Shane pushed his way into the entrance
of the Monday Night Raw arena, his eyes narrowed in anger, his whole body
seething in anger. All Shane could feel, all he knew... was that he was
going to make Hunter pay for what he called Stephanie on Smackdown and
also what he tried to do to her. Who the hell did Hunter Hearst Helmsley
think he was? He may be the game and all, but no one... NO ONE threatened
to hurt his family, especially his baby sister, and to make things worse
he had called Stephanie a s-- no he couldn't even think the word he had
called Stephanie... Hunter had gone too far, before Shane had understood
that Hunter was a scorned man, but now he was just an insane maniac. The
only other person Shane had seen gone this crazy was Stone Cold Steve Austin,
Steve had actually calmed down, he was no longer attacking women with chairs...
but now it seemed that Hunter was taking Steve's place as the maniac.
"Shane, just wait..." Matt Hardy's
soft voice, stopped Shane in his tracks.
"Why?" Shane hissed out, his words
having a venom to them. Shane was too pissed off to be the cool and collected
guy right now, Hunter had messed with family, and that was damn sheer personal.
Matt put his hands up, trying to
get Shane to stay for a few more seconds, trying to prolong the heated
argument he knew Shane was going to have with Hunter. It wasn't that Matt
didn't think or feel that Hunter deserved to get his ass kicked, but the
fact that all Shane could see was his anger, and anger clouded up the mind,
and right now Matt knew Shane was not thinking straight.
"Well!?" Shane screamed, his patience
wearing thin.
"Look Shane, I know that you're upset
about what Hunter tried to do..." Matt's voice was cut off by Shane's.
"You damn right I'm upset! He called
my sister a sl-- a slu-- I'm not even going to repeat that awful word he
called my sister, and then he had the nerves to try to attack her!" Shane's
voice raised.
"Hey I know okay? I was there, I
mean god knows what would have happened if we hadn't attacked Hunter, taking
his attention away from Stephanie. And I totally agree that he should get
his ass kicked for what he tried to do and what he did... but you're pissed,
and your anger is clouding your good judgment. You can't just go into his
locker-room and try to kick his ass, or demand things... he would destroy
you in a second, and right now Stephanie doesn't need that." Matt said,
suddenly sounding more wise then he had ever sounded before.
Shane opened his mouth to protest
but stopped himself short as Matt's words started to make sense to him.
"But he deserves to feel pain for what he did."
Matt nodded. "Damn straight, but
we need to form a plan, a plan that will work... and a good plan at that,
we need to strategize, to make sure he would never see us coming, and we
need recruits. Now obviously we can't bring our plan into action until
after Christmas, but believe me we will bring the plan into action, and
once we do Hunter Hearst Helmsley will regret he ever messed with Stephanie."
Matt brushed his hands through his hair. "But like I said we need to wait,
we need to take this a step at a time... you got me?"
Shane nodded slowly. "After Christmas."
Matt nodded, shaking Shane's hand.
"After Christmas, Hunter will know real pain."
::: Regal's office :::
Vince pushed the door open to Regal's
office, without knocking. Vince was PISSED! Vince had seen the replay of
what Hunter tried to do to Stephanie, and he most certainly blamed William
Regal for this. If Regal hadn't allowed that damn match to go on in the
first place then Stephanie would have never been put in the line of danger.
"Well hello mister McMahon, how can
I help you?" Regal asked in his usual british tone.
Vince shut the door behind him and
shot Regal a look. "You approved the Triple H and Test fight did you not?"
Vince asked, trying to keep his voice at a calm level.
"Why yes I did, Triple H had came
to me asking me for the match, I didn't see anything wrong with it." Regal
admitted, a little confused as in why Vince was asking him these questions.
Vince scoffed. "Did you happen to
see the part where Triple H called my daughter a slut and then proceeded
to try to attack her with a metal chair, did you see that part?!" Vince's
voice raised, coating thickly with anger.
Regal's eyes widened, and to make
sure he didn't anger Vince anymore, Regal shook his head. "Of course I
didn't see that, because if I had, I would have ran out there and stopped
that match right away, I would never put miss McMahon in a situation where
she could get hurt intentionally."
Vince arched up his eyebrows. "Then
what are you going to do about it? You're certainly not going to let Triple
H get away with this sort of behavior are you? No good commissioner would..."
Regal nodded quickly. "Well of course
mister McMahon, I will make sure Triple H pays right when he gets back.
He has already left to go home for Christmas, but the second he gets back,
he will pay dearly for trying to besmirch dear Stephanie."
Vince nodded, smirking. "Well you
do that Regal, and remember McMahons always get what they want."
