PART 6

Lita sat on the bed in Christian's hotel room, crumpling up the already wrinkled tissue in her hand. Her eyes, which still held the traces of tears, scanned the room thouroughly, studying her surroundings. She had already been in the room for well over an hour, yet she still found herself nervously glancing around, her eyes darting about as though she was expecting someone to jump out and attack her. She glanced down at the alarm clock on the nightstand by the bed, and she sighed as she wondered what was taking the blonde man so long. Christian had disappeared nearly fifteen minutes ago when he'd offered to go down to the lobby and get them something to drink. A shaky sigh emitted from the redhead as she clutched her stomach, unable to shake the uneasiness churning there. She couldn't believe how much she had allowed herself to tell Christian.

When the two arrived at his hotel room, the realization of how much she had lost - even though Christian had managed to salvage her job - hit her hard, settling with a thump in the pit of her stomach. The tears - which had been threatening her eyes for hours - fell and the lump in her throat exploded out in a soft cry, and she nearly collapsed to the floor in sobs. Christian had dropped their bags to the floor and led her to the bed, sitting her down before taking a seat next to her. He pulled her to him, hugging her tightly as she cried against him, and he did something she couldn't have seen him ever doing...

He listened.

Christian listened intently as Lita painfully recounted the events of the night through her point of view, her tear-filled recollections of the fiasco ensuing during her match with Matt against Bischoff and Molly damn near breaking the Canadian's heart. Lita couldn't believe how sweet he had been, his kindness and generosity surprising her greatly. Not only did he listen as she explained her situation through choked sobs, but he seemed to genuinely care.

The more Lita sat and thought about it, the more she realized something. All of the people who told her not to trust him, all of her friends that had advised her to stay away from Christian because he was undoubtedly up to no good, were wrong. She could trust him, which was more than she could say for a great deal of the people she worked with. Christian may have done a lot of questionable things in the past, but who hadn't, especially considering the ever-changing environment they lived and worked in? Suddenly, the door opened, and Lita's head snapped in its direction, her breath catching deep in her throat as she saw him standing in the doorway. He slowly made his way towards her, handing over one of the cans of Sprite that was resting in his hands. Lita graciously accepted it, her eyes still locked on him as she popped it open.

"Lita..." he began, placing his drink down on the nightstand. There was no way he'd even be able to open that can right now, let alone drink it. The hesitation in his voice nearly made her melt.

Then, as she sat next to him, staring deeply into his eyes, she saw something, something she hadn't noticed before. After months of trying to figure out what was going on in his mind, she finally found it. He cared about her. She had spent so long searching for something that wasn't there... a catch, or some underlying meaning for why Christian was acting the way he was. She had spent so much time trying to find something lying deep inside those eyes, and she missed the most obvious thing. Looking at him now, she could see it clear as day... he had feelings for her.

"Christian, don't," she said suddenly, pressing a finger to his lips to silence him. Pushing her hand away, Christian shook his head.

"No, Lita... you have to hear me out. You've been avoiding hearing this from me for weeks, and if I don't get it out soon, I'm going to explode," he said, locking eyes with her in a serious gaze.

"Okay," Lita replied, letting her hand drop. "Go ahead. I'm listening."

"Alright," he said, taking a deep, slow breath. He only hoped she couldn't hear the thumping heartbeat that was pounding in his ear. "Lita, I know you and I haven't always been close friends... okay, so we've never been close friends, but I never hated you. In fact, from the day I met you, I had the biggest crush on you. I just... I always felt like you thought I was annoying, a nuisance or something. I never bothered telling you because I got this horrible feeling that you would laugh in my face or something."

"Oh, Christian," she said as he paused to take a breath, a fuzzy feeling replacing the nausea that had once been haunting there.

"I... when you went down with your injury, I thought I finally moved on. But when you came back, so did the feelings... and they were ten times more intense. By this time, I didn't want to just come out and tell you because I thought you'd assume I was nuts. But, damn it... I can't ignore it anymore. I... I think I love you, Lita."

Lita's eyes widened slightly, her hand coming up to her mouth to cover up the fact that it had dropped open. I think I love you, Lita. Had those words really just left Christian's lips? She sat there, staring at him in utter disbelief. She had known that he had feelings for her, but for some reason, hearing him admit it was even more shocking than the original revelation.

When she didn't respond, Christian got the message... she didn't feel the same. His head dropping dejectedly, he looked away, fumbling with his hands before standing up. He took off in the direction of the door, not even caring that he was walking out of his own hotel room. He had to get out of there before she saw the huge blush forming on his cheeks, before he had a chance to look her in the eye and completely break down.

"Christian!" Lita called after him, jumping up off the bed. Then, her heart taking over, she blurted out something she thought she would never, ever say to that man. "I love you too!"

Christian stopped dead in his tracks, turning back to face her from the doorway. When he saw the look in her eyes, the love shining brightly in them, he smiled. He extended his arms to her, his grin widening with each step she took in his direction. When she reached him, she through her arms around his neck, pressing her lips to his. Christian sighed happily, placing his hands on Lita's waist as she slid her tongue in his mouth. Lita sighed contentedly as well, smiling up at him as she broke the kiss...

She didn't know what the future held, but she was glad she'd have someone to share it with.

Hands down, this is the best date I can ever remember
I'll always remember the sound of the stereo,
The dim of the soft lights, the scent of your hair
That you twirled in your fingers
And the time on the clock when we realized it's so late
And this walk that we shared together
The streets were wet and the gate was locked
So I jumped it, and let you in
And you stood at your door with your hands on my waist
And you kissed me like you meant it
And I knew that you meant it
That you meant it, that you meant it
And I knew that you meant it, that you meant it

::The End::

A/N: Well, that's the last of this series! Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I really appreciate it! Hope you enjoyed reading. :)