The flight to Raw, although only two hours long, felt a whole lot longer for Paul with Vince's statement about wanting to talk to him weighing heavy on his mind.

Paul hung back on the plane allowing Vince to get off way ahead of him just so that he could avoid him as long as possible. As he walked off the plane he noticed Michael Hayes hanging around almost like he was waiting for him. "Forget something?"

"Technically. I actually just wanted a word with you."

"Oh?" He wasn't sure what to say to him because he didn't know what he knew already about anything.

"It's nothing bad; I just wanted to pick your brains about Vince."

At least he wanted to only pick his brains and at least it was about Vince and nothing to do with Stephanie which was a relief. "Good luck with that one, I don't think anybody knows what is going on in his head."

"Really? So even you don't know why the hell he is so damn grumpy this morning?"

Well that was a revelation that he certainly didn't need this morning but at least he could get away with being honest without it starting a massive conversation that he couldn't get out of so it would have necessitated him lying. "He had an argument with Steph over the weekend; it wasn't pretty as you can imagine when it comes to the two most stubborn McMahon's."

"Oh shit, no wonder he is so grumpy. I am going to make it my personal mission today to stay the hell away from him and send some other poor sucker in front of him any time something is needed."

Paul couldn't help but laugh as the two of them made their way towards the limo. "Why do you think I sat away from him and hung back?"

"In all honesty I thought that you were avoiding each other as you were honest about something that he didn't like."

"I could have said that but I'm sure you won't tell anybody what we discussed so it won't get back to him." The last thing that he needed was for it to get back to Vince that he was telling people that he had fought with Stephanie because who knows what he would say in retaliation to that.

When Paul got to the arena he disappeared in to what locker room he was going to use for himself so he could be alone and just stress about everything in peace and quiet.

Stephanie was working from the office but she couldn't help but her mind getting distracted by what may or may not be happening at Raw and the knowledge that her Dad was going to be so mad at her and Paul and when he was mad he was unpredictable.

There were so many potential outcomes between her husband and her Father as they both were known to butt heads that she decided to try and keep the peace, on the side she was willing to come down on anyway, by texting her husband.

How was the flight? Are you still alive?

Her thumb hovered over send for a few moments before she hastily pressed it and dropped her phone on to the desk like it had burned her.

Having a silent area to stress about Vince in was not helping his blood pressure. All he was seeing in his mind was walking in to Vince's office and seeing a chair that would strap him down and he couldn't move and a variety of size knives hanging on the wall.

The sound of his phone going off was like the death march, slowly pulling it from his pocket he let out the breath that he had been holding when he saw his wife's name, hopefully she hadn't turned against him in the past few hours. Upon reading the text he was pleased to see that she was clearly positive about him coming out the other side of the flight in one piece.

Good to know that you have faith in me surviving the flight.

As soon as he had sent the text he had barely put the phone down before he received a response from his wife.

You're right; Vince wouldn't do anything with people around so make sure to sleep with one eye open :P

He didn't even bother replying to her with a text, he immediately called her. "Are you trying to kill me here woman?" He was probably taking a massive risk right now talking to her like that but he didn't even think about it he was so stressed.

There was something in the way that he spoke that sent tingles through her body but she couldn't let those feelings run wild because it was too dangerous when she wasn't convinced that she could trust him entirely. "If I am then it isn't intentional. Exactly why do you say that?"

"Well I'm already having nightmares about him doing something to me because practically the first words out of his mouth this morning were that he wanted to talk to me and then Michael Hayes cornered me asking me if I knew why Vince was in a bad mood. I'm about to die." The last sentence came out more as a whine than an adult talking but he couldn't help it.

Rolling her eyes she sat back in her chair, if she had managed to survive the weekend then no doubt he could survive it also. "I doubt my Father will kill you with people around."

"Thanks Steph, that makes me feel so much better knowing the only reason that I will survive is because Vince will have witnesses and not potential alibis."

She was starting to feel bad now; he genuinely seemed terrified that her Dad was going to do something to him. "Relax Paul; my Dad won't do anything to you. He probably wants to see you to read you the riot act because he couldn't read it to me as I skipped out on him before he had the opportunity to and I have ignored his calls."

"Wait, he has called you?"

"Tried to call me, my Mom did too but I was just not ready to talk to them so I just rejected the calls or just let it ring until they gave up." She didn't know why she was choosing this moment to be honest with him about it all at this very moment but it just came out, maybe it was because of the distance that she felt comfortable saying it.

There was an incredible amount of honesty from his wife right now which is refreshing and welcoming but it was another reason why Vince was absolutely going to murder him. "I hope that you're ready to plan my funeral because your Dad will be pissed about that too so that's my head being chopped off by him." He let the silence hang in the air briefly before he spoke up again. "Even if your Dad is the angriest I have ever seen him be because you ignored his calls I support the decision that you made because I know your Dad."

