Friday October 22nd 2004
It was early Friday morning and Paul was packing his suitcase because he was flying out for work in a few hours when he felt a pair of arms snake around his waist "good morning handsome."
Paul smiled at the sound of his wife's voice, "good morning to you too sexy. Aren't you supposed to be going to work?"
Stephanie smiled and removed her arms from around him and sat on the bed, "well yes but I told Jennifer I'd be late because I wanted to spend a little time with you before you left and to finalise what I need for next week and Mr Olympia."
"You know, just the normal really. Whatever you took last year . . . I mean the year before last will be fine."
Stephanie laughed, "okay."
A few hours later Paul kissed his wife goodbye and set off for Wisconsin.
He arrived in the arena to be greeted by a shocked Ric, "what are you doing here?"
He laughed, "hmmm, this is Green Bay Wisconsin right?"
Ric shook his head, "don't get smart with me, I thought you'd have the weekend off with it being the 25th of October on Monday."
"I wish, this weekend is the same as any weekend in Vince's eyes so I'm working and anyway I've got next weekend off for Mr Olympia so unfortunately they can't stretch to me having two weekends off."
Ric frowned, "shame. You'll see Steph Monday at least."
Paul smirked, "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and every other day leading up to Raw the following week."
"No wonder you're so chirpy, for once you get a full week with Stephanie."
Paul pretended to dance around in a circle, "there has never been such a good reason for Raw to come quickly."
Sunday October 24th 2004
It was your average Sunday for Stephanie McMahon-Levesque, work all morning and then as soon as the work was done she headed to her parents to meet up with her brother, sister in-law and her eight month old nephew.
She walked into her parents house to be greeted by her Mum, "hi Mum, how are you?"
Linda smiled, "good thanks, everyone is in the lounge so go right in."
Stephanie walked past her into the lounge and greeted everyone with a hug before sitting on the couch.
Lunch went well and afterwards she made her excuses and went up to her old bedroom and sat down on the bed holding one of the stuffed animals she left there and she relished in the peace.
Stephanie had been gone for a while when Shane went to check up on her and he knocked on the door before sticking his head around the door to see his sister looking very thoughtful so he walked in and sat next to her, "what ya thinking about?"
She smiled at her older brother, "not a lot."
He laughed, "yeah right. You can talk to me you know"
She sighed, "okay then. Well I was just thinking about how tomorrow means I've been married for one whole year and it only seems like yesterday that we were moving here and everything's changed so much."
Shane smiled, "I know, you've got Paul and I've got Rissa and now Declan, life sure does move fast."
"Yeah."
He frowned, "you're happy with Paul right?"
Stephanie got a huge smile on her face at the mention of his name, "of course, I love him to pieces and he's everything to me."
"That's what I thought. I'll leave you to your thinking now but everyone's downstairs when you're ready."
"Thanks Shane."
Ten minutes later Stephanie joined the rest of her family so they could spend the rest of the day together.
Monday October 25th 2004
Paul had hardly slept Sunday night, he couldn't stop thinking about the fact that he'd nearly been married one whole year, so many people had said they wouldn't make it past six months and here they were one year on and they were still going strong and happier than ever. By the time 6am rolled around Paul was sick of lying there unable to sleep so he decided to get up and go to the arena extra early in the hope that he'd be able to get some alone time with Stephanie before they had to work.
At 6am Stephanie's alarm clock sounded and she groaned and reached over turning it off pulling the covers tighter around her as she didn't have her husband to keep her warm but then she realised that today was her Wedding Anniversary so she flung back the covers and bounded out of bed and to the shower, she was going to make an extra effort to look good for him even though they were both working all day.
Three quarters of an hour later she was just putting the finishing touches to her hair and the little make up she was wearing, Paul liked it when she wasn't wearing much as he thought that's how she was most beautiful, when the doorbell rang and knowing it was her Father to pick her up she just left it, he'd know she was coming.
Stephanie grabbed her make up and hair brush from the bathroom and threw it in her suitcase before closing it and picking it up along with the suit bag that contained her dress for Mr Olympia and she walked downstairs and opened the door to see her impatient Father there, "what? I was like two minutes late."
Vince sighed, "never mind." He grabbed her suitcase before taking it and putting it in the limo whilst she set the alarm and locked up.
Once Stephanie was sat in the limo and they were on their way Vince said, "you're looking very pretty this morning."
Stephanie smiled, "thanks Dad, I'm hoping Paul will think so too."
"You're doing it for your anniversary?"
She nodded, "of course. We couldn't celebrate this weekend as he was working, we can't celebrate tonight as he's working and we can't celebrate properly until Wednesday so yes, this is just a little something."
Vince smiled, "I'm sure the guys will like it."
Stephanie shrugged, "screw them, I couldn't give a damn as this is for my husband only." They spent the rest of the journey talking business.
Paul arrived at the arena about 9:30, he knew it would be too early for Stephanie but he didn't mind being the first one there if it meant he'd see her as soon as she arrived so he dumped his stuff in the locker room and went back outside to sit on the folding chair that was there and to wait for her.
Vince, Stephanie and the rest of the writing team arrived at 10 and as they pulled into the parking lot Brian Gerwertz said, "isn't that Paul sat on that chair?"
Stephanie looked out of the window and smiled, "yes it is, I can't believe he's here already." She couldn't wait for the limo to stop so she could greet her husband.
As soon as he saw the limo Paul stood up and waited for it to stop and everyone to get out, as he saw the door open he saw a long pair of legs getting out of the limo and he knew immediately it was Stephanie as she was the only female on the writing team and as she stood up he walked a little closer and she walked away from the limo and straight into his arms and hugged him tightly, "God I missed you."
He hugged her tightly inhaling the scent of her hair, "I missed you too. Do you think I can borrow you for half an hour before the meeting?"
She didn't have chance to say anything because Vince butted in, "of course you can. Now you two leave and come back when it's time for the meeting."
Paul smiled gratefully at his Father-in-Law, "thanks Vince." He took Stephanie's suitcase in one hand and wrapped the other around her shoulder before they walked inside.
Once they were in their locker room and Paul had dumped the suitcase he turned back around to Stephanie and wrapped his arms around her waist, "happy Anniversary Stephanie."
She smiled up at him, "happy Anniversary Paul."
They softly kissed before he sat down on the couch and pulled her onto his lap and she rested her head on his shoulder, "Paul, did you ever have doubts that we'd make it this far?"
He looked at her seriously, "I never doubted my love for you but I did doubt if we'd get this far with all the outside influences on our lives I didn't know that we'd honestly make it this far."
"Are you happy we've made it this far?"
"Ecstatic. They always say the first year of marriage is the hardest right? So from now on out that means it's going to be plain sailing and no more hassle."
With that they looked at each other and laughed, "yeah right, we both know that people will never let up on us but we've got each other and we know we love each other so that's all that matters."
Stephanie smiled softly at him, "I don't understand how you do that, how you can just ignore the crap that everybody spouts and just get on with it?"
He shrugged, "I've learnt to deal with it since we've been together and it doesn't bother me any more."
She smiled, "You're amazing."
She started kissing the side of his neck which elicited a groan from him, "Steph please don't do that, not here not now."
Stephanie pouted, "well you're boring."
He frowned, "no, just realistic."
She shrugged, "You're still boring in my eyes but it's okay, I love you for you, boredom and all."
She then rested her head on his shoulder and held onto him tightly enjoying the quiet time to celebrate their anniversary before the mania began.