A/N: So this was like a challenge thing, I'm sure most of you know that, but this is what I have for it, and I hope it's okay. I know Nina (DCFanatic4Life) has something cooking so you have to make sure and check hers out when she post, or just check her stuff out, cause amazing. So yeah anyway, this is my take as to why Paul was so distant to Stephanie in the ring, because let's face it, he was! This took ages to write, so you all better review! =-p Hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Chris or Stephanie, they're their own people. Who they choose to be with is up to them, it just so happens to be each other, but I'm down with that, Jess and Paul? Not so much.
Heartbeats
Heartbeats are a tricky thing.
They have to keep a constant beat. The thumpthump that resonated throughout your entire body is the surge of blood going from one chamber to the next. The next is the blood being pushed out and into every part of your body from your head to your toes. It flows on its adventure through veins, arties and even to the very end of the capillaries keeping you alive, but that's not what's important. What is, is that no one notices but her, which isn't surprising, it is the inner workings of her body after all. Her heart beats normally, she works and the thumpthump is constant, she sees her husband and when he kisses her, she can hear the dull thudding in the background. She talks with a co-worker and she can hear it sound out in her ears. In a boring meeting with her father, she clasps a hand around her wrist and feels the rhythmic pulsating beneath her fingertips.
Then, that all changes.
Chris makes her heart miss a beat, and that's how she knows he's near. From the first time his hands snaked around her waist and pulled her into him, so he could teasingly kiss her neck, her normal heartbeat quickened so rapidly that there was a missing thump and she sagged against him in her light-headedness. She's not expecting it when she feels it, the telling sign that he's near. He'd been knocked out cold and carried from the ring, she'd expected him to have left already, but the flutter in her heart suggested otherwise.
She doesn't know how he caused her heart to act like so, maybe he'd heightened her senses over the years, which in turn causes her to hear his footsteps from a hallway away as they inch closer. Or maybe she knows his scent and the closer he gets to her, the smell wafts a path straight towards her and when it hits her, it's an instant missed beat. She knows when she sees him, she has to bite her lip to keep from smiling and when, late at night when they're both hidden from the world by a cloak of darkness and he's groaning out her name as he thrusts, she shivers and gasps as she tries to regulate her heart but can only succeed in gripping onto him and tracing the contours of his body that fall under her fingertips.
She waits a beat and then two and there it is the silence where a thump should be. Her heart is racing to catch up and it's doing a poor job until she looks up and her eyes are locked with his own, then her hearts in overdrive and she can't breath fast enough to slow it down. There's want in his eyes and she's positive it's a mirror of her own.
Each step he takes towards her causes her grip to tighten on the clipboard in her hand. She's glad for that clipboard, as it's the only thing stopping her from reaching out and pulling him towards her. Her grip slackens when he stops in front of her and she's so close, so very close to just reaching out and gripping his jacket and doing just that, but he gives a curt nod as he watches people pass them. It's the last hour of Raw and there's usually an energy coursing through people as they try to give the best they can. It causes the backstage area to become crowded and there is little to no privacy, so doing what she so badly wanted to do, would be foolish. Then again, on some nights, like tonight she didn't much care.
"Stephanie."
His voice rang out and goosebumps travel all across her body like the blood that surged from her heart to every one of her nerve-endings.
"Chris."
Out of the corner of her eye, she sees his hands flex and clench, like he wanted to reach out as well but had to hold back. The briefest of smiles touched the corner of her lips before disappearing, she was glad to know she wasn't the only one who was effected by whatever this was between them. Stephanie liked to call it living. She could feel eyes on them and she knew people were looking, since reputation had these two at each others throats, on-screen and off. A façade they'd generated to keep people from finding out the truth, they weren't sure what the consequences would be, but they were sure they would be explosive.
"Can I help you?" she asked him and made sure that she put on a callous tone towards the end, outwardly giving the impression that he was the last person she wanted to deal with.
