A/N: Coors, I do in fact like Stephanie, but I respect that you don't. I just feel like a lot of blame gets blanketed on her when in fact no one person can say, "Stephanie is responsible for…" and then give off a laundry list of reasons, which is unfair to her. I do like Stephanie, I always have, and while she does have her faults, I don't think that she should be given as much blame as she is given. Stephanie does run a lot of things, but Stephanie has a staff as well, and I don't like when people feel the need to concentrate all their hatred for the state of the product on one person while ignoring the fact that this is not an individual effort, but a group effort and Stephanie is just the figurehead we see. I've never seen Stephanie do her job, and I don't think that most other people outside the company have seen her do her job so to say she does bad at this, or she can't grasp that, I just think its unfair unless you know Stephanie, and have observed her working style, and I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, I know that I probably couldn't do what she does. This is all just my opinion, and I totally respect yours, but I felt the need to say why felt like going on a mini-tirade. If you want to e-mail me, that's cool, we can talk further if you want. :)

Anyways, enjoy the chapter. :)


"What are you doing here?"

"Is it so wrong that I want to see my best friend," Kurt asked, lounging in Stephanie's office. "Just don't tell anyone that I'm here."

"And I'm not supposed to think that you're here for alternative reasons?" Stephanie asked, knowing full well that Kurt was lying to her. She had a pretty good idea what the reason for him being here was, and she had a strong feeling it had to do with a certain challenge that he had gotten.

"No, of course not…as long as you don't tell anyone that I'm here."

"What about Chris? Am I allowed to tell Chris? Or are you going to hide in the bathroom every time that Chris comes in here, because this is his locker room as well as my office."

"Chris can know," Kurt said sarcastically. "I wouldn't want you lying to your husband."

"I don't think he'd care if I were lying about this," Stephanie said. "But I'm just speculating on that one myself. Chris is not the type of guy that is going to get all anal about that."

"You make no sense McMahon."

"Jericho," she added. "Don't worry, I'm still getting used to that too. I still answer the phone as that…but then when I'm doing business I still just go by Stephanie McMahon, so it's all just really confusing."

"And that should be the reason why you just change your name to Stephanie Jericho," Kurt answered.

Stephanie made a face that stuck for a few seconds before slowly relaxing into an uneasy smile, "Um, Stephanie Jericho sounds completely horrible. I hate it."

"And yet that should be your name," Kurt said, rubbing his chin a little.

"No, it shouldn't be," Stephanie said. "I can choose to have whatever name I want. This isn't the 1800's Kurt. A girl can keep her last name if she wants it. Besides, I'm a McMahon and McMahons are a special breed."

"You can say that again," Kurt told her, but then cut himself off when he saw the look on Stephanie's face. "But I really like all the McMahons, especially you. You're the best, and you're very pretty."

"Now that's what I like to hear," Stephanie said, writing something down. "So you're just going to stay in here for the entire show? Because I didn't schedule Edge and Shawn until the last match of the show. So you're going to have to wait in here for a good long while."

"Well I…hey, wait, who said I was going out during that match?"

"Well, you pretty much just gave it away right there, so you might as well come out and say it because you're really not fooling anybody…or just me since there's nobody else in the room. You're just going to have to stick around here."

"That's fine, I've got the company of a pretty lady, and that's all I really need."

"Well, I'm going to be leaving once the show starts. Chris might come in at some point, maybe. He's usually helping me at the desk with running the show."

"Um…I was under the impression that Chris was a wrestler, and that his job was to actually wrestle."

"It is," Stephanie nodded. "But Daddy wants him to get acclimated with running the show, and that's what's going to happen. Chris is learning the ropes so that one day, when I'm running the company, he won't look like the stooge that's married to me."

"I don't think Chris would make himself look like a stooge."

"You know what I mean. Anyways, it gives us more time to spend with each other, and that's always a good thing."

"But the two of you work together as it is, you spend all your time together, don't you think that you two are going to get sick of each other at some point. Maybe it's just me, but I can't imagine having to spend that much time with one person."

