Part 3
When Stephanie began to show the evidence of her pregnancy she had no actual alternative but to enlighten the superstars on her show of her condition. This way she knew that she could control what they knew and stem some of the gossip that was bound to fly around the locker room about it. Also she had to tell them that within a few months she would be going on maternity leave and would be appointing a replacement - if she could find one that she even halfway trusted.
After delivering the news and being tremendously embarrassed about what questions might follow, she was flabbergasted. It seemed that her employees were much more engrossed in who may end up replacing her while she was away, rather than who the unnamed father might be. Although from the smile and the thumbs up sign she got from Edge, it seemed to her that some may have already figured it out for themselves.
Paul Heyman was rather insistent on knowing who was going to be the temporary General Manager and Stephanie took a perverse pleasure in informing him that there was one certainty about the position and it was that it definitely would not be him who got the job.
After stewing over Stephanie's decision for a little while and coming to the conclusion that Stephanie was making an uniformed, predisposed decision by not even considering him for the job, Paul marched himself off to her office to demand that she at least consider him. After all wasn't he the greatest agent in all of sport's entertainment, hadn't he signed Brock Lesnar when no one else could, hadn't he secretly signed the Big Show and helped to screw Brock Lesnar out of his precious title and then he had performed the coo of all coos and signed Kurt Angle - although that hadn't lasted long.
His big plan to appeal to Stephanie was put on hold when she was not in her office, but not being one to give up he decided to wait for her. Walking around Stephanie's desk, Paul sat down in her plush leather executives chair and imagined that this was all his. When Stephanie's private line rang, Paul answered it.
"Hello, Stephanie McMahon's phone. Paul Heyman, the best agent in sports entertainment speaking."
"Heyman? What are you doing there? Never mind, put Steph on," Kurt said annoyed by Paul's self important speech and the fact that his mother had only just told him that Stephanie had called looking for him months ago. "Now," Kurt ordered his ex-agent. The two of them hadn't parted on the best of terms, Kurt had fired him after he had caused Kurt to not only lose the WWE Title belt, but also be out for three months with a leg injury.
Paul Heyman smiled evilly, he knew about Kurt's feelings for Stephanie - hell, the entire company knew - and since Stephanie had only announced her condition this morning there was no way that Kurt could know about it and he decided to have a little fun with Kurt. "Sorry, Kurt. Steph's not around right now."
"Where is she?"
"Not sure... I know she's probably in the ladies room puking her guts out," Paul told him trying not to snicker.
"Is she sick or something?" Kurt asked concerned for his lover's welfare.
"Not unless you consider getting knocked up an illness."
Kurt was shocked in utter and absolute silence. Stephanie was pregnant. So many questions began to whirl through his brain. How far along was she? Was the baby his? Was he finally going to have the family he had always wanted with the woman of his dreams?
When Kurt remained silent, Heyman continued his speech. "Naturally Steph's keeping pretty quiet on the daddy issue. Hey, with her past history, she might not even know. After all she stills sees Triple H around and then there is Eric Bischoff - have you ever thought that their anger towards each other is a little too contrived? And if it was one of those two, she would want to keep quiet, if she told her daddy about that he'd probably have a heart attack."
Kurt felt his heart shatter into a million tiny little fragments. Once again stupid love-sick Kurt had lost out when it came to winning the heart of Stephanie McMahon. Although he didn't believe that Stephanie had lowered herself to be with that jerk Bischoff, there was always a chance that she and Hunter had put aside their differences and decided to try again. Now all he wanted to do was to be alone and wallow in his self-pity. "Look, I gotta go."
"Sure. Do you want me to tell Stephanie that you called?" Paul questioned trying to keep his voice monotone so he did not reveal his glee at the sound of Kurt's obvious heartbreak.
"No, don't bother," Kurt answered hanging up.
Paul simply laughed as he hung up his end and just in time as Stephanie happened to walk back into her office. When she caught sight of the portly man whom had made himself at home in her office she glared at him.
"Paul, what the hell do you think that you are doing in here? And were you just using my phone?"
"Stephanie..."
She cut him off, "That's Ms. McMahon to you."
"Fine," Paul grumbled. "Ms. McMahon, I was simply in here waiting for you to arrive when your phone rang. Since no one else was around I answered it."
Stephanie sighed in resignation, "Okay. Who was it?"
"It was a wrong number. They were looking for someone called Sandra."
"Oh."
"Well... aren't you curious as to why I'm here?"
"Paul, what do you want?" she asked as she rubbed her temples trying to stop the headache she felt from growing stronger.
"I just think..."
"Before you get going. I simply want to say that there is no chance in hell that I am going to appoint you to run Smackdown while I'm on maternity leave."
"Why not?" Paul whined.
Stephanie shook her head and sat on the overstuffed leather couch that was situated against one of the walls in her office. "Because I have watched you, Paul. You have screwed around with *my* brand and *my* superstars since the moment that you arrived here from Raw. If you really need to know why you'll never be in charge, simply look in a mirror and remember all of the things you have ever done to the wrestlers that have worked for you."
Paul glared at her, but managed to keep his temper in check. "You know what, Stephanie. One of these days all your so-called decisions are gonna come back and bite you in the ass."
Stephanie watched as Paul huffed out of her office before she breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't have the strength or patience these days to deal with childish temper tantrums from him or anyone else. Pulling herself up slowly from the couch, she moved over to the chair Paul had vacated and sat down to do some of the mountain of paperwork that had been piled on her desk by Dawn Marie. However every now and then she couldn't help but glance at the phone and wonder why Kurt didn't call.
