Miri groaned as she watched the two of them squaring off in the hallway. This particular situation had been brewing all week, really, but tonight, Fandango, well, he'd really pushed it too far. And Wade, of course, having the hair trigger temper he had, well, he was right now showing Fandango why exactly it wasn't a good idea to mess with Miri.

"Is there a reason you're lurking in the doorway, biting your nails?" Stephanie asked her adopted daughter as she looked at her with a 'tell me all of it, now' look. Miri muttered something and bit her lip, pacing, watching the fight. Stephanie shut the door to the makeup room firmly and then asked, "I'm going to repeat my question, Mirabelle.. Is there a reason you're lurking in the doorway, biting your nails.. You know how your father is about you, about your history with dating one of the guys."

"Mom.."

"Spill it, Mira."

"Yes ma'am." Mirabelle said as she sat down and said quietly, almost in shock, "Don't know how he did it mom, but Wade, he.. He made me fall for him.. He's not like the other guys I dated, I mean he's practically bent over backwards trying to take care of me, if I'd just let him. I didn't ask him to, either."

Stephanie smiled to herself.. She'd noticed this on her own already, of course, but she was more or less just having it confirmed by her adopted oldest daughter, Mirabelle, now. "Well? What do you feel for him?"

"Mom, I... I wanna say I love him but I'm afraid.. What if it's like all the other times in the past, all my mistakes and I wind up getting hurt or something. I'm not just thinking for me anymore, mom." Mirabelle muttered quietly as she winced, hearing loud swearing in the hallway, hearing somone, most likely Fandango, getting thrown at a wall near her door.

"Something tells me to tell you to trust your heart and your gut this time, Mirabelle.. Leave your father to me for now. I'll figure out some way to keep them from killing one another when this comes out."

Mirabelle sighed and shaking her head said "No. I'm not gonna hide this from Daddy. I learned my biggest lesson about that, I mean Punk and I hid what we were, how we felt and we wound up falling apart because of that. I don't wanna lose him."

"Hmm. Sounds serious." Stephanie mused, teasing her oldest child about it a little as Mirabelle groaned and said quietly, "That's just it, Mom.. I mean I know his reputation.. And I'm sort of afraid.."

"People change, Mirabelle.. Your father's a huge example of that. I mean before we got together, and after your mom died? He went through more women in a week than he did underwear, I'm willing to bet.. But I had to make the decision when I realized how I felt about him, to either let the 'rumors' get to me and scare me away, or face them head on and give your dad a chance.. I think we both know what helped me make up my mind about him.. If I hadn't taken you to the mall that day, spent the rest of it with him as he spent it with you, I'd never have seen your father in the light I see him all the time now."

"So basically, you're saying if I really love him, I can and will work around the rumors."

"Basically, yes."

"Thanks, Mom. What you just told me, it helped me a lot." Mirabelle pointed out as she hugged her adoptive mother, then said quietly, "The fight's stopped."

The banging against the wall again had Stephanie laughing and Mirabelle groaning as she muttered quietly, "I might of spoken too soon.. Hey Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm gonna try something."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm thinking, that since Wade's obviously not going to give up or give in, or let me give up, I wanna ask him to come to the doctor with me for my next checkup.. He's gotta realize I'm part of a package deal, right?"

"And you're thinking that if he says no, then you'll know he's not serious.. Right?"

"That and if he says yes, but he doesn't look like he's in it for the long haul, then I'll have an answer."

Out in the hallway ,the fighting continued, with Wade battering Fandango's head off of every available surface as he raged at the man about touching what belonged to someone else, especially touching Mirabelle as he had earlier, in anger, because she'd rejected him yet again. He'd seen the red mark around her wrist, he'd watched Fandango do it too.

And he was furious.

"If you go near her again, Fandouchebag, mark my words, mate.. It will result in your bloody end. I will make sure that you take a fall you cannot return from. She is with me, get that through your head."

All of the anger he'd felt when he saw the old bruises on her face and arms when she'd first come to her father to be safe surfaced, so in a sense, Wade was not only fighting Fandango right now, he was also fighting the man who'd hurt Mirabelle before he ever met her.

Fandango was about to hit him with a casserole dish in his hands when he slumped forward and Wade looked up, grumbling and groaning inwardly as he saw Mirabelle standing there, holding a high heel in her hand. "What the ruddy 'ell are you doing out here, doll? I thought I told you, stay in that room, out of the way so you don't go getting hurt."

"Yeah? Well I thought I told you that I protect the people I love, Wade. I wasn't going to come out but I saw him going for your neck, you were going purple in the face, damn it." Mirabelle said as she looked at him in worry, then said quietly, "C'mon." holding out her hand to him.

He stood and they walked down the hallway. Once they were down an empty hallway, she pulled him against a wall, kissed him as she said quietly, "I thought the fight was over.. So I came out to ask you something.."

"Yeah, doll?"

"I have a checkup.. It's tomorrow and my stepmom's going to be too busy to go, my dad well, he cringes if you even mention a tampon or something.. " as she looked at her hands.

Wade leaned in, kissing her forehead as he muttered quietly, "I'll go." and then added, "Let's get out of here. There's 3 whole bloody hours until the show starts, I only come early to see you."

"And where are we going?"

"Hmm.. Maybe back to the hotel? You look tired."

"We can't just leave."

"Oh but we can.. See with the rest of the lot of them being so bloody good at causing chaos, I know we won't be missed." Wade said as he picked her up easily, walked out of the garage, to his rental car with her in his arms.

He sat her down in the passenger seat and smiling, he got in as he said to her casually, "I was actually going to insist I tag along when you went back.. Getting a little too bloody tired of trying to spy on Hunter and Shawn to find out how things went."

"You.. You were eavesdropping?"

"Mhmm.. Have been since I decided I was going to pursue you no matter what you said. I knew going into this that you were a package deal. And at first, I wasn't sure how I'd feel about it, but I know that I don't actually mind." Wade said as he drove towards the hotel, his hand finding hers over the console, lacing her fingers between his.

"So.. What are we doing at the hotel?"

"Don't know about you doll, but I'm taking a bloody nap. Just thought it'd be nice to hold you while I did it.. Plus, there's no way I was leaving you there with Fandango still on the prowl." Wade said as he leaned across under the red light they were stopped at, kissed her.

"Do you see now, I'm serious? This isn't a joke?" he asked in curiousity as he looked at her, smirking.

Mirabelle nodded and then said "I still wanna take things slowly." as he nodded and said quietly, "I understand. I won't rush or push you."

They found his hotel room and he pulled her down beside him on top of the covers, his arms going around her, his chin resting on the top of her head. She lie there laughing when of course, he started to snore loudly.