"Do you see him anywhere around me?" Stephanie asked, gesturing to the otherwise empty room. "When we're at the shows we're usually so busy doing other things that we aren't able to see each other that much. And when I'm running the show, he's usually doing something else related to the show, and we're both working so we're really just sitting next to each other."

"You make things so very complicated."

"I know, it's meant as a tactic to get you off my back for spending too much time with my husband. He's my husband for God's sakes, that should mean that I'm allowed to see him whenever I want to."

"Where is he now?" Kurt asked.

"Hell if I know," Stephanie shrugged. "He's off somewhere with someone, and that's all there is to that."

"And you're not even curious?"

"Nope, not a single bit," Stephanie replied and meant it. "It's not like I don't trust him or something."

"I know that, but you usually know where he is."

"Oh, my poor delusional Kurt," Stephanie said, talking down to him like he was a three year old. "Welcome to the world that is Raw. I hardly ever know where my husband is, and he hardly ever knows where I am."

Chris was looking at Lita rather sympathetically. She seemed to be really down right now and he felt bad that his life was so on track while his life. He had no complaints really, but Lita, it was as if everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. He vaguely remembered a quote or a law that went like that, but he couldn't exactly place who said it. He didn't have time to dwell on that though because he was trying to engage in a conversation with Lita.

"So I wish that I was back in the ring," Lita said, feeling pretty low about herself. "Just when I get back in the ring, everything gets shot to hell."

"That has to be rough."

"Do you know what I mean though? I mean, something you love keeps getting taken away from you over and over again. After working so hard to get back from my neck injury, only to have this thing happen with my leg, it's like a string of bad luck."

"Well, actually, I thankfully don't know," Chris answered. It was true, he hadn't gotten seriously injured in a long time. Yeah, he'd had some concussions and some stitches and what not, but nothing that had taken him out of commission for a long period of time, not since he had broken his arm, but that was way back when he was still in the indies.

"Lucky," Lita said. "And I don't even have a partner to help me you know, just someone who'll pick up the slack and everything."

Lita rested her arm on Chris's arm, trying to garner sympathy, or so she wanted Chris to believe. She was actually trying to get in his good graces, and by good graces, she meant…well, she could leave that up to the imagination. She was willing to go through any means to get Chris Jericho, only because it meant her…associate could get what he wanted. And in turn, she would get what she wanted, and then everyone would be happy…maybe not Chris and Stephanie, but Lita didn't care about that. Stephanie had never been her favorite person, and they had never been on good terms.

She thought back to her history with Stephanie, and it had never been good. There were so many times when Stephanie had been the cause for her beatdowns, or for the Hardys to get beat up, and then the week that Stephanie had left, Chris had gone berserk on her and Matt, seemingly because he had lost her. And that had stuck in her craw for all this time. If she was making Stephanie miserable, then it would just be the icing on the cake.

"It is a great feeling," Chris answered. "I mean, I haven't been put in a position where I needed Stephanie to pick up some slack, but it's definitely nice to know that someone is always going to be there with you."

"Yeah," Lita said, "Someone to just hold your hand with you when you're feeling low. I want that."

"You'll find it," Chris said amicably, patting her hand. "You just have to believe that there's someone out there for you."

"Maybe there is," she said, rather suggestively as she tried to give him a flirty eye. Chris didn't notice though, because he had become rather oblivious to the advances of other women. All the divas on Raw and on SmackDown for that matter knew that he was Stephanie's husband, and they would be crazy to try and go after him when the woman in question was Stephanie McMahon, part owner of the entire company. She had hiring and firing power (Chris still didn't).

"Of course there is," he smiled at her. "Just buck up little trooper, he's out there."

"Oh, I know that-"

"Chris!" someone yelled out and Lita cursed as she recognized Trish's voice. Another thorn in her side. How was she ever going to manipulate Chris if she didn't get a moment with him? Her associate was getting impatient with her, and she was getting impatient with herself. This wasn't like her; she had never had trouble using her womanly wiles before, why was this time so difficult?

