A/N - Thanks for the comments for the first chapter. I'm glad it has your interest! As promised, here's the next chapter. Once again I hope to get number 3 up pretty quickly as well as a few other updates.

The large room was filled with smoke and the smell of beer and chips. The four men sitting around the poker table were focused on their cards. Well, two of them were. The owner of the house, John Cena, had just folded along with his friend Dave Bautista. The two remaining players stared each other out across the table, the mood completely serious. The pot was big with just under $400 at stake. The brown haired man almost smirked at his buddies. He had this thing won. His icy blue eyes stared into those of his friend but current competition. He couldn't get a read at all. Finally having enough of the stare down, he pulled the cigar from his mouth and took a long pull of his beer. "So….what you got?"

Paul Levesque looked at his cards, then back at the man in front of him. He had been dealt a shitty hand but played it off. Three Queens. Actually, it wasn't a bad hand but if he knew Randy at all, that little glint in his eye meant that he knew he had the game won. He gently laid his cards face up on the table. "Let's see yours then." His eyes grew wide with excitement as he watched the other man lay down three fours. He won!

"Not so fast there, Paulie," Randy teased, laying his final two cards down. Two sevens. "Flush," he grinned, his hands greedily reaching out to rake in his take.

"Damn!" Paul muttered, his fist lightly thumping the table before he took a swig of his beer. "Way to be a drama queen, Orton. You couldn't have just laid them all out at once?"

Randy smiled and looked up from counting the money in his hands. "Now what would be the fun in that?"

"You're just lucky tonight, that's all," chimed in Dave. "Every other night you get your ass handed to you."

"You wish you could handle my ass, baby," Orton smirked, causing all four men to start laughing. "Speaking of which, when is your fine wife due home, John? I know she's dying to see me. We haven't slept together in a few days now."

John glared at his friend and shook his head. "How many times do I have to tell you that that isn't funny?"

"That's not what she says," Dave grinned, bumping knuckles with Randy while Paul and John just rolled their eyes.

"Don't worry, Randy. When you're finally able to hold on to a woman for longer than ten minutes we'll all start hitting on her too," Paul said as he got to his feet. He waved his hand in the air, trying to get rid of some of the thick smoke surrounding his face. "Fuck it stinks in here."

Randy pocketed his money and also got to his feet while puffing on his cigar. "You act like I want a permanent woman in my life when the reality is far from it." With a smile on his face, he blew a huge puff of smoke right in Paul's direction and gleamed when his friend started coughing. "What's the matter, man? All that California fresh air make you sensitive to a little bit of smog?"

"It's nothing to do with California and everything to do with me not liking it," Paul grimaced, waving the disgusting smoke out of his face. "You do that again and I'll throw your ass over the damn balcony!"

"Touchy, touchy!" Dave teased.

Paul just screwed up his face and walked through the open plan apartment into the kitchen. He saw John pulling some more beers from the fridge and moved to help. "When is Trish due back anyways? I don't think she's going to appreciate her apartment being covered in cigar smoke, man."

"Oh don't worry about that," John replied, twisting the cap off a Coors and taking a pull. "She gave me free reign tonight which means no complaining!"

Paul chuckled and accepted the beer offered to him. "It will be good to see her again. The last time I did it must have been almost two years ago when I came back over the holidays."

"Yeah well, she's excited about seeing you again too. She hated it that you moved out West on us all those years ago," John teased. "She said that she knew you'd come back. And here you are!"

"Here I am!"

The two men clanked bottles before each gulping back a mouthful of the refreshing beer.

"What's going on in here? You two having a party without us?" Both Dave and Randy joined their friends in the kitchen.

John shook his head as he leaned against the counter. "Nah man. We're just talking about Paul being back after all this time and how Trish is excited to see him. You think she's got a thing for you, just wait until you see her with this guy," he nodded his head in Paul's direction. "I swear they forget I'm in the room sometimes."

"Hey now! It's not my fault your wife dated me first," Paul claimed in defense, holding his hands up.

"Say what?" Randy asked, his eyes growing wide. He hadn't known that. "You and Trish dated before they got married?"

Paul nodded his head and grinned at the shocked expression on both Randy and Dave's faces. "Yup. It wasn't anything serious though, just messing around. We broke up and stayed friends. Then I introduced her to John and you know the rest."

"That's fucking insane!" Randy cried, still in shock.

"And why the fuck are we only finding out about it now?" Dave asked, also still in shock.

Paul and John grinned at each other as they walked out of the room together. "Only important people know the important stuff, right John?" Paul called over his shoulder.

"Absolutely!"

The four men once again took up their seats at the table and enjoyed each other's company. They had been chatting and drinking for another solid two hours when the front door clicked open and two female voices could be heard from outside. John glanced at the clock and shook his head. One AM. Where the hell had the time gone? "There she is," he said in a sing song voice, pushing back his chair and getting to his feet. He walked through the apartment until he saw her standing there giggling uncontrollably with a tall brunette. Shaking his head, he approached the two women and smiled. "Hey Steph. What the hell have you done to my wife?"

