DISCLAIMER: I do not own Chris Jericho, Stacy Keibler, or other wrestlers that appear in the following story. They are the property of the actors and actresses that portray them, as well as the WWE.

SPOILERS: None that I can think of.

Flowers for Jericho

CHAPTER EIGHT

Like most of the arts, seduction requires a dedicated master.

Beyond cartwheels and acting ditzy, Stacy Keibler could not be assumed to be the master of anything. However, this did not deter her from her ploy. She wanted Chris Jericho, and tonight she was determined to seduce him.

Bouncing around on the balls of her feet, she stared at the door to his locker room, waiting for him to return from his tag match. Clad in nothing but his 'Sexy Beast' t-shirt and black stilettos, she thought herself the picture of splendor (in less eloquent terms, she deemed herself 'mega sexy'). Dressed as she was, she knew he wouldn't deny a massage once he arrived.

And then, she thought with a smirk, she'd have him right where she wanted him: pinned underneath her.

Beyond blonde hair and a tendency to be oblivious, Stacy and Chris did have something else in common: a high failure rate of schemes. Unaware of this fact, she initiated step two of her plan (a seductive pose) once she heard the door opening. As a last minute thought, she grabbed one of the whitish-yellow flowers that sat in a nearby bouquet, sticking it behind her ear. Pasting on a sly smile, she looked up…

And met the surprised gaze of Shelton Benjamin. He gaped at her, appeared to blush slightly when he realized her state of dress (or undress), and quickly retreated to the hallway.

Most women would be horrified that another man saw them in a compromising position. Stacy, however, let out an embarrassed giggle before focusing again on her plan. She wasn't bothered in the least that Shelton had seen her; hell, she sold a million posters that featured her nearly naked ass.

She did, although, become slightly agitated when Stephanie McMahon barged in a second later. Scrambling out of her pose, she tugged on the bottom of her shirt and pinned the stunned brunette with the evil eye. "Do you mind?" she whined.

Stephanie shrugged, her shock passing. When Shelton had bolted out of Chris's locker room and told her that there was a half-naked chick inside, she had been too curious to see who it was. She expected Stacy, and was indeed correct. "Sorry," she apologized off-handedly, going to leave. Catching sight of the flowers on the table, with one in Stacy's hair, she couldn't help but pause and raise an eyebrow. "You better put that flower back, unless you want to piss off Jericho," she commented lightly.

Stacy pouted, stamping her foot on the ground. "And you had better get out of here before you piss me off!" she retorted, causing the other woman to laugh before exiting the room. Once again alone, she forced herself to calm down, running a hand lightly over her hair. One finger brushed against the blossom behind her ear, and Stephanie's words repeated themselves in her head. Stacy paid no attention to them; Chris Jericho did not seem the type to be agitated by misplaced flowers.

With that thought, Stacy officially doomed herself to an entire night of misfortune.

Third time was the charm; minutes later, Chris Jericho walked into his dressing room, scratching at his head, wondering why Stephanie and Shelton were laughing just outside.

Once he saw Stacy, he was in on the joke. He blushed a bit at her attire, but he was more embarrassed for her than turned on. "Um, hey Stacy," he stammered, averting his eyes to the floor.

Stacy's grin faltered a bit, confused as to why he didn't gape like Shelton. Tossing her hair over her shoulder, she strolled up to him, determined to get her way. "What's wrong Chrissy; don't you like my surprise?" she purred, resting her hands on his chest and gazed into his clouded blue eyes.

Unable to look away, Chris looked down at the woman that clung to him. Sure she was pretty, but he had a whole list of objections that kept him from rocking her world (ranging from her past relationships to her obnoxious dialect of baby talk). Beyond staring at her perfect ass, there was no attraction; Chris preferred breasts anyway. Grabbing her hands, he pulled back and smirked at her pout. "Stacy, I'm flattered, but I…" he trailed off, finally noticing another piece of Stacy's stolen attire.

While Stacy tried to tear up a bit in order to change his mind, Chris yanked the flower out from behind her ear. Glancing from the white flower over to the table, he felt his discomfort slowly melt into anger. "Where did you get this?" he hissed, waving the flower in her face despite the fact that he knew the answer to his question.

Stacy watched his gaze harden, and audibly gulped, wishing she had heeded Stephanie's advice. "I…I…" she stuttered, wishing to high heaven that she could summon up those tears. The look in his eyes was starting to scare her.

Chris wanted to scream and shout at her, but her pathetic look nauseated him too much. Moving towards the bouquet on the table, he waved a hand at the exit. "Go get dressed, Klepto. Your skanky ass couldn't be cured with ten doses of Vitamin C, let alone one."

Stacy huffed, clearly offended by his words. "Have it your way, Chris Jericho; but I doubt anyone else will want YOU. You're the only guy in the entire locker room that was ever dumped by Trish Stratus." Satisfied with her retort, she broke into peals of laughter and left for the women's locker room.

