Pairings - EB/VKM, SMH/HHH, HHH/SM

Series - WWE

Rating - M

Warnings - Language / Slash Themes / Domestic Violence

Disclaimer - I don't own the WWE, the characters or anything else used in this story.

Summary - Eric violates The Code and find himself in a rather unusual situation.

Author's Notes - This is a story that involves slash so if that is not your thing, please move along to another story.

Word Count -

It wasn't long before they reached the arena. The drive had been a silent, yet welcomed moment of peace for the both of them, or at least he had thought so. He didn't pretend to know what Stephanie was thinking half of the time, let alone at a time like this. He knew she was counting on him to protect her from that deranged, soon to be ex-husband of hers, whether she was willing to confess that to him or not. With that in mind, he hoped his ideas on how to keep her away from him were good enough to ensure a successful night for the both of them.

Pulling into the parking garage, Eric turned to look over at Stephanie, who was looking nervously out the passenger side window. "Ready to go?" He asked, taking note of how pale she looked. For a moment, he pitied the youngest McMahon. He watched as she briefly nodded her head before she moved to open her door, but not before looking outside her window again, he noticed.

Getting out of the car himself, he made his way to the rear of the vehicle and popped the trunk. He made for his bag, brushing up against Stephanie, who happened to be reaching for hers at the same time, before stopping her. "Leave your things here." He said, hoisting his own bag over his shoulder before shutting the trunk. "Trust me." He added as he offer his free arm to her, wanting her to stay close to him, yet not really expecting she would take him up on his offer. To his small surprise, Stephanie accepted his offer at face value. There was no snarky remark about his level of trustworthiness, no witty retort or so much as an upturn of her button nose, none of the usual expected responses and he found her acceptance vaguely pleasing for some reason he could not explain.

He led them over to the elevator, pressing the button as they waited for it to descend to the basement level, before being greeted by a familiar, booming voice.

"Right on time! I like that!" Vince said, walking up behind them as the door to the lift opened and the three of them stepped inside. "I just spoke with security and Hunter nor his friends have shown up yet."

"You knew about Stephanie signing them already?" Eric asked, wondering why Vince had not mentioned this little fact to him earlier, as it would have only added to his torment having the news of Hall and Nash's signings broken to him by his former rival rather than his current one.

"Of course I knew, it's my company after all, furthermore, she is a McMahon and we McMahons..." Vince's voice trailed off as he looked over to see Eric's look of unvoiced frustration at his words.

"Always stick together." Eric finished for him as he pressed the button for the second floor of the arena as the door closed before them.

"Exactly! Now we're understanding each other." Vince continued as he looked over at his daughter, noticing her clinging to Eric's arm as she tried to pay attention to anything but the elephant in the room. "So, how's my little girl? Has Eric been treating you ok?"

'Here we go.' Eric thought silently to himself as he turned his head to look at Stephanie, pleading her with his eyes not to say a word against him to her father, especially not with him right here in front of him.

"While I haven't learned any of the things you so ardently claim that I can learn from him, it is too early in the night to say for certain whether or not Eric will live up to his... potential." Stephanie said, her lips pursing around that last word as if it were out of place, as if there was something wrong with describing her rival as having something positive to contribute. Not that he cared, if she was an unwilling student, he was an even more unwilling teacher and as long as she was willing to speak good of him in front of her father, he was not going to supply her with alternative thoughts.

"I'm glad to hear it. I'm heading out early tonight as I see that Eric here has everything well under control." Vince stated as the elevator stopped and he stepped out, ready to take his leave, but not before turning to finish what he had to say. "I will be at the arena for next week's RAW. See to it that you two are there too, ok?" Vince said, the implication of his statement not going amiss upon either of its recipients.

"Yes, Sir." Eric and Stephanie answered in unison as the elevator doors closed once more, leaving them alone in their suddenly uncomfortable silence.

"Thank you." Eric said, his sudden honest profession of gratitude stunning even himself as he punched the button for the fifth floor, looking skyward with his eyes closed in another silent thank you to the man upstairs, so to speak. He took a deep breath and let out a long, luxurious sigh, a bit thankful but more than that, still tired from lack of sleep the night before last.

"I didn't do it for you." Stephanie said, unleashing her hold on Eric in favor of wrapping her arms around herself, defensively. "I did it for me."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." Eric said flatly, unwilling to start another argument when the woman had done what he wanted her to do. He knew she needed a verbal punching bag for her emotions, but he was far from willing to let himself fill that void. That wasn't part of his job description and he had more than enough to deal with tonight just keeping them safe and sound. The resounding silence from the other half of the elevator informed him that while their truce was in effect, that neither of them were willing to let it get in the way of the mutual feelings of discontentment they harbored for one another.

As they reached their floor, Eric held his arm out, gesturing her to leave the elevator first, in a form of mocking chivalry. He watched as she led the way to their office, where they would likely spend the majority of the evening together, trapped in this back and forth game of one-upmanship. It was unpleasant, sure enough, but familiarity breeds comfort and comfort breeds contentment. At least his company would be somewhat entertaining, he thought, as he held the door open for her before closing it behind them and locking them in.

Now, it was just the two of them and the two of them, he could handle.

"Alright, Stephanie." Eric began as he turned around to watch her take her seat behind the desk. He remained standing guard by the door as he folded his arms in front of him and stood tall, the symbol of authority. The way he always stood when he was trying to assert his position and get his point across to his own children at home. Perhaps it was just his fatherly instincts kicking in but he suspected that she had not yet told him everything he needed to know. "Spill it."

"What do you mean, Eric?" Stephanie said as she stared back at him from across the desk.

