"Calm down Stephanie," Jericho said as he looked over at his wife. Her breathing was labored as they sat in his dressing room.

Stephanie looked up at Jericho, her blue eyes dazed. "I can't believe we are going to do this. We could still get our marriage annulled you know."

Jericho got up from his chair and plopped himself onto the couch next to Stephanie. He put a comforting arm around her shoulders. "Why are you scared Steph?"

"Maybe we should have told my dad," Stephanie said.

"Why?" Jericho asked darkly. "What had he ever done for either of us?"

"He helped you become the Undisputed Champion," Stephanie pointed out. "He accepted me back, even after I tried to destroy him."

"He also didn't support me when I wanted a re-match to get my title back," Jericho pointed out. "Hell, he wasn't happy to see you on Saturday and he really wasn't happy that Angle wasn't the number one contender."

"That's just Dad," Stephanie said. "He's going to be angry."

"He can't fire me," Jericho said. "He would lose upwards of six million dollars if he did."

"Oh yeah," Stephanie said. "But he could make your life miserable."

"Why?" Jericho asked.

"Because you're married to me," Stephanie said, looking down at her hands in her lap. "He never seems to treat the men I'm involved with too well. He never liked Hunter. Shane had to convince him to give Andrew a chance."

"He liked Angle," Jericho said.

"I was never involved with him," Stephanie said.

"Really?" Jericho asked. "Smart girl."

"What does that mean?" Stephanie demanded.

"It means that Kurt has always had a thing for Trish Stratus, but she would never give him the time of day," Jericho said. "He wouldn't treat you like you deserve to be treated."

"Coming from you," Stephanie said, grinning up at Jericho, "I might not want to be treated how you think I deserve to be treated."

"That's true," Jericho said, nodding his head.

"That's not nice!" Stephanie said. "You're supposed to say, of course I think you should be treated like a princess!"

"Of course I think you should be treated like a princess," Jericho said, grinning down at Stephanie. She giggled.

"That's a sound I like to hear," Jericho said, squeezing her shoulders companionably. "What do you say we go out there and explain?"

*

The crowd booed as Jericho made his way down to the ring, Stephanie on his arm. He smiled out at the crowd, reveling in their animosity. Or pretending to revel in it. At least he got their attention still.

He helped Stephanie into the ring and then entered himself. He went over and motioned for a microphone. He stood in the middle of the ring, just listening. Then his eyes caught with Stephanie's. They looked at each other for a moment and then he grinned. She beamed back at him.

"I don't know if any of you ignorami have read the Internet reports from Insurrexion," Jericho said. "But just to recap, your Living Legend, thanks in no small part to a well timed distraction from a certain beautiful brunette, defeated Kirk Angel to get the number one contender position."

The crowd booed. Jericho held his hand to his ear, acting like he was having trouble hearing them. "What brunette you ask?"

There were more boos. Jericho simply grinned. Then he lifted the microphone to his mouth and he said, "I'm glad you asked. It was none other than the gorgeous Stephanie McMahon."

Stephanie quickly shook her hands and started acting like she was reminding Jericho about something. "Oh that's right, I'm a silly fool. I apologize Stephanie. I was helped by none other than Stephanie McMahon-Jericho."

There was a lull in the boos. They were almost immediately replaced with even louder, more vitriolic boos. "Did you want to explain sweetie?" Jericho asked, offering Stephanie the microphone.

"Thanks baby," Stephanie said, accepting the microphone from Jericho. "What can I say? I have a soft spot for sexy men. Of course, my former spouse is no indication of that. But I really can't stop thinking about Jericho, all of the time."

"Oh, those feelings are returned Stephanie," Jericho said. He went to stand next to her, wrapping an arm around her waist. "Oh, if Triple H wants to come out here and say my wife can't accompany me ringside, I would tell him to take a look at my contract. My wife is more than welcome to be my manager."

Suddenly Kurt's music blared throughout the arena. Kurt was greeted by a mixed reaction. "What the hell is this?" he asked, his blue eyes furious.

"Shut up Kirk," Jericho said.

"My name is Kurt," Kurt said. "And you can't expect me to believe that you and Stephanie actually care about each other!"

"We don't care about each other," Stephanie said, taking the microphone again. "We more than care about each other. We love each other."

"That's a load of crap!" Kurt exclaimed.

"What's wrong Kurt?" Jericho asked. "It's not that hard to believe that we could be in love. I mean, for years we exchanged insults, somewhat in the manner of schoolchildren. And then we've kissed a few times. And when we became business partners, everything just became clear for us."

"I don't believe you," Kurt said, before charging down towards the ring. Jericho gently shoved Stephanie away from himself and motioned for her to get out of the ring.

Jericho grunted as Kurt landed a spear on him. He tried to fight against the blows that Angle was laying into him, but the initial spear had really sent him for a loop.

Suddenly, Kurt was no longer on top of him. Jericho looked up to see Stephanie dropping a steel chair as she kneeled next to him.

"You okay?" Stephanie asked, concern evident in her clear blue eyes.

"Yeah, yeah," Jericho said, nodding as he began to rise to his feet. "Thanks."

"Sure," Stephanie said, blushing.

"You're really cute when you blush," Jericho said impulsively.

"I'm not blushing," Stephanie said.

"Sure," Jericho replied. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her. He pulled away and was greeted with warm lips upon his own. He returned Stephanie's tentative kiss.

"We better get out of here before Angel comes too," Jericho said, motioning toward the unconscious Angle. "You really knocked the hell out of him."

"He was messing with my husband," Stephanie shrugged. He grinned and helped her out of the ring. They walked up the ramp, arms wrapped around each other's waist.

*

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" an irate Hunter demanded when Jericho and Stephanie stepped backstage.

"What are you talking about Hunter?" Stephanie asked innocently.

"I mean, you can't marry him," Hunter said.

"I'm already married to him," Stephanie said, looking critically at her ex- husband. "And why would you care anyways?"

"I don't care," Hunter said, his face turning red.

"I think you care," Jericho said. "But you better stay the hell away from my wife or I swear to God I will rip your balls out."

"You might want to rip out something bigger," Stephanie said casually. She held up her hand, indicating how small his testacles were. "They are about the size of grapes."

Jericho grinned. "Okay, I'll rip off your nose you bastard."

"I'm going to talk to Flair," Hunter said. "She can't get out of that stipulation."

"Go ahead and try," Jericho said. "But stay away from us. The only place I want to see you is in the ring when I take that belt from you."

"Over my dad body," Hunter said.

"That can be arranged," Stephanie said.

"Lets get out of here," Jericho said to Stephanie. "No one interesting around."

"I agree," Stephanie said, sending one last scathing look towards her ex- husband.