Chris was sitting alone in his locker room, reading over the script for the night and was slightly startled when the door shot open. He looked up to see Stephanie walking in quickly, one hand holding a rolled up piece of paper as he gave her a confused look.
"Chris, I've been looking everywhere for you!"
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"
"Our segment from Monday pulled the best ratings of the year so far!" she beamed, her smile bright as he put down his script and took the paper she was handing over to him. "Can you believe it, everyone's been raving about how well it looked on TV, and here's the proof! The fans love it, Chris, this idea of yours is turning out to be pure gold," she said excitedly.
"Wow," Chris said as he looked at the numbers before him. They had done even better than he had hoped, and it was a great feeling to know it all came back to him. He smirked a little, "Well, I told you the fans would like it."
"Like it? They love it so far, and we can't let them down now, not while we have a full head of steam," she said, starting to pace now in front of him while rubbing her hands together as he chuckled.
"Stephanie, we've barely just started the storyline, let's not get ahead of ourselves… we still have more than a month to go to build towards WrestleMania," Chris reasoned, even though he would be lying if he said he wasn't proud that this was all his idea.
"I know, but we're on a roll now, we've gotten off to a great start," she said, almost bristling with excitement as she took back the paper from Chris. "Did you get a chance to look over the script for tonight?"
"Yeah, I was just doing that when you walked in… you do know that I could've been naked, right?" Chris teased as her eyes widened. His smirk grew when he saw her cheeks redden a little, which made him chuckle. "I'm kidding."
"No, I should've knocked, you're right, you could've been… yeah, that was inappropriate of me, I'm sorry," she apologized, clearly embarrassed as he reached for his script that night. He rolled it up and playfully hit her with it on the arm, giving her an easy smile.
"I was just kidding, Steph," he said charmingly, reaching out to her and pretending to punch her in the chin. She rolled her eyes playfully and shoved his hand away as he grinned. "It was a hot start, huh?"
"Yes, a very hot start, and now we have to keep it going and make sure we build on it."
"Yeah, you know, I was just looking over the script and I kind of had an idea for how to make it better," he said as he picked up the script from where he'd put it down. He turned back to Stephanie as she went and stood right next to him, looking over his shoulder as he flipped the pages.
"You know that the promo lines aren't set, you have a lot of leeway with us and you can improvise as much as you feel is necessary, so long as you get the general idea across," she told him as his eyes scanned the page.
"Oh I know, it's not the lines that I have a problem with, I think they're really hot," Chris said with a smirk.
"Well, it's almost straight from our conversation on the phone a few nights ago," Stephanie said as he looked at her out of the corner of his eye.
"No wonder then," he said as she looked up at him and caught his growing smirk. "You have an excellent memory."
"Mhmm," she said, a self-satisfied look on her face as she raised her eyebrows. "You were going to suggest changing something on the script?"
"Oh yeah, right," he said, turning back to it and pointing to one part while she looked over his shoulder. "See, right here, what we need is for Paul to come out right here, before the kissing."
"But I thought it'd be better if we just had our promo together without any interruptions," Stephanie said, looking up at him.
"Well, I think that would work fine, but the way I'm thinking, it just makes sense for Triple H to want revenge after the way we left him lying Monday night," Chris reasoned. "Him interrupting us would get him some heat back."
"True, we were debating it back and forth, but we figured that we, as in me and you, should assert ourselves first as a real force to be reckoned with… we need as much heat on you as humanly possible, which means putting off on Triple H getting his until the fans want it so bad they can taste it," she said, a gleam in her eye as she envisioned all of this playing out to perfection. Chris snickered and rolled up the script in his hand, satisfied with the explanation.
"I think I like your way better," he said, tapping her on the forehead with the rolled-up script as he smirked. "Way to use that brain, Ms. McMahon."
"Whatever," she laughed, turning to walk out of his room. "I'll meet you by the gorilla before we go out for our promo, okay?"
