Back when he was in school, Cooper always found himself in the principal's office for one reason or another. Luckily that shit had ended after he had dropped out but now he felt like he was right back there once more, only Stephanie was a lot more intimidating than his old principal used to be. "Can you not look like you want to kill me?" he finally asked. He knew it wasn't the brightest to give an angry McMahon any kind of lip but he was going for it anyway. "It's not a look I'm enjoying…" He sighed when Stephanie's eyes narrowed even more. "Okay okay! Forget I said anything!"

Stephanie just shook her head in irritation. "What the hell did you think you were doing?" She sounded so very beyond pissed and disappointed in him, which wasn't having quite the effect that she was probably intending it to. "Have you completely lost your mind? Wait…don't answer that." She did know his family at least well enough to know that sanity was not overflowing in the Lawson clan.

"He hurt Connor," Cooper said defensively. Connor was currently in the training room getting patched up and Jeff was watching over him. Del Rio had been put in another training room in order to keep the peace because Connor had started yelling about how he was going to tell his daddy on him. To most it just sounded like an immature threat but Cooper, Stephanie and Jeff all knew better. James would go absolutely positively apeshit if he were to find out what happened to Connor. Connor was his baby and nobody messed with him and got away with it. To put it simply, Alberto Del Rio was a dead man and he didn't even know it yet. "He fucking smashed him in the mouth with the belt and made him bleed! What was I supposed to do?"

Stephanie slowly shook her head again and leaned forward across her desk. "Why was he even here Cooper? I know the ban only really extends to your father but given your family's history, it should go without saying that I should get ample warning before they show up uninvited!"

"Unin-Steph, didn't Mark tell you?" Cooper could tell by the look on her face that Mark had neglected to do any such thing. He's so dead when I get my hands on him.

"Tell me what?" she asked.

Cooper took a deep breath before launching into the explanation. "Look, ever since I won the title, Connor's been throwing fits because he wanted it. And he's not exactly in any state of mind to understand why I can have it and he can't so Mark decided to have a really good replica made of the belt and then I brought Connor here so he could "beat" me for it and win it from me and feel all special. You should have seen him Steph, he was all happy and shit…he really does think he won the real thing and I would rather him keep thinking that. We'll never hear the end of it if he finds out otherwise." He was prepared to beg her to help not let Connor find out the truth because the fit Connor would throw if he found out the truth was just way too scary to think about.

"And how did Del Rio get involved in all of this?"

"Well see I was getting Connor and Jeff some candy out of the machine and Connor was still all excited and he saw that jackass and his manservant and decided to show off a little. He didn't mean anything bad by it. He was a little obnoxious sure but he was a kid with a new toy. He-"

"Okay Cooper, I get it," Stephanie assured him. "You don't need to drive it into my head like a railroad spike."

"Sorry," Cooper said sheepishly.

She seemed to accept the apology although she still looked far from happy. "Look, given the state I saw Connor's mouth in and the fact that Jeff is not only backing you up but I know for a fact Del Rio is a slime ball, I believe you and I'll cut you a break this time. BUT-"

Uh oh, he thought to himself. This won't be good.

"-there's a condition to that break." She gave him a very serious look to make sure he was listening before explaining what that break was. "This company has invested a lot of time and money into Del Rio-"

Cooper was about to ask why they would do such a thing but the look on her face told him now was not the time to do so. Not unless he wanted some serious trouble anyway.

"-and that will all go to waste if he were to suddenly…"disappear". And as a business woman I cannot allow that to happen. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Keep Dad away from Del Rio," Cooper concluded. This idea was going to be a disaster already and he knew it.

"Exactly."

"You know I can't guarantee that. If Connor spills the beans-"

"Well maybe you should find a way to make him not do that."

"That's easier said than done," he pointed out bluntly. "Even if I get Connor to promise me he'll keep his mouth shut there's no telling if he'll forget and blab to Dad as soon as I'm not around. I'm not home all the time anymore, I can't control what those two talk about."

"Well you better make a really good attempt at it," she informed him. "A really REALLY good attempt…or else. You hear me?"

He sighed and nodded reluctantly. "Yeah, I hear you."

