A/N: Ok, so who else was totally excited to see Stephanie tonight, even for just several minutes? I know I was! I was jumping up and down in happiness because of the awesomeness that was Stephanie. How is it that in like six minutes Stephanie managed to be so much cooler and confident and intimidating than any of the other divas have in like the past year? I wish she would just come back already, we need her.

And finally some good stuff for my story! Yay! Enjoy!

"Big show tonight, big, big show tonight."

Stephanie was busying herself going over the matches and segments that they had planned for that evening. Her entire family was here, so there was definitely less strain on her, but she wanted to make sure that everything went perfectly tonight. It was a big show for Raw, a big, huge show that was a homecoming and a big change, and she just hoped the fans enjoyed it. She had been in collaboration with her father and Bischoff for the past week, working day in and day out. Chris had been in Australia doing some shows and she had been in Connecticut in meetings all week long.

Chris was expected to be here soon, but she didn't think she'd even have time to see him if he did get here. She was going to be so busy tonight that she couldn't even think of where to start. She knew that she had help, but Stephanie was never really sure if the job was being done correctly. The only way that she could really be sure that anything was done the way it was supposed to was to do it herself.

"Hey baby girl."

Stephanie looked up and smiled briefly before putting her head back down. "Hey Shane, what's up?"

"Just watching you work," he said, coming over to sit down. "You know if you want my help I'm here tonight."

"I know, I can see you sitting there plain as day," Stephanie said, writing something down that she wanted to ask Bischoff about. "But I don't need your help."

"Well, it's out there, if you want it. So, I haven't really gotten to speak with you in a while," Shane said, leaning back in the chair, folding his arms behind his head. "I mean, we were both working in Titan this week and we saw nothing of each other, how did that happen?"

"We work in different parts of the building," she said. "And it's a pretty big building. Besides, we have two very different jobs that don't really let us interact with each other."

"Yeah, but how could you not tell me about you leaving, I had to hear about it from Dad, and you know that's never good…when Dad has the one up on me in the information department."

"Yeah, but it lasted two weeks, I was gone for two weeks, whoop-dee-do," Stephanie deadpanned. "I couldn't keep my promise."

"Why'd you want to leave in the first place?" Shane questioned.

Stephanie didn't answer for a moment, so engrossed was she in her work, or at least, that's what she wanted to project. She couldn't tell her brother right now her original reasons for wanting time off. It was a moot point anyways; she hadn't taken as much time off as she had planned, at least not yet. She looked down at her stomach briefly, where her pants had gotten a little tighter over the past couple of weeks. Luckily she had some bigger sized clothes around that she could put on. She wasn't really showing yet, but her stomach was getting a little bit rounder, and if she was wearing tighter clothing, you'd be able to tell she was getting a little pudgy around the middle. But her slightly too big for her jacket covered all that up quite effectively.

"I just needed a break, or so I thought," Stephanie said, looking her brother dead in the eye. You weren't a McMahon if you couldn't lie your way out of any situation.

"But you came back?"

"I came back," Stephanie shrugged. "Nothing more to it than that. I thought that I wanted to try to be a normal person, with a normal job and a normal home life, and a normal husband, but that's not going to happen, it might never happen. Or if it does happen, Chris and I are going to be old."

"How old?"

"Very old," she laughed. "Either way, I just couldn't stay away from work."

"Yeah, I know what you mean, Mom and Dad really screwed us didn't they? They made us the way that we are."

"Like you don't love what you do."

"I do, I'm just saying, what if we had both been born to different families?"

"I don't know," Stephanie said. "I guess it would just be different. We'd be different. I might be completely the opposite of the way I am now, I might be a loafer or a slacker. I might be barefoot and pregnant with three kids and a husband who cares nothing for me."

"Well, you've already done the husband who cares nothing for you, so you can check that off your list, now the loafer thing will never happen, and I can't imagine you barefoot and pregnant, pregnant sure, but barefoot, no way."

"Get out of my office Shane, there's got to be somewhere else that you can go to bug people, and leave me to my work."

