Disclaimer, etc., in part 1. Thanks to those reading/reviewing/following/favoriting this one. :-)

Part Eight

"Are you okay?"

Eve turned at the sound of the voice, the woman surprised to find that Kaitlyn was standing there, the younger woman obviously having come to find her. Forcing a little bit of a smile, the divas' champion shrugged. "I'm fine. I just..."

"You look kind of shaken up. You know, if you want to talk about it-"

"I'm fine," Eve said, shaking her head, and Kaitlyn rolled her eyes, the Houston native coming over and hopping up to sit on the equipment case that Eve was already seated on.

"I'm not trying to get the latest gossip or anything, you know. That's not what this is about. I actually came to see if you were okay," the other diva said, and Eve frowned.

"Why would you bother? You don't even like me."

"I didn't like you because I thought you were behind the attack at Night of Champions. I bought into what Teddy Long was saying. And now... Now I know from what Aksana said... I know they framed you. So... I feel bad. There's this guilt thing going on, and while I still want the divas' title - any woman in this company should want it since it's the only title we can fight for - well... It's not this personal vendetta any longer. Although I get it if you want to, like, kind of torture me or whatever for a little while because I believed them and all. But I figured that you have to be freaking out over what Teddy pulled tonight, so... I thought I'd give you the chance to talk about it if you wanted. Without the threat of it being all over the locker room within ten minutes because I'm not Alicia Fox."

"She does love her gossip, doesn't she?" Eve muttered, shaking her head, and Kaitlyn shrugged.

"Pretty much. I mean... She, like, thrives on it or something. But that's not me. I just... I wanted to know if you were okay, and well... You looked pretty freaked when I was walking up, so... Here I am. Feel free to talk or... not," Kaitlyn said, finishing up a bit awkwardly, and Eve actually smiled a little before heaving out a sigh.

"I spoke to the Shield," she said, deciding the best way to say it was the blunt way, and Kaitlyn's eyes grew wide as she took in the older woman's words.

"You... You went to find them?"

"No. They found me. I was walking down the hallway, and suddenly I was pulled into... I think it was actually a storage closet," Eve said, frowning a little, and Kaitlyn's expression grew more concerned.

"They... Oh, my God, are you okay? They didn't... Did they..."

Realizing what Kaitlyn was trying to ask, Eve shook her head. "They didn't hurt me. Seriously, he let go of me as soon as I was in the room. I mean, I pulled away from him, but he let me go. So fast I stumbled, actually." She pressed her lips together. "I'm pretty sure Seth Rollins reached out to help me when I stumbled."

"Which one grabbed you?"

"Dean Ambrose," Eve said, and Kaitlyn made a face at that, shuddering slightly. When she saw the look Eve gave her at that, the younger woman shrugged.

"Sorry, I just... For some reason, he's the member of the group that scares me the most. Which is really crazy, because Roman Reigns is the biggest guy in the group, and he's the one that put Kane through the barricade at TLC, but still... Ambrose kind of scares me."

Eve frowned slightly, the woman thinking about how she felt in that tiny room, standing just inches away from Dean Ambrose... At some points him standing so close to her that his arms actually brushed against hers as they'd stood there, both of them with their arms crossed over their chest. "You're not the only one that he scares. Reigns is pretty intimidating, too. But he didn't even... He never even spoke. Certainly didn't touch me. Rollins is probably the least intimidating of the group, and that doesn't mean... That doesn't mean he's not dangerous as well."

"Were they mad? About what Teddy did?"

"Yeah. But they weren't mad at me," Eve told her, the older woman tucking some hair behind her ear and turning a little so that she could face Kaitlyn a bit better. "It was... They're not upset with me at all. Or at least, Ambrose said that they weren't. He's the one that did most of the talking."

Kaitlyn shook her head. "No offense, but I would have run for the door the moment they got me in there."

"I thought about it. Might have done it, too, if Ambrose hadn't been in front of the door. I figured that if I tried to get past him, I would just end up embarrassing myself or something," Eve replied. "So I stayed, and I hoped that they wouldn't hurt me, and... I listened to what Ambrose had to say. And I pretty much agreed with his take on Teddy Long's motivation with this whole thing... Well, at least the part about assigning me to them."

"Because he's a total asshole that wants to see you humiliated?" Kaitlyn offered, and Eve snorted.

"You really think that's all he wants? Because I don't think Dean Ambrose was too far off when he said Teddy was probably hoping that they would be mad enough about this whole thing to hurt me," the woman said, and Kaitlyn's eyes widened, the other woman reaching out to take hold of Eve's arm... The same arm that Ambrose had grabbed earlier, though Kaitlyn was actually holding onto her more tightly than the man had. Eve could actually feel Kaitlyn's fingernails digging slightly into her skin.

"He didn't... I know you said they didn't hurt you, but... Was it a threat? I mean... When he said that... Was he threatening you?"

Eve shook her head, using her free hand to detach Kaitlyn's hand from her arm... The younger woman giving her an apologetic look as she realized how tightly she'd been holding on. "I don't think he was, actually," Eve replied. "In fact... He said that they were offended that Teddy would think they would hurt me. They haven't gone after any of the divas, you know."

"True."

"And, uh... Basically... Ambrose said that they didn't think what Teddy was doing was fair. He called it an 'injustice', which I guess is their word of choice." She sighed. "He knew I was afraid of them. I'm sure they all knew it. But... They said they wouldn't hurt me. Ambrose said it, anyway, and neither Reigns or Rollins contradicted him."

Kaitlyn arched a brow at her, tilting her head to the side. "Do you believe them?"

"I haven't decided yet."