"Trish!" Chris said happily, hopping off the bench that he and Lita had been sitting on. "I haven't seen you since last week."

"Um, I'm going to go," Lita said quickly.

Chris turned to her, "Ok, see ya Lita."

"Bye," Lita said, cursing under her breath as she hobbled away. Damn Trish Stratus having to interrupt.

"I know, but I can't go down to Florida right now, not with that asshole I call a boyfriend there. I was in Canada, where I belong," she told him, hugging him tightly. "Where is Christian tonight?"

Chris winced the tiniest bit and Trish picked up on it. Her stomach fell and she swore that he was going to say that Christian had shown up with another girl, or that he was off with another girl. If Chris said that he was with Christy Hemme, Trish might have to go punch a wall or two. Trish would not be able to control her anger if Chris told her that Christian was off with another girl. She would completely freak out in the worst possible way. She was dreading what Chris was going to say, absolutely dreading it.

"He has a cold," Chris told her. "Doctor told him he had a mild ear infection and that he shouldn't fly, and he didn't want to drive all the way from Florida to Rhode Island, so he stayed home. He cleared it with management, so it's fine."

"Oh, thank God," Trish blurted out, and then blushed, realizing that she had let that slip. She had meant it as a thank God that he wasn't with Christy or some other diva, but Chris was interpreting it as something different. "I'm just glad he's ok."

"Oh," Chris said.

"Wait, did you say he cleared it with management. You mean, he actually called Vince to tell him he had a cold."

"No, he called me, I told him it was cool that he stayed home."

"Wait, wait, wait," Trish said, holding up her palm, signing for him to stop, even though he had yet to say anything else. "We can call you to tell you that we're not going to be at the show. We don't have to call Vince, or Bischoff, we can call you…Chris Jericho?"

"Yeah," Chris said. "I own part of the company, I'm part of management as of last week, you can call me. I mean, don't let it get around so much, because I don't want guys calling me up thinking that I'm going to be lenient, but yeah, if you have something and you need to tell someone, call me."

"That's so freaking awesome!" Trish said, clapping her hands a little. "God, why didn't I know this before today?"

"Because Steph and I don't want people to start resenting me like they resented Hunter. So we're trying to keep my involvement to a minimum, at least to the other wrestlers. I'm certainly not getting any special privileges."

"Of course," Trish nodded seriously. "But this is still so cool. I don't think it's really hit me that you own part of the company."

"You knew that Stephanie did, so what difference does it make now?"

"Yeah, but that's who Stephanie's been her entire life, but you, you were just pushed into this position recently. I mean, you and Stephanie have only been married for a little over a month."

"Well, I'm still just Chris Jericho, the wrestler, I'm not Chris Jericho, the executive, or anything. I don't even have any hiring or firing powers."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want them," he answered. "Do you want me to walk you to your locker room?"

"Yeah…so…um, you obviously talked to Christian recently…"

"Yeah, I did," Chris said, then looked over at her. She looked hesitant, and he could only surmise that she was trying to talk to him about the situation with Christian, but that she was nervous about what she might hear. "He misses you Trish."

"Did he say that?" she asked quickly, and hopefully, definitely hopefully.

"Not in so many words," Chris answered, because, in truth, Christian had not said that he missed Trish, but, "You could tell that he did. It was just his tone of voice, you know. I'm sure he's missing you."

"Good," Trish said. "I mean…I still want an apology."

"Trish, I think he's looking for an apology too."

"What for? He doesn't deserve one. I did nothing wrong."

"I'd be angry at Stephanie if she put herself on the line while she was injured," Chris said, frowning. "I mean, you have to look at it from his perspective. You were going after a seven foot tall, three-hundred plus pound monster of a man. I mean, even normal guys wouldn't mess with Kane, but you go out there, hurt, and try to hurt him. Trish, that was ballsy, yes, but it was also incredibly stupid."

"But I don't see it that way…Randy didn't see it that way."

"Yeah, and have you talked to Randy lately, he's completely up in arms about this entire thing. He thinks that he's responsible for breaking the two of you up."

"He thinks that?"

