This chapter is kind of hella long. I would've split it up, but it's a lot of important stuff that needs to be given to y'all at once. I'm sorry about that, guys. Bear with me here.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The Diva's locker room backstage after the match and the post-match attack was filled with rage. This rage mostly belonged to Kaitlyn, though Natalya had been the one to schedule the match, as she had wanted to fight Trish personally.
AJ, however, was more trying to recover from the slaughter she'd taken in the ring at the hands of Victoria and Candice Michelle.
Kelly Kelly, Rosa Mendes, and Aksana sat in the locker room with them, as well as Zack Ryder and CM Punk. Goldust hadn't been around much, as Aksana hadn't seen any action with the girls of DEAR, and no one feared that she would be too hurt. The two of them continued to see each other regularly out of the arenas, but didn't spend too much time together when they were there.
A knock on the door startled them in the middle of Natalya trying to figure out how injured AJ really was, and they all looked to the door. AJ cleared her throat, and then shouted, "Come in!"
Everyone was confused as they watched a black Mary-Jane high heel clear the crack in the door first, followed by a deeply tanned leg in a pair of skin-colored tights, and then the bottom of a black skirt. The next thing through the door was the bottom of a white, button-up blouse, tucked into the skirt, and the last thing was a face that all of them had been missing terribly. Now, this face was wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses, and a smile on her red lips.
"Did anyone miss me?"
"Eve!" Kelly jumped up from her place next to Aksana on the bench, practically exploding with happiness as she ran across the room. She jumped up onto Eve, pretty much disregarding that Eve was coming back from an injury, and Aksana followed, as though she and Eve had never been close, Aksana had been becoming closer-sort of-with Kelly.
Eve smiled at her friend and laughed as she looked over the room. "Kelly… Natalya… everyone. I missed all of you so much."
"And we missed you," Rosa said, laughing. "Dearly."
"Well, you won't have to miss me much longer." Kelly put her hands together like she was praying, and Eve waved her hand in Kelly's direction. "Calm down, girl. I've only been cleared to return to the backstage area. They told me that I can't wrestle. So…" she shrugged sadly. "I don't know. Can I get some hugs to make me feel better?"
Everyone swarmed around her then, all of them laughing, smiling, and having what was generally just a good time, until Eve's eyes met Kaitlyn's across the room. The Diva with the dual-colored hair had stayed away from the Eve happiness, and it was obvious even to someone who hadn't been around to listen to her rant about it that she was angry about the bait-and-switch Trish and the other girls had pulled on her.
"Kaitlyn, I saw what happened out there, and as the new executive assistant to Theodore Long himself…" she trailed off for a second to squeal a bit and high-five Kelly, before going on. "I got him to sign off just a few minutes ago on a match for you, AJ, and Natalya against Victoria, Candice Michelle, and Maria at Over The Limit. Sort of a rematch for tonight."
Kaitlyn looked wary of this idea at first. "You really just got him to sign off on it? If you've been here all night, why didn't you come see us sooner?"
"I wanted to keep my surprise for as long as I could. I knew that all of you were missing me, but I didn't want to return just randomly and give all of you hugs. I wanted to come back, hug all of you, and talk to everyone." Eve crossed her arms over her chest and kept her eyes locked with Kaitlyn's. "If you'd like, I can go tell Teddy to shred that contract."
"No!" Kaitlyn held out a hand. "Don't do that. I have to get revenge on them for what they did. What they did wasn't fair."
"Do you really think you could have faced Trish and Maria?" AJ asked Kaitlyn, rubbing the back of her neck. "I mean, especially with me? I practically got slaughtered out there. Imagine if that had been Trish instead."
Eve decided not to get involved too much with this situation and laughed, turning around and walking in the direction of the door. "I'm sorry about this, but I've got to head out of here. I have more stuff to get done through the night. I'll see all of you later. I love you!" She blew a kiss to them as she shut the door behind her, Natalya giving AJ and Kaitlyn high-fives.
