She knew she was going to have to cut off Hunter at the pass. He would most assuredly go to her father, she knew this, so she was doing what she did best, and that was to get there first. You didn't become what she was without knowing how to play the game. This most definitely wasn't her first time at the rodeo. She walked up to her father's office and tapped lightly on the door before peeking her head inside. Her father looked up at her, peering at his daughter over his reading glasses.

"Stephanie, hello," he said warmly as he removed his glasses and set them down on the desk in front of him. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Hi Dad," Stephanie said brightly. "I needed to talk to you about the production meeting we had last night. I know that we aren't going to be getting into some of the storylines for a while, but since you decided to come to the house show tonight, I thought that perhaps we could sit down and I can tell you the plan going into WrestleMania. I wanted to discuss the Triple H and Chris Jericho storyline specifically."

"I trust your decisions Stephanie," Vince told her, and she smiled, glad that her father trusted her opinions. This would make it that much easier.

"I'm glad you feel that way Dad," she started, then cleared her throat. "Anyways, we invited Chris's input into the production meeting last night, and he actually had a very good idea. Solid, well-thought out, and the perfect way to get him heat for his WrestleMania match."

"The man does have a good head on his shoulders," Vince agreed, "so tell me what this master plan is."

"Okay," she smiled, trying to act genial and polite. "He suggested that we have an affair storyline, in that my character and his have been having an affair since Hunter was away rehabbing. We reveal this affair after the wedding renewal we have planned, and we both think this could garner us some real heat."

"Affair storyline you say?" he mused, leaning back in his chair as he clasped his hands together and tapped his chin with said hands. "And everything that happened with you hating each other on-screen was just a cover-up?"

"Exactly," she said with a nod. "It was all just leading up to this. We're thinking of saying it started after that kiss we shared at SummerSlam. We never really delved into the reasons behind that kiss, and now we can do that. Chris and I both think that this storyline has practically written itself as it is."

"I love it," Vince said with a smile. "I absolutely love it. It's got scandal, it's got sex appeal, and I'd be a fool not to admit that you and Chris have some chemistry when you're out there. I don't see why you had to clear this with me, it's a wonderful idea."

"Just wanted to make sure that you approved of it completely," she said, standing up and going around the desk to kiss her father's cheek. "Thank you Dad."

"Not a problem, Princess."

Stephanie walked out of the room, satisfied with her performance in there. She knew her father would give in to her, that's how it usually worked out. Now that she had full disclosure to go ahead with the storyline, she should probably meet with Chris to iron out the logistics. The good thing about Chris was you never had to give him too much direction. They never had to write his promos for him, or script anything. He was just that good, and that's why she had always enjoyed working with him.

She knew that Hunter was going to be mad that he wasn't getting his way, but her feelings with her were that he just had to suck it up. She had watched as he had to get closer to Trish for that time period back in 2000, the least he could do was the return the favor here. And it wasn't like she was actually going to be having an affair with Chris. It was a storyline, a way to generate heat for their match and not much else.

She eventually found Chris sitting on a trunk in one of the hallways in the labyrinth-like backstage area of the arena they were occupying that evening. She put her best smile forward because she didn't want to seem like his boss. She knew that he must've been a little apprehensive of her after the way Hunter had acted the night before, but it was none of her fault, her boyfriend was just being an asshole, which he tended to be on occasion.

"Chris!" Stephanie called out in a bright voice.

Chris turned his head and saw her, giving her a small smile, "Oh, hey Stephanie."

"Hey, I was actually looking for you, and here you are."

"Lucky me," he said with a short laugh. She noticed he was looking around a little bit, like he was looking for someone and only one name came to mind.

"Don't worry, I didn't come with Hunter in tow, just me," she joked, hoping it would put him at ease.

He appeared to relax at that declaration. "It's not that he's a bad…"

"No, no, completely understandable. I'd like to apologize to you after what he did last night. It was completely unprofessional and I'm just embarrassed that you and all the other writers had to see that. It was just…humiliating."

"Not for you," he told her easily. "I mean, I can see where he's coming from, I don't think I'd like my wife to see me making out with some other guy and pretending they were having an affair."

"Well, its business, and he'll see that. Anyways, that brings me to what I wanted to speak with you about," she told him, turning on her professional voice at the drop of a hat. "I went to my father, and I got the final approval for the storyline. Which means that despite Hunter's whining, there's nothing he can do about it."

"Wow, so that means your dad liked the idea?"

"He thought it was great, you're a hit," she told him. "I did really think that it was a good one too. And I'm not just saying that, I promise. I've always looked forward to working with you. Of everyone on the roster, you and I have some of the richest history and we should use that."

"That's all I'm saying," Chris responded.

"Yeah, and I think this storyline is going to be great, and I'm really excited to do it with you," she paused and chuckled under her breath. "Wow, that really sounded wrong, not do it with you of course…I mean, you know, like, just…"

Now she was getting flustered and that wasn't who she was at all. She tried to laugh it off as she could feel her skin burning. She was starting to blush and it was creeping her cheeks and to her ears as she felt her face get hotter. It didn't help that Chris's small smile had turned into a big grin during her embarrassing attempt at putting a sentence together. She bit her lip in an attempt to shut herself up, but she had already done the damage.

