"Are you ok honey?" Linda asked worriedly. Stephanie shrugged. "I guess. I can't believe that all this was just to get at Steve. It's not Vince's style to involve so many other people for revenge. There's something about this that doesn't add up."

"I meant how are you?" Linda answered gently. Steph laughed shortly. "No comment."

Linda hugged her tightly. Steph had been emotionally destroyed by Vince's announcement. She'd only ever seen her like this twice before - after being forced to leave Chris and at Christina's funeral. Both times, it had taken Stephanie several months to return to her full health. Linda hoped desperately that the stress of the past months as well as Stephanie's still intense grief for her lost baby wouldn't cause a breakdown of some description.

"Hey, can I come in?" A gentle knock at the door interrupted Linda's thoughts. Stephanie wordlessly got up and opened the door to the Rock. He smiled at her. "It's just me. And the evil Wakefield twins who *refuse* to be turned away."

"Well thank you for the vote of confidence." Lydia pushed Rocky out of the way. "So we're probably not your favourite people in the world, but there's something you need to know."

"And what would that be?" Stephanie was still angry at Lydia & Integra. Lydia flopped onto the couch and looked at Integra who was standing in the doorway. "She'll believe it coming from you."

"If you say so. To make a long story short, the Undertaker *did* ask us to join the Ministry. Gangrel was keen, our boys weren't. Lyd and I discussed it and decided that it would be the best way to find out what's happening, possibly prevent anything serious from happening."

"Didn't try too hard did you?" Stephanie replied bitterly. Lydia sighed. "What they put you through is nothing compared to what they planned to do. Edge & Christain found out what they could and relayed it to us. We passed it onto the one person associated with the Corporation who didn't completely hate us."

"Who?" Stephanie asked curiously. Lydia shook her head. "No can tell. Forgive us?"

Stephanie thought about it. Nothing too serious had happened while the Brood were in the Ministry that was true. The worst that had happened was the abduction during Raw, but that had only been a short amount of time. Thinking back, she remembered that it had been Christain who'd let slip her whereabouts, and she remembered thinking at the time that the ankle lock hadn't seemed to be on too hard. For some reason, she believed what her friends were telling her.

"Forgiven." She grinned. "I just -"

"Steph!" Integra interrupted the moment, pointing at the screen. "The beefcake's calling you down!"

"What?"

"Test is calling you down to the ring!" Lydia repeated excitedly. Stephanie looked at her mother, who just shrugged. "What are you doing waiting around here?"

Down in the ring, Stephanie looked nervously at Shamrock, Big Show and Test. With a smile, Test began to speak.

"Stephanie, believe me, we all know it's been a rough couple of months and I know old Vin-O and Shane-O will not let you date a wrestler, but it's just something they'll have to get over. Stephanie.." Her jaw dropped as he took off his sunglasses, got down on one knee and took her hand in his. "Will you give me the honour of going out with me on a date?"

Stephanie hesitated. Her father and brother would hit the roof. A smile crossed her face as she imagined their reactions and spoke into the microphone. "I'd love to."

~~~~~

Chris stared at the television in shock, his stomach tightening in anger and jealousy. Although he hadn't expected Stephanie to wait around, he'd never thought about her ever dating someone else. He'd had a few short relationships in a past three years, but nothing serious and it soon dawned on him that he was looking for someone he connected with the way he had with Stephanie.

"You ok kid?" Nash sat opposite him looking concerned. The two got along fairly well, beginning because of his friendship with Hunter & Chyna, which made him privy to information that Chris was after. Kevin had already heard about Test and Stephanie from Chyna, who'd called him soon after it happened. Chris shook his head. "No, not at all."

"Apparently he's been after her for a while according to my source." Nash said gently. "It's been three years Chris, I think it's about time you both moved on."

"No offence Kev, but you're not exactly an authority on long and lasting relationships." Chris stood up abruptly. "Excuse me, I have a phone call to make."

~~~~

"Congratulations, you’re the 17^th caller!" Lydia answered her phone with a grin. A low voice answered her. "Hey Lyd."

Lydia's eyes went wide. "Oh.. um.. hi."

"I guess now isn't the best time to talk?"

"You could say that, yeah." Lydia tried to keep her voice nuetral. Integra raised an eyebrow. "Who is it?"

"Guess." mouthed Lydia as Stephanie slipped back in the door. Integra smiled brightly and said a little too loudly "Steph! Way to go!"

"She's back from the ring?"

"Yeah."

"And I suppose she looks on top of the world?"

"I guess you could say that."

"You're happy for her aren't you?"

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to. Thanks a lot Lyd, out of everyone I was certain you'd be the one I could count on to see my side of the matter." Chris made no effort to hide the betrayal in his voice. Lydia tried to keep hers calm, not an easy task with four pairs of curious eyes on her. "It's not like that at all -"

Chris hung up, unable to listen to any more. Great. Now everyone was taking the side of the little princess. He felt slightly victorious, knowing that Lydia wouldn't call back and yell at him because Stephanie was in the room.. although knowing Lydia, she'd do it anyway.

Chris remembered New Years Eve 1996, and the way Test had looked at Stephanie then. It was the same look he'd given her in the ring. Suddenly the bile rose up in his throat and he ran for a toilet, vomiting at the idea of his Stephanie seeing someone else.