"Austin, why are you attached to my hip like a puppy," Colby laughed as Austin trailed him from the locker room toward guerilla.
"Man, this is an exciting night!" Austin placed his hand on Colby's shoulder and cried. "You guys are the final event. The end all to be all! Red vs blue, Raw vs Smackdown, the big dogs are up for the fight! It is time to see what men will take supremacy! You need to get hyped up man!" Austin exclaimed slapping him on the chest.
Colby laughed and pushed him away, "I am, I am." They entered guerilla and Colby looked around, "That's odd, I thought Lee was going to come meet me here before the match. I haven't seen her all night." He frowned.
Austin looked worried but tried to pull it together, "So my love and support aren't good enough for you," he cried in mock hurt. "You need some girl to come and kiss you and tell you you're pretty to go kick some ass now?"
Colby rolled his eyes, "Don't be stupid. She just said she'd be here to watch from guerilla is all."
"She probably just had some of the other guys to take care of, I'm sure she'll be watching. You know she's not here to just be your cheerleader," Joe walked up and teased Colby.
"Yeah, I know, you're right," Colby laughed and began putting on his gloves.
Austin sagged a little in release. Lee had made him promise not to let Colby or Joe know what had happened before they had gone through the final match. All it would do was distract them from their jobs, I don't need Colby getting hurt tonight, too. So Austin had been playing bodyguard, warding off any that might try to talk to Colby about what happened between Lee and Windham.
Without further incident the music hit and the superstars started to head out one by one. Austin went to watch from a monitor, more anxious for how he was going to tell Colby once he came back then for how the match was going.
"Hey, how'd it go?" Kofi had come to join him.
"I managed to keep them ignorant before they headed out," Austin answered. "How is she?"
Kofi turned toward him and shrugged, "She was examined and is going to need stitches, has at least bruised, if not cracked, ribs, and is overall probably gonna hurt tomorrow. She was with the police answering questions when I left, Claudio was with her."
"Man, I do not know how I'm going to tell Colby about this," Austin scratched the back of his neck guiltily.
Soon Jon Good was eliminated and headed back, followed not long after by Adam. Finally, the only ones left were Randy, Jon Huber, Joe, and Colby. Austin tensed as he watched the RKO and heard the pin fall count.
Colby walked through the curtain and was greeted by Good, "Hey, fun match man. Like old times." He swatted Colby on the back.
"Yeah, thanks, man. It was cool," Colby turned and nearly ran into Austin. "Whoa, seriously, dude. I have a girlfriend, a little space please," he chuckled and grabbed a bottle of water that a someone handed him.
Austin looked at him apprehensively, "Sorry. So uh Colby? I, uh, have something to, umm, tell you." Austin began nervously.
Colby slowly lowered the water bottle he'd been drinking, "Ok...what's up?"
Austin took a big breath, "Well first of all, I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, but she made promise not to. She said you'd be distracted. I don't know it seemed right at the time, but-" Austin had begun pacing and talking rather fast.
"Austin! What is going on?" Colby demanded.
Austin turned and took a big breath, "Windham was here."
Colby immediately tensed up, "What happened? Where is Lee?"
"Well he, umm," Austin braced himself. "He attacked her in her office."
Colby turned pale. Good and Shane stopped talking and came up behind Colby to hear what happened.
Austin continued quickly, "She's ok," he put his hands on Colby's shoulders. "She's a little beaten up but she got away and he's in custody now."
"Where is she?" Colby shouted knocking Austin's arms away.
"The Medical offices, the police are there. Claudio is with her," before he had finished Colby was walking out the door.
"Hey, what's going on?" Shane McMahon came up putting his hand on Austin's shoulder. Good walked up and just then Joe walked in from the ramp, too.
"Hey," Joe started but seeing the look on everyone's faces he stopped in his tracks for a moment. "What's happened?" Everyone turned expectantly to Austin who sighed.
"Windham attacked Lee in her office tonight,"
"What?" everyone but Joe was in shock. Joe was immediately furious.
"What happened, Austin? He wasn't supposed to be here!" he exclaimed.
