AUTHOR'S NOTE: Happy New Year everyone! Cheers to new things, new beginnings and new opportunities. I hope we all have a splendid year and many more years to come!

It's been a really looong while since I last updated. I mean, when I first started this book I predicted that by now I would've published at least 30 or 40 chapters but here we are still hanging on in Chapter 19. It's almost funny but such is life.

Welcome back to my story, I hope you really enjoy this chapter. Things are surely about to kick off soon and Summerslam '96 is coming up real soon. (For those confused about the timeline, it's late July - early August right now)

WARNING: This story may contain triggering scenes and strong language not meant for all audiences. Viewer discretion is advised. (I love to get that outta the way)

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of these characters except my OC Kendra and other OC's I might have forgotten to mention. This story is a pure work of fiction (hence its written on) and most of the events and facts are completely made up so... I guess that's it.

Chapter 19 - Comfort

"It's really quiet around here at this hour of the night" Kendra commented as she stepped out of Shawn's rental. Shawn had taken her to a lonely children's playground which was eerily deserted because it was so late at night. It gave her the chills.

"Well, you were the one who suggested that I take you somewhere we could talk privately. I know Chicago very well and this is as private as it gets" He said.

"Still it's pretty spooky. You're not gonna kidnap me are you?" She asked with nervous laughter. Shawn smirked.

"You're just gonna have to wait and find out" He said with a wink as he took a seat on the edge of a slide. "There's room for you" He said patting the empty space next to him.

"If you try to kidnap me I know a bit of jiu-jitsu, I'll kick your ass" She teased. "And thanks" She sat down next to him.

"So..."

"So... what now?" She asked looking up at him. "Where do I start?"

"I dunno, maybe from the beginning?" He suggested a small smile forming on his lips.

"Hey! Don't be smart with me!" She yelled slapping his arm.

"Ow, okay. I'm sorry. Damn woman." She giggled. "But on a serious note you should actually start. Like, when did all the Vince Russo bull shit start? And how?"

"It was just really strange but I'll try to explain it the best way I can." Shawn nodded turning to her giving her his full attention. "You may not know but I've been working for the WWF for about two months, almost three. I'm in a six month internship program and I got the very 'pleasure' of working as Vince Russo's assistant since I have dreams of working for creative."

"Okay"

"So I think it was about my second week with the company..."

Flashback (3rd Week Of May, 1996)

"Miss. Hart! My desk has never been so organized! And the coffee is a really nice touch." Russo said happily as he sipped his coffee. "I see greatness in you kid" He complimented.

"Thanks Mr. Russo. It's a pleasure" Kendra said with a curt smile. "Okay I'll just leave you to work sir. I have some things to organize"

"Go? No, not yet" He said as he hand was on the door handle. "I just have some things to ask of you."

"Oh no, am I in trouble?" She asked with a bit of nervous laughter. Half scared and half amused. Russo laughed.

"Oh not at all. Just a question"

"Phew. Okay, ask away" She urged.

"I overheard you the other day talking to Amanda about something that involved King of the Ring and I was intrigued. I wanted to hear you out. So the floor is open"

"Oh, nooo we were just having a random discussion. I was on about how the king of the ring can actually turn an upcoming wrestler into a megastar or ignite an already existing feud. Or both. I mean it has worked in the past like with Randy Savage so why won't it work again. So that was literally all" She concluded. Russo was silent for a few seconds as his brain seemed to be processing all the information it had acquired.

"Not bad. Not bad Hart. You've got a creative mind girl. You're definitely in the right field" He told her. She smiled in return.

"Thank you sir. But why did you ask anyways?" She asked.

"I'm a creative writer Kendra. I love listening to ideas. Now run along we have a lot to et done today"

"Yes boss" She said.

End Of Flashback

"I admit I was confused at first. I told Curt and Sable but they didn't think much of it so I didn't think much of it" She said with a shrug.

"Okay. What about Amanda, the other intern? Did he question her as well?" Shawn asked.

"Surprisingly not. I mean she's an assistant to another one of the writers so maybe that's why. Like I said earlier I didn't really have much doubt or suspicion so I just decided to let it go and keep on doing my own thing"

"But shit got real soon right?"

"Oh boy. A few days after that, management began to organize a King of the Ring tournament. Word around was the winner would be next big star. Originally word was going around about it being Hunter but... you guys and your curtain call. But that's a story for another day"

"Hey, I was just saying goodbye to my friends. How was I supposed to know that someone in the audience would bring a camera?" Shawn asked. Kendra rolled her eyes.

