Approx 2 Chapters to go... hang in there

It was a sunny and breezy afternoon in L.A. as Trish, Amy, Stephanie and Mindy were having lunch together before the show. Trish's mother-in-law lived down in the California area so she thought it'd be prefect to tag alone with Amy and a very pregnant Stephanie as Raw hit the 90210 area in the state. As Stephanie and the others were laughing, Mindy was talking on her cell phone, deep in her own conversation.

Trish glanced over at Mindy then turned back to Stephanie after taking a sip of her iced tea as she felt the breeze go threw her from eating lunch outside. "You know, Steph, I have to be real honest. You did a good job hiring Mindy."

Stephanie glanced at Mindy as well. "You think so?"

Trish nodded immediately. "Your feud with her was the best. Almost better than mine…"

"Which feud?" Amy snorted. "The one with the 'lesbian' Mickie or the one where you barked like a dog and got mud poured on you?"

Trish frowned and shot daggers at Amy. "I can't go one year without you mentioning that, can I?"

Amy and Stephanie broke out laughing at Trish continued to glare at Amy. "I'm sorry," Amy said in between giggles. "But mud? I'd never agree to that."

"For your information," Trish fumed. "That won the best feud of year award and put me on the map."

Stephanie thought for a few seconds and shook her head. "No it didn't."

"Yes, it did."

"No…it didn't."

"Well, I was in it!" Trish exclaimed. "So it should've!"

Stephanie stopped giggled and nodded seriously. "She's right," she told Amy. "Trish is a seven time woman champion."

Amy stopped laughing as well as Trish smiled, taking another sip of her drink, as Mindy sat back down with a big grin on her face. "What's the deal?" Amy asked.

"They want me in a TV series!" Mindy said proudly. "A reality show!"

"Why?" Stephanie asked bluntly. Mindy's smile disappeared and she looked at her boss confused while Trish kicked Stephanie lightly under the table. Stephanie glared at her but Trish ignored her.

"Why?" Mindy repeated. "Because…I'm a two time woman's champion, a future WWE champion. I'm a woman that has been in a first blood match, and iron man match and a three stages of hell match…"

"Which you lost," Stephanie muttered somewhat proudly.

"…I'm the future of the business," Mindy continued ignoring Stephanie's comment. "They said I'd be the first woman to do something this big."

"Who said?" Trish asked.

"My agent."

"Uh-huh," Trish muttered shooting Stephanie a look while Amy snickered.

"What?" Mindy asked, looking at the trio confused.

"You're not the first woman," Stephanie told her. Mindy continued to look at them confused. Stephanie sighed and pointed to Trish. "Trish just signed a contract with CBS for a reality show."

"What?"

Trish nodded as Amy spoke up. "Yeah, plus we'd had Joanie Laurer on a reality show."

Mindy shook her head in disbelief. "Dammit!" she yelled as she stood up and flipped opened her phone, hitting redial and stomping away from the table as she yelled into the phone.

The trio watched in amusement as Stephanie glanced at her watch and sighed. "Oh, I have to head back to the hotel," she told her friends.

"You know, every time I tell my parents or my friends outside the business…" Amy began.

"You have other friends than us?" Trish snickered.

As Stephanie giggled, Amy shot Trish a look and continued. "We're one of the top celebrity's and when we say hotel, everyone thinks we mean like a Days Inn or something."

Stephanie shook her head and laughed in amusement. "I'm a McMahon," she said cockily. "Trust me when I tell you that no one will ever make that mistake."

Amy and Trish watched as Stephanie got up and left the table. "Must be nice," Amy muttered.

Mindy walked back to the table and turned to see Stephanie walking away. "Where's she going?"

"Back to the hotel," Trish answered. "Which is not a Days Inn." Mindy raised an eyebrow as she grabbed her purse.

"Where are you going?" Amy asked.

"To my hotel…which is a Days Inn," Mindy answered.

Trish watched Mindy walk away as well when she turned to Amy with wide eyes. "Is she serious?"

Amy raised her eyebrows and laughed as she shook her head. "You really are a blonde."

Shane looked over the scripts and up at his father. He wasn't very happy that he had been called into a meeting with his family but he also knew with Stephanie out on maternity leave that her job, whatever she didn't get to, fell upon him. "Did you run these through with Stephanie?"

Vince looked up at his son, from looking down over his wife's shoulder at the ratings and schedules, through his glasses. "Run what through her?"

Shane held up the papers. "These.