"I HATE that meanie Coopy!" Connor said as soon as Cooper entered the training room. He was sitting up on the table and his mouth was bruised and there was a big cut on his lower lip that was not going to go unnoticed by James. "I hate him I do! I want him to DIE!"

"Connor!" Jeff exclaimed as he looked around nervously for the trainer, who had stepped out of the room to get something and had thankfully not come back yet. "You can't talk like that here!"

"Why not?" Connor asked with a frown. "It's the truth! It's good to tell the truth. " He looked to Cooper for confirmation. "Isn't that right Coopy?"

"Usually," Cooper admitted. "But in this case you really should keep that opinion to yourself."

"Why?"

"Because Jeff's right. You can't say that stuff here." Cooper noticed that he was losing Connor's attention so he snapped his fingers in front of Connor's face and then grabbed him by the jaw when his hand almost got slapped away. "Listen to me. There's something very important I need to talk to you about."

Connor whined and tried to wiggle away but Cooper refused to let him go. "You can't tell Dad about what happened, you understand me?"

Connor let out another whine and kicked Cooper in the shin so he could get away this time. "Why not?" He kicked Cooper again out of anger. "Why not Coopy?"

"Because-

"He hurted me! I wanted Daddy to hurt him back!"

Cooper rolled his eyes and grabbed a hold of Connor once more so he could give him a good shake. "Listen damn it! If you tell Dad about what happened, he'll kill Del Rio. And if he does that then I'm going to get in trouble. Do you want that to happen?"

"No…but-"

"No. No buts. You keep your mouth shut about it, alright?"

Connor pouted and slowly nodded.

"Say it," Cooper ordered.

"I'll keep my mouth shut. Now let GO!" Connor pushed Cooper away and went off to sulk in the corner.

Jeff shook his head and stepped over so he could whisper to Cooper without Connor overhearing them. "Do you think he'll not say anything?"

Cooper snorted. "Hell no. He'll tell as soon as we get home. I'm just hoping that since I tried that Stephanie will have some mercy on me when the shit all hits the fan."

"Goddammit... why the hell doesn't Mark ever keep his fuckin' phone on when I want to call him? I've been trying to reach him for almost two days!"

Usually Cooper didn't stress about stuff too much, at least he didn't stay sober long enough to stress, but the last thing he wanted was to be linked to the death of another Superstar. That's exactly what was going to happen if he didn't talk to Mark first. Maybe he could divert just enough of James' anger when Connor eventually did blab so that Del Rio did not meet a gruesome end, an end that would probably finish off his WWE career as well.

"Uh, Coopy..." Jeff said

"Not now, I'm trying to get a hold of Mark. Fuckin' voice mail... Mark, I know you're there doing something I don't want to think about..."

"Coopy!" Jeff insistently tugged on his sleeve.

"I said not now." Cooper yanked himself free from Jeff's grasp. "Anyway, the plan worked, but you forgot to tell Stephanie and now I'm in shit with her because of Connor and..."

"Cooper!" Jeff shouted in his ear.

"Call me back, motherfucker before I come find you." Cooper slammed his phone closed. "What is so fuckin' important?"

"That." Jeff pointed to the television screen.

Holy shit balls...

...

To Cooper's relief, Del Rio seemed to be in one piece when he saw him the following day for the Smackdown taping. He and Ricardo gave Cooper a wide berth as soon as they noticed the champion heading toward them. At least Connor had kept his promise for one day.

"Fuckin' right, assholes." Cooper muttered "Just keep movin'."

"You gots them scared, Coopy." Jeff nuzzled against him.

"If they're smart, they'll stay scared" Cooper answered "and please don't call me Coopy at work, okay?"

"Okies... you buy me candy?" Jeff pointed

Cooper sighed. It was like taking care of a young child, but with every day that went by, he fell more in love with Jeff. He looked at their clasped hands and smiled. At Jeff's insistence, he'd accepted the ring that had belonged to Tommy months ago, but had never worn it. Some small rational, non-psychotic, part of his brain kept telling him that it wouldn't be fair to the memory unless wearing it actually meant something. With each passing day, Cooper thought maybe he should make it mean something.

"Hey Lawson, would you hurry up and get your stuff... you ain't the only one in line."

Cooper shook his head, realizing he'd fogged out for a moment. He could only wonder what he looked like standing at a vending machine with a blank look on his face.

