Apologies

by Karen U

 

DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to the WWF
DISTRIBUTION: ask first
NOTES: This is what happens when I write a story at 3 in the morning...

 

“Need some help there, Steph?”

Stephanie McMahon looked over at Lita, frowning slightly at her friend.  “No, not at all.  I love having pie in my hair... and on my clothes... And of course, all over my face.  I can’t think of anything more fun,” she said sarcastically, and the redhead grinned as she went over to the other woman, studying her.  “Am I clean yet?”

“You’ve still got some in your hair,” she said and Stephanie was ready to retort rather rudely before she noticed the redhead shifting uncomfortably, wincing a little as she moved.

“You okay?  I know you took a stunner tonight...”

Lita waved away her concern, still smiling at the other woman.  “I’m fine, don’t worry about it.  But if you run into Edge, don’t tell him I said that.  I’m planning to milk it if I can.”

“You’re so mean,” Stephanie said with a laugh as she carefully got the rest of the pie filling out of her hair, then began working on getting changed out of her dress and into jeans and a T-shirt.  “Treating your boyfriend that way... Lying to him like that...”

“Oh, please... This from the girl who whined about a stunner for nearly a week and had just about everyone feeling sorry for her... Steve felt so guilty about that.”

“Yeah, and Debra going around saying she couldn’t believe he had stunned me made him feel even worse,” the brunette said with a smile.  That had actually been kind of fun.  Sighing, she looked in the mirror, making a slight face.  “Do I have all the pie off of my face... and other various parts of my body?”

Lita studied her for a moment, then nodded.  “Looks like it... I’d say you’re clean.  By the way, did the pie taste good?”

Stephanie paused for a few seconds, then slowly turned to look at her friend.  “Excuse me?  Did you just say...”

“I was just wondering if the pie was any good.”

“I didn’t exactly try it.”

“Why not?  It was all over your face.  If someone had done that to me, I would have tasted it,” Lita said with a shrug, and Stephanie rolled her eyes.

“That’s because you’re weird.”

“True... But I’m fun.”

“I’ll give you that.”

Lita was silent for a moment, then went back to the subject at hand.  “So you don’t even know what flavor it was?”

“No, I don’t... Maybe banana cream or something like that, considering the color... and the apes.  Chris would find it funny to have banana cream pie while we were doing a Planet of the Apes style promo.  All I know is that Jericho bought two of the damn things... What he plans to do with number two, I don’t even want to know,” the brunette said, then jumped when a knock came on the door of the women’s locker room.  “What?”

“Are you decent in there?” a voice called out, and Stephanie grinned.

“For the most part.  Come on in.”

Edge grinned at her as he opened the door and walked inside, immediately going over to his girlfriend, Lita.  Given the way they had treated one another in the ring for the better part of the fall of 2000 and the spring of 2001, no one would suspect that they’d really been together since November, but hey, story line wasn’t reality...

“Hey, sweetie,” Edge said as he went over to the redhead, gathering her in his arms for a hug before pressing a kiss to her lips.  “You okay?”

The redhead shrugged.  “I’ve taken worse, but... I’ll be fine.”  She winced a little as she shifted in his arms, which Edge instantly noticed, and he pulled her a little closer, rocking her back and forth for a moment before reaching for her bag and putting the strap over his shoulder.

“Come on, baby, let’s go back to the hotel.  You can take a bubble bath or something... That’ll make you feel better,” he said, and Lita smiled at him as she allowed him to lead her to the door.

“Would you be willing to join me?  ‘Cause that would make me feel even better,” the redhead said in a slightly seductive voice as she and Edge left, and Stephanie couldn’t help but laugh at her friend...

“They’ll be having fun tonight.  More fun than I will,” she said with a sigh as she shoved her own stuff into her bag, then headed out of the locker room and on her way.

As she walked through the hallway, Stephanie nodded a hello to Matt and Jeff Hardy, smiling at both brothers, calling out to them that Lita had already left with Edge when they asked if she’d seen her, then taking a moment to ask Matt how Trish was doing after her surgery to remove a bone spur from her ankle... There were several running jokes going around dealing with how Trish was Matt’s real life girlfriend, but was having to make nice with Jeff in the story lines... Admittedly, Matt was probably less concerned now that Trish was working with his brother instead of Stephanie’s father... Steph knew that Matt had hated that story line; he’d hated what Trish had been put through during that angle...