Regal watched Vince leave, Regal
had sucked in his breath the minute Vince had came in, once Regal knew
Vince couldn't hear him, Regal let out the breath he was holding in. Truth
be told Regal had heard rumors on what had happened in the hardcore match,
and now he knew most of it was right, and now he was expected to fix this.
Was it his fault that Stephanie decided to interfere in a match she should
have never been in? The match had been against Test and Triple H... it
wasn't Test VS. Triple H with the guest appearance of Stephanie McMahon.
"Oh bloody hell." Regal said, throwing
his hands down to his sides dramatically. "What am I going to do?"
If Regal punished Triple H when he
came back from Christmas break, Triple H would break Regal... but if Regal
didn't do anything to punish Triple H, then Vince, Shane and god knows
who else would break him...
So it was damned if he did and damned
if he didn't.
::: Test's locker-room :::
Andrew watched the tape play on his
tv screen, he had asked one of the crewmen for a tape of what had happened
on Smackdown, considering he had been passed out during the ending of his
match, he wanted to see how it turned out. Andrew's eyes were beady with
anger, Hunter had just been given the crippler crossface by Benoit, but
seeing Hunter in that much pain, wasn't enough for him... Hunter had came
TOO close to hurting Stephanie REALLY bad, and to think he had been unable
to stop it. He should have been able to beat Hunter before Hunter even
dared to look sideways at Stephanie, but instead he had passed out from
the chair shot he had been given so graciously from Hunter. He had left
Stephanie all alone in the ring with that lunatic, that raving lunatic
who had no human soul whatsoever, thank god Lita, The Hardy Boyz and Chris
Benoit had been able to save Stephanie from Hunter.
What had Stephanie been thinking
getting into the ring last night on Smackdown? Had she gone totally insane?
Stephanie had to know that there was a huge chance that she could have
gotten hurt, but yet she stayed in the ring and actually stood up to Hunter,
possibly from what he could see... PROVOKED him... and not to mention she
slapped the hell out of him. Andrew couldn't believe what kind of guts
Stephanie had to actually raise her hand to Hunter, that had not just shocked
Hunter, it had also shocked the fans, hell probably everybody.
Andrew had known Hunter was a little
bit crazy, but Andrew had no idea how right he was. Andrew, watching the
tape, could see that Hunter was beyond help, Hunter was going to hurt Stephanie
so bad that it would have sent her to the hospital.
Andrew would have been hunting down
Hunter and beating the living shit out of him right now, but Hunter had
ran off like the coward he was, Hunter had already left to go home for
Christmas.
"Man..." Andrew ran his hands over
his face, he still had to spend Christmas with the McMahon family. How
was he going to do that? Vince would probably blame him for letting Stephanie
get hurt...
"Wait, why are you so worried what
Vince thinks? You're not dating his daughter anymore..." Andrew's voice
trailed off.
That was right, he wasn't dating
Stephanie anymore, was that a good thing or bad thing?
Frankly Andrew didn't know, all he
knew was that he was incredibly guilty for letting Stephanie alone in a
situation like that, and he also felt crazy that he couldn't do anything
to Hunter until after Christmas.
Wasn't that love? God he didn't know
anymore, all he knew was that whenever he was around Stephanie he felt
his heart and his brain fight with one another... that whenever Stephanie
would smile at him, he had to contain himself from kissing her... all he
knew was that when Hunter verbally and emotionally attacked Stephanie,
he wanted so badly to kill Hunter...
Yes Andrew, was in love.
::: Lita's locker-room :::
"I can't believe what Hunter almost
did to me..." Stephanie confessed looking down at her shoes. "I mean I
always knew he had a temper but I never thought he would come that close
to... well you know."
Lita looked at the side of Stephanie's
face from Lita's spot on the couch, Lita nodded. Lita had a creeping suspicion
that something like what happened on Smackdown was going to happen to Stephanie,
but she hadn't stopped Stephanie from getting involved in the Andrew/Hunter
hardcore match, because Lita knew how it was to feel like you had to protect
that person you loved so much, with your life... Lita knew how it was to
feel complied to put your body and soul on the line for *that* person.
But Lita had watched the match carefully from the tv in her locker-room
with Matt and Jeff, just in case Stephanie would need her help, she would
know when to run to Stephanie's aid.
"I can't believe you slapped him,
that was just whoa. Didn't know you had the guts girl." Lita smirked, she
put her spoon in her quart of Ben and Jerry's phish food ice cream, she
brought the spoon full of ice cream and took a bite.
Stephanie looked up at Lita and smiled,
despite the thoughts in her head. "That was cool huh?" Stephanie asked.
Lita nodded, laughing. "When I saw
it I was like oh my god! Jeff had laughed his ass off." Lita took another
bite of her ice cream.
