Stephanie watched with interest and more than a little fear as the three Druid’s faced the stage and Paul Bearer stepped up behind them. She closed her eyes for a second, not wanting to know. Beside Stephanie, she heard Shane curse under his breath. She opened her eyes again quickly and cried out shocked and horrified by what she saw. "No..."

"Stephanie..." Shane trailed off at the look on his sister's face. There was no way he would be able to reason with her. He sighed. "It's not that bad."

"How would you feel if Marissa began managing X-Pac?" Her voice was ice cold. He shook his head. "It's not the same thing Steph."

"No. This is worse." She bit out as she slammed the door behind her.

In The Brood's locker room, Lydia was feeding Jason and rocking Lucilla's crib with a foot as Integra was pacing around the room on her cell phone. "Did you see it? Oh good... no, no it's fine. Like either of us have ever been able to refuse you anything. Yeah ok, Lydia did once but she was drunk at the time remember?" Integra laughed. "Oh that's right! What did you do? Pouted? And she let you do it anyways?"

As Integra walked past the doorway Stephanie reached out and grabbed the phone off her, putting it to her ear and listening.

"Yeah, I wanted to destroy the can pyramid she and Vanessa had spent 3 days working on. Jesus Teg, how the hell did they manage to sink all that booze and still stand?"

Stephanie felt a cold chill run through her as she recognised the voice. They'd planned this. The five of them. He was behind it... oh god. She glared at Integra coldly. "You planned this?"

"Planned what?" Lydia asked, standing up to burp Jason and looking confused. "Steph, what's going on?"

Furiously, Stephanie threw the phone at her, missing Lydia and Jason by inches.

"Jesus Stephanie! I really don't care what the fuck you want to throw at me, but can you at least wait until my son isn't in any danger?" Lydia shouted. Integra looked at the phone and suddenly realised. "Shit! Steph, I swear, it's not what it looks like!"

"Isn't it?"

"Well it depends on what it looks like to you." Lydia shrugged. Stephanie looked around for something else to throw at her. Finding nothing, she decided to yell instead. "What does it look like to me? It looks like two women I'd trusted and their boyfriends -"

"Excuse me." interrupted Integra, holding up her left hand. "One boyfriend, one fiancee."

"Four people I considered close friends have decided for their own fucked up reasons to join up with the man who's decided to make my life a living hell!"

"Why would we do that?" Lydia asked, putting Jason into the twin pusher. "Because of Chris?"

"Why not? You said it yourself, you'll never forgive me for what happened." Stephanie answered bitterly. "I know you Lyd. I've seen what you've done in the name of revenge. Considering how much you must hate me, this is small potatoes. What's next huh? A tell all expose?"

"Steph, it's not like that! I swear." Integra sounded on the verge of tears. Behind Stephanie, Christain stepped into the locker room. Lydia moved forwards to greet him, but he put a finger to his lips, indicating to her not to let Stephanie know he was there as Stephanie shouted "Then what is it? Because I can't think of any positive reason that you and your men would join them. Especially if he had anything to do with it!"

"What makes you so sure Chris has a goddamned thing to do with this?" Lydia asked calmly. She hadn't mended the rift with Stephanie as well as Integra had, and unlike her friend, she'd realised beforehand what the Brood joining the Ministry could mean for their friendship. Therefore, she wasn't really surprised by Stephanie's reaction to the news.

"Why were you talking to him on the phone?" Stephanie snapped at Integra. Lydia rolled her eyes. "Why not? You know we keep in contact with him. Why wouldn’t he call?"

"So he called you?"

Stephanie's mind was working quickly. Somehow she knew that Chris was behind this and that her four friends - former friends were carrying out his wishes in his absence. She felt unsure about why, something told her that it wasn't to hurt her, but Steph's emotions clouded her judgements and as far as she could see there was only one reason for it. To hurt her as much as she'd hurt them years ago.

"Is this to hurt me? Is this revenge for what happened three years ago? Because if it is then let me tell you this - in those three years I have suffered more than you could ever imagine. Believe me, I've paid for what I've done. This is nothing compared to what I've been through." Stephanie said quietly. Integra looked up at her. "Steph, we're not doing this to hurt you."

"Then why the fuck are you doing this!" Stephanie screamed, losing control. She glared at Lydia. "I bet your real happy now aren't you? You always adored him, it was almost as though you were in lo-"

Stephanie was cut off as Lydia lunged at her suddenly. Steph was pushed out of the way by Christain, who grabbed Lydia by the wrists and turned to face Stephanie. "You'd best be leaving."

"No! Damnit, let me at her!" shouted Lydia, struggling to get free. Stephanie was scared by the fury in the normally calm blue eyes of Christain and backed out of the room quickly as he spoke quietly to Lydia, calming her within seconds.

She ran blindly down the hall, tears clouding her vision. She'd hurt worse than this before, but she couldn't ever remember feeling so betrayed. Head down she rounded a corner and ran into an unmoving body. Glancing up, she felt a rush of relief as she realised it was Kane, a member of her father's Corporation. He nodded at her, his way of saying hello, and guided her back to Vince's locker room, where the rest of the Corporation were waiting for her return.

"See? I'm fine!" she laughed brightly, before heading into the bathroom to clean up her face. With a knowing smile, Shane nodded at Test. The blonde beefcake followed Stephanie into the bathroom and leaned next to the mirror, watching her with more than a little concern. She dried her face with a towel and looked at Test. "How do I look?"

His smile was genuine as he hugged her tightly and replied "Like someone who needs a friend."