DISCLAIMER: I don't own anyone in the WWF, if only in my dreams.
DISTRIBUTION: Go for it, just stamp my name on it and let me know.
RATING: PG-14
CONTENT: Sex scenes and language
SPOILERS: None that I know of.
SUMMARY: Shane learns a bit about what real life is for the rest of us.

Part 1:

Kat got the call early in the morning. It was Mel, an account manager from work.
"Am I waking you up?" asked Mel.
"Yeah, kind of. What's up?"
"New client. It's going to be your campaign. I need to meet with you as soon as you can come in."
Kat checked her alarm clock. Ten o'clock. "I can be there for noon," she yawned.
"Cool. We'll do lunch. Meet me in my office."
Kat rolled over, smothering a curse. She'd planned a day in bed... well, until eleven at least. She shrugged and rolled out of bed. She blindly made it to the bathroom and turned on the shower, stepping under the spray before the water could get warm. She winced and danced around, tapping the spray off her body for a few seconds, giving the water the necessary time to warm up.
God, how she hated Monday mornings.

When Mel finally left her at one o'clock, hurrying to another meeting, Kat rubbed her eyes. It was going to be a good project, a very interesting one but she was so tired. She popped a few chocolate-covered coffee beans into her mouth, stretched her neck from side to side and settled down in front of her computer, getting ready to work.

By the time five o'clock came around, Kat was ready to call it a night. But, no such luck, in half an hour, she had to attend a training session for the new product. She was rather excited about the product, about what they were going to be doing, but she was still dead tired. She popped some more coffee beans into her mouth and slowly made her way to the training room.

Kat sat in the back of the training room, taking notes, two of her favorite employees, Ryan and Mary, sitting in front of her. Penny, the trainer, was standing in front of the room, trying to motivate the trainees while they waited for the client. None of the trainees knew anything about the product, and Penny and Mel had wanted to surprise them. Kat was trying not to fall asleep and it was getting harder by the minute.
Until there was a polite knock at the door and Mel popped her head into the training room, her face split by a mile-wide grin.
"Are you guys ready?" she asked.
When she saw the trainees' lukewarm response, she asked again, smiling even more as Penny made wild gestures with her hands, somehow trying to encourage them.
"Yeah!" responded the trainees, Mary and Ryan turning to Kat, sarcastic smiles on their faces.
"I'd like you all to give a warm welcome to Mr. Shane McMahon of the WWF."
Ryan's face beamed as he recognized Shane and turned to Kat, his eyes shining brightly. She nodded briefly, confirming his thoughts with a kind smile. Yes, it was Shane McMahon. For real.

Shane stood in front of the room, smiling casually. He made his way around the room, shaking the trainees' hands as he introduced himself. Finally, he made his way to the back of the room, where Mel, his contact with the company, stood, talking to a tall Black girl, dressed in a dark blue power suit.
"Last but not least Shane, I'd like you to meet Katia Dorsaint. She's going to supervise the campaign on the floor."
"Hi."
"Hi."
Shane and Kat shook hands, both of them acutely aware of the electricity that went through both of them as their skins came into contact.
"All right," said Penny, from the front of the class, "let's get started."

All evening long, Kat tried to muster up the right amount of enthusiasm but she could only go so far. When Penny finally called it a night, Kat almost kissed her feet. Mel rushed to the door, to answer any of the trainees' questions while Kat stayed behind, with Shane.
"Are you all right?" asked Shane.
"Sure. Why do you ask?"
"You seemed tired. You yawned quite a lot."
"It's been a rough week."
"It's just starting."
"It's a rough beginning."
"What do you think of the product?"
"It's good. Selling advance tickets to shows to fan club members and fans that show their interest. Yeah, it's a good product."
"Do you watch WWF at all?" he asked, helping her as she gathered the training manuals.
"Every once in a while," she lied. Kat thought Shane was an all right kind of guy, kind of cute, once he grew on you, but there was no way in hell she was going to tell him that she watched RAW, METAL, LIVEWIRE and HEAT religiously.
"What do you think about it?"
"It's all right."
"Do you think you could sell the product?"
"Oh yeah."
"Because it's a good product?"
"No, because I can sell anything. If you'll excuse me." With a smile and a final handshake, Kat left Shane at the entrance of the training room with Mel and Penny. She went to Ryan and Mary, who, naturally, were waiting for her.
"You coming to Longueuil Metro with us?" asked Ryan, his eyes on Shane.
"Yeah," she whispered, sliding her long winter coat on.
"You okay?" asked Mary.
"Just tired, that's all," replied Kat with a smile. Kat reached up to the shelf to grab her hat and she lost her balance.
Ryan caught her before she fell but as she straightened herself up, she felt Shane's eyes on her. She gave him a final smile and exited.

