Title: Love, Fury And Passion

Author: Kelly Rowe

Email: stonecoldslut@optusnet.com.au

Rating: PG-13

Summary: What if at Survivor Series 2001 The Alliance had beaten the WWF despite Kurt Angle's betrayal? Would it have changed things between him and Stephanie? Or would she have stayed to play the game?

Timeline: November 2001 and onwards.

Disclaimer: I do not own the WWE or any of the talent used (except those I make up). Otherwise everything belongs to the almighty Vince McMahon and I am just playing with them.

Pairing/s: SMH/KA, SMH/HHH, SM/MM, VM/LM

Category: AU.

Part 1

The clamor emanating from within the restrictions of The Alliance locker room was almost vociferous in it's volume, but not unforeseen, after all they had just beaten the odds and done the unfeasible; they had beaten The WWF. Their leader Stone Cold Steve Austin had not only survived the Rock Bottom delivered to him, but also the perfidy of one of their own team; Kurt Angle who had brained him with his very own championship title belt. However the sabotage attempt - observably initiated by Vince McMahon - was fruitless because Austin managed to reach down within himself to kick out of the pinning predicament, get up and somehow pull off a miracle by stunning The Rock and getting not only a pin of his own, but also the three count and the elusive victory.

Stephanie could scarcely believe what she had just witnessed on the locker room monitor, flowing throughout her body along with the euphoria of triumph was the acrimonious aftertaste of treachery. After all of her grousing at her brother Shane over his recruitment of Stone Cold from their father's team and how Austin was the mole spying on them for the enemy, it turned out that it was her preference. Mortification swept over her as the events of the previous night and the purposeless reassurances of earlier in the evening swept through her mind. How could *she* have been obtuse enough to have faith in Kurt's lies? The answer was austere and inopportune; she was in love with him.

The cheers grew louder and she become conscious that Shane and Austin had returned to the locker room to join in the voracious victory celebration. Stephanie watched out of the corner of her eye as both of them lapped up all the attention that had been thrust upon them; Shane was hugging everyone and Austin was graciously accepting congratulatory pats on the back. Heaving a sigh Stephanie pushed Kurt and his duplicity to the back of her mind - provisionally - and moved over to join her team.

"Hey, baby sister. We did it!" Shane said as he picked Stephanie up and whirled her around in an excited hug, something he had not done since they were children. "We *really* did it! We beat the old bastard at his own game."

Stephanie returned the hug and tried to get into the spirit of things. "Yeah, thanks to Steve."

"I told you that he was the right choice for our leader," Shane replied smugly. "Unlike Angle..."

Stephanie felt ill at her brother's careless choice of words, but refused to let it show. "Unlike Angle," she murmured in reluctant concurrence.

Shane positioned his arm around her shoulders delicately; blissfully naive of the hurt he had just involuntarily caused her to feel. "So baby sister, what did Hunter say when you called him and told him our enormous news?"

"Nothing," Stephanie replied. At the incredulous look in her older brother's eyes, she added, "I haven't called him yet."

"Why not? He's after all *your* husband."

Stephanie didn't want to have to divulge that all thoughts of Hunter had fled her mind sometime the night before in Kurt Angle's hotel room and she struggled to think of an justification to tell him. "I merely needed - uh - a few moments to let the news sink in myself. I'll call him soon."

"Okay," Shane told her giving her an additional affectionate embrace. Out of the blue he turned extremely intense, "How do you think he'll react to the fact that if he wants to wrestle he'll have to work for you?"

"I think he'll love it. Before anyone realizes it, Hunter will be strutting around like he owns the place."

"Theoretically, little sister, he sort of will," Shane reminded her tenderly. "Anyway enjoy the merriment, Steph, I'm gonna make a quick call to Marissa."

Stephanie kept an eye on her brother as he walked off to find a clandestine environment to make his call to his wife. Heaving a silent sigh, she took a calming breath and spent the next hour or so talking to her superstars and to Paul Heyman about what could possibly be their next step in dominating the industry. When each person started to wander away to do whatever they were going to do for a celebration, Stephanie unenthusiastically returned to the hotel to make the call to Hunter. She only hoped that this tête-à-tête would not end the way all their others had recently, in a disagreement.

Things in the WWF locker room were not so jovial, the entire lot of them were now made redundant and at the mercy of Shane and Stephanie's Alliance - if they were even hiring. Vince McMahon himself was more or less in tears, after all of his fool-proof machinations had backfired and he'd had to endure the degradation of being driven out of business by his very own children.

Kurt Angle had simply been dutifully following the guidelines that Vince had given him and had never been tempted to break ranks - at least not until things had spiraled way out of his control over the past couple weeks. The reassurance that he had come through for his employer no matter what the cost was now suspiciously nonexistent and he knew why, it was all because of Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley.

