Defiant Hearts

I'm a house of cards in a hurricane
A reckless fire in the pouring rain
She cuts me and the pain is all I wanna feel
She'll dance away just like a child
She drives me crazy
Drives me wild
But I'm helpless when she smiles……………..

Chapter 1

"Hello? Is anybody home?"

Stephanie got no reply as she walked into the silent apartment. Lightly shaking her head, she threw down her keys and removed her coat, her heels clicking against the wooden floor as she made her way towards her bedroom to change her clothes. It was obviously her turn to make dinner again making it at least the fourth time this week alone. But how could she complain when it was totally her own fault this was happening to her. It had been her idea to introduce the stupid "home first – cook dinner" rule in the first place. She had been fed up witnessing Paul and Matt arguing over whose turn it was in the kitchen. And it had worked to a degree. The arguments had stopped but not quite she had planned. Now Paul and Matt just didn't come home, not until they knew she was safely through the door beforehand

Stephanie let out an audible sigh of relief as she sat down on her bed kicking off her shoes. It had been a long day and she was glad her twelve hour shift was over. She now had the next three days off and she was really looking forward to just relaxing and chilling out. Running around the hospital and looking after her patients practically wore her out but she loved her internship in the paediatric ward and she wouldn't change it for the world. Pushing herself off the bed, she quickly changed into her t-shirt and jeans and made her way towards the kitchen.

The first thing Stephanie noticed was the dirty breakfast dishes still sitting on the table and rolling her eyes, she reluctantly began to clear them up. Paul had obviously been running late yet again. Either that or he couldn't be bothered cleaning up after himself. Knowing him, it was probably a combination of the two. She swore she had never met such an unorganised or untidy person in her life. How he managed to run a successful gym and health club, God only knows. Of course, had she known about his bad habits beforehand, she would have perhaps reconsidered his invitation to move into this place. But the rent had been cheap and of course, he was her brother's best friend which had made the offer all the more attractive. And if she was honest, over the last eighteen months Paul had become one of her best friends too along with Matt, of course. The three of them had become extremely close despite the odd squabble over household chores and more often than not, it was Stephanie and Matt ganging up against Paul. It was usually his laziness that caused the problem.

As she stacked the dishes in the sink, Stephanie decided there was only one way to solve the lack of domesticity around the place. Smiling to herself, she walked through to the living room and switched on the computer……….

"Honey, we're home!"

Stephanie smiled to herself as she heard Paul's voice echo through the apartment. She continued to prepare the vegetables and only lifted her head when the kitchen door swung open. Paul grinned as he threw himself down on the stool in front of her. She slapped his hand away as he reached across to grab a piece of pepper.

"You can wait until dinner." she scolded.

Paul rubbed his hand and pouted at her. "Why do you always feel the need to resort to violence?"

Stephanie grinned as she held up the knife menacingly in front of her. "I don't know. I just seem to get the urge whenever you're around."

His nose crinkled with his amusement as he stuck out his tongue in her direction. "Trust me, the feeling is mutual McMahon."

Sighing wearily, he rested his chin on his hands as he continued to watch Stephanie prepare dinner. His blond hair rested against his shoulders.

"So, where's Matt? I thought I heard him come in with you."

Paul lifted his head and his hazel eyes sparkled as he grinned. "Matthew's in trouble again. The psychotic Naomi is the process of giving him some verbal abuse about last night."

Stephanie laughed as she placed the knife down and grabbed the pan from the stove. She was used to Paul's quips about Naomi. He had very little time for Matt's girlfriend of one year and continually referred to her as some sort of raging lunatic. She, on the other hand, got along quite well with her despite her jealous antics, antics that Paul seemed to like to evoke in her from time to time.

"That's your fault, you know." she casually reminded him. "If you hadn't insisted on plying him with beer last night he wouldn't have forgotten about their date."

Paul snorted in reply as he pushed back the stool to stand up. "Don't just blame me McMahon. You were there too remember? Besides we were planning his birthday party anyways. He needed to be there."

Stephanie rolled her eyes upwards as she watched him walk towards the fridge. "And thank God he was. If he hadn't helped me overrule you, we would have been left with Spin the Bottle and Twister for the party games."

