DISCLAIMER: As much as it breaks my heart to admit it, I do not own anyone or anything connected to Vince McMahon and his awesomeness. I can only claim property rights of OC.

For the hundredth time since the glossy doors closed, Claire sucked in a deep breath. She fought down a wave of nausea as she watched the small numbers above the door light up, one after another. The entire morning had been a test of her willpower. Leaving Randy behind was the hardest thing she'd ever done. The night before flashed through her mind like scenes from a movie. She almost didn't recognize herself. Randy had brought out a new side, a totally wanton, passionate side that she didn't know existed. He had coaxed and caressed her to the heights of ecstasy. Just thinking about him brought a warm flush to her skin. In the early morning hours, Randy held her as he proved in no uncertain terms, that she was the center of his universe. Now, she felt foolish for having ever doubted him. She couldn't believe that a man as amazing as Randy truly cared for her as deeply as he did. She'd never had that before. All of her previous relationships had ended badly. Trust just didn't come easily to her anymore. Claire smiled a little as she thought about early that morning when she had tried to leave the hotel. Randy had been insistent he was going to Stamford with her. He told her that he couldn't stand to be away from her, especially after the passionate night they shared. It had taken every ounce of her willpower not to cave in and agree to let him tag along. She was having a hard enough time concentrating as it was. She wouldn't have a prayer if he were actually with her. The elevator reached the 8th floor with a smooth motion. The doors opened, revealing the cream colored carpet and deep burgundy walls. Claire swallowed the lump in her throat and forced herself to step from the elevator. She glanced down the long hallway that led to Stephanie's office. Come on, Claire, you can do this. After last night, you can do anything. Taking a deep breath and squaring her shoulders, Claire forced her feet to take the first steps toward Rachelle's desk. The petite blonde glanced up from her computer screen and flashed her thousand-watt smile.

"Good morning, Claire. We're glad you're back."

"Nice to see you again. How are Derrick and the kids?" Claire set her briefcase on the floor at her feet.

"Spoiled rotten, as always. You're looking good! Life on the road must agree with you."

Claire smiled slightly, thinking that it wasn't until the last 24 hours that she had found the one thing about life on the road that did truly agree with her, "Is Stephanie in?"

Rachelle slipped the oval-shaped glasses from her nose and glanced down the hall before nodding, "I'll let her know you're here."

Claire nodded and moved across the room to the plush chairs surrounding a glass topped table. Too nervous to sit, she placed her briefcase on the table and stood as far away from Stephanie's door as possible. Waiting was always the worst. Each passing minute made Claire's nerves fray just a little bit more. The ticking of the clock hanging above Rachelle's desk seemed unbearably loud in the absolute silence. After what seemed like an eternity, the door to Stephanie's office opened and she stepped into the waiting room. Stephanie definitely had on her game face as she motioned for Claire to enter her office. Rachelle gave her a thumbs up as she picked up her briefcase. Stephanie quietly closed the door behind Claire and motioned for her to take a seat in one of the two winged back chairs flanking her glossy desk. Stephanie perched on the edge of her desk and crossed one slim ankle over the other. She studied Claire with those dark eyes that didn't miss a single thing. They stared at each other in silence for a moment before Stephanie spoke, "I'm glad you made it here in one piece."

Claire bit back an unladylike snort, "I can't say that I'm glad I'm here."

Stephanie continued to stare at Claire with shrewd eyes, "Well, I am. I've been worried, you know."

Claire looked at her friend, seeing the slightly pained expression on her usually calm face, "Nothing to worry about. As you can see, I'm alive and well."

Stephanie blew out a steady breath before moving around to sit in the soft leather chair on the other side of the desk, "Alright, we'll keep it professional, if that's what you want." Just like that Stephanie went into power-house business woman mode. "I take it you have something to show me?"

Claire took a deep breath to calm her nerves. She heard Randy's voice in the back of her head, Own it, Claire,don't let her see your fear. With an ease she didn't feel, Claire pulled a stack of papers from her briefcase and laid them in the center of Stephanie's desk. Stephanie arched a brow at the stack of papers. She certainly hadn't expected anything so formal; a few pages of notes, maybe a few completely written pages but nothing like this. Claire had made good use of the extra time she'd been granted. Reaching for the manuscript, Stephanie glanced up at Claire, "You can wait out front. I'll buzz Rachelle when I'm finished."

Claire nodded and rose from her chair. She straightened her pin-striped jacket as she stepped toward the door. Stephanie kept her poker face on until door had firmly closed behind Claire. Stephanie sighed as she leaned back in her chair, her eyes locked on the door. She was worried about her friend. She wasn't acting like her usual bubbly, happy self. There was an edge to her that hadn't been there before. And it scared the crap out of her. Instinctively she knew something had happened in the weeks she had been away; something that Stephanie wasn't sure she liked. Picking up the phone, she hit Paul's number on the speed dial.

