Disclaimer, etc., in part 1.

Part Twenty-Eight

The woman pushed her hair back from her face, more than a little nervous as she stood there in front of the mirror. It wasn't that she didn't want the match against Maria; she did. More than anything, Eve wanted to step into that ring and make Maria Kanellis pay for hurting Kelly like she had. That didn't mean that Eve wasn't a little nervous about stepping into the ring. As Jeff Hardy's manager - something that she hoped she would stop being before too terribly long - she rarely ended up in wrestling matches of her own, so it was a bit of an odd feeling to know that she had a match on tonight's episode of SmackDown. But Teddy Long had promised her the match after what Maria had done to Kelly on Sunday at The Bash, and the SmackDown General Manager had come through for her and made the match for that night. In fact, her match against Maria was the second-to-last match on the card, right before the main event.

"I want you to cancel that match."

Eve spun around at the sound of the voice, trying not to show any alarm when she saw Jeff Hardy standing there. She kind of thought he was hoping she would look afraid of him. Instead, she lifted her chin, meeting his gaze unflinchingly. It was the first time she'd seen him since Sunday, the day of The Bash. A day when she'd been supposed to walk him out for his title shot against CM Punk, but she'd instead headed to the hospital with Kelly after Maria's attack on the young blonde.

"I'm sure you do. But the match is made, and I'm not about to ask Mr. Long to cancel it."

"I don't want you getting in the ring against Maria."

"Well, you should have thought about that before you sicced her on Kelly. And don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. You suspected that Kelly knew the truth about you, about what a drugged-out asshole you really are, so you came up with some story and you pointed Maria in her direction. You probably put the tire iron in her hand."

Jeff smirked. "Like you could prove it. No one would believe you if you tried to tell them it was my fault."

"What about Maria's boyfriend? You know... Dolph Ziggler? What happens when he asks why she did it? When he wants to know why his girlfriend went bonkers on Kelly? You think she's smart enough to come up with anything besides what you told her? To tell people that someone besides you pointed her in Kelly's direction?" Eve wanted to know. The diva shook her head. "I don't know why I ever thought you were a decent person. I guess you had me fooled. Just like everyone else. But the thing is, Jeff... You don't have me fooled any longer."

"Maybe not. But you'll stay in line. Because we both know that a girl like you isn't going to last around here without someone to manage. Especially not on a show like SmackDown. Sure, there's a title for the divas on each show now, but we both know you'll never be good enough to be the champion."

Eve's hands clenched into fists at his words, the diva finding herself wanting to punch him in the face... And wanting, quite desperately, to someday prove him wrong. To someday hold a title and be a champion here in the WWE. But that wasn't for her to worry about right now. That was for later. Right now, she had to worry about her match tonight. "It's your opinion. But my opinion is that, no matter how inexperienced a wrestler I am, no matter how bad you think I am... I'm still better than Maria. And that's what has you worried, isn't it? That I'll hurt your precious little Maria. The one girl in this company that is too dazzled by you to ever see through your facade."

Jeff's eyes narrowed, the man taking a step towards her. Eve could see that his hands were clenched into fists. "I want you to cancel that match."

"I already told you no," the brunette stated, her voice firm, and not for the first time, she wondered why it was that Jeff Hardy hadn't fired her as his manager at some point in the past month or two. He knew that she hated him, had to suspect that she would eventually turn on him... Or maybe he didn't. Maybe he thought that she was so unsure of herself, so unsure of her career, that she would stick with him for as long as he wanted her around... Even if she hated him. Maybe he enjoyed throwing his weight around with her, getting to be as nasty as he wanted. Maybe it was a bit of a release for him. He could be a complete ass to her, figuring that no one would believe it if she told, then put on his mask and play the nice guy when everyone else was around.

Jeff took another step toward her, making Eve wonder if he would actually attack her this time - it wouldn't be the first time he'd raised a hand to her if he did - but that thought was quickly cut off when the door to the divas' locker room opened and Melina stepped inside. Jeff immediately relaxed his stance as he heard the door swing open - it wouldn't do to let someone else see him looking like he wanted to punch his manager - but Melina still sent him a bit of a suspicious look.

"Am I interrupting something?" the older diva wanted to know, her gaze sliding between Jeff and Eve, and the woman shrugged her shoulders.

"Not really. Jeff was just coming to wish me luck on my match tonight. Weren't you, Jeff?" Eve said, turning her gaze toward the man, knowing he probably wanted to smack her for her words, but knowing that he couldn't. At least not now.

