Some balding guy with a set of headphones resting on his neck opens the door. "Five minutes till curtain, Vince," he says, and closes the door again.
I begin to get a little scared of my first performance for the world, and take many deep breaths. Mark takes my hand in his, giving it a gentle squeeze. I look over at him, and he smiles. "Don't worry; you'll do fine." he tells me.
"Hey!" Vince suddenly exclaims. "I've got an idea! Mark, Jess, would you be willing to be placed in a controversial storyline?"
Mark nods without hesitance, but I ask, "What kinda storyline?"
Vince answers, "You are Shane's girlfriend, and Mark here is kinda caught with you in a weird kinda way or something. I'm not exactly sure how it could play out, but if you're willing to come back every now and then, it could work."
I look at Mark, wondering if it was okay. He nods slightly, and I reply, "Yeah, I guess we could try it." After a few more little details from Vince, Mark leaves the room.
A man with a humongous camera on his shoulder comes into the room, followed by a thick cable-cord. "DX is on their way, Vince," he says. "Just a few more minutes." Sure enough, a few minutes later, the cameraman presses a button, and a red light above the lens comes on. A couple of seconds later, a group of three men and a woman, DX, I presume, come into the room.
The first one to enter has long, blonde hair, a big nose, wears a T-shirt that reads 'D-Generation X' and cut-offs, and holds a heavy, gold belt across his shoulder. The second man has brown, short braids plastered to the top of his head, wears a 'Doin' It In The Dogg House' T-shirt and stonewash-colored jeans, and tops it off with sunglasses with yellowish-tinted lenses. The third man has shoulder-length black hair, a bandana around his forehead, dark sunglasses, and wears a T-shirt that reads 'X-Pac' and cut-offs. The woman has long, light-brown hair, tanned skin, and wears a really tight 'D-Generation X' cut-off T-shirt, and black leather hip-hugger pants. All four are built, to some degree.
The first one basically storms up to Vince as the owner comes to his feet. "Last week wasn't some damn coincidence!" he booms. "I want an explanation."
"Whoa! Hold on, Triple H!" Vince says, holding his hands in front of their chests. "I'll agree it was no coincidence, but it was not my doing! Rock decided he wanted to risk his career Thursday night, but I've got an idea. How's about you versus the Rock at King of the Ring?" Triple H nods. "Tonight, though, the Rock will have to go through the Dudley Boys in a Handicapped Table Match!"
Triple H nods his head again. "Good," he says, and looks directly at me. He points his finger in my direction. "Who's that?!"
Steph stands up and goes to his side. "That's just Jess, a friend of mine and Shane's girlfriend," she replies. "Chill out, Hunter. You're just paranoid."
Suddenly, the door opens, and Mark walks back in, a look of pure hate and evil crossing his face. Vince and Hunter simultaneously shout out, "What the hell are you doin' here?!"
Mark just looks at them, the look growing more cross. "I came back from the dead," he replies in a darker voice, more mystical than his usual one. "Decided I'd come and haunt you all."
"Are you trying to be funny?" Triple H demands, his face growing beet red.
"No, dead serious," he says, smirking.
"Listen here, old man!" Triple H says to Mark. Mark raises his eyebrow at this comment. "This is my stompin' grounds now. I am the Champ, I am the Game. You've come onto my turf, and now, you gotta pay!" He smiles smugly, looking at Vince, Shane, Steph, and me. "A match, no DQ, falls count anywhere, for the championship." He pats the belt on his shoulder. Still smirking, he continues, "And I'll tell ya one thing: there ain't no way in Hell you'll be able to pry this belt away from my grasp!"
"If you're willing to face your unfortunate destiny, then you shall have your match!" Mark answers. "You better show up, or I'll come looking for you!" Triple H drops his smirk at this threat, and watches Mark leave the room.
"Why the hell did you just do that?" Vince yells. "You don't know what he's got up his sleeve!"
Hunter glares at Vince. "Don't worry about it, Vince. We'll make sure that I won't lose the title, won't we?" A knowing smirk grows across both men's faces. Hunter then sits down with Steph on his lap, and Vince sits back down in his chair.
"Cut!" calls the cameraman. He turns off the camera, and exits the room with Hunter. Mark comes back into the room.
Everyone sits back down. "Now see?" Mark says in a teasing way, taking my hand, "that wasn't so hard, was it?"
I smile, and reply, "I didn't get to say a damn word, Mark. Of course it was easy!" Shane, Steph, and Vince snicker. Mark looks at them with a deathly stare to his eyes, and they promptly stop.
"I want to show Jess around, so if you all don't mind-" Mark says.
