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Chapter 4

Morning came with a bright light that awoke Chris immediately. He lay there for a minute waiting for his eyes to become accustomed to the light. He looked over in the other bed and while somewhat stunned by what he saw, couldn't stop the smile that appeared on his face.

Stephanie was lying there asleep looking every bit like an angel sent from Heaven and then some. He couldn't help but think of her that way. She looked so young lying there and she had no make up on. Evidently, she had washed it off before she went to bed but it wasn't that. It was the innocence that showed on her face that was so breathtaking. It was the same innocent look that she had the first time she had been on television.

He smiled a small smile and sat up content to watch her sleep for the moment. Watching her sleep reminded him of when she had first started working for the company. She was fresh out of college and raring to take on the wrestling world with her ideas and outrageous skits. She breathed life into a company that had seemed to be struggling for air. She made sure she spoke to everyone backstage from the sound crew to the ring rats.

He suspected that he had fallen in love with her at first sight. The first time he saw her, his chest tightened and he felt light-headed. Of course, at the time he thought he was coming down with the flu but as time went on, it was impossible for him to ignore the signs anymore. It literally happened every time he was around her. Then one day it hit him like a ton of bricks; he was in love with Stephanie.

Stephanie lay there peaking at Chris thru her closed eyelids. She couldn't help herself. He was just so cute and was the sweetest guy she had ever met. She noticed the look on his face and opened her eyes. There in his eyes for her to see was every feeling that he had felt for her. She slowly sat up, tossed the covers aside, and walked over to his bed.

Chris looked at Stephanie with a puzzled look. Suddenly it hit him why she was standing there. He opened his arms and felt as though he had come home after a long trip when she placed herself in them. For so long, they had both dreamed of this moment and each one was savoring the moment. Stephanie finally got her head off of his shoulders and looked at him smiling a silly little grin.

"Good morning," Stephanie said quietly.

"Good morning Princess," Chris said grinning from ear to ear. "Sleep well?"

"Like a baby," Stephanie said lying her head back down on his shoulder.

Chris took his hand and rubbed her arm up and down with contentment. In his arms, was the love of his life. If he ever doubted how he felt before, it was all crystal-clear with her lying in his arms. He was totally and completely in love with Stephanie Marie McMahon and he could hardly wait to shout it to the world. Of course, that would have to wait until he got the courage up to tell her first.

Stephanie wrapped her arm around Chris's waist with no desire whatsoever to be anywhere else but where she was. The feeling of coming home was so strong that it overwhelmed her to a certain extent. She had never felt this way about any one man in her entire life. It was as if the dark clouds of her life were finally breaking with sunshine shining thru. She also knew that there was no way in hell she would ever give him up without a fight.

"As much as I love lying here with you in my arms, I've got a plane to catch," Chris murmured before kissing her softly on the forehead.

"I think you should just skip the plane ride and stay right here," Stephanie said enjoying the feel of Chris's arms wrapped around her.

"I think your daddy would have something to say about that," Chris said chuckling to himself.

"Yeah but when you've been fired by him, you're not afraid to piss him off so getting fired definitely does have its perks," Stephanie said cheekily.

Chris couldn't stop the laughter that bubbled thru his mouth. He thought it was great that she still had her sense of humor but he could also hear the sadness in her voice. He knew that it was killing her not being in the business anymore. "Well you know, I could always hire you as my personal manager."

Stephanie sat up and looked at Chris intrigued by what he said. She knew he meant it but she wanted him to understand that there would most likely be consequences for him doing that. "That's sweet but I am not sure I'm worth that kind of hell."

"You're worth ten kinds of hell to me," Chris murmured drowning in her blue eyes. He cleared his throat and said, "I'm dead serious. You know that my contract has it in there that I can have any manager I want outside of the company. Well, you don't work for the company any more do you?"

Stephanie looked up at him and grinned. "Nope, not any more."

Chris looked a bit smug as he looked down at her again. "Well, what do you say? Would you like to be my personal manager effective immediately?"

Stephanie stared at him for a minute seriously mulling it over. Could she do it? Could she really pull it off? What would her dad do to Chris for it? What could her dad do to her? She knew what Chris's contract was like; it was standard among most of the wrestlers with a few perks added in like Chris's right to his own personal manager. There were so many questions and she did not have enough time to really find out the answers.

Chris noticed that her mind was racing a million miles a minute it seemed like. He also knew she was more worried about him than herself. "Come on, if I am willing to take a chance on you, why can't you take a chance on me?"

"Sweetie, it's not you that I don't want to take a chance on. I'm just more worried about what dear old dad is going to do to you when he finds out what you've done," Stephanie said the worry evident in her eyes.

"You need to let me worry about ole' Vinnie-mac. I can hold my own with him," Chris said looking more and more smug by the minute.