"Excuse me Stephanie, I am part owner of this company, so if I want to do something, I can do it at my leisure. Are you sure you don't need any help? You work too much, we all know that you work too much."

"I know that I work too much, but that doesn't change anything." She also wanted to get in as much work as possible before she had to go on maternity leave. Granted, that wasn't going to be for another five or so months, but Stephanie did love to be on top of things.

"Ok, ok, I'll go find something else to do, since you're so insistent upon getting me out of here, but mark my words, I'll be back. Oh, which brings me to the thing I came to tell you in the first place."

"You mean you actually had a reason for coming here and you make me sit here and listen to you talk and talk and talk."

"Yes, because you're my little sister and I love to torture you."

"What is it?"

"Mom and Dad wanted to invite you and Chris for a late dinner tonight at their suite at the hotel, kind of like a job well done type of thing. They ordered it special from some restaurant and Mom wanted me to come tell you that you should come."

"Yeah, I don't see why we couldn't. Chris isn't here yet, but what is he going to have to do after the show, spend time with me is about it so I think we can swing having dinner with you guys."

"Good, see you later baby girl," Shane said, getting up and circumventing her desk to kiss her cheek. "Don't work yourself into the ground now."

"I won't."

Shane walked out of the room and down the hallway. He turned a corner and saw Kurt speaking with a blonde girl. His interest piqued, he walked over and saw that the blonde was the new diva, Ashley. His interest even more piqued, he wondered internally why Kurt was talking to her as he had not seen much interaction, actually no interaction between the two of them.

"Kurt, you do know you have a match in about thirty minutes," Shane said, walking up with a pat to Kurt's shoulder.

"Hey Shane, my man, I do know I have a match, which I will win and kick HBK's ass in the process."

"As long as you put on a show for us, we don't care what you do," Shane said, turning to Ashley. "I don't believe we've met, I'm Shane McMahon."

"You really don't need to introduce yourself," Ashley said, shaking Shane's extended hand. "You'd have to be stupid not to know who you are."

"Well you've proven yourself not stupid," Shane said, still shaking her hand. "I think the people made a great choice."

Kurt stood there, his mouth gaping a little bit. Was Shane trying to put the moves on Ashley? No, that couldn't be, surely the gossip had to have gotten to Shane. Not that there was a lot of gossip to be said, but…well, Trish and Stephanie were spreading lies that he had a crush on Ashley. That wasn't true, but he figured Shane would've heard about it. Not that he hated Ashley, but he wasn't liking her like THAT. Shane could go after whoever he wanted.

"Thank you," Ashley answered. "It's always nice to be wanted."

"You are most wanted," Shane said. "You have a match later tonight right?"

"Yeah, bra and panties," Ashley said, with a smirk and a little eyebrow raise.

"Would you allow me to escort you to your dressing room, you wouldn't want to mix and match any bras or panties out there," Shane said, and it wasn't smooth, but Ashley still giggled.

"Sure, I'd allow you to escort me," she told him. "Kurt, I'll talk to you later?"

"Um…yeah," Kurt said, waving his arms forward as if to usher them away. "We'll definitely talk later."

"Bye Kurt," Shane said.

"Bye."

Shane offered his arm to Ashley and she took it graciously. Kurt watched them walk away, but they were soon engulfed in the crowds of people walking up and down the hallway. He couldn't understand what happened just now, but it didn't feel so good. It wasn't that Ashley was his girlfriend, hell, she was hardly his friend, but still, that had to be kind of rude right? He needed to talk to someone impartial, which excluded both Trish and Stephanie, and Christian was a blabbermouth so he would tell Trish in about three seconds, where was Chris? He decided to go look for him.

Trish opened up her robe to model another bra and panty set for Christian. He looked appreciatively at the outfit, or lack thereof and beckoned her over to him. She slipped off her robe and walked slowly to Christian, straddling his lap, her breasts eye level. He stared at them for a long moment before Trish tipped his chin up and gave him a long, languid kiss.

"So once again we're on the same show," she whispered.

"You're actually thinking about the show," Christian said, looking down again.

