Stephanie was crashing
all around her hotel room, throwing clothes around aimlessly. She
was angry. She had been angry for an entire week and it looked like
it wasn't going to be stopping any time soon. She grabbed a pair
of Chris's pants and flung it at the wall haphazardly, not caring
where they ended up. It wasn't like she could bend over and pick
it up anyways. Bending over had become more and more difficult as
each week passed and so she had just given it up altogether.
"I hate that…damn
it…stupid…" she kept mumbling to herself, going over to her
paperwork and idly rifling through it, as if looking for something,
but whatever it was she was looking for wasn't found and she just
dropped the papers all over the table.
"Steph, I'm back
with what you…" Chris's voice petered out as he looked around
their suite. There were clothes everywhere, and he meant everywhere.
One of Stephanie's shirts was hanging over the lamp next to the
couch and he was pretty sure he spotted a bra behind the television.
"What the hell happened in here?"
"I was doing a little
redecorating, what does it look like I'm doing?" Stephanie
snapped.
"Um…I don't know,
that's why I asked. It looks like our suitcases exploded…did our
suitcases explode?"
"No, they didn't
explode," Stephanie said snottily. "Did you get my frozen
yogurt?"
"Yup, with the gummi
bears like you asked," Chris said, thrusting it forward like it was
a peace offering. He hoped it subdued his very irate wife because
she looked like she was on a rampage, and he knew what it was like to
be caught in the crossfire of that, and that was the last place he
wanted to be.
"Thanks," she said
curtly as she walked over and grabbed it from him, then took the spon
he was also holding in his hand and dug in to her sweet treat. She
sighed happily as the first bite hit her tongue. She had such a
craving for some frozen yogurt. "This hits the spot, thank you."
"So um…if it
doesn't get me killed, may I ask what you are doing?"
"I'm pissed, I'm
so damn pissed off," Stephanie said, sitting down heavily in the
nearest chair. "You know what happened while you were out?"
"Well, considering I
was…out, no I don't know what happened. So why don't you
enlighten me, and tell me what has my wife so upset?"
"My father told me
that I am not needed tonight. I flew all the way up here from Tampa,
and I know that it's not that far, but you'd think he'd tell
his pregnant daughter not to come if she wasn't going to be needed
at all," Stephanie said angrily. "I'm freaking 31 weeks
pregnant and he doesn't have the decency to even tell me that I
don't have to come tonight!"
Chris watched
Stephanie, knowing that she had to get this out. She was constantly
stressed out about her father and it was slowly breaking him. Chris
hated seeing her like this. Sure, there was a time, a long time ago
that he would've laughed to see her so bedraggled, but that was not
now. Now, he just wanted his wife to be happy, and he wanted his son
to be happy. Stephanie's pregnancy was supposed to be a good time,
a nice time, a special time that they weren't going to have again.
He pinched the bridge of his nose.
"I mean, he could've
just given me paperwork to do and I would've been fine, but to call
me and tell me that I'm not even needed, I mean, he knew I was
here, and now he's turning me away. Why doesn't he just fire me
and get it over with, I know that's what he would love to do,"
she said, her lip quivering.
"Steph, it'll be
okay, I promise you that. You're going to stop traveling soon
anyways, so maybe this is good, look at the silver lining."
"There is no silver
lining here Chris," Stephanie said plainly, setting her frozen
yogurt down on the table and pushing herself out of her chair. She
walked into the bedroom and lay down on the bed, looking up at the
ceiling. Chris followed her and leaned in the doorway as he looked
at his wife lying on the bed. "He just decided what he wanted
wasn't anything that had to do with me. He'd much rather go
around humiliating people and acting like he doesn't have a care in
the world. That's it."
"Stephy, I want to
help you and I don't know how," Chris said, running his hands
through his hair. "I just wish that I knew how to help you with
this, you know that I want to help you right?"
"I know sweetie,"
she responded. "I don't know how you can help me."
"I want to though,
I…you're having my baby and you should be happy, you shouldn't
be upset and you shouldn't be throwing clothes around the room.
You should be…I don't know, sitting in a rocking chair rubbing
your stomach or something."
She looked over at him.
"I don't think I'd be doing that even if my father cared about
me."
