Twenty

Celeste felt her nerves wearing thinner and thinner as No Mercy approached. Mark was being nice enough to set up all her travel arrangements for her so she didn't have to worry about anything more than staying protected at No Mercy in a week, which she was thankful for, since she was so distracted. She was steadily watching the program more and more, getting familiar with the card and keeping a close eye on what was happening between Brock and Mark, and even though she wasn't acknowledged on air, it was more than clear that she was an underlying source of tension between the two. It was still hard for her to believe that things had ended so badly between her and Brock, but she was determined to move on with her life, whether it be with Mark or by herself. She knew that eventually she was going to have to think about going back to Minnesota and resuming her life, but the truth was she was starting to enjoy staying with Mark, which scared her. More than that, she found herself becoming really attached to Zeus, who spent the nights with her and made sure nobody got too near her. Including Mark, to his surprise. Zeus had become extraordinarily overprotective of Celeste.

No Mercy was enamating live from the Alltell Arena in Little Rock, Arkansas, and it was shaping up to be pretty hardcore, with Brock bringing out an old ringrat into the mix with Mark, who was wreaking havoc on his professional and whatever personal live he had, and Glen over on Raw was being accused of murder by Triple H. Glen was having a hard time, as it had brought up some hard memories in his past, while Mark felt obligated to explain things about Traci to Celeste, who didn't understand why he felt that way since they weren't dating. She secretly wondered if he was feeling that way because of her staying with him, but she was too nervous to say anything about it.

Monday night Raw was in full swing; with Eric Bischoff still irritated over his humiliation at Unforgiven. Celeste had giggled; Stephanie McMahon had really pulled one over on him by dressing Rikishi up in disguise. Booker T had found it the most amusing; Bischoff was punishing him left and right. More and more Celeste found herself becoming fans of different people; she really enjoyed Trish, Amy, Nora, who Mark promised to introduce her to, and some of the other guys. Mark had promised one of these days to spend a day with her showing her old shows, and she was excited about that. She wondered if he forgot, though, since he had made the suggestion a week and a half before and he hadn't brought it up to her since.

Brock was downright animalistic; going so far as to almost attack Stephanie in the ring when she refused to back down and announced that Mark could wear his cast in the ring. He had cornered her against the ring post and had inhaled her fear. Mark had tried coming to her rescue, but Brock had more or less obliterated him in the ring. Knowing full well they weren't going to get Stephanie to break down, it was now their mission during the match or before hand to see to it that Mark lost his cast in Hell in a Cell. The thought terrified Celeste; he had been hurt way too much at her expense, irregardless of what he told her. Sometimes she wondered if she should just go back with Brock, but she knew that she was going to need to be strong. Mark was inspiring a lot of strength in her that she never in a million years thought she would have when it came to Brock. The bruising was gone; she was thankful that she wouldn't look battered when she walked into the arena on Sunday and she was thankful that nobody else had to see her like that. But she worried about what would happen if Mark lost. She was fairly confident that he was going to win the WWE Championship off of Brock, but in the event that things got out of control and Mark was left in the middle of the canvas, tasting his own blood, she couldn'thelp but wonder just how she was going to stay protected.

Mark was on the road; dealing with the last week of taping before No Mercy. With his broken hand, Celeste was more than worried about what condition he was going to be in for the match on Sunday; especially with Paul Heyman in Brock's ear. Celeste had come to the conclusion early on that she had a strong dislike for Paul Heyman; all this stuff between her and Brock only solidified it.

She worried a lot about Sunday as she curled on the couch with a cup of tea and Zeus in her lap. He was an old dog; she could see his hips starting to go on him. She wasn't sure if Mark had noticed that, but she definitely didn't want to be the one to tell him that his dog was starting to succumb to his old age. Rubbing behind his ears, he whimpered softly before resting his head on her denim-clad lap. That Traci woman was making life difficult for Mark, and the way the woman was interfering was even driving Stephanie McMahon crazy. But Paul Heyman was relishing in the chaos he was creating in a way that Celeste thought was almost devil-like. To her, Paul was a Satan incarnate. She had no doubt in her mind that Heyman had everything to do with the dissolution of her and Brock's relationship.

**

"You want to 'fess up to your girlfriend now?" Traci purred in Mark's ear. He had discovered her in his locker room, and she was refusing to leave.

"There's nothing to 'fess up about," he growled between gritted teeth. "I don't have a girlfriend."

"Why don't you be a good boy and just give her back to the guys," Traci said. "I mean, what is it that she has that I don't?"

"She's not my girlfriend. You were a groupie that I slept with years ago. How the hell you even managed to pop up like a wart is beyond me." He gathered his clothing. "Just do us all a favor and tip your ass on out of here."

"Fine," she said, leaning over a chair to expose her cleavage. "But you'd better believe that I'll be back."

