A/N: Thank you SO much for all the reviews for this story. I'm both thrilled and shocked that you seem to like it so much, seriously, the response has been fantastic and I'm just so thankful that you're enjoying it. I hope you enjoy this special Wednesday morning update and if you want to leave a review, I hope you will, enjoy! :)
Benefit of the doubt lasted about three days.
After three days, his suspicions started to kick again, especially after considering what Jay had told him about Shane and the idea of finding a fired diva and inquiring about Shane. He didn't want to do it; he didn't enjoy hating his brother-in-law, but he did it anyways because he could only see Shane as a sleazebag. He liked to think if his sister had married someone he hadn't heard all this gossip about that they could be friends, brothers even. But Shane, fat chance.
"Hello, can I please speak with Trish?"
"I'm sorry, Ms. Stratus-Fisico is busy at the moment, may I ask who is calling?" her assistant said in a nasally voice. Chris rolled his eyes. Trish needed to hire a more personable assistant.
"It's one of her old friends, Chris Irvine, I'm sure you're just dodging calls for her and if you are, can you please tell her that it's me and I really want to talk to her."
"Fine," the woman, Catherine, said. "I'll see if she's available."
"Thank you," he said, tapping his fingers impatiently.
"Daddy, what are you doing?" Aurora asked, coming into the kitchen and seeing her daddy on the phone. "Who are you talking to? Is it someone big?"
"None of your business, little one," he said, leaning down and rubbing his nose against hers. "I thought you were in the living room taking your nap. You wore me out wanting to play all morning, I think I need a nap too."
"Daddies don't take naps and I'm not tired anymore," she shrugged. "Where's Mommy?"
"Work," he told her, "now go play because this is an important phone call."
"I don't wanna go play," she pouted. She wanted to stay around Chris and see what he was up to. He could be having a lot of fun on the phone and she wanted to join in on it if he was.
"Then go lie quietly on the couch until I come in there and we can play with that new book light-up thing that Grandma gave you."
"Okay," she said with a sigh as she shuffled out of the room.
He turned back to his phone and immediately heard, "You're as adorable with your daughters as you ever were, Chris."
"How did you know it was me?"
"Catherine told me. Sorry I didn't let you through immediately, I'm just swamped with work now that I'm starting another location for my yoga studio, I'm branching out, aren't you proud?"
"So proud," he told his old friend. "We miss you around work though."
"Looking at the product, I'm not surprised. Tell me this, Chris, who is responsible for the employment of the Bellas and Kelly Kelly?"
"Not my jurisdiction," Chris said, "if you want to know that, you have to ask my wife, she's the lady in charge."
"You'd think someone so powerful who not want those horrible wrestlers around," Trish scoffed, "but I digress, that's another talk for another day, how is Stephanie and how are your girls? I haven't seen them since the last time you guys were in Toronto."
"Stephanie is as she always is, busy, busy, busy and breathing down my neck about something or another," Chris told her, "Rora and Murphy are doing great, you should see Murphy, she is shooting up like bamboo."
"That's so great, so what's with the call, are you guys coming to Toronto soon or something? I haven't checked any schedules so I don't know…oh hey, how's your sister? I haven't seen her since the wedding, how's married life treating her?"
"That's actually what I was calling you about, Trish," Chris said.
"You're calling me about your sister's marriage? That's…odd, Chris," she laughed.
"Do you like Shane?" Chris asked her point blank.
Trish was a diva, even if she had never had anything with Shane (and Trish had been extremely faithful to her now husband) she had to have seen things, known things. Chris had never been in the girl's locker room, but if it was anything like the atmosphere in the men's locker room than nothing was a secret. Hell, when he'd first started dating Stephanie, everyone buzzed about it though he hadn't said a word. He rubbed his cheek unconsciously as he remembered Stephanie coming up to him and slapping him, telling him that she kept hearing rumors about how they'd slept together on the first date. It'd taken him two hours to explain that one.
If anyone would know anything, it would be Trish. She had been one of the leaders of that locker room and had been around the company longer than a lot of other women; she would know the comings and goings. Plus, importantly, Chris trusted Trish. The woman had been a friend since she'd entered the company and they'd really gotten close during their storyline together, which required them to be quite close. After that, they'd started hanging out and when you hung out with Chris, you hung out with Stephanie and Stephanie and Trish had found they had a lot in common so whenever they were in the same area, they always had to meet up. It was a great friendship.
"That's a loaded question," Trish laughed. "Why are you asking?"
"I don't like him."
"Now I know Stephanie nor Maryn is around," Trish laughed. "Why does my opinion count anyways or are you just going to gripe about him? Isn't that why you have guy friends?"
"This is a girl friend kind of thing and I've noticed that you have avoided the question."
"I haven't avoided it, it's just there's a lot to consider when I think about Shane is all."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean that he's complicated, surely, you, who has been related to him for years, has seen this," Trish said. "It's not that he's necessarily horrible, but I wouldn't say he's the most approachable guy."
"Trish, just say it, I said it, just say it."
"Okay, so I don't like the guy, don't tell Stephanie and don't get me into trouble with her. I guess I just tolerate him because he is Stephanie's brother and I love Stephanie and God, how can those two even be related? If it weren't for their looks, I never would have guessed."
"Thank you!" Chris said. "I feel like I'm the only one who sees it! I didn't want Maryn with him, obviously, but what can I do now, you know? I can't tell my sister who to see and not to see, she's not a teenager anymore."
"You can only hope she made the right decision and who knows, Chris, she might bring out a Shane that none of us get to see," she said, "I'm rational enough to realize that he might not be the jerk that I think him. If Maryn can love him and he loves her, then you have to let it be. You know how many guys I've had try to seduce me away? They always tell me I can do better, but I'm happy and they don't get that, maybe we just don't get Maryn."
