Disclaimer, etc., in part 1.

Part Forty-Eight

It was hard. Staying at home, injured, not being able to be a part of the show. Kelly had left on Thursday, the younger woman heading for the town that SmackDown would be in that Friday night... She'd made her return then, the diva coming out and attacking Maria Kanellis when the older woman had gone out to the ring to 'explain' her actions at the Night of Champions pay per view... She'd never really gotten a chance to speak, because Kelly had run out there almost immediately, slamming Maria hard into the mat, then using the microphone that the older diva'd had as a weapon, hitting her in the face with it enough times that Maria's face had been bloody when the referees had finally dragged Kelly away... They hadn't been able to do that immediately, though, and Kelly had actually yanked Maria out of the ring by her feet, causing her to slam hard against the floor... Then she'd yanked Maria to her feet and sent her careening into the ring steps. After that, the referees had finally come down and pulled her away, Kelly still shouting abuse as she was led to the back, the crowd cheering her actions because, really... People weren't really fans of Maria any longer. Not after she'd attacked both Kelly and Eve with a weapon and never given a reason. The fans had thought that the three of them were friends, and Maria's attacks on the other divas had been seen as her stabbing them in the back. Them attacking her would just be considered the revenge that they were entitled to.

And Eve could hardly wait to get her revenge. Unfortunately, she knew she'd have to wait for at least a few weeks - until the cracked ribs she had were healed and her bruises had faded away. Maybe longer now, considering the amount of blood that had been on Maria's face when the referees had helped her to the back. It looked like Kelly might have broken Maria's nose... And Dolph Ziggler had been particularly uncaring about it when he was interviewed backstage... When asked if he was concerned about his girlfriend's well-being, he'd stated that he didn't have a girlfriend, and hadn't had one since he'd dumped her Sunday night. The man had also brushed off any questions about Eve, refusing to answer why it was that he'd run out there at the pay per view and carried her to the back after the attack. Of course, that led to Jerry Lawler claiming that there must be something going on between Dolph and Eve, the man theorizing that was why Maria had gone after Eve... Though he wasn't able to come up with a reason for why Maria had attacked Kelly the month before when Michael Cole had questioned it. Cole had also brushed aside the idea of anything between Eve and Dolph, which had been good, but then he'd started going on and on about how worried Jeff Hardy must be about his injured manager and, well... It was a good thing that television remotes came with a mute button, because there was no way she could stomach listening to that crap without throwing up.

And then there had been Jeff Hardy himself... He'd had a match against Morrison that night, and that was fine, but what had come after? That had just about made her sick, what with his 'heartfelt' promo about winning the title, and how he hadn't known what had happened to Eve until after the match was over... Which was complete and utter bullshit, and anyone that had watched the pay per view should have known it. After all, he and Punk had been facing in her direction when Maria had attacked her. Granted, Jeff had been in a submission hold at the time, but he'd had to see what was going on... And it was unhighly likely that he hadn't noticed Punk's reaction to what had happened. Of course, he probably didn't realize the significance of it. He definitely didn't know that Punk had been the one that had helped her all those weeks ago, and she was pretty sure that Jeff Hardy had no clue that she and CM Punk were involved with one another. If he'd known, he would have thrown it in her face by now or something. Instead... Well, instead he'd gone out there with the title - a sight that had made her cringe - and he'd talked about what had happened as if it had hurt him... He'd acted like he hadn't had a clue why Maria had gone out there, a stance that had likely confused and hurt the other diva. Eve couldn't help but hope that Maria would feel betrayed by his attitude, that maybe she would come after him like Maria had come after her... Not that she'd be in much condition to do so at the moment, not with what Kelly had done to her earlier in the show.

But that wasn't the point.

The point was that Jeff had gone out there and played the victim, acting like he was horrified by what had happened to Eve, like it somehow hurt him to even see her hurt... Despite never being the best talker in the WWE - he'd really never been very good at all - he was actually pretty good at faking sincerity, acting like he really cared, which Eve knew was a total crock. He didn't care. A person that cared would have checked on her or called or something, and he'd done none of those things. Of course, she hadn't tried to contact him, either, not bothering to congratulate him on the title win because, well... She really wasn't happy about it. Just like she wasn't happy about sitting there on her couch and watching while Jeff talked about how sorry he was for what had happened to her... He laid the bullshit on thick, acting like he'd been the one to take care of her, like he'd been by her side through it all, something that any of her friends could easily dispute. He'd even gone so far to say that he'd finished the match for her, that even injured, it was what she had wanted him to do... That claim was enough to make her almost throw up in her mouth a little, and that claim had been what had brought the one man she actually wanted to see out to the ring.

