"Thanks, Edge..." she said, her tone mild as she gazed up into the blond man's handsome face.  She opened the door, then turned back to face him.  "For everything..."

The tall Canadian blinked at her with worry as he took in the tiny, uncertain smile she offered him.  He knew she must be feeling scared right about now.  Eric Bischoff was such a pathetic little prick, just like Bubba Ray Dudley had said.

Trish was in the room, but neither Edge nor Lita had even realized it until she approached the door.

"Hey...What's going on?" the little blonde asked, her expression curious as she noticed the looks on both their faces.

The redhead shook her head and sighed.  "I confronted Bischoff about the match with Torrie," she said.  "But I walked in on him and Chief Morley throwing their weight around with the Dudleys - so I tried to stand up for them."

Trish arched an eyebrow.  "Wow...Then what happened?"

"Bischoff sicced Morley on me," the high-flying diva said.  "And then, all of a sudden, Edge was there..."  Her hazel gaze went back to the tall blond man, and again, she felt grateful toward him.  "He beat the crap out of him - and thank goodness, because I don't know what would have happened if he hadn't shown up when he did..."

"You mean Morley actually put his hands on you?" Trish asked incredulously as she recalled the way the man had gone after her at the end of her stint as his manager three years earlier.  She'd been terrified of what he might do.  Afterward, she actually found herself glad that Chyna had pinned and beaten her in the intergender tag match for the Intercontinental title at SummerSlam the preceding week.  She'd learned way back then that the then Val Venis cared only about himself and didn't give a damn about her or their former cohorts, Test and Albert.

Lita nodded.  "He grabbed me..."

"He was manhandling her when I came on the scene," Edge concurred.

"That bastard!" the petite blonde cried, her face angry.  "Maybe I should give him a piece of my mind and rip off his balls in the process - if he has any, that is!"

The blond man exchanged glances with the redhead, who still looked upset and nervous.  If she hadn't looked that way, Edge supposed he would have laughed at Trish's spunk - although he admired her tons for it.  And he knew the little blonde diva would make do of what she'd just said.

Lita shuddered a bit as she looked down.  "Bischoff made a match for us after what happened...an...intergender tag team table match..."

"What?  Who are your opponents going to be?"  Trish sincerely hoped it would not be Jeff and herself facing them.

"The Dudleys..."

"What?!"  The Canadian woman's chocolate-brown eyes went wide as she stared at her friend in shock.  Oh, she'd always known Eric Bischoff was a piece of crap - but this stunt was even worse than she'd ever imagined.  Everyone knew that, despite the Dudley Boyz being good guys - although that was questionable now that they'd complied with Bischoff's wishes - Bubba still enjoyed putting women through tables.  That was definitely no secret.  Let's face it - in this scenario, Lita didn't stand a chance.  If D'Von got to Edge before he could rescue the redhead, that was it.  It all smelled very foul and left a bad taste in Trish's mouth.  She was disappointed in the Dudleys for siding with the GM, regardless of their reluctance to do so.  But this match made it all that much worse.

"When is this supposed to take place?" she questioned, glancing from Lita to Edge.

"Tonight," the blond man said, his features hardened in his anger.  Just thinking about those worthless bastards Bischoff and Chief Morley was enough to set him off.  He would just love to get his hands on them and didn't know which one he wanted to destroy more - Morley for putting his filthy paws on Lita, or Bischoff for orchestrating the entire attack on the redhead.

"That's so unfair!" Trish shouted, waving her arms around in an angry gesture.  "But you know what?  Don't worry - Bubba and D'Von would never go for a match like that."

"And how do you know that, Trish?"

"Oh, come on, Edge!" she said.  "They would never hurt Lita!"

"Trish, they've already gone along with Bischoff and Morley..." the redhead spoke in an oddly calm voice.  "They won't dare go against them.  They...they care way too much about their jobs not to."

The little blonde eyed her friend with dismay.  This was such a screwed up situation.

"Don't worry," she finally said.  "We'll figure something out...Somehow, we'll figure a way out of this mess..."