"No problem, I'll see you there," he said, walking over to the bench in his locker room and taking a seat as she walked to the door. She opened it to leave and was surprised to see a woman standing on the other side, fist raised and ready to knock. Stephanie didn't recognize the woman with the loose white-blondish hair and petite frame, but she was able to put two and two together and figured this must've been Jessica.
Jessica was also surprised to see the door open before she had a chance to knock, and she was even more surprised by the wave of jealousy that came over her at the sight of Stephanie McMahon standing in her husband's locker room. She ignored the feeling though and cleared her throat, not wanting to make a scene.
"Hi, you must be Stephanie McMahon," Jessica said, forcing a polite smile to her face as she stuck out her hand. "I'm Jessica Irvine, Chris's wife."
"Oh, nice to meet you," Stephanie said as she smiled and took her hand to shake it. Chris glanced over at her, his curiosity piqued as he wondered who Stephanie was talking to at the door. "I'm surprised we haven't met sooner, with all the times I've worked with Chris."
"Likewise," Jessica answered, a slight edge to her tone as Chris walked over to them.
"Hey Steph, who are you talking to…" his voice trailed as he came up behind Stephanie and caught sight of his wife. Of all the people he had expected to arrive at his door that night, she was probably the last on the list. He ran his tongue over his teeth a little, before nodding in acknowledgement of her. "Jess, this is… quite a surprise," he forced himself to say, trying to at least appear like a civilized couple in front of Stephanie. "I wasn't expecting you."
"Just wanted to surprise you," she said with a smile as Stephanie looked back and forth between them.
"Alright, I'll leave you two to talk, I've got a show to help run," Stephanie said as she glanced back at Chris, who tore his eyes from his wife to look at her. "Remember, try to be at the gorilla ten minutes before we go out."
He smiled at her a little, "You've been telling me that since I debuted here, I think I got it."
"Just making sure," she said jokingly, reaching to him and patting his shoulder before turning back to Jessica. "It was nice meeting you, you should come along with Chris more often," she said kindly.
"I agree," Jessica said, glancing at Chris briefly before giving Stephanie a polite smile as she side-stepped enough for Stephanie to pass. Once she did, Jessica turned back to Chris who rolled his eyes and walked back into his locker room, with her right on his heels.
"So what gives, you're stalking me at work now?" Chris asked sarcastically as he went over and sat back down.
"What the hell is your problem?" Jessica demanded, putting her hands on her hips. "You haven't talked to me since Tuesday night, and so I came here to talk things over with you."
"There's nothing to talk about," he said as he picked up the script again.
"Would you stop being so damn difficult?" she snapped as he looked up at her angrily.
"I'm tired of arguing with you, that's why I haven't been talking to you, because it's the same old bullshit with you," he said evenly, trying to keep his temper. "All you do is get defensive while failing to realize that I'm just trying to do my job, so yeah, sue me if I'm tired of arguing about it."
"Chris," she sighed, "I'm tired of arguing about it too."
"Yeah?" he asked indifferently, looking back down at his script, "Cause you sure as hell don't act like it."
"I'm here, aren't I?" she shot back, crossing her arms over in front of her as he sighed. "And what the hell was she doing in here anyways?"
He forced a laugh as he shook his head, flipping through pages of his script without actually reading any of it over, "Here we go again."
"I'm sorry, the next time I'm alone in a room with a guy I'm pretending to have an affair with and you take exception, I'll let it roll off my back too," she said testily as he stood up and faced her.
"See, this is what the hell I'm talking about!" he snapped. "What do you want me to do, Jessica? Do you want me to go and ask for them to drop this storyline, after pulling the best ratings all year on the first night we did it? Do you want me to ask to kill the only way for me to get the heat I need to draw a good show at WrestleMania? I mean, seriously, what the hell do you want from me?"
