Disclaimer, etc., in part 1. Thanks to everyone that has reviewed/followed/favorited this one. :-)

Part Fifteen

As they made their way to the back, Eve found herself leaning a bit heavily against Rollins, the woman still working to catch her breath after what had happened after the end of the match... She hadn't had any warning before Big E had grabbed hold of her and yanked her out of the ring, and Eve figured that she was probably lucky that she hadn't ended up slamming her face against the floor or something. As it was, she'd definitely had the wind knocked out of her and it seemed she was still working to get it back.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Seth questioned as his arm tightened a little bit at her waist, and the divas' champion nodded.

"Yeah, I just... Knocked the breath out of me when he pulled me out of the ring," Eve replied, not realizing until she went to straighten up and maybe move away from him that she'd been holding onto Seth as well... Her fingers were actually a bit tangled in the material of the vest he wore. Quickly untangling herself, Eve forced herself to straighten, putting a little bit of distance between herself and the man that had been her tag team partner that night... But not much distance, really. Just enough that she was no longer leaning on him. She could still feel his hand resting lightly on her back, though, as if he was ready to step in and help if she seemed at all shaky.

"What the hell was that?"

Eve froze at the sound of the voice, Rollins immediately stepping closer to her, and Ambrose actually moved to stand in front of her. She could feel the presence of Roman Reigns just behind her, and Eve forced herself not to react as she felt Roman's hand come down to rest on her shoulder.

Ambrose crossed his arms over his chest as he looked at Teddy Long, the man that had dared to approach them. "I'm not sure I understand what you mean," the blonde man stated, tilting his head to the side. Eve got the sense that he was smirking down at the other man.

Teddy, apparently not smart enough to be scared of the three hulking men in front of him, shook his head. "This is not what I-"

"Not what you intended?" Dean broke in. "Well, too damn bad. You made the call, Teddy. You're the one that decided it would be fun to mess with the careers of all the women in the company. You're the one that decided to put Eve with us. I guess you had visions of us leaving her to fend for herself tonight dancing through your head... Maybe you were hoping we'd finish it off with a triple powerbomb on her or something?" he questioned, stepping closer to the older and much smaller man. Teddy, at least, had the good sense to take a step back.

"I didn't-"

"You hate Eve because she's younger, smarter, and probably because she's a woman and you just can't stand that a woman is better than you at the job. Because face it, when she became Booker T's assistant, she spent the first month or so repeatedly making you look like a dumbass. And you didn't even make her work for it. All she had to do was actually do her job and you looked like an idiot because you weren't doing a damn thing. Hell, behind Khali, you're the biggest piece of dead weight in the entire company," Ambrose said, tossing a smirk over his shoulder at the others as he spoke. Shaking his head, he turned his attention back to Teddy Long. "You put Eve with us because you thought we would do your dirty work for you. That was your mistake. Because, you see, we don't care about what you think about us. We have no reason to try and get in your favor. You basically gave Eve to us-"

"And I can take her away, too," Teddy declared, though he didn't sound entirely sure of that. In fact, from what Eve could see, he looked a little scared... And very much like he thought he had made a very bad mistake.

Ambrose actually laughed at that. "And how do you plan to do that? You announced a week ago, in the middle of the ring, that you were putting her with us. You looked so pleased with yourself. Didn't he, guys?"

"Like he thought he'd won the friggin' lottery or something," Seth replied, his gloved hand sliding up a little, settling just at the base of Eve's neck. Roman's hand lightly squeezed her shoulder.

"Doesn't look like he feels that way now, though. Looks like he knows he screwed up," the big man said, and Ambrose nodded.

"And that he did. Doesn't take a brainiac to know what you thought would happen. And seeing as we have no problem with Eve and we *do* have a problem with authority... Well, there you go. You're the one that made her a member of the Shield, and now you're going to have to deal with the consequences. I mean, what else are you going to do? Go to Booker and tell him you want to make a switch? I suppose you could, but what reason could you give? That we were too nice to her? You gonna admit that you tried to get her hurt? That you thought you were putting her in a position to be out there without a partner tonight, and that it backfired on you big-time? Face it, little man. You fucked up, and now you have to deal with it."

"I can make your lives very d-difficult," Teddy said, actually stammering a bit over the last word, which wasn't a big surprise. Ambrose was practically in his face, and the man could be intimidating... Not to mention that Rollins and Reigns were right there as well, though neither of them had moved away from Eve.

"That so? Well, we can make your life very... Painful. Eve Torres is our manager. She's a part of the Shield, and we take care of our own. So remember... You mess with her? Then it's not just her problem any longer. It's *our* problem," the man said, then turned toward the others, his gaze landing on Eve for a long moment. "Anything you want to add?"

Eve stepped forward, moving to stand beside Ambrose. "Just one thing," she replied, then hauled off and slapped Teddy Long across the face, causing him to stumble back. She leaned in close to the man, her voice low enough that none of the members of the Shield could hear what she was saying. "I know what you did. What you had Aksana do. Kaitlyn knows it, too. And now you've put me with the Shield. You've tried to give me enemies, but in the end, you gave me allies. You want to keep coming at me, go ahead. But you're not going to win." Straightening up, she took a step back. "I'm ready now."

"Then let's go."