Sunday. A few weeks had passed and the upcoming Sunday was Backlash. John was versing Randy for the WWE Championship, Matt was versing MVP for the U.S. Championship, Hope was versing Mickie James for the Women's Championship and Jeff was battling it out with Punk. All the matches were going to be feisty, that was for sure. But, Jeff and Punk in a ladder match? After everything that was going on, that wasn't really Vince's smartest move. Then again, when did Vince ever make a smart move?

Hope was backstage after her match. She'd just beaten the shit out of Jillian Hall. It'd started out with Jillian singing in the ring and Hope interrupting her, telling her she sucked. Hope decided to treat herself to a brownie when she saw Hornswoggle passing by. She smiled at him.

"Hi, Hornswoggle."

She couldn't understand how most of the superstars were mean to him. He was just so adorable. Hornswoggle waved shyly, smiling a bit. He eyed her brownie and licked his lips, clapping his hands. Hope held the brownie out to him.

"You want this?" she asked. "Here. You can have it."

Hornswoggle took the brownie from her and hugged her leg. He skipped off, holding the brownie in his hand. Hope laughed to herself. Yeah, that was one adorable leprechaun. She waved as she saw Cody Rhodes head over to her. He was another one of the superstars Hope had gotten close to. He was so sweet, just like his father.

"Hey Hope. Can I ask a favor?" Cody asked.

"Sure," Hope answered. "What is it?"

"Well, I'm in this mixed gender tag match against Santino and Melina…"

"You want me to be your partner?"

"Yeah. I mean, I know you just had a match and all."

"I'd love to. I've been dying to kick Melina's ass again."

Cody laughed, "All right. I'll see you later then."

Hope waved as he headed off. For the first time she noticed that Jeff was M.I.A. She hadn't seen him all night. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen Matt either. Where were they? More importantly, what were they up to? Maybe Shannon Moore was visiting Raw tonight. He'd mentioned something about making an appearance. Hope didn't know for sure. Punk was on ECW, so she had nothing to worry about. Good. This would be a drama-free night. Well, excluded the drama Melina's going to cause. But, with Melina, drama was inevitable. It didn't matter. Hope was prepared.

"Here are your winners…Cody Rhodes and Hope!"

The ref held up both Hope's and Cody's arms. The greatest thing about the match was that Hope won it. She won it by pinning Santino. In the middle of the match, Santino had grabbed a mic and started going on about something in Italian. Hope tagged herself in, speared him and then hooked his leg for the three count. It couldn't get better than that.

"You'll pay for this!" Santino yelled, his accent more noticeable than ever. "Mark my words, Hope. You'll regret this!"

Hope simply waved as Santino and Melina stormed backstage. Melina was ranting on about how it wasn't fair. Blah. Blah. Blah. One of these days Hope was going to rip out Melina's voice box. She highly doubted anyone would mind if she did. Most people found Melina annoying anyway. Hope, Maria, Ashley and Mickie especially. Michelle McCool had learned to tolerate her. How? That was still a mystery.

"You just love kicking ass, don't you?" John teased.

Hope smiled up at him as she unlaced her boots. She grabbed her black and red Ed Hardy sneakers and slipped them on.

"Yup. Especially Santino's and Melina's."

"You're twisted. You know that, don't you?"

"That's why you love me, babe."

"Yeah, yeah."

John gave Hope a quick kiss on the cheek before he headed off. Hope changed out of her ring attire and slid on a pair of shorts and her New York Rangers jersey. As she started to leave, she felt strong arms wrap around her torso from behind. She tried to fight them off but whoever it was, was a really strong guy.

"Hey!" Hope protested. "Let me go, asshole!"

The mystery guy slipped his hand over her mouth, his other arm still wrapped tightly around her slender frame. Hope tried kicking her way out of his grasp but that didn't work. Who the hell was this? The Undertaker? She kept elbowing the guy in the ribs, hoping he'd let her go.

"I ed et ee oo." Hope had tried to say 'let me go', but her voice was muffled.

Now the brunette was pissed off. She elbowed the mystery guy in the face. He let her go quickly. But, in one swift motion, he had her pinned up against the wall with his hand over her chocolate brown eyes.

"Shh," he whispered. "I won't hurt you."

That voice. It was so familiar. Before Hope could say anything, the guy shoved his lips against hers, sliding his tongue into her mouth. Hope felt a lip ring between her teeth as she kissed the mystery guy back. The mystery guy kept pressing his lips against Hope's, his hands wandering up and down her torso. Despite herself, Hope kept returning his advances. Who was he? Why did he have so much power over her? And why the hell was she enjoying it so much?

"I've been dying to do that for so long," Mystery Guy whispered.