"Yeah, well at least it would have been fun." He opened the fridge and took out a bottle of water, twisting the cap to open it.

"Why don't you just admit that the real reason you wanted those games is that they're simple enough for your bimbo girlfriends to understand."

Paul swallowed his water and was about to come back with a witty retort when he noticed the sheet of paper taped to the refrigerator door. His eyes went wide as they scanned over it. "Steph, what the hell is this?"

Stephanie smiled to herself as she took the dishes out from the cupboard. "It's a rota."

His thick finger tapped repeatedly off the paper. "I don't remember discussing a rota. And why does my name appear on here more times than anyone else?"

Stephanie sighed as she walked over to stand beside him. She placed her hands on her hips as she checked it over. "It does not. I split everything evenly between the three of us."

Just then the kitchen door opened and Matt sighed as he ran his fingers through his short, dark hair. He gave Stephanie a half-hearted smile.

"Hey Steph. How was your day?"

"A hell of a lot better than yours, judging by your face. What's up?"

Matt sighed as he sat down on the stool that Paul had just vacated. "Women. All I did was miss one little date. The way Naomi was acting, you'd think I'd had an affair or committed a heinous crime." He screwed up his face as he loosened his tie and noticed Paul staring at the refrigerator. He nodded his head in his direction. "What's so fascinating over there?"

Stephanie grinned as she saw Paul shake his head and still scrutinise the piece of paper in front of him. She whispered loudly knowing she would get his attention. "It's a rota. Paul disapproves."

"You're damn right he disapproves." Paul turned round with a scowl on his face and he waved his water bottle in the direction of the rota. "I've just counted and my name is definitely on there more times than you guys are."

Matt burst out laughing while Stephanie just shrugged her shoulders.

"Well if it is, then it serves you right."

"Why?"

"Because it's your fault the rota's up there in the first place. If you hadn't pissed me off by leaving your dirty dishes lying around, then I wouldn't have had the need to do it."

Matt stood up and shrugged his shoulders. "She's right, man. You do have a tendency to leave a mess."

Paul shook his head as he leant against the door. "Great! The neat freaks are ganging up on me again."

Matt walked across and slapped him on the shoulder. "Don't take it to heart. You know we still love ya." He turned to Stephanie and gestured towards the door. "I'm just going to take a quick shower. Will dinner be long?"

"You've got ten minutes."

Matt waved his hand in acknowledgement as he walked out of the kitchen.

"So, did you manage to pick up his present today?" Stephanie asked once he was gone.

Paul nodded as he walked across to stand beside her. "I did. One leather coat has been purchased and is currently sitting in my office. Let's just hope dear Naomi doesn't decide to cut up this one because if she does, I'll be sending her the bill."

Stephanie laughed as she walked over to start to set the table. She still couldn't believe that had happened and although it wasn't her fault, she still felt partly to blame. She had been cold on the way back from the bar and Matt had kindly given her his coat. The following night Naomi had smelt the perfume and jumped to the wrong conclusions. In a fit of jealousy, she grabbed a pair of scissors and cut the coat to shreds. Needless to say, she was full of apologies once she knew the full story.

"So, are you picking up the cake or am I?"

Stephanie smiled and accepted the cutlery that Paul handed to her. "I will. I've got tomorrow off so I can get things organised. I was also thinking I could meet you from work and we could go to the store to get the food and drink for the party. Naomi has promised to keep Matt out of the way tomorrow night and during the day on Saturday. That will give us plenty of time to get everything done."

"Sure. That sounds good to me." Paul grabbed the plates from the counter and placed them on the table. "Hey, if you're lucky I might treat you to a takeaway and a movie tomorrow night." He nudged her playfully with his hip. "You can treat it as an apology for having to clean up my mess."

Stephanie grinned as she set out the plates. "In that case, you've got yourself a deal Levesque. But only if I get to pick the movie."

Paul visibly grimaced as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Okay but as long as it's not one of your chick flick things. The last thing I want is you blubbering on my shoulder all night."

Stephanie smiled to herself as he walked off in the direction of the living room. She finished preparing the table knowing fine well that she'd get her way with the movie. When it came to Paul, she always did find a way of winning him round.