A/N - Just so you know, we're going back in time here. The prologue shows where we're going to end up but I got to get you all there first lol. Enjoy...


The sound of little feet pattering along the dark hallway filled the otherwise peaceful house. It was early in the morning but Aurora Rose Levesque couldn't sleep. Tonight was her first solo ballet performance and she was desperate with excitement. She simply couldn't wait and as a result, couldn't sleep any longer either. After tip toeing out of bed she now found herself standing face to face with the door of her parent's bedroom. It was slightly ajar already and she pushed gently, poking her head around and encountering more darkness. They were still sleeping. Her little face scrunched into a frown but she decided to go in anyway. At least she would be able to watch some TV instead of lying in her bed doing nothing. Tip toeing inside the room, she quietly shoved the door over again and walked to the right side of the bed. The top of her mother's head came into view and Aurora smiled. The covers were pulled high and her father lay directly behind her, his face hiding in the pillow somewhere. Climbing stealthily onto the edge of the large bed, she snuggled her way under the blankets and attempted to cuddle in to her mother's warm body when a frown marred her pretty features. Glancing down, she noticed her father's large hand resting firmly across her mother's stomach. It was blocking her from cuddling in! With quiet outrage, she lifted his heavy hand, pushing it back over his body and tried with all she had to hold it in the air so she could slip under and then pull it back down again but it was to no avail. She simply couldn't muster the strength to hold the weight of the solid muscle and was forced to let go, the heavy arm falling back down and whacking its owner square in the face. A loud groan followed and she immediately sat back.

"Whoops!" Aurora stared on wide eyed, her gaze switching between her parents as something moved beneath the covers.

"Ughhhhhhh, wha….owwwww."

"Paul?" Stephanie mumbled as she blinked her eyes open. She had felt something knock against the back of her head but it was her husband's loud groan that had woke her up. Pulling her hand from under the covers, she was just about to crane her neck to see what was going on when she saw her daughter's overly innocent face staring at her. "Rory? Honey, what are you doing in here? Is everything OK?"

"Uh-huh," she nodded sweetly before letting out a giggle at the scene before her.

Paul held the side of his face as his head shot up from the pillow, his eyes barely open. What the hell had happened? He felt like he'd been punched in the face. The sound of his daughter's laughter however quickly changed his mood and he managed a smile. "What are you doing in here, huh? Waking everybody up I see," he grinned but his smile faltered when she continued giggling. "What?"

"You look silly, daddy," she giggled some more, truly getting a kick out of his current appearance. She always found him funny in the mornings. He looked like a zombie!

"I look silly huh? That's probably because I feel like I've been attacked in my sleep. That wouldn't have anything to do with you, would it?"

Aurora shook her head vehemently, protesting her innocence. "No!"

Stephanie shuffled up the bed and got comfortable, glancing between them. She had no idea what had happened but looking at her husband, the right side of his face did appear to be turning a nice shade of red. She reached up and gently ran her fingers over the glowing area. "What the hell did you do, Paul? You have a big red mark here."

"I don't know!" he cried. "I just felt something land on my head and that was it. Then I woke up to see your daughter over there looking way too innocent for her own good. Spill it, shorty. What did you do?" His eyes narrowed playfully at her as he too shuffled up the bed. When he was comfortable he patted the space between him and his wife and smiled when their daughter happily jumped in the middle. "Well?"

"I was only trying to lift your arm so I could cuddle in, daddy but it was too heavy! I dropped it and it fell down and hit you in the face," the little girl answered, trying to bite back her smile. It had been rather funny and the loud scoff of amusement that escaped from her mother didn't help matters.

He scratched at his head for a second before looking down at her. "You're telling me I punched myself in the face while I was asleep?"

"Yeah," Aurora replied nonchalantly before giving him her best smile. "Sorry!"

Paul turned to his wife and made a face before turning back to his daughter. "Sorry? I don't know if that's a good enough apology you know. I think I need something better than that."

Immediately guessing what was coming next, Aurora made a mad dash to get up and run away but she wasn't fast enough and was easily caught and gently flung back to the bed. She squealed and tried to wiggle against her mother for protection but it wasn't enough. Her father's fingers tickled her mercilessly.

"Now we'll see if you're really sorry," he grumbled, holding her down and taking a huge breath. He slapped his mouth to her neck and blew hard against her skin, the loud silly noise filling the bedroom along with her squeals of joy. He did it again and again, laughing himself as she laughed and giggled freely.

"Stop! Daddy stop! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"That sounds more like it," he pulled back and smiled triumphantly, reaching out to fondly tousle her brown hair. "No more attacking daddy in his sleep, you hear?"

Taking a moment to catch her breath, Aurora finally sat up and beamed back at him. "I hear."

"Good. Now then, what time is it? We've got to get you and your sisters ready for school," Paul asked to no one in particular. His hand reached across and he placed it upon his wife's knee as he leaned over to look at the clock on her side of the bed.

