Faint voices. Whispering. Deep breaths.
Stephanie shifted her weight in the hospital bed, her eyes still closed. Stephanie could hear faint voices in the background, one belonged to a male that she identified as Shane, but the other one belonged to a female that Stephanie didn't exactly recognize.
The pain was evident, her whole body ached in pain; Stephanie could hear Shane's voice come closer to her, the female's voice followed Shane's. They seemed to be talking about Stephanie's safety; Stephanie really couldn't make out what they were talking about, because there was a current ringing in her ears.
"Shane..." Stephanie hissed out in a soft, gentle voice; She finally opened her eyes only to be invited by a blinding pain that the lighting of the room brought.
"Stephanie!" Shane said quickly, as if he had not been expecting Stephanie to be waking up so soon. Shane walked away from the female in the room, that Stephanie couldn't see who it was because of her blurry vision; she could hardly see Shane.
"My head," Stephanie started but stopped when Shane pulled out a chair and sat down next to her, the look on his face was something she hadn't seen in such a long time. The look on his face was of pure concern, his eyes were soft and caring, this was the Shane she knew; the one that she grew up with. "It hurts."
Shane nodded and grabbed Stephanie's hand, giving it a little squeeze. "I know. The doctor said you had a mild concussion and a bruised rib, but that's all."
Stephanie finally rolled her eyes. "Oh is that all Shane? Where's my dad?"
Shane let go of Stephanie's hand, sighing; Shane got out of his chair, turning to the female in the room. "She wants dad---"
Stephanie pushed herself up in the hospital bed, her eyes huge in shock. "What the hell is she doing here?" Stephanie screeched.
Shane turned around and put his hand up, interrupting both Stephanie and Linda. "Now Stephanie, calm down! Mom was worried about you, she came here to see how you were."
"Yeah like I believe that, I want my father now!" Stephanie pushed the covers off of her, swinging her legs to the side of the hospital bed.
"Stephanie, dear..." Linda walked over to Stephanie trying to stop Stephanie from getting out of the hospital bed.
Stephanie slapped Linda's hand away and climbed out of the bed. "Don't touch me." Stephanie shot Linda a look and started gathering her clothes as quick as she could. Stephanie grabbed her clothes and went into the bathroom to change into them.
Linda sighed, turning to Shane. "I told you she would never change, I told you she wouldn't appreciate anything we tried to do for her." Linda's voice was now full of disgust regarding Stephanie.
Shane shook his head. "Mom, she was hurt, I was the only one that could have been there for her."
"She has her husband." Linda said in a matter of fact tone.
"Does she really mom?" Shane asked, his eyes holding an unreadable look in them. "Did she ever? If you remember correctly Hunter was one of the men that caused this." Shane pointed out.
"On accident. You think Hunter would actually ever hurt the billion dollar princess on purpose?" Linda rolled her eyes, she had heard this whole story before and she was plain sick of it. Linda knew exactly what kind of person Stephanie was and ever could be. Shane had tried too many times to prove that his sister was different, and she had even believed him before, but she wasn't that dumb, not anymore.
"Her name is Stephanie! Stephanie McMahon, she is a human being." Shane's anger was starting to build up, even though he had no reason to defend her to Linda, he was.
Linda was taken back by Shane's anger, was this the same person who had been trashing Stephanie a week ago to her? "I am fully aware that her name is Stephanie, I did give birth to her. But that is not who she is anymore, she's the billion dollar princess, daddy's little girl, that is all she can ever be."
"That's not true!" Shane exclaimed, raising his voice.
"Shane, honey..." Linda put her hands on Shane's shoulder. "I know how you feel..."
"I doubt you do." Shane said bitterly.
"You're right, I don't know how you feel, because I'm not a glutton for pain. All you are doing Shane is setting yourself up for another fall, a fall that is going to hurt you. Why are you protecting her? What has she done for you to protect her? To defend her?"
Shane sighed softly. "She's done nothing, except be my little sister. Sure not the best little sister there is, but she is still my little sister. She's been through a lot..."
