Stephanie walked back through the curtain with a huge smile on her face. She was congratulated on her win by the Rhodes brothers who were next up to out to the ring and she thanked them politely. She began to walk towards the women's locker room but heard a man's voice from behind her, "Stephanie." She turned around and saw Paul approaching. "Yes sir?" She asked nervously.

Paul smiled and reassured her, "I said call me Paul, enough with this sir stuff. I'm very impressed Stephanie, we didn't have the time available to make the match any longer than that but you did really well and I love that finish you've got."

Stephanie beamed, "Thank you," then added nervously, "I caught Paige pretty hard with it."

The smile remained on Paul's face, "She'll be okay and it looked good, that's the main thing. Anyway what I wanted to tell you is I've had you booked to beat AJ next week and if you impress me again I've got something big lined up for you."

Stephanie's eyes widened, "Bigger than beating Paige and AJ?"

"Yes, so don't let me down."

"I won't." Stephanie assured him, trying to sound confident.

Paul nodded and watched as Stephanie walked away. There was something about this girl that he found incredibly attractive, he had felt this way since the first time he saw her in NXT. It helped that she really was very talented but Paul would be lying to himself if he pretended that her talent was the only reason he was having her pushed so hard. He needed to be careful not to speak to Stephanie too often when Trish was around. She had already made it clear that she was not keen on Stephanie being pushed so quickly and he did not want her to start getting insecure about it. Even with Trish being one of the senior members of the creative team she had no authority to over rule a decision that Paul made. When she heard his next plan for Stephanie he would have some explaining to do for sure. He returned to the production office and sat down next to Trish who was sipping from a cup of coffee as she watched her monitor. She looked at him as he sat and asked, "You've got her beating AJ next week too?"

"That's right."

"You think burying our top two divas is a good idea?"

Paul smiled, "Come on Trish, Stephanie is the complete package you can see that as well as I can. She's tall, she's strong, she can sell moves well and she can talk better than any of the other divas, that's her best talent. We saw all of those things on NXT."

"Hmmmm." Trish sounded distinctly unconvinced and she returned her attention to her monitor.

Stephanie was given a longer match the next week on Raw against AJ Lee. They had already been battling away, exchanging near falls for almost seven minutes. AJ had gained the advantage and dominated for the last couple of minutes and she went for the Black Widow and Cole announced, "Black Widow, no, she can't get it locked in."

Stephanie struggled free and spun around to face AJ but as she did so AJ caught her with a right hand. It sent Stephanie sprawling onto the middle rope and King yelped, "Look out AJ!"

Stephanie came off the ropes and caught AJ hard with her clothesline finisher, knocking AJ flat on her back as JBL yelled, "Ball game!" Again he was right as Stephanie covered AJ and got the three count to a respectable cheer from the crowd. Michael Cole was excited, "We're really seeing something here guys. Stephanie McMahon has beaten Paige and now AJ."

JBL said, "I told you last week, Stephanie hits that clothesline and you can forget about it."

Stephanie's hand was raised and she was announced as the winner. After a few moments of celebration she left the ring and walked up the entrance ramp. As she walked back through the curtain she had a smile on her face again as she had the week before. She had hoped that Paul would be there to congratulate her again but there was no sign of him. She reminded herself not to get above her station, just because he had complimented her on her debut did not mean that she was something special. She headed for the locker room.

The reason that Paul was not there to congratulate Stephanie was that he was sitting in his office waiting to have an argument, at least he expected to have one at any moment. He knew that Trish was in the creative office and that while she was there she was almost certain to find out his next plan for Stephanie and when she did she would not be pleased about it to say the least. It only took another few minutes before Trish came crashing through the door and demanded, "Are you serious right now?"

"Huh?" Paul pretended not to know what she was referring to. Trish stood over him with her hands on her hips and her eyes flashed with anger, "Don't huh me! What the hell are you doing? You've written a storyline position of a General Manager and you want to give it to Stephanie McMahon? Are you actually on drugs right now or..."

"Oh that." Paul said calmly. Trish raged, "Yes that! What the hell are you thinking? We have no need to cast someone as a General Manager and even if we did why would it possibly be her? She's only just made the Raw roster and I wasn't even convinced about that."

Paul already had an answer prepared for this outburst, "I think we do need a General Manager. My character going out there and bullying everyone each week is starting to get a little old quite frankly. I need someone to give me some competition in that regard. I cast Stephanie because she's by far the best talker we have in the divas division..."

Trish was still raging as she cut him off, "And I presume there's a reason that this part had to go to a woman? Also there must be a reason that you didn't consult with me on this? I'm supposed to be getting promoted to be in charge of the creative department and yet you're still writing stuff behind my back."