"I think your father
is going through a very late mid-life crisis. I mean, suddenly he
has three grandchildren and maybe he can't deal with that," Chris
tried to reason. "I mean, that is a big shift."
"Yeah, if it was
that, don't you think he would be a little more sympathetic to my
cause?" Stephanie asked. "He knows I'm pregnant, everyone knows
I'm freaking pregnant, and everyone has been so nice to me, but my
father, one of the ones who should care a little bit more than the
rest, well he doesn't seem to give a rat's ass about it."
Chris was about to
answer when he saw Stephanie starting to sob. It hurt his heart,
seeing her like this. It really physically hurt him. He walked over
slowly, climbing onto the bed and laying next to her. He leaned over
so her was hovering over her slightly and brushed her hair back and
around her ear. He did this a few times, just caressing her face
slowly, over and over again. She looked up at him, her eyes clear
from her tears, making them a bluer shade of grey.
"Tell me what I can
do," he said quietly. "I don't want to see you like this."
"I don't know what
TO do," she told him, and she bit her lip a little before more
tears started to escape from her eyes. "I knew what to do when he
was having an affair with Trish, and I knew what to do when he was
seeing Sable, and I knew what to do during the Invasion, but here,
now, carrying Sawyer, I don't know what to do."
Chris leaned down to
kiss her, a soft kiss that just told her how much he loved her, and
how much he would always love her. He didn't want things to be
like this, not like this at all. His hand trailed down to her
stomach and he rubbed it comfortingly. He felt the occasional kick
from Sawyer whenever his hand moved over a specific spot and he
eventually kept his hand there to feel his son kicking.
"How long has he been
going?"
"Ever since I
went on my tirade, I think he's trying to tell me to calm the hell
down," Stephanie laughed through her tears. "He's probably all
mad because I'm getting all mad and it's making him
uncomfortable."
"Sawyer, Mommy's
sorry, but you'll get used to it," Chris told her stomach.
Stephanie let out a particularly loud sob and Chris went up and
looked down at her worriedly. "Steph, what's wrong?"
"I'm so jealous of
him!" Stephanie said loudly.
"Of who?"
"Of Sawyer, I'm so
damn pathetic, I'm jealous of a nothing year old, he's not even
born and I'm jealous of him," Stephanie said, covering her face
and turning on her side away from Chris.
"You're jealous of
him…because…"
"You're going to be
a great dad, and Sawyer is going to get such a great dad, and I get…a
horrible father, and I'm jealous of my own son," Stephanie said
brokenly, hating that she was jealous of her unborn child. Chris
scooted closer to her and wrapped his arm around her from behind,
spooning her body and tangling their legs together. He leaned his
head next to hers and pressed his cheek against the side of her head.
"Shh, you have me
baby, shh."
He clasped Stephanie's
hand in his and laced their fingers together. He rubbed her knuckles
with his thumb for a few moments and then brought their hands down to
her stomach and just kept them there. Chris would whisper soothing
words into Stephanie's ear and he heard her breaths even out and
her grip on his hand loosened and he realized she was asleep. He
gently pulled away from her and got off the bed.
He had things he needed
to take care of.
Edge watched as Lita
walked out in her shirt. Now that he had come to see that he did
care about Lita, he found some of her attire a bit racier than he
would like. He looked at the shirt she was wearing right now and it
left little to the imagination. He contemplated telling her, but
they still hadn't exactly defined their relationship.
"That's what you're
wearing?"
"Yeah," Lita said.
"You picked this out Edge."
"Oh yeah…what was I
thinking?"
"You liked it."
"Your whole chest is
practically popping out."
"You never had a
problem with that before."
"Ok, fine, go out
there, I want you to look beautiful."
"I hope so. I want
to tell him just what I think of him," Edge said with…well an
edge to his voice. "I mean, I have to act like a jerk to get that
match, I have to act like the biggest asshole on the planet to get
that match."
"You'll get it and
you'll show him that you should've won that match. And you'll
get your title shot again. And you'll be the champion again."
"Do you really think
so?" Edge asked. "I only had it for like a couple of weeks. I
mean, that's like nothing."
"Kane only had it for
one day," she shrugged. "You'll get another chance."