Following Vince's orders had been uncomplicated enough in the beginning, he had basically voiced dissatisfaction with the WWF and Vince and before too long Paul Heyman and Shane had paid him a visit to chat about his many options. Unfortunately for him things got complicated soon after joining, when Shane - who was busy with Booker T and Austin - passed him along to Stephanie.

Endless days were spent alone together, signing contracts, arranging schedules and discussing - at length - his position within the fledgling corporation. It was during these clandestine times that all of his feelings for Stephanie - the ones that he had convinced himself were long gone - all resurfaced and he began to realize the true depths of them. He was utterly and enormously in love with her.

Kurt had never revealed his true feelings to Stephanie; instead he had simply continued to work beside her as her colleague/friend, while he surreptitiously plotted with Vince to annihilate what she was building. All this time nothing changed between them; until the night before when Stephanie came to his hotel room in tears because she'd had another fight with Hunter. Kurt was not proud that he had taken advantage of Stephanie's vulnerability, but the temptation that she had presented was simply too much to resist.

Waking up beside her that morning had been mind-blowing, much better than any of his many fantasies had hinted at. Looking into her beautiful eyes he had been able to see the mixture of emotions running through them; guilt over Hunter, confusion over her feelings and naturally apprehension over the day ahead. Unfortunately he had not been able to offer her the comfort and reassurances that she had needed, the only things he knew would tear her apart.

Pulling himself out of the memories that haunted him, he looked around at all the crestfallen faces of his team-mates and wondered if in the end it had truly been worth it. As the anguish swelled through him at the thought of the loss of not only his career, but also the love of his life; he knew that it truly hadn't been.

"Hey Angle," Jericho said as he walked on by. "Nice try, but next time I wouldn't bother."

"Buzz off, Jericho. You're little sabotage attempt wasn't much better," Kurt answered bitterly. "And at least I wasn't betraying my team just to one up The Rock."

Jericho shot Kurt a disgusted glance, "Well Mr. Gold-medalist, I'm sure *Stephanie* and her team see it that way too. I mean it's not like you were supposed to be on their side and double-crossed them... Oh wait that's what you did do."

"Shut up."

"The truth hurts doesn't it, junior. At least after all of this is said and done I will have a shot at getting hired by The Alliance, while you and the rest of these *losers* will be perpetually unemployed."

Kurt stared at Jericho's withdrawing figure and heaved a sigh, not because he was going to be eternally unemployed but because he had lost his chance - most probably the only one he would ever get - at being with Stephanie.

Stephanie tried for hours - fruitlessly - to get a hold of Hunter; regrettably the only thing answering the phone at their residence was the answering machine. She figured that he was still feeling sorry for himself over the fight that they'd had the previous evening via the telephone. Giving up her pursuit she tossed her up-to-the-minute cell phone onto a nearby chair and lay back onto the hotel bed. It came as a complete bombshell to her that the lack of exchange with her husband of almost two years didn't in reality bother her anymore, she had become used to it; after all they seldom ever talked these days unless it was to fight over some inconsequential thing.

Closing her fatigued eyes for just a split second, she tried to assemble the keenness to go and join in The Alliance celebration she had been invited to - naturally it was being hosted by her brother and Stone Cold. Regrettably for her the memories that came to mind were images of the night before’s activities with Kurt. Even though it had not been the smartest judgment that she had ever made and she had been deceived because of it, she simply could not bring herself to be repentant for making love to Kurt. In fact she were genuinely straightforward with herself then she would have to divulge that she had craved his touch from the first second that she had spotted him.

But she had to put all of those girlish fantasies that she had about Kurt away and focus on her future. A future that was now to be taken up with her business and as you would expect, giving her all to salvage her exceedingly unstable marriage from falling entirely apart. She sat up as her hotel phone extension began to ring, thinking it was Hunter she answered it quickly.

"It's about time you called, I was getting worried."

"I didn't think that you'd want me call or I would've done it sooner," a familiar voice replied.

Stephanie froze when she heard the sound, powerless to do anything but listen to him speak and pray that somehow she'd find the strength within herself to hang up on him.

"Steph?"

Pulling herself together she managed to say, "What do you want now? Wasn't trying to destroy my business enough entertainment for you today?"

"Stephanie, I never meant..."

"What?"

Kurt could hear the ice begin to creep into her customarily warm tone and decided that it was most definitely time to change the subject. "I - uh - called to talk about us."

Stephanie laughed sardonically, "You're absolutely amazing. No other man would have the nerve to call after what you have done to me and then say *that*."

Kurt continued on undisturbed, "We need to talk about last night and whatever is going on between us."

Stephanie closed her eyes and fought the urge to give in to him. Finally taking a deep breath she answered him, relieved to find her voice steady and clear. "Fine, let's talk. Last night was a mistake and one that will *never* be repeated."

"You can't mean that," Kurt almost died as his heart ripped in half at her cold words.

