Disclaimer: Vinnie owns them... I own the original characters and the idea.
Distribution: You know where. Others, ask first.
Notes: The return of the Texas Rattlesnake was inspiring… Sequel to In The Game.

It was a strange moment as the two couples faced off. Ray, Steve and Stephanie looked like they were on the verge of upchucking while Kat grinned like she had a secret no one of them would ever guess.
“Isn’t this cozy,” she chuckled. “What should happen now? Should I run straight into Steve’s arms and declare myself completely unworthy of his love because I left? Or maybe I could engage in a cat fight with Stephanie for touching my man while Ray and Steve battle it out? Or should we just pretend nothing happened?” All three glared at Kat who shrugged it all off, “I was trying to relieve the tension. See if I ever do that again…”
“Still got that mouth of you I see,” Steve commented dryly.
“You used to… never mind. What I wanna say will get me into even more trouble.”
Ray rolled his eyes at that. “Trust her to say absolutely the wrong thing at the absolute wrong time.”
“Hey!”
“All right,” Steph said, “this is plain old awkward.”
“Tell me about it. Steph…”
“Come on Kat. You’re back and you’ve got to dance!”
Kat turned on her heels and saw Norman standing there, his dancers trooped behind him. “Guys, this might not the best time…”
“To dance? What are you, crazy? Come on let’s go. Boys!”
Totally ignoring Kat’s protests, Norman’s male dancers just grabbed her and carried her away, paying no mind to Steve, Stephanie or Ray.
“Oh hell,” Steve swore in frustration, going after them.
Ray and Stephanie stood in the hallway watching Steve run after Kat and her friends.
“How bad do you think Steve will beat those guys when he finally catches up to them?”
“It won’t be good.”
Ray finally looked at Steph and as he realized she was gnawing on her inner lip, it came to him that she was simply adorable. He reached out and ran the back of his hand down her cheek.
“I have the silliest crush on you,” he said in a very confidential tone. “When we were in Switzerland, I spent hours on the Internet, looking for pictures of you, skimming over wrestling news reports to find out how you were doing.”
“Ray…”
“There were even days when I got frustrated with Kat’s progress because it wasn’t fast enough. The faster we were done, the sooner I’d get to see you.”
“At least you had pictures, something to hold on to. All I had were these intensely impersonal letters you sent about Kat’s progress. They were so cold. But I kept them, trying to find some sort of private message you might have sent for me. It’s like I’d forgotten that we were pretty much strangers.”
“Kind of like we were missing out on an intimacy we’d never had.”
“Exactly!” Steph said with a triumphant smile.
“So what do we do?” Ray asked, gently tugging on a long brown lock.
“Well, I heard that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. And since I can’t cook for shit, I’ll take you to a nice restaurant.”
“I think I can work up some enthusiasm for that.”
“You do that. Let me go back to my dressing room to change and I’ll be all yours.”
“Stephanie?”
“Yes?”
“I’m a direct guy. I don’t like pretenses.”
“Ok.”
“I hate the crimped look. I prefer your hair straight.”
Steph burst out laughing and stuck her tongue out at Ray before heading to her dressing room. As he watched her ass and hips roll under the leather of her
short dress, Ray found himself whistling a happy little tune. He had a feeling the game would be won with minimal effort.

