Disclaimer: All the events and character description taken place in this story is COMPLETELY FICTION. No copyright infringement intended. All characters are copy written to their respective owners. No profit is being made from this story. It should be viewed only as entertainment.
Chapter Nine
Stephanie quickly zipped up the large powdered blue diaper bag that sat on the kitchen counter while balancing Andrew on her hip. She then turned her attention to her leather work satchel that was nearby. Steph placed her laptop carefully inside it using only one had before zipping it up. Kurt was loading the few duffle bags they were bringing with them on their luxury bus as well as getting Aurora settled inside of it with an early morning snack and a movie. It was Saturday morning and they were just getting ready to travel to Philadelphia Pennsylvania where the Night of Champions PPV was being held tomorrow.
Steph took a moment to think before she grabbed hold of the cordless phone that was sitting in its cradle in the kitchen. Setting the phone down on the kitchen counter for a moment, she then pulled her PDA out of her back pocket and quickly found the number she was looking for in her extensive contact database. Andrew babbled a few lines of consonances while stuffing three of his fingers into his month as he looked up at his mother who began dialing the number on the home phone.
"Okay, shh, Mommy's on the phone." Steph told her infant son as he let out a few playful squeals placing his wet fingers into her brown flowing locks of hair while nuzzling close to her.
"Hi Karen, it's Stephanie. Listen, I was hoping we could get together for dinner tonight. I'm going to be in Pennsylvania this weekend for a PPV and I could manage to make it over to Pittsburgh by tonight." Stephanie told her husband's former wife getting right to the point of why she was calling her.
"No I don't think so. I really have nothing to say to you." Karen quickly replied in a tone of voice that made it clear that she was steadfast in her decision.
"I wanted to talk to you about Kurt and his visitation rights. Kurt has every right to see his children and I think he needs to be given opportunities to do so." Steph said in her professional tone of voice hoping that Karen would realize that she meant business.
"I really don't care what you think, Stephanie. What's going on between me and my ex-husband is none of your business. Just because you're Kurt's new wife, doesn't mean that you have any say about my children." The former Mrs. Angle said back with a bitchy tone of voice that made Stephanie want to reach through the phone and slap her.
Stephanie was determined to keep her cool when dealing with Karen. Nothing good would come out of a screaming match between them. If anything, it was going to make it even harder for Kurt to see his children. She wasn't going to do that to her husband. Perhaps she could reason with her. After all, before Paul pissed in Karen's ear about her and Kurt, she was as nice as could be. Maybe she could explain Kurt's position to Karen.
"I'm not trying to get into your business. I just can't help but see how much my husband misses two of his children. I know that you have your opinion of me that I will probably never be able to change but we should at least try and be civil to one another for the sake of Kyra and Kody. The PPV is at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia tomorrow. Kurt would love to see his kids if you could bring them there around noon." Stephanie said pressing the phone into her shoulder as she used her hands to move her baby to her other hip because the he was trying to grab the phone from her hand. Being moved to the other hip caused Andy to whine and squirm signaling his desire to be put down which Steph promptly did.
"I'll consider it…" Karen finally said after a brief moment of silence. Then Stephanie heard a click followed by a dial tone.
"That bitch just hung up on me." Steph said aloud to herself. Her eyes were wide in shock as she took the phone away from her ear and looked at it. She hit the off button before putting the phone back in the charging cradle.
"Where do you think you're going, Mister?" Steph asked her baby boy as she quickly walked across the kitchen to grab him before he speed crawled into the living room. While Andrew was still a bit wobbly on his feet, he had definitely mastered the art of crawling.
"Is this the last of the bags, babe?" Kurt asked helping his wife with the two bags as soon as she approached with Andrew in tow. She had the diaper bag hanging over her shoulder via the long strap while she used her free hand to carry her work satchel.
"Yeah this is it. Did you get Aurora all settled in?" Steph asked following Angle onto their bus as soon as he took her satchel and the diaper bag from her.
"Yeah, the princess is on her throne." Kurt replied motioning with his thumb to where Aurora was sitting. Kurt had made her a comfy seat nestled in between a few large pillows. She was sitting there completely at ease while she watched her favorite Dora the Explorer DVD with her favorite pink sunglasses on. When she took notice of her mother, she used one hand to pull her sun glasses down from her eyes.
"Hi Mommy." Aurora said cheerfully showing her little pearly white teeth as she smiled up at her mother.
"Hi sweetheart, oh honey, you don't have to wear those sunglasses, we're inside the bus." Steph explained as she smiled back at her daughter while the three year old put the sunglasses back on.
"I tried to explain that to her but she insists on wearing them. I'm going to go tell the driver we're ready to push out. Do you want to get the baby settled in? We should be set diaper wise, there's still some huggies in the bedroom by the crib." Kurt reported to Steph.
"Oh okay, hey Kurt, I called Karen and she's considering bringing Kyra and Kody to the PPV." Steph told Angle as he was about to go down the steps and out the bus. He paused and turned back to face his with. She had been hoping that he would be happy about the news but he didn't look optimistic.
"I'm not going to hold my breath, but thank you though for trying, sweetheart." Kurt told his wife giving her a weak smile before leaving the luxury bus.
