The rest of Stephanie's day passed uneventfully and Jericho-free.
"Thank God," she thought to herself. "I don't think I could withstand a run-in with him again. God, why am I letting that damn dream get to me? It was JUST a dream."
Stephanie threw her stuff together, deciding that she would get more work done at home, where she was positive that Jericho wouldn't come barging in with some insult or another. She became so disoriented around him; there was no way she could even come up with a good insult to fire back at him; she would just stand there like an idiot, and Stephanie McMahon was NOT an idiot.
Once Stephanie had gotted home, she opened up her briefcase and pulled out the newest contracts as well as her cell-phone, which she would definitely need at some point in time. She chiseled away at it for hours, using dozens of minutes of cell-phone time in the process. She would use her real phone, except she didn't want anyone to know the number, and everyone in the company had caller-id.
After hours and hours, Stephanie's head began to
droop. She was so tired... She could barely keep her eyes open, but she
kept on going. Work comes before sleep when you're a McMahon. Eventually,
it became too much, and she practically passed out on top of her work.
He was standing there, so close, yet so far. HIs body outline was blurry, but she knew who it was. Jericho. She tried to reach out to him, but she couldn't. She couldn't move. She looked down and her legs were disappearing.
"Just reach out for me, Stephanie," Chris encouraged. "Forget about everything elose, just come to me."
Stephanie tried again, but once again, she couldn't move, and the entire lower half of her body had turned to dust.
"Trust me, Steph, just trust me,
before it's too late..."
Stephanie awoke with a start. She rubbed her eyes and regained some sense of composure. She shivered and stood up.
"What the hell was that." It was more a statement than a question. "Man, maybe I just shouldn't go to sleep. I have to stoop dreaming of that sexy man...I mean, WHAT!? I have got to stop dreaming of that...pig!"
Stephanie was furious at herself for thinking of Jericho in a sexual way. "It's my hormones talking. Sure he decent-looking, but he's still a pig-headed, arrogant, cocky asshole and I hate him!"
Announcing her hate for Jericho out loud, even if she was alone, made Stephanie feel a lot better. After grabbing a shourt snack, Stephanie continued her work. Glancing at the clock, she realized that it was only around 5:30.
"I mihgt actually finish this in time to drop this off," she told herself heppily. "Then I can get some sleep. Maybe I'll take some medicine to knock me out so I won't have any dreams, or if I do, I won't remember them."
At 6:45 on the nose, she finished up her current task and got into her car to drop it off at the arena in time for the show in two days.
Praying that she wouldn't run into Jericho, she entered the arena. She said her polite hellos to everyone she ran into. After she had dropped off the contracts, she headed back out to her car. Just as she thought she was home free...
"Hey princess, what's up?" Jericho asked her with a smirk. "Fuck anyone good lately?"
"Shut the hell up Jericho," Stephanie said without even turning around to face him. She didn't have to, and if she did, she would see his face, and then she would lose everything even resembling composure. She just continued to walk to her car.
"God damn it Stephanie, I hope you get into a car wreck."
"In that case, I'll see you in hell."
"With that, she got into her car and slammed the door, fighting the urge to ram Jericho where he stood.
Chris watched her drive off for a long time, until Christian came up behind him and clapped him on the shoulder, bringing him back to Earth. Together, the two left the arena.
Stephanie wasn't sure she had ever been this pissed off. The strange thing was, she wasn't angry with Chris as much as she was angry with herself. She couldn't believe how jumpy she had been acting, and that she was letting one...well two stupid dreams control her.
She was so upset she stopped paying attention to the road. She accidentally ran a red light and slammed into the car in front of her.
"Shit," she thought, her last coherent thought before passing our, glass shattering and cutting into her flesh. Her car came to a stop on its own, but Stephanie was still unconcious. Someone nearby called 911, and all everybody could do was wait.