A/N: Thanks for the reviews last chapter, I'm glad you all enjoyed it. Hopefully you'll enjoy this one too.

Disclaimer: Not mine. I just use the name Stephanie took at their secret wedding.

Quote used by John Greenleaf Whittier.

Chapter 10

There had been a quote once;

"For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, 'It might have been.'"

In a perfect world where she had told Paul that she was pregnant his reaction would have been more exuberant or the least bit happy. But no, Paul pulled off indifference like no one else she knew. Granted, she wasn't exactly buzzing with excitement herself, it wasn't like she was telling the father of her child anyway. Paul was just there to tell, an obstacle of sorts to get over. She did have to laugh at the look on his face. There was one word to describe it and that was; priceless.

Thinking back to the conversation, she wondered if she hadn't been so blunt, if his reaction might have been different. But, she'd never know now.

"Steph," She heard Paul's voice call out through the house. "I'm home."

"Oh, yay!" Stephanie muttered to herself as she watched Paul walk into the kitchen.

"Hey," he greeted her as he walked over to where she was sitting, leaning down and kissing her. Stephanie turned her head at the last second so his kiss landed on her cheek, she didn't know if she could stomach having him kiss her anymore. "You wouldn't believe the work out I had, I was at the peak of my performance."

"That's nice." Stephanie spoke, her voice sounding nothing more than bored. Every time Paul went and had a work out he came back and this conversation was repeated over and over. She didn't care if this was the best work out of his life he still looked the same to her.

Opening the refrigerator she watched as he pulled out a carton of milk and then bring it up to his mouth. Before he took his first sip she noticed that he seemed to remember something. "Oh yeah, how was the doctors appointment?"

Life changing came to mind first, yeah, it was certainly life changing. Watching him drink, she didn't really know how to break it to him. Should she ease into it? Tell him nothing at all? Wait till he noticed that she was gaining weight?

"I'm pregnant." She never was one to beat around the bush, McMahon's were straight to the point, and there was no use in changing now.

She bit back a smirk as she watched him choke on his milk and then turn to her with wide eyes. Maybe she should have waited till after he had finished drinking.

"You're what?" he choked out, his hands falling to his sides and the grip on the milk container slacking considerably.

"I'm pregnant." Stephanie repeated.

She didn't expect him to make any sense to what she was saying; it was after all earth shattering news, depending on your feelings towards it.

And as Paul opened his mouth and spoke, he made it clear where this came on his list of priorities. "This isn't going to interfere with your input to Vince is it?"

No 'Congratulation', no 'I'm going to be a father?' and no 'Wow, I'm really happy.' She didn't expect them of course, that would be expecting too much and she had come to expect the minimal amount of interest on any topics that didn't revolve around wrestling. "It's more than likely."

"Great, Steph!" Paul exclaimed, slamming the carton down on to the kitchen worktop. "Do you know how this is going to interfere with my career? I'll have to take time off won't I? To look after this thing! You're timing is just fantastic!" he raged and Stephanie wished she was telling this to Chris because no matter what his reaction would have been, it would never be this.

"Well, I'm sorry Paul if there's a next time I'll be sure to time it around your schedule." Stephanie replied disdainfully.

"Next time? There won't be a next time!" Paul let her know condescendingly. "It's bad enough we have one on the way to ruin our lives, but another after that? Never going to happen."

Well if she never knew his stance on children before now, she sure as hell did now. Thinking back, maybe she should have clicked sooner. She remembered his reaction to the 'Fake Pregnancy' storyline and that again had been almost explosive. He hated it and she fought for it, the chance to be away from him on screen was to much a temptation to pass by. It had lead to the 'Business Partners' storyline and she got to spend as much time with Chris as she liked and nobody was any the wiser. The only bitter memory of that time was Paul going over her head and going straight to Vince and vetoing the 'Affair' storyline between Chris and herself. If that had happened...who knows where she would be right now.

"Have you thought of other options?" Paul continued on.

Other options? What other options did she have? She frowned trying to think what he meant and then it clicked and her head snapped round and she glared at him and that cliché saying of 'If looks could kill, you'd be dead right now', was no truer than it was in that instant. If she had been standing next to him she would have slapped the taste out of his mouth. "Don't you dare even suggest that Paul."

"Think about it Stephanie," he began, before she stood up abruptly cutting him off.

"No!" she told him forcefully. "I can't believe you even suggested that." She said disgustedly before turning on her heel and walking away from him.

