It was going smoothly, just like he knew it would. He smiled as he watched Stephanie walk down the hall towards the gorilla position, dressed in a stunning white wedding dress. This was it, this was going to be the start of something great. He could feel it and deep down, he was proud that this was all his idea. Regardless of what happened, or how this storyline turned out, the credit was coming to him. It sure as hell wasn't going to be blame, he knew that much.
This storyline was just too damn good to fail them now.
Chris watched as a worker handed Stephanie a bouquet of flowers, and he had to hand it to her. She was behind his idea, and they were going all out with the vow renewal that night. They were practically having a wedding live on the show, which would lull the fans completely into their storyline. No one was going to see this coming, not the fans, not the internet reporters, no one. They had taken great pains to make sure that everyone kept it to themselves, which would only make it even better. He rubbed his hands in anticipation, before glancing at a nearby digital clock.
"You're either really nervous or really excited, and I'm hoping it's the first."
He glanced over at Stephanie and his smile grew, "Well that's not something I want to hear right before the biggest storyline of my life."
"This is the biggest storyline of your life?"
"It's leading up to me main eventing Wrestlemania, so yeah, I'd say it ranks up there on the list."
"So you are nervous," she said with a grin.
"You want me to be?" he asked, raising an eyebrow in intrigue. "You want your favorite, most talented wrestler, and most handsome wrestler on the roster to be nervous? You want your first-ever Undisputed Champion to be quivering in his boots at the thought of a storyline?"
"Someone's head is getting a little inflated by all that gold," she laughed. "I was kinda hoping you'd get nervous, but it's just wishful thinking on my part, right? In any case, I might have to scratch your storyline entirely if you keep this up."
"Hey, I'm just warming up getting into character," he said with a wink, before picking up his two heavyweight belts up from a nearby table. He casually draped one over each shoulder, before looking up at Stephanie and giving her a genuine smile. "How do I look?"
"You look fine," she said, looking his white and black checkered outfit over carefully. "You changed pretty fast, I might add."
"I shower fast," he said with a shrug, before Stephanie stepped closer to him. She put her flowers on the table where his belts had just been and reached up to him. He gave her a curious look, but didn't flinch or move as she reached for the collar on his shirt. "What are you doing?" he asked as he tried looking down at her hands.
"Fixing your collar, the commercials just started so we're on in five," she told him in her business tone as she pulled his collar out from underneath his belts. Her hands slowly drifted down his shirt, which he had buttoned up halfway to the top. "Are you excited? This was your idea after all."
"Yeah," he answered, as she started unbuttoning his shirt. He looked down at her hands as she moved down, forcing his eyes to stay on her hands and not on the revealing cleavage of her dress. "Steph, you don't have to --"
"It looks better when you wear it open," she told him, before looking over her shoulder at the time. "God, where the hell is Hunter?" she mumbled under her breath as Chris released a deep breath, thankful for the distraction. He reached over to the table and picked up her bouquet, and gave her a sheepish smile as she turned to face him again.
"You probably need these, since you're practically getting married all over again," he teased, and she rolled her eyes playfully as she took them from him.
"God, I'm excited, I haven't been this excited since the last time we worked together," she said with a wide smile. "Aren't you excited?"
"Stephanie, there you are, I've been looking all over for you."
Chris groaned internally as Hunter strolled up to them. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a piece of gum, looking off to the side so as to not acknowledge the new member of the group. Hunter noticed this and sent him a dirty look, which Chris could practically feel. He ignored it as he popped the gum into his mouth, not wanting to deal with him tonight.
"Hunter, where have you been, we're on in like three minutes," Stephanie said angrily.
"I was busy getting ready, relax," Hunter replied in a cool tone. "Are you ready, do you want us to go over anything again?"
"I'm fine, I'm a professional, I got it," she responded, and Chris could hear the slight annoyance in her voice.
"What about you?" Hunter demanded, turning towards Chris as his tone gained an edge. "You ready?"
Chris chomped a little harder on his gum as he turned to face Hunter, before giving him a forced smile. "Ready as I'll ever be, Trips."
"Don't forget what we talked about," Hunter said, staring a hole through the Canadian.
"Alright, he's got it, I've got it, we've all got it, stop wasting our time Hunter," Stephanie said sternly. "We've got a show to run, in case you've forgotten."
"What's your problem?" Hunter asked, turning to face his girlfriend.
"I am not about to do this with you," Stephanie told him in a lowered voice, which made Chris shift his weight uncomfortably. He rubbed the back of his neck and hesitantly cleared his throat as Hunter rolled his eyes.
"Fine, whatever, I'll see both of you out there," he said gruffly, before stalking off to the stage entrance. Chris watched him leave, his eyes narrowing in disgust. One day, they were going to come to blows and just put all their hatred out there on the table. One day, he'd find out just what the older man held so strongly against him. One day…
Stephanie's hand on his chest brought him out of it. He looked at her in surprise, but she just gave him a smile. "We'll be okay, don't worry about him. This storyline is going to work, I'm going to make damn sure of it."
