Disclaimer, etc., in part 1.

Part Eleven

They'd been right, of course. The fans saw CM Punk as the bad guy in all of this. Never mind that they'd cheered their butts off when he'd cashed in on a vulnerable Edge the year before. This year, he'd cashed in on a vulnerable Jeff Hardy. Their hero. A hero that had, to the best of Eve's knowledge, spent the days after Extreme Rules drugged up on painkillers - and possibly a few other things. Yeah. A real hero. She could understand taking something for the pain after a ladder match. But Jeff didn't just take medication; he abused it. She knew it, and she hated the fact that she'd ignored it for too long. She hated the fact that everyone out there thought he could do no wrong. She hated that people made excuses for him.

"You okay?"

Eve looked over at Kelly, the blonde diva that she was sharing a hotel room with. One of her only friends in the company, especially now that Maria was siding with Jeff. The brunette shrugged. "I'm okay. I just... Tonight was..." She shook her head.

"Yeah. But hey... Even though you and Melina lost... at least you got a match tonight. And technically... Melina's the one that was pinned. If you stop managing Jeff... Maybe you really could wrestle more."

"I need more experience. Before I can think of becoming a full-time wrestler, I need more experience. And just turning on Jeff..." She wrapped her arms around herself, fighting back a shudder as she remembered the look she'd seen in his eyes a few weeks before, when she'd threatened to tell an official he was too high to compete. The way he'd slammed her against the wall and put his arm across her throat. The way he'd looked at her. She hadn't told anyone about that just yet. Not Kelly, not Punk... Definitely not Punk. The man didn't need another reason to get into it with Jeff. He had enough already.

"If he wants to keep being the hero in the eyes of the fans, then he wouldn't attack you-"

"Not in front of people. He already threw me out of a car, Kelly. Left me in the middle of nowhere. I can't be sure he won't try to find a way to get back at me if I just leave him... Especially if I don't have backup."

"CM Punk would back you up," Kelly said, watching Eve carefully as she spoke, frowning as the other woman stiffened slightly. "Why don't you want that? Why are scared of that? He helped you-"

"I know he did. I know he's been nothing but nice to me, and I know that he's taking the brunt of the fans' anger over this. He's willing to be the bad guy to get at Jeff. And I want to trust him, Kelly. I really do. But..."

"But what?"

"I trusted Jeff. Once upon a time. And look what he did to me. I mean, the way he's treated me... I knew Jeff Hardy had problems. I knew about the suspensions. I'd heard about why he'd left the company back in 2002. I knew all of that. But I thought he was past it... Or at least mostly. And I didn't think..." She shook her head, then looked over at Kelly. "I'm not so sure that it's that I don't trust CM Punk. I think it's that I don't trust myself."

"Eve... Punk is not Jeff Hardy," the blonde woman said, and the brunette heaved out a sigh, jerking her hands through her long hair.

"I know he isn't. But I don't trust myself. I don't trust my own judgment anymore. I want to trust myself... I want to trust him, but... I trusted Jeff, and that was a big screw up. A huge one. Obviously. I look at him, and it's like I don't even recognize him anymore. He's not who I thought he was... And then there's CM Punk. I don't know him, not really. Before all of this happened, I just... I'd interviewed him a few times, and I said hello to him whenever I saw him. He hasn't even been on the SmackDown roster all that long. And I know that he helped me out, and I know that part of the reason he went after Jeff when he did was because of me, but... It's still hard."

"I know. You know, he's still protecting you, even now," Kelly stated. "I mean... Tonight, on SmackDown, he could have told the truth about why he did what he did. He could have admitted it was partly because of you. Instead he just said that he was going to cash in on whoever won the ladder match because he knew that whoever won it would be an easy target." The blonde smiled slightly. "I did think it was a nice touch how he said Jeff only had himself to blame since Jeff's the one that chose the stipulation of the title match being a ladder match and all."

"Well, it's true. He did choose the stipulation-"

"I know. Of course, I think we both know that when Punk said it was Jeff's fault that he cashed in, it wasn't just because of the stipulation. The crowd doesn't know it, but you do," Kelly said, and Eve heaved out a sigh.

"Yeah. I'm just glad I didn't have to be out there for that bit tonight," she said, thinking about it. The show had opened with CM Punk talking about his win, the segment ending up being interrupted first by Jeff, then by Edge, both men demanding a rematch for the title. Instead of being out there with Jeff, however, Eve had been backstage, preparing for her match. Jeff had wanted her to go out there with him, but her tag team partner for the night Melina had put a stop to that by giving Hardy a glare and declaring in no uncertain terms that Eve was not going out there when he confronted Punk because the two divas had a match tonight and Jeff's confrontation of Punk was likely going to end up in a brawl that would have the potential of Eve getting hurt if she was out there. With that said, Melina had slammed the door to the divas' locker room in Jeff's face, then returned to Eve's side to talk strategy for their match. For her part, Eve had been glad to see Melina tell Jeff to more or less shove it, and she'd also been relieved not to be out there. The truth was, she wasn't sure how she was going to react to being out there as Jeff's manager when he faced Punk in a match. She was too shocked to really have much of a reaction at Extreme Rules, but now... Now, she'd be going out there at Jeff's side with the knowledge that he'd be trying to take the title from Punk. Of course, it wouldn't exactly be a one-on-one match. Edge and Jeff had fought in a number one contenders match in the main event on SmackDown, the match ending in a DQ thanks to Punk retaliating when Edge had basically thrown Jeff into him, and it had been declared by Teddy Long that there would be a triple threat for the title on Monday's special episode of RAW.

