had formally met when the WWE and WCW brands became one. Lita remember Torrie being embarrassed by it back many years previously when he had first started to actively woo her. Whenever he had sent one of his huge bunches of flowers to her, the pretty blonde had called Christian every name she could think behind the closed doors of the women's locker rooms. Now those same bunches of flowers were received with a much different reaction; finally the reaction Christian had aimed for (and no longer one that sent the many bunches of flowers to be minded by Lita in order to stop Candace from getting any ideas).

Torrie really was his 'number one peep'.

But that didn't mean Lita wasn't sickened when the man of the moment caught sight of his lady love and welcomed her by exchanging spit with her over the course of several long excruciating minutes. Lots of wandering hands and quite shockingly inappropriate groping took place within the few seconds it took Lita to avert her gaze. Yet not before the vile image of Torrie's hands underneath Christian's tangerine tights was burned into Lita's retinas.

Oh, the pain.

Oh, the humanity of it all.

The blonde Canadian hadn't noticed her yet (Torrie's electric eel tongue was proving quite the distraction), but Lita didn't need Christian to tell her something was wrong. Or had gone wrong. In the few seconds that Lita had held her gaze on the man it was quite obvious that his defence of his title had not gone smoothly. The TNA Champions tangerine tights (and yes he did look delicious in them as both he and Torrie had asserted on numerous previous occasion) were torn, and his torso and arms were bruised and flushed bright red. A cut on his temple was stitched together, and his face was slightly too pale underneath the corridor lights.

On autopilot Lita forced herself walked pass the couple.

Moving up the backstage hallways, and she knew exactly where she was going. She just did. There was no second guessing where Jeff would be if Christian was in the sorry state he was in. Pushing the door open to the EMT room she froze as she spotted Jeff. Lying splayed out on a bed with ice packs around his knees, he looked absolutely miserable. A hard look filled his face, and he glared at the doctor and nurse who were giving him stitches on his bloody arm. Strangely, although he had changed so much since she had first met him all those years ago, he seemed exactly the same. Boyish yet still handsome in his unique green eyed way.

Her heart skipped a beat, and she abruptly remembered their first kiss in the back of a random EMT room.

They had both been dizzy from pain killers and his green, green eyes had been the only thing she could focus on. Matt's voice had still echoed in her head. He had been yelling at them for messing everything up in the wrestling match, for being stupid, for being reckless and . . . his words had sounded so distorted as they rebounded inside her mind, crashing from side to side of her aching head. Unable to block him out, Lita remember her mind being filled with Matt's voice for several minutes after he left, and when he finally did leave her, he left her and Jeff alone.

Alone and without a lift home.

Unfortunately, during that period of Team Xtreme's existence it wasn't unusual for one or two members of the three member team to be left without transportation. Usually Lita was one in a taxi back to the hotel, or to the airport with either Matt or Jeff by her side whining or giving her the silent treatment. Looking back, it was both the worst and the best time of her life. Back in that tiny antiseptic and blood stained room all she had seen were green, green eyes, and . . . Jeff had examined her injuries, and then in return she had taken it upon herself to kiss his ones better.

Perhaps, it had been the beginning of the end.

Or the end of the beginning.

Whatever it was, Team Xtreme didn't last much longer.

Now, as she watched him being mended she recalled with absolute clarity how he had trembled and how her hands shook the very moment their lips touched. He looked exactly the same as all those years ago when they had first meet. Yet his vivid green eyes, the ones she adored, were dull and muted, and she bit her lip in nerves.

Abruptly her train of thought was interrupted by a slamming door and Christian's voice, "What are you doing here?"

By his side, Torrie was tugging vainly on his arm.

Just like all those years ago, Torrie had walked in on something she would have rather not.

Back then Lita and Jeff had been too light headed and disorientated by many various pills that the doctors had handed out like candy, but now the room was charged with awkwardness and suspicion. Torrie shot Lita an apologetic look and tried (and failed) to gain her boyfriends attention before things could go too far. Yet she was ignored. Christian angrily glared at Lita, and then dragged Torrie into the room as he stormed forward.