"A lot? A lot of what? A lot of money?" Linda removed her hands from Shane's shoulder.
"No through a lot of pain! Stephanie is tired and miserable, and all you can do is act like she's on the top of the world. She needs me, she always has, it's not my fault you can't get past your anger at dad to see that she needs us."
"She doesn't need either of you." Vince's voice entered Shane and Linda's ears as he entered the hospital room, wearing his usual suit and sour look on his face. "She needs her---"
"Daddy!" Stephanie said smiling, she ran out of the bathroom room and into Vince's arms.
Shane watched Stephanie hug Vince, he watched how happy she was, and the sight of Stephanie being happy, made him happy. Shane hated his father and everything he stood for, but Vince loved Stephanie more then anything, even more then the WWF, although he didn't act like that sometimes. Shane was always second best to Vince ever since he was a little boy; to Vince it was always about Stephanie. Sure that had made Shane bitter towards Stephanie for a long time, but it was times like this that Shane was glad that Stephanie had Vince even when she didn't have anything else.
"Baby, are you okay?" Vince asked, holding Stephanie's body close to his. "I got into the stadium today and Kurt tells me that you were hurt, damn Hunter and Andrew, damn them to hell." Vince gritted his teeth in anger, not acknowledging Shane or Linda yet.
"I'm okay daddy, the doctor said I had a mild concussion." Stephanie said, looking up at Vince, smiling.
Shane took a step towards Vince and gave him a bottle of pills. "These are pain killers to dull Stephanie's pain. She also has a bruised rib, she should have a lot of rest."
Vince stared at Shane, angrily. "Stephanie, can you go outside while me and Shane talk alone?" Vince glanced at Linda. "Can you leave as well?" Vince asked, as politely as he could without rolling his eyes.
Linda nodded and left the room without saying a word to Vince, not knowing if she could find any words to say to him that weren't cold and heartless.
Stephanie hesitated, not knowing if she should let Shane and Vince alone, but after a few seconds, she finally nodded. "I'll be right outside daddy." Stephanie glanced at Shane before leaving the room a few footsteps behind Linda.
"You had no right..." Vince started.
"No right to what? Protect Stephanie? Because we all know that you are doing a shitty job of that." Shane shot back, cutting Vince off.
"I protect Stephanie the best I can, and I do a terrific job in doing that." Vince glared back at Shane, not backing down.
"Oh really? If you are so terrific in protecting her, then I wouldn't have had to rescue her before she got hurt worse. She shouldn't even had been out there in that match tonight." Shane crossed his arms across his chest.
"It was an accident, Hunter never meant to hurt Stephanie, actually he is worried sick about his wife at this exact moment." Vince said over-dramatizing his words.
Shane smirked; rolling his eyes, if there was something his dad knew everything about it was over-dramatizing things. Yes his father was a perfectionist at that, and Stephanie came real close. Vince had a real knack on making things seem bigger then they really were, he also had the knack of bringing their personal life onto screen and then act like he had nothing to do with it. Shane had studied his father's actions for a long time when he was out of the WWF, and Shane noticed that Vince was the biggest drama queen out of the whole McMahon family, including Stephanie. Actually Stephanie took a lot more crap then Vince did; Stephanie had beer poured on her, had her shirt torn off, been trapped in the walls of Jericho and even stalked by Stone Cold Steve Austin... what had Vince been through?
"Well dad if Hunter was so damn worried and so honestly concerned about the welfare of his beloved wife Stephanie then he would have never made her accompany him to the ring in a match against her ex-fiancée. But Hunter isn't concerned about Stephanie's welfare because he is too busy worrying if his hair is okay." Shane smirked again; his dad was about to go in major meltdown for what Shane said about Triple H.
"You take that back right now! Triple H is a very respected man..." Vince started to say.
"Whatever you say, this isn't about Triple H, this is about Stephanie." Shane said, pointing out the obvious.
"Indeed it is." Vince said, with a sour look on his face.
