Disclaimer: The characters and real people portrayed in this story do not belong to me. The characters belong to Vince McMahon and WWE. The real people own themselves. This story contains mild language, you've been warned.

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A/N: Things you learn in the week you are banned:

- It is a lot easier to cope with the loss of 170 odd reviews rather than 1500 reviews. That, at least, is something good.

- People are really, really kind, and more than make up for one person who seems to be out to get me.

- This doesn’t make me want to stop writing Jericho/Stephanie stories.

- The meaning of life...ok, so I didn’t actually learn that, but if it has anything to do with Jericho and Stephanie, I might be getting closer to it.

Once again, I’m back, third times a charm huh? Right, right? Or not, who knows...surely not me. Thanks for sticking with me during this thing, and thanks for all the e-mails, I fear that I didn’t get to respond to them all, and if I didn’t, know that I thank you seriously for sending me an e-mail or an IM, and it really means a lot to me to know that people actually cared that I was banned, and that my story was deleted.

I got dinged on language again, which I don’t know, I think is stupid, but whatever. I hardly swear in this story anyways, so it leads me to believe that it was a malicious attack on me. If it was, sad, that’s it, just sad, and that’s all I’ll say about that.

So on with the story, and this chapter is inordinately boring, but I’m sorry, Monday’s Raw was really boring, at least I thought so. Any show that ends with Edge is not going to be on my lists of favorites, yeesh. Anyways, this chapter is setting up some ideas I have for future chapters, and brings in a few things from previous chapters, which aren’t gone, just need to be reposted, which I will try to do on a more frequent basis. And for those of you keeping track, this is Chapter 235.

Enjoy.

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It wasn’t their first fight, it wouldn’t be their last. With two people as stubborn and complicated, and most of all, egotistical as Stephanie and Chris, there were bound to be fights, and there was bound to be days or a week passing where they weren’t talking to each other.

Such was this week.

But this time was different. Stephanie didn’t run to Connecticut like she usually did, going to her house, which they still kept and had decided to keep even after they were married (Chris affectionately dubbed it the “summer home”). Instead, she had stayed put right there in Florida, relegating Chris to the couch. It wasn’t a mutual decision at all, but the door slammed in his face was a pretty good indicator.

But still, this was different from all their other fights in that she didn’t leave. They fought and she was still there. They didn’t talk past the most necessary of words, and she spent most of her time in her office, but she hadn’t run away, and this was an actual step in their relationship. Now they just had to actually talk to each other.

It made the trip to England very awkward when they sat next to each other the entire time. Thank God for the in-flight movie or they might actually have to say more than two words to each other. The only time she had spoken was to ask him for his pillow, which he readily gave up. He did love her after all. Being mad at her didn’t change that.

“She still not speaking to you?” Christian asked as he and Chris walked down the hallway of the arena later that day.

”Yeah, she’s off with Trish, shopping or something,” Chris said, “But you probably know that already.”

“Well, she has a different room, so no, not really.”

“Steph has a different room too. She thinks that’s going to keep us apart. I’m going to talk to her later though. I don’t like not speaking to her, it sucks. I keep having to avoid her at home and stuff, and it’s just hard trying to maneuver through my kitchen trying to avoid her in the mornings.”

“But at least she’s still there to avoid. She could be over at Hunter’s.” Christian meant it as a joke, but that thought didn’t settle well in Chris’s stomach. Stephanie had let Hunter kiss her...maybe it wasn’t conscious, but she had enjoyed the gift that he had given her, and that was something that just stuck in his gut in the worst way.

He didn’t think it was the fact that Stephanie could just as easily leave him like she left Hunter. Or maybe it was that a little bit, a very tiny bit. He knew Stephanie back then, she knew what a barracuda she was to the men that loved her. She had broken Test’s heart without a glance back in his direction. She had broken her father’s heart with seemingly no regret, and she had broken Hunter’s heart to the point where he had to come up with asinine plans with which to get her back. What made her any different now? He could think it a million times, say it to himself, repeat it like a mantra, believe it like a religion, but did he really know that Stephanie was different?

“Hey, why you so quiet?” Christian asked.