"I need to speak to Jeff."

"No you don't." Christian answered for his incapacitated friend (who was now glaring at the redhead instead of the medical staff). "You had your chance and you ruined it. Go away."

"Go away? We're not in fifth grade. Telling me to scram doesn't work anymore."

"Jeff doesn't want you here, so leave." He retorted in a very hostile voice.

Lita merely crossed her arms, "Stop speaking for Jeff."

"I'll stop speaking for him when you stop lying to him." He sneered at her.

His face was pointed and furious and he knew he'd won their little battle of words when she was unable to find any sort of response to his utterly accurate accusations. As Christian gloated, Lita quite unhappily found that she couldn't be annoyed or irritated with him at all. It was horrible, and she couldn't even swear at him because Christian was just protecting his friend. She couldn't fault him for that. Jeff inspired fierce loyalty in people. Jeff was Christian's friend. Christian didn't want to see Jeff get hurt, and she had done nothing but hurt him with the stupid bet. Jeff was probably the closest thing Christian had to a best friend since he and his brother Edge had fought.

Christian probably cared more about Jeff than he did for his brother.

Girls, title, and fame had been the main stakes between the two blonde Canadians.

Years may have past, but those three things had always stayed the same. The last and perhaps final disagreement between the two suicide blondes had reopened old wounds. There was now a deep chasm between the two brothers, and somehow Lita knew that Jeff was the sort of brother a guy like Christian really would have done better with than a guy like Edge. Edge was a good guy when all was considered, but he and Christian were forever competing with each other. It wasn't healthy, yet with Torrie and Jeff by his side, Christian was changing. Lita could see that. He was happier, just like Torrie was. He pretty much was an idiot most of the time, but at least now he was a kind hearted and nice one. With a title in hand and all the attention on him, Christian was truly flourishing.

Jeff had been flourishing too.

Looking down into her hands, she wished for something she wasn't supposed to wish for.

Naughty. She knew she was looking a gift horse in the mouth by coming to see him. She knew it, but . . . she was here. She was here, and, and, she couldn't go back to what her life was before. She just couldn't. Drunken nights and tear stained faces. Misery and mind-numbing matches within a ring and out of it. She had been so awfully unhappy. He had been the only good thing in her life, the only person that loved her unconditionally.

She had used that.

Used him.

"What are you doing here?"

Jeff's dry voice interrupted the bickering pair. It sent the room into a lull of overcast silence. Only the sound of the medical staff filled the air, yet they too felt the uncomfortable tension and muttered a few words about giving the four some privacy. Disappearing in a flood of grubby white lab coats and rubber gloves, Jeff was soon the subject of everyone's attention.

"Nothing. She's leaving, aren't you?"

Lita recognised the threat when she heard one.

But that had never stopped her.

"I need to speak to you Jeff."

Struggling up, he grimaced, "You've already said that."

She had. Abruptly she was nervous again and she didn't remember anything that she had planned to say. Jeff looked at her intently waiting for her to say something, anything. But she was at a loss. He looked so tired and so worn out. He looked like he'd had the worst night of his life, and she really didn't want to make it worse. All the reasons and all the words she'd thought of to validate her actions fled her mind and the words that did leave her mouth where bare and unadorned.

"I'm sorry." She told him, and she was.

"I know."

At this, Christian snorted angrily, "I can't believe you're forgiving her after everything!"

Snapping his eyes over to the blonde Canadian, Jeff spoke sharply, "No, I'm not. You know me better than that."

Lita blinked rapidly and looked away. Mortified she felt Torrie's compassionate gaze on her face. She had never been good at apologising. Telling Jeff she was sorry had been hard enough, but in front of Christian and Torrie was too much. Lita had embarrassed herself a lot over the years. She'd been dumped in front of an international audience, she'd been insulted by practically every person on the WWE roster, and lost far too many matches to Trish Stratus (otherwise known as the bleached blonde leech), but this pretty much topped it off.

Then Jeff looked at her and spoke again, "I know you're sorry. I just don't care."

