Jealousy never really becomes anyone.
It became Paul even less. For six years he had waited for Stephanie to be single. He thought it would never happen, especially after her son was born, but he knew that if he was patient that it would pay off. He just had to wait out the relationship, and that time had come just recently. He of course waited the "appropriate" amount of time before going to ask her out, but having heard she'd been on a date already, he knew he had to move fast.
"Stephanie, can I talk to you?"
Stephanie looked up from her desk. She looked at the clock and saw that the show was still about an hour from starting so she wasn't in any real hurry to get anywhere. "Yeah, sure, does this have to do with the show because I'm really not in the mood to revise anything, so you might as well go to my father or the director."
"No, this has nothing to do with the show actually," he said, gesturing towards a chair. "May I sit?"
"Well, I was going to go get Finny in a few minutes so Chris could prepare for his segment at the top of the show, but I figure that I've got a little bit of time, if you hurry that is," she told him.
"I know that you and Chris just got over a relationship, but I was wondering if you'd like to go out for a drink with me or something?" he asked, knowing full well that she didn't drink that much anymore.
"I don't drink that much, not with Finny around," Stephanie said, just like he knew she would. He furrowed his brow like he was thinking and then perked up a little bit.
"So how about dinner then?" he asked, Stephanie falling into his trap perfectly.
"Oh, well, wow, I wasn't expecting that," she told him, and that was the truth. She honestly thought this had something to do with the show and not something to do with her personal life. She didn't know what to say. Sure, she had a storyline with him way back in 2000 and 2001, but that was a long time ago, a very long time ago. After that, they really hadn't interacted, both onscreen and off.
"Well, I've always kind of admired you, and you know, now that I know that you aren't attached, I thought I'd take a chance, I mean, that's not too bad or anything is it?" Paul said, in what he hoped was a charming tone.
"I don't really know what to say," Stephanie said, putting her pen down. "This is really just out of the blue."
"I'm sorry that it seems that way, but I've always thought that you were a really interesting person and I'd love the opportunity to get to know you."
Stephanie sighed. "Can you give me some time of think about this? I mean, I don't think that I can just give you an answer right now. You and I have worked together, and you know, even if we aren't working together right this second, it's still a little weird."
"Yeah, sure of course."
"Thanks, and thanks for the offer," Stephanie said. Paul nodded and got up, a little disappointed that she hadn't said yes immediately. He figured that she would say yes to him since he was Paul Levesque, Triple H. But then she hadn't said no, so there was still a chance. Maybe she didn't know if she could get a baby-sitter or something.
Stephanie watched him leave and then stuck out her tongue and shuddered to herself. Paul always gave her a creepy vibe. He was just so…she couldn't quite put her finger on it. But he was definitely something, and she wasn't sure she liked that something. She knew that as soon as she and Chris's relationship ended that guys in the company would be knocking down her door. And she wasn't so stupid as to believe that all these guys wanted her because she was pretty.
She knew that a lot of the reason that any guy would want her was because she bore the name McMahon. That was a very powerful name, especially for those working in the company. When Chris had first asked her out, a part of her was apprehensive about becoming involved with someone in the company for the sheer fact that she felt she might be used. She got over that in one night with Chris when he talked to her so candidly there was no way that he could possibly be using her. And he had never used her in any capacity, well, she had put a little more money into their house than he had, but that was totally inconsequential.
She always got the feeling that Paul wanted her for her power, or at least wanted to be her friend for it. There were politics abound backstage and she wasn't oblivious to that. To get to the top, sometimes you had to use ill-gotten means to get there, she understood that, but she'd be damned if someone tried to play her like a fiddle. She wasn't going to get used, and by someone like Paul, not going to happen in a million years. She scoffed to herself a little bit as she went to work.
Meanwhile, Paul was bragging to Randy, "So I asked out Stephanie just now."
Randy, something of Paul's protégé, as sad as that was, responded, "You did, and what did she say? I mean, she couldn't resist you right?"
"Well, she hasn't said yes yet, but it's only a matter of time before that happens. I figure I can butter her up by calling the local florist, getting a dozen roses sent to her, she'll be eating out of the palm of my hand."