"Just so you know Bret was pissed at you not getting any ramification for your actions"

"Life ain't fair babygirl. So what happened after that?"

"Well then I went over to confront Russo. He had some pretty interesting words for me"

Flashback (4th Week Of May, 1996)

"...Kendra calm down. Let me explain" Russo urged.

"Explain what? Did you just steal my idea without giving me any credit? What in the actual fuck?" Kendra cursed.

"Calm down woman and let me explain!" He yelled. That shut her up for a few seconds but she kept her arms crossed with a nasty look on her face. Russo gulped. She was a Hart, so she could kick his ass. He had to tread carefully with this one.

"Kendra, I didn't steal your idea... I endorsed it." He explained.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I mean I wanna go forward with your ideas. I spoke to Vince about this and he was on board with everything and he gave me the green light. So anything you say goes. Once everything is over and done with I'll give you all the credit. You know I will" He promised. She kept her eyes narrowed at him not seeming to believe. "I mean it"

"Okay... so what now? Because you look like you want something from me"

"Clever girl. I knew we made the right decision with you" Kendra kept a straight and unwavering facial expression while he kept on kissing up to her. "I want more ideas"

"More? To keep passing on as your own. You must be insane!" She said turning around to face the door.

"Kendra please, I'm giving you a Golden opportunity here. There are a thousand people out there who would kill for this opportunity so please don't throw it away. Do you need money?"

"Hell no. I just want recognition. I want you to acknowledge me as the one who formulated the storyline. That's all."

"Kendra I can't do that just yet you know I can't. You need to build credibility first off which is what I'm helping you out with. Do you really think Vince McMahon would take the idea if he found out that an intern came up with it? No offense" She hated to admit it but he made a good point there.

"Well..." She started.

"Just think about it okay? I like you kid. I wanna take you far. Don't screw it up. You might just regret it"

End Of Flashback

"Oh my God, was that a subtle threat?" Shawn asked feeling anger boiling up inside him with a pinch of disgust.

"I didn't know at the time but I did soon enough. He was nice to me and all while I was giving him ideas but after a while it became obvious that I didn't wanna play his little game. And that's when he started with the more upfront threats and that... that Billy Gunn incident" She whispered still recoiling from fear at the memory. Shawn rubbed her back with the intent of calming her down. "Thanks"

"It's alright. So with him coming up and basically threatening to send you out of the company, why didn't you go to anyone? Why didn't you speak up or something?" Shawn asked brushing some hair out of her face.

"Shawn. I'm just an intern. Russo is one of the most powerful men in this industry. Let's say I go to Vince that is if I could even get a meeting with him. How would I have explained everything then? I'd just be tossed like yesterdays garbage with Russo reaping off my good ideas" She said with her voice nearly cracking at the end of that sentence.

"You've got the voice recording now. At least you can use that as evidence. I'm right behind you with it. Vince loves me" Shawn said cockily. Kendra rolled her eyes. "I mean it. One of the reasons your brother hates me so much. So I should be able to get you a meeting with old Vinnie Mac and you could take it up from there" Shawn said.

"Okay... Thanks" She said quietly.

"You don't sound as pumped as I thought you would. Did I say something wrong?"

"No!" She answered quickly making Shawn flinch. "No, you didn't. It's just... um... you know Russo he uh... he saw us together so he could convince Vince that's it's a plot or something like... yeah" Kendra said. Shawn raised an eyebrow.

"Kendy that makes zero sense and you know that" He said. She sighed and looked over at him with her sad doe-like brown eyes. "Bret won't know about this and he won't see us together. Okay?"

"It's not about Bret..."

"Yes it is! It totally is. Like I get he's your brother and all but my God, he is the worst. Like I said I can never treat my sisters the way he treats you sometimes."

"Shawn, he's not that bad" Kendra whispered.

"Not that bad? Remember how we met, he was blowing a gasket in front of the entire locker room just because you spilled coffee on him. I couldn't even guess that you two were related yet alone siblings! You know that's seriously messed up."

"Listen that's just the way he reacts to things I guess. Either way he's still my brother" She said. She and Shawn locked eyes for a few seconds in silence.

"So why didn't you go to him then? About the whole Russo thing?" Shawn asked breaking the silence. "You and I both know he can do something especially now that you have evidence"

"I did go to him and Shane. Shane was busy and I couldn't even bring it up with Bret because the recorder fell outta my pocket so..."

"So why don't you involve him in this now that you've gotten it back?" Shawn asked as he observed her trying to watch how she would react.

