Disclaimer: I own nothing but my imagination;-)
A/N: Wow, two updates in one week; I'm on a roll;-) Thanks for all the reviews, they really do mean a lot... that being said.... on with the story!
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Highlight Reel with the one, the only Y2J!" Chris paused a second to let the crowd cheer him since that was what the crowd wanted to do. Of course, he always wanted to let the crowd do whatever they wanted; as long as he got a reaction, he didn't care what they did.
"I hope you guys are ready for a treat because tonight, live here on RAW, I have the absolute best guest EVER to be on the Highlight Reel but first, I have a few things to say to Hunter," Chris said looking straight into the camera.
He smiled an evil smile and said, "You know Trips, you and I go a long way back. Times have changed haven't they? I mean you went from one group, De-Generation X to another group, Evolution."
Chris paused for a moment as if thinking about something. He looked out to the crowd and smirked. "But wait a second; that is not really changing things is it?"
Chris started walking around the ring using his hands to emphasize what he was saying. "I mean, you seem to always have to have people helping you in one way or another, don't you Trips? Sure you change the people in your 'little' groups because, let's be honest here, you have a unique way of pissing people off."
The crowd loved it when Chris tore apart Hunter. It never failed; most of the time, it was one of the things he loved the most about his job. His ability to rip Hunter to shreds each and every opportunity he got. The special thing was that Hunter had no clue as to what was getting ready to happen and that made it all the more sweeter.
"But then again, you are Hunter and that's what you do best, next to sticking that huge nose of yours into other people's business," Chris said looking at the camera. He smirked for just a second and then got a very serious look on his face. "My business is my own and the best thing that you can do is stay out of it."
Chris then turned to the crowd listening to the Y2J chants. He loved hearing it; it meant the crowd loved what he was saying and wanted more. Now was the time; now was the moment that he had been waiting for. "Now, a lot of you don't know this but I have acquired myself a new business manager. She's smart, she's got class, and she's exclusively mine. Ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to introduce to you the one, the only, Mary Edwards!"
Chris held his hand up towards the ramp watching as the crowd turned their head towards the Titan-tron. The lights went out and his music started playing again. Suddenly, there was a female standing at the top of the ramp with her arms out in exact Jericho fashion. She turned around and smiled, waving as she walked down the ramp.
As she walked down the ramp, Hunter was backstage wondering where he had seen that woman before. Sure, he had had plenty of women but there was something about that woman that caught his eye. It wasn't so much the way she looked as the way she moved. There was just something so familiar about it and he just couldn't put his finger on it.
He turned to Ric, who was telling another 'way back when' story to Dave, and said, "Hey Natch, does that woman look familiar to you?"
Ric watched the screen for a minute before turning back to Hunter. "When you've been on Space Mountain as many times as I have, you tend to forget a few of those faces, if you know what I mean." Ric slapped Hunter on the back with a smile.
Hunter smirked at Ric. "Yeah, I would say you're way ahead of the rest of us in that department. I think we just might have to stick my nose into Jericho's business tonight."
"Champ, that's the best thing I've heard you say all night long! Wooooo," Ric said grinning from ear to ear.
Jay and Trish stood backstage near the gorilla position watching the monitor intensely. Stephanie and Chris would not tell them anything about the Highlight Reel other than it should not be missed.
"Look at her," Trish whispered. "You can't tell it's her at all."
"I know," Jay whispered back. "What will happen when she talks though?"
"Surely Chris won't have her talk," Trish whispered back the worry evident in her voice.
"Honey, it's Chris, anything is possible," Jay whispered back.
Trish opened her mouth to say something but then decided not to. Stephanie had just gotten into the ring and Jericho had opened his arms to embrace his new manager. As he stood there in the ring, he couldn't help but feel as if this should have been how things were all along and would have been if Hunter had not had pitched such a fit over Stephanie and Chris working together. Oh well, that was then and this was now and fortunately for them, there wasn't a damn thing Hunter could do about what was going to happen next.
"You doing ok baby?" Chris whispered in her ear.
"As long as you're with me, I am," Stephanie whispered back.
Chris let Stephanie out of his arms but grabbed her hand. He then held her hand up and indicated for her to spin around. She grinned at him and slowly turned around while he pumped up the crowd as only he could.
"Ladies and gentlemen, is this not the hottest woman that you have ever seen on this show?" Chris asked basking the crowd's approval. He checked her out from head to toe grinning from ear to ear. "You know, being the King of the World and all, I really did need an extra-special manager and boy, did I find one."