"You're not?" Trish joked. "Chrissy, do you think that this is the right outfit for me to go out in?"

"I think you look hot."

"But you've said that about every single outfit that I've chosen, you're no help Chrissy. No help at all."

"How can I be of any help when you look like that?" Christian asked, being sensible about it. Trish didn't really see the big deal, but Christian obviously did. He leaned up to kiss her some more, rubbing his hand up and down her back rhythmically, letting it come to rest on top of her bra.

"Not right now," Trish murmured. "Maybe later."

Suddenly the door was shoved open and Trish squealed as Randy walked into the room, arms outstretched. "Randy Orton has arrived."

"Randy!" Trish yelled, pushing Christian to a standing position and ducking behind him. "What are you doing!"

"I just wanted to come say hi, obviously I was interrupting something."

"No, she was just showing me what she was wearing underneath her clothes for her bra and panties match, I don't know why she's being so modest, she could be stripped down later for all the world to see."

"But it's different now," Trish said, catching on to the tone of Christian's voice. "And like I'm not going to win anyways, those chicks have nothing on me."

"True, true," Randy said, grabbing Trish's robe off the ground and handing it to her. "Here you go, I wouldn't want you to lose your modesty."

"Thank you." Trish slipped the robe on and tied it tightly before emerging from behind her boyfriend. She went over to Randy and gave him a big hug, hanging onto his neck for a moment. "It's good to see you Randy."

"You saw me last week when you came with Christian to SmackDown."

"I know, but it's something that polite people say."

"Thanks for the heads up. I was going to go see Stephanie and Chris, but I heard that she is swamped with work and I don't want to disturb her, so I thought I'd see what you guys were up to."

"Not much," Trish said. "We've both got matches tonight incidentally. Chrissy here is going to kick ass too, and we're both going home tonight winners."

"Fun, do you know where Kurt is by any chance?"

"Nope, haven't seen him," Trish told him. "But I wouldn't be surprised if he was with Ashley."

"The new girl?"

"Yeah, you should go find him and tease him about it, he'll hate me even more than he does right now."

"And who would hate you?" Randy asked, gesturing towards her body. "Nobody can resist that."

"I know, but just do it, it'll make him so mad. He hates to admit it, but he has the hugest crush on her, but he doesn't want to get it together and ask her out because he thinks he's too old for her."

"How old is Kurt?"

"Thirty-six, but seriously, age is only how you feel, and if you feel younger, then you look younger, and he's just being a big baby about it, right Chrissy?"

"Right."

"How much does she have to pay you to agree with her?" Randy asked.

"She's my girl, I kind of have to."

"Oh, to be in love," Randy responded drolly. "It can be such a bitch."

Speaking of bitches, Candice had been summoned to Hunter's dressing room. She thought about going in just her bra and panties, but that would be coming on too strong, so she had actually gotten dressed. She checked herself in a lonely mirror hanging on the wall and walked brightly to Hunter's dressing room, knocking softly on it. Hunter showed up a moment later, grunted and left the door open before walking inside. Candice walked in after him and closed the door.

"You wanted to see me?"

"Yeah, because I am asking you to do a job and it seems that you're so incompetent you couldn't do it!" Hunter said angrily.

"I'm trying, I'm going to try to tonight, but Chris isn't here yet, I heard that he had been away and wasn't coming until later. But I'll definitely try when he gets here."

"Good, because I want him out of the picture. That ass has been getting everything that I'M entitled to and I'm sick of it, I'm sick of him, and everything he stands for and I want my damn wife back."

"Ok, shh, it'll be ok," Candice told him, coming up behind him and running her hands over his broad shoulders. "I'll make sure that they're broken up, but if I can ask, why is it SO important to you, you seem to be doing ok without her."

"You don't get it, Stephanie is mine, I wanted her and took her once, I can do it again. Once she sees what a cheating jackass she married, there's no way that she won't come running back into my arms. I'll be there to pick up the pieces and be the man that she wanted me to be all along, and everything will be perfect."

