Disclaimer: I do not own Stephanie McMahon, Dawn Marie, and various other WWE characters that appear in the subsequent story. They are the property of the actors and actresses that portray them, as well as the WWE. Vince, I know you're a heel, but I'm a poor college student! Suing me will not get the ratings back up!
Façade
CHAPTER THREE
"Steph, why do we have to run?" Dawn Marie whined as we pushed through the crowds backstage at RAW.
I threw her an evil look. "RAW is starting in less than a minute, Shane is kicking off the show with the announcement, and I'm late because of YOU!" She shrugged, and I had to laugh. Her current flame, John Cena, was taking up the majority of her time these days, and most recently kept me waiting in the limo with Kurt for twenty minutes while they "got ready". Finally reaching the gorilla, I heard Shane's music and bent over to catch my breath. "Thank God, he just got out there. We have a few minutes."
Panting, Dawn reached over to smooth a lock of hair into place. I straightened up immediately, worried that running had dislodged my wig. "Do I look alright?" I asked, feeling around my head carefully. The last thing I needed was for my secret, well one of my secrets, to fall off on my first day back to RAW.
"You look fine," Dawn automatically cooed. Grabbing my shoulders, she gave me a quick hug. "No one is going to look at your hair when you're wearing that shirt."
Feeling my cheeks burn, I broke away with a laugh. "Shut up Dawn, you helped me pick this out!" Looking down, I examined the black corset-style top with a red lace inlay that made my breasts rival those of Trish Stratus. Paired with my black leather pants, I felt more like Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley, troublemaker extraordinaire, than Stephanie McMahon, Smackdown GM and RAW consultant. Frowning at that thought, I tugged at the strings that criss-crossed in front of my cleavage. "Well at least it hides my potbelly," I grumbled.
Dawn rolled her eyes. "Shut up! You SO don't have a…"
"Ms. McMahon? I think Shane just called for his new consultant," a voice interrupted.
"What?" Looking at the backstage technician, I processed what he just said. "Oh shit! Play my music, I am going out there!" Panicking, I ran a hand through my hair and walked up the stairs and out onto the stage. Even with my music blaring, I could hear the mixed reaction of the crowd. Suppressing a smile, I felt my face twist into a smirk as I paused at the top of the stage. My nervousness about my appearance faded away as I looked out at the crowd. I had missed the energy that came from the RAW crowd.
"Stephanie, come on down here," Shane called out over my music. Losing my train of thought, I made my way down the ramp and climbed carefully into the ring, placing a hand over my breasts as I bent over. Hugging my brother, I went to stand beside him, crossing my arms. "On the behalf of everyone backstage, let me be the first to welcome you back to Monday nights."
I smiled, taking the microphone from Shane, who went to fetch another from ringside. "Thank you Shane. I must admit, it feels great to be back here on RAW." The crowd cheered, which I wasn't prepared for, although it was always weird when the fans were cheering for me. "And I'm also glad to see my brother running this show. Shane, between the two of us, I think we can turn RAW into a bigger show than Monday Night Football. And I know just the way to start the ball rolling." I smirked at Shane.
Feigning surprise, Shane raised a hand up in protest. "Whoa whoa whoa Steph, what do you have in mind?"
"I was thinking along the lines of… an inter-brand tag match. RAW's best versus Smackdown's best. You up for it Shane?"
Shane grinned. "To quote my co-general manager, Stone Cold Steve Austin, hell yeah!" The crowd erupted at his words.
"Then bring it Shane! We'll just see whose show will come out on top!" I shouted over the still roaring crowd. Shane's face was pure excitement. Sending him a pleased look, I turned and exited the ring so he could "recruit" his tag team. Walking up the ramp, I tried to peel off the smile on my face, but couldn't. *Shane's excitement is contagious* I thought with a laugh. Climbing down into the gorilla, I was unexpectedly met with the technician from before.
"I just wanted to say, it's good to have you back Ms. McMahon," the young man said nervously, fiddling with his clipboard.