Vince interrupts, "Sure, go ahead. Just come back in half an hour, all right?"
Mark nods, takes my hand, and we leave the room, closing the door behind us. "They're interesting people," I comment.
"Yeah, I know," Mark replies. He sighs, and leans against the wall across from Vince's office. "I don't believe what we got ourselves into!"
I put my hand on his crossed arms. "It's all right, Mark, I'm sure we can manage," I tell him. "If we have to go anywhere, I'm sure Ralph and the other secretaries can handle the shop."
Mark looks at me. "Do you think you can handle it?" Mark asks. "I mean, with the way the storyline seems to start, we won't be together much during the shows."
I nod, and reply, "I can handle it. Besides, we always have the nights." I grin at him.
He grins back, and kisses my forehead. "I think I just got myself rehired," he says, "and you're hired with me." Mark looks back at me with his impish grin. "Looks like we're gonna terrorize everyone this time around."
I smile back again. "Looks like, I guess," I reply, and lean my body against his. He surrounds me with his thick arms.
"Hey, what's goin' on here?" calls a familiar voice. "I thought she was Shane's." I turn to see Triple H standing across from us. He's got an evil grin on his face. It looks like everyone jokes around in this business. "Isn't Shane's stuff 'off-limits'?"
"What's not Shane's isn't 'off-limits'," Mark replies. His arms are still around me.
"I don't belong to Shane, thanks," I tell the blond man. "Mark and I are together."
"OOoo," Hunter says, bringing up his hands and wiggling his fingers, "I stand corrected. Anyway, Mark, you back for good?"
Mark releases me, and I stand beside the two men. "For a few months, I suppose. Vince has this whole storyline coming." Mark tells him. "We'll just have to wait 'till he figures out what's gonna happen."
A lady comes up to the two talking men. "If you guys are gonna do this match, you better get dressed," she says. "We still have your last outfit, Mark. Just follow me." She walks off a little ways to a door down the hall, opens it, and holds the door as Hunter walks in.
Mark turns to me. "Go back into the office, I'll be right back." he tells me, kisses my lips lightly, and walks off to the lady holding the door. I watch him disappear into the room and the door close. I lean against the wall where he left me for another ten minutes or so before I enter back into the McMahon office.
Vince and Shane stand as I reenter. "What are you doing back so soon? And where's Mark?" Vince asks.
"Mark had to get ready for the match, I think," I reply. "He told me to come back here."
Vince says, "Well, I'm glad you came back anyway. I've figured some things out for tonight." He motions me to sit beside Steph again. I sit down, and Vince sits back down as well. "We four will accompany Hunter to the ring, in total support of him. Shane, you, and I will do a little guest commentary, while Steph will do her normal wife-valet thing. When you see Steph distracting the ref, and maybe a run in, you'll complain somehow, and it upsets you. Shane and I will get upset with the way you're thinking, and things will grow from there."
"You'll have to sit on my lap," Shane adds, "just to add the element of a serious relationship."
"I can do that," I tell them, and smile. "This might be fun after all." Vince and Shane stand up, saying their 'See ya later's, and leave the room.
After the door closes, Steph says to me, "So, you're the one that's managed to tame Mark."
"I actually thought he was the one to tame me," I tell her.
She smiles. "I remember when all the women here wanted to get him to notice them. It was one teeny tiny outfit after another, each having less than the one before." She sticks her tongue out in disgust. "God! I didn't know how long it'd be before it'd stop. It didn't stop 'till Mark decided to leave. Finally, the women began to dress more sensibly. Sometimes, I think it was good for Mark to leave."
I squirm a little, nervous of the upcoming match, and of these details I didn't wanna know. After a few minutes of silence, and serious debate by my mind, I become too curious to hold back my question. "Did you ever have a thing for him?" I bluntly ask her.
She begins laughing. "That would have been a weird circumstance," she says, then her smiles fades. "I did have a small crush on him, but what normal female didn't? I remember when we did this one storyline one summer. His character had this evil conqueror thing going on, and he had his little group prepare me for an unholy wedding." She looks up at me, and I look right back at her. "It's funny, I was kinda waiting for the 'you may kiss the bride' thing to actually happen."
I smile. "I know exactly what you mean," I reassure her.
Vince and Shane come back in. "Things are all set up," Vince tells us. "We've just got to wait another hour." The two men seat themselves
For the next hour, the three McMahon's inquire me with just about every question. I tell them about the whole story of how Mark and I met, about my friends, and about the shop. As usual, whenever my past comes up, I avoid it; I change the subject. If there's one thing that no one short of an executioner will make me speak of, it's my past.
