Disclaimer, etc., in part 1.

Part Nine

She stood at ringside, once again wishing that she wasn't there, but not really feeling that she had a choice in the matter.

It had been two weeks. Two long weeks since it had all happened. The cuts were gone. Wearing high heels no longer hurt her. She avoided Jeff unless they were at arenas, where she made sure that they were always around other people. She'd figured that much out. He wanted people to love him, and if he acted like a shit toward her in front of other people, then he might get called on it. So she made sure she was never alone with him. She'd ridden to all the shows with Kelly, the blonde woman continually muttering about wanting to run Jeff down with their rental car but never actually doing anything about it. Sometimes she felt like telling Kelly to just stop going on about it, but she didn't want to lose her only friend - Maria virtually ignored her unless she was giving her a dirty look - so Eve kept her mouth shut, letting Kelly fantasize about doing harm to Jeff. She knew it was innocent enough; Kelly wouldn't actually do anything to the man. But Eve knew damn good and well that there was someone else that was still chomping at the bit to do some damage to the younger Hardy brother.

CM Punk.

She knew that he watched her. She'd caught him a few times... Happened to look over and catch his eye. He hadn't seemed embarrassed about it, just holding her gaze for a few moments before looking away. It didn't bother her to know he was keeping an eye on her, not really. Sometimes she worried that he would just go bonkers and beat the shit out of Jeff and then there would be so much to explain... Why he did it, all of that... But so far, he'd held himself back. Oh, she'd seen him glare daggers in Jeff's general direction on more than one occasion, but she didn't think anyone else had seen it. Or if they had, they hadn't really paid attention to it. She hadn't heard any whispers about anyone thinking there might be problems between the two men. And despite the fact that she knew CM Punk was trying to keep an eye on her, trying to make sure that she was okay, despite the fact that she knew damn good and well that he hadn't stopped hating Jeff for what the man had done to her... Part of her thought that, maybe, just maybe, CM Punk had given up on the idea of going after Jeff himself. He did, after all, have his own problems to deal with. One problem in particular, really, that had the downside of being physically capable of tearing Punk in half if he wanted to - Umaga. The behemoth had been giving Punk trouble for weeks, since before everything had happened between her and Jeff, and the problems had continued right up to tonight's pay per view - Extreme Rules. The two men had faced each other in a match tonight, in a Samoan Strap match, as it had been dubbed, which really wasn't any different than a regular strap match. CM Punk and Umaga had been connected to one another by a strap, and the winner of the match was the first guy to touch each of the four corners consecutively. No one had given Punk a chance to win, but he had. He'd somehow overcome the odds and beaten the big man, managing to hit the GTS on Umaga in order to get that fourth and final turnbuckle. She and Kelly had exchanged a smile at the end of the match, unable to cheer out loud since they'd been in the divas' locker room and would have been questioned about it. In reality, Eve had just been relieved that Punk had come out of the match without any major damage done. The fact that he'd actually won the match as well was just icing on the cake.

After CM Punk's match had ended, the rest of the pay per view had passed by in a bit of a blur, Eve wandering around a bit in order to avoid Jeff Hardy... But the final match of the night had finally come and now, here she was, standing at ringside while Jeff Hardy battled it out with Edge in a ladder match for the world heavyweight title. And to be honest, Eve sometimes found it ridiculous that they actually differentiated between a ladder match and a TLC match these days... The truth was, the two matches were more or less one and the same. In both case, the title - or briefcase or whatever - was hung above the ring and the object of the match was to climb and ladder and get the thing down. In both matches, anything was legal, which meant that tables and chairs could be used in ladder matches just as much as they could be used in TLC matches. She supposed the only difference was the name of the match and that tables and chairs were actually laid out at ringside for a TLC match. In a ladder match, the competitors had to get the chairs and tables on their own. It didn't really matter. Whatever the case, any weapon was allowed, and most of them were used at some point in the match. Edge had actually put Jeff in a sharpshooter through a ladder at one time in the match, the maneuver painful enough that Jeff had actually tapped out... Not that it meant anything, since this wasn't a submission match. The only way it would end was when one of them climbed to the top of the ladder and took possession of the title.

Eve hated the fact that she wasn't actually sure which one of them she wanted to see win.

The truth was, she didn't mind seeing Jeff Hardy in pain. Not anymore. Not after what he'd done to her two weeks before. It had been a bit difficult to act worried when Edge had put Jeff in the ladder-assisted sharpshooter. She'd actually wanted to smile at his pain, to mock him, but she'd known she couldn't do that. Not with so many eyes on her. Not when she couldn't be sure Jeff wouldn't get himself high as a kite and track her down to come after her later. So she'd acted concerned, though she'd been mentally patting Edge on the back for his ingenuity all the while. But the thing was... She wasn't so sure she wanted Edge to win, either. The guy was a jerk. He threw his weight around to keep getting title shots and title reigns because of who he was with, and he was a total creep. Of course, she was pretty sure that Edge didn't step into the ring after snorting stuff up his nose, and the same couldn't exactly be said for Jeff, so... Both of them were assholes, but in different ways. And while it would be nice if there was a way for neither of them to walk out of Extreme Rules with the title in hand, there were only two men in the match, and one of them had to walk away the winner.

And at the moment, it looked like that winner was going to be none other than Jeff Hardy.

Eve remained silent as she watched what was happening in the ring... The men had been fighting over the ladder, both trying to get to the title, and then Jeff had managed to hang Edge up in the ladder, the man falling through the rungs and getting stuck there as Jeff made his way up the ladder, reaching up and pulling the title free from its position hanging over the ring. And just like that, the match was over. Jeff's music was ringing out through the arena, the fans were going wild, and Eve couldn't do anything but stand there and stare. Logically, she'd know that there was a good chance Jeff would come out of the match as the new champion, but somehow, she hadn't been really prepared for it... Nor was it something she felt she could cheer for, especially when her mind was already coming up with all the ways that Jeff would probably celebrate, and only a few of the substances he'd be likely to ingest were legal.