Stephanie smirked and turned her
attention to her own quart of Ben and Jerry's phish food ice cream. "Where's
Jeff and Matt by the way?"
Lita shrugged. "I told them I needed
some alone time with you so they split."
"Ah, you got them in check?" Stephanie
asked, taking a bite of her ice cream.
Lita laughed. "No doubt, I am the
one that wears the pants in this family." Lita grinned.
"At least the baggiest." Stephanie
pointed out, swirling her spoon in her ice cream.
Lita laughed. "Well it's better then
the skin tight leather pants, and short skirts, that Trish and Terri wear."
Lita tugged at her pants. "They are way more comfortable, plus I can do
my moves in these."
Stephanie nodded. "Well Trish and
Terri really don't have any good moves, so that is why they wear the skimpy
clothes, to get noticed for their looks and not their moves." Stephanie
said bitterly.
"Ooh bitterness, still pissed that
Trish was getting lucky with your dad?" Lita tried to hold back her laughter.
Stephanie threw a pillow at Lita.
"She was being a leech."
Lita smirked. "Well she's out of
the picture now. So how's Andrew?" Lita took another bite of her ice cream.
"I haven't checked on him, I think
he's going to be mad that I interfered in his match on Smackdown." Stephanie
looked down at her shoes. "I don't want him mad at me."
Lita shook her head. "He won't be
mad, I don't think it's possible for him to be mad at you anymore." Lita
grinned.
"What do you mean?" Stephanie asked,
looking up at Lita curiously.
Lita grinned once more, Stephanie
didn't know? How could she not? Lita thought everyone knew how Andrew felt
about Stephanie, the way he looked at her... the way he always seemed to
suddenly become speechless when Stephanie came around... it was SO obvious.
Some people thought it was annoying, IE: Matt Hardy; But Lita found it
cute, she had never seen Andrew act this way, she thought it was adorable
how love could change a person so dramatically... but of course she was
a girl, so she tended to be sappy at times.
"Oh come on, you have to know that
Andrew is head over heels in love with you." Lita raised her eyebrow.
"What?! You have to be kidding!"
Stephanie screeched. "Andrew is NOT in love with me."
Lita rolled her eyes. "Oh come on
stop being modest Steph. You have to see the way he looks at you, how he
shies away from you, how he pulled you behind him to protect you from Triple
H." Lita pointed out.
"He was being friendly, Benoit ran
out to help me... does that mean he loves me? Jeff and Matt helped me,
does that mean they love me too?" Stephanie took a bite of her ice cream.
Lita groaned, rolling her eyes. "That
is different... Matt, Jeff and Benoit are you friends..."
"Which is what Andrew is to me."
Stephanie said cutting Lita off.
"Uh huh, sure whatever you want to
think, I believe ya!" Lita giggled when Stephanie threw another pillow
at her.
"He doesn't... he can't... does he
really?" Stephanie asked, crawling up on the couch, sitting down next to
Lita.
Lita nodded. "He's got it real bad
too. Believe me, I know when I see a person who is in love, and Andrew
is most definitely in love with you."
Stephanie laughed, taking a bite
of her ice cream. "I got him a watch for Christmas."
Lita smirked. "Expensive, but not
too emotional for him to think that you are trying to pressure him into
a relationship, the watch symbolizes that you spent a lot of time looking
for a present, but at the same time it presents that you are still taking
it light with him."
Stephanie raised her eyebrow. "And
how exactly, do you know so much about the symbolization of watches?"
"I bought one for Matt last year."
Lita said, looking down at her ice cream.
Stephanie giggled. "Ah, so last year
you had a crush on Matt?"
Lita shook her head. "I've had a
crush on him, like forever!" Lita confessed. "I just didn't really act
on it until last year when I bought him the watch."
Stephanie smiled. "You two make such
a cute couple."
Lita blushed. "Well thanks, hey you
and Andrew made a cute couple when you two were together, and I think you
two would make an even cuter couple if you two could ever confess that
you two loved each other."
Stephanie shook her head. "Things
are more complicated then that."
Lita got up, throwing her garbage
away. "No not really."
::: Andrew's locker-room :::
Stephanie shifted her weight uncomfortably,
why was she even here? Oh yeah, Lita had told her to go talk to Andrew,
and Stephanie for some reason had agreed without an argument. Stephanie
had to come visit Andrew today no matter what... she was leaving tonight
to go home from for Christmas, so she had to give Andrew his Christmas
present. But now she was a little worried at what Andrew's reaction to
her might, considering everything that happened on Smackdown. Stephanie
sighed and knocked on the door, waiting for Andrew to answer the door.