"Ok, but what do I get," Candice said, running her hands down his chest, pulling on his lapels a little bit. "Because I should be getting whatever I want out of this deal."

"You'll get everything you want, what Stephanie doesn't know won't hurt her, besides, she'll be too beside herself over her next failed marriage she wouldn't even notice anything was…out of the ordinary," he said gruffly as he pulled on her arm and spread little kisses along her forearm to her elbow.

"You have such a nice mouth," Candice whispered huskily. "Can't I just get one little kiss?"

Hunter turned in his chair and brought Candice down a little bit. She smiled lasciviously, licking her lips a little, wetting them in anticipation of his lips on hers. He smirked, knowing that she wanted everything about him. What an ego boost that was (like HHH needs an ego-boost). Just as their lips were about to meet, Hunter pulled his head back, leaving Candice hanging.

"Get me what I want, and you'll get what you want."

Candice looked injured by his rejection, but tried to hide it. She nodded silently as he turned back to what he was doing. He took no more notice of her and she figured that was his way of dismissing her. She backed out of the room slowly, feeling her heart pounding in her chest. She couldn't believe the feelings that man was able to elicit from her. She HAD to have him, and she was going to get Chris Jericho no matter what, just so she could really feel his lips on hers.

Chris Jericho's wife was sitting down, watching the show. It had started about twenty minutes ago, and the Ironman match was just starting between Kurt and Shawn. She had noticed that Kurt was really quiet and had only nodded his head in her direction. He must've been pretty focused on his match. Usually he would at least say hello, but she wasn't going to decipher his hellos. She was still waiting on Chris, and she glanced at her watch. Her cell phone rang just then and she picked it up, seeing it was Chris she answered it eagerly.

"Sweetie, where are you?"

"I'm on my way baby, but I got kind of delayed at the airport, they lost part of my luggage and we're trying to locate it, they think that it just got mixed up with another flight's luggage, so I'm going to be there in a little while."

"Ok, I just missed you and couldn't wait to see you and wanted you here for the big night, to watch with me."

"I'll be there, I promise."

"Ok, I'll see you then."

"Yeah, I love you."

"Love you too."

She hung up the phone and was about to watch Kurt when she saw her father out of the corner of her eye, and her mother as well. She stood up and walked over to them, hugging her father and then her mother, giving them warm smiles.

"Stephanie, I just wanted to tell you something pertaining to the show," Vince said.

"What's that Dad?"

"Well, for one, I'll be taking over and helping you."

"Ok, I understand," she said, figuring this would happen so she had had an extra set of headphones set up at her station. "There's more I assume."

"Since it's a special night, and since we're back on the USA network, tonight, you can be seen on television."

Stephanie laughed. "Thanks Dad, but I don't think I'd fit in anywhere."

"Well that may be, but the offer is on the table."

"Maybe if Chris were on the show, I'd go on and insult him or something, but I don't think I fit in out there anymore, as sad as that is to say."

"You're a McMahon, you'd always fit in," Linda told her. "Because before you were a Jericho, you were a McMahon and don't you forget that."

"I wouldn't Mom, Chris doesn't even let me forget it. He reminds me of it everyday in fact."

Stephanie turned and saw Shane hanging around Ashley, looking quite cozy and she gasped. She turned to her mother and father and excused herself as Vince escorted Linda over to Stephanie's station where she took care of the show. She stomped over to Shane and pulled him, rather rudely, by the arm a few feet away from where Ashley was.

"Are you hitting on her?"

"Well I was trying before my little sister came up and pulled me away like a crazed animal," Shane said sarcastically.

"You can't do that!" Stephanie said emphatically.

"Stephanie, you're my sister, I love you, but I'm not taking love advice from you. You haven't had the best love record."

"Shane, I'm married, I have a husband, we've been married for almost nine months, we've been together for over three years, I THINK that I'm doing a little better in the love department than you."

"I concede victory then," he said, raising his arms in defeat.

"That's Kurt's girl," Stephanie hissed into Shane's ear.

"What?"

