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Stephanie McMahon looked up at the knocking that suddenly sounded at her office door.

"Come in!"

The door opened, and the brunette's features softened into a small smile when she saw Jeff Hardy standing there.

"Back so soon?" she asked jokingly.

"Um...yeah..." the young man replied, his face looking a bit nervous. This woman was incredibly beautiful, but she was also the General Manager. She was loaded with power - not to mention money - and all he was was a lowly mid-card superstar...

"Come on in, Jeff..." Stephanie said with welcome, the smile widening on her face. She spread one arm out, hand gesturing toward one of the twin chairs positioned before her desk.

Jeff sat down in one of them, his gaze fixed on the pretty young woman before him.

"I...I just wanted to personally thank you - again - for inviting me and Amy to be on SmackDown..."

"Oh, you don't have to thank me, Jeff..." she said, her grin still present. Her blue eyes seemed to sparkle a bit as she regarded him. "You and Amy are incredibly talented, and Eric had no right to release either one of you..." Now, the brunette's smile waned as she spoke of such unpleasantries. "To tell you the truth, it's an absolute honor to have you on my show."

The rainbow-haired man smiled.

"It is? Well, thank you again...I know we've had our differences in the past, but I can see you are gonna be much more pleasant to work for than Bischoff ever was..."

The 'differences' Jeff spoke of brought the memories flooding back to Stephanie - and she recalled how, for a short while, she'd gotten into a bit of a tiff with Jeff and his brother Matt after her father had suspended them and Amy when the younger Hardy had been late to several house shows. She'd promised to lighten the punishment Vince had promised, and when she'd failed to deliver, a small disagreement had broken out between them. Other than that, Stephanie and Jeff had never had any unpleasant issues between them.

Jeff ran a hand through his colorful hair as he thought about one of the last things Stephanie had mentioned during the earlier meeting in which he and Amy had sat here in her office.

"Steph...I was wonderin' about something you said before..."

Stephanie arched a brow in anticipation, her blue eyes trained on his green.

"What exactly did you mean when you said you had big plans for Mr. Bischoff?"

Stephanie's grin widened, exposing her white, perfect, straight teeth.

"Why, we're going to RAW, Jeffrey - and we're going to take back everything - and everyone - that is rightfully ours...We're going to make Eric's life a living hell..."