Thoughts on the last chapter, anybody? Well, this chapter's not quite as dramatic. It deals with a little of the aftermath of Gail's decisions.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Backstage after Gail Kim's betrayal, many of the girls had almost become silent after the unexpected turn of Gail Kim, and opted to sit in silence, watching what was happening in front of them unfold wordlessly.
Natalya was definitely the most vocal about her explosive anger in the locker room… but was definitely not afraid to show it, as she picked up the small trash can that had been put in the locker room, emptied it, and threw it across the room with a scream.
"I can't believe… damn it, I just can't believe that she would do what she did to us like that!" Natalya took off her heels and threw them at the ground, where her purse was sitting, as she stormed to the center of the room. Kaitlyn leaned down to pick up what Natalya had dropped from her purse in this process, but Natalya waved her away before screaming again. "I don't know what to do! I just don't know what to do, or what to say! How could she do that?! I trusted her!" her eyes were burning with tears.
"Natalya, you can stop now. Don't worry about it." Eve had come in during Natalya's speech, and she smiled now at them, sadly. They all took a moment to remember that Eve and Natalya had once been the fearsome threesome, not Kelly, Alicia, and Eve. "I have something for you, but you need to stop this screaming and throwing and yelling, and you need to save your energy for Tuesday night." Her head tilted slightly in a smile as she held out a piece of paper for Natalya to read. Explaining to the others, Eve commented, "I have a contract here for Natalya and Gail Kim to fight, signed by Teddy Long, on Friday Night SmackDown."
Natalya handed the paper back, smiling almost evilly, as she grabbed her heels and everything from the ground. "I think I'm going to go plan on everything I'm going to do to Gail."
Meanwhile, in the men's locker room, Justin Gabriel sat on a bench, completely silent, his face in his hands as everyone avoided him. Tyson had left with Natalya before Justin had a chance to talk to him about it, and now Justin considered himself alone.
That was, until John Cena walked up and put his hand on Justin's shoulder.
"I haven't been saying much…" Justin said, looking up and meeting John's eyes, John nodding and sitting next to Justin to listen. "I'm kicking myself inside, so hard… I want to lay down and just let myself go… but then she wins. Just this afternoon, in the hotel before we came here, and before she left the locker room to go to the Gorilla with AJ and Kaitlyn, she came by… she kissed me, and she told me she'd come back later."
"Justin, don't be too hard on yourself."
"Gail Kim was everything to me, and she seems to completely have forgotten that I have feelings! Right after she did what she did to the girls, I tried to call her, and when she walked back here with the girls from DEAR, and I was waiting at Gorilla for her, she walked past me. Didn't spare me a glance, she pretended that I didn't even exist!" Tears had been building in his eyes, and one fell now. "I loved her, John, and I still do… but she doesn't give a damn about me, and I'm sure she never did. That hurts. I'm sorry, I can't be here."
Justin stood then, and Cena grabbed him by his wrist to stop him as he stood up, too. "Justin, you can stop now." He turned to look at John then, and John let out a sigh. "She didn't just fool you. She fooled me, and Eve, and Natalya, and the Chickbusters. She fooled everyone, not just you."
In the DEAR hotel suite, on the highest floor of their hotel, Lita and Trish sat on the couch in the living room, with the girls sitting or standing around them. They had been quiet for a moment, but Lita couldn't help but laugh.
"Did you see the look on AJ's face when you shoved Kaitlyn and jumped off?"
"It was priceless, absolutely priceless." Ashley commented, laughing as Victoria, Candice Michelle, and Maria tried to mimic it to the best of their abilities.
Gail Kim leaned against the wall next to the TV, across the room from Lita and Trish, and smirked. "It was a pretty clever idea, but it wasn't mine."
Lita laughed and bowed slightly in her seat, before smiling at Gail. "You're the one who smuggled us into the bathroom."
"But the cane was just the icing on the cake."
"I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to tomorrow night." Gail smirked. "I want to see how the little girls react."
"Trust me," Mickie spun around on the coffee table's smooth surface in her pajama pants. "They're all going to piss their pants when they see you. Plus, I think you've successfully turned them around and against each other, wondering if anyone else is gonna turn on them, too. Good job."
The next night, everyone was still in shock, all of them actually talking now that Natalya wasn't there to scream and shout about Gail's betrayal.
"I just don't know what to feel," Kelly sighed. "I mean, I thought she was on our side, and then she turns around and does that."
"I know, Kelly…" Alicia put her arm around her best friend. "I think we all feel the same way…"
There was a knock on the door, then, and Kelly looked up at it.