"Kurt has a crush on her!" Stephanie said, trying not to be loud, but Stephanie was kind of naturally loud, but luckily for her, Ashley couldn't hear them over the roar of the crowd in the arena and the hustle and bustle going on backstage.

"He what?"

"Shane, do I have to spell it out for you?" Stephanie impatiently told him.

"Well, she seemed to like me, so I don't know what to do."

"Oh," Stephanie said. "Well…I just wanted to tell you, he does, he'll say he doesn't, but he does, so…I don't know."

"Look, I'm sorry, but I like her."

"But you're never around anyways."

"That doesn't mean I can't start coming around."

"Fine, I concede victory," she said, mocking him by copying his earlier statement. "Do what you want."

"Thank you, where's your husband anyways, he usually keeps you from spouting off your mouth at every little thing."

"Oh shove it," Stephanie rolled her eyes. "He's running late, but he'll be here."

"If you say so, now if you'll excuse me, I was speaking to someone."

"Fine, fine," Stephanie said, walking back over to her parents and sitting down next to them. She leaned her chin in her hand and watched the Ironman match. There wasn't much to do during one of these things, except tell them to cut to commercial every now and then. The match would last the allotted time and no longer, and that was easy to schedule. She missed Chris a lot, more than she thought she would.

"How are you sweetie?" she heard her mother ask.

"I'm fine Mom, why do you ask?"

"Well, with you wanting to leave, it worried me a little. Things are going ok with you and Chris right? He didn't stay with you at all this week, I noticed," she said gently.

"Everything is fine with me and Chris Mom, I promise. I'm not going to screw up this relationship Mom." Stephanie couldn't screw it up with Chris, they had a baby on the way. Even if they didn't last, they were going to have a baby to tie them together for the rest of their lives and that was the most important thing.

"You promise? Because sweetie, if things aren't right with you two, I don't want you to hold that inside like you did with Hunter. I truly believe that if you had just discussed your problems with Hunter and addressed them, you would've been better off."

"Mom, I promise you that Chris and I are just as good as ever. The reason that he went away this weekend and I stayed was because of this show. I didn't go because I had to think about this show, and that had to take precedent over his stuff. I love Chris very much, and nothing is going to change that. He's it for me, he's the only one that I want for the rest of my life. I know that."

"Ok, I just wanted to make sure. I don't want you to have to go through another messy divorce, but I know that you love Chris."

Stephanie watched her mother go back to watching the show and she started watching as well, as the time wound down on the match between the two of them. But that wasn't on her mind at the moment. She wondered what her mother would say if she just came out and told her that she was pregnant. She was going to have the heir to the McMahon throne in about seven months. She wanted to just lean her head on her mom's shoulders and tell her that she was going to have a baby and she was little bit scared.

She did lean her head on Linda's shoulder. "Mommy?"

"What is it sweetie?"

"What do you see in my future?"

Linda patted her daughter's head. "I don't know sweetie, what do you see in your future?"

"I'm not sure either," she laughed. "I thought you might know since you're the mom. Aren't moms supposed to know everything?"

"That's a common misconception, but you'll find out the tricks of the trade if you ever become a mother."

Stephanie smiled a tiny smile. "Do you think I'd make a good mom?"

"I think you would make a wonderful mother sweetie. You have a goodness inside of you. You don't let it show too much, but it's there and I think having a baby would only amplify that. I'm sure if we asked Chris, he would know the goodness I'm talking about."

"Thank you Mom," Stephanie said, her voice so innocent at the moment. She needed her mother's reassurance on this. It was starting to feel more real, more like a pregnancy. Sure, she had had the morning sickness, she had the ultrasound picture tucked away in her day-planner, but it wasn't until she noticed her stomach getting rounder that it felt really real.

She saw her father get up to go God knows where, but she stayed with her mother. She didn't feel like going anywhere at the moment. She just wanted to sit there and mull a little bit longer. She was so zoned out she didn't notice her father going out there to address the crowd until he was talking. She paid a little more attention to that. Then Austin went out there and she knew this wasn't going to end well. She saw Shane wander over to watch with her and her mother. Mostly they were just watching their father look like a fool, but that was nothing new.