Lita couldn't do anything but nod dumbly.

What else did she expect from him? A happy ending? What? She didn't know, but she had come here for something. Something he wasn't able to give her anymore. She had burnt whatever bridge that had linked her to him because of the stupid, stupid bet that Stephanie had conceived after a night of heavy drinking. She couldn't ask anything from him. Yet selfishly she wanted more. She wanted him. Perhaps she always had and that was why she couldn't find the strength to leave him.

Sighing softly, Jeff's shoulders slumped in defeat, "We can't ever go back to what it was like before. You know that."

Lita nodded again, yet she was unable to stop tears from forming in her eyes.

"I trusted you Li," he told her finally.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, "I never wanted to hurt you, but I did, and I'm sorry,"

"I was a bet to you."

"No, you weren't." Lita answered steadily, now with the courage to meet and hold his gaze. "I just wanted . . ."

"Wanted what?" Jeff prompted as she trailed off.

Lita paused.

Maybe Dawn was right.

Maybe the bet hadn't been a bet.

Maybe, maybe, maybe.

The bet hadn't been about money. Sure that was the final straw on the camels back that Stephanie had used in order to get Lita to agree to it. But it had never been about money when it came down to it. Jeff was just so good. Maybe she had wanted to push him away from her. Maybe she had wanted him to see how horrid she could be. Maybe she had wanted to test him, to see if he could still stand to be with her even though she could act so hideously. And maybe he'd be better off without her weighing him down and keeping him from finding someone better. But she wasn't and she would never be better off without him in her life. She wanted him. Wanted him and needed him too much to give him up. So she stepped closer to him, and grasped his hand in hers before he could pull away from her.

In a rush, she spoke before she could lose her nerve, "For some reason, I don't feel normal unless I'm around you, and whenever you're not around I miss you."

"I don't trust you."

"I know."

"Then what do you want from me?"

"I don't know."

"Yes you do."

Biting her lip, her eyes fluttered and broke away from Jeff's green ones before she opened her mouth, "You're the only person I've ever counted upon, and you're the only person that has always been there for me."

Jeff took a deep breath, obviously considered what she said. Weighing it inside his mind. Her eyes, the ones he loved more than anything were glistening with tears. He knew she was telling him the truth. He felt it. The desperation in her was overwhelming. He couldn't ever remember seeing her like this, not even once and . . . he wanted to believe her. He wanted to believe her so much that it hurt. Yet there was no quick fix. No magical words to make everything better. No cure for the drenching sadness and rejection he had felt since over hearing Dawn and Lita heatedly discuss the bet.

So he asked her the only thing he had enough energy to hear an answer for, "Why did you take put in Stephanie's BS?"

"I don't know."

She did, and Jeff knew that. However he held his tongue. More than half of him was afraid to know why his best friend, his lover, his Bella Lita had decided to take part in the bet. He had trusted her more than anyone in his entire life. Before the bet she had never hurt him. She had protected him, and she had been his only friend to stick by his side during his darkest soul destroying days.

"I love you."

Her words startled both of them. Her hazel eyes widened in shock, and her grip on Jeff's hand faltered. Behind them, Torrie had given up on trying to remove Christian from the room. Half of her eagerly listened to ever word that left Jeff and Lita's mouths, while the other half felt utterly awkward and as if she was intruding on such a private and intimate moment. Christian however had his shrewd eyes focused on Lita just waiting for her to make a false step. Unlike Torrie, Christian was not torn in half, and he was more than looking forward to removing the redhead from Jeff's presence the moment she said something that upset him.

"That doesn't make things better."

With her free hand, Lita brought it up to her face. There it was. She had it. His answer. No more questions now. No more second chances. Distressed, she breathed in a harsh gulp of air and tried to think clearly. But emotion clouded her thoughts and made her want to run and hide. Smiling a watery smile, she removed her hand from his.

"Okay. I'll just go now."

"Wait." Jeff called, halting Lita's retreat, "It doesn't make things better, but, but it's a start."

