Moment of Truth - by Adrienne

~ Hi . . . me here. This is a songfic about the return of the Game, Triple H, to RAW on Mon. Jan. 7th. I was pretty much glued to my TV set Mon. night, so forgive the lateness of the story. The lyrics are from "This is the Moment" from the almighty musical Jekyll and Hyde. The title is taken from a Lisa Scottoline book of the same name. The narrator of this little story should be fairly obvious. Shoutouts to all my friends who got hung up on from 9-11 Monday night . . . sorry guys, you know I love you. To J . . . oh it's true, it's DAMN TRUE!!!!!! Kev: The Game Returns!!!!! And for the last time . . . stop calling me Kurt/Steph!!!!!!! FF.net's yahoo group: You guys rock!!! Thank you so much for the comments/help. Sorry you guys didn't get to read it first . . . but you're still the bestest peoples anyway. Thanks to Scatts, Laura, and all the rest for the welcome . . . the long story I'm working on will be finished (maybe) in the future.

Disclaimer: I don't own WWF or any of the Superstars in this . . . Vinny Mac does. The song "This is the Moment" belongs to the ppl who wrote J&H, and the book "Moment of Truth" belongs to Lisa Scottoline. I don't own them . . . if I did, I wouldn't be a poor high school girl!!!

Rating: PG . . . for some offensive language.

Characters: Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, others who pop up at random . . .

Moment of Truth - by Adrienne

Blood rushing through my veins, heart pounding so loud I'm sure it can be heard for miles. I feel the sweat pouring down my face, and take a deep breath, exhaling in a whoosh of sound. It echoes down the deserted hallway. Deserted?? It's usually full of people: talking, laughing and sometimes arguing. Not to mention all those damned camerapeople around. A bead of sweat drop down my forehead. As I wipe the sweat away, I feel the familiar clench of fear in my stomach . . . yeah, I still get nervous. Me - Triple H, the Game - gets nervous just walking to the ring, never mind when I'm actually out there performing. Not many people know about this little fear of mine . . . and I'm not about to tell them. This is my night, and nothing's gonna screw it up.

This is the moment, this is the day

When I send all my doubts and demons on their way

Every endeavor I have made, ever

Is coming into play . . . is here and now, today

All those months of rehab - 8 of them - have been leading up to this. Working my ass off if it meant coming back sooner, living by myself, getting poked and prodded by doctors . . . all of it was worth it if I can get back in that ring. It's a dream come true. I've been waiting so long, and it was all that kept me going. Doing everything I used to do . . . even just hanging around the locker room, talking: to Steve, to Mark, to Dwayne, to Joanie, to all of them. I missed having them all to talk to. They are all my best friends, and I wouldn't give them up for anything.

This is the moment, this is the time

When the momentum and the moment are in rhyme

Give me this moment, this precious chance

I'll gather up my past, and make some sense at last!

And speaking of the guys, I must have had 7/8 of the locker room stop me in the hall, or in the locker room just to say "Welcome back.", or "Have a good one tonight.". The guys that didn't stop me . . . well, I never really liked them. As far as I'm concerned, winning popularity contests is not my #1 priority. Working is. Anyone in this business who has been injured, and almost had their career ended knows exactly what I'm talking about. Steve most certainly does. When he injured his neck, and almost had to give up his career, he made sure he called me after every show to ask "What's going on?" or "What are some of the new storylines?" I did that for him, and now he's done the same for me. He's the one who kept me appraised of what was happening in the storyline. He didn't want me to come back and not have a clue what was going on. He's thoughtful like that . . . yes, no matter what his in-ring attitude seems to be.

This is the moment, when all I've done

All of the dreaming, scheming and screaming become one

This is the day . . . see it sparkle and shine

When all I've lived for becomes mine!

Everyone's been so supportive . . . even Vince. You'd think he'd hate me or something, but he's actually one of my biggest supporters. That rude, raunchy, jackass owner personality??? Nothing at all like the man himself. He's protective of all of us, and has all of our best interests at heart. The feuds we've been involved in over the years are just storylines. He told me when I left: "Paul, you take off as much time as you need. But I want you back at 110%." I won't let him down. On my very first day back, he didn't want me to do any physical stuff, just a promo. But I knew the fans would never buy it. So I asked if I could start a feud with someone, and when he thought it was right, take it from there. From what I hear, Kurt's gonna be the one I go after. He's a nice guy, a little corny sometimes, but still a cool guy. I'll be happy to work with him.

