Disclaimer: don't own anything, except Candice and Amanda who are creatively based on people in read life, the rest are owned by the WWE and Vince Mcmahon

The Commissioner's office was empty when Candice and Amanda breezed in the next day; someone had opened a window allowing cool air to blow away the stifling heat. There was no sign of Commissioner Regal

"Wonder where he is?" said Amanda, sitting down behind the desk

"Probably getting all worried about his tag match later, wondering whether to beat the boss or not" replied Candice

"Which leaves us in sole command, what a pity" said Amanda grinning as she put her feet up on the desk

Candice grabbed the stack of papers on the desk as she sat down and flicked through them.

"More match lists to stick up, I'll do it now, you ok here?"

"Sure thing, I'll just explore his filing more, I got a feeling he hides things in there he shouldn't"

"What, like porn?" joked Candice, heading for the door

"Ewww, no!" Amanda covered her ears with her hands "I don't want to know these things, I've told you to keep those thoughts to yourself"

"Sorry, couldn't resist" grinned Candice

"I bet you couldn't, Candy" said Amanda, emphasising the last word

"I've told you not to call me that!" reprimanded Candice "call me Shadow"

"Then stop sharing your thoughts and I will"

"Fine, you win"

"Good good" said Amanda, walking over to the filing cabinet "have a nice time, be back in time for the show, oh and grab some snacks or something on the way will ya?"

"Yes m'am" replied Candice, smartly saluting

She ducked out of the room, closing the door as a paperweight hit the doorframe where her head had been. She was getting used to the bustle of the corridors now after a few days of it; she'd learnt to just elbow her way through instead of apologising left and right. She quickly tacked the papers up outside each room and headed for the refreshment table. As she grabbed two cans of Cola, she heard familiar voices arguing behind her. She didn't have to turn around to know that two lifelong residents of Dudleyville were standing behind her. She moved aside so they could stand at the table and began gathering some packets of cookies to take back with her.

"Who are you girl?" a harsh voice suddenly demanded

She turned to see D-Von Dudley staring at her through his lenseless glasses; it took every once of her energy not to laugh. Instead, she held her free hand out

"Shadow, I'm one of Commissioner Regal's new assistants"

"Regal got assistants now? And from his own country? That's gotta hurt his pay-packet" laughed D-Von, shaking her hand

"It would be if he was paying but I'm on Mr Mcmahon's payroll and my friend, Regal's other assistant is American" she corrected

"If she works for Regal, she can't be trusted" interrupted Bubba Ray, now staring at her over D-Von's shoulder

"Maybe I'm not to be," she said smiling "Maybe I am, you'll just have to find out, won't you?"

"I'll tell you this" Bubba Ray peered into her face menacingly "if you interfere in our matches on Regal's orders or not, your ass is going through a table"

"Thanks for the warning, I'll remember that"

With a smile, she turned around and walked back towards Regal's office. She didn't look back either until she got in the door.

"Guess who I just stood up to?" she said, throwing the packets on the desk "none other than the Dudleyz"

"No way! You are meeting them all aren't you?" chuckled Amanda, opening one of the packets

"A few does not qualify for them all Amanda, but it is kinda fun to be meeting them, I'm afraid I'm just burst out with something ridiculous like 'I really admire your work'" Shadow replied, sitting down "Anyway, what's been happening on the monitor since I was gone?

"Tag match is going on, I have no idea how this going to turn out" Amanda pointed at the screen as she munched a cookie

They sat and watched, the silence only broke by the sounds of crunching. It was surreal to watch Vince fight his daughter with his girlfriend who was his daughter's age at his side. They watched as Vince grabbed a mic and said that Regal knew what to do.

"Which is what?" Amanda asked.

Shadow shrugged in response. Amanda got her answer when Regal slammed Trish again. Shadow's jaw dropped as Stephanie gleefully threw a bucket of mud over Trish and rubbed it in with a mop while Vince berated Trish, saying she'd been his toy but she could never replace Daddy's little girl.

"This is crap, we gotta do something" said Shadow, standing up

"Like what? She had it coming Shadow, thinking she could out-manipulate him" Amanda pointed to Vince "he always gets the last laugh and she should have known that"

"So? She deserves better than being humiliated two nights in a row, make my excuses to Regal" Shadow called over her shoulder as she raced out of the room

"Where you going?" Amanda shouted

But there was no reply, Shadow had already gone.

*

Shadow waited until Vince, Stephanie and Regal had all disappeared before she ran down the ramp towards Trish. She was curled up in the ring, seeming almost afraid to lift her head after her humiliation. A sticky brown liquid covered her, everywhere. It was a pitiful sight. Shadow slid into the ring and tentatively touched Trish on the shoulder

"C'mon, time to get out of here" she said softly

Trish didn't say anything, looking at Shadow like she couldn't quite believe she was there. Shadow carefully pulled Trish out of the ring, wrapping an arm around her, ignoring the liquid that rubbed off on her clothes. Some of the crowd laughed at Trish, pointing in delight at her bedraggled condition. Trish kept her head bowed, unable to look at them. Shadow guided her through the curtain and took her into Trish's private dressing room, easy to recognise with it's huge gold star on the door. Once inside, Trish shrank away from her and collapsed onto the couch, her hair covering her face.

