Title: Higher I'll Climb

Author: Karen U/revivingophelia

Pairing/Character: Eve Torres, Kaitlyn, others

Disclaimer: No one you recognize belongs to me

Rating: R/M

Summary: Teddy Long has a new idea that includes making Eve's life miserable. It doesn't go as he plans.

Spoilers: early January 2013

Warnings: language, violence, adult situations

Note: As stated in the spoilers, this fic is set in January 2013, which is before the Bellas returned, so they are not in this story.

Part One

She made her way into the divas' locker room, an annoyed expression on her face as she took a seat on one of the benches, glancing around at the rest of the women that were there. The truth was, in the past several months, the number of divas had dwindled quite a bit... the Bellas, Kelly, Beth... all of them gone. If she'd actually liked any of them very much, it might have made her sad. As it was, she just found it annoying that the company could lose so many woman and the idiots in charge - Booker T, mostly - hadn't even said a word about bringing any new divas up.

"Ah, you all made it," Teddy Long said as the final diva - Alicia Fox - made her way into the locker room, and Eve found herself thinking that Teddy acted like such a diva most of the time that he probably felt right at home there... But she didn't say anything about it, mainly because at least half the women in the company were too stupid to see Teddy Long as the good ol' boy pervert that he really was. She knew the real reason that Teddy hated her was that she was younger, smarter, and more capable than him... and that she was a *woman* that was all of those things.

"We're the divas. It's our locker room. Of course we would make it here," Rosa Mendes muttered with a roll of her eyes, the woman shifting slightly on her spot on the bench, an expression of pure boredom on her face. She sat next to Tamina Snuka, who looked equally as bored.

Teddy didn't seem to notice that he only had the interest of about a third of the women in the company... Which, really, didn't amount to too much any longer. Oblivious to the fact that at least two of the divas were playing games on their phones - Layla appeared to be playing Words with Friends and she thought Naomi was playing Fruit Ninja - Teddy practically clapped his hands in something that could only be called giddiness. "Now, I'm sure you're all wondering why I called you in here-"

"Well, really, we're wondering why you think it's okay to be in the divas' locker room," Alicia spoke up, looking a bit annoyed. Apparently, she was in a bad mood today instead of a good one, which meant she'd likely be hanging around with Aksana instead of Layla. Whatever. Eve didn't really care; she just wanted this stupid 'meeting' to be over with.

"Ms. Fox, I am conducting a meeting at the moment-"

"Then why don't you conduct it? Tell us what's going on, and then let us go. Dolph's waiting for me. He needs me," AJ said, and Eve was pretty sure that she heard Kaitlyn muttered something regarding AJ being on her knees because Dolph needed a blowjob, but she really wasn't sure, and she wasn't about to ask because she just did not want to know. AJ's habit of bouncing from guy to guy wasn't her business, and Eve preferred to keep it that way.

Teddy cleared his throat. "Now-"

"You're just jealous that I have a guy and you don't. You wish you had Dolph, and you're mad that I have him," AJ, who had apparently heard whatever it was that Kaitlyn said, interrupted before Teddy could get any further. Kaitlyn snorted in response.

"Oh, please. Like I want a guy that spends more time on his hair than I do on mine," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"Well, you look like you don't spend any time on your hair at all," AJ shot back, stepping closer to her former friend. "You'll never get a man looking like that-"

"And you'll never have a real relationship if you just fall to your knees and open your mouth whenever a guy looks at you," Kaitlyn retorted, her words enough to get a gasp from a couple of the other women, though Eve didn't react. In fact, all Eve did was stretch out one long leg when AJ lunged for Kaitlyn, the divas' champion tripping the smaller woman up and sending her to the floor.

"Oops, my bad. So sorry," Eve said as she reached down and hauled AJ up by the elbow, then shoved her back in the direction she'd come from. "Everyone back to their corners. The sooner Teddy makes his announcement, the sooner he leaves and we can get ready for the show."

"She does have a point," Natalya muttered, and while AJ still looked like she wanted to rip Kaitlyn's hair out by the roots, the fact that none of the other women seemed willing to help her caused the other girl to wilt a little, AJ sitting down with a huff and crossing her arms over her chest. Eve fought the urge to smirk as she realized that AJ had gotten some of her bracelets caught in the shredded part of her shirt.

"What's going on, Teddy?" Layla questioned, shifting slightly in her seat, the woman having finally put away her phone, no longer playing any of the games on it. She sounded as bored as Eve felt. Of course, Layla hadn't had very many matches as of late, which meant she had a pretty good reason for seeming so bored at work.

"Well, I've been talking to Booker T about this, noticing that some of you girls haven't really been gettin' much time on television lately, and that's just a shame. So I came up with a way to fix that-"

"A tag team division?" Natalya piped up, sitting up a little straighter, and Teddy barely had time to shake his head no at that before Eve voiced her thoughts.

"A tournament to determine the number one contender? It would be so much more of a build-up than just a battle royal. It would make it mean more, too," the woman said, voicing the same thing she'd said to Booker in the past... But had been completely ignored.

"No, no, not that. You see... It's not that at all. No, I came up with something better-"

"What's better than having more matches?" Layla wanted to know, and Teddy shot them all a winning smile, apparently too stupid to realize that they were not excited about his announcement if it didn't mean more ring time.

"Managing," he said, still smiling. "That's right, girls. Starting next week? Y'all are all going to be managers."