A/N: Sorry for the long interim between updates. I had some major writer's block with this story, but over the last couple of days I was hit with total inspiration and I know exactly what I want to do with this story and I'm very eager to write it, so updates should be a trifle more frequent now. Hope you enjoy the chapter and leaving a review always makes me happy and want to write more. :)
"So Hunter, sweetie, how are you going to help me get the belt?"
"Stephanie, I'm not going to help you, you got yourself into this, and you're going to get yourself out."
Stephanie's jaw dropped. "Excuse me?"
"Stephanie, this is Evolution vs. Evolution, and I'm not going to set you guys against each other. That's stupid business. I'm surprised you don't know that," Hunter answered.
Stephanie huffed and stomped her foot. "Fine! Maybe I'll just find someone else to interfere for me. I can't beat Molly on my own, and you're supposed to help me. Why is it that I can help you, but you can't help me? If you're questioning my loyalty to you, I should be questioning your loyalty to me."
"Stephanie, don't argue with me."
Stephanie tapped her chin. "Ok, well, I guess you don't want to be with me. That's fine, I'm sure someone else would like my…services."
Hunter sighed and pulled Stephanie into his lap. "Fine, I'll help you, but I'm not going to be happy about it. But I'll help you. You're more important in this group than Molly is."
Stephanie gave a grin that made her whole face light up. "You DO think I'm important. You DO care about me, I knew that I had you all wrong. So you want me to have the belt and we can both have them."
"That would make us the most dominant couple again," Hunter said to himself.
Stephanie kissed him lightly. "Yes, it would. I really do think that Evolution needs a makeover. I hardly think you were scaring anyone with having Molly in your group. She's not exactly intimidating like I am."
"You ARE intimidating," Hunter agreed.
"Yup," Stephanie said, "Now, I'm going to go get ready for my match. I want to look like I could win against her, even though you'll be helping me. I don't like the way that Molly has been looking at me since I joined Evolution. If she can't handle the competition, maybe she's just not Evolution material."
"She has not treated you badly Stephanie," Hunter told her.
"She doesn't have to," Stephanie said. "But no worries, by the end of the night, she's going to know who is the boss around here, and that's you and me Hunter, but of course, you have more power than I do, since I'm the newest member."
"And don't you forget who has the most power around here Stephanie," Hunter told her teasingly. She kissed him and ran her manicured finger along his jaw slowly.
"You have all the power Hunter, all of it," she told him seductively. She smirked at him, knowing that his obliviousness would bring his downfall. "Now, I've got my own dressing room tonight, so you just sit tight and wait for me ok?"
"Whatever you want babe," Hunter said. Stephanie started to walk past him towards the door, but Hunter darted his hand out and grabbed her upper arm, swinging her to face him. Stephanie looked undaunted as she stared him down. "Even when you win tonight, Molly doesn't get kicked out, do you hear me? I want a stranglehold of every division in this company, and let's face it Steph, you're not exactly a wrestler. So you can win tonight, but Molly is not out of the group."
"Why not?" Stephanie challenged him, stepping closer so they were only a short distance apart. "She doesn't fit in Hunter. She doesn't go."
"She stays Stephanie."
"Are you sleeping with her or something?" Stephanie asked derisively.
"No, but she stays."
"Fine," Stephanie spat out. "But I'm not going to like it."
"It's not your job to like it," Hunter retorted.
Stephanie flipped her hair as she turned away from Hunter, pulling her arm roughly from him. Hunter watched her go with a roll of the eyes. Sometimes Stephanie was so high maintenance, but the benefits of being with her were too high for him to set her off any more than he knew he could. Their relationship could be mutually beneficial, as long as she didn't turn into a raging bitch.
Stephanie walked down the hallway and to the locker room that she had requested, just in case Hunter decided to come see her and then find she was sharing with Chris or something. She didn't want him to get suspicious. She sighed as she thought of Chris. She knew it was hurting him a little to see her so friendly with her ex, but he also knew it was for a good cause. That would just have to be enough for now.
She walked into her locker room and saw Trish sitting there. When Trish saw her, she scrambled out of the seat and stood up in front of her. "Steph, I've been waiting for you!"
"Hi Trish, what do you need?" Stephanie asked, closing the door quickly and locking it behind her so that nobody could come in and interrupt them.
"Nothing, I was just kind of hoping that Randy would be with you, I haven't seen in him in a week and it's been kind of hard, you know. I know we have this plan going, but Randy and I have barely gotten a chance to be in a relationship, and I just, you know, I don't know," she said, sighing and giggling at the same time. "I'm just missing out on something, and I know it."
