The door of Stephanie's office opened and she managed a tired smile as she saw her husband enter, a broad smile of his own on display as he said, "How's it going? I brought you a sandwich." He walked over and handed his wife the wrapped package containing a chicken salad sandwich.

Grateful for the interruption and happy to see her husband Stephanie took the sandwich from him and then rubbed the bridge of her nose between her eyes with two fingers of her left hand. "Thank you, I'm really hungry. It's going to take a lot to get used to this again. I'm tired already and I'm starting to get a headache. That board meeting seemed to go on forever but at least I'm up to date on everything now." Her therapist had warned her that this might happen after so much time away from work. The headache was being caused by either stress or anxiety, probably both. It was critical to make sure that she did not get too stressed and it was already apparent that this was going to prove even more difficult than she had anticipated. Thankfully Paul was here to help as he had been every step of the way. The truth was that she owed her life to him. Her illness and being manipulated by that sick little bitch Nikki had pushed her to attempting suicide but Paul had been there and had pulled her back from the brink and now they were a happy family once again. She would never forget what he had done for her and she loved him now more than she ever had before which was something that she would not have believed could be possible before her illness.

"Not quite everything." Paul sat down in front of the desk in one of the comfy leather chairs with a smile.

"What does that mean?" Stephanie was opening the package to begin work on her sandwich.

Hiding his concern from his wife was something that Paul had gotten to be good at in the past year. He was of course delighted with the progress that she was making with her recovery and that things were back on track with their marriage. There had been a time when he had been ready to divorce the woman he had loved for the last fifteen years but now that was behind them and he was certain that it was a terrible place that they would never return to.

What concerned him now was that returning to work could make Stephanie sick again if she pushed herself too hard and now here she was rubbing her nose with her fingers and she had frown lines on her forehead as she unwrapped her sandwich, clear indicators of stress. Maybe the news he was about to give her would help. It was not something that he had not personally enjoyed doing, frankly anything that involved Dwayne Johnson was not something that he enjoyed but he knew what this would mean to Stephanie and she was what mattered most to him.

"I've put something together that you're going to like," Paul said, very much looking forward to seeing the reaction from his wife.

With the sandwich finally opened Stephanie looked inside it. "Oh great chicken, that's perfect. You've put something together?"

Clearly there was more interest in the food than in what Paul had said but that would change quickly. Paul deliberately removed the smile from his face as he said in a very businesslike voice, "Yeah. As you know we now own TNA but we've kept it running as a separate organisation, until now."

Stephanie finished her first mouthful of sandwich before asking, "What do you mean? Until now?"

As he continued Paul could not keep the smile from returning to his face as he watched the reaction appear on his wife's face. First it was interest, then surprise and then something else, maybe sadness? Not what he had been hoping for but clearly the idea meant a lot to her, "I know how much it meant to you when we bought TNA and how much hard work you put into it. We all put a lot of work in but I know it meant more to you than the rest of us... with your mom and all. Anyway we've never actually mentioned owning TNA on any of our programming. I've arranged for that to be your honor. First to step on the battlefield and last to step off I think you said? Time to take that last step honey."

The sandwich now sat forgotten about on the desk as Stephanie bit her bottom lip and blinked rapidly trying to stop the tears that she could feel stinging her eyes as she thought about her mom and the fact that she had fulfilled the promise that she had made in her memory. After swallowing the lump in her throat all she could manage to quietly say was, "You've arranged what?"

"We're going to have you return to Raw and announce that we now own TNA and we're going to have Dwayne come down and supposedly sign the contract in the ring." Paul could see how much this news stunned his wife. Again it was not the happy reaction he had hoped for but he knew that this would be a good thing for Stephanie's recovery. Hopefully one of the final steps.

"You talked with Dwayne and planned this after what... what happened between us before?" Stephanie asked sceptically. "He kissed me Paul."

Despite the industry that he worked in and his on screen persona Paul was not a violent man however hearing his wife speak about another man kissing her made him want to go and knock Dwayne Johnson's lights out. There had been several times when he had been close to doing so but he had managed to restrain himself for the good of the company. Dwayne Johnson was one of his employees now after all. "I know he did Steph and believe me I hate the son of a bitch but you know that we had to sign him to a contract as part of the deal you agreed for us to buy TNA so he works for us and it is what it is. I've kept him on the TNA roster with an onscreen character as the owner so I've hardly seen the fucking guy to be honest. I try not to talk to him at all if I can help it but I wanted to do this for you. I know we talked about it and you said you did not intend to go back on TV again but it's only one segment."

Stephanie was dumbfounded. Her husband was such an amazing man and she loved him more than she could possibly put into words. After everything that had happened in their marriage, all of the sickness, all of the fights and a near divorce when Paul had thought that she intended to cheat on him with Dwayne Johnson he would still do this for her. She stood and walked around the desk and into the waiting arms of her husband who had also got back to his feet. "I don't know what to say Paul. This is such an amazing thing for you to do. I just don't know what to say." Again she felt the stinging sensation of tears filling her eyes.

After lifting her chin with his right hand Paul looked into her beautiful eyes and savoured the kiss that he planted on her lips. "Don't say anything, just enjoy it. I've set it up for a week from tonight. Raw is in New York so we won't even have to stay away from home, we can go straight back to the girls after the show."

