Chapter Twenty-Two

Saturday Night's Main Event

"Man, it is so great to be back. I missed this in March."

"So did I - I was in Spain, remember?"

Dave and Cassie were sitting in Dave's locker room. It had been a week since the "Nightclub Incident", as everyone backstage was referring to it. Cassie was still having a difficult time making eye contact with people. She was still embarrassed at her behavior. Vince McMahon himself was even picking on her. That's how she knew things were bad because Vince had her wishing that she would just get fired. Hunter had called Dave about what was going and they had talked shop like two men did. She was glad she wasn't there for that conversation; she was embarrassed enough. Had she been there, she was sure Dave would have talked himself right into more hot water.

"Cassie, don't worry about everything, okay? It's fine."

"I can't help it," she confessed. "I mean, Dave...I'm not that kind of girl. It's kind of a big thing to happen, and it's awful I can't remember a thing about it."

"I agree with you there," he said with a chuckle. "But I'm sure it was great."

"Thanks," she replied with a laugh. "But let's drop the subject. Are you ready for the six-man tonight?"

"Yeah. Mark Henry isn't going to know what hit him," Dave told her. There was a dark edge to his voice. He was already in his ring gear. Black trunks, black boots and elbow pads. Tonight, Cassie was dressed as a country girl, complete with braided pigtails, denim shorts and a plaid button-down T-shirt tied above her belly button. There was a Diva bull-riding contest later on in the night. She wasn't enthused about riding the bull, but she was a Diva, and every Diva had to take part in it. ECW's Kelly Kelly was going to be there, including Raw's Victoria, Torrie and Candice, along with SmackDown's Ashley, Michelle McCool, Kristal, Jillian and Cassie. On the screen, they could already hear a few liquored up men calling for the Divas to ogle. Cassie shuddered.

"You look hot," he told her, reading her thoughts. "If it's any consolation."

"It's not, but thanks, Dave." She exhaled, standing. "I have to get going. I guess I need to get my cues and whatever else for this..." She motioned at her outfit. She turned to leave, but he blocked her way. She smiled. "Dave, come on. Don't do this. I need to leave." She leaned in and kissed him. While they kissed, his hands on her face, she reached behind him and opened the door. When it swung open, she pulled away and shifted, walking out into the hallway. Dave huffed.

"That's so not fair!"

"I told you I have to go," she answered, flashing him that drop-dead-smile that he loved so much. "Good luck tonight. Be careful out there."

"You, too." She was thankful there was no follow-up comment with mechanical bulls and riding things. She just nodded and disappeared down the hallway. She found the Divas laughing and chatting by the Gorilla.

"Where have you been?" Candice asked.

"I was just wishing Dave good luck tonight," she answered.

"That's what I told them," Ashley told Cassie. "They refused to believe me."

"Candice was going to come get you, but I told them it might not be a good idea to go in there for a bit," Jillian said. The Divas laughed. Cassie couldn't help it; she laughed, too.

"You guys are all just awful," Cassie laughed.

"If we're so horrible," Torrie pointed out, "then why are you laughing?"

"Because I'm seriously getting too used to this," Cassie told her. They all laughed. "Jesus Christ, was I behaving that badly?"

"Not really bad. Just really, really funny," Jillian answered. Photos of the night out had leaked to the Internet a few days after. Everyone had at least one picture of the night on their cell phones to torture Cassie and Dave with. Cassie opened her mouth to reply, but Kelly's music began to play. She was the first one to go out. With a wide smile, the WWE's resident exhibitionist disappeared into the Gorilla and out onto the stage.

"I wish I was on SmackDown just for this whole thing," Candice replied, referring to the night she slept with Dave.

"And I wish you were, too, so I could kick your ass for teasing me," Cassie replied. The other Divas laughed, but Cassie was serious. She disliked Candice, who thankfully got the hint and went quiet. Michelle's music played next and she walked out. Cassie was tired of the hubbub surrounding her personal life. She was understanding how Lita felt now. Earlier in the year, the story about her and Edge and Matt Hardy broke, and she had found herself under a microscope. It was a pain in the ass.

Cassie's music played. She was the next one out. She plastered a smile on her face and waved to the crowd.

"Wow, isn't she touchy?" Candice pouted.

"To be fair, Candice, she's had to put up with a lot since this happened. Everyone has been ganging up on her," Jillian told her. She was sympathetic to Cassie's plight, even though she was picking on her, too. "Even Vince has been having a field day at her expense."

