Pairing(s)/Character(s) : Lita/Christian (eventual), Edge/Victoria, Randy, Cena, Tomko, Mickie, Melina; Appearances by many from TNA, the WWE and formerly with the WWE.. this is probably the biggest 'cast' I've yet to work with.
Dislcaimer: I own not. Title lifted from the song- And All That Could Have Been by Nine Inch Nails.
Rating: T (for now)
Summary: In the war between the WWE and TNA, the lines have been drawn.. Where does she stand? See my author note, keep it in mind. Still don't like it? Don't read it.
Spoilers: Some current angles/storylines from the WWE/TNA are being used, most will be ignored eventually in favor of my own plot.
Author Note: See the prologue for all of my notes. And I know, I take them OOC at times, but it's the way I write. Don't get all preachy with me for it. And just a forewarning, real names/ring names may or may not be used interchangeably. If that gets too confusing, I'll stop. Italics in this part will represent a written note.
Victoria blinked as the locker room started to fill up, technically it was her and Lita's locker room.. Mickie and Lilian supposedly joining them at some point. But, unless Adam and Randy had borrowed women's clothing, gotten wigs and... Well, never mind that. They weren't Mickie and Lilian. The dark haired diva was just about to close the door behind them when another body entered.. Victoria arching an eyebrow as John Cena entered, Melina not far behind. Just why in the hell was everyone gathering here? Shaking her head, Victoria moved to the couch to observe as the door remained open.. Lita finally showing up, with Coach not far behind her.
Victoria waited until Lita was sitting near her, "so what's with our locker room becoming the new spot for the pre-production meeting?"
Lita rolled her eyes, gesturing shortly to Coach. "It's not, but.. He wanted to speak with the two of us, Randy and Adam. Somehow, that also included John, Melina, Mickie and Lils."
"Great," the older woman settled back. "I just hope this doesn't become weekly. I don't mind everyone hanging around here, just--"
The Coach cleared his throat, "if I could just.. Excuse me!"
John arched an eyebrow, "we was waiting for ya to talk.. Now talk, damn it."
"As I had mentioned to Lita on the way here, we're preparing for new storylines and feuds. The reason you all are here--"
Melina frowned, "I'd like to know why the Smackdown divas think it's all right to just take over my locker room."
"I'd like to know why half of the Smackdown roster is here in the first place."
The Coach pinched the bridge of his nose, "if you all would just shut up? I'll explain everything." He held up a sheet of paper, "over the next six weeks, not four weeks, not two.. But six weeks, the rosters will slowly start to join. In the interest of healthy competition, we will be testing a program with TNA."
Adam arched an eyebrow at that, "excuse me? Did you just say we're going to be working with those chumpstains from TNA? Is this with all of them and is this permanent or what?"
"He just said we're testing it," Victoria toyed with a loose strand of hair. "Obviously, we see if it works or not, if it does we go longer. If not, we tried."
Lita canted her head, "how long are we doing this for? And is it everyone from the WWE or just a few of us?"
The Coach gestured to the piece of paper in his hand, "this is our list of who will be working the angle. Or at least our tentative list. We'll have a complete list once we hear back from TNA management."
Randy made an open gesture, "so I take it all of us are going to be involved. Because, with the exception of Jeff, all of the RAW champions are in this room."
"We'll get to that at the meeting. Depending on how tonight and tomorrow night go, we'll have a better idea of who will be doing what."
A collective blink, Mickie eyeing the Coach like he'd grown two heads. "I'm sorry, I didn't get any of that."
"Our collective rosters- RAW, ECW and Smackdown, outnumber the TNA roster. We'll start with a series of matches in four weeks to determine who will be representing Team WWE."
Melina blinked, "why five weeks?"
"Because, we go to 'war' with TNA in six weeks. Until we start having our series of matches, we'll run some inter-promotional things with TNA." The Coach straightened his tie, "are there any questions?"
Lita bit back a smirk, "if we had any, would you answer them honestly?"
The Coach let out an indignant huff, "of course I would."
"All right," the redheaded diva motioned to the list. "Who's on the tentative list for TNA?"
"A.J. Styles, Rhino, James Storm, Chris Harris, Christopher Daniels, Gail Kim, Christy Hemme, Eric Young, Raven, Kurt Angle.." He turned the piece of paper over, "Christian Cage, Brother D-Von and Brother Ray." The Coach tucked sheet back into the folder he was carrying. "That's their starting list and they've mentioned spots for ten more at the very least."
Adam was silent for a long moment.. "If we're chosen for Team WWE, can we pick our opponent?"