Shane looked at Kat as she left and wondered how hard life could be to make a woman so young seem so tired. He listened to Mel and Penny as they chattered on for a few more minutes and then he made his good-byes. He made his way down to where the car and driver Vince constantly insisted on were waiting for him. The trainee, Ryan, when he'd asked Kat if she was going to Longueuil Metro, he'd been loud about it and Shane had heard.
"Do you know where Longueuil Metro is?" asked Shane his driver.
"Yeah. But it's kind of out of the way from your hotel."
"Yeah, well, that's irrelevant. Take me there."
On the way, Shane asked questions about what Longueuil Metro was and the driver was only too happy to explain that it was the sole metro station servicing the South Shore of the Montreal Island. It was a bus terminus of sorts and the buses serviced most of the cities of the area. There was only one exit, the driver explained and unless whoever Shane was looking for lived in one of the many apartment complexes tied into the metro station, he couldn't miss her.

Shane's eyes were trained on the exit and he spotted Ryan before he spotted Kat. That guy was so tall. If he worked out, got rid of that little potbelly, he might have some kind of future as a wrestler. And then, next to him, willowy and graceful in grey, there was Kat, a floppy hat hiding her features. She waved to Ryan and Mary and they all went their own way.
"Follow her," said Shane. "Follow that woman in the long grey coat."
The driver made a quick maneuver and followed the bus. Along the highway, Shane had the driver stick to the back of the bus from where he could observe Kat. He didn't know it was so important that he follow her but somehow, he just knew that he had to. He watched her head as it bobbed up and down to the beat of the music in her Walkman. They made their way to a quaint little town and the driver followed the bus as it ejaculated its passengers. Finally, Kat came out.
Shane watched her walk down the street, avoiding the sidewalks, almost hearing the music in her Walkman as she danced down the street. But suddenly, she became aware of the car following her and she spun on her heels. Kat's eyes narrowed and she picked up her pace. She didn't have the lightness of before. She wasn't carefree anymore. Now, she was wondering about the strange car following her.
"Drive past her," ordered Shane, "and turn on that street, to the left."

Kat heaved a sigh of relief as the car turned and disappeared. It never failed to freak her out, being followed by a car. It wasn't that late, hell, it was only eight thirty but still, not all murders were committed at night.

Shane got out of the car and followed Kat as she made her way home, her step a little lighter now. It brought a smile to his lips. He wanted to see her relaxed, not for her to run his campaign successfully, but just for her to be healthy and happy. He wanted to see her be happy.

Part 2:

Kat got home, toed off her shoes and hurried down the steps. She located the remote control in the dark and turned on the TV. There was nothing she hated more than coming home to an empty house. Which was why she was always in such a hurry to turn on the TV. She rarely cared about what was on. She just had to leave it on. It made her feel better, less alone.
Kat took off her winter coat, draped it over the arm of the couch, put her hat on top of it and dropped her big bag to the ground. After that, she headed straight for the bathroom. As she sat on the toilet, a smile came to her lips. She'd met Shane McMahon, for real. God, sometimes, life was just too good to be true. But then again, she thought as the phone started to ring, sometimes, it was pure hell.
"Hello," she said, pulling her panties up with one hand and holding on to her pants with the other one. "Hi Mom. yeah, I'm fine. How are you? How's dad? Yeah, work is okay. no, my sister hasn't called me. Mom, if you want to hear from her, just call her okay? Yeah, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell. how's Haiti? Is the house coming along okay? Yeah, I'll come and visit as soon as possible," Kat lied. Kat didn't want to go to Haiti. She didn't like the little Caribbean country. She didn't have anything against it per se, but she did hate the fact that her parents had left her in Montreal and gone off to start a new life in Haiti. Naturally, they hadn't expected her to follow, but they had left her all alone. Her sister, Nadine, was living in France all by herself, by choice. Kat was home alone, not by her choice, but by her parents' choice to start a new life.
". Yes Mom, I paid all the bills. I forwarded your personal mail to you. It should get there by next week. yeah, I miss you too. Bye Mom!"
Kat put down the phone, feeling lonelier than ever. She climbed the stairs to her bedroom and stripped out of her work clothes and slid into a comfortable pair of track pants and a tee shirt. She grabbed leftover fruit salad from the fridge and went downstairs to her computer. She logged on, checked her emails until 8.59 PM. It was time for RAW. She was watching the previews and recaps of the past week's shows when her front door bell rang. There was no one she could count on to answer the door in her place, not anymore, so she lowered the volume on the TV, set the fruit salad down on the counter and made her way to the living room window.