"Guys, it's me. John." They almost smiled at this comment-it was familiar from when they had begun the bodyguard plan. "I've got someone I think you might want to see.
After a moment's hesitation, she shouted, "Come in!"
John opened the door and walked in, a short-haired friend walking in behind them.
"Edge?!"
Kelly stood up and half-walked and half-ran to him in the small room. Then, she was throwing her arms around him to hug him, this show of affection stunning CM Punk, who was standing a few feet away, and making him feel overwhelmingly awkward as these two quasi-exes smiled at each other and hugged tightly.
Kelly smiled up at Edge when she pulled away from him, bouncing on her toes with excitement. "Hey, what the heck are you doing here?"
"Oh, you know. I was actually just telling Christian about this actually-I came back for a visit, to check up on everybody, and I have a very good surprise for everyone later in the night." Edge smiled as CM Punk met his eyes, but then read the face that he was receiving from Punk and changed his attitude a bit, stepping away from Kelly. "Hey, it's nice to see you, Kelly, and it's nice to see all of you. However, I'm trying to make my rounds and see everyone before I have to go make my announcements. I'll take some hugs now, but I've gotta run."
John watched over Edge as he did this, and when he was finished, John motioned for Edge to come with him, which he did. The two of them walked out of the room together, making small talk as they did so.
"It's nice to see him here again." Punk's words were sarcastic, but he expected the response he got, almost.
"Definitely," Kelly laughed.
CM Punk looked down at Kelly and scoffed a bit, before putting his arms around her. "Well, if seeing him makes you happy…"
Brie and Nikki Bella stood in the center of the ring later that night, Nikki behind Brie and rubbing her sister's shoulders for a moment, then hugging around them, as they waited for their opponents. They'd been put into a match against two members of DEAR for that night, but hadn't been told who they were going to be facing. This left them without any real game plan for what they were going to do and how they were going to fight.
The DEAR theme song began to play after their own had faded out, and the girls watched the stage intently until out came Ashley and Lita, chatting up a storm and definitely making sure their strategy was foolproof. This left the twins in the ring with seconds to come up with a good enough plan that they could try to beat these girls. The only thing that was decided, however, was that if it became necessary for them to do it, the girls would pull out their Twin Magic, and there wouldn't be any sort of problem.
Lita and Ashley jumped up onto the apron directly from ringside and climbed in, their eyes stuck on the twins until Ashley nudged Lita and pointed out which twin was which. Then, and only then, did they look away from the girls.
"I'll start," Ashley commented as Brie climbed out of the ring. "Trust me, I've got this. Don't worry about them." Lita climbed out of the ring after Nikki did.
Ashley and Nikki watched each other like predator and prey while they waited for the timekeeper to ring the bell, and once it did, they began to circle around the ring and each other, before diving in for a lockup. Ashley didn't bother to put in effort, while Nikki pushed back against Ashley, leaving it rather even.
However, when Ashley put in some effort and leaned into the lockup, shoving Nikki backward, Nikki refused to break the hold and tied her hands up in the hair at the base of Ashley's neck, both of them falling to the ground.
Ashley quickly rolled off of Nikki and stood up effortlessly, Nikki rolling onto her stomach to begin getting up from the ground. Without letting Nikki have a second longer to recover, Ashley stepped back, and then ran forward to punt Nikki in the head, leaving her practically lifeless as she lay in the middle of the ring.
"Too easy!" Ashley shouted, her arms in the air as she showboated around the ring. The referee stopped her halfway around and warned her not to punt Nikki or Brie again, because he'd disqualify her. During this exchange, Brie attempted to slide into the ring and replace her sister, but Lita dove through the ropes and stood over Nikki, preventing Brie from getting anything done.
The referee turned around just in time to see Lita pushing Brie away from Twin Magic, and ordered both of them to move.
"Back to your corners!"
Brie almost growled at Lita as the two of them stepped back into their corners, Lita ducking back out and onto the apron while Ashley resumed her assault on the still-lifeless Nikki in the ring. Lita held out her hand for Ashley to tag her in a second later, one foot on the bottom rope to help her onto the top rope once Ashley did.
Ashley picked Nikki up and tucked her head under her arm as she tagged Lita into the match, taking her down in a textbook Twist of Fate, before moving out of the way and allowing Lita to hit Nikki with a moonsault.
Ashley and Lita took a moment to celebrate their easy win inside of the ring before rolling out of it, Brie finally getting into the ring to help up her sister. She fanned Nikki's face as she watched DEAR retreat, glaring at the two girls leaving.
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