The house was silent and dark as Paul turned off the living room television finally. He'd avoided it, heading off to bed, but his eyes were starting to droop and, though at the moment the toxicity between he and Steph was bad, if he didn't come to bed, it'd be even worse in the morning.

He stopped off before making it into the room, peeking in at their almost two year old, to make sure that she was alright (plus to buy some time) before finally biting the bullet. His prayers were answered when, as he pushed into the master bedroom, he found his wife to be sleeping.

Good. He involuntarily let out a long sigh. Good.

Moving through the darkness, he went to their adjoining bathroom first, to get ready for bed, before heading to go lie down.

Now, he and Steph had a nice bed. A big bed. A king sized one. For, obviously, the king. And his queen and baby when she wanted to snuggle up in there with them.

It was not, however, for the family dog, Bluto.

He didn't know that though, poor Bluto didn't. Not to mention, Steph frequently led him to believe that the bed was bought just for the two of them and allowed him to sleep in Paul's spot, in those times when he was away and she wasn't.

At the moment, however, Daddy very much so was home and the dang dog needed to go sleep in his damn crate. Or at least move over. Because when Paul moved to get into bed, he found the Mastiff completely stretched out over his half of the bed and seemed to have no intentions of moving.

Ever.

Bluto wanted to lay there forever.

Bet.

"Hey, buddy, scoot over," Paul mumbled as he shoved at the huge beast. He got a tail wag in response, but no moving. He was, of course, stronger than the dog, but if he shoved him too much, he'd shove him into Steph and that would be no good. And he was upset with her, fine, but he wasn't angry at the dog, so just dragging him off the bed wasn't something he wanted to do either. "You can stay, you just gotta move. Bluto, move."

He did a bit, rolling some, but not much. With a groan, Paul tried to slip into bed, but he wasn't a tiny man, not by any stretch of the imagination. The edge was all he got and even then he was nearly falling off.

Annoyed now, he reached behind him to just shove Bluto closer to Steph, no longer caring much if he woke her.

Which, of course, was exactly what he did.

"What are you doing?" Stephanie complained drowsily as Bluto, instead of just allowing himself to be pushed, stood up on the bed and shook some before falling once more, closer to his mother now. "Paul?"

"I'm trying to fit in the damn bed. Your dog-"

"He didn't do anything to you." She was awake enough, it seemed, to defend her baby. "You're just in a bad mood."

"I'm not the one in a bad mood, Stephanie."

"You're the one with an attitude. And you're not even the one that was woken up unfairly."

"Unfairly?" he grumbled as he only scooted further onto the bed, his back still to her. "You had the dog in my spot!"

"You didn't come to bed with me. Why should I have assumed you ever would?"

"Because I always do!"

"Don't yell at me. I don't feel good."

Which, of course, got a huff from him and a glance over his shoulder. She played it up well too, rubbing at her stomach.

"The baby's been killing me all day," she went on as he only stared back at her in the darkness. "And then you were a jerk when I got home-"

"I was not. You're the one-"

"So not only do I have to carry around your baby, but now you're going to keep bothering me-"

"You let the dog sleep in-"

"I didn't tell him to do it!" Then she huffed a bit. "And I don't feel like arguing over something as stupid as that. There; he's not in your spot anymore. You big baby."

He had his space then, but no comfort. Shifting around in bed for a good ten minutes, he finally drew the ire of his wife once more.

"Would you stop-"

"Bluto got fleas in the bed."

"He did not."

"Did too."

"Then go sleep somewhere else, Paul."

"That's what you want, isn't it?"

"I honestly don't care."

"That's why you had the dog in my spot-"

"He crawled into bed when I got into it." Then, eyes still shut, she added, "If someone hadn't been being such a jerk and came also-"

"I wasn't tired."

"Then go not be tired somewhere else."

"If you don't want me in here-"

"You don't want to be in here."

"Whatever, Stephanie." Shoving back out of the bed, he glared down at them, regardless of the fact she had her eyes shut again and Bluto seemed to be sleeping once more. "You know, I came to bed planning to be finished with this all, but you-"

"There's nothing to be finished with for me," she told him simply. "You're the one acting like an ass."

"I'm an ass for-"

"Yes!"

"Whatever, Steph. Sleep with your damn dog." He didn't stomp off or anything, because he wasn't a child, but his short breath that he forced loudly through his nose was enough to tip her off that he was pissed. "See if I care."

