Paul Heyman knocked on the door to Kat's new office and found her working on her computer.
"Kat? Can I disturb you for a minute?"
"Sure you can. Have a seat?"
"Thanks."
"What can I do for you?"
"I just got your memo about the Stacey Keibler-Martin situation."
"Yes."
"You don't want us to push for a renewal."
"That's right."
"Kat, you're putting us in a difficult situation."
"Why?" she asked with a smile.
"We're running the risk of having another Lawler/Kat redux."
"You really think Andrew would quit over this?"
"I wouldn't discount it."
"Well, we'll have Randy Orton fill in for him in the planned feud with Jindrak and O'Haire then. No harm, no foul. Orton's far more over than Andrew now anyhow."
"Heyman," Paul Lévesque said, coming into the office after a quick knock, "you're already here."
"Do I smell an ambush?" Kat asked, raising an eyebrow. "On poor little defenseless me?"
"You are anything but defenseless. But your stand on the Stacey situation…"
"Do you have a planned storyline for her?"
"No but…"
"So basically, you want us to sign her to a contract when we don't know what we're going to do with her?"
"It's not all about her," Heyman said.
"Andrew? Do you have anything for him except jobbing him to Jindrak?"
"He's a contender for the belt."
"We have a lot of contenders. We can spare one."
The two Pauls exchanged a look and nodded before leaving Kat's office. She had changed in the past week, grown harder and pulled away from the in-ring action. But the most frightening change was her getting a new office at titan, an office that was far from husband's Shane, the husband they went to see in hopes he might be able to mollify his wife.

"I'm going to stand by Kat on this," Shane said.
"Shane! And risk losing Andrew?"
"Any of you ever think Andrew might not quit over us not re-hiring his wife?"
"Shane, come on…"
"No renegotiations. What Kat said goes."
"Shane…"
"Listen," Shane said, leaning over his desk, "I have a wife who's so mad at me she moved out of our office and our bedroom. If getting rid of Stacey will satisfy her, then by all means, let's get rid of Stacey."
"You're missing the big picture Shane."
"No, you're missing the big picture guys. One day my father will step aside and I'll be the WWFE's president and Stephanie will be the CEO. I want my wife by my side. And I'm willing to sacrifice Stacey, and Andrew, for her."
"All right," the two Pauls said, getting up to leave the office knowing this was the end of the conversation.
Shane watched them go and followed them out the door, heading for his wife's office. He went in without knocking only to find her on the phone. Kat looked up, surprised before waving him to a seat across from her.
"Yeah, I'll be there in two weeks. Yeah, so far so good… uh I don't know yet… I know… it's just… more complicated than I initially thought. All right, in two weeks then."
Kat put down the phone and looked at Shane, trying to stop her heart from beating too wildly. Strange how over twelve years after their first meeting the man still made her knees a little weak, even with the grey that had shown up at his temples over a year ago.
"Yes?"
"Kat… we need to talk about what happened. And what's going to happen between us."
"You kissed Stacey Martin in our office."
"Stacey Martin kissed me and I didn't push her away."
"Same difference."
"Not quite. I never gave much thought to kissing her but when it happened, I didn't stop it."
"Wow, I feel much better now."
"I love you Kat but for a second there, I looked at Stacey and I just let it happen… just to see if it would matter, if I would feel anything."
"Don't expect me to ask you what it felt like because I won't. Shane, it's not like you're the only good-looking half of this couple. I get propositioned all the time too. But I don't act on it."
"I… I felt powerful…"
Kat sighed and shook her head. "I felt like crap. You can't begin to understand how utterly defeated I felt when I came into that office and saw her in your arms. It was like being dropped off the side of a building knowing there won't be anything on the ground to cushion the blow. And then, I felt even worse because as much as I wanted to pummel you to a pile of mush, I still loved you."
"Loved? You don't love me anymore?"
"I do… and that's what makes it so confusing."
"Kat… a kiss is just a kiss," Shane said softly, reaching across the desk to touch her hand.
"Our first kiss was just a kiss Shane?"
"No… I love you… it makes everything different."
"And because you love me, I should go into automatically forgiving mode?"
"No… but you could allow me one slip?"
"And live in fear of another slip? My heart can't do that."
"I understand."
"I love you," Kat whispered, moving around the desk to touch Shane's cheek, "but my trust in you is gone."
Sobbing, Shane wrapped his arms around Kat's waist, pressing his cheek into her stomach. He looked up at her as he touched her body, her arms, her legs, her stomach. Something was different, he realized… different and familiar. Moving to his feet, Shane started undoing the buttons of her blouse, ignoring her protests as she tried slapping his hands away, and looked at her upper body, finding her breasts had swelled considerably and that her usually flat stomach was rounded and yet firm.
"Something's different Kat… what is it?"
"Nothing! Now, take your hands off me!"
"No… what is it?! I'm not leaving here until you tell me!"
"Is that a threat of some kind?"
"Yes. Now tell me!"
"Fine, damn you! I'm pregnant!"
"You're pregnant? How far along are you?"
"Twelfth week."
"Twelfth? That's almost three months! How could you have not told me?"
"That's what I was going to tell you when I walked in on you and Stacey! For some reason, I didn't feel like sharing that wonderful news with you then."
Turning her back on him, Kat buttoned up her blouse and went around her desk, sitting down and regaining her composure.
"So what now? We're not in love? We're not married, we're not separated… what are we?"
"I'm going to have to learn to trust you again… and you are going to have to remind me that you love me."
"I do love you."
"I've forgotten. You shy away from my touch and you don't even touch me."
"I…"
"I won't say I'm completely bereft of blame Shane. But I will tell you that you made the biggest mistake and as such, you have the most cleaning up to do. Now," Kat said, moving around the desk to grab her jacket and a notebook, "I have someone to fire."
"You're going to the meeting?"
"Yes."
"Kat…"
"Shane… trust me on this, you don't want to discourage me."

