So Stephanie was with Dave Batista. She had gotten exactly what she had wanted all along. She had gotten the man of her dreams in her grasp. Never let it be said that Stephanie never got what she wanted. She was Stephanie McMahon, and she had always gotten what she desired, and this was no exception. She and Dave had spent more time together, and found that they enjoyed each other's company very much, and dating seemed the obvious thing to do.

Stephanie barely even thought of Chris anymore either. She just didn't find the time to think about him. She saw him occasionally, that was inevitable as they worked together, but it always amounted to a slight nod, barely perceptible, barely even there, and thaws just fine with her. She didn't want to think about him, and she didn't even feel the need to talk about him either.

"Davey," Stephanie said, calling him by the nickname she had adopted. "My dad says he sees big things in your future."

"Is that right?" Dave asked as he looked over at her. "And do you have any influence in that?"

"Nope, none at all. Apparently my dad sees something special in you," Stephanie said sweetly, then followed up with a coy smile. "I guess he just sees what I see."

"And what do you see Steph?"

"I can't tell you that. I'm not putting anything out there for you to hold over my head. You'll have to just be patient and hope that over time I tell you."

"Yeah, I'm sure you'll tell me," Dave said with a shake of the head. "You wouldn't tell me anything if you couldn't help it because you think that you can't get anywhere if you don't have the power."

"Are you saying that I'm a power hog?" Stephanie asked, getting up and walking slowly over to Dave. She sat down on her knees next to him, sitting up a little so that she could look down on him.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying," Dave said with a smile to let her know that he wasn't being very serious.

"Well that's not nice," Stephanie pouted. "Now you have to make it up to me."

"I do?"

"Yeah, I mean, you don't want an upset girlfriend do you?" Stephanie asked. "Especially one who can put you in really stupid matches with really stupid people. And then tell them that they're going to win and not you."

"And you say you're not a power hog," Dave scolded, but kissed her to let her know silently that he was still joking. Stephanie always felt so little when he was kissing her. He was a big man. And he dwarfed her so much that she felt so tiny next to him, and she wasn't even a small girl. She liked that he was so big sometimes; he made her feel so safe.

"I'm not," Stephanie mumbled as she pulled away. "Now if I don't come up with things for the next feuds we're going to be doing, I'm going to be out of a job."

"Tragic," Dave said sarcastically as Stephanie glared at him. "I'm sorry, feel free to go ahead with whatever you need to do."

"Thank you. I'm almost done, I swear, and then we can go back to the hotel and go to sleep. You must be exhausted after your match tonight."

"Not really, it was a tag match so at least I got some breaks here and there, but I'm still tired."

"I know, and I just have to finish up this one thing, I swear," Stephanie said, furiously scribbling on a piece of paper. "This just comes with the territory you know."

"I know, and I accept that. I don't think I've been rude about it, have I?"

"No, I just didn't want you thinking that I was going to not let you know that I work a lot."

"I know you do, it's fine, I work too, I know how it goes."

"And done!" Stephanie said, gathering up her papers quickly and shoving them into her briefcase. "I'm finally done and we can finally go back to the hotel."

"Finally," Dave joked as he took Stephanie's things from her. She smiled and took his free hand as they walked out of the arena. They were two of the last people there since Stephanie had work that needed to be done after the show. She yawned into her hand as he opened the door to their rental car.

A short while later they were in bed and Stephanie was snuggling against him, trying to find a good position. He took up a lot of the room in the bed, which was the one caveat to having a big, strong man in her bed. But would she trade it for anything in the world? No, she wouldn't because Dave was something else. He was not too shabby in the bedroom department and she smirked to herself at that thought, glad that the lights were off for the most part and Dave couldn't see her smirk.

The room became quiet as she heard Dave's breath slowly down into a hypnotic rhythm. She wasn't as tired as he was, not having done anything too strenuous that evening. So she lay there, staring up at the ceiling, just listening to Dave breathe. He was so warm against her and he warmed up the entire bed, most of which he took up. She felt comfortable and very safe.