And it was nothing new that Vince got a stunner. Stephanie couldn't believe that he would try that on this night. Her father was going to be so pissed. Shane was actually a little pissed as she saw him go out there to confront Austin. He didn't get far as he was stunnered as soon as he hit the ring. Stephanie, without thinking, got up and went out there. It was one thing to give a stunner to her father, but to her brother? That just wasn't right and she was rightly pissed off. This was her family after all.

She walked down purposefully to that ring, to the cheers of the people. As she climbed into the ring, she closed her eyes briefly, just for a second to take it all in. It was a feeling she had missed. She never really admitted it, or thought about it because it was painful sometimes, but she missed this more than she ever wanted to admit. The cheers, the boos, the reaction from the crowd, all of it was just so missed.

She let herself feel it, she let the sound roll over her for that one moment, for that second, she just let it surround her. She stepped into that ring, but this time it was different. Not in the sense that her father and brother were on the mat and she was standing across from Austin. She could've been standing across from someone as familiar as Chris and still felt different. She had stepped in the ring a thousand times, but this was special, she felt like it was new, like it was the first time.

She was rudely taken back to the present as she yelled at Austin for his actions. She predicted he wouldn't care and he didn't care. She grabbed his arm and told him who she was, minus her added last name, but she never said that name in these kind of situations anyways. But she was dominant again, she was the dominant female, not any other women on the show. And she really was. Stephanie could put more intimidation and more fear into everyone in those few mere moments than any diva could in a year…but that's why she was Stephanie McMahon and nobody else was.

She garnered that attention, and she didn't even know how much. Christian and Trish had been walking to catering when they heard the distinctive tone of Stephanie's voice. There was no way that you could mistake Stephanie's voice for anyone else's. They walked over to a monitor and saw her standing there, in the ring, and they were shocked. Trish gave a little cough and looked at Christian. They were soon joined by Kurt, who happened upon the two of them, staring, open-mouthed in wonder. He saw Stephanie and his eyes widened.

Chris had just arrived and walked over, thinking that Stephanie would be sitting at her station, watching and looking over tonight's huge show that she had worked so hard for. He saw his three friends standing around, looking shocked and he turned to look why and his stomach dropped about two stories. Stephanie was in the ring, Stephanie was in the ring with Austin and he had no idea why. All he knew was that Stephanie was in the ring with Stone Cold Steve Austin.

"What is she doing out there?" he breathed.

Kurt heard him though, and answered succinctly. "Shane and Vince got Stunnered and Stephanie went out there to confront Austin."

Now Chris felt his stomach drop about two stories more. He stood there, unable to move as he watched his wife, the love of his life, stand up to Austin. She slapped him, and he remembered how he had said, to a camera, that she had slapped him harder than anyone had slapped him ever. But Austin didn't like to be slapped, and Chris felt his heart drop to somewhere in the vicinity of the core of the Earth when Austin kicked his wife's stomach.

Stephanie had looked at Austin, and she should've known, but she didn't. She didn't realize it until Austin had kneed her in the stomach and for a second, her eyes widened and she tried to pull away, but it was too late, much too late. She got stunned and but good, falling to the mat helplessly in a heap of perfume and business suit.

Chris felt his legs give way underneath him, and he nearly collapsed to the floor. If Kurt had not been next to him, Chris would have fallen to the ground, in as much a heap as his wife was at the moment. Christian and Trish glanced over and saw Chris white as a sheet and Kurt holding him up by the arm. They figured that he was concerned about Stephanie's well-being.

Kurt led Chris over slowly to Stephanie's station, sitting him down in one of the chair. Chris was trembling so badly that Kurt could see it with his naked eye. Kurt put his arm around Chris's hunched over form, knowing just why Chris was so worried. Kurt couldn't think of anything to say, nothing seemed adequate in this situation. He was sure that Stephanie was fine, at least he hoped she was fine…and the baby…he prayed to whatever higher being there was that Stephanie and Chris's baby was fine.

