Part 30

Early Sunday afternoon found them on a plane en route to Uniondale. They'd spent the first part of New Years Day lazing around the ranch in front of the fireplace and the second part in video game wars with Sean and Glen. Chris and Glen had had to settle an argument between Shawn and Sean over who would get to play HBK in the first game. After demanding that the two take turns playing as each other, things had settled down for awhile after that until Sean had won the game with Sweet Chin Music. Chris was still slightly amused that Shawn had whined about being beaten by 'himself'.

This morning they had packed and left the house early with another round of friendly good-byes. Chris would bet anything that Glen was still blushing after the kiss that Shawn had laid on him just before they'd walked out the door. Glen and Sean were spending another night at the ranch with Glen flying out super early the next morning in order to make the Raw broadcast Monday night. Chris couldn't blame them for wanting one more night of freedom before getting tangled in the backstage politics that were sure to be upcoming. Sean was going to accompany Glen to Uniondale, but he was supposed to be staying at the hotel during the show. Shawn didn't want his friend to take the chance of running into Hunter behind the scenes, especially after everything that he'd found out in the last week. And they couldn't let Hunter find out that Glen and Sean were back together or Hunter would start to get suspicious.

Chris had to admit that he was getting a little nervous himself about Hunter discovering their plans ahead of time. He and Shawn were going to have to be very careful not to be seen together until after the pay per view. And they also had to be careful when approaching the other people they wanted to involve in their plan. Despite his other nasty feelings about Hunter's character, Chris had to admit that the man wasn't stupid. He could probably get away with talking to Benoit and Adam both because it was known that they were on speaking terms. Shawn would have a bigger problem in getting to his targets...Orton and Batista.

They were hoping to catch Orton and Benoit at the hotel tonight since both men preferred to fly in early for most of the shows. With Hunter living so close by, he would more than likely wait until Monday to make the drive over to Uniondale. Just to be on the safe side, Shawn was going to check with the clerk at the desk to make sure his fellow Clique member hadn't decided to get a room. Hunter was unpredictable and it wouldn't pay for them to make the assumption that he would rather stay in the comfort of his own home for another night than spend it in a cramped hotel room. After all...as far as they knew Hunter hadn't been seeing anyone lately, but then it had become apparent to them that Hunt seemed to do a lot of things that he had managed to keep quiet. If he was seeing someone on the current roster, they wouldn't want to get caught out because 'The Game' was in the mood to get a little.

The warm stroke of fingers over his knee made him smile and he turned to look at his new lover.

"Hey, calm down. It'll be okay, Chris. I promise. We're going to make this right," Shawn said quietly next to his ear. "Hunter won't know what hit him."

"I know. We have it all planned out. The only real wildcard is Dave, but I just have this feeling that something is going to go wrong," Chris said with a sigh. "I don't want to underestimate him again, Shawn."

Just then the stewardess made the announcement that they would be landing shortly. Going through the motions of stowing their trays and fastening their seatbelts, they discussed the plan for the night that they'd come up with earlier.

"We'll take separate cabs to the hotel, I'll check in and get two keys, and then I'll leave one of them on the second floor next to the ice machine. You take the next elevator up and pick up the key and then I'll meet you in our room. Unless Hunter is following one of us, he'll never find out about it and Hunter values his time too much to bother," Shawn said with a grin. "While I'm checking in, I'll find out if Benoit and Orton have arrived yet and if they have I'll get their room numbers, then we can split up to go talk to them. Everything is going to be fine, sweetheart."

****

The plan had worked perfectly, Chris thought as he slipped the keycard through the reader on the hotel room door. He hadn't seen hide or hair of Hunter...nor anyone else that he knew for that matter. That didn't mean that they could let their guards down while they were making their forays to see Orton and Benoit though. Even if Hunter wasn't around, there were others that would rat them out to the nasty blond in a second if they thought it would get them somewhere. Flair would run to Hunter immediately if he caught wind of what was going on and as much as Chris liked to think that he was friendly with most of the wrestlers backstage that wouldn't stop some of them from cutting a deal with Hunter to boost their careers. And Shawn had his own share of enemies backstage...some deserved and some not. He wondered how many of those enemies were the direct result of manipulations by Hunter...

