Disclaimer, etc., in part 1.

Part Fifty

Time moved on.

CM Punk stayed with her over the weekend, and actually most of the week. The man hadn't had any appearances scheduled for the week, and odds were that Teddy Long wouldn't have wanted him to go on them anyway, not if he'd been worried enough about Punk's beatdown of Jeff Hardy the week before to keep him off the live events that weekend. And so it was that Eve had company for the better part of a week, though Punk didn't really behave like 'company'... He didn't expect her to take him all over Los Angeles to find various things to amuse him. The truth was, the week was more about him taking care of her than anything else. Despite her protests that she was fine, he kept telling her that her busted ribs and numerous bruises begged to differ, and the man kept insisting that she take it easy. Eve was pretty sure that she only cooked one or two meals he entire time he was there... The rest of the time, they either had takeout, or he cooked. He was actually a pretty good cook, too, which meant that she was well-fed over the week.. Probably moreso than she would have been if it was just her; she'd never been a big fan of cooking just for herself, and because she really was in a pretty good amount of pain, especially if she moved the wrong way, well... She probably would have just had a lot more takeout if she'd been home alone all week. But instead of that, she'd had him and, by the time Punk had left on Friday morning, the man heading to the next city where SmackDown was, intending to face Jeff Hardy later that very night, she'd felt better... The bruises were healing pretty well, mostly faded by now, and the main thing keeping her from showing up on SmackDown were her ribs which, while better, were still pretty sore. Especially when she moved the wrong way or tried to take too deep of a breath. All in all, Eve knew it was for the best that she not be at SmackDown that week - both for her own health and because she knew Punk would be worrying about her as much as his match if she was there and not at full strength - but even so, it was hard to watch him leave that morning and not go with him. Hard to kiss him goodbye and let him head out that door, knowing that he would be trying to get the title back later that very night...

Harder still to watch what ended up happening on SmackDown.

The world title match had started violently, both men going after each other viciously... Jeff because of what had happened the week before, and Punk for so many other reasons. The fighting had been vicious enough that Vince McMahon had interrupted the action, announcing that while there would still be a world heavyweight championship match, there was going to be a special enforcer for the fight. A special enforcer that was handpicked by Vince himself. And that special enforcer? None other than Jeff's asshole of an older brother Matt Hardy.

And things had gone downhill from there.

There had been some hope, of course, that Matt Hardy wouldn't be completely unfair and biased. After all, Matt and Jeff hadn't exactly gotten along lately... So much so that they'd actually had several matches against one another on pay per view the previous spring, uncluding a brutal extreme rules match back at WrestleMania. Eve remembered the matches all too clearly, mainly because she'd been at ringside for them, more than once finding herself afraid for her safety... And even back then, before Jeff had gone completely asshole on her, part of her had thought that Jeff wouldn't go too out of his way to protect her if Matt had gone after her. Because of that, she'd been very careful to stay as far away from the action as she could.

Jeff hadn't been any more pleased about Matt being the special enforcer in the match than Punk had been, the man actually going to the outside and confronting his brother... And when Punk had tried to go after Jeff then, he'd ducked out of the way, causing Punk to hit Matt instead. That was when things had gotten really bad. As the match had continued, Eve hoping upon hope that Matt would stay the hell out of it but knowing that he probably wouldn't, CM Punk had actually had Jeff pinned at one point, taking control after countering the Swanton Bomb by putting up his knees... Jeff was out of it, clearly in pain as the referee went to count the three... And Matt Hardy, the asshole that he was, had pulled the referee out of the ring.

Matt had cost Punk the chance to earn back his title. Right then and there, he'd had Jeff pinned, the referee so close to counting the three, only for the supposed 'special enforcer' to yank the referee out... And when Punk had tried to confront Matt - something that only an idiot would blame him for doing - Jeff Hardy had rolled Punk up from behind and Matt - not a referee for the match, but an enforcer - had counted the three, effectively ending the match and giving the win to his brother.

