A/N: I had to put one of my dogs to sleep on Sunday, so this chapter will probably suck because I wrote it to get my mind off things. Hope it's not too horrible and if you want to review, that would make me smile, enjoy. :)

Time.

She'd said she needed time. Chris thinks back to the conversation that in his brain happened years ago. All he has right now is time, time spent without her. Death is such a finality and that's what bothers him the most, he thinks. There's no way to tell if there is an afterlife, you can't go and ask the person if they are in heaven, if they are watching. You go sometimes on blind faith and you hope that there is something more to this life that what happens on this earthly soil. He doesn't want to think of her as final and as he thinks to that conversation about time, he hopes that she didn't take too much of it. Because if she took too much, than all these days ahead of him without her seem longer.

He doesn't like to think about her funeral if he can help it, but it's still in his brain. Learning of her death and coping with it, however badly he did it, however many tears he shed in the privacy of his own room, they still linger in his brain. The events after the conversation with Stephanie are still blank because they're changing and changing rapidly. Before he has time to settle on one thought, one memory, another flits into his brain and he wonders about the ones he's not remembering. He wants to seek out his past self, thank him for getting this far so quickly, but he feels if he interferes than everything might go wrong and he doesn't want to chance it. He doesn't want to take the risk that this will all be ripped away from him, that the Chris he used to be will suddenly find himself in some irreparable situation and will pull away from Stephanie. He just wants to give his former self some of the hope that is now reaching into his chest.

The Chris of the past paces around his locker room. She said she'd needed time. He can do that, he can give her time, but what he really wants to know is what she needs the time for. Is she having the same feelings for him that he is for her? Was she just trying to stall because she wants to divorce her husband? Does she not feel the same way and was just trying to let him down easily? He doesn't know the answers and it's bothering him. He hasn't talked to her in days because he's not sure how to proceed because he doesn't know what she's feeling. He has nobody to talk to about this because nobody knows about his feelings for Stephanie and he wants to accuse Paul of cheating on her, but he has no proof. He feels like he's between a rock and a hard place.

"Call her."

He swings around quickly and sees Lance leaning in the doorway. "Dude, what the hell are you doing here?"

"What do you think, to knock some sense into you," Lance told him and he knew that was a joke from his friend. "Or because I have some of my training school guys trying out before the show and I want to check them out, could be that."

"You always have a way with words, don't you, Storm?" Chris says sarcastically. "And what do you even know about what I'm doing."

"Because I've known you for a long time and I know how you act when there's a woman involved and so I know that there's a woman involved so who is it and what's the problem? For a guy who claims to be so sexy that every woman wants him, you sure seem to have a lot of women troubles. You'd think you would sort all that out by now."

"You'd think," Chris shrugs, "but women are complicated. In my many years of life, that's all I've come away with when it pertains to women, they are complicated. The girl in question is probably the girl that I want…for the long haul."

Lance raises an eyebrow. He's never quite heard Chris say anything like that before so he doesn't know what to really make of it; it's written all over his face. Chris knows he's never thought of anyone like that before. There's never been anyone in his life that he thinks worthy of that honor so Lance knows that Chris means business; that he's serious about what he's saying. If he wasn't swayed by Chris's words, Chris's face says everything his words didn't. Chris looks openly at Lance, showing him without words that this is absolutely his true feelings.

"Wow," Lance says, knowing the brevity of Chris's words. "So she must be something special."

"She's something else," Chris tells him, smiling as he thinks about the enigma that is Stephanie McMahon. She's nothing like he expected and yet everything that he expected all at the same time. She's perfect in her own strange way and every time he finds out something new about her, she rises in his estimation.

"Who is it?"

"I probably shouldn't tell you," Chris says because well, she's married, but then he almost wants to burst with the news, so he goes ahead and tells anyways, "but it's Stephanie. I'm in love with Stephanie. I didn't mean to or anything, but…I think Paul is having an affair."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Lance stops him from going any further, "that's a lot of information to give me in a short amount of time, so let's talk this through. First of all, when have you ever spent any time with Stephanie, enough to fall in love with her?"

"Well, shows what you know," Chris says, "because we've actually been spending a lot of time together. And the more time I spend with her, the more time I want to spend with her. I just can't help it. Did you know she's amazing? Because she is. Everything about her. She likes to go hiking, did you even know that?"

Lance looks at him strangely, like he's lost his mind and maybe he has, maybe Stephanie has made him lose his mind. He wouldn't be surprised by anything she could do to him anymore. She was that wonderful. "I did not know that, but I don't think she broadcasts it."

"She also loves to by souvenirs every time she's in a new place and not just serious ones, but dumb ones too, her house is filled with them."

"Okay, I get it, you've spent a lot of time with Stephanie, still, in love with her?"

"I am, I can't…I wouldn't want to either. I've found her, man, I've found her and it's Stephanie." He can't help but gush and he sounds like a teenager, but it's Stephanie and she does this to him.

"She's married, but you think Paul is cheating on her?" Lance moves onto the next piece of information.