CM Punk.

As she'd watched, Punk had played the role of sportsmanlike loser, congratulating Jeff on his win and even holding Hardy's arm up in victory for a moment... Just for a moment. Because just seconds after doing that, he'd turned on Jeff, slamming the microphone he held in the older man's face and knocking him down, then continuing to go after him. He'd nailed Jeff with fists and elbows, then yanked the man to his feet, throwing him through the ropes and out of the ring, where Jeff, blindsided from the attack - and a bit the worse for wear from his match that had ended just minutes before - had fallen hard, unable to catch himself and unable to get away when Punk had rushed out of the ring to continue the attack.

Punk had thrown him into the security barrier that stood between the ring and the fans, then dragged Jeff back up, pulling him across the arena and throwing him into the barrier on the other side. Ignoring the outraged shouts of the fans and the announcers, he'd kept going, all that fury that had built up inside of him over the past weeks finally bursting out as he'd stopped trying to pretend that he didn't absolutely hate Jeff Hardy.

After slamming Jeff into the barrier on both sides of the arena, Punk had kept going, kicking Jeff hard as the man lay there on the floor, more or less helpless to defend himself from the attack. Kick after kick had landed, some of them more like stomps, and then Punk had dragged Jeff back up, slinging the older man up over his shoulder and then slamming him back-first into the barricade, not stopping there as he'd dragged Jeff to the announce table, landing a few punches to the head before Jeff fell to the ground, Punk following him down and continuing the assault, elbowing Jeff repeatedly in the head while the announcers shouted out their shock and concern.

And then, finally, Punk seemed ready to end it, and Eve had watched as he'd let Jeff drop to the ground, the former world heavyweight champion getting to his feet and leaving the other man in a heap, Punk yanking off his shirt and heading around the ring, making it to just a few feet from the ramp before he paused... Before he stopped, the camera focusing on his face, and Eve could see it there, the emotions... Emotions that others would write off to him being pissed off about losing the title, but she knew better. Yes, of course he was angry about losing; any champion would be. But there was so much more. She knew the things that had been bubbling up inside of Punk, and Eve suspected that the longer she'd walked out with Jeff, waiting for the perfect time to turn against him, the worse it had gotten. And now she was hurt and Jeff was acting like he'd fought so hard and won it for her and Punk knew that it was bullshit and he knew how Jeff really was, because she'd told him, because he'd seen the results of Jeff's actions... And now, Punk'd had it, and the anger had boiled over and it was exploding all over the damn place.

So she hadn't been surprised to see the rage in Punk's eyes when the camera had closed in on him... And she hadn't been surprised when the man had turned back around and run back to Jeff to continue the attack.

Eve had watched, ignoring the yelling of the commentators as CM Punk had run back around to where Jeff was, the wrestler attacking the new champion with more kicks... To the spine, to the face... Kick after kick before dragging the other man up and launching him over the announce table, the announcers barely able to get out of the way in time to avoid the flying body. Afterwards, Punk had stood there for a moment, Eve able to see on his face that, while he seemed to be done for tonight, he wasn't really done... He would be going after Jeff Hardy again, probably soon. Jeff was still in a heap behind the announce table, the refs and trainers just now getting out there, apparently not going out there any earlier because they hadn't wanted to face the wrath of the former champion... With Jeff still just laying there, CM Punk had made his way up the ramp, ignoring the shouts of the fans. He had a microphone in his hand by this point - Eve figured that he must have grabbed it while the cameras were focused on Jeff or something, or maybe while they'd been showing a short replay of the initial attack - and Punk had stopped at the top of the ramp... Announcing that he wanted everyone to tune in and watch SmackDown next week, when he took his world title back...

He was invoking his rematch clause. Next Friday night on SmackDown, Punk would be facing Jeff for the title again, trying to take back what he only lost because of Maria's distraction... And she wouldn't be able to be there. She'd be stuck at home with her rib injury... And as much as she knew why he was doing it, because he didn't want her caught in the crossfire of what was going to be a nasty match... Because he didn't want to see her get hurt again... She hated that she couldn't be there. But even if she couldn't be there, she could still watch it on television, and she could cheer him on.

And she could enjoy every minute of watching him take Jeff Hardy apart.