Stephanie McMahon showed the detectives out of her house and closed the door. She returned to the living room feeling dazed, unable to take in what had just happened. John was dead? And they thought she had something to do with it? What the hell was going on? As she walked into the living and slowly sat down again on the couch Paul walked in and closed the door. He was clearly angry but he kept his voice down, obviously trying to prevent the girls from hearing him from upstairs, "Steph, you had better be about to tell me that this wasn't you?"
Stephanie struggled to focus on her husband as her head began to spin, "What?"
Vince joined in now and he was equally as angry, "Don't give us 'what?' you swear to us that this wasn't you?"
Nikki jumped up, "Will you two shut the hell up? Look at her for god's sake." She sat next to Stephanie and held her, "it's obvious she didn't have anything to do with this, what the hell is wrong with you?"
"I want to hear it," Paul insisted. "Swear it Steph." His wife looked up at him and he immediately felt guilty. He could see in her eyes that this was not her. He knew how to read his wife's emotions and facial expressions after all of these years.
"I swear I didn't know anything about this. How could I?" He gestured to Nikki and she moved out of the way so that he could sit next to Stephanie, "I'm sorry honey but you must realise how this looks?"
Vince apologised too, "I'm sorry Steph." Stephanie did not reply and she still looked dazed. Nikki had an idea, "Vince why don't we take the girls out somewhere for an hour or so. Paul and Steph need to talk." Vince nodded and asked Paul, "Shall we do that?"
"Yes, thank you guys. I'll come help you get them ready though or you will be up there all afternoon. Honey are you okay here?" Stephanie nodded and Paul followed Nikki and Vince out of the room. They went upstairs and told the girls they were going to spend an hour or two with Granddad Vince and Grandma Nikki. The children seemed excited at the idea and did not make any fuss about getting ready. Aurora was the first to be ready and she charged downstairs. Paul followed Murphy down the stairs and Vince led Vaughn down by the hand with Nikki trailing behind.
As Paul got to the bottom of the stairs Aurora walked out of the living room and reported, "Dad, mommy is crying."
Paul tried to come up with something quickly, "Mommy isn't well darling, I'll make sure she's okay by the time you get home."
Aurora shook her head, "You won't, it's like before."
Paul bent down to her, "What do you mean?"
"Like before, she doesn't say anything." Paul was sure that his heart had stopped beating. Not again. It could not be happening again. "Vince, Nikki, just go." He noticed the shocked expressions on their faces, Nikki seemed to be particularly upset. He hurried into the living room and closed the door and saw what he had been dreading, Stephanie was sitting with her legs tucked up under her chin and she was crying. It was exactly how he had found her on the kitchen floor the day Linda had died. He sat next to her, not wanting to touch her in case that made things worse, "Steph?" He got no response so he tried again, "Steph, talk to me please? What are you crying about? There's nothing to be afraid of."
Stephanie looked at him and he saw this was different from before. Her voice contained immense relief rather than depression or fear, "I'm free now."
"Why are you sitting like this? Why are you crying?" She looked confused, dazed almost, "I don't know. It's over... it's all... it's all over."
Paul took hold of her, holding as tightly as he could without it being uncomfortable for her. "I know honey, it's all over now. You don't have to worry about John Cena any more." She started sobbing but Paul was not worried now as he knew this was relief not despair. He held her for several minutes until she was able to stop crying. He did not know or pay attention to how long it was, he just sat there holding his wife as he knew that was what she needed from him.
"Do you think they really believe it was me?" She asked timidly.
"It doesn't matter what they think, it wasn't you so they can't possibly trace anything back to you can they? They'll poke around and ask questions but you didn't do it so you have nothing to fear."
"But who did do it? And why?" He lifted her head gently and wiped away the remaining tears from her cheeks, "I don't care and neither should you. We have our own family to worry about."
By the time Vince and Nikki returned with the girls Stephanie had managed to get control of herself and take a shower to freshen up. When they walked into the house she was the first to greet them, "I'm sorry about before. I don't know what came over me, relief I guess. Aurora come here baby."
Aurora walked over and as Stephanie bent down they hugged, "Are you okay mommy?"
"Yes baby, I just felt a bit strange before but daddy made it better."
"Are you sure? I thought it was like before?"
Stephanie kissed her forehead, "No baby, not like before. Mommy has never been so happy." The other two girls walked over and joined in the hug. The most relieved person to hear that was Nikki although she tried to hide it to some extent. For the last hour she had been panicking about what she had caused to happen. The last thing she needed was for Stephanie to fall apart over John's death. Now that she saw Stephanie with her kids and heard what she had just said Nikki was certain, she had nothing to feel guilty about at all.
