A/N: Whoa, a tag team effort! Pretty cool huh? Well let's get to it… we own nothing, sadly, but maybe someday :)
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To say that Chris was shocked his idea had been approved would be a tremendous understatement.
It's not that he didn't believe in it. In fact, he had nothing but faith in the idea, and he knew it would get him the necessary heel heat he needed heading into Wrestlemania. After all, with the impending on-screen break up between Hunter and Stephanie, it wasn't as if she'd just disappear by the wayside. He had heard the rumors that they were tossing the idea around of potentially siding him with Stephanie, and so he naturally envisioned an affair storyline.
But the fact that it would be an affair storyline between him and Stephanie had made him weary, so much to the point where he had wondered if it was even worth proposing. The last time an affair storyline had been suggested was with Kurt Angle, and that had been shot down almost ruthlessly by one man.
Chris frowned at the thought of Hunter. He didn't know what he had done, but the older man seemed to take a dislike to him from the very moment he'd entered the company. That dislike had slowly evolved into an intense hatred, a hatred that boggled the Canadian's mind because he had no idea where it had come from. So he had naturally assumed Hunter would shoot down his idea of having an affair storyline. It was to be expected.
What he hadn't expected, however, was Stephanie liking his idea. That had been a nice surprise for him, until of course, Hunter had to go off on his little tirade about how it didn't make any kind of sense. Chris had forced himself to bite his tongue and stay quiet as Hunter had his temper tantrum, and part of him had even expected Stephanie to give in to her boyfriend like she had a tendency to do.
But he was starting to find out that Stephanie was full of surprises.
He slowly pushed open the door to his house, incredibly thankful that the show that night had been in his hometown of Tampa. He didn't mind traveling, but there was nothing like the feel of his own bed. Dropping his duffel bag on the floor and carefully laying his two championship belts down on a nearby table, he headed into his kitchen to get something to drink, curiously noting that the light was turned on.
As soon as he stepped into the kitchen, he saw why. His wife was sitting at the table, her reading glasses on as she read a book. He cleared his throat, and she looked up at him in surprise.
"What took you so long?" she asked, putting her book down as he raised an eyebrow.
"Nice to see you too, Jess," he answered with a hint of sarcasm as he walked over to the fridge.
"I'm just saying, whenever the shows are here, you're usually home by midnight," she pointed out as he pulled out a pitcher.
"Yeah, but I told you I had to stay for a production meeting after the show," he reminded her. "So you didn't have to wait up for me."
"I didn't know those meetings ran so late," she remarked as she removed her reading glasses and he poured himself a glass of juice.
"Well, I hung out a bit with Rocky after the meeting," he said with a shrug. "We're going to have another match together at the Rumble, so we both just got to talking about it and I guess I lost track of the time."
"You and Rock again?"
"Yeah, management seems to like our matches," he said with a smirk. "I mean, we do steal the show every time we're up."
"Good, management has good taste then," she said with a smile as she stood up. He tensed a bit as he remembered Stephanie approving his idea that night, before raising his glass to drink his juice. "Are you going to come to bed, or are you going to stay up?" she asked him.
He lowered his glass on the counter and sighed, looking over at his wife, who was looking at him expectantly. He hadn't exactly told her that he was going to propose a storyline that would involve Stephanie having an affair him… but he hadn't expected it to get approved. So at the time, he saw no reason to tell her his idea. But now that it seemed they would go through with it, he figured it was a good time to fill her in.
Even so, he was hesitant to have this conversation. Jessica had always been on the jealous side, and he knew he was going to be in for a long argument…
"Chris?" she said, waving to him, an amused look on her face as his eyes refocused. "You zoned out on me."
"Oh, sorry," he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. "Jess, there's something I think we need to talk about."
"Sounds serious," she said, raising an eyebrow.
"No, it's not, it's actually not that big of a deal," he said with a shrug. "But we still need to talk about it."
"Okay," she said as she gave him a confused look. He sucked at his teeth a bit as he wondered how to go about this. He wanted to phrase it the best way he could, to lessen the blow and calm the waves that he was bound to cause. Jessica was very temperamental at times, and he knew that no matter what he said, she was going to get upset. That thought gave him the nudge he needed as he decided to just go ahead and say it.
"You know that meeting I had to go to tonight?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Well, you remember how I told you that they have Hunter set to win the Rumble, so we're going to main event Wrestlemania?"
"I remember," she said, still not knowing where this was going.
"Well creative came up with an idea to give us a lot of heat going into the match," he said as she laughed.
"Chris, if you're just going to talk to me about how you're going to beat up Hunter with a sledgehammer or something, can't it wait until the morning?"
"That's not what I was going to say," he said with a frown as she sighed. She stepped up to him and wrapped him into a loose hug, looking up at him.
"Fine, I'm sorry, what is this big idea, my love?"
"Well, you know how me and Steph always hated each other?" he asked, and she nodded. "Well… someone on creative thought it'd be a good idea if she turned on Hunter and sided with me for our match," he said, purposely leaving out the part that it was actually his idea. It would already be hard enough to tell her about it without slapping his name next to it and claiming the idea as his own.
"Oh, that's a good idea," she said with a smile, and he looked genuinely surprised.
"Yeah, you think so?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Yeah, she'd be your manager I'm guessing?" she asked curiously, as he gave a chuckle.
"Not exactly…"
"What do you mean, not exactly?"
He sighed and decided to stop beating around the bush. If she was going to get pissed, then she was going to get pissed. It didn't matter how easily he broke the news, because she'd still be upset regardless. He might as well just put it out there so the argument could begin.