"Shawn please let's leave this topic please. The bottom line is I... we need to come up with a way to deal with this Russo issue. Bret is not in this equation so please let's stop talking about him"

"Alright, if you say so" Shawn said raising his hands up in surrender.

"Thank you very much" She said sarcastically as she elbowed his stomach lightly. "You know you're pretty decent to talk to when you're not all fighting with me or having one misunderstanding or the other"

"Yeah, same with you. You're cool, I'm cool. We're cool. And everything's gonna work out at the end of the day okay?" Shawn asked entwining their fingers. Kendra responded by laying her head on his shoulder.

"Okay Shawn. Thanks for giving me a listening ear. It feels good to talk about it with someone new."

"Yep, a problem shared is half solved" He muttered. "So you're gonna keep lying on my shoulder like that?" Kendra have an 'uh huh' "Alrighty then"

"I can't wait for Russo to finally get what's coming to him" She whispered.

"I promise that if and when I get the opportunity I'm gonna hit him so hard and give him a black eye way worse than the one on your face" He said.

Kendra didn't reply to that statement but he felt her tense up once he said that.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Oh God, I'm so fucking tired I could sleep like a horse!" Shane complained once his sister and him had finished up with their work at the arena and were now aboard the private jet off to their next destination.

"You are a horse" She teased. Shane gave her a look of death. "I could easily tell daddy and he would scold you like no man's business"

"I hate you Steph" Shane said groaning once his back hit the soft leather. "Another day, another random body pain. Thank God we have a day off. Am I right?"

"Ooh big time. Never thought I'd say this but I kinda miss college" Stephanie said. She and Shane were quiet for a moment before they both burst out into uncontrollable laughter.

"As if" Shane said still laughing.

"I know right. Why would I even say that?" Stephanie asked between giggles as she herself reclined back on the chair. "Shane I've actually got something to talk to you about. Something a bit weird"

"Sure lay it on me sis. Everything with you is weird anyways" Shane joked.

"Shut up Shane! God! Sometimes i wish I could ship you off to Abu Dhabi"

"The Garfield Show has always been a bad influence on you" Shane said with a playful grin. "So what were you on about anyways?"

"Right. It's about that girl you were talking to earlier on in the show. Kendra." Stephanie said.

"Oh dammit I knew I was forgetting something. Ugh!" Shane groaned as he picked up his phone. "She had something to talk to me about and I blew her off. I feel so bad" Shane said.

Hey, whenever you're free to talk just call me okay. Sorry for blowing you off. I've been hella busy - Shane

"Well that's sweet bro. But I hope there's nothing going on between you two. I'd hate to see that happen" Stephanie said with a frown.

"God Steph, I'm freaking married!"

"Welcome to the WWF! That means shit. The girl seems cool and all but you know how much I love Marissa. I don't wanna hear any stories okay?" Stephanie warned. "I can get Undertaker to whoop your ass"

"Hopefully it won't come to that. But actually I wonder what she was coming to me for. I hope it wasn't anything serious" Shane said with a bit of worry in his voice as he recollected a conversation he had with Austin a little while ago. (Chapter 14)

"What's going on?" Steph asked with furrowed brows.

"I had a talk with Austin a while ago about her. He said I should try talking to her and I would be amazed at the things I found out." Shane said.

"Did you eventually do so?" Shane shook his head no. "God Shane, you're such an idiot."

"Hey!" Shane yelled taking slight offense.

"What if it's really something serious? IN this business you don't ignore anyone. You never know what could be happening behind the curtains."

"Yeah I know and I was about to but her brother chased me away and well... that was about it. But now... I need to hear her out at least and see if there's any problem" He said.

"Yep that's right. Take charge. That's the McMahon in ya!" Stephanie yelled. Shane laughed.

"McMahon or no McMahon, I need my beauty sleep" Shane said with a loud yawn.

"You're such a baby but have a good night. I need to finish reading my WWD magazine. Ooh Triple H is looking pretty hot on this spread" Stephanie commented making a few 'animal noises' which disgusted Shane.

"Never ever do that again" He warned before going to sleep.

With a mixture of plane sounds and sounds from the overgrown teenager in Stephanie, Shane drifted off to sleep. His mind on one certain Canadian and if she was actually in trouble or not.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Next Day

"Oh God, why are you here again weird girl? Why are you constantly around me?" Austin groaned. Kendra kept pestering him during his workout session.

And she loved it.

"You can lift more Steve! 500lbs is nothing, woo champ!" She cheered on. Austin look visibly frustrated while she was enjoying every single minute of it.