He held out his hand, and she took it. He then after a long moment he pulled her close and hugged her tight. As he did a few traitorous tears fell and she knotted her fingers into his hair not caring that he was bruised and injured. She just wanted to be close to him. After being so afraid that he'd never so much as look at her again, his touch was more than she could have ever hoped to have again.

They weren't better.

Things weren't like they used to be.

They had to start all over again. Their friendship had been changed so much and so little trust remained. Yet what was left was still more than either of them had ever had with another person. Guilt and anger was still there. It would still exist for a while. Things like trust couldn't be rebuilt with a few words, kisses, or band aids. But she couldn't give him up. She just couldn't. She refused to.

In the past everything good in her life had been deemed too good for her.

Perhaps the bet wasn't all bad. If Stephanie had never tricked Lita's participation in it, Lita doubted that she would have ever had the courage to go after Jeff. Maybe in the future she might tell him that, but for now such confession was out of the question. It would sound like an excuse and in reality it was anything but. Loving Jeff was intimidating. Yet in the few weeks she had been with him it had felt natural, normal, and right. Nothing and nobody could come close to what she felt for him.

"I love you Jeff,"

The second time she told him that she loved him, the words felt like they had been dying to leave her mouth. Repeating them only made her feel lighter and happier. He smiled brilliantly. His face opened and his grass green eyes twinkled at her. Maybe it was the first step back. The first step towards something better. Those green, green eyes that she loved were back. Behind the pair, Torrie was sniffing and Christian was reluctantly handing her a monogrammed, neatly ironed handkerchief before she launched herself into his arms.

It wasn't really a happy ending.

Instead, it was more like a happy beginning, for all of them.


Within a quiet and very pretty café that Stephanie was utterly sure no other person related to the WWE would have the good taste to eat at, she and Dawn Marie sat. They had shared a very uncomfortable lunch without Lita or Torrie there to act as buffers. In result there had been many awkward moments and an almost violent stare down over what year of Grange wine was a suitable match for their meal. Luckily for them, and the surrounding customers and staff, the two friends were nearing the end of their meal and with no incident marring the evening (or their credit card bills).

Politely folding her napkin, Dawn reached over to grasp the steam of her wineglass, "Thank you for inviting me out tonight Stephanie."

Something about the way Dawn's praise was given irritated the youngest McMahon. She didn't know why, but it did. With white knuckles she gripped her knife and fork. Spearing a piece of steak, Stephanie's eye twitched. Grinding her teeth, she tried to maintain her calm. Annoyingly, Dawn just smiled serenely at the scene. In response Stephanie forced herself to keep eating methodically even though all she wanted to do was drop her utensils and tell Dawn to stop trying to wheedle her way into dating Shane McMahon.

"I've had such a lovely time," Dawn continued.

Stephanie wrinkled her nose; Dawn was doing that on purpose.

"You're welcomed."

Dawn smile faded a little, and a pensive look spread across her face. For a second she looked so much like Linda that Stephanie had to stop herself from gagging in disgust. One mother was more than enough thank you very much. Not that Dawn ever paid any attention to that fact.

"Stop that." Stephanie announced, crossing her ankles neatly.

Dawn rolled her eyes, "Don't be so suspicious."

Cantankerously, Stephanie looked over Dawn's shoulder to the check the time on the grandfather clock by the bar. Dawn not only noticed the action but understood what it meant. But she wasn't one of Stephanie's business partners and she certainly wasn't one of her underlings so Dawn purposefully ignored what Stephanie was ever so bluntly suggesting.

Perhaps they were both fed up with dealing with each other.

Stephanie had been run to the ground by her parents, other employees, and several WWE wrestlers that liked to think they were above her. With Wrestlemania only days away it was crunch time. This was otherwise known as the worst time of the year for Stephanie (right before the best, when she personally could fire people after Wrestlemania had concluded). Drowning in paper work and demanding family members, Stephanie was more than on edge. Without Lita there calm her, or Torrie there to belittle, Stephanie was a ticking time bomb.

