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"Ch-Christian?" Lita managed, her voice soft and quavering. Damn it, she was about ten seconds away from breaking down.
"Lita, I'm glad I caught you..." the short-haired blond man said.
The redhead nearly winced.
"Well, I'm gone - I have no more job!" she explained. "Bischoff fired me!"
"No," the Canadian said. "You're *not* fired - I got you your job back."
Lita cocked her head to one side, her hazel eyes narrowing. She couldn't take this, not now. She wasn't feeling strong enough to deal with any games Christian might be trying to play with her - not now.
"What are you talking about? You heard him out there!"
"It's true," the blond man said, his blue eyes gentle as they gazed upon her lovely but sad face. "Remember the favor Bischoff promised each of us who were on his team last night at Survivor Series?"
The diva nodded, her head slightly down. Damn, Christian hated seeing this beautiful woman looking so unhappy. But he was going to change her mood.
"Well, I used my favor to get you your job back..."
Lita raised her head as she studied his face, her eyes widening slightly.
"What?"
"You're not fired, Lita. You still have your job."
"You... You did that for *me*?"
Christian nodded.
"I couldn't just sit back and not do something after what Matt and Bischoff pulled out there. You didn't deserve that..."
A small smile began to take residence on the redhead's face.
"I... I can't believe you did that!" She actually let out a chuckle, and the blond man felt so good for it. He'd grown to love the sound of her laughter. And that was only one of the things he loved about her.
He nodded, lowering his head just a bit in an almost self-effacing manner. The truth was, he'd done what he had not only for Lita, but also for himself. After the two of them had steadily been growing closer, at least as nothing more than friends - he was okay with just having that, if it was all she wanted - he didn't want to see her gone. He wanted her in his life, and because of the nature of the business they were in, it would be hard to keep in touch if she were gone from it.
Christian was astonished as he suddenly realized tears had come to Lita's eyes. She was actually starting to cry over this.
"Sweetheart, don't cry..." he said softly, reaching out and grasping one of his arms.
She shook her head, another chuckle escaping her.
"I can't help it," she spoke. "You... What you did was so sweet... And no one's been that nice to me in a long time. Thank you, Christian..."
The Canadian felt himself actually blushing, and a tiny smile came to his handsome face as he shyly ducked his head. He reached down and patted Mason, Lita's little dog, on the head. The wire-haired daschund mix gave him a lick on the hand in return.
When Christian raised his eyes back to the redhead, he caught her gazing at him with a soft smile on her face.
"Listen, I'm done here for the night... Would you like to grab a bite to eat, or some coffee or something?" he asked, trying his darndest not to sputter or stammer. Although they'd been hanging out a lot and growing closer for the last little while, he couldn't help feeling a small bit intimidated. Lita was such a beautiful and kickass woman - literally. He was so afraid he might do or say something to screw up their newfound friendship - or anything more that might happen to develop.
"Christian," the diva responded, "I would *love* to..."
The blond man was slightly surprised by her answer - so much so that he nearly did a double-take. Then, recovering himself quickly enough so that she apparently didn't notice, he spoke again.
"Great! So... Shall we?" With that, Christian made a gesture with one arm, and Lita linked her own into his, smiling up at him brightly. She was thrilled at how drastically her mood had improved, and in such a short span of time.
They didn't noticed the two pairs of eyes watching them from a little further down the hallway.