"I want you to stop the storyline," she said as he sighed and ran his hands through his hair, resting both hands on top of his head as he looked up at the ceiling. "Chris, come on, why can't you see how much it bothers me to see you do a storyline like this? Are you honestly telling me there are no better ways for this to play out?"
"I'm not changing it, alright?" he said with a clipped tone as he lowered his arms and looked at her. "I'm done talking about this, it's done, and we're going through it whether you like it or not."
They both stared at each other silently as if daring the other to give in, neither moving or saying a word as the door opened to his locker room.
"Chris, I talked it over with the other writers, and…" Stephanie paused as she took in the looks on their faces. "I'm sorry," she said sheepishly, wondering why she kept forgetting to knock before walking into Chris's locker room. "I didn't mean to interrupt, I'll come back later, I'm sorry," she said sheepishly, leaving the room before either could say a word back as she closed the door behind her. Chris glanced over at the door as Jessica sighed.
"Okay, I get it… if this is what you want to do, then I guess it's what you're going to do," she relented.
"It's what I'm going to do," he confirmed as he looked back at her.
"Alright," she said, giving in. "You obviously don't care how I feel about it, so fine, go right ahead and go do your storyline."
He groaned inwardly as he walked over to her, "Jess, come on, I do care but you're making it out like me and Stephanie are having a real affair, and we're not. It's like we're actors, come on babe, it's just business," he said as he pulled her into a hug. She hugged him back and rested her head on his chest.
"You're right, I've been overreacting," she said, still not comfortable with the whole idea but not wanting to further alienate her husband while the storyline ran its course. "And it'll be over soon, right?"
"It'll be over before you know it."
"Remember, you're coming out after this line, so don't forget your cue," Stephanie told Paul as he rolled his eyes.
"That wasn't in the original script," he pointed out in a dull tone.
"Yeah, I think I realize that, being the head of creative," she responded evenly. "Chris suggested the change, he thought it'd be good and after thinking it over with the staff, they agreed."
"Whoa, wait a minute," Paul said as he scowled. "Since when does he make changes to the show?"
"He didn't make the change, he suggested the change, there's a difference," she pointed out. "And I liked his suggestion, and I decided to run with it, and we're done with this conversation."
"What, so you listen to his suggestions and not mine?" he challenged as she sucked at her teeth and looked away for a moment before looking back at him.
"For your information, I listen to every suggestion that's made to me, I only take the good ones up," she told him, just as Chris was walking up to them. He saw that they were in a tense conversation and he frowned a little, wondering what Paul was saying this time. That man had a knack for saying the wrong things at the wrong time, and he was briefly wondering why Stephanie put up with him when she spotted him. She smiled at the sight of him, "Chris, good, you're here."
"You said ten minutes, so I made it eleven," he said good-naturedly as he carried both of his championship belts over one arm, while holding a bottle of water in his free hand. Stephanie reached out and took the belts from him as Paul rolled his eyes.
"Heard you suggested the change in the script," he noted as Chris looked at Stephanie, who shrugged with a hint of a smirk on her face.
"I changed my mind," she said as a smirk came over his own face.
"You should've told me sooner, you know, given me more time than just ten minutes to prepare for the segment," Chris said jokingly.
"You're good enough that you need very little heads-up, and for the record, it's eleven minutes," Stephanie said matter-of-factly, but with a playful tone. Paul narrowed his eyes as he picked up on her tone, but dismissed it as her rubbing a tension-less relationship in his face to make him feel like crap for giving her a hard time. It'd be just like Stephanie to do something like that to him, to get back at him in a subtle but effective kind of way.
"Alright, I think I'm going to go get some water before we're on, since I have the time while you guys do your promo," Paul said as Chris unscrewed the cap from his water bottle, taking a swig of the water so he wouldn't have to fully acknowledge the man before him. Paul shot him a look as Stephanie ignored him for the time being, focusing on making sure that Chris's belts had no spots and were as shiny as shiny could be.
