Peace...If the Price is Wright

Wednesday, December 11, 2002

Memphis,  Tennessee - Jack Lynch Theater, after Championship Wrestling

"I'm so proud of you Robert."

The Duchess of Wessex caressed the shoulders of the Duke of Wessex, who relaxed face first on a massage table - just part of the renovations which the Duke helped paid for in the Jack Lynch Theater.  Wearing only a towel,  the Duke managed to mumble something incoherent a la Cledus Yokel back to his wife.

"Mrhmmmrmrmmm..."

The Duke clearly was tired and quite beaten up after the exhausting eight man tag match of which he was a very proud part of.  His allegiance was made clear, as he had promised Tawni Lynch in his pre-match interview, to the CAL and its survival.  His brief conversation with Thomas "Think Tank" Turner on his way over from London to Memphis did not stir anything in his mind at all, sealing his allegiance to the CAL.

That night, he fought as diligently as he possibly could, and escaped without major injury - but that was probably one of the worst beatings he had taken in his whole career.  But that too, he was proud of.  He held his ground, and earned the respect of the fans and hopefully, his teammates too that night.  Perhaps even his NATPW opponents.

Save for Chris Wright.

"Robert, are you okay?"

"Yeah hrm erm...fucking Wright..."

Lancaster rolled over onto his side and murmured unhappily, saying "Wright" along with several other expletives in sequence.

Right since his initial beginnings in the MSWA, Wright had rubbed him the wrong way.  He was one of the stars whom he passed in the hall ways of the Jack Lynch Theater, and received a very obvious sneer for no reason at all.  Wright also cost him his inaugural match against the now obliterated Easton (courtesy a certain Mr. D. Daniels).

Lancaster had no semblance of knowing the root of Wright's hostility.  Why was it there.  What could be done - could he be dealt with only physically, or perhaps verbal discussion could answer this quandary.

The Duke sat up, groaning, his body crying out the punishment - at times from three or more men - from that night.  He looked over at his wife, who sat next to him, her hand caressing his knee.

"Dinner my love?"

The Duchess smiled weakly, her concern obvious.

"Only if you're up for it...we could always go home."

"Oh, no...in fact I have a guest or two I'd like to bring."

Stephanie was taken aback briefly.  She shrugged her shoulders slightly, and nodded.  With that, the Duke got dressed in a fine dark navy blue Armani suit with burgundy Versaci tie, and packed his things.  His wife took his arm as they walked down the hallways of the Jack Lynch Theater, where he stopped in front of the dressing room, knocking.

Stephanie looked at him with confusion.

"Robert...whom are you inviting?"

The Duke, without looking back at her, answered her plainly and without expression.

"Chris Wright and his lady friend."

The Duchess pulled on his arm.

"Robert...don't make a mistake...what are you trying to do?"

The Duke ignored her,  and knocked again loudly.

Opening the door was the man he sought,  "the Thrill" himself.  He looked at the Duke, his eyes glancing at the Duchess, before returning to Lancaster.  Wright frowned, his eyes narrowing.

"You have ten seconds to tell me what your doing here Lancaster, otherwise I'll be slamming this door in your face."

Lancaster slipped his foot in the door, preventing Wright from following through with his threat.  Chris raised his eyebrow at seeing the other man's foot blocking the door.

"Remove your foot Lancaster, or I will remove it for you."

The Duke's expression countered that of Wright's, as he grinned at Wright's souring mood.

"Come now Mr. Wright...surely we can have a civilized conversation for a few moments...I was wondering if you and your lady friend would like to join us for dinner."

Chris stared at Lancaster somewhat stunned, he'd never been invited out for dinner by an opponent before.

"Why would I go for dinner with you?" Chris asked suspiciously.

Lancaster continued his grin.

"Oh now there's no need for suspicion...I shant have the chef spit in your food or anything.  It's just a friendly offer, you know...try to get to know you, and get inside that mind, as you would call it, of yours."

"Oh and I 'spose, you'll want to choose the place to eat.  Unfortunately I don't really like fish and chips," said Chris, a smirk crossing his own face.

That elicited a laugh out loud from the Duke.

"See, you're not as much of an a#shole as I thought...now come along, I know this excellent restaurant with eloquent fine dining...if you can handle a fork and knife that is..."

"Come on Chris, it'll be fun," said Jennifer as she came up to the door peeking her head around Chris's shoulders and smiling at the Duke and the Duchess.  She pushed him out of the way and extended her hand to the Duchess.

"Hello, my name is Jennifer Connolley.  Pleased to meet you."

"Oh for the love of Pete.  Fine, we'll come with you for dinner.  Let me go finish getting dressed," muttered Wright.

