Chapter 48:

As soon as he found an escape hole, Paul dove through the ropes to the safety of the ramp, his sister coming to his side. He had a horrified expression on his face as he stared up at the man was beckoning him to come back into the ring, even mockingly holding the ropes apart for the man from Chelsea.

"You just wait until Summerslam." He roared, releasing the ropes once Burchill made an even quicker backtrack up the ramp. "Because guess who's Haley's tag team partner?!"

Haley rose shakily to her feet, still staring at the man who had come to her rescue and now was making himself her tag team partner this coming Sunday. Relief and happiness filled her degree by degree until she was all but bursting into it.

Shaking his head with apparent disgust he turned around to look at her, his expression softening and a rare smile flitting across his handsome features. "Hey Hales, miss me?"

"Randy!" Her voice came out as a half sob, half laugh. Within seconds she had closed the distance between them and flung her arms around his neck.

He chuckled at her reaction and wrapped his arms around her in a bone-crushing hug. "I'll take that as a yes."

"Yes, yes, yes!" She all but sang, almost forgetting they were still in the ring. "Are you really going to be my partner? You're fully healed and everything?"

He nodded. "Doctor's cleared me." He suddenly looked around him, taking in the atmosphere of the crowd. "That's a weird sound, and feeling." He murmured.

"What is?" She asked, looking around in confusion.

He smirked, but not in his typical evil manner, it was still a touch arrogant, but no longer sadistic. "Listen."

So she did. Rev Theory was wailing out the lyrics to Randy's theme song and the crowd around them was near deafening. Cheers of approval rippled through the arena, along with clapping, wolf whistles, stomping feet and anything else they could do to make as much noise as possible. And it suddenly hit her as to what he meant.

"They're cheering for you." Her lips curved upwards in a huge smile. "Looks like I'm not the only one who's missed you and is glad to have you back."

"Yeah," He breathed, still taking it all on. He hadn't received this kind of reception since the first months he had been out of Evolution.

Haley stepped back from him and gestured to the turnbuckle. "So let them welcome you home." She advised.

His smirk smoothed into a grin, before he took her advice. He stepped onto the second rope of the turnbuckle, raising his arms into what was once his egotistical pose. Now, he posed as though it was to embrace the fans and for the first time in a long time, they embraced him back. Randy Orton had finally turned over a new leaf.

Haley practically danced into the locker room she shared with her boyfriend. She was glowing with happiness. Any worry she had over Summerslam long gone, with Randy watching her back, there was no way she could lose. She hadn't realized just how much she missed her friend until he stood right in front of her again. And boy, was she glad he had come to her rescue.

"Did you see?" She leapt onto the arm of the couch, leaning over Dave as he laced up his wrestling boots.

"I saw the beginning of your match before I had to change." He eyed her peculiarly. "You looked great out there, I'm assuming you won."

Haley rolled her eyes. "I did, but you missed the end?"

"My match goes off in ten minutes." He pointed out. "I'm taping it at the hotel though, so I can watch the end later. What's gotten into you?"

"Well," She giggled. "Not only do I have the best tag team partner going into Summerslam, I got to see Burchill running away from the ring, terrified for his life!"

"What do you mean?" He frowned in confusion.

"Well, I won the match, so you assumed correctly, but Paul and Katie ganged up on me afterwards." She held up a hand to ward off his upcoming string of curses. "But, before it could get too far, Burchill got his ass kicked! By my new tag team partner!"

Dave grinned, happy that Haley had found someone. If it moved her enough to be all but bouncing around the room with energy, he knew it had to be someone good. "Who?"

"Randy!" She clapped her hands with joy. "He's back! He came out and beat the hell out of Paul Burchill and all but chased him out of the ring!"

Dave's grin immediately vanished and his heart tightened uncomfortably in his chest. While Haley was thrilled with her new tag team partner, Randy Orton would have been one of Dave's last choices for her. Not that he thought Randy couldn't hold his own with Paul Burchill, the young superstar was a three time World Champion and had beaten opponents with ten times the caliber of the Chelsea native.

