Ask her on a date, don't ask her on a date, ask her on a date, don't ask her on a date…

Chris was pacing his locker room, probably wearing a hole in the rug beneath his feet, but he hardly cared. He was contemplating the rest of his life right now. Was he being overdramatic? Yes, of course he was, but you never knew. You couldn't know if something would have a profound affect on your life from this moment forward and so every decision had to be weighed carefully.

And right now, he was contemplating whether or not he should just come right out and ask Stephanie on a date. Oh sure, it would be easy for her to laugh in his face, call him a goober, tape it and then send it to America's Funniest Home Videos, but maybe, just maybe, possibly, if even just one time out of a hundred, maybe she'd say yes. Maybe she would tell him that yes, she would go out with him, and that she had been waiting for him to ask her out for years, and he was just hanging around with her to try and get in his good graces, to seduce him. Maybe he'd whisk her away and they'd get married and everything.

Then again, maybe he needed to get a new imagination because this one was clearly filled with cheese.

He groaned and fell against the sofa in his locker room. Yeah, she was going to think he was a goober, and wasn't he? He was going to ask the one stable in his life, the only person who had ever really mattered to him, out on a date? Who the hell was he kidding? This wasn't going to happen. He was going to crash and burn harder than the Hindenburg. There was no way she would ever see him more as a friend; Stephanie was just so stubborn like that. He clenched his fists and brought them up to his mouth, practically growling with frustration.

He finally gave up the fight brewing within him and instead, stared up at the ceiling, finding it much more intriguing than anything pertaining to Stephanie. He also didn't want his mind to wander to Trish because he was sure that he was going to run into her tonight. They were at the show, and she was bound to be here. This is why he never should've gotten involved with someone at work, the fact was he was going to see her again, and he was probably going to see her again soon.

"You don't have anything to do tonight."

"Jesus!" Chris yelped, yes, yelped as Stephanie stood behind the couch he was sitting on, staring down at his face. "Don't do that, Stephers, you could've made me jump out of my skin, and I don't want your dad to get wind of that and make me have a skeleton gimmick, that would ruin my reputation."

"I don't know, that would make for some interesting storylines if you had no skin. Would you ever wear clothes if you had no skin? Probably a lot of layers, right, because you'd be really cold if you had no muscles, no fat, no skin, no hair, yeah, you'd be pretty cold."

"Okay, now I'm getting creeped out," he told her. "What do you mean I don't have anything to do tonight? I have plenty of things to do tonight, I have to brush my teeth later, I have to put my pajamas on…"

"Well, I guess I should've clarified myself, Snooks, otherwise you might think that you don't have anything to do in life, and then you'd jump off a building and end up on some CSI: show."

"That would be tragic," Chris nodded soberly.

"What I mean is that you don't have anything to do at the show tonight. Your services are not needed."

"Why aren't they using me? Don't tell me that your dad got wind that I called him an old bastard who probably wears a toupee and now he's mad at me and relegating me to janitorial duty or something."

"No…and when did you call my dad an old bastard who wears a toupee? Because I wasn't there and that's just a shame, I mean, come on, Snooks, when you're breaking out the good Vince insults, you have to make sure that I'm around!" she whined.

"Fine, fine, I'll make sure next time."

"You're not on the show because you were granted clearance to go on your…wait for it…honeymoon. So my parents didn't plan anything for you, and when I tried to talk to them…well, let's just say it wasn't pretty."

"Dad, Chris is here tonight, so is Trish, they're two of our bigger draws, you can't tell me that you honestly have nothing for either one of them to do."

"I don't," Vince dismissed her quickly. Stephanie sighed and bit onto the top of her pencil to try and curb the words that were threatening to spill out of her mouth. They were on the tip of her tongue, they were on her lips, they were suddenly past her lips…

"I really think that we can fit him in, make the main event a Triple Threat Match. We have the promo at the beginning with Edge and Hunter, and with them fighting, we can bring in Chris, and he could challenge them both, match made, and we've got a great main-event."

"No," Vince said curtly. "I'm not changing the show to suit your friend's needs."

Stephanie knew that was coming. She knew that her father was going to hold it against her that she was friends with Chris. He never listened to her ideas, no matter how good they were. Then, when it came time to place blame, who was the finger always pointed at? Yeah, she was always the scapegoat.

"But I think--"

"No, I said no, and I'm the president around here, not you," Vince told her sternly. "Chris is not going to appear on the show tonight because he shouldn't even be here. Of course, I should've expected this, just like you, your little friend can't see anything through to the finish."

"If this is about that triathlon again, Dad, I'm sorry, but the bicycling part just got to me. It was the darn broken pedal."

"I should've known you wouldn't take this seriously. Chris is not on the show because he was given time off, and you know how I hate to do that, so his punishment is that he's not going to be on the show."

"So you went through a lot of crap for me, then?" Chris said, and he kind of smiled. He kind of liked the idea that she would defend him. Maybe there was a little hope after all.

"Yes, Snooks, I waded through the sewers for you. I put on my galoshes and then I entered the ventilation system and then here I am, right here for you, oh, and to tell you the bad news."

"How bad is bad?"

"Um…less than a bad apple, but more than Michael Jackson's Bad video," she responded seriously. Then she sighed and said, "My dad doesn't want you in the building. It's his way of trying to stick it to me. The minute that you walk out of the arena, he's going to have two men all dressed in black abduct me and then tie me to a chair and prop my eyelids open while they brainwash me into being a 'good, little girl,' who does everything her daddy tells her to do."