"You think?"
"I know," he answered. "I mean, she's coming off a serious relationship, all she wants is someone to make it all better, and that's where I come in. I can make it all better. Randy, my friend, you have no idea how long I've been waiting out this relationship."
"Yeah, I know, for years right?"
"It's felt like forever, before you were even in this company. But he had to get her pregnant, but I knew they'd never last. It was only a matter of time, and now that time is over, and it's time to usher in the Paul Levesque Era. Irvine never knew how to use her to the fullest advantage."
"He is the champion though."
"For now, but how long do you think that's going to last with that relationship going down the drain? It's as good as mine. Well, I've got to call the florist and get the flowers. You know, Stephanie is a really good and pretty woman."
"She is," Randy concurred.
"I really wouldn't mind being with her," he shrugged. "I mean, I don't think I'd cheat on her if I were with her."
"Wow, she's worth that kind of trouble?"
"I think she might be."
Chris held hands with Finnegan as he walked down the hallway to the gorilla. Stephanie hadn't come to pick up Finnegan and he was getting a little annoyed by her absence. Now he had to go out there and leave Finnegan backstage. He knew that Finnegan would be fine, everyone around here knew him and knew if they messed with him, you were messing with the McMahon family, and nobody would put their job at risk like that. He saw Vince sitting in his usual spot with his headphones around his neck, ready to listen in on the show and give his input to JR and Lawler and saw Chris walking over with Finnegan.
"Hi Grandpa Vince," Finnegan said, leaning his chin on the table in front of his grandpa. "Whatcha doin?"
"I'm going to watch the show in a few minutes, what are you doing?"
"I'm standing here," he giggled.
"Hey Vince, can you watch Finn while I'm out there? Stephanie was supposed to come get him, but she's nowhere to be found, and as cool as people would find it if I took my four-year old son out there so they could yell at him and call his mother a slut, I don't really want that for him."
Vince patted the seat next to him. "I always have time for my grandson. Come on Finn, you can help Grandpa work."
"Really?" Finnegan asked incredulously.
"Sure." Finnegan looked amazedly at his father before running around the table and climbing onto the seat next to Vince. He grinned widely as he leaned on the table and Vince put a pair of headphones on him. Chris looked at him and he didn't think he'd ever seen Finnegan as excited as he was in that moment.
"Thanks Vince."
"It's no problem, he's my grandson," Vince said, patting the ecstatic Finnegan on the back.
Chris went out there and started his spiel as Stephanie rushed around looking for Finnegan. She had completely lost track of time after Paul had asked her out. She had promised to relieve Chris of Finnegan and she was kicking herself for not finding him. What had snapped her out of it was hearing Chris's music blasting through the arena. Now she was searching frantically for wherever Finnegan was. She sighed when she saw him sitting with Vince, a pair of too big headphones on his head.
"Oh Finny, I'm sorry I didn't get you," Stephanie said as she went up to him.
"I'm helping!" Finnegan said. "I'm helping Grandpa!"
"Oh wow, Grandpa doesn't even let me help, he must really, really like you," Stephanie said, and it was kind of the truth, her father didn't usually let her man the station when he was there. It was only when he was gone that she got to sit in.
"I like me," Finnegan shrugged.
Stephanie laughed and kissed his forehead. "I like you too."
Chris walked backstage after his promo was done and saw Stephanie kneeling next to Finnegan and trying to listen in on his headphones playfully. Stephanie spotted him and smiled, mouthing that she had Finnegan and Chris nodded. He had to get ready for his match later that evening. He waved at them before wandering off.
He wasn't that far down the hallway when he saw a bouquet of flowers going into Stephanie's office. Chris knew that he hadn't sent the flowers and became suspicious. He waited until the delivery guy walked back out before going into Stephanie's office and he went in himself, walking up to the flowers. There was a card sticking out of them and he plucked it out before reading it.
Just thought these might get you to say yes to that date.