She let him get the last word for once, but he figured that was because she'd already won out in not only getting the bed, but also by making him feel like an asshole, arguing with his pregnant wife.

Paul went to one of the guest bedrooms, the one on the other side of the house, far away from his wife. Which he regretted when, not five minutes after he settled into the bed, Aurora started up from her own room.

Mad as he was at Steph, she was still pregnant and having a shit day (that was self-caused, he felt, but whatever), so he figured he'd be on baby duty for the night.

"Rora. What's wrong with you? Huh?"

Uh, try it'd been a good five hours since she'd fallen asleep and she was ready for some definite attention?

Finding her not to be wet or stinky and pretty sure she wasn't hungry (they had her on a pretty good schedule for that and she'd eaten all her food at dinner), he only held her above his head, making a face at her. There was no light on in the room, but the moon shone brightly that night and gave off enough borrowed light so that Aurora could make out his features.

She liked them a lot. His features. They made up her favorite face.

"There you go," he grinned as, with a giggle, the little girl began to reach down for his nose. "Now you're all better. Were you just missin' me? I missed you. Silly. Did Daddy wake you up when he was talking with Mama? Huh?"

She wasn't close enough to touch him, as he had her held up so far above him, but she kept reaching anyways, trying desperately then to poke him in the eye, her slowly darkening hair tumbling over as well.

"You want a kiss?" Paul lowered her some, so that he could place one on her cheek, which got a giggle from the nearly two year old. "There ain't a single thing wrong with you, is there, big girl?"

Nope. Not at all.

"Then you gotta go back to sleep."

"Dada."

"No, Rora." When she tried to grab then at his hair, he went to lie her back down in her crib. "No."

"No."

"You thinking talkin' will distract me from putting you back to bed?"

Maybe. She was willing to try anything.

"There you go." Forcing her to lie down, he said, "Daddy's gonna get you a big bed soon. You like that? I just gotta get around to doin' it before your sister gets here." He rested his hand on her tummy as Aurora only stared up at him forlornly, annoyed that he'd stopped holding her. "Be a big girl, huh? No tears."

But that wasn't fair! So much of her time those days was spent on the road, as her Daddy and Mommy were very busy with arenas and shows, that she was more accustomed to sleeping on the tour bus than her stinkin' crib at home.

She didn't like it!

And when he removed his hand from her tummy, she sat right back up, reaching for him once more. "No!"

"Rora, you have to-"

"Me!"

"I know. You. You need to go to sleep."

"No!"

She'd gone to bed too easily before. He knew that. It was because she'd been tired. Now though, after only sleeping halfway through the night, she was all wound up. Some quick attention was not the answer.

At all.

And honestly? Paul was kind of wanting her too. Arguing with Steph always put him in a funky place and, well, staying up with Rora for a bit could, at the very least, help him drift off.

"Come on then," he groaned, not even trying to force her to stay in her crib. She had yet to perfect climbing out of it, but she had become curious recently and he figured if he did leave her in there, she might just hurt herself trying to get out of it. "You can come with me."

Aurora liked when her daddy held her. It was always a bit more awkwardly than when Mommy did, because he never seemed rightly secure in that he wouldn't drop her. Steph always told him as long as he had an arm under her butt, she wasn't tipping over, but he wasn't so sure.

It was even worse when he used to have to cradle her in his arms.

His fear was on high alert back then.

Paul snagged her favorite stuffed toy on their way out of the bedroom, taking it with them across the house to the guest room he was going to stay in. Not before stopping off in the bathroom though and him putting some of those great potty training techniques to work.

In which he basically just asked if she had to go potty, she said no, he made her try, and then they went to bed.

Her mother and nanny were much better in that department, actually.

Paul was mostly good at congratulating her when she actually did alert them of her need to go and used the potty.

He was great at getting all pumped up over small things.

He was an absolute riot when she learned a new word.

Aurora wasn't sure why they went to go stay in the guest room, but she didn't mind much as Paul dropped her down on the mattress along with her toy. Giggling, she bounced a bit as he moved to fall into it as well.

"It is too late for you to be so fired up, Rora," he said as, with some more giggles, she clambered right up to his side to pat at his bare chest. "You know that?"

"Yes."

"Do you? Or are you just hoping that I praise you for speaking so prettily?"

"Yes."