"Trish, I'm going to ask you something and I want you to be honest with me, okay?"
"I will try," she told him, wondering what he was going to ask because he sounded serious. She remembered a conversation a long time ago when Stephanie had been pregnant with Aurora. On the outside, Chris had been all swagger, boasting about his kid, saying how he was going to be a great father. He'd come to her one night to confess that he was terrified, but felt like he couldn't go to Stephanie because she was scared too and he couldn't go to the guys because they would rag on him. He had that same tone right now.
"You were in the woman's locker room, so you would hear stuff I'm sure…did Shane…I mean, was Shane…did he sleep with a lot of the divas?" Chris asked hesitantly. He wasn't sure he wanted the answer.
"I mean, you hear things, but you can never trust them, need I remind you of the first date incident with you and Stephanie?" Trish said.
"I know that sometimes a rumor is just a rumor, but…I feel like I have to know, even if they were. I just worry about my sister and I don't want her to get hurt, please don't tell her or Stephanie I called."
"I won't tell them, but in regards to Shane…well, I mean, you hear stuff and really, Chris, it might not be true."
"He's a scumbag, I knew it," Chris muttered, "I knew he was, I could feel it with every bone in my body. I swear to God, if he wasn't my wife's brother, I would have like…I don't know, locked Maryn in a tower so she couldn't marry him."
"I think you've been reading too many fairy tales to Rora and Murph," Trish said, "look, all I heard was that he was a bit of a womanizer, but Chris, sometimes people can change, we all change in various ways and obviously Shane thought highly enough of Maryn to marry her, so maybe he has changed."
"Or maybe he's still a scumbag, so womanizer, huh? How so?"
"Well, God, I can't believe I'm telling you this, if Stephanie found out, she'd kill me."
"I'd protect you from my wife's wrath."
"He was said to be plowing through the women's locker room. I know that he had a fling with Stacy, she told me about that herself. He wanted Torrie, but she was with Billy, when they got divorced, I'm pretty sure they did some stuff together. He definitely had Candice Michelle, she could not stop bragging about it, but he dumped her when she got injured, probably because she wasn't around-"
"You can stop right there," Chris said, his voice wavering with anger. "I can't even stand to hear anymore."
"Granted, Chris, these incidents took place a fair amount of time apart and they were all very willing," Trish said. "If you didn't have Stephanie, I'm sure you would've dated around too. It happens in this business, look at Phil, I had to hear Maria cry on my shoulder for like a month after they broke up about how he could just move on like she was nothing…"
"How far apart?"
"Years between Stacy and Torrie and months between Torrie and Candice, I mean, you hear other things, but-"
"Other things, what other things, Trish," Chris prompted her, his anger surfacing again for Shane.
"Just other women, that's all, I mean, just other women."
"I've heard that he fired women that didn't want him."
"Well, come on, I don't think that's necessarily true, I turned him down plenty of times and I went out on my own terms."
"He hit on you? Why didn't you ever tell me!"
"Because it wasn't a big deal and Chris, I can name you a list a mile long of wrestlers who hit on me, Shane was just another blip on the radar, really. It was no big deal, he sidled up to me, tried to get me to dinner, I said no, that was that."
"Do you think I could contact someone that was let go? You know, I think I still have Gail's number, I bet she would tell me, we had a good rapport," Chris said, more to himself. "Do you think there's anyone I might talk to, Trish, really, please? If you have anybody that could help me out, please tell me?"
He sounded so desperate that she almost felt obligated to tell him. "Okay, well, look, if you're looking to talk to people, maybe start with Ashley Massaro or Christy Hemme, they could be your best bets, but Chris, please don't do anything rash. Your sister loves Shane, it's obvious and Stephanie loves him too. If anything, try to find the redeeming qualities they see."
"Trish, I really appreciate what you're doing here, but I can't-" He was cut off when he saw Stephanie walking into the kitchen, giving him a short wave. He wasn't expecting her for hours so seeing her made him stop. "Um, yes, Trish, hopefully we'll get to see you soon, I'll talk to you later, okay, bye."
"Stephanie just walked in, didn't she?"
"Yeah."
"Chris, just be careful, don't hurt anyone with your actions, promise me?"
"Okay, okay, I promise, bye."
"Bye," Trish said as Chris ended the call.
"Trish?"
"Just catching up with her, what are you doing home so early?"
"Finished early, you know who I caught sneaking out for a late lunch?" she said, but didn't wait for an answer, "the newlyweds. Isn't it sweet that she came down and he snuck out? Remember when you used to surprise me with picnics in my office, you'd come in with a blanket and everything?"
"That was when I was still trying to impress you and/or get laid," Chris told her and she rolled her eyes. "Plus, going out to lunch isn't something romantic, it's just going out to lunch."
"I didn't see you coming to the office to take me to lunch," she said, coming over and cupping his face in her hands, kissing him softly.
"I was here, taking care of your kids, which, oh man, I left Rora in there waiting for me."
"I don't think you need to worry, I saw her and she's out like a light, she must've gotten bored, Murph is upstairs?"
"Yeah, she's upstairs, so they went to lunch, shirking work again," Chris commented, "probably leaving it all to you."
"Yeah, if we were in the same department. Give them a break, Chris, they're happy, we used to be like them so let them have their moments."
"I guess," he said as she walked to the doorway.
"I'm going to go check on Murphy," she called over her shoulder.
"Okay!" Chris called back. He flipped through his phone, looking for someone who could help him. Surely someone knew how to get a hold of either Ashley or Christy.
He had to know what had happened.
