"Molly, you had to understand it was a business decision."
"Mmhmm, business decision," Stephanie said over Hunter's shoulder as she patted the Women's title draped over her own shoulder.
"Business decision!" Molly said angrily. "What kind of messed up business decision is this! It doesn't make sense Hunter, I'm the best female wrestler in this entire company and you want to give HER a joke title reign."
"Hey!" Stephanie said, pissed off that Molly would insult her like that. "I'll have you know that I'm the most dominant female in this company you little bitch! If I want the goddamn title, I'll take the goddamn title!"
"I want a rematch!" Molly demanded.
"Not tonight," Stephanie said. "I know you have a rematch clause in your contract, but you can't have it tonight."
"Next week, I want to get my hands on you next week!" Molly told Stephanie. Stephanie just scoffed and yawned as she looked at Molly, obviously bored with the other brunette.
"Whatever you say Molly," Stephanie said derisively. "If you want to TRY and fight me next week, we'll see."
"And I want Hunter and any other Evolution member banned from ringside," Molly insisted. Hunter looked between them. He was a little worried for Stephanie's safety, but she seemed undaunted by Molly's challenge.
"Fine, if that's what you want," Stephanie said to her. "I'll just beat you again and then stand over you with the title…again."
"You couldn't even come close to me on one of your good days," Molly argued. "You're pathetic. I don't know why she has the belt anyways!"
"Because Hunter and I rule around here, not you Molly," Stephanie said, talking down to her. "My father owns this company and therefore, I own you, so you might not want to say anything so derogatory towards me."
"Oh, I'll say something derogatory!" Molly snapped.
"Come one, take one for the team," Stephanie said as Randy walked into the door. "Randy, don't you think that it's a good thing for Molly to have dropped the title to me tonight. I mean, we're all teammates right, and if she's going to lose the title, it should be to someone in Evolution."
Randy nodded, looking over at the mischievous looking Stephanie McMahon. He knew that she was trying to play Molly right into her hands. He had just heard the new plan from Trish and he had to get a word alone with Stephanie to tell her that her plan was brilliant and he couldn't wait to start it into full motion.
"I think that is a good idea."
"See," Stephanie said haughtily as she glanced over at Molly. "If she would just calm the hell down, I can truly explain my rationale, but the little twit won't even listen to a word I say."
"What did you call me?" Molly asked.
"I called you a twit," Stephanie told her again. "What? Is that wrong of me? Well tough sweetheart, if you don't want to listen to my explanation than I feel it is my duty to call you a twit."
"Oh, I'm going to kick your ass!" Molly screamed, lunging at Stephanie. Hunter caught her about the waist and held her back from the taller brunette. "Let me go Hunter, so help me God let me get my hands on her stupid neck!"
"Such hostility," Stephanie said with a little scoff. She studied her nails. "You're lucky that you didn't break any of my nails, or else I really would've had to whoop your ass."
"Shut up!"
"No," Stephanie said sweetly. "Here's the deal Molly, and I'll try to put this is simple terms so that you can understand. If I have the belt, that means you can go out and fight any of the other divas, and your title is safe. So you can show weakness. Take…that trashy bitch Trish Stratus. She wants your title, now, yes, she's going to challenge me, but I can pull strings around here and I can simply hold the belt without defending it. Then you go out and you fight Trish and you lose--"
"Lose to that blonde whore!"
Randy set his jaw as he heard Molly call her that. His mind was conjuring up images of Molly hitting Trish in the face, and he had to bite the inside of his cheek from starting in on a tirade. He was liable to break Molly in half for calling his…girlfriend…a whore. Nobody called Trish a whore. Trish was anything but a whore; she was a sweet, kind, funny, compassionate woman and he'd be damned if he let Molly drag her good name through the mud.
"Let me finish," Stephanie said, "before you start going into convulsions. You lose to Trish and lull her into a fall sense of security. Then, I drop the belt back to you, Trish faces you for a match, thinking she can beat you easily and then you completely beat her ass. So then she can't say that you never defend your belt."
"Oh," Molly said, somewhat subdued now that she had heard Stephanie's plan.
"That's a really good plan Stephanie," Randy inputted. "That's a really solid way of cementing the power of the group."