"You can suggest a possible opponent for yourselves, yes. But, there are no guarantees." The Coach glanced between the divas in the room, "the first physical interaction will be with you ladies and the TNA Knockouts."
Victoria blinked, "doing what? If you tell me I have to wear another stupid cheerleading uniform, I'll hurt you."
The Coach shook his head, "you ladies will be attending a taping, observing a bikini contest for one segment and then in another segment, getting into the ring with Gail, Christy, Ms. Brooks and SoCal Val." He held up his free hand when it looked like one of the diva's was going to protest. "Nothing has been set in stone. Just be advised that you all," he motioned between the gathered, "will make up RAW's half of Team WWE."
Randy shifted his title belt to his left shoulder, "just a question on this whole team thing.. You say they're going to have a roster of at least twenty three for this. Are we doing anything along the lines of traditional tag team elimination? Or do we each get our own feud? Like champions vs. champions."
"We haven't finalised any of that yet. As I had said, we're still in our planning phase for all of this. Once Mr. McMahon has been contacted by the TNA front office, we'll let you all know." He started to head for the door, "if you need anything else, I'll be in Mr. McMahon's office all night. I've got to go check in with him."
Melina blinked as the door shut behind him, "was it just me or was he being unusually nice?"
Lita shrugged, "even if he is a popcorn fart, Coach can be pretty cool when he wants to be." She set her title belt on the couch, "I'm gonna go find Chris, he stopped me on the way over here.. Something about Jerky returning some long lost items." A pause, "Ads? Can you come with me?"
"Sure," the blond man moved from the chair he had been sitting in. "You are coming this week, aren't you? For another movie night?"
The diva bit down on her lower lip, "actually.. My brother is coming down from Calgary. I'm heading home right after the tapings tomorrow so I can pick him up from the airport Wednesday... Then I'm not really sure what else we're doing." Lita waited until they had reached a less crowded part of the hallways.. "Do you have an issue with working with the guys from TNA?"
"No, I have an issue working with one of them." Adam crossed his arms, "you should know that by now, Leets."
She rolled her eyes, "oh come off it. You and I both know he called you on your birthday, so don't even start with the 'he could always call me' crap. You could return his phone calls."
"Are you his mouthpiece?"
"No, I'm trying to see why two of my closest friends aren't speaking to each other."
"And I've explained it to you--"
"A good reason, Adam. You're acting like a teenage girl." She leaned against a nearby crate, "the two of you.. For as long as I've known both of you, you've never let anything get between you. Why is this so different?"
Adam shook his head, "I don't want to get into that now, Lita. You know enough of what happened and if you don't? I'm sure he'll be more than happy to tell you his side of the story."
Lita growled, "fine.. I'll just ask him the next time I see him." She pushed off from the crate, "I just hope you understand something Ads... Yes, you are my best friend. Yes, he is my friend. But I hate this! I hate that I can't hang out with the two of you anymore, I hate that I feel like I'm being forced to choose between two of my friends. He's tried, Adam.. Why can't you do the same?"
"I have tried.. And he--"
"No. You really haven't."
As she searched the arena for signs of Chris Benoit, Lita wondered why she even bothered.. Maybe she was just a glutton for punishment in that regard, but.. All she wanted, was for things to go back to how they used to be. A part of her had already come to terms with it.. Knowing that with both of them being that stubborn. She shook her head, Christian had tried.. Adam hadn't. Christian had tried recently and Adam? Well by her account, Adam had all but written his former best friend out of his life. Lita was so caught up in her thoughts that she failed to notice the approaching body, narrowly avoiding a head on collision..
"Red," Chris Benoit greeted abruptly. "Lita? Did someone do something to you?"
"No, I was just thinking." Lita offered him a half hearted smile, "you needed to return something of mine?"
The Crippler shook his head, "more like a lot of things. Jericho took it upon himself to add an extra piece of luggage to my belongings."
"Unless it's all of the birthday presents he's promised from the past five years.." The diva shook her head, running a hand through her hair as they walked. "Why he insists on backlogging that many presents when he already gives me so many little stupid ones.."
"It's Jericho," Chris offered as if that explained everything.. And in a way, it did. "But, he had said something about this stuff being stuff that he's forgotten to return or that you've left at Christian's."
Lita blinked, then frowned.. Her mind trying to piece together whatever it could possibly be.. "And Chris just showed up at your house to drop this off?"
Benoit opened the door for her, "no. He drove up to Atlanta to bug you and to try and talk me into hosting Christian's birthday party."