For all these years, I've faced the world alone

And now the time has come

To prove to them I've made it on my own . . .

I'm standing at the curtain now, 5 minutes to my big entrance. I'm watching the dark match, between the Tough Enough kid, Maven, and some other guy. I remember when it was me out there, opening for guys like Flair, Bret Hart, Austin and the Undertaker. Mark and Steve are now 2 of my best friends, and you can't get much better than them. They're such professionals, and yet they find the funniest thing in the world is watching a guy look for his tights for hours and then getting another pair, only to have them give back the 1st pair. They think playing pranks is funny as all hell. Now Ric Flair, on the other hand, is very straight-laced, but genuinely nice. He came up to me tonight, also. He was very happy to see me back, or at least that's what he said. He said he wanted to see me wrestle again, as he didn't get much of a chance to see me before, because he was with WCW.

This is the moment, my final test

Destiny beckons, I've never reckoned 2nd best!

I won't look down, I must not fall

This is the moment, the greatest moment of them all!

"Hey, JP!!!! Think fast!!!" A voice draws me out of my thoughts. I look up to see a plastic water bottle a few feet away from my face, and I catch it. Steph stands there with a grin on her face. "Jeez, Steph . . . just scare the hell out of me, why don't'cha???" She smirked again, and walked over. She was dressed in a WWF T-shirt of Shane's and a pair of jeans, which threw me for a second. Wasn't she accompanying me tonight? "God, look at that crowd! Wow . . . I must have seen this place at least twice a year since I was born . . . and I still get goosebumps. It's still my favorite place for a show. You know what Dad says . . ." I laughed and finished the line for her. " . . . the Garden will always be the Garden." We laughed. It was Vince's favorite quote, something his father, Vince McMahon Sr. always told him, every time they were in New York City and doing a show at Madison Square Garden.

Seeing Steph again reminded me of why I loved working with her so much. Shane and I are pretty cool, having grown up together in Greenwich, and we always find time to hang out. But Steph annoyed me at first. Like everyone else, I thought she really did speak in that god-awful voice and sleep around. Boy, was I wrong about her! Now we're great friends, and contrary to popular opinion, we are not really married. Believe me, there are worse things to do than get paid to play bodyguard to a billionaire's daughter, even if it's only a storyline. She cracks me up with her running commentaries on various matches and people. Everyone knows Shane's the goofball of the family, with his impressions of many, many people . . . but Steph's got a wicked sense of humor. Ever listen to her ideas on why Kurt Angle has got such a fixation for milk? And then there was this one time when . . .

This is the moment, damn all the odds

This day or never, I sit forever with the gods!

"Hey JP!!! Wake up! You've got one minute to your entrance!" Steph again rousts me out of a reverie. Gotta watch that . . . "Come on! You've been waiting 8 fucking months for this! Now get your cute ass into that ring!" She gently shoves me toward the curtain. "I'm going, I'm going!" I walk over, and turn back to look at her. "Stephy??? Why aren't you coming out with me?" She gives me a look like I've just grown another arm out of the back of my head, then comes over. She gives me a small kiss on the cheek. "This is your night, Paul. I'm not going anywhere near that ring tonight." She raises her arm for our usual salute. Instead, I pull her into a hug. "Thanks, babe." "You got it, big guy." She shoves me again toward the curtain.

When I look back, I will always recall

Moment for moment, this was the moment!

The greatest moment of them all!!!

I stand there waiting for my music to hit, and out of the corner of my eye, I caught Mark, Dwayne, Steve, Kurt, Chris, and Shane standing next to the doorway. All of them, except for Kurt, were in street clothes. They all raised their fists in salute, and Mark looked me straight in the eye and said: "Give 'em hell, kid." I smiled at that . . . it was the exact words Mark used right before our first match together. My music hit then, and the sounds of Motorhead pounded out of the TitanTron. I loved this song, I loved this business, and I loved these people as family. As I slipped through the curtains, the sound of the crowd finally reached my ears. 50,000 people, all on their feet and screaming "TRIPLE H!!!" God, I missed this! Deafening cheers, blinding lights, swirled around me in an explosion commemorating 8 long, hellish months of rehab. To quote the Rock: "Finally . . . the Game has returned to the World Wrestling Federation!!!!"

And now . . . the real Game begins . . .

THE END

~ Okay . . . if you liked it, please be a wonderful person and review, and I'll love you forever!!! *puppy face* Pwease???? If you hated it, don't be mean . . . just tell me why. I'm just really happy that I finally finished a story!!!!