He had to smile at that take-charge tone in her voice, and he nodded. "This is going to be hot, I can already feel it."
"Me too," she said with a smirk as she pulled away from him. "Oh, and don't look so surprised next time I touch you. You better start getting used to it," she added teasingly as she walked away.
He stood there for a few moments, watching as she headed towards Hunter and Vince. He watched as the three started talking as he hung back, knowing it would be just a while longer before he went out there. And then it would begin – the storyline that his wife opposed so strongly would be underway. His chewing once again turned to almost chomping at the thought of Jessica watching this at home tonight, but this was something he had to do. This storyline would propel him to a permanent spot in the memory of the fans, and would make his Wrestlemania match so much more meaningful. He knew that Jessica was opposed to it, but it wasn't about her tonight.
She was just going to have to deal.
The fans were already rowdy by the time Stephanie came up to speak into the microphone. There was anticipation in the air, because everyone and their mother now knew that her pregnancy was fake. It had aired on the titantron for the world to see, and now everyone was expecting a reaction from Hunter. Stephanie beamed as she stepped up to the microphone, not so much because she was acting to be thrilled to be renewing her vows, but because she knew that these fans were about to get their money's worth.
"Hunter," she started, gazing at her real-life boyfriend adoringly and ignoring the obligatory 'what' chants that were going to give her hell during her speech. "I take thee as my husband, again. And I wanted to do it in front of the entire world…"
"Hang on a second there, Stephanie," Hunter interrupted as he smiled at her kindly. "I'd like to go first, if you don't mind?" She looked surprised, and glanced over at her father, who gave her a reassuring nod as the fans buzzed. Hunter pulled the microphone closer to him and motioned for the fans to quiet down a little bit.
"You know Stephanie, I wanted to come out here in front of the entire world and come clean with you. I wanted to tell you in front of everyone how I feel about you. Tell you how I felt about you since the moment I saw you, and also tell you how I feel about you right now. You see, last week, when you told me I was going to be a father… I was overwhelmed with emotion. Absolutely overwhelmed, because despite our ups and downs over the last two years, last week was the greatest moment of my life. Since last week, since that day Steph, I've seen you in a different light," he said, pausing as the fans began to cheer. He let it go for a few moments, wanting it all to last. This had been the original plan since the beginning, and he still didn't see why Stephanie didn't see that there was potential in this version of the storyline too.
"It's true that when your wife is pregnant, you love her more. When I look at you Stephanie, I see you not as my loving wife, and not as the mother of my child," he paused momentarily, basking in the anticipation of the moment as Stephanie silently urged him on. "But as I stand here and look into your eyes tonight, I see you for what you truly are… a NO GOOD, LYING BITCH!"
Stephanie gasped as the fans erupted into cheers. She dropped her bouquet in shock, as she covered her stomach with her hands. Shaking her head in disbelief, she looked speechless as Hunter's smile disappeared and he began to let out his real frustrations in the form of a rant.
"You wanted this so bad Stephanie, that you would lie about a pregnancy, huh? You wanted it so bad that you used my emotions against me?! I have done some pretty bad things in my life Steph, but this… I'm an asshole okay, I admit it, but even I would not drop this low. You don't care about anyone but yourself! Well, you know what? It's OVER, Steph – we're THROUGH!"
Stephanie turned away from him, covering her eyes as Vince stepped up to Hunter and shoved him angrily. She looked over her shoulder and saw Hunter take a swing at her father and knock him down, much to the delight of the fans. She feigned shock, and escaped to the other side of the ring and around the wedding set-up that was in the middle of the ring, and motioned for a microphone as Hunter beat up her father and threw him over the top rope. As soon as he did that, he began to relentlessly destroy the set-up as Stephanie gasped.
"Stop it! STOP IT! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!" she screamed into the microphone, but he ignored her as he continued making a mess out of everything. She angrily stalked up to him and slapped the taste right out of his mouth, forcing his head to whip to the side and forcing him to stop. Silence fell over the arena as he glared at the ring mat, his fists clenched, and everyone wondering what he was going to do as Stephanie raised the microphone to her lips.
"This was supposed to be OUR night, Hunter! Yes, I lied, and yes, it was a bitchy thing to do! I get that, I understand that, but I did it for you! I needed us to renew our vows, don't you understand that?!" she yelled into her microphone. She lowered it as she waited for him to look back up at her, to say something to her as the fans chanted 'slut' at her. She bit her lip hard as she watched him, not wanting to laugh at the fact that she was only moments away from earning that chant.