She hadn't spoken to him since. He had tried to start a conversation but she'd look at him and he would immediately shut his mouth. The car ride to the arena was stony to say the least. The silence in the car was making him uncomfortable and she could tell, but she was letting the cruel side of herself take the front seat and let him wallow in his self made atmosphere.

When they had entered the building she continued to ignore him and when she saw Randy heading their way she just wanted to head back into her car and drive home or go find Chris and make a life with him. Yeah, the latter sounded more appealing. She knew she didn't want to stand around and listen to two of the company's biggest egotistical asses that was for sure.

"Stephanie's pregnant." Were the first words to leave Paul's mouth and she didn't know who was more shocked; Randy with his wide eyes and slacked jaw, due to being totally unprepared for that sentence or Stephanie with her own wide eyes and slacked jaw, for him just blurting out their personal business...her personal business. She didn't want anyone to know.

"Wow, man!" Randy spluttered bringing a hand up and clasping Paul's shoulder. "You must be so happy."

"Like you wouldn't believe." He let Randy know, and Stephanie wanted to call him a two-faced liar but she was still trying to overcome the initial shock of him just blurting that out. She felt him take her hand in his and bring it up to his mouth so he could kiss it and she could only watch in bewilderment.

It wasn't meant to play out like this.

What if news spread and Chris found out?

It wasn't meant to be like this.

Chris for his part was blissfully unaware, albeit that was the only thing he had going for him at this point in his life. Well his complete unawareness of what was going on with Stephanie and Ash. He had lost the woman he loved, he had literally let go of the grasp he had on her. Jessica was annoying him in the worst way possible, as everything she did seemed to irritate him to the point that they ended up arguing. His wrestling skills lacked the zest they used to have, resulting in him being pushed to the back burner and to top it all off he only had one wrestling boot with him tonight.

He really hoped that was the worst thing that would happen tonight, he didn't think he could handle anything more than what had already come to pass.

Sighing he let his one and only boot fall to the floor and leaned back against the wall behind him. He was a lost man without Stephanie that much was true. Life just seemed tedious and mind-numbingly uninteresting compared to the enthralling and enticing life he lead when she was in the picture.

Would it be weak of him to admit that he hadn't slept properly since they had left each other? Because if so, he was the weakest man in the world at the moment. How could he sleep and have every dream be about her only to wake and find it be just that, a dream that his heart desired.

Sleep only came from exhaustion and at that it was restless and he woke more tired than he had been previous. Oh, the life and times of Chris Irvine were an extraordinary read.

He must have zoned out for more than a minute because when he became fully aware of his surroundings the hubbub from outside was far from ordinary. Something big must have happened, he thought to himself. He couldn't really care for idle gossip though because it didn't interest him in the slightest and more often than not it wasn't true to begin with. He swore 3/4 of the wrestlers in this business liked to gossip more that ladies who lunched.

He'd let the new round of rumours and accusations pass him by and stay in this bubble of nonchalant not knowing.

That would have been the plan if the door to the locker-room wasn't almost taken from its hinges. He looked up at Trish as she panted in the threshold of the door. It must be something juicy if she had ran all the way from where she was to tell him.

"Oh, my god!" she practically squealed out. "You will not and I repeat that, will not, believe what I have to tell you!"

"Um, Lance Storm actually has a sense of humour?" Chris threw out as a guess.

"Not even close." Trish let him know.

"Hmm, Jay is actually a cleverly disguised woman?"

"You're never going to get it!" Trish told him impatiently, bouncing on her heels.

Laughing Chris took in her anxious appearance and gave in. "Okay Trish, put me out of my misery, tell me what has everyone in such an uproar."

"Stephanie McMahon is pregnant."

There are times in life where you expect the unexpected and go with the punches that are thrown your way, grow from them and move on, but in this case Chris felt like he had taken one single solid punch to the gut and fell lifelessly to the ground in defeat.

He was looking at Trish but he couldn't see her properly, couldn't take in anything but the empty feeling in the pit of his stomach or the pain that shot from his heart. He watched her lips moving and they were going at a rapid pace, spewing information right, left and centre but everything else surrounding him was moving in slow motion.

This couldn't be true.

His mind swam and he tried to gasp in some air but nothing was going right for him. His breathe had left him the second Trish had finished that sentence and he could not get that back for the life of him. His mind needed to catch up but it was to busy repeating what Trish had just said.