"Yeah, well he's still a superstar Joe, even if he didn't have a match. He came to her office and apparently he had seen Colby and Lee together. He completely snapped. Whatever thread he was hanging on by broke. He went after her," Austin looked away uncomfortably. "She didn't tell us, she probably did the police, but judging by the state of her clothes, we think he tried to rape her." Austin looked back up, "she was pretty beat up. She needed stitches and her ribs were messed up. Her clothes were torn. She managed to stab him with a muscle relaxer from the EMT kit in her office and ran away. She ran out into the hallway where E, Kofi, and I were. She was pretty scared at first but after she calmed down she was like ridiculously logical about it all. She made me promise to keep you and Colby from finding out before the match."
"So you're saying Windham Rotunda, one of my smackdown superstars, attacked the RAW lead physical therapist?" Shane broke in.
"Lee has had problems with him since before the brand split," Joe explained. "Best we can figure is his divorce triggered some sort of psychotic break in him. He started stalking her. Colby and I spoke to him last week to tell him to back off. It was actually, uh, Colby that broke his hand after the match."
Shane looked like he had swallowed something sour, "Excuse me, I'm going to have to go deal with this." He turned and left.
Joe grabbed a water bottle, "Come on, let's go make sure Lee is ok."
"And Colby doesn't do something stupid," Austin added.
When Colby came to the medical office Claudio was standing out front with a police officer.
"So his gift giving escalated recently then?" the officer asked.
"Well it got more frequent, he sent her something every day," Claudio began.
"Where is she?" Colby interrupted, turning Claudio toward him.
"Excuse me," the officer asked trying to push Colby back.
"This is her boyfriend," Claudio explained.
The officer withdrew his hand, "Hello, sir, I'm Officer Mike Andrews. Dr. Lewis is currently with the medical unit, they're finishing taking photos of the trauma for evidence. Then they had to wrap her ribs and stitch her head."
"I want to see her," Colby started toward the door but was intercepted by the officer.
"Sir, you would only be in the way in there at the moment. Also, if I could, I would like to ask you a few questions about the history between Dr. Lewis and Mr. Rotunda."
"Not until I see, Lee," Colby turned to the officer heatedly.
"Sir, that's not possible at the moment-"
"It damn well is going to be," Colby yelled going for the door again. This time Claudio stepped in front.
"Colby, you know you can't do anything for her right now," Claudio began.
"I need to make sure she's alright," he pushed Claudio who made sure he hardly moved.
"Sir, I assure you, she is in good hands," Officer Mike began again.
"I don't care," Colby yelled.
"Colby?"
He heard her voice call out from behind the door and he stopped yelling abruptly. "Lee? It's me, I'm right here."
"Colby, I'll be finished getting stitched in just a few minutes. Please, cooperate with the officer," she sound tired.
Colby sighed and turned back to the officer. "Ok, what do you need to know?"
Lee was just starting to have her head stitched when she heard Colby's voice. She was so happy she could have cried, then she heard him start to get louder and angrier. She sighed to herself.
After she believed she had calmed him down enough to not come barging in while she was still only half dressed she turned back to the doctor.
"Ok, Doctor, if we could get these stitches done," Lee said as she tilted her head to give Dr. Hannibal better access to the injury.
"Of course, you know this will sting some. I am sorry that we can't give you stronger pain killers, but with a possible concussion," the pretty blonde began.
"I know, they could help induce a coma if they sent me to sleep too harshly," she sighed. "It's ok, I can handle it. Please proceed."
The doctor poked the needle into Lee's scalp and she winced and tried not to flinch. It had been a long couple of hours: reliving the experience over and over, taking harsh questions from the police, and then having to be examined and photographed. She had kept it together but she was so tired and on edge. There were too many people; too many people asking questions, too many people accusing her of leading Windham on, too many people around for her to cry.
"All done," the doctor said and began to explain about keeping it clean, but Lee was barely listening. She walked over and picked up the hoodie Claudio had brought for her. Of course, she hadn't brought a jacket today, so Claudio offered to get her a shirt. What he brought her was Colby's hoodie. She slipped it on and nearly sighed with relief at being able to hide the tape on her ribs and some of the bruising that was starting. The hoodie smelled like Colby, it made her feel better.
