Chris was pretty literally walking on cloud nine the next night of Raw. Stephanie was on his arm and he didn't think that anything on Earth could be better than the position he was in. He was still in disbelief that she would want him. He had always thought that she was out of his league, but it appeared that she wasn't, and that was an even better situation than anything prior.

Stephanie leaned her chin on his shoulder as they were walking to her office/his dressing room. Chris couldn't stand being away from her for even a moment and because of that, he wanted to share everything with her. Stephanie was not abject to this idea either. She was loath to admit that being with Chris was somewhat...fun.

That didn't let her affection for Dave waver though, she was still madly in love with him. He was still that ultimate goal that she was striving for, but she was starting to feel a little bit guilty about using Chris like this. He was such a nice guy and treated her so well in the week they had been together. He could be considered the perfect boyfriend and he was hers...if only for a while.

"I missed you this weekend," Chris told her as she stared at his profile.

"Then why didn't you come to Connecticut with me?" she teased good- naturedly.

"Because that would've been too much fun and I might have died," he teased back.

"Oh, I wouldn't let you die," she said, "Maybe I would bring you to the brink of death, but I wouldn't let you die."

"Well thanks, I'm sure me, and my body appreciate that sentiment."

"I'm sure it does," she answered, patting his stomach gently.

"This weekend maybe you can make it down to Tampa."

"And what would I do in Tampa?"

"You could go to the beach and get a nice tan, or you can stay in my bed all weekend, you'd look good there too."

"Silly boy," she joked, "You'll get that part of me tonight at the hotel."

"Is that a promise?"

"Of course it is, I wouldn't want you sleep alone, and I don't want to sleep alone either. Especially when it's you that I could be sleeping with."

Chris just shook his head and kissed her forehead. She smiled calmly; she didn't exactly know why Chris made her feel so safe, but he did. If she wasn't madly in love with Dave, she would jump into a serious relationship with Chris. He was most definitely the kind of guy that a girl would want to be a serious relationship with.

"So do you have a lot of work to do tonight?"

"I'm a writer and I practically run the show Chris, what do you think?"

"Ok, so you have a lot of work to do tonight," he laughed, "I wish that you could come out to my match with me. Why don't you write that into the show?"

"And what would the logic be behind that Mr. Jericho?"

"That....you....um...need, or I need someone to be with me," he finished lamely. She started giggling at his attempt to give an actually valid reason for wanting her by his side. He looked down in mock shame.

"Yeah, that'll be a good reason, you'll just go out there and stutter out a reason and suddenly there I am."

"I like to think that I would be way cooler if I were out there."

Stephanie laughed again as they reached the room they were in for the evening. Chris opened the door for Stephanie and she ducked under his arm to enter the room. Chris went in after her and she went to her desk, while Chris went to dump his stuff off on the other side. She sat at her desk and picked up the script for the evening.

"Hey, is that the script?" Chris asked as he went to sit on the desk next to her.

"Yeah, it is," she said, "It's the revised ones with the matches booked and everything."

"Great. Who am I facing tonight?"

Stephanie gulped as she read what she had just read about a dozen more times. Chris was teaming up with Edge, and they were facing...Randy and Dave. Chris was going to be facing Dave, HER Dave, or at least the person she wanted to be hers. Was this going to start a feud?

"Steph?"

"Huh?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Who am I facing?" he asked again after Stephanie had been silent for a few moments.

"Oh, um, you're teaming with Edge against Randy and Dave..."

"Cool, I should go find them so I can discuss what we want to do with the match tonight."

"Yeah, you should," she said, "I just have to call my dad and ask him something."

"Do you want me to leave or anything."

She put her hand on his knee, "You don't have to, I just want to know why you're in that tag match."

"Um, I guess because Edge is in a feud with Randy and he needed a partner."

"Maybe, but I'd rather check if it's all the same to you."

"I don't care, it's nice to know you can pull the strings around here and let me know what's going on even before I know what's going on."

She picked up the phone and dialed her father's cell phone number. She hoped to God that Chris wasn't going to be feuding with Dave. That would create such an awkward situation for her. Yes, she was still thinking about herself in all of this, but if she was to be with Chris and have him going against Dave, that would be...wait, it wouldn't be so bad. She would hang around with Chris, who would in turn hang around with Dave, discussing matches and what not. Actually this might not be a bad thing, if she played it right.

"Vince McMahon."

"Daddy, it's me."

"Is something wrong Stephanie?"

"No Daddy, I just needed to clarify something for the show's long term plans. I see that Chris Jericho is going to be teaming with Edge against Randy and Dave and I'm wondering if this means that you're going to start a feud with them?"

"I'm glad you called, yes, we decided to go ahead with a feud since neither one is doing anything big. If you had read on in the script you'd see that we're doing an injury angle with Chris and Dave is going to be the instigator."

"Oh, thanks Daddy," she answered, "Chris is here and we were just wondering."

"That's fine, if you need anything else, you know that you can ask."

"Of course, bye Daddy."

"Bye."

Stephanie looked up at Chris after she was through with her phone call, "Daddy confirmed it, you're going to be in a program with Dave." She picked up the script and read on a little bit where it explained how they wanted the match to play out. Stephanie lifted the script to be eye-level with Chris and he read it.