The door opens again, and Mark walks in. I gasp in surprise at his appearance. He was still wearing the blue bandana, which went over his loose, flowing hair which he recently let grow back to its original color, halfway-unbuttoned black shirt, black jeans, and worn, black boots he wore when we came, but now he had on this beautiful long, black leather trench coat and leather biker gloves. He also had a pair of dark sunglasses over his eyes. Had he not been wearing those shades, I'm sure all this coloration would have brought out his eyes, and his dark strawberry-blonde full goatee (beard and moustache). "Wow," I whisper.
I stand up as he approaches me. "I'd definitely pay to see this," I say, motioning at Mark. The other three laugh, and leave us alone in the room.
Once the door closes, Mark says, "So, you'd pay for this, even when you can have it all for free." I nod as he leans over, and begins to kiss my mouth with such untamed passion. His tongue teases my lips, and they part, accepting the entrance.
A knock interrupts us. "Damn it," I swear softly when we pull apart, "it seems like we're always interrupted."
Mark agrees as he opens the door. Hunter walks in with Vince and Shane. "So we've got everything covered, right?" Hunter asks him.
Mark nods, saying, "Yeah, I think we've got everything." He looks back over at me with an apologetic look, and back at the three men.
"Good, we don't want anything to go wrong tonight," Vince says next. "How about we go out to the curtain to go over it once more?" They all nod, and Hunter, Vince, and Shane lead the way out. I walk over to Mark, give his hand a gentle squeeze, and we follow the three men. Steph has joined us again, and we all begin to walk down the hall.
As we turn a corner, I see the women Steph had told me about. They were all wearing barely a yard of clothing, with teeny, tiny tops, and even smaller skirts, shorts, or thongs. Some are leaning against a wall of the hall, others are bending over so their breasts almost fall out of their tops, and the rest are just there. When we turn the corner, and slowly walk past them, I hear comments like "Welcome back, Mark", "Hiya, hottie", and "Nice to have ya back, stud", all made with coy voices and huge, knowing grins.
For absolutely no real reason, I grow quite angry, and storm ahead of the group. Having no idea where to go, I just keep walking straight ahead. As soon as I come to another hallway, I turn down it. After a few steps into this new hallway, I feel a huge strong hand grab my arm, and violently turn me around. I look up into Mark's face, his eyes hidden by the shades. "What just got into you, Jess?" he asks me.
"What do you mean 'what got into me'?" I ask, rage and pain broiling in my being. "We just walk by those scanks, and you expect me to just walk by, without caring about what they're implying?"
"You're angry over what the 'Slut Crew' called out? I'm surprised at you, Jess. Jealously really doesn't suit your look, either." Mark tells me, smiling as if nothing's wrong. I glare angrily up at him, cutting right through the sunglasses and into his piercing green eyes. His smiles fades, and he takes the shades off his face. "Jess, you listen to me, all right? I have never, never wanted anything from those women. They don't impress me at all. I have no clue why you're jealous over them."
"Need I bring Dave up again?" I simply reply, anger still rising in my voice.
Mark nods, and says, "All right, I'll admit that I was jealous of him, but only because he took up the time I wanted to spend with you. You don't have to worry about those girls because I have only wanted the woman I see in front of me. Compared to you, they're just a bunch of little girls dressed in potato sacks."
Finally, a smile emerges on my face. "Potato sacks, Mark?" I say to him. "Is that all you could come up with?"
Mark takes my hands, and smiles at me again. "Well, it's the truth," he tells me, and leans down to kiss me.
Our lips are barely together for a second or two before a familiar voice calls out, "Jeeze, you two! Get hitched already, get a room!" We look up to see Glenn passing by, dressed in his red and black wrestling outfit, his matching mask on the top of his head, and the biggest boyish grin I've ever seen. I giggle quietly, and retaking Mark's hand, we finish out trek to the front curtain.
As we arrive, Vince calls out, "Thank God! I thought you two had gotten lost on the way. I was about to send out a search party!" Shane, Steph, and Hunter, along with other personnel, begin to laugh.
"We were detained for a moment," is Mark's comeback, and, before anyone can comment further, adds, "So, are we gonna go over the match again?" He joins the men on one side while I stay on the other side with Steph.
"I can't believe what those women weren't wearing," I tell her. "It's like they knew days in advance that Mark would show up."
"News like Mark's return travels fast; he's well respected by everyone," she replies, watching a monitor that's close by. "I guess when they all found out, they found their skimpiest outfits, trying to outdo each other for his eye." She turns to me. "Listen." Her voice has a serious note to it now. "I know those women; they'll do anything to get attention. Don't let anything they say or do get to you. Mark's eye is caught only by you, trust me. I know these things." She gives me a reassuring smile.