Her eyes showed confusion but her voice lacked her usual confidence and he took that as a surefire sign of her... guilt? Dishonesty? He wasn't really sure when he had asked her the question but now there was no room left for doubt, The Billion Dollar Princess was definitely keeping something a secret from him. What the something was, he wasn't sure. The only thing certain at that moment was that he would not allow her to leave the room until she had told him every last detail.

"You know very well what I mean, do you think I'm like everyone else? That I'm really that stupid? Don't play dumb with me, Stephanie, I know you're keeping something from me and I want to know what that something is." Eric clarified for her as he took a short stride up to the desk and stopped, waiting for her to answer him.

"I don't think you're as stupid as everyone else," Stephanie said as he watched her brush her hair behind her shoulders before turning both eyes at him, cutting. "I would never insult them like that."

Tiling his head to the side, he looked right back down at her. She was on the defensive, which meant that he was certainly on to something. When she didn't continue, he sighed and moved around to the other side of the desk, taking a seat on the dark wood. Resting his palms on either side of him and gripping the edge of the desk tightly, he bowed his head, choosing his next words carefully. "Why won't you trust me, Steph?"

"Because you're you." Stephanie said as she curled away from his general direction in her chair.

With disbelieving huff he closed his eyes and shook his head slightly, a small smile on his lips before he looked over at her, amused as he took note of her attempt at distancing herself from him when not five minutes ago she had been clinging to his arm. Then, it hit him.

"What kind of a man is Hunter, Stephanie?" He deadpanned.

When she did nothing but turn further away from him, he had to suppress the resulting surge of anger from within. "Answer me."

"I don't have to tell you anything!" Stephanie glared as she turned her head to look at him sharply, propping an elbow on an arm of the chair she was sitting in and resting a hand against her chin.

Eric recognized it as yet another defensive gesture, he had hit too close to home, he realized and decided to back off, knowing that he wasn't going to get anywhere by getting her to clam up on him.

"I can't fight what I don't know or I can't see." Eric tried again, hoping that a softer approach would help him drag it out of her.

At his words, he could see she was on the verge of tears. "Can't see? Can't see?!" Stephanie yelled as she bolted out of her chair and took off the suit jacket she was wearing, revealing her arms, which were coated in yellow and purple splotches to his eyes. "Can you that, Eric?!" Stephanie screamed as she wrapped her jacket back tightly around her, shuddering as fresh tears fell.

Instinctively feeling uncomfortable and wanting to console her, Eric slid off the desk and moved to embrace her, only to have her step back away from him quickly and cower towards a corner of the room.

"I'm not him, Stephanie." Eric said quietly, angrily as he looked at the quivering woman standing before him.

"This is your fault!" Stephanie murmured bitterly as she flinched in anticipatory dread, obviously expecting a violent reaction to her statement.

He closed his eyes tightly and bite his lower lip, running both hands through his hair before putting a hand to his mouth, unsure of what to say. It had been his fault, hadn't it? He was the one who had been the cause of HHH's rage, which he had clearly taken out of the most convenient person available, that he had clearly mistaken for a punching bag. He wondered why he had not noticed what was going on earlier and he thought back to when he had seen her earlier in the day. Back at her home, she had been rather slow when it came to getting ready which, judging from the size and location of her many bruises, was only made worse by lugging around those heavy suitcases. He had wondered why she had carried so much stuff with her but only now did he realize that was likely because she was carrying everything she owned with her out of the house she had once called home. In the gym, she had worn a full track suit, which he didn't think anything of at the time. Now, it was all he could do to resist the urge to lunge forward and grab her and make her tell him everything that had happened to her because of him.

"How long has this been going on?" Eric inquired gently as he stood there, helpless to help a lady in distress, a feeling he grew to hate more with each passing second.

"Since about a month after we got married." Stephanie blurted out as a fresh wave of tears rolled down her cheeks.

'So it isn't my fault then.' Eric reasoned silently with himself. If this kind of thing had been going on long before he was even a part of the company, he wasn't to blame. Sure, he had made a bad situation worse, but that new found knowledge did little to assuage his feelings of guilt.

"This changes things." Eric said as he tucked his hands inside the pockets of his leather jacket, hoping that his change in posture would help put her at ease.

"This changes nothing! Look, just because you feel sorry for me now, it doesn't change a damn thing!" Stephanie stated boldly as she squared her shoulders, still preparing for a fight before being cut off by Eric.

"Not now, Stephanie!" Eric said as he walked back over to the desk and grabbed the binder filled with that nights program from a drawer and making his way back to where she stood, shaking. "Listen, tonight, my plan was to hide out here in this room until the show was over, but clearly that isn't going to stop a guy like HHH. If is he willing to do something like what you showed me to his own wife, then it won't end there. Abusers don't give up their victims easily and he is probably going to come looking for you so he can try and sway you with a bunch of false promises, which means we are not safe here."

"Look at me, Stephanie." Eric said as he watched Stephanie swipe at her tears, a serious look on his face, he dared to step in closer and place his free hand upon her shoulder, waiting for her to return her attention to him before continuing. "I think I know how I can keep him busy, but I need you to listen to me and do what I tell you to do, O.K.?" Seeing her nod her head in agreement, he patted her gently on her shoulder before turning to glance at the door, a new plan swirling around in his head.

"Stay close to me tonight, alright?" Eric said as his hand slid down and he took Stephanie's hand in his own and pulled her gently towards the door as he fumbled around in his jacket pocket for the keys. Working the lock, he looked over his shoulder to see her looking at him, her face a mixture of anger, sadness and resolve all rolled into one. With that, he tucked the lock and key into his pocket and cracked open the door, eyes darting outside for signs of trouble. Finding none, he opened the door wider and headed down the hallway with Stephanie in tow.