Chapter 8

Three weeks later.

Trish hadn't heard much from Chris, her avoidance of him probably helped the situation. Lita, Matt, and Jeff had started to act like normal around her. To everyone she was her normal bubbly self, but as soon as the doors shut…the tears threatened to fall. She couldn't help but wonder why when she finally chose to open her heart to someone it had to be the bad boy, the one who was likely to break her heart. And sure enough, her heart was hurting, more than anything in the world. All she wanted to do was run into his arms and tell him that she loved him and that what was in the past was in the past. But her better judgment prevented her from doing such a thing.

Teddy Long was the general manager tonight, which just spelled disaster. And sure enough, she was in a match against Molly Holly, nontitle of course. Whenever Teddy took over RAW no match went as expected, particularly with all of his Smackdown goons traipsing around.

Hoping to get some of the pent of frustration and pain out, Trish strides quickly down the ramp towards the ring. The ref tries to keep Molly back so Trish can at least make it to the ring, without a cat fight erupting. But as soon as Trish gets halfway onto the apron, the red turns and Molly runs and shoves Trish off onto the floor.

Not wasting any time, she slips through the ropes and goes over to Trish, grabbing her hair and the waist of her pants, Molly flings Trish back into the ring. Sliding in right behind her, Molly's quick to get back to her feet. Trish rolls across the mat, holding her neck. Molly bends down to get two handfuls of Trish's hair. Getting the blonde to her feet, she gains some momentum hopping a few times before throwing Trish across the ring.

Trish smacks her face against the canvas, her head bouncing back. Shouting at the ref, Molly walks up to Trish and grabs her hair once more. Pulling back, Molly hops a couple times and flings Trish across the ring once again – via hair. Once again Trish's face meets the mat rather abruptly. Groaning at the pain, she reaches forward and grabs the ropes, trying to pull herself up.

Molly goes back up to her, grabbing a hold of her hair, she walks Trish into the middle of the ring. Trish's back is to Molly, and Molly yanks up, bringing Trish shouting into the air only to be slammed back down into the mat. Trish curls up on her side, holding her aching neck. Cockily Molly struts around the ring, affording Trish the opportunity to get herself together.

When Molly finally turns her attention back to Trish, she's prepared. Getting to her feet Trish delivers a Chick Kick to the brunette, tired of taking a beating. Hoping that her small effort is enough, Trish goes for a roll up. One…two…and Molly pushes out of the cover. Both women get to their feet and Trish pushes forward, throwing a hard elbow at Molly, knocking her back towards the corner. Before Molly reaches the corner though, Trish grabs her hand to sling her into the opposite corner. Molly, however, has other plans and spins around to sling Trish into the corner.

Heading chest-first into the corner, Trish grabs the top rope and jumps up; her legs landing on Molly's shoulders, going for the Whirly-bird. Resilient Molly grabs Trish's ankles and throws them over the top rope. Stumbling, Trish tries to steady herself on the outside edge of the ring. Molly steps forward and Trish Chick Kicks her yet again. Molly falls flat on her back, and Trish hurries to the top turnbuckle. As she's climbing to the top, Jazz comes out of nowhere and shoves her off the top.

Arching her back up, Trish rolls on the mat groaning, Jazz slips between the ropes and heads towards Trish. Shouting, Jazz circles the fallen diva, getting back to her head, Jazz kicks Trish in the face. Then walks around and kicks her in the abdomen. Trish rolls up into the fetal position, holding her stomach in. Molly's to her feet by now, and decides to take part in the beatdown of Trish Stratus. Grabbing her by the hair, Molly yanks up then shoves Trish's face back down towards the mat. Jazz steps forward, grabbing Trish by the hair, lifting her up for a double-team. As Molly goes for a stiff punch Jazz throws Trish to the side and takes hold of Molly. Taking advantage of the woman's momentum, Jazz takes hold of her pants and throws her out of the ring.