'Stephanie McMahon is pregnant. Stephanie McMahon is pregnant. Stephanie McMahon is pregnant.'

It was like a big flashing light, right in front of his face mocking him. He wanted to reach out and smash it with his bare fists, but he was numb, numb all over and he couldn't feel or move any part of his body. And just as suddenly as the stillness had washed over him it was gone and he sank down onto the bench he was sitting on.

The pit of his stomach started to bubble and the next thing he knew he was laughing out loud. It surprised him and it had surprised Trish too, because she had abruptly stopped what she was doing and just looked at him. Chris tried to stop the laughter, he really did but everything he wanted his body to do seemed to do the opposite.

"I'm sorry!" he choked out, biting his lip hard as he tried to suppress his laughter. "Where did you hear that? That's some tale going around huh?" Smiling at her he realised that was all it was, a rumour someone had started. He almost wanted to see Stephanie's face when she heard that one, they would have laughed together after she had chewed the head off of whoever had started it in the first place.

He knew Stephanie wouldn't let him find out this way. He meant more to her than to just let him hear it through the grapevine.

"It's true Chris!" Trish exclaimed her tone adamant. "Jay told me, and he heard it from Adam who is doing a storyline with Randy. Paul told Randy like the second he walked in the door. Stephanie was with him and she didn't even try to deny it." She explained and as an after thought she added. "I heard they both looked really happy."

Chris had wondered before, on more than one occasion what it felt like to have your heart ripped out, he was sure he had experience it; Having to let Stephanie go the first time, seeing Stephanie with Paul and letting go of Stephanie the final time. But this, this feeling was nothing like before. He was almost sure he was going to die then and there, as there was no other possible option that he saw.

"I have to go tell everyone I have ever met!" Trish exclaimed again, bursting out the door like she had entered.

Chris just sat there though, he couldn't comprehend anything. How could this be possible? Stephanie was having Paul's baby? That was just unacceptable, because she shouldn't be having anyone's child except his. He wanted to charge to their locker-room, pound on the door until someone answered it, charge in and hit Paul over and over again till his hand got sore. That's what he wanted to do, but he couldn't move, he couldn't feel and he couldn't breathe.

His will to live had slowly slipped out of him and the fight to keep her his had drained away also.

This was the final nail in the coffin. He and Stephanie had no connection to each other now and they certainly didn't have one as big as having a child together.

It was finally over.

Closing his eyes he breathed in a ragged breath and as he let it out, he felt the tears fall and wet his cheeks that accompanied the broken sob that escaped him. He slid off of the bench he was sitting on and sank down onto his knees, his head bowed to the ground and his eyes closed tight. His shoulders shook and he tried to regain some control, but it was hopeless, he was nothing more than a broken man.

He reached a hand up and wiped furiously at his tears but they just kept coming, assaulting him like the words Trish had spoken. But unlike the tears the words kept hurting him, verbally stabbing him over and over until they had taken ever last ounce of decorum he had left.

Mark this date on your calenderer as the date that Chris Irvine died, he thought morosely, what more did he have to live for now? Not even Ash proved to be the light at the end of this long, torturous and bleak tunnel.

Throwing his head back he looked upwards and breathed in again, his unshed tears glistening in the brash lighting. He needed to get out of here, he needed to get as far away as possible, there was no way he could handle staying around here anymore, he'd give up his career if necessary, he could not look at Stephanie and not want what Paul had with her. It was too much, he had reached his breaking point and he couldn't handle anymore.

Standing shakily, he looked around him and everything was so still and quiet and to prefect for words. Why should the world surrounding him be perfect when he had to live with this now? His eyes blazed as his fists clenched and unclenched and as if some supernatural force had over took his body, he watched himself attack anything within reach.

He lifted a chair and flung it against the wall facing him and before it fell to the floor with a bang, he had already smashed his hand through the bench he had been sitting on. As his hand throbbed from the pain he had caused himself, he kicked the bench causing it even more damage and didn't stop till most of it snapped and crumbled under his feet. In one last furry of motion he lifted the chair again and threw it like before only this time, it smashed a mirror and left the shards shattered and broken on the floor, and one could look at it like a comparison of his heart.

He grabbed a t-shirt out of his bag and pulled it on, before gathering his things hurriedly from the anarchy he had caused around him and then stuffing them carelessly into his bag. Walking to the door, he gripped the handle and went to pull it open, but he let himself fall against it and let the weight of the world crush him where he stood. If he was thinking clearly he would have found that ironic, seeing as his world had just ended.