"Not likely," Chris replied with a scoff and he noticed some of the people around them stifle their laughter. "But your father said, I had to come too you."
"Can't you see I'm busy?" Stephanie sighed and inwardly cringed at the bruise that was forming on his face, there was no doubt that it was going to hurt in the morning. "Can't this wait?"
"If it could, do you think I'd still be here?" he questioned her sarcastically.
"What's it regarding?"
"Time off."
That surprised her and it showed on her face, was he leaving again? She's almost positive she couldn't handle that again. She couldn't take the weeks passing and not seeing him, only then to see him for a handful of days at a time. Her heart sped up for a whole different reason this time, but he was still the cause. "I'll be in my office, if you feel like following, you can." She spoke up as she turned and started to walk away. "But you'd make my life more liveable if you decided to take this up with Shane." She threw over her shoulder as she heard his footsteps follow the path she was leading.
They kept a space between them, and it was a decent amount for a work colleague, not to close to let anyone know that there was something going on and not too far away so that it could look suspicious. She could feel his eyes on her, trailing down from her back and over the curve of her behind, to the top of her thighs to the bottom of her never-ending legs and then back up again. She was glad she wore this dress tonight.
She opened the door to her office and made her way over to her desk, she reached it just as she heard Chris click the door shut behind him and turned towards him, resting back on the desk. She watched his eyes trailed over her, from the way the smile she hid earlier came back and graced her face, to the way he wet his lips in anticipation as he followed the hollows of her neck down to the cut in her dress that showed her cleavage. Just a hint these days, unlike the days gone by, she liked to tease and Chris was always game. His eyes burned into her and she was sure that her heart would always vibrate rapidly in response to him.
He took a step towards her, but she held up a hand and he looked up at her, puzzled with a hint of fear that tinted the hue of his eyes. Was he afraid the same as she was? That one day he'd tell her that this was over, he couldn't do it anymore, he had a wife and family that he needed to work on, to make better? She was only going to ask him about the time off he needed, she didn't need to think about those thoughts that ebbed away at her when sleep was supposed too come. They chipped a little at her heart each time and the blood would slow to a halt, until she was surged back to life when he rolled over, threw an arm across her abdomen - the same abdomen he'd rested a hand on and felt the kick of life below it, twice - and pulled her into him. She slept soundly when that point in the night came.
"Steph?" he questioned uneasily.
"You want time off?" she wondered, her own voice timed, internally bracing herself for his answer.
"A week Friday," he nodded. "I need a day to rest, and I was hoping I could take you too dinner?"
"I have the girls, Paul has a house show." She answered with a hint of a smile, and watched as a smile boomed across his Chris's face.
"The entire weekend?"
"He gets back Sunday night." She informed him and smiled fully as Chris took a step forward reaching out for her hands that she willingly gave him.
"I get the entire weekend with my girls?" He asked hopefully, pulling her towards him and she felt his hands clasp and rest at her back.
"Yes." She whispered as he inched closer, his lips teasing her by just being out of reach. "Will you just kiss me already?"
He didn't need to be told twice, his lips were on her own before she had finished the sentence. Her hands trailed up his arms and down his chest and she felt her hands grip both sides if his suit jacket. All she could hear was her heartbeat thundering in her ears as blood rushed to her head. Chris was a head rush she never wanted to stop, his kisses left her breathless and his touch drew paths across her skin that made her squirm in anticipation. See, Paul never incurred anything close to these feelings she was being assaulted with, his touch was heavy and overbearing, when he took her hand in his own he swallowed it whole and clamped on like a vice grip. Even now, through the haze Chris was creating on every one of her senses, she could still make out the way he had brought his hand around and intertwined their fingers and how the soft touch of his thumb caressed the back of her hand. It was the simple things that stirred such want within her for him: the way he held her hand, the way he kissed her so slowly that there was no need to pull away for a breath and yet he still left her breathless or how his touch was so accustomed to her body that each one led to a moan of pleasure.
