A/N: Thanks for all the reviews everyone, I hope that you keep reviewing since I love them so much. Enjoy. :)

Stephanie looked off to the side, sighing. She was supposed to be working, but her mind was preoccupied. She was thinking about Chris again, and she knew that it was stupid, but she couldn't stop thinking about what he had done for her the other night. Sure, she could've probably taken care of that sleazy guy by herself; she was tough. But Chris had shown up and pretended to be her boyfriend to get him away. What did that mean? Did that mean he was over her? Or he was just a nice guy.

"Dad needs those papers Stephanie."

Stephanie looked up, "I'm almost done."

"You don't look it."

"I am, I was just thinking, is that a crime? Have we lost the freedom to be free thinkers? Do I have to submit every thought I have to you now? Is that it?"

"What the hell is going on with you?" Shane asked, sitting down across from her. "You don't have to be so goddamn touchy, I was just stating a simple sentence."

"Well, maybe I'm not in the mood for your observations of me, ok, I'm just sick and tired of people butting into my life, thinking that I'm a little girl. I'm not a little girl anymore, I can think for myself."

"Stephanie, nobody said you couldn't," Shane told her angrily. She fumed for a second before calming down. "What is wrong with you?"

Stephanie looked at him. "You've been in love, right Shane? I mean, you're married, you're in love, right?"

"Yeah, I can say that I've been in love yes," Shane laughed. "Why?"

"How did you know you loved Marissa? How did you know that she was the one for you? How did you know?"

"I don't know, it's just like, you can't stop thinking about them, and you know that you don't want to be with anyone else, and you can't picture yourself with anyone else. Like, I pictured Marissa being with me, and when I thought about other girls, that thought didn't occur to me."

"See, that makes perfect sense to me."

"So my little sister is in love with Dave Batista," Shane nodded. "Well, he's a nice guy, you could do a lot worse than Dave. And I know that Dad likes him, or rather what he brings to the table."

Stephanie blinked slowly. "No, I don't think that's it at all."

"What are you talking about Stephy girl?"

"I think I'm in love with Chris."

"Well it's about damn time you figured that out," Shane said, relieved. "Do you know how I've wanted to tell you that you were kidding yourself over this whole Dave thing? I mean, I could see this coming a mile away and when I TOLD you that you were in love with him, you balked and got angry at me."

"Well I didn't know!" Stephanie said. "I mean, I was…I don't know. You're right, I was immature. I was so immature."

"Yeah, that's a good word for it," Shane laughed.

"And now you're laughing at me, wonderful," Stephanie said sarcastically. "I deserve it, I deserve all of it."

"Stephanie, I've been telling you that you were in love with him for a long time. I should be able to laugh because you were stupid and I was right."

"And this is helping me how?"

"Look, I'm not here to solve your problems for you Stephanie. You know that Chris is a good friend of mine, I'm not going to be objective because I think what you did to Chris was pretty shitty. I'll say this though, he doesn't talk about you to me, so I don't know what's going on his mind when it comes to you. I'm also not going to mine information from him for you."

"I wasn't going to ask you to do that."

"I'm just covering all my bases Stephy girl."

"Look, I'm starting to realize just what I did to Chris, and it's all bad. There's no reason why he should or would want me, and I understand that. I'm not going to ask for him back, I'm not going to say anything about it, it's my burden to bear."

"You know Stephy girl, I love you, you're my sister, but sometimes, I just don't get you. You find something…someone that you want, and then you just completely give up. That's not like you. You are not the kind of person that doesn't go after what you want. Isn't that what you did with Chris in the first place, you were trying to get Dave."

"I know, but I think I love Chris and if I love Chris than…what I did to him…he'd never want me Shane," Stephanie said, being brutally honest, not only with herself, but with her brother as well.

After what she had done to Chris, she didn't deserve his love. She almost didn't want it because of what she had done. It should be her burden to bear. Something had snapped in her when she realized that she might be in love with Chris. It was like her selflessness reflex had suddenly kicked in without her knowing it. She found that she just couldn't bear to put Chris through anything that might hurt him. Maybe that was love.

"You never know until you try Steph," Shane told her. "It may sound cliché, but it's true."

She shook her head. "Look Shane, I appreciate the advice, I really do, but this isn't something that I'm going to pursue."

"Fine Stephy girl, if that's the way you want it to be…"

"It is," Stephanie told him. She grabbed the papers off of her desk. "Here, give these to Dad for me."

Shane took the papers and left the room. He didn't like seeing his sister like this. She wasn't sad, it was just like she had given up. Stephanie had never given up in her life. To see her doing it now was just like a blow to him. That wasn't his sister in there. Maybe she had grown up, stop believing that the world was her oyster. But a part of his liked his sister as this hard-headed, stubborn woman.

He dropped off the papers to his dad and went to find Chris. Despite Stephanie's failed relationship with Chris, he and Chris had remained friends. But then again, Chris didn't know that Shane knew everything that had happened. Maybe if he knew that Shane knew he'd be a little less willing to talk to him. He went to the most obvious place as to where Chris could be, his locker room.

"So we need to talk," Shane said as soon as Chris opened the door.

"Shane, are you breaking up with me!" Chris joked.

"You wish man," Shane said, shaking Chris's hand. "Actually, just wanted to see how you were doing?"

"Since when have you cared that much about me?"

"I'm not a man who minces words, so I'll say what I have to say upfront. I know what happened between you and Stephanie."

"Doesn't everyone?" Chris asked critically. "We broke up, everyone knows we broke up."

