Whew, finally got this out!! Hope you all enjoy this one and as always: replies are greatly appreciated and motivate me to write quicker (as does bribery and stalking lol)
Friday, February 15, 2002 (continued)
Hunter sat in the back of the limo practically bouncing off of the seats. He was becoming more nervous by the minute as the desperation to see that Stephanie was okay began to overtake him.
His anxiety hit its peak as the limo screeched to a halt in front of the hospital entrance. A tense breath made its way past his lips as he stepped from the limo. The automatic double doors made a sliding sound as they opened while he nervously wrung his hands together. He was here, now what exactly would he say to her? Would she even want to see him?
Somehow, as he continued on in a daze, he managed to coherently ask the receptionist where Stephanie was located. He thanked her haphazardly before continuing down the long corridor, to the elevators, and onto the 7th floor.
After what seemed like forever and a day, he arrived at her hospital room.
A breath caught in his throat as he stared at her motionless body. She looked so small, pale and fragile as she lay there hooked up to the machines. Sure he had seen her physically weak or vulnerable before. They were in the WWE and consistently knocked around. But this was different. It was never like this. Right now he actually feared for her life. There were various cuts and bruises on her face.
Hunter sat down in the chair next to her bed, moving a few strands of hair behind her ear. "I should hate you," he whispered. "I shouldn't give a crap what you do or what happens to you…" he rubbed her hand affectionately. "But, I don't. I still love you," he admitted to her unconscious body and in some ways, to himself.
"Mr. Helmsley?" The doctor asked, poking his head in.
Hunter tore his gaze from Stephanie. "Yeah?"
The doctor motioned to the hallway. "May I speak with you for a minute?"
Hunter nodded, and reluctantly left Stephanie's side, making his way into the hall. He leaned against the wall opposite of the doctor. Hopefully he was dragged out here to hear something positive. For his and Stephanie's sakes.
"My name is Doctor Cameron Jameson, by the way."
Hunter nodded, shaking the doctor's hand. "Doctor Jameson."
"You can call me Cameron, really," he chuckled.
"Okay," Hunter said simply.
Cameron took note of Hunter's expression and posture. "I'll make it short, I know you want to get back to her. Basically, she's very lucky that she and the baby survived. The first trimester is the time to be most cautious. Most 8-week pregnancies wouldn't have made it."
Hunter just nodded. He hadn't paid much attention to what Cameron said, after he said she and the baby survived. "So when will she wake up?"
"I'd say it should be soon. If not today, then definitely tomorrow," Cameron said with a reassuring smile. "She was given mild sedatives when she was brought in. Those should be wearing off. She will need someone to monitor her over the next month."
Hunter's brow arched. "Me?"
Cameron chuckled. "I'd assume so, yeah. But since most miscarriages happen during the first 12 weeks under completely normal circumstances, Stephanie needs to take added precaution. She has additional, far from normal circumstances to factor in, as well. I recommend that she not do much for the next month.
"Okay, doc." He replied, before walking back inside Stephanie's room.
"Even when you're unconscious, you find ways to make us be together." He laughed and shook his head as he grabbed her hand again and laid his head next to hers.
Sometime later, Hunter's head snapped up from Stephanie's bedside as he heard shouting outside.
"I want to see her! She's my sister!"
Hunter laughed; he knew Shane's voice anywhere. From what he could tell, the hospital staff was giving him a hard time about seeing his baby sister.
"I don't care what your damn hospital policy is. She's my only sister and I need to see her!" Shane continued.
Hunter shook his head and rose from his seat, walking over to the door. He poked his head out, whistling to catch Shane's attention. "Having some issues out here, Shane?" He asked with an amused grin.
"A few, yes. What the hell are you doing here?"
He shrugged. "The police called me about Steph, so I came right over."
"I'm surprised."
"Why? She is my wife, you know."
"Well I was talking to her on the phone when she had her accident and she told me about the altercation the two of you had at your hotel room. She was pretty upset."
Hunter put his head down as a fresh wave of guilt set in over his conscience. I did cause her accident, he thought wryly.
Shane noticed the sullen expression on Hunter's face and knew what he thought. "You didn't cause her accident, Hunter. Some psycho kept ramming her car."
His head shot up quickly. "What?" He asked, dumbfounded.
"Yeah she said this car had been tailing her since she left the hotel. I kept hearing crashes and Steph yelling and crying."
"Did she recognize the driver?"
Shane shook his head. "No. All she told me was that it was definitely a guy and he was driving a dark blue Nissan. She also said something else but I can't really remember. This whole situation just has me in ten different directions."
"I know what you mean. You go ahead and see her. I'm going to the police station to see what I can find out about the guy who ran her off the road."
"Okay. Good luck."
"If she wakes up, tell her I'll be back to get her in a couple of hours."
"Get her?" Shane questioned dumbly.
"Yeah, over the next month it looks like I'll be playing nurse."
Shane laughed loudly, as an image of Hunter in a nurse's uniform popped into his head.
"Shut up, Shane."
"Sorry. Anyway, see ya later."
Hunter waved his hand in parting before jogging off down the hallway.
