Dear Diary,
After dinner with Shane a couple of weeks ago I've kept my distance from Paul because if Shane is picking up on something between us then I was clearly not doing as good a job of hiding how I felt.
Spending a few weeks separately only interacting for what we needed to do for the shows gave me more time to plot my next move and my next move is tonight after the PPV, Paul won't know what hit him.
Steph xx
Smiling to herself Stephanie tucked her diary into her suitcase as she pulled out her outfit for the evening, "this is the last time I have to wear any of these ugly clothes."
The past few weeks that Stephanie had been keeping away from him were good for Paul, after talking to his Mom he realised how stupid he had been making a move on her like that and he needed the space to clear his head. The space had not cleared his feelings for her but it had allowed him to refocus his energies on his career and the storyline and not a woman.
Speaking of women, it had been a few weeks since Paul had spoken to Joanie as she had actually been leaving him alone which was a pleasant surprise as he had been expecting her to bombard him with texts, phone calls and visits. He had had a few comments from the other members of DX who she had clearly been speaking with but they understood he needed his space once he had explained it to them.
Looking at his watch Paul stood up, he had a meeting with Vince to discuss their match tonight at the pay per view.
Stephanie was sat in her Dad's office waiting for Paul to arrive, her Dad was actually really looking forward to the match which scared her a little as she knew he was going to get beaten up badly and she hated it as anything could go wrong and he could get badly hurt as he wasn't a trained wrestler.
Shaking her head to get rid of the bad thoughts as there was a knock on the door she looked up and smiled softly at Paul who entered and took a seat in the chair opposite her Dad who was sat at his desk as she sat on the couch.
After the plans had been set out for the match Vince got up and excused himself to go and sort out a few other details for the show leaving Paul and Stephanie alone.
Once Vince had left Paul turned to Stephanie, "we're okay right? For the past few weeks you've kind of been avoiding me and I just wanted to make sure we're okay and you're not regretting the storyline."
Violently she shook her head, "I'm not regretting it at all, I'm actually really excited for tonight for everything to kick off. We are okay though and I haven't really been avoiding you, I've just been steering clear so you can deal with the Joanie thing without my presence making things worse for you."
He laughed, "whatever way you put it you were avoiding me but it's okay, I understand your reasons for doing it. Me and Joanie are . . . well yeah we're over but we've not talked about it yet but I'm okay with that, I've been more interested in this storyline anyway."
"You can't bury yourself in the storyline you know, you need to have a life too."
"Do the words pot, kettle and black mean anything to you?"
Rolling her eyes playfully she pushed herself up from the couch, "oh you are asking for trouble today."
He looked around innocently, "who? Me? I'm a perfect little angel who does nothing wrong, I was just stating a fact."
"Yeah well here's another fact for you, I don't have time for a life."
"You do if you make time for it and as your husband I feel it is my duty to make sure you do just that."
Looking at him sceptically she wondered exactly where he was going with this, "what are you talking about?"
Standing up he smiled warmly, "you'll see."
Before she had chance to protest or ask any more questions he was out of the door leaving her highly frustrated.
Leaving her Dad's office and heading back to her locker room she bumped into her brother, "Shane I need a favour."
Shane shrugged, "what is it?"
"I need you to find out what Paul is planning. He says as my husband it is his duty to make sure I have a life and he won't tell me what he's planning and I don't like not knowing."
He looked at her oddly, "is this because it is him or because you don't like not being in control?"
She couldn't believe he had just said that, "oh forget it, you'd be useless anyway."
She then stalked off leaving him stood there baffled.
Shaking his head Shane walked off, if she was going to be such a bitch about it he would let Paul spring whatever it was he was planning on her and hope that it had nothing to do with asking her out on a date.
The show came and everything so far was going well and soon it was the time for the main event so Stephanie made her way out to the crowd to watch it.
Sat there watching her Dad getting beaten up was really hard so as it got the end she was so relieved to be able to jump in the ring and hold the sledgehammer up knowing it was about to all be over.
As Paul whacked her Dad with the sledgehammer and she watched as her Dad got pinned her stomach tied in knots knowing that coming up next was the kiss. When the bell rang she rushed to her Dad's side checking on him relieved when he let her know he was okay but soon she saw the sledgehammer shadow above her and slowly she stood up and turned around to face him before she ended up in his arms hugging him.
As they hugged he whispered in her ear, "you okay with this?"
Taking a deep breath to compose herself she replied, "sure."
With that she pulled back a little and they kissed. They hadn't properly kissed before in the lead up to this night apart from the private kiss they had shared in the production truck, surprisingly this kiss affected her as much as the one in the production truck had and at that point she knew her feelings for him just weren't going to go away so she was going to make sure he got hurt before he had chance to hurt her.
As they made their way backstage her stomach was churning and obviously he could sense her anxiety as his thumb was rubbing the back of her hand but it wasn't helping any.
When they got through the curtain he dropped her hand, "good job out there."
She nodded, "yeah you too. I'm going to check up on Shane a minute and then when my Dad gets back here I'll check on him, I'll see you after."
All Paul could do was nod as she ran off and he waited to congratulate Vince on the match.
As he was waiting for Vince to get backstage Shane came and stood next to Paul, "good match out there."
Lifting his head to look at the eldest McMahon child he nodded politely, "thanks."
Shane looked him over, "I have to ask you something because it has been eating away at me. Earlier Steph said you had something planned to make sure she had a life and as her brother I want to know what it is."
Paul frowned, "I was going to take her out for a celebratory dinner, she's clearly working too hard and not relaxing so I thought it would be a good excuse to make her relax."
"Oh, I see. Good luck getting her to agree to that, she's not keen on not being in control these days."
Looking at Shane oddly Paul wasn't sure what he was getting at, "what do you mean?"
Shane shrugged, "just what I said."
Paul didn't know what to say so they fell into an uncomfortable silence until Vince came through the curtain at which point Paul congratulated him on a good match before he made his way back to his locker room to shower.
Having spoken to Shane Stephanie had decided to just hide until Paul left the guerilla before she spoke to her Dad checking up on him and then making her way back to her locker room to change. As she pulled her halter top over her head there was a knock at the door so inviting them in she adjusted the top before reaching for her boots looking up when a pair of jeans came into view she sighed softly, "yes Paul."
Taking a moment to look her up and down Paul smiled at her, "I've come to make sure you have a life. You're coming out to dinner with me to celebrate."
Dropping her boots she put her hands on her hips and glared at him because she was not happy being told what to do, "like hell I am. You are not my keeper and you can't force me to do that."
Putting his hands up in defence he looked at her nervously, "please? I miss you as a friend and I just want to spend some time with you."
Sighing heavily she reached for her boots she silently sat down on the couch pulling them on and doing them up before she stood up and grabbed her jacket pulling that on, "okay fine but you're carrying my suitcase."
He laughed, "deal."
Grabbing her suitcase he led her out of the arena with every step being watched by Joanie.
