Stephanie walked in the arena, her laptop case on her shoulder, with a battle of water in one hand and her cell phone, texting, in the other. John sat on a crate and once he saw Stephanie, he hopped off of it and jogged over to her. Stephanie looked up, and closed her phone, seeing John come up to her. "Hey, Stephanie."

Stephanie looked at him and held up her hand up, still holding her cell phone. "Can you give me two minutes to at least drop my stuff?" she asked, slightly annoyed.

John nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets, letting Stephanie pass him. He watched her walk to the office and open the door as he stood there like a lost puppy. A few minutes later, Stephanie came back out. She noticed John still waiting there for her and rolled her eyes. John caught her doing so and couldn't help but to feel hurt. "Is this a bad time or something?" he asked uncomfortably.

"It's always a bad time," Stephanie replied as she began to walk down the hall.

John followed, unsure of what to do, as he replied, "Well…I just had an idea I wanted to throw at you…"

Stephanie looked at her phone and opened it up, proceeding to read a message. "What is it?"

"Well, I was thinking about this developing my character thing that your father was talking to me about," he told her. "And I have an idea I wanna lay out on the table."

"Uh-huh."

"Well, I'm a rapper, so I was thinking…"

Stephanie stopped and turned around, catching John off balance and nearly running into her. Stephanie chuckled slightly. "Wait," she said, calming herself down. "Don't tell me…you want to do the whole 'gangster' thing?" she said, putting up the parenthesis mark when she said gangster. "A white rapper."

Stephanie shook her head slowly and pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling a headache already coming on. "I can't believe who my father hires these days," she muttered.

"Hey," John said, getting on the defensive feeling offended at the comment and Stephanie's body language. "It was just an idea."

Stephanie looked at him. "You already lost one match, John," she told him. "A very important one by the way which I told you rode on your career. That part of your career is the character development part. What that means is…you will do whatever is written in the script. When I get the time, if, I get the time…then we'll talk. Until then…" Stephanie pointed behind John. He gave her a look and shook his head, turning around and walking toward the locker rooms.

Later that night, Trish and Adam walked into Stephanie's office to find her busy and caught up with her work. Seeing how busy, and bitchy, she was, both of them decided to let her be and watched the main event on her television. Despite the fact that Stephanie was walking in and out of the office and on her cell phone, Trish caught her looking at the screen every now and then; probably checking John Cena out in action.

As Stephanie was on the phone with one of the board members, the show came to a closing, and Trish turned to her best friend and said, "That was a pretty good match."

Stephanie looked at her, but said nothing.

"Yeah, it was," Adam commented. "The rapping had me cracking up!" he said laughing.

"What?" Stephanie said into the phone surprised. "No. I never ordered that nor did I sign it."

Adam looked at her as Trish picked up on of the contracts on Stephanie's desk. Glancing at the name, she smirked. Stephanie looked at her and Trish held it up, pointing at John Cena's name at the top. Stephanie rolled her eyes, then listened to other line and said, "Fine. It needs to be run through by my father though. Yes…I'll meet you tomorrow then."

Stephanie closed her phone and sighed heavily. Trish looked up at her as she skimmed through John's contract. "You okay?"

Stephanie nodded. "Yeah…"

Trish frowned, believing that she was lying, or at least, sugarcoating it.

"You know that's against the law, right?" Adam as Trish.

"What?"

Adam pointed at the contract. "Reading his contract."

Trish waved him off. "Oh, he doesn't care."

Adam raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

Trish rolled her eyes. "I don't like him," she told him. He only smiled at her as Stephanie packed her things up. "Besides," Trish added, putting the contract back. "He's not interested in me."

Adam raised his eyebrows, interested, as Trish stared at Stephanie. When Stephanie turned back and noticed both of them staring at her, she raised her eyebrows. "What?"

Adam chuckled as Trish sang, "Someone's gonna get some…"

Stephanie looked back and forth from them and shook her head as she grabbed her belongings. "You two need a life," she muttered as she walked out, leaving Trish and Adam to continue to laugh.

John walked out of the shower in his shorts with a towel around his neck as Randy was packing his things. Looking over at him, Randy said, "Hey that was a good match out there."

"Thanks," John said, slipping a shirt on.

Randy zipped up his zipped bag then said, "I saw you hanging around Stephanie earlier."

John stopped and looked at Randy. "Yeah. We were talking."

Randy nodded. "Oh…it just seemed like you got a thing for her," he said as she slung the bag over his shoulder.

John raised his eyebrows. "What if I did?"

"Don't get defensive," Randy said. "I was just noting it. I'm just here to a friend and tell you to watch out."

"Why?"

Randy shrugged. "Steph and I are good friends; I've known her for years. I was there when she became GM; before Smackdown, on Raw, when I was in dark matches. Steph and I are close…"

"And you're just looking out for her," John added. "I can understand that."

"Not just her, you too."

