Disclaimer, etc., in part 1... Only 6 parts left after this... :)

Part Fifty-Five

"Well, you finally got your revenge," Eve said into the phone as she stretched out on her bed, the diva talking to a certain blonde that had finally gotten to kick the crap out of Maria Kanellis earlier in the night.

"Yes, I did, and it felt so good," Kelly declared, her voice somehow sounding even happier than she usually did. "I'm going to admit that I was a little worried at first... I mean, when Dolph Ziggler came out there to be the special guest referee. Even with him seeming to be against the things that Maria's done, that didn't mean... I was a little scared that he would turn against me or something, but then... He made Maria follow the rules, and he, well... Didn't make me."

"Well, he's not happy about the things Maria has done either... Most specifically lying to him," the older diva replied, heaving out a sigh. "I may think better of Dolph than I used to, but his actions tonight were as much about him as they were about you. Which is okay. You had the same goal, and it wasn't like he could demand a match against her... You could."

"And I did. And I won," Kelly said a little smugly, pausing for a moment before speaking again. "You know, I've been thinking."

"A somewhat dangerous thing," Eve put in, and the other woman snorted.

"Whatever. And this isn't just me... Melina's been thinking the same thing," Kelly told her, and the next time she spoke, her voice sounded a little farther away, a different quality to it, and Eve quickly realized that Kelly had pressed the button to switch over to speakerphone. "In fact, Melina's here with me right now. We're splitting a room tonight. Well, we've pretty much just decided to travel together anyway since we figure that once you come back, you'll be traveling with and splitting a room with Mr. Tall, Tattooed, and Handsome," the blonde said, and Eve rolled her eyes at the other woman's description of CM Punk.

"Kelly-"

"What? It's not like I'm being inaccurate or anything, and we both know that once everything is out in the open, you two will definitely be traveling together. I mean, come on... How many times has he visited you lately?"

"A few," Eve allowed.

"Because he wants to be with you, and you want to be with him and that is all sorts of wonderful. I mean, I know you were never actually with Jeff or anything, but after the crap he put you through... You totally deserve some happiness with a guy that cares about you... And happens to be pretty hot," Kelly declared, and then Melina's voice came over the line as well.

"I have to side with Kelly on this one... You two deserve some happy... And it will come to you shortly. I know you're upset that you can't be at SummerSlam-"

"Teddy Long pretty much told me I'm not allowed to be there because he thinks Punk might try to use me against Jeff during the TLC match," Eve said with a roll of her eyes, and Melina snorted.

"Yeah, because that would happen," the older woman said, and Eve could practically picture her shaking her head.

"Well, to be fair, Teddy Long doesn't have a clue what the truth is... I mean, right now? The only people that know the truth are the three of us and Punk, and... None of us are exactly talking yet. But once I'm back, I'm with him. No questions about it. I'm sick of pretending."

"Honey, I don't blame you. Jeff's an ass that thinks he's got you stuck between a rock and a hard place where you can't do anything but stick with him... Has he tried to contact you since you got hurt?" Melina wanted to know, and Eve snorted.

"No. I mean, he pulled out the whole 'I did it to make Eve proud' bull after he won the title the night Maria attacked me... Pretty much *while* Maria was attacking me, but he's never tried to contact me. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he's the one that convinced Teddy Long that me being at ringside for SummerSlam would be too dangerous for me."

"You think he suspects that you're with Punk?" Kelly asked, and Eve shook her head despite the fact that the others couldn't see the gesture.

"No. I don't think he considers me enough to even think about something like that. If he talked to Long about SummerSlam, he did it to throw his weight around. Remind me how much my career relies on him. I'm not even allowed backstage at the show because of him and his title match... Because Teddy Long is convinced that I could get hurt or be a distraction. I'd like to show him a damned distraction. Possibly with the use of a steel chair."

"Jeff or Teddy?" Melina wanted to know, and Eve snorted.

"Jeff. Or maybe both. Jeff because he's an ass and Teddy for acting like there's nothing else I could do than be at ringside. I know there's supposed to be a divas' battle royal in the pre-show, and even if it's just the pre-show... I'm still a diva, and if every other woman is out there, then I deserve to be out there, too."

"I wish you were going to be out there. Because then we could all gang up on Maria, and given what she's done to both you and Kelly, not too many people would dare to claim she didn't deserve it. People want to see you get revenge on her just as much as they wanted to see Kelly get her revenge," Melina said, and Eve sighed.

"True enough... For now. Things might change after I show up on SmackDown and make it clear that I'm not going to be Jeff Hardy's lackey any longer. I'll instantly go to being one of the most-hated people on the roster when I start walking out with Punk."