She came over and
straddled his lap and he was kind of glad she was wearing the blouse
she was wearing right now. But she was his…girlfriend and he was
allowed to look at everything she had to offer. But others weren't.
When did he start to become overprotective? It was strange, this
caring thing. Was this how Christian felt about Trish, or how Chris
felt about Stephanie? Was he really starting to care about Lita?
And what about love? Would he start to love her? What if he already
did love her? Wouldn't he know though, if he did? Yeah, he would
probably know if he loved her.
He let her kiss him,
and he fell into it, erasing his minds of all the things that he had
just been thinking. He and Lita were having fun and they would leave
it at that. When the time came for them to really evaluate their
relationship, well, he'd deal with it then, but right now, he was
all for living in the moment and not for any other time.
Mickie James was living
for the moment too. She was so happy that Ashley had injured
herself. She had finally gotten that bitch out of her way and now
she was free to be Trish's best friend. She knew that Trish was
friends with Stephanie McMahon, but Stephanie McMahon was pregnant
and there was no way that they could hang out or anything like that.
So that left Mickie and there was no way that Trish could avoid her
anymore.
She hadn't planned on
Ashley getting hurt, but the timing for it had been so incredibly
perfect. Mickie hated that blonde bitch, trying to steal Trish away
from her. She was Trish's #1 fan, and she had to go to great
lengths to prove it. She would continue to prove it and there would
be no way for Trish to avoid her. She had made damn sure of that.
Right now she was waiting for Trish to show up for the show. She was
sitting by the door, anxiously awaiting her arrival.
She saw Trish walking
through the door, and Mickie jumped out of the chair she had been
sitting in and ran over to Trish's side. Trish was taken aback by
Mickie's sudden appearance and she jumped slightly. Mickie just
greeted this with a large and kind of frightening smile.
"Oh, hey Mickie."
"Did you hear about
Ashley?" Mickie said immediately.
"Um yeah, I live with
her boyfriend, I heard first-hand," Trish said.
"Yeah, so she's out
of here for a couple months huh?" Mickie said.
"Yeah, that's what
Kurt told me when I talked to him. It sucks," Trish said,
continuing to walk to her locker room."
"Yeah, it does,"
Mickie said quite insincerely.
"I talked to her
though, she seems to be doing okay."
"You talked to her?"
Mickie asked. Mickie didn't even have Trish's phone number and
Ashley had her phone number?
"Yeah," Trish
answered, not thinking anything of it. She found her locker room.
"If you'll excuse me Mickie, I've got some things to do."
"Oh of course,"
Mickie said, watching as Trish walked into her locker room. As soon
as the door shut, Mickie scowled. She did NOT like the idea of
Ashley having her phone number and her not having it. She was
Trish's biggest fan, her biggest supporter and she should be the
one to have Trish's phone number.
Shane felt uneasy being
there and Stephanie not being there. He knew that his father had
called Stephanie and told her not to come. That was mainly because
Vince was having his "Kiss My Ass Club," thing tonight and Vince
knew how much Stephanie was hating him right now and he didn't need
her bugging him the entire night. Shane was feeling a little bad for
that now.
Stephanie had flown all
the way here and she was more than seven months pregnant. Shane
hated to admit this, but Stephanie was actually a little bit right.
He had never been his father's favorite, that had been Stephanie
from the moment that she was born. She was Daddy's Little Girl and
nobody ever let him forget it. After the whole thing with him
marrying Marissa, he had just wanted his father not to hate him
again, and when Stephanie had told Vince that he would have no
contact with his grandson, Shane, being the opportunistic person that
he was, had jumped on the chance to become his father's favorite.
Was it wrong of him to
turn on his own sister? Yeah, it was, and he felt guilty for it.
Even Marissa had told him that what he was doing was messed up, but
Shane just wanted to bridge that gap with his father. He had NEVER
been his father's favorite and just this once, he wanted to know
what it was like. He wanted to know what it felt like to make his
father proud. Little did he know that his father wasn't as proud
of him as he was using him to make himself feel better.
Shane desperately
wanted to call Stephanie, but she had been all but ignoring him as of
late. He didn't blame her, but he missed his sister. Hadn't it
been not that long ago that she had said it was them against the
world? That's how it had been growing up, them against the world,
and he would protect her from everything. Maybe her being away
tonight would protect her.