"Who are you texting?" Steph asked Kurt after she saw him pull out his cell phone and begin to hit the keypad with his two large thumbs.
They were well into their trip to Philadelphia. Both Andrew and Aurora were napping so it was just Kurt and Stephanie in their sitting area. They had been watching a movie when Angle had reached for his cell phone.
"Vince, I want to talk to him about the match tomorrow. I talked with Hardy last night and we both think him going over is a better idea." Kurt explained to Steph not taking his eyes off his cell phone screen as he continued to push the keypad.
"But Kurt, I thought we were going to have you take the belt off of Jericho next month." Stephanie said looking puzzled by her husband's new creative direction he and Jeff Hardy were proposing.
"I'd rather work with some of the young guys. It will keep things fresh on the show while at the same time help elevate our young guys. Besides, Jericho defending against Jeff Hardy sounds like a great SummerSlam main event. I know Chris wants to go back to being a heel so it works perfectly for having a babyface Jeff Hardy going for the gold against heel Y2J." Kurt explained finally looking away from his cell phone to look at his wife. Just before Steph could object to her husband's reasoning for the creative direction of his character, his cell phone rings.
"It's Vince." Kurt tells her before quickly hitting the green send button on his phone and then bringing it to his ear.
"Hey Dad….So you're okay with it? Yeah, Jeff is fine with it, we talked…Yeah, I'm sure that it's what I want…Yeah, I want to work with one of our up and coming guys….Yeah I have a few names in mind but we can talk about that later...Yeah the match tomorrow will be planned out to perfection, don't worry about that…"
Stephanie sat there quiet and she just listened to her husband chat with her father. While she didn't agree with Kurt wanting to get out of the WWE title picture, the fact that her father and Kurt got along so well and had become so close again put a smile on her face. While at one time, there had been a mutual fondness between Vince and Stephanie's first husband, Paul, that relationship was damaged irreversibly when McMahon found out about Levesque's indiscretion with Michelle North. The relationship between Vince and Kurt seemed to be more of a father-son bond. The way Kurt had explained it to Stephanie was that Vince was the closest thing that he had to a father since his dad's death when Angle was just sixteen years old. There had been many coaches that mentored Kurt during his amateur wrestling days, but none of them, he explained, had ever took him in like a son like Vince did; and it warmed Steph's heart to know that.
Paul sat by himself at the Hilton hotel bar on Sansom Street in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. Like him, a large amount of fellow WWE superstars were staying at this hotel because it was only three miles away from the Wachovia Center where the Night of Champions PPV was going to take place tomorrow. He was drinking alone and had requested that the bar would be closed off to the public while he was there. Levesque was definitely not in the mood to sign autographs and pose for pictures. Hell, he didn't even want to invite his best friend, Shawn, to have a few drinks with him at the bar. Paul sat there with his glass scotch. His hazel eyes glazed over and appearing to be vacant. He felt lost.
"Excuse me, m'am, the bar is closed." One of the managers said quickly approaching the young woman who was trying to walk into the bar area of the hotel. Paul instinctively turned to see who it was the manager was talking to. It was then that he realized that it was Torrie Wilson.
"No, she's okay. She can come in." Levesque told the manager holding his right hand up before using it to motion Miss Wilson into the bar.
"Hi Paul, what are you doing in here all by yourself? Everyone's going out to grab some dinner, do you want to join us?" Torrie asked looking concerned as she slowly approached him. Paul shook his head slightly before taking a swig of his scotch.
"No thanks, I just want to be alone…"
Torrie's eyes scanned Levesque up and down. He really looked disheveled. Paul was wearing his usual dress pants and shirt but unlike normal, it looked like he had slept in them. His hair, which was usually well groomed, looked out of place. Torrie gave him a look of concern as she placed her hand on his broad shoulder.
"Paul, are you okay? Do you need someone to talk to? I'd be happy to hear about what's bothering you." She offered with a warm caring voice sitting down on the bar stool next to him.
"It would take me more than an hour to go through all the shit that's been bothering me. You don't want to know everything I've been had to deal with. I'd have Shawn here with me but he won't step foot in a bar now after becoming a born again Christian; as if he's been that much of a help to me as of late anyway." Paul muttered allowing his eyes to wander over to Torrie Wilson as he cracked a smile for her.
"Well I have over an hour that I would love to spend with you if you'd be willing to talk to me about it."
Levesque smile didn't fade as he shrugged his shoulders slightly. He then brought his glass to his mouth and quickly downed the rest of the scotch before setting it back down on the bar counter. He was somewhat surprised by Torrie's willingness to listen to him. Once again, she had been the only one, besides Shawn of course, that actually seemed to give a damn about the fact that he was depressed. He was a little apprehensive about airing out his dirty laundry to her. Paul wondered if letting Torrie know about the mistakes he made in his marriage to Stephanie would cause her to think less of him. But why did he care? She was the one asking to hear his sad story. She was the one offering to do the job that would usually have fallen upon the bartender. Why did he feel the urge to be accepted and liked by Torrie Wilson? Perhaps it was because at this point in his life, he thought no one cared.
"Another straight scotch and whatever this beautiful lady would like." Paul said with a smirk to the bartender as he pushed his empty glass forward.