Wright turned from the doorway, heading back into the room to pulled on his black silk dress shirt and silver tie.

The Duchess smiled happily at Jennifer as the Duke leaned back on the wall, waiting for Wright, allowing the ladies to get aquainted.

"Stephanie Erin Lancaster...I'm most pleased to meet you too Jennifer...I do love your shirt!"

Jennifer smiled and said, "I do too.  Chris bought it for me.  So how do you enjoy living in Memphis, Stephanie?"

"Well, it's not London...but it's so lovely in parts, but I have to find where a girl can do some serious shopping!"

The girls laughed.  The Duke, looking obviously bored, was glad and annoyed simultaneously at the girls' hitting it off so well, so soon.

"There's a beautiful mall we'll have to go too sometime, they have some very nice stores.  And there's a lovely little boutique downtown that has some fabulous clothes."

Chris could hear the two girls chatting as he finished tying his tie, and he groaned at the word "shopping."  Knowing Jen, it was going to cost him half his paycheque.

Walking to the door, he put his hand on Jennifer's back and looked at the Duke across the hall.

"If we don't feed these beautiful ladies quickly, they will decide shopping is more important and bankrupt us both."

"Now on that, Mr. Wright, be both can agree.  Shall we to, oh, Erling Jensen's for dinner - if that is okay with you, of course."

"Oh I've heard of that.  It's supposed to be very expensive, but the food is supposed to be exquisite.  I still haven't managed to convince Chris to take me," Jennifer said as an aside to Stephanie.

"Well I guess I'm outvoted in this matter.  What Jen wants, Jen gets.  Should we take your car or mine?" Chris asked Lancaster.

"Don't worry about it, Mr. Wright."

Lancaster reached into his pocket and called Simkins, his ever faithful chauffeur and butler.

"Simkins, do bring the car around to the front of the arena.  Thank you."

Looking up, the Duke inquired to Wright, "Rolls Royce okay?"

"Ooo fancy.  Bet that costs you a bundle to pay for.  Good thing you inherited rich, cause you wouldn't make a hell of a lot wrestling," Chris said blandly.

The two couples began their walk towards the entrance of the arena.

"Well, when you were once CEO of your own multinational corporation, money does come in fairly well that way too," retorted the Duke.

Jennifer leaned over to whisper to Stephanie, "If these two keep going much longer, they'll soon be comparing the size of their manhood's."

Chris opened his mouth to snipe back at the Duke, but at Jen's comment he though better, then said,"So why'd you come back to wrestling?"

Reaching the outside, Simkins opened the door for Wright and Jennifer, uttering "Sir" to the former, bowing slightly for the latter, and bowing as well to the Duke and Duchess.  A few moments later, they were off, on their way to Erling Jensen's elegant restaurant.

The Duke responded to Wright's query.

"Quite simply Mr. Wright, I was tired of the corporate world...and with all this shit involving Enron and so forth, I thought it was a good time to get the hell out.  But basically..." he hesitated slightly.  "I missed it...I missed the fans, I missed the action...and I have so much more to accomplish...most of all, garnering respect from my peers."

Chris draped his arm across the back of the seat, his hand resting on Jen's shoulder as the girls chatted and he listened to the Duke.

"It is addicting isn't it.  The adrenaline gets pumping, the fans reacting.  I took a month off earlier this year, and I had to come back.  There was no way I could leave it."

Robert agreed, showing his approval silently.

"Scotch?"

The Duke opened a bottle of Johnnie Walker Premier, and filled a glass with ice, and then the fine scotch.

"Sure why not?  So tell me, why exactly did you interfere with my attack on Easton a couple of weeks ago," Chris said as he reached for the glass of scotch the Duke poured.

Lancaster poured one for himself.  "Answer me first...why cost me my first match back?  You could have attacked the now destroyed Mr. Easton after the match...you vexed me highly."

The Duke leaned back, sipping perhaps the finest scotch in the world, waiting for Wright's response.

Chris sipped at his scotch as he looked out the window and then he turned back to the Duke and said, "Because I was pissed at Easton.  I didn't feel like waiting.  And I really didn't care who lost the match.  I wanted to kick the crap out of him.  It was just your bad luck to be in the match with him."

Meanwhile, on the girls' side...

"All Chris talks about is wrestling, is Robert like that?  I mean it may be his job, but that's all he talks about.  Sometimes I want to scream." Jennifer remarked.

"Ugh, sometimes."  Stephanie commented.  "But he's not as bad as he used to be...when he was back in the NAWA, all he used to talk about was the Triumvirate and the American Title...I swear he was obsessed.  I just tried to have a drink or two and check out the men in Cosmo."