"I don't know, but it would make sense, I think."

"I have to go talk to him!" Trish said suddenly. "I can't let him think he's responsible for this!"

"I think I saw him in catering reading," Chris said, pointing in the right direction.

Trish was off and running…well, walking quickly. She didn't want Randy to think that he had anything to do with this horrible fight that was brewing between her and Christian. If it was anyone's fault, it was hers and Christian's. They were the ones in the fight, and they were the ones who were having problems. Randy was a good friend, and she didn't want him thinking otherwise.

She caught up with him in catering where he appeared to be reading a SmackDown magazine. Trish sidled up to him and sat down next to him. He shot her a wary smile and then went back to his reading. Trish gently put her hand on the top of the magazine and pulled it down so that she could see his face.

"Haven't really gotten to talk to you lately," she observed.

"Yeah," Randy said.

"Have you been busy with your ladies?"

"You could say that."

"I've seen you around Stacy a lot lately, you guys look kind of cute together. I mean, I think you could do better, but you do look cute together. Is there something serious going on there? Something that has potential?"

"Maybe," Randy said, turning his chair so he was facing her a little more. "I just don't know. I find myself attracted to her, because she is really cool, and nice, and everything, but sometimes she's just too nice, and I don't know what to do about that part of her. But then there's Victoria, and she's…great too."

"It'll come to you…Randy, you know that you had nothing to do with what's going on with Christian and me right?" she asked, pressing forward.

"I know," he responded, but it didn't sound confident.

Trish rubbed her temples gently. "Trust me, it had nothing to do with you. I has a lot to do with how much he trusts me, and how much I feel like he should control me. It had nothing to do with whose side you chose to be on. Nothing at all, and I just needed you to know that. You don't have to feel badly, because you did nothing bad at all."

"Ok, thanks," Randy smiled.

"Good, now that that's settled," Trish said, then patted the magazine. "What has you so intrigued with SmackDown."

"Undertaker," Randy said, showing the cover.

"What for?"

"No reason, just reading about a legend," Randy said, getting up and kissing Trish's head. "I'll see you later Trish."

"Randy!" Trish called out, but was too late. The way that he had said legend though, it had intrigued her. Randy was up to something, and she had a feeling that he wanted another legend to fall.

Stephanie was still in her office, and sitting down at her desk. She was trying to finish up this one last thing before she went to production truck to make sure that everything was running smoothly. She couldn't break away from the thing she was reading, which was the set-up and format for WrestleMania. It looked to be an awesome show, with Steve Austin coming back, that always got the fans pretty excited, which was a good thing. She was enthralled with his contract when her cell phone rang.

She picked it up blindly and answered, "Stephanie McMahon."

"Hey Steph, it's Dave."

"Oh hey," she said happily and Kurt's ears perked up from the schedule he was reading. "What's up?"

"I just got the arena, I'm still in my limo, and I had my drive snag me a schedule, and saw that I had an interview with J.R. and that's it for me?"

"Yeah, there's just so much stuff going on, you know. Besides, I have a feeling a certain someone is already having a fit. In fact," she said, turning on her television and seeing that Hunter was, in fact, having a fit, she laughed and continued, "yup, just like I thought, he is."

"Good, he deserves it," Dave said. "I'll let him stew for a little while, get that anger up."

"You are awful…and I love it," she said evilly.

"I learned from the best, I mean, we have to give it to Hunter, he does know how to make you angry."

"That's for damn sure," Stephanie said. "Underneath it all, he's scared, and you can tell."

"Maybe, but you obviously haven't seen his ego lately, it's worse than ever. I think once he hit double digits with the World Title thing, it completely went to his head. The hubris that man has, it's over-the-top."

"I know, trust me, I know."

"Hey, I needed to meet with you about something," Dave said, "Do you have a moment right now?"

Stephanie looked down at the contract. "Yeah, I think I have the time. I was just reviewing stuff for WrestleMania, where are you?"

"Parking lot, white stretch limo," Dave told her.

"I'll be there in a few."

"In a few then."