"Which isn't fair," Kelly put in. "Because no matter how much Punk has allowed himself to be painted as the bad guy in this thing, he's not. Jeff's the one that started this. He's the one that shoved you out of that car, and everything that's happened since then started because of that."

"Well, I know that, Punk knows that, the two of you know that... but no one else does. Jeff doesn't even know that the real reason that Punk's been after him is because of me," Eve replied. "Or, at least, it's partly because of me. I know he wants the title as well-"

"But if it comes down to you or the title, he would choose you," Melina interjected. "And you know, once you join up with Punk for real, you could always tell the truth."

"I suppose I could. But I doubt anyone would believe it. I thought Maria was my friend, and she believed whatever Jeff told her way back when this started. Do you think the majority of the fans would be any different? They've watched Jeff for years, and he has them all fooled. He's walking out there with two strikes - two suspensions - and they cheer him like he can do no wrong. He tosses something out there about how he's made mistakes in the past and they eat it up and don't have a clue that he's never stopped making those mistakes. I could walk out there with his bag and dump out his drugs and probably at least half the crowd would believe it if he said that I'd framed him," the diva replied. "Too many people have grown up as Jeff Hardy fans to see how screwed up he really is."

"Yeah, well, from the instant I saw your feet that day and heard the truth... I believed you and not him," Kelly replied. "No matter what happens, I'm standing by you, Eve. I will stand in the ring and shout about the truth if I have to-"

"You don't have to, Kelly. I've decided it doesn't matter. It's nice to have the fans cheering, but at the end of the day, they're not... The fans don't know us. They have their perceptions of us, but they don't know who we really are, and I'm not going to worry about what they think. Especially when I have the people that matter the most... I've got Punk, and I've got the two of you, and that's what matters to me. I could give two shits what the rest of the people in the back think of me."

"That's easy to say now. But it's hard when people are booing you," Melina said quietly, and Eve flinched slightly, knowing that her friend had gone through exactly that in the past. It had been awhile ago now, but Melina had spent the first few years of her career as an object of derision for the fans... It was different now, of course, but the fact remained that people hadn't exactly been kind to her friend in the past.

"You're right, I'm sure. But I'm so sick of hiding. The idea of people thinking I'm out there to cheer for someone like Jeff Hardy, when I know what he did to me and what he's really like... How little value he really places on me and my career... I'll take the boos from the crowd as long as I can walk out there with someone that actually respects me."

"And you'll have us, too. We're not going to skip out on you, Eve," Kelly put in.

"If you stick by me in this, publicly anyway... People might start to boo you, too."

Melina snorted. "Nothing I haven't dealt with before. Besides that, if you do come forward with the truth, the fact that Kelly and I can say we've known all along and back you and Punk up? Might actually mean something."

"I don't know if I'm coming forward about that. People would just... They'll probably think Punk's brainwashed me or something. Which... I don't care. The people who matter know the truth. I'm not going to hide in the back to get away from the boos or whatever," she said.

"And we're not going to hide our friendship from you in order to avoid the boos ourselves," Melina tossed back. "What are your plans for SummerSlam, anyway?"

"What do you mean? I'm not allowed to be there. I'll be sitting at home watching it and hoping that Punk wins. Which sucks because it's here in Los Angeles again, and I don't even get to attend. Why? You planning on helping me sneak in?"

"We thought about it. But we figured that you wouldn't be able to stay in the back, and then we would get in trouble with management and Punk would probably have a heart attack when you ran out there or something. So yeah... You're stuck watching it at home. Sorry. I guess we were really just asking what your plans were for *after* the show. I mean, since the show's in LA anyway, we could always stop by... Unless we would be interrupting something," Melina said, and Eve knew that she was trying to ask - not so subtly - if Punk would be staying with her that Sunday night after the pay-per-view.

"Interrupting something? I have no idea what you mean."

"Eve, come on. Can we stop by or not?"

"You can stop by. I just can't guarantee that we'll answer the door," she replied, putting emphasis on the word 'we', and Melina let out a laugh.

"Guess that answers that."

"Guess it does. I'll still see you guys at some point, though? Like Monday morning, stop by for breakfast? Not too early, though."

"Yeah, because you two may be having a late night," Melina said, and Eve snorted.

"Jealous?"

"Hell, yeah."

"Well, don't be. He has a TLC match Sunday night. He probably won't be in any condition for much of anything," Eve said, cringing a little at that. TLC matches could be brutal.

"Maybe so... But then again, maybe he'll be... up... for a celebration, if you know what I mean."

"Melina?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."