I bit surprised, I found myself without words. *People actually missed me around here?* "Wow, um thanks," I stammered, then unable to think of anything else to say, walked around him to the backstage area to my dressing room. Inside I chided myself for reacting the way I did to that statement. *Well of course people missed you; look who they have had for a GM for these last few months: Bischoff* I rationalized as I turned down a hallway. *They'll even miss you more after you turn this show around and your consulting duties will be over!* Chuckling at that rather conceited thought, I looked up just in time to run into a bare chest. Unable to stop the momentum, I smacked into the person, and immediately noticed a distinctly spicy cologne. *Oh god…*
"You should watch where you're going, Princess," an achingly familiar voice chided, his chest vibrating against my cheek as he spoke. I shivered at the sound of his voice, a voice that haunted my dreams on occasion. Hands grasped my arms and I was pulled back to look into soft blue eyes. "It's good to see you again, Stephy," he softly admitted.
"Jericho…." My insides turned into mush at his gaze, and I wondered if he knew just how much of an effect he had on me. Willingly my cheeks not to blush, I pushed away the warmness that filled me and frowned at him. "You would see me all the time if you hadn't left my show," I bit out, allowing my anger to take control.
His grip on my arms tightened. "Stephanie…" he drawled out, exasperation tinting his voice. My fury grew with the tone of his voice, and I quickly tore my arms away from him, crossing them defiantly. I sent him a look, daring him to continue. "I couldn't pass up the opportunity. Can you blame me? Look what I've become here, the King of the World…"
I cut him off with a gesture. "You lied to me. I asked you if you were happy, if you were loyal to Smackdown; you said one thing and did the complete opposite! How could you?"
His eyes narrowed, and I knew the conversation was about to get ugly. "Such high standards about honesty Stephy, but do you ever apply them to yourself? Or maybe lying to your husband about being pregnant is acceptable behavior to you!"
My blood chilled at his words. I stared at him in shock as he smirked, obviously pleased with his cleverness. While we were business partners, I had told him in the strictest confidence my reasons for hating Hunter, starting with his general disregard for my feelings throughout our farce of a marriage and ending with his recent affair with a physical therapist named Mandy. He held me as I cried over my broken marriage, telling me that he believed me, and that my pregnancy scam was well-justified. Now, feeling completely betrayed, I reached back to smack him, then stopped short as my eyes blurred. His eyes grew wide; I cringed as he watched the first tear fall down my cheek and onto my exposed chest. Horrified that I was crying, that HE saw me crying, I pushed past him and ran to my dressing room, ignoring him as he called out my name.
*How could he say that to me?* I kept asking myself. Rushing past idle wrestlers, I kept my head down to conceal my tears. Finally reaching my dressing room, I burst in, turned to lock the door, then slumped down to the floor.
"Stephanie?! What's wrong?!" I heard Kurt ask. I hid my face from him, unable to regain my composure. I sensed someone sitting down beside me; then a hand brushed against my arm. "Stephanie… please…" Kurt begged from his position beside me.
Pulling my hands from my face, I looked into his concerned blue eyes. "I… I ran into Jericho!" I sobbed. Kurt frowned, then taking my arm he pulled me into his lap, holding me tightly. His comforting gesture made me sob harder, and I buried my face into his shoulder. His hands traced small circles on my back.
"Steph, baby, please calm down," Kurt murmured. He pulled back to look into my eyes. "Jericho is nothing, got it? Don't let him get the best out of you."
I shook my head, forcing myself to stop sobbing. "You don't understand Kurt, he already did. He saw me start to cry. He'll never let me live this down!" A few more tears fell down my cheeks, and I wiped at them angrily. "I hate him so much sometimes!"
Kurt frowned, removing a hand from my back to remove any errant tears. "I'll take care of him tonight Steph. He'll pay for making you cry." His eyes hardened with anger as he stood up, pulling me up to stand before him. "I'll make him tap!"
"Kurt! You're not even fighting him tonight; Shane is sending Evolution as his RAW tag team," I protested, frowning a bit at the thought of my ex-husband.
"You just let me take care of that." Grinning like a maniac, Kurt unlocked the door and quickly exited the room.
"Kurt!!!!" I shouted after him, watching him run down the hallway and knowing he wouldn't stop. Exasperated, I re-entered my room and made my way to the bathroom to reapply my make-up. When Kurt was on a mission, there was no stopping him.
