"Have you got your outfit for tonight's shindig?" Marissa asked Stephanie, who was sampling a pastry. She nodded. "There's a problem though."

"What? Is it a big one?" Marissa asked, looking worried. Stephanie nodded. "I'll show you."

Up in Stephanie's room, she slipped out of her jeans and t-shirt. Before she could put the dress on, Marissa shook her head. "You're starting to show."

"Exactly." Steph stepped into the dress and turned around. "Can you do it up?"

Marissa started to zip the dress up. "It's kinda tight.. ah, got it." She secured the hook at the nape of the neck. "Ok, now turn around." Stephanie turned around and Marissa instantly saw the problem. "Oh fuck."

"Exactly." repeated Stephanie. She glanced down. "What am I gonna do? I'm not going down there looking nearly five months pregnant."

"I hate to break to you, my dear sister in law, but you are nearly five months pregnant." Marissa rolled her eyes. Stephanie glared at her. "No kidding! However, I really don't think that tonight, in front of the majority of Titan's employees is the best time to tell Vince he's gonna become a grandfather."

"Are you actually planning on telling Vince?"

"Not if I can help it." Stephanie bit her lip. "Can you imagine what he'd do? He's going on the road again soon. Hopefully he'll be away for a while, then when he gets back, it'll be way too late for him to do anything about it. Can you get Mom? She's gonna have to arrange another costume for me."

"No problem." Marissa ran out of the room. She returned 10 minutes later with Linda, who took one look at Stephanie in the Scarlett O'Hara dress. "Oh no."

"I need another costume Mom. One that hides the lil miss." Stephanie remarked. Linda raised an eyebrow. "The Lil Miss? I'm getting a grand daughter am I?"

"I think so. I'm gonna start thinking about names soon. Anyways, any costume ideas?"

"Yeah, I have one actually. It'll be a great costume, nobody will be able to tell you're pregnant, your father won't question it, and hopefully, you'll look beautiful." Linda replied. "Get dressed. There's a place downtown that will take care of it. Discretion guaranteed."

~~~~

Stephanie looked at herself in the mirror. It wasn't what she'd hoped for, but it was too late now. She reminded herself that the Halloween party wasn't about looking scary or beautiful but about having a good time. She hoped that she would get through the night without giving anything away - to either her father or any of the wrestlers.

There was a knock on the door. "Ready?"

"Coming." Stephanie adjusted the cap and surveyed her butterfly costume one last time. True, it hid her growing pregnancy, and the wings were gorgeous, but other than that, it had nothing going for it. She opened the door and greeted her father, who was dressed as an angel. "Interesting outfit Dad."

"Just what I was thinking about yours." Vince replied, frowning. "I thought you were going as Scarlett O'Hara?"

"Oh, I decided that I'm not quite coy enough to be Scarlett. Plus, I have no intention of speaking in a Southern accent all night." Stephanie lied with a laugh, her heart beating quickly. Vince accepted this. "Fair enough. Let's go."

In the ballroom, Stephanie watched as the wrestlers arrived. She recognised most of them and they all knew who she was. The Undertaker was dressed as Frankenstien, Mick and Colette Foley were dressed as Santa and Mrs Claus, Shawn Michaels was in a cowboy outfit and so on. Not spending much time around the wrestlers, she didn't feel confident enough to make conversation with any of them and spent most of the night sitting in the corner, watching the proceeding with a smile.

"Having fun?" Stephanie looked up to see Shawn Michaels grinning down at her. She laughed. "Define fun?"

"See! I knew I'd be able to get you to smile. Come and dance with me."

"I don't dance." Stephanie replied grinning. The grin turned into a grimace. "You'll have to excuse me, I'm not feeling too well."

She pushed past Shawn and bolted for the bathrooms, ignoring the looks of everyone who noticed. Once she'd finished, she leaned against the wall and sighed. "I get the point kiddo. You don't like salmon."

"Talking to yourself?" a familiar voice called as Stephanie groaned and unlocked the stall. A familiar face looked at her. "Not feeling well princess?"

"Fuck off Sable." Another voice saved Stephanie from answering. She gaped as Chyna, dressed as Xena, Warrior Princess came into view. Sable raised an eyebrow. "And what would you know about it? The princess and I go way back."

"More than you would." warned Chyna. She looked at Stephanie. "I'm here to extend an official apology on behalf of Michaels and to invite you spend the rest of the evening with the Kliq. On the condition that it wasn't Michaels that made you ill, you were actually feeling sick."

Stephanie laughed, both at the comment about Shawn and the look on Sable's face at Chyna's defence of her. Sable glowered at Chyna. "Don't kiss up just so you can get your butch ass on TV. I know things about the little princess that would make your hair curl."

"I've warned you once Sable." Chyna looked at her warningly. "That's one warning. That's one more than I usually give and one less than you'll be getting next time."

The two woman glared at each other for a minute before Sable stormed out. Stephanie sighed and sagged against the wall in relief. "Thank you."

"Not a problem." Chyna looked at Stephanie carefully. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, that bitch had me a little shook up. That's all." Steph answered quietly. Chyna nodded. "That's right. You knew her back in - where ever it was. "

"Yeah." Steph replied shortly, swallowing hard as what she felt what seemed to be a slight movement within her womb. Chyna nodded. "Come on - the guys will be wondering what the hell happened."

With a distracted smile, Stephanie followed the older woman out of the bathroom to rejoin the festivities.

~~~~

"Did you have a good time Steph?" Linda asked, walking with Stephanie up to her room. Stephanie nodded. "Better than I expected. The Kliq are a nice bunch of guys and Chyna's not as rough as she looks."

"She's one tough woman alright." acknowledged Linda with a smile. Stephanie shut the her bedroom door behind her and faced her mother with an excited grin. "Mom - I felt the baby move tonight."

"Oh honey that's fantastic!" Linda's face lit up. "I have a feeling that this is gonna be one active baby. I have to admit I was a little worried though, since activity begins around the fourth month and you're almost into your fifth."

"What were you worried about?" Marissa asked, sticking her head around the door. "I know, shoulda knocked but Shane's in the middle of some drinking contest, Vince is supervising and everyone else at the party is drunk or in their hotel rooms god only knows what with god only knows who."

"It's cool Marissa." Stephanie grinned at her sister in law as she changed into some clothes that didn't disguise her pregnancy. "I felt the baby move tonight."

"Oh my god!" she shrieked in delight. "I'm gonna be an auntie!"

"Was there ever any doubt?" Linda asked, gesturing at Stephanie's stomach. Marissa laughed. "Well, no but... you know." She turned serious. "I really hate bring it up, but what are you going to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well Vince has to find out sooner or later. I mean, you've managed to hide it long enough so that it's too late for him to force you to... abort, but he's not gonna be happy about it." Marissa pointed out reluctantly. Stephanie shrugged defiantly. "It's none of his business."

"Be realistic Stephanie - he's gonna find out, he's gonna be furious, he's gonna try and take matters into his own hands, and more than likely, he'll contact Bichoff and get him to bury Chris."

"I don't care! This is my baby. He had nothing to do with it. I've got a counter attack for every possible angle he could come up with." Stephanie shouted angrily. She took a deep breath and her voice turned ice cold. "I am keeping this baby. No matter what it takes."

"Well, well, well." A drawl from the open doorway made Linda and Marissa spin around in shock. Stephanie felt a sharp bolt of terror chill her as she turned around, revealing the full extent of her pregnancy to her father, who smiled coldly as he met the scared gaze of his youngest child. "It seems congratulations are in order."