"They want Stephanie to cheat on Hunter with me," he said almost hesitantly as her eyes narrowed. "It's a great way to get us some heat for our match," he added as she scowled.
"You mean to tell me someone suggested you guys having an affair storyline?" she asked in disbelief, and he went to respond, but she kept going. "Are you serious? You and Stephanie having an affair?"
"Well, yeah," he said, frowning as she pulled away from him. "It's good for business, Jess."
"How is it good for business?" she demanded, glaring at him angrily. He sighed, knowing this argument had been inevitable. "It doesn't even make sense, Chris!"
"What do you mean, it doesn't make sense?" he asked, a defensive edge in his tone. "The idea is solid and we're using our history to build up to it, it's a great story to use for Wrestlemania."
"But you spent all that time hating her, and all of a sudden out of the blue, you two were having an affair?" she said, putting her hands on her hips. Chris groaned, not wanting to hear that, not after having to sit through Hunter's whining earlier that night.
"Look," he started, trying not to sound annoyed, "it makes sense because we have such a history, and we've had kisses, and we've just had so much, Jess. Where's the payoff to all of that?"
"Her jumping into your bed sounds like a grand one," she said with sarcasm lacing her voice, and he rolled his eyes.
"I just wanted to tell you so that when you see it, you're not shocked, that's all," he said shortly as he turned and walked away, with Jessica right on his heels.
"What do you mean when I see it?" she demanded, and he sighed. "I thought you said someone had just suggested it!"
He once again avoided mentioning the small fact that it was his suggestion, not prepared to engage in World War 3 on that night. Instead, he marched up the stairs towards their bedroom as she walked up next to him.
"Chris, I asked you a question!" she snapped.
"Someone did suggest it," he said dryly as he reached the top of the stairs. "And it's been approved already."
"What?" she asked, her eyes widening. "Who would approve an idea like that?"
"Who wouldn't?" he sighed, getting exasperated. "Look, I know you don't like it, okay? I knew you wouldn't, but it's good for my match at Wrestlemania."
"I just don't see why you guys couldn't up with something better," she said as she followed him into their bedroom. "Chris, you have such great ideas, couldn't you think of something better than that and go back to get them to change their minds?"
"No, it's been approved already," he repeated as he sat down on the bed and started untying his shoes. "There's nothing left to say."
"I'm sure if you talked to Stephanie though, you two could come up with something else -"
"Jessica," he admonished, giving her a stern glare. "It's not going to change, so just drop it."
"How can you say that!" she exclaimed, gazing at him in disbelief. "How can you just be so nonchalant about this!"
"What is the big deal, huh?" he demanded as he gazed at her standing a few feet in front of him. "Seriously Jess, you're blowing this way out of proportion."
"Do you even realize what this means?"
"What?" he asked, confused as she started pacing.
"God Chris, don't you see? You're going to have to be touching her and kissing her!" she cried out angrily as she shot him a look. "You don't even care, do you?"
He rolled his eyes as he kicked off his shoes. "Of course there's going to be physical contact, but it's not going to mean anything."
"Why are you only thinking about yourself in this?" she asked and he gave her a bewildered look.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"You don't even care that I'm going to have to see you week in and week out kiss another woman!" she cried out, and he sighed again. "And God, what if my parents see? They already give me so much shit about you being a wrestler, now how am I going to explain you out there with her of all people!"
He sucked in at his teeth a bit, before standing up and giving her a serious look. "I understand where you're coming from."
She sighed with relief, smiling a bit at him. "Good, I'm glad you're seeing things my way."
"I didn't say that," he pointed out, and she looked at him in confusion. "All I said is that I understand where you're coming from, and I do. But you don't have anything to worry about, Jess. This is just business."
"It's bad business," she shot back, and he scowled as he started to feel his temper flaring through him.
"It's good business," he corrected, starting to get frustrated with her as he hastily pulled off his shirt, tossing it to the side before looking back up at her. "Look, I already told you, it's been approved and we're doing it. That's it."
"If you really wanted to, you could get out of it…"
"Jessica, stop!" he yelled, at his wits end. She flinched when he did, and his look softened a bit as he sighed. "I'm sorry Jess, but God, you're giving me hell for a decision I have no control over. It's been approved and that's it," he said again, hoping he was making her see the light.
"Whatever," she said in a dry tone as she walked around him and sat down on her edge of the bed. She climbed in and pulled the blankets over her, not looking back at him as he groaned.
"Come on, you cannot seriously be so upset by this storyline," he said as he went over and sat down next to her. She didn't answer him and he rubbed her leg a bit. "Jess, babe, I'm sorry, I really am. But can't you see how much this will help our match? Hunter just came back on TV not too long ago and he's hot right now, and I need to get some heel heat going into our match… and what better way -"
"Look, you're already set on doing it and apparently you're not budging on it, so drop it," she snapped, and he rolled his eyes.
"Fine, if you want to be like that, then whatever," he said in a tone that matched hers as he stood up. He was frustrated and annoyed, but he had known it would be this way. He'd been with Jessica long enough to be able to read her pretty well. As he climbed onto his side of the bed, he thought about saying something to ease the tension in the room.
Instead, he turned onto his side so he was giving her his back, frowning as he gazed at the wall. She was so stubborn sometimes. Even when he'd tried explaining it, she just refused to listen to his reasoning. Part of him didn't blame her though. For all the time she'd been with him, she still didn't understand the business and how it worked.
She just couldn't see the potential.