Title: To Ride Out the Storm

Author: Karen U/revivingophelia

Pairing/Character: Eve Torres, CM Punk, the Shield, Paul Heyman, Kaitlyn, Lilian, others

Disclaimer: No one you recognize belongs to me.

Rating: PG-13/T

Summary: Thirteen people. One arena. A major storm. One really long night.

Spoilers: Um... Let's go with set in early January 2013. Anything that happened after the 1/4/13 episode of SmackDown hasn't occurred.

Warnings: language, adult situations. Maybe some minor violence.

Part One

Eve pushed her hair back from her face, wrinkling up her nose as she looked down at her watch. The company'd had an earlier than usual show that day thanks to the fact that they were on the west coast, meaning the three-hour RAW was over by eight o'clock at night there in Washington state, but it was well after nine at night now, and she knew she was one of the last people there. She sort of figured that Booker T had done that on purpose, wanting her to be stuck at work as long as possible as some sort of punishment for what he considered her bad deeds. Whatever. She knew the reason the man didn't fire her from being his assistant was because he knew that she did at least five times the work that Teddy Long did.

Shaking her head, she glanced over at the man that was flopped across the couch in the room. "You didn't have to stay with me, you know."

"What was I supposed to do? Let you catch a cab? I'm your ride, in case you've forgotten," the WWE champion said, shrugging as he sat there. "Besides that, it's late. And I know you're all empowered and can take care of yourself and all of that, but I still wasn't going to leave you here alone because you're my friend and I'm not letting anything happen to you."

Eve Torres smiled slightly at that, the woman not willing to admit that it was nice to know she still had at least one friend in the company, but glad for it just the same. Sighing, she straightened up, gathering up the paperwork in front of her. "Well, that's everything. Finally."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely. I just got the confirmation that the fax went through. So we're finally done here, and we can go," the woman said, and CM Punk nodded, then pushed himself to his feet, a frown on his face.

"What was the hurry on this one, anyway? I mean, you had to send it to the main office, right?"

"Yes."

"Which is in Connecticut. It's eleven there. Or it was when the show ended. It's after midnight there now. Odds are, no one's there to get it, and won't be until morning."

"I know that, you know that... I'm willing to bet that on some level, even Booker T knows that. He just probably thought it would be fun to make me stay behind and do his paperwork."

"He treats you like dirt."

"Yeah. And I would quit, but if I tried to quit as his assistant, he'd probably fire me totally since he still blames me for what happened to Kaitlyn and refuses to acknowledge the voicemail I got from Aksana telling me that Teddy Long put her up to it in order to get rid of me and that he'd promised her my job if she did it. Booker says that I could have made her do the voicemail. Never mind the fact that by that logic, if I could put her up to lying about me not doing it, then Teddy could put her up to planting evidence and claiming that I did it."

"I still say you should have found a way to get that voicemail played over the sound system."

"And I still say that you should just let that idea go, because it's not going to happen. People want to believe the worst of me, so they do. And on that note, let's get the hell out of here. We've got a pretty good drive to the hotel tonight," she said, and Punk nodded. They had a live Super SmackDown the next night, and in order to cut travel time the next day, they were heading more than a hundred miles down the road tonight... Meaning they had a couple of hours until they got to their hotel, and that was if they made okay time.

Quickly, the two champions gathered up their things and headed out of the office, Punk stopping at his locker room to tell Paul Heyman that they were heading out, the man muttering 'finally' as he rose from where he'd been sitting and shoved the book he'd been reading into a pocket of his oversized overcoat.

"Do you ever think about typing up inappropriate messages to various people at the main office and pretending they're from Booker T?" the older man asked as they headed down the hallway, and Eve smirked slightly at that, shaking her head.