"Thought so." He reached one of his big hands out to gently ruffle the baby's hair, getting rewarded with some of those giggles. "You know, Daddy actually has to go to the gym in the morning. I know that doesn't mean much to you, because you can just take a nap whenever you want, but Daddy has serious business to contend with in, oh, six hours, give or take."

Opening her mouth wide, she showed off her teeth to the man before reaching towards his face, opening and closing her little fist with a whine.

"What?" He held up his hand for her, grinning as she tipped over as she placed her open palm against his. "Is that what you want? You're silly."

Very.

He was grinning at the sight of her pushing herself upright once more when he heard some movement from somewhere in the house. Bluto's claws, soon, were heard clipping against the hardwood floors as well as Steph's much softer footsteps.

She was looking for them.

Or Aurora.

Maybe just him.

Something.

It took her a bit to make it to the guestroom and, when she got there, she flipped on the bedroom light.

"Steph!" he griped as Aurora fell over once more, burying her head in the blankets they were laying atop. "Sheesh."

"Well, sorry. You could tell me, you know, when you take off with my baby."

"You heard her crying. You had to have. Her bedroom's right next to ours," he pointed out as she slowly made her way into the room after flipping the light back off. Bluto was with her and jumped up on the bed as well, but stayed at the end of it, flanking out there with his head resting on Paul's feet.

He tried not to be annoyed with this.

The dog, after all, was the enemy. Or at least Steph's friend and a friend of an enemy and all that…

She let out a soft sigh too, Stephanie did, as she went to rest on the bed, being careful not to squish the excited Aurora who was clambering over to greet her. The bed in that room wasn't nearly big enough for the four of them, but what could you do?

Other than, like, all go get in that huge bed in their actual bedroom, but short of that, what? Huh?

Actually put Aurora and Bluto where they belong, her in her crib and him in his bed in the living room or his cage in Steph's office.

Short of those two extremely viable options though, they were stuck.

"You don't have to stay in here with us, Steph," he said as he gently tugged his daughter up onto his chest. "Really. It's fine. You were being emotional. I'm accepting your apology. So-"

"Shut up, Paul. You were the one-"

"That's an odd way of saying sorry, but it's cool, babe, I accept."

She wanted to be mad at him. She wanted to be really mad at him. But he was staring over at her, in the darkness, and his eyes had a glint in them and they'd been pissed at one another for literally hours, and she just…

She couldn't stay mad at him. About anything. It was the basis of their entire relationship, really. No matter how annoying one found the other, it only took about an hour for them to calm back down. The longest one of their fights had ever gone on without them at least somewhat reconciling was three days and it was right after they were married and over something so stupid she couldn't recall it.

The making up, however, she could recall very well…

Aurora giggled, because her mother giggled, but Paul only laid there with a blank face, as if he wasn't relieved to hear his wife do something other than gripe at him.

"You," she said as she rested on her side, both practically on the edge, "are so stupid."

"That's a bad word," he whispered back, reaching over with the hand that wasn't holding Aurora to tap her on the nose. "Mama."

"But true."

He only hummed, a bit, shifting on the bed as Bluto drifted off and began to drool on his foot. Letting Aurora go, he watched as she only stayed snuggled up to his chest before saying to his wife, "She refused to stay in her crib."

"Uh-huh."

"She doesn't like it."

"Of course not."

"She thinks that Daddy should buy her a big girl bed already."

"Well, Mommy's only been saying that since forever, so yeah, it'll probably be for the best."

"It's just not fair, you know? She's not a baby. She shouldn't have to sleep in a baby's crib."

"She told you all this?"

"It was transferred. Telepathically."

"Uh-huh."

"We're pretty in sync, me and my baby."

"Thought she wasn't a baby anymore?"

Paul made a face that time. "You're tricky."

Groaning, Steph reached down to rub at her stomach again. "Your current baby is giving me hell right now."

"You don't, like, have gas, do you?"

"Paul-"

"I wasn't leaving you here," he said as he tossed a hand over his nose. "I was just preparing."

Rolling her eyes, she said, "She's just, like, pressing against my spleen or something."

"Oh." His hand fell then to the top of Rora's head, the little girl currently sitting on her butt on his stomach, making faces down at the sleeping Bluto. "Well, what does the spleen do, anyways?"

"I don't know."

"Where is it? You know, in the body?"

"I don't," Stephanie repeated, "know."

"Then...how do you know that the baby is pressing up against-"

"I just know, Paul."