Andrew turned off the video tape,
which he had seen a million times, when he heard a knocking at his locker-room
door. Andrew walked over to the door, and pulled it open, and smiled warmly
when he saw it was Stephanie on the other side of his door.
"Hey Stephanie, how are you?" Andrew
asked, moving aside so Stephanie could walk in.
"I'm okay," Stephanie said, once
she walked inside. "A little shaken up, but otherwise then that, I'm okay."
Andrew nodded. "I just got done watching
the tape on what happened on Smackdown."
Stephanie looked at the vcr, which
Andrew had left on. "Oh really?"
Andrew nodded. "Yeah, god Steph why
did you come out in the ring?"
Stephanie sighed, putting the box
down on the table. "I came out there to stop the match."
"Didn't you know that you could have
gotten seriously hurt?" Andrew crossed his arms across his chest.
"Well I had the slightest idea yes,
but it didn't matter... all I knew what that you were going to get hurt
badly if I didn't go out there and stop that match, sorry if I was worried
about you!" Stephanie raised her voice.
Andrew shook his head, he knew he
was starting to get Stephanie upset, but he just couldn't understand why
she would put herself in that situation, fully knowing what Hunter was
capable of.
"I just don't understand Stephanie!
You have been married to this man two years, you know what he is capable
of, and you also know that he has always been on the edge... I just don't
understand why you would come out in the ring like that." Andrew sighed.
Stephanie shook her head, so much
for a normal conversation, all she wanted to do was wish him a merry Christmas
and give him her Christmas present she bought for him and leave to go home.
But no he had to question her motives in why she had put her body on the
line for him, how could he be so stupid? Didn't he know why she did it?
Lita, Matt, Jeff and Benoit knew... but he didn't?
"Maybe because I still love you!
Have you ever thought about that? I came here to give your Christmas present
before I went home, but you have the nerve to question my motives in why
I had wanted to protect you! How can you be so blind? I love you, funny
I thought I stood a chance in getting you back... but I'm just stupid!"
Stephanie screamed.
Andrew opened his mouth to say something
but before he could, Stephanie ran out of his locker-room. "Steph wait!"
Andrew ran out of his locker-room and ran after Stephanie.
"Dude, just let her leave." Jeff
held Andrew back. "Give her some time to cool off."
Andrew sighed. "Hey if I was to ask
a stupid question like why do you think Stephanie came out in the ring
on Smackdown, what would you say?"
Jeff rolled his eyes. "Easy, I would
say because she loves you. Why?"
Andrew shook his head. "Well I guess
Stephanie was right, I'm blind."
Jeff looked at Andrew confused. "Explain?"
"I didn't know that Stephanie still
loved me, I mean I didn't know that was why she came out in the ring on
Smackdown and put her life in danger."
Jeff snorted. "Then you are blind."
Lita walked up to Andrew and Andrew,
a fiery look in her eyes. "You idiot!" Lita screamed.
Jeff looked over at Lita. "Who me?"
Lita shook her head. "No him!" Lita
pointed to Andrew. "You know how long it took for me to get her to go talk
you and you screw it up?"
Andrew threw his hands up in the
air. "How was I supposed to know?"
Jeff shook his head. "It's so obvious."
Lita nodded. "Everyone knows."
Andrew groaned. "Well I didn't, now
if you will excuse me."
Lita and Jeff looked at each other,
then they watched Andrew walk back to his locker-room, with his shoulders
slumped in defeat.
Lita sighed, looking back at Jeff.
"Aren't they supposed to be spending Christmas with each other?"
Jeff nodded. "As in the words of
Christian and Edge... this is going to be brutal."
::: Back in Andrew's locker-room
:::
Andrew walked back in his locker-room,
he slammed the door behind him, he went to go to the couch, but stopped
when a shiny box caught his eye. "Steph's Christmas present..."
Andrew grabbed the box and opened
it up, he smiled when he found the gold rolex watch. It was beautiful,
well beautiful for a watch, it must have cost a fortune... but of course
the McMahons were full of money, but still. Andrew took the watch out and
put it on, a perfect fit... Andrew walked over to the other side of the
locker-room and pulled out the shiny rectangular velvet box that held his
Christmas present for Stephanie in, he flipped it over in his hands. He
had planned on giving this to Stephanie early, but he would have to give
it to her when he went to the mansion tomorrow.
"If she will even talk to me." Andrew
muttered to himself.
Now he felt like a fool, he was the
only one that didn't know that Stephanie was still in love with him...
how would she react if she knew that he was still in love her as well?
NEXT IN TAINTED:
Sparks fly, good and bad, on Christmas
day when Stephanie sees Andrew at her father's mansion.
Shane is busted.