"Says the girl who was so adamant about not going out with Randy," Stephanie said knowingly as she rifled through her duffel bag for her wrestling attire.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that I was a whole bitch about the situation. But that was before I realized just who the sadistic ones in Evolution were. And it's not Randy," Trish said dreamily. "He's the best one of them all."
"Well, it's not like the competition is all that great," Stephanie said, guffawing at the prospect of Hunter being better than anyone. "But I think it's great that you have Randy now, however secret the two of you are. It was always kind of awkward with you having no one and me seeing your ex-boyfriend."
"Who was your ex-boyfriend before he was my ex-boyfriend," Trish said, laughing as Stephanie joined in. It wasn't awkward for them to be friends and having dated the same guy. Trish had known during her entire relationship with Chris that he was just waiting for Stephanie. She couldn't explain it, but she knew that Chris loved Stephanie more than words could say, and that no matter how much he liked her, she would never be Stephanie in his eyes.
But now she had Randy, and she only hoped that she could have the same thing. Well, not the break-ups so much, but the friendship and love that Chris and Stephanie had. Chris and Stephanie, above anything else, were friends, and she hoped to forge that same bond with Randy. Hopefully everything would go according to plan so that she and Randy could be free from Hunter's stifling grasp.
"Oh, Trish, I needed to talk to you about the plan," Stephanie said, almost as if she had read Trish's mind.
"What about it?"
"We need to change it," Stephanie said plainly, going into the bathroom to change into her ring gear. She called out through the closed door to Trish. "Hunter and I just had an argument about Molly."
"About Molly?"
"Yeah, I can't get her kicked out of Evolution. Hunter seemed to know that's what I was going to do after I won tonight," Stephanie said. "So kicking her out is out of the question."
"Great," Trish said, flopping down onto the couch and putting her head in her hands in dejection. "Just great. That was one of our biggest things."
Stephanie walked out of the bathroom in her ring gear, a black vinyl, one-piece with matching boots. She had pulled her hair back into a ponytail and she grinned at Trish. "I've been thinking about it though, and I think I have an even better plan."
"You do?" Trish asked, looking up at the brunette.
"Yeah, it's going to take some planning and perfect execution, but if we do it just right, I think we can take down Evolution in one foul swoop."
"All at the same time?" Trish asked, suddenly intrigued by what Stephanie wanted to propose. Stephanie excitedly sat down.
"Yeah, hear me out," Stephanie said as she started to talk about what she had in mind for her scum ex-husband.
Randy walked into Evolution's locker room with Molly in tow. They had been talking and as painful as that was, having to be seen with her was that much more painful. She was annoying and constantly on guard around him, and it set him on edge. Molly put down her title on the table and went to grab something out of her bag. Randy looked around, expecting Hunter to be here, but he wasn't, he was still stuck with Molly.
"I think you have a match you should get ready for," Randy told her.
"I don't have to get really for anything," Molly said snottily. "I'm just going to be wrestling with Stephanie and we both know she's nothing but eye candy around here. Hunter even told me that he's not going to help her, so why should I care?"
"Because you should," Randy told her. "I would care, even if it was against an inexperienced opponent."
"Well, then I guess that's where we're different," Molly told Randy. "I don't worry about the lesser opponents because I know that I'm better than them all. There's not one woman here who can compete with me, face the facts Randy, nobody is getting my title off of me."
Randy bit the inside of his cheek. He KNEW that Trish could kick Molly's ass if given the opportunity, but it seemed that Molly was afraid to face Trish. He scowled. "I just wouldn't overlook my opponents, that's all I'm saying."
She walked over to him and patted him on the chest. He wanted to throw her off of him. "Well then you do that. But when you're as good as me, then we'll talk ok?"
"Don't touch me," Randy said, his teeth gritted.
"Randy, we're teammates, don't get all nasty on me now," Molly told him. "I know you don't like me, and it just makes me all the more happy to make your life miserable."
"So you know I don't like you?" he asked.
"Yeah," she nodded. "And frankly, I don't care. We're both in Evolution, and since you're my teammate, I'll treat you as one. But the second, the moment either one of us leaves, well, then that's a different story. But I don't expect that to happen anytime soon, do you?"
Randy was a little bit suspicious of Molly. She couldn't know about the plan though, right? But his suspicions couldn't go any farther as Hunter sauntered into the room. Randy looked to him and he nodded, then looked to Molly. "Molly, you've got a match coming up?"
"I know," Molly said sweetly.
"Randy, can you go find Stephanie, she's mad at me at the moment?"
"Why?" he asked.
"Who knows with that woman, just get her and tell her to come here before her match, I'm not in the mood to deal with her."
"Yeah, fine, whatever," Randy said, leaving and gladly relieving himself of Hunter AND Molly's company.
