Chapter Eight: Trouble Presents Itself
Monday was only better because the day was broken up by a lunch date with Stephanie's sister-in-law. Marissa McMahon had planned her business in Philadelphia when she knew Stephanie would be the closest on the road. The two barely saw each other beyond holidays and they were anxious to see each other since Shane had confided in Marissa about Stephanie's situation. Therese was dragged along because Stephanie wanted to spend some time outside of the hotel beyond lunch.
Shane and Marissa had enough to talk about with Stephanie that Therese only had to be present in body. However, Marissa sensed how left out Therese was feeling and kept pulling her into the conversation. Therese would have been annoyed except that Marissa had so much charisma that she couldn't be pushed off. She was the epitome of a classy woman who was beautiful, smart, and courteous. No wonder Shane snatched her up, she thought after Marissa had asked her opinion on some of her business dealings.
If it wasn't for Marissa's appointment, the four of them would have talked all day. Therese was about to slide into the limo behind Stephanie when she heard her name. Shawn Michaels jogged over and leaned up against the door, with Kevin Nash walking up from behind. Stephanie slid around to the seat at the door to stare up at Shawn.
"Hey, doll, how ya doing?" he asked.
Stephanie smiled back. "Fine. Wanna come in a minute?" she asked, patting the seat beside her.
"Yeah, just a minute. We're on our way to the arena right now." Shawn waited for Therese to move from her protective position in the door. When she did, Shawn pulled the door closed quickly, leaving her and Nash standing outside the limo.
Therese smiled shyly at Kevin and quietly spoke, "Hi." He nodded and they both leaned up against the vehicle, not saying anything for a moment.
Kevin finally broke the silence. "I tried to call you."
"Really? My phone's working as far as I know." Well, that didn't work as well as I thought it would.
"I got another person's voicemail."
She felt so stupid playing dumb. "Really? Are you sure you're dialing my number?" Kevin pulled out the slip of paper that her number was written on and handed it to her. She glanced at it before saying anything. "Oh, wait, I transposed the last two numbers. I'm sorry." She had done it on purpose, hoping to dissuade him, but having a back-up plan in case he confronted her about it. She truly didn't think he would bother seeking her out for her real number.
"It's okay. I'm glad I saw you so I could get it right." She pulled a pen out of the inside of her jacket pocket and corrected the transposition as he talked. "So, when are we going out next?" he casually asked.
"I don't know. It depends on the boss and when she'll let me have time off. I'll get on her and, when you call, I'll let you know."
"Sure," Nash replied just as the limo door opened. Shawn slid out and gave Stephanie a peck on the cheek. He flashed Therese a brilliant smile.
"Sorry to drag your man away—"
"He's not—"
"—but we're on our way to the arena. Gonna be late if we don't get a move on," Shawn finished and started dragging Kevin away. They gave each other a shy smile before the two disappeared.
Shawn's report to Stephanie had been exactly what she wanted to hear. Kevin had been a little upset that he couldn't get through to Therese on the number she gave. When Shawn noticed, Kevin had finally admitted that he would like to see her again, but that was all Shawn was able to pull out of him. Knowing that, Stephanie knew she could set them up for another doubledate and possibly get Therese away long enough for her to be absolutely alone with Shawn. After their date, Stephanie could think of nothing but Shawn. Her previous thoughts of not being ready to move on were completely forgotten. His kiss on her cheek had made her flush and Therese immediately noticed.
"Did more go on in here than just that innocent kiss?"
Stephanie's cheeks grew darker as she proclaimed emphatically, "No!" Therese let a snort escape after seeing the look on her face. "It's not funny!" she protested.
Therese was about to come back with another smart-alecky comment but her cell phone rang. Glancing at the screen, she answered, "This is Blair." Therese kept saying "yes" over and over and then finally hung up. "Good news," She sarcastically said. "The only traceable fingerprints on the envelope and letter besides yours and Shane's have been identified." Stephanie's face lit up. "However, they belonged to the mailboy. He was arrested when he was a teenager on a charge that was later dropped, so his prints were on file."