Saturday afternoon, everyone had been going on publicity shoots and doing interviews, but now they were headed to Seattle, Washington, for Over The Limit the next day.
Gail Kim leaned against one of the walls in the airport, her bags leaning up against the wall next to her and her hood pulled up over her head. She'd been fighting a cold and just generally felt like crap, she'd told the other girls, so they decided to leave her alone.
This, however, had apparently not gotten back to Justin Gabriel, who was now walking up to the girl he was supposed to be guarding, pulling his own luggage behind him. He wore jeans and a plain t-shirt for the plane ride, with a pair of sneakers. Headphones fell from the collar of his shirt, and were connected to the iPod in his pocket.
"Hi, Justin…" Gail stood up a bit straighter and smiled at him slightly. "What are you doing?"
Justin smiled at her and laughed. "What are you doing all the way over here, Gail? I thought you'd be over with the girls, helping AJ and Kaitlyn get over their nerves for tomorrow."
"Oh, I thought everyone had that covered. Besides, I've felt awful for days." Gail coughed, adding emphasis on this, but Justin didn't seem to move. "Do you want to get sick?"
"No, I want to help you get better." Justin opened his arms for Gail, who stepped into them without question to hug him tightly. "Is there something more than just being sick that you want to talk about? You can always talk to me, Gail. I care about you. A lot."
Gail smiled into his shirt and hugged him just a bit tighter for a second before meeting his eyes. "Justin, you're sweet, but it's really that I just don't feel well. I'm feeling better, though. Not sure if that's the Tylenol or my natural drug."
Justin laughed, and the two of them just kept their eyes locked for a moment, before Justin leaned down a bit, his lips meeting Gail's right there in the airport.
"Isn't that cute?"
Justin pulled back and watched with a bit of anger in his eyes as DEAR walked by them, laughing as they went. "What are they doing here?" He seethed after they had passed, and Gail placed her hand on his side, her arm around his waist.
"They're probably just boarding their private jet." Gail shrugged. "They think they're superstars, you know that. And not even the good kind, like you."
"I really care about you, Gail Kim."
"I care about you, too, Justin Gabriel."
Everyone boarded the plane a while later, and Kelly sat down, instantly pulling her small makeup bag from her carry-on. CM Punk laughed as she dug through it a bit, pulling out a small moisturizer and beginning to apply it.
"What are you doing?"
His laughter didn't seem to deter her as she applied this all over her face, and to his left, Randy Orton laughed a bit as well. "I'm keeping my skin hydrated. Your skin needs forty percent humidity to be completely healthy, and airplanes only contain eight percent. Therefore, you need to hydrate during flights." She looked over at him, and he noticed she'd massaged all of the previously whiter-colored gel into her face. "Do you want my skin to be flaky and disgusting?"
He rolled his eyes and laughed, putting his headphones on. "Whatever you say, Kelly. I won't judge you." She nudged him with her elbow and he laughed, leaning over to give her a kiss before putting his head back, turning on his music, and going to sleep.
The next day, sometime around eleven o'clock in the morning, Eve Torres stood in the general manager's office that Teddy Long had been assigned to occupy. She had a checklist of items that she was supposed to be getting accomplished, and she smiled before turning around.
"I understand. I'll be back soon, and I'll make sure that all of this gets done." Most of her duties, even as an executive assistant, only included waiting on the Superstars and Divas. This was more along the lines of getting a certain number of water bottles chilled for them and then making sure she delivered these while they were inside, and keeping track of the snack table.
Today, she was going to be getting water bottles for everyone on the roster, and had to make sure that the snack table included healthy options as well as things such as coffee creamers and sugars, and assorted sugary things which would fend off the appetite post-match.
"Eve!"
Eve literally dropped her clipboard, the transparent hot-pink plastic falling to the ground with a clatter as she stopped. She spun around after picking it up, to see Randy Orton approaching her, a smile on his face. "Hi, Randy."
