A/N: Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy! :)

"We can come for moral support."

"You don't have to."

"It really wouldn't even be that big a deal and Chris and I can whip up some armor out of tinfoil pie plates," Stephanie said as she grabbed a fry from the communal plate. "Chris could stand guard outside since I doubt Mom and Dad would even let him in the house at this point. They'll probably mistake him for the gardener since they never look at 'the help' in the eye and they'll go make Chris weed some plants."

"And I don't want dirt under these," Chris held up his hands. "They're too nice."

"They are nice," Stephanie said and laughed as Shane groaned, "Did I sufficiently scar you, Shane? That's what I was going for because as disgusted as you are right now, it'll be worse than anything Mom and Dad can throw at you guys."

"You two are too much," Emma said. "I'm sure that I'll be fine, I mean, I've already met Linda so I don't think I can make another bad impression, I mean, you're only allowed one impression so I probably already blew it."

"You have no idea what you're really getting yourself into," Chris told her. "I remember when Stephanie and I became friends, her parents almost had heart attacks, I think when they saw us together. I can only imagine the reaction when they found out that we were dating. I'm thinking it was somewhere along the lines of seeing the Hindenburg crash."

"Mixed in with the Titanic sinking," Stephanie added.

"Then what must have been their reaction when they found out you guys were engaged?" Emma asked. "I can't imagine they were thrilled with that."

"It's such a double-edged sword," Stephanie said, "because on the one hand, they've been trying to marry me off. I think they thought that if I married that I would suddenly become a model housewife, you know, polka-dot housedresses with pinned up hair and filmy aprons, just baking all the time and then when I wasn't doing that, being barefoot and pregnant-"

"I do plan to keep her barefoot and pregnant though," Chris nodded. "I want her popping out kids every other year, if she can do like 2 or 3 at a time, this is ideal. I'm looking to make my own hockey team. I think I'm going to call them Jericho's Jaguars because jaguars are really cool, but then, they aren't really winter-y, so maybe the Ice Jaguars, but then if they were made of ice, a puck might cause them to break apart."

"He thinks that I'm going to give him his own hockey team, but I'm really going to repopulate the WWE for future generations," Stephanie nodded, "either way, like I was saying, my parents have been trying to marry me off, but you better believe that it was with someone other than Chris."

"I've seen the guys they tried to set Stephanie up with, I'm surprised they didn't go running for the hills," Shane joked and Stephanie made a face at him.

"I'll have you know that most of them are enjoying some lovely stays in padded cells right now. I'm so hot that I drive men crazy."

"Is it the hotness or your own brand of crazy?" Shane countered.

"I am really regretting making you get a personality. I think I'm going to have to order a new emotion chip for you, get you a whole new personality," Stephanie told him.

"No, you can't do that," Emma linked her arm through Shane's, "because I like the personality he has now."

"Thank you," he leaned over and kissed her briefly.

"Mmm, yum, just what I love, fried pickle kisses," Emma licked her lips and Shane blushed, but she thought it was adorable and ran her hand down his face. "So really, what are my chances that they haven't already pre-judged me?"

"My parents pre-judge everyone," Stephanie said. "If they took more than two seconds to judge someone, they would be totally different people. Look at the way they treat Chris. I mean, Chris is amazing, sweet, kind, funny-"

"Stephers, the ego, keep fanning it and feed me some French fries while you're at it," Chris pretending to lean back in his chair and act hedonistic as Stephanie took a fry, dipped it in some ketchup and then proceeded to paint his face with said ketchup. He growled and frowned, picking up his napkin and wiping his face before grabbing the fry out of Stephanie's fingers and then kissing her. "Not what I meant."

"I don't take well to direction," Stephanie shrugged. "I'm sure that things will be…interesting, Ems, but be prepared for the onslaught."

Emma didn't know what the onslaught would be, but a couple days later, when she was standing outside of Vince and Linda's house, she was trying not to be afraid of whatever it was. She didn't want to cause trouble for Shane; she'd never want to do that. All she wanted was for his parents to realize that she had a presence in their son's life. She could care less what they actually thought of her, but she anted to be acknowledged. Even though they hated Chris, they at least knew of his existence.

