Stephanie limped backstage, supporting most of her weight onto Chris. Her ankle was rapidly swelling, and it only got worse when she took her shoe off. It was turning a sickly purple color, so it was probably bruised as well. Chris had his arm around her waist as she had her arm around his shoulder.

"We'll get my things and then I'm taking you to the hospital."

"Can't we just go to the trainer?" she asked.

"I'm not taking the chance. It could be broken," Chris said firmly, and she knew that she was in for a fight. She knew Chris well enough to know that when he thought something was right, he thought it was the only option out there.

"But why can't we let the trainer assess it and then if he says that I should go see a doctor, then you can take me?"

"Why are you being so difficult?"

"I should ask you the same question," she answered. "Look, if I have to get x-rays we'll go. But the reason that we have a trainer here is because he is the one people go to if they are hurt."

"But--" Chris had no logical comeback for that and cursed under his breath. So he tried a different approach to get her to forgo the trainer and go straight to the emergency room. "I just worry about you."

"And that's sweet, but don't shove your head up your ass and not see that I'm right."

"You're not always right," he countered.

"Sure I am," she said with a smile, though she had to strain to do it since her ankle really was in pain. That would teach her to wear such high heels out to the ring and then attempt to not fall like a klutz.

"I'm right sometimes."

"Not around me, you just have to get used to the fact that I'm going to be right, and even if I'm wrong, there's no chance in hell that I'm going to admit it."

One of the main reasons that Stephanie wanted to go to the trainer instead of the doctor's was Dave was here. And if Dave was here, then Dave could come check on her, and she could play the poor, pathetic, injured girl routine, and Dave would eat it up with a spoon because essentially he was the one who put her in this position, not that she was going to be angry with him or anything, it was partly her fault for wearing such inappropriate shoes.

"Well then you don't have to admit it, you just have to listen to me and go to the hospital, and you can keep your mouth shut the entire time."

She frowned at him, "You would just love that wouldn't you. I wouldn't say I was right, but essentially I would be wrong because I would just let you do whatever you wanted."

By this time, Chris found out that Stephanie had somehow directed them straight to the trainer's room. He looked at her in shock, wondering how she had done that without him even noticing. He was convinced they had been heading to his dressing room. Stephanie gave him a superior-looking smirk and patted his shoulder.

"You'll learn," she told him. "Now let's go see the trainer."

Stephanie wasn't expecting Chris to sweep her up in his arms, but he did just that as he kicked open the slightly ajar door with his foot, sending it reeling into the wall. Stephanie rolled her eyes as he led her in. The trainer looked up from the magazine he had been reading and saw Stephanie's ankle. Chris set her down on the examination table and then stood as close as he could get to her. She elbowed him in the stomach to give her some breathing room.

"Well, what are you going to do about it?" Chris snapped as the trainer came over to examine her ankle.

"Why don't you try giving the guy a few minutes to actually look at it, I'm not sure he has good enough eyes to assess me without actually touching my ankle," Stephanie said.

"I just want him to make sure that you're going to be fine."

"I'm not in a body cast Chris, I think that I'm going to be fine with this one," Stephanie answered. "Would you just stop worrying, it's my ankle!"

"But you have nice ankles, and I don't want them to be screwed up."

"Oh give me a break," she said, exasperated. She went back to look at what the trainer was doing, gently lifting her ankle. He poked and prodded certain areas, and when he got the most swollen part, she let out a painful yelp, her face grimacing.

"Be careful with her!" Chris snapped again and Stephanie shoved him again. "Would you stop shoving me!"

"Would you stop acting like an ass?" she countered. "Do you have a diagnosis, or do I have to go to the hospital?"

"Well, it doesn't look broken," the trainer said, to which Stephanie gave a smug smile to Chris over. "But it is a sprain, I can wrap it up for you tonight and you just want to keep it elevated for the evening. I have some supplies in my truck, I'll be right back with them."

"Thank you," Stephanie said sweetly and then when the trainer had left, she laid back and smiled up at Chris. "Told you so."

"Fine, fine, you told me so," Chris said good-naturedly, finding it nearly impossible to be angry with her. She was just too beautiful and too head-strong for him to be mad. Instead of a witty come-back, Stephanie leaned up to kiss him, surprising him slightly, since he thought a tiny part of her was mad at him.

