He made a mistake. Once.
Well, actually, probably a lot of times. He'd made many mistakes, after all, throughout the years. He was a man, after all, and therefore inherently flawed. But there was one, one single mistake, that really stuck out to him.
He fell in love.
Well, that alone wasn't the mistake. Rather, after falling in love, he was stupid enough to not immediately pull all business ties out of the relationship. That was the mistake. He let the business slowly creep into his personal life and devour any love he had.
For a time.
A very short time.
It was only after taking a few steps back from the business and assessing his relationship from a separate standpoint that he was able to regain it. And once he had, he refused to ever let the business taint it again. He would keep it separate, no matter how difficult that sounded, and work hard, even harder than he did in the ring, at making sure his relationship, above all else, was always the most important thing to him in his life.
This worked.
For a time.
He got Steph, even married her again. Had two very healthy and happy kids. It was the fairy tale they'd always wanted.
Until she wound up as the General Manager of RAW once more.
It was then that things got all fucked up.
Fucking Orton. The thought of the other man made Hunter grit his teeth and glare into the nothingness the dark room provided. Randy was so...so… And Steph, she…
He had to keep them separated. HE wasn't sure why yet, he didn't know how yet, but he had a bad feeling that Orton...knew. And that he was going to hurt Stephanie. Not just because, you know, fuck the McMahons, but also to get back at him, Hunter. And he couldn't let that happened.
He had to protect her.
What was the point of it all then? Anyways? Training and shit if he couldn't even protect his own wife?
It was just hard.
Impossible even.
They'd long decided to keep their personal life separate from the business. They didn't want to get launched back into that vicious cycle that had ruined their first attempt at marriage. This time around, they'd done so well. So very well. She let him do his shit and he let her do his. They supported one another in hushed whispers in hotel rooms, but aloud, they hardly even mentioned the other.
So how could he protect her from Randy while also keeping up this facade?
He couldn't.
That was just the honest answer.
He could not openly protect Stephanie from Orton without realizing that this was a perfect plan of attack. Not to mention everyone else. If he defended Stephanie against Orton, if he openly announced her as his wife, it wasn't that he was afraid of the backlash he'd receive from the others. No. Fuck the others.
It was the idea that she could possibly be targeted more than usual just because she was his wife. That if someone was upset with him, that they might try and do something terrible to her. To his woman.
His woman…
Glancing behind him, he saw her there, snuggled up under the covers sleeping. Between him and her though was where his eyes really stayed. His two little babies, his two year old and the other under one, even. They both looked so content there, in their parents bed, knowing there, above all other places, they were safe. Completely and utterly safe.
Steph deserved to be safe.
Fine. He could admit it. Her and her stupid brother and definitely their idiot father deserved it sometimes. The hate they got from the others. They really seemed to get off on fucking their own workers over. He knew. He'd experienced that same hate that Orton had going for Steph currently.
He'd hurt Stephanie. Before. Another mistake. He and her both tried to block it out for the most part, pretend as if it hadn't happened, but it had. He'd hurt the only person in the entire world that ever understood him.
The only thing that had stopped him from killing her, honestly, every single time, was that little bit of him that always loved her, through it all.
Randy didn't have that.
Oh, no, he didn't have an ounce of that.
If given the chance…
Hunter turned completely then, to brush a kiss against the top of all three of their heads. His little ones and Steph. The girls hardly noticed, but the feeling did wake Stephanie some as she moaned lowly before peeking her eyes open.
"Hey," she whispered softly as he only sat up once more.
"Hey."
"What time is-"
"Stephanie," he cut her off. "If Orton comes for you again… If he messes with you, I… I'm not going to let him hurt you."
"What?" She blinked some more, not ready for such sentiment so early in the morning. "Hunter-"
"I'm not going to let anyone ever hurt you. Not again. Especially not him."
"We don't have ot talk about this right-"
"We do."
"Hunt-"
"If it comes between protecting you or protecting this stupid false image of myself, I'll choose you. Every time. I swear to you. As the mother of my children. I can't focus on future threats, just the immediate. Orton's going to try and get you. You and your stupid brother. He's already got your father. I'm not going to let that happen. You hear me? So be ready for it. If I see something...I'll have to stop it. You mean the world to me. I'd die for you. I'd let my reputation die for you. That's not even in question. This whole thing...this lying thing...keeping you guys secret…. Fuck it, baby. You're my family. You and our girls. If it comes to it...if I have to defend that… I'm doing it. If I can't even protect my wife, then what was this all for?"
Stephanie pushed up then, at his words, before leaning across their kids so that she could press a kiss to his cheek. Against it, she whispered, "I'll be fine. Shane will be fine. Randy's… Let's just not talk about it, okay? We're fine. I'm fine. He won't hurt me. He wouldn't dare."
"If he does-"
"If he does, you do what you feel like you have to do. You're the Game." He got another cheek kiss. "You can do whatever the fuck you want. Not even the McMahons can stop you."
"Damn right."
"But it won't come to that," she promised and it was still early February. By the middle of it, they'd know differently. Oh, they'd know differently. But still in the early part, she was able to assuage his fears. "Now, can you go put the baby in her crib? She'll sleep better there."
He nodded some and did as his wife asked. When he returned to bed, both she and his older daughter were sleeping soundly once more and he only sighed, sitting again on the edge of the bed and only staring off, thinking.
If ever there was a defining moment, he felt as if were then. There was no way for him to know, of course, no possible way for him to realize, that his true definitive moment was still to come. That soon enough, Orton would smoke him out of hiding. He'd have no choice.
Soon.
But not then. The thoguhts still kept him from sleep that night, but for the coming days, he and Stephanie still weren't outted and things were still at their retaliative peace.
When the time came though, he knew that he would act. That he would protect her. Do everything in his power to do so.
Because he'd made mistakes before. A lot, really. With Stephanie.
But this wouldn't be one of them.
Would it?
The other Hunter and Steph request. Eventually we'll probably go more in depth into the Orton saga with Trips and Steph, but just this for now.