A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviews, I'm grateful for your support. :)

"I am just so honored to be able to wrestle with you tonight!"

Trish put on a strained smile. "Well, we do need a third person."

"And it's me," Mickie gushed. "I just…I've been waiting for this for so long, and to be able to wrestle on the same team as you, it's like, it's a dream come true!"

"Good, I'm…glad," Trish said at a loss for words. Where was anyone that she could talk to? She looked around surreptitiously, but didn't see anyone. How could she not see anyone that she was comfortable enough to talk to? How big was this company, there had to be someone to save her from this misery; Ashley, Stephanie, Christian, Kurt, anyone?

"I mean, I didn't think I'd get thrown into the mix this quickly. Although I guess that's natural right, not with you, because you started out as a manager, and a great one, you were a great manager, and you managed so many people. Hey, you were with Chris Jericho, what was THAT like? Where is he now? I haven't heard anything about him. Did he really get fired?"

Trish made a face like she was in pain. "I was never with Chris Jericho, that was fake, he's married to my best friend, and he took some time off to do stuff with his band and to spend time with his wife. He didn't really get fired because he owns part of the company."

"I should've known, I'm stupid, I'm just really stupid," Mickie said, laughing at herself. "See, at least I know now before I like see him and then like hit on him, that would be embarrassing."

"And detrimental to your health," she muttered, thinking about Stephanie.

"What?" Mickie asked, not hearing what Trish said.

"Nothing, I was just wondering where my boyfriend was."

"It's so cool that you're with Christian, you two make such a cute couple. I mean, when you were at WrestleMania together, it was awesome so awesome."

"Thanks," Trish said, "Um, I'm a little bit hungry, so I'm just going to go over there, and you know, get some food."

"Oh, cool, I'll come with."

Trish sighed and put on another fake smile. This girl had not stopped bothering her since she had arrived here earlier. Christian had gone off to find and discuss something with Chris and she had yet to even see Kurt, Ashley, or Stephanie, and so she was stuck with this Mickie James girl. God, even her name bugged Trish. Why didn't she just go all the way and call herself Mickey Mouse. Trish was putting some food onto her plate while Mickie was yakking away beside her.

Trish walked back to the table and tried to busy herself with eating, but that didn't stop Mickie from going on and on about their match later on. Had Trish ever talked this much when she was new? No, because Trish didn't have anyone to look up to when she had arrived. Not anyone worthwhile anyways. But now she had to deal with this, and it was getting very annoying.

"And we're totally going to kick their asses, they won't know what hit them, I've been training so hard so that I could be just like you Trish. You are such an inspiration."

"I'm glad that I inspired you," Trish said dully, still gazing around every so often to see if any of her friends would show up. Just when she thought the situation would be hopeless, she saw Kurt walk inside the catering room. She got up half-way out of her seat and waved her arm madly. "Kurt, Kurt, over here!"

Kurt looked over in her direction and nodded, walking over to her and nodding to the girl sitting across from her. He recognized her as the girl who had shown up last week, but he didn't know her name or anything. Trish hugged Kurt and he sat down next to her. She smiled gratefully over at him, and grabbed his hand under the table, giving it a thankful squeeze before letting go.

"Kurt, I'm so glad to see you," Trish said, and he could see in her eyes that she was grateful to see him.

"Hey Trish, what's up?" he asked kindly.

"This is Mickie James, Mickie, this is Kurt Angle."

"Hey, you're pretty awesome," Mickie said, shaking his outstretched hand. "Just not as awesome as Trish I'm afraid. Because she's doubly awesome."

Kurt sat back in his chair a little, starting to get a feeling as to why Trish had been so insistent that he come over here. He didn't know how long Trish had spent with the new girl, but looking at Trish's face, it had been a while. She silently ate as he face Mickie and gave her a grin.

"That's our Trish, she's really awesome," Kurt said jovially. "Oh Trish, did I forget to mention that Christian wanted to see you about something, I think it was important and very, VERY private."

"Oh, Chrissy wanted to talk to me! I've got to see him if it's important!" Trish said, looking to Mickie. "Hey Mickie, I'll catch up to you later, is that ok?"