"Hey, Eve. I wasn't sure if I would catch you here, but I just heard that you got back. Kelly was talking about it on the plane yesterday, and I wanted to come see you."
"That's sweet, Randy, really, but I've got things I need to get done." Eve turned back around and was in the direction of the snack tables in Catering once again. The fact that she had things to do didn't deter Randy, and he followed on her heels, still speaking, as she walked through the hallways.
"Listen, I just missed you, and I realized that I wasn't doing my job. I let you get severely hurt, and that's my fault. I take credit for that." Randy grabbed her by the arm and stopped her, turning her around. "Eve, please let me make it up to you."
"How would you want me to do that?" She crossed her arms over her clipboard, securing it against her chest, and looked up through her glasses at Randy. "What would you like me to let you do so that you can give me this apology."
"Let me take you out on a lunch date. Today, before the show starts."
"Ha!" Eve rolled her eyes and turned back around. "I should have known. It figures. But, Randy, I've got things I have to accomplish. I'm going to be busy all day, and I'm just not interested. Please, let me do my job."
She was a mix of happy and upset when she heard his footsteps cease behind her.
"It's almost pathetic how excited I am to get out there and just kick some DEAR ass," Natalya commented as she opened the car door and stepped out. The fans waiting behind the chain-link fence, watching the parking lot and taking pictures, cheered when they saw Natalya and Tyson getting out of their rental car, and both of them waved before walking around to the back.
"It isn't pathetic, Nat." Tyson unlocked the trunk with the car's key and opened it up to pull out her luggage bag. "I promise, nothing you do is."
Natalya took the keys from him as he took both of their luggage bags and locked the car after slamming the trunk shut. "You're sweet to me."
"I try."
They made vague conversation as they walked into the arena and made their way through all of the hallways to the Diva's locker room for the night.
"I'll see you after the match, alright?"
"Promise me you won't get hurt. I don't know what I'd do."
Natalya smiled at Tyson and kissed him softly before taking her bag from him. "I promise that I won't get hurt in the match."
Tyson watched her walk into the locker room and then headed off to find some of the other guards, while Natalya walked inside and smiled at the girls around her.
AJ was visibly excited at the idea that she was going to be in a match like this, as was Kaitlyn, while Gail Kim, Kelly, and Alicia just sat on the benches for moral support. "Natalya! You made it!"
"That's me, I did." She laughed, leaning her bag up against one of the benches. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom and then I'll change." She smiled and walked into the bathroom, all of the other girls staying behind. The door shut, and they continued talking as they heard the toilet flush a moment later, and then the sink start a few times.
Finally, the air dryer started, and when it stopped, they looked to the door to ask Natalya about Kaitlyn's hair style to see her opinion on it…
Only to see Natalya stumble backward out of the bathroom, dizzy, before falling to the floor, a deep cut across her forehead.
AJ and Kaitlyn lunged for Natalya as Gail and the other girls sat back in shock. "Nattie!"
AJ was crying, shaking her to get a response from the practically-unconscious woman, when out of the bathroom walked Ashley, Mickie, and Lita, Lita swinging a Singapore cane around.
"Huh. It looks like someone had a little bit of an accident," Lita commented with a laugh as they walked out of the locker room and into the hallway.
"How the hell did they get in here?!" Gail demanded. No one said a word.
You see why it all had to be together now? Individual events that seem small can sometimes add up to be bigger than themselves. Do you guys think that Natalya's going to be okay? How do you think that DEAR got into the Diva's Locker Room? What do you think will happen to the match at Over The Limit, who will take Natalya's place?
Review/favorite/follow, and as always, you can message me if you have any questions about characters, or if you see something that doesn't seem fluent throughout the story. Multiple people can miss something that doesn't flow just right, and I want to make sure that this is as perfect as it can be for all of you well-deserving people.