Stephanie sat cross-legged on her bed, gaping at her laptop screen in disbelief. "You actually said that to the contestants?" She asked, referring to the harsh and vulgar nature with which he'd lectured them on the business.

Hunter nodded and not even a ghost of a smile appeared. "Damn right I did. It's the truth, Steph. I mean I've been sitting around for several days, watching all these live feeds and footage, seeing the ones who clearly aren't cut out for the business or just don't have the passion for it. Figure I may as well give it to 'em straight."

"I agree with you, actually. I'm just surprised you didn't play things a bit more PC."

"I can admit I was getting annoyed by the ones that really don't deserve the opportunity. I bet they beat out people who were more passionate, that maybe lacked a certain look or charisma the auditors were going for. We'll never really know. But I was also in a pisser of a mood and glad to be able to channel it someplace useful."

Even through a computer, Stephanie didn't miss the mischievous glint in Hunter's brown eyes. She chuckled a bit and said, "Believe me I'm not complaining. I much prefer to speak to the calm, sweet, funny version of my husband as opposed to the one who curses out over a dozen teenage strangers."

In his defense, Hunter corrected, "Most of them are in their twenties...quit making me feel bad," he commented with a frown.

Waving a dismissive hand she amended with, "Oh stop, you know I'm just teasing you."

"Distracting me," he corrected.

"I'm distracting both of us from the situation, yes," she agreed without hesitation.

Hunter sighed and pushed wayward strands of hair from his face. "I don't know how some of the boys can do this for weeks and months at a time."

Stephanie furrowed her eyebrows in confusion briefly. "Which part exactly?"

Hunter shrugged and said simply, "Be away from their wives or girlfriends. Their kids. I mean it wasn't that long ago that I was still traveling with the company often. I've seen how happy some dudes are to hit an overseas tour for a month or whatever. Or how miserable they are when it's time to actually go home. They act like it's a damn vacation to get punched, choked, slammed around, have their heads bashed in, bleeding fucking everywhere and all that, in comparison to being with family."

A sad smile formed on Stephanie's lips. Today, Hunter had received word that he'd be needed in Florida for another week. There was a steadily rotating schedule of trainers and production staff, to avoid burnout. Unfortunately, as the next wave was preparing the general outline for what they wanted to do, they'd all managed to catch a bug of some sort. So it wasn't just Hunter that was being inconvenienced – there were a good four or five other guys that had been strongly advised to stay on just a little bit longer.

For Hunter, that "little bit" was actually quite a lot. His kids weren't happy, Stephanie wasn't happy and he damn sure wasn't happy about this. But there wasn't a whole lot any of them could do except try to make the best of it. Vince had spoken to both of them personally and explained his position; he actually didn't call on Hunter and Stephanie as much as he honestly should, solely because they were family and had his grandchildren to look after. They both did a lot for the company, but still noticeably less where it concerned time-consuming projects and events that required travel. The board considered the couple to be relatively invaluable assets to the company and wanted the pair of them involved much more. Really, Vince's hands had been tied unless he appealed to the executives on a personal level.

Personal and business did not look well when you mixed them together…so when this rather large hiccup occurred with the next team, everyone had to be treated the same. And once he explained this to his daughter and son-in-law they completely understood. They just still weren't happy about being separated for longer than was originally planned.

"Well…" Stephanie trailed off. "You might have just answered your own question. Maybe they have little terrors for children and fire-breathing dragons for significant others?" She suggested.

Hunter laughed at her rather colorful descriptions. "That imagination of yours," he commented with a shake of his head. "But you could be right. I can't see why anyone who's actually happy with their relationship would be so ecstatic to be away for an extended period."

"What about you, huh? Are you ecstatic?"

"I am," he admitted, smiling at her confused pout. "I'm ecstatic that it's after midnight. Another day gone means I'm that much closer to coming home. And I'm ecstatic that modern tech lets me hear your voice and see your gorgeous face while I'm away."

Stephanie bit down on her lip and glanced away quickly, although the dimples in her cheeks betrayed the fact that she was smiling.

"A face that is now blushing," Hunter added with a cackle.

"This is completely your fault," she told him, pointing a stern finger at his image on the screen.

"Me?" He asked, a little too innocently.

"Yes. I swear I've blushed more since being married to you, than I did during my entire two-plus decades of life before you."

"The blushing is cute, Steph. So you're welcome!"

"Just you wait until I see you, mister…" she warned vaguely.

"You'll what?" He challenged. "Hug me and kiss me and tell me how much you missed me?"

Stephanie considered another witty or sarcastic comeback. But instead, she went with the truth and chose to make it sound more menacing than it really was. "You're damn right. Two weeks - or however long this ends up going on – is way too long."

"I know, babe. And we had basically zero notice about the practically mandatory extension."

"If we'd had more of a heads up, I could have arranged for me and the kids to fly down over the weekend."