After hearing that Trish was doing okay, Stephanie continued on her way, speaking to Rock for a moment, nodding at Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keibler, both of whom made sure to keep their distance from her.  She was, after all, the boss’s daughter, and Stephanie knew that sometimes it took people time to be able to see past that.  She just hoped the WCW divas could get over it soon.  She hated it when people were nervous or too careful of what they said around her.  Lita, of course, had been the exact opposite of that... She had been outgoing and friendly from the start, and the two had instantly become friends... When Stephanie had lost the women’s title in the story line, she had been glad that she’d lost it to her.  Steph had known that it was only a matter of time before the title ended up in Lita’s hands, and she’d been glad that she could somehow be involved in her friend’s big moment.

After making her way to the parking garage, Stephanie sat quietly in the back of the limo as she rode back to the hotel, part of her vaguely thinking that she sure as hell didn’t look like the billion dollar princess now, not in her worn jeans and a Dead Man, Inc. T-shirt... Of course, she couldn’t have worn what she’d had on for the show, not after what had happened to it... The pie certainly had splattered when Jericho had shoved it in her face.  She wondered where he was now... She hadn’t seen him after the show, so she’d assumed he’d already left...

The brunette sighed softly as she entered her hotel room, dropping her bag on the floor.  She jumped and let out a stifled scream when a lamp flicked on across the room.

“I was beginning to wonder if you’d ever make it back here.”

“How in the hell did you get into my hotel room?” Stephanie asked as she closed the door behind her, and Chris Jericho responded with a shrug.

“Bribed a desk clerk.  She thought I had a nice ass.”

“Well, she clearly needs glasses then,” the brunette replied tiredly, and Jericho sighed as he rose from his chair, walking over to her, carrying a box with him.

“I brought you something... Well, a couple of somethings,” he corrected himself, nodding towards the vase of flowers on the desk.  Unlike the flowers that the ‘apes’ had brought down during the show, these were pink roses, her favorites.  She’d always loved pink instead of red when it came to roses.

“They’re beautiful, Chris... Thank you,” she said softly as he came to stand in front of her.  “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I wanted to... Kind of make up for what I said tonight.”

“But that was just story line,” she protested, and Jericho shrugged.

“I know... but it still hurts you sometimes, I can tell.  You do know I never mean a word of it, don’t you?”

“Of course I do,” she said softly, her gaze traveling to the box he held in his hand.  “What’s in the box?”

“A pie.”

“What?!?”  He had not brought that second pie he’d bought here with him, had he?

“A pie,” he repeated, holding it out to her.  “It’s for you, and not in the way I gave it to you tonight... I bought it so *you* could smash it in *my* face.”

“What?” she asked again, incredulous, and he smiled as he carefully removed the pie from the box and handed it over to her, standing right in front of her.

“I think you heard me, Steph.  Come on, you know you want to after what happened tonight...”

The brunette bit her lip in a moment of indecision, meeting his sparkling blue eyes, and then she nodded solemnly.  “Okay... But remember, you asked for it.”

Jericho simply nodded in reply, then stood there as she shoved the pie in his face, her eyes widening as she looked at her handiwork.  “I actually did it,” she said, and Chris laughed.

“That you did, Princess,” he said as he wiped some of it away, then licked his fingers, making Stephanie think of Lita’s comment earlier that evening, and she grinned herself as she reached out and ran her finger down his pie-covered nose, then licked the goo off her finger... It was banana cream pie, just as she had thought it might be.

“You know,” she said as she ran her finger down his cheek for another taste.  “This is actually pretty good stuff.”

“Only the best for you,” he replied as she leaned in and licked away the filling that was on his neck, causing him to shiver involuntarily.  “Steph...”

“What?” she asked innocently before licking at him again, and he nearly groaned.

“If you don’t stop that, I’m going to end up getting this pie all over you - again - and all over that bed as well,” he warned her, and Stephanie looked at him for a moment before going back to her task of licking the pie filling off of his throat, her words muffled against his throat but still clear enough to hear.

“It’ll wash off...”

The End

 

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