"I get what you meant," he laughed. "Do I make you nervous?"

"No," she told him, gaining a small amount of her pride back. "What I meant was…it's just that…oh my God, what is wrong with my mouth?"

"The idea of sex with me makes you ill?" he suggested. "That's not going to bode well for our storyline you know? Especially since the entire thing hinges on us pretending that we've been having sex for a while."

"Oh, I have no problem with having sex with you," and then she gasped and covered her mouth. If she could stick her foot any further into her mouth, it would be coming out of her ass at this point. She closed her eyes and hoped that this was all in her mind, but hearing Chris's deep laughter assured her that this was her reality. "I'm so profoundly sorry."

"Its okay, my foot has been in my mouth more times than I can count," Chris told her, trying to put her at ease after her faux pas.

"Good, because I'm about two seconds away from running at full speed to the ladies room and writing in my diary that I had my most embarrassing moment ever just a few minutes ago. I didn't mean that sex would be good, not that I'd know, not that I'm saying it wouldn't, not that I'd you know, invite…I'm just…yes, looking forward to working with you," she finished pathetically, wondering if her pride had just taken a permanent vacation.

"Me too," he told her, though she knew nothing of his real feelings, or what had happened to him previously with his wife.

"Good, we'll discuss the finer points I'm sure. We're going to have to think of a timeline and everything, but it'll be good, we'll be good. The fans have been waiting for this I'm sure."

"Waiting for what?" another voice said and Stephanie felt a couple of arms wrap around her tightly, almost possessively. She wanted to push him off just because she knew what he was doing, but she refrained for the moment.

"I was just telling Chris that I was looking forward to working with him," Stephanie said, tilting her head back to look at her boyfriend.

"Oh? How nice for the both of you," Hunter said, but there was a definite edge to his voice. Stephanie nudged him lightly in the stomach, a silent warning to cool it.

"You know, I've got to go call my wife," Chris said, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck. "We'll talk later Steph, you have my number?"

"Yeah," she nodded as she watched Chris walk away.

"So you look forward to working with him huh?" Hunter asked. Stephanie turned in his arms and gave him a look. "Not more than working with me right?"

She shook her head and leaned up to kiss him, brushing her hands through his hair. "Of course not Hunter, baby, you know that working with you is my favorite thing to do. Now are you going to stop being an ass and work with us here?"

"You went to your father didn't you?" he asked, staring her straight in the eye. She laughed and gave him a coy look. Every now and then it was nice to have a person who knew you so well, who knew what you would do before you did it. Hunter was that kind of person, and even though they fought quite a bit, she still loved him very much.

"Yes, I did, and he loved the idea."

"I still think it's a piece of shit idea," he said gruffly, turning away from her. Stephanie cradled his face in her palm and turned it towards her so they were looking at each other again. She traced his jaw line with her finger and shook her head.

"Baby, it doesn't mean anything," she told him quietly. "I know that you're apprehensive about it, but it'll all work out for the best. We're just working together, that's all, we have people working together all the time, that doesn't mean anything. It's a job."

"I know, I just worry."

"Why would you ever worry?" she asked, letting him hug her to him. She rested her head on his strong chest and listened to the musical drumbeat of his heart.

"Because I'm always afraid I'm going to lose you."

She laughed at that, "Lose me? Hunter, you have all of me, besides, like I said yesterday, Chris is married, he's happy. There's nothing that's really going to happen between us. You trust me right?"

"Of course."

"Then you need to trust me with this," she told him. "You need to trust that I'm going into this thinking solely about business. Think about the ratings. People are going to want to tune in and see this unfold, which puts you in the spotlight and you love being in the spotlight, don't you baby?"

She knew that appealing to his ego would do the trick. Hunter loved to be the center of attention and if she could make him see that he'd be just that in this storyline, he'd go for it. Sometimes it was so easy to manipulate men into doing what you wanted. She just smiled to herself as she felt Hunter rubbing her back.

"In the spotlight huh?"

"Definitely," she said firmly. "And it's not like it's going to be forever. Nothing in wrestling lasts forever. It's just a for now kind of thing, and besides, this has all been building up, and it's going to blow up at WrestleMania and you and Chris are going to have the best match on the card. You're going to blow everyone else out of the water."

"Well, we were going to do that anyways, if I can count on him."

"You can count on him. And you can count on me to make this storyline great, and that means that I'm going to have to pretend to be with Chris. And I think his wife is okay with it, he didn't even mention her having a problem with it, so I can't imagine that she would. So see, if she, as his wife, can be okay with it, then so can you, right, because you can be a team player."

"I guess, just this once," he told her, giving in. She grinned and looked up at him. He captured her lips in a kiss again, and he could feel how happy she was, and he gave in like he usually did because he loved her too. He loved her and he did want her to be happy, no matter the means that came with that.

"You won't be sorry Hunter, I promise."