"Sure, if you've got to see Christian, don't let me stop you," she nodded eagerly.

"Thanks, see ya," Trish said, grabbing Kurt's hand. He pulled back a little when they stood up. "Aren't you going to come with me?"

"Hold on," he said. "I just came in here to get Stephanie a water and she might be pissed at me if I don't get it to her."

"Ok, I'll wait a second."

Kurt jogged over to the drink section and grabbed a water bottle for Stephanie. He shook the excess water off the bottle he had grabbed from the big cooler and walked back over to Trish. She smiled as they walked out and as soon as they were around the corner she let out a huge, deep sigh of relief, giving Kurt a smile that said all the thanks she had in her mouth.

"Thank you so much Kurt, I couldn't take any more of her. Annoying!"

"I figured as much," he laughed. "Thought I'd help you escape."

"Thanks again, I'm taking it that Christian doesn't have anything important to tell me."

"Nope, not unless I know something that is true and I didn't know it was true. I better get this water bottle to Stephanie though, so I'll see you later. I'll probably come by to talk or something."

"The something being seeing Ashley," Trish teased, then turned sober for a moment. "Kurt, there's something I should tell you about Ashley."

"Oh great, what, she's really a guy or something? She married?"

"No, nothing like that," Trish said. "But Shane likes her."

"Shane Helms?" Kurt asked, confused.

"No, Shane as in Stephanie's brother. He asked her out last week, for tonight, and well…Kurt you try to hide the fact that you like her, I know it, Steph knows it, our significant others know it, and we…didn't want you to be hurt. I mean, I know you're not dating her, but it's not all bad to like someone. And we're in a really tight spot because Shane's our friend too, we just…I needed to tell you."

"Thanks Trish," Kurt responded honestly. "I know that was hard for you to say, but I appreciate the fact that you said it."

"None of us want to see you hurt Kurt, we care about you," she told him softly, leaning up to give him a soft kiss to his cheek. "If you were to do something about it though, now might be the right time."

Kurt gave her a small laugh. "You never do quit do you?"

"Nah," she shrugged, wandering off. "But don't wait too long Kurt."

Kurt shook his head and walked back to Stephanie's office. He opened the door and saw her sitting there. He laughed as he thought about the fact that she had actually called him on his cell phone to ask him to get water. She looked up at him and grinned. She had a glow about her, and Kurt did not want to get into clichés here, but it could've been the pregnancy. Either that or she was just so happy to be back on television. It was probably 50/50.

"Kurt, hi," Stephanie said, getting up out of her seat. "Thank you for granting the request of a pregnant woman."

"If you weren't pregnant, I would not have gotten you water," he said, handing it to her. "You are pregnant right, you're not faking me out right? This isn't just a ploy to have me be one of your servants."

"Oh yeah, I'm a big faker, just so you can get me water," she joked, taking a long swig of the water bottle. "That hits the spot. I'm supposed to drink like ten glasses of water. It's crazy. I have a water bottle with me all the time, and then I have to pee all the time."

"Have you been reading up on anything?"

"Yeah, a little bit, I don't have the time to actually sit down and read every book ever made on the subject, that's what I have a doctor for, to ask about it. I'm a busy woman, I don't have all the time in the world. I have my next appointment in two weeks, when I'm officially in my second trimester."

"That's awesome," he said, feeling excited for her. "Will things be easier or something then?"

"Well, the chances of me having a miscarriage go down a lot, which will make Chris and I feel a whole lot better. We were worried because of the other week, but everything seems to be going fine."

"Good, I was worried too."

"I know," she said. "Which is why I'm going to speak to my father soon. I'm sure you've heard that Austin is going to be here tonight, so Chris wants me to talk to my dad about something, so I'm just waiting on that before I get down to work."

Kurt saw Stephanie place her hand on her abdomen almost absently as she drank some more of her water. He hadn't noticed if she was doing that a lot, but he saw it now and he just found it sweet. His best friend was going to have a baby with his other best friend. They were so lucky. Then he thought of Stephanie's brother and he frowned slightly.

"Why are you giving me that look Kurt, did I spill water on my shirt? You know, I have to say, it's a good thing that I got these implants because I've already dealt with the whole big breasts thing that comes with pregnancy."