"Are you prepared for
tonight Shane?"
"Yeah Dad, whatever
you need me to do," Shane told his father. Yeah, he was selling
out, and he was sending his sister down the river without a paddle so
to speak, but Shane had to look out for himself once in a while.
That was until the door
burst open and Chris walked purposefully up to Vince and shoved the
man…hard. Shane stood up immediately and Chris turned to him.
"This isn't about you Shane, I suggest you leave."
"Chris, what the hell
is going on?" Shane asked.
"You want to know
what the hell is going on? I've got my pregnant wife crying in a
hotel room is what's wrong," Chris said angrily. "I've got a
selfish, egotistical father-in-law who makes my wife cry! That's
what's wrong Shane, so I suggest you get the hell out of here."
"Chris, stop,"
Shane said.
"Or what? You gonna
fire me?" Chris challenged, then scoffed. "You guys can't fire
me. I took a leave of absence, I'm not on an active contract, oh
and did I mention that I do technically own part of this company, I'm
on even keel with the both of you, so you're going to hear me out."
"Stephanie agreed to
not be here tonight," Vince said, straightening his collar.
Chris shook his head.
"What is it with you Vince? Huh? Is there something wrong with
you? I just don't get it."
"I think you should
leave Chris, you're not being rational," Vince told him sternly.
"And having some guy
kiss your ass is just all kinds of logical," Chris guffawed. "Wow,
where have I been?"
"Chris, what I do in
my ring is none of your business."
"Oh, but it IS my
business now Vince," Chris said. "You see, five, six years ago,
I could've cared less what you did, or who kissed your ass. But I
care now. I married your daughter, and I knew what I was getting
into. I knew the kind of family I was marrying into, and I thought I
could deal with it…but I can't deal with this. My wife is giving
birth in nine weeks. I will have a son in nine weeks. That's
pretty amazing huh?"
"What has that got to
do with this?"
"Stephanie should be
happy and resting and not stressed out and you are stressing her out,
and I'm sick and tired of it. I'm sick and tired of you and your
head games. You don't want Stephanie to work the production so you
give her piles of meaningless paperwork, you don't want her to be
here tonight so you send her home. Have you ever even thought of
your daughter's feelings?"
"I think about her
feelings all the time," Vince protested. "I protected her!"
"When Vince? When
have you ever protected Stephanie? When she was younger, you wanted
her to seal the deal with people, using her as a pawn. You let her
stay married to Hunter, you cheated on Linda in front of her, and you
didn't care, you didn't notice anything. I don't know what
it's gonna take to get it through your thick skull that Stephanie
deserves better."
"Don't tell me how
to treat my children."
"When one of your
children is the woman I love, you better believe I'm going to get
involved. And you Shane? I can't believe you would do this to
your own sister."
"Now wait a minute
Chris," Shane said, trying to come to his own defense.
"The both of you
should be ashamed of yourselves," Chris said, shaking his head.
"You're both adults, you both should know better. Especially you
Shane, I expected better from you and so did Steph."
"Look, you don't
know--"
"I don't…well I
do know that my wife was sobbing earlier. I do know that she was
throwing things around our suite. I know that she's cried herself
to sleep on more than one occasion this week thinking about what
you've done to her. I know that she blames herself for a lot of
things she shouldn't be blaming herself for. That's all, that's
all I know, not much huh? Oh wait, no, it's a hell of a lot when I
think about it. And you know how that makes me feel, it makes me so
damn mad I don't know what to do with myself."
"Well then calm the
hell down," Vince told him.
Chris grabbed Vince by
the collar and glared at him. "Don't you even tell me what to do
right now Vince, so help me God I am ready to pound you into the
ground. If you don't get your head out of your ass and realize
what you're doing to Stephanie, you will lose her and you will lose
her forever."
"Get your hands off
of me," Vince said through gritted teeth.
"Or what? You don't
have anything on me Vince and you know it," Chris said, shoving him
away. "Consider that your warning. I will not have my wife crying
her eyes out because of YOU. I will not let you hurt her anymore,
I'm sick and tired of it."