Chris couldn't even feel anything, he was so numb that feeling anything was out of the question. He couldn't feel the trembling that he was doing, he couldn't feel the shaking, there was just an endless pit of nothing welling up inside of his stomach. He couldn't feel Kurt's presence as he watched that scene over and over again in his mind. He saw that kick in the stomach as if it was in slow motion, over and over again, and because of that, he couldn't stop this incessant shaking.

It did stop though, when he saw Austin walking backstage, self-satisfied with what he had done to the McMahon family. When Chris saw him, all he saw was red. It went beyond hatred, it went to a deep, dark, scary place inside of Chris's soul. Once upon a time, people had thought he was somewhat psychotic, holding Chyna captive and threatening to hurt her. That was nothing compared to the rage.

Before Kurt could stop him, Chris was charging at Austin like a bull charging at a red flag. There was such an unbridled hatred in Chris at the moment that even if Kurt could've caught him, there was no way he would've been able to contain him. Chris speared Austin to the ground and started to pummel him harder than he had ever hit anyone before. Chris had been in fights in his day, but never like this, never had he wanted to kill someone so much with his bare hands.

Kurt, Christian, and Trish stood shocked for a moment before Kurt and Christian came to their senses and went after Chris. Chris was punching the defenseless Austin, who had been too stunned by the attack to fight back against his attacker. Christian and Kurt grabbed a hold of Chris's arms and pulled him away, having to use all of their brute strength. Chris was panting he was so angry.

"You stay the hell away from wife you son of a bitch!" Chris yelled. "Don't you ever touch her again or I will kill you!"

"Your wife is a piece of trash you sumbitch, she got what she deserved."

Chris roared, and you could easily see where he got the name Lionheart as he tried to break free from Christian and Kurt. They had to brace themselves because Chris very nearly got away from them to attack Austin once again. Chris spit in Austin's face, not caring the consequences. This man could've hurt his child and Chris felt for the first time what it was like to be a parent, to care for someone more than you cared for yourself, to give up your life for someone. Chris felt the fight drain out of him as Stephanie was escorted backstage by a couple of trainers. Chris rushed over to her, forgetting about Austin or anyone else other than Stephanie.

He pushed the trainers out of the way before wrapping his arms around his wife, as if trying to feel that she was alright. He took her over and sat her down in a folding chair, crouching down in front of her, looking at her, studying her, as if he could tell something was wrong just by looking at her.

"Steph, baby, are you ok?" Chris asked frantically.

"I think so, yeah," Stephanie said softly.

"Are you sure that everything is ok?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure."

"What the hell were you thinking Stephanie!" Chris said loudly.

Stephanie looked down. "Chris, please, can we not talk about this here."

"Then where Stephanie? Huh, where!"

Stephanie shook her head, "My office, let's go."

Chris had to help her make her way slowly to her office. She let him help her inside and sit down on the couch. He studied her again, her face, everything about her. He helped her take her jacket off and he looked at her stomach, like it was see-thru and he could see what was going on with his child in there.

"Stephanie, I can't believe you did that, why would you do that!"

"I'm sorry Chris, I didn't think it would come to that."

"You didn't think he would give you a stunner?" he asked.

"No."

"How could you be so naïve? Stephanie, how could you be so stupid as to believe that he wouldn't do that to you! He would do that to his own mother if it suited his fancy. Stephanie, you went out there, knowing that he could do something."

"I wasn't thinking, I'm sorry Chris," Stephanie pleaded. "I truly am."

"Stephanie, this goes beyond being sorry, do you know what you risked by going out there!"

"Chris, please don't yell at me," Stephanie told him.

Chris got up and started pacing back and forth. "What even compelled you to go out there in the first place, you're not allowed on television."

"My dad said I could go out there if I wanted to, I didn't plan to, I really didn't plan it, but when Austin gave a stunner to Shane for no reason, I snapped, I wasn't thinking…"

"You're damn right you weren't thinking, you could've gotten hurt, really, really hurt…you still could be hurt, you know! You could've hurt our baby!"