"They'd know it was me. I have thought about sending in a proposal for a bunch of pay per view matches and having every single one of them being a tag team match that absolutely makes no sense at all. Figure I could blame that one on Teddy Long," she replied, drawing a laugh from both Punk and Heyman, and it was because of that that all three of them were smiling when they got to the parking garage... Only to stop short, their laughter cutting off immediately when they saw that they weren't as alone as they'd thought they were.

"Cena," Punk said as neutrally as he could, the man then looking over at the person next to the West Newbury native. "Oh, and look... It's his bestest friend ever. Geez, Zack, I'd thought that bromance had ended when you weren't of any use to Cena any longer."

"Shut up, jerk," Ryder tossed back, and before Punk could make a remark about how cutting that rejoinder wasn't, more people joined them in the parking garage, and Eve arched a brow as she saw who it was.

"What are you two doing here?" she asked, and Kaitlyn glared at her.

"Someone hid my stuff, and Lilian and I had to find it. As if you didn't know."

Eve snorted at that. "I have more important things to do than juvenile pranks on you. I was here filing paperwork for the SmackDown General Manager. I wasn't hiding your... Street clothes?"

"My wrestling boots, actually."

"Natalya and Beth stole my gear once, but with Beth gone... I don't think you're on Nattie's hit list. Alicia can be kind of passive-aggressive, though," she said, then turned her attention to Randy Orton, who had also been in the garage when she, Punk, and Heyman had gotten there, though he hadn't been with Cena and Ryder. "How about you?"

"Saw the trainers. Then got out here to find a blown tire. I'd just finished changing it when the rest of you got here." He gestured to the remaining vehicles in the garage. "I'm guessing we aren't the only ones here."

"You're not," a new voice said, and they all turned to see Daniel Bryan and Kane stepping out into the parking garage, Daniel giving Kane a reproving look. "Kane decided to prove that he could set anything on fire that he wanted to, and it took a little while to put the trash can out."

"That's what happens when you team with a pyromaniac," CM Punk said, shaking his head, he and Eve and Heyman starting to head for their vehicle. As they walked, a phone started ringing, and since the music playing was Cena's theme song, it wasn't all that surprising when he was the one that pulled out a cell phone to answer it. For their parts, Eve, Punk, and Heyman weren't too concerned with whatever phone call Cena was getting, so it came as a surprise when he suddenly called out to them.

"Hey! Wait. Punk! Wait for a minute."

"What do you want?" the WWE champion demanded to know, the three of them turning to Cena, and the man held up his phone.

"It's Booker T. He knew I was staying behind to sign some extra stuff for giveaways and things. You know, for kids."

"And?"

"And whatever he has to say, he wants everyone here to listen to it. It's important," John said, waiting until everyone had come closer before pressing a button on his phone and speaking again. "Okay, man. You're on speaker, and we're all here. What's so important?" he asked, and after a moment, Booker spoke, his voice slightly distorted over the speaker, but still easily recognizable.

"Hey, everybody. I really hate to say this, but... None of y'all can leave the arena now. You're gonna have to stay there tonight-"

"What?" Eve yelped, unable to stop herself, and Booker quickly responded to the sound of her voice.

"Eve? That you? What are you still doing there?"

"I just finished the faxing all the paperwork you wanted. At least a third of it hadn't even been completed yet-"

"Teddy said he had that done. That all you needed to do was fax it."

"Well, he was wrong. I finished filling it out, then sent it. I just got done."

"Okay. Cena said Ryder was there with him and that Orton was there because of a busted tire. Who else is there?"

"I misplaced something and had to look for it. Lilian stayed with me, so we're still here. This is Kaitlyn, by the way," the native Houstonian piped up.

"I was riding to the next show with CM Punk and Paul Heyman, so they're here with me. Kane and Daniel Bryan are still here, too," Eve put in, the woman looking up at the sound of the door to the parking garage opening once more, her eyes widening as she saw who had just walked out. "But, uh, we're not the only ones here."

"Okay. Who else is there?" Booker wanted to know, and Eve swallowed hard, her eyes locked on the men that were now standing near the doors.

"The Shield."