Authors note: Sorry for the length of time between updates, darn writer's block.

Chapter 13

Three months later…

Business was once again booming in the world of WWE. The latest quarter financial figures were at the best they had been in four years and WWE was once again the hottest thing in America. Overseas business was also doing extremely well.

Of course, this was making the first family in wrestling – the McMahon's extremely pleased. They had all been working flat out lately, Linda never stopped, if she wasn't working as CEO she was adding new things to her new apartment which she absolutely loved, she had almost become somewhat of an interior designer just recently.

Vince just never stopped working as Chairman – Period, he was hardly ever at home, causing the housekeeper to wonder if anyone actually lived there anymore as the majority of the time, things were just as she had left them the previous day.

Due to WWE's new found success, Shane was busier than he had ever been as President of New Media, not to mention his personal life – Declan was causing havoc, leaving toys everywhere which were just waiting to trip Shane up when he got home at eight thirty at night and to think – Marissa was badgering him about having a brother or sister for him!

Stephanie and Paul were still revelling in newly married bliss and due to them babysitting Declan a few times, were actually beginning to toy with the idea of having a baby themselves.

Relations between Vince and Linda were slowly improving by the day – they held civil conversations with each other and were even beginning to laugh together again. They found themselves to be happy in each others company – however unlike Linda, Vince was finding it hard to be happy without her which was why he had been working every hour God sent – to blot out the fact that he no longer had the woman he loved to go home too.

While Vince was unhappy with his current predicament Linda was enjoying her new found freedom, she had been going out with some friends, when she had the time and raising some eyebrows in Titan Towers, and from men she had met in wine bars. However, she hadn't gone on dates with other men and certainly wasn't ready to commit to another relationship, she was still very much in love with Vince which was why it surprised her when one evening, when she wasn't out, the neighbour across the hall, whom she had met when she first viewed the apartment, knocked on her door.

"David!" Linda said surprised as she opened the door to see him standing there.

Hi Linda," David smiled, with a bottle of wine in hand.

To say that Linda was somewhat shocked would have been an understatement, they had coffee a few times together and had even gone out for lunch once, but she had always viewed their relationship as strictly platonic. But when a man showed up on your doorstep with a bottle of wine, this indicated to Linda that he wanted something more.

David must have seen the look of shock on her face and he laughed. "Don't worry, I promise I don't plan to jump on you. I just thought that as you weren't out tonight that you might just want to kick back, share some wine and watch some TV or a movie or something. Being the tough CEO of a multi million dollar international company who's in charge of hunky muscle bound bronzed men can't be easy!"

Linda laughed, "Ok so you saw the article in the Times – very funny!" She said, referring to an article the New York Times had written about her, they had wanted to know who was in charge of these cartoon like characters and Vince had pointed them in the direction of Linda.

"I especially loved that picture of you where you had a foot on Triple H's collapsed body and was about to choke slam Undertaker!"

They both laughed together even more. "Well it lets them know that I'm the boss, no matter how big they are! Come in, you make the hall look untidy standing out there!" She joked.

They had a pleasant evening together; they talked and laughed as they watched a movie together. They shared some wine and Linda put some popcorn in the microwave for them to share as they watched the movie.

As the end credits rolled Linda yawned and David laughed.

"Sorry Linda, I didn't realise I was that boring!" He said jokingly.

Linda shook her head as she stretched her arms above her head. "I'm sorry, it's not you, it's just been a really hectic week, what with working on this place in my spare time and working nearly fifteen hour days, it's just catching up with me."

"You work too hard." David told her, "You need to learn to relax."

She laughed, "relax is not something you do when you've been married to Vince McMahon for nearly forty years."

"Wow, that's a long time, I didn't realise you two were together for that long." He said, sounding surprised.

Linda nodded and looked at him, "yeah, it is." She said quietly. "It's really strange being on my own after so long, but in some ways I'm really enjoying it – I can go out more without having to worry, I can wrap all the covers around in bed at night without having to worry about anyone else!" She laughed. "It's the silly little things I miss really, like making two cups of coffee and cooking for two. It's stupid the things you miss isn't it?" She said as she looked to the floor, reminiscing.

He went over to her, sat beside her and put an arm around her shoulder. "It's not surprising; you were married for a long time."

"Yeah but for the last ten years or so, it hasn't really been a proper marriage. I've been living with someone who looks like Vince but I knew he wasn't. I lost him after the steroid trial, I don't know where he went and I tried for ten years to find him but I couldn't. I still don't know where the real one went." She said sadly, trying to make sense of it. "So I just gave up because I couldn't take it anymore, should I have tried harder?" She asked David, looking confused.

David felt for her, it seemed like she still loved him but knew that she couldn't be with him anymore. "It sounds to me like you searched for a long time before you gave up on him. How much longer could you have searched for? It's not as if you gave up straight away, you searched hard for him but if you didn't find him after ten years, when would you find him? How much longer would it have taken? It would have been wrong of you to waste your life searching for him for much longer; you're still young and a very attractive woman. You need your own life."

She smiled at him, "I'm sorry for dumping this on you. You should have told me to shut up, I barely know you."

"Don't worry, I'm always here if you want to talk, I want us to be friends and if you need a friend to pour your guts out to, I only live across the hall." He smiled.

"Thanks David."

"No problem." He said, "And I meant what I said about relaxing more so how about I take you out to dinner one night next week?"

Linda shook her head "I don't…"

David cut her off, "I won't take no for an answer, it's just dinner, you need a night out to forget about work and the apartment and everything else."

She smiled to herself and thought what the hell, why not? "Yeah, ok then."

"Great!" He said as he got up. "How about Thursday night at about eight o'clock?"

Linda nodded. "That sounds good."

"Great, I'll come and pick you up and I'll have you home before midnight." He winked at her.

She laughed as they said their goodbyes and he left. She shut the door behind her and smiled to herself. He was a nice guy and he cheered her up, something that she needed at the moment. She was looking forward to going to a meal with him and then as she stood there thinking about it, she suddenly remembered she was tired and had to be up early in the morning so she headed off to bed, exhausted.