The heels of her sandals rapped against the tiles in a disapproving fashion as Lindsay Troy breezed through the backstage area en-route to her private lockerroom. It was early still, not quite two hours from the start of the dark matches, and Troy knew she had plenty of time to suit-up, stretch out, and prepare for the night's festivities. She broke off a grape from the bunch in her hand, the product of a catering room raid, tossed it in the air and let it fall into her mouth while her hand reached for the door handle. Troy opened her lockerroom door and allowed it to carelessly slam behind her, then plucked another grape and tossed it in the air, unaware of the man sitting on the long leather sofa.

"Feasting on the fruits of your conquest already. Good girl."

The poor grape missed Lindsay's mouth completely and landed on the carpet. She stared at her visitor, offering him a smirk as she bent down, picked up the grape, brushed it off on her shirt and bit into it.

"Five second rule, right Christian?"

"Something like that," murmured the big man, reclining lightly on the couch. Yet it lasted only a moment as he rose from the seat and strode towards her, promptly pulling her into a brisk, chaste embrace.

"I'm proud of you, you know."

"A gal after your own heart, huh?" She warmly returned his hug. "I missed seeing your ugly Canadian mug around here, partner."

He soon released her, a small grin tugging at his lips. "I couldn't stay away," he admitted. "I had to come back and see the new champion in action."

"Watching it on TV doesn't have the same affect, huh." Troy grinned. "You look good. Time off was well spent, I see."

"Well spent," he agreed with a nod - and a grimace. "This time no jumping between EPW, WFW, and CSWA. I'm back home where people who deserve the titles get them..."

He gave Lindsay a light clap on the shoulder. "Right, Dis?"

"Been long overdue. I can't thank you enough for covering for me all that time. I appreciate it more than you know."

Christian heh'ed a bit, slowly raking one hand through his hair as he looked down a moment.

"No problem. Always happy to help you get ahead... and to pull one over on the Benjamins of the world. God knows you deserved it after all the shit that's been shoveled at you."

"Yeah, well...I got my retribution on Adam twice-fold," she said with a grin, recalling Benjamin's five-second Natural Selection Tournament elimination at her hands. "The moment was great, though. Wish you could have been backstage for it, but I can't get everything in life." She walked over to the couch, motioning him to follow before taking a seat herself. "And it would seem that you have your eyes set on Marcus once more."

He chuckled - "I saw the tape of the Benjamin thing at least. Heard it from Dan and couldn't help but take a look."

Settling onto the couch next to her, he draped one arm over the back on the opposite side from her. The mention of Marcus evokes a slow, thoughtful nod. "Dan's trying to get something out of him, but he's fighting it. I want to see where this goes... maybe Dan can make Marcus less of a wad and more of a man."

"I think Marcus is beyond hope, myself."

"I agree." His expression grew pensive, hand rising to his chin... "But I'm still interested. Marcus hasn't been worth my time since he fluked into beating me at Unleashed. I've grown enough since then that he couldn't pull that off again... but if Dan can make something out of him, then maybe he'd be worth fighting."

"In Dan we trust," Lindsay murmured, putting another grape in her mouth and chewing thoughtfully. "I can't be worried about what hormonal rage Marcus will go into next. I've got this tag match tonight against the Undesirables to concentrate on. Of course, I won't be opposed to you smacking him around for me."

"I think Dan's doing enough smacking," pointed out Christian with a chuckle. "For the moment I'm going to watch and see what Marcus does... see if he's got what it takes to be a man or just another chump champion who'll be forgotten in a year."

He then smiled, giving Lindsay's shoulder a little shake. "As opposed to the alternative. I don't think anyone's liable to forget how you fooled them."

She gave Christian a playful shove. "You say that like you think I'd let them forget. No, my well-kept secret en-route to the title and subsequent disclosure of it after the title was procured will be talked about for quite some time." She nodded her head, agreeing with herself. "One show at a time, though. Don't want to get too ahead of myself."

He laughed lightly, flopping back against the couch at the shove before straightening again. "Exactly... you've got all the momentum in the world behind you, Lindz. You don't need me to tell you how to keep it rolling."

"When in doubt, use a chair."

"Said Dan Ryan to Marcus Wescott."

"So how long are you going to just sit back and watch?" she inquired. "I know you want to get back into action sooner rather than later."

"At the latest until the Pay-Per-View," came the answer, cool but decisive. "Dan'll probably need me to show there to try and pop a better buyrate. Stack the card, I always say - between you up on top and me somewhere underneath, what can go wrong?"

"Hah!" The outburst was followed by a sly smirk. "I didn't take you for the type of guy to like being on the bottom."

A mischievous grin tugged at his lips as he gave her hair a little tousle. "If it's your bottom, I can make an exception."

A curly strand dangled in front of Lindsay's left eye, and with an adjustment of her lips she blew it away from her face. The smirk then promptly returned. "I knew there was more to tagging with me than just the shock value."

"Well, of COURSE!" The line was delivered with a toothy grin. "I was waiting for the chance to cop a feel off a blind tag, but it never came..."

A chuckle followed. "But seriously. Like I said - you did good, and that match at Russian Roulette was perfect. You've done that title proud."

"I'm glad you think so," Troy replied then turned her attention to a knock on the door followed by a techie poking his head into the room.

"Ms. Troy, Mr. Ryan wants to talk to you in his office about tonight's on-air order."

"Thanks Corey, tell him I'll be right there."

"I will. Good to see you back, Mr. Sands." With a nod, Corey dismissed himself and shut the door again.

Christian acknowledged the lackey with only a small nod. Back to Lindsay his gaze wandered, and he nodded. "Best get going... You know how Dan gets."

Again he clapped her on the shoulder. "Good luck out there tonight. Kick their asses."

"Always do, Christian," she said as she stood up. "Always do."