I Deserve It


"There you go..." Dawn Marie said softly as she helped Amy to apply makeup to conceal the bruises on her face.  Although the brunette herself had never sustained anything worse than a black and blue mark on her knee while they were in ECW together, Dawn had become somewhat of an expert at covering up bruises.

The redhead had received a couple herself in the one match she'd competed with Danny Doring, where they took on Jazz and Nova - as well as times when she'd been ambushed by guys who had faced Doring.

"How's that?" Dawn Marie asked as she stepped back a bit to examine Amy.  In her opinion, she'd done a more than halfway decent job.

Amy glanced at herself in the mirror, turning her head to see her face at various angles.  "As usual, you're the queen of concealer, Dawn..."  Luckily, the makeup just about matched the redhead's skin tone.  The bruises were barely noticeable at all.

As Amy continued to study her reflection, the locker room door opened, and Nidia walked in.  She glanced over at the other two women curiously.

"Wow...you weren't kidding," she said, eyeing Dawn Marie.  "You really are an expert at that..."  She gazed Amy's face over for a moment, then turned back to the brunette, a serious expression on her face.  "Oh, God...I hope you're not so experienced at that because..."

"Oh, no!  Never..." Dawn assured her.  "Simon was the sweetest, most gentle man ever..."  Her soft smile faded.  "Too bad he got such cold feet..."

Nidia and Amy exchanged glances silently, both feeling sorry for their friend.

"You really loved him, didn't you?" the little brunette asked.

"Yeah..."

As the redhead continued to eye her dear friend, she suddenly decided to do something nice for her - she was going to fix Dawn Marie up with a nice guy.  She'd ask Nidia to help her, and they would figure everything out.

But at the moment, she had to concentrate on making her SmackDown debut.

*

Matt Hardy, with Torrie Wilson on his arm, made his way to the ring as he was announced.  Most of the fans didn't really know how to react to Matt Hardy Version I, as they weren't used to him as a heel.  Some people cheered, a few booed, but quite a few more seemed pretty neutral in their response to him.  More likely than not, several of the cheers were really for Torrie, as she had become the crowd darling after the storyline with Dawn Marie.

The couple stepped into the ring, Matt not bothering to be a gentleman as the blonde had to enter on her own without benefit of him holding the ropes open for her.  The dark-haired man practically snatched the microphone away from the announcer, glaring at the man as he exited the ring.

"Now, I know a lot of your are wondering what's going on," he began as he held the mic up to his lips.  "You're all wondering about Matt Hardy - why didn't I stay at RAW to be a team with my brother Jeff, why the sudden change in Mattitude - why I now have Torrie Wilson by my side and no longer have Lita..."

The arena erupted with cheers as he spoke the redheaded diva's name.  That made Matt a bit angry.  When Team Xtreme had been together, Lita had always been the favorite.  And when it had just been him and Jeff, his younger, rather flamboyant, colorful-haired sibling had been the fans' favorite.  It wasn't fair - he was sick of being treated like second- or last-best.

"Cheer all you want to," Matt said with a smirk.  "But when I tell all of you idiots why Lita's not by my side, you'll change your tune..."

The crowed booed him like crazy at his use of the word 'idiots.'  He and Torrie glanced over the sea of fans, realizing just how unappreciative they were.

"The truth is," the elder Hardy stated, "I had to kick Lita to the curb...you see, I found out the hard way what a cheap slut she truly is..."

More boos were hurled at Matt for his troubles and insults against the beloved redhead.

"That's right - boo all y'all want!  But it's true, all right - Lita's been sneaking around behind my back with none other than...Edge!"

The crowd turned their boos for Matt into cheers for the tall Canadian, another fan favorite.  He scowled as he looked out at the sea of faces.

"Oh, you like that, huh?  You all just love that my ex-girlfriend screwed around on me with Edge?!"  Matt glared at the crowd as he turned around in circles.  "Shut up!  Shut up!  Shut-"

He was interrupted by the seductive female voice that suddenly blared throughout the arena: "You think you know me..."  And then the strains of Rob Zombie's "Never Gonna Stop" played as Matt and Torrie stared in the direction of the entryway.

The tall blond man appeared, wearing black jeans and an Edgehead T-shirt as he stared toward the ring.  He held a microphone up to his lips as the music faded.

"Seems like you've got a very selective memory there, Matt...because if I understand the situation, and I think I do - Lita never screwed around on you.  No, you screwed around on her - with that human Barbie doll standing beside you!"  He pointed in Torrie's direction.

