Two Months Later Sean and Jonie had now been seeing each secretly for a little over two months. Neither Terri (Sean's wife at the time) nor Paul suspected a thing. Well now, Stephanie was a different story. Up to three weeks ago she wouldn't have thought anything was happening between the two of them or that Joan was being unfaithful to Paul. Because three weeks ago, she saw something that completely changed her mind.

Three Weeks Earlier

The day was Saturday, September 2, 2000 and it started off as just a normal, ordinary day, but that would soon be changed. Since the WWF had no show that day and neither Paul or Steph had to make appearances, Paul decided to take Steph to where ever she wanted to go as a late thank you for his birthday car. She decided that they were to go to Los Angeles for some over due summer shoe shopping. And that's where they went. All day the two friends tried on shoes and clothes. Well actually it was Steph that did all the trying on, Paul just stood outside the dressing rooms holding the clothes she didn't want and her purse.
When she was done and had all of her purchases they went to a hotel and agreed that they would fly home in the morning. Upon arriving at the hotel Paul was arguing with the manager about the reservations. Meanwhile, Stephanie was on the other side of the lobby when she sees Paul's supposed 'good friend' Sean Waltman and she goes over to say hi. Before she even makes it half way there, another familiar face comes into view, Jonie Lauer's. Sean goes up and passionately kisses Jo. When Steph sees this, her first thought is that she needs to tell Paul, but she quickly decides against it, it would hurt him too much. So instead she comes up with a lame excuse about how she doesn't feel that well and needs to go home. Paul obeys as he is asked and the two catch the soonest flight back to New York.
***NOW*** It is now Stephanie's 24th birthday and she has invited only her close friends. Including Amanda, Jessica, Jay, Paul and some others. Each guest was allowed to bring a guest of their own. Hmm, let's guess who Paul brought. If you guessed Miss He-She then you were correct. He even had to lecture Joan about how to be nice to Stephanie at her party. Now everybody has arrived at the party. It is very formal, unlike Paul's, which was casual. Stephanie's is in the McMahon's ballroom. The ladies must wear gowns/ dresses and the men must wear tuxes. Ms. McMahon was seen wearing strap-less, tight, lavender dress with her fairly new black pumps she got when shopping with Paul. Her hair is crimped and her face glows due to the subtle make-up upon her face and the bright lights in the ballroom. Since she had told Paul that he didn't have to wear the whole three-piece tux, he came dressed in nice dress pants and a navy blue muscle shirt. His shower-wet hair was hanging loose in ringlets on his back. As soon as Paul spots Stephanie he says that he's going to go over and talk to her and asks Joan if she wants to come with him. She doesn't even answer him as she walks off toward Sean Waltman who was standing at the other side of the room talking to Steph's boyfriend Jayson. Paul has just arrived to where Stephanie is and is waiting for her to acknowledge that he is there. " . Yea, that would be a good idea daddy but." Vince stops her and points to Paul. " I'm going to go now, ok?" he says to his daughter. " Okay daddy. See you later." She waves him off and turns her attention to Paul. " Hey Steph." " Hey, look I really need to tell you something and you need to promise that you won't be mad at me." " Stephie, I could never be mad at you. So what do you have to tell me?" " Come here." She pulls him into the connecting billiard room. " Okay," she takes a deep breath and tells him, " I think that Jonie is- is." " Is, what Steph?" " I think Joan is cheating on you. with Sean." " No way! That's impossible! You're just jealous that I have a stable relationship and that yours is going down the drain! Yea, that's it, your jealous!" he exclaims, immediately getting defensive. " No, Paul! That's not it!!!" she pleads through tears. " You're a goddamn liar Steph! She would never do that to me!!! You're a goddamn liar you know that!!! I hate you!!!" " No, Paul, no." she almost inaudibly whispers. No response comes from her best friend as he trudges out the door, with tears in his eyes, to go find Joan.

