Rating: PG-13
Content: Reference to f/f relationship.
Summary: Sequel to Girlfriend, The Morning After and The Insecure One. Fans react to Amy and Kat's relationship.

I used to love my job! I really did. Not only did I get to be on TV and feed my need to be in the spotlight, but I also got to take pictures which will be going on the WWF's Edge and Christian web site. I was using my photography major to the max, not to mention the minor I did in drama was being stretched out in the ring.
Until one day. I was sitting at a desk, in the dressing room I shared with Jason and Adam, in front of a PC, working on a special mural project when my cell phone rang. I picked up quickly.
"Hello?"
"Katia?" It was Vince McMahon.
"Yes?"
"Come to my office. Now."
"I just need to..."
"I said now."
I hadn't been in the WWF long but that was rude. Regardless, I shut off my PC and off I went. When I got there, the whole McMahon clan was there, Vince, Linda, Shane, Stephanie. J.R. was there too, along with Jeff, Matt, Amy, Jason and Adam. They couldn't have been a sorrier looking bunch. My stomach clenched right away. Something was wrong. I didn't know what to do. The look on Amy's face made me want to go to her and comfort her but I couldn't. This was business. I had to be professional.
I tore my eyes away from her and looked at Vince.
"What's going on?" I asked him.
"Have a seat," Shane said, looking very grim. "We got a tape today. From the National Enquirer TV show! They're giving us a chance to respond."
"Respond to what?"
Why did I bother asking? I knew it had to be bad. Shane slid the tape into the VCR and my heart sank as I recognized Amy and myself in front of an hotel room door. We were kissing and our hands were getting adventurous. Finally, we tore ourselves apart and she walked away while I went into the room. Tears stung my eyes and I blinked them away and I did my best not to turn to Amy. Instead, I looked at Shane and Vince.
"So what do we do?"
"Denying it would be stupid," Vince said. "That'll only set them on the two of you and make them more determined to get closer and closer to you."
"But how did they get that tape?" Amy asked, "I thought the hotels had special security when we stayed over there."
"They do," sighed Vince, "evidently there was a crack in the security."
"So our privacy was sold," Amy remarked dryly. "Because of a crack in the security."
"We're sorry about this," Linda said with a tight smile.
"But we're the ones who are going to suffer," I whispered.
"What we have to do," said J.R., "is work around this."
"Are you going to respond to the Enquirer?" I asked.
"No."
"Dad," Stephanie said heatedly, "we have to find a way to spin this."
"We will."
"We didn't think we'd have to bring forth another Edge and Christian vs. the Hardyz feud but if we play the angle with you girls..."
"With us?" Amy and I said that at the same time.
"Yes," Vince said. "We'll do it tastefully."
I shook my head and looked over at Amy. She seemed as torn as I was.
"Can we discuss this?" she asked. "I mean, our personal lives are out there already. We can accept that. But dragging it into the ring? I don't know."
Vince opened his mouth and I could almost hear him say no but Linda stepped forward.
"Yes, of course. Take all the time you need."
I got up, looked at Amy and she got up too. The moment we stepped out of the office, our fingers searched and found each other quickly. I released a breath I didn't even know I'd been holding and the tears threatened to make a comeback. The boys piled out of the office after us with Stephanie. She led us to an unused locker room. I found a chair and fell on it heavily.
I was so numb. Amy crouched in front of me and put her hands over my tightly clasped ones.
"You okay?"
"I don't know. I feel violated."
"I know-- me too."
Jason brought over a chair for Amy and she sat next to me, putting her arm around my shoulders. I put my head on her shoulder and sighed. I didn't even realize I was crying until I felt the wet spot on her tee-shirt.
"What do you want to do?" she asked me.
"I really don't know. But I know I don't want to make this an issue unless it becomes an issue."
"I'm with Kat," Jeff said. "We gotta wait to see what they make of this. Is it really going to big deal?"
"Steph," Amy said, "tell your dad that for now, we'll wait. If it's nothing more than a ripple, we won't do anything. If it get big, then we'll go for it. As long as it's tasteful. But only if it gets big."

It got big. The National Enquirer made it big, combining the TV report with a front page story. And the PTC was all over it, asking parents if they wanted their kids to be influenced by immoral women. Some of the fans took it badly too. And, not to make myself into a victim, I got the brunt of it too. It's as if they excused Amy, she was experimenting. But me, I was the Big, Black Dyke. I heard it everywhere, hotels, airports, signings, shows. I even got spat on. That one hurt. That was humiliating, having that spittle trickle down my face. That started to make me reconsider.

The real shock came on RAW after my Canadian Blondes won a victory over the Hardyz. They were running up the ramp in their usual flashy style, taking poses I was busily snapping when I heard a smack hit my body.
I heard it before I felt it, before I saw it. There was an eerie silence in the whole arena as black paint started to trickle down my body. Don't cry, I tell myself, don't cry. If you cry, they win. Don't you dare cry. Jason and Adam stopped for a moment and rushed to me but I kept them at bay.

