"My God—" Linda gasped, gripping the arm rest of her chair in a vain effort to steady herself.

It was Shawn's turn to be confused. Focusing his attention from Vince to Linda, he made an effort to decipher her newly found bewilderment. After a long and silent moment, she took a sip of her coffee and spoke to her husband. "She's certainly doesn't take after her brother and sister, Vince…" Vince sat back in his chair and pondered the thought. Shawn went to take another sip of coffee, and noticing that his cup was bone dry went to refill it.

Linda was right. More right than she could possibly know.

"Maybe that's the problem." Vince looked as if he had just bitten into a sour lemon. "At least if they would have had a problem, I would have known about it. In Stephanie's case, half the free world would have known about it…but my point remains. How am I supposed to do anything if I don't find out until after the fact?"

Shawn smiled to some extent at the comparison of his God daughter to her older siblings, but that quickly passed. "Vince, you just don't get it, do you?' His anger was beginning to simmer, and both Father and Stepmother quickly took notice. Shawn sat straight up. "Your daughter—"Subconsciously, Shawn placed extra emphasis on the word "daughter". "Your daughter never was, never is and will never be—" Even he had to wince when he became aware of the weak reference to the other half of Victoria's biological family. "She's NOT Shane and she sure as hell is not Stephanie. The sooner you understand that, the better off we will ALL be—"Shawn eyed Vince who sat there shockingly agape. He decided to seize the opportunity while he still could. It was a good thing Linda decided to keep quiet, or Shawn would be compelled to put her in her place as well.

"God only knows what they've told her." It now appeared that Shawn was going to have to address Linda as well.

Shawn's head flopped back and he rubbed his eyes. Had he known that Linda would try to interfere where she obviously had little to no knowledge of the situation, he would have held this conference with Vince at a time when he was alone. Momentarily ignoring the mighty Chairman, hand still partially covering his eyes, he turned his attention towards her. "Yes yes….and she and Bret have some sort of McMaster plan to try to take over the company—at least, isn't that the latest story making the rounds?"

Linda was starting to blush. She'd been caught in an idea that she now realized was rather ludicrous.

"God you people are blind." Shawn was getting fed up again.

"Excuse me, I don't know exactly who you think you're—"Vince started to rise from his desk.

Shawn raised his hand as if he were going to make a point. "Before you finish that statement, Vince—one question. Who told you Victoria's birthday was a couple weeks ago?" The familiar look of sour disgust returned to Vince's face.

"I don't see what that has to do with anything." Linda tried to defend her husband.

"I'm going to tell you this one time, and one time only—you'd better pay attention." He folded his hands across his lap, looking solemn for the occasion. "It's no secret that Bret Hart is probably my least favorite person in this business, if not the planet. And if, as I'm afraid you have, Vince, have been getting your intelligence regarding YOUR daughter from HIM?" Shawn laughed sarcastically, rubbing his chin.

"What do you mean by that?" Vince sounded alarmed. "He is the child's Uncle."

"Ohhhh, you're right. I do not doubt that he isn't Victoria's Uncle, biologically speaking. If I could change that for her, I would do it, in a heartbeat. She deserves much better."

So Vince had resorted, mainly out of desperation in calling the infamous Bret "the Hitman" Hart. He told himself that he had no other options. Victoria's friends gave him the cold shoulder, and Shawn simply refused to speak to him. He should have known better than to believe Bret Hart of all people would want to help HIM out. Vince knew he had seemed too eager at the time.

"Vince—"If for nothing else, Shawn sympathized with Vince as a Father himself. "Think about it. Did you see her when Bret was inducted into the Hall of Fame?" Crossing his strong arms in front of his chest, he allowed a moment or two for the reality to sink in. "Her home town—Calgary, she will NOT work in. Why exactly do you think that is?"

Vince swallowed—hard. Shawn was disgusted as to just how very stupid Vince was when it came to his youngest child.

"I'm pretty sure I can count on ONE hand the number of times Bret and Victoria have spoken since Owen. And this--" struggling from tearing up, the wrestler had an equally hard time of keeping his voice steady "she won't even speak to ME about." Under no circumstance would Shawn dare to reveal the source of his information. That decision should be left up to Victoria and Victoria alone. As it was, should word of this conference get to back at her, she would be absolutely livid for him telling what he knew, so intensely private a person she was. Shawn rose, looking down at his principal object. "Your great friend, your buddy…when Victoria graduated and TOLD him she wanted to come work here, after he made it a point to make it impossible for her to work in this business anywhere else. When your DAUGHTER told him she wanted to know YOU? Would you like to know what his reaction was?" Shawn would have killed to be there. He would have finished what he started in Montreal, and then some. "She had been back from school TWO days—"If it were possible to yell in a barely audible whisper, that's exactly what he was doing. "That bastard kicked her out of his house. She gave up EVERYTHING she had, for YOU…and you never even knew it."

Shawn left Vince to grasp what he said. He absolutely HAD to call his own children, just to tell them how dearly he loved them.