Angling his head to glance down at his daughter, he gave her head another pat before saying, "Now, Rora, I know how much you were banking on being, like, the first McMahon ever to actually be good at wrestling and win the respect of the fans-"

"I held a title, you know," Steph griped.

He knew.

"-but you're gonna have to forgo that and become a doctor." He smiled at Aurora, sleepily, as she grinned just from the fact that he was acknowledging her. "Teach Mommy and Daddy what a spleen is."

"A couple things," Steph said as he tickled the toddler's tummy, making her giggle and bat at his fingers. "Number one, we're in the middle of the information age, you know."

"The middle? Is it ending eventually?"

"You could just figure out what a spleen is on your own."

"I'm waiting for the other thing."

"Rora isn't a McMahon."

"Her trust fund better say she is."

"She's a Levesque."

He nodded. "A Helmsley."

"Right. Which means that, obviously, she garnishes all the respect of the intelligent fans-"

"-and the disdain of the incompetent." He made a face down at his daughter. "Sorry, sport; most of the fans fall into the latter category."

And even though Steph didn't want to, didn't feel up to it, she had to smile and laugh, just a bit, at the sight of her husband interacting with their daughter. Because while she'd taken comfort in Bluto during their fight, he'd found it in, oddly enough, their daughter. He was so...big and burly and just...not someone you'd think would be gentle enough to care for a child.

But he was so good at it. Sure, she spent more time with Aurora than him, by default, and probably had a bit of a better relationship with her because of it, but he was definitely Rora's daddy. She hated when she didn't get to go on the bus to go to shows and had to stay home. She cried for him all the time when he was gone.

They were best friends. He was the only one that knew how to play blocks right (everyone else tried to stack towers high; he knew that they were supposed to go two blocks high and then long, as long as possible) and told the best stories and was just all around the best.

Plus, he was the most snuggly.

To Steph though, he just seemed so much more...soft, with their daughter. Tender. He liked to gently stroke the top of the hair and gave cheek kisses practically on demand. He was always a different person with her, but to see him also be one with their daughter was…

Everything. It was the only thing.

"She needs to go to bed, Paul," Steph finally got around her laughter, reaching her own hand out to gently touch her daughter's cheek. "Or else she'll be horrible tomorrow."

"Horrible? Aurora? Never."

"Paul-"

"She's going to sleep." He gave his grin to his wife then before saying, "Rora, tell Mommy and Bluto goodnight. And the new baby too."

Of course. Looking down the bed, she called out, "Boo-boo!"

Which was the best goodnight someone that had been sleeping for the past forever could ask for, honestly.

Then, reaching out for her mother, Steph held up a hand and let he daughter grasp onto it, as Aurora giggled, "Nigh-nigh."

"Night-night. Again." She still wasn't feeling great, but did make a silly face at the girl. "You need your sleep, you know."

No, she didn't know.

"Tell the baby goodnight," Paul yawned as Aurora leaned down a bit, stretching an arm out to tap at Steph's extended tummy. Watching her, he prompted, "Night-night, baby."

"Nigh-nigh, baby."

"Good girl." Paul moved to force her into lying against his chest then. "Now lay down. It's time to go to sleep. Daddy and Mommy got lots of things to do in the morning."

She wasn't sleepy. Or at least didn't want to pretend to be. It took a good ten minutes for her to settle out and another five before, finally, she was resting contently against his chest.

Paul only turned his head to the side to stare at his wife. She was facing him, bleary eyed and about to sleep, but it was the first time he was really looking at her, full on looking at her, and he had to say something.

"Steph?" he whispered softly, as not to awaken their daughter.

"Hmmm?"

"You have chocolate on the corner of your mouth."

For a moment, their eyes met and just focused in on one another. Then, leaving one hand resting against Aurora's back, Paul reached over with the other after licking his thumb to rub it off.

"You're such a dad," Steph chided.

"And you're such a liar."

"Excuse me?"

"You didn't come to find us," he accused. "You went and got a snack from the kitchen."

For a moment, Steph was silent. Then, with a sigh, she said, "I never explicitly said I came to find you. You just made assumptions."

"You could have brought me something."

"You don't like chocolate."

"Still."

"We're even then," she decided as she shifted a bit on the bed. "I didn't bring you a snack and you were rude to your pregnant wife-"

"I wasn't rude."

"You were too."