Stephanie's eyes welled with tears, "I know, Chris, I'm sorry, but I really didn't think that he would do that to me. I thought he would just yell at me or something, I didn't think he would do that to me, I swear!"

"God, I just don't understand how you didn't think he would do that!"

A couple of tears leaked from Stephanie's eyes as she covered her face. "I'm so sorry."

"This isn't just about you anymore Stephanie!"

"I know!" she yelled, tears clogging her voice. "I don't know what else to say, I'm sorry! I am!"

"We're going to the hospital," Chris said firmly. "Get your stuff."

"What?" Stephanie asked. "The hospital? What for?"

"Stephanie, you just got kicked in the stomach, you're pregnant, we're going to the hospital," Chris told her.

"But I feel ok," Stephanie said. "I have work."

"I don't give a shit about work right now," Chris said seriously. "We're going right now whether you like it or not. Stephanie, I'm not going to take my chances with either of you right now…"

"Ok, ok, you're right," Stephanie said, getting her things. He was right, she had been kicked and it would be the responsible thing to get checked out at the hospital to make sure that everything was ok with her. She hoped it was because if it wasn't, she would never forgive herself, never ever forgive herself for not protecting their child.

Trish and Christian were a little perplexed as to Chris's anger, but Kurt wasn't and he remained sullen as he sat there. He was worried about Stephanie and about her baby. He didn't want to think about that right now though, because he was so worried he was liable to start trembling like Chris had. Instead he had to focus his thoughts on something else and not on Stephanie.

The rest of the evening passed without Stephanie and without Chris, but it was still an eventful evening. Like Trish had known all along, she kicked butt in her bra and panties match, she didn't even get stripped of anything, so all of her modeling for Christian had been for nothing. Christian's match wasn't even a match as they got blacked out by Bischoff. And Kurt, well Kurt found his distraction in Bischoff's match.

Stephanie laid her head down in Chris's lap in their hotel room. Dinner with her family had been uneventful and not very fun, but she had still eaten her share of food. Luckily she had always had a big appetite so it didn't seem out of the ordinary. The doctors at the hospital had cleared her after everything seemed normal. They just told her to take it easy for a couple days and tell her regular doctor if there was anything that didn't feel right. So here she was, her head in her husband's lap as he gently ran his fingers through her hair.

"You full?" he asked quietly.

"Doubly full," she answered. "I think I ate enough for four people."

"It's good, you've got to keep your energy and strength up."

"Yeah…Chris, I am sorry for earlier, I was stupid, and I put our child in danger and I'm sorry for that."

"I'm sorry I blew up at you. I know sometimes that it's easy to forget that you have a baby inside of you, at least right now, and the lure of the ring is a hard one to not give in to."

"Yeah, but still, I really should've thought more before I went out there and I didn't."

"You were beautiful though," he said, twisting a piece of her hair around his finger, then letting go of it to stroke her cheek. "It was like old times, except you looked more dignified, but the camera missed you."

"It did not."

"Yes it did, I think that you were more beautiful out there than all of the divas combined. They talk about how gorgeous and flashy and sexy the divas are, but you are something else Stephanie McMahon-Jericho."

"You're only saying that because you love me."

"No, I'm saying that because it is what it is. If you had seen yourself out there, you would've known what I meant."

"Thank you for not hating me…for what I did out there."

"We all make mistakes, the doctor said that you looked fine, and barring anything catastrophic, I think we're all going to be alright, we just have to take it real easy the next couple of days. That means no working."

"Ok, I understand and I'm willing to do that…for you and the baby."

She closed her eyes, feeling an entirely different kind of feeling run over her. It wasn't like the feeling she had felt in the ring earlier, that adrenaline rush of being in front of everyone. This was a peaceful feeling. One she would never get tired of living. She reached up and ran her hand across Chris's leg, rubbing it gently. He smiled down at her and she turned her head to look up at him.

"Steph?"

"Yeah."

"I love you, you know."

"Yeah, I know."

"And tonight…"

"Yeah?"

"You looked good out there."