Now that she has Trish all to herself, Jazz steps forward, leisurely. Taking a hold of Trish's golden mane, Jazz pulls her to her feet. Once back to her feet Jazz secures Trish's arms behind her and tries to lift her up; fighting and screaming, Trish wraps her foot around Jazz's leg, preventing her from being lifted fully.

Finally Jazz gets Trish up and the full affect of the Chicken-Wing is applied. Marching around the ring with Trish up-lifted and shouting out, Jazz grins at the pain she's currently inflicting. Turning back toward the ramp, Jazz throws Trish forcefully to the mat, her face smacking down yet again. The referee who's been shouting and trying to stop Jazz gets in her face, demanding for her to leave the ring.

Jazz drops down and steals a move many know as the STFU, making Trish shout out in pain. The ref, down on his knees trying to pry the woman off Trish. However, looking up the ramp Jazz she's a familiar figure, and makes a run for it. Right as she slips out the back of the ring, Chris Jericho slides in the front. Running, Jericho makes it across the ring causing Jazz to flee even faster. As she goes around the ring, Jericho follows her from inside, shouting for her to get her sorry ass out of there.

Once Jazz is headed back up the ramp Chris looks down at Trish. Slowly, acting as if she's a wild animal he doesn't want to startle, he bends down taking an arm in each hand to help her up. Using his strength, Trish gets to her knees then fights to her feet. As she gets to her feet, she looks up at her savior. Seeing Chris's face she pushes herself back, wondering what the hell he's doing out there.

Holding her back, she takes a wide arch around him to the ropes, while he just stands there watching, feeling helpless. The closer she gets, he finally steps forward, wanting nothing but to help her. But she's out of the ring before he gets up the courage to say something. Dropping down to the floor, Trish double-checks to make sure her eyes aren't deceiving her and still finds Jericho looking lost and concerned in the ring. As he steps toward the ropes she walks up the ramp, looking over her shoulder she says, "I'm not stupid."

Falling for his sly ways, it happened once, and she promised herself not to allow that kind of pain to happen again. Coming to her rescue might have worked once, but for everything she was worth she swore it wouldn't work again. Chris just stands against the ropes, "What? Come on Trish…" he says, his voice defeated, and unheard by Trish

With one hand on her lower back and the other on her neck, Trish walks up the ramp, looking up at the ceiling. Wondering why God has decided to torture her. Chris runs his hand through his hair, watching as she struggles up the ramp. Trish bows her head, both arms going to her neck, she tries to swallow the tears; refusing to let them fall. Checking one more time, she glances back to see Chris standing helplessly in the ring.

Shortly after the match Jericho find's the balls to go and speak to Trish, having decided to tell her how he feels. Unable to go on without her knowing that he didn't start dating her as part of a bet, the bet was just him being a complete and utter dumbass. Knocking on the door he doesn't even wait for her to answer before he says, "Trish, come on you gotta come out and talk to me Trish. I can't keep goin' on this way Trish, come on I know you're in there." With no response he finally says, "Alright if you're not gonna come out here and talk to me I'm gonna come in there and talk to you. Trish, I'm comin' inside okay?" as he turns the door knob he says, "I'm comin' in ok?"

Walking into the room he notices a figure in the shower and tells her, "I see you're in the shower, I'm not gonna look, at least now I know you're not gonna run away from me. You just have to listen to what I have to say. I…I have to tell you, I know it seems like this whole thing started off as a bet, ok? I know you think it was just one big joke, but the joke was on me Trish. Because I really fell for you, all that we were talkin' about, the feelings that we had, the moments that we shared, they were all real for me. And I know, I know that's hard for you to believe. And I don't blame you if you never wanna talk to me again, and I don't blame you if you don't believe me. I was a total jerk and I apologize so much Trish, I just want to be a part of your life again. I just had to come and tell you this. I just didn't want you to think that it started out as a bet, that was just a stupid, stupid thing that happened one night." Walking back towards the door he adds, "I had to tell you this, and I don't blame you if you never want to see me again. But I just couldn't go on like this. You have to know how I feel." Not getting any response Chris takes that as a 'it doesn't matter' and walks out with his head hung down.

