The Warmth

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The moment Lita and Jeff got settled in their hotel room, the redhead had made up her mind...

She was going to at least make an attempt to appeal to the Dudleys...

Bubba Ray and D'Von had been friends of hers for so long - their friendship went back to their ECW days. Lita had deemed them close pals even despite all the insane stunts they'd pulled. She'd been in complete and utter shock the night they'd set a table covered with tacks on fire and powerbombed Balls Mahoney through it - although the act had been sickening, for lack of a better description, they'd still been her friends... They'd never looked at her as being weak just because she happened to be a woman - they'd always respected her and let her be what she was, do whatever she pleased. Other male friends of hers had - including her lovely ex-boyfriend, Matt Hardy...

Now, as the redhead stood outside the hall in front of the door the brothers were sharing, she knocked. All of these memories and thoughts of her long friendship with Bubba and D'Von remained crystal clear in her mind.

After a few seconds, the door was opened, and D'Von stared at her in surprise.

"Lita...Girl, what a surprise..." He took gentle hold of her arm, ushered her inside, then stuck his head out as though to be sure this wasn't a ploy of some kind. When he'd made certain all was clear and that Lita was alone, the man shut the door and turned to her.

Lita was standing very still in her tracks, facing toward the interior of the room.

Bubba Ray Dudley sat up in one of the beds, relaxing - and eyeing her intently. After a beat, he leapt up.

"D'Von, what's she doing here? Who told you to let her in?" he demanded, a frown dominating his face.

"Bubba, calm down..." the redhead began, her hands out in an appeasing manner. "I just wanted to talk to you guys..."

"About what?" he asked suspiciously.

She sighed, raking a hand through her hair. It saddened her that this man, who'd once been such a close friend, was now mistrusting her.

"Well, for starters, I wanted to thank you for helping us out tonight..." She glanced from Bubba to D'Von and back again.

There was a brief silence until D'Von spoke.

"We should thank her, too, Bubba...She stood up to that fool Bischoff for us..." Then, before his brother could say anything in response to that, he turned to the diva. "Thank you, Lita..."

The redhead smiled. At least D'Von hadn't grown chilly toward her...

Bubba Ray still eyed her with a measure of suspicion as she spoke again.

"I actually also came to ask you two something..."

"What is it?"

"Well...As you could plainly see tonight," Lita began, "Jeff, Trish, Edge and I have all had enough of Bischoff and Morley's reign of terror...The four of us have formed a little group, and...seeing as how you guys have been treated by them for awhile now, I wanted to ask..." She focused her gaze on Bubba as she continued. "...if you would join us..."

Bubba Ray looked thoughtful for a moment, not speaking as he mulled it over. The redhead took this as promising - after all, he hadn't just blurted 'no' right after her question.

Then, as she was still gazing hopefully at the man, he finally answered.

"No...No way..."






Part 18

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