"I do."

"Just answer me this one thing and I'll leave you alone," Kurt bargained. "If I hadn't done what I did at Survivor Series, would your answer be any different?"

"Goodbye Kurt," Stephanie ignored his inquiry as she hung up on him. Slowly she put her head into her hands and tried to regain some semblance of calm after that emotionally disturbing conversation.

A while later Stephanie pulled herself out of the emotional funk that had been in control of her for who knows how long and stood up. It was past time for her to put on her smiling face and go and join her *loyal* employees for the celebration that they all deserved. Grabbing her purse and her jacket, Stephanie headed down to the hotel lobby via the elevator. She had barely stepped a few steps inside the crowded lobby when she spotted him standing by the front desk. Stephanie could hardly believe it, but there Hunter was with his suitcase looking a little lost.

"Hi," she said walking up to him. "You came?"

Hunter looked down at his wife and smiled, "I wanted to surprise you. I just felt so stupid after that fight we had last night..."

"Me too," Stephanie whispered back trying to make it sound like the absolute truth.

Hunter gave her a quick hug and kiss, "So... who won?"

Before Stephanie could answer him, her brother and Austin leading a large group of Alliance superstars exited the hotel bar in what looked like some sort of deformed conga line.

"Hey Steph, are you coming? Oh, hi Hunter," Shane said coming to a stop.

Austin spoke up next, "Hey Mr. Non-believer, we won!"

Stephanie hid her face in Hunter's shirt trying to pretend that her brother and her employees were making such an embarrassing spectacle of themselves. When she finally gathered the courage to look up she saw Hunter smiling down at her.

"Congratulations."

"Thanks."

"So... why don't we blow off Shane's victory party and do a little private celebrating up in the room?" Hunter suggested.

It wasn't exactly what Stephanie wanted to do with her evening, but with her renewed commitment to saving her tempestuous marriage she simply smiled in return. "I couldn't have come up with a better idea myself."

The newly reunited couple walked over to the elevator bank and pressed the 'up' button. As he impatiently waited, Hunter draped a casual arm around his wife - a mark of possession and affection. Looking down at her he teased, "Are there any advantages to sleeping with the boss in this new wonderful organization?"

Stephanie snuggled closer, "I don't know. Why don't you discuss it with Shane?"

Hunter leaned down to kiss her once again, uncaring about who saw them. "Shane wasn't the boss I was thinking about."

"In that case," Stephanie pulled his lips back down to meet hers as she unsuccessfully tried to block the images of Kurt doing the same thing from her mind.

The elevator directly in front of them opened, but they didn't notice. Unfortunately it gave the solitary occupant a view he had never wanted to bare witness to again. Kurt Angle slipped away from the seemingly happy couple and headed straight into the hotel bar to drown his sorrows in something a hell of a lot stronger than root beer.

Part 2

Stephanie was a good deal more than occupied in the weeks subsequent to The Alliance's phenomenal win over The WWF and her father. Her days were overflowing with staff meetings, talent reviews, interviews and planning with Shane and all those impressive pecuniary advisors they had a short time ago hired - securing the fledgling company's prospects. Her nights were equally as chaotic as she tried frenziedly to put back together her precarious marriage, building a future with the man she had married only a couple of years earlier and trying to pretend that in her heart she did not long for another.

Everything was coasting along as it habitually did in the mornings. Hunter was up and gone by the time she had awoken - the typical routine as he went to work out with the physiotherapist - and she went into work alone. At least things were going that way until she arrived at the new Alliance center of operations and was called into her brother's office for an unanticipated meeting. As she walked into Shane's swanky new office - the exact same one that had been their father's until recent events - she was stunned to find that both her husband and Austin were also there.

It took her only a small amount of seconds after sitting down next to her husband before she opened her mouth and demanded an answer. "Okay, Shane. What in hell is going on here?"

"Steph," Shane began to some extent apprehensively, as if what on earth he had to say to her she was not going to like in the slightest. "Hunter and Steve have approached me with a - uh - unique idea..."

Shooting curious looks at both her husband and Steve, she butted into the conversation. "What sort of *unique* idea?"

Shane looked helplessly at his brother-in-law and new best friend, Austin before sighing heavily. "They would like us to rehire Angle."

"WHAT?"

"Stephanie... Angle can be a jackass most of the time," Austin began carefully. "But people come to see the American hero..."

"Actually they come to chant you suck at him," Hunter interposed gleefully.

Austin disregarded the disturbance, "Plus I feel the need to address some of the issues that Angle and I left unresolved. For instance his kidnapping predisposition."

"Also he needs to pay for what he almost did to you," Hunter told her. "No one messes with my wife and gets away with it, especially after pretending to be her so-called friend."

Shane hastily interpolated, "It doesn't matter why we want him to come back, and it’s just good business sense to rehire him... Under specific stipulations of course."