He answered on the first ring, "What does my beautiful wife need so early this morning?"

Stephanie wrapped the phone cord around her finger as she chose her words, "Claire's here."

There was a moment of silence, "Is she alright?"

Stephanie glanced at the door and shook her head, "No. Something's off. She's not acting like herself."

Paul laughed softly, "She's acting like Claire, then."

Stephanie rolled her eyes toward the ceiling, sometimes Paul's sense of humor didn't agree with her, "Be serious. Have you heard anything? You know, locker room stuff?"

Paul's laughter was suddenly gone. He paid very little attention to the gossip train. It was the easiest way to end up knee-deep in shit that wasn't any of his business, "Steph, you know I wouldn't tell you even if I had heard something. If you want to know what's going on, ask her."

"She won't tell me anything."

"Did you ask her what's going on?"

Stephanie sighed, "No."

"Then how do you know she's won't tell you?" Leave it Paul to be the logical one. That was something she both loved and hated about him. He always made sense, even when she didn't want him to.

"I love you."

"Me too, babe." Stephanie replaced the phone in the cradle and once again reached for the manuscript.

Claire kept one eye on the clock above Rachelle's desk as she continued to pace a path in the deep-pile carpet. If she kept this up much longer, there would be a trail marking her path. Time seemed to crawl by for the first two hours, then seemed to stop altogether. Forcing herself to relax, Claire sat in the chair facing Rachelle's desk. The younger woman was focused on whatever she was looking at. Not once did she glance in Claire's direction. Just when Claire thought her nerves would snap, the phone on Rachelle's desk rang. She answered it quickly in a hushed tone. She hung up the phone and looked over at Claire,

"Mrs. Levesque wants me to order lunch in." Rachelle's voice was hesitant. She didn't want to deliver the news any more than Claire wanted to hear it. Almost instantly Claire felt the fingers of anger. Stephanie was dragging this out just to prove her point.

Forcing a smile, Claire nodded, "Sounds good."

Over an hour later a delivery boy arrived with take out from Stephanie's favorite Chinese restaurant. Rachelle rose slowly from her desk, her balance slightly off center. Claire's eyes focused sharply as Rachelle ran a hand over her rounding belly. She had forgotten Rachelle was pregnant. She had lost track of so much during her weeks on the road. When she had taken the assignment, Rachelle had barely been sporting a baby bump. Claire rose from her chair and followed the other woman down another hallway to the break room. Rachelle sank into a chair with a sigh and kicked off her shoes. Claire pulled out a chair next to her and sat.

"You've gotten big." Claire motioned towards Rachelle's expanded waistline as she reached for a pair of chopsticks.

Rachelle's worried expression changed and her thousand-watt smile returned, "I know. I'm so ready to have this baby."

Claire's brow scrunched as she tried to recall exactly how many kids Rachelle already had, "How many does this make?"

Rachelle pulled a box of fried rice toward her as she glanced at Claire, "Number four."

Claire paused, a bite of noodles paused halfway to her mouth, "Seriously? They've figured out what causes that, ya know?"

A heated blush stole over Rachelle's creamy complexion, "You think I'd have figured that out by now, right?" Her hand moved over her rounded belly, "I guess we got caught up in the heat of the moment."

Oh shit! Claire almost dropped her lunch in her lap as Rachelle's words sank in. Oh no!!!

No, no,no, no, no!! Just last night she had gotten "caught in the heat of the moment" with Randy. Neither of them had thought to use protection. Suddenly terrified, Claire's hand moved to her stomach. Even as she sat there, torturing herself over what was happening in Stephanie's office, she could already be pregnant. As impossible as it seemed, she could be in Rachelle's shoes in the next few months. Only, she wasn't the one that was married with three kids at home. Rachelle frowned in concern, Claire had suddenly turned a sickly shade of white. She had set her lunch on the table and was staring at it as if it had suddenly turned into something disgusting.

"What's wrong?" Rachelle's voice was full of concern as she leaned toward Claire.

Stunned, Claire looked at Rachelle. She could only shake her head, "I'm fine." The words left a bitter taste in her mouth.

"You don't look fine." Rachelle's brow creased with worry.

"I guess I'm just not hungry."

Rachelle made a soft sound in the back of her throat, "I know all of this is hard on you."

Claire forced a weak smile as she looked at Rachelle, "More than you know."

Rachelle gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, "It's all going to work out. I promise. Stephanie has a lot of faith in you. She knows you did your best, just like you always do."

