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 [...it's never as sweet as it seems...]

[High atop a hill, towering over a giant lake and the city of San Antonio itself, Amber sits in a chair inside her hotel suite. Her back is to Christian Michaels, who stands just behind her, and even as he speaks to her, his hands motioning with the words, it appears that Amber hasn't heard a single word he's said. Her expression is blank, and her firm stare never falters, not even a flinch as CM drops a small set of keys onto a glass side-table beside a long black sofa, causing a piercing CLANG and a sharp screeching sound. Amber's only movement is a twitch of her foot, to spin the chair around.] [Amber Michaels]- "Quiet. You'll wake the baby." [Christian Michaels]- "You weren't listenin' to a damn thing I was sayin', were ya?" [Amber sighs.] [Amber Michaels]- "Yeah, yeah... something about Escobar's crappy choice in flag holders, round two, God of Wrestling, blah blah blah. Everything past the crappy flag-holder part seems oddly familiar to me, like I've only heard it hundreds of times before." [She leans further back in the chair, propping one foot on the arm of the sofa.] [Christian Michaels]- "What the hell crawled in your ass? You won, I won... its a great freakin' day to be a Michaels!" [Amber nods.] [Amber Michaels]- "I know. It seems, I'm more on top of things than I originally thought I'd be able to. And I'm only going to get higher, you can rest very assured of that. But," [Her eyes narrow, but not in anger.] [Amber Michaels]- "Something seems... off. I can feel it, it's like there's a dark cloud hanging over me, and I don't quite know what it is, yet, but..." [CM nods, he's understanding now what's distracting her.] [Christian Michaels]- "Dangerously." [Amber's eyelids flutter before settling on CM's face. She doesn't directly agree, but-] [Amber Michaels]- "Its hard to for me to make heads or tails, really. I've been on the inside, and I'm more than a little bit aware of the fact that things may not always be as they appear. He's blown golden opportunities to bash my skull in before-" [Christian Michaels]- "Like when he found out you kept your last name AND your old occupation from him for like, what, a year?" [She shoots him a look.] [Christian Michaels]- "Or like when he found out you were the daughter of The Jerm?" [Amber nods.] [Christian Michaels]- "Or like when he found out you were the sister of the same guy who's guts he hates- and who's guts hate him back, might I add. The same guy who he carved up like a Christmas turkey, and he had you trapped in an elevator where you couldn't escape and he STILL didn't bash your brains out?" [Amber Michaels]- "Yes, Christian- [Christian Michaels]- "Or hey! What about the time that he skipped the chance to throw your ass down a flight of stairs when he found out you were possibly gonna be having another dudes baby?" [Amber Michaels]- "Go fuck yourself, mmkay?" [Christian Michaels]- "He knows what went down back in PWT, Amber. He freaking knows, and we both know just how sick the man is." [Amber Michaels]- "Maybe he does know what happened when I was there, little brother, but what he knows... isn't very much." [Christian Michaels]- "And you obviously weren't paying attention these past years. He's had months to think about it, and maybe its not quite boiling yet, but believe me, it will." [Amber spins the chair around again to face away from CM.] [Christian Michaels]- "Maybe you like to think you're a special case. Like you're somehow immune to the kinds of things that happened to others- me, for example- and maybe, for a while, you were, but eventually, the pressure of your history is going to weigh down on that guy, and he's gonna snap. He's not well, Amber... and he can't change, he can only be what he is." [No answer from Amber, she just sits staring at the wall infront of her. CM sighs, and even, for a split second, seems worried about his big sister.] [Christian Michaels]- "You don't want to be where I've been. My advice would be to just steer clear. He can't be trusted." [His words are there, she managed to hear them without paying full attention as the wheels inside her head are spinning now. "He can't change." "He'll never change." Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Where did we recently hear this.... Oh, that's right. It wasn't from Amber. But as she sits there, thinking over everything that her brother has said, coupled with every memory and every single second that her mind can possibly grasp from the past years, Amber realizes that the saying is true- you should never say never. It *isn't* true that he can't change- or won't. He did once, even putting his own career on hold at some point. For Amber. At some times, for her career. Like Dr. Frankenstein, he was putting precious minutes, hours- weeks, and months, even- into shaping and molding what he hoped would be his greatest creation. His Lady Dangerously. Miss fucking Sadistic. W2K is a tragically sick world and, Amber wonders, if the time is nearing for Dangerously to finally face his monster. Amber shivers, and she spins around to face CM.] [Amber Michaels]- "We'll see, won't we?" [To be continued.]

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