Stephanie hung up the phone and stood up from her desk. Kurt looked over at her suspiciously, wondering who she had been talking to. He didn't watch Raw close enough to know every little thing that happened, but that phone call, at least Stephanie's end, had been very strange. Stephanie set her pen down and walked over to Kurt a little.

"I have to go meet with someone, but I'll be back, Chris might come in here, he has a match with Maven later. Don't ask."

"Why does he have a match with Maven?" Kurt asked, regardless of Stephanie's request.

"Because Chris is learning the ropes, so he's getting a little less stage time than we would like. But he's taking it like the champ that he is, and that's all that I can ask for. But I've really got to go meet with someone, so I'll speak to you later."

"Fine," Kurt said, smiling.

Stephanie walked out of the room, and Kurt waited a couple seconds before ducking out into the hallway. He had put his sunglasses on, and he was darting in and out of the hallways, following Stephanie, but also trying to remain covert. It wasn't that hard because the show was going on and people were hustling and bustling places to make sure that everything was running smoothly. They didn't have time to figure out who the guy skulking around was.

He saw Stephanie walk out into the parking lot and shiver a little bit, even though she was wearing a thick sweater and long pants. It was definitely cold there tonight, as evidenced by the weather, but Stephanie was sticking it out as she walked over to a limo. She climbed in swiftly and Kurt stood there, a little cold himself and wondered who was inside that limo.

Dave turned up the heater for Stephanie, "Better?"

"Yeah," she shivered. "I should've known it would be freezing, but I didn't realize how bad it was out here. That's what I get for hardly leaving the arena during a show."

"It's your job to stay in there though, I don't blame you."

"So what did you want to talk about?" Stephanie asked.

"I just wanted to make sure that there was nothing in my contract that Hunter could use against me. No stipulations that say that I would have to leave the show, or clauses saying that I can't touch him before the match. Things like that, and I know that you've read my contract a number of times, and so I had hoped that you would know."

"So far, I can't really tell," Stephanie said. "I went over the contract that you signed before the Rumble, which everyone had to sign, which stated that you could choose where you wanted to go after you had won the Rumble. But I haven't really had the time to go over the match for WrestleMania contract. It's on my list, but I haven't read it yet, I'm reading over Austin's contract for his appearance. Just making sure that everything sounds ok, not legally, but stipulation wise. I'll look over yours next if you want me to."

"Yeah, I'd really appreciate that. I don't want that bastard to have any ways of getting out of this match."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Stephanie said. "You've worked too hard to get here, and I've been waiting too long to see it. It's just so damn frustrating when you see opponent after opponent beat Hunter, but then he makes them look stupid. I don't think he could do that to you. But don't worry, I'll find out about this contract."

"Thanks Steph…it is ok that I call you Steph right, I never asked."

"Yeah, it's fine," she said, waving him off.

"I really appreciate the stuff you've done for me."

"It's been easy, trust me," she dismissed his praise. "You're the one putting yourself out there. I better go though, before people start to miss me and the show goes completely to hell. Good luck with your interview. You know Hunter is going to show up."

"I'm ready for him," Dave said, smirking and raising an eyebrow. "He forgets sometimes that I'm actually bigger than he is."

"To Hunter, nobody is bigger," Stephanie said with a sarcastic laugh. "Bye."

Stephanie climbed out of the limo and shivered when she met the cold. Her cheeks were going to get all rosy from this. She walked back into the arena, intending to check in on the show and make sure that everything was running smoothly. She didn't even notice when she walked by Kurt.

Kurt stayed in his spot, careful not to move lest Stephanie see him. He wanted to know whose limo she had just spent a good amount of time in. And he would stay out here until he did find out whose limo that was. This was just all very strange to him. A secret phone call, a secret meeting, and had Stephanie actually looked pleased when she walked out that limo? She really did seem happy when she had alighted from the backseat. Kurt shook his head of the thoughts that were threatening to invade. He would not think ill of Stephanie until he found out who—

It was Dave Batista who got out of the limo, dressed to the nines and making any other man pale in comparison. Kurt was physically shocked to see that it was Dave in the limo, and Dave, with a smile on his face no less, that was having smiles and hello's for everyone he came across. This was the monster that everyone talked about? And what the hell was Stephanie doing getting out of the limo that Dave occupied?