The second that a very upset Paul Heyman arrived back at the locker room he found The Big Show just sitting there waiting for him.
"What did she say?" Show demanded eagerly. He knew that if Paul ended up in charge of Smackdown then he would finally get another title shot, not to mention be in a power position over all of the other superstars.
"What do you think she said?" Paul replied sarcastically. "That bitch doesn't realise my potential."
The Big Show sat down on the hard wooden bench provided and sulked. He didn't really care that Paul was upset, he only cared that he wasn't going to get to be second in charge. Hearing noises behind him he turned around and found Heyman pawing through his things.
"What are you doing, Paul?"
Paul found what he was looking for, Show's cell phone. "I'm just borrowing your phone."
"Fine," Show grumbled. "While you play around with my phone, I'll go and get ready for my match."
Paul barely even noticed that Big Show was gone into the shower area, he was too busy looking through his address book for a certain phone number. He eventually discovered it and then dialed, "Hey, Eric. Guess who?"
By the time that Monday night Raw rolled around, Stephanie was encased safely within the confines of her parent's mansion. She had given up her stylishly modern apartment to move back home, figuring that both she and the baby would be better off where they had a built in support base. So far both of her parents seemed thrilled to have her living with them again, she didn't kid herself though she knew a lot of the excitement of having her here was that they would be able to get their hands on their grandchild as soon as he or she was born. Not that she was complaining, in fact she was loving all of the attention she was getting; growing up she had always had to share it with Shane, but now she could enjoy what an only child would experience - if they were in their mid-twenties, pregnant and had seemingly been abandoned by the man they loved.
A few minutes before Raw was scheduled to begin, Stephanie - and a giant bowl of buttered popcorn - settled down next to her father on the expensive leather furniture of her parents family room. Much to Vince's surprise she had admitted to watching Raw, but he wasn't surprised about the reason she gave him; 'To beat your enemy, you have to know your enemies weaknesses.' Stephanie had just gotten comfortable when Raw began, but instead of JR and The King or the first match starting, Eric Bischoff appeared.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Raw viewers. I would at this time like to congratulate my fellow General Manager, Stephanie McMahon on her pregnancy. No word yet on who the proud papa is, but if I know Stephanie - and I do - she is probably having a tough time figuring out exactly who of her many acquaintances it may be. So now sit back and enjoy Raw, the best show in sports entertainment."
Before Eric had even finished his speech, Vince was on the phone to his secretary, telling her to inform Bischoff to be in his office first thing in the morning. Hanging up he turned to Stephanie and saw the tears filling up his little girls eyes.
"It's okay Princess," he whispered soothingly, as he placed an arm around her. "You know I'm not going to let him get away with insulting you... or *my* grandchild."
"I know, daddy," she sniffled as she snuggled into his embrace.
Vince held onto his little girl and vowed that he would make Eric pay for causing his daughter even a moment of pain from his ill timed and moronic speech.
Early the next morning Vince paced his office as he waited for Eric to arrive. The truth was that the pacing in a small way had stemmed his anger - slightly - he no longer wanted to kill Bischoff, just cause him great pain. By the time Eric finally deemed to show his face, Vince had almost worn a groove into his expensive pure wool carpeting.
"Vince, you wanted to talk to me," Eric said as he made himself comfortable in one of Vince's designer office chairs.
"Well, I didn't call you in here to see your butt-ugly face."
Eric pulled a funny face from the shock of Vince's words. "Look, Vince, if this is about what I said on Raw..."
"You're damn right it's about what you said. You went way too far this time, Eric."
"Vince..."
Vince shook his head violently, "Don't Vince me. You insulted not only my daughter, but my unborn grandchild. Eric, you're on your last chance and if you want to keep your nice cushy job and fat paycheck; then I suggested that you leave my family out of your sick, twisted mind games."
"It was just supposed to be a joke," Eric told him. "I didn't mean for anyone to take offence."
"Eric, you always mean for people to take offence. Next time you decide to play a joke, remember the day that you almost lost your job," Vince forced out in anger. "Now get out of my sight."
Eric walked out of Vince's office grumbling under his breath and Vince smiled in satisfaction, confident that he and his family would have no more problems with Eric Bischoff.
Stephanie had just woken up when her cell phone rang, hoping that it was finally Kurt she rushed to answer it. "Hello?"
"Hey Steph."
Stephanie was shocked into silence momentarily, he was the last person she had expected to call. "Hunter."
"I know I'm probably the last person you want to talk to, but I just wanted to make sure that you were okay after Eric's speech last night. Just so you know every one of the superstars here blasted him about it."
"Thanks and I'll live."
Hunter was silent himself for a few moments. "I also wanted to congratulate both you and Kurt on the baby," he choked out the obviously painful words.
"Kurt?"
"Come on, Steph. There has always been something there between the two of you. Why do you think I acted so insane while we were married and you were his business manager?" Hunter told her. "Back then even I could see it."
"That's really funny, because I didn't see it. I didn't see any of it."
"Anyway... if you need anything and I mean anything. You know my number," Hunter offered.
Stephanie was touched by Hunter's offer, "Thanks."
"Remember, Steph. Just because we didn't work out... it doesn't mean that I don't care."
Stephanie hung up and sighed, even Hunter was showing more interest in her than Kurt was and he was her *ex*-husband. Feeling stressed out and overly hormonal, Stephanie went upstairs to her room to brood all alone.
TBC...