"What makes you think she did anything?" Trish teased, reaching up to give him a lengthy kiss on the lips before pulling away and making for the kitchen. "You want anything, Steph? I think we have a bottle of red?"

Stephanie shrugged her shoulders and grinned at John. "Yeah why not?"

"She's staying with us tonight by the way," Trish yelled as she got further and further away from them. "Just thought I'd let you….AHHHHHH! PAUL!"

John immediately started laughing while Stephanie looked at him in confusion. "Come on in, Steph," he said, letting her step in front of them as they walked into the kitchen/den area. They walked inside to find Trish practically engulfing Paul in a fierce looking hug. She pulled back and teasingly tugged at his cheeks.

"My God look at you! You look great, Paul. Oh it's so good to see you back where you belong. I knew you wouldn't last out there in California, even if it has given you a great tan! So, are you seeing anybody right now? What's your news? What's your gossip?" She spoke a mile a minute, completely ignoring everybody else in the room as she led Paul over to the sofa in the living room so they could catch up.

Randy sat there dumbfounded. "What the fuck was that?" He looked between Dave and John, his mouth hanging wide open.

"I fucking love drunk Trish, man. She's hilarious!" Dave laughed, forcing a chuckle from both John and Stephanie too.

"That she is," John agreed, shaking his head. His wide was a handful enough as it was. Get a few drinks in her and he could only do what he was doing right now; shake his head in amusement. "Guys, you know Stephanie, right?"

"I remember. How's it going, Stephanie? Seems like you two had a good night," Dave said politely, silently appraising the beautiful woman in front of him. Even though he was taken, it never hurt to look.

Unfortunately his friend wasn't so subtle. Randy let his eyes work their way from her endless legs all the way up to her pretty face, a haughty smirk on his face. He remembered her all right. In fact, he remembered that she had shot him down the last time he saw her, not once but twice. Maybe he could get her to change her mind tonight.

"We had a great night, as you can see," Stephanie replied with a chuckle, nodding her head in the direction of her blonde friend in the living room. "Went for dinner and then out to a few clubs afterward."

"And you didn't manage to get yourself picked up, huh?" Randy asked, slowly getting to his feet and making his way over to her. He leaned his hip against the corner of the kitchen work surface and gave her his best smile. "I'd say there's something seriously wrong with the men in this city if they didn't even try to get with a beautiful lady such as yourself."

John groaned and rolled his eyes. He thumped his shameless friend on the arm and sighed. "Knock it off, Randy. Stephanie is a friend of mine and she doesn't need you fucking hitting on her every damn time you see her."

Stephanie couldn't help but laugh at the exchange. She remembered Mr. Orton from a gathering a few months back. He had tried to get with her back then too although she just didn't have the energy to even think about hooking up with somebody never mind actually going through with it. She placed her hand on John's forearm and shook her head lightly. "Oh don't worry, John. He's harmless." Turning her attention to Randy, she tilted her head and looked at him almost in pity. "I had more than my share of guys trying to pick me up tonight, Randy. But just like you, they all struck out and struck out hard."

"Ohhhhhhh!" Dave laughed loudly, his laughter only growing louder as Orton turned and glared at him. "You fucking crashed and burned there, man. Nice one, Steph!"

Everybody bar Randy started laughing until things settled down by the appearance of Paul who stood in the archway between the den area and the living room. "John, I think you need to take her to bed," he chuckled. "She's starting to ask me the same questions over and over again!"

John laughed along with his friend and made for the living room. "No problem man."

"I think I'm going to take off anyways. I have to meet with some developers early tomorrow so….." Paul left his sentence hanging as he shook hands with John who passed him on the way to his wife. "I'll see you soon buddy."

"Yeah, I think it's time we all split," Dave said as he got to his feet and headed for wherever the hell he had left his coat.

Stephanie watched as the men started shuffling around. She knew Dave and Randy and had met them a few times through John and Trish. But she had never met this Paul guy before.

Paul looked over his shoulder to see John carrying Trish to bed. With a smile on his face he turned around and noticed the woman standing there watching him. He gave a small nod. "Uhhhh, goodnight," he muttered as he walked past her and joined his two friends at the door. With a soft click they were gone. Stephanie surveyed the damage caused by the guy's poker night and gently shook her head. Trish was going to freak in the morning.

"Well that's her gone!" John grinned, reappearing in the archway. "You can use one of the spare rooms, Steph. I'm just going to clean up a little in here before she wakes up and has a heart attack in the morning."

"Good idea," she laughed as she made her way to her digs for the night. "Night, John."

"Goodnight, Stephanie."