"Stipulations? What sort of provisions are we talking about?" Stephanie could not stop herself asking or from visualizing all sorts of horrors dreamed up by Hunter, Austin and the rest of The Alliance locker room.

"A month-by-month contract for starters," Shane replied relatively nonchalantly, making Stephanie realize that the three of them had been discussing this for some time now. "Nothing long-term until he proves that he is trustworthy."

"Which will be never," Hunter murmured scarcely audibly.

Seeing that Stephanie was not in the slightest persuaded that this was an excellent idea, Shane spoke again. "Don't make a decision now, Steph. Please just think about it for a little while."

"Okay," she granted unenthusiastically. "But I am making no promises about rehiring him."

"All right. Now let's get down to some regular business," Shane said pulling out some of the subsequent day's paperwork as Hunter and Austin left the office.

The days dragged along at a snail's pace for Kurt as he settled inexorably into the drudgery of joblessness. Like a substantial proportion of the other old WWF superstars he had not received a phone call from Alliance headquarters summoning him to a talent interview and the truth is after what he had done - however good intentioned at the time - he did not expect to ever get one.

So he squandered his days checking out the employment sections of the Pittsburgh papers and thinking about Stephanie and how he had magnificently screwed up his one opportunity to prove to her that he was the love of her life. Not that his nights were any better, especially the nights that she was on television and he got to watch her and Shane co-run Raw and Smackdown. It more or less killed him each time she appeared on screen looking ever more picturesque and eternally glued to her Neanderthal husband Triple H's side.

All of Kurt's family and acquaintances were also worried about him and his detrimental activities, but none of them had absolutely any inspiration about how they could help him. They merely could do nothing but sit indolently by while the once effervescent man they had known sat locked away from the world, fading away. His mother was predominantly distraught - not only because of his cloistered conduct - by his new fascination with all things Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley. Naturally she had known about his feelings - however inappropriate - for the young woman, but now it seemed as if she was the only reason Kurt was still living, even though she had nothing to do with him anymore.

Kurt endeavored - briefly - to return to a normal life for his mother's sake, but it was basically unattainable. Out of the blue his passion for life and the conquest of gold - medals or championships - was gone and all because of his devotion to one man, a man who refused to take his phone calls - actually anyone's phone calls - anymore. He was suddenly feeling extraordinarily conflicted, torn between what he had done and what he knew he should have done instead. Kurt knew he had paid a price for his actions, but somehow it just was not worth it to him to any further extent. Unfortunately he could do nothing about it but sit there in his house and pray that the phone would ring and bring him his salvation.

Since her tenuous reunion with Hunter, Stephanie had been vigilant to leave business at the office and use her nights to completely concentrate on the rejuvenation of her marriage. Nevertheless after the bolt from the blue that Hunter, Austin and her ever-loving brother had dropped on her that morning, Stephanie had found herself powerless to give attention to anything or anyone else. All of her multifarious thoughts and feelings were focused upon Kurt and what rehiring him would do to her precarious emotional state, not to mention how his sudden re-emergence would influence her marriage.

Heaving a sigh of dissatisfaction and mystification, she turned on the television hoping to take her tired mind away from its numerous predicaments. Instead she received a view of the channel Hunter had been watching earlier that day, ESPN and their retrospective on the Olympic Games. Switching off the idiot box as quickly as she could, Stephanie began to wordlessly question why she could not simply move past her peccadillo with Kurt and move on to a less excruciating place.

Knowing that she did not have the concentration or liveliness to wait up for Hunter to return from his training session with Austin, on top of dealing with everything else; Stephanie headed upstairs to their bedroom to go to sleep. Once she had entered the copious, richly decorated room, she removed her sophisticated, yet uncomfortable business suit and slipped on the silk pajamas that had been a birthday present from her sister-in-law. Looking at herself in the mirror as she brushed out her long dark hair, she shook her head in amazement that she - just an ordinary looking woman - could be the cause of so much havoc within her own life. At last she slipped within the cool, crisp sheets on the king-sized bed and waited for sleep to overwhelm her tired mind, but it didn't. Stephanie was still awake - abet pretending to be asleep - when Hunter returned home an hour later, she simply lay there as he took a shower and climbed into the bed next to her in absolute silence.

Once she was confident that Hunter was in an unfathomable sleep, she climbed out of their bed and padded back downstairs looking for something to occupy her mind. Curling up on the overstuffed burgundy leather couch in Hunter and her study, she grabbed the cordless phone fully intending to call her brother with her decision to not let Kurt back into the company. However she somehow managed to dial Kurt's home phone number instead and she could not force herself to hang up before he answered.

"Hello?" Kurt's voice came down the line sounding enervated and disoriented. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

Stephanie wanted to answer him, but she could not bring herself to do more than listen to him. She knew that it was purely because she was not ready - may be she would never be ready - to absolve or overlook his perfidy.