"How could he do this to me? How could he?" her voice was raw and throaty from crying

"You were just a pawn in his game, something to play with until he was bored" replied Shadow quietly "nothing means anything to him, it's all a game, a big stupid game"

"How could he!" Trish screamed, finally getting up

She looked around the room wildly and grabbed a vase of beautiful expensive looking flowers and threw it across the room. It shattered against the wall. She threw anything she could get her hands on; ornaments, cushions, glasses, plates. When everything was broken around her, she stopped, her hands shaking as her screams became quiet tears and she wrapped her arms around herself. Shadow nervously stepped forward and pulled Trish into a hug, letting her cry. Trish clung to her like a lifeline until her tears stopped. Shadow gently let her go and handed her some tissues for her tears

"Kind of redundant huh?" she joked quietly

"Yeah, I guess" replied Trish, a small smile on her face as she accepted the tissues and wiped her face "didn't I see you in the Commissioner's office?"

"That's right, I'm Shadow, one of Regal's new assistants"

"Why did you come out and get me? I don't owe you anything, what do you want? I can't offer you anything," Trish said warily

"No, you just looked like you needed a helping hand, you deserve better than this, whoring yourself for money and power" Shadow said, her emotions beginning to colour her words

"I guess that's what I was doing, whoring myself" all Trish's former feistiness had drained out of her in one night

"That's ok, it was what you had to do, I can understand that"

Shadow began to walk towards the door; she felt she had done all she had to do.

"Wait a minute" Trish called softly

Shadow stopped and turned, looking at her questioningly

"Thank you, for coming out when no one else would" said Trish, a little embarrassed.

"Can I ask you something Trish?" Shadow said, trying to ease the atmosphere "do you do in-ring training?"

"Sure, before every show, why?"

"Could I join you? I did training in another part of America before I joined here and I'd like to continue here" Shadow bit her lip as she waited for a reply

"Why not? It would good to have a new sparring partner, the other girls treat me like trash"

"My turn to say thank you now" said Shadow "I really am grateful, tomorrow before the Smackdown taping?"

"Sure" Trish smiled through the grime "now I have to take a shower"

"Ok, I'll leave you now, thank you" Shadow said as she walked towards the door

"No, thank you" Trish smiled ruefully "I'm not used to thanking people so don't get used to it"

Shadow laughed and walked out of the room, feeling a little lighter in her spirit. She had helped someone out who needed it and secured herself some in-ring training. It was going her way.

*

Amanda hunched over the desk, scribbling match ideas down before she forgot them. Watching the show inspired her to think of more so she kept on writing until the ideas stopped. She could go over them with Shadow when she got back from wherever she was and re-work them. She loved this creative process and seeing the results on TV. As she worked in silence, her Christian radar suddenly went off, he was outside the door.

"Christian!!" she yelled

The door swung open to reveal Christian looking at her suspiciously before setting foot inside the door

"How did you know I was out there?" he asked

"Just had an inkling" she replied, capping her pen and trying to slow down her quickening heartbeat "what were you doing out there?"

"Me? Just waiting for Edge so we can go rock the arena" he answered, flipping his hair over his shoulder "As we totally always do, not that the idiots out there will appreciate it"

"Of course not" she answered, hiding a smile

"Seriously, they just boo us out the arena out of pure ignorance, they don't let it enter their thick skulls that we're totally trying to educate them on their wrongs so they can put them right"

"Right" she said, laughing a little then deciding to plunge in with her own request "Christian, if you ever need a valet, then look no further, OK?"

"Why would Edge and I need a valet?" he retorted "we totally reek of awesomeness on our own, like we need any help, besides, what could you offer?"

"Inside information" she replied, fanning her face with one of the match listing papers "I can't stay an assistant forever so I'm just offering now before someone else takes me up on the offer"

Christian stared at her for a moment before storming out of the room, nearly knocking Shadow down in the process. He gave her a nasty look as he walked off. Shadow turned her surprised face towards Amanda

"What's eating him?"

"Nothing, I just offered my valet services to him, he seems to think he and Edge are awesome on their own"

"He'll see sense eventually" reassured Shadow

"Yeah, I know, where'd you go?"

"I helped Trish backstage, she was not at all happy, couldn't believe Mcmahon did that to her and I got myself some training sessions before each show with her"

"Cool, still don't see why you helped her, she doesn't deserve it"

"Whatever you think" replied Shadow with a smile as she settled down to help with the match ideas, keeping her thoughts to herself

Read, enjoy, review! Thanx to the guys who reviewed this, I means a whole heap to me so thank you thank you thank you! (shout outs - Harmonized: thanks for the great review girl, we Brit chicks must stay together! Hope u like this one as much as I do and BizGirlCharlie: so glad u think my characters are dead on, I hope they are, happy u like the chapters coz I do 2, thanks for reading!) Keep reading and reviewing.