-Paul
Chris sucked at his teeth a little bit. He could feel his blood pressure starting to rise as he read and reread the note before him. Paul had held a grudge against him since the moment he stepped into this company and let it be pretty much common knowledge. And though he knew nothing of the reason why, Chris wasn't so hasty as to not return that hatred. Now Paul was thinking he was going to go after Stephanie. Oh, no, because Chris knew the reason. He crumpled up the note, throwing it on the ground before stalking out of the office and stomping down the hallway.
He found Paul leaning against the wall seemingly reading over a script. Chris's nostrils flared as he breathed through his nose. His hands clenched and unclenched at his side as he let the anger flow through every vein in his body, spreading like a poison that would reach his mind last. And the moment it did reach his mind, he stormed over to Paul, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and threw him up against the wall with all his force.
"Hey, what the hell, Irvine!" Paul said, his voice a little choked.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Chris asked him through gritted teeth.
"What do you mean, I was standing here reading the script."
"Not with the script, what the hell do you think you're doing with Stephanie? What the hell are you doing asking her out?"
"She's not yours anymore, Irvine, so what the hell is with the bully act?" Paul asked. "You guys broke up, remember?"
"I don't give a shit what she is to me, or what you think is happening with us, we both know what kind of agenda you have with Stephanie, now don't we, Paul? We both know the ulterior motives to you asking her out. I've known for years that you've been waiting out this relationship because you want to get in Stephanie's pants, but let me tell you right now, it's not going to happen, you are not going to get anywhere near a position of touching her, and believe me on that, that storyline you had together was the last time you'll ever be near her like that."
Paul rolled his eyes, "She's not yours anymore, Irvine, get over it, she didn't want your ass and she's never going to want you. Think about it, man, why would she keep telling you no, huh? How many times did she turn down your proposals?"
Chris felt the fight start to drain out of him a little as he let go of Paul, who dusted off his shirt. He took a step back as Paul laughed at him. "You don't know what the hell you're talking about, Levesque."
"I think I do," Paul countered. "I don't see you being married to her. And we all know you've been trying to get her to marry you for years, so where's the ring, Irvine? Where's the wedding, or did I not get invited? Yeah, there's no wedding, and there's never going to be a wedding because she's never going to marry you. You're broken up, deal with it."
"Shut up," Chris muttered. Paul was hitting him where it hurt. Chris didn't have a lot of obvious weaknesses, but the fact that Stephanie had refused to marry him for so long didn't sit well in his stomach. It was the one point that hurt, really, truly hurt. He usually didn't let people get to him, but Paul was different, Paul knew how to push those buttons.
"Yeah, that's what I thought. She's never been yours, Irvine. The only reason she stuck with you is because you knocked her up. You think that she'd still be with you, a has-been, if you didn't have that kid? You honestly think she would've stayed with you. She was forced to after you got her pregnant."
Chris was speechless. He didn't know how to respond to that, was there anything he could say to that? That was his biggest fear, well, no, that was just hyperbole, his biggest fear was something happening to Stephanie or Finnegan and losing them. But the fear that Stephanie had only been with him because of Finnegan was pretty high up there. It was a very real possibility, especially with the fact that she refused his marriage proposals again and again. If she rejected him with the next one he gave her, he had no choice but to believe that what Paul said was true, and that would never sit well with him.
Paul chuckled, "What, is the great Chris Irvine out of words?"
"You don't even know her," Chris muttered, shaking his head.
Paul smirked and then made that a smile, "I know how she kisses, very nice. She has soft lips and man, she's a great kisser, when you get your tongue in that mouth, she's all hot and breathy, and you just hold her close…"
Chris was seeing red again. His breaths were becoming stunted and he was restraining himself to the very limit. He couldn't even form words, the lump of anger rising in his throat like bile. Paul was talking about the woman he loved. He hadn't been with her for the first part of the McMahon-Helmsley Era, but he had been around for the second half, and it always made him uncomfortable to see them act around each other. It almost made him glad that Paul had torn his quad muscle. His teeth were starting to chatter a little from trying to hold his jaw steady and not scream in Paul's face.