"Hey sweetheart. Glad you finally made it."

Raising his head and smiling at the figure reclined on the bed, he tossed his bag to the floor beside the dresser and walked over to the edge of the mattress. "No signs of anyone that I knew. You find anything out?" he asked as he crawled onto the bed.

"No sign of Hunter being here and no reservation for him, but that means nothing really. He could be shacking up with someone else. Benoit and Orton are both here and I have room numbers, so we'll have to get a move on to talk to them before Hunter does show up. But before we do that, there is something else we need to talk about," Shawn said with a slight grimace. "You can bet your ass...not that I ever would, because I plan to keep it for myself...that all of these guys are going to have questions. The main one being how I'm going to handle the match in the chamber."

Chris stared at Shawn for a moment before it dawned on him what Shawn was trying to point out to him. "You mean they're going to wonder if I've got this thing sewn up since I've let you in my pants...is that what you mean?" he asked with a smirk. He grinned when Shawn laughed.

"That's it exactly sweetheart. So...I need to tell you exactly what I'm going to tell them. Just because I love you and just because you love me...that doesn't mean I'm going to hand you that match on a silver platter. I'll be more than happy to proclaim you the winner, when you beat them all," Shawn said with a confident smile, "but I'm not going to give you an unfair advantage. I'm going to call this match straight."

"...And I wouldn't expect anything less." Chris smiled and leaned down to press a soft kiss to Shawn's mouth. "Of course I'm going to kick all of their asses, so it's irrelevant," he said with a cocky grin, "but if one of those bastards happens to get lucky and get a pin, then I won't cry if you count the three for them."

With a soft lick to those oh-so-kissable lips, Chris rolled off the bed and stared expectantly at his lover. "So...are you going to give me Ben-oyt's room number or do I have to go knocking on every door in the hotel..."

****

He knocked loudly on the door, wincing when he heard the voice from the other side.

"Christian, you creepy little bastard...if that's you again, so help me God, I'm going to kick your ass. I do not want to sleep with you. Got it?" The voice increased in volume as the door swung open to reveal the face of an obviously shocked Randy Orton. It lasted only a moment before the dark-haired man scowled. "I'm not sleeping with you either, Michaels. Not even to get an advantage in the chamber match. So if that's why you're here..."

Shawn laughed lightly before pushing his way into the room. "No offense Orton, but I don't want you in my bed any more than you want to be there. Chris might have a big problem with that," he said with a smirk, dropping one bomb right away.

"You're sleeping with Benoit? Damn. That takes some balls."

Shawn rolled his eyes before perching himself on the edge of a chair at the table. "Not Benoit. I'm not a sadist, besides...Eddie would really kick my ass if I went anywhere near his man."

"But if it's not Benoit, then that leaves...but you two hate each other. I know you do. I've been caught in the crossfire on occasion," Orton gawked as he tried to process this turn of events. "I refuse to believe that you and the Ayatollah are doing the nasty."

"Good...because there is nothing nasty about it," Shawn crowed with a grin. "As a matter of fact, it's pretty damned hot to be honest, but then look at who I'm talking about."

A look of pure disbelief crossed Orton's face before he scowled once again. "So what...you're here to tell me I have absolutely no chance in that match because you're fucking Jericho?"

Leaning back in his seat, deceptively calm, Shawn shook his head. "First of all...I'm not 'fucking' him. We've finally figured out that we love each other and I'm blessed to have him in my life. Second...Just because Chris and I are together...it doesn't mean you can't win at New Year's Revolution. I'm here to let you know that I plan to call the match straight. You have as much of a chance as any of the other competitors..."he trailed off as he fixed his eyes with Randy's to convince him of his sincerity. "Any of the others except for Hunter."

The skeptical look on Randy's face wasn't surprising. Neither was the shock at the mention of Hunter.

"That's actually why I'm here. Hunter messed up. He stuck his nose in things that were none of his business and now I want to see him taken down for it. I need your help to do it."

Randy paced back and forth across the room before stopping to fix Shawn with a hard stare. "Is this for real? You really don't want Hunter to win?"

