Stephanie shifted her weight in the
hospital bed, her eyes still closed. Stephanie could hear faint voices
in the background, one belonged to a male that she identified as Shane,
but the other one belonged to a female that Stephanie didn't exactly recognize.
The pain was evident, her whole body
ached in pain; Stephanie could hear Shane's voice come closer to her, the
female's voice followed Shane's. They seemed to be talking about Stephanie's
safety; Stephanie really couldn't make out what they were talking about,
because there was a current ringing in her ears.
"Shane..." Stephanie hissed out in
a soft, gentle voice; She finally opened her eyes only to be invited by
a blinding pain that the lighting of the room brought.
"Stephanie!" Shane said quickly,
as if he had not been expecting Stephanie to be waking up so soon. Shane
walked away from the female in the room, that Stephanie couldn't see who
it was because of her blurry vision; she could hardly see Shane.
"My head," Stephanie started but
stopped when Shane pulled out a chair and sat down next to her, the look
on his face was something she hadn't seen in such a long time. The look
on his face was of pure concern, his eyes were soft and caring, this was
the Shane she knew; the one that she grew up with. "It hurts."
Shane nodded and grabbed Stephanie's
hand, giving it a little squeeze. "I know. The doctor said you had a mild
concussion and a bruised rib, but that's all."
Stephanie finally rolled her eyes.
"Oh is that all Shane? Where's my dad?"
Shane let go of Stephanie's hand,
sighing; Shane got out of his chair, turning to the female in the room.
"She wants dad---"
Stephanie pushed herself up in the
hospital bed, her eyes huge in shock. "What the hell is she doing here?"
Stephanie screeched.
Shane turned around and put his hand
up, interrupting both Stephanie and Linda. "Now Stephanie, calm down! Mom
was worried about you, she came here to see how you were."
"Yeah like I believe that, I want
my father now!" Stephanie pushed the covers off of her, swinging her legs
to the side of the hospital bed.
"Stephanie, dear..." Linda walked
over to Stephanie trying to stop Stephanie from getting out of the hospital
bed.
Stephanie slapped Linda's hand away
and climbed out of the bed. "Don't touch me." Stephanie shot Linda a look
and started gathering her clothes as quick as she could. Stephanie grabbed
her clothes and went into the bathroom to change into them.
Linda sighed, turning to Shane. "I
told you she would never change, I told you she wouldn't appreciate anything
we tried to do for her." Linda's voice was now full of disgust regarding
Stephanie.
Shane shook his head. "Mom, she was
hurt, I was the only one that could have been there for her."
"She has her husband." Linda said
in a matter of fact tone.
"Does she really mom?" Shane asked,
his eyes holding an unreadable look in them. "Did she ever? If you remember
correctly Hunter was one of the men that caused this." Shane pointed out.
"On accident. You think Hunter would
actually ever hurt the billion dollar princess on purpose?" Linda rolled
her eyes, she had heard this whole story before and she was plain sick
of it. Linda knew exactly what kind of person Stephanie was and ever could
be. Shane had tried too many times to prove that his sister was different,
and she had even believed him before, but she wasn't that dumb, not anymore.
"Her name is Stephanie! Stephanie
McMahon, she is a human being." Shane's anger was starting to build up,
even though he had no reason to defend her to Linda, he was.
Linda was taken back by Shane's anger,
was this the same person who had been trashing Stephanie a week ago to
her? "I am fully aware that her name is Stephanie, I did give birth to
her. But that is not who she is anymore, she's the billion dollar princess,
daddy's little girl, that is all she can ever be."
"That's not true!" Shane exclaimed,
raising his voice.
"Shane, honey..." Linda put her hands
on Shane's shoulder. "I know how you feel..."
"I doubt you do." Shane said bitterly.
"You're right, I don't know how you
feel, because I'm not a glutton for pain. All you are doing Shane is setting
yourself up for another fall, a fall that is going to hurt you. Why are
you protecting her? What has she done for you to protect her? To defend
her?"
Shane sighed softly. "She's done
nothing, except be my little sister. Sure not the best little sister there
is, but she is still my little sister. She's been through a lot..."
"A lot? A lot of what? A lot of money?"