"Wow," Victoria mused. "You know things are bad when Vince is picking on you."

"Oh, it's even worse than that," Ashley told her. "Michael Cole himself has been getting a few shots in on her, too. Good ones." The Divas "oohed" in horror. Even the Divas knew that things weren't good when Michael Cole could get good insults in. It was one thing to be the butt of jokes from JBL or John Cena, but when it came to Michael Cole or Josh Mathews, it was what made a situation worse.

Cassie lost the bull-riding contest. She knew she would. She knew nothing about riding mechanical bulls. Michelle McCool had won. After the sideshow, Cassie was walking back to the Divas locker room when she ran into John Cena. He smiled at her and hugged her.

"Hey."

"Hey, John. How are you?"

"Good. I'm getting ready to get my title back. Great job with the Animal there, Cassie."

"Oh, God. Not you, too, John."

"What's that supposed to mean? I heard the stories and saw the pictures. It's not that bad. I did worse in Australia." He scoffed. "You're certainly not the first one back here to get drunk and fuck someone." She laughed at his bluntness. It was what she admired the most about him. He was a straight-shooter, and he always was with her. "Now, if you were Lita and you had another guy at home when it was going on, then it would be a different story. This is nothing. Lighten up and everyone else will too."

"John, Michael Cole made fun of me!"

"Ouch. That's not good. Was he with JBL?"

"Yeah."

"Well, next time that happens, throw a few Billy and Chuck-style comments at him. I do it all the time and it shuts him up. Just lighten up. It's not as bad you think. Anyway, Dave is head over heels in love with you, and I know you are with him, so I doubt he's complaining all that much about what happened."

"Probably not."

"Chill out. It's not the end of the world. Anyway, after eight months, it's about time you two went for the gusto. It's your life, and you live it once. Remember that." She smiled. Sometimes he liked to wax philosophical, but it was rare when there wasn't a bottle of tequila somewhere. "Now, I hate to cut our conversation short, but I need to go beat Edge's ass."

"Good luck out there tonight," she said with a smile. He nodded and left her in the hallway.

She went back to Dave's locker room. Vince was there. She felt her heart drop into her feet and her skin burn red. Vince turned to Cassie and smiled. "Cassie, well hello! How are you this evening?"

"I'm fine, Mr. McMahon, and yourself?"

"Great. I was just about to tell Batista here about the Great American Bash snag we've run into."

"Snag? What happened?"

"Mark Henry tore his kneecap to shit. We don't have an opponent now for Dave."

"That's awful," she replied, more out of reflex than anything. Mark had injured Dave. She sat down beside Vince. "What do you have planned?"

"I don't know yet," Vince admitted. "I'm going to leave it up to Teddy's discretion as a result." They nodded. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but now I need to go talk to Rey and Chavo. Have yourselves a nice night. Don't do anything too crazy," he said, winking at Cassie. She felt her blood get hot.

"You seem a little defensive tonight, Cassie. What's up?" he asked her.

"I'm just sick of being picked on. I'm trying to take it in good nature, really I am, but it's like, fuck, what is the big deal. This is no different than the time Lilian got shit-faced in London and almost missed Raw."

"Yeah, but Lilian didn't end up in bed with anyone. You ended up with me," he reminded her.

"Oh, like anyone is really surprised by that development." He laughed.

"True enough. Just chill out. This will fly by and someone else will do something stupid."

"The Raw roster knows all about this, too, you know. John knew!"

"Of course he did. Word travels fast around here. You should see how blown up it is on the Internet." She groaned. "You know you're pregnant?"

"Am I?" she laughed. He nodded. She put her head in her hands and sobbed with laughter. "Oh my God! I wonder where that news came from."

"Beats me. People are idiots. We could sure use that kind of imagination here on SmackDown though." We both broke into fits of laughter.

"What do you think will happen for the Great American Bash?" she asked. Batista shrugged.

"I don't know. But with my return, I know they're not going to leave me off the card. I don't know. Some young, snot-nosed little punk will probably run his mouth and I'll get stuck with that." She nodded. "Sucks, though. I really wanted Mark Henry in the ring."

"I know, but think, he came back in December after being gone for about two-three years, and now he's out again after six months. It's a little poetic that he hurts you and then he gets hurt, right?"

He nodded, a smile crossing his face. "How about we get out of here?"

"Don't get any ideas in mind, Dave," she replied coyly, but nonetheless grabbed her bags and they left together.