Okay, I finally got out the next chapter. Hope it was worth the wait! I decided to put it out now because I'm leaving for spring break. I'm going on a cruise!!! Yay!! This chapter is pretty long... BTW, I'm marking POV and scene changes with "~*~". I still don't own anything. *sob* Oh well, please don't sue. Oh, and please review!!!

Stephanie remained on the floor, breathing heavily, in and out. What had she done? She was so confused... But she knew exactly what she had done. She had fallen for Jericho.

"I am such a fool..."

~*~

"So, am I gonna see you later tonight?" Chris asked his friend and tag-team partner Christian, zipping up his bag.

"Nah, I don't think so. I'm gonna turn in early tonight," Christian replied.

"That's cool, I'll see you tomorrow," Chris said before clapping Christian on the shoulder and exiting the door.

"See ya."

Chris tossed his junk into his car and drove back to the hotel. Once he got there, he decided that he really, really just wanted to get drunk. Well, that was easy enough.

Fortunately, the bar that Chris went to was only a couple blocks from the hotel, so he could get back in one piece. Once there, he concentrated on nothing more than getting absolutely wasted.

With every sip he took, the image of Stephanie that was burning in his mind grew less and less. But then, all of a sudden, as he turned his head to a corner, he saw her. He blinked a couple of times before realizing that what he saw was not his imagination. She was really there.

~*~

Stephanie was an absolute mess. She had come to this place to get away from everything. To get away from Chris, but there he was. She backed into a corner and hoped the shadows concealed her. She thought she had succeeded, too, until she saw him staring straight at her.

She saw him get up off of his seat at the bar and walk toward her. He sat down next to her.

"Steph, I'm sorry," he began, his words slurred from the alcohol. She slid away from him and turned to leave.

"Don't be like that, I didn't mean it…"

"Go away."

"You know I'm sorry." He paused and walked toward her, and he began to gently stroke her hair. "Come on Stephi, you want this, you want us."

She shuddered. She knew she did, but they were both drunk, it wasn't right, and she wasn't about to admit that she wanted him.

He closed the space between them as he kissed her. She tried to pull away, but he held her to him with all of his strength. Eventually she managed to wrench herself away and she slapped him and ran out of the bar.

She started running down the street, but Chris quickly caught up to her. He forced his arms around her waist from behind her. She tried to get away, but he held her tight as she thrashed around in his arms like a rag doll.

She eventually gave up and she tripped and fell to the ground. Chris went down with her, his arms still around her waist. She started to cry, and he pulled her back up.

"Don't cry, Steph, I'm sorry I was so rough, but I know you want this."

She tried to protest, tried to tell him that he was wrong, that she didn't want this, but she didn't have the energy to speak, and it would have been all lies, anyway.

"Steph…"

He forced himself on her again, and again she tried to pull away. He backed her into the wall of a store by the sidewalk and wouldn't let her escape. As soon as she accepted the kiss, he loosened his grip.

Stephanie was in so much pain. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't breathe. She hated this so much. But at the same time, it was what she had wanted…right?

Without a word, Chris pulled away from her and walked off. Stephanie slumped to the ground, still crying. Eventually she pulled herself together enough to walk back to her hotel, where she couldn't go to sleep because she was crying so hard.

~*~

When Stephanie got to the arena the next day, the very first person she ran into was Chris. Of course. All the forces of nature were obviously conspiring against her. She took a deep breath and acknowledged the fact that they needed to talk, and she wasn't a McMahon. She wasn't afraid to talk to anybody.

She stepped toward him and pulled him away from his conversation.

"Chris, we need to talk," she said in a slow, hesitant voice.

"What's to talk about, ho? I wanted to make out with a cheap slut, you were there, end of story."

"What?"

"Don't look so surprised. Oh, and sorry if I hurt you or anything. See ya 'round. Bitch."

He walked away, leaving Stephanie standing in shock. She definitely should have seen that coming. He was drunk, she was drunk, it was all a mistake. A mistake.

She walked into her office and locked the door. She didn't even think about the fact that she was still supposed to be taking it easy. She distracted herself the only way she knew how. She threw herself into her work. She continued without even stopping to eat anything. She worked for over ten hours, until she glanced at the clock and decided to finish up the rest of her work at her hotel room.

She was very thankful that she hadn't been disturbed all day, and she didn't want to jinx it, so she got out of there with her folders and files as quickly as she could.

She worked all night long, once again not stopping for any food whatsoever. She threw her stuff into her car and went back to the arena. There was a show tomorrow night, and she had lots of things to do to prepare for it.

She locked herself in her office again and continued her ritualistic work. She heard a knock on her door. She considered ignoring whomever it was, and she decided to do just that.

Once again, there was a knock on her door, and she could see the doorknob twist to no avail, seeing as her door was locked.

"Steph?"

Stephanie sighed. She recognized that voice. She decided to answer it. She could use a friendly face.

She opened the door. "Hey Kurt," she said, not even needing to look at him to know who it was.

"Hey Steph, I was just stopping by to, whoa…"

"What?"

"Uhh…nothing."

"No seriously, what?'

"Well, don't take this the wrong way, but…you look awful."

Stephanie thought about this statement for a while, until she finally realized that she had neither showered nor eaten for a good two whole days.

"You're probably right." Kurt just looked at her, inviting her to say more. "I've just been feeling kind of lousy lately; I'm kind of sick right now."

"Oh. Well, take it easy. I just came by to drop these off," he said, gesturing toward a set of papers in his hands. "Vince said to get them done by tomorrow, but if you're not feeling well, I'll just tell him that you can't."

"No, don't do that, I'll be fine. Tell him it's no problem."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure. Thanks for dropping them off."

"Sure," he said. "Take it easy."

"I will," she said.

When Kurt left, Stephanie started on the scripting of one of tomorrow night's matches. Halfway through, she stopped. She was exhausted. She shook her head and continued. When she got like this, she had to make sure everything would be perfect. She scripted again and again and again. She dropped them off at her dad's office, knowing that he would need them so that he could bring them to his board meeting. He wasn't there, and she was rather thankful for that. She didn't need him interrogating her on why she looked so…bad.

She pondered what else she could do, until she remembered that they had recruited a new superstar who was to join in a few weeks. It wouldn't hurt to get a jumpstart on his contract, right?

She grabbed a bunch of legal papers and she went back to her hotel room, where she once again worked the night away. She had now gone three whole days without food or rest. When she arrived at her office, she remembered that she had a meeting in half an hour. She decided that she might as well get more done, she was just so tired…

As she steadily worked the time away, she was overcome by an incredible fatigue, and she could feel herself slowly drift off…

~*~

Ten minutes. Twenty. Thirty.

"Where is she?" Vince growled.

"I don't know, sir," replied one of his associates.

"I'll go find her."

Vince was not in a good mood. He had just found out that his stock advisor may have given him some illegal tips, and the plans for the show were not going as planned.

"Stephanie?" he called out, banging on her office door.

He pulled it open to be met with the sight of his daughter passed out over her desk. "Stephanie!?"

He ran over to her and shook her shoulder.

"Wake up, sweetie. WAKE UP!"

She wasn't waking up.

"I need help!" Vince yelled at whoever was there to listen. "Wake up…"