Disclaimer: I don't own the character or the real people portrayed in this fic. The people belong to themselves and the gimmicks belong to Vince McMahon and WWE.

Based around the song, "Homeward Bound," by Simon and Garfunkel.

To read the original version with song lyrics go to: bitter-solemnity. com /fics /Moments.php (just get rid of the spaces).

Distribution: If you want it, ASK, please don't just take it and post it somewhere.

Summary: A prequel to "I've Been Loving You Too Long," these are moments in Chris Jericho and Stephanie McMahon's life.

A/N: It doesn't have a specific time, just know that it's after Stephanie became GM.

Jericho walked into the dressing room, exhausted after his match with Edge. It had been a rigorous match, but he had come out with the victory. But right now, he just wanted to take a shower and get back to his hotel room. He was hoping to get at least seven hours sleep tonight. The past few nights he had had to drive practically all night, and had barely gotten any sleep at all.

He just wanted to take a shower, gather up his things, and go back to the hotel. Luckily he had chosen a hotel fairly close to the arena, so it wouldn't take him a long time to get there. That, and he was so tired, he might fall asleep while driving.

He got out of the shower, and started putting things in his bag. He glanced at his cell phone and caught the time. He hadn't realized how late it was. He figured that everyone else would be gone by now. That was a blessing, last thing he wanted to do was get caught up in a conversation with anyone.

He grabbed his things, and proceeded to walk out to his rental car. He noticed that there were no people walking up and down the hallways, they must have all left soon after the show had ended. Lucky them, he wish that he could have left early.

Jericho was walking down the hallway when he heard a sound coming from one of the dressing rooms. He tried to ignore it, but he heard it again. It sounded like someone was crying, and it didn't sound like a male. As tired as he was, he couldn't just let someone cry, and walk away. He wasn't raised to turn away someone in need.

He pinpointed the dressing room that it was coming from, and knocked lightly on the door. He could hear a stirring inside, but the person inside made no motion for him to come inside. He tapped again lightly.

"What is it?" the voice said from behind the door. Jericho could tell that whoever was inside had been crying. He still couldn't tell who it was though, probably because of the choked tears impairing their voice.

"Can I come in?" Jericho asked. There was a long pause, and Jericho could hear the person inside rustling around.

"Come in," the person said.

Jericho walked in the room, and immediately knew who's dressing room he had walked into. It wasn't hard to figure out, looking at the leather couch, wooden desk, and all around sophistication of the room. He was in Stephanie's dressing room. He looked towards the couch, and saw her sitting there looking over some documents. Jericho was standing somewhat awkwardly in the middle of the room so he walked over to the couch and sat next to her.

"Steph, I heard crying, and I just wanted to make sure everything was ok," he said looking at her bowed head.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I was just looking over some stuff," Stephanie said keeping her head down, "What are you doing here so late anyways?"

"Well, I took a long shower and...hey, wait, don't try to change the subject, now really what's wrong?"

"I said it was nothing Chris," Stephanie said quickly, trying to get off the subject. Jericho put his index finger under her chin and lifted her face to look into his.

"Come on Steph, I know something's wrong."

"It's just all the stress that's going on with my life," she told him.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, first there's the settlement that's going on with HHH, the divorce was finalized, but we're still splitting everything we have, and it's just so difficult."

"Do you still love him?" Jericho asked, curious to find out her answer.

"No, it's not that, it's just once it became finalized, it was like 'that's it', it's really over. I was married, but now I'm not, it's weird."

"Well, I'm sure it is difficult to adjust too, but you'll get through it, you're strong," he said giving her shoulder a companionable squeeze, "Now that can't be the only thing that's bothering you." She sighed, and looked down again, as if trying to silence the conflict in her head.

"You really want to know?"

"Of course I do Stephanie, I wouldn't have come in here if I didn't want to know what was wrong."

"It's also my dad, he's putting so much pressure on me to be a good general manager, and it's hard to live up to his standards, I just want to make him proud of me I guess."

"Why does he put so much pressure on you?" he asked trying to understand what she was telling him. He wanted to understand so that he could help her if she needed it.

"He doesn't trust Bischoff as far as he can throw him, and he wants me to be successful over Bischoff, and it's not easy. He's cunning Chris, and sometimes I just feel like I don't have what it takes to be the GM. I'm trying the best that I can, and sometimes I just feel like it's all for nothing, that nothing I do is right," she said before breaking down in tears.

Jericho didn't know what to do, so he just put his arms around her shoulders and brought her to him. She buried her face in his chest, and he just ran his fingers through her hair. He didn't know how to assuage her stress, so he just held her. She sobbed into his shirt, making it damp, but he didn't care, he just wanted to help her, to make her feel better.

He couldn't help but notice how good she smelled though, and how pretty she looked even with tears streaming down his face. Sure, Stephanie was his friend, but he'd never looked at her as anything more. Yet, she felt so good in his arms, and he unconsciously tightened his arms around her until her tears subsided. She broke away from him, and looked at him, tears obstructing his view of her eyes.

"I'm sorry I cried all over you."

"Hey it's ok, you had to let it all out," he said sympathetically.

"Thanks," she said simply.

Jericho looked into her eyes, and before he knew what he was doing, he leaned in and kissed her. His brain finally took control, and he realized what he had done. He was surprised by his own actions, he didn't know what had possessed him to kiss her, but she was looking so gorgeous and vulnerable he couldn't seem to resist.

The even more shocking part was that she was kissing him back. Never in a million years, had he expected her to kiss back. Push him away and slap him silly, yes, but kiss him back, never. But she was, and he couldn't help but like it. He liked kissing her, he came to a startling conclusion: he really, really liked kissing her.

He was in heaven, he had obviously died and gone to heaven. Here he was kissing Stephanie McMahon, and he had never felt more at peace than he did in this moment. It was like a silent calm had come over his body, and undulated itself in every vein, every cell. He felt complete for the first time in his life.

They both pulled away at the same moment, and Jericho stared at Stephanie in amazement. She was looking at him in shock, and he couldn't blame her. He didn't know how he had ended up kissing her, but he didn't regret it, not for a single second. He hoped she didn't either.

"You...you just kissed me," she said, shock still in her voice, and in her face.

"Yeah," he said, big words escaping him.

"Why -why did you do that?"

"I don't exactly know." He couldn't get his brain to work, a fuzzy feeling of happiness clouding his every thought. He had never felt like this before, and he didn't know how to react to the entire situation, and it looked as if Stephanie was in the same predicament.

"What happens now?" she asked, her eyes exploring his.

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see," he answered, before leaning in and kissing her again.