"Stephanie?" Kurt's voice seemed to brighten up as he said her name.

It was all too much for her to cope with and she hastily slammed down the receiver before she gave into a dim-witted inclination and spoke to him. Placing her hands over her face she tried to salvage some emotional control once more before she headed back to bed and pretended that her young life was not in some sort of hellish state.

When Shane waltzed into his office early the next morning he was taken aback to find Stephanie sitting at his desk waiting for him to arrive. In no haste to deal with any person and apprehensive of Stephanie's soon repudiation of the proposition, Shane settled himself at his desk at a snail's pace.

Ultimately Stephanie could no longer stand Shane's procrastination. "You win. Angle can be rehired, but I want all those stipulations and provisions that you and the guys came up with reinforced."

"No problem," Shane replied, contented to have gotten his own way with her for once. "Do you want to make the call, or shall I?"

Stephanie stood up and stared her brother right in the eye, "I may have agreed to let you rehire Angle, but that does not mean that I want anything to do with him. You can baby-sit him because I won't do it anymore."

"Okay," Shane said grudgingly. "What about the changes we discussed?"

"We should still go ahead with them. We need to use them to distance our company away from the WWF," Stephanie answered him. "I also think that the sooner we can implement the changes, the better off we'll be."

"I agree," Shane said. "I'll get the lawyers working on the changes and on Angle's contract."

Stephanie gathered her things and headed out of the door, suddenly returning. "Do you think that this is going to work?"

Shane answered his baby sister as honestly as he could, "I don't know. What have we got to lose?"

"Everything."

"That's what makes it fun," Shane told her. "Pulling off the improbable is what us McMahon's are good at."

Stephanie shot Shane a look of skepticism, "We'll see."

Shane watched her leave and began to feel a little bit better about the circumstances that he had forced her into. They needed Angle, not only for ratings, athleticism, but also to keep the talent happy - there were numerous superstars that wanted a shot at him before he had even been offered a contract. However he was not utterly hardhearted and unsympathetic to his sister's emotions. He knew that she had not been the same person since Angle's duplicity - hell if he was being straightforward, she had not been herself since she had began spending all that extra time with Angle before Survivor Series. Evidently something more than business had gone on between the two of them and Shane hoped that for everyone's sake that both of them could get past it - especially Stephanie - because any fallout from this capricious situation could destroy lives, marriages and fledgling companies.

Part 3

To say that Kurt was jubilant to receive the phone call from Shane about visiting the Alliance Headquarters was undeniably an underestimation. The instantaneous change in his mood and expression returned him to almost his normal state; notwithstanding the stain of sadness that still clung to his very spirit. All of his family and close friends knew why it was there, it was simply because it had been Shane and not Stephanie who had wanted him to return.

Kurt packed his overnight bag as swiftly as he could and jumped into his midnight blue sports car, speeding straight off to collect the ticket that had been prearranged for him and to hop onto the first plane to Connecticut - despite Shane's assertion that there was no need to rush. As it turned out he need not have hurried as he was forced to wait in those uncomfortable plastic airport chairs for nearly five hours before he could board a plane, as a consequence it was virtually midnight when he finally arrived at his chosen objective.

After checking into the closest affably priced hotel that he could find at that time of night, he crashed and fell into the first good night's sleep he'd had in weeks. He awoke early the next morning feeling better than he had in a long time and hurriedly got ready to meet with Shane McMahon. In his mind he was already back and he hoped that with his invariable presence backstage and at events, Stephanie's feelings for him might resurface and give him a much needed second chance - despite her Neanderthal husband's attendance.

He showed up at Alliance Headquarters at nine o'clock on the dot and was once again forced to wait - this time it was for the reason that Shane was holding a creative team meeting about implementing changes to The Alliance's shows. In due course people started to exit out of what had once been Vince McMahon's office. When the office was devoid of everyone but it's latest owner, Shane's secretary showed him inside.

He entered and took seat across the desk from Shane McMahon and waited impatiently for the young owner to acknowledge and greet him. Shane did not disappoint, greeting him seconds later despite the strange look he gave him in concurrence.

"Kurt," he said shaking his hand. "Welcome to Alliance Headquarters."

"Thank you."

Shane picked up a file that had been laying on the top of his large, stately mahogany desk. "I gather you know why I called you?" At Kurt's slight nod of the head, he continued handing Kurt the folder, "I suggest that you have your attorney run through the contract. After all you may find some of the contractual terms unusual."

"Unusual how?"

Shane sighed, "For example the contract will be given on a month-to-month basis until we - and I do mean *both* Stephanie and I - agree that we can trust you."

Kurt could not find fault with that, he had after all betrayed them at a critical time. "Is there anything else that you would care to highlight?"