Shane stood in front of Katia's door and swore at himself. She was probably watching 'Ally McBeal." He didn't even know what he was doing there. It didn't make any sense. Suddenly, the porch light went on and Katia's voice came to him from the living room window.
"Hello," she said, not quite recognizing the man at her front door.
"Katia? Hi. It's Shane McMahon, we met earlier tonight?"
"What are you doing here?"
"I just wanted to say hi?"
Katia fixed him with a half-angry, half-puzzled look. "I'll be right there."
Kat hurried down the stairs to her basement, changed the channel to the Ally McBeal rerun and ran back up the stairs to open the door to Shane. There was no way in hell she was going to let him know she was virtually addicted to his show.
When Katia opened the door for him, Shane realized right away that she was out of breath. He briefly wondered if she had any heart problems.
"So, you just wanted to say hi?" she asked, blocking his entrance with her body.
"No, not really. I was worried about you at the training. You seemed so tired and everything."
"You were worried about me?"
"Yeah. Listen, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come here. I'll go now."
Kat watched him as he started to walk away, looking like a little boy who's just lost his first puppy and her heart went out to him.
"Maybe you'd like to stay for a cup of herbal tea," she said, shaking her head.
"That'd be great," he said, almost running back to the house.
Kat grabbed his coat and hung it in the closet. Shane watched her as he toed off his shoes, finding himself admiring the roundness of her hips under the shiny track pants. She turned to him, a smile on her face.
"Come on," she said, starting to go up the steps to the kitchen.
Shane sat at the quaint kitchen table as Kat busied herself with boiling water, setting out the tea bags, the cups, the sugar and the milk. Finally, she sat down next to him.
"Now, tell me, why are you really here?"
"I was worried about you during that training. You seemed so tired. You yawned a couple of times during my presentation."
"I'm sorry. I had to get up early this morning and I guess I wasn't fully awake yet."
"It's okay. I guess. But I don't understand how people your age could be so tired about life already."
"Well, how about the fact that in the past five years, I've only had about ten weeks vacation? And that's for starters. Until last year, I was juggling at least 26 hours a week at work and three to four classes in university."
"That's like trying to roll two lives in one," he said slowly.
"That's what makes someone tired."
"So? What did you graduate in?"
Kat sent Shane a smile that would have frozen Shane over. "I didn't," she said curtly. "When my parents decided to move back to the motherland, I figured earning a living was much more worthwhile than pursuing an education."
"The motherland?" he asked.
"In their case, Haiti."
"Why didn't you go with them?"
"I'm fuckin twenty-six years old Shane. If you think I'm going to give up my life to follow my parents to a country I barely know which has none of the amenities I've been used to my whole life, you've got to be out of your mind."
Shane sat back in his chair, deep in thought as Kat got up and started pouring the hot water over the tea bags. She set the round little teapot on the table, wrapping it in a large dishcloth, put a cup down in front of Shane and one in front of her chair. Shane opened his mouth to speak when his pager went off. It was his father.
"Give me a moment, will you?"
"Sure."
As soon as Shane disappeared in the living room to call his father on his cell phone, Kat jumped on the remote control and switched it to TSN to watch RAW, keeping the volume low so Shane wouldn't hear. She drank in the sight of her obsession of the moment, HHH, giggling at his and DX's antics. But all too soon, Shane was back and she switched to FOX, to have Shane believe she was watching an Ally McBeal rerun.
"Sorry about that," said Shane. "Dad was checking in on me."
"He still does that?"
"Don't all parents do that? Well, the ones who care anyway?"
"Yeah, I think so. That first week after they left, my mom must have called me twice a day to remind me of things I already knew."
"Listen, I have a big favor to ask."
"Shoot. I might say no."
"There's something really major going on tonight on RAW. And I really want to watch it. If you mind, it's okay."
"Well, considering this is a business relationship and what affects the WWF now affects me, go right ahead. Channel 28," she said as Shane took control of the remote.
Kat poured him a cup of tea and sat back, grinning like HHH after his marriage to Stephanie. She was going to watch her RAW after all.
Shane watched the TV with one eye and Katia with another and was surprised to see her smile stretch from ear to ear. Apparently, she was a much bigger fan than she'd let on. And from the way she licked her lips and toyed with her hair when Andrew and Paul came on, she liked them. She liked them a lot.
And it made him happy for some strange reason. There was something intensely satisfying that she liked his work, that she liked his work so much that she'd felt a need to lie about it. That was something he was going to have to find out much more about.

