It was now the day of No Mercy and the previous ten days had gone past like a blur for Stephanie, if she hadn't have been training on her own then she was working hard, anything so she wasn't thinking about Hunter.

Stephanie had forgiven her Mom for everything with Hunter so they had arrived at the arena together, united to fight her Father. As she walked into the building everyone she met was wishing her luck which was something that she hadn't expected.

No Mercy had started and Linda had left Stephanie alone to change and gather her thoughts while she went to visit Vince and see if she could change his mind about the match, she couldn't but he did decide that Stephanie could pin him as well as make him submit but only if he could make the match no DQ, the match just got worse for Stephanie.

While Stephanie was changing she was visited by some of the guys including the Undertaker and Kurt. Stephanie was sat down talking to Kurt about his match and her match when her phone rang, it was Shane wishing her luck as he couldn't be there in person with her he was there in spirit and he'd be keeping an eye on the match

As Stephanie put the phone down from Shane it rang again so she answered it, "hello, Stephanie McMahon how can I help?"

"Stephanie it's me, please don't hang up."

She nearly dropped the phone in shock, "what do you want? I thought I told you to leave me alone."

"Stephanie listen to me, it's not what you think it is, you've got the wrong end of the stick."

"To be frank right now I don't care, you couldn't be honest with me and I don't want to listen to your lame ass excuses so if you'll excuse me I've got a match to prepare for, goodbye."

"Good luck tonight then, bye."

Stephanie hung up the phone and turned it off.

Once she had put her phone away Kurt said, "who was that?"

"No one."

"Yeah right, you brush no one off that rudely do you?"

She sighed, "fine, it was Hunter. He's been calling me on and off for the past ten days and I just want to be left alone; I need to deal with this in my own way."

"Steph, have you actually listened to what he has to say?"

She shook her head, "no, why should I? I know he's lied to me and kept things from me and that's no basis for a relationship so there is no relationship and it's not like I love him or anything, I don't want anything more to do with him."

"Right, that explains why you're so upset and have been since you threw him out that night. Stephanie I know you too well now and I know you are lying to me, hell I know for a fact that you love him and if you would listen to him you'd understand he had your best interests at heart and he really really loves you."

Stephanie shook her head, "no way, I'm not listening to him."

"Why? Because you think it would make you look weak for going back on what you said, because you're scared of giving in to your true feelings, you're scared of getting hurt again?"

"He has hurt me Kurt, he decided to lie to me and not tell me the whole truth about what he was doing which hurt me."

"Steph you'll get over that, it was a small lie to protect you. He knew you wouldn't want anyone watching you hence him secretly asking me and me asking Taker, it's not like I didn't offer to watch you anyway and it wasn't like Taker wasn't watching you without being asked so there wasn't really much he lied about. As for him wanting you out of the match it was only because he cares and didn't want you getting hurt."

She put her hand up to stop Kurt, "save it, I haven't got time right now I need to finish getting ready, good luck later."

Kurt shook his head and walked out of the room leaving Stephanie alone with her thoughts.

Time passed quickly and Stephanie was soon in the ring awaiting the arrival of her Father, soon the match got underway and things were going back and forth between the two until she got hold of the pipe that Vince brought in and was using it against him. The match was continuing until Vince started choking Stephanie with the pipe, she refused to give up but she was getting paler and paler and she was starting to pass out, Linda could see this and she threw the towel in signaling the end of the match.

As soon as the match was over Linda got in the ring to check on Stephanie, she was out, Vince had turned around and had seen Linda checking on Stephanie so he just grabbed her up and pie faced her back down again. Larry the trainer for Smackdown came down to check on Stephanie and a couple more referees came down so check on her, as Stephanie came to and sat up Linda and Larry were having to explain to her what happened and how she had lost the match and was now unemployed, Stephanie was heartbroken.

Once Stephanie was aware of her surroundings properly again and she was more with it she got out of the ring and was helped to the back by Larry and Linda, the crowd gave Stephanie a well deserved standing ovation as she walked up the ramp. Once she got to the top she turned around and saluted the fans, the reaction was too much for Stephanie and she had to try hard to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall, it was over, it was all over.

As soon as she was backstage she burst into tears, all the tears that had threatened to fall in the main part of the arena fell and there was nothing she could do to stop them.

Linda just sat there and held her daughter while she cried knowing there was nothing she could do to make her feel better.

Although Stephanie was grateful that Linda was there she wasn't who Stephanie truly wanted, Stephanie wanted Hunter but she knew he'd never come after how she had treated him.

Meanwhile in a hotel room somewhere in Baltimore Maryland Hunter was sat watching it all unfold before his eyes, knowing that as soon as she was behind the curtain she'd be crying and only wishing he could be there to hold her and be there to make it all right and tell her she was the winner in his eyes no matter what the outcome was but he knew he couldn't, he knew she wouldn't want him there after what he had done and that hurt him more than anything, it hurt that he couldn't be there to just tell her how much he loved her.