"Thank you Randy, at least someone appreciates me around here," she said, giving him a teasing wink, which Hunter caught and thought that she was implying he wasn't supporting her.
"I think it's a great idea too Steph," Hunter said quickly, coming over to wrap his arm around Stephanie. "Don't you think so Molly?"
"I guess the plan has its strong points," Molly shrugged. "I guess if the ultimate outcome is me getting Little Miss Blondie to lose then I can't really argue with it."
"So would it be fair to call a truce," Stephanie said, sticking her hand out. "I don't want any animosity between the two of us. We're teammates and plan-mates now, so I think that we should at least be cordial with each other, do you agree?"
The plan hinged on Stephanie gaining Molly's trust, and if Molly had nothing to fear from Stephanie than that damn suspicion of Molly's would fade away as well. And once Molly's guard was down, well, then that's when they would strike, but until then, well…
Nobody said she couldn't have some fun with the poor girl.
It was a couple weeks later and Stephanie had managed to get at least some of Molly's defenses down. She had managed to do this by first gaining Hunter's trust in her, and Hunter would bend to her every whim if she wanted. She had Hunter wrapped around her little finger and he didn't even know it. Hunter had the audacity to think he was in charge, but it was just the opposite. Stephanie was, and always would be in charge of Hunter Hearst Helmsley.
Stephanie was getting a coffee with Hunter as she saw Chris over Hunter's shoulder, talking to Lita. She sighed slightly as she stirred her coffee. She hated to be away from him, but she kept repeating to herself that this was all for Trish. Trish was her friend and Trish had gotten hurt at the hands of Evolution, minus Dave and Randy of course, and she had to avenge that beating that Trish had taken. She saw Chris look over at her secretly and he sent her a smile that conveyed how much he was missing her too.
The one good thing that this new plan afforded them was that with Molly's increasing trust in Stephanie and Stephanie trying to pretend to become Molly's friend, nobody seemed to notice that Randy was never around. And where was Randy Orton? Well, at the moment, he was at a coffee shop laughing with Trish as she told him a rather raunchy joke.
"I'm glad that this plan is working, I have to hand it to Stephanie, she knows what she's doing," Trish said as she sipped at the steaming cup of coffee in front of her. "And it's better because I get to see you more."
"Yeah, I don't have Molly leaning over my shoulder at every turn wondering what I'm doing and where I'm going and who I'm going to be with. That girl is too suspicious for her own good."
"See, the funny thing is that she has a right to be suspicious, she SHOULD be suspicious, but now she's none the wiser."
"I'm just happy that I get to spend more time with you," Randy told her, reaching across the table to lightly take her hand in his. "You know, I'm a cocky bastard--"
"Could've fooled me," Trish kidded, causing him to smile unconsciously.
"Well, if you let me finish," Randy teased. "What I was trying to say was, I know I'm a cocky bastard, but when I'm around you, I feel like another person, maybe it's a better person, I don't know, but I just know that you make me feel different."
"Good different?"
"Definitely good different. Just like…hell, how do I even explain it."
"Then don't try," she shrugged. "I get the general effect of what you're saying. I underestimated you for sure Randy. You're not a bad guy at all. It almost makes me regret all the times that I was a horrible bitch to you."
"Like the time I was in the hallway and you yelled out, 'Hey fucker,' at me?"
She ducked her head and giggled. "No, actually, that one was fun, but other times, yeah, for sure, I'm definitely regretful over my actions. You didn't deserve me treating you the way I did."
"Hey, if all of that brought me right here, I'd do it over again a million times."
"Oh, you do love to turn that charm right on don't you Randy?" Trish said, rubbing her thumb against his hand, which was still laying on top of hers. "Are you sure that you didn't have anything to do on the show tonight? I find it hard to believe someone as talented as you wouldn't have something to do tonight."
"Nope, everyone else in Evolution has something to keep them busy. Stephanie talked to her father about it, and it was a way to get me the night off and a way to keep their minds off of me."
"So that's why I have nothing to do tonight," Trish said. "Because Stephanie made it that way. I think I'm going to have to name my first born after her. I bet you that's what she's going to ask for when this is all said and done."
"Man, she drives a hard bargain doesn't she?"
