Chapter 53: Practice Doesn't Make Perfect

That week went by fast as Lauren trained harder than ever for her match with Trish. Batista watched as Lita and Stacy worked with her to help her in the ring. Lauren pushed herself harder than ever to improve her moves. Batista even became a little worried about her, remembering what happened when she pushed herself too hard last time. It was Saturday night and Lauren was still in the ring practicing. She looked ready to fall over any minute, and Batista knew it was time to call it quits. He stepped into the ring and said, "Come on girl, time to wrap it up." Lauren ignored him and continued practicing by throwing punches and kicks. "Lauren I'm serious, let's go," Batista said a little more sternly.

"I can keep going. I have to beat her!" she said as she continued hitting an invisible opponent. Batista already started panicking, she was going to hurt herself, and end up like before. He couldn't let that happen, and he wouldn't let that happen. He came up behind her and took one of her arms to spin her towards him. Lauren lost her footing completely and ended up falling into his chest. "What are you–" she demanded only to be cut off by the tight embrace he had her in. Lauren couldn't have been more confused at his sudden actions, and asked him what was wrong.

"Just stop." he said into her ear. Before she could ask what he meant, he continued. "You're doing exactly what you did that while back when we weren't speaking to each other. You tried wasting yourself away to be able to beat Trish. I don't want to see you that way again; weak and...Lauren I can't go through that again." Batista sounded so worried as he held her tight against him. Lauren didn't know what to say, but slowly held him back while rubbing his back up and down.

"I'm sorry," she whispered softly. Batista didn't loosen his hold on her for an instant, letting Lauren know that he was completely serious. She then wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head against him. "I didn't know I was upsetting you so much. I wouldn't have gone this far if I had known. I didn't even realize how far I was pushing myself. I'm really sorry," she said and let a tear roll down her cheek. Batista pulled away only to kiss her tear away.

"Let's get out of here," he said and took her by the hand to the garage and go back to the hotel. Once Batista parked the car, he looked over to see a sleeping Lauren. He smiled and stroked her face, which stirred her awake. She leaned into the hand stroking her face and smiled weakly. "Come on kid." he smirked and got out his side of the car to Lauren's. Lauren stepped out, only to be lifted into Batista's arms and carried to the room. Batista set her down onto the bed and removed everything say for her bra and panties. He removed everything down to his boxers and slipped into bed beside her. He took her into his arms, feeling her wrap her arms around his, bringing them closer.

The next morning, Lauren found the other side of the bed empty. Batista was already up, just slipping on his pants, fastening his belt. Lauren quietly crawled to the end of the bed, and pounced onto his back. Lauren was a little disappointed when he hardly lost his footing. "You know, sometimes you're no fun being so big," she pouted cutely. Batista simply chuckled and walked around the room as if she weren't hanging off of him. "You're such a showoff!" Lauren complained, but continued holding onto him nonetheless. At least until Batista reached behind him and started tickling her sides. Lauren jumped down and ran back to the bed to start jumping on it. "So when are we leaving to go practice?" she asked as she continued jumping.

"You're not practicing today, you're taking a break," Batista said sternly.

"What! Batista I have to practice, my match is tomorrow!" Lauren exclaimed as she ceased her jumping.

Batista turned to face her with his arms crossed over his chest. "You've been overdoing it lately, and you need to relax. Besides, you practice too much today you'll be too tired to fight Trish tomorrow anyways," he stated. Lauren didn't care and crossed her arms over her chest as well.

"I have to be prepared for tomorrow! And I won't be if I don't use every minute I can practicing!" Lauren said stepping onto the floor and grabbing some clean clothes to workout in. Until Batista came up behind her and closed the drawers to her workout clothes. "You can't stop me from training!" she said matter-of-fact-ly as she tried to pry open her drawers. Batista simply wrapped an arm around her waist and plopped her onto his shoulder. "Put me down!"

Batista set her on her feet on the bed, now having to look up at her. He kept his hands on her hips to prevent her from escaping, or fall from trying. "Now you listen and you listen good," he started with a tone he had never used before, which made Lauren actually stop and listen. "What I told you last night was the truth. I'm scared that you're going to overwork yourself and get hurt. Do you remember when I found you on the floor in the hallway, after Snitsky attacked you? You fell limp in my arms, and it drove me crazy. You weren't talking, you weren't moving, you seemed lifeless. Damn it Lauren I...I don't want to see you like that ever again!" he claimed loudly and released her as he stormed out of the bedroom. Lauren stepped off the bed, slipped on a blue t-shirt and hip-hugger jeans with her sandals as she stormed into the next room as well. Batista was gulping down a glass of water, still pissed.

"You think you're the only one, huh?" she asked angrily. Batista turned to face her with a confused look on his face. "You think you're the only one that worries? News flash Batista! You're not! I worry every single minute of every god forsaken day for you! You are now the World Heavyweight Champion, and you said so yourself, every man will now be wanting a piece of you! Every time you step into that ring, my heart pounds like crazy, knowing anything can happen, and anything could go wrong, causing you to get hurt. Batista you're all I have! I'd rather die than lose you!" Lauren was in tears at this point as she ran out of the room to the closest elevator. Batista stood there speechless, hearing her confession.

"Lauren!" he called out as he ran after her. The elevator doors had already closed before he could reach them. This is so deja vu, he thought angrily to himself as he tried another elevator. He noticed that Lauren hadn't taken her cell phone or any money. By the time he had gotten down to the lobby, he had no idea as to where she could've gone. He looked outside to see that it was pouring rain. Batista ran to the front desk and asked if they had seen Lauren, and found that she had run outside. "Damnit!" he cursed and ran outside as well. He looked left and right, not knowing where to go. He wanted so desperately to run after her, but he no idea which way to go. He angrily and quickly ran back to their room, hoping maybe she had gone back up there to get her phone or something. Once he opened the door, he found everything had been as they left it. He picked up the glass he had been drinking out of before and threw it at the wall. I swear to god if anything happens to her, I'll never forgive myself, he thought anxiously.

A/N: When am I ever going to leave those two alone? I bet a lot of you are getting sick of all the fighting. Well in the next chapter, Lauren comes up with a solution to end all the fighting. I know I asked this in my DMC update, but what would you all think of me posting my Chris Benoit story now? I'd really like to hear your thoughts on it. :)