Stephanie had lied…to herself mostly.

She did think of Chris, though she tried to forget it by the morning light, but when it was late, when the sky was still lit by tiny specks of faraway stars, she thought of him. She couldn't help it. When there was nothing else to think about, her mind wandered, and oftentimes they wandered in the wary direction of Chris.

It wasn't even big stuff, more like…well…she just wondered how he was. She figured he was fine, because whenever she saw him, for those brief moments, he seemed fine. But seeming fine was NOT being fine, and she didn't know if he was fine. She had heard, through whispers and gossiping mouths that he had been seeing Lita a few times, and that seemed to be a budding relationship. She didn't think much about that because it sent her stomach into these odd knots. She shouldn't care because she had Dave, and she didn't really care, she was worried in a broad sense, like how someone worries about nuclear war, it's in the back of their minds, but you don't really think about it prevalently.

There was another issue that made her think of him during the long nights and she didn't even admit it to herself. Admitting it was true would only complicate things and make them into issues. She didn't want to have any more issues with Chris. It just felt weird because she had taken their charade too far. She should've stopped it earlier, before she learned so much about Chris. He may not believe her, but she had learned a lot about him, had listened to him when he talked, had studied his eyes and his body language.

She had been in a relationship with Chris, she realized, too late, and when he didn't care. Yes, she was using him, but she had been with him too, and it went beyond the using. It was real, and sometimes…for a nanosecond, she missed it. But that was just how every person sometimes, just for a second, misses a past relationship. It was nothing in the long run, just a stopover in your brain.

Dave's arm was too heavy.

That was when Stephanie thought about Chris the most. When Dave draped his arm across her stomach. It was bulky and weighted with muscle. Don't get her wrong, she loved his arms, they were so strong and when they were wrapped around her, it felt like a wall, a fortress that was there to shield her from everything. But at night, when he was asleep, and he lay his arm across her stomach, well…it just wasn't the same.

Chris's arm, well, it had been…different. Not as heavy and it always seemed to blanket her. She would always find herself caressing it and smiling, knowing that it was there. That's just how it was. But the same could not be said for Dave's arm. Sometimes she felt like the oxygen was slowly pushing out of her under the weight. It was a huge arm, and it wasn't anything like Chris's.

Why she was obsessing over this, she wouldn't be able to tell you, but it stuck in her craw some. She wanted to stop thinking about it for obvious reasons, but when she tried to, it would come creeping back into her mind at the strangest moments, like now for instance. She wanted to shove his arm off most of the time. It wasn't the right arm and she knew that was bothering her. But she had Dave, and she was happy, happier than she had ever been with Chris.

What Stephanie failed to notice was the fact that she thought she hadn't been happy with Chris because she had spent most of that relationship thinking about how guilty she felt. She couldn't go one day without thinking of the way that she was using Chris, and that ate away at her. It ate away and left her with the bad memories of how she had felt with Chris, but she didn't see all the good times that she had with Chris.

She wiggled herself out from under Dave's arm. She didn't know why she let this get to her. She should've been able to move on by now. It was fake, it was all fake. Everything between her and Chris was fake. But if it was fake, why was this feeling so real? She hated to see him with Lita, hated it and she never wanted to admit that because it solidified something that she wasn't ready to hear.

She decided that she needed a drink, badly, and she knew the bar downstairs was open until four. She didn't want to break open the mini-bar, just in case Dave woke up and wondered what the hell she was doing. She figured a good drink would help her sleep, or it would at least help her sort out these confusing feelings that she was having. If anything it would make her forget, at the worse she wouldn't remember who Chris was for a couple of hours.

She slipped on a pair of pants and a leather jacket, grabbing a room key as she headed downstairs to the bar. There were still quite a few people there, watching Sportscenter on the television or playing pool, or like the couple in the corner making out. She sat down at the bar and ordered up a rum and Coke, she might as well start out light and work her way to the heavy stuff. The bartender got it for her and she paid him before taking a relaxing sip.