"It's almost six," Stephanie answered, absently running her hand through her daughter's long tresses. "I guess we can get the other two up now. I'm surprised they slept through that racket," she teased.

Paul ran his hand further up her leg and squeezed her thigh. "They've slept through louder rackets coming from this room, no?" he teased right back, enjoying the faint blush that stained her cheeks. With a low chuckle he flung the covers off and stood up, opening his arms and smiling when his daughter quickly jumped into them. "Maybe we could rediscover just where exactly this racket comes from later tonight?" he snickered, glancing at Stephanie and returning the grin currently plastered on her face.

"What are you talking about, daddy?"

The innocence of the question caused both parents to burst out laughing and Paul shook his head. "Nothing sweetheart."

"Daddy's just being…" Stephanie trailed off, trying to think of the right thing to say.

"What?"

"Silly," she finished, her blue eyes twinkling with amusement. She knew he was waiting for her to say something else. Standing up from the bed herself, she walked around to their side and kissed her daughter on the head. "I'll be out in a second sweetie. Then you can show me what colour you've decided to wear for your recital tonight." Her heart leapt at the beaming smile that appeared on her little girl's face before she turned her attention to her husband and it leapt again for a different reason entirely at his devilish expression. "You," she began. "You can wipe that smirk off your face," she said promptly with a cheeky slap to his ass.

"I'll get you back for that," Paul murmured, his eyes lighting up at the thought as they watched her walk through to their bathroom. He took a moment before bringing his attention back to his daughter. "Alright then, let's go wake up these sisters of yours and get you guys ready for school."


"I could really do with that fucking assistant right about now," Paul muttered under his breath. There was a huge stack of papers on his desk and all to do with the booking of arenas for live events over the next few months. Why the hell he was made EVP of this department he had no fucking idea. He was useless at organising things but ever since this whole corporate restructuring thing had begun way back when, some departments were getting cut and/or amalgamated. It was just his luck that he got stuck with the one he was probably the worst at doing. At least his wife was grateful that it wasn't on her to do list anymore. Unfortunately for him, it was now dumped on to his. He puffed out a frustrated breath just as the phone on his desk buzzed signalling an inter office call. "Yeah?" he asked distractedly, his finger hovering over the button.

"Vince wants to see you in his office, Paul," came the voice of his secretary, Vera.

"Did the meeting get moved up?" he asked in confusion, his eyes glancing to the clock on the wall. They weren't supposed to meet until near the end of the day. Then they were all heading back to the house to bring Aurora to the ballet recital.

"No. He just wants to see you. Didn't really say why."

Paul absently shrugged his shoulders and slowly got to his feet. "Thanks, Vera." He pressed the button to end the call and then stretched his arms high above his head, feeling the muscles along his back and shoulders constrict and then loosen when he brought them down again. Maybe he could finally talk the old man into giving him an extra hand around the office. God knows he could do with the help. He had no problem having Live Events under his control. He just thought that having a designated person take care of all that stuff would be much better for the company as a whole not to mention give him more time to focus on what he was actually good at doing; scouting and developing talent. His hand absently fiddled with the knot of his tie, loosening the gold silk as he headed for the door. "Wonder what this is all about," he said with a roll of his eyes as he walked past Vera. She laughed in response and he kept on, heading down the hall and casually glancing around to see who was about. Less than a minute later and he was knocking on the door to his father-in-law's office.

"Paul!" Vince boomed, looking up from his desk and instantly smiling at the sight of the younger man coming to stand before him.

"What's up, pops?" Paul joked, his large frame slipping into the executive leather chair in front of the desk.

"Nothing in particular," Vince replied indifferently. "I just wanted to speak to you about that assistant you've been whining about for the past couple of months." His son-in-law made a face at him and he chuckled.

"I haven't been whining."

"I know. I'm just busting your balls. But if you can't handle the workload…"

Paul could see where this was going and immediately cut him off. "I can handle the workload, my workload. But you have me doing all this other shit that quite frankly, I'm not even good at. Scouting talent, working in developmental? That, I'm good at. That, I can do. Calling up arenas and booking venues for shows however? That's not my thing, Vince. I understand that you need somebody to do it but if it's falling under my department then at least let me delegate so it's not taking up all my time." He sat back and hoped for the best. Good old pops was either going to get fully behind him or most likely dump more shit on him to fuck with his head.

A silence filled the room as Vince pondered what he had just been told before his head slowly began to nod in agreement. "I see your point. And I know I've said it before but you're doing such a great job with NXT. I'm proud of ya, Paul. I really am. And if you want an assistant to help with all the 'other shit' as you so nicely put it, then you got one. Have your secretary set it up with HR and we'll get the ball rolling."

"Thank fuck!" Paul chuckled as he let out a relieved sigh. "I was pretty sure you were going to say no."

"Why would I say no?"

"Because you're an evil son of a bitch, that's why!"