"Here," I said as calmly as I could, "take the camera. I don't want to ruin tonight's film."
"Kat," Adam began.
"Not here," I begged him, starting to walk up the ramp, trying to ignore Amy's angry sobs behind me.
And up the ramp and behind the curtains we went. Backstage, things were very quiet. Vince and Shane were there, looking out of breath, with Steph, whose eyes were filled with tears.
"Are you okay?" she asked me.
I nodded. I couldn't do the talking thing then. Silently, I walked to the locker room I was sharing with the boys and headed for the shower. On the way, I didn't see the people staring at me, I didn't hear the words of comfort and encouragement. I'd shut myself down in a way to avoid more feelings. But when I passed by a mirror, I turned myself back on. People have called me Black but I've never, before today, realized what a lie this is. I'm brown, a nice brown, not quite like chocolate, more like a mokacchino. But tonight, with black paint streaking my beautiful brown skin, I felt like a zebra. I was frozen there for a long moment and the boys stood back in silence. Finally, Jason stepped forward and pushed me toward the shower. He turned on the taps and pushed me under the spray. Without caring whether or not he was still there, I pulled off my clothes until I was naked. But I didn't try to scrub the paint away. I just stopped and reconsidered my choices.
Why the hell did I ask her out on that dumb date? If I hadn't done that, I wouldn't be going through this right now. I wouldn't be in a shower, washing off the paint a formerly adoring fan had thrown at me. I wouldn't be the Big, Black Dyke who'd turned poor, little Amy into another dyke. I wouldn't be feeling this wrenching pain in my heart.
My heart. That was what was the most at risk right now. My heart. Oh yeah, it's a love thing now. I've known that for a while. But I didn't want to actually face up to it. Because once I admitted to loving her, there was no turning back.
"I have some turpentine. Do you need it?"
"I don't know."
I didn't turn around when I heard her voice. Yeah, we've been together for the past month or so but we hadn't gone all the way yet. There was a lot of necking, a lot of petting, but we'd never been naked together yet. We were taking it slowly. Because we wanted to be sure, I guess.
"Kat?"
I turned around and saw she was standing right beside me, in bras and panties, her hair getting soaked.
"What..."
"I thought you could need a hand getting the paint out of your hair."
She pushed me down until I was sitting on the tiles and she started washing my hair with the turpentine. She worked without saying a word and when my hair stopped dripping blackened water, she grabbed a bottle of shampoo. Fifteen minutes later, I was sitting on one of the benches, dressed, my hair in a wet braid on my back. I'd barely said a word. There was nothing for me to say. Amy was sitting next to me, patting my cold hand when Vince walked in.
"We're pulling you from TV for the next week."
"No," I whispered.
"Baby," Amy whispers. "Why put yourself through the trouble?"
"And leave you out there to face it all alone? I think not."
"Young lady, that was an attempt against your life out there."
"Against my lifestyle," I corrected him, feeling more confident with every passing second. "And if I disappear, I tell them it's okay... I tell them they've scared me. They haven't. I love Amy Dumas. And you know what else, that's my business and no one else's. To quote the Rock, if they have a problem with that, they can stick it straight up their candy asses."
Vince smiled at me and shrugged.
"Fine. I got a feeling Shane and I are going to be up all night working on this new angle. We might have to get the ball rolling on it tomorrow for the SMACKDOWN tapings."
"OK," I told him with a smile. "Vince, can I ask you a question?"
"Shoot."
"Me and Amy, our relationship, how do you feel about it?"
He took a deep breath.
"I don't know. There was a time when I would have fought it tooth and nail, but you know what? I know the two of you, you're two good women-- who happen to be in love with each other. Who am I to criticize you for it?"
"Thank you."
"No problem. And Kat, good work out there."
He left. Amy took my chin and turned it her way.
"You love me?"
"Yeah."
"Really?"
"Really. You don't have to say it back," I whispered, pressing a finger over her lips. "It's just how I feel."
"Thank you," she said, laying a gentle kiss on my lips. "For loving me."
"It's the easiest thing I've ever done."

It's later that night. We're sleeping together for the first time. Just together, in the same bed, both of us in the super large tee-shirts, sleeping in each other's arms, not sex. It feels so good-- and right. We're looking at each other.
"Is it okay if I don't say it right away?"
"Say what?"
"That I love you?"
"Yeah. It's perfectly fine."
"You sure?"
"Amy, I'd love for you to say you love me-- but I don't want to rush you."
"Thanks a lot. You know Kat, I think that's why I like you so much."
"What?"
"Well, you let me live life at my own rhythm."
"It's all right amy... and look at it this way, now, we can go out on real dates and enjoy them fully. We don't have to hide anymore."
"True."
I yawn and close my eyes. She moves more into my embrace and I put my cheek against the top of her head-- she feels so good. And I sleep, a weight's been lifted off my shoulder in the harshest way-- because now, I'm definitely out of that closet!

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