Vince looked at the papers than at his son. "Unless you expect me to be Superman's great grandfather, I can't tell what those are."

Shane rolled his eyes and threw the papers on the desk. "The script."

Vince stood up straighter and folded his arms across his chest. "Uh-huh. What about it?"

Shane pointed at them. "You changed everything."

"Well, how do you know that your sister didn't?" Vince challenged.

"Because I know Stephanie," Shane answered. "And that is very un-Stephanie-like."

"Shane, Stephanie is technically out of work," Linda said as Vince snickered. "We don't need her permission for things around here."

"She's the head of the creative team," Shane reminded them. "She was hired to do a job, and she's doing it. To be one up-ed by her parents will create drama. You know that."

Vince nodded. "Stephanie is stubborn and you're an arrogant ass."

Shane raised his palms up. "Whoa! I'm an arrogant ass?"

"Did I stutter?"

"How am I an arrogant ass?"

Vince shrugged. "First born probably."

"Wha- Mom! Do you hear the way he's talking to me?"

Linda sighed and went back to her work. "Go settle it in the ring."

Shane huffed and snatched the scripts from the desk and stomped out of the room just as Steve was about to knock. "Get outta my way," Shane snapped pushing Steve aside.

Steve watched Shane leave as he walked in the office. "What the hell was that about?"

"Nothing, Steve," Linda said.

"I see. You want me to open a can of whoop ass on 'em?"

John and Adam turned as the locker room door opened and Michael and Paul walked in. "Hey guys," Michael greeted.

"Hey," they both said.

Paul nodded over at John. "You ready tonight?"

John nodded and flashed Paul a smile. "Yeah. I was getting stir crazy."

Paul smiled and nodded as he threw his bag in the locker. "Yeah, Steph gets like that."

"Is she here tonight?" Adam asked.

"Nope," he answered. "We came to an agreement. She could do her work if she stays at the hotel or she doesn't do it at all."

"She actually agreed to those terms?" Mike chuckled.

Paul laughed. "Yeah, although she didn't have that much of a choice. I'll tell ya man, hormones can be a real bitch."

"Don't I know it?" Mike joked.

"Please," Adam put in. "Hormones and the McMahon temper? I'd choose being eaten by sharks piece by piece any day."

He and John laughed and high fived each other as Paul only chuckled and shook his head, opening the locker room door. "You two are lucky Stephanie's not here to hear you two bullshit around or she would've fed you to the sharks."

Both men stopped laughing and Adam frowned as Shawn laughed, following Paul out, and added, "Yeah…and piece by piece."

Stephanie closed her laptop and sighed in content. She had just gotten all her work done for this week and the next three weeks; unless an emergency came up. She sighed and took the clip out of her hair and went into the bathroom to wash her face as she suddenly began to think about how screwed Wrestlemania was now that her husband was out of the action. They'd be no way any doctor in the country would clear Paul within that time; Stephanie and her brother had gone through so many lengths and pulled so many strings to produce Wrestlemania and have John, Dave, Mark, and Paul and Michael as DX, head it. "What's that's all screwed now," Stephanie muttered.

She had to replace the tag match event; which was a huge deal because of the rivalry and time that was put into it. Stephanie learned very early in the business that eighty percent of the heated feuds work the best when you're friends with the people involved in it. The other twenty are good to watch and write because the feud is happening, or at least present, in reality. Like Mindy for example; as good as the diva is, or could be, there was something about her that didn't sit well with Stephanie. Oh well, I'll address that when I return, she thought.

Stephanie grunted and on instinct placed her hand over her belly. She sighed and breathed in deeply as the pain suddenly disappeared. She looked around in confusion. Okay, maybe it was just a kick. She rolled her eyes. Oh god, I'm going to be a soccer mom. Trish and Amy are going to make fun of me so much after this baby is born. She grimaced again and held onto the bathroom counter to support herself and keep from falling. She gritted her teeth as she realized the pain wasn't going away; then she began to panic. Stephanie fought through the pain and walked into the main room and grabbed the phone from the receiver. She turned it on and groaned again. As she bent down, her hand still on her belly, she noticed the carpet was soaked beneath her. She touched down with her left hand and when she brought it back up, she began to tremble and sweat; her hand was covered in blood. Then she began to sway as the colors of the room began to blend in together as the shapes became blurs. She dropped the phone in her right hand as she felt herself falling. She heard, rather than felt, her skull hit the end table. As she fell to the floor, she saw the blood, and then blacked out hearing the distance sound of a ring tone until…nothing.