"So are we on for a double date thing, or what?" Amy stood with her hands on her hips as she gazed at Chris and awaited his answer. The bulk of his attention was focused on Stephanie, whom he was watching with great interest.

"Actually, I want to take Stephanie out on my own. We can meet up with you guys later though, if you want to," Chris offered, not taking his eyes off Stephanie for even a second. Quite a day had transpired, and he wouldn't be able to sleep soundly if he didn't give Stephanie a pep talk, which, from the sounds of it, she was in desperate need of. Chris often worried he would cross the line and come off as more of a parental type of authority figure to her than a friend, but he couldn't stand by and watch Stephanie struggle - - not without offering some type of assistance. Chris couldn't be considered a true friend of hers if he didn't do everything in his power to enrich her life to its fullest potential.

"Okay, that'll work. Just call us when you're ready," Amy said before leaning in to hug Stephanie. She found it slightly amusing that, as Stephanie's friends, they worked on her in shifts, without even having to go so far as to plan it out ahead of time. One person took her for a while and tried to make her see the light, and when they had to leave, the next person picked up right where the process left off. It was tough work, but they were glad to step forward and take the reigns. "Bye, Steph, I'll see you later."

"Bye, and thanks for spending the weekend with me," she remarked, thankful for the positive distraction Amy provided.

Stephanie attempted to angle her stance in the opposite direction from Chris, despising it when he stared at her the way he was and wanting to remove his ability to do so. Chris often read her like a book, and Stephanie wasn't sure she felt ready to be so daringly open with him. She trusted him with her secrets, of course, but a large part of her felt she had to conceal her deepest thoughts from everyone, because they were the only prize she had all to herself. Her most treasured secrets were locked away in a proverbial chest, and she wasn't ready to hand the key over to anyone quite yet.

"It was my pleasure, we'll have to do it again another time. Bye, Chris," Amy waved to him, and he returned the gesture, finally breaking eye contact with Stephanie to see Amy off.

As she proceeded down the hallway, Chris motioned for Stephanie to grab her purse and work case, which were still resting on the production table a few feet away. People were slowly beginning to trickle out of the building as their segments and matches ended, and since it was only another 30 minutes away from the end of the show, Stephanie didn't anticipate Vince having a problem with her making an early escape. She grabbed her bags and hurried back to Chris, who slipped his protective arm around her shoulders and led her down the hallway. Her tensed posture decompressed within seconds under his healing touch, and she rested her head on his shoulder as they strolled out, waving goodbye to friends they passed along the way.

Vince, with rather impeccable timing, happened to be headed their way after having retrieved a packet of papers from his office and had one hand in his pocket while the other was secured around the rolled up packet he had been in search of. When he first caught sight of Chris and Stephanie walking towards him, Vince beamed his approval of the duo spending time together, and Stephanie said a silent prayer he wouldn't do anything to embarrass her. Chris slowed to a stop as Vince stuck his hand out. "Good work out there tonight, Chris. You looked like a pro in that ring."

"I am a pro, so it's only fitting," Chris japed. His relationship with Vince had progressed to the point where he felt comfortable enough to exchange quips without risking any sort of backlash. It was difficult to believe there once existed a time when he had to be conscious of every word spoken in front of Vince, for fear of pissing his boss off before he could get off the ground and ruining his potential career. His graduation from rookie stage to superstar was an accomplishment he refused to take for granted.

"That you are," he replied as his eyes trailed the length of Chris's arm, which was still draped snugly over Stephanie's shoulders. Vince craved wholeness and health for Stephanie's life and was finding it increasingly difficult to believe she could accomplish that without surrounding herself with good people, so finding her spending time with Chris was a situation he would always be behind. He wasn't entirely sure Stephanie understood why Chris was such positive reinforcement for her but was confident she would, even sooner than she might expect. "So, how are we doing today?" his eyes danced in amusement as he glanced between the two of them.

"Dad..." Stephanie brushed her right hand over her face while Chris chuckled at her reaction and guided her hand back down to her side. No matter how old she grew, Stephanie's parents never lost the ability to send her barreling back to her teenage years, when everything they did sent her a wave of unrelenting humiliation, and this time proved to be no exception. All it took was for Vince to become just a tad too eager in a situation, and his enthusiasm reverted to behavior that was borderline gauche.