"Your brother."

"What about my brother?" Stephanie asked dumbly.

"He asked out Ashley."

"Oh…that," Stephanie said, leaning against her desk. "I don't know exactly what to say about that. But…I'm sorry?"

"No, nothing to be sorry about," Kurt told her, looking down. "I mean, what can you do about it? You're his sister, I think you're the last person he'd listen to, I know I never listened to my sister."

"True," she responded. "But still, I know that you like Ashley. I'm torn here. I want to see my brother happy, I really do. And he was with this girl, Marissa, I think, for a really long time, I don't know what happened there. What I'm saying is that I want him to be happy. I'm happy with Chris and my parents are happy, and then there's Shane and he has nobody. But then you're my best friend, and I want you to be happy, and I want you to have someone because I have Chris and Trish has Christian, and I hate that you feel like you have to be the fifth wheel, and life is confusing, and I'm about to start crying because of my damn hormones."

Kurt walked up to her and wrapped her up in a big, bear hug. "Don't cry Steph, it's not the end of the world."

"I know, but I'm so damn emotional, I can't help it," she said, sniffling. "Stupid pregnancy hormones."

He laughed and placed his hand on her stomach lightly. "Hey you in there, stop making your Mommy crazy."

"I think you're the first person to actually talk to him," Stephanie said. "I mean, you know, directly. Chris and I aren't the 'talking to the stomach' type."

"So you're wearing that shirt because you're pregnant?" Kurt asked, looking over her shirt.

She ran her hand along the bottom of her shirt self-consciously. Her regular clothes had started to become just a tiny bit tighter around her abdomen, and so she had chosen a rather loose-fitting top tonight so that people wouldn't notice her pudginess. She wasn't showing yet, her stomach was protruding very little, but not enough that she couldn't hide it effectively, she was just getting rounder.

"Do I look horrible?" she asked nervously.

"No, you look hot, and you've definitely got a glow. I noticed it when I came in here."

Stephanie smiled. "Great…so you are coming down to southern California with us tomorrow right?"

"I wouldn't miss seeing this house that Chris bought you for the world."

"To be fair, he bought it for me AND the baby, so it's not just for me, there was someone else in the equation."

"Still…have you thought of any names for the baby yet, while we're on the subject?"

Stephanie shrugged slightly. "I've been thinking a little bit, but nothing is final. I still have another six months or so to think of it. I'm not due until April 28."

"Officially?"

"Yup, that's the official date, I know what name my kid is not going to have though."

"What?"

"Vince," she laughed. "I'm not naming it after my father, no matter how much he's going to want me to, and we both know he's going to lobby hard for it."

Kurt shook his head. "Yeah, he is. Speaking of your father, when are you going to tell everyone else that you're pregnant? I mean, you can't hide it forever. Unless you completely leave, and then come back with this baby in tow. But I don't really see you doing that."

"Two weeks, when I'm in my second trimester, then we're going to tell everyone. We just wanted to be sure that something wouldn't happen with the baby before we told everyone. If there was going to be devastation, we wanted it to be ours and not everyone we knew. Except you of course."

"I'm glad you get to tell."

She knew that he was saying she was glad that she was ok and that she still had the baby after the entire thing with Austin. "Me too...I better go find my dad before it's too late. The show started five minutes ago."

"Ok, I'll see you later Steph, take care of yourself out there."

"I always manage to."

Stephanie and Kurt both left the room at the same time, but took separate directions. As Stephanie approached the gorilla, she could hear her father's distinct voice echoing throughout the backstage. He must've already gone out there. She went to her station and waited patiently for him to return. There was a pressing issue that she needed to discuss with him. One that couldn't wait until tomorrow; it couldn't even wait until later tonight.

She finally saw her father come backstage and she was going to talk to him, except he was intercepted by Kurt first. She frowned a little, but she again waited patiently for her father to finish up. Even though Kurt knew that she had to talk to her father, it was probably something that had to be taken care of right now. It did have to do with Taboo Tuesday so she let it slide. Her father finally finished up and she stood up to see him.

"Daddy, can we talk?" Stephanie asked earnestly, wanting him to know that she was serious.

