Thursday, February 14, 2002 (Continued)

Stephanie felt her entire body go numb as she stared at Hunter. At this point, speaking was not her ally. It was always her mouth that managed to put her marriage on the rocks. Her marriage. After tonight she may not have one at all. It would be a lie to say she was prepared for it to end. What's the smartest way to go about this? Should she start begging, crying and pleading? Or would it be best to remain calm and collected, like she didn't give a damn? She felt the burning in the back of her eyes as she wished that she were anywhere else in the world. Anywhere but here. Deciding to get herself in check, she forced her lips into a tight line, her sapphire eyes now vacant of emotion, as she looked up at her husband.

"Hunter…" she started, slowly.
He put his hand up, indicating for her to be quiet. Once he saw that her mouth was closed yet again, he curled his hand into a fist as he brought it away from her face, to rest at his side.
"You're a plague." His voice was low.
Hunter had spoken so softly that she couldn't make out what he said. "Excuse me?" She asked and then bit her lip. Part of her didn't want to hear what the hell he said. Somehow she knew she needed to, though.
"You are a plague!" Hunter bellowed.
She blinked, unsure of how to respond. Just what exactly was he talking about? A plague? "I'm sorry, I don't…" She started before being cut off.
"Shut up, Stephanie! I wouldn't expect someone like you to know what I mean."
Her mouth parted slightly and her eyes widened, as she felt a blow to her pride. Someone like her? "What the hell do you mean by that?"
Hunter laughed. Not the hearty, sincere, beautiful laugh that she loved. No. This laugh was sinister, mocking, demeaning. "You are a selfish, arrogant brat. You care for nothing and no one but yourself. Everything you touch rots away to shit. You are a plague."
Stephanie shut her eyes tightly for a moment. "How can you say that to me?" She queried, softly. She refused to cry. Not just yet. She silently promised herself that she'd hold on to her emotions of hysteria until he was gone, at least.
He smirked slightly. "Easy. You're like a fucking slow acting poison. You creep your way in silently, then start clawing, biting, and draining the life out of everything until there's nothing left but crap. Everyone who has ever had some type of personal relationship with you has regretted it. I'm all you've got." He explained, and then corrected himself, "All you had."

Past tense. She swallowed thickly. Hunter was gone either way. As much as she didn't want to hurt him, she figured it no longer mattered. She had hurt him already. Beyond repair. Her self-preservation tactics were in full force all of a sudden, as she realized he was about to declare them permanently over with. Hunter could be rational and forgiving only after his temper had subsided. She knew that would never be the case. Not this time. She wasn't foolish enough to believe he could ever look at her the same way. They were done. The last spark of the fire that was Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley, multiplied. She felt the heat course through her veins, knowing what she had to do. "Had? We were fucking doomed from the start in this circus of a marriage. Hunter, you never had me and I never had you. It's time to stop this shit that we put each other through. There's no good fucking reason for it." She said unsympathetically, looking anywhere but at him.
"I-you…what?" Hunter stammered dimwittedly. This was so not the way he pictured this conversation going. She was the one who fucked up and she was now sitting here talking shit to him? Something was seriously wrong with this damn picture. "Stephanie what are you ranting about?" He managed to ask, more intelligently.
She looked up at him briefly, then away again. "Us, Hunter. We could never have worked. I'm just glad you know about me and Chris now." There it was. The final dagger in his heart. She had to be strong and end this herself. She refused to add Hunter abandoning her, to her long list of problems. It would have happened anyway, but "I, with you" made a difference when it comes to breaking up, in her mind. Her stubborn pride wouldn't let her be further humiliated by giving him the satisfaction of actually telling her it was over.
Hunter glared at Stephanie as he saw the smirk appear on her face. Damn this! "Fuck you, Stephanie! I hope you and that prick will be happy together because you're fucking dead to me!" He all but yelled and walked back into the dressing room, slamming the door. The walls shook slightly from the vibration.
"Goodbye, Hunter…" Stephanie mouthed, before kissing her fingertips and placing them on the doorknob.

Jericho could not have suppressed his grin if he tried. This was amazing! Stephanie thought she cheated and was pregnant by him and 'she' broke up with Hunter. Not even gently. She let the man down brutally. If Chris didn't hate him so damn much, he would actually feel sorry for the guy. As he saw Stephanie's posture shift, he wiped the smile off of his face and replaced it with a look of concern. "Stephanie, are you okay?" He asked lowly, placing his hand on her shoulder.
Stephanie turned around slowly, her hair masking her face. She sniffed loudly and wiped away her tears furiously. "I just want to get out of here." She whispered, falling directly into Chris' arms.
"Where do you want to go?" He asked her, inhaling the faint scent of her perfume. She smelled damn good. He wanted to do nothing more but take her to his hotel room and show her what should have happened that night. However, patience was a virtue and so far it had been good to him. Hell, he hardly had to do anything - all he did was plot to do things. He rarely got the chance to make good on his plot and instead would end up just standing around, watching as things came together…or fell apart - on its own.
"I don't care. Anywhere." Stephanie mumbled out through her whimpering as Chris walked her in the general direction of the exit.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The man grumbled as he watched Chris and Stephanie walk down the hallway all hugged up. What the hell did he have to do to get her unguarded? He tried to get rid of Hunter at the renewals by exposing Stephanie's lies and that didn't work. Matter of fact, that went in the opposite direction – they seemed to have gotten closer after talking things out. It made him fucking sick. He hated Triple H with a passion. He hated Stephanie just as much. He wanted to destroy both their worlds. The task hadn't seemed too difficult seeing as they were each other's world, mostly. However, the more he schemed, the more frustrated he grew, as it seemed that nothing could break up the couple.