"I have faith in you but you don't know how dirty my daddy can be," Stephanie said the fear in her eyes all too real.

"Maybe not but I'm not afraid of him. As long as I have you by my side, there is nothing that he can do to us unless we let him. Besides, I always thought that you were the dirtiest of the McMahons," Chris said. He could see her hesitation and pulled an ace out of his sleeve; he pouched out his bottom lip and said, "Come on, you know you want to say yes."

Stephanie sat there pondering for a moment. What harm would it really do? She didn't have a job anymore though she really didn't need one. She had enough stock from the company to last her a lifetime but money wasn't the issue; Chris was. This was the one surefire way to make sure she spent more time with him. She decided then and there what she was going to do.

"Ok, I'll take it," Stephanie said grinning from ear to ear.

"See, I knew you couldn't resist me," Chris said smugly.

"Sweetie, it's not you that I can't resist, it's your money," Stephanie said with her famous trademark smirk.

Chris's mouth fell open in the shape of an O. He knew she was kidding but it was just like going back in time when she looked at him like that. He decided turn about was fair play. "Oh really Princess, I thought that you would take anybody's money."

Stephanie turned three shades of red before grabbing the pillow and smacking him upside the head. She knew he was kidding but she couldn't just let him say it and get by with it. That was not her way of doing things. She looked at him and grinned, "Well, you know, I think this is going to be a lot of fun."

"Me too, Princess, me too," Chris said bending down to kiss her softly on the cheek.

"Come on Jay, you have to talk to me sometime," Trish said getting highly pissed at her boyfriend.

From the time they had gotten back to the room until the morning, she had been getting the silent treatment from her boyfriend. Why he was doing it was a mystery to her because she didn't say anything to him after leaving Chris and Stephanie's room last night.

Jay sat there mulling over his options. He was still embarrassed over the way he tapped out last night in front of his girl. He also knew that if he kept it up, there would be hell to pay. Trish loved him but she would cut him off in a heartbeat if he didn't chill out and he knew that.

"I'm sorry," Jay said quietly.

"Baby, what are you sorry for?" Trish asked carefully. When Jay was in one of his moods, dealing with him could be very tricky. She decided that the sweet approach might be what he needed right now so she sat down beside him on the bed and rubbed his arm. "Tell me."

"I'm sorry for making such an ass out of myself last night in Chris and Stephanie's room. I don't know what in the hell I thought I was doing but it was wrong and I'm sorry," Jay said.

"That's fine and all but I'm not the one you need to be saying that to. You need to apologize to Chris and Stephanie. It was their room," Trish said.

"Jeez, when am I going to learn Trish?" Jay asked with that miserable tone in his voice. "Chris had been crushing on her for the longest time and in one night, I could have totally ruined everything for him. What kind of best friend am I?"

"A very curious one," Trish said grabbing a hold of his hand. "Look, I know that you are not sure why you acted the way you did last night and neither am I but you've got to let whatever this is between Chris and Stephanie take its own course, not the course that you think they should take."

Jay looked into his girlfriend's eyes and felt his insides turn to mush. He leaned down and kissed her softly. "What would I do without you?"

"Probably get beat up a lot," Trish said with a gleam in her eyes.

Jay smiled and started to speak when there was a knock on their door. With a puzzled look on his face, he looked at Trish. She shrugged her shoulders as if to say, "I don't know who's at the door." Jay walked over, opened the door, and grimaced as he saw Chris Benoit standing there.

"Good morning Chris," Trish said walking up beside of Jay with a huge smile on her face.

"Good morning Trish, morning Jay," Benoit said with a slight smile on his face.

"Good morning, I'm sorry about last night," Jay said his face slightly red with embarrassment. "I don't know what got into me last night but I'm sorry I was such an ass."

Benoit's mouth dropped open and a look of shock appeared that was quickly replaced by a suspicious look. "Ok, are you on drugs?"

"What? Hell no, why would you say that?" Jay said with an irritated look on his face.

"Excuse me, but you never apologize for anything you do," Benoit said with a pointed look.

"Yeah, well this time, I was wrong," Jay said looking more and more miserable by the second. He stuck his hand out for a handshake hoping for the best but expecting the worst. "Friends?"

Benoit looked at Jay's hand and then back at Trish. He could tell that Jay was sincere but he really did need to do something about his insane ability to drive people to their breaking point. One of these days, it was going to get him hurt. He took Jay's hand and shook it firmly. "Look, you need to learn how to read people and how to stay out of people's personal business. You're going to get hurt one day if you keep it up."

"I know," Jay said looking like a little lost puppy dog. "Trish was just telling me that."

"Well, you need to listen to her because she's a pretty smart woman," Benoit said with a smile. "Look, no harm, no foul. I just wanted to make sure that everything was cool with us."