Part 3:

"So, I take it you're a bigger wrestling fan than you let on," said Shane during a commercial break.
"Maybe."
"So why didn't you tell me right off?"
"Do you know how often people roll their eyes skyward when I tell them I like wrestling? They start question my intelligence, my morality, my sanity even."
"Yeah, but it's my show, my business."
"I'm not taking any chances."
The show came back on and J.R. and Jerry started talking about the next match which would be showcasing Kane and Viscera. Katia turned back to Shane and smiled.
"So tell me," she said with a smile. "What's it like to be the heir apparent to one of the most popular companies in the world?"
"It's okay, I guess."
"Okay? Come on, it's got to be better than just okay. It's got to be fuckin' amazin'."
"It's a lot of work, you know. Behind the scenes, I do a lot."
"I know. you look after the website division, right?"
"Yeah. how did you know?"
"You did an interview for Off the Record. I watched it and I paid attention."
"Cool. So does that mean you like me?"
"In character, no... when you come out to that No Chance thing with that arrogant swagger and that smug little smile, I just want to reach inside my TV and kick your little ass."
"Do I swagger that much?"
"Hell yeah!"
"Oooooh, you're an Austin fan," he chuckled, "Miss Hell Yeah!"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I am. Any news? How is he?"
"Well, he'll go under the knife in about a month and the doctors are real optimistic."
"That's good. I miss that piece of trailer park trash."
"Okay, I can understand why the guys and the little kids like him but I will never, ever, understand why women like him. His in-the-ring persona is gross."
"Yet sexy."
"What's so sexy about it?"
Kat smacked her lips together, a smile curling her full lips. She looked at Shane, the expectant look in his eyes, trying to come up with a satisfactory answer for him. How could she explain it? "Well," she said primly, "let's start at the very beginning. I started to watch WWF wrestling a long, long time ago. When Hulk Hogan was the biggest thing to hit wrestling. In the days of Saturday Night Main Events on NBC. Hell, I remember when Uncle Elmer got married."
"That was a classic," said Shane with a grin.
"You know," she laughed. "Anyhow, I don't remember exactly when or why I stopped watching. But I think I was about thirteen or fourteen at the time. Then, sometime this year, in February or March, I watched RAW. It was right in the middle of that whole Austin and Rock feud. And that's when it happened. I was watching these guys trade catch phrases and I got hooked."
"What about Austin?"
"There's something about the way he shakes that bald little head of his that just turns me on. Maybe it's because he makes such a stand against authority. I don't know. But if I want to be pragmatic about it, I'll tell you the truth."
"Tell me."
Kat leaned forward, bringing her head really close to Shane's who was leaning too much across the table, he was about to lie down on top of it."
"He's got a body that just won't quit and he made me wet my panties."
Shane didn't know what to say. Katia was watching him carefully, her incredibly full lips open in an inaudible gasp. He felt himself stir inside his tight boxers. That's when he saw something in her eyes. She was kidding, he told himself. She had to be. That's what that little light in her eyes had to mean he convinced himself. She was kidding.
"You're kidding right?"
"Actually," she drawled on slowly, "I'm not." Kat couldn't help the smile that stretched her lips from ear to ear when she saw Shane's eyes widen. The conservative, reserved side of her begged for her to reassure Shane, to lie to him, to tell him she was pulling his leg. But the crazy, rebellious side of her told her that she should stick to the truth and she did.
"You're telling me that that man, the TEXAS RATTLESNAKE, sexually aroused you?"
"Oh yeah."
"That's sick."
"It is not sick. There's something very exciting about that kind of blatant disregard for authority."
"But... don't tell me you like to watch him chug his beer?"
"God, he makes me like beer. I want to lick it off him," said Kat with a delighted shiver.
Shane shuddered violently, for two reasons. First, the image of Kat licking anything off Steve Austin would haunt him forever. But by the same token, the thought of her licking anything off him drove him absolutely insane with lust and made him harder than marble.
Kat suddenly became aware of the fact that her face was barely an inch from Shane's. She pulled away from him quickly, blushing furiously. What was wrong with her, she wondered briefly? Since when was she so brutally honest with strangers? With clients no less? Client! Shane was a client! Oh My God!
"You need to get out of here," she said, getting up.
"What? Why?"
"You're a client. This is totally inappropriate!"
"Why? We're just talking."
"Yeah, I know. But the conversation, the tone... Shane, it's... I shouldn't talk to you like this."
"Why not? Come on," he said with a boyish grin, "it's friendly banter. We can banter, can't we?"
Kat's good, sensible side kicked in, unfortunately. "About work," she said, "we can banter about work. I mean, I shouldn't have said what I said. About Stone Cold."
"Does that mean it's not true?" he asked hopefully.
"No, it's true. But that's all I have to say about that!"
Shane laughed. Something about hearing her say those words made them incredibly sexy. Everything about her was sexy, the way her hair was a bit mussed from being hidden under that hat of hers, the swell of her hips under those track pants. the way she sat down so primly as she watched RAW. God, what a fascinating woman she was. And he was desperate to know more about her.