Shane's expression went from one of control to one of apprehension. "Well, the - uh - general feeling among the superstars is that you - uh - do not deserve a title shot..."

"And you agree with them," it was a statement and not a question.

"Oh hell, Kurt," Shane replied. "You betrayed us when we needed and trusted you. If you were Steph or I would you give you a title shot? No, you wouldn't; at least not until you were certain of where loyalties lie. For all I know you may run off with our title and join some other company."

Kurt scrunched the contract that he held within his hand, torn between tossing it away and signing immediately - lawyer's approval or no lawyer's approval. It was everything he wanted and needed and yet at the exact same time it was also the opposite. "Can I have some time to think about this?"

"I can let you have one week. If I or Paul Heyman don't hear from you by the close of business seven days from now, consider the offer rescinded."

Kurt nodded his understanding and rose from his seat. Shaking the hand that Shane offered him once more, he took his leave and hurried out of the building, anxious to have a long and hard think about his future - immediate and long term.

When Stephanie waltzed into the hotel room that she was sharing with her husband while they were attending the Raw and Smackdown shows for the week, she found that it was empty still. She could not even claim to be surprised, Hunter had taken off to go bar hoping with Austin; just as he had every other night they had been on the road. Not that she and Debra hadn't been invited, it's just that she had not wanted to spend *another* night in some seedy beer joint surrounded by loud, obnoxious people.

Sighing loudly Stephanie flopped down onto the lumpy king-sized bed and closed her eyes, wishing that she was back at home and not stuck out in the middle of Arizona with an absent husband. Forcing herself to get up once again, she stripped off the outfit she had worn to the arena and changed into her comfortable black silk pajamas. Intending to catch up on some paperwork while it was quiet, she grabbed her leather monogrammed briefcase and dragged it onto the bed with her.

She must have fallen asleep because the next thing that she knew Hunter was back in the room and he was gently removing her work and tucking her in. "Hey," she whispered sleepily. "Did you have fun with the guys?"

"It was fun, but it would have been better if you had been there," Hunter replied as he set to work removing his own clothing.

Stephanie could not help but lay back and be in awe of Hunter's physique - after all it had been one of the things that her post teenaged mind had been attracted too - but these days even that was not enough to stir her blood. It was a invariable exertion in everything that she did to keep up her marriage, but in the end she held onto the hope that it would all be worth it. Plus a part of her felt that she needed the stability, the commitment that Hunter offered after that catastrophe with Kurt.

Not that all of the problems within her marriage were exclusively his or her own fault. Of course Hunter had been overly focused on his own career and to an extent - okay to a great extent - neglectful of her and her needs, but she had been equally as selfish on more than one occasion. She had added her own amount of lies, half truths and scams and not to mention the fact that her choice to marry Hunter in the first place had been based on her own father's hatred of the man. Naturally after daddy had accepted Hunter her interest and attraction had waned slightly and then Kurt had joined the WWF.

As much as did not want to divulge it, she had been engrossed by Kurt from the moment that they had first been introduced. And it wasn't just his physique - although it was magnificent - that had drawn her to him, he was simply dissimilar to every other man she had ever met, including her brother and father. She had managed to push aside her feelings for him - despite her stint as Kurt's best friend/manager - until he had joined The Alliance. Obviously she had been mistaken about Kurt's feelings for her, if he had in reality had any he would not and could not have betrayed her the way he had.

Feeling the bed dip beside her and Hunter pull her into his open arms, Stephanie lay still and tried to wish herself to sleep - with a bit of luck a dreamless one. Regrettably it did not occur and she lay there with her head on Hunter's chest listening to his heartbeat until exhaustion at long last overtook her in the early hours of the morning.

Kurt was on Shane's doorstep at seven o'clock that next morning, holding in his hand the signed contract. At the point in time he was beyond caring whether he woke up Shane or his wife, Marissa, all he cared about was turning over the contract so that he could begin working again. All right so getting to be around Stephanie was also on his mind, but he was prepared to deal with that situation once all of the legalities were out of his way.

After a few minutes the carved oak front door was opened by Shane McMahon who was still wearing his pajamas and robe, with an extremely pissed-off expression playing upon his features. The expression remained the same even after he saw who had rang the bell, although it had been mixed with a good dose of confusion.

"Angle? What in hell are you doing here?"

"Delivering your contract - signed and notarized," Kurt replied holding out the documentation.

Shane attempted to shake the sleep from his befuddled brain, "You could not have gotten a lawyer to go through it this fast."

"I don't need a lawyer's seal of approval," Kurt told him confidently. "What I need is to start working again."

Taking the signed papers, Shane sighed knowingly. "Please tell me that this has absolutely nothing to do with my sister?"

"Why would it have anything to do with Stephanie?" Kurt asked playing dumb.