"Fuck you, Cole." Cooper barked "This ain't RAW. Your boyfriend the Miz ain't here to protect you and if you think that I won't pull a work and piledrive you right here, you're mistaken."

Michael Cole backed away, mumbling something that Cooper, had he heard, would've probably ended his life over.

"Here're your Skittles, Jeff." Cooper tossed three red packages to the anxious Hardy. "Eat up, 'coz we got to go to the creative meeting in ten minutes."

Jeff paused from stuffing his face. "Why? I don't wanna... they're boring and stupid and..."

Fuck, another Connor!

"Fine." An argument with Jeff was not what he wanted right now. "Sit here and pig out while I deal with this, but don't complain to me if you start looking like Matt after all this junk food."

"Matt is not fat!" Jeff protested

Cooper rubbed his temples. The headache he'd been nursing since the weekend was back and it hurt like a bitch.

...

To Cooper's surprise, only he was scheduled to appear on that week's episode of Smackdown. It was a nice surprise, since he didn't have to deal with Bearer and Glenn being cock blockers.

On cue, he entered the ring, and stared at everyone. Someone was going to get hurt, but who?

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what's going on around here. Dear old Dad is scared to face me so he ran like the coward he is. Nothing new, eh, Dad? You ran away from your responsibilities as a father to me and now you're trying to run away again." He chuckled "But this time you're not going to be able to because I won't allow it."

The fans were either too scared to boo at him, or they were waiting to see who would be the next victim. Either way, the arena was unnaturally silent.

"You can run to RAW; you can pretend that I don't exist, but I will get what I want. What I want is your dead ass in this ring tonight!"

"Smart move." Striker said "Calling out the Undertaker when he knows that he isn't here."

"He's scared." Cole bravely stated "He knows that if the Undertaker were here, he wouldn't stand a chance against him."

Cooper looked over. "Michael Cole. How many times do I have to tell you about opening your big mouth before you get the message? I already drove your head into the mat once, do I have to do it every week? Or maybe I should put an innocent's blood on your hands?" He looked around the audience for an appropriate victim.

Descending the stairs as he spoke, he looked around ringside. "Michael Cole, Vickie Guerrero, Ricardo Rodriguez, Matt Hardy... who wants to join the list? What about you Chimel?"

Smackdown's ring announcer dove for cover.

"Pfft." Cooper waved him away. "We all remember what happened when Justin Roberts got involved in a beatdown. I ain't risking that." He continued to scan the area. One annoying fan caught his attention. There was nothing really physically intimidating about her, but her face reminded him of a picture he'd seen of Caroline. Just thinking about his hated Grandma, one who wanted to end his life before it even begun, send the blood coursing through his veins. It took every bit of self-control to stay in character and not rip her apart right there.

"Whatsay it, Grandma?"

The little old lady shouted something in a foreign language, then did the unthinkable. She spat right in Cooper's face.

Cooper laughed. "Hey, Cole, is this your Mom or something?"

Apparently it was, because Cole ran from the announce table and started hitting Cooper as hard as he could, which wasn't very hard at all.

If that's the best he's got, it'll be Vince vs. Bret all over again...

Cooper turned around and with one punch, not even thrown hard, Michael Cole went flying and crashed into the ring post.

"Watch what I do to your kid... again!"

That's when the lights went out and an unforgettable gong filled the arena. The crowd instantly got up to their feet, already knowing who it was. When the lights came back on they went completely ballistic because there Mark was, standing face to face with Cooper. His gaze was cold and his hand went up and did the cutting throat gesture that sent the crowd into even more of a tizzy. Cooper went to kick him but Mark caught his foot and spun him all the way around before rocking him with big right hands. Cooper finally managed to block a couple and respond with a few of his own but when he tried to Irish whip Mark into the ring post Mark reversed it and sent him flying head first on to it.

Fuck! He cursed inside of his head as he crashed down to the ground. He had very nearly landed on Cole, who was still laying out on the ground. He tried to shake the cobwebs off in his head but he didn't do it fast enough. As he was still regrouping he was grabbed by the throat and lifted up in the air, getting slammed through the announce table just seconds later, a victim of a good old fashioned choke slam. Ugh… He closed his eyes as Mark's music hit and the crowd applauded his actions. I might be feeling this in the morning.