Unclenching his fists, Chris mentally berated himself. He hated that Trish comments still got to him, still reminded him of his foolish behavior. She was a scar that hadn't healed completely; and Stacy's words effectively poked the wound. With a sigh, he forced himself to stop thinking about either Diva before his head exploded in frustration.

Stacy's snide comment did serve to remind him of someone who did want his attention: his secret admirer. Twirling the flower in his hand, Chris inhaled its light scent before returning it to the other seven flowers in the bouquet. He wasn't sure of the name; the light yellow-white color and the shape reminded him of daffodils. My admirer must be getting pretty fancy, he thought to himself as he plucked the card out of the blooms.

Make a wish, the card stated in blue cursive.

Another short message. First a dare, now a wish. She's getting awful demanding. "I wish I knew what these flowers were," he muttered out loud, turning the card over to check for any clues.

"Jonquils," Shelton said from the doorway. Chris turned around, a question on his lips, when he saw the young man holding a rather thick book in his good hand.

"So you knew these were in here?" the blond asked, walking over to take the proffered book.

Shelton shook his head. "Nah, I didn't see anything but legs. Steph caught sight of the bouquet and figured out what they were while you were keeping that Keibler elf off your tree."

Jericho groaned at Shelton's horrible pun. "Ha ha ha, Benji," he bit out sarcastically. "Don't quit your day job." Moving to sit in a nearby chair, he began to thumb through the book of flowers. "Where is Stephanie anyway? I'm surprised she isn't in here, ragging on me like you are."

With his attention focused on the book in his lap, Chris missed the rather curious look that Shelton gave him. "She has a date tonight with Edge. Said something about getting ready for dinner."

Chris frowned, pausing in his perusal to meet Shelton's eyes. "She turned down a free shot at me to get ready for a date? With Edge?" It just didn't make sense.

Shelton was highly amused at his companion's confusion. "Jealous? I'll tell her to make sure that she pays attention to you next week."

Surprise quickly turned into disgust for the blond Canadian. "Don't bother. It's nice to get rid of the McMahon on my back." Returning his attention to the book, he continued to search for the flowers in his bouquet.

"Whatever you say," Shelton said, rolling his eyes.

Despite an inward desire to end the subject at hand, Chris couldn't help but continue it. "I feel sorry for Edge. He's wasting money on the cow when he could get the milk for free."

"Perhaps you should have bought the cow first, if you enjoyed the milk so much," the young man retorted.

"Please," Chris snorted. The nerve of Shelton, to think he had some sort of attachment to Stephanie! Preposterous. "I wouldn't let that spoiled milk anywhere near my cookies."

"So why do you care if someone else dunks his cookies into her milk?" Shelton mentally patted himself on the back after this statement; especially proud that he was able to keep pace with the master of verbal sparring.

Chris slammed the book shut, unable to concentrate on his current task at hand. "That milk will crumble any ordinary man's cookies, and my cookies are too fine a specimen to subject to that particular fate."

"So you're afraid of the cow?"

"More like, I don't want anything to do with the cow."

Shelton saw his chance. "If that were true, then why do you always stare at her udders?"

"I do NOT stare at her udders!" Chris sputtered out, arms flailing about. At the young man's pointed look, he reconsidered his position on the issue. "Well, can you blame me?"

Shelton shook his head. "They are nice udders."

Deciding that commenting further would only deepen the hole beneath him, Chris remained silent. With nothing better to do, he reopened the book; as luck would have it, the page he opened to was the page he had searched out earlier. Comparing the flowers in the bouquet to the picture, he found them to be an exact match. Holding up the book, he showed the picture to the man leaning against the wall. "You were right."

Shelton smirked. "It's about time you admitted it."

END CHAPTER EIGHT

Author's notes: Hey all. Sorry about the shortness (and suckyness) of this chapter – it was rather hard for me to write this week, after Nina's story was unnecessarily (and rather viciously) deleted. I have been reading 'Hugs and Kisses' for over a year now; it was my inspiration to even start writing wrestling fanfics. It was, in short, an amazing piece of work that any author would have been proud of; and it is a shame that it was deleted not because of content, but because of a personal grudge. Anyway, deleting it was like stomping on my muses; but since Nina is able to move on, I squeezed out what I could for this installment. I can only hope this wasn't too much of a bear to read.

It is sad to say, but this story will be ending soon. I always said I wouldn't stop until I got a hundred reviews, but on retrospect that was a selfish and silly thing to want. The reviews I have received have been so encouraging and helpful, and I appreciate every single person that has taken the time to leave one. So thank you – quality is always better than quantity :)

Anyway, enough ranting. Thanks for reading, and I hope you'll review and let me know what you think. Take care, and see you next week!