Chris shook his head, he wasn’t going to let this fight cloud his thoughts like this. They were stupid. Stephanie had been with him for a long time and she was still the same Stephanie she usually was. She was a bitch and everything, but she also loved him, hell, she said so enough times for him to believe it. “Nothing, I just want to talk to her. I don’t like this thing.”

“So talk to her. You were both wrong anyways.”

“Thanks for taking my side,” Chris scoffed. “I thought at least you would side with me.”

“Well, I think she was wrong for sticking around with him, but come on, I think you overreacted a little. But you’re Chris Jericho, that’s what you do, you overreact to everything you freaking drama queen.”

“I am not a drama queen!” Chris cried indignantly. “How would you like it if Jeff Hardy suddenly showed up, got Trish this great present, and then kissed her.”

“That freak would be dead,” Christian answered with gritted teeth.

“Now do you get where I’m going with this feeling of mine?” Chris said, patting Christian on the shoulder.

“Ok, I get where you’re coming from now,” Christian answered with a sigh. “But seriously man, do you want her to just get more mad at you. Stephanie is one toxic woman...in the best way though.”

”Yeah, I like how you added that because she is my fiancée and I do love her.”

“Yeah, wouldn’t want you kicking my ass. What do you have tonight on the show?”

“Rhyno. Stephanie at least told me that much. Then she got this weird smirk on her face. I’m afraid I’m going to be going through another set tonight. After all, Rhyno was her little boy-toy with me. I think my back is still hurting from when I went through the set. That was brutal.”

“God, how much did she hate you to have someone orchestrate that?”

“She hated me a lot, a helluva lot,” Chris answered, but then she smiled, “But she loves me now, so it doesn’t matter at all. She apologized for everything she did to me, and I apologized to her for everything I did to her...and now Hunter is trying to woo her!”

“Woo?”

“You know, trying to get her...probably trying to get her in bed. I bet that’s his plan, if he can get Stephanie in bed, he’ll have her all to himself...because I’ll dump her or something!”

“I can’t believe you’re thinking that Stephanie would actually get in a bed with Hunter.”

“He drugged her once, he can do it again! Oh my God, where is she? What if he’s trying to drug her again!”

“Whoa, slow down there Chris, I don’t think Hunter would even know where to find Stephanie right now, let alone send her telepathic messages to get a drink so he can slip a drug in it.”

“He could, he’s wily like that,” Chris said, looking around furiously.

“Ok, I’m going to go find Kurt, and you can go find Stephanie and prevent her from getting drugged,” Christian said, a snicker on the edge of his lips that he wasn’t going to let loose, lest Chris go psycho on him and start shaking him or something.

Chris was out of his seat before he could even think about what Christian was doing. So crazy was he about Stephanie that he had tunnel vision and could think of nothing, but finding her right then and there. Stephanie was in a boutique, trying on different outfits with Trish, the both of them trying to look outrageous.

“So when are you going to talk to Chris again?” Trish asked as she tried on a big hat with feathers on it.

“When I feel like it,” Stephanie said. “I’m upset with him...but I’ll talk to him. He just never gets anything.”

“What do you mean?”

Stephanie came out in a short red dress, which Trish shook her head at as Stephanie went back into the dressing room. “He doesn’t understand what really happened and until he does, he’s just going to be irrational.”

“But you didn’t want the kiss, I get that.”

“I get it too, what Chris has a problem with is the fact that I liked the gift, and I didn’t stop the kiss fast enough for his liking. And yeah, I’m guilty of that, but I think I was just too in shock over it.”

“Yeah, I know how that goes,” Trish said, looking at some tops. “But you guys will be fine right?”

“We’ll be fine, I have no doubt. He hasn’t called off the wedding at least,” Stephanie giggled, picking out some of the outfits she had tried on. “Do you want to go to one of those cool tea places and have high tea?”

“I’ve always wanted to do that whole formal tea thing,” Trish said, “Call me a sucker for old traditions.”

“Cool, I actually know a place that I went to with my mom the last time we were over here. Leave it to my mom to know the best place.”

Stephanie and Trish went up to the cashier and paid for their outfits before stepping outside and walking to the place they wanted to go to. They were spotted by someone who was walking a few paces behind them. Trish could feel someone’s presence and she turned to see Randy trying to catch up with them in the throngs of people.