"Are you ready to go out?" the doctor asked gently.
"Is there a bunch of them out there?" Lee wasn't sure she wanted to continue to be surrounded by people. The blonde doctor peeked out the door. "There are indeed several large men waiting for you."
Lee bit her lip, "Could I maybe...umm"
"Yes?" Dr. Hannibal prompted.
"Could you maybe just send Colby in for a minute?" Lee shook her head a little, "I'm not sure I'm ready for all of them yet."
The young doctor smiled, "Of course, I'll send him in." She walked out and a moment later Colby slipped in, shutting the door behind him. Lee looked up and met his eyes, immediately tears came to her eyes and a soft smile came to her lips.
"Colby," his name emerged a little strangled as she walked to him and let him envelope her in a hug. His arms went around her and he laid his head on top of hers.
"God, Lee, as soon as Austin even said the word Windham I about lost it," he pulled back and brought his hand to her face to look in her eyes. "Are you ok?"
Lee put her hand over his and let tears continue to stream down her cheeks, "I've had better nights." He pulled her back to him and held her for a minute. When she felt under control Lee pulled away this time.
"How was the match?" Lee asked looking him over, taking in his half team RAW, half Seth Rollins shirt.
Colby stared at her, "Are you kidding right now? You're asking me about the match?"
Lee looked at him calmly, "Colby I have talked about nothing but Windham Rotunda for the last hour and a half. So yes, I am asking you about the match."
Colby sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He had to strain to even remember the match right now, "It went well. They ended with a little old fashioned Shield vs. Wyatts by having Joe and I be the last two against Randy and Huber."
Lee smiled, her first real one, "Good I liked the SHIELD, I like when you guys touch on that a little."
"I know," he said putting his arm around her neck and pulling her to his side to kiss her head. "So are you ready to go out."
"I'm ready to get away from here," Lee sighed and let him lead her toward the door. "I just am so tired of people and questions. I'm tired of talking about it."
"Ok, no one else will hound you. We'll just get my stuff and get out of here," he moved his hand to her waist and she winced. He turned and looked at her before they made it to the door and raised his eyebrows in a silent question.
Lee sort of looked down, "Ribs. I got slammed into the floor a lot." She pulled her arm across her body self-consciously. "I have stitches and a possible concussion, too," she scuffed her foot across the floor.
Colby gently placed his hand under her chin and raised it to look at her, "It's not something to be ashamed of, Lee."
She started to tear up and looked away stubbornly again, "I know. I just shouldn't have let it happen, I should have done more." She looked down again, "I feel like a weak little girl," she admitted quietly.
"Lee," he stepped closer. "Lee look at me." She wiped away her tears but did as he asked. "Lee the last thing anyone would ever call you is weak. I don't know everything that happened tonight, but I do know that he's a trained fighter and a lot bigger than you. I also know you got away, ok? You were smarter and you got him with a-what was it?"
"A muscle relaxer," she chuckled wetly. "His legs essentially gave out when he tried to chase me, I can see it as a little funny, now."
"Exactly, ok. Nobody else would have been able to think of that," he hugged her again.
"Ok," she said, "It's just been an emotional night. I think I just need to get out of this place and sleep."
"Ok, let's go. By the way, how did you end up with my hoodie?" he started to open the door.
"Oh, Claudio brought it to me, I didn't bring a jacket today," she smiled guilty.
He laughed as they walked out to the crowd waiting for them.
Except there weren't any. Officer Andrews and and Dr. Hannibal were still there waiting.
Dr. Hannibal smiled, "So I asked your friends if they would give you a little time tonight. I reassured them you were ok. They all said to tell you they loved you and were around if you needed anything. They also brought your bag, Mr. Lopez." She bent down and picked up his duffle bag and handed it to him.
Lee could have hugged her, "Thank you"
Colby took his bag then gently placed his hand back around Lee, "Ok, let's get out of here."
Lee nodded and put her arms around Colby as they headed out.