"I missed you." She heard him whisper as he left a path of kisses from her jaw, across to her ear and then down to her neck where he nipped at it. It was a long stated fact that Stephanie's neck was sensitive, a cold breeze would emit a shudder from her so, copious amounts of hungry kisses coupled with the short panting of breath from Chris, created a sensation close to that of a cold breeze which caused her to buck on such an occasion and tonight was no different.
"God, Chris," she gasped. "I missed you too."
She felt the hand that wasn't clasped with her own, reach down and cup the back of her thigh and bring her leg up so it was around his waist. He lifted her and her other leg followed and then Chris moved back with her so that when he sat on one of the couches in her office she was sitting on top of him. Her eyes were heavy with lust but she managed to pry them open so that she could look at Chris and found that he was already looking at her, his own eyes dark and so obvious with their need.
His fingers slid up her thighs and she watched his accent, watched as his thumbs hooked under her dress and brought it up till he reached her hips and she watched as he wet his lips and trailed a trembling hand over what he likes to call her milky thighs. She'd felt him do this so many times, but it was never the same touch the next time they found themselves in this position, there was another place to tease, to memorize, to torture. She was always positive her heart would explode beneath her chest due to the way he made her feel, but she'd grip onto Chris for all she was worth and then it didn't seem so overpowering, she'd wondered on many occasions if some of Chris's essence passed through him and into her, just so she would experience this with him. It always amazed her how his hands always trembled when he touched her, there was always a slight shake that skewed his path and then when he reached her hips, they stopped and maybe she passes some of her essence back and they help each other out.
Right now, she can feel him draw circles across her thighs and she trembles at his touch, she's almost positive that he writes phrases on her as well, but she's always too far gone to realize he's writing 'I love you.' like an invisible vow of promise to her that he'll always be with her no matter their circumstances. He's written it all over her body, so it won't be broken. She feels him sigh beneath her and slides a hand up to his cheek and leaned in and kissed him. She always did like kissing him, even before this all started and it was only an on-screen storyline, his mouth was always soft and welcoming and there had been nights where they'd got lost is just kissing each other to do anything else, but they were still some of the best nights she'd had with him. He has the start of a beard grown and she can feel the stubble underneath her fingertips and hear it as she rakes her nails down his jaw. He always did like when she did that.
She gasped as his thumb slipped down to the inside of her thigh, a particularly sensitive spot and her hips ground down into Chris's which only resulted in him bucking up into her and they both gasped. She fell forward and rested her head on his shoulder as she took a deep breath, but it wasn't working, her head was swimming and the thunderous roar in her ears were only causing her lose one sense after another. That being said, there was one sense she hadn't lost and that was touch and she could feel Chris below her. She let out a low groan as she felt him move below her, and bit down on her lip as she felt him try to control himself, but she was already to far gone to let him control himself, least of all let her control herself. Before she knew what she was doing, her free hand was slipping down between them and finding him. Chris gasped into her ear and kissed her neck and she then she felt him pull her closer to him and in doing so, it causes her hand to press closer and she feels him twitch under his pants trousers against her hand. She lets out a hiss as his fingers dig into her hips, his hands are under her dress and the move surprised her, but it wasn't the most unpleasant thing she'd ever felt.
"Stephanie." He calls out and she wants to tell him to be quiet, that someone could hear and then try to come in, but that thought is lost with the rest of her jumble of thoughts, that wonder if he even locked the door and but then she feels his hand on her back as it finds the zip of her dress and she hears it coming down and she's once again losing a heartbeat to this man as well as getting lost in his touch, as she feels his fingers graze down her back. She moves her head from Chris's shoulder and they're kissing again and Chris is pulling the top of her dress down so it meets the bottom that's pooled at her waist. "Hell, you're beautiful." He whispers as she feels him kiss her neck, followed by one kiss after the other until the kisses cross her shoulder and back again. She's waiting for his next move and she's not surprised when it's his fingers tracing the underside of her breasts, his thumbs flick out and skim over her nipples, which harden at his touch. She feels him lean forward and his mouth is placing one wet kiss after another on top of her breasts and it's torture, because she's half naked and Chris is fully clothed.
