Glancing over at Brandy, Mark could see her leg jiggling and felt her tense nerves as they sat there in the office of Vince McMahon at the headquarters of his company. Reaching over, he gently grabbed her hand, making her look over at him. "You okay?" he asked.

She nodded. "Just nervous."

"You don't say?" he quipped, smirking when she gave him a look, and gave her hand a squeeze. "I know Vince may come off as intimidating, but I promise you don't have anything to worry about. Just be honest with him, he isn't going to force you into anything you aren't comfortable with."

Taking a deep breath, she nodded, when the door to the office suddenly opened, making her heart immediately begin to pound. "Good afternoon you two," Vince greeted them as he closed the door, and making his way over to his desk sat down in his plush office chair. "It's a pleasure to see you again Brandy," he added with a smile, and reaching across the desk extended his hand.

"It's nice to see you again as well, Mr. McMahon," she stated, smiling back as she shook his hand.

"Please, call me Vince," he corrected her, making her give another small smile. "Have you given much more thought to our discussion?"

"I have, actually. I talked it over with Mark a little bit, and I think I might want to try doing both. If that is something you would be okay with, of course."

Vince raised an eyebrow at her. "Quite the overachiever, huh?" he commented, and gave a small chuckle when she shyly shrugged. "If it is something you feel comfortable with, I am perfectly fine with it. I don't want you to feel obligated to any of it, though. I will not be upset if you don't really want to get involved with the company at all."

"No, I want to. I think it will be fun, and they both seem so interesting so I can't choose between the two right now."

He gave another laugh. "That's fair, I can respect that. Just make sure you let me know if it is too much, okay? I don't want you getting overwhelmed."

"Yes, sir."

"So what does this mean? Where are we going to go from here?" Mark spoke up.

"Well, I think we will have you start with training in the advertisement department before we get you in front of the screen. There is a guy I just signed on who is still going through his own training, and I think I am going to have them start out together."

"What do you mean?" Mark asked, the hint of protectiveness in his voice not going unnoticed by either of them.

"Taker, I told you she is strictly going to be at ringside. Since they are both making a debut, I thought it would be good to have them do so together."

"I thought she was going to be coming out with me."

"I considered it, but I just don't think I want to go that route."

When she could feel how tense and upset he was getting, Brandy discreetly placed a hand on his leg. "Mark, it's fine. I don't mind starting out with someone else. If I don't end up feeling comfortable with it, I'll say something," she commented quietly, making him look down at her.

"It's not like you won't be on the road with her," Vince pointed out, aware of the situation they had been put in and understanding Mark's reservations. Not saying anything, Mark simply sat there with a dissatisfied look on his face. "You know I care about you and your opinions, but ultimately this is up to her. She IS an adult, after all."

"Doesn't mean I have to like it," Mark grumbled, amusing the other two.

"I'll be fine," she reassured him, giving his hand a squeeze and making him squeeze back. "When do I get to meet this person?"

"Actually, I-" Vince started to say, when there was a knock on the door. "Right now, if this is who I think it is," he continued as he made his way over to the door, and opened it. "Henry, it's great to see you again. Come on in," he greeted the visitor, and stepped aside to let them in. As soon as he stepped into the room, Brandy was in complete shock when she finally saw the man she would be working closely with in the near future. "This is Henry Richardson, my newest hire into the roster. Henry, this is Mark and-"

"Brandy," Henry stated the second he saw her, the look of shock on his face matching hers.

Both of the other men were taken back. "…I'm sorry, what?" Mark spoke up. "How in the hell do you know my fiancée?"

"We met through Tom," she quickly explained, making Mark raise an eyebrow at her. "What I mean is, he was one of the security guards at one of the stadiums we frequented. Tom owned one of the executive suites, and he was the one who watched ours." With a small smile, she added as she glanced back at him, "I still wonder if they ever caught on to the beers I would sneak out to you."

"Probably not, they weren't exactly the strictest with watching us," Henry said with a smirk and a small shrug.

"Well what a small world," Vince spoke up, bringing everyone's attention back to him. "Seems to me this was meant to be, then," he added as he sat back down, and motioned for Henry to sit along with them. "I think Taker would like to know a little bit about you, though."