"We can turn around," Shane told her, kissing her temple as she smoothed out her skirt. She'd chosen a rather modest black dress, a scoop neck and mid-thigh with some minimal jewelry and her blonde hair falling loosely over her shoulders.

"So they can get on your ass even more, I don't think so," Emma said. "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country!"

Shane laughed at her and pulled her closer, "Stop making me laugh, okay, this is a very serious thing we're doing here."

"No, it's not, it's just your parents. Who cares, Shane, really, who cares what they think? Your life is not their lives, okay? I want you to know that. They do not play a role in your choices. They may be considerations, I consider my parents sometimes, but ultimately, this is about me and it's about you."

"You're so wise."

"I took a course, had to climb a very big mountain, there was a hermit at the top, I stayed there for a couple weeks, learned to grab a fly out of someone's hand, it was all very relaxing," she said, "come on, let's get this over with."

Shane sighed and walked with her to the front door, reaching out to ring the doorbell. The maid answered the door and ushered them in. Emma put on her best smile and thanked her as she was led into the living room where Linda and Vince were sitting. Vince stood up as Emma entered and she took him in and took in the entire house and wondered how in the hell Stephanie had survived in a place like this. Everything was so…perfect and stuffy…perfectly stuffy.

"Mom, Dad, you both look well," Shane said in a voice that Emma had never heard him use before.

"Mr. and Mrs. McMahon, it is so nice to finally meet you," Emma said, extending her hand and hoping she wouldn't get the same icy reception from Linda she did when they met before. Vince reached out to shake her hand and it didn't go unnoticed that he was checking her out too. And it wasn't in the way that a father checks out his daughter's girlfriend to make sure she's not some floozy, but checking out in the way that made her not want to go to the bathroom alone lest he follow her.

"Nice to meet you," Vince grinned and it was creepy. No wonder he didn't like Chris, Chris didn't have a set of breasts.

"Nice to see you again," Linda said politely, but icily. She probably had that tone down pat.

"And you," Emma said, "I'm afraid I didn't make the best impression the first time we met, but I hope to correct that this evening."

"Yes, well, we'll see," Linda said. Emma kept on the smile as Shane gestured for her to sit down.

"Do you want anything to drink, Em?" Shane asked her.

"Club soda with a twist," Emma smiled as Shane went over to the small bar in the corner.

"So Emma, what do you do?" Vince asked.

"I'm a sports agent. I specialize in baseball players and I work with a group based in New York, which is where I live. I have several high-profile clients so I like to think that I'm pretty good at what I do."

"A woman sports agent, do you think you know the game well enough to judge that kind of thing?" Vince asked.

"I'm more than capable of it, thank you, my clients have never once complained about me and I figure if they retain my services for the duration of their tenure than it's a job well done," Emma said. "I'd liken myself to Stephanie. She's good at what she does, isn't she?"

Emma smirked as Shane handed her, her drink. He gave her a pointed look, but she ignored it. "So you know Stephanie?" Linda asked. "I wasn't aware that the two of you knew each other or were friends."

"Stephanie has a lot of friends," Emma responded. "I think she has one of those personalities where you can't help but like her. Everyone I've ever seen her with has liked her, she's almost infectious that way. She's so warm and likeable and she always tries to make you feel included."

Emma was not a wilting violet. She wasn't going to back down from these people, if anything, she was going to stand up for them, not just for Shane and herself, but for Chris and Stephanie. These were the two people who were refusing to go to their daughter's wedding. How could she suck up to them knowing that they didn't love their daughter enough to share in her joy? She couldn't and she wouldn't. She was not the type of person who did that.

"Well, our daughter and I don't see eye to eye," Vince tried to be diplomatic about it.

Emma took a sip of her drink and then held it in her hands. "Yes, so I've heard, but then, I guess when you're as wonderful a person as Stephanie, it's hard to meet up to her standards."