"Everything is way cool," Jay said with a look of relief on his face. "By the way, can you teach me that move sometime?"

"Not on your life pal," Benoit said patting Jay on his shoulder. "Not on your life."

"Ok, I've got a seat on your flight but not beside of you," Stephanie said with her bottom lip poached out pouting. She had just gotten off the phone and while happy she was on the same flight, was hoping fate had a way of putting her beside of Chris. Fate evidently had other plans for their plane ride.

"Now, Princess, it's ok. It's only an hour flight," Chris said with a smirk on his face.

"I know but it's an hour that I won't be beside you and we need that hour to talk strategy," Stephanie said in full business mode.

"Oh jeez, are you going to be the type of personal manager that has to know my every freaking move?" Chris asked teasingly.

"You bet your ass I am," Stephanie said with a determined look on her face. She reached up and kissed him softly. "At least, I will come with other benefits that you will find worthwhile."

"No offense Princess, but you've given your benefits to everybody else so what's so special about that," Chris said teasing some more.

"Well, see, it's like this," Stephanie said taking her tongue out and wetting her lips while taking her fingers and playing with his collar. "You've never really had my benefits before so you don't know what you are missing."

"Care to give me a little sample Princess," Chris said wrapping his arms around her waist.

Stephanie leaned up to kiss him and backed out of his arms. "Nope, not yet."

"Why you little," Chris started to say getting ready to chase her around the room when there was a knock at the door. He walked over, opened the door, rolled his eyes, and stepped out of the way for Jay to come in.

"Uh, good morning," Jay said his face red with embarrassment. He walked in with Trish behind him for morale support. She patted him on the back and walked over to stand beside of Stephanie. This whole thing was between Chris and Jay and they needed to be the ones to settle it.

"Good morning ass clown," Chris said with an aggravated look on his face.

"Look, I just came by to apologize to the both of you. What I did last night was wrong, I shouldn't have done it, and I am so sorry," Jay said.

Chris walked around Jay looking him up from head to toe. It looked like Jay and even sounded like Jay but it couldn't have been Jay standing there. There was no way in hell Jay would apologize for anything. "Ok, where in the hell is Jay and what have you done with him?"

Jay blinked at Chris not sure how to answer that. "Look, I know it's not normal for me to apologize but I screwed up big time last night. It was your first date with Stephanie's and I had no right to interfere with it."

"Wow," Stephanie murmured. She leaned over and whispered to Trish. "Has he been like this all morning?"

"Yes, scary isn't it?" Trish whispered back.

Jay held out his hand and hoped that Chris would take it. Normally, Chris would have just kicked his ass by now but at least he was listening. Plus, Jay really meant his apology this time. He needed Chris to see that.

Suddenly Chris grabbed his hand and pulled him towards him in a hug. He smiled and winked at the two girls then pulled himself out of Jay's arms. "Dude, don't ever do that again. You really crossed a line last night that should have never EVER been crossed."

Jay's smile almost blinded Chris. "Dude, you do not have to worry about that. I'm going to do my best to control myself. Last night taught me that you should never interfere in somebody's personal life. It's just wrong."

"Damn, Trish is doing wonders for you my boy. You had better hold onto that one," Chris said elbowing him in the side before going over to Stephanie and grabbing her hands. "Girls like these don't come along often so you had better appreciate what you have got."

"Don't worry about Jay," Trish said walking up beside of him grinning from ear to ear. "He's a really good guy, he just hasn't had a good woman to bring it out of him until now."

"I think you're doing a bang up job on that," Stephanie said with a grin.

Jay looked at Stephanie. "I'm really sorry about last night."

"No problem," Stephanie said with a grin on her face. Suddenly the smirk came out from nowhere. "Just don't let it happen again."

"Damn girl, that is scary as hell how quick you can do that," Trish said grinning from ear to ear.

"No shit, I just about had another freaking heart attack. That's the second time you've done that to me and we've only been around you for two days," Jay said shaking his head.

Stephanie let go of the smirk and smiled a genuine smile. "Sorry, I was just practicing for later."

"What's later?" Trish asked.

"You know, I think it's time that we get moving. We've got a plane to catch," Chris said ignoring Trish's question.

Stephanie was unable to keep the huge smile on her face. She looked at Trish and said, "I've got a job!"

"Really? Where?" Trish said bubbling with excitement.

Stephanie opened her mouth to speak but before she could, Chris beat her to it. "She's working for me. Trish, Jay, meet Stephanie McMahon, my personal manager."

"Oh shit, are you serious?" Jay said with a look of horror and excitement.

"Dead serious," Chris said with a smug smile. "It's in my contract, I can have anybody I want and I want the best."

"Congratulations Stephanie," Trish said with a high pitched squeal grabbing Stephanie and hugging her. "I've got my shopping buddy back now!"