John rolled his eyes. "I know…I'm new."

Randy shook his head. "Not just that, but she just got a divorce."

"Wait," John said, surprised. "She was married?" Randy nodded. "To who?"

"Paul Levesque."

"Wow…" John whispered. "I didn't even now."

Randy chuckled. "If you were around earlier, you would've."

"Their marriage was bad?" John asked.

"Not so much bad as…dysfunctional. But…they ended on good terms and are friends from my understanding. Steph can hold a grudge like it's no one's business…but Paul can't."

"Well…what happened?"

Randy shrugged. "Just wasn't meant to be. Paul met someone else and Stephanie found out about it."

"Wow," John said again.

"Yep." Randy walked over to the door and stopped. "Hey, me and a few buddies are going to get the club later tonight. Trish and Amy are going so I was wondering if you wanted to join."

John nodded. "Yeah, sure."

Randy flashed him a smile and opened the door. "Great. And who knows…maybe Steph will be there."

John nodded and shoved his towel in his bag as Randy left. He suddenly smiled. I hope that Stephanie is there…

Stephanie sat at the bar and watched as Trish danced on the dance floor with Amy, Adam and Randy. As she finished drinking her wine, she shook her head slowly and wondered why she had let Trish drag her here. She was a divorcee, had no boyfriend, and only money and power…it was depressing.

"You look like you're bored."

Stephanie turned around to the voice. "Paul?"

He smiled at her and nodded. "The one and only, " he joked.

Stephanie giggled and hugged him. Once she broke the hug, he ordered another drink for her and one for himself. Seeing Trish and Adam on the dance floor, Paul asked, "Lemme guess…they forced you here?"

Stephanie shrugged. "In a manner of speaking."

During their marriage, Paul and Stephanie were always hanging out with David and Trish, who were dating at the time. After their divorce ended, Paul wasn't there as much so their group broke up and a new one formed up. A few months after that, Trish broke it off with David. Stephanie missed those old days; where they could come and go as they please, whenever and wherever. Even though Stephanie still talks to Paul and David…they're not as close as they once were.

"Hey baby."

Stephanie watched as Paul turned around and smiled at the woman standing behind him, looking at Stephanie, but smiling friendly. "Hey," Paul said.

Paul turned back and looked at Stephanie as the woman placed her hands on his broad shoulders. "I thought we were going to dance?"

Paul rolled his eyes slightly and gave Stephanie an apologetic look. Stephanie smiled at him. "I'll see you later."

Paul smiled at her and grabbed the woman's hand and led her to the dance floor. Stephanie watched the woman carefully, imagining herself killing her; the very woman that stole her husband. She never imagined that she and Paul would ever have problems. Stephanie was the kind of woman that believed in fairy tales; she'd get married, have many kids, retire, and live in happiness. She wasn't naïve…just imaginative. Her name was Michelle; she started working as Stephanie's assistant in her early years as the General Manager on Smackdown. She and Michelle got along at first…until she laid eyes on Paul. From then on, it was all history. One that Stephanie didn't want to relive.

She opened her purse and pulled out a large bill. Lying it down on the table, under her glass, Stephanie began to get up, only to come face to face with John Cena.

"Hi," he said politely.

Stephanie blushed slightly, not expecting to see him. He was dressed to the nines, and smelled very good. So good, Stephanie wanted to throw herself on him. He defiantly is hot. Stephanie mentally slapped herself. But he is also my employee…that's a red zone. She'd been there and done that; something she would never do again.

"Hey," she said, smiling at him. Stephanie found herself staring at him, and realizing seconds later that she was still smiling. Stop smiling, you idiot! she scolded herself. John chuckled and shook his head slightly, amused at her reaction and behavior. Stephanie blushed again, turning several shades of red. "I'm not drunk," she told him, "I swear."

"Well…" he began, "I might have to conduct a breathalyzer test. However, there's a problem." Stephanie raised her eyebrows. "I don't have one. So…"

Stephanie shook her head slowly and attempted to cool down the situation. "I know where you're getting at."

"You do?"

She nodded. "Yes." I have to stop this before it leads to places that it shouldn't. "John…I'm your boss… and you work for me and my family." The smiled faded from John's face and his expression become unreadable. Stephanie glanced at him. "Do you understand?"

John looked up and nodded. "Yeah," he said simply. He wouldn't admit it, because of who he was, but he was heartbroken, feeling as if Stephanie took a good hard punch in his chest.

"Our relationship is business," Stephanie added. "And that's all it can be."

John nodded again, but didn't say anything. He had come here with Randy in hopes of seeing her; not to get struck down. Stephanie grabbed her coat and turned around and walked out of the bar, John watching her. He was sure of one thing; he wouldn't stop trying. Just because he was slightly youngest and she was his boss, didn't mean anything to him. If it was time that she needed, John would give it to her. He would wait, as long as it took.

But the problem was… people changed over time…