"How?" He was keeping himself in check then as, for one, Aurora was sleeping on his chest and, for two, he really didn't want to start a fight again.

But he was not going to be told he was the one in the wrong when clearly, that had been her.

"I asked you to do the laundry today," she said as he only rolled his eyes. "You weren't going to be doing anything-"

"You didn't just ask me to do that. And yeah, I did have things to do. Like, gee, maybe since it was the nanny's day off, take care of the baby? And then you wanted me to clean out the fridge, which I did-"

"Half did."

"-and clean the bathroom, which I did too."

"A quarter of the way done. And only one of them. I wanted all of them-"

"It was too much. And hell, I got the laundry done after you got home."

"It was the easiest task."

Yeah, but he kind of forgot about it until she got there to remind him.

Duh.

"You didn't have to come in and yell at me though. I tried."

"You didn't try. You were sitting on the couch watching TV-"

"It was time," he griped, "for a break."

"How do you figure that? When you didn't even finish a complete task?"

"How is the fridge not cleaned out? Huh? I threw away anything rotten and-"

"You didn't take the trash bag that you filled with the stuff out."

"I was gonna do it when I took out the kitchen trash."

"And?"

"...I forgot." He glance down at Aurora, but she was still snoozing. Then, glancing back at his wife, he said, "You didn't have to bite my head off about it."

"I asked you for, like, the smallest set of things to do."

"I was busy. And you gotta admit, you came in pissed to begin with."

And she had. Yelling at him from the start. What was he supposed to do?

Other than what she'd asked.

Or calmly explained how he still planned to do as she asked.

Or just let her vent because it would save them an argument.

But seriously, other than those three things, what?

"I did not."

"Steph."

She let out a breath then, noisily, before saying, "I had to work all day and the stomach hurt and then Shane and Dad got into it-"

"About what?"

"Does it matter? It's always something recently. And Vince was on edge about it."

"Your brother always gets him all worked up over shit." Paul was too tired to listen about McMahon crap though and only shut his eyes. "He'll give him a heart attack one day, getting him all riled up."

"Maybe that's Shane's plan," she muttered as she too was too tired to go over the equally as tired plot that would be her father and brother until about a year later, when Shane would finally leave the company. "To wear him down until he has a heart attack. Then he gets the business."

"Well, tell him to cut us into that. We could add stress to his life too."

"Not you," she taunted, speaking in a sarcastic tone. "You're such great friends."

"Shuddup."

"Inviting him over to the house-"

"I bought too many hotdogs to just grill for us."

"Hanging around the office with him-"

"He's always hounding on me to do that. I'm just trying to please my woman's father. Is that a problem?"

"No." She let out a soft sigh. "It's not. At all."

"Alright then."

"It's literally the only good thing you did today."

"I didn't talk to your father today."

"Paul."

"I mean, we might have, like, texted or something-"

"Which you had time for? In your busy schedule?"

"You can't," he grumbled, "call us even, Steph, and then keep bringing something up."

Yes, she could. He apparently didn't know what the whole point of getting to be a wife was.

"Besides," he went on. "We have a damn maid. That's what I don't get. You're always making me clean-"

"You never do it, so really it's just me telling you and you ignoring me."

"-when someone comes, like, three times a week to do it. In a house that we live in only, at most, four times a week. So-"

"I don't want the maid to think that we're trashy."

He'd heard that before. From her. A lot. But it still made him take a deep breath before saying, "Night, Steph. I'm done. I love you, but for right now, I'm just...tired."

"Right, like I really want to explain that to you again anyways." Steph shifted some more, cuddling into her pillow. She only stilled when she felt Paul's hand fall then, down onto her stomach. When she glanced at him, she found his eyes closed though and he said nothing.

They were done fighting.

For the moment.

She'd been in a bad mood that day, so Paul figured he'd get about two and a half good mood days before she fell back into a sour one.

Man, he couldn't wait until the next kid was born, if only to get rid of pregnant Steph.

...And because he'd love his new baby too.

Of course.

With Steph at his side (who totally tossed and turned the entire night), Bluto at his feet (who turned out was the one with gas), and Aurora on his chest (who waited until he was finally snoozing to finally have to get that potty stuff taken care of), Paul found some comfort in the too small bed (he was a big guy; that king size was the only way to go if he was sleeping with other people), but mostly in the fact that tomorrow would be a new day.

A day in which he'd wake up to an already made up with wife.

And there wasn't anything better than that.