RAW had just ended and Kat turned to Shane with a tight smile. "It's time," she said softly.
"You're kicking me out," he chuckled.
"The sooner I get you out of here, the better it'll be for my sanity."
"What about my sanity?"
"You're Shane McMahon. You're not sane."
Shane followed Kat to the door, which she opened for her. He stepped outside and turned to her.
"I like you Katia Dorsaint. I like you a lot and I plan to see a lot more of you, in and out of the office if I have to."
"Is that a threat?" she laughed.
"It's a promise," he said, quickly pecking her cheek and walking to the waiting car and driver.
As Shane crossed the street to the car, he saw what looked like a For Sale sign in front of the biggest house on the block. An idea blossomed in his head and he quickly memorized the realtor's phone number. Katia was about to get the shock of her life, courtesy of him.

The second she closed the door behind Shane, Kat ran down to the basement and to her computer and logged on the Internet. She opened her Hotmail account and quickly announced news of her meeting with Shane with the wrestling lists she was a member of. She stayed on until three in the morning answering questions and gushing over each and every one of his physical traits. By the time everyone went to bed, Kat was still on and checking out some of the websites dedicated to the McMahon heir.
Kat was shocked to find herself so attracted to him. After all, she saw him almost every week on TV but she'd never been greatly impressed by his looks. But now, after spending time with him, well, she was forced to admit that Shane O'Mac was something of a cutie. She chuckled to herself as she downloaded a Shane wallpaper to her computer. All right, maybe he was more than just a cutie. He might have the necessary requirements to turn into a hunk, at some point down the line.

Part 4:

Another long Saturday at work, thought Katia as she walked to the bus stop. As she walked, she pulled her Nokia out of bag and called in the office to change her voice mail.
"You have reached Katia Dorsaint's voice mail," she repeated by rote, "today, November 20th, I will be in the office from 9 o'clock to 4.30. Please leave me a detailed message and I will return your call. For immediate assistance, please press 0."
Once she was done, she replaced the phone in her bag and adjusted her headphones in her ears. Duran Duran's The Reflex quickly filled her mind as she went on walking. It was a ten-minute walk to her bus stop and she'd barely been out of the house for three minutes on this incredibly cold November morning. She was tired, as usual, but she'd had to expect it since she'd been logged on the Internet until 2 o'clock in the morning. She was becoming seriously addicted to reading stories off wrestling fan fiction websites.
Kat blinked a few times and realized that as she'd been lost in the thoughts of her addiction, her steps had guided her to her bus stop, which, for some God forsaken reason, smelled like cat urine. She didn't want to stand in the way of the biting wind but she didn't want to be asphyxiated by the smell of cat piss either. So she stood outside, freezing off the tip of her ears and her nose. Soon, but not soon enough, the bus got there.
There were too many damn people in the bus Kat thought to herself. It was seven forty five on a freakin' Saturday morning. Where in God's name were all of those people going? The logical answer was work, just like her but right now, she was still grumpy so she wasn't in an understanding kind of mood.
Kat plopped herself down on the back corner of the bus, pulled out a copy of the latest Soap Opera Digest and got to reading. She was so busy during the day that she barely had the time to watch her soaps when she was at home. She caught a few bits and pieces here and there but, armed with her Digest, she at least had half a clue about what was going on.
With her reading and listening to music, by the time the bus got to Longueuil Metro, Kat was in shock. Time had flown by. She hopped out of the bus, hurried inside the metro station to catch her metro. When she finally sat down, she opened the small magazine she'd been reading from, only to find herself too tired to read. This was just like her. She'd feel great, full of energy and all but then suddenly, she would hit the metro and feel sleepier than ever. So she rested her shoulder against the wall, closed her eyes and dozed off. Kat wasn't really sleeping, she was much too aware of the metro's bumps and inner rumblings. But it was a restful time, a time when she could allow herself not to think about anything, a time when she could unclench her teeth and forget. And, as usual, it was all over too soon. Kat made her way up the two staircases to the green line and caught the next metro to the McGill station. And, just like last week and the many weeks before that, she went to McDonald's and ordered the same couple of Sausage McMuffins she always ordered with a big glass of orange juice and a medium cup of coffee. She was surprisingly hungry this morning and wolfed down the first breakfast sandwich. She sat back and sipped at the coffee. It was bland, but she was used to it.
And yet, for someone who'd thought, no less than fifteen minutes ago, that she was so hungry her stomach was going to consume her from the inside out, Kat wasn't able to bring herself to finish her second Sausage McMuffin. She loved her Sausage McMuffins. They were part of her Saturday routine. But now, here she sat, unable to finish her breakfast.
Katia suddenly felt very discouraged. Her body was fucking up on her. She didn't eat as much as she used to, she was getting migraines more often and she was so tired all the time. Whereas Kat would have loved to sit there and ponder on all the things that were currently wrong with her body, she had to get to work. Walking at her normally brisk pace, she wove her way through Montreal's underground malls until she got to the exit closest to her job. It was 9 am on a Saturday morning and she'd been up for almost three hours already. Life was a bitch, she told herself, as she stepped into her office building.

Life was beautiful thought Shane as he had his driver drop him off in front of the mansion he'd been eyeing a few days ago. And life was about to get better.

The Raymonds were enjoying a pleasant Saturday morning at home when there was a knock at the door. Mr. Raymond went to open the door and found himself face to face with a young man in his late twenties, early thirties, wearing obviously expensive clothes.
"Hello sir," said the young man, "I understand your house is for sale."
"Yes it is," said Mr. Raymond, with a thick Quebecer accent. "Why?"
"I want to buy your house. Money is no object."
"Well come in, Mr.- Excuse me, I do not know your name."
"I'm sorry. I should have introduced myself. My name is Shane McMahon."
Before accepting Mr. Raymond's invitation, Shane turned around and looked at Katia's house with a smile. Oh yes, he thought to himself, this would be perfect.