Meanwhile Jonie is in the bathroom making out with Sean. They have been in there for about 10 minutes when somebody opens the door. It is Marissa Mazola McMahon, Shane's wife. " Oh My God." She stands there in complete shock, Paul is one of her dearest friends and she would never want to see him hurt. " This isn't what it looks like Marissa." Jo instantly stands up and pushes Sean off her. " I'm telling Paul." " No!!! You can't! It would break his heart if he knew. I love him. I really do." " No you don't. If you did then you wouldn't be making out with one of his best friends." She stomps out of the bathroom to find and tell Paul what she had just witnessed. But before she can find him, Stephanie comes up crying and sobbing. " He hates me. He hates me. He hates me." She keeps repeating those three words over and over until Marissa asks, " Who hates you Steph?" " Paul does. I told him that I had seen Jonie and Sean together and he accuses me of being a lying, jealous bitch." She admits once safely in the game room with her sister in-law. " Did he really call you a bitch Steph? I know him and he loves you too much to call you that." " No, but I know he was thinking that! I could see it in his eyes. But he did tell me that I was jealous and lying." She confesses. " Steph, first off, why would you be jealous of that- that thing who calls itself a girl? And second off, you have never lied once in your life and he knows that. He's probably just mad because he knows deep down in his heart of hearts that you're right." " Well yea, I guess so. But still, he's mad at me and I don't want him to be mad at me. I only did what I thought was right. And now I wish I had never said anything. He's my best friend, I did what I did out of love, not jealousy. Why can't he just understand that Ris? Why?" " I don't know Steph, that's one question I can't answer for you. But I would suggest that you give him a few days to cool off and then call him or something. Otherwise I have no other advise. I'm sorry. I really am." " It's okay. I think I'm gonna go upstairs and fix my makeup, then I'll be down." " Alright. See you in a few." She walks back to the ballroom, leaving Stephanie alone to think.

Paul has now been searching for his girlfriend for about 20 minutes. He has looked all over the mansion and the driveway. When he is about to call her cell phone he sees her slowly and practically tip toeing down the stairs. He angrily goes up to her. " Where have you been?" " Up stairs." She tells him, out of breath. " Why are you out of breath?" She hesitates before saying, " The view from the balcony just takes your breath away, have you seen it?" " Yes, actually I have. Back to the point though, we're going." " Where?" " Home." " Well, okay, let me just go upstairs and grab my coat." She heads off to the spiral staircase. " No, I'll get it. What room did you leave it in?" Her eyes get huge as she thinks of a reason for her to get her coat. She obviously can't let him get it, it is in the room where a naked Sean is. " Um. I'm not sure, let me go get it." " Then I'll come with you." " Paul, that's not necessary. It doesn't take two people to get a coat." " Well, can't I want to go with my girlfriend to get something?" " No you can't! I want you to go start the car." " Already started." " Well then, fine you can come with me." When they are in front of the bedroom door, Joan quickly opens the door and locks it behind her. At that moment is when Paul knows that something is going on. He is beginning to regret his actions toward Stephanie earlier. Just then Jonie comes out of the bedroom holding her coat. " Let's go." She casually says and is headed for the stairs when Paul tells her that he is going to go into the bedroom to make sure that the windows are closed. " They are. Come on Paul, you said that we were going to go." She whined. " Go get in the car." " But." " I said, get in the car." " Fine. But only if you come with me." " No Joan, I'll be right." His eyes have now fixated on Stephanie. She is walking into her bedroom, black mascara running down her face. Paul knows that he is the cause of those tears. Without one more word to Joan, he runs off in Stephanie's direction. When he catches up to her, she already has her hand on the brass doorknob. He gently touches her shoulder and spins her around. " Look, baby I'm sorry, so so sorry." " Don't be sorry, I probably jumped to conclusions. Look I have to go now, okay." " Stephie, don't be mad at me. Please don't." " I'm not mad at you. You're the one who hates me remember?" now she is yelling and crying even more. " I don't hate you! I love you baby, you know that, I know you do." " Well just a half an hour ago you were calling me a liar and accusing me of being JEALOUS of HER!!!!!!!!" she exclaims, pointing to Jonie and pounding his chest relentlessly. " Excuse me Paul." Joan yells once Paul told Stephanie that he loved her. " He does NOT and I repeat NOT love you, you bitch!" letting go of Stephanie he turns to Joan getting in her face, his own face full of anger. " If you ever call her that again I'll kick your ass. You can bet on that babe. I love you, but if you EVER call her that or say anything bad about her again I will personally KICK YOUR ASS!!!!" Everybody that was quietly chatting or dancing a few minutes ago are now looking up at the three people who are causing such commotion. Jay was outside when he hears Stephanie screaming. Instinctively he thinks something is wrong and sprints up the stairs. Once he is there he asks Paul, " What the hell did you do to her?" " He did nothing Jay." " I was asking him." Since Jay was pretty muscular he takes Paul's shirt into his fist and looks him dead in the eyes and slowly asks. " What.Did.You.Do.To.Her?" " Jay, he did absolutely nothing to me." " He told her he loved her." There goes Joan's big mouth again. Jay raises his fist and makes it connect to Paul's jaw, sending Paul to the ground. Once the situation registered in Steph's mind, she goes to Paul's side. " Get away!!!! Jay go!!!!!" she orders him. " You too Jo." Paul weakly tells her, holding his jaw. Both obey their boyfriend/ girlfriend's orders and Jay heads back outside while Joan grabs the keys to the car from Paul's pocket and heads outside to the car. Shane has now come upstairs and Steph asks him to get all of the guests out of here and tell them that she is terribly sorry. Shane follows his sister's instructions and is on his way down stairs. " Look, I'm really sorry about Jayson. He's got a really bad temper sometimes. But still that doesn't excuse him from hitting you." " That doesn't excuse him from hitting you either Steph." Completely shocked, " He doesn't hit me." She lies. " Baby, I know he does, you got the bruises." He caresses the bare skin of her arm. " N- No he doesn't. He never has and he never will. He just has a really bad temper." " Don't deny it baby." Their eyes lock as she puts the ice up to his jaw. When the cold ice first touches his face, he slightly flinches, but not losing eye contact with Stephanie. Just looking in her baby blue you can tell she is not telling him the truth. He decides not to make the conversation go any further for he doesn't want to make her any more uncomfortable and changes the subject. " Guess I wrecked your party didn't I?" he laughs. " Guess so." She laughs also, letting any self-doubt or self-consciousness just float away.
Late that night a very drunk Sean emerges from the bedroom and is on his way to the bathroom, still naked, to take a shower. But he already hears the shower running so he figured that he must have already started it. But when he opens the curtain to get in, he sees a brunette with a nice ass who he has no clue who it is, and one of his best friends, he thinks its Kevin but can't be sure. The guy is fucking the girl's brains out and Sean just stands there, not quite comprehending what he is seeing. He knows that somehow this is bad, but he's just not quite sure how. So instead of thinking anymore about it he walks back to the bedroom that he had fallen asleep in.

