Disclaimer, etc., in part 1.

Part Thirty-Nine

Seth hissed through his teeth, wincing a little, and Eve sent him an apologetic look.

"Sorry," she said as she went back to work cleaning up the nasty-looking scrape that he'd managed to get during the backstage fight with Langston and Ziggler. She'd actually had to dig a few tiny pieces of concrete out of the injury.

"It's got to be done," Seth replied, then shook his head. "We should have been paying better attention."

"Dude, we were paying attention. Unfortunately, one of them came at me with a chair, and the other one came at you from the other side once they had us distracted," Roman replied, the man frowning down at his bruised knuckles. He insisted he was fine, but since he'd actually punched a steel chair and not just another human being, Eve was insisting that he at least ice his hand a bit, and Ambrose had gone off to get the requested ice. It seemed that none of the men were very willing to go against Eve's directives... At least not at the moment, not when it came to her making sure they were all taken care of.

"They had a plan, knew that Dean and I wouldn't be there, and they executed the plan... Though if they were smarter, they would have gotten out of there before Dean and I got back to the back," Eve put in, frowning as she looked at Seth's arm. Some parts of the scrape were still bleeding, though it wasn't as bad as before. Shaking her head, she dug into her first aid kit for a bandage that was big enough to cover the entire scrape. Seth arched a brow as he watched her.

"Are you always this prepared?" he wanted to know, and Eve shrugged.

"I try to be. You never know when you'll need something, so I like to make sure I have some stuff around," the woman replied, her attention on his arm as she carefully bandaged it. "There. That should do it."

Seth nodded, frowning slightly as he looked at her. "Thanks. You know, you didn't have to do that-"

"Well, it would have been awkward for you to see it... Making sure the bits of concrete and everything were out of it. Better to have me take care of it than have you miss something," she said, and Seth nodded, frowning a little as he looked down at the bandage on his arm. Shrugging, he looked up at her.

"You know, we heard you on commentary... The way Lawler was trying to bait you and all."

"The guy's an ass that is past his prime. He should have retired after what happened a few months ago... For his health, and for our ears," Eve replied. "I don't wish ill health on anyone, but you'd think that what happened to him would be a wakeup call that maybe he needs to call it quits. I know they'll never let him in a WWE ring for a match again, but all the travel probably isn't great for him, either."

"Some people don't know when to give it up," Seth replied, and Eve nodded.

"True enough," she said, glancing down at his arm one last time before going to stand, the woman getting to her feet and stepping away from the wrestler just as the door opened... Quickly, she spun to face the door, aware of Seth tensing up behind her, the man standing as well... Then sitting back down when they realized that it was just Dean coming back from his trip to get ice from the trainers.

Ambrose arched a brow at them, clearly noting their reactions, then tossed the ice pack in Roman's direction, the big man catching it easily and pressing it against his knuckles. "Everything cool in here?" Dean wanted to know, and Eve nodded.

"We're good. Just a little on edge, I guess."

"Well, considering what happened earlier, we probably should be," Dean replied, his eyes on hers for a long moment, then he broke the gaze, instead looking around the room at large. "Now that Ziggler and Langston have gone with a backstage attack against us, there's no telling who else might decide it's a good idea... We've got ourselves some enemies already since we came here. Some of them might just decide that they had the right idea."

"Then we'll just have to be ready for them," Roman stated calmly. "And unless they band together... Most people we've gone after have been people that are solo... People that are only teaming together because they're assigned to, not because they're a team. When all of us are together, people are less likely to try an ambush because unless they've managed to recruit, we would outnumber them. The only reason Ziggler and Langston felt good about trying to pull one over on us tonight is because Seth and I were in the back and you and Eve were out there in the ring. And even then - even with them having a chair as an equalizer - we gave as good as we got. We held our own, and then when you two got back there and Eve started tossing AJ around like a rag doll, they got the hell out of there."

Eve rolled her eyes. "I did not toss her around like a rag doll," she said, and Ambrose gave her a look.

"Come on, Princess. I saw you throw her into that wall like she didn't weigh a thing."

"Plus the whole bit where you took her legs out from under her when she was on that equipment crate, then dragged her off it," Seth put in. "I might have been in the middle of a fight at the time, but I managed to see that. I think the 'rag doll' comparison is a good one."

"Fine. I tossed her around like a rag doll. But she deserved it... Standing there on that crate, all high and mighty and laughing at you guys like she was the one that was doing something. She needed to be keeping an eye out for me - and was probably supposed to be making sure that Dean and I weren't approaching - and she wasn't. Which means that on top of being a brat, she's also a really crappy look-out, and maybe now she'll be thinking twice about stepping in the ring for that mixed tag on Friday," Eve said, and Ambrose smirked.

"She'll be more than thinking twice about it," he told her, and Eve frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm guessing she'll be thinking about it, anyway, since she won't actually be getting in there. Seems that when you tossed her into that wall, she caught herself badly and sprained her wrist. She's won't be getting in the ring. The match is cancelled. For now, anyway," Ambrose said, and Eve looked at the others.

"If I hurt her... They'll be looking for revenge," she said, and Roman arched a brow at her, gesturing toward Seth's arm and showing his own bruised knuckles.

"After what they pulled on us tonight? They aren't the only ones."