Kurt was never one to disappoint, and tonight was no exception. Hell-bent on "regaining my honor" (as he liked to call it), he jumped both Randy Orton and Ric Flair backstage, taking them both out of the tag match tonight with some well-placed chair shots. Infuriated, Shane told Triple H to find a suitable replacement - which he did in Chris Jericho. Initially I was pleased, and pressed Kurt to make Jericho suffer. However, as I now paced the gorilla for the second time that evening, I felt my nerves start to take over.
"Kurt, maybe this wasn't such a good idea," I started. "All this did was fire up Triple H."
Kurt looked up at me from the floor and stopped stretching. "Steph, I am an Olympic Gold Medalist! I won the gold medal with a freakin' broken neck! Do you honestly think that I can't handle your ex-husband and that punk Jericho, because I'll make them both tap, it's DAMN TRUE!" I rolled my eyes at Kurt's oh-so-familiar story.
"Yo, don't forget about me Angle," John Cena said as he entered the gorilla area, Dawn Marie in tow. "Triple H thinks he's the game; well I'm the baddest playa that RAW has ever seen!" He leaned against the wall, his positioning resembling that of a bouncer.
Grinning from ear to ear, Dawn reached up to give John a loud kiss on the cheek. "Isn't he clever?" she sighed, leaning her head against his shoulder. I groaned, unable to stomach any of my Smackdown cohorts at the present moment.
Thankfully, the technician came up to us, signaling that it was time for our entrance. Grabbing Kurt's hand, I pulled him up from the floor and towards the curtain as Dawn gave John a kiss good luck. Kurt's music then began to blast in the arena, and we hurried up the stairs and out onto the stage. Pausing between the two men as they posed for the crowd, I felt my smirk slide into place and knew that a Smackdown victory was in the bag. When we reached the ring, John surprised me by sitting on the middle rope, allowing me to climb inside with ease. I smiled my thanks, then clapped loudly as Kurt held his world title in the air, while John flashed the Longhorn sign.
Kurt's music was then cut short by a loud laugh. Looking towards the stage, I saw Shane with a microphone, Triple H and Jericho standing behind him. "Not bad, sis, not bad. Quite a team you have there." I nodded. "Even though your boy Kurt took out Randy and Ric, I still have confidence in my RAW wrestlers… but confidence isn't enough. How about we make this interesting?"
Stepping over to Lilian, I asked and took her microphone. "And how do you propose we do that, Shane?"
Shane grinned. "A bet. If my team wins, and I think they will, they get to go to Smackdown this Thursday and take on your tag champions for the title." Jericho and Hunter looked a bit surprised by this, but the crowd loved it.
I paused for a moment, weighing my options. Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas, my tag champions, were good wrestlers, but they would not be able to beat Jericho and Triple H. Nevertheless, I saw an opportunity, and began smirking as an idea filled my head. "Okay, Shane, that's fair. And if MY team wins, which I KNOW they will… your boys have to participate in a little match on Smackdown…." Trailing off, I looked at Kurt and began to giggle.
Clearly bored, Hunter grabbed the microphone away from Shane. "And what kind of match would that be, Steph-an-ie? Some sort of sick handicap match?"
I frowned. "Now Hunter, this conversation is between Shane and I, so be a good little boy and shut up!" The fans laughed, Hunter scowled, and I couldn't help but smile. *At least the crowd hates Hunter more than me.* "If my team wins, you and Chris Jericho will face each other in a bra-and-panties paddle-on-a-pole match." The crowd went nuts, Jericho and Hunter threw a fit yelling at Shane not to do it, and John Cena began to laugh beside me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders in a show of support. I looked at Kurt, who nodded in approval. "So what do you say, Shane? My tag titles vs. their… assets?"
"Hell NO!" Hunter yelled into the mic, which was removed from his hand by Shane.
"I accept. May the best brand win!" With that, the bell rang, and tonight's match was underway. Jericho and Hunter ran towards the ring, barely allowing me to roll out and take my place beside Shane. "This was a great idea, Shaney," I commented as both sets of guys duked it out.
Shane smirked at me, then looked back at John and Jericho, who were locked up in the center of the ring. "This was your great idea Sis, not mine."
"I know, I just wanted you to say it." I grinned at him as he rolled his eyes. "Although this bet idea is new; I have to admit that I'm impressed."
"I honestly thought of it as you were walking out. Wanted the fans to get more involved in the match, although honestly either team winning has its benefits." Shane gave me a sideways glance. "I'm sorta hoping we lose so I can see your ex-husband in such a degrading match."