Finally, he looked up, but before she could react, he shoved her face and knocked her down to the mat as the fans went wild. Stephanie sat up angrily, fuming with anger and completely in character now as she watched him turn and climb out of the ring. Grabbing the microphone, she forced herself up quickly and raised it once again.
"You want to get mad over a fake baby, Hunter? Is that what you're so pissed off about?!" she yelled, watching his back as he slowly walked back up the ramp. "You should be thankful that there is no baby, because if there was, it wouldn't have been yours!"
Hunter stopped walking at that.
"That's right, I said it, I said it in front of the whole damn world!" she said with a smirk. "Do you really think that all of this was for kicks, Hunter? No, it wasn't, I wanted to renew our vows so I could renew one of the most important – fidelity. Because let's face it sweetie, while you spent hours rehabbing, hours and hours… I was being taken care of, hours and hours of me being with someone who was ten times the man you were…" her voice trailed dreamily as she sensually wiped her lips with a few of her fingers, a look of pure lust in her eyes as the chants of 'slut' rang clearer and clearer, louder and louder. Hunter slowly turned to face her again, and the chants went up as he walked back towards the ring.
"Is that what it takes to get you to come back to me, baby?" she said with a smirk as she watched him. "I didn't want to do it, you know. That's why I wanted to renew our vows Hunter, I wanted it to work with us," she added as he climbed back into the ring and slowly straightened. "But you know what? Now that I think about it? I don't think I would've stopped seeing him, because God, he is amazing… when he touches me… his hands are enough to make any girl scream," she said with a smirk as he gave her a look of disgust. "So in a way, I guess I should thank you huh? Now I don't have to sneak around to see him, and anytime I'm in the mood, he'll be there to satisfy my needs. Unlike you, he's a real man," she said smugly, looking at him defiantly. She opened her mouth to say more, to drive that knife deeper when he snatched the microphone right out of her hands.
"I'm only going to ask you once," he said in a low tone that was laced with fury as they stared each other down. "Who the hell is it?"
The self-satisfied smirk on her face grew as she took her veil off and tossed it to the side, letting her hair completely down while he glared at her. She knew he wanted an answer, but she wasn't about to give it up, oh no. Slowly, she removed her ring and tossed it out of the ring, before crossing her arms arrogantly and going back to staring at him. She raised her chin defiantly as he exhaled into the microphone.
"This is just another lie, isn't it?" he growled, to which she just raised an eyebrow and tilted her head in amusement. "You really are a lying bitch, you know that?" he added, stepping up to her. "There is no other guy, stop trying to an even bigger bitch than you really are, we're over, Stephanie! If you think that you're going to hurt me by making up even more lies about affairs and babies and all that other bullshit, you're wrong! You really expect me to believe that you could have an affair and have me not realize it? Do you know who I am?" he yelled at her, right in her face, but she wasn't backing down as they once again stared each other down.
And then, she slowly raised a hand and pointed over his shoulder innocently. He gave her a dirty look as he turned around, expecting her father to be standing there waiting for round two.
What he didn't expect was to be met with a steel chair shot, courtesy of the Undisputed Champion, Chris Jericho.
Chris looked down at Hunter, before slowly picking up his championship belts that he had dropped in favor of the steel chair. He draped them over his shoulder arrogantly, ignoring the deafening boos that were raining down from the fans. He sneered at them, thankful that Hunter was so damn long-winded. It had given him plenty of time to sneak out and get ready for his moment of glory, and here it was.
He looked up slowly from Hunter's prone body to see Stephanie looking at him with a smirk on her face. He matched her smirk with his trademark one, slowly stepping around Hunter as she did the same. He stopped walking and let her approach him, wanting to see what she was going to do. Unconsciously, he licked his lips in anticipation, watching as she stepped up to him while he let his eyes roam over her appreciatively.
He slowly removed his belts from his shoulders as she stepped up to him, running one hand up his chest and opening up his shirt more as his smirk grew. She took one of his title belts into her hand, and he reached up to her hair with his free hand. A moment later, he grabbed a fistful of it and tilted her head back as he let his eyes take her in to the loud boos of the fans. He licked his lips again before he brought his lips down on hers, kissing her hungrily. She kissed him back just as eagerly which made him moan against her mouth as he let go of her hair and used his free arm to pull her tightly against him. She in turn wrapped her free arm around his neck as he straightened, never breaking her kiss with him. Finally, she pulled away first, but he instinctively sought out her lips again.
Finally, she pulled away again and he sighed in content as he held her close to him by the waist, a lazy smile on his face as he looked down at Hunter. He then shot the camera a cocky smirk before raising one of his belts as Stephanie raised the other. He turned to her to congratulate her on a job well done when she surprised him by kissing him again. This time though, he instinctively closed his eyes and responded to her, not wanting to be caught off guard on camera.
Oh yeah, he could definitely get used to this.