Claire was torn between wanting to hug Rachelle and wanting to break down in tears. It meant so much to her that somebody was on her side. Maybe there really was a silver lining to this heavy, dark cloud that had been hanging over her. Claire forced back the tears as she reached for her lunch. Forcing herself not the think about the possibilities, they settled in for what she knew was going to be a long afternoon.

Claire struggled not to look at her watch again. She knew it hadn't been that long since the last time she'd checked. It was getting close to 4 o'clock. Surely Stephanie was about to bring the torture to an end. At least, Claire was starting to pray she would. It was impossible to think that Steph would draw it out much longer than she already had. Just when Claire thought her nerves were going to snap, the door to the office opened. Claire gave Rachelle a nervous glance before moving past Stephanie. She waited until Stephanie had taken a seat before perching on the edge of one of the chairs. Stephanie pushed the manuscript back across the desk to Claire.

"I'm impressed." Stephanie didn't see the sense in beating around the bush. "Considering you're over deadline, I'm impressed. I think it needs to be fleshed out more, but we can handle that before it goes to press. What do you think we should do now?"

Claire swallowed hard, not sure of how to answer the question. She wanted to get the hell out of Stamford, as quickly as possible, "I go back on the road and get this finished."

Stephanie leaned her head to the side as she studied her friend, "Answer me one thing, though. What happened?"

Confused, Claire stared at Stephanie, "Nothing happened."

Stephanie shook her head, almost sadly, "You're different, Claire. You're not the same woman that left here. You've got an edge to you." There was something so different, yet somehow familiar. She just couldn't put her finger on it.

"What are you talking about?"

Stephanie stared in silence at her friend. If only she could put her finger on it. The intensity was definitely something new. It reminded her of someone. A slow smile spread over Stephanie's features. Why hadn't she seen it before? "So how are things between you and Randy?"

Claire swallowed a sudden lump in her throat. What was she supposed to say? She was afraid that if she said too much, Stephanie would pull her from the assignment. "We haven't killed each other yet." And it wasn't from a lack of trying.

"So what's it like?"

Claire arched a brow and looked at her friend, "What's what like?"

"Being with Randy. Is he that intense all the time?" Stephanie waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"Stephanie! How can you ask me that?" Claire felt a bright blush burning her cheeks.

Howling with laughter, Stephanie rubbed a finger over her chin, "That good, huh? I can't believe it! Ms. Untouchable finally let herself be touched! And by Randy Orton! That is awesome!"

Claire was utterly speechless. She couldn't deny it. Lying wasn't her style, "We've gotten . . . close."

"Oh yeah? How close?" Stephanie leaned over her desk and nailed Claire with a curious look. "That close? OH MY GOD!"

Claire's refusal was drowned out by Stephanie's squeal of laughter.

"Come on, Steph. This isn't funny!"

"The hell it isn't. You don't know how long I've waited for you to find someone that's worthy."

Do what? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Claire watched as Stephanie leaned back in her chair, her eyes dancing with mischief, "Randy and I are . . . dating." Okay, so yeah, technically they'd done more than date but she wasn't ready to tell her that. Stephanie stood and moved around to the same side of the desk as Claire. She sat on the edge and leaned close to Claire. She pushed back a lock of hair that had escaped tight knot of her hair.

"Okay, maybe you don't think this is funny. But the truth is, I'm happy for you. Yeah, Randy can be an asshole. He can push beyond your limits. He's arrogant and annoying as hell."

Claire couldn't stop herself from laughing. Stephanie had just accurately described Randy to a T. And those, apparently, were his good points.

"But he's also the kind of man you need. He's a strong man, with a good heart."

Stunned, Claire stared at her friend. Surely she just hadn't heard Stephanie say that Randy had a good heart. Until last night, Claire hadn't been entirely sure Randy even had a heart.

"How do you know?" Claire couldn't stop herself from asking.

Stephanie looked down at the wedding band on her left hand. She twirled the ring slightly before looking at her friend, "Cause I see the same things in him that I see in Paul." Stephanie stood and moved to the bank of windows stretching across the opposite wall. "He may not be the man that you want, Claire, but he's the kind of man that you need."

"How do you know that?"

Stephanie turned to Claire and winked, "Call it an instinct."

Claire stood and moved to stand next to Stephanie. Nobody really gave Steph the credit she deserved. She was wise beyond her years, a trait she obviously inherited from her father. Claire pulled her friend into a hug. Stephanie returned her embrace before pulling back slightly to look in her eyes, "So is it as good as I think it is?"

Claire's eyes closed for a moment as she shook her head, "You have absolutely no idea."

*** A/N – Guess things are starting to look up for our girl, Claire. Please review. ***