"We're fine," Chris spoke up, answering for both of them, in a kind attempt to remove some of the pressure Stephanie was experiencing. "I was hoping I could take her out to a nice dinner. We eat so much fast food and junk on the road that I figured she would want to slow down and have an actual meal for once."

"I'm sure she'll love that. Just a minute," Vince reached into his pocket and fished his wallet out, and Stephanie groaned and covered her face a second time. His heart was in the right place, but sometimes she wished her dad could just leave well enough alone. His knee-jerk reaction of pulling his wallet out and tossing money at her and Chris anytime they mentioned going out somewhere had quickly morphed from sweet to excruciating.

"Dad, you pay Chris well enough to afford a good dinner. He doesn't need your money and, besides, I'm picking up the tab tonight," Stephanie explained, much to the chagrin of Chris.

"Over my dead body," he argued, shaking his head. "You're doing me the honor of coming out tonight, and there's no way in hell I'm letting you pay. I won't let you pay either, Vince," Chris said, nudging Vince's hand away after he produced a few large bills to fund their evening. "I've got it all covered. The only thing I need from Stephanie is her company."

"All right then. I've gotta get back to work, but you two have fun, and make sure you have these outings with each other more often. You look good together," Vince patted Chris's arm before tucking his money back inside his wallet, slipping it into his pocket, and continuing down the hallway.

"Bye, Dad," Stephanie called over her shoulder before rolling her eyes at Chris in response to Vince's parting words.

He shrugged and laughed, making the best of a slightly awkward situation, and lead her the remainder of the way out of the building and to his awaiting car. After a short debate, they decided on French cuisine, since Chris and Stephanie agreed it would be a nice change from the sorts of foods they normally ate. Being on the road forced them to choose something fast, and they couldn't always avoid resorting to processed junk from a drive-thru window or lower end restaurant. When the opportunity presented itself to sit down for a gourmet meal, they swooped in like a vulture claiming its prey.

Upon their arrival at the restaurant, they were seated quickly and Stephanie requested a glass of sparkling champagne to start with, while Chris opted for the more standard choice of red wine. As they waited on the waitress to return, Stephanie doodled invisibly, with the use of her index finger, across the immaculate, white tablecloth. Chris was bemused as to why she wasn't scanning the menu for what she might want to eat but assumed distraction was the culprit and picked out a couple appetizers they could test out together. "Hey, Steph, you like escargot, right?"

Her eyes lit up brilliantly as she raised her head and giggled, "I grew up on that. Whenever I went to parties with my parents, Shane and I were always given escargot as a snack."

"They've got those with garlic butter and then there's crab cakes too. You wanna try those for our appetizers?"

"Yeah, that's good," Stephanie nodded. The waitress set their drinks down a moment later, and Chris thanked her before ordering the appetizers. As they spoke, Stephanie distracted herself with a whole lot of daydreaming, and Chris nudged her foot under the table when he was finished, at which she snapped her head up to look at him. "Why did you do that?"

"Pick up your menu and figure out what you want for the main course, or else I'll order for you."

"You pick for me," she agreed.

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

They made small talk while Chris glanced over the menu, mostly because he wanted to save the more serious discussion for further down the line and, about five minutes later, their appetizers were ready. "Here comes some food," Chris alerted Stephanie, having spied the waitress coming up behind her. She placed her cloth napkin in her lap in preparation, which inadvertently encouraged Chris to do the same.

After the plates were down in front of them, Chris went straight for a crab cake and placed it on his saucer. He was glad to have some food to act as a buffer, of sorts, to distract Stephanie enough that he could broach the real topic he had been waiting to discuss. According to the information he received from Matt, Stephanie had been back to her old ways over the weekend, and Chris certainly wasn't her father, but he still felt the need to put his foot down, at least somewhat. Stephanie was a great friend of his, and he couldn't live down something bad happening to her, especially if it was an occurrence he could have prevented by being more proactive.

