Dave looked at Stephanie and Trish as they stood near the window in his hospital room. Still going over what Stephanie had told him, he tried to logically figure out everything in his mind.

"You okay?" Trish asked softly, so Stephanie couldn't hear. Not that she could because she was too wrapped up in her own thoughts.

Dave nodded slowly. "Yeah. I'm just still trying to understand the logical behind it all…"

Stephanie looked at her. "It'll take awhile to understand fully, Dave."

He looked at her. "What you're asking of me…"

She shook her head. "It could change. It might."

"How?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. That's the one bad thing about this plan."

Trish nodded. "She's right. There's no true failsafe."

"But if we're going to do this," Stephanie added. "I need to know that you're with me…no matter what."

Dave nodded without hesitation. "Of course I am."

Trish looked at him closely. "You know what she's asking, right?"

He swallowed and nodded again, slowly. "Yes." He turned his gaze to Stephanie. "Once I get out, I'm making a statement. I want everyone to know around the world that the Animal is back."

Stephanie gave him a small smile. "Trust me, Dave," she told him. "Everyone will know you're back."

"What the fuck was that stunt you pulled last week?" Vince demanded of John.

Cena, Randy, Levesque and Adam all stood in Vince's office like little kids guilty of picking on the 'nerd'. "I was asked to do it," John said smartly.

"Who?" Vince demanded as Shane looked up from his father's desk, choosing to stay out of the argument.

"Your daughter," John replied.

"Really?" Vince was seconds from having a mental breakdown. "And where is Stephanie?" John shrugged. Vince's eyes narrowed and he looked at the other guys, who shrugged as well. "You honestly expect me to believe that?" Vince asked John. "That you have no clue as to the whereabouts of my daughter."

John frowned and anger flashed in his blue eyes. "She broke up with me thanks to you," he sneered. "I don't owe you a fucking thing."

"You're under contract," Vince snapped. "Tell me again that you don't owe me anything."

John got into his bosses face this time. "I don't owe you anything," he said slowly. "Since you're just like your daughter, I'll show you that tonight."

Adam and the others watched as John stormed out of the office, slamming the door. Vince took a deep breath, trying to control his temper as he turned to the others. "I'm going to ask once," he said softly. "Where is Stephanie?"

The three men all looked at each other then back at Vince. "We don't know," Paul answered.

Before Vince could say anything, Randy raised his hands and said, "Honestly. We haven't heard from her since last Monday."

Vince growled and turned to Shane. "What about you?"

Shane only shook his head and Vince cursed and stomped out of the room. The four men each exchanged glances.

Paul Heyman sat at his desk in his office in Florida preparing for the Tuesday night show of ECW. Thisweek he was determined to make an impact. He had too. He smiled though. He had taken so many of Stephanie's best wrestler's, he couldn't help but be proud of himself. Stephanie was so smug it sickened him. He had taken Big Show right out from under her nose. Then her best friend, Kurt Angle, followed by Chris Benoit; he had been looking to take Edge and then Cena, but they were far to close to her for him to get. But in the war between the two brands, it didn't matter to him. He'd win and he was sure of it.

A knock came at his door and he looked up as his sercuirty man gave him a worried, yet annoyed, look. "Mr. Heyman, Stephanie McMahon is here."

His eyes widened as the young brunette passed the man a smiled and walked in. The man rolled his eyes and closed the door as Stephanie grinned at Paul. "Stephanie…what are you doing here?"

"Well, first of all," she said, taking a seat, "I wanted to thank you for making my personal life a living hell."

He smiled. "Well then you're greatly welcome…"

"Secondly," she said, throwing a large envelope on the table. "I wanted to strike a deal with you."

Raising an eyebrow, Paul opened the envelope and smiled gleefully, pulling out a large sum of cash. "If this is meant to be a bribe, Stephanie, then I'm afraid no money will stop me from destroying you, your family, and your business."

She matched his smug look. "It's not," she told him. "It's a down payment."

Heyman frowned. "For what?"

"ECW."

His frowned deepened. "What are you talking about?"

Stepahnie's expression turned dead serious. "I want to be a silent partner."

Before his scheduled match with Eddie that night, John decided to take things into his own hands. Grabbing a mic, his music hit as he made his way to the ring, looking around at the fans that cheered for him, still hearing some of the boos mixed within the crowd. As he jumped in the ring, he skipped his normal ring entrance and went straight towards his speech. He held his title up over his head.

"I've been Champ for about a year now," he said. "Been in the company for about four years." Bring the belt back down to his side, he looked around. "I'm still considered the new kid around here and I've sit in the back for the past few weeks and watching as ECW, week after week after week, beat down on WWE! They've already made Steph retire early," he half joked. "They made Vince piss his pants every week. I mean, let's face it…Heyman's smart. He attacked the company when Vince is starting to lose his mind…as well as control of his bodily functions," he added as the crowd laughed.

In the back, Vince seethed, watching Cena rant on.

"Heyman stole Angle and Show from Raw, right under his nose," John continued. "He provoked an attack on Stephanie McMahon, nearly killing her, then weeks later, had her arrested. And what did Vince do? Not a damn thing. What did the company do? Fired her! The only action that any of the McMahon's did was to make sure that I never saw her again." He chuckled slightly. "What I'm tryin' to say is that I'm done. Consider this my resignation," he said, laying his belt down, and dropping the mic. The crowd was shocked into silence as John stepped out of the ring and walked into the back.

Vince's jaw dropped as the men in the locker room watched the scene unfold. Steve was the first to speak. "Our champion didn't actually…"

"Quit?" Randy finished. Steve nodded. "Yeah," he said dryly. "I think he did."

Heyman watched the show as it switched to commercial and looked at the smirking Stephanie, still unsure. "You postivie this'll work?"

Stephanie, still smiling, nodded. "It'll work," she said confidently. "I am a McMahon after all," she added. "Screwing others over is what I do so well."

Heyman rolled his eyes. "No shit," he muttered.