"Pride and Prejudice"
An Edge/Ashley fanfic

Thanks to xAttitudex, Cenaisalegend, NarutoBleachRules, RaNdAL.xOx, Talena Atfield is my GODDESS, csimiamigirl73, Thee-Britty, annskieesofresh, Farra Sti, Christal-R, KxH and Kristin4 for reviewing last chapter. Wow did i told you that you rock guys? :)

Hope you like the new chappie,
R&R and enjoy!


Chapter 30
"You And Me Against The World"

Hey do you feel okay? You look pretty low,
pretty handsome awkward!

"We're here." Adam announced with a bemused expression as they entered the arena's parking lot.

She turned to look at him with an outraged look.

"I know, I know" he apologetically said "I must not interrupt you when you're singing along with the radio… especially if it's The Used," he quickly added when she lifted an eyebrow at him "I just thought it would be a little weird to leave you singing in the car… in the middle of the parking lot."

"…Alright, I forgive you this time." She innocently smiled "And it's nice to know I'm the dominant one in this relationship." She added with an amused grin, coming out of the car.

"…Hey!" He protested following her "You're not the dominant one."

"Yes, I am."

"No, you're not."

"You just apologized for cutting me off while I was singing." She pointed out with a wide smile.

"I'm trying to be sweet, you spent the night in a hospital." He rolled his eyes.

"Yes… but you're trying to be sweet to me… which makes me the dominant one in this couple." She giggled "And thanks baby, by the way." She added with another smile, giving him a peck on the lips "You may take my bag now."

"…You're impossible." He muttered, taking both their bags out of the car.

"Hey, I'm just coming out of a hospital." She said with her best pout and puppy dog eyes.

"…Right." He rolled his eyes in defeat "I don't know how you do that anyway… when I try to make this face you just laugh at me."

"It takes years to practice baby, don't worry." She giggled as he reached her and placed his free arm around her shoulders.

"Alright, I won't give up on it yet then." He chuckled.

"Yep."

"…You sure you're ready then?" He unsurely asked while they got closer to the door that led from the parking lot straight to the arena.

"You wanna see the doctor's authorization again?" She asked amused "I'm cleared to wrestle, you're becoming an overprotective boyfriend, you know?"

"No, I mean if you're ready to enter… to face them, the others."

"Oh." She let out a breath before confidently nodding. "Yes, I am. It can't be that bad, right?"

"100 percent sure?"

"Positive. Wait… and are you sure?"

He couldn't help but smile "Ash, nothing's gonna change for me. They already give me bad looks when I walk around… I'm used to it. So, yeah, I'm ready to have 3 whole rosters looking at me like I just corrupted a sweet, innocent child."

"Am I supposed to be the sweet, innocent child?" She asked holding a laugh.

"I didn't find a better example." He rolled his eyes.

"Well I'm pretty sweet, I must admit that, but I'm not sure about the innocent part actually." She pretended to think about it with a mischievous smirk.

"That's why you're my girlfriend, after all." He grinned, kissing the top of her head as they walked on.

"The Rated R superstar and the self proclaimed Dirty Diva: c'mon, it screams innocence." She pointed out with a giggle.

"Tell me about it baby." He echoed with a chuckle.

x—x—x—x—x

Even though she had stated so to her boyfriend less than 5 minutes before, Ashley surely didn't feel comfortable entering the arena and proceeding through the crowded corridors.

It was definitely one of those 'easier said than done' things, and she was surely relieved to feel his hand enclosing around hers, giving a little more courage to the punk princess.

As the two walked on, a general chatting-noise grew in the corridor as all the wrestlers and divas around started to whisper to each other.

It had been years since Ashley had passed that famous high school syndrome of 'everyone's staring at me', so she was at least surprised to feel like that all over again.

Only this time it wasn't a teenager's self conviction, it was actually the truth.

The news by now had reached every superstar on the 3 rosters and even though –very high school like- there were different versions going on, the main fact remained the same.

Someone swore that Adam and Matt had a fight in the hospital's waiting room, others were 100 percent sure that the Rated R superstar had speared one of the doctors on his way to her room and so on, but everyone knew that Adam Copeland and Ashley Massaro were officially a couple.

"It's just me or…" She nervously trailed off in a whisper.

"No, it's not you. Keep going punkie." He muttered back, his head held up, much more used than her to the dirty looks they were receiving.

"So it's true indeed!" Brooke exclaimed, just while the couple passed her –and a small group of divas- by.

"And she always made fun of us when we flirted with him!" Maryse added with an outraged tone.

"Never mind, she's just a bitch."

The punk princess was somehow expecting this treatment… only she wasn't prepared to hear so from one of her friends… former now, evidently.

She instinctively turned her head to look at Layla… who just glared back at her.

Adam had to literally drag her further and, still hurt and surprised, she was barely aware of them bumping into someone.

"Kenny." He stated with a tone which suggested 'why-on-earth-are-you-blocking-my-way?'

"Hey," the younger superstar nodded "just want you to know that I have no hard feelings for you, man."