"Oh it's real alright," Shawn said with a nasty grin. "I want to guarantee that Hunter will not keep that title after next Sunday. If anyone gets the drop on him, I will happily count the pin and take pleasure in tossing his ass out of the chamber. I'm trying to talk everyone in that match into going after him first. So how about it? Are you on board?"

Randy grinned gleefully. "Are you kidding me? I'm all over it. You know it was Hunter's idea to boot me out of Evolution? He convinced Vince that success was going to my head and I needed taken down a peg or two. Rotten bastard...like my ego is any worse than his...or yours for that matter," Randy added with a smug grin.

Shawn laughed at the kid's arrogance, but couldn't really deny that his ego was out of control. It was...he was HBK, damn it. "Yeah, well Hunter's always been on the lookout for number one and you were threatening that. I'm sure you weren't really surprised that you were a threat to his top spot. Now...you know Dave. You worked with him for a long time. Do you think he'll fall in with this too or should I give up on him as a lost cause?"

Randy grimaced and finally sat down on the bed. "Dave's a great guy...a huge teddy bear really...honest as they come. He's been dying to get away from Hunter for ages because of all the crap that Hunter pulls backstage. I think Vince finally saw the benefits of a split if their current storyline is any indication. I think he'll go along with it just to push a wedge further between the two of them. You should talk to him."

****

Chris knocked firmly on the door in front of him. "Ben-oyt...you toothless Canadian bastard...open up!" He heard shuffling behind the door and then the door was opened, the Canadian in question fixing him with a glare.

"Jericho, you loud-mouthed little shit. What do you want?" the man growled before breaking into a crooked grin. "How ya doing Chris? Where the hell were you this weekend? I got your machine like twenty times and finally gave up. Tried your cell too, but you obviously had it turned off...again."

Jericho smiled as he walked through the door and jumped on the bed in the middle of the room. "I was getting laid six ways from Sunday, so I wouldn't have answered the phone even if I had been home," he said with a naughty wiggle of his eyebrows.

The surprised look on Benoit's face as he leaned against the wall was completely worth the admission.

"Don't tell me that you finally let Christian in your pants? The man's been hitting on everything that moves for the past three months," Benoit said with a grimace.

Chris' grimace matched that of his friend's. "No, no...not Christian...so not my type. Actually, I hooked up with..." Mumbling the name quietly, he waited for the explosion. He wasn't ashamed in any way that he was with Shawn, but if he gloated before he got his explanations out then Benoit's explosion was likely to be even worse than he'd planned for.

"Are you insane?" Chris winced at the sheer volume of Benoit's voice. Benny never got mad enough to yell...well, at least not very often off-screen. That just showed the depth of his disagreement with Chris' chosen partner. But then...he didn't know the truth.

"No," Chris replied with a grin. "Not insane, just in love."

"You are insane. Have you forgotten everything that's happened since the last time you fell for his charm?" Despite the grim look on Benoit's face, Chris kept smiling.

"No. I haven't forgotten a thing, I just found out the truth." Chris laughed at the confusion on his friend's face and then proceeded to tell him everything that he'd discovered in the last week. By the time he was finished with his explanations, Benoit was seething again, but this time his anger was directed at the right person...Hunter.

"That spineless little bastard...he'll be lucky if he can actually walk by the time I let him out of that chamber on Sunday," Benoit growled.

Chris smiled, appreciative of his friend's support. "Speaking of which, that's why I came to talk to you. Shawn and I came up with this plan. We're going to talk to everyone in that match...except Hunter, of course...and try to get them to take the little prick out first. I'm assuming that you have no problem with that?"

Laughing at the twisted smile on Benoit's face - a smile that he hoped to god he would never see aimed at him - Chris smiled and stood up. Walking over to him, Chris held out his hand, waiting for his friend to shake it. With another laugh, he pulled the Wolverine into a quick hug.

"I want to get back to the room. Shawn will probably be waiting for me by now. We're going to try to talk to Adam and Dave at the show tomorrow night. Shawn thinks we can trust Dave, but I don't know. What do you think Benny? I've always valued the fact that you can read people so well."

Read Chapter Thirty One of Undelivered