"You want me to do what?" CJ asked, looking to Paul as he smiled maniacally. Both Dean and Seth were blown away as well, since this would be as bad as Madusa throwing away the WWF Women's title on WCW's Monday Night Nitro back during the wars. This was actually much worse than that. Defiling the Diva's Championship was going to be the most controversial thing she had ever done, but she knew that it was something that needed to be done. She was trying to reign in a new era- her era- and the only way to start that new era was to end the old era with a huge exclamation point.
"Now, my dear, I understand that this is a hard pill to swallow but you need to keep in mind that you've got better things going for you than this silver butterfly." The advocate explained, looking between the three of his clients that were actually working tonight. "You've got the gold standard, now. There's no need to have both belts and what better way to make your statement than by repeatedly bringing a blunt object down on the Diva's Championship and handing it to Naomi personally?"
"I think you should do it, babe." Dean spoke up, gently bouncing Olivia on his knee to keep her occupied. "It'll make history."
"It'll look good on a Hall of Fame ballot." Seth gave his two cents, knowing that was the argument that she needed to hear to be much more open to doing this. It would probably generate a lot of heat in the locker room and with the fans, but she couldn't care about that. They didn't have time to care about the opinions of lesser individuals.
"Alright, I'll do it."
"Atta girl." Paul cheered, patting her shoulders before leaving the room to make sure that they had everything they needed to pull off this history making moment. This was when Seth felt was a good time to bring up something that had been on his mind, so he cleared his throat to get their attentions.
"What's up, Seth?" Dean asked, handing Olivia to her mother so he could fix his jeans.
"As you both know, my birthday is this week." Seth started, looking between Dean and CJ. He didn't know what he was looking for in their facial expressions, but he knew that he didn't get it when they both just continued to stare at him indifferently. "My mom is demanding that I go home."
"Okay." CJ mumbled, running a hand through her hair in what Seth assumed was nervousness. Dean had done the same, but Seth knew that Dean was trying to figure out how to go through their off days without an extra set of eyes on the girls and their surroundings. "When are you leaving?"
"Right after the SmackDown taping."
"And you have to go?" Dean asked, surprising CJ more than he surprised Seth. But this depressed Seth because he knew that Dean really needed him and he'd be letting him down if anything happened to the girls and Seth wasn't there to help prevent it.
"Yeah, I do. I mean, sure my mom is fucking crazy and all, but that's still my family too."
"You know we wouldn't keep you from your family, Seth." CJ spoke up, trying her best to smile up at him. "Don't worry about us, Sethie. We'll be fine."
"Yeah, we'll see you Friday night and it'll be like you never left." Dean assured, patting Seth's shoulder with a smile of his own. But Seth could see right through the couple, both were nervous to not have him around. He appreciated them trying to act like they felt it wouldn't be a big deal to have him gone, but he knew full well that they were worried.
"I have to go, my match is coming up." Dean announced, standing and kissing Olivia's forehead before kissing CJ's cheek. She whispered a "be careful" to him before he left, and Dean could only shrug before grabbing his title and leaving the room.
"Babe?" Seth asked, seeing the look on CJ's face as she tried to process how the next week would go for her.
"You worry about us too much, Sethie." The blonde spoke, smiling over at Seth in an attempt to reassure him. But he knew that she was hiding because the smile didn't reach her eyes. He hated when the smile didn't reach her eyes. It made him sad to see her sad.
"You're sad, babe. What's wrong?"
"If I tell you why then you'll get upset and I'd prefer it if you didn't head home upset." She spoke as if it were simple, her smile never fading but her eyes still betrayed what she was truly feeling. He just felt so bad that she was willing to send him away with hurt in her mind but not tell him why because she didn't want him bothered by how she was feeling.
"Christina, tell me what's going on with you."
"Its nothing, Seth." She insisted, not taking her eyes away from him but he knew that she was breaking. She was breaking and somewhere inside him he was breaking because he felt as if it were his fault that she was breaking. He didn't dare say any more, though. Because tonight was a big night for them, mainly her but for all of them. She wouldn't have her head in the right spot for this night if he continued to push this issue. He'd push it tomorrow, since she wasn't going to be on the show and could afford to be "off her game" for a while. "Really, I'm going to be fine."
"We're talking about this later, sweetheart." He demanded, smiling at her while gently stroking her cheek. Olivia was happy just being sandwiched between two of her parents, therefore she didn't mind the fact that the only attention she had was CJ holding her and Seth playing with her feet. Neither parent was too concerned with her, because she was in a good spot. If she started to fuss, that would change. It wasn't time to stop spoiling her with attention yet, therefore CJ didn't mind halting everything to tend to her daughter so that she wouldn't cry. "I just don't want you to be upset."
"Seth, I'm not upset that you're leaving to see your family. How could I be?"
"Babe, I dunno. But I see it in your eyes. There's something bothering you."
"Sethie..." She trailed off, looking away from him to hide the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. "I just- shit. I can't explain it. Being honest, I don't think I want to be able to explain it. Some things are better left unexplained."