Stephanie didn't know why she felt the sudden urge to kiss him except for the fact that he had admitted that she was right and he was wrong. She wasn't falling for Chris; that was a silly idea. She just liked his kisses far too much. He used lots of chapstick, so they were always soft and very kissable. She laid back on the table in a slight daze, especially now that Chris's knuckles were running down her jaw.

There was a soft knock on the door and Stephanie sat up, wondering who it was. "Come in."

Dave peeked his head in through the door and gave the two of them a sheepish look before opening the door. Stephanie smiled shyly and glanced over at Chris to see him clenching his jaw. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that he was going to put the blame on Dave for what happened.

"I suggest you find your way out of here," Chris said, his voice taut.

"I just wanted to apologize," Dave answered. Stephanie had never seen him look so sad before, and it was over her. It was like he had taken off the cloak of being a big, strong, strapping man, and he was exposing his sensitive side to her. She almost wanted to swoon right there.

"You've done enough!" Chris said angrily. "Look at her! She's sitting here injured because of you!"

"Chris!" Stephanie hissed, putting her hand on his arm. "Go to your locker room and get your things so we can go when my ankle is wrapped up."

"But I want to stay--"

"You're not helping anyone here, and get your anger in check," she told him. "We'll talk when you get back."

Stephanie knew that she sounded like a mother chastising her child, but Chris was acting stupidly at the moment. He knew that accidents happened in this business, and he should know that this was just an accident. She failed to realize that this was all because Chris cared about her a great deal and hated seeing her injured. She was simply to blinded by Dave to see Chris was head over heels for her. That could come back to haunt her one day.

"Ok," Chris mumbled, kissing her cheek, to which she was oblivious to. He brushed past Dave and left, leaving Stephanie smiling shyly again at Dave.

"He had every right to be mad at me," Dave told her. "This was all my fault."

"No, it wasn't, these things happen, and I'm going to be fine," Stephanie said reassuringly. "It's not like you did this on purpose or anything right?"

He laughed a little. "Yeah, it was my intention to knock you out."

"Well in that case, I may have to be angry at you," she said, her tone definitely flirty as she tossed her hair back. "It's just a sprain, Chris'll get over it."

"He seemed pretty pissed, he must care about you a lot."

Stephanie hadn't really ever thought about it to be honest. She knew that Chris liked her and that was fine with her, but she never really saw him as anything more. Not when Dave was around, and looking so fine, as he was right this second. Chris was kind of just there, he was always kind of just there.

"I guess."

"You two make a good couple," Dave said, and Stephanie picked up something strange in his voice.

"Well thanks, people tell us that quite a bit, I haven't really thought about it too much. We're kind of just there."

"Do you think it's going to get serious?" Dave asked, looking at her intently. Stephanie stared at him a moment, mesmerized by the man in front of her. She let out a little sigh as she tilted her head. "Stephanie, are you ok? Did you get a concussion?"

Stephanie shook herself out of her reverie and cursed herself for showing so much emotion in front of Dave. If she kept doing that, he was going to suspect something, and she didn't want to give it all away before she had the chance to get him. And if Dave did find out, then Chris could find out, and she wanted to make the revelation as painless as possible. When the time came, she wanted to let Chris go gently. She'd probably spout something off like she wasn't ready for a commitment, or that they were going too fast for her, or it just wasn't working out. He would understand eventually.

"No, I don't have a concussion, I just fell on my ankle."

"I really am sorry, I should've been watching where I was running."

"It was part of the match Dave," Stephanie told him. "Seriously, don't even worry about it. And Chris will get over it. He's just protective."

"He's a lucky guy," Dave told her.

Stephanie had never expected to hear those words from Dave. Not that Dave wasn't capable of saying it, not that she knew if he was, but they were towards her. Dave, the object of her affection was actually saying something that could be interpreted as being interested in her. If he did like her, or was attracted to her, or just lusted after her in a purely sexual way (she would take any of the three, though the last one intrigued her the most), she didn't know if going after Chris was such a hot idea.

"You think so?" she said, her breath catching in her throat. Was someone cutting off the oxygen to her room because she was starting to see little stars around Dave? Maybe this was what love felt like, she felt like she was floating.

"Yeah, you're really cool Stephanie," Dave gave up to her.

"You really think that?"

"Who doesn't?"

"My ex."

"Well, he's an idiot then...just don't tell him I said that."