"Yeah, so this one day I was on the computer and someone messaged me about how I had to be with Stephanie and it was so strange, but I think that it was someone having an affair with Paul and they somehow know me or I know them and they want me with Stephanie so they can be with Paul. I have no problem with the being with Stephanie part of the equation, but it's the fact that some guy would dare cheat on her that bothers me. And she doesn't think Paul would do that to her, but we both know he's an asshole and it's probably something he would do."

"He isn't the best guy, that's for sure," Lance reminds him of something else, "but she's still married."

"I know, but she kind of knows how I feel," Chris admits.

"She does?"

"We were hiking and the view was just and the company was amazing and well, I kind of told her how I felt by almost kissing her and then she can't not know how I feel after that and I want to be with her, we haven't kissed or anything, but she told me that she just needed time and that's why I'm pacing because I don't know what this time thing means," Chris explains. "I mean, does that mean she wants me too?"

"I don't know, I barely even know Stephanie."

"You should, Lance."

"Okay, you are too far gone," Lance chuckles. "Why don't you just go and ask her what she meant by needing some time? Maybe she just needs time to break up with Paul or something?"

"But then what if she was just saying that needed time because she doesn't want to be with me and she was just trying to diffuse the situation."

"Did it look like she wanted to kiss you?"

"Yes, but maybe it was just the moment…Paul suck," Chris tells him, "I mean, I guess he's not horrible to her, but they have nothing in common and I don't know why she's with him, well, okay, I have a theory-"

"Which I'm sure you're going to tell me right now."

"She gets to keep her independence," Chris tells him, not bothering to even listen to what Lance says to him, "and she loves that. She's so independent and she likes to do her own thing, but I guess maybe she doesn't like to be alone or she thought that Paul was the best she could do and boy is she wrong. I could be so much better for her, we love doing things together and she could still have her independence. What kind of guy doesn't want to be around her all the time?"

"Well, you're in love with her, so I think you're viewpoint is a bit skewed."

"I don't care, any guy, hell, any person who gets to know her would want to be with her."

As if she knew what was being said about her, Stephanie knocks on the door and then peeks her head inside, "Hey, Chris, oh, hey, Lance, I didn't really expect you here."

"Some of my students are getting tryouts tonight," Lance explains and she nods as she steps in the room, sending Chris a warm smile towards Chris. "Should I leave?"

"You don't have to," Chris clears his throat, hoping that Stephanie will tell Lance to get the hell out of here because she wants to make out with him. Okay, so that's probably not going to happen, but if it did, he wouldn't object to it.

"No, Lance, you don't have to," Stephanie says, "I just wanted to give you a heads up that we're moving your in-ring promo from the beginning of the show to the top of the second hour."

"Oh," Chris says, feeling a little deflated that she didn't want to talk to him, so he guesses he has to make the first step here. "Actually, Lance, can you leave for a minute, I do want to talk to Stephanie."

"Yeah, sure," Lance nods as he slips out.

Chris smiles at Stephanie and she can't seem to help but smile back because the corners of her lips are twitching as if she's trying not to smile, "Hey."

"Hey," she tells him and he suddenly feels a little self-conscious even though nothing really happened between him and Stephanie. "So what's up?"

"You said you needed time, Steph, it's been pretty much killing me for the past week, what do you need time for? What am I waiting for? Because if I don't know what I'm waiting for then, I just…I would rather you tell me right now before things get weird between us. I will understand if you just want to be friends although it's definitely not what I want, but I think I've made my intent pretty clear here," he rambles and he doesn't notice that she's walking towards him until her index and middle finger are pressed against his lips. He looks down at said fingers when they pull away. He loves that she doesn't get manicures unless she's going on TV; somehow, it's just so her.

"Okay, Chris, you need to stop rambling," she tells him and they're very close right now and whatever is palpating between them is heady and strong.

"Sorry," he mumbles as her hand reaches for his and grabs it.

"I need time to figure out my feelings," Stephanie explains to him. "I feel for you, what I feel for you, I'm not sure yet. Paul and I have been together so long that it's like…I don't know anything else and before you tell me that he's horrible for me, we work in our own way, okay, please understand that."

"I understand." He doesn't. He absolutely doesn't get it, but she's talking and he's listening.

"I may feel for you more than I do Paul, I'm just not sure yet."

"How are you not sure?" he asks because how can you not be sure if you like someone more than someone else, isn't that something you just feel? Isn't it something you should just know.

"Because I'm married to Paul, not you," she sighs and grabs the bridge of her nose. "So I'm supposed to feel more for him and I'm struggling here, Chris, okay, so please, just give me the time to think this out. I know you know how you feel, but I'm still trying to work it out. That's what I mean by time."

"I get it," he says, going out on a limb and taking her in his arms. "I'm sorry I'm pressuring you."

"You're not, you're just being wonderful," she mumbles against his chest. "I'll figure it out, Chris."

He hopes she does and he hopes she figures it to be him.