A/N: This one is quite long (but well worth it), I hope you enjoy it. Reviews are highly appreciated.
I stepped off the plane and into the chilly Irish air. The sun was newly risen, and for some reason I felt as chipper as ever. I was feeling so bright that my morning routine (hotel check-in, breakfast, work-out, shower) felt like it only took a few minutes as opposed to a few hours. Before I knew it I was stepping into the cab on my way to lunch with Stephanie McMahon, Paul, Stephen, and a man from creative.
The restaurant was sunny and cheerful, colored in warm colors, and totally pleasing to the senses. Stephanie and I met the boys inside. Paul looked normal, except that he was wearing a suit...very uncharacteristic. The creative guy's suit was wrinkled like he had slept in it, and he had a coffee stain on the front of his jacket. My eyes swept the room, looking for the one person I wanted to see, the one which I also dreaded seeing. I didn't see him anywhere, and suddenly it felt like a smudge had just appeared on my new rose colored glasses. I stumbled off towards the table where I shook hands with everyone and began to pull my chair out.
"Here, let me get that for ya', An." Stephen said from behind me. I swear I jumped at least ten feet in the air, but I let him pull my chair out. If you guessed I blushed, well, you're right. He pushed my chair in and then sat opposite of me. A statuesque waitress came around and took our drink orders. Steph and I got diet soda, Steve and the Creative guy got coffee, and Paul settled on ice water. We told her it would be a few minutes before we would be ready to order, and then I pulled my menu up to shield my face. I kept sneaking peeks at Stephen over the menu. He looked so...so...hmm...handsome, dapper, gorgeous, oh, I could go on! He was dressed in a beautiful bark blue vest over a white shirt. He had a blue hat and pants on to match the vest and black leather shoes. His eyes sparkled as he laughed at something Paul had said.
I got a little caught up looking at him. A little dazed. At some point he looked back at me and our eyes met. I don't know how long we sat there just staring at each other over our menus, but I knew there was a smile on my face; I knew my cheeks were bright red; I knew I looked silly; And, I knew I was totally captivated.
Snap. Snap. "Andie!" Steph pulled me away from Stephen's gaze.
"Huh? What?"
"The lady asked what you want."
"Uh..." I quickly scanned the menu. "I'll take the chicken with double servings of broccoli, and fruit and yogurt to start."
"Yes, Ma'am. And for you sir?" She looked toward Steve. He was still looking at me, and everybody at the table noticed. Paul laughed and knocked Stephen in the shoulder.
"What?" Steve asked.
"She wants to know what you're eating, dude."
"Oh...whatever she's having." He pointed at me. Another round of laughs shook the table, and I blushed and reached for my purse. I pulled my compact mirror/powder combo out and flipped it open.
"What're you doing?" Stephanie leaned over and questioned softly so as not to let the boys hear.
"Seeing how bad I actually blush when he says something." I whispered back.
"Not that bad...well not on camera anyway."
"What? Are you talking about last night?"
"Yeah. Michelle was telling me that it happens every time you see him, so I watched last night to see if it was making it on to the show." I gave her a shocked expression. "Don't worry, it doesn't. Your secret is safe in the locker room...well both locker rooms."
"Oh great, so everyone knows."
"After that stunt yesterday...yeah."
"What? Oh...nevermind..."
"Well," Steph said to everyone at the table, "Let's talk business."
The rest of lunch was spent discussing the direction that the match was going to go, what we were going to do and when, and what we were going to do with story line. You should've seen Stephen when he realized that I had ordered yogurt and fruit...
"Hey Andie!" Mari called as I walked back into the hotel. "What're you do right now?"
"I don't know."
"You wanna' go shopping?" She grabbed my arm and hauled me back out the door and shoved me into the passenger side of her rental car. We drove for a few minutes and stopped at a little shop. There was no one in there except for us and the girl working the counter. I was nonchalantly browsing the racks when Mari pushed what seemed like a whole store's worth of clothes into my hand and carted me off to the dressing rooms.
