Part 5:

At the end of the show, Kai fussed around her desk, stacking and restacking papers and buzzing around her desk.
"Kai," Kevin asked her, "you all right?"
"I'm fine. Why?"
"Because it's the fifth time you've restacked the program log and the swing CDs."
"Have I?"
"Darling," Shane asked, a smile in his voice, "would you be getting a touch nervous for some reason?"
"Me? What do I have to be nervous about?"
Picking up on the byplay between Shane and Kai, Kevin's eyes shifted from him to her and her to him and he started shaking his head.
"The two of you?" he asked. "Is there something going on between the two of you?"
"Define going on," Shane asked, enjoying the blush that suddenly pinked Kai's cheeks.
"I mean… you know exactly what I mean. Hey, I'm cool but if you ruin her talent, boss or not, I bust your ass."
"Another threat? And in my face too. Your friends are brazen baby."
"Stop calling me that," Kai finally sighed, making her way to the director's booth. "Kevin, I'm heading out."
"With your new boyfriend?"
"Nope. Just Shane McMahon."
"That hurt darling. Cut me right then and there."
"Aaaaaaaaargh…"
Wielding a cane more like a weapon than anything else, Kai made her way out of the studio to the elevator. Shane caught up with her there and called out to her.
"What's wrong with you babe?"
"That! You calling me babe and referring to me as your girlfriend."
"Why? I just love you and want the whole world to know."
"It's just… a lot for me to get used to. Last month, I had never been kissed or been anyone's love interest and in the last twenty-four hours… it all changed."
"That's life baby. It's all about changes and…"
"Give me time to get used to these things."
"How much time?"
"Enough time."
"Babe…"
"Please Shane. Just give me some room to get used to this."

It had been a week and Shane had given Kai the room to get used to the love thing and the boyfriend and girlfriend thing. And it wasn't helping. She was sitting in her room, trying to find the peace Kat got from meditation.
"You love him, don't you?" genie Stephanie asked.
"Ridiculously so."
"So why are you meditating while he's yelling at his employees for no good reason?"
"Because… because… I don't know…"
"You're scared."
"Yes."
"That the scars will matter and frighten him away."
"Yes."
"Then it's not love."
"Excuse me? I'm doing this to spare him the humiliation of having to explain why he got me when he could have gotten a pretty little trophy wife."
"You can't think much of him either."
"Great… my own brain's doing the reverse psychology bit. Only me…"
"Yeah well, can't be love if you think he'll be ashamed of your scars."
"Hey!!!"
"Hey what? You thought it, not me."
Feeling more frustrated than ever, Kai stretched out her legs and fell back on her bed. She rolled over on her stomach and screamed into her pillow. Someday, she could figure this out… well, most of it anyway.

"Go home Shane," Vince told his son as he saw a vein pop in his neck.
"What? Vince, I can do this."
"No you can't! I don't know if you've noticed but your roster's walking egg shells around you."
"Excuse me?"
"Get yourself laid son or settle whatever is going on, or rather not going on in your life because whatever it is happens to be affecting my WWF and you know how I feel about that."
"B-b-but…"
"Go home Shane!"
"Fine!"
"And when you come back, make sure you leave that pissy attitude at the door."
"Pissy attitude? Me?"
"Yes, pissy! Now get out of here!"
Shane stalked away angrily and he was almost out of the room when he ran into Raven.
"Leaving so soon?"
"Yeah."
Shane brushed past his smirking friend, heading back into his office. Raven turned on his heels, wondering what had crawled up Shane's ass when something very strange came over him. And whatever that something was made him turn around and catch up to Shane just as he was leaving.
"Shane!"
"What?"
"That was kinda my question to you."
Shane sighed, "I'm sorry man. It's just… my life's taking me on a weird ride lately and keeping track's getting hard."
"Wanna talk about it?"
"With you?"
"It's me or Tajiri," Scott smiled.
"Let's go back to my office."
For the first time since meeting Kai, Shane gave in and shared her with someone else. He told Scott everything, what had happened, how he felt, about her scars, about her friends.
"God," Scott said almost sadly, "you're in love, aren't you?"
"Looks like it, doesn't it?"
"That's disgusting. She love you back?"
"I think so."
"I feel ill," Scott said, making a face.
Shane laughed and as he tried catching his breath, he realized he hadn't laughed since Kai had asked him for time to think things through.
"Thanks," he told his friend, "I needed that."
"No problem. Now be honest, the scars, they're bad, aren't they?"
Shane sighed and put his elbows on his knees.
"They're bad," he said slowly. "It was fucking acid man. That bastard wanted to rape her and when she begged him not to, that's what he did to her."
"Is he dead?"
"Yes."
"Good. Shane, do you think she's ugly?"
"Hell no! She's so beautiful. Her heart, it's so big, it's got room in it for the whole world and then some."
"Sounds like a pretty wonderful woman."
"That's because she is. But she might not want me, not like I want her. And I understand her."
"You do?"
"Yeah. Shane, she's lived with these scars for most of her adult life. She's felt them, knows them almost intimately. And remember, she wasn't always blind, right?"
"Right."
"See, she remembers beauty and she doesn't think she has that anymore. And let's call a spade a spade, physically, she doesn't have that anymore. But she is so beautiful."
"I know. But she has to see that."
"And until she does, I have to be patient, right?"
"Right."
"God, that's going to be hard since I'm not a very patient man."
"Tell me about it. I seem to remember a stripper in DesMoines…"
While Scott took Shane down memory lane, genie Lita slipped out of him.
"You owe me for this genie Stephanie."
"Thank you so much, I needed to get him to understand Kai a little better."
"I know. But slipping into human bodies is just freaky."
"Even one of yours?"
"Especially one of mine. I swear, flesh is just so restrictive."
"Which is why I avoid it as much as I can. But this was necessary."
"Yes it was. However, there is something you should know."
"Really? What?"
"I think he knows her."
"Does he?"
"Yes, he does. He's known her for quite a while now, but she doesn't know she knows him."
"Huh?"
"She doesn't know him as Raven. She knows him under an alias."
"Why the subterfuge?"
"Humans, males especially, are strange beings."
"So strange…"
And away they walked, the two beautiful genies so intent on improving the lives of a handful of humans, discussing the vagaries of the males of the species.

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