"Hmm… okay?" Adam unsurely replied, having no clue of what he was talking about.

"You know," he went on "actually I was a little hurt yesterday when I found out… after what I told you… but I found the true love of my life now… so it's all good."

"Glad to hear so, Kenny." The Rated R superstar shortly replied refraining from rolling his eyes, and gave him a pat on the shoulder meaning that this little, absurd, chat was over.

But evidently the ex Spirit Squad member didn't think so as a huge smile appeared on his face. "You know what? We could double date sometimes!"

"Yeah, sure."

Kenny didn't seem to get his sarcastic tone as he moved his attention on Ashley.

"Probably we wouldn't have worked out in a relationship." He apologetically said.

"Yeah… well… I'm sure we'll move on." She faintly smiled holding tighter Adam's hand to plead him to keep a straight face.

"Actually… you know, Adam and I are like brothers… so you're like… my sister in law! I always wanted a sister!" He happily exclaimed… pulling her into a hug.

"Now we should really go, Kenny." The champion announced trying to hold his laughter.

"Sure, see you later." He smiled finally letting go of the punk princess… who looked at her boyfriend with a 'What the fuck was that?!' expression.

"You have all my sympathy, punkie." He chuckled.

x—x—x—x—x

"Cherry, Cherry, Cherry." Kelly said with a –fake- innocent smile as she joined the shy diva on a wooden bench in the women's locker room.

"Hi Kelly," she briefly welcomed the ECW diva, immediately standing up to search for something in her duffel bag.

"I haven't had time to compliment you on your job yesterday," she continued "very, very good. We should have gone out to celebrate."

"You went out to celebrate."

"Did I? Oh, of course I did." She laughed "You know, there wasn't enough room in our cars or I would totally ask you to be of our party." She sweetly said.

Cherry didn't answer and kept on messing around with her outfits.

"Anyway," Kelly rolled her eyes at that silent behavior "I was thinking… you know, if tonight you interfere in Ashley's match, costing her the win, we could totally hang out together after the show. You, me and the other girls. Brooke and Layla will be thrilled to get to know you."

"No, thanks. I don't do this kind of things." The shy diva said in a low whisper, turning to leave.

"We don't need to go clubbing," Kelly promptly replied refraining from rolling her eyes "we can go shopping tomorrow or something."

Now it was Cherry's turn to roll her eyes as she stopped and turned to face the blonde with the hands on her hips. "I don't cheat to make lose someone who has always been good to me like Ashley." She pointed out, this time with a louder tone… that needed all her courage.

"Excuse me?" The Extreme Exposé leader asked raising an eyebrow, obviously not used to be refused anything.

"I'm not going to help you." The diva from the other side of the tracks briefly said. "Not anymore. That's… wrong and no fair. And I don't need your pitiful friendship by the way." She added almost in a whisper, turning again.

As shocking as this little speech was -coming from Cherry- its effect didn't last long on Kelly, who quickly stood up and stopped the smaller diva by grabbing her arm and making her turn.

"Who do you think you are to talk to me like this?" She scoffed "You're nothing, Cherry, nothing. You never were and you'll never be. I was giving you a chance to make you someone… someone worthy to hang out with me. You want to blow it? Alright, you don't need me…" She sarcastically laughed "Well I think you're gonna regret this, and very soon I may add."

And with that she pushed the 50's diva back, until her legs collided with the bench, and was ready to proceed with a vicious bitch slap… when someone blocked her hand.

"I'd suggest you to leave her alone."

"Oh, but sure" Kelly sarcastically smiled "Michelle McCool! The losers' savior."

"Kelly Kelly… the no-wrestling-skills bitch." The all-American diva promptly retorted with a fake smile, making Cherry silently giggle.

"What do you want? That's none of your business."

"Oh, but actually I think it is. Cause, you know Kelly, first off… Ashley is one of my best friends here and if you mess with her, you mess with me. And secondly… Cherry is my friend too. So I'm definitely not down when someone… or better… when a worthless bitch like you try to use a good girl like her."

"She can speak her own mind, I didn't force anyone to do anything."

"Wait, I didn't finish." Michelle faked a smile "And reason number 3: I don't like either when you go around with your little friends, doing your wonderful dance exhibitions… calling yourselves divas, when someone who's here from less time than you like Cherry could kick your pretty ass in 2 minutes."

"Oh, really?" Kelly faked a surprised look.

"Indeed."

And then it all happened too quick… Kelly aimed for Michelle's cheek, the all-American girl wisely backed down, causing the ECW diva to slap just the air and Cherry took her off guard with a bitch slap of her own.

Michelle looked pleasantly surprised at the smaller diva, who actually seemed surprised herself of her own performance, as the two girls exchanged a smile and with a last –amused- look at Kelly Kelly left together the locker room.

"It's not over! Did you hear me?!" The blonde yelled out, holding her jaw in pain.

x—x—x—x—x

"Can you believe it?! I know I should just drop it, but I can't!" Ashley gave up in frustration tossing a kneepad on the floor.