"Yeah, of course," Henry quickly replied, and extended his hand to Mark. "It's a real pleasure to meet you, sir." Remaining silent, Mark simply gave a small nod and reluctantly shook his hand. "Well, I'm originally from the Midwest, but moved down here about five years ago. Like Brandy said, I was a security guard most of these past five years, and for about two years now I've been training for this opportunity." He hesitated, before adding, "To be completely honest, you're part of what made me want to get into this industry. Your career has been a big inspiration to me."

Unable to help himself, Mark gave a small smile. "Well I'm honored to hear that," he replied, and over the next hour the four of them proceeded to discuss the plans for both of their futures in the company.

Once the meeting was complete, the three of them exited the room to give Vince his privacy, and as soon as they were in the hall Brandy suddenly hugged Henry. "I can't believe this is all happening," she gushed as she squeezed him, and smiled when he squeezed her back.

"Me either, I was so sad when you stopped coming around," Henry commented as he pulled back, and paused before adding, "I'm also glad, though…I heard about what happened. I'm so glad you got out of that situation."

Unsure of what to say, Brandy simply gave a small smile. "We should get going, we are supposed to meet Glenn and Kevin downtown," Mark spoke up, and gently grabbed Brandy's arm. "It was nice getting to meet you, Henry."

"Yeah, you too. I'm so glad to have you back around, Brandy. I'll see you guys later," Henry said with a smile, and gave a small wave before going in the opposite direction.

"Mark, why don't we invite him along?" Brandy suggested.

"Why would we do that?"

She was taken back by the slightly rude tone of his question. "Well one, I'm sure he'd be glad to meet some of his new coworkers, and two, I'd like to get to catch up with him. It's been a long time since I last saw him." When she noticed the look on his face, she asked, "Are you jealous?" He remained silent. "You are, aren't you?"

"I'm sorry, I just don't know how I feel about you having a guy as a friend," he confessed, part of him feeling both guilty and childish for these feelings.

Brandy took his hands in hers. "Henry is more like a brother to me. He's honestly the only person I really considered a friend the entire time I was with Tom."

Mark immediately felt guilt from her statement. "It's just going to be an adjustment, that's all. I'm not used to you having friends I don't know. Especially guys," he replied, and gave her hands a squeeze. "Go get him, I'm sure the guys would love to meet him." Giving a bright smile, she happily skipped down the hall to chase him, and as he watched her Mark found himself conflicted on how he felt about this person from her past coming back into her life.

) ) ) )

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Did you see that?" Tory piped up.

"Hmm?" Stephanie mumbled, glancing up from the papers in her hand.

"Bitch, would you look?"

Giving a heavy sigh, Stephanie finally looked up, and frowned when she saw Mark and Brandy standing down the hall with a guy she had never seen before. "Who is that?" she asked, the look of both excitement and happiness on Brandy's face evident as she looked at the guy.

"How should I know? Your dad is the owner of this company, not mine." Stephanie gave her a look at her comment. "Go talk to your dad, find out," Tory added, and gave Stephanie a push towards his office before walking down the hall with her.

Giving a knock on the door, Stephanie was immediately greeted to, "I'm about to go into a conference call."

"Daddy, it's me. Can I come in real quick?" she asked, and cracking open the door peeked into the room.

"Sure, princess, come on in," he replied, and as soon as she was in the office he asked, "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, everything is fine. I guess I'm just being a little nosy." He raised an eyebrow at her. "Who was that?"

"Who are you referring to?"

"I saw some guy walking out of here with Taker."

"Oh, him. That's Henry, he is a new hire I just signed a contract with."

"When did that happen? You always tell us when you hire in someone new."

"It must have slipped my mind, sorry princess. You know things have been crazy around here."

"Yeah, I know. I take it you like him?"

"You should know by now I never hire anyone I don't like." She laughed at this. "I like him a lot. It works out great, too, because he's actually already friends with Brandy."

Stephanie was brought back by this. "You mean...Taker's fiancee, Brandy?" Vince nodded. "Oh wow...talk about a small world, huh?" He simply chuckled at her comment. "I'll leave you alone, like I said I was just being nosy. I always get curious when I see a new face around here."

Vince smiled at her. "I'll come get you for dinner when I finish with this conference call."

Giving a smile in return, she simply nodded before walking back out of the office. When she looked at Tory, but did not saying anything, Tory asked, "Well? What? What did you find out? Talk to me, don't just stare at me."

A slow smile came to Stephanie's face. "I think the puzzle pieces are finally starting to come together."

Tory smiled back. "Tell me what is going through that twisted little mind of yours."