Stephanie wished so much that she could hug her husband and she was so close to actually saying that to him but as she opened her mouth to say it she heard a knock in the background. "You should probably get that in case it is important."

"I'll talk to you later?" He walked to the door and silently opened it putting his finger to his lips to keep his visitor silent as he ended the call to his wife.

"Yeah you will. Good luck and don't kill anybody."

"Thanks." Ending the call he put his phone in his pocket. "So what can I do for you this fine Monday?"

She ended the call with her husband and went back to work with a strange feeling of a weight being lifted off her shoulders after she was honest with him about her parents calling and her ignoring them, it felt really nice to have a partner again and not having to shoulder the burden of everything alone.

Paul busied himself with work until he got a text from Vince.

My office, NOW!

Short, sweet and to the point, that surely was a bad sign. Excusing himself from the conversation that he was in the middle of he made his way towards Vince's office and decided to send a warning text to Stephanie along the way.

I have been summoned so if you don't hear from me again you know what happened.

For the sake of privacy he placed his phone in the inside pocket of his jacket as he walked along the corridor making a couple of promises to help people once he was done on his way so hopefully that would help his chances of survival.

Vince had a multitude of feelings towards his estranged son-in-law and he wouldn't normally air all of this at work but when his daughter was ignoring both his calls and her Mother's then he had no option. When there was a knock at the door he was surprised by the speed of his arrival as he thought that he would have put it off as long as possible. "Come in."

Slowly pushing the door open he felt like he was about to face his execution but tried not to show it on his face. "You wanted to see me."

Yes. Come in and shut the door, take a seat."

Following the orders of his boss he shut the door before he took a seat in front of his desk. "So what exactly did you want to see me about? I was in the middle of helping with a match for tonight."

"Have you spoken with your girlfriend recently?"

What the fuck? Girlfriend? What was he missing in this conversation? "I literally have no idea what you are talking about so kindly clue me in."

"Stephanie, I am talking about my daughter Stephanie. Have you spoken to her?"

"Yes? I spoke with her earlier and I spoke with her yesterday also. Why? What is your point to this entire thing?" He had braced himself for the explosion of anger and probably raised voice so the lack of anger or shouting had him on edge.

If his daughter was answering her phone it meant that it wasn't broken which meant that she was avoiding his calls and her Mother's. "Are you kidding me? First she storms out of the house like a damn toddler and now she's ignoring our calls like a moody teenager. When she eventually deigns to answer my damn calls she won't like what she gets."

Before he thought about it the words were just slipping out of his mouth. "That's the problem though, she knows what is coming which is why she is avoiding you."

"Oh well, looks like you'll be the one dealing with all of this then won't you? I hope you're ready." Vince got up from his seat he walked around the desk to sit on it in front of his son-in-law. "So tell me, what did you blackmail Stephanie with for her to take you back?"

Staring at his Father-in-law like he had lost his mind he truly didn't understand why he thought that blackmailing Stephanie would even work. "You have met your daughter right? The chances of blackmail on her working are a million to one and I really don't think she would let me blackmail her."

"Really? Then how did you get her to agree to take you back?"

The idea of having to explain himself to his Father-in-law and boss weren't exactly appealing and not being able to go over anything with Stephanie before he answered made him even more uncomfortable because it really wasn't his place to discuss it when she had already clearly shown a strong distrust of his opinions. "You know I think I am actually going to pass on talking about that with you."

"Excuse you?" Vince raised his eyebrow at the answer; it was not what he expected. "I don't think you understand the position that you are in right now."

There was a sarcastic response on the tip of his tongue but he knew that if he allowed himself to speak what was on his mind then it was going to be a fight that he absolutely did not want to have at work in a position that he could not escape him. The only way to get out of this without losing his temper or his job was to just leave the room. "At this point I think it is for the best if I leave before you or I say something that will descend in to an argument." Standing up he didn't wait to hear the response before he headed for the exit.

Stunned by the balls on the man to not only refuse to answer his questions but to walk out before he dismissed him Vince was even more disappointed in his daughter.

After escaping Vince's office Paul went straight back to his to have a moment of privacy so that he could talk to his wife.

Stephanie was distracted with the thoughts of what her Dad was going to say to her other half laying heavy on her mind. Every time that her phone rang she jumped expecting it to be somebody telling her that it had all gone terribly wrong and one of them was in hospital or jail. The next time that her phone beeped she frantically grabbed it off the desk to see exactly who it was and when she saw Paul's name she felt her stomach drop, it couldn't be good that he was texting her right now but she didn't wait to open it to see what had happened.

Your Dad was being a dick.

She would have laughed if it wasn't so depressing and such a terrible indication of the mood her Father was in.

It was that bad huh? Did you manage to keep your cool with him or am I going to get a message from my Mom about you being disrespectful blah blah blah?

