PART ELEVEN

THE NEXT WEEK

Jay sat in the locker room he was sharing with some of the guys, thankful that nobody - especially Adam - was in there. He sighed loudly as he eyed the script in his hand for what had to be the eighth time since he had been handed it only a little while ago. His gaze traveled over the highlighted section again and again, pausing only when he heard a knock at the door. He glanced over, watching as the door swung open and Britney walked in. When she approached him, Jay noticed that she too held a script in her hand, the same passage highlighted.

"Hey," he said, holding his packet up in the air. "I, uh... I take it you've heard. Nodding, Britney sat down next to Jay, eyeing him a little worriedly.

"Yeah... what do you think?" she asked.

"I-I'm not sure," Jay replied with a shrug. "I mean, *I* don't have any real problems with is, and I'm sure *you* don't have a problem with it... with the exception of this one part, it's not a big deal, but..."

"Adam and Steph are going to flip," Britney finished.

Taking a deep breath, Jay nodded. He didn't understand how this segment could have slipped by Stephanie unnoticed. While the brunette wasn't responsible for writing the entire script, she *was* the last one to oversee it. She had the final say... so then why didn't she say anything?

"What I want to know..." he spoke after a moment of thought, "...is who's bright idea this was"

"It was *my* bright idea," a third voice called. Both Britney and Jay whipped their heads around, their jaws dropping slightly when they saw Stephanie standing in the doorway.

"What?" Britney asked in disbelief, watching as her cousin stepped into the room, approaching them slowly.

"It was my idea," she repeated. "I was the one who wrote that segment."

"Steph..." Jay said, facing his girlfriend hesitantly. "Why?"

"Look, I just think it'd be for the best. We need to spice things up a bit, and I thought that this would be the best way to go. It's not necessarily something I personally like, but I did what I felt necessary," Stephanie explained, placing a hand on her waist. Britney frowned... something wasn't right.

"And you're okay with it?" she asked.

Nodding, Stephanie simply replied, "I wrote it, didn't I?"

With that, she regarded the two in what Britney determined to be a very executive manner, turning swiftly on her heel and heading back to the door. Shaking her head, Britney ignored the nauseas feeling in her stomach, calling out to Stephanie.

"You better be explaining this to Adam," she called.

Tossing her head over her shoulder, Stephanie said nothing, exhaling deeply and walking away. When she was gone, Britney raked a nervous hand through her hair. Stephanie had been so calm, so casual about this whole thing... it didn't make sense. The basic storyline given to Britney and Jay was that Britney would turn heel on Adam, joining forces with - of all people - her husband's brother. Though it wasn't described in detail, it was noted that the relationship between Britney and Christian would become a very physical one, starting off with - as the script had put it - a "... long, passionate kiss while standing over top Edge's prone body." That was the part that really got Britney. She knew Stephanie like a book, and it was no secret that she was the extremely - borderline insanity - jealous type. Why would she allow, let alone write, a storyline putting her boyfriend with anyone, her cousin no less?

"I don't like this Jay," she said warily. "I can't kiss you... you're like my brother. On top of that, you're my cousin's boyfriend, and my husband's best friend. Think of how weird that will be."

"I know Brit, but do we really have a choice? It's set in stone, effective as of tonight," he replied.

"If there's anything I learned from growing up as a McMahon, it's that *nothing* is set in stone... things can change just like that," she said, snapping her finger. Then, she stood suddenly, standing in front of Jay. "I'm going to go talk to Vince... maybe I can work something out with him," she said, glancing down at Jay hopefully. He returned the gaze, offering her a small smile as well.

"Okay... good luck. Let me know what happens."

He watched Britney leave the room, frowning as he held the script up and read over it once more. He tossed the packet, the papers fluttering noisily as they fell to the ground. He leaned down, resting his elbows on his knees and meticulously rubbing his eyes, as though there was something stuck in the them. Breathing deeply, he sighed... something weird was going on, and he didn't in the least enjoy being left in the dark.

HALF AN HOUR LATER

Stepping out of Vince McMahon's office, Britney sighed yet again. She had been in there with her uncle for over twenty five minutes and hadn't accomplished a damn thing. She couldn't comprehend why, but *everybody* seemed to be for the idea of putting her and Jay together - except for the two of them. In a way, it was almost eerie. All of the people around them had seemingly transformed into robots of some sort, because there was no way they all would have gone for the proposed idea without flipping. Britney shook her head, getting the weirdest sensation that she was trapped in the twilight zone.

"You okay?" a voice called from behind, causing Britney to jump about a half of a mile. She turned and glanced over her shoulder, meeting the blue eyes of Chris Irvine.

"Yeah Chris, I'm fine," she replied absently, her tone doing anything but convincing him of that. She turned her back to him, taking only a step forward before Chris grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back to him.

"This storyline with Jay is really getting to you, isn't it?" he asked, eyeing her with great concern.

Britney arched her brow, puzzled by his question. Actually, it wasn't so much the question itsself that got her, but the fact that he knew about the angle. Chris had been given the night off in order to sell an injury, so he wouldn't have been handed a script.

"How do you know about that?" she questioned

Chris hesitated briefly before responding with, "Well... Adam told me."

"What?" Britney asked in disbelief. "He knows?"

Nodding, Chris took her by the arm, leading her away from Vince's door and to a secluded area of the hall.

"From what I understand, he not only knows about it, but he came up with it," he explained, his gaze traveling down the empty hall once before steadying on her. He watched her carefully, frowning as an expression of disappointment and hurt clouded her pretty face. "He requested the storyline, Britney."

"He told you this?" she asked, hoping that somehow, this was all a horrible misunderstanding.

"In his own words, and probably indirectly, but yes," Chris said, nodding. Britney shook her head, leaning up against the wall.

"Why didn't he at least talk to me about this before he went to Stephanie?" she asked to no one in particular. "Why did he have to go behind my back?"

"I don't know, Brit, but I may have something that'll make you feel a little better about things. What if we replaced Jay in that storyline with me? Maybe it'll ease the tension a little, and then you'll have a few more weeks to work things out with Adam while I'm recovering from my injury," he suggested. He jumped slightly as Britney gave him a short, loud laugh.

"Are you kidding? Chris, that would be even more awkward than me kissing Jay! You're my best friend... that'd be gross," she said, wrinkling her nose up and making a face. Chris took a step back, looking almost hurt for a second, before he too made a face.

"I guess you're right," he said, his expression going serious. Britney eyed him curiously.

"Aww, you're not offended, are you?" she asked, punching him playfully on the arm.

"No," Chris replied, suddenly turning away from her. "Not at all..."

He walked away, turning back to give her a reassuring wink, but Britney frowned. She didn't like what was going on at *all*. People left and right were going completely crazy on her. She shook her head as she turned in the opposite direction, not sure of where she was going to go, and worried over who she might bump into.

"What the hell is going on?"

Hope your still reading!! I have to say that, with the help of my dear friend Maj, I've come up with about a million ideas for this story, so I really hope you'll stick around to find out!