"I talked to Matt earlier," he spoke around a small bite of his crab cake and balanced the menu in his opposing hand. Stephanie nodded and took a sip from her glass, eyes locking with his as she brought it back down to the table. She picked up her fork and went in for the escargot, smiling around her bite when Chris raised an eyebrow, as if to ask whether she liked it or not.

"It's really good," she told him after swallowing her first bite.

"Good, I'm glad you like it. Is there anything you want to talk to me about?"

"Why bother? Matt probably told you everything earlier."

"No, he didn't, I couldn't get anything out of him," Chris disputed. He was lying through his pearly white teeth, of course, but he promised Matt he wouldn't out him for spilling the beans. Matt had been nice enough to let him in on what was happening in Stephanie's life, and Chris would never do anything to break the trust Matt had diligently worked to form with Stephanie. "All he told me was that he's worried about you, and so am I. I wish you would talk to me about your life."

"Who says anything's wrong?"

"Well, you pretended to be sick earlier tonight just to get out of talking to me. It's either that or you made the most miraculous recovery I've ever seen, which I highly doubt, so why were you avoiding me?"

Her eyes ballooned to twice their size and she placed her fork down on her plate, as her chewing slowed to a stop. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm sorry for doing that, Chris."

"Hey, none of that," he shushed her gently. "My feelings aren't hurt, but I want you to talk to me. What's going on with you?"

"I hooked up with a random guy from the golf course last week."

"Hooked up, as in, kissed?"

"Not exactly. Kissing was only the tip of the iceberg," Stephanie admitted, as her cheeks flushed crimson. "He was really sweet and good-looking, and I wanted to be with him, so I was. Amy was there with me, and I couldn't just leave the place and bring the guy to my house without her, because I was her ride, so..."

Chris's inner dread swirled rampantly as he watched the emotions on her face flash from self-loathing, to regret, to sorrow, and back again. The worst part of hearing how deeply Stephanie had faltered was seeing the pain her actions inflicted in the aftermath. Watching her flounder and become so helpless made Chris feel helpless. "I'm not judging you, but I'd like to know exactly what you did, if you're willing to tell me."

"I couldn't just leave with the guy in my car, because then Amy would have been left behind at the golf course to fend for herself."

"Right, so what did you do?" Chris pressed on.

"I introduced Amy to some guys on the green to keep her occupied. Then I went off with the guy I met to his car, and we got in the backseat."

"Oh," Chris nodded slowly and wiped his mouth with his napkin.

In the time it took him to process Stephanie's confession, the waitress came back around to take their orders, and though he hadn't given himself enough time to look over the menu, he honored Stephanie's choice in having him choose a menu item for her. Chris decided on the Cod Filet with Julienne Vegetables for Stephanie and Beef Bourguignon for himself. After their menus were taken away and they were alone again, Chris took a sip of his wine and an additional drink from his water glass to soothe his parched throat. Stephanie was hurt, and the last thing he wanted to do was make her feel attacked for her decisions, so he mulled over his word choice before voicing it.

What Stephanie partook in over the weekend had been entirely her choice, and she was free to carry out her wishes as she saw fit, but Chris wanted to help her see she could make better choices. She had the entire world at her beck and call but continuously threw life-changing opportunities away in favor of engaging in destructive behavior. It was a phenomenon he didn't have a great handle on, but Chris wasn't ready to throw in the towel. It would take a lot of work to push Stephanie to the heights she had the potential of reaching, but she was more than worth the effort. There was a reason he chose Stephanie to be his best friend, and now was the time to show her the true extent of their friendship.

"No man, who has even a modicum of respect for you, would do that within minutes of meeting. I can't control you, obviously, but you know you deserve much better than a guy who would have sex with you in the backseat of his car, right? "

"It was a huge SUV."

"And that makes a difference because...?" he goaded.

"It doesn't, I was just saying," Stephanie scratched her cheek absently as her eyes darted around everywhere except at Chris. It was difficult to be honest about her worst offenses, because it was beyond embarrassing to have him viewing her in such a harsh light. The only thing that pushed her to come clean was that she trusted in his abilities to help her, and he couldn't do that if she didn't start giving him the full truth. "I like to feel special, and being with guys makes me feel that way no matter what. Deep down, I know just because a guy has sex with me doesn't mean he loves me, but it's like, at the time, I'm able to trick myself into believing I'm the only person in his world who matters."