“Hey!” he said, out of breath as Trish stopped Stephanie from walking forward. “Geez, what were you guys doing? Trying to get a speed-walking world record or something?”

“Sorry Randy,” Trish said, “But what are you doing following us?”

“Did Chris send you?” Stephanie asked suspiciously.

“No, not at all,” Randy said, sincerely so Stephanie actually did believe him. “I was actually having lunch with someone.”

“You were!” Stephanie and Trish said at the same time, then giggling when they realized they did that. Stephanie spoke first, “Why didn’t you tell us!”

“So I have to tell you everything now?”

“About this, yes!” Trish added. “Who! Who!”

“Not telling,” he said smugly. “I’m going to keep it under wraps for awhile.”

“You do know who you’re talking to here,” Trish said, gesturing between her and Stephanie. “You really should’ve given up this information to Christian or Chris because they probably wouldn’t care and congratulate you or something stupid like that. But we want details!”

”Well you are just going to have to wait.” ”Waiting is not my strong point,” Stephanie muttered. “Why can’t we know?”

“Because I don’t want you to put the pressure on the girl. I know you two and how you work. You’re both nosy, and you would both try to butt in and try to make this girl fall in love with me or something, and you’d scare her off.”

“Hey, I run the show, and Trish is the Women’s Champion. That pretty much means we’re the two most dominant females on Raw, and any girl would love to hang out with us,” Stephanie said.

“That may be true, but ladies, you’re not going to know,” Randy said, wrapping his arms around the both of them as they sent him simultaneous scowls, to which he simply smirked devilishly at. “So where we going?”

“Tea.”

“Is this going to be girly?” he asked with a groan.

“Very.”

“Oh well, I don’t have to pay right?”

Stephanie rolled her eyes, “What a moocher, no, I’ll pay.”

“Great! Now I’m definitely coming along.”

“Didn’t you just eat?”

“Yeah, but I’m a growing boy. A strapping young lad, don’t you think?”

“You’re more trouble than you’re worth.”

Stephanie, Trish, and Randy found the place that Linda had suggested and walked inside, getting seated pretty quickly. Randy tried not to feel out of place, but he kind of did. Luckily he was with two women, so it looked mostly like he was being their escort around town. As soon as they had ordered their tea, Stephanie got a call on her cell phone and excused herself from the table to answer it outside.

“Stephanie McMahon.”

“Steph, it’s Hunter.”

“Hi,” she said, her voice a little sad. She had hoped it would be Chris calling her to talk to her. She missed him in a way, not that she hadn’t seen him, but she just wanted to talk to him and now here was Hunter. Although a lot of the anger that Hunter had currently occupied in her mind had seemed to dissipate in the last week. How could she stay mad at someone who got her such a meaningful gift.

“I was just wondering what you were doing today? Besides the show.”

“I’m having tea right now,” she said, glancing into the building to see Trish and Randy pretending to be posh while eating little tiny cucumber sandwiches. She would rather be in there than out here talking to Hunter of all people.

“Oh, I didn’t mean to bother you, but Dave and Flair are out, and I thought I’d see what you were up to.”

“Well, I’m kind of busy. And you have a big match tonight, so I’d be more prepared if I were you.”

“I’ve got it taken care of.”

“Ok...is that all you wanted Hunter.”

He paused and she checked her fingernails in the interim. She wondered what he was doing on the other line. Well, no, she didn’t really wonder what he was doing. She was actually wondering what Chris was doing right now. Was he thinking about her? And if he was, was he hating her right now?

“Well, I was wondering if you wanted to come over or something...”

“Come over where?”

“Here.”

“Huh? I don’t get you.”

“I wanted to hang out with you.”

And here came the ramifications of the gift he had given her. She knew that it wasn’t going to be a “no-strings attached” kind of gift. Hunter wasn’t the kind of person who gave gifts readily and without some way of repaying him. He always had something on his mind, it was just the way that his mind worked. The brooch had been so thoughtful that she had been momentarily blinded to Hunter’s true nature.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea Hunter, so I’m going to have to decline.”

“Stephanie, come on, I’m really bored, and it won’t be for long, you can even do whatever you want over here and I won’t complain.”

”That’s beside the point, do you know how much trouble you’ve caused me already.”

“So Chris can’t take the heat then,” Hunter said, and she knew, she just KNEW that he had a smirk on his face.