She leans back and he looks up at her and she can tell all he wants to do is go back to what he was doing, but she smirks and pushes him back and he pouts and she laughs as she helps him out of his suit jacket, he was wearing his black suit with his white pinstripe shirt and black tie, her favourite by far. He helped her shrug the jacket off and then she let it fall to the side before reaching up and undoing his tie.
"It is not fair that you have so many clothes on, and I have a bra." Stephanie commented saucily.
She saw his own smirk come across his face as he leered at her, "I got no complaints."
Pulling the tie from behind his collar, Stephanie let it fall to the floor before reaching and unbuttoning his top button and the one after that until his shirt was open. She pushed his shirts off of his shoulders and she helped Chris out of it. "That's better." She commented as she let her nails rake down Chris's chest to his stomach before flattening out her hands and sliding them back up to his chest. She leaned into Chris and kissed along his jaw and stopped below his ear. "You like that don't you?" she whispered and she listened to the moan he tried to hold back escape. Chris always liked it when her nails made their way down his chest, he'd told her once that the feeling was so intimate that just thinking of her doing it to him cause him to stir down below. Stirring down below wasn't going to be a problem at this moment in time because he's been at peak attention since he sat her down on the couch they were on.
"I know what you're going to like more." Chris breathed out as his hands found the waistline of Stephanie's panties. His fingers slipped inside and he was pulling them down before Stephanie had any say in the matter and she gasped in surprise. "Told you."
She smirked down at him as she rose up and let him pull them down more, until they were fully off and lying forgotten on the floor. She noted that his eyes were darker than before, and she bit her lip in anticipation. He almost, always got a hungry look in his eyes when he was about to make her his and she would become a helpless victim. Well, victim wasn't the right word, she gave into him willingly, but right now it was his turn to give himself to her willingly as she reached down and started to unbuckle his belt and after pulling that free of his waist, she opened the button to his pants and pulled down his zip. She's not sure whose breath it is, but someone is panting heavily and she can feel her heartbeat thump against her chest in such a rapid succession of the other that she thinks it may be her, but she sees Chris's chest moving at a hurried pace, like he can't catch a breath, that she thinks it might be him.
She decides it's the both of them.
She watches as his eyes slide too a close as her hand slips in past his boxers and pushed them down and then he's free and she hears a low rumble emanating from him and he's gripping her hips hard and she can't help but want that grip to be tighter, so she bites her lip as she looks down and teasingly runs her fingers up and down his shaft and it spasms in her hand when she cups it and he grips tighter. He's on the edge of something and she wants to take the leap with him.
"Cinta, I need you." Chris whispered out, his voice hoarse. Stephanie smiled at the use of her name from Chris, it meant 'love' in Indonesia and they both figured, Indonesia was a pretty remote place, so the chances of any of their co-workers figuring out what it meant, was slim to none. He could call her it out in the open and for all they knew it was an insult that fitted with their apparent hatred for each other.
"I need you too, Sarang." Her name for him and also Korean's word for love.
He surged forwards and their mouths were a violent clash of teeth and tongues as they kissed each other with unabashed want. She felt Chris pull her hips up and got what he meant pretty fast and she rose to her knees and flush against his chest. She waited for a few moments before she felt him move below her and when he let his head fall back against the couch and as she moved down she called out his name as he filled her. Both their breathing was ragged for a minute as they sat there, as still as they much as they could, just embracing the feeling of being truly connected to the other.
She couldn't tell you who moved first and she didn't much care, all that mattered was that they were moving with each other. Stephanie with her hands clasped around Chris's neck as he kissed whatever skin he could find on her as she met his thrust. They had been so busy the last couple of weeks, what with Stephanie's work backstage and Chris working both shows that they hardly had time to spend with each other and it had almost been a month to the day since they had been like this and maybe absent made the craving grow, because Stephanie could honestly tell anyone who asked, that she hadn't felt this energizes or wanted since the last time she was in Chris's arms calling out his name over and over, listening to him moan hers as he pushed deeper, trying to fill her with all that he had.