Paul was getting under Chris's skin and he loved it, "I bet she's a good lay, right? I mean, she'd have to be to knock her up, right? With her underneath you and all that, screaming your name. I bet when you're pounding into--"
Chris lost it at that moment, his blind rage getting the better of him. This was the woman he loved being talked about and the mother of his child. He reared his arm back and punched Paul so hard he staggered back, tripping over a crate and falling over. Before he could react, Chris was on top of him, laying blows wherever they could land. He let out all his frustrations with Stephanie and the anger that Paul brought to his stomach.
"How dare you talk about her like that! How dare you!" Chris said over and over again as he laid into Paul.
"Chris!" came a voice, but it was too far away for him to realize who it was and how close they were. All he saw was what Paul had said, some other guy having sex with Stephanie, some other guy that wasn't him being with her, and he could only focus on that.
Suddenly, he felt someone pulling him away from the defeated Paul. Chris tried to shake free, but the person had too strong a hold on him. He tried to catch his breath, feeling like he had run a marathon. He saw Shane standing between them and looked over his shoulder to see John Cena holding him back. He pushed himself away and everyone waited on baited breath for him to charge at Paul again but he didn't.
"What is going on here?" said another voice, and Chris looked up to see Vince stalking over to them, alone gratefully.
"He hit me!" Paul said, glaring at Chris as he held his bloody nose.
"Chris, is this true? You did this?" Vince asked.
"The bastard deserved it!" Chris shouted.
"Chris, my office now. Paul, go get yourself cleaned up," Vince said. "And don't think you're getting off easy, we'll discuss this later."
Chris followed Vince into his office and slumped down into the seat, not wanting to talk to his boss right now. "Chris, what happened?"
"I don't want to talk about it," Chris told him.
"Chris, I need to know what happened."
"You know what happened, what happened was I got caught up in this family, in the McMahon family and I'm never getting out. That was my mistake. If it weren't for Stephanie, I wouldn't be here right now!" he yelled. "I'd be off doing my music, maybe I'd have a wife and a fucking white picket fence, I'd have no Stephanie to talk me into coming back here and dealing with that asshole, Paul Levesque!"
"You really think that? You really wish you had never gotten involved with the McMahons? I know my daughter can be a bitch, Chris, I know this."
"She's driving me nuts, Vince," Chris said, running his hands through his hair. "She's ruining my life and I can't escape her and we have Finn, and I can't take it anymore. Paul asked her out tonight."
"And you didn't like this?"
"Of course not, Stephanie is mine, she's the mother of my child."
"I know this, I was there when you told me I was going to be a grandfather. I know she's the mother of your child, even though it wasn't what I wanted for the both of you. I wouldn't trade having Finn in my life for anything."
"Neither would I," Chris said. "I wouldn't…Paul was talking about sleeping with her and how it'd be to sleep with her, and I lost it, Vince. I'm sorry, but I wouldn't take it back."
Vince shook his head, "I'm sorry to hear that Paul was saying those types of things about my daughter. But Chris, why are you so angry that he asked her out, you two are no longer together."
"Vince, you wouldn't understand. He was talking about how she didn't love me because she kept turning me down. I don't know, it was just like…what if he's right? What if Stephanie was only with me for Finn?"
"That's not true, we both know that. I know my daughter, and she would never string anyone along like that. She's not like that, Chris, we both know that."
"Yeah, I know…"
"Well, you're dismissed, just don't let this happen again, I don't want two of my top superstars to be out of action."
"Yeah, thanks," he mumbled.
He was just out the door when Vince called out to him, "Chris?"
"Yeah?"
"She'll come around."
Stephanie had heard the buzz around her as she and Finnegan walked to catering to get some apple juice. Everyone was kind of staring at her and she couldn't figure out why. She went into catering and suddenly people got quiet around her. She took Finnegan's hand and went over to the large coolers where the drinks were, pulling out an apple juice and opening it for her son. They sat down for a moment and everyone was sneaking glances at her.
She leaned down to Finnegan and asked, "Finny, is it just me or is everyone staring at us?"
"I don't know, Mommy, do you want me to ask?" he asked her.
"No, I just got a funny feeling in my tummy."
"Oh," Finnegan answered seriously. "Maybe you have a tummyache or maybe your tummy growling because you're hungry."
