CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Monday night, Trish stood in the DEAR locker room, confident as ever as she looked at herself in the mirror and fixed her brunette locks.
The other girls lounged around her lazily, kicking up their feet and just chilling out in their designer sweats. Not their match, not their problem. Though they would most certainly smirk if Trish had put them through all of this and done almost nothing herself… only to have her ass kicked in return.
They still respected the hell out of Trish, but she'd worked a lot less than the other girls, and was acting a lot more on her high horse.
"So, Trish." Lita sat up from where she'd been lounging, Ashley moving over to make room now that Lita's legs weren't over her own. "How are you doing?"
"Ha. Please, honey." Trish smiled into the mirror. "I'm going to remind DEAR what it's like to be a winner. Besides. I'm only facing Alicia."
Ashley raised her eyebrows. "Only? You saw how much Kelly changed under Jazz's training. Imagine how Alicia's changed."
"Don't take it so lightly." Lita finished.
Trish turned around, finally, to face the girls. "I'm not, I'm not." She held up her hands, like she was surrendering. "I'll have Victoria with me at ringside… just in case."
Victoria, who had been sitting next to Candice and getting her nails painted black, looked up at Trish with a nod.
Almost opposite to the goings-on in the DEAR locker room, the Diva's Army had gathered all around Alicia, smiling and fixing small things for her as she stood in front of the mirror. Finally, with a small laugh, she waved them away and fixed her gear one last time before turning around and taking a bottle of Bath & Body Works lotion from Tamina. She rubbed this over her revealed body as she looked at the girls in front of her.
If DEAR hadn't come around, these girls would still probably hate each other. Hell, there wasn't even a question. Sure, they still had their differences, but they would take chair shots for each other these days. No hesitation. Every single one of them now cared about their fellow woman.
Natalya spoke as Alicia was still applying the lotion. "How you doin', Alicia?"
Alicia smiled at one of her oldest friends. They'd had times where they couldn't stand each other, but were always able to confide in each other and rely on each other when it counted. "I'm fine. A little bit worried, to be honest, but I know I'll get the win over Trish. She hasn't been in the ring for a long time. She's out of practice."
"You shouldn't doubt her, hon. She's one of the biggest female wrestlers of all time, for her talent. If I were you, I'd be worried." Alicia looked over at Natalya, who laughed. "Hey, I'm just telling you the truth-would you rather I lie to you?"
"Not really." Alicia rolled her eyes.
"How about I come with you, stay at ringside? You know Trish is gonna bring someone."
"True. Alright. You can come with me to ringside." Alicia set down the lotion. "Let's go."
I told you… I told you… I told you, baby…
"Introducing first, representing DEAR and being accompanied by Victoria… Trish Stratus!" The crowd booed and hissed, with intermingled cheers to see Trish in action once more.
Trish was clearly exuding overconfidence as she walked down the ramp, Victoria over her shoulder. A smile graced her lips as Trish thought, My insurance policy. She'd told Victoria that if things looked bad to distract the referee, because she'd brought along the brass knuckles in her bra.
Once Trish had gotten into the ring and was kneeling down in her corner, rolling her neck with Victoria standing at the apron, the song that the Diva's Army had begun using began playing.
I can tell you're feelin' me, the way you're lookin' at me…
"And her opponent, representing the Diva's Army and being accompanied to the ring by Natalya… Alicia Fox!"
Alicia walked out, Natalya smiling as they made their way rather quickly down the ramp. Alicia walked up the steps and stood on the second rope, removing her Diva's Army jacket and tossing it out into the crowd before grabbing the top turnbuckle and jumping over the top rope into the ring.
The bell rang, and quickly, Alicia took over the match, throwing Trish around the ring and hitting her everywhere. When Victoria tried to distract the ref, Alicia stayed in the referee's view the entire time, and Trish rolled out of the ring instead of hitting Alicia with the knuckles.
"We need a new game plan…" Trish muttered to Victoria as the referee began the necessary count.
Alicia didn't give them enough time to actually formulate their plan, instead running back and taking a rebound off of the ropes. She crossed the ring quickly and jumped, suicide-diving over Victoria and Trish, and taking them both to the outside mats.
The referee continued the count as Alicia pulled Trish to her feet and they began fighting, and Natalya ran around the ring to take over for Victoria. Alicia swung Trish around into the barricade and she rebounded, the thud and groan audible as the referee hit the count of six. Alicia slid into the ring and back out, forcing the referee to restart the count, before grabbing Trish and throwing her into the steel ring posts.
"Fox-Y! Fox-Y!" the fans were chanting as the referee counted, and Trish slowly got to her feet.
Alicia ran in for a Brogue Kick, which she had learned and inherited from her bodyguard, mentor on the side, and quasi-boyfriend, Sheamus. However, before Alicia could strike the Brogue, Trish had dodged around her and thrown her into the steel steps, leg still up. Alicia was cringing as she writhed on the floor, but she didn't have time for that.
Trish took advantage of the injury she had just caused, not letting Alicia tell the referee she couldn't compete because of the injury. Instead, she just beat her ceaselessly, injuring her leg even further.
Finally, Trish took mercy on her and struck the final blow-a Chick Kick. The count of three followed, and Alicia had to be carried to the back to be looked at by the medics.
While Alicia was being taken to the hospital in an ambulance from backstage-though the injury was something that the on-site doctors could have taken care of, they wanted her to get professional X-rays done-the girls of DEAR were sitting in their locker room, waiting for the return of Trish and Victoria from the match.
Finally, when they did return, it was a disgusting sight. Trish was simply exploding with energy and happiness, though the way she had won the match was not necessarily the best. She'd been lucky to dodge the Brogue Kick outside of the ring, and for Alicia to have hurt herself on the steel steps. From there, it was just downhill.
"Now, that's how it's done." Trish high-fived Victoria, and then went to changed back into casual clothes so that they could head back to their hotel.
Alicia received an X-ray, and was finally ready to head out at a ridiculously early hour. Just when Alicia was about to call Kelly, a nurse stepped in to tell her she had a visitor, who had requested to take her back to her hotel. "Should I send him in?" The nurse asked, and Alicia nodded.
She smiled as she was joined by the Celtic Warrior, who looked her over and half-smiled, weakly. "I wish I could have been out there."
"Nattie did everything she could have… you couldn't have done anything more." He took her hands in his and smiled. "I'm ready to go back to the hotel, now."
Sheamus scooped Alicia up into his arms and sat her down in the regulation wheelchair so that they could wheel her down to the parking lot, where Sheamus had been lucky to get the closest spot possible. He helped her into the backseat of the car, where she could sit with enough room for her legs, and then drove her back.
He carried her into her hotel room like she was a bride, and Alicia was blushing wildly the entire time. While she and Sheamus had been a strange match at the start, it had turned into an extremely loving, understanding relationship… it was strange.
"Do you need anything else?"
"No thank you." Sheamus kissed her, wished her a goodnight, and walked out. Alicia rolled a little in the bed to look at her roommate, Kelly. "They're keeping me in this boot… past SummerSlam." Kelly looked over and frowned just a bit. "I'm sorry, Kelly. I was really looking forward to tenderizing some DEAR meat with you…"
Kelly shrugged and let out a large sigh. "So, what is it?"
"Hairline fracture."
"Well, if you hadn't gotten it, I could tell that you would have beaten Trish." Kelly, in her pajamas, lay back down on the bed and turned off the lights.
I know… Alicia thought, shaking her head. That's the worst part.