"What are you doing about it?" Stephanie quickly interjected.
"Some strings will be pulled and we'll have Shane try to get him moved to another department."
"Why don't you arrest him and throw him in jail?"
"He is the mail carrier. How else did the mail get there? There is no proof against him. We have to wait." After these words, Stephanie lapsed into silence for the evening. Therese knew from Stephanie's silence that she was concerned for her safety. Therese felt guilty for having an internal private party that she still held her job and wasn't under review either.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
In a week and a half, Therese had only been able to talk with her brother once. The rest was spent playing phone tag, if one could call it that. Vera, his "babysitter," Therese knew better than to call her that around Evan, had apparently taken it upon herself to keep him busy. She left messages at both Vera's and their apartments and Evan would take two days to call her back and always when she was in the middle of something that would not let her answer her phone. At least she knew he was okay. Somehow, some way, she managed to catch him at their apartment when Vera took him by to pick up some more of his things.
"I saw you Thursday night! How cool was that! My sister was on TV!" He loudly proclaimed even though no one but Vera could hear him.
"Thanks, Evan. You've told me that already."
"Yeah, but it was so cool, I had to say it again. You gonna be on there tomorrow night?" he casually asked.
"Not if I can help it," she sighed in reply.
"Who are you gonna wrestle first?" he asked as if it was an everyday question.
She sighed at his question. "You know what I'm here for and that's not it."
"Yeah, but I can hope, can't I?"
"Don't waste your hope on that. You're better off hoping for the Devils to win the Cup," she said off-handedly trying to get a rise out of him.
"Which ain't gonna happen!" The boy yelled, almost at the top of his lungs.
"I know, I know. Apparently, you didn't see Saturday's game because no one answered the phone when I called," she added, raising her voice but adding a smile.
"Oh, yeah, um. Sorry. So tell me about everybody," he enthusiastically asked, trying to change the subject.
Therese wasn't about to break his heart over his one of his idols—Stephanie McMahon. However, he was elated to know that Roddy Piper was just as arrogant backstage as he was on and that Sean O'Haire was just as creepy in person. Yes, A-Train's back was just as hairy as it appeared and, yes, Torrie Wilson was as perfect as he thought. She wasn't about to tell him that she was as stupid as she was pretty. She also didn't tell him that Nidia was not as dumb as people thought, just very Southern. He ate up hearing about Vince McMahon. He was the person that Evan loved to hate. If McMahon wasn't doing something evil, he could care less about him. As to his favorite wrestler, the Undertaker, she couldn't report anything.
Quickly getting over the disappointment, Evan asked if she had by chance gotten to meet anyone from RAW. She didn't think it could hurt by answering. Eric Bischoff was a slime, to which Evan readily agreed. Shawn Michaels was just as cute in person, to which he made a very disgusting noise. The only person left from RAW that she had met was Kevin Nash. Evan immediately asked if the "old has been" was with the "Heart Stank Kid." She smiled at him, knowing that he if met them or got to know them, they would fast become his favorites. He only disliked them because they drove girls wild. "Yes, Evan, Big Sex-xy, was right there. You know, he has this incredible butt on him that I never noticed before. I just wanted to reach out and grab it." Evan made choking noises. "No, wait, I just wanted to sink my teeth right in and never let go." By this time, he was yelling incoherent words that she took to mean "I'm not listening." She quit talking and waited for him to realize that she had stopped. It took a few moments.
"Don't ever do that again," he said in exasperation.
"I won't, I promise," Therese barely said through her laughter. "I'll call you again soon. Okay?"
"Okay," he answered quietly, as if disappointed.
To try to make up the time for being away, she quickly added, "Tell Vera that she can use my credit card to order the pay-per-view."
"I get to watch the pay-per-view?" His attitude quickly changed.
"Yeah. Brock Lesnar is ripping the Big Show in half and Triple H is gonna plow right through Kevin Nash. You don't want to miss that, do you?"