"Of course I was... Although I'm a bit concerned about it," Jeff finally said, a slight edge to his voice. He pasted on a look of concern to match his words. "I mean, after what Maria did to Kelly on Sunday... Obviously I'm worried about what might happen during Eve's match. And my match is the main event, right after Eve's match against Maria, so I can't walk her out and keep an eye on things. What's going to happen if Maria pulls a tire iron out during the match tonight?"

"Then I'll tackle her before she gets a chance to use it," Melina replied, giving Jeff a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. It was clear - at least to Eve - that the other woman didn't quite buy Jeff's nice guy act. She wasn't sure if Jeff realized it or not.

Jeff blinked in surprise. "What do you mean?" he wanted to know, and Melina shrugged, making her way over to stand next to Eve.

"I mean exactly what I said. Maria won't get a chance to use a weapon against Eve because I'll stop her before she does." The older woman looked over at Eve. "I spoke to Teddy Long earlier, and he agreed. Attacking Kelly like she did just shows that Maria is more than a little unbalanced at the moment. She went after her with a tire iron, for goodness' sakes... And for no reason at all. He already gave Eve the match, and he doesn't want to take it away from her, so... Instead of canceling the match that was already announced, he's just going to let me go out there. I've got your back, Eve."

"So... What? It's a handicap match now?" Jeff wanted to know, and Eve could hear the edge in his voice, the annoyance there. She wasn't sure if Melina could hear it as well, but the slight flash she saw in the older woman's eye made her think maybe she could. Either that or she didn't like the implication that she would try to get a handicap match set up.

"I never said that. The match is still Eve against Maria. It's just that I'll be at ringside."

"Which basically makes it handicap anyway-"

"I have no intention of interfering unless Maria tries to bring in a foreign object. If she does go for a weapon, then all bets are off and I'll do what needs to be done to keep her from using it." Melina waited a beat, then went on. "You'd think you would be happy that someone has your manager's back against the lunatic."

Jeff stiffened slightly, then nodded. "I am."

"Could have fooled me," Melina retorted and, knowing that they were moving toward dangerous ground in which Jeff might just lose it, Eve cleared her throat and stepped forward, angling herself a bit so that she was in between Melina and Jeff. She met Jeff's eyes.

"Don't you have a match to get ready for? You're supposed to be in a tag match against the new tag team champions, right?" she asked. At the Bash the Sunday before, Teddy Long had added Jericho and Edge to the tag team title match as a surprised entry, making it a triple threat, and the two men had prevailed, likely at least partly due to the fact that the other teams hadn't been ready for them.

"I am. And I'm stuck with CM Punk as a partner, and we both know the kind of jerk he is. Bastard got himself disqualified on purpose on Sunday," Jeff sneered, shaking his head and leaving the room, not paying any attention to Eve as he did so, which was probably a good thing, since that meant he didn't see the look on the brunette's face when he mentioned the world heavyweight champion's name. Since she'd been looking in Jeff's direction instead of Melina's, it mean that the other diva hadn't seen her expression, either, which was a good thing. Because she hadn't been able to control the concern on her face when Punk's name was mentioned... Concern because she knew that Jeff was unlikely to be a good partner to the man tonight, and she also knew that neither Edge nor Jericho would really care if the tag match became a handicap match.

Which meant that if Jeff just left Punk to the wolves... He could be in real danger. Of course, it also meant that if CM Punk decided to just leave Jeff alone out there, then Jeff could be in just as much danger. Somehow, that didn't bother her nearly so much.

Shaking her head slightly, Eve turned her attention back to the mirror, reaching for a tube of lipstick, figuring that touching up her lipstick would save her from talking for a few seconds at least. Give her a moment to gather herself. She was glad that she'd already known that Jeff and Punk would be partners that night - though they hadn't had a chance to see each other face to face just yet, she'd spoken to the world champion on the phone and he'd told her - because otherwise, she probably wouldn't have reacted well. As it was, it was a good thing that neither Melina or Jeff had seen the look on her face when CM Punk's name had been mentioned. It might have been enough to give away that there was something between her and the Straight Edge Superstar.

"Are you okay?"

Eve shrugged slightly as she turned to look at Melina. She offered the older diva something that she hoped resembled a smile. "I'm fine. I just... I guess it's hitting me that I actually have a one-on-one match tonight. I don't get those very often."

"Well, Teddy Long is obsessed with tag matches," Melina replied with a grin, then quickly sobered. "Eve... That thing just now, with Jeff... Is everything okay? He just... It seems like there's tension between the two of you."

"I... It has been a little tense. The whole thing with winning the title, then losing it the same night. And I guess he's just not really used to me having matches. It's not a big deal," she assured the other woman, and Melina frowned at her, still unsure.

"If you say so," she said, and Eve forced a smile.

"I do."