Hope you're all enjoying this one. If so don't hesitate to drop me a review. If you hate it, I can take criticism, so don't hold back.

On with the story…

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"So what happened the other night after you guys left the restaurant?"

"Oh nothing much. You know how your brother can get. He may act tough on the outside, but really he is just a huge softie on the inside."

"Yeah well I know one thing… I was certainly going to slap the hell out of him for talking to me the way he did."

"Steph I just want to apologize again for that. I don't know what came over him," Lynn lied. As she sat there in a quiet small café, shooting the breeze with her sister-in-law, she could not stop the small shudder that overtook her at that moment. It always happened when she would think about what she had been going through with her husband over the past two years. No one knew and she would not dream of telling anyone either. She hated the mere thought of what would happen if she so much as breathed a word of their household business to anyone---least of all a relative.

"I don't know either, but I do know that I will not hesitate to slap his ass next time. I won't let my own husband speak to me like that, least of all my brother."

"I hear you," Lynn agreed, "he has just seemed vexed lately, for whatever reason I don't know."

"All I know is that he better watch his ass with me. He is walking on egg shells. Paul is about ready to explode every time he thinks about what happened the other night."

"Speaking of Paul, did you ever get him to calm down after you two finally left the restaurant?"

"Yes, I used my wifely-persuasion. It worked like a charm as usual," Stephanie said teasingly with a wink.

"You two are like teenagers. Even after all these years."

"Eight years and counting. I just love him to death. He's so damn sexy and romantic, and don't even get me started on how great he is in bed---"

"Yes let me NOT get you started on that," Lynn said quickly, throwing her hands up in defense, "that is my brother after all. How would you feel if I told you that Shane is great at eating my p---"

"I get it!" Stephanie shouted quickly as she momentarily placed her fingers in her ear.

Lynn just laughed in response and took another sip from her cup of coffee. She loved moments like this. Moments where she could just relax and have a nice time without being yelled at or worse. She truly loved and adored her sister-in-law, and she had no idea what she would do without the McMahon heiress there to help keep her grounded and smiling all the time. If only the other woman knew what a monster her brother, Shane, really was. If only…

"So where were you this afternoon?"

"I went and had coffee with Steph."

"Oh yeah."

"Yeah."

"What did you guys talk about?"

"Everything and nothing."

"Did she bring up the other night?"

"Of course."

"What did she say?"

"She was just hurt that you had spoken to her that way and called her out of her name."

Shane just fell silent as he continued to get ready for bed. He had not meant to talk to Stephanie like that. That was his baby sister and he loved her more than he loved himself. He would try to destroy anyone that dare verbally insult or disrespect her, much less physically do so. Yet he himself had disrespected her. An apology was in order and he would make damn certain that he apologized and did his best to make up for what he had done.

"I know. I don't know what came over me. She didn't deserve that. I owe her a huge apology."

"Yeah. So how was your day?" Lynn inquired as she pulled the blankets back on her bed. It was late and she was more than tired after being up early to have coffee with her sister-in-law, then coming home and fighting with a two year old. To say she was exhausted would be an understatement.

"It was fine. Dan fucked up again. I got a mind to fire his ass tomorrow. I told him to change the layout on to red and black, with Cena on one side of the screen and Jericho on the other. What does he do, he changes it to green and white, with Mysterio on one side and Edge on the other."

"That doesn't sound like a major problem to me. It can easily be fixed. Just have him change it. You don't have to fire him."

"Oh really." Shane stated more than questioned, without even looking in her direction, "So now you can do my job better than me?"

"No, I'm not saying that. All I'm saying is that it's not a life-threatening problem," Lynn regretted the words as soon as they left her lips. Shane whipped his head towards her, and pinned her with a deadly glare. She knew what was coming next. He never failed, as he swiftly slapped her across her face. Her head whipping to one side in a flash. Her cheek stung like fire and she could taste the coppery taste of blood in her mouth.

"It may as well be, if my damn father his jumping up my ass about his fucking mistake for hiring an incompetent asshole. Now I have to fire the son of a bitch and hire someone that actually has common sense and knows what they're doing," Shane closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "I'm sorry that I had to do that to you, but you should know by now that I hate being insulted and disrespected, which is exactly what you just did by questioning what I said. Maybe next time you'll think before you open your mouth."

She watched her husband grab his jeans and put them back on. He then sat on the edge of the bed and put his shoes back on, "I'm going out to the bar. I need some time to clear my head after what just took place in here. Don't wait up for me."

She was getting slapped for something new every night. First it was because her skirt was too short, now it was for an innocent comment about his job. Next he would be slapping her for feeding their child. When was this going to end? She knew the answer to that. When she ended it… but she didn't have the guts to. She loved this man with everything in her, in spite of his abusive ways. He just had bad days from time to time--- and her sarcastic remarks were not helping. She just needed to be more supportive and understanding. Shane would change, she just knew he would. She just had to give him time. How much--- she didn't know.

What she did know was that her husband was now probably heading to some bar to pick up another woman and take her back to a hotel to release some steam. God, this needed to end or she would end up in a worse situation than she wanted to. She just had to gather up the strength to take some sort of action.