Stacy hears the door close and turns the water off. Well now that someone knew exactly how the cocky Mr. Jericho felt, maybe the problem that was causing friction everywhere could be solved. But the timing, that's what must be perfect. Without the opportune moment, everything she'd just learned would be for naught.

After weeks of rescuing Trish from unfair matches and interferences, Chris is battered and losing hope. Even though he told her how he felt, and that he would leave her alone, seeing her getting attacked was just too much for him to handle. Thusly, he found himself running through the corridors and down the ramp to a woman who refused to be his damsel.

Christian was getting frustrated, seeing his partner and best friend get injured at the cost of a woman who didn't want him. Christian figured, if Chris is putting forth all of this effort to protect her she should at the very least speak to him. However, instead of pointing out how wonderful Chris is for her, Christian does the exact opposite. Telling her how Chris doesn't even think of her anymore, that they go out on the town and enjoy the lap of luxury and the women that come with.

Christian's words and Chris's actions are polar opposites, and Trish's head and heart are pulling her in different directions. And without a clear decision she just keeps herself away from the confusing man, knowing that being near him will only make things harder on her.

While their personal lives have been a rocky rollercoaster, their careers have definitely been on the upward rise. Trish, the number one contender, and Jericho with an impressive performance in the 30 man battle royale.

"Now normally I'd be angry that Chris Benoit won the royal rumble and I didn't," Chris begins, pacing back and forth in the ring. "but I'm actually ok with that, because Chris Benoit is on Smackdown! and this is RAW is Jericho! And that means that the World title shot at Wrestlemania is wide open on this side. Now since I was the last member of the Raw roster in the rumble, and since Eric Bischoff still owes me my Survivor Series favor…I think the best way to cash that in is to give that World title shot to Y2J!" he emphasizes with a downward punching fist. "And I don't wanna wait till Wrestlemania to get it, cause I wanna take Triple H downtown to Chinatown and win the World title right here, tonight, in Hersey, Pennsylvania!" the crowd definitely agrees with Jericho's sentiments as their uproar of a approval goes around the arena.

"And then I'm gonna defend that belt in New Hampshire and take it down to Wyoming and over to Oregon and straight to South Dakota and then to North Dakota and down to Florida and over to West Virginia and down to Virginia and take it on home in New York City at Wrestlemania 20!"

As he stumbles around the ring with his impersonation an all too familiar theme song comes over the speakers and Eric Bischoff makes his way to the ring. Without pause he struts down the ramp and climbs into the ring, glancing at Jericho he walks over to a crew member with an upraised mic.

Coming back to stand in front of his wrestler, Bischoff raises the mic to his mouth. "Let me get this straight…Chris you wanna use your Survivor Series favor for a shot at Triple H for the World title, is that what I'm hearing you say?"

"That's what you're hearin'."

"I'll tell ya what Chris," Bischoff starts

Only to be interrupted by Jericho saying, "You know what you're hearin'? About ten thousand Hersey, Pennsylvania people callin' you an asshole!" Chris informs him, with a firm finger, no not the middle one either.

"Well despite that fact, I'll tell you what I'm gonna do. That's what you want, that's the way you wanna use your favor?" he pauses as Jericho nods his head yes, of course. "You got it!" the crowd shouts their approval.

Just remember, the game isn't over yet. Eric turns back around, as he was going to leave, to face Chris, "Chris, you might not wanna do that. Because see I've got another match in mind for tonight and rather than telling you about it, maybe I'll just show it to ya." And he steps aside, his arm spread to direct attention to the megatron.

"Tonight, in one-on-one action it'll be Trish Stratus vs. Kane!"

The fans boo incessantly and Jericho is beyond bewildered. Not even bringing the amplifier to his lips he says to Eric, "That's not a match, what are you doing?"