"Well, yeah, you're glad you didn't have to be out there tonight. Because you could have gotten hurt if you had been," Kelly stated, and Eve shook her head.

"It's not that. I mean... I wouldn't have wanted to end up in the middle of things and get hurt. Obviously. I just... I'm really not sure that I would have been able to act like I was supposed to. It might have been written all over my face how glad I was that CM Punk did what he did. I mean, I've been able to play the part of Jeff's manager the past couple of weeks. I've done it pretty well. But that's when he's been facing Edge and really... Edge is an ass. Everyone knows the only reason he got with Vickie Guerrero was as a way to keep the title. He's a creep and a user and I don't like him any more than I like Jeff. I mean, he's never pulled the crap that Jeff pulled, but maybe that's just because I've never gotten in a car with him. And you and I both know that Edge would have speared me if I'd ever gotten involved in anything. He's definitely not above attacking a woman. But Punk... It's a completely different thing. I *do* want him to beat Jeff. I want him to hold onto that world title. And I'm afraid it's going to be written all over my face."

"I can't really blame you if it is. Punk's the knight in shining armor in this one, whether anyone else knows it or not."

Eve smiled slightly at that. "Knight in shining armor? Really? Why is it that I think CM Punk wouldn't exactly love being called that?" the brunette wanted to know, and Kelly shrugged her shoulders.

"Beats me. But you're probably right. He doesn't seem the type to like that label... Even if it kind of fits him here." The blonde gave a small smile. "Tattooed knight in tarnished armor, maybe?"

Eve rolled her eyes. "Whatever. The point is... I don't know if I can act the part of Jeff's manager any longer. I don't know if I should care about it. Maybe I should just turn against him. Cost him a match. Something." She shook her head. "Maybe it's not worth it. This job."

"If you wrestle more, the fact that you're not managing anyone wouldn't hurt your job."

"But I'm still a beginner, Kelly. I've had some matches, mostly against Layla lately... But she only has a bit more experience than I do. I mean, she came is as a dancer-"

"As I well know," the blonde said, making a face at the reminder of the whole Extreme Expose thing... Even if Eve hadn't mentioned the group by name. She'd thought Brooke and Layla were her friends back then, but then there had been that thing with the Miz - she hated him and they didn't - and well... She hadn't been too sorry when Brooke left the company, and she didn't exactly like Layla anymore, either. But it was something that had lasted for awhile, meaning that despite the fact that Layla had won the diva search the year before Eve had, the British diva didn't have a great deal more experience in the ring than the Denver native. "But the fact that she started off in Extreme Expose and was once a member of the Miami Heat's dance team doesn't change the fact that you still beat her."

"Well, I used to be a member of the LA Clippers dance team, so I don't have room to talk about her on that one. But if I were to stop managing Jeff, I would need more than just a few wins against Layla to go on." The diva sighed. "And on top of that... I can't help but be nervous about the idea of Jeff attacking me if I do quit on him-"

"If he wants the fans to love him, he won't touch you. They'd turn against him if he attacked you," Kelly began, and Eve shook her head.

"Not true. He could paint me as an interfering bitch, they'd eat it up, and they'd cheer him when he did the Swanton on me. If a woman is perceived badly, then people cheer when she gets taken out, especially if it's by one of their supposed 'heroes'. Yeah. Violence against a woman makes a man really heroic."

"Punk wouldn't let Jeff hurt you-"

"And maybe I shouldn't have to rely on some guy to save me," Eve snapped back. "I hate this. I hate being made to feel weak, and right now I'm really pissed off at myself for letting it get to this point. Yeah, I'm scared of what will happen if I turn against Jeff, but... I should just say screw it and take the consequences. Stand up for myself instead of just being a weak little girl-"

"You think that's what this is? You being weak because you're a woman? Because this all started when Jeff Hardy got high, shoved you out of the car, and left you. That didn't happen just because you're a woman. He could have just as easily done it to someone else. His brother. One of his so-called friends. Anyone. He didn't shove you out of the car because you're a girl; he did it because he's an asshole. He could have done the same thing to... he could have done it to Punk if Punk had been the one in the car. Caught him by surprise, shoved him out, then drove off. Jeff's the one that should be ashamed about what happened. Not you. He's the bastard here," Kelly said, then heaved out a breath that sent her bangs into the air briefly.

Eve sighed. "You're right. He is the bastard." She shook her head. "I don't know why I care. You know, about what people think of me. I mean, they think that the sun shines out of Jeff's ass. Why should I care if they hate me?"

"Because everybody wants to be liked. Look, Eve... You're my friend. One of the only people in this company that doesn't make blonde jokes when they see me, and pretty much the only woman that doesn't like to repeatedly remind me of how I got my start here and how I don't belong," Kelly said quietly. "So the thing is, whatever you decide to do... I'm still going to be your friend. Got it?"

"Got it. And Kelly?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. For listening to my crap and... for everything," Eve said, and the blonde girl smiled.

"That's what friends are for, right?"