Chapter 74: Guardian Angel

Later on that week Lauren had to go to the mall and get some shopping done. Neither Lita nor Stacy could make it, so she ended up going by herself. Batista was at a photo shoot, so he couldn't argue against something he didn't know anything about. With numerous bags in both hands, Lauren made her way to the parking garage. She couldn't help but feel that someone was following her, and decided to try and get to her car a little quicker.

Lauren wasn't very close to her car when she heard someone behind her, "Well, if it ain't Batista's little skank." Lauren turned to see Kurt Angle walking towards her.

"What do you want?" she asked him, slowly backing away.

"Nothing at all, I just wanted to talk," he smirked, obviously not giving her the true answer.

"Well I've got to get going and I don't really have time to talk." Lauren replied, feeling Angle grab her arm. Out of instinct she hit him with her bags and tried to turn and run. She was caught by the big Luther Reigns as he bear hugged him to her. "Get off of me!" Lauren screamed. Luther turned her to face Angle, as she continued to struggle against him.

"What should we do with the little Vixen, Kurt?" Luther grinned maliciously.

"I think we should put her in her place. Don't think I've forgotten what happened when you and your lousy excuse of a man decided to come onto our turf," Angle replied.

"I guess a better excuse of a man would be your boyfriend here, huh?" Lauren stated motioning to Luther. Luther tightened his grip immensely on her arms, while Angle prepared to slap her in the face.

"Get the hell off of her!" a new voice intervened. Before Lauren could see who it was, Luther had thrown her to the ground. She looked up to see Angle going down from a punch to the face, and Luther going down from a kick in the nuts. Her eyes had to have deceived her when she saw who her savior was.

"This isn't over you slut!" Angle yelled as he and Luther ran off.

Lauren watched them run, not seeing her hero look down at her, "You all right?" they asked. Lauren still couldn't believe who was standing in front of her, so she could only nod. She watched as Ric Flair knelt down and helped gather her things back into the bags.

"Ric?" she asked quietly. Flair looked up at her, knowing what she was going to say, but allowed her to speak. "Why would you help me?"

Ric turned his attention back to returning her things to her bags while he said, "I just happened to be walking by, that's all."

"Oh." Lauren replied, and wanted to leave it at that. However, when she looked up at him, he caught her eye and sighed.

"I just didn't like watching you get hurt by those two punks. They're lower than scum, fighting a woman by herself." Ric growled, angry at what had occurred.

All of Lauren's bags were returned to her as they both stood. "Thank you Ric. I really appreciate it." Lauren genuinely smiled at him. Ric grinned back, and gently took her hand and kissed the back of it.

"Think nothin' of it sweetheart," he replied and started walking away.

"Ric!" Lauren called out, and saw him stop to face her. "I meant to say, thanks for everything. For...even before me and Batista..."

"Like I said, think nothin' of it. And congrats on your engagement." Ric winked and continued on his way, never seeing the smile and tear that slipped down her cheek.

It was in that moment that Lauren remembered all the fun she used to have with Ric, and thought of him as a crazy relative of hers. It made her sad to realize that because of the rivalry between HHH and Batista, she had to lose a great friend, and Batista lost a mentor.

While Lauren was lost in her thoughts as she walked back to her car, she didn't notice Ric turn and really smile at her. She didn't realize that the same thoughts were going through his mind as well.

Lauren got back to the hotel room to see Batista already back from his photo shoot. "Hey babe," he said greeting her with a kiss.

"Hey." she replied after the kiss and simply walked into the bedroom to put down her bags.

Batista slowly followed her, "Everything okay?" he asked.

Well I know I'm gonna tell him at some point, she thought to herself. "Well, yeah and no." she said, catching Batista's full attention. "You see, Lita and Stacy weren't able to make it today, so I went to the mall by myself. Now before you start lecturing me, just let me tell you what happened," Lauren stated, seeing the look in his eyes. Batista nodded and sat at the edge of the bed to listen, "Well when I was done I was going back to my car to leave, but I ran into some old friends from Smackdown." Batista almost jumped up in anger, but Lauren kept her hands on his shoulders to keep him seated. "Just let me finish!" she told him and waited until he was calm again to continue. "Well, it was Kurt Angle and Luther Reigns. They started making trouble for me, but someone put a stop to it."

"Well I better thank them if I ever see them," Batista told her, adding how grateful he was that someone was there to help her.

Lauren nodded and sat next to him, putting her hand in his, "I know, I am too. The person who helped me was...it was Ric Flair, sweetie." Lauren watched as Batista's eyes widened greatly. "Trust me, I had the same reaction when I saw who it was. But...sweetie he went out of his way to save me of all people. When I thanked him, he was so sincere and it looked like he regretted everything that happened in the past."

"Lauren he's been known the 'Dirtiest Player in the Game'. I wouldn't be surprised if he was just trying to gain your trust," Batista said.

Lauren squeezed his hand and looked him in the eye, "Batista, do really believe that's why he did it?" she asked. Batista heaved a heavy sigh and thought a moment before shaking his head 'no.' "I think this is the perfect chance for you two to become allies again. Now that HHH isn't in the picture I think it could happen!"

"I suppose that's true. In any case I should at least thank him for what he did for you," he replied kissing Lauren's hand. "God knows I'm happy he was there."

Lauren smiled, "Me too. But now I have to show you the clothes I got!"

"Aw, do you have to?" Batista whined.

"Well I guess not," Lauren replied with a smirk. Batista stood up to leave the room, when she called out "but who am I going to show this lingerie to?" Batista ran back inside and sat patiently on the bed, leaving Lauren in tears from laughter as she went to change.

A/N: Okay, WHEN were you guys gonna tell me it had been over 6 months since I updated?! You gotta stay on top of these things! You know I'm useless when it comes to this stuff! Lol. Well I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. :)