Once Paul was gone, Stephanie looked at Chris who was putting the top back on his water bottle. She gave him an apologetic smile, "I'm really sorry for walking in on you and Jessica earlier," she said, drawing his attention to her.
"Oh, don't be," he said dismissively, waving it off as she put both of his belts down on the table next to them. She lifted one and walked over to him, reaching with one hand to the open shirt he was wearing and giving it a gentle tug.
"Here, take this off so I can help you put this on," she said as she motioned to the championship belt she was holding. He shrugged and slipped his shirt off easily, holding it in one hand as he raised his arms as she stepped behind him. She wrapped the belt around him, "I was just apologizing because it seemed like you guys were mad at each other or something."
"Yeah, we were, but what can you do… no need for you to apologize," he said in an easy tone as she fastened the belt behind his back.
"I just didn't want to make it more awkward," she admitted as he slipped his shirt back on while she stepped back in front of him to observe him. He adjusted the collar on his shirt and left it unbuttoned at the front, shrugging a little as he did it.
"Women, I can't figure them out," he said with a small smirk as she handed him his other championship belt.
"Yeah, I'm sure," she said sarcastically as he slung the second belt over his shoulder. He adjusted it a little before looking back at her with that cocky in-character smirk on his face.
"How do I look?" he asked arrogantly as she looked him over, "Do I make you want to drag me off somewhere for some Vitamin C?" he teased as she rolled her eyes.
"Alright there, Chris Jericho," she said in a warning tone as he laughed. The sound of his laugh made her break and crack a smile, "You look fine, and I believe we're all ready to go."
"Good," he said, holding onto the belt over his shoulder with one hand and reaching with his free hand for hers. She gave him a look of genuine surprise as he smiled, "We might as well get into character, since we're on in what, about 42 seconds?"
She laughed and took his hand, very confidently and very naturally as they both walked to the stage entrance. "41 seconds, to be exact," she told him as they got a signal that they Chris's pyro was getting ready and they were on soon.
"Hey, no one's perfect, not even me," he said jokingly, before growing quiet as he stood next to her. He leaned over closer to her and whispered, "You ready?"
"I was born ready," she countered, in full character now as he smirked, his wife all but forgotten as he immersed himself in the character of Chris Jericho, the larger than life cockier bastard version of himself.
But what he didn't know was that Jessica had decided not to stick around in his locker room and was hanging back, watching him interact with Stephanie before their scheduled promo. She was almost bristling with jealousy at the way the two interacted, with the flirting and looking and joking, the whole thing making her feel incredibly uneasy about giving him the go-ahead to go through with this storyline.
Paul was coming back from getting a fresh cold water bottle when he spotted a woman with an intense interest in watching something, her eyes focused forward as she watched something or other intently. He noticed her because she was probably the only person just hanging back and not moving along to be somewhere or talk to someone, which made her stick out like a sore thumb in the midst of the madness that was the backstage area for a SmackDown taping. Add to the fact that he didn't recognize her at all, it made him naturally curious.
He followed her line of sight until it came to rest on Chris and Stephanie, who were both standing by the stage entrance hand-in-hand as she laughed at something he was telling her. Paul scowled at the sight as the sound of Chris's pyro went off, and he stepped through the curtains and led Stephanie through as well. Paul looked back at the woman watching and put two-and-two together, figuring anyone with that kind of interest had to have been Chris's wife.
Figuring he had some time before he went on, he decided he'd go and introduce himself.
Jessica had her arms crossed over in front of her and was frowning at the sight of Chris and Stephanie together, trying to convince herself that there was nothing to worry about and it was what Chris said it was – just business. She was more than a little startled then when she felt someone tapping her shoulder. Glancing over, she smiled politely at the man she knew her husband couldn't stand.
"I'm sorry, am I in the way?" she asked, ready to head back to Chris's locker room.
"No, not at all, I was just wondering if you were Chris Irvine's wife?"