"Is that your way of telling me that I should hide out in your bathroom?" he asked.

"Oh, I was thinking that you could make a fort under my desk with the pillows from my couch."

"Don't knock fort-building, Stephers, there's a lot to be said about a good pillow fort. I mean, it keeps the invaders out, and protects you from the hot lava that resides around your fort that if you touch, you instantly burn."

"Duly noted," she said to herself. "I guess next time we go home, we'll have to build a fort."

"I've always wanted a tree-house."

"Me too!" she exclaimed. "With a rope ladder so that anyone we didn't like could get shut out of there. But now I'm too old for that, my tree-house would have to have satellite hook-up and indoor plumbing and I'm not sure that I want to go to all the hassle only to have a squirrel eat all our food and chew through our wires."

"So your dad really kicked me out, huh?"

"Yeah, he would get one of the bodyguards to throw you out, but I think…I think that he actually likes you better than he likes me so he's not going to do that. Now if it were me, he would definitely just get someone to throw me out of the arena. And I would do the obligatory arms flailing thing, you know like, like DJ Jazzy Jeff on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air."

"Oh, that's not true, you know your dad would love for me to be thrown out of here on my ass, but I guess if I'm not welcome here, I better go," Chris said, standing up. Maybe if he was away from the situation with Stephanie and with Trish, then he could have a clear head and actually think of a plan to make this woman fall for him, or at least agree to try to be something more than what they were.

It was going to be a weird transition, he knew that. He wasn't going into this thinking that one second he and Stephanie would be the best of friends and the next second they'd be falling naked into bed together. He knew there was going to be a transitional phase and he was going to accept that. He also knew that there was going to be a chance they didn't work out, and he might lose her forever. The thought sobered him a bit to the idea, but he had to try. He had to at least see if there was something to build on. He knew that these feelings were strong and they hadn't just shown up. They had spent the past four years building and building to a fever pitch until he couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Don't leave me, Snooks!" Stephanie said, trying to sound as dramatic as possible. She heard a buzzing sound and looked down at her beeper. "Oh, look, I'm being paged. I bet you this is my dad. He's probably making me scrub the floors with my toothbrush or something. I'll see you back at the hotel."

"Yeah, you'll see me back at the hotel," he said simply, knowing that she had to run. He grabbed his bags and went to his rental car, getting inside and staring at his hands for a second. Sometimes he didn't know why he wanted to go through the trouble of being with Stephanie. She was going to be trouble, and she was going to babble at all times of the day, and he was so completely and utterly in love with her.

He went back to his hotel and spent the night trying to think of some way to get Stephanie to be his. He needed to find a way, he wanted to find a way, but what possible way was there? He didn't think explaining his feelings would get him any more than being laughed at. Yes, Stephanie would laugh in his face, she had no shame like that. Just when he was about ready to give up, he heard the door open in her hotel room and then she appeared a few moments later, hopping on the bed.

"So, after you left, there was a zombie attack, and so I had to get out my gun and shoot the zombies in the head and everything, and you really missed out on a good time," Stephanie said giddily.

"Wow, zombies, did you get bit?"

"No, thank goodness, but my brother did, I couldn't tell at first though, since he's usually droning on and on anyways, but I figured it out in time, it's not a real change though, so he should adapt well."

"Interesting, anything else of note happen while I sat here like I was in Purgatory, or prison, solitary confinement of course, not like the prison showers or anything."

"Well, you'd be proud of me," Stephanie said.

"Oh Stephers, did you learn how to roller skate? I'm so happy for you!" Chris said, grabbing her waist. She shrugged his hands off of her and stuck her tongue out. "Oh, so that's what you learned, impressive, that'll come in handy I'm sure."

"No, you'd be proud because I entered myself back into the dating pool. No applause, I know that the world's single men, and some of the married ones, were clamoring for my return, and I hope my big debut didn't disappoint," she said, taking a little bow.

"Dating pool?"

"Yes, dating pool," Stephanie said. "Me, Stephanie McMahon, Stephanie Marie McMahon, born September 24, 1976, was asked out tonight. Probably because I'm so charming and my wit is sparkling, and yes, I got asked out, aren't you proud that I've so readily recovered from my failed relationship with Randy? Plus, big plus, now you can get married because I would have a date to you wedding instead of getting stuck dancing with your second cousin, Todd, who looks at me like I'm a steak."

"Date?" Chris choked out.

"Yeah, his name is Jacob, and he's new, he's one of the new guys taking care of editing, and he was there, and he saw me, and we smiled, we talked, he asked me out, and I said yes," she said smugly, lying down next to Chris. "He's cute too, that's a plus, but whatever, proud, not proud, I can break out into Proud Mary if you want."

Chris couldn't speak though. She had been asked out. He had been gone for what, five hours, and she had gotten asked out in five hours and he had suddenly missed the boat like he was on I Love Lucy and had missed the cruise ship to Paris. He'd have to go in a helicopter and land on the deck, how had he missed the boat. He was looking stricken and Stephanie gazed up at him curiously.

"Do you think this is a bad idea, Snooks?"

"Uh…no, no, you said you were back in the dating pool, that's great, that is really…great."

"I know," she said excitedly. "This time next week, I will be on a date."

That only meant one thing to Chris.

He had one week to make sure this date didn't happen.