She knew, of course, that she should climb into the ring and celebrate with him, but something stopped her, Eve unable to make herself go up to him and hug him and act like she gave a damn that he had a new gold belt to wear around his waist, so she instead continued to stand at ringside, forcing herself to clap and cheer and pretend that she was happy - she had to at least do that to keep up with the facade; she was, after all, still his manager. Even though she knew she had to behave, it was hard to fight the urge to roll her eyes when Jim Ross climbed into the ring with a microphone, clearly intending to interview Jeff on his 'amazing achievement'. Eve couldn't help but wonder if Jeff was sober enough to give an interview... Of course, if he wasn't and what he said didn't make any sense, they'd just write it off to him being in pain from his match. Everyone made excuses for Jeff. Before he'd tossed her out of their rental car a couple of weeks ago, she'd even made excuses for Jeff, so she wasn't any better than anyone else.

Shaking her head slightly, Eve prepared herself to listen to the interview - maybe even to be called into the ring so she could gush over Jeff's title win as well - the diva's back toward the ramp as she stood there at ringside... But her back didn't stay toward the ramp for very long. Because Jeff's music wasn't playing any longer. Someone else's music was ringing out, music she knew very well... Music that had already played tonight. More than once, actually. Once for his entrance, and once after he'd won his match. And it was playing again now.

CM Punk. And as she spun around to find him coming out with a referee, it hit her. The realization hit her as she saw the briefcase he held, the reminder that, at WrestleMania a few months before, CM Punk had been the winner of the money in the bank ladder match... For the second year in a row, actually. Last year, he'd cashed it in on Edge after the man had been attacked by Batista. And this year, right here, right now, he was cashing it in on Jeff Hardy.

As he made his way down the ramp with the referee at his side, he wasn't looking at Jeff Hardy, not at this moment. Instead he was looking at her, meeting her eyes, and Eve knew without a doubt that he was cashing in here, now, because of her. Because of what he knew Jeff had done. He'd told her that he was going to pick his time and his place and that he was going to hurt Jeff, and this was the time, this was the place. He'd bided his time the past two weeks, waiting until now, when Jeff suddenly had the title he'd always wanted, a title he'd held before, but only for a matter of weeks. And now, just minutes after he'd gotten it back, CM Punk was intending to take it from him again. And in the process, CM Punk was turning himself into the villain. It wouldn't matter to the fans that Punk had every right to do this. That the money in the bank contract was all about being an opportunist. Taking down a champion when he was already vulnerable. Because Punk was taking down their hero. And he was doing it because of her; she knew he was. If Edge had come out victorious tonight, odds were that Punk wouldn't have come out to cash in. He wanted to hurt Jeff, and this was the way to do it.

She felt a hand at her hip as Punk passed her by, just there for a moment, his fingers brushing the small amount of bare skin that showed between the bottom of her shirt and the top of her jeans, nearly causing her to shiver. The touch was brief, gone almost as soon as she registered it, and Eve knew that he'd kept it that way on purpose. While she knew that his decision to cash in right now had at least something to do with her, CM Punk wasn't about to let anyone else know that. He was going to let people think that this was all about him, all about the title and him seeing the best opportunity to get the title. And if she hadn't locked eyes with him, if he had just walked by her without even touching her at all, she would have believed that was what it was all about. The fans, however, knew nothing about what Jeff had done to her, knew nothing about how Punk had helped her or how furious he'd been, so they would believe it was just about the title. They would believe that Punk had seen his chance and taken it.

And they would hate him for it.

Eve knew it. The fans practically worshipped Jeff for the risks he took; the majority of them would hate whoever it was that had taken Jeff's moment of glory, and that was exactly what CM Punk was doing. He was standing there, in the ring, barely waiting for Jeff to get to his feet, barely waiting for the match to be announced and the bell to ring before he yanked Jeff up for the GTS. He hit it easily - despite having a match himself tonight, Punk was clearly by far the fresher man, clearly in far less pain - then went for the pin... The crowd erupting when Jeff somehow managed to kick out at two. The fans went even crazier when Jeff tried to roll Punk up for a surprise win, managing a two count of his own before the younger CM Punk got his shoulders off the mat, something like shock and fury in the younger man's eyes as he got back to his feet. He yanked Jeff up with him, getting him back up on his shoulders for another GTS and, this time, it was just too much for Jeff. He had no fight left in him and once the surprise roll-up failed, there wasn't much else Jeff could do. CM Punk rolled Jeff over onto his back, hooked the leg, and got the pin.

Jeff Hardy, the man that had become the new World Heavyweight Champion less than five minutes before, was now the former champion.

CM Punk was the new champion. He'd cashed in on Jeff, taken out the vulnerable champion, and he was now holding the World Heavyweight Championship over his head as the crowd tried to figure out what had happened... Eve could see Jeff laying there, wondering where it all went wrong, wondering this had happened to him here and now... The diva fighting to keep her expression neutral when she really wanted to smile because she knew why it had happened, she knew why Punk had chosen this moment. The look in the man's eyes as he turned his head to meet her gaze told her exactly why he'd chosen this moment. And she was glad for it. Eve was glad that this had happened to Jeff. That he'd gotten what he wanted only to have it taken away an instant later. Maybe it made her a bitch, but she was glad she was hurting. But even as she stood there, secretly enjoying the lost look on Jeff's face, she couldn't help but wonder exactly what he would do now.

And whether or not she would somehow be the one to pay for this.