"But not this. I need to know what you're feeling, Christina." It was Seth's turn to insist, bringing her attention back to him. There was no more running and hiding from their feelings anymore now that they were all targets in some way, shape, or form. They needed honesty if their weird little relationship was going to survive. "If I'm truly your boyfriend, then you need to trust that I'm going to take care of you just as much as you trust Dean to take care of you. The three of us are going to have to confide in each other if we're going to make it."
"Don't you think I know that, Seth?" She asked, adjust Olivia so that she had a hand free to take one of Seth's hands. "Its just the fact that tonight is a huge night. We don't need to be worrying about my emotions before we all go out and do things in front of a live, international, audience. A busy mind brings opportunities for failure."
"I'm not going to be able to go out there with a clear head, babe. You've got me all kinds of worried now." That was it. He saw it there that his words had her breaking in her resolve. But, unfortunately, he also saw the tears in her eyes that he knew that she didn't want him to see. She was just too prideful sometimes, but she cared more about his health and safety out in the ring than she did her own pride, and that was something he appreciated.
"I don't want you to go, Seth. I don't know how much more obvious it can be." She admitted, looking down at her daughter as she spoke. "But this is your family, and it would be selfish of me to keep you from going to see them when I get to see mine all the time."
"Hey, don't cry over this sweetheart." Seth whispered, tilting her chin up to get her attention back on him. It took a couple moments of her fighting his eye contact before she did look up at him, and Seth had to let go of Olivia's foot so that he could wipe away the tears that had fallen. "I'm not worth crying over. Not after what I've done to you."
"Sethie, eventually you're going to have to forgive yourself for what you've done."
"Not until I know that you guys have forgiven me." He spoke honestly, continuing to wipe away her tears with his thumb. He noticed that Olivia had just fallen asleep in her mother's arms and smiled gently pulling the infant away and cradling her close to him. "Its my fault that we only have this one little blessing instead of both of them and to this day I ask myself whenever I hold her: 'what if I had stressed you out to the point of a miscarriage?' They may not know what causes vanished twin, but I feel it in my heart that if I wasn't such a shithead back then, we'd probably have the other."
"Seth-"
"I know its not healthy to dwell on these things, but I put that vanished twin on me. Not you or anybody else. I hurt you, CJ. I broke your heart, stressed you out, and if I had pushed harder like I initially wanted to, you could have lost Olivia. If you had gotten caught in between Dean and I when I showed up at the house that one day, you could have lost her." He continued, gently stroking the infant's face as she gripped his shirt while she continued to sleep in his arms. Seth wished that he could hold her like this forever, because she made him happiest when all he really wanted was to cry. "There was just so much that I was doing, not even thinking about the negative effects that my actions could have had on you or her, that I will never be able to really forgive myself for."
"I try not to think about the negatives, Seth. Sure, all of that shit could have happened, but it didn't. We have Olivia, and she is as healthy as ever. Sure, we lost that other baby, but technically we didn't because that baby lives on in Olivia. Its because of that, that our baby has parts of both you and Dean, and I think that's the most amazing thing in the world. Stop blaming yourself for the vanished twin, and don't blame yourself for what didn't happen, Seth."
"But, I-"
"I'm over the night of June second, and everything else that happened that week between us. Its done and I forgive you it. You made a fucking mistake. Was it huge? It was the biggest string of mistakes I ever seen a man make before, but its in the past and you've done more than just make up for it."
"You forgive me?"
"If I didn't you wouldn't be here right now." She confirmed with a small smile. his time it was her turn to wipe away his tears, and she continued to smile as she did so with the utmost gentleness and care. "Seth, sweetie, please stop holding these things over your head. I hate seeing you upset, Seth."
"I'll work on it, I promise. I just- its hard, y'know?"
"I would know better than most." CJ spoke with a smile, pushing a couple flyaway hairs back and away from his forehead. Her hand stayed on his head, though, and Seth loved the way she leaned in and kissed him. It was a kiss that Seth so dearly wished would lead to more, but he knew that it probably never would and especially while he had Olivia in his arms. "I never stopped loving you, Seth. Don't you ever forget that."
She fucking said it! Seth cheered in his head, but kept his face pretty relaxed considering the bomb she dropped on him literally out of nowhere. He never expected her to admit her love again, but here she was(at work, no less) telling him that she basically had always loved him. Not only that, but all of the shit he had pulled never stopped that love for him. "I love you too, Christina. So much, babe."
"Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Paul Heyman and I am the advocate for the reigning, defending, undisputed WWE Divas Champion CJ Jericho." Paul started in the traditional way with the WWE Universe speaking in unison with him, smirking over at his client as she stood in her jeans and new merch shirt while holding her Divas Championship. In the middle of the ring stood a pedestal of sorts with a black case resting on it. Nobody but CJ and Paul really knew what was in it, and that was why they were smirking. "And yes, we have agreed to continue using the Jericho last name because she feels as though its something that she earned after reducing her father down to nothing but a quivering mess that needed to be carted out of the arena on a stretcher."