"That sounds perfect honey." With her chin still being supported by her husbands large, powerful hand Stephanie had no choice but to look into his eyes, not that she wanted to look away. The love that she saw in them warmed her heart.

Paul beamed, "It will be, now eat your sandwich and take a pill for your headache. I have to get back to it."

Preferring to stay in her husband's arms Stephanie ignored his commands. "I have a headache after half a day in the office. How am I going to cope with Wrestlemania coming up so soon and then right after that you're away for a few days when we take Raw and Smackdown to England?" This was the reason she had insisted on returning now, this was the busiest time of the year for the company.

"I did tell you not to rush back honey," Paul said kindly but still his concern was evident.

Stephanie was beginning to think that Paul might have been right but he had been running the company for nearly a year without her and while he was definitely more than capable she could tell that the stress and over work were taking a toll on him lately. A new COO had been hired to fill Paul's old position but even with that it was getting too much for him. Stephanie knew her husband almost better than she knew herself. She could read between the lines of everything he said and every expression on his face and she saw the stress quite plainly despite the fact that he obviously thought he was hiding it from her. At this especially busy time for the company she felt that she had to step up and do her part to help him especially after everything he had done for her. "I know. I'm sure I'll be fine, I'm sorry for moaning about it," she said.

Paul watched with concern as his wife removed herself from his embrace and returned to her seat behind the desk. Her assurance that she would be fine did nothing to convince him that it was true. "I'll take you home if you need to go Steph. Stress is really bad for you, your therapist told you that, it can set off your anxiety. We can't let you get ill again."

"I'm fine, honestly. I'll see you later," Stephanie smiled, having noticed the almost untouched sandwich on the desk. She was ready to attack it.

"Okay then," Paul gave a smile of her own. He was not totally convinced but he had to trust her. "Just look forward to getting home and putting the girls to bed and then a glass of wine."

That sounded fantastic to Stephanie and as Paul made to leave the office she purred, "And an early night."

Paul turned around in the doorway with a slightly different kind of smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye. "Now that's something that I can look forward to." Both of them had smiles on their faces for the next few minutes as they thought about the evening to come. There was no way they could have known the terrible events that one of those stress headaches that Stephanie was already beginning to suffer with would indirectly cause.


Are you still listening? You fucking better be because I've got a lot to talk about. Oh yeah, there's lots more shit that you caused me to go through and you're going to listen to all of it. All of it! So what's next?

I know, let's talk about where I was living shall we? I mean at the start when I got my new identity. I had a little money left but I knew that it wouldn't last long and I knew that finding a decent job would be hard. It actually turned out to be impossible as I've already said but I didn't know that then. I knew that if I tried to rent a place of my own I would have to use most of the money I had left on a down payment and then what was I supposed to do? The only possessions I had were the suit, blouse, shoes, watch and so called engagement ring I was wearing when I ran from WWE.

I pawned the watch and the ring to get more cash as I did with that necklace. That's right the necklace didn't get stolen in the locker room, I used it to pay the guy who got John taken care of for me. Actually for you not for me. I did that for you! I did it all for you and what fucking thanks did I get? Huh? You never even got me a replacement for that fucking necklace did you? That's something else you fucking lied to me about! Calm down Nikki, keep calm.

In fact we'll talk about where I was living later. Talking about clothes has reminded me of something else, something else that I'll never forget. It made me so incredibly angry! I had sorted out somewhere to live easily enough on my second day on the run but I needed clothes. I spent the first night in a cheap hotel room and as I only had the one suit I suppose on the second day it looked a little crumpled and I didn't look my best as I had no make up or anything like that either.

I went to buy myself some clothes and I walked into a store and the first thing I noticed was the fucking scrawny bitch who worked in there looking at me like I was a piece of shit, like I had no business even walking into the place. Who the fuck was she to look at me like that? I was tempted to go smash her face in right away but I sucked it up. It's impressive how well I controlled myself in the face of what I went through in those early days, in fact ever since I've been on the run. So much indignity, so much anger that I've had to control but I've done it and it's all going to be over soon. I guess you could say that I've lost it now though, right? Well fuck it, I need money. I need lots of money and this is the easiest way to get it. You better hope that it's easy anyway. If it's not then...

I'm getting side tracked from what I'm trying to talk about. I picked out some things and tried them on and I asked that bitch to help me and she actually made some snide comment at me about the way I looked! Can you fucking believe it? Some... fucking... sales assistant making comments at me? At me?! I felt my blood boiling but somehow I managed not to hit her, not to beat her to death on the spot as tempting as it was. It's making me so angry now just thinking about it! I really would've loved to hit her and just keep hitting her until I had pounded her fucking head flat to the floor but somehow I sucked it up.

I'm trying not to get angry, I'm really trying but I can't help it. Maybe we'll leave this for a while and pick it up later. I can't get angry, need to stay in control. Need to keep it together for two more days until this is all behind me. I'll come back later when I've calmed down.

Things didn't have to be like this, it was supposed to be me and you. Me and you forever, I did keep telling you... It's a bit late now though isn't it? You really shouldn't have sold me out to Paul. That's what you did isn't it? Don't worry we're going to go through that too. I'm going to find out exactly why you stabbed me in the back before you get out of here. If you get out of here. Hey, what if I stab you in the back? That would be poetic wouldn't it?

I'll be back soon and we'll continue. We've got all night, I'm not calling Paul until tomorrow.