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*RAW, February 20, 2006*
Ashley battled in the divas battle royal opener of the night's RAW with fierce determination. Of course, she knew who the scheduled winner was, but she still wanted to do the very best she could.
In one corner of the ring, the blonde dueled with Mickie James. The other woman, although small, was deceptively strong. She had her in a headscissors takeover and attempted to throw her over the top rope.
It didn't happen - at least not *that* way. Instead, Candice Michelle suddenly came over and shoved them both over the top rope. And Ashley felt the most excrutiating, most agonizing pain in her left leg as she hit the floor.
She let out a soft, nearly inaudible cry, her eyes squeezing shut at the pain. It was so great she barely noticed Mickie go out of character to check on her.
"Are you all right?" she heard the other woman ask, her voice laced with concern.
All she could do was shake her head as she clutched her horribly aching leg.
In no time, backstage officials and EMTs were there, rushing to Ashley's aid. Although the cameras didn't get a single shot of it, she was put on a stretcher and brought to the backstage area.
Tears wanted to break free as the pain gripped her in an iron-tight vise. Ashley refused to shed them. She wanted to be stronger than that, prove that she deserved to be here in this company.
"Hey, tiger." She looked up to see Trish Stratus at her side, a smile on the blonde's face that seemed forced, as she was clearly concerned.
"Trish."
The other woman reached for her hand and took gentle hold of it.
"Hang on, okay? You're going to be fine. They'll check you out and fix you up like new." She shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe it's only a sprain."
Ashley nodded wordlessly, although she knew it had to be much worse than just a sprain. The pain told her that, without question.
"Ashley."
This time, it was another voice speaking to her, a male voice. She felt comforted in an instant, and even more so when his face suddenly appeared above her. She gazed up into his kind, warm brown eyes.
"Hey."
"You poor girl," he said softly, and at his side, Trish arched an eyebrow, questions in her head. However, now was not the time to ask any of them. "I'm so sorry you got hurt," he said. He reached down and placed a warm, gentle hand against her cheek.
Ashley let her eyes flutter closed at his soft touch, the fact that her heart was suddenly beating faster not lost on her. He made her feel so calm and serene that, strangely, she barely felt the pain.
"Don't worry... You'll be just *fine*," he said with confidence, offering her a small but genuine smile. "Just be strong."
"I will..." she said. "... Charlie." Then, feeling a blush seep into her cheeks, she spoke again. "Is... Is it all right if I call you that?"
Carlito Colon's smile grew as he gazed down at the lovely but injured woman. While no one had ever called him "Charlie" before, he loved the idea of her being the only one to do so.
"Sure... Of course you can." There was so much more he wanted to say, but now was not the time nor the place.
"You'll visit me in the hospital if I'm there longer than a day?"
"I will... I promise," he said.
The EMTs loaded Ashley's stretcher into the back of the waiting ambulance. Trish stood there and stared at Carlito in wonder, speechless as the ambulance pulled away.
*
They had just arrived at Adam's house when Amy's cell phone started ringing. The redhead was relieved that her boyfriend was in the shower as she noticed the number on the display.
It was Matt. Should she bother answering? She sighed, rolling her eyes and decided.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Amy," he replied. For some odd reason, his voice was cheerful in spite of what had happened earlier that night.
"Matt, what do you want?" she asked, her impatience wearing thin.
"I want to talk to you... Find out how you're doing."
"*I'm* doing fine," she said. "But your girlfriend isn't."
"Oh... Right."
Amy arched a brow.
"Can I ask you a question? Where are you right now?"
"I'm at home," Hardy responded. "Why?"
"'Why?'" the redhead repeated, both surprised but not surprised at the same time. "Because Ashley had surgery tonight, didn't she?"
The dark-haired man rolled his eyes. Why should Amy give two shits about that? It wasn't like she and the blonde were friends.
"Yeah," he said, "as a matter of fact, she did."
Amy sighed wearily.
"Look... Adam is in the shower right now, but he'll be out pretty soon. I don't think he'd take too kindly to knowing I was on the phone with you."
"So I'll call you later... One okay?"
"No, it's really *not*, Matt. I'm in Toronto tonight, and I won't have any other chance to talk with you. I have to go."
"Wait, damn it!" Hardy cried. "Amy, c'mon... I want us to be friends."
"Well, keeping me on the phone with you when I'm at my boyfriend's house is *not* the way to do that," the woman said with exasperation. "I'll be home again tomorrow night, so try me then." She rolled her eyes again, already regretting that she'd said that. Matt just sounded so desperate. It made him look pretty pathetic. And then the redhead remembered those pictures of him and Adam's ex-wife practically eating each other's faces off.
"Okay. I'll do that. Bye, Amy."
"Bye." Amy instantly pressed the button to end the call and shook her head. She decided she was going to put Matt
completely out of her mind and lay here to wait for Adam to finish his shower.