"I don't think so, Finny, but thanks for the advice," she said, kissing him on the head as she saw her brother walk into the place. She flagged him over and he came over to her, albeit reluctantly.
"Hey Steph, what's up?" he said slowly.
"Did I miss something around here?" she asked. "Have I been walking around with my skirt tucked into my underwear or toilet paper hanging onto my shoe? Or did someone put a 'Kick Me' sign on my back?"
"No," he laughed, looking around. "You're paranoid."
"No, I'm pretty sure something happened," she told him. "What happened?"
"Oh, um…nothing."
"Don't give me that; that just pretty much sealed the deal that something went down. So tell me before I grab the nearest Joe Shmoe and drag it out of him. Did I do something? Did I mess something up? Oh God, they think the storyline between Edge and Jeff is stupid, right?"
"No, it's not that. There was an…altercation."
"Altercation? Between who? And what do I have to do with it?"
"It was between Chris and Paul."
"What?" she asked incredulously. "Were they…fighting over me or something?" She didn't dare hope that Chris would fight over her. That would be presuming and presumptions led to heartache if it didn't give you what you wanted.
"Not exactly, in a way though…I only caught the tail end of it, and what Dad told me about it, but apparently, um, Paul was saying some stuff about you to Chris, stuff like how it would be to sleep with you," Shane stage-whispered so that Finnegan wouldn't hear this adult stuff and be corrupted anymore than he was.
"He said this stuff to Chris?" she asked, her eyes wide. "He talked about sleeping with me to Chris?"
"You're…not sleeping with him, right?"
"Eww, no," Stephanie said. "No way. I can't believe he'd do that. That's so…what a jerk. Can you watch Finny for a moment?"
"Sure, but why?"
"I've got business to take care of," Stephanie said, turning to her son, "Finny, I need to go see someone really quick, a meeting, so you stay with Uncle Shane and I'll be back in a few minutes, I promise."
"Okay," Finnegan said, "Uncle Shane, Grandpa Vince let me help him at the gorilla today and I got to wear the phones."
"What!" Shane said, "Grandpa Vince never lets me do that!"
Stephanie walked out of catering and chose a direction. As she was walking, she happened upon Paul and Randy. Randy was examining Paul's eye and then tapped him on the shoulder and nodded in Stephanie's direction. He turned and smiled at her and she, like Chris before her, reared her hand back, but this time, she slapped Paul across the face.
"You want to know what it'd be like to sleep with me, Paul?" Stephanie sneered.
"Stephanie, what are you talking about?" Paul asked. "Did you see what your ex-boyfriend did to me? He punched me for no reason."
"No reason? Oh give it up, Paul. He told my dad what you said about me. How you wanted to sleep with me, and you said this in front of Chris. No wonder he punched you, you probably deserved more."
"He's lying, I never said that about you. I would never talk about you like that."
"Oh, so what did you say that provoked him to hit you? Let me remind you that I was with Chris for six years, so there's not a whole lot of mystery left with him. I know every detail, every embarrassing moment, I've seen every picture his parents ever took of him growing up. I know where his scars are, where his birthmarks are, I've seen the cabinet he ran into as a child, I've heard of every crush he's ever had. So tell me, Paul, what set him off?"
"I don't know, I told him I was asking you out, and he flipped. It seems like he's still jealous and wants you all to himself, but you broke up with him, so he's going to have to deal with that," Paul lied.
Stephanie grinned. "He seemed jealous?"
"No, he just thought I had an agenda, I don't have an agenda."
"You know what, we both know you're a liar. I wouldn't go out with you if the choice came between you and a frog. You're an asshole, Paul, and you've always been one. You think I don't know exactly what you want from me? All you want is a quick lay and the belt, well, I can assure you right now, you're not going to get either for a very, very long time."
"I didn't say anything to him." Stephanie walked away from him without another word. But there was one thing that stayed on her mind, and whether it was true or not, well, she'd have to find out if it were true or not. Chris could've been jealous of her, he could've been jealous that she had a date. And if that was true, that opened a whole other door to her, that explained a lot.
She still had a chance.