I'm on a roll right now with this story so hopefully you like it :)

Paul took a long walk before he headed home to face his parents unsure of how exactly to tell them he got fired for making a cup of coffee.

When he opened the front door his Mom was just creeping downstairs with the monitor in hand and had the fright of her life seeing Paul stood in front of her, "Paul, what are you doing here?"

He sighed really not wanting to deal with this yet, "I'll talk about it later but for now I need a shower and to relax. Is Lucy asleep?"

"Yes, I just put her down so try not to wake her please."

With that his Mom headed into the kitchen to gossip with his Dad about why he was home so early and Paul headed upstairs to have a nice long hot shower.

Back at the office Shawn was unsure on how to deal with Stephanie and the situation so he decided to ring the one person who he knew would be able to help, his wife.

Whilst he waited for her to pick up Shawn looked over the work Paul had been doing on the computer and he was actually impressed by the standard of it

"Shawn?"

He sighed softly hearing his wife's voice, "We have a problem."

Normally at this point Rebecca would tease her husband but she could hear the genuine concern in his voice, "What's happened?"

"Steph's fired Paul."

"What? What did he do?"

He rubbed his temple, "Make a cup of coffee."

Rebecca laughed softly thinking he was kidding, "No seriously Shawn, what did he do?"

"I was being serious. I went to get us some lunch because Paul wanted to work through and he went to make some coffee to go with it but from what I can gather in the time that he left the office to make the coffee and the time he returned Luke rang and he sent her some flowers too but Paul knew about those and basically Steph freaked out and fired him for not protecting her."

"What? That makes no sense."

"Yeah well you try telling her that because I did and she stormed off and slammed her office door behind her. I don't know what to do though Bec, Paul needs this job and he didn't deserve to be fired over this."

"It's wrong Shawn I know but you can't force her to take him back or anything like that, it is entirely her decision."

"Well she makes terrible decisions sometimes." Shawn pouted like a little child and Rebecca could hear it in his voice.

"No pouting Shawn, it won't get you anywhere."

"What will get me anywhere though?"

"Nothing, you know Steph and you just have to give her time to come around. Once she calms down you will be able to talk sensibly to her"

"That could take weeks."

"It also might only take hours so just don't push it".

Shawn sighed heavily, "Okay okay. Thanks Bec and I love you."

"I love you too Shawn."

Shawn hung up the phone and reached for his sandwich, there was nothing else he could do.

After he had showered Paul was feeling calmer and more relaxed but now he had to face his parents and admit he had been fired.

Once he was dressed Paul slowly descended the stairs and headed in the direction of the lounge where he could hear the TV blaring.

As he walked into the room Paul felt two sets of eyes on him as he took a seat on the couch, "What?"

Patricia was first to speak up, "Paul it's only 2pm and you've been home for a good half hour, what happened?"

"She fired me."

Paul Sr frowned, "Why? What did you do wrong?"

Paul lifted his shoulders in a shrug, "The truth is I don't really know. Shawn went to get us lunch so I went to make everyone a cup of coffee and when I returned Stephanie was livid and she threw a fit before firing me."

Patricia shook her head, "That makes no sense son, there has to be more to it than that."

"I know Mom, I just don't know what it is because I honestly didn't do anything beyond that and refuse to pronounce somebody's surname but she took that in good spirits. I'll call Shawn tonight and ask him if he knows what on Earth I did because I would like to know what exactly it was."

His parents were satisfied with that answer and let the subject drop.

A few hours had passed since Stephanie had stormed off and she had finally calmed down enough to apologise to Shawn for the way she treated him.

Reluctantly Stephanie opened her office door and stepped out to talk to Shawn. She shuffled her feet nervously on the carpet, "I'm sorry Shawn, I didn't mean to fly off the handle with you."

Shawn looked up from the paperwork, "You're apologising to the wrong person here. I'm not the person you fired for making a cup of freaking coffee. Before you go crazy and storm out on me again you've got to realise how irrational your behaviour was, you refused to tell Paul what was going on but yet you then blame him for the fact that Luke got through to talk to you. Even you have to realise that is ridiculous."

She ran her hand through her hair, "I know Shawn and I will apologise to him eventually but you're here right now and I wanted to apologise to you."

"I don't think an apology cuts it Steph. You fired one of my best friends because you wouldn't tell him the truth."

"I get it Shawn, you don't have to keep repeating that."

"I do if it's the only way to make you realise how stupid you're being. Paul is a good guy who deserves a break but you go and screw him over because you can. I'm going home, it's only fifteen minutes early but I just can't be here with you right now."

With that Shawn got up and grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair before he breezed past Stephanie and walked out.

Stephanie watched Shawn leave before she went back into her office and picked up the phone making a quick call, "Hi it's me, I'm going to be late tonight as there's something I've got to do. I'll see you when I get home." Once she hung up the phone Stephanie grabbed her jacket and her bag and left the office, there was no way she was going to get any more work done today anyway after what Shawn said and with everything playing on her mind.