She laughed. "He wouldn't do anything to you. Have you seen you? You're a big, strapping man and you're bigger than Hunter. You could take him easy."

"Well, coming from you, I guess I can go along with that theory."

"You already know the most important thing about me Dave, I'm always right," she told him, laying her hand on his arm. "And that'll get you far in this business."

He winked at her. "I'll keep that in mind for future reference. I better go though, Chris'll be back soon, and the way he was looking at me, I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to kick my ass."

"I wouldn't let him, and he listens to me. He knows it was an accident, he just doesn't like seeing me hurt."

Stephanie was suddenly shot with a pang of...something she couldn't identify. She didn't know why it hit her at that moment, but it was like her stomach dropped out from under her. Maybe it was the fact that Chris cared so deeply for her...but maybe it was more that she knew him so well now. She knew that he was probably mad more at the situation than at Dave, and it was weird to know someone so well. She had never known Hunter that well, because he wouldn't allow it, and Chris, she knew him, and maybe that moment was the moment when she knew that she was going to hurt him deeply.

"Well, I'm sorry again, and I hope that you get better," Dave said, totally unaware that she was having an internal struggle with herself.

"Thanks," she responded, though obviously distracted.

She didn't notice Dave walk out, and she didn't notice Chris walk in, but both things happened within the course of several minutes. Chris noticed that she looked troubled, or at least preoccupied with something else. He walked up to stand in front of her and with a couple of fingers, gently brushed the hair out of her face. She looked at him, and she could see it in his eyes, she could see the hurt already playing behind those blue pools. She could see it just laying there in wait, until she brought it into his eyes and extinguished the sparkle that lay in them now.

"You ready to go," he inquired quietly.

She reached up and grabbed his hand that was still tangled in her brown hair and squeezed it. Had she gotten herself in too deep? So deep that she was going to drown? She wasn't a bad person, she wasn't someone who used people at will, but...she was going to hurt Chris, and she knew it, and she had plowed ahead with her plan, not even thinking about him, and how he might feel.

"Look, I'm sorry for getting mad, I just wanted someone to blame," he continued as she remained silent. "I hate thinking that you're hurt and everything, and I'm sorry about it, it won't happen again...and can you say something before I start going into worry mode and do something like blame the trainer, or the sound guy or the prop guy or something."

"I'm..." she paused. She didn't want to say she was fine, because she wasn't fine. But what was she? Guilty? Maniacal? Devious? Without a soul? Perhaps it was all of these, maybe she was a mush of everything and she didn't know how to solve that conundrum. This feeling, she didn't like it, and yet she couldn't readily escape it like most things in her life. She had gotten herself in too deep and now she was paying for it.

And Chris would be paying for it too. He would be broken-hearted, and for what? To help her get another man; to get another man to fall for her and want to be with her. But all Chris wanted, Chris's only fault in all of this was because he liked her...a lot. He liked her and she had taken advantage of that feeling, of him, and he was the one going to pay. He was going to be the one who suffered from her mistake.

"You're what?" he urged her to say, his eyes boring into hers.

She was in too deep. "I'm ok...you ok?"

"I'm fine, why shouldn't I be? I'm not the one who had to go and sprain their ankle by wearing ridiculously tall shoes."

"You like my shoes," she teased, falling into a comfortable place with Chris. As long as they teased, she could deal with it, because his eyes danced when he was teasing her, and it reminded her less that she was going to break him.

"I liked them before you went off and got hurt. Things are always fun before you get hurt."

The trainer came back then, and Stephanie had forgotten he was even supposed to come back and wrap up her ankle. He did so quickly, obviously having an expertise in the area. She and Chris both thanked him before Chris lifted Stephanie off of the table and set her down on her good ankle, letting her lean on him with most of her weight. Getting to the car was slow going, but Chris cheered when they got there and Stephanie laughed. He was about to help her into the car, when Stephanie stopped him and leaned on the top of the open door, gazing at him for a moment.

"I appreciate you," she told him simply, the words catching in her throat as she said them.

Chris smiled his brilliant smile at her, blinding her almost, but in a nice way, a safe way. "For what?"

"Just for...cause you're Chris Jericho," she said finally. "I see no other reason beyond that to appreciate you."

"Are you looking to score tonight Miss McMahon?"

"I might be, you willing to help me with that?"

"Always at your service Miss."

Stephanie leaned across the space between them and kissed him.

"I really do appreciate you."