Lexi pushed her hairdresser's hand away. "Enough already. I'm gonna be late."
Kristen frowned. "You know, I'll be glad when you're back wrestling full time. Then I can prep you properly instead of on the fly."
"You and me both," Lexi sighed. She hopped out of the chair, checked her reflection in the mirror, and arched a surprised brow at the cascading spirals of curls she'd created in less than thirty minutes. "Nice work, Kris. I barely recognize myself."
"Thank you. Now don't mess it up." She shook her comb at Lexi.
Lexi laughed. "You won't be able to say that when I start wrestling again."
"I won't put that much work into your hair when you start wrestling again," Kristen shot back.
Still wearing a smile, Lexi pushed on the door, glanced at her watch, and broke into a run. Two minutes until High Heat made their appearance for the night. With any luck, this would be her last time appearing with the tag team. Once the storyline wrapped up, she could go back to being a Diva and her so-called apprentices would fade into their true positions of tag-team mid-carders.
She slid around the corner just as High Heat's music started.
"I was wondering if you were going to make it," Emma commented as Lexi rushed past to take her place in front of her tag team.
"This rushing around is for the birds," Lexi shot back.
Emma laughed and gave her cue. "You're cleared to head out."
Lexi stepped out from behind the wall onto the stage and the crowd cheered. The crowd's approval warmed her deep in her core. In some ways it was like an addition she needed to feed once in a while. She smiled and gave the crowd a quick wave as she led her team toward the ring. Once the guys were in the ring, Lexi crossed around and filled the empty seat at the announce table.
"Well, look who has graced us with her presence," Jerry Lawler announced.
"Welcome, Lexi," Michael Seth said. "It's good to see you again."
Lexi slid the headset on and adjusted the microphone. "Thank you, Michael. It's good to see you and Jerry again."
"Your pupils are looking good out there," Jerry offered as the match began.
"Thank you, Jerry. They've been trained by some of the best and guided through these early days in their career by me. I really think they've finally come into their own. Don't you?"
"Yes,' Michael Seth answered. "You've done a great job with them."
"Thank you, Michael." Lexi watched from the announce table as the tag team she 'managed' worked flawlessly against team Hell No.
"So Lexi," Jerry Lawler began "How's the knee healing?"
For a split second, confusion reigned before she remembered that creative had written her out with a knee injury so she could take over the backstage coordinator's position. Early into the storyline of her managing Eddie and Mason she'd even appeared on crutches with her knee wrapped to solidify the story. "It's healing nicely," she finally managed to reply.
"I'm sure you're itching to get back into the ring," Michael Seth added.
Lexi nodded. "You have no idea. I'm just waiting on clearance from the staff doctor and I'll be good to go." She glanced up to see Mason from her team take a suplex from Kane and cringed. The tide had suddenly turned in this match and her guys were getting squashed.
"So are you going to continue managing team High Heat after your return to your own wrestling career," Jerry asked.
"Well, the Hart Family philosophy for managing new teams is to give them what they need then cut them loose. As you can see my guys can hold their own against anyone in the WWE so as far as I'm concerned, I've done my job. It's time for them to stand on their own."
Sierra...Hotel...India...Echo...Lima...Delta...Shield! Music filled the area and Lexi's heart skipped a beat. What was The Shield doing invading her team's match? When they went over the script for the show earlier in the day, no one mentioned anything about The Shield interfering with High Heat.
"Oh man, this isn't going to be good. Lexi you'd better get your guys out of there," Jerry warned.
Lexi slid the headset off, dropped it on the announce table, and rushed toward the ring. She tapped Eddie on the leg. "Get down. It's time to go."
Eddie looked down at her, confusion in his eyes. "What do you mean go? We're in the middle of a match."
"Not anymore. The Shield is about to dismantle Team Hell No."
Eddie glanced behind her, frowned. "What are they doing here?"
"I don't know, but now is not the time to argue," Lexi replied. "Get Mason's attention. You guys need to get out of that ring before something bad happens to you." Movement in the corner of her eye had her turning in time to see Dean and Seth hop the barrier. She shifted her gaze and spotted Roman clear the other barrier. His heated gaze landed on her, held there for just a moment before he returned his focus to the ring.
Eddie dropped to the floor and yelled at Mason who quickly slid from the ring. He turned to face Lexi. "We're not just going to leave them to these jackals."
Lexi snagged him by the arm and turned him toward the ramp. "That's exactly what we're going to do."
"Are you crazy?"
She got the distinct impression that these two youngsters thought what was happening in the ring was real. "It's not our fight," she countered. "I'll explain when we get backstage."
"But it's three on two," Mason replied.
"I know that, but you can't get involved." Man she hated working with amateurs.
"Like hell I can't," Mason shot back then returned to the ring where Dean, Seth, and Roman had already attacked Daniel and Kane.
"Mason!" Lexi returned ringside hoping to get her charge out of the melee, only to watch Eddie follow his partner back into the ring.
"Eddie, Mason, get out of there," she yelled and smacked the mat. What she wanted to do was climb into the ring and teach both her so-called prodigies a little lesson, but she knew better. The script was already jeopardized by Mason and Eddie's involvement. She'd only make the situation worse.
Dean grabbed Eddie and tossed him over the top rope with ease. Lexi pounced on the opportunity to snare one of her wrestlers and rounded the ring to where he was pulling himself off the mat. "No more," Lexi ordered as her temper began to rise. "Don't you dare step back into that fight."
Eddie shook his head, as if he were shaking away cobwebs. "Mason's going to get annihilated if I don't."
"That's his problem for defying orders," Lexi argued. "Stay out of it."
Unfortunately, as was with most of The Shield attacks it spilled onto the floor. Lexi side-stepped Kane, and turned away from where he and Seth began trading blows. If she could get Eddie to bail out of the fight and head to the back his career might be saved. Management would no doubt fire Mason for interfering with a storyline. She took a single step toward Eddie, when someone hit her from behind. The impact threw her forward. She struggled to bring her hands up to catch herself, but wasn't quite quick enough. Pain exploded inside her head as her skull impacted with the ring post, then the world went black.