"Great we both agree on that. Hunter has been wearing down Stephanie, and the best thing for her to do is to take a break." Shane raked a few fingers through his hair.
"Done." Vince turned to leave.
"Away from Hunter." Shane said grabbed his long business coat.
Vince whirled around, a dangerous glint in his eyes, the corners of his mouth twitching. "I beg your pardon?"
Shane pulled his business coat on, and grabbed his sunglasses. "The well deserved break also is going to be away from Hunter. Hunter is the cause of this injury, she needs some time to see where she wants to be, who she wants to be with."
"Whatever you have spinning in your mind, stop it right now Shane, if she goes anywhere she leaves with Hunter." Vince said, pointing a finger at Shane.
Shane let out a sigh, as he pushed away Vince's finger. "If you care one damn bit about Stephanie you will give her what she needs, unless you want another one of these incidents. You do love her right dad?"
"Of course I do!" Vince said loudly, and then there was an odd and uncomfortable silence, that was beginning to suffocate the room. "Fine, you get your way Shane, you love your sister right? This isn't some plot to get back at me is it?"
Shane shook his head quickly. "No dad, I'm not that cold hearted, that is something you and your only son would do."
"If she gets hurt because of you..." Vince started but was cut off by Shane.
"You can kill me, but believe me, my only intentions are good."
Shane walked out of the hospital room, he walked over to where Stephanie was and smiled softly at her. "Pack your bags, you're coming home with me."
"What?" Stephanie said surprised at her brother's words. "I'm what? Does dad know? Should I go get Hunter?"
Shane slipped the sunglasses on and smiled again. "You are coming home with me, a well deserved break from the WWF and yes dad knows about it and no Hunter. Just get your bags, meet me in the front of the stadium and we'll leave."
"Hunter's not coming?" Stephanie asked, her eyes full of questions.
"Nope Stephy, just me and you." Shane smiled and walked off.
Stephanie stared after Shane shocked, did he just call her "Stephy"? He did! He called her Stephy! Stephanie smiled big, and waited for Vince to show up so they could both leave.
::: Back at the WWF arena, Vince's office :::
Vince looked up from the official WWF magazine, and motioned for both Test and Triple H to sit down in the two chairs he had pulled out for them. Vince closed the magazine and pushed it to the side, and forced a smile for the two obviously nervous men sitting in front of him. "Stephanie had a mild concussion and a bruised rib, but she will be okay."
Triple H smiled big relieved, he opened his mouth to say something but stopped short when Vince brought up his hand, motioning for both Triple H and Test to let him finish speaking.
"But the fact that she was at the hospital is bad enough. That was my baby girl you two carelessly injured, you two sent her to the hospital because of a stupid war between you two. I don't care what the war was about, all I care about is that Stephanie got hurt."
"Look Vince, I am SO sorry! You know I would never hurt Stephanie, I love her! She was on the edge of the ring, doing something, god knows what, and I didn't have time to stop Test from plowing into the ropes." Triple H said quickly.
"Ass kisser." Test grumbled, getting Vince's attention.
"Do you know who I am Test? What's my name Test?" Vince asked angry.
Test smirked, he knew what this little game was, and there was no way that he was about to play it. "Do I know who you are? Well no shit sherlock I was almost married to your daughter, yeah I know who you are. What's your name? You should already know that answer."
Vince brought his fist down to his wooden desk. "Almost being the keyword Test, my baby girl was smart enough to leave you at the altar."
Triple H smirked, but wiped it off quickly seeing the look he was getting from Vince. "Sorry." Triple H mumbled.
The words felt as if Test was being slapped in the face, yeah a slap to reality Test thought to himself. "Thank god for that, I wouldn't want to be married into this family anyhow."
Vince shook his head. "Back to the subject, Stephanie will be taking a well deserved vacation off from the WWF."
Triple H nodded. "So where am I taking her and why is Test here?"
Vince stood up, shaking his head. "You aren't going anywhere Hunter. Shane has demanded that Stephanie come home with him for a few weeks, ALONE."
Triple H jumped up from his chair. "Well you told the ass that she wasn't going anywhere without me right?"