"Yeah, my name's Jessica, and you're Paul?" she asked, to be sure. He smiled and nodded, offering her his hand.
"It's about time Chris brought you around, I was starting to wonder if his marriage was all a charade or something," he joked as she snickered.
"Well, I just had to come and see what the big storyline was about firsthand," she said casually as Paul nodded.
"Yeah, Chris and Stephanie, quite the pair huh?" he said casually. "Those two have definite sparks with each other, that's for sure."
Jessica narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "What do you mean by that?"
"Oh, I mean, they have this really great chemistry together, that's why they work together so much and why it goes so well, they have sparks together," Paul said nonchalantly as he shrugged. "You must have a lot of trust in the guy, huh?"
"Yeah," she forced herself to say, not wanting to create a scene, "I guess it comes with the package."
"Yeah, that's cool," he said with a smirk, "Well, I've got to go get ready for my cue, but it was nice meeting you."
"Nice meeting you too," Jessica said, watching as he walked towards the stage entrance where her husband had stood a moment before. As soon as he was out of sight, she frowned, feeling uncomfortable with the whole thing and wishing Chris would just see it her way for a change as she turned and headed back towards his locker room. She couldn't for the life of her understand why he couldn't just see why it bothered her and why he couldn't do something about it. She also didn't like what Paul had implied, it settled very uneasily with her.
She wanted very much to believe Chris, but that jealousy that came over her upon seeing him together with Stephanie wasn't going away any time soon.
"Excuse me," Stephanie said into her microphone, looking around at the audience as they chanted 'slut' at her. She gave the crowd an evil glare as Chris paced behind her, giving people in the audience dirty looks. "If you'd all just settle down a bit, I could clarify some things that need to be addressed after last Monday night."
The crowd was buzzing as the chants grew louder, and she scowled as Chris stopped his pacing and walked over to her. He took the microphone from her, giving her a look before turning to the audience and raising the mic for himself.
"What she's trying to say is shut the hell up you jackasses, cause we've got something to say!" he yelled angrily into the microphone as the chants stopped and the boos rained down on them. He smirked and popped a bubble with his gum as Stephanie stepped around him, casually taking the microphone back as she gave him a look of pure lust.
"I suppose you all want to know why," she said into the mic as she reached up to Chris's face. He smirked as she trailed his jaw line with one finger, starting from his chin and working her way back before trailing down his neck and then down his chest. "Why would I cheat on my husband of over two years with a man I absolutely could not stand? How could I do such a thing?" She paused to let the chants of 'slut' ring out for a few moments as Chris sneered at the audience, before clearing her throat and continuing.
"The reason why is because that husband was never there for me!" she yelled into the microphone as the chants once again turned to boos. "Rehab, rehab, rehab, championships, championships, championships, it's always been the same to Triple H! I was sitting backstage, here, at work, doing nothing and coming in second place with my husband who deemed his career more important than me, so you tell me, what was I supposed to do?"
"You see," she said, turning back to face Chris who slowly eyed her up and down, looking like he was seconds away from ripping her clothes off as she smirked, "I needed a real man in my life, to… take care of my needs, since my husband wasn't doing the job. One night, I was feeling lonely, and I happened to get into a fight with one particular man," she droned as she slowly started circling Chris, who smirked, "This man was egotistical… hardheaded… stubborn… and unbelievably sexy," she said as she eyed him lecherously from behind as he looked over his shoulder at her. "He was a real man, and the fight somehow turned to making out against a wall… which then turned to something else as I found out just how much of a man Chris Jericho really is," she said as she finished walking around him.
She gave him a smirk before turning to the camera, "And trust me, Hunter, Chris is more of a man than you'll ever be," she said as Chris wrapped an arm around her from behind. He closed his eyes and leaned in, kissing the side of her neck as she smiled and leaned her head back and just getting lost in the feel of his kissing. And damn, did it feel good as he drew her in closer against him as she straightened and raised the microphone again, staring straight into the camera. "It was weird at first, Hunter, don't get me wrong… Chris and I weren't the best of friends, but we couldn't explain it, and I couldn't resist him, and I don't regret a goddamn second of it because he rocks my world like you couldn't imagine, baby."