"Gentlemen," Kat said, walking into the conference room where Paul Levesque and his talent coordinator cohort Paul Heyman were readying the meeting with Stacey, "she's not here yet?"
"Stacey? No, not yet. Why?"
"I'm sitting in," she said, sitting at the head of the table.
"Katia, this is an awful idea," Paul warned.
"Paul, I am giving myself the power neither you or Stephanie gave Joanie. I want her to know why she's getting the boot."
With Paul in his place, Kat turned to Paulie and smiled.
"Hey, I'm not even going to try to discourage you. I know better."
"Smart man."
Paulie, Paul and Kat went over the final agreement one last time before their lawyer came in with Stacey and her lawyer. The moment the blonde saw Kat, her shoulders slumped in defeat.
"So," her lawyer said, "you're not planning on renewing her contract? Might I ask why?"
"Well," Paul began, "it's a question of a lack of storyline."
"And Stacey has stated time and again that she is perfectly willing to bide her time while your writing team can come up with a suitable storyline for her."
"Basically, she wants to be paid for not working?"
"It's an arrangement that we are willing to live with."
"Let me get this straight," Kat said, "you're expecting us to sign you to an expensive long term contract until we find something to do with your character?"
"Well…"
"Do you understand how ridiculous that would be for us? We're a company, our goal is profit. By renewing a contract for someone who has just one asset, her legs, an asset we've stretched into a pretty amazing seven years, we would be losing money hand over fist. Now why would we do that?"
"Mrs. Martin is a talented performer and…"
"An easily replaceable performer, we can hire three new girls with longer legs, bigger breasts for the cost of renewing with Stacey."
"So youth over skill?"
"Yes."
"Well, if I'm forced out," Stacey said, raising her chin haughtily, "if I go, my husband goes."
"A threat?" the WWFE lawyer asked, quickly taking notes, "that doesn't help the situation."
"Actually," Kat said with a smile, "it doesn't affect the situation at all. I took it upon myself to meet with Andrew and his lawyers Monday and Tuesday. We came to an agreement to end his previous contract early in order for him to resign a newer, longer contract."
Kat's bomb had the desired effect, leaving the WWF side of the table smiling at their opponent's discomfiture.
"You can't…" Stacey stuttered, "it's impossible… it…"
"I didn't. Andrew did."
"You did this to hurt me."
"Yes I did. And I'm so glad. Gentlemen, if you'll excuse me, I trust you to take care of everything else without my help."
With that, Kat got up and walked out of the conference room. As soon as the door closed behind her, she sagged against the nearby wall and let out a deep breath. Power was heady… and considering how cold she felt inside, power didn't always feel good. But then an image of Shane and Stacey kissing sprung to mind, making her feel better about her revenge.

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