Dawn on the other hand was the complete opposite. Out of the crazy world of touring and wrestling matches (at least until she'd returned to her previous wrestling form) she was seeing the world with clarity that Stephanie couldn't even begin to imagine or understand. She had bigger things to worry about than comprehending Stephanie's moral dilemma between getting revenge on Triple H, or alternatively choosing to screw John Cena out of a title. Dawn had a family now, a child that depended on her and the Dudley Boys protectively watching over her.

It was for these reasons and many more that the two women decided not to hold their tongues.

It had been a long time coming.

"You expect everyone to hold their own against you just because you had to do it your entire life," Dawn stated abruptly and with raw hurtful honesty.

The other brunette rolled her eyes, "If this is another plea-"

"No, it's not. I'm not asking for my job back." Dawn told Stephanie without any pretence.

"Then what are you asking for?"

"I'm not asking for anything."

"Then what is this about?"

Dawn bit her lip, but the words burst out anyway, "You wanted Lita to push Jeff away. That's why you chose him. Because, even back when you were at your most lovable Jeff saw through the act and you hated it. He was the only one that saw you, and you hated him for becoming Lita's best friend. He'd always loved her, but you were always worried that you'd lose the one friend that never gave up on you."

Stephanie rolled her eyes dismissively, "Stop trying to-"

"To what? I'm not drawing at straws. Everyone knows you've had a vendetta against Jeff since before Lita came into the picture."

"Don't be ridicules."

Dawn shrugged, and returned to her meal. It would only take a few moments for the other brunette to respond. Dawn knew better than almost anyone how greatly Stephanie hated being one upped by anyone. Only Lita occasionally escaped Stephanie's need for the final word and that happened rarely. So Dawn waited. She'd always been a patient woman, not remarkable so, but enough to keep her in good stead. Dawn knew that Stephanie would respond, and when she did, Dawn was not in the least surprised by what she said.

"I'm not telling you what happened between that loser and I." Stephanie stated archly, almost double daring Dawn to do so.

Dawn just shrugged.

Stephanie's eyes narrowed, "Don't play games with me."

"I'm not."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"Jeff and Lita are together. Their head over heals for each other, and this time nothings going to stuff that up."

"I never intended for anything to ruin that."

Dawn gave the other brunette a dubious look, and Stephanie blushed a little, fiddling with the straw in her cocktail. Okay, so maybe Stephanie had meant to do a little damage on Jeff's fragile world. But it wasn't like the boy was permanently incapacitated in the aftermath of the bet. He had a more than reasonable bank account, a (now) successful job, and unfortunately for the human gene pool, Jeff also managed to come away from the bet with a girl. The Billion Dollar Princess really didn't see what was the big deal about the bet.

"What are you doing here?" Stephanie finally asked, relying on her act of stubbornness that she was known for.

"Don't be repetitive. You've asked that question before; we both remember the first time well enough not to need a reminder." Dawn chided in a strict tone.

The time for games was over.

"Lita was always so perceptive. Maybe that was why none of us can ever really say we won a match against her. In that ring she was always one step ahead of us."

"I was Women's Champion."

"So you were," Dawn relented with a soft smile on her face, "But so was Lita. Twice. Neither times did she need any help to get it like you did, or like I did to get the occasional win off her."

"What's the point of all of this?" Stephanie asked, irritated by Dawn's harsh examination of her in ring history against the redhead.

Dawn shrugged her bronze shoulders, letting her dark hair slip forward out of its clasp. She didn't look like she used too, but she still looked beautiful. Beautiful in a way Stephanie knew she herself could never be. Dawn then smiled an enigmatic grin before relenting a little, and speaking again, this time openly.

"Lita is perceptive. More perceptive than I am. That's why I always believed she'd be the one to speak to you about this." With a laugh, Dawn allowed a pretty smile to cross her face, "But I always forgot how easy she could be on us. It's kind of ironic how lenient she is with us, and how hard she is on herself, isn't it?"