Finally, he managed to get Triple H to hear the whole truth. Then what the hell happened? Stephanie runs off with Chris Jericho! Now he would need to devise a way to get him away from Stephanie, too. If anybody else popped up after he got rid of Jericho, he would probably take the easy route and just kill the guy. "Save me some trouble." He chuckled, coming out of his hiding spot and walking down the hallway casually.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hunter growled lowly as he chucked another vase against the wall. "Fuck!" He yelled as he heard a phone ringing. He walked all around the room searching for the annoying source of noise. As he spotted Stephanie's bag he stopped dead in his tracks. No fucking way. The bitch left her shit here. Taking the phone from the bag, he chewed on his bottom lip as he contemplated what to do. Deciding that he wasn't completely juvenile, he flipped the phone open.

"What?" He answered rudely.
"Is that you, Hunter?" Came a familiar voice.
"Yeah, so?"
"What – did you not check the caller ID or something?"
"For your fucking information, Shane, no I did not."
"What's up your ass? And why are you answering Stephanie's phone – in such a shitty mood, no less?" Shane queried.
"The bitch left her purse here." Hunter said nonchalantly, sitting on the couch.
"Hey, whoa! Wait just a damn minute. You better have a good reason for calling her that or you're going to have to deal with me." Shane threatened.
Hunter laughed. "Oh, I'm so scared, Shane. But for your information, your bitch of a sister has been lying to me."
Shane gulped, hoping that Hunter wasn't talking about the pregnancy issue. Was Hunter just assuming things or did he actually know for sure? "What makes you say that?"
"She was standing right in front of the fucking dressing room! I guess she thought I was gone."
Shane decided to play dumb, in case he was talking about something else. "Well what did she lie about that has you so upset?"
"She's been screwing that fucking asshole, Chris Jericho, behind my back. He fucking loves her, and she's pregnant with his kid. I'm assuming that when she told me she was pregnant, she was trying to pass his kid off as mine. Fucking slut." He muttered.
"Are you sure that's how it happened, Hunter?" Shane asked.
Hunter couldn't believe what Shane was saying – he didn't know shit! I heard them with my own ears! "I heard all of this myself! I'm done with your damn sister!"
Shane nodded, though Hunter couldn't see it. "I understand, man. All I have to say is give her a chance to explain. I'll let you go now. Bye." With that, Shane hung up. He had no right to ask for forgiveness on Stephanie's behalf. Hunter didn't know the whole story. He doesn't know that my sister was drunk off her ass, because of his mistreatment of her. He guessed Stephanie wasn't given much of a chance to explain. That, or Hunter refused to listen. Most likely, it was the latter. If he knew his sister, he knew that she wouldn't let Hunter walk around thinking she was some kind of jezebel forever. Eventually the truth would come out. When it did, the ball would be in Hunter's court.

Hunter stared at the phone in his hands. Shane was lucky he hung up before he had a chance to respond. He would have given him an earful. "Give her a chance to explain." He muttered angrily. He gave her chances to speak, and she used them to make him feel even worse. Hunter didn't know if he could get any lower right now. His wife had cheated on him with his sworn enemy, was having a baby by him, and seemed to never have given two shits about their marriage.

Still, even with all Stephanie had said to him, something felt off. He couldn't come up with a good reason as to why Stephanie would have bothered even trying to resolve all problems their marriage had. Maybe this was all planned out. Maybe Stephanie had grown sick of him and decided to use one of the people he hated most, against him. She knew how badly it would get to him. Standing in front of the dressing room – how convenient. Hunter slapped himself in the head for his stupidity. He should have seen this coming. He was The Game, the Cerebral Assassin. The self-proclaimed king of fucking with people's minds. Moreover, he knew Stephanie and how she worked. But, even this was way too low for her to stoop. She was cold, but not that damn cold. It's impossible to be living with someone that long and not realize that they despise you. Hunter shook his head and got off the couch– this shit was all too confusing right now.

He slung his bag and Stephanie's over his shoulder as he walked out of the room. As he walked down the hallway, he noticed the familiar silhouette all the way at the end. His eyebrow arched as he stared from afar, wondering what the hell he was up to. He had come down to the ring and interfered with his match against Maven. Hunter thought for sure that he was there to attempt to kick his ass, and had been shocked when instead he performed his finisher on Maven. The poor kid was so knocked out by the move, that even though he had waited some seconds to go for the pin, Maven still wasn't able to kick out. To say Hunter was confused was an understatement. This man claimed to hate him; they had screwed each other over countless times. Why he would come to the ring and beat the hell out of Maven three minutes into their match was beyond his comprehension.

