Disclaimer, etc., in part 1. Thanks to everyone reading this one. :)

Part Twenty-Two

Eve pushed her hair back from her face, the diva walking alongside Roman Reigns in the backstage area, the big man walking her back to the General Manager's office while Rollins and Ambrose went back to whatever place they'd picked as their locker room for the night. The diva almost had to smile at the way various coworkers seemed to automatically give them a wide berth... Even without the others as backup, Roman Reigns was still intimidating. Of course, he had speared Kane through the barricade during the Shield's first-ever match, and he occasionally powerbombed people through tables, so being intimidated was pretty understandable. A glance over at the man reminded Eve that the look on his face was probably helpful in getting people to stay away, too. The man had the death glare down pat.

"You know, I should bring you shopping with me. Everyone would stay the hell out of my way when I was going for the bargains if you were there and had that look on your face," she said, and Roman looked over at her, the big man smiling at her, quickly reminding her that, no matter how intimidating he looked, he'd been nothing but nice to her in the short time that she'd been the Shield's manager. Truthfully, they'd all been nice to her... And the fact of the matter was, she really wasn't intimidated by Seth or Roman any longer, but there was still something about Dean Ambrose... Even though his behavior had been perfectly fine as well, she just couldn't seem to feel entirely comfortable around the man yet... And she was pretty sure he knew it. And maybe that was part of the problem; the guy just seemed too damned perceptive.

"Got to tell you, I'd make a pretty lousy shopping buddy. I complain too much, and if I got really bored, I'd just start telling everyone that came out of the dressing room for their friends' opinions that their butts look big," Roman told her, and Eve reached out, smacking him on the arm.

"You never tell a woman that!"

"Which is pretty much the point. I get bored, I start to misbehave. At least one person in this company has been powerbombed through something because I got bored," Roman said, then looked over at her. "Anyone you want to see get powerbombed? I know you said you'd probably get fired if I speared Teddy Long or whatever, but I figure if it's another wrestler, it's all good."

"I'll have to think about that one," Eve said, smiling slightly. There were a few people that would make good targets in her opinion, but still... She didn't want to give anyone an inflated sense of importance by sending the Shield after them.

"Well, let me know what you decide," the big man replied, the two of them quickening their pace a bit as they approached Booker T's office... Eve frowning as she heard an all-too-familiar (and annoying) voice coming from the office. And while she supposed that she shouldn't be surprised to hear the man's voice - he was, after all, the senior advisor to the General Manager - she was surprised by what the man was saying.

"Now, Booker, I thought we'd discussed this whole thing with Eve Torres and the Shield. I mean, I thought we had an understanding, but then she walked out there with them tonight, and... Those men are dangerous, and as I said before, I might have been a little hasty in putting her with them. It would be best if you just let me change her assignment-"

"Well, maybe you should have thought about that before you made the assignment in the first place," Eve declared as she stepped into the room, very aware that Roman had stepped in right behind her, the man only needing to take one extra step in order to come to stand beside her. The divas' champion smiled as Teddy Long looked over at them, his eyes widening when he realized that, even now, she had a member of the Shield with her.

"Now listen here, Eve-"

"No. You see, Booker has already brought your 'concerns' to my attention," Eve told him, the diva using finger quotes as she said the word 'concerns'. She generally hated people that did that, but it had just felt like the thing to do at this particular moment in time... Just in case Teddy hadn't noticed the sarcastic tone she used on that word. Giving the man a wide-eyed look, the woman continued. "And while I'm ever so grateful that you're worried about little ol' me... Your worries are completely unfounded."

"Completely," Roman put in, the man nodding in agreement to Eve words. "And to be honest, back at RAW, you seemed more concerned about the fact that we *don't* have a problem with Eve than anything else."

Eve looked over at Booker. "As I said earlier, I'm perfectly fine with managing the Shield. Is this something I'm going to have to worry about? That I might get used to managing them, only to have you decide on some whim that I have to manage someone else instead?" the diva wanted to know. "Is that something that all of us that were assigned someone to manage will have to worry about now? Will Kaitlyn show up one day to find out she's managing 3MB instead of Team Hell No? Will Layla suddenly be told that she can't manage Kofi Kingston any longer and now has to manage Antonio Cesaro? Are we just going to be yanked around and have our careers continually messed with at someone else's whim? I mean, obviously it's up to the General Manager to decide on our matches for the night and all of that, but are we going to now have to worry about some sort of musical chairs with our managerial assignments? Because that's a little ridiculous."

"Eve, that is not going to happen."

"If you let him change my assignment, then there's no guarantee that he wouldn't decide to change someone else's. And if he wants to play the card about being concerned about my safety... The Shield has never gone after a diva. The same can't be said for one of the men that Kaitlyn is currently assigned to manage," Eve stated, the woman arching a brow as she spoke. "And all you would need for proof of that is to take a look at what was happening to me a year ago."

Booker T cleared his throat. "Eve, you already made your feelings on this clear... And I'm inclined to agree with you-"

"Booker-"

"Eve does not want her assignment changed, and the Shield has done nothing to harm her, nor seem to have any inclination to do so. Unless that changes, she will remain assigned to them," the man said, then looked over at Eve. "Thank you for going through that paperwork for me tonight. That's all I needed you for, so as it is, you are free to do as you please for the rest of the night."

"Okay then. I guess I'll just be going," the diva said, starting to go and get her things from the couch, but Roman beat her to them, the man shouldering her bag, then heading for the door... Eve moving to follow, stopping to look back at Booker and his advisor, noting the stony expression on Teddy's face, the man clearly unhappy with the way things had turned out. Smiling, the diva gave him a jaunty little wave, then headed out the door with Roman Reigns at her side.