Kat watched Steve seethe in the other car and her heart went out to him. But she knew her friends had done this for her benefit.
“Put this on,” Tamara said, handing her friend a flimsy piece of lavender suede.
“Where’s the rest of it?” Kat joked as she wriggled around the backseat to take off her baby tee and her bra.
“You’ll thank us later. The briefer the better. You done yet?”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Here.”
Putting pants in the backseat of a car was not easy. Putting on tight black leather pants in the backseat of a car proved to be damn near impossible and definitely not a recommended activity for those who didn’t stretch carefully first.
“Do they fit?” Christine, driver seat, asked.
“A bit loose.”
“Shit girl, you fucking melted. Those are my tight pair.”
Kat sighed in the car’s covert darkness. Until now, her weight loss had been abstract. She hadn’t worn much while in Switzerland, mostly track pants, tee-shirts and swimsuits. And Ray had insisted on making stops in Milan, Paris and London to indulge in a McMahon-financed shopping spree. Probably to save her the trauma of swimming in her old wardrobe. But fitting loosely into Christine’s tight pants, the company’s resident bag o’bones was just as traumatizing. It made her weight loss real and tangible.
“I guess I did,” she said softly. “Norman will finally be able to lift me.”
“Honey,” Tamara said, “you lost weight, you didn’t get invisible. And you still don’t have the equipment to make him want to. Or is that what Switzerland was all about?”
“Sure was baby,” Kat said, pitching her voice to her best Barry White impression.
The momentary tension eased as the girls laughed.
“My grandmother can drive faster than you son,” Steve told Norman.
“Sure she does. Want to get out of the car and wait for her?”
“Tight ass!”
“You bet!”
“Humph!”
“You know, you need to laugh a bit more when you’re around Kat. She enjoys a good laugh, right boys? And don’t take yourself so seriously all the time.”
“Right,” agreed the three dancers in the backseat. “She loves a good joke. And don’t take yourself seriously at all. She’ll love that.”
“What the hell?”
Steve turned around and eyeballed the dancers sitting in the car with him.
“Why the hell do I feel like this is a fucking setup?”
“A setup implies we’re doing this against your will Steve. And we’re not. We’re doing this for your own good.”
“And what do you wily bastards think you’re doing for my own good?”
“We’re going to help you see that Stephanie, though she’s cool and all, isn’t the right woman for you.”
“Hell son, why do you think I ran after you guys when you just snatched up my damn woman?”
“Your woman?” Bruce asked. “Stephanie?”
“Stephanie and I are done with and that’s all I’ve got to say about that! By my woman, I mean Kat! You boys each deserve an ass whooping for what you just pulled on us. First time I actually might get a damn chance to talk to her and you just run away with her and where the hell are we?”
At Steve’s tone, Norman swallowed hard. The club had seemed like a good idea at first, half-rave, half-gay club. But now, it dawned on him that it might not be Steve’s cup of tea. But it was too late, Kat was there already and from the look on his face, drag queens and club kids weren’t going to stop him.
Kat and the other seven girls from the company were already on the dance floor by the time Steve and the guys got there, and they were already showing off their skills. It was clear that they were different from the rest of the crowd, that they were in a class of their own. Steve paused by the dance floor, watching Kat. She’d changed in the car and she’d done her hair differently. Her bob was pulled away from her face with the cute butterfly clips, the same kind he’d bought for his daughters. And the clips that had looked sweet and innocent in his daughters’ wispy hair looked down right sexy in Kat’s thick locks.
He watched her breasts bob under the suede of her top and wished everyone would disappear so it could just be her and him. But now, it was about her. She twisted and twirled on the dance floor with Norman, her lips moving along with the lyrics, merriment and joy in her eyes. This was her, he realized, this was what she loved. This was her life.
Kat felt better than she had since way before the accident. She’d settled so much of her life. And now she felt ready to start anew, to set her sights on a new goal and do whatever she had to in order to get it done. She did a seven twenty on the tips of her toes and stopped when she saw Steve. She tilted her head to the side, and extended her hand to him.
Trying not to stare wasn’t working, Norman decided. And from the looks of things, neither Kat nor Steve would mind. Destiny’s Child’ Independent Woman blared through the club as Steve joined Kat on the dance floor, piercing blue eyes mixing in the velvety brownness of her eyes. Oblivious to the dancers and ravers around them, he laid his hands on her hips and pulled her to him. Responding to his touch as if she’d been born to do so, wrapping her legs around his waist as she lowered her mouth to his for a long kiss.
Game over.

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