yourprotector Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley sat in the very expensive leather couch in locker-room her and Triple H shared, Stephanie looked at all the pictures in the room, her blue eyes holding a sad look in them. Hunter was in Greenwich in their big house, staying in bed trying to rest up his injuries, he still had about two more months before he could return back to wrestling; Stephanie hadn't seen her husband since the day where she announced she was the new ECW owner, she had been busy with Shane, actually Shane and Stephanie had rented double hotel rooms, so the two were hardly apart. Stephanie frequently talked to Hunter on the phone, they talked about what was going on in the WWF, and what was going to happen when Hunter returned --- but they never talked about the merging of WCW and ECW, actually they never talked about "The Alliance" at all, but Stephanie knew her husband was not proud of the choices she made, but Hunter always tried to make their phone calls as pleasant as could be, but the last one wasn't.

Stephanie had been outraged when she found out that Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle had gotten the win over The Dudley Boyz, yet another time Chris Jericho got away with humiliating her. The Dudley Boyz were supposed to make Jericho pay for first saying those cruel things about things about her and then smashing that pie in her face, but yet again Chris Jericho wiggled out of getting punishment for his uncalled for actions. Hunter had called after RAW went off air, but somehow their conversation hadn't gone like the rest of their conversations, this time the phone call went beyond every line they promised each other not to cross.

"Steph, are you okay? I saw what happened to you on RAW, Jericho's an ass, he'll get what is coming to him."

"Am I okay? Are you blind as well as disabled? Of course I'm not okay! Did you hear those awful words Chris Jericho even dared to say about me? And then he smashed that pie in my face, so I am obviously not okay!"

"Steph --- I understand Jericho's taunting of you has you upset, but don't take it out on me, you know if I could have been there I would have been. Where was your guardian angel of an older brother?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? Shane was busy getting ready for his street fight with The Rock or he would have been there for me, defending my honor, something you obviously don't do anymore."

"What am I supposed to do when you're all across the country and I'm in Greenwich, wasting my precious time on a bed that used to be called ours trying to get my muscles to work again? While you and your brother Shane get to destroy the WWF bit by bit I am stuck in this house not being able to do anything. Bottom line Stephanie even if I did want to kick Jericho's ass for the things he said to you, I wouldn't be able to get out of this house to do it anyways."

"If you wanted to? Does that mean you don't want to defend my honor? You know Hunter I think you're jealous."

"Jealous? Jealous of what? You and your precious older brother? I don't think so. You and your brother are the poster spoiled children of all time, you two think you can get whatever you want ---- and when you two get all you can get, that's when you two decide you want more, and that is why your brother bought WCW and why you bought ECW and that is also why you two decide to put your two companies together. Because you two only care about yourselves, you and your brother deserve each other."

"Damn right me and Shane deserve each other, we are dominating the WWF and showing everybody that we will not lay down and if that upsets you and other people, then maybe you should just turn the damn television off. I was foolish to think I could have your support in my decision Hunter, because you have never supported me in anything, it's always about you. You, you, you and I'm sick of it! Tonight Chris Jericho insulted me, hurt my feelings to the extent where I felt as if I was being slapped in the face, and then he humiliated me by throwing a pie in my face and the bottom line is that you weren't there for me, you never are."

Stephanie sighed as she recalled their last phone call, after she had said those last words to Hunter she had slammed down the phone in anger and when he had called back she didn't pick up the phone. But now here she was in their locker-room alone, desperately alone, despite how The Dudley Boyz had come by earlier to see how she was, Stephanie was alone, that was the story of her life. No one really stayed around long enough to really care about her, and even though Hunter had been around for two years, it felt like nothing was shared between them. Ever since Hunter's injury he had become cynical towards her, he was never there for her ... and he certainly wasn't there for her when she was humiliated time and time again by Chris Jericho.