"You betcha Torrie Wilson's sweet booty I don't. You're the best big sis ever!" With his reply, she could tell he was acting like a little kid and dancing across the living room floor.
"Now, why can't you be the best little brother ever?"
"I thought I already was," he replied in a pouty voice.
She had to laugh at him. "If Vera is willing to put up with all your friends, invite them over to our apartment for the show. Don't go overboard on buying food though. NO chocolate!"
"Aww, Mom."
"Don't 'aww, Mom' me. It's not too far from your bed time. Now, hurry up and get to sleep. Love you, babe," she said and popped a kiss.
"You, too—oh, wait. If you see Kevin Nash again, tell him that I said he ain't got enough left in him to beat up Terry Funk."
"Evan!"
"'Night!" He quickly said and hung up before she could give it back to him. Oh, I bet Nash has enough left in him to beat Triple H. His butt has enough to do it, that's for sure…Therese, girl! What is it with you and this man? She wasn't sure. There had only been the one date and they had spoken three times. Beyond the unsavory circumstances of the night, she had truly enjoyed being with Kevin. Because of that, she knew that the relationship couldn't work unless she was willing to lie to him. Another lie wouldn't hurt, so she scribbled down the wrong number. It was better than being mean to him and running him off. She had definitely not expected him to try to get her real number.
Now, she had to make another decision, well, actually, the same decision again. What to do about Kevin Nash? If only they had met under other circumstances, she would have gladly agreed to a date. He obviously liked her enough to ask her out again, but did he like her or did he like Stephanie's personal assistant? Surely, it had to just be her and her personality. Yeah, they talked about her job and her "made-up" life, but, otherwise, she had just been herself. Therese resigned herself to play hard to get and see if that deterred him.
She had just set the cell phone down from her call to Evan when the phone rang out again playing the James Bond theme. The ID didn't register the name of the caller and she hesitantly answered.
"Hi. It's me, Kevin." Like I could mistake that voice, she thought to herself. "Bet you didn't think I would actually call?"
She laughed at his joke. "I just thought you wanted it to add to your collection. Everyone has got to have some kind of hobby."
Kevin softly laughed in return. "So what is your hobby?"
"Keeping Stephanie sane, I guess," she sighed.
"That is exactly why we need to get you out of there to do nothing sometime. When are y'all going to be in Charlotte?" he asked.
"Early Saturday. You?"
"Yeah, Shawn and I'll get there sometime that afternoon. I've got to start early in preparing for this match."
"You will be fine. I have no doubt that you could take him easily. And that's not biased because of Steph's ex-husband," she added with the roll of her eyes.
"What makes it worse is that he was my best friend. There's a difference between tough love and having to beat the hell out of man that you once trusted with your life," he said a little angrily.
"I'm truly glad I've never had to deal with that and I hope to never have to."
They talked for a few minutes about the up-coming match but then slipped into silence. Kevin finally spoke up. "I guess it's too much to hope for dinner Saturday night?"
"I'm sorry. With it being the night before Judgment Day, I think Stephanie's going to have me busier than I've been so far. Besides, you don't need me as a distraction before your match."
"Trust me. You wouldn't be a distraction," he replied in a low voice. Therese inwardly sighed at how sweet he was being.
"I can be more trouble than you think," she barely squeaked out.
On the other end of the line, Kevin smiled and thought to himself, No, more than you know. "Maybe I'll see you Sunday. Watch my match."
Therese ended the connection and almost giggled at the warm fuzzy feeling Kevin's voice gave her. She chastised herself for being a thirty-one-year old woman acting like a sixteen-year old girl. She had to stick to her resolve.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The next Thursday went smoother before the show. Everyone knew Therese and she and Stephanie had already walked the road once. But as always, trouble presented itself. The bouquets arrived in time for Stephanie to give her father the speech about one being from Hogan and the other being from Mr. America. Stephanie had smugly written the cards herself. In the aftermath of McMahon smashing the vases, Stephanie went back to retrieve the cards for fear of the incriminating evidence. Picking up one of the envelopes, she noticed one was different. Opening it up, she found a small memo on WWE stationary with a typed note.