She whimpered as her thrusts fell out of pace and she was pulling back when Chris was thrusting and she needed the friction, she was so, so close and then there it was, that little bit of extra pleasure being stroked between her legs and before she knew what was happening, her eyes were squeezed shut and she was clenching around Chris and felt him still for a fraction of a second and then sag back into the couch pulling her with her. Her heartbeat was frantic and as she rested her head on Chris's chest, she could hear how quick his was going too.
They lay like that for a few minutes, content to just be with each other and Stephanie heard Chris's heart slow and felt her own slow at the same time. She slid a hand around his side and heard the unmistakable sound of a missing thump from beneath his chest and she looked up in surprise.
"What?" he wondered tilting his head in question.
"Your heart skipped."
"Well yeah," Chris smiled. "Every time I look at you, you make it skip a beat."
She smiled and kissed him and he kissed her back.
Stephanie was fixing her dress and watching Chris button his shirt up but he kept on missing a button and the last four buttons were always out of sync and she couldn't help but laugh. She walked over to him and unbuttoned them, before smirking up at him. "I'll button you up, and you can zip me up. Deal?"
"Well, I'd rather let the dress drop to the floor and have my way with you again, but I suppose I can zip you up."
He was halfway up with the zip and Stephanie was buttoning the last button and trying to sort Chris's tie out when the door to her office opened and they both froze. She was doing his tie and he was zipping up her dress, there was no way they could talk their way out of this. Stephanie turned her head first and she was staring at her husband.
"Steph…what…I'm…"Paul spurted out, utterly confused.
"I've been sleeping with Chris." She hadn't meant to be so blunt but it was what it was. She doesn't know who was more surprised, Chris and his exhale or Paul and the way his jaw just dropped. "I have been for a few years." Yes, she was letting it all out – not that she had much say in the matter, it seemed her mouth was disconnected from her mind and was just digging a deeper hole, it should have been terrifying, but it felt freeing.
"I'm going to kill you." Paul raged as he clenched his fist, his eyes set on Chris. She watched as Chris took a step in front of her, to protect her and she smiled at that and slipped a hand down into his.
"No you're not." Stephanie spoke up and Paul's anger was directed towards her.
"You slut!"
She watched Chris take a step forward and clench his fist. "You watch your damn mouth."
"I want a divorce."
She watched as Paul took a step back, like he'd been slapped and the anger drained from his eyes, to be replaced with panic. "I forgive you."
"I don't care." Stephanie told him. "I don't love you."
"I love you." Paul pleaded and she felt Chris take a step back.
"You love the power Paul, not me." Stephanie informed him, and his gaze dropped to the floor.
"That's a lie," he accused as he looked back up at her. "I do love you, and our kids. You leave me and I'll make sure you'll never see your kids again, they'll call someone else mom."
"Funny that." Stephanie sounded out, her tone cold. "They already call someone else daddy."
She watched as Paul settled his glare back on Chris ready to hurt him when Stephanie delivered the last blow.
"Which is fitting really, since Chris is their father."
It was later that evening, when she went out to the ring to celebrate her father birthday and Paul could barely look at her, he played the grieving husband well, a father who had lost his wife and daughters in one fail swoop but she knew that him well and knew he was more upset about his place in the hierarchy of the business than anything to do with the downfall of his marriage. She would tell everyone tomorrow and keep up this façade for one more night, but she was sure someone out there would notice. Their downfall was years in the making, but she was glad she was free now.
Chris made her come alive, and if she'd stayed with Paul, she was sure she'd be dead soon.
She preferred a heart that skipped a beat for a man she loved with all that she was, than a heart that barely beat for a man she never loved to begin with.
The End.