What did Jericho have against her anyhow? Sure Stephanie was one to tend to get on people's nerves, and yes she usually stuck her foot in her mouth whenever she spoke, but she wasn't those things Chris called her. In fact Stephanie had only slept with one man and that one man was Hunter Hearst-Helmsley. Stephanie couldn't understand what it was about her that Chris Jericho didn't like, her attitude? If he didn't like her attitude he could just say she had a bitchy attitude, but no he had to call her a slut and accuse her of sleeping with tons of men, which wasn't true, Jericho could be such a cold man sometimes. He had his warm moments, such as when he was with Benoit, but with Benoit being gone Jericho seemed to set his sights on torturing the youngest McMahon,

Stephanie had been near tears as Jericho threw the filthy words at her, the horrible accusations and then the pie in the face had been the last straw, Stephanie McMahon had stormed backstage and cried her heart out to The Dudley Boyz, who just happened to be the first people she saw. They had stopped her and asked if there was anything she needed, and when Stephanie saw them she couldn't help but cry and tell them everything, how Jericho had hurt her beyond words with his horrible assumptions, how she felt like she was being slapped in the face, brutally slapped in the face each time Jericho said those names. The Dudley Boyz had automatically jumped to her defense, especially Buh-Buh Ray Dudley, no one knew how big of a heart that guy could really have; Despite the fact that they lost the match Stephanie was proud, not just to have The Dudley Boyz in her company, but to have them as her friends, they weren't big and bad as they pretended to be, although they could definitely be cruel.

Stephanie pushed herself out of her thoughts, she needed to get out of this locker-room, she had promised she would meet Booker T and Shane at WWF New York for a dinner on them, and somehow, despite how horrible she felt, she couldn't say no to her battered and bruised older brother, the same brother that would do anything for her. Stephanie grabbed a sweater, and headed out of her locker-room, determined that she would push herself in a good mood for Shane, who had lost his street fight to The Rock, but had given the best fight anyone could have asked for, no one could have done better if they had tried.

~*~

"If it isn't the beautiful billion dollar ho." Chris Jericho said, smirking as he saw Stephanie stop dead in her tracks.

Stephanie turned around when she heard the taunting voice of no other ---- Chris Jericho. Stephanie faced Chris with a glare painted in her blue eyes, she crossed her arms across her chest. "Can I help you Jericho?" Stephanie asked, a snarl in her voice; Stephanie tapped her foot impatiently as she awaited Chris's response, she wasn't in the mood to play cat and mouse with him.

Jericho's smirk increased. "Ah well Steph, that depends --- how much do you cost?" Chris asked, with a snicker.

Stephanie's eyes flashed a look of hurt in them for a second but then she quickly recovered. "You never cease to amaze about how many times you can accuse me of being something I'm not."

Chris nodded. "Oh okay, so you do it for free then? You know Steph, you can make some serious dough if you consider charging all the men that come a knocking on your door at the strike of midnight, or hell anytime."

Stephanie glared at Chris. "Oh haha you're so funny, and that whole apes with the pie in my face thing was so damn hilarious, I'm laughing inside Chris, but believe me you made a mistake messing with me. I'm Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley damnit and I will not be treated this way and as soon as my husband, Triple H, gets back he will make you pay."

Chris rolled his eyes. "Ah yes, but what will the ever so lonely Stephanie do without her precious husband Triple H? You know Steph, I heard DDP has a crush on you, might as well give him some pleasure tonight eh? Sure he's obsessed with Sara but I bet no man can resist your overly experienced moves, but haha what am I saying? DDP probably has already become another notch on your bedpost, you know Stephanie I think you are by far the sluttiest woman in the world, you should call the Guinness book of world records, and make sure they realize your pretty little name should be in that book."

Andrew stood in the background listening to the insults Chris was throwing at Stephanie with an unreadable look in his eyes, Andrew frankly didn't care who decided to make fun or call Stephanie names, but the words coming out of Chris's mouth were horrible and completely out of line, even to Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley, a girl who had broken his heart. Andrew made himself hidden behind a door but made sure he was still in range to hear the conversation between Stephanie and Chris, Andrew snorted a silent snort when he heard the faint hurt in Stephanie's voice, usually he would pass it off as a scheme, but any woman would be hurt by those type of words, Andrew straightened his body up and went to confront Chris when he heard Chris call Stephanie:

"A no good bottom feeding filthy trash bag ho."

But before Andrew could do anything D-Von and Buh-Buh Ray Dudley stormed over to where Stephanie and Chris were with a look of anger painted on both of their faces, Andrew hid back behind the door to listen to the conversation.