Chris stormed out of
the room, fearing that if he stayed in there any longer he would
totally blow up and punch Vince. He was probably the only one who
could get away with punching Vince right now. There wasn't
anything Vince could do anyways. He wasn't contractually obligated
to be someone here, and he was Vince's son-in-law. He walked down
the hallway when he felt a hand on his arm. He turned and saw a
concerned-looking Shane behind him.
"What the hell do
you want?" Chris asked.
"She was crying?"
Shane asked him.
Chris nodded. "Yeah,
she was, what's it to you?"
Shane looked down
remorsefully. "I didn't want her to cry. I really didn't want
to upset her."
"And you taking your
father's side wasn't going to hurt her. She was counting on you
Shane and you let her down. Look, I'm not that mad at you, but
your father can kiss my ass for all I care. I don't want him
around Stephanie."
"He's her father."
"Some father he's
been. You don't have to be around her, and I don't like seeing
my wife upset. How would you feel if Marissa were in the same
situation?"
"I get it," he
said. "I didn't want it to be like this. I just…you don't
understand Chris."
"Obviously not,"
Chris said. "Look, if you care anything about your sister, keep
your father as far away from her as possible. I'm not just worried
about her, but I'm worried about Sawyer too. If Stephanie gets too
stressed, something could happen to our son, and that's the last
thing I want."
"I don't want
anything to happen to my nephew either."
"Good, then please,
just help us out with this."
"I will," Shane
said. "Um…make sure she's not watching later okay?"
"Why?"
"Just make sure."
"Sure."
Mickie was going to
show Trish just how much she cared about her and how much she
idolized her. Mickie thought Trish was the salt of the earth, the
best thing to ever walk this hallowed ground. If Mickie could
petition Trish for the Hall of Fame right now, she would absolutely
start one and be the first signature. She just admired Trish so much
and Trish's accomplishments were so great and numerous she wanted
the world to share in her opinion.
Trish was uneasy with
all the attention that Mickie was always giving her. At least while
Ashley was here she didn't have to spend so much time with Mickie,
but Ashley was going to be gone for a few months, maybe more,
hopefully less. She and Ashley could both fend off Mickie, but she
couldn't do it alone.
After her match, which
she naturally won, she saw Mickie bowing down before her. Trish
didn't know how she managed to do it, but she made even that look
somehow vulgar. Trish kept telling her to stop, but Mickie was
having none of that, just bowing over and over and over again. Trish
was growing impatient and then Mickie threw her arms around her,
burying her face into her pants. Trish pushed her away, disgusted.
She didn't know if Mickie wanted her in that way, but Trish
certainly did not want her in that way. She backed up the ramp,
watching to make sure that Mickie didn't come after her. If Mickie
came after her, she was going to run up the ramp and to her dressing
room and lock the door and not come out until the show was over.
She saw Edge backstage
and gestured towards the monitor. "Did you see that?"
"Yeah, she's…odd."
Trish shuddered. "I
cannot stand her. Oh…hi Lita."
Lita stepped away from
Edge, showing herself. "Trish."
"I'll be going
now."
"Hey, you guys…are
you ever going to get over whatever went down between you?" Edge
asked.
"There's nothing to
get over," Trish said calmly, eerie in her tone. "Nothing…I'll
see you guys later…oh, Edge, if you could…um, tell Christian
congratulations on the title. I'm really proud of him."
"I'm not exactly
speaking to him right now," Edge told her.
"Did you have a
fight?"
"Yeah…about you."
"Me?" Trish asked,
surprised. "What about me?"
"He's a stupid jerk
Trish," Edge said. "And this is coming from a real jerk. I just
can't stand what he's doing to you, what he did to you. I guess
it took me realizing what I had with Lita to see that you really,
really don't deserve to be treated like this."
"Don't feel sorry
for me Edge."
"I don't, I'm
just pissed at my brother."
"He had his
reasons…he had to have had his reasons," she said, as much as it
pained her to say it. "I don't know what they are, but he had
them. I'm just…I'm glad he's striving over there, even
though I miss him."
"Trish, do you want
his number?" Edge asked outright.
"No," she said
immediately. "He chose to leave…I can't drag him back."
"But maybe you can
just talk to him."
"Talking would be
equally as hard knowing that I can't have him," Trish said and
she looked down. "Hey Lita…word of advice?"
"What?"