"Great, I get to play fake injury."

"Because you never have a real injury," she said leaning both her arms across her legs, "You're like Superman or something, you're never hurt and we, as a company, are all the more grateful for that because we'd miss you if you weren't around."

"Or you would have to scramble to find out what you would do without me."

"That too," she smiled up at him, "But I like having you around at least."

"Well, that's all that counts I guess."

"But if you play fake, then we have an instant feud between you two and it works out even better for me," she said, "Because then you won't be on as much, doing stuff and you can keep me company, because I'm usually so lonely back here with nothing to do."

"I would hate that."

There was a knock at the door and Stephanie lifted her arms from Chris's legs so he could get off the desk and go answer it. He pulled the door open and Edge, Randy and Dave were standing there.

"Hey, what's up?" Chris asked.

"We wanted to discuss the tag match tonight," Edge said, "So can we come in?"

"Sure," Chris said, taking a step back.

Stephanie's breath caught as she saw Dave walk into the room. He was wearing his ring gear already with an Evolution shirt on as well. He was looking heavenly and she had to resist from wanting to touch those muscular thighs. He truly was like a god and she was simply his minion. The guys went over to the bank of couches on the far end of the room and seated themselves in a circle, all leaning in to hear each other. Dave looked up for a moment and smiled at her as she found herself sitting there just staring at them all.

"Hey Stephanie," Dave said as he broke her out of her trance.

"Oh hey," Stephanie said, putting on her nonchalant air. She got up to go over to where they were and she sat herself down in Chris's lap. He wasn't prepared for it and let out a little groan as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"You want to listen in?" Chris asked.

She smiled at him and then let her smile carry over to Dave, "I figure if I know what you guys are going to be doing, it'll help me figure out what I want to write for your feuds."

"That's a good idea," Dave said to her.

"That's nice of you to say Dave," Stephanie said back, still trying to remain neutral to him, lest Chris figure anything out.

They went about talking about the match and Stephanie had to keep her eyes from wandering in Dave's direction. Chris's hand rubbing her back gently did some to help her, since it kept her mind focused on what he was doing rather than what Dave was doing. She loved to look at Dave when he was serious; he just had the cutest look on his face when he was being serious, so concentrated was he, she could look at him like that for days.

"Ok, sounds great guys," Chris said, "I think that we're pretty prepared to go out there and give the fans a good show."

"Yeah," Randy nodded, "The show should be starting soon so I need to go get in my gear."

Edge agreed and the two of them left. Dave and Chris wanted to iron out the details a little bit more for what they wanted to do for his injury. They figured out it should be Dave's clothesline that did it. Dave did have a mean ass clothesline, and it looked so stiff. If they played up the fact that Chris's head had bounced off the ring-mat during the clothesline it gave them an easy explanation for the injury.

"I wouldn't want to really injure you," Dave laughed, "Stephanie might write me into a storyline where I have to wear dresses and act like a girl."

Stephanie giggled at his joke, "We already have one Rico."

Dave and Chris both laughed at that one, "But still, I'll be careful about it, just be prepared for it, that way it'll look good for the cameras, but it'll also keep you safe."

"And that's the most important thing," Stephanie cooed at Chris, giving him a light kiss as she looked at Dave out of the corner of her eye. He looked a trifle uncomfortable seeing them in such an embrace. She couldn't really tell if he was jealous or not, but he didn't look pleased at all. That was a good sign.

"I'll leave you two alone," Dave said, standing up, "I'll see you during our match Chris, bye Stephanie."

"Bye Dave," Stephanie called out.

"You like him," Chris said after Dave had walked out.

Stephanie spun her head around quickly, looking into Chris's eyes, searching them for explanation. He couldn't have possibly figured out her secret so soon; how could he have figured it out? Was she so transparent that just anyone could see how she felt about Dave. She opened her mouth to try and say something, but she couldn't form the words.

"Huh? Like?"

"Yeah, he's a nice guy, I like him too."

"Oh," Stephanie said, her heart beating again, "I thought you meant that I liked him in the romantic sense of the word."

"No, I meant in the friendly sense," Chris answered, "I'd hate to think what would happen if you liked him in the romantic sense."

She laughed nervously. "Yeah, that would be silly, since I'm with you right?"

"Uh huh, and that makes me very, very happy," he told her, leaning up to kiss her again. She let him kiss her intensely, just glad that he hadn't figured out her dirty, little secret. Glad that it was still safe and tucked away quietly in her brain and in her heart.

"You look like you're thinking," he told her.

"I am thinking."

"Can I know what you're thinking about?"

"Maybe, maybe not," she teased.

"Why just a maybe, are they naughty?"

"No."

"Sure," he said suspiciously.

"No, they're not naughty, but they might be considered devious."

"Oh, those are good thoughts to have."

"Are they now?"

"The best as long as they aren't meant for me."

"Maybe they are, maybe they're not."

"Now you're just being a tease....tell me," he pleaded and kissed her to try and entice the answer out of her.

"I was just thinking, maybe I should write us together."

"Really?" he asked, both excited and skeptical.

"I think it would be good...very good."