Shattered Hearts

Chapter Twenty Three

As the weeks progressed, Rain found it easier to manage her days in work without crashing and burning. The first couple of days had been very meeting heavy, leaving her exhausted and barely functioning in an evening when she got home, but there had been a lot to take in as she played catch up. By a couple of weeks in she felt she had a much better handle on things and felt more content. Bret had been watching her anxiously, worried it was all too much for her, but he had to admit that by the end of week two she was ok again. He had been in quite a few meetings himself that first week with Vince, with JR and then with her and Owen to go through the storyline and add in the details. He'd enjoyed that meeting perhaps the most; he loved watching her work, seeing the flash of inspiration and then the way she could take the skeleton of an idea and pad it out for them until they knew they had a showstopper on their hands. Vince was very happy with the direction of the storyline and the word was he loved the edge that Owen's heel character had. Owen had been heeling it up in matches, putting in illegal moves behind the ref's back, refusing to engage with fans as he came up the aisle and even putting Trish in a Sharpshooter when she was still in the ring after her own match when he entered it. That particular move had drawn him plenty of heat and set the stage for him threatening Rain and Bret taking him seriously.

Bret was in the ring, a microphone in his hand, pacing up and down.

"Owen I want you to come down here and talk to me, man to man. I won't wrestle my little brother, my own flesh and blood. All this crap the last few weeks, it isn't you, Owen. Come out here and let's talk."

Owen's music hit and the crowd started to boo loudly, while Bret made a show of being upset by this in the ring. But Owen didn't come out, instead the large screen came on showing him out back, a camera following him.

"Save your pretty speeches Hitman," he sneered. "Words won't fix the issues between us. I want you in that ring and I want you at Summerslam."

"I won't fight my brother," Bret said, adamantly. Owen suddenly stopped walking and the camera zoomed in on his face.

"Did you see what I did to Trish in the ring, Bret? I hope you took notice because it might help you to know how serious I am. You'll agree to the match or I'll find another innocent woman to put in a Sharpshooter." The camera panned out to reveal an office door with a name sign on that said Rain Hart. Bret's face changed, becoming angry.

"You wouldn't put your hands on Rain. You love her like a sister..."

"You can't tell me what to do!" Owen raged and he opened the door as the camera faded to black. Bret dropped from the ring and ran up the aisle to the back as the camera followed him. He reached the office door but it was locked from the inside. The sound of a woman calling out came from inside and Bret hammered on the door. It suddenly flew open and Owen launched himself at his brother, taking him to the floor. The crowd went wild as this time Bret responded, trading blow for blow and then he locked his brother in a Sharpshooter holding it on until officials came to break it up. The segment ended there and JR and Jerry sold how serious the situation was, that Bret may have injured his younger brother with how long he applied his hold for and that nobody knew if Rain was ok or not.

Bret went through to the office where Lita was sat with Rain. It had been Lita's voice the crowd would have heard but they wouldn't know that. Rain had been comfortable writing the segment but not acting it out and Lita could pull off a fair imitation of her. Rain grinned across at him as Owen came in as well.

"That sure got a reaction," she said.

"I thought it was you screaming for sure," Bret said. "Great job Lita."

Lita grinned.

"Happy to be of service, " she said. "Anyway hope you've got that babysitter booked, Rain. You and Bret are out with us tonight painting the town red."