Test smirked. "When did Stephanie become a possession Vince?"
Triple H turned around and glared at Test. "This is all your fault."
Vince slammed his fist back down on his desk, getting Test and Triple H's attention. "I agree with Shane, Stephanie's injuries are because of you and Test's war and I do not need my little girl in the middle of a war. She will go to Shane's house and stay with him and Marissa for however long she wants, and in the meanwhile you two will settle your war so when she comes back, she comes back to a place where she is safe. And if you two ever pull a stunt like that again you two will be fired, now get the hell out of my office."
Test pushed himself up from his chair and walked over to the door.
"But Vince," Triple H started, not moving an inch.
"I said get the hell out of my office!" Vince's voice thundered.
Triple shook his head and followed Test out of Vince's office.
::: Stephanie and Hunter's locker-room :::
Stephanie grabbed the last of her clothes, and shoved them in the big black duffel bag she had retrieved from the big walk in closet in the locker-room. Stephanie grabbed all of her hair items and threw them in the bag and went to pick it up, but froze when she heard a knocking on the door. Shane had told her to talk to no one but just to get her stuff and meet him outside; Stephanie hesitated for a minute but then walked over to the door, pulling it open. Stephanie automatically smiled when she saw Kurt Angle on the other side of the door, despite all the problems in the past, her and Kurt were good friends, honest to God good friends. Kurt wasn't as snotty as he let on, actually backstage he was a little quieter and a tad bit shy, despite to what everybody thought Kurt wasn't that bad of a guy. "Hey Kurt! Come in!" Stephanie moved out of the way so Kurt could come in, she would have to make Shane wait just a little bit.
"Well I just got done having dinner with Christian and Edge," Kurt started but was cut off by Stephanie.
"Oh how did that go?" Stephanie asked, she was in a hurry but wanted to have a little bit of conversation with Kurt, she didn't know how long she would be gone.
Kurt smiled. "It was interesting as usual."
Stephanie laughed. "How you stand those two is beyond me, how do you understand a word they are saying?"
Kurt shook his head. "They're my best friends, you learn to deal, but that isn't what I came here for."
Stephanie stopped smiling once she saw the serious look on Kurt's face. "What's up Kurt? You looked bothered, is something wrong?"
Kurt nodded. "Yeah, this thing with Hunter..."
"What thing with Hunter? I'm married to him." Stephanie answered quickly.
"Look Steph, we're friends, close ones at that so when I say this I am saying this for your own benefit. He's all wrong for you, he is draining you, taking everything that makes you... well you and he's destroying that, he's destroying you. I sat back and watched, and did nothing for such a long time, but I can't sit back and not do anything anymore, you deserve so much better. You deserve to be with someone that you love, that you honestly love." Kurt crossed his arms across his chest.
"And what makes you think that I don't love Hunter? Hmm Kurt? When did you become such a genius?" Stephanie snapped.
Kurt sighed. "I just see the way you look, the way you look like you are the most miserable woman on the planet. I see how you are affected by the chants, how you cringe when people call you those names."
"You don't know anything!" Stephanie screamed.
Kurt shook his head. "Maybe I don't. Maybe I am just some stupid idiot that knows no better, but I thought I could come to my friend and give her a little advice, but I was wrong. Because she's so damn delusional that she can't see when she is being rude to the few friends she has left. Hunter has made you into this person that isn't even the girl that became my friend, you're not even the girl that went to the airport with your dad and met me, you're not even the girl that shook my hand and welcomed me to the WWF. I heard the news that you will be gone for a while with Shane so I'll make this quick... some loves never go away, some loves are never forgotten. So listen to me, Test isn't totally unattainable, you just have to leave Hunter... but you won't, so what does it matter? Just continue being the bitch, oh and when you get back, don't bother even coming to talk to me, I don't care for the person you are anymore." Kurt sighed and walked out of Stephanie's locker-room.