"Here, you go in number three and I'll take number one." She closed the door on me and went to her dressing room. "Put on the skirt!" She called over the stalls. I hung the clothes up on the wall and shuffled through them. The skirt she requested was a very short number, black and pink with lace along the bottom. I sat it on the bench next to the mirror and searched for a shirt to go with it. After I found the right one I hurried into the outfit.
"Are you ready?" Mari called.
"Ready." I yelled back. We both opened our doors and stepped out at the same time. She had a skirt to match mine except where mine was black and pink, her's was black and blue. Both of us had matching black pyramid studded belts on. Our shirts were totally different, though. Her shirt looked like a black and blue corset which I assumed was the match to the skirt. My top was just a black tee with little pink, silver, and white stars all over it...before you ask, yes I have a thing for stars.
"Good choice, Andie! I like it. It's hot! You should wear that tonight...after the show, you know. Mike was saying something about everyone going out tonight."
"Cool...I'll think about it...I don't know, though, the way Steph and Paul set things up, my match is going to be long and brutal...I'll probably be too tired."
"Well, at least think about it. Now! For the other outfits." We both turned to head back into the dressing rooms, but as usual, I fell.
"Damn it!" I cried, "That's it, I'm getting Velcro put on the bottom of my shoes...feet...whatever!"
Justin Roberts picked up a microphone and slid into the ring. "Ladies and Gentleman! The following match is an Anything Goes Match! Making his way to the ring, weighing 272 pounds, The Celtic Warrior, Sheamus!" The crowd went wild. Stephen marched his way into the ring acting cocky and arrogant as was his job.
"Next please welcome to the ring, the challenger. Standing only 5'2, and weighing in at 135 pounds, Rhiannon!" As always, I worked my way to the ring with my normal routine. When the pyro shot out I chanced a look at Stephen...he seemed worried. Something about the look on his face broke my heart. Before the pyrotechnics could finish, we locked eyes and I felt the need to smile. It was contagious. He smiled back at me, calming both of our nerves. I rolled into the ring and made my rounds before squaring off in the middle of the ring. The bell rang and I immediately ran for the ropes. I jumped off getting half way through a splash when Stephen grabbed me out of the air as planned. What wasn't planned was my surprise when his hand rested on my, for lack of better words, ass. My eyes got wider and he slammed me to the mat. I knew we had it planned and I knew how to take the moves, but that really hurt. I arched upwards with a pained expression on my face and rolled out of the ring. He followed me out and acted mad when I scuttled under the ring. He started to kick around the skirting moving all the way around the ring. I waited for him to kick on the side closest to Jerry Lawler and rolled out on the entry side with a "steel" chair in my hands. The crowd roared with a mix of heat and pop. I lifted my index finger to my mouth motioning for them to be quiet, and then slid into the ring, moved to the side Stephen was on and scaled the ropes to the top turnbuckle.
"Hey, you big brute!" I yelled; His cue to look up. I jumped off towards him and brought the chair down on his head. He crumbled to the floor and I walked around to the ring to grab the steel steps. I placed them on his back and climbed up onto the commentator's table. I looked out over the crowd and lifted my hand up with three fingers extended.
"Three" they shouted. I put one finger down, "Two." Down with another finger, "One!" Just as I curled the last finger back into my hand and prepared to jump I turned to find Stephen face to face with me. He gave me a doleful look and then picked me up and threw me onto his back for the High Cross.
"Oh no! NO! Don't do that! Please not that helpless little girl!" Jerry shouted from the booth. Stephen whispered something that sounded like "Sorry" and then launched me into the crowd barrier. A woman behind the wall screamed and several of the men started yelling at Stephen. I really didn't care about them, though, I felt like an accordion. My body was folded against the wall, my back was killing me and my eyes were blurry. You've got to respect anyone who's taken a powerbomb like that, because no matter what, it always hurts! I did my best to flip myself around and then I worked my way onto my knees. Stephen stomped over to me and entwined one of his massive hands into my hair and wrapped his free arm around my waist to lift me up. He walked me to the ring and threw me in. After he crawled in with me he picked me up again and set me up with my arms wrapped around the ropes. He moved away and then ran at me, ready to hit me with the Brogue Kick, but I lifted my feet up, planting them against his chest, and kicked him across the ring. I hobbled over to him and gave him a very painful (to me) knee drop to the head, then I once again took to the top rope. I landed a beautiful 450 on him and then tried to roll him up for the pin. Just so you know, he's huge and I could barely make him budge. He threw me off and climbed to his feet where he returned the knee drop and kicked me in the ribs. I started thinking at that point that I had made a big mistake when I had agreed to this match.