The crowd got a kick out of that, chanting for the champion as she continued to stand beside her advocate. Her eyes stayed on her hidden-away championship, though, since that really was the only thing she was interested in. The Divas Championship belt that she used to hold with a vice grip merely hung off of her shoulder as she stood, but she still held it with pride. Being a champion was something that she loved, regardless of whether or not she still loved the championship.
"The hashtag 'GiveDivasAChance' has been trending quite frequently these days, but my client and I have had enough. CJ Jericho has 'given divas a chance' and each and every single one of them has gotten their ass kicked. Chris Jericho gave this 'diva' a 'chance', thinking that he could easily beat the girl who took all of his moves and made them actually effective, and he ended up getting his ass kicked!" Paul spoke ever so eloquently, putting all of the right emphasis in all the right places and getting a chuckle out of CJ as she nodded her agreement. "Being honest, my client and I have had enough of this silly little 'movement'-"
"If we can even call it that." CJ added into the microphone she had in her hand. She still didn't understand why they gave her a microphone, Paul did most of her talking for her anyways. But this was a comment that needed to be made, and seeing the nod of approval on Paul's made made her feel alright about interrupting him. "The only chance they have is against each other."
"You are exactly right, my dear. These 'divas' have no chance against my client because my client is not a 'diva'. In fact, the word offends her and every time my client, CJ Jericho, is referred to as a 'diva' she throws up a little bit in her mouth because its a disgusting term. The 'Give Divas A Chance' movement offends her because she is more than just a silly 'diva', she's more than just a 'girl'. My client, CJ Jericho, is the Gold Standard and better than-"
"Hold up, hold up." Naomi came out before CJ and Paul had gotten the chance to invite her out to witness this moment in history, but neither missed a beat. "You're calling yourself the 'Gold Standard' now and not a Diva like the rest of us?"
"Well, seeing as I've kicked your ass a few times and actually have a shred of self respect- yeah." CJ responded, shrugging and bumping fists with Paul because they had been working on her comebacks during their free time together. "But I'm glad you're here. We were going to invite you out here, but you invited yourself to the party. Classless and rude, but something we can deal with."
"What are you talking about?"
"We're having a party to celebrate history being made tonight." Paul explained, smiling at CJ as he moved to the pedestal. "Set down your title, my dear."
CJ was quick to do what was requested of her practically giddy when Paul lifted up the long tablecloth and produced a sledgehammer. What was truly beautiful about this whole moment in time was the fact that this was Triple H's favorite toy and he had absolutely no idea what was about to happen to one of his divisions. Vince didn't tell him and made that point clear when he met with CJ and Paul before they went through the curtain. She caught it when it was tossed to her, and she could see the realization on Naomi's face just before she brought the sledgehammer down on the pink and silver butterfly.
Destroying the belt was most definitely therapeutic to the blonde. All of her frustrations with her current job were unloaded onto the belt; from her lack of worthy competition to the fact that it took her so long to win the damn thing in the first place, and it was absolutely wonderful. She hit the belt repeatedly until it was almost unrecognizable and the plate with her name printed on it had long since popped off to some unknown place. But then there was the icing on the cake. Paul tossed her a can of spray paint and CJ painted the once-butterfly black with absolutely no shame before tossing the can aside and picking up her microphone while Paul worked on opening the case.
"Today marks the day that the Women's Division rose again. Only at the moment its a division with a population of one." CJ announced, taking her new belt from Paul and raising it high above her head as she turned to the camera as Paul picked up his microphone.
"You can either live in the cloud of mediocrity that is the 'Divas Division' or you can try your best to rise to the challenge of taking on the Gold Standard that is my client, CJ Jericho. But I can promise you now, you will most likely fail and that's not exactly our problem."
They dropped their mics and CJ picked up the destroyed Divas title with a smile before she and Paul exited the ring. Naomi had made it halfway down the ramp while CJ was destroying the Divas title, but stopped when the blonde started speaking again. She hadn't moved from that spot, and watched as CJ pranced right up to her and handed her the destroyed belt.
"You wanted it so bad, and now you have it. Have fun, bitch." Was all she said before walking up the ramp with Heyman, leaving a stunned Naomi behind as she tried to process everything that had just happened.
Writer's block slapped me around a bit with this one, but viola! The Gold Standard has been unveiled and CJ did something that had only ever been done once before. But, plus side to the writer's block thing, I did post an extremely long one shot(that probably should've been a two or three shot) a couple days ago that's an AU revolving around Dean, Seth, and CJ in the zombie apocalypse as a way to celebrate a year. But I also might do a thing like I did for when I got a certain amount of reviews (I think it was a hundred but it might've been two) but I'm not sure what so you guys are going to have to help me out here and give me some options. I'll put up a poll on my page with the suggested choices for what I should do and let you lovelies vote. Side note, watching SmackDown tonight just made me want to be the person who gets to braid Ziggler's hair.
Onwards, I'd like to thank Flash96, ChelleLew, Imagineer1392, meredith757, calwitch, and ItReignsJustice-619 for reviewing the last chapter! I'm still in awe that this story is still going strong after so long. To quote the great Ron Simmons: DAMN!