"Princess, I have to talk to Bischoff right now, can it wait?"

"Well, actually--"

"Good, I'll come find you after I talk to Bischoff," Vince interrupted without hearing her finish. She felt like a teenager again, always wanting her father to pay attention her accomplishments and never getting the recognition that she needed. She nodded and he patted her shoulder before wandering off.

She felt familiar arms wrap around her waist. She leaned against Chris as he rested his chin on her shoulder. He rested one of his hands on her stomach and rubbed it gently and she had to smile at that. She put her hand over his as they both kept it protectively over their child. He swayed them back and forth for a few moments.

"How are you guys?"

"We're fine," Stephanie said lowly.

"Did you get a chance to talk to your dad?"

"No, he's too busy for me right now," she said wistfully. "It's ok, I'll be sure to talk to him before anything should happen…which I won't let happen. I promise Chris, Austin won't touch me, I promise."

"I believe you," he whispered. "What about that ex of yours?"

"He has bigger problems to worry about than me. He's all alone again, and while he doesn't mind that, he doesn't like it. Hunter has always liked to surround himself with a group, me, DX, Evolution, Flair, that's just how he is. I don't think he'll bother me."

"Good, so I can rest easy for the rest of the night?"

"Rest easy? What is it you do again?" Stephanie asked, turning in his arms.

"I take care of my pregnant wife," Chris said with an impish grin. "In between doing things with my band, but the most important thing is you."

"Stephanie."

Stephanie turned to see her father and smiled that he had actually come back for her. "Oh hello Dad. Didn't see you there."

"You wanted to talk to me," he said, "Hello Chris, coming back to us anytime soon?"

"Nah, I'm still on vacation and loving it."

"Daddy, I was thinking that since Austin is here and he's friends with J.R., that we should give him the opportunity to get J.R. his job back."

"Stephanie, are you crazy?"

"No Daddy, if he loses, then Austin is fired, plain and simple, if and when Austin loses, we're rid of both of them. The firing was Chris's idea."

"He stunned my wife, I'm not going to miss him," Chris said, his jaw set tightly as he thought about the other victim of that Stunner.

"Well, I can get behind something like that, who would he face?"

"I don't know, whoever," Stephanie said, shrugging the question off and getting to the more important part. "But, I was thinking that if Austin were touch any of the McMahons, me or Mom, or Shane, or even you, then he would lose that opportunity for the match."

"That sounds even better, he can't take his aggression out on us even if he wanted to."

"That's exactly it Dad, and I think it would work perfectly. I mean, you KNOW he wants to get his hands on us, and he'll be so out of his game by the time Taboo Tuesday comes, that he'll lose and be gone."

Vince held his hands out towards Stephanie. "Did I raise the perfect daughter or what?"

"I'm going to have to agree with that one," Chris said as Stephanie blushed slightly.

"Thank you Dad, you can think of who you'd like Austin to face if you'd want, since you should have input wherever you can," she said, knowing she was sucking up to her father, but if this was the way she could protect her baby, well, it wasn't too bad.

"How about Coach?" Vince said with a laugh. "That would be a riot. Maybe make it No Holds Barred."

"Sounds great Dad, I'll put it into action as soon as possible."

"She's perfect I tell you, perfect," Vince said to himself as he walked away from the couple. Stephanie turned to Chris and gave him a big hug, smiling into his shoulder.

"There, now we can be sure that he's safe," Stephanie said against his shirt. "Austin can't touch me so everything will be great. I'll be safe."

Chris nodded. "That's all I want, I just want you to be safe."

"And I will be," she told him, kissing him deeply. "Have I told you how much I love you lately?"

"Never hurts to hear."

"How did I get so lucky?" Stephanie asked dreamily. "How in the hell did I get you for a husband? How did that ever come about? What the hell did I do to deserve someone like you in my life?"

"Well, after sleeping with half the locker room, you were bound to find the right guy at some point, I'm just the lucky guy."

She slugged him in the stomach. "I have half a mind to go find Trish or Christian and just ask them to take me back to the hotel."