She had the strongest craving for a glass of wine right now but it would have to be satisfied by a coffee from Starbucks, anything to get her some fresh air and some space.

He read her text and he intended to reply to her immediately but as always on TV days somebody wanted him for something so his phone went in to his pocket and he got on with his job to prevent Vince being mad at him over something else.

Taking a sip of her coffee she looked at her phone and realised that she hadn't heard back from her husband, hopefully it didn't mean that he had been involved in another run in with her Father because the last thing she wanted to be dealing with was people gossiping about her home life as that can spread like a wild virus through the on the road staff and those in the office too. With no other option she put her phone away and got on with her work.

Paul spent the next few hours going from person to person and attending the production meeting whilst avoiding Vince as best that he could. Finding a free minute to himself he jumped at the opportunity to get himself some food, as he sat down with the plate in front of him he noticed a shadow appear from behind which made him nervous but as he turned around and simply saw one of the writers he was relieved that it wasn't Vince with a chair to hit him with. "Can I help you?"

"I have never seen Vince this angry before and I wondered if you had tips on how to stay on his good side and keep my job please." The truth was that among the writers he had drawn the short straw and was told to find out why Vince was so mad but when it came down to it he didn't have the guts to ask that outright.

Sighing at the interrupted dinner he motioned to one of the other chairs on the table. "Take a seat. I will eat and you can ask questions and I will see what I can do for you."

Reluctantly walking around one of his bosses he took a seat at the far end of the table gulping heavily he wiped his clammy hands in his pants.

Sizing up the other man he couldn't help but notice how terrified he looked. "Are you okay?"

"You won't kill me will you?"

"Uh . . . I didn't have that on my to-do list for today no, why?" He was torn between being amused by the behaviour and being very sceptical of it but after his day so far he was leaning towards just laughing out of delirium.

"So . . . uhh . . ." Reaching to randomly rearrange the condiments on the table he was trying so hard to say words but they were just getting stuck in his throat.

It started off amusing but he didn't have long to eat so now he was just getting annoyed by the entire thing. "Spit it out already."

The last thing he needed was to get another of his bosses to be moody so he just blurted out what everybody wanted to know. "Do we need to avoid mentioning Stephanie's name?" The look he instantly got in return made him start babbling. "It's just she's not here and Vince is mad and she hasn't not been here for a while and everyone just thinks Vince is mad because she skipped the show and he thinks that she is slacking off work."

"You think Vince needs a reason to be mad? You can look at him the wrong way and he will be mad at you so everybody needs to stop putting so much thought in to his moods and put more in to their work. As for my wife, has everybody forgotten the fact that we have three children who are still young enough that they actually need their parents?" He waited to make sure he understood and as soon as he did he continued. "Now I know you don't have children yourself but I hope that you value your job enough to quit spreading malicious rumours about my wife."

"Yes yes, yes, I promise. Thank you for your time." He quickly got up from his seat and practically ran out of the room.

Paul was able finish the rest of his meal in peace before he went back about his business.

The night was going by uneventfully, the show was going well and Vince was basically ignoring him but it was a step up from him being actively angry towards him so he silently sat in his seat and did his job.

As the show was coming towards the guerrilla was very much still a hive of activity Paul noticed one of the girls from earlier coming back and heading straight for him. "Everything okay Mickie?"

"I promised Stephanie that I would give her some information and she isn't here." She could send her a picture of the leaflets she had picked up but it felt like a lot more work than it was worth when her husband was right there.

Laughing awkwardly he got up and took a few steps towards her. "You know what kids are like; sometimes they just need their Mom and today was one of those days so Stephanie chose to stay home with them and working from there instead of coming here to do it."

"I know exactly what you mean about kids. So can you take the leaflets to her or would you prefer not to? I don't mind either way." It was one thing being married, another thing being messenger when you don't know what is going on as this business would be so easy to manipulate things.

"Oh yeah, sure. Sorry, I really should have said that earlier."

Everyone's attention was taken by the ungodly sound that came out of Vince's mouth as he watched Paul and Mickie together and someone was brave enough to ask about it. "Everything okay Vince?"

Ripping his headphones off his head completely he threw them down on to the desk in front of him and stood up. "Is everything okay? Really?! Does it look like everything is okay? My daughter is so ashamed of her husband being a lying cheating asshole that she can't even face coming to work."

The room was so silent that you could hear a pin drop as everybody tried to process what their boss had just said as it was so far out of the normal for personal stuff to be shared.

Hearing his Father-in-law announce to the entire room that he had cheated on his wife was hard but the biggest issue for him was he knew how his wife would take it. Although he wanted to shout at Vince and call him a fucking moron he had to go high for the sake of his wife and family. "Congratulations on further alienating your daughter Vince." As he passed Mickie on his way out of the guerilla he took the leaflets from her hand without saying a word.