"Why are you here weird girl? Were you created to torment me?" Kendra burst out into laughter.

"Oh quit it with the self absorbency Austin, I can't be created and put on this God green earth to pester you. Eww. Talk about not having a life purpose" She said. Steve dropped the dumbbells'.

"You know what Hart, I'm coming up with a new finisher and you should be the first one to try it. You'll love it"

"And that'll do it for now. Jesus. I knew it won't be a good idea to leave you two in a room together. Someone's always trying to kill someone" Owen said coming into the scene.

"Mostly Steve. I mean he wants to try out a new finisher on me! I don't even know what it is. He could be planning to break my neck as we know it Owen" Kendra said as she gave him a little hug.

"Funny you should mention that weird girl. It's actually a falling neckbreaker. And like I said you should be the first one to try it out" Austin said.

"You're so mean to me Steve. It's not even funny anymore" She said with a frown. Austin shrugged.

"Well now you're re-united with your brother. Good. Stay there. And let Austin work out in peace before he goes crazy" Austin said taking all of his workout things to another section of the gym far away from Owen and Kendra. "By the way your eye looks gross"

"Hey!" She screamed throwing a gym towel at his back while he was walking away.

"No seriously put something on it. Sweet Mercy" He yelled back before he was gone and out of casual hearing distance.

"He isn't wrong" Owen commented with his eyes widening once he took a good look at his sister's face. She had an ugly looking black eye and the area around it was swollen as well. Not a great sight. "Were you in a fight? What happened?"

"I walked into a door that's all. No need for panic. And no need to tell mom because I know that's the first thing you'd do. Just know I will deny, deny and deny" She said. Owen sighed.

"Kendra a door didn't do this. You look like you were hit." Owen said examining her face more.

"I wasn't. You know all these new fangled hotel room doors. They are the real monsters so..." She gave a little laughter. Owen didn't join along and just crossed his arms over his chest. "...Owen, I'm fine. I really am"

"Kendra... or you know what Bret, perfect. Bret over here!" Owen called out waving for Bret to come over and join them with their workout. "Thanks for coming man"

"Don't mention it' Bret said taking a quick glance at Kendra who just nodded curtly at him. But his eyes were not on her method of greeting but the black eye on her face. "How..."

"Door" She explained briefly. Bret nodded slowly looking a bit confused. Owen ran a hand through his hair.

"Well, let's just pin it on the door I guess. I could just be losing my marbles" Owen said. "I just don't like seeing you hurt sis. I just get paranoid I guess"

"Awwn, I love you too O" She said with a smile. She over at Bret who kept a straight face on but she could see that he cared a little which was a huge milestone for old Bret.

Kendra rotated a bit between spotting and working out for about another hour plus before they all decided that they were exhausted and also needed to put some food into their stomachs.

"I'll meet you guys in the café I just need to do a quick fix-up. I'm still a girl after all" She said with a little laugh. Bret rolled his eyes.

"Fine but you better get your ass up there in ten" He said.

"Yes sir" She said sarcastically which made Owen snort out with laughter. "See you guys soon" She said as she headed over to the bathroom to do a few wash ups and rinse her face. She also put her hair up in a messy bun.

When she felt like she looked presentable enough she made her way out of there. Checking her phone as she walked out, she found out that she had a few texts mainly a few funny jokes from Curt, a good morning one from Shawn who she recently gave her number to and one from... Shane McMahon. But before she could even open any of them, this happened...

"Hi Bret." She said attempting to make her way past him but he blocked her path with his arm. "Lemme guess, I took more than ten minutes?"

"It's too early to get smart with me sis" She rolled her eyes.

"Please I don't want any more trouble so please just let me through" She said tiredly. Bret stared at her blankly. "Earth to Bret"

"I didn't anticipate that you'd get a black eye." He stated quietly his eyes focused on hers. She raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Neither did I but you've proven your point so..." She shrugged. "...I guess I'm your punching bag again" She said dryly. Bret frowned.

"For what it's worth I'm sorry" He said running his hand through his hair. "I just hate it when you don't listen to me"

"You and I both mister. Let's go. Owen's waiting" She said. Surprisingly he let his arm down and let her walk right pass while he kept standing there. "You coming?!" He let out a huge sigh as he made his way to the café as well.

And there we go. Things are beginning to link up to one another but I assure you that the story is far from over.

Thanks for reading. Please remember to follow and favorite if you haven't done yet and don't forget to leave nice reviews. I appreciate constructive criticism too so keep 'em coming.
Always remember to stay safe everyone. See you in chapter 20!