The girls laughed, causing both gentlemen to look over, roll their eyes, and continue their chat.

"Consider yourself fortunate though that you did not suffer bad luck from my gold knuckles later on...nevertheless I did not appreciate it.  I doubt you would have enjoyed losing your first match back after your month off."

Chris rolled his eyes at the Duke, and stated, "I came back as Captain freaking Cool.  At Scott Easton's request.  Do you really blame me for attacking his ass whenever I could.  I'd have like to seen you try and give me some bad luck from your gold knuckles though.  I mean we wouldn't want you to hurt your British hands."

"No I suppose not, I mean, not the hands that have held the tits and asses of more supermodels than you've ever seen in your porno collection."

The girls, sensing the tension level rising again,  were relieved to hear Simkins announce that they had arrived at Erling Jensen's restaurant.

Simkins exited the Rolls Royce and opened the door, with both men escorting their ladies inside.  Recognizing both men, and the Duke's wallet, the maitre di escorted them instantly to one of their best tables.

Chris chuckled the whole way into the restaurant and as they seated he said, "You should have seen the porno collection I had in the IWA.  Man, it was huge.  My two idiot tag team partners couldn't resist the stuff, and since they were always crashing at my place, I stocked up."

Chris looked at the menu and set it down, taking a deep breath for a moment before continuing: "I still remember the
trip me, Ronnie, Brian, Ronnie's girlfriend and Jen here took to Caynes for the Hot d'Our festival.  We were invited by Private Pornography to be their special guests at the Porn Oscars.  I have never seen that much silicone in one place.  Lotsa good ass though."

Lancaster laughed slightly, examining and holding the menu with a single hand.

"You can keep your silicone, I'll take the real thing however."  The Duke groped his wife's ass briefly, causing Stephanie to jump slightly in her seat, smacking the Duke on the wrist.

"ROBERTTT!!  God..."

The two men laughed together, as the girls just "urghed" to each other quietly.

"I take the real thing, but only when Jen wants me to," said Chris, a smirk on his head that didn't disappear when he got smacked in the back of the head.

The waiter walked up to the table at this time, and bowed before he said, "Good evening.  My name is James and I will be your waiter this evening.  Would anyone care for a drink before their meal?"

"I'll take a Glenlivett on the rocks please.  What about you Jen?" Chris said as he looked at his girlfriend.

"I'll just take a Cosmopolitan," Jen said as she glanced up from her menu before looking back at it.

"Very good.  And for you sir and madam?" James asked as he memorized their drinks.

The Duke replied, "Do you have a bottle of the 1947 Château Cheval Blanc?"

The waiter's eyes widened.  "I do believe so sir...but you do realize that that is about $3000..."

Lancaster shrugged.  "That's fine...one bottle, please...Mr. Wright, you and Jennifer are more than welcome to have some if you wish."

The waiter bowed once more, and shuffled off to get their drinks.

Chris just smiled as he looked at the menu and said, "I most likely won't, though Jen might.  I'm just not a wine drinker.  I prefer something with more taste.  Some of this stuff looks really quite tasty."

"Thank you so much Robert.  I might take you up on the offer.  I do enjoy wine.  Although I don't think I've ever had anything this expensive." Turning to Stephanie she giggled and said, "Does he always order things like that, or is it just a special occasion?"

"He's just doing it to annoy Chris, believe me...he likes to flaunt his money...but don't worry...I think he's trying to make peace tonight...so just go along with it."

Hearing Stephanie's comment Chris said, "Well what do you expect, he's British.  They're always showing off.  And yet they always need our help in the end.  Mmm that grilled quail looks delicious."

The Duke snapped back immediately.  "May I remind you my good man that your nation would not even exist if it was not for us."

Stephanie whispered to Jennifer, "He does know I'm British too, doesn't he?"  She was clearly upset by Wright's remark.

"Yes, but he's just doing it to get under Robert's skin.  Don't mind him.  He always gets hissy when someone tries to show him up.  He didn't really mean it," Jennifer said to Stephanie to try and assure her.

"No, if you had your way, we'd still be some colony of Britain.  We wouldn't be a nation.  We became a nation on our own, with no help from you.  In fact if I remember correctly you tried to stop us, and we kicked your asses.  But then my facts could be wrong," Chris said as he lifted his eyes from the menu and met Lancaster stare for stare.

Now it was Jennifer's turn to look upset.  She put her hand on Wright's arm, and said, "Chris..." in a quiet manner, trying to stop the course of the conversation from escalating any further.  The Duchess attempted to do the same, knowing her husband, he'd probably be seething inside...he was proud of his heritage and his nation more than anything else.