"You know Jericho you can't seem to shut your mouth when it comes to certain things can you? This lady right here deserves respect and you're obviously not giving it to her, I don't think you realize who this is. This is Stephanie McMahon, owner of the ECW, and also a very close friend of ours; We keep our bosses close, but we keep our friends closer." D-Von replied.

The edges of Chris's mouth twitched, and then finally curved into a devious smile. "Ah, how *close* are you and Stephanie?"

D-Von stared at Chris confused for a second, but then shook his head in disgust. "You're a bastard, I thought we were sick, but we don't come close to you. Maybe all this tormenting on Stephanie is just your way to get her attention."

Buh-Buh Ray laughed. "Yeah really Chris! Maybe the only way you can get the attention of a woman who hates the ground you walk on is to make her hate you even more." Buh-Buh Ray said, smirking

Jericho waved a dismissive hand. "Aww her two bodyguards protecting her, so Steph how many times have you rocked their world? You obviously had to do something to make these two so loyal to you, I say about 10, but wanna confirm it?"

Stephanie staggered back, all the way back until she bumped into a body, she turned around and sighed thankfully when she saw it was Shane who she had bumped into. Stephanie hugged Shane quickly, letting her arms wrap around Shane's neck, somehow knowing that her big brother was here, holding her, made her feel safe, she felt like Shane wouldn't let her down.

Shane hugged Stephanie back, his dark eyes automatically gaining a concerned look when he felt the tension and anguish in his sister's hug; Shane looked over his sister's head and glared when he saw Chris Jericho, then the realization dawned upon him when he saw The Dudley Boyz standing in front of Jericho, looking like they were about to attack him. "Stay back Steph."

Stephanie found herself being untangled from her brother, she could see the anger in his eyes and the state his body was in Stephanie knew something bad was only going to happen from this. "Shane, no --- let's just go."

Shane ignored Stephanie and glared at Jericho. "You're such an ass, what did you say about her this time?"

Jericho smirked. "Only the truth, that you have a slut for a little sister."

Andrew widened his eyes as he saw Shane, The Dudley Boyz and Chris all attack each other at the same time, it was like a bomb had exploded in all of them and all four of them were fighting with everything they had. Andrew's eyes bounced over to where Stephanie was, he let his eyes bore into Stephanie's, he could see the vulnerability and fear in her eyes as she watched the four men in front of her; Shane had been thrown against the wall and was passed out cold, Andrew watched The Dudley Boyz attacking Jericho, all three of them in one of the violent fights ever. Andrew took in a deep breath, weighing his options out ...

He could just walk away, why shouldn't he? Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley was no concern of his, not anymore.

But what did he have to risk? Andrew was no friend of Jericho's or The Dudley Boyz, so basically he would just be doing a good deed, saving Stephanie, he would have done it for anybody, right? Right. This would be doing a good deed and also slapping the WWF in the face, which they completely deserved after the way they treated him like shit ...

Yeah, this would just be a good deed ... he could always go back to hating Stephanie, right?

Andrew snapped his head back to reality when he saw D-Von and Chris's fist fight heading towards Stephanie, shaking his head Andrew emerged from his hiding spot, jumped over the passed out bodies of Buh-Buh Ray and Shane and grabbed Stephanie by the arm, a little more roughly then he had planned, he sent them both flying towards a wall, where they both crashed into, Andrew's body crushing against Stephanie's unexpectedly.

Stephanie groaned, but then her eyes widened when she saw Andrew only a few inches from her face, Stephanie's heartbeat quickened as the thought that Andrew could be helping Jericho out entered her mind; Stephanie pushed Andrew away from her and brought her hand up and slapped him, sending him back in shock.

Andrew touched his face in shock, *she hit me!* Andrew thought to himself. Andrew rubbed the left side of his face as he watched Stephanie back up away from him, he watched her closely as she walked over to her brother and Buh-Buh Ray. Andrew watched the four once fighting men depart after a group of refrees came their way, Andrew watched Stephanie walk off with The Dudley Boyz and Shane, he narrowed his eyes as she finally disappeared out of view.

Somehow his good deed had gone terribly wrong, *she must have thought you were with Jericho* Andrew thought to himself. Well no big right? Who cares what she thought? He saved her and that was the end of it ... but somehow walking away didn't seem possible.