Just as he hit me with a back breaker there was an explosion from the crowd. They were all on their feet cheering. Matt, John H., and Mike knocked Stephen away from me and began attacking him. Finally! Matt broke away from the group and walked over to me, pretending to look me over and comfort me. As per the plan, I pushed him away from me and gave him a dirty look. I was supposed to argue with him for coming out there and interupting my match, and it was pretty easy to be mad at him seeings as he was late.
"What took you guys so fucking long?" I asked, outraged.
"Are you alright?"
"Who give's a rat's ass! You guys were supposed to come out before the High Cross! What gives?" We were talking loud enough to hear each other and give the appearance of fighting, but no one in the crowd or watching from their homes could hear a word of it.
"There was a change in plans. John's filling Stephen in." Matt said.
"Well are you going to fill me in?"
After about another minute of beating from the intruders another theme song started playing right on time. It was probably the most recognized theme in all of the WWE: The Game. I looked at the crowd as they cheered him on. I think I actually watched someone faint! Paul strolled up to the ring while Mike, John, and Matt scurried to the barrier and left. Stephen was laying against the ropes rubbing his head. He looked up with a smirk which slowly turned into a look of terror. Paul reached under the ring and retrieved a sledge hammer that was usually there and hopped into the ring. He gave me a lopsided grin, pulled Stephen up and threw the hammer to my feet. Paul held Steve from behind. I picked up the hammer and looked at the men hesitantly. Stephen nodded in a way that was imperceptible to anyone watching, and Paul nodded as if he were a mentor telling a student that they had the correct answer on a test. I took a few practice swings and then sent the hammer (which had a rubber head, by the way) flying into Stephen's abdomen.
He doubled over...I freaked out on the inside! I thought I may have actually hurt him! While Paul picked him up for a pedigree I nervously climbed the ropes in the closest corner and waited for my go ahead. After Stephen hit the ground and Paul stocked off back up the walkway I threw a peace sign up the way I had been doing ever since Matt and I started the tag team matches together. I flipped backwards and landed stomach to stomach on Steve. Grabbing his leg up, I rolled over on my back for my signature pin, waited for the three count and jumped up in the air with peace signs on both hands flying.
"Can you believe it!" Jerry exclaimed, "Rhiannon brought down Sheamus! This is amazing! We've just seen WWE history in the making!" In case you're wondering, there was another commentator, it's just I only paid attention to the King. Anyway, as I did before the match, I went to each corner and basked in my glory and listened as the crowd screamed their approval. After a few minutes I made my way out of the ring and started my trek to the back.
"You little brat!" Stephen screamed into a microphone just as I reached the titantron. "You cheated! And you said that I fight unfairly! You're a conniving little monster!" I spun around to stare at him with my lip curled into a snarl. I mouthed something like "What'd you call me?" and marched back down to the ring. Just as I bent under the ropes Jerry Lawler came in from the opposite side, mic in hand.
"You sound like a big baby!" Jerry yelled through the mic. "You just can't stand the fact that she showed how pathetic you really are!"
"Is that right?" Stephen glowered at him.
"Yeah that's right! You know I have a cure for you're whining, too!"
"And what might that be, King?" Jerry and Stephen threw their microphones aside and readied themselves for a fight. Before any blows could be thrown I snatched one of the mics and put myself between Stephen and Jerry.
