Stephanie lay awake in her bedroom. She had finally got a chance to actually come home to her own home. She spent so many days of the year on the road that she often wondered why the hell she had even purchased the damn mansion. It was a very rare occasion that she actually even got to see the inside of it. She merely relaxed at that thought and just reveled in the fact that she had the next three days off, as did some of the other big names in the company. Her eyes closed slowly as she drifted off into a fitful sleep.

"Stephanie," she heard her name being called, but she couldn't see a damn thing in the dark room.

"What?"

"Stephanie, come here."

"For what?"

"I love you," the voice said, and she now knew that she was talking to a male, because of his masculine voice, "I love you so much that it hurts."

"I'm sorry that it hurts you."

"No, no…"

"No what?"

"It doesn't hurt because I love you. It hurts because I love you, but I can't have you."

A bright light emerged from the light, seemingly overshadowing the darkness. She could now make out the person that matched the voice.

"John?" Stephanie gasped. How could she not have recognized his voice?

"I love you, Steph, but you won't let me have you. Why can't I have you?"

"John, baby you do have me," she said taking a few steps towards him, "How could you think you didn't?"

"Because you love him."

She stared at the man before her in confusion. What the hell was he talking about?

"John what are you talking about?"

"Don't be so damn blind, Steph. You love him. He's who you want, but you're biding your time with me."

Stephanie finally reached the muscular man and she could now see that his face was covered in tears and there were more unshed tears in his eyes. Why was he crying?

"I'm lost, John. You're being vague. Please tell me what has you so upset and I will try to fix it."

"You can't fix it, Steph. It's your heart that can fix it. Giving me your heart will fix it, but you can't do that. It belongs to him."

"You do have my heart. It belongs to you and only you, not to whomever this other guy is that you're talking about," Stephanie whispered, as if this was the clearest thing in the world. She reached up and caressed his face with her hands.

John leaned into her touch and smiled at her in admiration and something that resembled longing. He was longing for her and he already had her in his possession and at his whim. None of this made since, until he spoke his next words to her.

"He's in love with you. As blind as you are to your own love, you gave yourself to him because you know deep down that he is who you want. You slept with him to help get rid of that aching need in the pit of your stomach every time you think about him or every time he is around. I'm just a void… an obstacle of sorts that seems to be standing in the way of your love."

Now she was crying uncontrollably. She loved this man… at least this is what she continued to tell herself, and as she stood watching him cry and break down before her, it literally broke her heart in half. He did not deserve this. He was too good to be hurt like this.

"John, I'm sorry. I should have never slept with him. It was a mistake to begin with. I just got caught up in the moment. He kissed me and I let myself lose control when I shouldn't have. You are all that I have ever wanted, you and only you… no one else. Paul is the obstacle in this situation, not you," Stephanie explained, trying to make the man in front of her feel at ease. She hated seeing such a strong man stand here looking a broken mess.

John smiled at her and brought his hand up to her face, much like she had done to his. He softly wiped the tears from her face, lovingly, "You're so damn beautiful that it hurts to look at you sometimes." Stephanie blushed and smiled in response.

"I wish I could claim you as mine for the rest of my life, but I think Paul has laid claim to you long before I even came along. It's okay, beautiful. Go to him, he needs you. More than you know…"

Stephanie's response died on her lips as she noticed John start to fade. Fade? What in the hell?

"John!" she called desperately, "John!"

Stephanie awoke with a start. She wiped at her eyes, which were wet from tears. She looked around the dark room and sighed. It was just a dream. It seemed so real though.

"I need to get rid of Paul someway, somehow."

She knew that the dream was not necessarily Paul's fault or John's or her own for that matter, but maybe if she settled things with Paul, it would make these occurrences go away. This was definitely not the first time that she had had a dream like this. They had become more and more real each time since she had slept with Paul, which she still regretted, in spite of how good he made her body feel.

The brunette's thoughts were interrupted as the phone on the nightstand beside her bed began ringing. She stared at her home phone a bit confused. No one really reached her through her home phone. Everyone usually called her on her cell phone. However, she answered the phone anyhow.

"Hello?"

"Steph…" came an all too familiar voice.

"Trisha?" Stephanie asked in shock and giddiness.

"The one and only."

"Oh my God. How are you? What have you been up to? Where are you?"

"Whoa, slow down there, Stephers," Trish said, laughing, before continuing" I've been fine. I've been up to the boredom that my life has become and I'm standing right outside your bedroom door."

Stephanie's eyes widened and shot to the bedroom door, "You're kidding right?"

"Nope, not at all," Trish replied, reveling in her best friend's shock and glee.

Stephanie threw the phone down on the night stand. Leaping to her feet, she rushed to bedroom door and swung it open to come face to face with a grinning Patricia Stratigias. It was not long before the two women were hugging each other tightly, as they jumped up and down screaming in happiness.