After the 'welcome' she received in the corridor, she had gladly accepted Adam's offer to stay in his locker room instead of the divas one; and so here she was, preparing for her upcoming match.

Or at least trying to.

"I always told you Kenny was weird." He replied a little surprised by her overreaction.

"But no, I don't mean Kenny, I mean Layla!" She rolled her eyes "Have you seen her? Have you heard her?!"

His puzzled expression changed into a sympathetic one as he finally got her point.

"I mean… what the hell?!" She went on "I never did anything to her, heck, we used to be friends 'till a week ago! And now what, I'm a bitch? Just cause I didn't tell the world I'm dating you? I thought there was something called personal life once, you know? And by the way what is her problem? She always had this habit of trying to hook me up with everyone on the roster… she should be satisfied now."

"I know baby, it sucks." He agreed, obviously thinking that the sudden change in Layla could probably depend on Kelly's influence.

"I can't believe it!" She repeated, heavily sitting down on the leather couch to tie her boots.

"Just try not to think of that right now, okay?" He softly suggested sitting next to her and tucking a lock of her blonde fringe behind her ear "You got to focus on your match."

"Yeah, you're right" she lightly sighed "I guess poor Jillian is going to get a worse beating than what she deserves tonight." She faintly smiled.

"Yeah… and besides, look at the bright side."

"…Which is?" She lifted her eyebrows at him.

"C'mon, you're Kenny's sister in law." He grinned.

She scoffed… only to burst out with giggles a second later. "You're an idiot."

"I know, but a handsome one. And amazingly talented." He added with his cocky smirk.

"And a sexy one too." She smirked back.

"I'll make sure they'll write so on my grave."

"Yeah, you should do that." She giggled leaning closer to him as he captured her lips with his.

"Ashley's match in 10 minutes." An assistant announced knocking on the door.

"Worst timing ever." He muttered pulling away.

"Indeed." She smiled. "Wanna walk with me to the curtain?"

"Sure, I'm an official boyfriend now, ain't I?" He chuckled.

She softly giggled, taking his hand and leading the way outside… just to find in the corridor the last person they both wanted to meet.

"Oh holding hands, how lovely." Matt sarcastically commented "Should I congratulate you? Or wait… maybe I should just wait for a massive 'I told you so' when he'll leave you for another diva just as we all know will happen."

"Hey-" Adam, obviously, protested just to be cut off by his girlfriend.

"Don't be ridiculous Matt." She stated, her hands firmly on her hips.

"Ridiculous? I'm the ridiculous one?! You, Ash, you among all people know what kind of jerk he is!"

"Yeah, cause you complained about it every single fucking day!" She yelled back "You know what? I'm sick of hearing it, Matt. Yes, I know what he did to you… sorry, what he and her did to you. I'm not saying that I justify that, yes he's been an asshole to you, I still think so. But people do change, Matt, face it."

"And you so willingly accepted that he's changed now, yeah I see." He shook his head in disappointment "You can run away with him for all I care."

"Indeed I can!" She exclaimed "If you forgot we already broke up almost an year ago, you don't have to control my life. I can be grateful for a genuine, friendly, concern… but otherwise… cut this crap."

"He's already having a lovely influence on you," he faked a smile "I can't believe you're doing this to me, Ashley, I thought you were different."

"I'm not doing anything to you!" She cried in frustration "We're not together anymore, we both agreed to it and we're both happy with it… for heaven's sake, Matt, we all move on! He moved on," she said pointing at her boyfriend standing next to her "Amy moved on, I moved on, everyone else moved on…! You should do that as well one of these days."

"Very well," he sarcastically smiled "you should be happy to know that you've finally found something in common with Amy. You always tried to be like her, right? Well now you got it, you're both two sluts… running after this jackass. Congrats."

"Awesome, too bad we already broke up or now that could be your reason to finally love me." And with that she stormed away, followed by a surprised Adam, who on his way after her collided against Matt's shoulder on purpose.

She walked quickly until she turned the corner, than she stopped, letting out a sigh and ran a hand through her long blonde hair.

"Wow." He stated reaching her.

"Too harsh?" She nervously asked "And sorry for cutting you off like that, I just needed to do this on my own if you know what I mean." She apologetically said.

"Of course," he softly smiled "actually you were pretty amazing. I was almost waiting for you to bitch slap him right there."

"You'd like that, huh?" She chuckled.

"It could have been some sort of turn on actually." He smirked, prompting her to playfully roll her eyes. "No, seriously, I would have been SO glad to finally have a plausible reason to beat him up… but you had it all covered by yourself." He smiled.

"Thanks," she softly giggled "now I really have to go though."

"Absolutely, and now I think Jillian is indeed going to get a worse beating than what she deserve."

"Good point." She laughed, then leaned in to give him a quick peck on the lips "See you later."

"Good luck punkie."

"Thanks!" She shouted back, rushing to the curtain.

He just smiled, slightly shaking his head, before getting back to his locker room to peacefully watch her match… only he didn't expect to find Matt still there.

"What do you want?"

"We need to talk." The older Hardy stated "Now."