"No Kurt wait!" Stephanie grabbed her bag and ran out of her locker-room but Kurt was already half way down the hall and she was late meeting Shane. Sighing, Stephanie walked out of the WWF arena and walked into the front of the arena, where Shane said he would be. Stephanie felt horrible, she snapped at her best friend, what was Kurt talking about? She only had one friend, and that was Kurt, although as bad as she said she hated Steve, he was sorta nice. But Kurt, he was her best friend, and she had treated him like shit, when he was only trying to give her some advice. The advice had made sense though, or at least she wanted it to, was Test still attainable? Did he still care about her? Did he have the room in his heart to give her another chance? And if so, would Hunter let her go that easy? Would Vince cheer her or boo her for her decision?
"Where were you?" Shane asked as he pointed over to the black limo, he linked his arm with Stephanie's and pulled them over to the limo. "You're like 10 minutes late."
"Sorry." Stephanie said as she crawled into the limo with Shane right behind her. "Kurt wanted to talk."
"How did it go?" Shane asked turning to Stephanie, once the limo started to drive off.
"He hates me, and he is totally justified in it, I acted like the bitch I am." Stephanie frowned. She hated that label; bitch was such a crude word.
"You're not, just confused and Kurt doesn't hate you, he's your friend." Shane responded.
Stephanie didn't reply, but she heard the words, but just didn't reply.
::: Outside of Vince's office :::
"This is ALL your fault!" Triple H screamed for the second time as him and Test stood outside of Vince's office.
"My fault? Screw you Triple H! You were the one that threw me into the ropes." Test rolled his eyes, yelling back at Triple H with just as much force in his voice.
"Well if you weren't always gawking at my wife and sticking your nose in our business then that would have never happened." Triple H said in a snotty tone.
"If you were such a great husband, she would had never gotten hurt." Test replied.
Triple H snorted. "And you would had made such a better one?"
"Better then you, yes. But you ruined that didn't you?" Test asked, his eyes glaring.
"So what this whole hardcore matches shit was because you're bitter that Stephanie is my wife?" Hunter laughed. "You're pathetic."
"Me? Pathetic? Look in the mirror Helmsley! At least I don't have to make up stupid foolish little kid names to make myself look bigger then I really am." Test pointed out.
"I got the girl didn't I?" Triple H smirked.
"Yeah you got her alright but then you changed who she was!" Test screamed.
"I did not! Plus Steph loves the new her!" Triple H yelled back.
"How can she? You made her into a slut, before she was beautiful and had dignity and you destroyed her, and everything she stood for. I fell in love with her because she was so beautiful and honest and real! You took her away from me for the money! The power! You made her into the trophy wife!" Test screamed, his voice raising higher.
"She came to ME!" Triple H screamed, pointing out the obvious.
"Doesn't mean she actually loves you!" Test said, his voice lowering, but never losing it's angry edge.
Hunter had been taken back by Test's last words. "She's MY wife!"
"I LOVE her!" Test screamed.
Triple H bit down on his bottom lip. "So do I!"
"You changed her..." Test said quietly, not wanting to get anymore attention. "If you loved her, the real her, then you would have never changed her. I would never had changed her for anything, I would have let her continue being the person she was happy being."
"She WASN'T happy! That was the goddamn point! You DIDN'T see it, you couldn't, that was why she came to me! She was bitter and angry and she wanted revenge on her family." Triple said, also lowering his voice.
"But you were just her revenge guy, I was the man she loved!" Test said, his eyes full of old pain.
"LOVED! As in doesn't love anymore." Hunter retorted.
"One day you are going to have the person you love the most torn away from you, and you are going to be heartbroken and you will finally know how I felt and still feel. You're going to want to hide from the outside world, you're going to think you can't bear the pain, and then once you think it's over... you're going to have to see her walking away with a man that isn't you, and then the pain will start all over again, and I won't feel sympathy for you." Test shook his head and walked away.
NEXT IN THE TAINTED SERIES:
Stephanie and Shane have a heart to hear talk leading Stephanie to make a choice.
Vince and Linda talk about Stephanie.
Test fights in a match with Albert, bringing back up old pain.