"Oh, come off of it, Kurt. Every single person who works backstage knows how you feel about her. I just want - no need - some reassurance that you are not going to do something stupid where she is concerned," Shane explained as he eyed Kurt carefully.

Kurt smiled, "The best I can promise is that I will not do anything that she does not want me to do."

With that Kurt walked away, leaving Shane stood at the door with a disturbed look etched across his face. "That's what I was afraid of," he whispered before closing himself inside the house.

Part 4

The atmosphere inside the newly built arena was at the very least exhilarating, it was furthermore the night in which The Alliance owners were scheduled to make a bombshell announcement on the fledgling company's potential direction. Every single superstar was just about dying with curiosity and were stunned when they questioned Hunter and Austin because neither of them - the two top stars of the company - had any idea about what Shane nor Stephanie had planned.

It was also Kurt Angel's first night back and so far it was not going inordinately well for him. Every superstar - both Alliance and hires from the old WWF - were treating him like he was a leper. Not that he had been expecting to be welcomed with open arms, but somehow he had not quite expected to be given the cold shoulder either.

After he had been forced to dress in an abandoned corner of the locker room he had been assigned to, Kurt decided to take a quick stroll around the building - basically he would have done anything to get himself out of the locker room area. However he found it nearly as bad out there where there was a lot of suspicious looks from the crew and a mysterious lack of sightings of one particular owner.

After a while he found a nice quiet place and sat himself down to watch the show on a nearby monitor until it was his time to go on out to the ring. Kurt found himself sitting up a little bit straighter when he heard Stephanie's theme music hit and a wide shot of the ring revealed Shane, Stephanie and the ever-present Paul E. Heyman were standing in the middle of the squared circle obviously ready to make their joint announcement.

His attention was naturally focused on the figure of Stephanie looking all pale and fragile, but none of the words she spoke sank in. At least that was until he heard two fateful words slip from Stephanie's lips - Brand Extension. He was not quite certain about what it meant, but somehow he knew that it was not going to be good news for him.

Focusing his attention away from the woman he loved, Kurt forced himself to concentrate on the words that were being spoken in the ring. From what he could gather there was some major changes about to occur in the company. Raw and Smackdown were going to be split, as were the wrestlers and there was also going to be a name change for the company.

The sinking feeling that had been threatening to overwhelm Kurt finally did so; as he saw his chance to woo Stephanie disappear. If she and Shane took a brand each he knew that he would be stuck working for the male McMahon. What he needed now was a miracle of the largest proportion.

"You want to what?" Stephanie yelled at her husband. She could not believe what she had just heard him say.

They had just returned to their hotel room after a leisurely dinner with Shane and Marissa. However they had scarcely stepped through the doorway into the room before Hunter had dropped his latest bombshell on her - he did not want to work for her.

Casually he pulled his dinner jacket he answered her, "Look honey, I just don't think it's a good idea for us to be on the same program. If we are then - well, people are just going to assume that you're giving me special treatment..."

"And you think that being on a show run by your brother-in-law will change that?"

"There's a better chance - " Hunter started to say and then changed his mind. ”Steph, you know that I love you, but I think that this will be good for us. This time we will have a chance to separate our marriage form the business."

Stephanie sat down on the edge of the bed, thinking about the point that he had made. Some of the major problems that had plagued their marriage were caused by her father and the business. However there were also new problems that Hunter's suggestion presented.

"We'd be working different days - different schedules."

"That's only a few days per week. We would be together the rest of the time, just the two of us."

"I'm still not sure about this," Stephanie admitted to him as he sat down next to her.

Hunter lifted her chin with one of his large hands, forcing her to look deep into his eyes. "All I am asking is for us to give it a try. If it doesn't work I'm sure that we can find a way for me to swap shows."

Hunter brushed her lips ever-so tenderly with his own; the sheer breath of a kiss and instantaneously Stephanie knew that she would be the one to give in yet again. The truth was that she had no bona fide objection to Hunter's proposition and on quite a lot of levels she in point of fact agreed with him, but that did not prevent her worrying about certain things. One was as you would expect, if her marriage - in its existing circumstance - could stand the tension of a separation again so soon and two - and in her opinion - the most problematic - there was every chance that she could end up with Kurt on her show via the superstar draw.

"Okay," she finally whispered against her urge for self-preservation. "We'll give it a try."

His response was not a verbal one; his lips found hers once more and there was no more words or thoughts about business, brand extensions, or Olympic medallists for an extremely long time.

Two weeks later Stephanie found herself standing on the Raw staging area, just in front of the titantron; it was time for the superstar picks. This stunt that she and Shane had planned was the biggest and riskiest career move that they could have chosen, even more so than when they had driven their father out of business.

Her attention was riveted on JR and his explanation of what was about to occur. The first ten picks for both Raw - Shane - and Smackdown - Stephanie - would take place live in front of the audience and after Raw wen off the air the remaining superstars would be divided via a special draw. Meaning that half go to Raw and half to Smackdown and no arguments about placing's.

