A/N: So yeah, okay I don't know how exactly this story ended up like this, but it did. It's slightly AU, but not really. Cause like, Chris and Stephanie are still in the wrestling business but with one...significant change. So yeah, join me on this ride cause I have no idea where I'm going with it, but I hope you all enjoy it.

Disclaimer: Don't own anyone or anything.

Prologue

He figured she wore a halo that no one could see. How else could she look so ethereal? He'd look her way as she walked - not noticing anyone around her, lost in her own little world – and he'd gasp and his breath would leave him and he'd have to remind himself of the simple task of breathing.

She never noticed him.

She never noticed anyone.

She just put one foot in front of the other and walked. Walked until her feet found the right destination, a task her eyes couldn't.

He heard she'd been blind since she was a child, gossip talk that escalated, but he was close with her brother and Shane had told him she'd lost her sight at twenty-two.

A year before he had come into the company.

He had been debating whether or not to come into this business for a year and a half before he had signed, he never wished for anything more than another chance to sign earlier than he had, maybe then he'd have gotten to see her eyes and have her see his own, see his face – see him.

He regretted to this day not signing earlier, but he couldn't have stopped the blindness, nothing could have – it wasn't some accident, it was an inevitable part of her life - she'd had the disease since she was young, and as she got older it got progressively worse. Retinitis pigmentosa. He'd looked it up when Shane had told him, and he hated the hand that Stephanie had been dealt. He'd swap with her in an instant.

He watched as she walked with her mother, Stephanie adamantly chatting away and he smiled as her hands flew around as she expressed her excitement of whatever she was talking about. He couldn't help but notice the way her lip lifted into a half smile and how her hair whipped from side to side in a crazed frenzy of motion. Or the way that all those actions combined was just pure undeniable Stephanie. There was something inside him that just loved every action she expressed when she moved.

He looked up shaking his head free of the fog that had settled around him and noticed Linda watching him as he watched Stephanie and saw the knowing smile across her face.

His face tinted red.

They walked passed him and he sighed as he watched Stephanie walk away from him.

Reach out and say 'hi'.

He'd give anything for her to know he existed.

A few days passed and gradually they changed into weeks and Chris caught glimpses of Stephanie, but it never sustained him long enough and he found himself seeking her out when he arrived at a show. He still couldn't bring himself to talk to her, so he'd follow behind her and make sure that nothing would obstruct her path or cause her any harm.

He was her silent knight that she had no idea existed.

When she walked he saw people pandering about, talking amongst themselves not caring that she was passing, they accepted her – but he paid close attention and he saw some of their eyes and how they'd narrow and the smirk that slid across their face and how they'd slow to a halt and wait for her to approach and try to cause her to falter. It was always Paul. He would taunt her silently and watch as Randy laughed a quiet laugh at his actions. He likes to think Stephanie knew what he was doing, that she picked up on his foot steps and knew that he was there, knew that he was mocking her, but she just kept walking and never spoke a word.

Chris hated that man and unlike Stephanie he couldn't keep silent, he let Paul know, in no un-certain terms, that if he ever heard he'd been any way other than civil to Stephanie, Chris would hurt him. The punch to his jaw that knocked him to the floor let him know Chris wasn't joking around.

No one would ridicule Stephanie and not suffer his consequences.

Though sometimes people weren't the hindrance, she'd tripped once and fallen to her knees and the impact had echoed through him, ground him to a halt. He watched as she laid there, both of them statuesque in their stillness, and he wanted to snap himself out of his trace and help her up, protect her but he was shocked.

He didn't think himself a very good knight after all.

He did eventually snap himself out of his stance and he was a second away from rushing forward and helping her up, to let her know that he was there for her, that he existed when Linda had grasped Stephanie's arm and helped her to her feet. Chris was just glad she wasn't hurt, he didn't care that to her he wasn't even anything, he just didn't want to see her in any pain.

She wasn't around at the moment, he was alone, sitting in catering and watching as he circled food around his plate. Catering was empty, everyone busy with their upcoming segments and matches, Chris didn't have to worry about his for at least an other hour – he had the last match, defending his Heavyweight Title in a Last Man Standing match – so he had time to kill.

He couldn't stop thinking about her though, wondering what she was doing, who was with her, and if they were protecting her, making sure that nothing bad came to her. Not that he didn't think she couldn't take care of herself, because he was downright sure that if she needed to she could handle anything anyone threw at her, she was strong. He just wished he was the one standing by her side when she had to face something.

He looked up when the doors swung open and his silent contemplation was broken, but he couldn't complain, not when it was Stephanie who broke him out of it.

He wanted to speak up, say a simple 'hi' but his mouth was dry and he couldn't form the words. He'd just stay silent and watch her, keep every moment in his mind and replay it over and over and find ways to insert himself into the right place where he could say 'hi' and change the course they were on, where he took her hand in his and let his fingers linger just a moment to long to let her know that she was what he wanted, that she had been since he'd stepped foot into this company two years ago. He often replayed scenarios where he'd introduced himself when he'd first crossed the threshold and how there lives grew until his ring circled her finger, but that was just wishful thinking.

He'd just keep quiet and watch her walk past him.

Well, he would have if he didn't notice her stall for a moment and then turn her head towards him.

He gulped, did she know he was here? That was impossible.

So were the steps she was taking in his direction, but they were happening before his eyes and she kept getting closer and closer and then she was standing in front of him.

"Hi."

'Hi.' Was such an easy word to say he just wished he'd said it years ago.