"No, I KNOW what happened to you guys," Shane said. "As in, her using you."

"She told you that?" Chris asked, disgusted that she would spill their personal lives. "She told you how she wanted Dave and how she was just using me to get to him?"

"Yeah, she did," Shane nodded. "I've know about it since a week or so after you broke up. I told her she was an idiot."

"Yeah," Chris said with a laugh. "Well she doesn't deserved to be talked about any more, I'm through with her Shane. We can't go back."

"I'm not saying she even wants to, I'm just saying I know. And I know that my sister is sometimes really naïve and she does hurtful things, but she does try to correct the situation sometimes. So if in the near future, she comes and talks to you, just listen ok. From a friend to a friend, think of it as a personal favor."

"Do you know how much she hurt me?" Chris said, sitting down and reminiscing. "Do you know how she ripped my heart into shreds?"

"I do."

"No, no you don't Shane. I told her I loved her, she told me she used me. There I was, listening to her speak, and I thought everything was fine. I took her to meet my parents for God's sakes! I thought she could be the one, and then I told her I loved her and she tore me down. How do you think that made me feel Shane?"

"Yeah, but need I remind you of Allison, remember her?"

"Shut up man," Chris said. "That was unavoidable."

"You don't think I didn't know you were in love with my sister for the longest time. You strung Allison along for ten months, and then dumped her when you thought you might have a chance with Stephanie. You love my sister."

"I LOVED your sister," Chris corrected. "As in the past tense. After what she did to me, I hardly think I'm going to be loving her again."

"So you're going to punish her then? For the rest of your life, you're going to punish her."

"Why do you care so much anyways Shane?" Chris asked.

"Hello! My sister and one of my closest friends getting together, that's a dream. That way I wouldn't have to worry constantly about my little sister's well-being. As you know, she's not exactly the most perceptive person in the world, so I kind of have to worry about her."

"Why worry? She's got Dave Batista. She got what she wanted. I don't see how anything she does has to do with me anymore, I'm an ex, nothing more."

"Fine, I'm just saying that my sister, she's allowed mistakes sometimes too. And you still love her, I don't think I heard you outright deny it."

"I don't love your sister," Chris said. "Any love that I had towards her is gone, completely."

"Ok, so I guess my dream has to die and I'm going to be stuck with Dave as a brother-in-law."

"I guess so," Chris said. "That's what Stephanie wanted, and that's what Stephanie got."

"Yeah, I guess it is." Shane stood up and went to the door. "I'll see you later Chris."

"Bye."

Once Shane left, Chris put his head in his hands. He was upset now. He didn't like thinking about Stephanie. She had ripped his heart out, stomped on it and then laughed in his face, and you didn't get over that, no matter how long after the fact it was. Seeing her with Dave now, it just cemented the fact that she wasn't his. And God help him, he still loved her. He couldn't admit it to Shane, because it might subsequently get back to Stephanie, and that was the last thing he needed.

He didn't need this distraction as he went out for his match against Edge. He got in the ring and jumped around a little bit, clearing his head of thoughts of Stephanie. He had a match to worry about right now, and he couldn't have any brunettes invading his thoughts. Edge's music hit and he ran down to the ring, immediately going after Edge with some right hands.

They went back and forth, each one gaining and losing the upper-hand at first. Finally, Chris got the definitive upper-hand and swung Edge into the ropes, hitting him with a devastating clothesline and knocking him to the mat. Chris grabbed one of Edge's leg and did an elbow drop on his knee. Then he did it again for good measure. When he knew that Edge was going to be on the ground for a bit, he climbed up on the middle rope and did a flying elbow on him. He ran to do the Lionsault, but Edge moved and he landed on his feet.

Edge was quick to move to the ropes and speared Chris to the mat. While this was going on. Stephanie walked out and over to the announcer's table, glancing at Chris as he was caught in a headlock by Edge. She sat down next to JR and grabbed the extra set of headphones, slipping them on as she went back to watching the mat, or more specifically, watching Chris in the match.

"Stephanie, to what do we owe the pleasure?" Lawler asked.

"Well, you know King, I thought that someone might be in need of my services and I came out here to see if any of these guys is worthy of having Stephanie McMahon in their corner."

"We're definitely worthy of having someone as beautiful as you out here," Lawler said excitedly.

"Well thank you King, do you have anything to say JR?"

"Weren't you already in Chris's corner?" JR asked.

"I was, but I was thinking that I could make a change," Stephanie said, knowing this was going against everything written. But Shane was right, she wasn't someone who took things lying down. Maybe she'd never get Chris back and that was a real possibility, but it didn't hurt to try. And it certainly didn't hurt to try in a very roundabout way.

Chris glanced up and caught sight of Stephanie sitting at the announcer's table. He was shocked by her presence and got distracted as Edge took his knee out from under him, causing him to collapse on the mat. He knew that he was supposed to win his match, but his mind had just gone blank and he couldn't concentrate. Edge started punching him in the head and he had to think quick as he got up and got Edge into an Irish whip. He knocked him down and turned him over, putting him in the Walls. Edge made a valiant try for the ropes, but tapped out.

He saw Stephanie stand up from where she was sitting and applaud for him. He stood there, dumbfounded, as his arm was held up in victory. He ignored everything though, because all he saw was Stephanie standing there. She locked eyes with him for a moment before slowing walking away from the table and towards the backstage area, her eyes never leaving his.

She was definitely up to something…and it gave Chris an uneasy feeling.