Once their shower is over Stephanie realizes what she has just done. The one thing that she didn't want to do, to be like Jonie. She just had cheated on her boyfriend and Paul had just cheated on his girlfriend. " Paul, that was wrong. Really wrong. I had promised myself that no matter how much I wanted to." " Shut Up." He silences her with a passionate and hard kiss. She tries to break free but Paul keeps her captive and demands entrance to her mouth. She meets his demands and allows his tongue to explore her mouth. " Paul this isn't right." She tells him as she wriggles free of his semi- tight hold on her wrists. " Stephie, she hurt me. I wanna hurt her back." " If you're gonna use me as some object for revenge, I don't want to be a part of it. The only reason I would be with you would be because you love me and I love you. Not because you want to hurt Joan. Nobody, not even her deserve that. And besides, earlier you said that she would never hurt you like that." " I know what I said, but Stephie, I really do love you. And I'm not trying to use you a weapon to get her back." " Then break up with her." " Well, that will take some time." " I can wait. I have all the time in the world for you. I think you should go now." "Yea, I should." He gathers his clothes and is about to leave. " Oh, don't forget to take Sean with you. He's in the spare room, across the hall." " Thanks. Bye." " Bye, See you Monday." " See you Monday, Baby, I love you." " Love you too."

Wednesday, November 29th, 2000 This is Paul and Stephanie's one-year anniversary as on screen husband and wife. Vince had taken it upon himself to throw them a party. Just imagine, one year ago the two hated each other and would do anything to make each other feel like scum. Now, they are best friends who love each other and would do anything for one another.
The party was being held at the world wrestling federation headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut. Vince had been planning this for weeks. The decorations had to be just right, the cake had to have just the right frosting and all the little minor details like where everybody would hide and what alibis they would use to get out of having to see Stephanie or Paul on that day. Oh, did I forget to tell you? Yea, it's a surprise party. Paul and Steph have no clue that when they come down to Stamford for a ' meeting' that they are going to be shocked by a party for them. Jonie knew what Vince was up to and decided it was best that she not go. And Jayson was sick in bed with the flu. So Mr. and Mrs. Game caught a direct flight from Los Angeles (where SD was held) to Stamford together instead of Steph going on the private McMahon jet and Paul just flying first class on a regular airplane. When they landed they were picked up by an irregularly long, white stretch limo. It was like they were going on their honeymoon or something. " Paul, what is this?" she asks him as they drive up in back of WWF headquarters. The parking lot was dressed in various colored streamers, flowers and a huge purple banner with bright pink lettering stating, " CONGRATS, YOU MADE IT A YEAR." " I have no clue." They get out of the limo and walk around the rather large parking lot. " Paul, this is seriously freaking me out." His arm goes around her waist, pulling her closer to him.

