Shane McMahon sat in his office at Titan Towers, going through the seemingly insurmountable mound of paperwork on his desk requiring his attention. As he was combing through the mound of paperwork, he heard a light rapping on his office door. Without hesitation, he nonchalantly invited the person on the other side of the door to enter.

"Apparently, I'm not the only one working late tonight." he heard as the door closed behind the person entering.

Shane knew the kind, warm feminine voice all-too-well. He was relieved for the interruption. He had been going through the mound of paperwork on his desk for what seemed like hours, and was starting to get a bit stir-crazy. He dropped the pen in his hand on his desk as he stood up to greet the woman with a hug. "What are you still doing here?" he asked, pulling back and locking eyes with her.

"I could ask you the same thing, Shane-O." the woman quickly replied with a smile as she released her arms from around Shane's waist.

Shane sighed wearily as he turned toward his desk, then back toward his much-welcomed interruption. "Paperwork." He ran a hand through his thick, dark brown hair. "I wanted to try and get through a majority of it before tomorrow." he continued, letting his hand fall back to his side.

"I know the feeling." the woman replied as both she and Shane sat down.

Shane couldn't help but smile admirably at the woman sitting before him. "You shouldn't be working so hard, sis." he teased, eyeing her round, ample belly.

Stephanie McMahon-Levesque turned her attention to her belly, then back to her older brother. She knew he was playing the "big brother", and she couldn't help but chuckle to herself about that. He had always been there for her, and she knew he always would be. "I'm fine, Shane." she said with a grin. "Besides, I'm not the only one that works too hard."

Shane stretched his 6"2' frame as he yawned wearily. "Touché." He cleared his throat as he looked down at his watch. "So…" He paused for a moment. "What's up? What has you here so late?" he asked, realizing the late hour.

"Like I said, I was going through some paperwork for a meeting I have with the rest of the creative team in the morning." Stephanie could tell that her older brother was exhausted. She was tempted to say something about it, but she knew it was no use. Both she, and her older brother, were too much like their father in that respect. To them, work was not work. It was something they truly loved to do. "You look like hell, Shane. Are you okay?"

"Well, thanks, sis."

Stephanie rolled her sapphire-blue eyes in a moment of frustration. "I didn't mean it like that, Shane."

"Well, then what exactly did you mean it, Steph?" he quickly countered.

She sighed, trying to diffuse the frustration she felt beginning to re-build. She hadn't come into her brother's office with the intentions of arguing with him. "What I meant was, you look tired as hell and like something's bothering you. " She took a moment to calm herself. With her frustration fully under control, she eyed him with concern. "You know we've always been able to tell each other everything, and lately… you just seem distant. That's not like you."

Almost instantaneously, Shane recognized and read the concern in his younger sister's eyes. Seeing that concern in her eyes, especially with her being pregnant, momentarily knocked the breath out of him. He silently cursed himself for making her worry as much as she obviously was. He bowed his head, not quite knowing what to say. She was right. There was something bothering him. He just wasn't sure he was ready to accept it, let alone talk about it, though. "I'm sorry, Steph. " he said, bringing his head up to lock eyes with her. "I don't mean to make it seem that way." He sighed as he rubbed his head in frustration. "I just…"

Seeing her older brother so conflicted pained Stephanie. She had never seen him that way before, and it made her wonder what it was that Shane wasn't telling her. She wanted nothing more than to help ease his obvious pain, but it almost seemed as though he wasn't ready for anybody to do that quite yet. "Shane, you're really starting to worry me. What the hell is going on with you? I have never seen you like this before. Whatever it is, good or bad…tell me, please."

Shane wasn't sure how to answer that request. And what's more, he wasn't even sure he could at the moment. He knew Stephanie had a very good point. They had always been able to talk to each other about anything. They had always been extremely close. Sure, they had their share of tiffs. All siblings did at some point. No matter what, they had always remained extremely close throughout their lives, though. It bugged Shane beyond words that he felt he had to hide what it was he was hiding from his younger sister. To make matters worse, he wasn't even sure why he felt that he had to so. "Steph…" He let his words trail off as he fought to keep his composure. "I don't mean to seem so distant from everyone. I've had a lot on my mind these days." he said, unsure of his ability to keep his attempt at a façade going.

"Like what, Shane-O?" she queried. She hoped with her entire being that he would finally open up to her. She wanted desperately to try and help ease the blatant pain and confusion she saw in the chocolate-brown orbs of her older brother. She wasn't entirely sure he would, though. Although they had been able to talk to each other about any and everything throughout the years, she also knew there was a side to the man sitting across from her that was fiercely private when it came to certain things.

"Steph, I'm just not ready to talk about it."

Stephanie sighed. She had anticipated, and maybe even expected, that response from Shane. Despite that anticipation, it didn't make it any easier to see Shane the way he was or to accept the fact he wasn't ready to confide in her. She took comfort in the fact that she knew her older brother was very level-headed when it came to making decisions, and that eventually he would change his mind and explain to her the cause of his obvious grief. "Alright then. You know I'm here for ya when you need me."

"Yeah, I know, sis." he responded with a half-hearted smile.

They sat in a tension-filled silence for what seemed like an eternity, neither one of them knowing what else to say to the other. Unable to take the silence any longer, Stephanie slowly stood up from the chair she had been occupying, and locked eyes with Shane. She smiled warmly at him, and was pleased to see him return the smile, despite seeming forced. "I should probably get going. Paul's probably waiting up for me at home, and we've both got a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

Shane stood up from his chair and walked around his desk. He wrapped his arms around Stephanie lovingly and gave her a quick peck on the forehead before releasing her. He walked with her to the door of his office, and opened it for her in true gentleman-like fashion. "Tell Paul I said hi and get some sleep. I'll see ya in the morning."

"Will do. You should try and get some sleep yourself, Shane-O." she responded as she closed the office door behind her.