Therese knew what it was from the look of horror on Stephanie's face before she even finished reading it. She held it out to her, trying to form words but her tongue wouldn't work. Therese quickly took it and guided her to a seat. She took Stephanie's hand in hers as she read over the paper. Nothing was new except that the author added a comment about being jealous over her date and how he wouldn't mind using Therese to get to Stephanie. Therese wanted to shout "Bring it on!" She really wanted to get hold of this stalker now.
Stephanie tried to put up a good front by thanking Hogan for the flowers. Then came the incident with Roddy Piper and the fan with the prosthetic leg. Stephanie did not want to even think about the repercussions from this. She agreed that the fan had no business running into the ring, but Piper had committed worse than the fan had by ripping off his prosthetic leg. The situation was not good.
Vince was livid. Piper's job was to find a way to unmask Hogan. Piper's Pit was a perfect method that that kid had destroyed. Piper was apologizing left and right about pulling the fan's leg off, which made McMahon even angrier. He demanded Piper apologize to him for not getting the job done. The forked-tongue Hot Rod smoothed the situation over with Vince without apologizing and without repercussions for the "incident" and he also managed to work his way into a match at Judgment Day with Hogan. Vince was appeased and Piper was ecstatic.
The younger McMahon present quietly sat behind her desk and let the two middle-aged men have it out over the situation. If they could placate themselves, it would be less work on her part. She began trying to figure out what they would need to do about this fan that was now in the backstage area with Hogan, awaiting a response from management. He was already getting the grand tour of what went on behind the Titantron and meeting all the wrestlers that would have anything to do with Mr. America. By the time Piper and McMahon had come to a conclusion, Stephanie had decided on monetary recompense, along with an initial figure to offer the fan and his family. She realized that she didn't even know a name to make the check out to and decided she would talk with the young man before offering anything.
Piper walked out of her office with a maniacal laugh and Vince turned to her. She was about to make an excuse to get away from him when he started in on her about what they were going to do. Quietly but sternly, she spoke, "I have this under control. I will take care of it."
McMahon gave her an "oh, really" look. "Alright. I'll let you play mediator. I won't every piece of paperwork on this situation hand-delivered to me by you on Monday night in Greenville."
"Wait, Dad. I don't have plans to be in Greenville."
"You do now," he replied with a smile, folding his arms across his chest before walking out the door with his cocky stride.
Stephanie sighed and shook her head. She looked up at Therese who was now closing her laptop after "taking notes" on the situation. "Therese, I know you have enough to do, but can I have a favor from you this once?"
Therese smugly smiled to herself, wishing she could beam it at Stephanie. Stephanie would rather eat dirt than ask for her help and Therese knew it. "Yes. What?"
"Would you mind changing our flights and hotel reservations for me?"
"Sure, I'll get on it now."
"Well, actually, I was hoping to take care of something else first. I need to go talk to this 'fan.'" The two of them went in search of the teenager and Hogan. The dark-haired boy's face lit up at seeing Stephanie approach him. It was easy to get him away from the other wrestlers so that they could talk. Finally, Zach Gowen's name was known. He told her of his family, why he lost his leg, and, most importantly, he told of his dreams. A plan was beginning to formulate in Stephanie's head. No, she wouldn't have to offer him monetary compensation. She had a much better idea when she offered him an all-expense-paid trip to SmackDown!'s show next week, along with his own interview to tell the story that he had just related to her. Gowen readily agreed and not the smallest amount of guilt passed through Stephanie's body.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
TBC…
Author's Note: The episode I needed for this chapter was recorded over by a person I won't name but is intimately kin to me (i.e. my husband). There may well be discrepancies between the chapter and the actual episodes. Please, let me know.
Sorry this chapter has been a long in getting posted. I've just come off of mid-terms and I'm still recovering parts of the document I lost on my disk.