I gave him an evil grin. "I had my reasons for putting both of those idiots in that match." At Shane's puzzled look, I sighed and continued. "I had a little run-in with Jericho backstage after your announcement…"
"Now I understand why Kurt attacked Evolution now; he wanted Jericho in the main event tonight." I nodded in confirmation. "What is up with you and him anyway?"
"There is nothing between me and Jericho!" I squeaked out, trying to act indignant and failing miserably. As my brother's grin widened, I turned my attention back to the ring, feeling my face grow hot. "Absolutely nothing."
"I meant you and Kurt; but now I think I know what's going on." I ignored Shane and tried to get back into the match, watching Kurt pummel on Triple H. Kurt's eyes met mine briefly, then he smiled and pulled my ex-husband up by the hair.
"This is for you, Steph!" he shouted, then gave him an Angle Slam. I clapped excitedly as Kurt went for the pin, then scowled as Jericho broke it up. Angle went after Jericho then, giving him a huge German suplex. "Don't you ever make Stephanie McMahon cry again Jericho, you hear me?" Kurt growled, holding his foot over Jericho's foot.
"KURT!" I exclaimed, feeling my previous blush grow deeper. *Did you have to bring that up?!*
Shane grabbed my arm, bringing my attention back to him. "What is Kurt talking about, why did Jericho make you cry?" Shane demanded, sounding almost brotherly.
I groaned. "Shane, it's no big deeee-ahhh!" A body flew over the top rope; I caught sight of Kurt's patriotic tights before I felt his legs slam into my upper body and fell to the ground, partially pinned. Pain immediately shot up my already tender left arm (which had swelled after the long plane ride from Connecticut to Miami), and I weakly tried to push the heavy weight off my chest.
The weight was suddenly lifted, and I rolled to my side, clutching my left arm. "Shane…" I moaned, unable to lift my head and look for him. The pain was immense, rivaling that of the surgery from last spring. Knowing that I needed to get my arm in its pressure cuff, as well as elevate it, I braced my right arm and managed to get into a sitting position.
A hand touched my cheek, and I jumped in surprise. "Stephanie, are you alright?" Jericho asked, his face hovering just a few inches in front of mine. I belatedly realized that he was the one that picked Kurt off of me. Uncomfortable with his close proximity, I averted my eyes away from his questioning ones. Looking around him, I saw Hunter standing in the ring, leaning against the ropes, with a concerned look on his face. I then saw John sneaking up behind Hunter, and realized that I had to keep Jericho distracted.
Grabbing his hand, I looked deeply into his eyes. "What… what happened?" I asked breathlessly, holding his hand against my cheek.
He stroked my cheek, and I shivered uncontrollably. "Your idiot ex-husband threw Kurt right into you and your brother, Princess." His other hand went to my left arm, causing me to yelp in pain. "Your arm is pretty swollen… I don't think I've ever seen an arm swell this fast before." I froze, lost in his blue gaze. *Could he figure out my secret? There's no way!* "You should have a trainer look at this."
Pushing his hand away from my arm, I sneered at him. "How sweet, you start caring about me an hour after you call me a lying bitch." Jericho sighed, reminding me of our previous conversation. Just catching John rolling up Hunter in my peripheral vision, I cut off Jericho just as he opened his mouth to speak. "Hey Jericho?"
His mouth twitched, indicating his irritation. "Yes, Stephy?"
The bell rang three times. Jericho's head whipped from the time keeper, to the ring, and back to me. Suspicion filled his features. "You just lost the match," I managed to chuckle, clutching my left arm to my chest with my right.
Blue eyes darkening with anger, Jericho growled at me before getting up and rolling back into the ring. Looking to my right, I saw Shane and Kurt still lying in a pile beside me, rubbing various limbs and groaning in pain. All I could do was laugh; how was I ever going to keep my composure this Thursday, with Hunter and Jericho in a bra and panties match?
END CHAPTER THREE
Author's Notes: Hey all! Hope you enjoyed this extremely long installment – I thought I was never going to finish it. First, I'd like to say that from this point on, there will be little to no correlation between this fictional storyline and the current storylines on television. That's what fanfiction is all about, right? :) I would also like to thank everyone for reviewing me, and I hope I can continue to entertain you all! Take care!