The blonde woman's eyes widened as her mouth fell open in shock.  Matt, meanwhile, looked furious and began to storm around the ring.

"Why don't you admit it, Matt - Lita was always too good for you.  You never appreciated her, and you never deserved her.  Yet she put up with you for far too long..."

"Who the hell do you think you are?" the dark-haired man demanded.  "You don't know a damn thing about me!  I treated Lita with nothing but respect!"

Edge gave a derisive little snort of disgust as he laughed sarcastically.  "Oh, really?  Well, I have a little something that might refresh your memory to the contrary...Roll the footage!"

Above him, on the large screen, several clips of mishaps, as well as times Matt had mistreated Lita, began to play.  The elder Hardy's eyes widened in shock as he saw such scenes as when he'd allowed Stacy Keibler to kiss him, Torrie all over Jeff, on a RAW from a year earlier, the time he'd "accidentally" elbowed the redhead in the eye during a match she'd had against the leggy blonde, a short time after, Matt "accidentally" knocking Lita off the ring apron, himself shoving her down at Vengeance when she'd refereed the match between he and his brother, and finally, the next night on RAW when he'd yelled at her, told her they were breaking up, and shoved her out into the hall, slamming the door in her face.  The video ended at Lita crying alone in the hallway.

As Edge glared at Matt, Torrie stared at him as if in shock.  The dark-haired man pulled at his hair, yanking it free of its ponytail and finally spoke again.

"You son of a bitch!  How about bringing your ass to this ring so I can give you a Mattitude adjustment?"

The tall blond man's face grew fiercely angry as he began charging down the ramp, breaking into a run as he neared.  Torrie scurried from the ring in the nick of time as Edge slid under the bottom rope.

In an instant, Matt was on him, hitting him in the back before straightening up and kicking the Canadian in the kidney area.  Adam managed to turn over, grabbing the other man by the ankle and tripping him before his foot had a chance to connect with his chest.  Matt went sprawling down in a heap, and the fans cheered as Edge picked him up, whipped him into the ropes and delivered the spear.

The dark-haired man managed to roll out of the ring, and he stumbled over the arena floor.  Torrie went to check on him, a look of concern dominating her face.  Edge went after Matt, a look of fury on his face.  As the tall blond approached with a clenched fist, the former Team Xtreme member grabbed his new girlfriend, placing her in front of him as a shield.

Adam stopped himself just in time - there was no way he was going to hit Torrie Wilson, even if she was a bitch.  Unlike Matt, he wasn't a lowlife...

And then, when the blonde woman's knee connected solidly with his groin a few seconds later, he realized he'd underestimated exactly how much of a bitch Torrie truly was.  The tall Canadian man fell to the arena floor, legs pressed together as he groaned in agony.

As Torrie smiled with triumph, Matt began to kick the fallen man, and a moment later, at her boyfriend's instruction, the diva added kicks of her own.

The fans booed louder than ever, their hatred increasing as the former favorite SmackDown diva had turned heel.  Matt stopped kicking Edge long enough to go to the timekeeper's table for a chair...

And suddenly, the crowd began cheering again - loudly.

Lita ran down the ramp from the back just as her former boyfriend shoved Edge back into the ring, a chair in one hand and Torrie right at his heels.  Matt didn't see her as she climbed to perch on the top turnbuckle in the corner nearest him, and, as he raised the chair, the redhead leapt, taking him down with her hurricanrana.  The surprised man went flying, the chair landing before he did.  As she let go, he landed smack face-first into the steel, a loud thud resounding as his forehead struck the chair.

As Amy stood up, she saw Torrie Wilson running toward her, a look of fury twisting the blonde's features.  Before the other diva could touch her, she speared her hard to the canvas, then proceeded to punch her.

At this point, Edge had gotten to his feet, and he grabbed the dark-haired man, delivering an Edgecution to him onto the chair.  Matt's already bloody forehead became even more of a mess.

With their work done, Edge and Lita left the ring via the bottom rope and started up the ramp.  The fans were cheering and roaring their approval, happy that the faces had overcome the heels.  The pair turned back to look toward the spectacles in the ring.  Mattitude wasn't looking all that good as Torrie Wilson crawled over to check on him.

When they reached the top of the ramp, Adam stopped to gaze at Amy, and a feeling of satisfaction coursed through him.  It felt as though they'd won some momentous battle.  He reached out for the redhead's hand, raising her arm high as the fans continued to shower them with cheers.







Part 16

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