Chapter 25

Amber paced the short distance inside Dean's locker room as she listened to the crowd cheer for the pre show tag team match taking place. Roman and Seth were challenging the Real American's for the titles and from what she understood, they were slated to win. If all went well for the men, in a few months they'd drop the titles to the Usos and Roman and Seth would have an amicable split into singles careers.

She's heard the rumors that both men were headed up the roster and Roman in particular would, by the end of the year, be in the hunt for the championship. Of course she knew that in this company any storyline could change in a flash and wrestlers who were receiving push, could be dropped for damn near any stupid reason possible. For now she'd keep her fingers crossed for them.

"Would you stop pacing?" Dean grumbled as he sat on the bench, elbows resting on his knees. "You're making me nervous."

"I can't," Amber replied. "This is the single biggest match of my life. What if the fans hate me? What if something goes wrong?"

Dean opened his mouth to reply only to close it again when the door opened and Jill, Emma's assistant appeared. "Gorilla position, you guys."

Amber's heart skipped a beat and she wiped her sweaty palms on her towel before following Dean out of the room. As she approached Gorilla she found Lexi already waiting. "You look great," Lexi offered as she assessed Amber's new outfit. The two piece black gave a nod to her heritage with the Shield, but she wore shorts instead of cargo pants and wardrobe had added sparkles to her outfit.

"Thanks. So you you," Amber replied as she hugged Lexi, who wore her traditional Hart black and pink in the form of a spandex sleeveless bodysuit with a mesh middle. Like Natalya, she'd added bright pink highlights to her mahogany locks.

"You remember what we worked out?" Lexi asked as she pulled back.

Amber nodded. "We get fifteen minutes to put on a great show which will end as a disqualification when the boys get involved." No sooner had she finished her sentence then the crowd cheered and Roman and Seth's music filled the arena. The boys had won their match and would remain at ringside for the girl's match.

Lexi grinned at Amber as she took her position. "Remember to relax and have fun, okay?"

Amber nodded. "I'll try."

The boy's music died down and with seconds Lexi's music, a variation of her father's them blared through the arena and Amber watched as Lexi burst through the curtains and played to the crowd. There was no doubt in Amber's mind that the fan's loved Lexi. There also wasn't any doubt that she was about to receive a huge round of boos when she appeared with Dean. Though she'd come to realize that if the crowd invested enough to boo her, that meant they cared and maybe she could eventually sway them.

Lexi's music ended and Amber's new theme music began, some tinkerbell, girly crap she hated began to play. With Dean by her side, she moved through the curtain and into a wall of boos and jeers. "Just ignore them," Dean leaned in and whispered in her ear.

She nodded, then plastered a smile on her face and headed for the ring. No way was she going to let anything ruin this match.

Once inside the ring, the trash talking began, with Lexi throwing the first verbal jab. "I'm gonna make you sorry you decided to mess with a Hart."

"Really?" Amber narrowed her gaze. "Just be glad your daughter is too young to know that her mother is about to take the first of several losses in her washed up career."

The ref motioned for the bell to ring and immediately the girls locked up. The crowd cheered and chanted as Lexi easily slid Amber into a side headlock. For a moment Amber played into the power Lexi supposedly held over her before she placed a hand in the middle of Lexi's back and shoved Lexi forward.

Lexi caught the rope with her arm, spun and took a dropkick to the face that had her flipping backward over the top rope. Roman caught her and Lexi displayed a look of shock as she rubbed her chin.

"Come on," Amber yelled from inside the ring. "I thought you said you was going to make me pay?"

Roman mumbled something into Lexi's ear that caused her to nod, then she quickly rolled back into the ring. Before she could pop to her feet, Amber was on her, stomping down on her until the ref forced her to back up. Slowly Lexi got to her feet and when Amber went for a second drop kick, Lexi side stepped the move and Amber hit the mat. It was her turn to play up the 'ouch' factor and she did as Lexi dropped to her knees and wrapped Amber in a modified sleeper.

After a minute, Amber began to feign unconsciousness when Dean reached through the ropes and pulled Amber's leg onto the bottom rope, forcing Lexi to break the hold.

For several more minutes Amber took punishment from Lexi, making sure to give the veteran time to get over strong with the crowd. Then it was her turn. When Lexi ran at her, Amber grabbed her by the waist, launched her in the air over her head and Lexi hit the mat with her back. Taking the opportunity she moved to the outside of the ring, climbed the ropes and leaped off the turnbuckle for a Shawn Michaels style flying elbow. She made contact then quickly scrambled to her feet.

Playing her part well, using the ropes, Lexi staggered to her feet, turned and Amber ran at her, launching herself and pulling Lexi into a textbook codebreaker. Lexi played up the move perfectly, but before Amber to cover for the pin, Roman reached under the bottom rope and pulled Lexi to safety.

He barely had Lexi on her feet when Amber bounced off the far rope, ran across the ring and leaped through the ropes, taking Roman and Lexi to the mats. Seth moved in to help and Dean rounded the corner of the ring and began pounding on Seth. Amber staggered to her feet the same time Lexi did and the girls began trading blows outside the ring. All the while the ref had began to count. Though it didn't appear to matter to the girls and the announcers were quick to play up that fact.

Amber shoved Lexi against the ring, back first, then Lexi grabbed Amber by the hair and slammed her against the barrier. Meanwhile Roman had gotten to his feet and moved in to help Seth. With the three men brawling and Amber and Lexi in their own world the ref had no choice but to call for the bell.

"As a result of a double disqualification, this match has resulted in a draw," Lilian announced.

Ten minutes later, Amber burst through the backstage curtain with Dean and launched herself into Seth's arms. "Oh. My. God," she squealed as he held her. "That was freaking amazing." She turned and looked at Lexi. "I owe you such a huge thank you for this."

Lexi giggle as she pulled Amber into a hug. "You're so very welcome and you did fantastic out there. Management won't have a choice but to take notice of your new skills."

"Yeah, I'm sure you really made Bret proud," Roman offered.

"I know I'm proud as hell of you," Seth said as he gathered her against him for a second time. "And I don't know about you, but I'm ready to go celebrate."