But that wasn't the end of it. As Eve had sat there on her couch seething, the diva wanting to stomp around and throw some things but knowing it wasn't the best of ideas, Punk had sat there stunned as Matt Hardy had fled the scene of the crime, so to speak... But Jeff had still been in the ring, and despite the fact that the match was technically over despite the fact that Matt hadn't been an actual referee, Punk hadn't been ready for it to end.

For the second SmackDown in a row, Punk had beaten the hell out of Jeff Hardy.

With Matt Hardy having headed for the hills, Punk had headed back down the ramp to easier prey, attacking Jeff while the man was celebrating his supposed 'win', kicking him before dragging him to his feet and tossing him from the ring... Hitting him and slamming him into the announce table repeatedly before actually bringing a chair into the mix, taking his frustrations out on the other man... Frustrations for how the match had turned out. Frustrations over how their plans had ended up... Blowing up in their faces, with her injured and him not having the title... And she knew that, in some part of Punk's mind, he was seeing the bruises she'd gotten in the attack by Maria as he'd gone after Jeff, because she knew he blamed Jeff for orchestrating the attack in the first place. He wanted to make Jeff pay.

And he did.

After hitting Jeff with the chair, he'd opened the chair as if to sit in it, but he hadn't sat down. Instead, he'd pulled Jeff to his feet, putting the chair around Jeff's head like some sort of a collar before throwing him into the ring post. And while the announcers sat there condemning Punk's actions but not doing a damn thing to stop him, Eve sat there on the couch, watching it in silence... Remembering the fear that had slammed through her when she'd realized just how alone she'd been on the side of that road... Just how vulnerable she was when Jeff had shoved her out of the car and just left her there, injured and in the middle of nowhere, her cell phone still in the car. Remembering the way he'd hit her when she'd flushed his drugs down the toilet... The way he'd basically told her she had nowhere else to go and just had to deal with what he'd dished out... The way he'd yanked her away from Maria and threw her against the wall hard enough that she'd had bruises. She wondered if the announcers would still be saying all of those things about Punk if they knew what had started his hatred of Jeff... If they had any idea where his anger was stemming from.

And who was she kidding? Lawler was a creep that would probably say she'd gotten what she deserved.

Shaking her head, Eve sat there, watching as Punk stood there over Jeff, some of the ringside medics rushing in... Punk yelling for them to make sure that Jeff was okay... telling the medics to 'fix him so I can break him again'... And she knew that was what Punk wanted to do. He just wanted to repeatedly rip into Jeff until there was nothing left. As he walked around the ring, Punk didn't even move aside for the stretcher, instead telling them to go around the ring the other way... The men quickly doing so as Punk made his way up the ramp... Eve trying not to flinch as Teddy Long came out onto the stage. She knew, of course, that Punk could end up in a lot of trouble for what he'd just done, and she knew he had to realize it, too... But the man refused to be cowed by the SmackDown General Manager, instead spouting off right back at him, demanding another rematch because of what Matt Hardy had done... Because Matt had been the enforcer, not the referee. Not to mention the fact that Matt had actually pulled the real referee out of the ring in order to stop Punk from getting the pin and the win. Whether anyone wanted to admit it or not, Punk had lost because of interference on the part of someone that was supposed to be out there making sure the rules were enforced.

To Teddy's credit, he didn't deny that Matt hadn't had the right to count the pin, the man instead making a match for SummerSlam... Saying Punk would get his rematch then if Jeff was able to compete. Eve had almost smirked at that, because she knew that Jeff was too stupid to stay out of a match even if he was hurt. That was just the Jeff Hardy way. Of course, Teddy hadn't been able to resist trying to give Jeff the upper hand... Making it a TLC match... Conveniently forgetting that, just because the Money in the Bank matches were called ladder matches, it didn't mean that other elements - like tables and chairs - weren't involved. And CM Punk had won the last two Money in the Bank ladder matches, which meant Jeff Hardy would have his work cut out for him. And if Jeff was hurting, then Punk's chances were even better. In a couple of weeks, he could be the World Heavyweight Champion again.

And more than anything, she wanted to be there to see it happen.