"I'm almost counting on that," he said with a roll of his eyes. Realizing she wasn't going to get anywhere, she straightened her posture and left the room, tossing her brunette hair over her shoulder. He sighed; he had really made a mistake with Traci, back when he was young and stupid. He knew that Celeste wasn't expecting him to explain anything to her about Traci, but he felt obligated to. He couldn't even figure out why.

Mark knew he had to call her tonight. She was on edge about coming to No Mercy. About the idea of facing Brock again after he had beaten her so terribly and had treated her so roughly. She still hadn't particularly come out of her shell, but he knew that there was an outgoing woman in there somewhere. She wasn't a vulnerable woman; her strength and tenacity had been inspiring to him for the last month or so, taking pride in the fact that she had been so strong during such a terrible time. He gathered a towel and his clothing and disappeared into the shower area.

**

"Has anybody heard from Celeste lately?" Stephanie asked. Torrie and Stacy Keibler shook their heads.

"We've never met her," Torrie assured Stephanie. "Why? Do you know where she is?"

"No," Stephanie replied. "But from what I understand, it was a very nasty breakup between her and Brock Lesnar." The office door opened and Mark walked in. Torrie and Stacy stared at Mark, intimidated by his height and his size. He shot a nasty glare to the two girls and Torrie and Stacy excused themselves, disappearing from the General Manager's office. Stephanie leaned against her desk as Mark closed the door behind him. He cocked an eyebrow at the quizzical expression on her face.

"Into scaring Divas now, Mark?"

"You kidding? Brock's poking them like pin cushions," he spat in disgust. Stephanie shook her head.

"Do you have to be so vulgar about it?"

"Just throwing it out there," he said.

"Have you heard from Celeste?"

"Yeah. She's still at my place," Mark replied. "Preparing for No Mercy this weekend."

"Is it a good idea for her to come out here?"

"I think this is a matter of principle for her," he told Stephanie. "She doesn't want to feel like she's running, so she's coming as kind of a last stand sort of thing."

"And who's going to protect her?" Stephanie asked. Mark shrugged.

"She'll be fine. Brock and Heyman will be at ringside."

"And if you lose, Mark...what then?"

"I'll leave her with John Cena, Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit," Mark said.

"And if they won't look after her?" Stephanie asked. Mark laughed.

"Cena's still so green, he'd jog to Wisconsin if I asked him to," he replied. It wasn't a stretch to say it; John had only debuted a few months before and would do anything to get the respect of the legendary Undertaker. Stephanie shook her head.

"I just hope you know what you're doing with her, Mark."

"What do you want me to do, Steph?" he asked. "It's not like I haven't asked her to hang back. She wants to be here. She wants to see him and stand up to him. She's been fantasizing about this since she came to stay with me. Celeste wants a normal life again. She doesn't want to hide from her family and her friends anymore."

"I'm just saying be careful," Stephanie replied. "You and Celeste both."

"I'm way ahead of you, Steph. But I appreciate that you care enough about it."

**

"Mark?"

Mark looked up to see Brock Lesnar standing in front of him. He felt a dull throb in his cast. He straightened his posture and glared into the ice blue eyes of the "Next Big Thing". "What do you want, Lesnar?" he asked. He stared around. "Where's your little agent?"

"Paul went home for the night," he said with a smirk.

"I can't imagine he was too happy with leaving you unsupervised."

"He does what I tell him," Brock replied curtly. Mark refused to divert his gaze from the man who had broken his hand.

"What's this about?"

"You know what it's about. Celeste. I want her back."

"What's the matter? The other Divas not satisfying you?"

"Are you the one who fucking told her?"

"I didn't need to tell her," he said. "I didn't have to tell her fuck all."

"You did tell her, didn't you? I'm not an idiot. I know she's with you. I know you probably fucked her, too. The disgusting little slut."

"And you can't figure out why she left you?" Mark raged. Both hands were twitching; he was trying hard not to hit him until the Hell in a Cell match, but he hated hearing Brock talk about Celeste like that. "I saw what you did to her, you cowardly motherfucker." Brock smirked, a smirk that made Mark feel sick right to the pit of his stomach.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Brock replied.

"I was the one who got her out of those handcuffs," Mark snapped. "Stephanie and I." Brock's eyes blazed. "I saw the bruising; I saw the welts. How you could be so rough to such a beautiful woman is beyond me."

"She likes it that way," Brock told him. "Don't be fooled by her little demeanor...she likes getting slapped around in the sack." Mark bit the inside of his cheek, determined not to hit him. He didn't want to jeopardize Stephanie's main event, but he was trying his damnedest.

"What do you want?"Mark growled.

"I want Celeste at No Mercy," he said. "I want what's mine."

"She's a human being, Brock. She's not some form of property for you. If you wanted her so goddamn bad, because you loved her so goddamn much, then you wouldn't have hurt her the way that you did. But you know what? I'm done talking to you. The time for talking is done. Come Sunday at No Mercy, I will beat you up, which will bust you up, which will shut you up. I'll see you in Arkansas."