He let his fists slam off of the door causing the door to dent in the repercussion of his devastation. He didn't stop until fatigue over took him and he almost sank to the floor in defeat. He needed to be strong and make it out of here, and then he could break in the solace of his own company.

Turning the door handle with what little energy he had left, he opened it and stepped out into the disarray of the backstage area with only one mission in mind: get out of here as fast as possible. He couldn't stay and hear snippets of conversations that included the words; 'Stephanie.', 'Pregnant.', 'Paul.' or 'Baby.' He would lose his mind by the end, if he heard anything relating to them he was sure of it.

Moving forward he kept his head down, he didn't dare look up in case he caught somebody's eye and they saw through the masquerade he was so desperately hanging on to. He brushed past people and ran into them and he didn't stop to apologise as they cried out in protest or called his name.

He needed to reach the door, the outside world where things made sense again. He didn't know if that was ever going to be possible again. Daring to look up he saw the door dead ahead, twenty feet away from him at least. His relief would soon be sought out.

Charging forward he paid no attention to anything, this area was deserted so he was home free, no more interruptions, just an escape. It should have worked out that way, and he should have been out the door by now, not crashing into someone causing them to fall to the ground and making them gasp in surprise.

He wasn't a rude person, so he couldn't help but turn to whoever it was and offer an apology. It should have worked out that way as well, and it would have too if the person he had collided with was anyone other than Stephanie.

He froze the instant he realised it was her and when she saw that it was him she did the same. He about had a heart attack as he remembered her condition, it was unlikely that he was ever going to forget anytime soon though, and he hurried over to her and grasped her arm and pulled her up.

He tried to push the sensations running through him away and tried to stop his mind from trailing off into some haze as it realised that if he leaned in just the slightest bit his lips would be on hers and they would be kissing. Trish's words came at him again, taunted him and made him want to scream. 'Stephanie McMahon is pregnant.' She's pregnant Chris and it's not yours, apparently his mind liked to add insult to injury.

Dropping his hand from her arm he took a step back and adverted his gaze from looking at her. He was already dying; he didn't need to prolong it anymore so, it hurt all the same. "Are you okay?" he asked her, his voice barely recognisable as he whispered.

"Yeah," Stephanie replied slowly, it hurt to look at him and not be able to just blurt it all out. "I'm good."

"So I hear." Chris mumbled and his desire to beat Paul resurfaced. Why did that man have everything he wanted? Why did he have everything Chris needed to live? Shaking his thoughts clear, he steeled himself and turned to her. "So you and Paul huh? I-I'm happy for you...both." He didn't know when he had gotten so good at lying but from the sounds of it, he had mastered it. Stephanie would never know how bitter and piercingly awful he felt when he had heard the news. More importantly she'd never know how hurt he felt, not towards her, but with life in general. If his life was planned out like this from the start, then why did he have to live at all? All he encountered was blow after blow of lose or heartbreak, and he couldn't take another disastrous blow and live to tell about it.

Stephanie cringed as she heard him speak those words to her, she could read him like a book and the hurt that laced his voice combined with the lost look his eyes had, she knew he had found out about her condition before she had, had a chance to tell him. It hadn't been sugar coated and she couldn't do anything to lessen the blow and that killed her.

"I'm sure you'll both make good parents." Chris continued in his falseness, preparing to end this so he could run for the door. Fittingly giving him the perfect ending to the ruinous day.

He watched Stephanie nod and look anywhere but at him. Say goodbye and leave Chris. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea to him. Reaching a hand up he moved to cup her face one last time and stopped an inch away from actually doing so. She isn't mine anymore. Dropping his hand back down Chris gave her something that he hoped resembled a smile. "I-I'll s-see you a-around huh?"

Stephanie watched him turn and walk away from her. His shoulders were slumped and his feet were scuffing the floor as he walked. The closer he got to the door, the closer he got away from her, the more her heart ached and her mind begged her to tell him. But how could she tell him and not ruin the life he had made with Jessica and Ash?

She watched him reach up and push the door open and she realised then that the minute he stepped over the threshold that would be it over, he would never know he had a child with her and she could live a life where she pretended to be happy.

She didn't want to pretend.

"It's yours."

And as she watched him freeze and turn towards her she knew she had changed her life once more.

She just didn't know if she had changed his as well.

For the better or for the worst.

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