Things were starting to smell fishy around here, and he wanted to go find Stephanie and see what the truth was. He didn't want to think affair, but it was just so strange and so secretive. If it wasn't secretive, Stephanie would just said that she was going to go see Dave for a meeting. But then she had said it was a meeting, but disclosed no details, so it didn't seem like it would be for business. Kurt's muddled brain fueled him to the production table (so muddled that he wasn't paying as much attention as to who saw him) where Stephanie and Chris were laughing as she stuck the headphones on his head, while he tried to fix his hair.

Stephanie saw Kurt and got up quickly, rushing him back to her office and pushing him inside. "Kurt, what are you doing, you said you didn't want to be seen!"

"Why the hell were you in Dave's limo!" he said loudly.

Stephanie's eyes widened. "You saw me?"

"You're damn right I saw you. Why were you with him? You're…not, if you're doing something to Chris, I can't be your friend anymore. The guy is my best friend, and if you're cheating on him…"

"Kurt, NO!" Stephanie said emphatically. "I would NEVER do that to Chris, not in a million years."

"Then what the hell were you doing in Dave's limo!"

"Dave and I are friends, ok, that's it," Stephanie explained.

"Are you sure?"

"Well, let me see…." She said, pretending to think about it, but then giving Kurt a dull look. "Of course I'm sure about it. What do you think? I married Chris a month ago. Why would I do that if I were sleeping around with Dave? That's stupid. Don't make me look stupid Kurt."

"But why are you meeting in his limo?"

"Because nobody knows we're friends. I've been helping him out with some of the stuff with his thing with Hunter. We're out to get him, and we're doing a pretty good job, but we don't want anyone to know until the time is right. I told him that Hunter was the one doing the stuff, and I got him to trust me that Hunter was out to get him."

"Does Chris know?"

"No, Chris doesn't know. This is entirely my thing."

"That's not cool Steph."

"It's fine Kurt, Chris will understand, he'll think it's brilliant. Dave and I want to tell Hunter we're friend when we feel it'll hurt him the most. Don't you see what I'm doing Kurt, I'm staging a coup on Hunter. First, I took Randy from him, now I'm taking Dave. Hunter won't even know what hit him, but he will know that I am the one behind it, and that I am the one who single-handedly broke up Evolution."

"But you really didn't," Kurt said, "I mean Randy and Dave, they had some say in it, right?"

"Of course, they had some say, but who planted the seeds in their head that they could actually break free from him?"

Kurt was just amazed at Stephanie's brain. He wondered if when she was dead she would donate it to science so that future scientists could study it, and learn from it. Sometimes she could be overtly brilliant, and other times, she was so subtly brilliant, slowly snatching the tablecloth from underneath Hunter until he was left with a bare table and all his food dumped on the floor.

"Ok, I concede to the brilliance that is you, I'm sorry I ever doubted you."

"Now let me get back to work," Stephanie said. "And Kurt? I'm a little hurt that you would even think that I would have an affair with anyone? It's not like there's some guy carrying me backstage and kissing me…"

"Touché, Stephanie," Kurt said as she walked out of the room.

Stephanie went back to her station and Chris, who was a little less lost than last week, and was starting to get the hang of all of this. She was proud that he was taking it up so easily and had high hopes for him in the future. She gave him a short kiss in greeting, not wanting to get distracted when she had things to do, and he had things to do. She rubbed her chin a little and frowned.

"Are you growing a beard again?" she asked.

"Uh huh," Chris nodded, grinning like a little boy.

"Well, I guess it's better than some of the other stuff you've gone through. You're worse than me you know that right. I have never changed my hair as much as you change your facial hair. Although, you do have the one up on Hunter, because I don't even know what he's trying to go for with that whatever he wants to call it, throwback to the 70's maybe."

"I promise, I will never have my facial hair like that."