Now, although Kat's shift was officially supposed to finish as four thirty, she didn't get out of the office before five. She rubbed the pads of her fingers against her eyelids and slowly went about pulling on her long winter coat. She made a few quick good-byes and all but ran out of the building. She'd been in there since nine o'clock this morning, except for a 45 minutes lunch break which she'd spent, looking for a present for one of her good friends. She needed to breathe, even if it was a whiff of polluted air. Montreal's busiest street, Ste. Catherine Street, was still packed with people carrying shopping bags after a day of shopping. Some were going to their cars, others were heading into restaurants and cafés and there were the others who were still looking to spend and who were going into those all-night bookstores. Kat would have loved to go into Chapters or Indigo to pick up a few romance novels but money was tight. But she did have the couple of dollars to spare for a couple of hot dogs, a poutine and a drink at La Belle Province, Quebec's premier fast food place.
Kat was slowly making her way there when a pair of hands went around her waist. She turned around quickly, the fingers of her free hand already curled in a fist. It was Shane, smiling at her with a loopy grin. She gave him a punch in the shoulder nonetheless.
"You scared me, you dumb bastard," she said quickly.
"Sorry."
"What are you doing here?" she asked with a smile, running her gloved hand over his shoulder where she'd hit him.
"I was coming to drive you back home."
"That's okay, I'll take the bus."
"Damn it girl, here I am, offering you a ride in a nice car, where you can avoid the crush of the crowds, and you tell me you're going to take the bus? That's cold."
"Well, it's just that I wasn't planning on going home right away. I was going to have a bite to eat."
"Well, do you mind if I join you?"
"Shane, I'm not going to a fancy restaurant here. I'm going for fast food, the kind of stuff that gives you an instant potbelly."
"Sounds good to me."
"Fine."
Shane had a bit of trouble following Kat at first but soon caught up with her as she wove her way through the crowd. He was forced to admit that she was incredibly fast and efficient and was about to tell her so when she opened the door of what could only be called a greasy spoon.
"Shane," she said, turning to him with a smile, "this is about to be the first step into your Quebec immersion, do you think you're ready?"
"Do your worst," he chuckled.
"All right, but there's no turning back. Are you sure?"
"Let's get this over with already."
Katia laughed and went up to the counter and ordered. Shane leaned over the counter next to her and paid as she gave the slimy-looking short order cook instructions for their food.
"Hey," she said, as she saw the cashier give him his change, "this was going to be my treat."
"You'll pick up the tab when I take you to a fancy restaurant."
"You're just a giver, aren't you?" she laughed.
"That's me."
Shane flashed Kat a smile that made her go weak in the knees. She reached over and squeezed Shane's hand, curling her fingers into his. She gave him her best smile her tired soul could manage and he irreversibly fell in love with her at that moment.

Part 5:

Shane looked down at his tray, looked over to Kat's tray and looked at her obviously ravenous face.
"What?" she asked, "You look like you're about to barf."
"What is this?" he asked, pointing to his poutine.
Kat smiled and started to laugh softly. "It's a poutine," she explained.
"And what is that?"
"It's fries, covered in gravy and."
". Cheese," he finished for her. "That is cheese in there, isn't it?"
"Yeah."
"That's disgusting," hissed Shane. "Fries, gravy and cheese. That's vile!"
"It's delicious. Trust me. You do trust me, don't you?"
Shane shrugged and picked up his plastic fork. He spun around the small Styrofoam bowl in his hands as if he was trying to decide where he should start. Finally, he put the bowl down on the tray, licked some gravy off his fingers and dug in. He picked up three or four fries smothered in gravy and melted cheese, eyed it dubiously and pushed it into his mouth. He chewed slowly at first, closing his eyes, trying to pin down the taste and trying to find out if he liked it. All the while, Kat watched him, grinning, watching him struggle with the whole concept of the poutine. It was funny but she could only imagine how strange it must be for him. Finally, he swallowed it.
"So?" she asked, "how is it so far?"
"Well, I thought it would be worse."
"But do you like it?"
"I don't hate it."
Kat smiled and the two of them dug into the food eagerly, laughing and talking. Shane regaled her with stories of the WWF, of its superstars, but mostly, he talked about his best friends Joanie and Paul, about their love and their friendship.
"I hope that one day, I'll meet someone who means as much to me as Joanie does to Paul."
"It's so rare to hear a man admit that he wants to love and be loved. It's incredibly refreshing."
"I want to have children," said Shane, "I want to live with their mother, I want to love them, and her. I want to bind my life to the life of a woman who'll make me into a better man, who'll make the sky bluer and the sun brighter."
"And from which book of poetry did you steal those lines?" asked Kat.
"Oh, some book Mom gave Steph at Christmas a few years ago."
"But really, what do you want out of life?"
"I'll be damned if I know. All I know is that I always want to work within the whole wrestling medium."
"Don't you mean sports entertainment?" she asked, raising her fingers in quote marks.
"Yeah, sports entertainment. Anyways, I always want to work in that. I love it. And I think it's in my blood."
"I'd be worried if it wasn't. I mean, your whole family's involved in it."
"Yeah. It's so much fun."
"It looks like a lot of fun."
"It's just that I don't want to be involved all the time though. There are times when I want to be able to step away from it all and isolate myself."
"I know the feeling."
"What about you?"
"What about me?" she asked, sipping the last bit of Orange Crush out of her glass.
"What do you want out of life?"
"To write," she said softly.
"You're a writer?"
"Yeah."
"What kind of stuff do you write?"
"Well, I'm a big fan of romance, mysteries and science-fiction so my style is a mix of all three."
"Sounds interesting. Did you write anything I might have read?"
"It depends. Shane, what do you know about fan fiction?"
Shane looked at Kat rather strangely and she briefly wondered if she should go any further. She bit her lip, trying to make up her mind.
"I can't say I ever heard about it," said Shane, "but I guess it has to do with fans writing stories about their idols, right?"
"Yeah. It does."
"Okay, so tell me more."
"Well, I'm a fanfic writer."
"That's cool, I guess."
"Shane, I'm a wrestling fanfic writer."
"What?"
"I write fantasy stories about wrestlers."
"You do?"
"Uh huh."
"For real?"
"Yes. And some of my stories, actually, all of them, are posted on a website for wrestling fans. I'm currently in the process of getting them posted on a few more websites, actually."
"Really?"
"Really."
Shane didn't know what to say. He was discovering a whole new facet to the person that was Kat and he didn't know how he felt about it. But he certainly was curious.
"Let me get this straight. You write fantasy stories about wrestlers?"
"Yes."
"Who did you write about?"
"Well, I finished a story on Test, Andrew Martin. I'm currently working on one about HHH, Paul Levesque. I'm co-writing a story about The Rock and Austin, and I wrote a couple of short stories about Jericho, Rock, Edge and a slash featuring HHH and Test."
"Please tell me you're pulling my leg."
"I so am not."
"What are they about?"
"Mostly romance and mystery."
"Sex stuff?"
"Yeah."
"Wow!" Shane was dumbfounded. She was a fan of what he did so much of a fan that she wrote about it.
"Did you ever write about me?" he asked.
"You're featured in some of my stories," she lied quickly. Kat wasn't quite ready to tell him about the story she'd started working on that first night she'd met him. It'd fry his brain cells.
"Am I a good guy or a bad guy?"
"Usually, you come off as a good guy."
"Wow. Can I read some of your stuff?"
"You want to?"
"Of course."
"All right, I'll give you the URL. Just don't read any stories marked slash, okay?"
"Why not?"
"I don't think you're quite ready for that yet."

After their meal, Shane insisted on having Kat drop her heavy bag off in his car.
"Where are we off to?" she asked.
"Well, you're going to show me your Montreal."
"And we can't do this in your car?"
"Absolutely not."
"Aw, Shane, please."
"Come on, it'll be fun!"
Before Kat could protest anymore, Shane dragged her off toward Ste. Catherine Street asking her thousands of questions about Montreal. She answered them grumpily at first but bit by bit, she started getting into it and told him all about her Montreal, about the fun times, about her adventures. He listened to her, asking questions here and there. In the cold Montreal weather, Kat started to get the sniffles so as soon as they passed by street vendors selling ponchos, scarves, hats and gloves, Shane bought some for her. Kat started to protest, telling him not to but before she could say anything else, he'd slung a poncho over her shoulders, a scarf around her neck, crammed a hat on top of her hair and fastened some mittens on her slender hands. She smiled at him, shaking her head at his extravagance. They ended up in Indigo, a huge bookstore. Shane checked out a Star Wars book in a comfortable armchair while Kat looked for new romance novels. She found Shane, his nose buried in the technological world of Star Wars.
"Get up," she said smiling down at him.
"What?"
"I want to sit down. So you have to get up."
"How about another solution?"
Shane pulled Kat on his lap, wrapped his arms around her waist and picked up his book. The young woman stiffened at first but soon relaxed in Shane's arms. The man had one hell of an effect on her and she loved it!

More of The Real Life
More Series Fics
More Fan Fic
Main Page