Chris pulled away from her and smirked, before motioning for the microphone. Stephanie handed it to him as she linked his arm with hers, leaning into him from his side as he looked over at her, letting the crowd get their booing in as they called him an asshole. Stephanie reached out with her other hand and traced the championship belt over his shoulder with a finger, before reaching her hand over and caressing the skin of his bare chest with her perfectly manicured fingers. Chris slowly raised the microphone with his other hand, glancing at the camera with that maddening self-satisfied smirk on his face as the crowd tore him a new one, giving him chills at just how much heat he was drawing from them.
"You can't beat me at WrestleMania, because I've already beaten you, Hunter," he said cockily. "Because you see, your gold is already mine, Trips… and every single night, your wife is mine too," he said, before tossing the microphone aside and turning to Stephanie. He practically hauled her against him as he kissed her, while she instinctively put her arms around his neck as he deepened the kiss. It wasn't rehearsed, and it also wasn't exactly planned, but the adrenaline was going through both of them and the crowd was eating it all up as Chris flaunted it to the world that he had Stephanie now.
He pulled away when Triple H's music hit, and the crowd went wild for him as he casually strolled out onto the stage. He had his sledgehammer gripped in one hand, and a look of pure hatred on his face as Stephanie stood behind Chris in the ring, both of them selling it like if Paul was carrying a gun instead of a sledgehammer. He stopped for a moment halfway down the ramp, before charging down the rest of the way towards the ring as Stephanie immediately hightailed it out of the ring. Chris was only a half-second behind her, escaping from the ring just as Triple H slid inside.
Chris grabbed Stephanie by the hand and dragged her around the ring and back up the ramp, keeping his eye on Triple H as the two trash-talked each other the whole way with Triple H daring Chris to get back in the ring. He pretended for a second like he was going to, but Stephanie held him at bay as the crowd chanted an overwhelming chant for Triple H.
Chris stopped at the top of the ramp and held up one of his championship belts, the other wrapped around his waist still, with his free arm holding Stephanie close to him around her waist. He turned to her and kissed her again as she drew him in closer, making sure they made the kiss hot and involved for the TV audience. Chris finally pulled away and licked his lips, smirking as he looked back at Triple H who was pacing in the ring.
A moment later, and they were done shooting the segment and Chris was following Stephanie through the curtains backstage. As soon as he was through, Stephanie was hugging him tightly as he laughed.
"That was so amazing," she said brightly as he grinned.
"Yeah, we had them going alright," he said, self-satisfied as she let him go. He smiled at her and without thinking, reached up and brushed some hair in her face back. "That was fun huh?"
"Hell yes," she said, giving him an appreciative look. "God that was so exhilarating…" she sighed happily. "But anyways, don't mind me, you are probably going to go see Jessica, right?"
He forced his smile to stay in place, but the last thing he wanted to think about was how his wife was going to respond to the segment she had just seen, "Yeah, I should," he relented.
"Alright, then I'll just catch up with you later then," she said, giving him a smile and letting her hand linger on his arm for a moment before turning and walking off to find her father to discuss how the segment had taped. She didn't even bother waiting for Paul to come back, figuring she'd meet back up with him sooner rather than later.
Chris watched her walk away, smiling a little and thankful he was working with her for this storyline. She was the only person he was comfortable enough with that he could pull off making an affair storyline look as realistic and as natural as possible. He decided after a few seconds that he should probably go check up on Jessica, but not before he felt his lips and briefly remembered the taste of Stephanie's kiss. It was just business to him, but that didn't mean he couldn't appreciate a good kiss.
And Stephanie sure as hell knew how to kiss.