"Says the man who had such a long goatee that he actually had to tie it up so it wouldn't break free from his face and run grow rampant over the country."

"Shut up," Chris said, flicking her bangs.

"That was not cool Jericho," Stephanie said, fixing her bangs and then tussling Chris's hair.

"That was uncalled for Jericho," Chris said, using her married name.

"Fine, I'm not talking to you for the rest of the night," Stephanie said, turning to look at the monitor and facing away from Chris.

"Fine, I will not talk to you for the rest of the night," Chris said, turning to face a different monitor that did not face Stephanie.

Stephanie watched with a small smile on her face as she saw Dave go out there and talk about Hunter, and everything. Like clockwork, Hunter went out there, and Dave…well, he didn't exactly own Hunter tonight, but he sure showed him who was boss when he took Flair to school. Hunter looked extremely funny throwing that temper tantrum on the ramp. Stephanie couldn't keep in her laughter as Hunter stomped backstage.

He saw Stephanie laughing hysterically and stalked over. "You think this is funny huh?"

Stephanie took off her headphones. "I think it's better than Arrested Development and that's the funniest show on television (true story, watch it!)."

"Oh yeah, laugh it up, but April 4, I'm still going to be the champion, and I'll be the one laughing."

"Uh huh," Stephanie said, trying so hard to hold in her laughter, but it just burst out again and she grabbed her stomach to keep from doubling over. "You looked like you wanted your mommy when you having your temper tantrum. Did you want to get a cookie? Would a cookie make you feel better? Maybe some juice from your sippy cup?"

"Shut up bitch!"

"Ok, that's enough," Chris said, starting to get up and defend his wife.

"Chris, no," Stephanie said, patting his leg so he sat back down. "Hunter is not even worth it. Not worth it at all."

"Ok, I'll look at it that way," Chris said, calming down.

"I guess she's got you good and whipped," Hunter said, but Chris just clenched his jaw and didn't respond."

"Don't worry Hunter, on April 4, I'll send you a nice consolation basket," Stephanie told him. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."

The ignoring worked because Hunter went away soon after. But Chris went away too, with a kiss for Stephanie, and a smile, he went down to the ring for his match against Maven (ugh!). While Chris was waiting for his opponent, it became abundantly clear to him that he had no direction going into WrestleMania. He had nothing to go to, no big match or anything. Dave and Hunter were pumped for their match, and he had nothing.

It bothered him during his short match with Maven (like the kid had a chance), and it bothered him so much after he won that he took the microphone and thought for a second. He was a bit hesitant to do this, but it was well within his rights to do so. For the first time ever, and Chris really felt like this was the first time, he felt like he was in power. He felt like he was in charge of this show, and of this company and that he could have a place here, in management.

Maybe that was why he made a match, right then and there. It felt…good to just dictate what HE wanted to happen. He couldn't insert himself into the main event, that contract had been signed, and other matches he would've felt like a third wheel, so Chris did the only thing that he felt he could do. He made his own damn match, and to his own stipulations. He thought a ladder match would be awesome, and so Chris was going to get his damn ladder match.

Walking backstage he saw Stephanie with a surprised look on her face, and he walked over with a smirk and sat down at his chair, sticking his headphones on, intending to finish out the show. Stephanie took his headphones promptly off and her expression was exactly the same, no change in emotion or anything.

"You just made a match," she said incredulously.

"Yes I did," he said nonchalantly.

"You just asserted your power," Stephanie said, still incredulously.

"Uh huh."

"You used a benefit," she said, and not surprisingly, still incredulously.

"Indeed I did," Chris said, giving her a little mischievous smile. "I mean, I still have to clear it with you and Bischoff, and I don't know exactly whose going to be in it, besides maybe Benoit and Christian, or what it'll be for exactly, but I did."

"I'm…you went out there and you made a match!"

"Don't act so surprised," he joked. "Your father said that I was being trained, and I figured that I could do what I wanted."

"You can, I just…I never expected…I'm just surprised is all."

"Well, it's not like I did it just for myself."

"Well Jericho, welcome to the big leagues."