"Emma, you should tell my dad about the Yankees that you represent. He's always been more of a Yankees fan than a Red Sox fan. I think my dad likes to get behind winners."

"Yes, I do represent some of the Yankees," she nodded.

"Do you always plan to do this? What if you were to get married, would you continue to work?" Linda asked. "I mean, of course, I work so it's not a bad thing."

"I do plan to," Emma said, "like you've proven, it's easy enough to do both. But I'm not engaged to your son right now, though, if we ever do become engaged, I would hope that you would show up at the wedding, I've heard that's not your MO."

"Emma," Shane whispered to her.

"What we choose to do is hardly any of your business," Linda said, sitting up straighter.

"Actually, it is," Emma said. "It is because Stephanie is one of my very good friends and because Chris is my cousin. Yes, you heard that correctly, I'm related to the man who is so wrong for your daughter. And I just wanted to tell you both what horrible, disgusting excuses for human beings the two of you are. Instead of putting aside whatever feelings you have for my cousin and your daughter, which are so unfounded and misguided, and being there to congratulate your daughter on being happy, you have set out to make people nothing but miserable. First, you don't accept that your daughter is amazing, then you don't accept that her fiancé is equally as amazing. Then, when your son is actually happy, you insist on tearing him apart. Do you get off on it? Huh? Do the both of you get off on making everyone miserable? And I know your intent here tonight was to make me look like some silly country bumpkin so that your son would see the light and marry one of the Connecticut upper-crust that he was destined to be with. Well, sorry, folks, he got me and you're going to have to deal with it."

"Well, young lady, I can certainly see the relation between you and Chris."

"Oh really, because I thought the blonde hair really gave it away," Emma said. "You're threatened by your children's happiness. You want them under your thumb because both of you are control freaks. You can take your dinner and you can shove it up your asses like you shoved that wedding invitation in Stephanie's face. Shane, I'm sorry, but it had to be said, if you want to follow me, you can, if you don't, I can call Chris. Thanks for the drink…"

Emma stormed out of there, taking a deep breath. She took a step outside and waited, not knowing what would happen. She sat on the steps and just looked out into the garden in front of the massive house. Her leg jiggled a little bit as she waited and waited for what was starting to feel like hours. Logically, she knew it was only a few minutes, if that, but they were stretching far beyond anything that was comforting.

"You planned this, didn't you?"

Emma bit her lip and looked up at Shane, who was closing the door behind him. He sat down next to her and she shrugged. "I might have been."

"So you acted like you wanted to go to dinner at my parent's house so you could yell at them for what they did to my sister and Chris?"

"I know, it's pretty stupid, right, but I couldn't help it, I was hoping I could be subtle about it, you know, wear them down over the night, but then with the way your mom was looking at me and the way your dad was leering at me, I was like, why am I even attempting to look like I'm trying to impress these people. They are not coming to their daughter's wedding. I'm so angry over it, Shane. I know that Chris and Stephanie are making the best out of it, but I can't help it. Chris was my hero growing up, my absolute hero. I wanted to be just like him and it makes me angry that someone could hate him because of that and then with Stephanie."

"I get it, I do," he said, grabbing her hands. "I get why you did it."

"I know they hate me, they did before I even entered their home, but I'm sorry, I hope I didn't ruin everything for you."

"You didn't," he kissed her cheek. "Stephanie and Chris have opened my eyes to a lot of things, especially the way my parents treat others. If you think I didn't notice my dad was mentally undressing you with his eyes, you're crazy, I did notice. I can't hate you because you defend the people you love. I…I love you, Emma and I love what you did in there."

"You do? I mean, you love and you loved what I did?" she clarified.

"Yeah, I loved it all. It's time for me to stop looking for their approval because it doesn't make me happy, you make me happy," he said. "Come on, I'm Shane McMahon, I can get us somewhere fancy because I would hate to waste an evening when you look at beautiful as you do."

"Where did you learn this stuff?" she giggled.

"Natural talent," he helped her up and over to the car, but she stopped him, kissing him hard and hungrily.

"I love you too, Shane."