"I can't believe that you're here," Stephanie said breaking the hug to get a better look at her best friend, "I see you're making good use of that house key I gave you last year."

"But of course…" Trish admitted, "...and It would have been a lot sooner, if someone would take a damn break every now and again."

"How did you even find out that I had a break this weekend?" Stephanie asked, curiously.

"I thought you might be with your boyfriend, as usual. So I called him up, but he said that you were home for the weekend, so I said what the hell and got a flight on the next plane to New York," Trish explained, as she followed Stephanie into the bedroom. She took off her shoes and coat on the way to the bed, tossing the objects on a nearby chair.

"Well, it has been about seven months since we last talked, and considering that we're best friends, that is a hell of a lot of time between seeing each other."

"Yeah it is, but it was just last month that we talked on the phone."

"Trisha, come on…" Stephanie said, casually, "Talked on the phone. It's much different in person. You look great by the way. I see you're still staying in shape, even after retiring."

"Me?" Trisha exasperated, "Look at you, Stephers. You look amazing as usual. Still a knock out, I see."

"You know me to well." The two laughed heartily and settled down a bit to catch up.

"So what's new, Stephers?" Trish asked, wanting details, "You know there is always some good drama around these parts."

"Yeah there definitely is," Stephanie said, becoming a bit more serious. Trish noticed this and stared intently at her best friend, trying to figure out what had changed the brunette's temperament so quickly.

"Steph, what's wrong?"

"I slept with Paul," Stephanie blurted out.

Trish looked at her friend in shock. She blinked a few times and registered the information that she had just received, before speaking, "So you and John are broken up?"

"No…" Stephanie said, timorously, before dropping her head in embarrassment.

"So you're saying that you cheated on John with Paul?" Trish asked in shock. She had been friends with Steph for over ten years and counting… best friends. Yet in all of those years, she had only known Steph to be faithful and dedicated in everything she did and to everyone she loved and cared about.

"I didn't mean for it to happen, Trisha," Stephanie begin to explain, "I mean you know me. I don't do stuff like this. He kissed me and his lips felt so good and he smelled so good… I just let my hormones think for me instead of my brain, and I got caught up in the moment and I became too consumed with lust to stop things from sprawling out of control."

"Awe, Steph. This is not good. Have you told John, yet?"

"No!" Stephanie shouted, indignantly, "And I don't plan on telling him."

"But what if it comes out and he finds it out from someone else instead of you, and it gets back to him in a different way than you may want it to," Trish reasoned, "That would be worse than telling him yourself."

Stephanie sighed heavily. She knew that Trish was right, but telling John was not as easy as Trish was making it out to be. If she told John, he could easily get angry enough to fight Paul and then it would get out that she had cheated on him with Paul, and then her father would find out… her father alone was enough to have her scared to death of telling anyone about what happened between her and Paul. Vincent Kennedy McMahon was not too forgiving when it came to his baby girl, and he would definitely make an example out of Paul… and her as well.

"Trish, you're right, but I would rather it not get out just yet. I will tell him, just not now."

Trish studied the brunette sitting across from her and her eyes softened as something dawned on her.

"Are you in love with Paul?"

Stephanie's head shot up like a bolt of light. Her eyes were bugging out of her head and she looked more shocked than Trish had ever seen her.

"No. Why would you think that?" Stephanie asked, nervously.

Why was she nervous?

"Well, because you slept with him while you are supposed to be in love with someone else and you're not willing to tell anyone other than me about it?"

"That's because I am in love with someone else and I don't want to lose that someone else on the account of a mistake that I made."

"Steph if John really loves you, he will understand that you made a mistake."

"No he won't Trish, because if the shoe were on the other foot, I wouldn't understand if he had made the same mistake."

"Maybe you are not as in love with him as you think you are then," Trish suggested, hesitantly, knowing that that McMahon temper could strike at any given moment… and she was in no mood to deal with that at that moment.

"I am head over heels for John, but I just don't want to tell him just yet. I know that eventually I will have to, but not now. Just give me some time, okay," Stephanie said, in a somewhat pleading tone of voice.

"It's okay sweetie," Trish whispered as she enveloped the blue-eyed brunette into her arms in a tight and comforting hug, "Take all the time that you need. I won't judge you. Do what is best for you."

The two stayed in their embrace for what seemed like forever, until Stephanie's doorbell rang, shattering the silence of the room in the process. The women broke their embrace and looked towards the bedroom door in confusion.

"Were you expecting anyone, Steph?" Trish asked, inquisitively.

"No not that I know of."

"Then who could it be?"

Stephanie got off of the bed and walked to the window in her bedroom to see who could be at the door. The youngest McMahon practically fainted as soon as she noticed the two figures standing at her door step. Trish noticed her friend's reaction and she became worried.

"Who is it, Steph?"

"It's John and Paul."

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I shall try to update sooner rather than later. I hate making my readers wait, but school is not the easiest thing right now