Cracks in the Crystal

One

Paul stopped eating as he heard Stephanie and her father talking, frowning as he heard a particular name he didn't want to hear. A quick succession of mental images flashed before his eyes, ones he tried to ignore even as his hand balled into a fist around his glass of water. He took a deep breath closing his eyes for a moment as he tried desperately not to let anyone around the dinner table see that something was wrong.

"Dad, can we not talk about Randy or the business right now please," he heard Stephanie say and that was it. Hearing that little son of a bitches name out of his wife's mouth was enough to make him lose it. He needed to leave before he ended up saying something he would regret in front of his daughters and the rest of Stephanie's family.

He pushed out of his seat abruptly, "I'm sorry, I can't do this," he let out gruffly before glancing apologetically over at Vince and Linda.

Paul could feel the anger and hurt bubbling up inside him as he walked out of the dining room without a glance at anyone else in the room. He heard Aurora ask him where he was going but he honestly couldn't stay in this house, sitting beside her like nothing was wrong. He made it all the way into the hallway before he heard his wife calling his name and despite himself he stopped in his tracks, his back facing Stephanie tensely.

"Paul…" she started hesitantly, "Where are you going?" she asked pleadingly, stepping closer to him.

The semi-retired wrestler turned around to face her angrily, face tingeing red as he glared at his wife. "Where am I going? Away from here, away from you before I say something I regret in front of your family," he growled, careful not to raise his voice too loud. This may have been a big house but he knew voices carried and this was not something he or his wife wanted anyone else to hear right now. Especially with how angry Paul was right now; in fact he was surprised by how civil he'd been able to be up until this point.

"Paul please don't do this," Stephanie practically begged, stepping closer to her husband and reaching out a hand to touch him. He shrugged her hand away however, taking a step back from her and shook his head. He could hardly stand to look at her right now, let alone touch her.

"No," he told her, "I can barely fucking look at you Stephanie. I honestly want nothing to do with you right now," he snapped at her, jaw clenching tightly. He gave her one last hurt and angry look before grabbing his coat and making his way out of the house, trying not to slam the door as he did.

Stephanie stared at the closed front door of her parents' house before sighing sadly and turning back down the hallway. She made her way somewhat slowly towards the dining room, knowing she'd have to deal with not only her parent's questions but her girls' questions too. The wrestling executive didn't even want to try explaining it to her parents, let alone figuring out what she was going to tell her probably very confused daughters.

She wiped at her eyes, making sure any wetness that had gathered was gone before stepping back in to the dining room. She quickly scanned over her mother and father's faces before turning her attention to the three frowning little girls. Aurora was looking at her curiously while the younger two seemed more upset than anything that their father had left suddenly.

"Where'd dad go?" Aurora asked, looking inexplicably like her father for a moment.

Stephanie tried to smiled comfortingly as she answered, "Your dad's just a little tired and not feeling well, so he's gone home to rest. Okay?" All three of the girls nod, seemingly okay with that answer but sneaking a glance at her mom and dad, she knows they weren't so easily satisfied. She caught her mother's gaze, an eyebrow raised in question as to what's going on but she shakes her head. She couldn't tell her mother, even though she wanted desperately to know what to do; she really was her father's daughter it seemed.

Dinner went along in an awkward kind of silence and Stephanie couldn't wait to get out of there. As soon as dinner was finished she thanked her parents and tried to get the girls ready to leave. Unfortunately for her the girls wanted to play with their grandfather and despite the emotional turmoil she and her husband were going through at the moment she couldn't deny them that time.

So as her father swept her three little girls into the lounge room to play, her mother forced her into the kitchen under the guise of helping clean up. She stood in front of the sink studiously washing the dirty dishes by hand even though her parents had a dishwasher, trying to avoid the inevitable questioning by her mother. She could feel her mom's gaze on her and deliberately avoided turning to look at the older woman.

"Is everything okay Stephanie?" Linda asked in that tone only mothers' could use on their children.

Stephanie sighed at the question, tears burning at her eyes as she thought over the simple words. No, everything was not okay. This could potentially be the end of her marriage but she could not and did not want to admit that to her mother. She took a deep breath though, trying to hide the fact that she was so close to breaking down right now.

"Everything is fine mom. Paul and I are just going through a bit of a rough patch is all," she tells her, eyes focused on washing the plate in her hand. She didn't like lying to her mom but the truth was just not something she was willing to acknowledge at the moment.

"Are you sure? Because it's not like Paul to just leave like that," Linda replied looking over her daughter carefully.

"We'll be fine mom," Stephanie insisted as she turned to finally look at her mother. "Don't worry okay? Everything will sort itself out," she said confidently, trying desperately to believe her own words. The thought of Paul leaving her was devastating and she knew without a doubt that she'd do anything in her power to make sure that it didn't happen ever. She loved Paul more than she could possibly explain and she was not about to let her stupidity ruin everything they'd built together and tear their family apart.

AN: This is the second wrestling fic I've ever written. The idea wouldn't leave me alone and considering I've been making good progress on A Beautiful Mess I thought why not write this out and post it too? I just want to point out that this is obviously all fiction and as far as I know not true at all. I really just like writing about these two and what can I say, I like to make characters suffer.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and please review. :) LT.