Vince's loud and hearty laugh boomed throughout the spacious office as both men laughed. "You got me there. So what time is this recital later tonight? I have Linda telling me one thing and Stephanie telling me another. Women."

"Honestly, I don't know. Steph keeps changing her mind every second. I'm just going with the flow when this meeting is over later today. That way I can't get in trouble for screwing up," Paul grinned. A happy wife equalled a happy life in his eyes. The less he did to piss Stephanie off the better.

"You're a smart man, Paul Levesque. And for that very reason I'm sticking with you as soon as that meeting's over." Vince grinned back. He was very much looking forward to his granddaughter's first ballet recital but before any of that, he needed food. "Hey, you free to grab some lunch?"

"Uhhhhh, I am actually yes," Paul muttered as he ran over his schedule in his head. He had time. "You want to order in?"

"Nah," Vince replied as he got to his feet and started pulling on his jacket. "I'd like to stretch my legs and venture down to the cafeteria today. You in?"

Paul nodded and both men left the office in search of lunch.


"Once again, sweetie, you were brilliant. We're all so proud," Stephanie hushed gently as she lay her half sleeping daughter down on the bed.

"Mhmmm," Aurora sighed dreamily, her eyes slipping shut as she succumbed to the warmth of her bed.

Paul grinned and pressed a quick kiss in her hair. "Night, sweetheart," he mumbled before straightening up and heading back to his own room. He stood at the foot of the bed and opened the buttons of his shirt. The other girls were already sleeping. It had taken Aurora a while to settle after her performance. He knew he may be slightly biased but he swore he had never seen a six year old dance the way she had danced tonight. He was practically bursting with pride and it was written all over his face even still. The same went for his wife, Vince and Linda, all of whom had been in attendance at the recital. The sudden feel of a warm pair of arms wrapping around him from behind followed by a pair of equally warm and soft hands trailing across his bare stomach caused him to jump slightly. "Hey."

"Hey," Stephanie murmured into his shirt, her lips pressing gentle kisses along his back while her nails scraped over his smooth skin.

"She was great tonight, huh?"

Stephanie brought her hands up to his shoulders, gently pulling the light yellow shirt down his thick arms to the ground and couldn't help but notice his distinct lack of hair. He had cut it around a month ago but every now and then it would still catch her off guard. Not that she was complaining. She loved his new look and thought the shorter hair was just as sexy as the longer hair. He was her husband. She'd love him if he was bald with one eye. "Uh-huh. I think ballet…just might be…her thing," she hushed between kisses, this time her lips pressing against the warm skin of his back. She let her lips trail up to kiss the back of his head, the short, soft hairs tickling her mouth and face. "Same with, Murphy….they both seem to….love it." She rubbed her face against his shoulder blade, kissing him and even nipping lightly at his flesh with her teeth. Her hands had dropped to the waist of his pants, her fingers slowly undoing his belt. She let out a soft sigh as the slacks grew loose, dropping slightly on his hips and dipped her hands inside, delighting in the feel of his deep intake of breath as her hands rubbed against his crotch. Her lips continued their journey over his back while her hands delved even further so she could cup the now growing bulge in his pants.

He simply stood there and let her go to work, savouring the softness of her hands and lips touching and kissing him all over. He suddenly felt like he needed this, he needed his wife and needed her intimately. From waking extra early this morning, to his daughter's recital and just general stress from his job, well, to say he was a little wound up would be an understatement. He let her hands tease him for a few seconds longer before turning and kissing her insistently, his tongue winding with hers over and over again. She moaned into his mouth, her hands kneading the muscles of his neck while he lowered the zip of her dress, instantly letting it drop from her curves to the floor. In a flash he unclasped her bra and they both sighed in pleasure at the feel of the other's skin. His hands dropped to her ass and he easily lifted her into his arms, their mouths never parting until they reached the bed and he gently laid her down, his lips moving to her neck.

"I guess you want to make that racket after all, huh?" he hushed against her ear, temptingly biting and pulling on her lobe.

She let out a low chuckle, her body writhing beneath him as her hands once again dipped below the waistband of his pants. "This is a dangerous game you're playing here," she managed to get out, her body absolutely on fire at his touch.

"What?"

She could feel his smile on her skin along with the prickle of his beard as he moved from one ear to the other. "This. Trying to see who can who make the most noise."

Paul suddenly pulled back and looked at her in amusement, his eyes sparkling mischievously. "Well, I know you can make me scream, baby but I'm pretty sure I can make you scream louder."

Stephanie let out a scoff and reached up to playfully slap his arm but he caught her hand and brought it to his lips instead. His playful gaze quickly turned heated and she held it intently as he sucked two fingers into his mouth, rolling his tongue around her slender digits before taking them out and moving them directly between her legs, just holding them over her panties. "About to test this theory, are we?" she half joked and swallowed hard. She was desperate to feel his touch.

"But of course," he grinned as he slowly leaned down and captured her lips once again. It was time to make that racket they had talked about this morning after all.