Suddenly Evolution's music came on and slowly but surely, Hunter, Ric, and Dave came walking out to the top of the ramp. They were dressed to the nines and looking just as smug. Stephanie looked at Chris with questions in her eyes but all Chris could do was shrug his shoulders. He didn't have a clue as to what was going on. The music died down and Hunter had a microphone in his hand.
"You know Chris, you like to run that mouth a little bit too much," Hunter said smirking while flapping his mouth with gum. "But that's ok, that's what you do best; run your mouth."
The crowd booed and hissed Hunter as they always did. Chris's face showed his boredom as he looked out into the crowd. He also couldn't let it pass that Hunter had just insulted him on national television; oh no, not the Chris Jericho. "Well, you know Hunter, at least I can back my words up by myself. I don't have a 'has been' and a 'want to be' jumping to do my bidding."
Hunter's face turned red with anger. "Who in the hell do you think you are? Huh? Who in the hell do you think you are talking to?" he screamed into the microphone.
Suddenly a Y2J chant broke out that seemed to go on forever. Of course, Chris and Stephanie just stood up there smirking and enjoying watching Hunter throw his hissy fit. He was stomping around, telling the crowd to shut up, and acting an awful lot like a younger version of Ric Flair.
"You know, you're going to have a heart attack one of these days, if you keep doing that," Chris said watching Hunter's face grow even redder with anger.
Hunter closed his eyes and counted to five. He then opened his eyes and smiled. He then looked at the ring and said, "You know Mary, I will agree with Chris that you are the hottest thing I've ever seen on this show but there is one thing that puzzles me; you seem so familiar to me. Have we met somewhere before?"
Stephanie smirked and shook her head no. She knew where he was going but she wasn't taking the bait. She was a lot smarter than people gave her credit for. She then walked over in front of Chris. He grinned smugly at Hunter and then wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder.
"What's the matter Mary? Will Chris not let you talk?" Hunter said getting frustrated at his inability to get her to talk to him.
"You know Trips, why would she want to talk to you when she has me, the one and only Sexy Beast?" Chris asked with a huge grin on his face.
"Maybe she just doesn't know that she has other options, maybe she would like to give Evolution a ride," Hunter said with an evil glint in his eyes.
"It's time," Chris whispered in her ear. He handed the microphone to her and walked over to the corner of the ring. He then made himself comfortable, as he always did, by lying sideways where the upper part of his body was on one side of the ring and his legs on the other. He then gestured with his hand that Mary should continue, by all means.
Stephanie smirked before pulling her shades off. She then looked out at the crowd, basking in the moment. She was back on live television and she never felt better. Up until this moment, she knew she had missed it but didn't realize how much until just then. She decided it was time; time to let the whole world know just exactly who Mary Edwards was and what she was all about.
"You know Hunter," Stephanie said smirking at him. "You are right, you do know me."
The crowd screamed with excitement. It seemed as though the second Stephanie started speaking; it had a ripple effect on the crowd. It was like they knew who she was and were so very glad to see her. She grinned back out at the crowd again before turning back to Hunter. She decided that she needed to torture him just a little for old time's sake.
She walked over to Chris and kissed him softly on the lips before turning her attention back to Hunter. She licked her lips and smiled. "In fact, you know me very well."
Hunter stood there at the top of the ramp frozen. He knew that voice; he would know that particular voice anywhere. "No, there's no way in hell...."
"Oh but there is," Stephanie said jerking her wig off to the delight of the crowd. "Chris only lied about one thing and that was my name. My name is not Mary Edwards. My name is Stephanie McMahon and I'm back on RAW!"
The crowd popped as if the Rock had walked in after a long absence. Never before had there ever been a pop this loud, not even for Stone Cold Steve Austin. Chris just smiled and jumped down to stand behind Stephanie. He put his arms around her waist and pulled her against his chest. The crowd finally calmed down enough for Stephanie to speak when her father's music hit.
Vince McMahon staggered down the ramp with an enraged look on his face. Evolution smirked at the ring before walking backstage. There was no need for them now that Vince was out there. He would do their dirty work for them. They quickly patted each other on the back while walking up to one of the backstage monitors to watch Vince rip Stephanie a new asshole.
Vince felt a fury that he had never felt before in his life. He couldn't stand the fact that Stephanie was standing in his ring. How dare his one and only daughter do this to him? How dare she try and weasel her way back into the company this way? He didn't know what in the hell she was thinking but it was time to put a stop to this nonsense once and for all.
Chris felt the tension in Stephanie the minute her father showed up. He kissed her softly on the cheek. He then laid his head down next to her ear and said, "Baby, you didn't quit; you didn't submit. He also can't touch you because you're in my care now. You have to trust me on this; besides, we've got another ace up our sleeve."