"That's why I made the bet. Lita never sees anything but what she did wrong. She never lets herself acknowledge how Matt, Edge, and all her other boyfriends played an even part in the break up. Nothing is ever as simple as one party destroying the other,"

Dawn liked Stephanie's honesty, even if it wasn't complete. The 'demonstration' had always been about more than Lita and Jeff. It was never intended to be anything as innocent as Stephanie had described it as, but Dawn had to admit that her friend was partly speaking the truth when she claimed that the bet's purpose was to stop Lita's harmful mindset.

But she was getting off track.

"Because Lita won't, I have to tell you something Steph," Dawn said in a steady voice, "You are my friend. I may disagree with you at times, but you are my friend. You can't keep pushing people away, and you can't keep using people. It's not right, and in the end it's you who will end up hurt and alone. I don't know what happened between you and Jeff, but I do know something did, just like I know something happened between you and Jericho."

Stephanie was silent.

So Dawn continued slowly, her words unfolding cautiously, "You pushed Jericho away, and now he's gone. You've got nothing left, not one thing at all to show for all your plans and tactics, mind games and blackmail. He might have loved you. I don't know if Chris did or didn't, but I'm certain that he cared for you. That used to mean something for you."

Stephanie looked down in her hands.

"I did . . . it does."

Dawn laid a hand over Stephanie's clenched fists, her touch more comforting that Linda's. It occurred to Stephanie in that very moment that she had never seen Dawn's child, not even once. She'd missed the christening, and she'd found reasons to miss every other occasion that involved Dawn's little baby. But Dawn was a mother, she had a child, and she had a family of her own. Long ago, Stephanie had almost had that. Almost but not quite. Because of that, she felt helpless and useless.

In a distant and disjointed voice she spoke in a quietly, "Jeff tried to stop me. But I didn't listen. He tried to warn me, to keep me safe, but I didn't want to be safe. I'd been safe my whole life and I wanted something different. I was so horrid to him, and so horrid to Lita too."

Dawn didn't ask what Jeff had tried to stop Stephanie from doing. Looking back on their shared past, Dawn knew that the younger Hardy brother had always known far more than he should for someone as naïve and innocent as he had been. But Stephanie had once been innocent too, and Dawn suddenly wondered 'what if' as she looked at Stephanie's pained expression.

"It's been so long since I've spoken to Christopher, I can't even remember the last time I heard his voice."

Dawn then grabbed Stephanie's purse, and pulled out her phone, sliding it across the table.

"I'm sorry you got fired Dawn." Stephanie admitted suddenly, her eyes wide and open for the first time in years, "I never wanted it to be like this. I wish I could make it all better for you."

Dawn couldn't speak. She had never expected such an admission and it startled her in a way that she didn't know how to process. Stephanie seemed to feel the same, because she leered a little at Dawn, behaving how she usually did instead of how open she had been only moments ago. Carefully, Dawn chose her words, not wanting to stay anything that would once again put strain on their delicate friendship, a friendship that was only possible due to the shared interested in both remaining Lita's friend.

At the moment it was hard to tell who needed Lita's friendship more.

A single mother, removed from the world she had once been the centre of.

Or an isolated ice queen unable to maintain any other friendship bar the redheads.

"You can't fix anything Steph. I've got a family now. I was fired for wanted my child, for having my child. But I don't regret it. I was miserable for so long. I wouldn't ever want to go back to that period of my life."

Stephanie could understand that. She understood misery and she understood why Dawn didn't want to repeat those times. Yet she still didn't understand why Dawn wouldn't accept her help. Didn't Dawn already have plans to wrestle again on the Indy scene? Wisely, and perhaps for the first time Stephanie let the matter slip, not allowing herself to become insulted in any way. It just wasn't worth it with Dawn Marie.

"Who is the father?" Stephanie asked, this time not harshly, not as a joke, not as an insult, and not as a disapproving barb.

This time, for the first time, she asked as a friend.

"Someone making your father a great deal of money." Dawn responded slightly unevenly, slightly upset.

"Can I do anything?"

Dawn shook her head, her dark hair flying around her face, "No, but you could call Jericho instead."

Stephanie nodded, she could tell it wasn't what Dawn wanted, but . . .