Eric, however, wants the world to hear what he has to say, "You think I'm proud of the fact that you were the last Raw superstar in the Royal Rumble? You're wrong. I'm not proud, I'm embarrassed. Embarrassed because for the last two years Smackdown has won the Royal Rumble and that Chris is unacceptable! So tonight you have a choice, you can either use your favor for a World title shot against Triple H or you can use your favor to cancel the match between Trish and Kane. Now it can't be both Chris. So what's it going to be?"

Getting into Bischoff's face, Jericho snarls and tells him he's a son of a bitch.

"Oh Chris, no need to elaborate Chris." Eric says, backing away from the fighter. "I can see it in your eyes, you still have feelings for Trish. Consider the match…cancelled. But Chris we're not done tonight, not by a long shot. See last night, you and RVD, you were the last two Raw superstars in the Royal Rumble. And you dropped the ball. You were the last hope on Raw, so now you're gonna see how Eric Bischoff deals with failure! Because tonight you and RVD, you're gonna team up and you're gonna take on the World Tag Team Champions, the Nature Boy Ric Flair and Batista!" he begins to walk away, but has a thought and steps back up, "And, the man who should have won the Royal Rumble, the Intercontinental Champion Randy Orton. Yeah, you heard me right. Tonight it's three on two. And by the way," he looks at his watch, "that three on two handicap match…it's coming up next.

After a rather brutal match, Jericho finds himself alone in his dressing room. Dealing with everything that happened: giving up his favor, getting beat on by Evolution, and still no Trish. It was days like this that made him want to just get in bed and stay there for a week or two. A knock on the door interrupted his sulking, irritated, he bit out, "What?"

Unwrapping his wrist, he doesn't pay attention to who walks in. that is until she speaks, "Uh, Chris are you alright?" she asks going over to his side. Surprised to see her here, even though she did assist him once in the past few weeks when some of her own enemies decided to interfere with his match, she hadn't made an effort to see or speak to him.

Standing up he looks at her, and asks, "What're you doing here?"

"Well I…I was…I really just came to say, thank you. Um, not only did you give up your World title shot, I know that means a lot to you, but you had to go through all that and really just to save me. Um, I would've had to faced Kane and that's just crazy, I mean…"

"Trish, Trish, Trish," Chris interrupts her ramble, "I mean after all we've been through it's the least I could do okay? I just didn't wanna see you get hurt. And that's…that's why…"

"Thank you, that means a lot." She tells him earnestly as he looks away, too choked up at seeing her here with him to get his emotions in check.

Unsure how to continue the conversation that has suddenly taken a ride to the awkward side, Trish looks over him one last time trying to get him to look at her. Chris just keeps his gaze averted, looking at the ground. With a sad smile she backs away and leaves his locker room.

Hearing her departure, Chris looks up after her. Wanting to chase her down and tell her one more time that everything he does is for her, because he's still in love with her. But another part of him keeps his feet planted on the ground, with his heart thudding against his ribcage.

Trish finds herself back in her own locker room, now more confused than ever. His knight in shining armor bit was definitely helpful when she was in a bind. And she knew the least she could do was return the favor if ever it was needed, and she had. But then…he goes and gives up his chance at the Heavyweight Championship, because of her? Amazement went through her when she heard that, and then a feeling she thought she'd squashed when it came to him – admiration and a hint of love.

He still cared for her, right? That's what this entire set-up was a test for…to see where his emotions were. And they were right at her feet. Bad enough she had to deal with her own struggling heart, but now to know that he was fighting the same battle.

"Trish! There you are, I've been looking for you." Stacy said, hopping up off the couch in Trish's private locker rooms

"You have?" Trish asks, slightly surprised considering their so-so friendship.

"Yeah, I need to talk to you." Stacy begins

"About what?" Trish questions, still lost

"Chris Jericho."

I know, I know. Please refrain from stoning me. There isn't much excuse, but at least I give you all love now! :-) Lemme know watcha think, it gives me incentive to add more!