Christian was actually looking for Trish at the moment and he couldn't find her. He turned a corner and saw that new girl that was a fan of Trish's. Maybe she knew where Trish was and could tell him so he could find his girlfriend. He walked over to her and she gasped and put her hand over her mouth, removing it a second later.

"You're Christian, oh my God, I'm your girlfriend's biggest fan!"

"Cool," Christian said. "Do you know where she is by any chance?"

"No, I haven't seen her since earlier, you must've lost her huh?" Mickie giggled.

"Yeah…I lost her," Christian said slowly. "So you have no idea where she is?"

"Nope, not at all, but I would totally be into finding her with you. We could look around together. I do have a match with her later on and we should probably discuss it right, do you think that's a good idea?"

"Can't hurt," he told her, regretting coming over to speak to her. Why couldn't he have found Ashley instead.

"I thought the same thing!" Mickie said, looping her arm with Christian's. "So tell me, how did you and Trish get together? Why did you decide to go after Chris?"

"We didn't, that was fake, I asked Trish out, and she said yes, and the rest is history," he said, wanting to let go of her arm, but she had it pretty tightly in her grip.

"So cool," Mickie nodded slowly. "Did you think she was like the prettiest girl you had ever seen?"

"Yeah, actually I did."

"Yeah, she's gorgeous. I wish I could be that pretty," she sighed.

"You're not alone."

"Oh, I know, I know."

Christian mercifully saw Trish talking with Ashley up ahead and he sped up his walking as he got closer to his girlfriend. Trish looked over as she felt Christian's presence and almost groaned outwardly at seeing Mickie with him. She turned to Ashley and rolled her eyes, causing Ashley to laugh.

"Hey guys!" Mickie said brightly. "I thought we'd come talk about the match!"

"Oh…ok," Ashley said. "We'll go out there and kick ass."

Mickie laughed heartily. "How funny!"

"Um…sure," Ashley said. "Oh hey, you know…I really need to talk to Shane about our date tonight…so I should find him."

Ashley walked away quickly, avoiding Mickie. She hoped she hadn't sounded that…enthusiastic when she was first starting out. How embarrassing to just blurt out stupid things like that. She didn't even know if Shane was here right now, or if he was coming later, but she found the idea of talking to Mickie an unbearable one. She had been a fan of Trish's too, but she hadn't been a super-annoying fan either.

"Ashley?"

Ashley turned around saw Kurt and she smiled, bounding over to him happily. "Hey Kurt, what's up?"

"Nothing, just saw you alone, thought I'd say hi."

"Yeah, I had to get away from that Mickie girl."

"Oh, yeah, I talked to her earlier, she's…something else."

"You can say that again."

"She's something else," Kurt joked and Ashley giggled. Sure, it was corny, but just the way he had said was really cute. "So, I was wondering if you were doing anything tomorrow?"

"Nope, I don't think so," she thought briefly. "Nope, all clear."

"Well, how about the next couple of days after that?"

She pursed her lips, "What are you trying to say? You're not going to kidnap me and hold me hostage are you?"

"No, nothing like that. It's just, well, you know Chris and Stephanie right?"

"Yeah, they're friends with Trish so I've hung out with them a little bit. They're really cool, I like them a lot, you don't really expect your bosses to be so cool."

"Yeah, well, anyways, Chris bought Stephanie a house in southern California for her birthday."

"Wow, I wish I had a guy who would buy me houses for my birthday," Ashley said. "But he can afford it, so yeah…I'm sorry, go on."

"It's ok, even she was shocked by it, but he's totally head over heels for her. Well, some of us, Chris, Stephanie, me, Christian and Trish, are going to the house tomorrow and staying for a few days or the rest of the week, whatever we feel like, and I was wondering if you wanted to come with. You don't have to or anything, but things are more fun with six than five, and if you were there I'd at least have someone to talk to if the other guys wanted to go make out or something. And you've gotten to be pretty good friends with Trish and stuff, so you wouldn't be totally uncomfortable."

"Wow, that's really nice of you to offer, but is this ok with Chris and Stephanie, it IS their house."

"They wouldn't care, you're friends with Trish, so they wouldn't care. Apparently their new house has like seven bedrooms so you wouldn't have to share or anything like that."