He wandered around and found Stephanie's locker room, a cursive written "Stephanie McMahon" written on her door. He knocked on it, waiting for someone to answer, or nobody to answer if the case may be. Stephanie poked her head out into the hallway and smiled brightly when she saw him.
"What can I do for you Randy?"
"Hunter wants you to come by before your match," he told her.
"Whatever, come inside," Stephanie said, a little grin on her face. Randy walked inside and saw Trish. Trish had heard his voice and she was grinning. She rushed him and hugged him. It was so difficult to stay away from him.
"Long time, no see slugger," Trish joked as she pulled away to look at him. "We've had a change of plans."
"We have?" Randy asked, looking between the two women. "When did this happen?"
"Hunter won't let me kick Molly out of Evolution," Stephanie explained. "So that had to go the way of the dodo, and so I came up with a new plan. And I have to say that it's a better plan than the one before."
"I have to agree," Trish said. "It's brilliant."
"Well, let me in on this brilliance."
"I'll let you two talk," Stephanie said. "I've got a match."
Stephanie did indeed have a match. She and Hunter…oh, and Molly too, walked out to the gorilla. Stephanie gave Hunter a small kiss before going out to the ring. She jumped around a bit while Molly came in to her entrance music. Stephanie grinned as she saw Molly come down to the ring. She knew that she was probably going to get hit soon, but that was the least of her worries. Things just had to go according to plan, that was all.
Nobody had told Molly to go easy on Stephanie, and so she wasn't going to go easy on her. She grabbed Stephanie's hands as they grappled a little, and Stephanie held her own quite well for a few moments. Stephanie's little secret was that she had been training with Chris for quite some time, and if she wanted to go toe-to-toe with Molly, she probably could. But that wasn't about what tonight was about. The time when she and Trish could kick Molly's ass would come soon enough.
Molly kicked Stephanie in the stomach as Stephanie crumpled to the ground. Molly tried to put Stephanie in a submission move, but Stephanie refused to tap out. She saw Hunter walking down the ramp and knew that Molly couldn't see him since she was facing the other direction. Stephanie kicked Molly down, making her land right on her face. Stephanie groaned in mock pain.
The referee came over to check on her and she pulled him down, moaning and groaning about the pain. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hunter choke out Molly with the ropes and then push her into the ring. Stephanie got up slowly and went over to the ropes, climbing on the second rope and dropping an elbow on Molly before going in for the pin and the 1-2-3. Stephanie jumped up and down as she was handed the Women's title and she clutched it to her as Hunter came over and raised her hand in victory, then pulling her towards him for a deep kiss. She "eagerly" returned it, then went back to celebrating.
She paid no attention to Molly whatsoever.
Backstage, Randy had just heard Trish detail everything that new plan entailed. He was impressed with what Stephanie had come up with, and it was just enough of a surprise to work on Evolution. They would never expect it, if the way that Hunter was looking at Stephanie right now was any indication. He thought it over for a moment and then pulled Trish into his lap so she was sitting perpendicular to him on his lap. She smiled and gave him a slow kiss.
"It's going to work, isn't it?" he whispered to her.
"It's going to work," Trish reassured him. "Just make sure that you tell Dave what's going on now, and Stephanie and I will take care of the others. We'll have to have another meeting to go over the particulars, but it'll work."
"I just want to be able to kiss you whenever I want," Randy said.
"Soon, I promise," Trish told him, then started leaning in towards his lips, licking her surreptitiously. "But since we're alone right now…"
Randy got the message and closed the gap between his lips and hers. He brought his right hand into her long, blonde hair and ran it through the silky soft tresses. Trish was running her hand from his bare chest to his neck, snaking it around the back and running her fingers through his short hair. She shifted herself into a more comfortable position as they continued to kiss.
This was probably the longest time they had gotten to spend together since this whole plan began and they were making up for lost time. Trish moaned against his mouth, craving him. She was falling so fast for Randy that she couldn't even catch herself. It had never been like this with any of the other guys she was with. Her last boyfriend had been Chris and it had NEVER, EVER compared to this. Chris was nice, but he was Stephanie's, but Randy, Randy was definitely hers.
She broke away, needing some air and she panted softly as she licked her slightly swollen lips. She kissed him softly, chastely and caught her breath. "I wish I could stay, but…"
"Yeah, I know," he said, disappointed. "We can't be seen together."
"I'm sorry," Trish told him, running her hand down his cheek and cupping it in her small hand. Randy reached up and covered her hand with his own. It covered her hand and then some. She smiled at him, saying so many things without a single word. There was something forming here, they could both feel it.
And it would only be a matter of time before they got to act on it.