"Ric and I have separate offices," Stephanie explained as she showed the redhead the downstairs area.  "But he's rarely in his...I'm the one who handles most of the business stuff.  He likes to go scoping out other bands at various local areas."

"Yeah, I know...So I've heard," Amy said.  "Where is he right now?"

"Boston," the brunette replied.

Boston... That was where she had just come from.  And then, an odd thought occurred to her.  Oh, no... It couldn't be possible, though.  The odds of that happening had to be so astronomical.  She decided to put it out of her mind.

"Hey...are you all right?"

The redhead looked just to her right as Edge nudged her.  He was looking at her with concerned green eyes.

"Um...yeah.  Just a little overwhelmed by everything, I guess."

"Well, that's understandable," Trish said sympathetically from directly behind her.  The little blonde put a gentle hand on her shoulder.  "You'll get used to everything yet."

Lita nodded absently, her mind still at a slight distraction despite her most recent thought to put it out of her mind.

"Oh...look who's here," Chris put in.  He headed in the direction of another small room nearby as they heard a voice.

In the open doorway of the room of which they were now standing just outside, Lita caught sight of a handsome young man with a dark blond ponytail.  He was speaking on a cell phone held up to one ear and initially seemed to be unaware of their presence.

The redhead wondered who he was.  A moment later, the man ended his call and flipped the cell phone closed.  "Oh, hey," he said, regarding the group with a bright smile.

Stephanie stepped forward.  "Rob, I'd like you to meet someone - Lita - she's Test's replacement in Sweet Misery."  The brunette had the other woman by the arm as she practically dragged her into the room.  "Lita, this is Rob Van Dam - he's one of our sound engineers here at In The Raw..."

"Hi," the young man said.  "Lita...nice to meet you."  He put his hand out, and the young woman shook it.

"Likewise."

"As Steph just said, my name is Rob, but you can call me RVD if you like," he said with a grin, pointing at his head with both thumbs, arms out as he spoke his initials.  It was an unusual gesture, but one she found cute.

"Hey, is Book here?" Edge suddenly asked RVD.

"Stepped out a little while ago," the sound engineer answered.  "He should be back soon."

"'Book?'" Lita asked as she turned to face Edge.

"Short for Booker T," the tall blond man explained.  "He's our other sound engineer.  I guess you'll have to wait till later to meet him."

They all went back upstairs, where Lita noticed Shane had joined Albert near the door, the two men engaged in an animated conversation.  She was feeling more and more welcome here as the day progressed, beyond relieved that she and Edge had managed to put their initial mutual dislike of each other behind them.  She couldn't imagine how unbearable it would feel if they hadn't mended that bridge.

Still... Despite herself, she couldn't help but wonder exactly where in Boston Mr. Flair was.  What if he was in the exact location from which she'd just left?  What if he was having talks with Evolution?  It wasn't that she minded Randy and Stacy - or Sean O'Haire, the bassist.  She probably wouldn't even have a problem with the guitarist with whom they'd replaced her - but Dave Batista was a different story.  She didn't want to have to deal with him anymore.  Hell, he was the reason she was here right now!

"Lita?"  She suddenly realized that Edge was speaking to her, waving a hand in front of her face at the same time.

"Huh?  Oh, I'm sorry."

"You blanked out on us again...Are you sure you're all right?"

"Yeah...Of course I am," she said.

The tall Canadian eyed her skeptically.  She certainly hadn't looked all right.  She'd had the strangest expression on her face, looking as though she were very worried about something.  Although he still didn't kow her all that well, he wondered what was going on.

*

"This is going to be great," Dave Batista said as he came to sit with his bandmembers at his dining room table.

"I take it everything's completely taken care of?" Sean O'Haire asked.  He was the latecomer to this dinner, as he'd had to run a quick errand immediately after the set they'd played for the talent scout.

"Smooth and slick as ice," Dave replied, a satisfied grin on his face.  "Whatever that is, it smells delicious," he said, turning to face Stacy.

"You'll have to thank Randy, not me - he's the one who cooked dinner," the leggy blonde said with a smile as she glanced at her boyfriend.

"Is that so?" O'Haire asked, an amused smirk coming to his face.

"Yeah...Since Stacy can't even make toast without burning it to a crisp, I'm the chef at our place."  Orton received a playful swat on the back of the head from his live-in girlfriend for his troubles.  "Ow!"

The newest member of Evolution sat back in his chair at the table, so far not all that amused with the playful banter of his new bandmates.  Very serious by nature, he found them a bit immature for his tastes.  Well, Mr. Batista wasn't all that bad.  And Stacy Keibler was certainly a fine dish - even if she didn't know how to cook worth's a damn and was spoken for.

"Hey, man...Is everything cool?" Sean asked as he regarded the burly guitarist.  He hadn't missed the other man's excessive silence.

"Yeah, it's all cool."  The truth was, he found himself a tiny bit distracted and wished Mr. Flair had stayed for dinner - but the man had said he would be checking out another local band.

He couldn't get some of the things Flair had mentioned about his club out of his mind.  There were some aspects of the place - of the man's description of it - that he found familiar somehow, even though he'd never once stepped foot inside the place or even seen it on the outside.

Stacy, who'd gone into the kitchen to serve dinner, returned to the table.

"Since you're our newest member, you get first pickings," she said, a friendly, cordial smile on her pretty face.  "Dark or white meat, Hunter?"