Again Paul was prepared, "It didn't have to be a woman, I wanted to write something that's never been done before. I know it's going to be your department soon but even when it is I can still write storylines if I choose to, you know that. Please try to stop being angry and actually consider what I've come up with. We're going to write Stephanie as what she actually is, someone who knows nobody here, knows little about how things work around here and yet she gets thrown in at the deep end. Think about it, we could have her make all kinds of crazy matches that have never been seen before. We could write some really imaginative stuff and use her character to get it out there."

Trish calmed own a little, "I do kind of like the sound of that last part but if that's how we're going to write her how the hell do we write her into getting the job to start with? Why or how would someone who has no experience get the job as General Manager?"

"I've already thought about that. This is what I've got in mind." He outlined his plan and Trish's eyes widened, "You're bringing the boss in on this? She hardly ever appears on TV. You're really keen on this idea huh? You're sure she will go for this?"

Warming to the task now Paul continued confidently, "As I said we can put a lot more imagination into the storylines with this angle and I'm confident that Stephanie can do it. I need the boss there as she needs to be the one to appoint her to the position as it would make no sense for me to do it. She mentioned in that creative meeting a few weeks back that she wants TV time and this is our chance to write some for her. She will be a part of this storyline to so I'm sure that she'll back me on it. I need to speak to Stephanie about all of this later too."

"You've not even mentioned this to her yet?" Trish sounded as though she disbelieved him now but Paul smiled, "All I said was that I had an opportunity coming up for her. She seemed excited about it."

Trish snorted, "I bet she did. I wonder how she will feel about not wrestling."

"Who said anything about not wrestling? She can play this part and wrestle. I'm going to go speak to her about it."

"No you're not," Trish insisted, "Creative is my department and I will deal with it. Unless you want to take all of my responsibilities from me?"

Paul smiled once more as he decided to flatter his wife and get what he wanted at the same time. Flattery always worked like a charm on Trish, if anything it was too easy, "We'll both do it. I'll invite her to have lunch with us tomorrow before we come to tape Smackdown and you can tell her. You know how all of the divas we hire look up to you, I bet she would be awed to meet you." Trish managed a little smile at that, "You think she would?"

"Of course. You're the best diva of all time by a long distance. Come on you know this is a good idea and..."

Trish sighed, "Alright you go tell her then." Paul took her right hand in his left and pulled her down onto the chair beside his own, "I'll go speak to her but I'm going to have to calm you down first." Trish finally produced a genuine smile, "Really? How do you intend to do that?" Paul used a finger to turn her head towards him, "I was thinking of starting like this," then he kissed her.

Stephanie had changed out of her ring gear and was finishing up packing her bag ready to leave to head back to the hotel. As she picked up her bag the only other person in the locker room with her, Paige spoke, "See you tomorrow for the Smackdown taping?"

"Yeah," Stephanie confirmed with a smile before adding, "I'm not wrestling though."

Paige laughed, "I get the feeling they'll be using you twice a week soon."

"I hope so. See you tomorrow. She almost made it to the locker room door before it opened and in walked Brie Bella. She looked at Stephanie and informed her with a hint of coldness in her voice, "Triple H is looking for you, for some reason."

"He is? Where is he?"

"Waiting out in the hallway." She watched Stephanie hurry out of the door and then turned to Paige in obvious jealousy and irritation, "We've got a new teacher's pet."

Stephanie hurried up to Paul with her bag hooked over her right shoulder, "You wanted to see me sir... Paul?"

Paul was leaning with his back against the hallway wall and he had smiled as Stephanie approached. This girl was stunningly beautiful. He had never seen anyone who came close in his life before, not even his wife. She had such incredible long legs and her smile blew him away every time he saw it. He realised that he had not provided a response to her question. "Yes Stephanie. If you recall I mentioned having an opportunity for you?"

How could she have forgotten? "Yes I remember."

The smile remained on Paul's face, "My wife and I would like you to join us for lunch tomorrow before the Smackdown taping to discuss it."

"Lunch with you and Trish? Oh my god," Stephanie blurted out excitedly.

Paul laughed, "So that's a yes?"

"Yes, definitely yes," Stephanie beamed, "Thank you for the opportunity uh... whatever it is."

"We're staying in the same hotel that you're in. Be in the restaurant at twelve thirty."

Stephanie nodded, "Yes sir... Paul." She silently cursed herself for continually doing that as he walked away. She just was not comfortable with referring to her boss by his first name. Not yet anyway, maybe having lunch with him would help. He was really a great boss, he was giving her one hell of a push and now this new opportunity. He was always kind and now he had invited her to lunch with her idol Trish Stratus. This was too good to be true. Stephanie watched Paul walking away and thought that in addition to all of these qualities he was hot too. His body was close to perfection. She ordered herself not to even consider thinking like that, not about her boss.