Linda removed her hands from Shane's shoulder.
"No through a lot of pain! Stephanie
is tired and miserable, and all you can do is act like she's on the top
of the world. She needs me, she always has, it's not my fault you can't
get past your anger at dad to see that she needs us."
"She doesn't need either of you."
Vince's voice entered Shane and Linda's ears as he entered the hospital
room, wearing his usual suit and sour look on his face. "She needs her---"
"Daddy!" Stephanie said smiling,
she ran out of the bathroom room and into Vince's arms.
Shane watched Stephanie hug Vince,
he watched how happy she was, and the sight of Stephanie being happy, made
him happy. Shane hated his father and everything he stood for, but Vince
loved Stephanie more then anything, even more then the WWF, although he
didn't act like that sometimes. Shane was always second best to Vince ever
since he was a little boy; to Vince it was always about Stephanie. Sure
that had made Shane bitter towards Stephanie for a long time, but it was
times like this that Shane was glad that Stephanie had Vince even when
she didn't have anything else.
"Baby, are you okay?" Vince asked,
holding Stephanie's body close to his. "I got into the stadium today and
Kurt tells me that you were hurt, damn Hunter and Andrew, damn them to
hell." Vince gritted his teeth in anger, not acknowledging Shane or Linda
yet.
"I'm okay daddy, the doctor said
I had a mild concussion." Stephanie said, looking up at Vince, smiling.
Shane took a step towards Vince and
gave him a bottle of pills. "These are pain killers to dull Stephanie's
pain. She also has a bruised rib, she should have a lot of rest."
Vince stared at Shane, angrily. "Stephanie,
can you go outside while me and Shane talk alone?" Vince glanced at Linda.
"Can you leave as well?" Vince asked, as politely as he could without rolling
his eyes.
Linda nodded and left the room without
saying a word to Vince, not knowing if she could find any words to say
to him that weren't cold and heartless.
Stephanie hesitated, not knowing
if she should let Shane and Vince alone, but after a few seconds, she finally
nodded. "I'll be right outside daddy." Stephanie glanced at Shane before
leaving the room a few footsteps behind Linda.
"You had no right..." Vince started.
"No right to what? Protect Stephanie?
Because we all know that you are doing a shitty job of that." Shane shot
back, cutting Vince off.
"I protect Stephanie the best I can,
and I do a terrific job in doing that." Vince glared back at Shane, not
backing down.
"Oh really? If you are so terrific
in protecting her, then I wouldn't have had to rescue her before she got
hurt worse. She shouldn't even had been out there in that match tonight."
Shane crossed his arms across his chest.
"It was an accident, Hunter never
meant to hurt Stephanie, actually he is worried sick about his wife at
this exact moment." Vince said over-dramatizing his words.
Shane smirked; rolling his eyes,
if there was something his dad knew everything about it was over-dramatizing
things. Yes his father was a perfectionist at that, and Stephanie came
real close. Vince had a real knack on making things seem bigger then they
really were, he also had the knack of bringing their personal life onto
screen and then act like he had nothing to do with it. Shane had studied
his father's actions for a long time when he was out of the WWF, and Shane
noticed that Vince was the biggest drama queen out of the whole McMahon
family, including Stephanie. Actually Stephanie took a lot more crap then
Vince did; Stephanie had beer poured on her, had her shirt torn off, been
trapped in the walls of Jericho and even stalked by Stone Cold Steve Austin...
what had Vince been through?
"Well dad if Hunter was so damn worried
and so honestly concerned about the welfare of his beloved wife Stephanie
then he would have never made her accompany him to the ring in a match
against her ex-fiancée. But Hunter isn't concerned about Stephanie's
welfare because he is too busy worrying if his hair is okay." Shane smirked
again; his dad was about to go in major meltdown for what Shane said about
Triple H.
"You take that back right now! Triple
H is a very respected man..." Vince started to say.
"Whatever you say, this isn't about
Triple H, this is about Stephanie." Shane said, pointing out the obvious.
"Indeed it is." Vince said, with
a sour look on his face.
"Great we both agree on that. Hunter
has been wearing down Stephanie, and the best thing for her to do is to
take a break." Shane raked a few fingers through his hair.