Before she knew it, Shane was making his first pick and Stephanie had to admit the jolt of surprise when Shane chose Austin instead of Hunter. She did not give into temptation and choose her husband and instead stuck to her original superstar, the one she had thought out carefully, The Undertaker.

They continued to make their selections - neither one of them choosing Angle for their line-up. As she made her way backstage afterwards she saw a mixture of emotion run across the faces of the talent, raging from anger to relief to surprise to disappointment. However Stephanie could offer them no comfort, both she and Shane had worked out their rosters to maximise viewers and talent and the rest to come was simply going to be luck of the draw.

Ignoring the looks that superstars were shooting in her direction, she simply kept on moving away.  Since Shane, Austin and Hunter had commandeered the General Manager’s office to watch the rest of the show, Stephanie elected to go to the catering area - which she found blissfully deserted - to watch the show on a monitor and to have some quality alone time.

Part 5

The subsequent few hours were torture for Kurt, and the remaining superstars who were not selected during the live draft on Raw. Not knowing which show they were to be on and which McMahon that they would be working for, was one of the most terrible forms of torment that there was. Each person unsurprisingly had ideas about which show they wanted to be on and whom they should be up against next, but all of those hopes and plans could be and most probably would be shattered with the drawing of their names.

Since no-one was sanctioned to the depart the arena until the draft was concluded, most of the superstars (Kurt included) congregated in the General Manager's office to watch the draw take place. As each name was read and designated a brand there was an assortment of cheering and sniffling, as friendships and even families were torn apart.

Kurt scrutinized and lingered without a sound in the corner in anticipation of his own name call and the pronouncement of his fortune. It was a elongated interval for him, as it was virtually the end of the draft when he at long last heard the sound of his own name spoken by the full-bodied Paul Heyman. He had little hope that he would be assigned to Smackdown and Stephanie, however moments later - much to his own satisfaction and the horror of Stephanie - he had been.

Stephanie could do nothing but pace the floor of the hotel that night, in such a state of agitation was she in. How could it have happened? She was on Smackdown with Kurt - her temptation - while her husband lived it up on Raw with her brother and his most recent best friend. How was she supposed to deal with the predicament that this circumstance presented? Altogether conflicted over the selection of Kurt for Smackdown that she never noticed the door of the room opening or her brother's entrance until he was stood in her path.

"Tell me you didn't arrange it!" Shane demanded harshly, grasping onto her upper left arm.

"Arrange what?"

One look at her bewildered and despondent face convinced Shane that it had all been an unlucky twist of fate, that his baby sister had not conspired with Paul Heyman to modify the random results of the draw so that Kurt was on Smackdown with her. He almost felt sorry for her, married to one man and evidently, excruciatingly in love with another. If this mess had not been her own doing Shane would have taken matters into his own hands and dealt with it, but Stephanie had unreservedly chosen to marry Hunter and he assumed to have an affair - at one time or another  - with Kurt.

He pulled her into an embrace and comforted her the only way he knew how. "Never mind, Steph."

"You're talking about Kurt, aren't you?" she mumbled into his shoulder as she let her tears flow soaking his shirt. "I didn't want him on Smackdown, Shane. I swear to you -."

"I know. I believe you."

Her blubbering continued to intensify as she held on to her brother's accessible reassurance. "I really didn't want him there. I can't deal with him... with this and still make my marriage work. It's impossible..."

Shane pulled away and stared into his baby sister's tear-filled eyes. "Steph, listen to me. You *are* a McMahon, nothing is unattainable for us. If you want to make your marriage work out, you will find a way to do so. If you don't... or your heart in all truthfulness is not with Hunter, then that will work out too. Just have a little faith in yourself and the man that you want to be with."

The subsequent few weeks flew by and Stephanie kept herself occupied with organizing the show and keeping her diminishing marriage alive. But as the time started to fly by she found that she and Hunter were growing further and further apart. The time they spent away from each other was becoming easier to deal with and she found that when he was around all he could do was talk about Raw and what he, Austin and Shane had gotten up to on the road.

But being the McMahon that she was, she was determined not to fail. Failure in this case would mean having to make a clean breast to the world and more essentially her father, that she had made a faux pas. Add to that what the exact raison d'être behind her failure would be and she would soon become the prevalent comic story in her family circle.

One thing that she had to be appreciative for was that Kurt was playing the gentleman and giving her some space. She had guessed that he was waiting, hopeful that she would make the next move. But she could not - even if she was not married to Hunter, the sting of Kurt's treachery was still too new and the reality was that she did not know if she would ever be able to overcome it.

To stem the tide of temptation, Stephanie had a quick word with her brother about giving Hunter the weekend off and when Shane agreed she called her husband immediately. The problem came when she called him and someone else answered the phone - a woman.