"Sheamus would you just stop? We've been playing this stupid game for weeks now!" I yelled at Steve, surprising him with the words he'd used on me the day before, albeit with a little change. "Why can't you just admit that I beat you and leave it at that?"
"Because you cheated!"
"So I had a little help...it doesn't constitute cheating, idiot! It was an ANYTHING GOES MATCH!"
"It doesn't matter! You cheated!"
"You have to be the most stubborn, pigheaded idiot on the face of the planet! I really can't stand you! You're an arrogant snob, a jerk, a...a...oh, I can't even say that word on TV! You walk around the locker room lording your cockiness over everyone, and you know what? It makes me so mad that if I were twice as big as I am now I would give you the ultimate pedigree! I would beat you until there was nothing left! I would tear into you and let you see how it feels to be hurt! You deserve to be knocked into next week!" I kept getting louder and louder, and Stephen's jaw hit the floor. He whispered something in Gaelic, but I was too caught up in my rant to listen.
"God! You get under my skin! I can't stand you! The way you walk, the way you talk." Several wrestlers had made their way out to ringside...I was taking it further than I was supposed to, but I was on a roll. "I hate you and I don't even know why!" I hate the way you make me feel! I just can't stand it! Why do you have to be so? Why can't you just leave me alone?"
"Just Shut Up!" He screamed at me. I kept going, though, my rant becoming more frantic. I was starting to say things that didn't make any sense for my character.
"Do you understand why I can't stand you, Sheamus? Do you understand anything?" No one, not even Stephanie had planned what happened next. I was still yelling and screaming, I couldn't help it, but I was growing louder by the second. Stephen stepped towards me and put a hand on each side of my face, pulling me into a kiss that definitely shut me up. Not a fake Hollywood kiss, either, but a deep passionate kiss that set my whole world on fire. I forgot where I was and what I was doing, I forgot that I was supposed to hate him, and that there were thousands of eyes on us at that very moment. I just….I don't know. It was like walking on cloud nine! His lips were astonishingly soft and warm and his facial hair tickled. He moved his hands to wrap his arms around me. I was so lost that I didn't really notice when he hoisted me into the air, all I knew was that there was just something about the way he held me, the way he just knew when to deepen the kiss, how he literally took my breath away. I wrapped my arms around his neck and leaned into the kiss. Goosebumps shot up on my arms and shoulders, a chill shot up my spine, and heat was building between us. Neither of us even noticed when we were tapped on the shoulders, we just kept going, but when his hands slid down my back towards a place that was definitely not PG, somebody, well two somebodies, pulled us apart.
"Ahem." We both looked at each other, red faced, and then at the person talking. Vince McMahon. Stephanie had pulled me back and Paul had gotten Stephen. Stephanie leaned in close to my ear.
"What were you two thinking?" She whispered. "You better be glad that dad had something like this already planned."
"Is he mad?"
"As hell…but since the crowd liked it, you probably won't be too bad off."
"Sheamus!" Vince said. "I should have you locked up! How dare you come out here and attack my- I mean her!"
"You're what?" Stephanie said into a mic.
"What?"
"You said 'my' and then you cut yourself off. You're what?"
"My..uh…well, Princess…this is hard to say…uh…you see when you were younger your mother and I didn't get along and well…."
"And?"
"Well she's your sister."
"What?" Stephanie and I both cried out at the same time.
"It's true!" Man you…we'll I, could tell the man was ad libbing like crazy. He'd just pulled an idea off the top of his head and ran with it! I looked over to Stephen to see if he was as amused as I was, but like everybody else, an energetic Matt was coming up with something in character to do…he was in Stephen's face running his mouth. Thank goodness for everyone being great actors, or else we would've just blown everything!
"I hope you're happy! You've just sunk to a new low!" Matt was dong his best. Vince walked to me and wrapped his arms around me in a fatherly way. The whole audience was stunned in silence, the other wrestlers around the ring were all smiles, and the King was busy trying to pick his jaw up off the floor. Finally Stephanie gave Mr. McMahon a look of pure evil and, with Paul by her side, walked out of the ring and then backstage.