Stephanie felt as though the weight of the world had dropped off her shoulders the minute Chris said that to her. She knew this would be ugly but it had to be done. The quicker her father saw that he couldn't run her off, the better it would be for her and Chris.
Vince stepped thru the ring ropes with an evil look on his face. He immediately stormed over to the corner of the ring and demanded a microphone. Lillian quickly walked up, handed him hers, and quickly walked back to her seat.
"Stephanie, what in the hell do you think you are doing? Are you forgetting that you no longer work for me?" Vince asked with fire in his eyes.
"No daddy, not all," Stephanie said with a smile. She turned to look at Chris and then brought the microphone back up to her mouth. "I don't work for you; I work for Chris."
"No, you can't work for Chris! Let me refresh your memory for a moment. The match clearly stated that if you lost, you were fired never to return again," Vince said madder than hell. He was not going to be played by his daughter; there was no way in hell that he would let her do that to him.
"Well daddy, you know, you really should have read the fine print," Stephanie said with a smirk on my face. "You see, I didn't submit; I didn't quit. I know that and you know that. Therefore, the provisions of the contract were null and void."
The crowd roared his approval while Vince looked as though his eyes were going to pop out of his head. He took his hand and ran it thru his hair showing his aggravation at the situation. "It doesn't matter; technically the towel was thrown in therefore, you lost the match and any future that you had here right along with it."
Suddenly the Titan-tron went black along with the entire arena. Stephanie was immediately glad that Chris had kept his arms around her the whole time. With the place, pitch-black her fear of the darkness was starting to take over until she heard, "It's ok baby, remember when I said I had an ace up my sleeve. This is it."
Stephanie immediately turned her attention to the Titan-tron wondering what on earth Chris was talking about. She knew he had said that he had an ace up his sleeve twice now but she really didn't know what he meant by that. Her eyes suddenly lit up and the smile on her face showed her happiness. She couldn't believe what she was seeing but she sure was glad to see her.
Linda McMahon showed up on the Titan-tron to the roar of the crowd. She smiled and winked at her daughter before turning her attention to her husband. "Vince, oh Vince, although it pains you to hear it, our daughter is right. After speaking extensively to our lawyers, the provisions in the contract are, in fact, null and void."
Vince looked as if he could kill anybody at that moment. His face was so red that it was almost purple. He spoke thru clenched teeth wishing that his wife would stay out of his business. "Linda, you stay the hell out of this! This doesn't concern you," Vince said the anger flowing from his body in waves.
Linda sighed and smiled softly. She knew how he would react and she was ready for him. "But you see Vince, that's where you are wrong. It does concern me. Anything that concerns this company concerns me or have you forgotten who I am and my position?" Linda asked in a deceptively calm voice. "Because if you have, let me reassure you and all of our fans out there that I am still the CEO of this company and I can make your life a living hell if I choose to. If I were you, I would think about that."
Stephanie stood there so proud of her mother. Linda had always been Stephanie's role model and right then, she couldn't remember a time when she had been more proud of her mom than she was at that moment. There were so many times in her life when her mom was always there for her. It never failed; whenever she needed her mother, she was always there for her, no matter what Stephanie had done to her or anybody else for that matter. She then noticed her mom looking at her and smiled.
"Thanks mom," Stephanie said her cheeks bright with excitement.
"You're welcome sweetheart," Linda said smiling at her daughter. "You know the women of this family have to be tough when dealing with the men in this family and I'm glad that you took after me instead of your father."
"So am I mom, so am I," Stephanie said watching her father's face look as if he was in shock. "You know Dad, this could be a lot of fun. Well, probably not fun for you, but Chris and I are going to have a blast!"
With that being said, Stephanie dropped the microphone. Chris's music filled the arena along with the cheers of the fans. Chris ran to the ring ropes and opened them up for her. She grinned and went thru them and jumped to the floor. She patiently waited for Chris and then grabbed his hand as they walked up the ramp. They then turned around grinning from ear to ear basking in the return of Stephanie McMahon to Raw.
Chris looked at Stephanie with a gleam in his eyes. He grabbed her by the waist, pulled her flush against his body, bent her backwards, and kissed her like she had never been kissed before on live television. She basked in the kiss putting all that she had into the kiss and more. Chris finally pulled her upright and quit kissing her. They then turned and walked backstage.
Vincent Kennedy McMahon stood out there in the ring with a sad long look on his face. He knew that he had been beat and he didn't like it; not one bit. The only problem was there wasn't anything he could do about it. He racked his brain watching his youngest go backstage trying to think of something, anything, to get her out of the company but couldn't. He then slowly made his way to the back listening to the crowd boo him. He didn't care; he just knew that there was no chance in hell that he could get rid of her now.