"A pretty woman shouldn't drink alone."

She looked to her left and saw a sleazy looking man sitting next to her. "I'm just having a nightcap thanks."

"But you still shouldn't be alone, not this late at night. You're too pretty to be alone. Why don't you let me keep you company?"

"No thank you."

"Oh come on, I'll even buy you a drink," he offered.

"Really, I'm fine, I just got my drink."

"Every drink deserves another. I haven't done my one good deed for the day, so if you allow me to buy you a drink then I can fulfill that need."

"Why don't you find someone else to ask? I'm sure that guy down there would like a drink," she said, pointing to a man practically slumped over the bar. "You can go do your good deed for him."

"But you're much more beautiful."

"Look, no thanks."

"Come on."

"Stephanie, baby, what are you doing down here? I've been looking all over for you."

Stephanie turned quickly and saw Chris standing there, by himself, looking at her. "Chris?"

"Yeah, you ran away. If you wanted to come get a drink, you should've woken me up. Who's this guy?" he asked, throwing a thumb in the direction of the annoying man.

"I don't know, just some man who wanted to buy me a drink."

"Hey, thanks buddy, you're willing to buy us a drink. My beautiful girlfriend can't be lying."

The man got up quickly and left, leaving Stephanie there with Chris. She couldn't believe that he had done that. After everything he had said, after everything she had done to him, he had still come to her aid. She couldn't believe the compassion that this man had. How had she not seen it so clearly when they were together. Chris sat down next to her and ordered a Corona from the bartender.

"You shouldn't drink alone."

"Thanks for doing that."

"I just pretended we were still together," he shrugged.

"Speaking of drinking alone, shouldn't you take your own advice and not drink alone?"

"I'm not, I'm drinking with you," he said, taking a swig from his beer. "Why aren't you up in your room?"

She couldn't answer him the way that she wanted to. How would it look to Chris if she told him that she was missing his arm? It would look so incredibly pathetic that he would laugh her out of here. And she couldn't bear that right now, especially after Chris had just saved her from having to be annoyed by that man.

"Couldn't sleep," she responded shortly. "You?"

"Same," he said, glancing down at his beer, swishing it around in his hand.

"You weren't supposed to want to talk to me."

"It's late, I must be tired and not thinking straight."

"Oh," she said, looking down at her own drink. "I'm glad you showed up if that means anything to you."

"Well, I have a hero complex, sue me."

"I didn't deserve to have you do that."

"I know you didn't, but I can't help it."

"I'm still really sorry."

"I know," he said, nodding to himself, and swishing his beer again. "I know."

"Yeah, but it still bears mentioning."

"Don't worry about it Steph," he said, chugging the rest of his beer down. "Let me walk you to you room. You never know when you're going to run into some unwanted ass."

"Sure you want to be seen with me?"

"I'm sure."

Stephanie took one last sip of her drink before she got off the stool. Chris pressed his hand against her lower back as he led her out of the bar. She could feel the warmth of his hand underneath her t-shirt as she had taken off her jacket a while ago. It felt good, too good, almost sinfully good. She almost wished he would wrap his arm around her. No, what was wrong with her? She had Dave, her dream guy, her DREAM GUY.

She showed him where he was staying and walked her right up to her door. She stood there awkwardly, shifting from foot to foot, awaiting what he would say, if he would say anything. He wasn't obligated to say anything, but she was thinking that he would. He looked around the hallway for a moment.

"Well, goodnight," he finally said after a few chilly moments.

"Night Chris. Take care of yourself."

"You too Steph," he said, and then he did something so unexpected. He leaned down and kissed her cheek. It was chaste as could be and he barely grazed her skin, but it had been a kiss nonetheless. She wanted to pull him back to her, but she let him walk away, watching his back as it got smaller and smaller the farther down the hallway he got.

She didn't know why, but she felt the same emptiness as the night that Chris left her.