In this case, as before, they were saved by a third party...the waiter, returning with their drinks.  He sat the Glenlivett before Wright and the Cosmopolitan in front of Jen.  James then presented the wine for inspection by the Duke, who nodded, seeing that it was indeed a bottle of the prized 1947 Château Cheval Blanc.  The waiter uncorked the wine, and poured a small serving for the Duke.  Thinking himself somewhat of a connoisseur, he smelled it, sloshed it around in the glass, and sipped it slowly.  The Duke again nodded his approval, followed by James filling his glass and that of the Duchess.

The Duchess, wishing to change the subject, spoke out.  "Oh, James, could you please bring a glass for this lady too as well?"

The waiter apologized.  "I'm sorry madam, certainly...you must give me a moment or two however, we are quite busy.  I shall be back as soon as I can."

Chris subsided at Jennifer's touch and contented himself with glaring at the Duke across the table.  Thoughts of poking the other man with his dinner fork brought a small smile to his face and Chris took a sip of his drink before saying innocently, "So Robert what brought you the States to wrestle?  Doesn't England have a bunch of good federations?"

Lancaster returned Chris' glare with a snide, smug look of contempt - the same one that he had received oh so many times during his brief tenure in the MSWA.  He knew it well, and returned it expertly.

"Of course we do...but I came to the States because an old school friend of mine was head of a federation here, the CWF...I came in as Robert Goodlife, and went on to be more than successful in the CWF...as you may know."

Chris shook his head, "Nope sorry, can't say as I've ever heard of you before you came to MSWA.  So why exactly did you join MSWA?"

That last comment enraged Lancaster.  He damn well knew that Wright surely had heard of him prior to his MSWA arrival.  The Duke had had enough, as he "accidentally" picked up his wine glass and splashed the precious red liquid all over Wright's suit, most likely ruining it.

Stephanie gasped, as did Jen. "Oh I'm sorry was that your suit I just ruined," the Duke maliciously and sarcastically snorted.

Wright was prepared to fulfill his thought and stab Lancaster with the fork, but was stopped by the Duchess, who took her husband by the arm and walked him towards the bathrooms.

Jennifer condemned her boyfriend for his behavior.

"Chris I can't believe you're such a jackass.  The Lancaster's are trying to make peace and all you do is insult them.  I can't believe how immature you are sometimes." Jennifer pushed her chair back from the table and started off after them.

Chris sat there, the wine soaking through his suit as Jennifer ranted at him and then shouted at her as she walked away, "He started it."

Jennifer just waved her hand and kept walking so Chris shouted again.

"You tell that pompous ass that if he gets in my way, I'll beat him just like the States beat Britain before."

Jennifer heard what Chris said, but just ignored it as she quickly caught up with the Lancaster's.

"Stephanie.  Robert.  I want to apologize for Chris's childish behavior.  I don't know what's got his underwear in a twist, but I'd like to apologize for him.  Please forgive us." Jen said to the two.

"You're damn righ..." the Duke was cut off immediately by the Duchess, who held him back against the wall.

"No it's us who should apologize Jennifer...forgive Robert for being such an arrogant ass.  Just give us a minute, we'll be back."

Jennifer smiled as best she could, before she returned back to the table.

The Duke looked at the Duchess and was about to confront her, when he saw the waiter return to the table with Jen's glass.  Seeing the mess, the waiter started to talk to the couple.  Robert laughed to himself.

"Come on, we're going..."

The Duchess looked at him in surprise and disbelief.

"What???"

"I SAID we're going..."  Lancaster took his wife by the arm and practically dragged her out the door, as she started shouting.  Wright realized Lancaster had just pulled a fast one on him.

The waiter looked sternly at Wright and Jennifer.  "Sir I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you both to leave, and sir, that'll be $2780 please!"

Chris couldn't believe his freaking eyes.  The Duke dragged his wife and just walked out the door and left him with the bill for the pricey bottle of wine and their own drinks.

"Why that cheap, arrogant, British jackass.  Next time I find him, I'm going to take this bill out of his hide," Chris muttered viciously to no one in particular as he reached into his jacket for his wallet.  Pulling it out, he handed the waiter his VISA and waited patiently for the man to run it through.  When he got the receipt, he signed it and then grabbed the bottle, and as the waiter tried to stop him he said, "If I'm paying for the f###ing bottle, I'm goddamn well going to drink it."

Grabbing Jennifer by the hand, he walked quickly out of the restaurant and hailed a cab.

Back in Lancaster's Rolls Royce, the Duchess sat their silently, furious at her husband, as they drove towards their Memphis condo.

Although the Duke had sought peace that night...clearly, the price was not right.