The diva rolled her eyes, "I told him I would host.. Or, if it all came down to it, we could always rent a hotel room or two in Tampa... Just find something to do around there."
Chris nodded shortly, "then you should mention that to Jericho soon. Otherwise, he'll just call Lance and keep pestering him about it." He then motioned to the couch, the gym bag already there. "I need to see Coach about whatever's going on for tonight."
"Okay," Lita situated herself on the couch, one leg tucking beneath her body as she reached for the bag. "I'll just leave the door slightly opened, but not too open, if I leave before you get back."
"I'll let Adam know where to find you," Chris offered as he stood in the doorway, "or where to come looking for you if he needs to grovel."
Lita rolled her eyes good naturedly, dragging the bag onto her lap so she could start digging through it.. A smile touching her face as she removed the first of many items.. What Chris had 'claimed' to be borrowed belongings were really souveniers from the last time she'd gone to Tampa... From the stupid matching t-shirts that Chris had insisted they all wear.. Including two digruntled men in her brother and Terry, the equally stupid sunglasses.
"And a stuffed animal?"
The diva blinked as she noticed the delicate chain around the stuffed dolphins neck.. Lita reaching for toy, her fingertips brushing over an envelope.. The redhead reaching for the card first, setting the bag aside in favour of the dolphin. Another smile coming to her face as she recognised the handwriting on the front of the envelope.
Rosalita-
I picked out the card all by myself.
"I'm sure you did Chris.."
And stop rolling your eyes at me! Be proud, it's Hallmark. I cared enough to send you the very best. I can't take all of the credit though, since someone is-- Excuse me. Slight disagreement over how much I should and should not be writing.
Lita rolled her eyes, fingering the chain, then the locket that was on it.. Hazel eyes darting back to the bag.. Finding yet another envelope, once again addressed to 'Rosalita'.
Your most favourite blond is back.. Christian still seems to have this silly idea that it's him. But, I've set the record straight. As I was saying.. I can't take all the credit for the contents of your gift bag. I did buy the bag, so feel free to send me all of the gushing thank you's in the world and--
"How many cards did those two idiots buy?"
Never mind him, all right? The dolphin is the one that you left in the guest room, the locket is from that one shop you insisted on visiting. And, there's another snowglobe for your collection in the bottom of the bag. Don't worry, it's wrapped and padded so this one won't break... And this time? Keep the shirt.
Shaking her head, the diva set aside the three envelopes, removing a fourth to find a few pictures from the mini vacation. And at the bottom of the bag, just as Christian had said... There was the shirt, wrapped around a tiny snowglobe.. Lita admiring the object for a moment, the t-shirt in her lap, the dolphin back in the bag while the necklace was in her free hand.
"Lita?"
She turned her head at the sound of that familiar voice, "hey Ads.. I was just coming back."
The tall blonde man nodded shortly, "I just wanted to apologise.. Again. I know I'm behaving badly and I.. What is all of that?"
Lita shook her head, "it's nothing really.. Just Chris and Christian being Chris and Christian."
"Oh." Adam leaned against the doorway, "do you want me to come back later then?"
Lita shot him a look, "Ads.. Stop. Just for the rest of tonight, please? It's going to be a really long night with all that McMahon apparently has planned."
He held up his hands in mock defense, "I'm just curious as to what Dumb and Dumber sent you."
In spite of the bitterness in his tone, Lita held up a few of the items for his inspection.. The necklace still in her hand..
"What's that?"
"We passed by this one shop.. I wanted to go in; Terry and Chris protested, Lance and Christian went in with me. They had this necklace there and--"
"He bought it for you, because it's just a Christian thing to do, isn't it?"
Lita huffed, "no.. Lance bought it for me because it's a brotherly thing to do. I left it at Christian's." An annoyed look clouded her eyes. "Never mind, all right? You said you would stop, so let's just drop the subject. I'm pretty sure I have to go find Vicki, Mickie and Melina anyway to see what we're doing for tonight."
Having said that, the redheaded diva re-packed the bag.. And as loud and tacky as it looked, she slung it over her shoulder as she exited the locker room... Making sure to leave the door a fraction open for when Chris Benoit got back. Adam scowling slightly before he followed her, the native Canadian wanting to know more about the contents of the bag.. And the stupid shirt in her hand when he had seen her. He wasn't stupid and he wasn't blind, Adam recognising the shirt as one of Christian's logo t-shirts. Why he was sending one to Lita.. Well, the tall blond decided he really didn't want to know.
