Chapter 81:

Kelly chewed her bottom lip nervously as she surveyed the other women in the locker room. Beth Pheonix was lacing up her boots, her title belt resting on the bench beside her. Layla was fixing her hair in the mirror. Mickie was changing into her wrestling attire. And Candice sat beside the young blonde, texting on her cell phone.

"I want to beat the hell out of Eve!" She announced suddenly, catching the other women's attention. "I know I should be focusing on our match against the SmackDown Diva's. But I want to face Eve tonight."

Candice offered her an encouraging smile. "Join the club, but instead you've got a match against Victoria tonight Hunn, sorry."

"There will be plenty of time to deal with Eve Torres, Kelly." Beth surprisingly sounded reassuring. "Besides, she's just been assigned to be in Team Orton's corner for the Survivor Series match."

"I still want to kick her ass, since Haley isn't here to do it." Kelly said softly.

"When is Haley due back anyway?" Beth asked the blonde and the Candy-coated Diva. "It'll be nice to have some real competition again."

Candice glared at her. "I'm real competition Beth, the only reason you're still Champion is because of your boyfriend. I had you beat!"

"Soon!" Kelly interrupted before the two Divas could get into an argument. They needed to be a team right now. "Haley should be back really soon. She's in physical therapy right now."

"Joy." Mickie said sarcastically. "The return of the self-righteous Diva."

"Bitterness and jealousy is real unattractive Mickie." Candice snapped at her. "You're just mad because you could never beat her cleanly. You always needed Katie and her brother to help you out."

"Candice has a point." Beth smirked. "Haley's always bested you one on one Mickie, sucks to be you."

"Girls we shouldn't fight, at least not until after Survivor Series." Kelly warned. "We know the SmackDown Divas won't get along. If we can we have the advantage over them."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but Kelly's right." Layla spoke up. "We all need to get along until after Survivor Series. It's more important that we show dominance over SmackDown."

The five Divas exchanged uneasy glances but nothing more was said and for several minutes silence descended over the locker room.

Kelly finally broke it by speaking quietly to Candice. "Has she called Dave yet?"

Candice shook her head. "Not yet. She's worried he'll be mad at her. I keep telling her he won't, but she's scared. She loves him though, so she'll call him soon. I just feel bad for Dave."

"Me too." Kelly nodded in agreement. "His life sucked for the past two months."

"No kidding."

Meanwhile…

"Six days." John Cena grinned brightly at Haley. "You excited?"

Haley looked away from the television and smiled at John. "Um…duh! Six days and we're back on tour."

The two Massachusetts natives were in Haley's living room watching the weekly airing on Raw, this one right before the pay-per-view Survivor Series. Haley had returned to Boston several days earlier after some intense training with Hunter. For the rest of this week she would polish off her moves with John as they both prepared for their big return this coming Sunday.

"Ssh!" Haley hushed him excitedly as the opening guitar riffs of Saliva filled her living room, the sound coming from her TV. Her heart swelled with emotion as Dave appeared onscreen.

"Why don't you just call him?" John laughed at her antics. "He's just as anxious as you are."

"I was going to." Her eyes didn't leave Dave. "But John, this isn't something that can be discussed over the phone. I'm going to talk to him on Sunday as soon as I can see him face to face."

They watched Manu, accompanied by Cody Rhodes make his entrance following the Animal and Haley found herself sitting on the edge of the couch. Her jaw tightened when just before the bell rang, Randy Orton appeared on stage to watch the match, smirking down at the Animal.

"I want to punch him." Haley sighed.

"Been there, done that." John teased her.

"Shut up. I'm really jealous that you got to and I didn't." Haley laughed again. "Come on Dave, kick some ass!"

As if he heard her, Batista proceeded to man handle the young Samoan wrestler known as Manu. After a thundering Batista Bomb and three count, the match was over and Cody was left to help his teammate backstage.

Randy stood on stage still, no longer smirking.

Lilian handed Batista her microphone and Saliva's music faded to silence so he could speak.

"Hey Orton! For three years I've had to listen to you run your mouth. I had to listen to you badmouth me, badmouth Evolution." He panted between sentences. "For three years I've wanted to whip your ass!"

John laughed and Haley cracked a smile.

"This Sunday, I finally get to do it. So you need to stop worrying about John Cena coming back, stop worrying about who's next in line for a title shot. What you need to do is worry about what I'm going to do to you this Sunday at Survivor Series. Because let's not forget what you've done to me recently."

Dave's smile was malicious. "You played a part in hurting my girlfriend Orton. Add that to the three years I've wanted to hurt you and I'm going to break you in half!"

The microphone hit the canvas with a crackle of static and Batista's music began to play. Randy looked as though he had swallowed something sour as Dave taunted him from the ring.

"He called you his girlfriend still." John said quietly. "I think that means he doesn't hold any of this against you."

"I'll make it worth it this Sunday." Haley swore. "I will make this up to Dave and I will make Randy Orton pay."

"Atta girl!"

On Raw…

Dave returned backstage with a pleased smile on his face. In a matter of days he would get his hands on Orton and he would rend him limb from limb. The members of his team, friends of his and Haley's were waiting for him backstage, CM Punk, Kofi Kingston, Matt Hardy and R-Truth.

"You fight like that on Sunday you won't even need the rest of us." Punk chuckled handing Dave a bottle of water. "Randy looked like he wanted to kill somebody when he came backstage."

"I'm going to murder him instead." Dave took a grateful swig of water. "How are the rest of you fairing?"

"Kofi and I beat Shelton and Regal." Matt answered him. "Punk should make short work of Rhodes later tonight."

"Piece of cake." Punk grinned. "We've got this in the bag. We've got a very pissed off Animal on our side and he's dying to pick the other team apart."

"I'll leave the rest of them for you guys." Dave disagreed. "I just want to pick apart Orton. He's going to pay, for what he did to me and what he did to Haley. I'm going to make him pay, and dearly. I just hope to God she's watching when I do."

The other men exchanged looks. They had all assumed Haley and Dave would be back on by now since the truth was about Orton setting Dave up. But Haley had not been in contact with the Animal and the one time Dave called her, she hadn't answered. They knew she was due to make her return any day now from the reports filed by her physical therapist.

Now they could all only hope that when she returned, she and Dave would sort out their issues.

Up next, Survivor Series. Haley returns to WWE. John returns to WWE. Will Haley and Dave sort out their problems?