"Do you think you're loved by most people?"

"No."

"You don't?"

"No, I don't feel I am," she shook her head and sank down in her seat, turning defensive. "I'm sorry, but people toss around the words 'I love you' all the time, and rarely do they actually understand the extent of what that phrase means. I'm sick of people saying that to me when their actions clearly show that's not how they really feel."

"What exactly are we talking about here?" Chris pushed, sensing he was on the precipice of a huge breakthrough with Stephanie. It had taken minimal encouragement to get Stephanie to open up, and he was proud of himself for putting in the effort. They were finally making progress.

"Nothing," she answered softly, staring at the table while she fiddled with the cloth napkin in her lap.

"You can tell me."

"I hate the way I feel, and I can't ever seem to shake it," Stephanie admitted, glancing up to find Chris wearing a sympathetic gaze. She despised having him look at her like that, because she wanted him to enjoy her company, rather than spend the time feeling sorry for her. Their entire friendship was revolving around what a mess she was instead of being based on two people who simply enjoyed each other's time, and it was starting to mess with her head. "When I'm with you I feel better, but when we're apart, I go back to feeling like no one cares. I'm...I think I'm just a different kind of person, Chris."

"There's nothing wrong with being different, but you have to start being better to yourself. I happen to know for a fact there are plenty of people we just left backstage who would die for you. If anything ever happened to you, they would fall apart, and I don't know why you don't see that. We love you, Steph, and I say that meaning every single person you work with backstage. We all want to see you happy and doing well."

As if they planned it themselves, their plates were placed in front of them with expert timing, and Chris thanked the waitress but didn't make a move to eat, because he was too engrossed in Stephanie to be bothered with anything as trivial as food. She bit her lip and frowned, a show of her deep concentration, as she burned a hole right through the tablecloth, and it was only a few seconds more before she was sliding her plate and drinking glass across the table to the empty space beside Chris. She rounded the table under his watchful gaze and lowered herself in the seat next to him. Stephanie slipped her arms around his neck and hugged him snugly to her body before releasing their embrace to get started on her dinner.

She remained at Chris's side for the entirety of their meal.

They ate at their leisure, savoring the rapidly ticking seconds of their time together, and it was nearly an hour later when they returned to the car and began the journey back to their hotel. Chris stole a glance at Stephanie from the driver's seat, "Did you have a good time tonight?"

"I did, and I wish it didn't have to end," Stephanie admitted, while staring out the window at the passing city lights.

She was already dreading the loss she was certain to feel when Chris dropped her off at her room. If she were to bring up spending the night in his room, he would probably go for it, but she didn't want to come off too clingy. Chris already did more for her than any of her other friends, and the greatest part was she didn't have to prompt him to take action. If she took advantage of his generosity, she would risk losing Chris, and it simply wouldn't be possible to overcome her demons in his absence.

"You're never alone. If you need me, I'm here—just say the word."

"I don't want to be needy, but it's going to be hard leaving you tonight."

"Then I won't leave you. Do you want to watch TV? We can see what's showing on the movie channels when we get to the hotel," Chris offered. Relief was immediate once she knew she wouldn't be spending her night alone with her own thoughts, which always seemed to spell disaster. Becoming attached to Chris to the point that she couldn't stomach being alone wasn't healthy, but her confidence would grow in time, and time was one of the many things she had an abundance of.

"Can I also spend the night in your room, like I did the last time?"

"You're more than welcome to. I've got a suite again, so I'll take the couch and you can have the bed."

"You're such a good friend, Chris. You're my hero, seriously."

"Didn't I tell you there's nothing I wouldn't do for you?" he asked, and she answered, despite the fact that it was a rhetorical question.

"Yeah, you did. You're the only person who's ever always here for me."

"And I always will be."

Stephanie smiled and reached out to squeeze his free hand. "We should have our own show—Chris & Stephanie vs. The World. What do you think?"

"I think it sounds perfect."