Hunter jumped in his limo, happy to get the hell out of the arena. Far too many frustrating things had happened for one night. He debated on whether to take a nice, hot, long shower and get some rest, or going to the bar to get wasted. Liquor wasn't really his thing; he only drank on special occasions, usually. Only Stephanie – that damn, exasperating woman – could push him this far.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chris held Stephanie close to him as they rode to the hotel. She had cried herself to sleep on his shoulder. After he got over the initial bliss of her fallout with Hunter, it hit him. I'm not the only one fucking with the Helmsley's. The thought didn't sit well with him. He could kick himself for not realizing it sooner. He wasn't responsible for the audio that came on during Hunter and Stephanie's renewals but he was so overjoyed that somebody - anybody - had prevented it, that he never stopped to actually think about it rationally. He loved Stephanie and would protect her at all costs. He needed to figure out who was messing with her so he could find out their true intentions.

A loud sigh emanated from Chris as the limo came to a halt. He really didn't want to wake her but he had no choice. "Stephanie." He said softly, touching her cheek.
She flinched immediately, removing her head from his shoulder. "What?"
"We're at the hotel."
She nodded and went to gather her things. Panic flashed across her features as she realized – she didn't have any things. "Damn it." She mumbled, realizing she never got to go back inside the dressing room, where all her stuff was.
"What's wrong?" Chris asked, stepping out of the limo, helping her out, as well.
"My stuff was in the dressing room."
Chris nodded. He didn't know what to tell her. After what happened, it wasn't in either of their best interests to actually go ask Hunter for her things. "Well what do you want to do?" He asked, holding the door to the hotel open for her.
"I can't do much of anything and neither can you. I just need you to get something for me to sleep in for tonight. I'll figure out the rest tomorrow." She reasoned.
"That'll work." He gave her a small smile as they walked through the lobby and to the elevators.

Stephanie chewed her lip. She wasn't sure if she was entirely comfortable staying in Chris' room. Well at least she assumed that's where they were headed, since he hadn't asked her what room she was in. She decided to suck it up and deal with it. She no longer had a husband and Chris was in fact the father of her baby. At some point, she needed to learn to be comfortable with him. She gave the faintest of smiles as he glanced at her before pressing the button to his floor. Right now, she was in a daze. None of this seemed real. Her life had abruptly fallen apart and she wasn't sure what was right or wrong anymore. It didn't seem like it was ever going to get any clearer, either. She was dimly aware as the elevator stopped, and she followed Chris out of it. To her, it felt like she was taking some ceremonious walk out of one life and into another. A deep, agonized sigh escaped her as they stopped at his door. She released a tense breath that she wasn't aware she was holding, as he ushered her inside the room.

Chris smiled at her as he took his shirt off, leaving his chest bare. Stephanie turned her head, not wanting to stare. She swallowed thickly as she heard a zipper and then a tiny thump. She guessed his pants were now gone, too. After a minute or so she finally forced her head to turn in his direction. Irritation overcame her senses as she saw him just lying in bed, staring at her. "What are you doing?" She asked, as calmly as she could muster.
"Going to bed. Aren't you going to join me?"
"I'll take the couch."
He rolled his eyes at her. "Suit yourself."
Her mouth was agape. Was he giving her attitude because she didn't want to sleep in the same bed as him? It seemed like déjà vu. This is the same way her life began to slide downhill. How fitting it was that at the very end of the hill she found herself back here with him again. "I need something to sleep in. Remember?"
"You can always sleep naked." He suggested, grinning.
Stephanie blinked. Huh? "I don't think so. I'll be cold."
"Sleep with me then. I'll keep you warm."
Any calmness she possessed went on the window. "I'm sleeping on the couch, damn you! Now give me something to wear!" She ordered, placing her hands on her hips.
Chris sighed as he got out of the bed and walked over to her, ignoring the curious look she gave him. "Why are you afraid to sleep with me?" He asked her seriously, running his hand up and down her arm. "We've done that and more already." He pointed out, smiling. Stephanie's eyes widened at his bluntness and he took that opportunity to crash his mouth onto hers, roughly.
Stephanie pushed against his chest until she was able to get him off of her. She wiped her mouth angrily, glaring at him. "I'm leaving." She stated simply, turning on her heel, ignoring him as he called after her.

Stephanie walked briskly to the lobby once she got off of the elevator. She sweetly asked the young man at the desk if she could have a room. Any room. Right now, quality and size didn't matter. She was desperate and had lost her purse, she begged him. The guy immediately recognized her as being Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley and eagerly gave her a key to one of their suites.

Once Stephanie reached her room and closed her door, she let out a strangled cry as she slumped down the wall. All the emotions that she had actually managed to hold in tonight came out as the tears poured down her face freely. Everything was so wrong. The way Hunter went off on her – he called her a plague and told her everything she touched turned to shit. The way she broke him down further, acting like he never meant anything to her and like she had actually meant to cheat on him. The way Chris had been so nice, and then turned into a hormone-driven jackass. The only people who wouldn't hurt her were herself and her baby; she realized and then rubbed her stomach lovingly as she continued to cry.