It wasn't her place to ask further questions. It was Lita's place and her place alone. Dawn and the redhead had a long history. Lita had built up the needed trust to be able to ask such things from the brunette and offer them freely in return. Stephanie had not. She had not even acted like a real friend for most of the time they had coexisted in the same friendship group. However, given time, perhaps that would change. Maybe, in a couple of months Dawn would accept help from someone other than a Dudley brother or a redheaded daredevil.

It was that reason, Stephanie agreed to her friend's suggestion.

Opening her mobile phone, Stephanie, for the first time in years, entered his number. From the corner of her eye, she could see Dawn, with a small smile on her face nodding in encouragement, and for the first time in years, Stephanie smiled back at the other woman. But she couldn't help closing her eyes as she heard him answer her phone call.

It had been so long.

"Well Princess, how may I ask did you get hold of my phone number," announced a familiar cocky voice at the other end of the line.

Ignoring Dawn's now blistering smile, and Stephanie's own somersaulting nerves, she responded perhaps not as bitingly as normally, "I'm a McMahon, I know everything,"

"And that includes my new mobile phone number?" He bantered mirthfully, "I didn't know you still cared."

She snorted, her hands shaking and her voice far from steady, "You know me; I like to keep tabs on people."

"Oh, is that you call stalking a vulnerable and helpless man now a days."

She laughed, her eyes blinking rapidly. She couldn't seem to keep still. His voice, mischievous, and full of life and gutter jokes washed over her, and she . . . she had missed him. With that realization, Stephanie almost laughed, because it was true, and she hadn't even really noticed it until that moment.

Struggling not to fall into a heap, she forced herself to respond, "You have never been vulnerable, nor have you been helpless."

"You wound me so!" he exclaimed, and she could almost imagine his pouting expression that was sure to be displayed across his handsome face.

Meanwhile, Dawn stood, gathering her things. Patting Stephanie on the hand, Dawn excused herself, leaving the restaurant and the conversation between the two lovers alone. As she left, she felt tendrils of happiness insider herself. Looking back through the window, the smile of her friends face boasted Dawn's spirits. She felt happy and alive. She had done something, altered the present so perhaps with any luck it might be a change for the better.

Back in the restaurant, Stephanie idly examined the table, then . . . "That . . . that little brat!"

"Hey, don't insult me, I have delicate nerves." Jericho complained, while loudly humming along to the sound of some rather prominent rock music in the background.

Distracted, Stephanie frowned, "I wasn't talking about you Princess. Dawn left me the bill!"

Chris Jericho laughed.

Loudly.

Stephanie considered hanging up on him.

But not for long.

She really had missed talking to him.

"I am a freaking god."

Then he had to go make a comment about the restaurant manager taking other forms of payment other than cash or credit. He chortled roaring to his own joke, then suggested in a rather leered filled voice that she go ask if she could 'wash 'dishes' in order to reimburse the restaurant'. She hung up on him them.

However in less than a minute he'd called her back.

This time suggesting, since she had eaten something at the restaurant, it'd be only fair if the restaurant could eat something of hers.

She hung up on him again.

Then he called her back, obviously just getting onto a roll.

This time she didn't hang up on him.

But she did ask if he was really vain enough to be singing along to his own CD.

He told her yes, yes he was, then he asked how she planned on paying for her meal, and if he could listen.


The End


Wow, I've finished it. This originally started as a personal challenge to write something light hearted, but I had so much fun especially writing the dopey guys, sweet (but slightly dim) Torrie, bitchy Stephanie, and of course the over thinking Lita and Jeff the sweet heart. I really had a great time and I wish I could write a sequel or something to this, but the challenge has tied up all of its loose ends so I'm out of luck.

For all you readers out there, here's your chance; send me a challenge. I want to write a couple of one - shots before I wade back into the deep waters of long, marathon fics.

Oh, and by the way, I am super disappointed that no one got the Orange County Copper quote! I love that show (Mikey for President). But I'll give you all a second chance. If anyone does get it, and send me a review or email, I'll write practically any challenge they give me first.

Anyway please R&R, I'd love to know what you think of not only this chapter but this whole fic as a whole.