The quests hadn't heard or seen the limo that held Stephanie and Paul pull up. So Stephanie's good friend Trish yells to Vince who is on the other side of the lot. " Where the hell are they? They were supposed to be here 10 minutes ago!" she then realizes that Paul and Stephanie were standing right there, smack dab in the middle of the lot. " Oops. SURPRISE!!!!!!" she yells. A chorus of " surprises" joins her. Paul pretends to be shocked and falls to the ground. " Get up you big baby." " Under one condition." " What is it?" " Kiss my boo boo." " Stay on the ground." She gets off the ground and brushes the gravel off her knees. After he notices that no body is paying attention to him he too gets off the ground and is off to find Steph. When he finds her she is talking to the girl who spoiled their surprise party, Trish. ". It's okay Trish, you really don't have to apologize, if everyone had screamed surprise then I probably would've fainted or something. You know me." " Yea that's true. I think you have a visitor." Trish told Steph, pointing to Paul who was making faces behind Stephanie's back. Steph didn't think that Paul would be right behind her so she turns around and goes to walk. But instead she ends up crashing right into Paul and stumbles. Without even thinking about it, his arms go around her waist to keep her from falling. " Sorry Paul." She shyly tells him, looking at the ground, twisting out of his hold on her waist. Before Paul has time to reply, his cell phone rings. P: Hello Joan: Hey baby, how are you? P: Fine, but you called for a reason. So what is it? J: Well I was wondering when you were coming home. P: I'm staying in Connecticut tonight and I'll be home in the morning. J: Okay, thanks baby, see you tomorrow. P: Bye. " Who was that Paul?" a voice asks sneaking up behind him. Startled, Paul turns around to see the always-nosey Trish Stratus. " Hi, Paul how you doing? Congratulations on making it a year with Steph." He mocks her. " But if you have to know, it was Joan." " Oh. What did she want?" " When I'd be home." " Oh, okay." She runs back to Stephanie to deliver the information she had just received.
Everybody is talking to their friends and having a good time when Trish yells. " TIME FOR CAKE!!!" anybody who was talking or just wondering around quickly scurries over to where the triple layer chocolate with chocolate frosting cake lay. On the top in vanilla icing reads, " Hunter & Steph, Many Happy Memories." Paul and Steph were in no rush to get to the cake, they were having a nice time just sitting in the chairs talking when Trish eyes them. She signals them to get their butts over there now. " C'mon Steph, we are the quests of honor" " Fine." She agrees, but doesn't budge from her chair. " Stephie, c'mon. Or else Trish is gonna kick our asses." " Make me." She playfully teases. " I will." He picks her up by the waist and slings her over his shoulder. She is pounding on his back to put her down but he ignores her pleas and continues walking over to where Trish is. " Paul!!! Put me down!!!" " What's the magic word?" " NOW!!!!!!" they are now at the table that holds the food. " Nope, that's not it." " I'll stay here, I'm not saying anything else to you." " Okay, fine by me." Since she is wearing a short mini skirt, you could see her ass popping out of her thong. Paul notices that and decides to put her down. " Thank you." " Hey I thought you weren't talking to me?" " Trish can you kindly tell him that I wasn't talking to him but I was thanking god." " She wasn't talking to you she was." " I heard her Trish." " He heard you." " I know. I've got ears you know." Paul and Stephanie are now on speaking terms. And about an hour later the mastermind behind this party comes out, Vince McMahon himself. " Hi daddy." " Hi sweetheart, how do you like it?" " Oh, I love it daddy, it's the best party ever." " I'm glad. You know Trish and I took weeks of our spare time to cook this up." " Well I'm very grateful daddy, but in all honesty me and Paul should get going. We're driving to New York and I really don't want to get stuck in rush hour." " Okay sweetheart, see you later." Steph goes to get Paul and tell him that they have to leave. " Paul say bye to everybody, I want to get on the road before rush hour." " Okay, give me 10 seconds. MAY I HAVE EVERYBODIES ATTENTION" everyone turns to look at Paul. " THE GUESTS OF HONOR ARE LEAVING!!!!! THANK YOU ALL AND GOODNIGHT!!!" " That was 11 seconds." " Oh shut up." " Make me." " I will." He takes her face into his hands and presses his lips to hers. She is shocked by what he has just done and what he is about to do. He slips his tongue into her mouth, and if possible brings their bodies closer. She breaks the kiss and pushes him off of her. " Paul, we can't. It's not right. I have a boy." " Shhh. Just get in the limo." She looks at him with a puzzled look on her face but does what she is told and steps into the white limo that they arrived in. Trish saw the whole thing, she knew that they were destined to be together. All she had to do was have Paul catch Joan and Sean together, then he would break up with her and Steph would be all his.
"Paul, never, ever kiss me again. I already told you that we couldn't be together until you break up with her. And you know what happened at my party was a mistake. We both agreed on that. Just promise me that you wont do that anymore. I mean I love you; I love you more than anything. But I'm not gonna be anyone's mistress. Okay?" " I know, but Stephie I told you that it would take some time for me to break up with her." " It's been two months since you said that Paul. I don't know what to believe." " I know baby, I know. It's just hard, you know? I've been with her for like 3 years, that's a lot of time baby. As soon as I catch her with Sean I'll break up with her on the spot. But right now, I don't know, can we just drop the subject for now?" " Yea, sure." She angrily says to him. The rest of the limo ride is silent until.