"Well, I'm willing to make it up to her because I get to spend time with you now," Trish told him. Randy smiled and still couldn't believe he was here with the woman of his dreams. He would kiss Stephanie's feet right now if he could. This was the fifth time in the last two weeks that Randy had been able to see Trish without any single person from Evolution knowing about it or even suspecting about it.
"So what did Stephanie say you were doing tonight?"
"She told Hunter that I had to get her a special diamond necklace that had to be a certain cut and a certain length. She said that since I was the only member of Evolution with nothing to do, running her errands would be no problem."
"And all so you could spend time with me," she responded. "I feel so special."
"You should feel special."
"Well I do, thank you. You're pretty special too you know, and that's coming from first-hand experience."
"I do try to be a stand-out."
"Well you can--" Trish was interrupted by Randy's cell phone, which played his own theme music. Trish gave him a look as she rolled her eyes playfully. "Someone's a little cocky…"
"I couldn't find a ringtone I liked," Randy joked, trying to cover his tracks, but so far was failing. She laughed and looked at his phone, which he had yet to answer. He picked it up and looked at it. He groaned and Trish knew what that meant. He sighed and answered with a dull, "What is it Hunter?"
"Where the hell are you?"
"I'm out looking for Stephanie's precious jewelry," he said, trying to sound annoyed so that Hunter wouldn't get suspicious as to his whereabouts.
"Look, we need you here in case we need you to interfere, so get your ass back here."
"Geez, what about Stephanie."
"Stephanie doesn't care, just get back here already," Hunter said, annoyance in his voice.
"Fine, fine," Randy muttered, hanging up without saying goodbye. He looked apologetically to Trish. "I've got to go."
"Oh," she said. "Well, we got in a good couple of hours today, and I'm sure Steph will help us see each other in the future. Luckily for us she's the boss's daughter and can pretty much do what she wants."
"Yeah," Randy said, grabbing her hand. "I just wish that I didn't have to leave."
"I wish that too, but seriously, you don't have to feel bad. We're the ones who came up with this plan and we just have to see it through to finish and then it'll all be over. So do you want to kiss over Hunter's prone body or Molly's?"
"Both," Randy said, standing up and then leaning down to kiss Trish goodbye. "Save some of those for me later, I may be able to sneak to your room. Dave said he'd cover for me."
"I'll be anxiously waiting," she whispered, giving him one last kiss before he walked away. She watched him sadly, taking a sip of her coffee before grabbing her bag and walking to her own car.
Randy was back at the arena and walking as slow as possible down the hallway. Was he delaying his arrival to the locker room? You bet he was. He heard his phone vibrating in his pocket and he took it out and saw he had a text message from Stephanie. He opened it discreetly and saw the following message: Enter H's lkr room in 10 min. Randy checked his watch and then the time that Stephanie had sent the message and he had seven minutes. He walked even slower as a result.
When it was about seven minutes later, he walked to Hunter's locker room and without knocking, opened the door. He hit something with the door and then he heard a scream and cursing and he opened the door to see coffee all over Molly as she was trying futilely to wipe off the hot liquid.
"Molly, I'm so sorry," Stephanie said, gazing down at the shorter woman. She looked behind her and saw a stunned Randy and she smiled evilly. "I didn't know Randy was walking in here!"
"Oh my God, it's hot!" Molly said, as her skin was turning red.
"Luckily I had gotten it like fifteen minutes ago, it was much hotter then," Stephanie said, trying to sound sorry for what she had done.
Randy wanted to laugh as he knew Stephanie was purposely messing with Molly. He was glad that he could help actually. Molly getting a little bit burned was almost sweet justification for her beating up his girlfriend. Trish had been vulnerable that night, she had had nobody there to protect her and she was held against her will. Half a cup of coffee was nothing compared to how Trish must've felt that night.
As if sensing her presence, Randy, who was still in the doorway, glanced to his right and saw Trish walking down the hallway with Christian, his arm wrapped around her shoulders companionably. If Randy didn't know that Christian was in love with Lita, he would've been jealous to some degree. As they passed, Trish sent Randy a look that said everything she wished she could say to him in person. As she passed right by him, she squeezed his hand ever so briefly.
One touch from her would have to last him for a while.