"Well, you've sold me, I'll go, if it's ok with everyone."

"It will be, I promise," Kurt said with a smile. "I'm glad you're going. We're meeting in the hotel lobby tomorrow at ten, so just come down there and we'll all head down south. Vince is letting Stephanie use the private jet so you don't have to buy a ticket or anything."

"We get to go in Vince's private jet?" Ashley asked in amazement.

"Yeah, he lets Stephanie use it whenever she wants, it's more of a family jet than anything else. We got the flight cleared and everything, so you can just come."

"Cool, I better go, I have a match soon, and I think that Mickie is probably done talking…hopefully. Thanks for the invite Kurt, I really appreciate it."

Before she left, she planted a small kiss on his cheek and he stood there, smiling after her. He was glad she was going to come with them, and it had been totally impulsive of him to ask her. Maybe the whole Shane thing had set something off in his head, but he just felt the need to one up him. Now, he liked Shane, they were friends, but yes, he liked Ashley and if Shane wanted a competition, it would have to be like King of the Ring in 2001 all over again.

Now he just had to go ask Stephanie and Chris if it was alright to bring Ashley. He knew that asking without permission might be a little hasty, but he couldn't see a reason for them to care that she was coming. They had plenty of room for her, and it wasn't like she'd be an intrusion. That would be what he led off with; they wouldn't be able to refuse him then.

Trish went out for her match with Mickie and Ashley. She knew it would be an easy victory. She could beat those three up by herself. Torrie and Candice weren't kidding anyone with their in-ring "skills," and she was the best female wrestler there was. She could trust Ashley to do her part, but she didn't know about this Mickie girl. That would be the wild card.

That would also be the loss as Mickie got the cheap loss by Victoria. Trish couldn't believe it. After this girl had talked for hours today, she went out and lost it for them. Trish was just in shock that this could happen and almost missed Mickie trying to compensate for her loss by imitating Trish. Trish was simply disgusted by this behavior. As if it wasn't bad enough having to deal with this girl.

She walked backstage, Mickie tagging along behind her. "Trish, I'm so sorry for losing, but did you see what I did."

"Yeah, I saw…I saw you lose," Trish said sardonically.

"But I did your move, for you, because I was sorry."

"Look, Mickie," she said disdainfully. "I know you're sorry, and it's fine, but I have to go get ready to leave, so maybe we should just part ways right now, if that's fine with you."

"Oh…ok," Mickie said. "Sure, bye."

Trish walked away and had she turned around…she might've noticed the sinister frown on Mickie's face.

Stephanie saw the opportunity to talk to Austin present itself as he drove into the arena like the rebel that he was. She couldn't stand him sometimes. For years he had just tormented her. She remembered when he had squirted mustard all over her shirt. And also when he had ripped her shirt off, revealing her bra to everyone. She had been mortified at the time. Now here he was again, wanting to hate her and bitch about her.

She went out there, walking down to the ring to talk to him. She knew that he would talk shit about her, but she was prepared. Of course, being called a transvestite wasn't in her book of compliments, and she tried to get him to shut up and let her talk, but he said her breath smelled. Yeah, well at least it didn't reek of alcohol like Austin's did twenty-three hours out of the day.

She told Austin that he couldn't touch her if he wanted to get J.R. his job back, and she hoped he stuck by that. She'd hate to see what Chris would do if Austin touched her again. The first time he had given Austin a black eye, and that was being nice. Seems he was taking her seriously as she went on to talk about how it was Austin's fault that J.R. was gone, and it was. If Austin hadn't done that, then J.R. could've stayed, but he didn't and now J.R. was gone. She was indignant when he said that he would spank her. Nobody was allowed to spank her, not even Chris.

But she pushed through that part of his speech and went on to discuss the real reason for this little encounter. She gave Austin the match, and he accepted it like she knew he would. She was afraid he would offer her a beer and then not let her leave until she drank one, but he didn't so she walked back up the ramp, and feigning innocence brought up the stipulation of his firing. She loved to make an impact like that. And if she could get rid of Austin as well, she'd call it a good day at the end of the day. Now if only she could think of a legit way to get Hunter fired.

Oh well, that was another thought for another day.