“What heat? There’s no heat.”

“Between us there is, and you know it.”

“Oh please Hunter, the last time we had heat, it was probably because we were near a fireplace.”

“Stephanie, can’t you feel it between us.”

“Disinterest, sure, but heat, nope, and if you’ll excuse me, I’m out with friends, and I’m being rude, see you later Hunter.”

No sooner had she hung up the phone when it rang again. She growled lowly, and flipped open her phone angrily. He just didn’t get the point did he? He never got the point. She’d spell it out for him, every single week, and he just never got it. It was really sad and it made her mad, and she wished beyond wishes that Hunter would move on...

“What the hell do you want this time Hunter, I told you I was busy and I’m not going to hang out with you!”

“Steph?”

“Chris!”

“Yeah...Hunter wanted to hang out with you?”

“Where are you?” Stephanie asked, ignoring his previous statement.

“I’m around,” he said, “Hunter wanted to hang out with you?”

“It’s not a big deal.”

“But you weren’t going to.”

”Of course I wasn’t going to, what do you think I am, stupid or something?” she said, trying to hold back a laugh.

“Well, I thought you might want to hang out with him now.” Chris was trying to guilt her, or he was trying to extricate information from her. She knew his little tricks all too well.

“Sweetie, I wouldn’t want to hang out with him if he were the last man on Earth, and I was the last woman. I would rather hole myself up in some bunker, living off of rations and bottled water for the rest of my life “

“Rations?”

“Yeah, really gross rations too, like chipped beef.”

“Rather than Hunter?”

“Much rather. I’d rather befriend a volleyball than befriend Hunter.”

“Ok,” he said, and his voice sounded shy. “I’m across the street.”

Stephanie looked up quickly and saw that Chris was, in fact, across the street. He waved to her and she grinned while flipping her phone off. She looked both ways along the street, and seeing very few cars coming her way, she decided to risk it and ran full speed across the street. Chris laughed at her as she tried to dodge some of the traffic, ending up in the middle of street for a moment, then she ran herself into his awaiting arms.

“You forgive me?” she asked.

“Forgive me?”

“Of course,” she said, hugging him tighter. His arms tightened around her waist and he buried his face into her sweet-smelling hair, kissing her neck softly. She laid her cheek on his shoulder, staying that way for a good long moment. “Let’s never fight again.”

“We’ll probably fight again tomorrow.”

“Ok, let’s not fight again for the rest of the night,” she told him.

“I think we can do that.”

“I missed talking to you.”

“I missed talking to YOU.”

“I shouldn’t have taken the brooch,” she told him.

“It reminded you of your grandma, I should have been more sensitive to that fact rather than the fact that Hunter gave it to you.”

“No, I shouldn’t have even taken it, I should’ve known it would make you angry.”

“No, I should have understood why you took it.”

“I didn’t want Hunter to kiss me.”

“I know, and you don’t want him to kiss you now.”

“Never, I’d rather kiss a dead fish, actually, I’d gladly kill a dead fish.”

“So this means you’re not going to have Rhyno gore me through the set tonight right?”

She pulled away and gave him a funny look, “I wasn’t planning on having Rhyno gore you through the set, where did you get that idea?”

Chris laughed guiltily, “Nowhere.”

“It had to come somewhere,” she pointed out.

“I was being stupid earlier, ask Christian for the full story.”

“You couldn’t have called me earlier before I got the separate room?” she told him. “Now I’m going to have this extra room and it’s all for nothing.”

“I’m sorry?”

She laughed, “How did you know where I was.”

Chris nodded his head towards the restaurant, where she could see in the window, Randy and Trish looking intently through the window and across the street at them. When they saw that Stephanie was staring at them, they turned quickly away from the window and she shook her head. She turned back to Chris, but before she could say a word, he was kissing her and she was returning the kiss eagerly.

“God, I’ve wanted to do that for a week,” he told her.

“I think that those two will be ok if I ditch them, don’t you?” Stephanie said.

“Yeah, I think they’d be ok with it.”

They walked across the street to the restaurant place and told Trish and Randy that they were leaving. Holding hands, they went back to their hotel so Chris could grab his things and Stephanie could grab her briefcase before heading over to the arena. It was a new thing to have the show be overseas, but for once, Stephanie actually agreed with one of her father’s ideas. It was good to show that they could have shows overseas, and appeal to more fans, and the fans seemed to be very into having shows here.