"I know; I was thinking the same thing right when I got beyond pissed off," Hunter admitted. He took a deep breath and reigned in his selfish desires before he made himself mad again. He didn't want to basically throw a tantrum during the limited amount of time he got to video chat with Stephanie. "But even though I'd love to see you all, I really wouldn't want you burning through five grand easy, traveling by yourself with three small kids just to see me for a day or less."

A small, incredulous laugh escaped her as she said, "I could have handled the kids."

"I'm not saying you couldn't, Steph. I'm saying that the time and energy to get yourself and them all packed up and ready to go, dragging yourselves through an airport, sitting on a plane for hours…you'd be exhausted and stressed by the time you reached me. And I'll be training over the weekend – just at a slightly lower level. Then in a day or two you'd turn right around and do the whole prep and travel with the kids again, after us barely spending any time together. I wouldn't want to put you through all that."

"Those are all very good, rational points," Stephanie acquiesced. "I know it wouldn't have been cheap to book flights so late. You know I'm not crazy reckless with our money but the expenses would've amounted to pennies and nickles for us. I'm sure that the thought of seeing their Daddy would've been enough motivation for the kids to make things as easy as possible. At any rate…I wouldn't have cared about the cost – monetary or otherwise – as long as I got to see you."

"Your well-being comes first with me. You know that so I'm sure you know I wouldn't have let you fly down without a fight."

Grinning wickedly, she simply said. "I know. So…as much as it sucks it's probably for the best that we got the notice so late that I couldn't do anything about a flight."

"Yeah," he laughed. "So what's on your agenda tomorrow?"

"The kids are dying to see some new movie but I know they'll just make me go again when you get back," she said with a shake of her head. "So I think I'll talk them into hitting one of those fun center things. You know, with the rides and games. That'll occupy their attention and have them sleeping very well tomorrow night."

"Good plan" he complimented.

Stephanie didn't quite manage to bite back her yawn. When she was finished she said, "Why thank you. What are they making you do tomorrow?"

"The newbies start their warm-ups at six in the morning. I come on at seven to bust their asses some more."

Stephanie squinted at the corner of her laptop screen to eye the time. "Honey, it's after one," she said through another yawn. "You gotta get some sleep."

Hunter smirked at her. "Says the woman who can't stop yawning."

"I don't need to be up in the next few hours," she pointed out.

Tilting his head from side to side in consideration, Hunter decided she had a good point. "Hmm…accurate. The trainees get their meal break around eleven. Talk then?"

Stephanie nodded and tried her best to suppress the next yawn. "I'll make sure I'm free for the call."

"Appreciate it. Goodnight, Steph. I love you."

"Goodnight. I love you, too."

With that, Stephanie shut down her computer and placed it on the floor beside her bed. She switched the lamp off, flipped the television on and leaned back into the pillows, trying her best to relax. She'd kept the promise she made to herself; not to cry while speaking to her husband.

It would have only served to make him feel worse about having to be out of town for so long. He needed to focus and get the job done and her tears wouldn't have helped. He needed her support most of all. When Hunter had gotten off the phone with Vince, the first thing he'd done was call Stephanie. She'd had to talk him out of basically storming out of the training center and coming right home. That was a testament for how upset he'd been. By the time Stephanie received a call from her Dad, she'd calmed Hunter down long enough to be able to speak to the man again. It was during this conference call that Vince informed them of what was going on, fully. Hunter agreed to stay as long as Stephanie's current schedule could be extended so that she could be with the kids. Vince complied easily and excused himself from the conversation at that point.

This one time, they were willing to be flexible even though the situation was far from ideal. But neither of them really liked the not-so-subtle notice that their roles were probably going to be changing shortly. Hunter had let his speculation stop there, so they dropped that route of conversation. But Stephanie's mind silently continued to analyze. If the board had muscled her father into that, what was to stop them from trying to force her husband back into the ring? The ratings decline was no secret. And she had maybe until the end of the year before feuds began to appear seemingly out of nowhere…when really there were people strategically placed solely to incite feuds for Wrestlemania.

She just…didn't want their marriage to change. They were in such a good, solid place and she couldn't imagine going back to the way things were a few years ago. When they were appearing on screen together, it was a nightmare – although traveling together was convenient and sometimes fun. After Jack was born, that schedule had been very manageable. But now that her kids were old enough to have activities, sports and social lives, she couldn't very well cart them from hotel to hotel. Nor was she willing to leave them behind several days a week to go be with Hunter.

In frustration, she punched the pillow. She was stressing herself out over hypothetical situations, as usual. With a deep, calming breath she wiped away the few tears that had spilled over her long lashes. She was different now and so was Hunter. They'd figure something out if and when the time came. Until then she was going to do her best to put it out of her mind and enjoy her family.

This was (admittedly) not my best chapter in this trilogy. But there wasn't a whole lot that needed to happen here except show the power couple's solid adorableness while killing a few days' time as far as Hunter being out of town. Oh yeah and dropping some hints *whistles* (can't actually whistle, btw). Hope you all enjoyed it all the same, let me know!