It was the connection that Haley and Randy shared that bothered the Animal. While he had been on SmackDown, Dave had never been forced to witness their friendship, and out of respect for Hunter, Haley had kept a relative distance from the Legend Killer. But now the roles were switched, Hunter was on SmackDown and Dave had his hands full with John Cena. There was nothing to prevent Haley from being around Randy now.

And it wasn't that Dave didn't trust Haley. He did, wholeheartedly. He believed her when she said she loved him and wanted to be with him. He had watched John Cena make attempt, after attempt, after attempt to win Haley back from him. But Randy Orton was a different story. If Randy hadn't made mistakes in the beginning of their relationship, Haley might not have wound up with Dave after all.

Randy Orton could have been the guy to make Haley walk away from John Cena and never look back, rather than having her get viciously dumped by the former WWE Champion. Even now, though she insisted Randy was only a friend, Haley still harbored feelings for the Legend Killer; she might even be in love with him too. Dave had never doubted that you could be in love with two people at the same time, in different ways. He just had to hope that in the end, he was the one Haley couldn't live without.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" Stephanie McMahon looked over the Icon of a man with concern. "I know you're going through a lot right now, and if you need to…"

Dwayne waved her off with a bronzed hand. "Hey Steph, you've been there before. You know that giving up on everything is the worst thing to do during a divorce."

The Billion Dollar Princess smiled. "Yes, but I'm back together with my ex-husband, soon to be husband again. I don't think you and Dani will be getting back together, do you?"

"No." Dwayne shook his head sadly. "That would be a definite no."

"I'm sorry, Dwayne." She told him sincerely. "I've been there and I know just how much this situation sucks."

"But," He gestured to the contract that lay on the desk between them. "I'm getting the best kind of distraction and it's the added bonus of coming home."

"You know you're always welcome here, Dwayne." She laughed. "Everyone loves you, you helped make this business what it is today. I can guarantee our ratings will do nothing but improve once we get you on the tour again."

"Of course they will." He smirked cockily, showing shades of his moniker. "The Rock will make any brand the best night to watch television."

"Speaking of brands, do you know which one you'd like to be on?" She twirled a pen between her fingers. "I can work you into either SmackDown or Raw. On SmackDown, you'll be facing old rivals like Hunter, Big Show, Undertaker, plus Edge, Jeff Hardy, Kennedy and MVP among others you haven't faced yet."

He frowned thoughtfully. "There are some possibilities there."

"And then on Raw, you'll be against former rivals like Jericho, Kane, HBK, and new faces like Batista, John Cena, Randy Orton, JBL, CM Punk and Rey Mysterio." Stephanie suddenly grinned impishly. "And with Raw, there's the added bonus of Haley."

"And that's the deal breaker right there." He chuckled. "No offense to your father Steph, and his persuasive tactics, but it's really because of her, that I'm here at all."

"Of that I have no doubt." Stephanie laughed as well. "Besides, I didn't realize that Hunter, Taker and the Big Show would up SmackDown's ratings higher than Raw's several times. As happy as I am to see SD doing well, Raw is the flagship show and needs to remain on top, so by putting you there, it's another big name to add to the Raw roster."

"Well, SmackDown can know its roll and shut its mouth because FINALLY, the Rock has come back, to Monday Night Raw!" Dwayne fell into character. "If you smeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeellllllllllllllll, what the Rock, is cooking!"

A/N: Um…psych! Lol. I know, you all thought it was Dwayne that made the save hehe, he's coming back, but not just yet. He's definitely making the moves to get there, but not for Summerslam. And think about it guys, would the Rock's big return be against someone like Paul Burchill? I don't think so. You'll find out when soon enough.

So, as we all know, Randy and Haley have plenty of experience being each other's tag team partners before. In fact, as a team they are undefeated. Can that hold out at Summerslam? Batista's a little nervous about their friendship, will he take his jealousy too far? Reviews will help you find out my friends.

Up next, Haley runs into Jeff Hardy at Summerslam and has a verbal confrontation with Mickie James just before her match with the Legend Killer.