"Keep onto this one,"
Trish said, patting Edge's chest. "Hold on tight."
Edge watched her walk
away and he saw what a number his brother did on Trish. Even if he
hated Lita and was just messing around with her for the sex, he would
never leave her with a note and an empty house. Christian and Trish
had been seeing each other for three years and he had just left her
like that. He wondered what the hell had happened.
Mickie came backstage,
immediately looking for Trish.
Chris headed back to
the hotel and found that Stephanie was still asleep on the bed. He
went over and kissed her forehead, wondering if she had woken up
while he was one. He looked at the clock and saw that it was nearing
eleven, and decided to just let her sleep. He took her shoes off and
then proceeded to undress her and put her in her pajamas. She moaned
and opened her eyes.
"Chris, what are you
doing?" she asked sleepily.
"Just undressing you
and putting your pajamas on."
"I can take care of
that," she said, "Did you go somewhere? I felt you get off the
bed."
"I had some things I
needed to take care of is all," Chris said. "Nothing major."
"Oh…is the show
still on?"
"Steph, I don't
think we want to watch," he said, remembering Shane's warning.
"Why not?" she
asked, grabbing the remote control. "I just want to see what's
going on, that's not a crime."
"Come on," he said.
"How about I give you a massage before you go to bed? That'll
help your back."
"Chris, why won't
you let me watch the show," she said, turning on the television.
She flipped through the channels and finally found USA. She focused
her eyes on the television and promptly screamed. "What the hell!"
She averted her eyes
and Chris grabbed the remote and turned off the television. "Yeah,
that was disturbing."
"I thought he would
do that earlier in the show," she said, making gagging noises. "My
father is a jerk. I cannot stand him."
"I took care of it
baby."
"Took care of it?"
she asked curiously.
"Yeah, don't worry
any more about it. It's taken care of."
"How did you take
care of…the business you had, the reason you left…Chris what did
you do?"
"I just warned your
father that he needed to stay away from you and I didn't like how
he was stressing you out…Steph, it's like this. I'm worried
about you and I'm worried about Sawyer. I don't want anything to
happen to the either of you. I love you both more than myself, and
that's a lot."
"It is, you
really do love yourself."
"Yeah, I mean, when
you look like me and you have as much all-around talent as I do, and
you're charming like me…"
"Okay, we're
getting off track here," Stephanie said.
"Oh yeah, well, I
want to make the next nine weeks good for you because I don't want
our son coming out angry at the world."
Stephanie laughed
softly. "I agree, thank you for sticking up for me."
"Thank you for
carrying my son."
"It's my pleasure,"
she told him as she leaned over to kiss him.
Trish was just getting
back to her hotel room when her phone rang. She dropped her things
and went to her bag, grabbing her phone and looking at the display.
It said "Private Number," and she groaned until she realized that
it could just be Kurt calling from Ashley's house, where'd he'd
been staying with her for the time being.
"Kurt, is that you?"
"Um…no."
Trish would recognize
that voice anywhere. "Christian…"
"Hey Trish."
She fought the urge to
hang up. "What are you doing calling me?"
"I just…um…Edge
called me."
"He said he wasn't
going to."
"He did, he sent your
congratulations along."
"Oh."
"Thanks. I never
would've gotten as far as I did without you. You kept pushing me
and believing in me. Trish, you're the reason that I'm who I
am."
"Why are you telling
me these things?" Trish said, tears in her eyes. "Why are you
calling me now?"
"I just…I couldn't
do this title thing without acknowledging the woman who was the
driving force behind it."
"Christian, stop it,"
Trish said, her voice flat. "You left me. You left me like I was
some whore. You might as well have just left money on the counter
for me to complete the transaction. What makes you think that I
believe any word you say right now?"
"Trish…it was for
the best."
"Don't you tell me
what was for the best," Trish said, her voice sharp. "You left
with nothing. Nothing! I can't believe you did that to me! After
I loved you."
"Loved?" he asked.
"Don't try to make
me analyze my word choice. Look, you left, and that's it, that's
all she wrote, I didn't ask you to call."
"I know, I just
needed you to know."
"Well fine, I know
then."
"Trish…"
"You blew it Chrissy,
you blew it."
She hung up before he
could answer.
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