When Stephanie and Chris walked into the arena, they caught Hunter sitting by the door, looking like he was waiting for someone. When he saw Stephanie and Chris, his face fell a little bit. Stephanie rubbed it in a little bit by situating herself nearer to Chris. Chris tightened his grip around her waist, and she was content to let her show him off.

“So Randy is seeing some girl here, and he won’t tell us who it is. I think you could probably get it out of him,” Stephanie said as she set her things down and grabbed a schedule.

“I’m not butting into his business,” Chris told her. “If he wants to tell you, he’ll tell you.”

“He’s never going to tell me,” she whined. “What if she’s just using him?”

“For what?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted sheepishly. “For sex?”

“Stephanie, if that’s the reason why some girl is using Randy, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that he’s perfectly fine with it.”

“Guys and sex,” she mumbled, rolling her eyes. “Nothing for you tonight, but your match.”

“Fine with me, I’m in no mood to work.”

“Why?”

“I haven’t even gotten some makeup sex, and I think that I’m entitled to it.”

“Later,” she said absently as she highlighted certain parts of the schedule that would require a little more work to be done on her part. Getting Gene Snitsky to be on the show was one of them since he wasn’t here tonight. She had to coordinate that and make sure it aired properly. She had a sneaking suspicion that Bischoff had gotten him to do this. Poor Lita, having to be put through such torture.

“Promise?”

“Sure,” she told him, “But it’s work-time now.”

“Fine.”

She looked up at Chris, “Hey sweetie...I think I’ve thought of a way to get Hunter off my back.”

“You what? When did you have time to think of a plan?”

“Well, I was thinking about Randy, and it came to me.”

“You actually think that you can get Hunter off of our back?”

“I think I’ve got just the way.”

Christian was talking with Edge, even though Edge was being a jerk again. “And the people have to vote for me. I haven’t even gotten the shot yet. Benoit and HBK, they’re out, and I’m in, I’m the future of this company, and it’s my time to shine.”

“If you say so Edge.”

“I do say so, and I’ve got to convince the crowd that they want to vote for me. I’m going to do it tonight with the tag match. I’m going to prove my worth to these people and then they’ll have no choice but to vote for me. I mean, the other choices, people have GOT to be tired of seeing those matches. I’m a shoe-in.”

“Don’t you think that you better not count your chickens before they hatch?”

“Are you saying you don’t think they’re going to vote for me?”

“I’m saying, why don’t you give the people credit instead of automatically thinking they’re just sheep who are going to follow someone because they tell them to. I’m a little sick of your attitude.”

“Well if that’s the case then you can just leave.”

“Oh, I’m leaving, and you know what I’m going to go do?”

“What?” Edge sneered.

“I’m going to go make out with my girlfriend, who loves me, LOVES me, why don’t you go try finding something like that instead of just going from woman to woman. Oh, that’s right, you probably couldn’t get a girl to stay with you for more than one night before she’d get sick of you!”

Christian stormed out of the dressing room, not even caring that he had just yelled at Edge. He was so pissed off that he ran right into Dave Batista who shoved him back. Christian looked up, ready for a fight before seeing the huge man before him.

”Watch where you’re going,” Dave said.

“Watch where YOU’RE going,” Christian snapped back, ok, so maybe he was ready for a fight.

“I’m not in the mood to kick your ass now, so just tell me where the hell your friend Jericho’s broad is.”

“Stephanie?”

“Yeah, I got a bone to pick with her.”

“I don’t know where she is,” Christian told him.

“Fine, just tell her I’m looking for her, and if I don’t find her, I’ll find Jericho, and I won’t hesitate to relay the message from him to her.”

The message came in the form of a beat-down, under the pretense of Dave wanting a match with Chris a Taboo Tuesday. But as Stephanie watched, she knew, she knew that Hunter was talking about her again, and Dave had gotten wind of it. And for some unexplained reason, Dave didn’t want her near Hunter. Maybe because he wanted to be Hunter’s favorite person, maybe Dave was simply using Hunter to get to the top, and she would ruin that for him.

Didn’t matter, not after what she had planned.