Like Old Times
11/29/04

"I just remembered something."

Paul, Randy and Shawn turned to look at Shane in slight confusion. The young McMahon and brand new Chief Executive Officer of the World Wrestling Entertainment had been absolutely silent for twenty minutes; sitting on the floor and staring at the wall like it had the answers to all of his problems.

"What's up, kid?" Paul asked once he noticed the fact that Shane finally saying something actually created another awkward silence.

Shane turned to look at the three men sitting in the room with him and slightly jumped back. "Why are the three of you staring at me like that?"

Shawn and Randy looked at one another, then back over at Shane.

"Sorry." Shawn mumbled, looking away immediately.

"It's... Okay. Um... Right. I think I left something in the rental."

Paul and Shawn exchanged an odd glance, then shrugged their shoulders.

"Want some company?" Randy asked.

"Um... No. No, thanks. I'm... Yeah, I'm good."

"You sure?" Paul asked.

Shane nodded his head, stood up and left the room without another word.

"If he ain't acting funny, I'm Harrison Ford."

Paul looked at Shawn and nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah, I get what you're saying. I guess it goes hand in hand with having to fire your dad on national television."

"And finding out about his impromptu promotion probably didn't help. I mean where the hell did that come from? I can guarantee there are dozens of other people working for the Board that could've easily taken over as the C.E.O." Randy stated.

"Yeah, but nobody is more qualified than Shane. He's been in the business since he was born... Besides, they probably wanted to keep it with the stockholders."

"You mean the McMahons?"

Paul shrugged. "Yeah, something like that."

"Personally, I think he's way too young to have that much power in a company."

"I agree, Randy. But... Cut him some slack. He'll be fine."

Randy shrugged his shoulders and sat back down on the floor, staring at the TV with uninterested eyes. He wasn't booked for the show, which was completely fine with him, but at least have decent matches booked.

When Paul turned around to look for Shawn, he found the man standing in the corner of the room, watching the TV over Randy's shoulder. Paul walked over to him and nudged his shoulder.

"You know, you could go and sit on the floor to watch TV. I'm sure Randy wouldn't mind..."

"It's not the TV, Paul. It's Randy."

"What do you mean?"

"Well... He's right."

"About?"

"Shane. The kid has too much power in his hands and too much weight on his shoulders. He's gonna go crazy."

Paul shifted his weight from leg to leg and fixed Shawn with a cold glare. "I'm gonna tell you exactly what I told Randy. Back off. Cut Shane some slack. He'll be fine. He's been in this business for thirty-four years. He'll catch on, he'll be okay and he'll be the best C.E.O. the WWE has ever had."

Shawn raised an eyebrow, then shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not trying to argue with you, Paul. I'm just saying. It's too much too soon."

"I agree that it's too much, Shawn. But... Listen, I love him as much as you do. Things are going to be okay."

"I'm not saying they won't, and our love for him has nothing to do with this. We just have to be careful. Like... Really careful. There are some people back here who aren't exactly happy with Vince's departure from the company. And they're gonna look for an opening to seek revenge."

The lightbulb in Paul's mind went off.

"So you're saying we should have followed Shane anyway?"

Randy turned to look at the two members of D-Generation X.

"That's exactly what I'm saying, Paul." Shawn replied.

Paul sighed and looked down at Randy, who raised a confused eyebrow.

"What?" Randy asked.

"Nothing, kid. Don't worry about it right now," Paul stated, then turned to face Shawn again. "What do you want to do?"

Shawn shrugged. "I mean, the only thing we can do for now is wait til he gets back, then have a chat with him."

"You sure that'll work?"

"What? Did becoming the C.E.O. make him into some mutant? He's still Shane, ya know. It'll be fine."

Randy chuckled. "Shane has always been the mutant of the McMahon family."

Shawn and Paul glanced at one another. Paul shrugged his shoulders in realization that Randy was most likely right; Shane had always seemed like the oddball of the bunch.

"He's not wrong." Paul offered.

Shawn threw his arms in the air in disgust. "Whatever! He's still the same person we know!"

"Except for the fact that it's taking him an awfully long time to come back from the parking lot,"

Paul, Randy and Shawn turned around and saw Bret standing behind them with Joanie at his side. Bret was tapping his watch.

"Unless this stupid thing is fast. What time do you guys have?"

"Five after." Paul and Shawn simultaneously replied.

"A quarter to." Randy stated.

Four sets of eyes turned to glare at Randy, who looked up at them innocently.

"Jackass." Bret grumbled.

"Yeah, that can't be right..."

The group watched as Randy slid his watch off of his wrist and adjusted the time. Bret looked at Shawn and Paul and sighed.

"Shane's been gone for about fifteen minutes now. What's the plan?"

"Maybe the kid needed to clear his head?" Paul asked.

"He's been gone for too long." Bret argued.

"But..."

"TOO. LONG!"

Shawn and Paul took a step away from Bret and turned to look at one another.

"He has a point." Shawn whispered.

"Oh hell no. Don't take his side."

"You and I both know it's not safe for him out there. We were just talking about this."

"Um... Whose phone is on the coffee table?" Joanie asked.

"That would be mine." Shawn replied.

Joanie quickly passed the vibrating cell phone over to Shawn, who took a quick glance at the caller ID and answered the phone.

"Michaels? It's Glenn Jacobs."

"Yeah, I can see that... What's up?"

"Listen, you and Paul had better get out to the parking lot as fast as you can."

Shawn's face dropped, then the color drained from his face. Paul, Randy, Bret and Joanie looked at him with nervous looks on their faces.

"What happened?"

"Somebody tried to kill the new C.E.O."

"What!?" Shawn shouted.

"You heard me, Shawn. Get out here right now. I'll explain when you get here. Hurry."

Shawn hung up the phone and pocketed it, then turned to acknowledge Paul. "That was Jacobs. We have to go to the parking lot right now."

Paul raised an eyebrow. "What happened?"

"Someone tried to..."

Paul's expression changed to one of concern when he noticed Shawn couldn't get the words out. "Alright. You three stay here. Please," Bret nodded his head in acknowledgement. "Come on, Shawn,"

Shawn and Paul left the room and started making their way to the parking lot.

"Did Jacobs say what happened?" Paul asked after several moments of unbearable silence.

"No."

"Did he say how bad it is?"

"No."

"Figures. Just the usual 'get out here right now and I'll explain when I see you' type of thing?"

"Yeah."

"Okay..," Paul stopped walking just as the members of D-X reached the door to the parking lot. "Listen. Expect worse case scenario right now, okay? Just... Clear your head a bit and remember that if it was really bad, Glenn would've called an ambulance instead of calling you."

"Okay."

Paul sighed, then pushed the door to the parking lot open.

A/N: Hello, all! First update of the new year. I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season. I apologize for my lack of updates. I've been busy since the last week of November.

Anywho, this isn't the last chapter of LOT. Do you think I'm mean enough to leave it off like this..? I'm thinking maybe three or four more chapters can do it for this one, and then I can move on to bigger things. If anyone has any suggestions for something they want to see happen, send a message my way and I'll let you know if I'll include it in a future chapter.

And, of course, I'm always taking fic requests.

Til next time. :D