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A low grumble emanated from Hunter as he left the police station. How fucking hard could it be to find a blue Nissan that would obviously have a few dents in the front? All the idiots needed to do was to put out an alert for the damn car. Instead, they gave him the runaround, saying that even if they found the vehicle, it wouldn't be enough to press charges. That was complete bullshit and Hunter told them so. If the marks in the Nissan matched the marks on Stephanie's car, then surely that would be enough to warrant pressing charges, or at least enough to rouse suspicion. "Fucking cops," he mumbled as his limo sped off for the hospital again.
"How'd it go?" Shane asked as he spotted Hunter down the hallway.
"Not so great. Basically they said there was nothing they could do, since Steph can't ID the guy or the vehicle, really."
"That sucks."
"Very much so. I think they're just being lazy. If they found a dark blue Nissan with damage to the front that specifically matched the dents on her car, they could do something. They just don't want to get off their fat asses and help."
"Don't even worry about it. I'll do some digging of my own and see what I can find out. Stephanie's awake now, by the way," Shane informed him before slapping him on the back and continuing towards the exit.
Hunter walked into the room unwilling to meet Stephanie's gaze, He still felt responsible for her accident, regardless of the other details.
"Hey," she greeted him cheerfully.
"Hey. How are you feeling?" He questioned before reclaiming his spot next to the bed.
She laughed quietly. "Like I've been in a car wreck."
"Understandable."
An uneasy silence fell over them as Hunter stared past her and at the wall. Stephanie eyed him curiously. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"I know you better than that, so come on."
He sighed. "Fine. I just wanted to apologize for earlier."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean the way I went off on you. It was kind of uncalled for."
Stephanie shook her head. "It wasn't. I don't know what kind of reaction I had hoped for but now that I think about it, the things you said do not surprise me. I'm not going to hold a grudge about it, though, I rather just forget it."
Hunter nodded, grateful that she understood. "So have you heard? We're housemates for the next month."
A smile touched her lips at Hunter's positive tone as he said that. "Yeah, Shane told me. Think you can handle it?"
"If I can be married to you and put up with you for two years, I think I can handle a month, Steph."
Stephanie bobbed her head from left to right as she said, "We'll see," in a singsong tone.
Sunday, February 17, 2002
"Hey," Hunter greeted as he saw a still half-asleep Stephanie pad into the kitchen barefoot.
"Morning," she mumbled as she scratched her head and yawned.
He laughed at her, "Are you sure you don't want to go back to sleep for awhile?"
She stifled her next yawn, "Nah, I'm good. You know I'm not a morning person."
"Do I ever," he chuckled. "So what are you doing up so early?"
"Morning sickness," she muttered with a shake of her head. "It doesn't care that I haven't had enough sleep."
Hunter's easygoing mood quickly turned tense, "That's right; you're pregnant. You're not showing yet, so it slipped my mind."
She didn't really know what to say to that, so she settled on simply nodding.
They both remained silent, looking anywhere but at each other, until finally Hunter asked, "Do you want some breakfast?"
She smiled, "I'd like that very much."
"What do you want?"
She shrugged, "I don't know; surprise me."
Hunter laughed, "Okay, if you say so."
"No eggs!" Stephanie blurted out.
"That's random. And you love eggs."
"I haven't been able to get near an egg without getting nauseous. Eggs and this pregnancy don't agree."
He held up his hands in his defense to silence her, "Okay fine, no eggs. Got it. I'll call you when it's ready."
Stephanie wondered why he was practically kicking her out of the kitchen. Instead of asking him, she just gave him a small smile before turning on her heel and walking up the stairs to the guest bedroom. When she entered the bathroom, she took a good look at herself in the mirror. Okay, I look like a zombie, that's why he kicked me out. A shower will fix that.
Downstairs, Hunter drank a glass of water to soothe his dry throat. Just hearing Stephanie talk about her pregnancy so absentmindedly ripped through him. He knew she was pregnant, of course, but it was easy to pretend like he didn't know because she wasn't even showing yet. It was easy to be nice to her when she wasn't being combative or showing evidence of her betrayal. He wondered about that, too. The fury he had seen in her eyes as she told him how she really felt about their marriage. That was only 3 days ago. Where was all of that fury now? Why didn't she protest coming back to the house they had shared – and go with one of her family members?
A dull ache started to form in his temples, so he rubbed them, in an attempt to stop it from getting worse. Stephanie was so confusing. It was almost like she was bluffing on Thursday night. The only thing he could be sure of was that she had cheated on him with Chris Jericho and that she was having his baby.
He started on the food, finally deciding to push all thoughts of Stephanie and Jericho out of his mind for the time being. Thinking about it certainly wouldn't help him get through this month any quicker. Clearly, the easiest way to get along with her this month was to pretend there was no problem. Pretend that she wasn't confusing and crazy. If he didn't, he just might go crazy himself, as well as wind up in a number of arguments with her.
Stephanie smiled as she heard Hunter call her name, saying that breakfast was ready. She walked downstairs in beige drawstring sweatpants and a white tank top. She had decided that if she left the house today she was going to throw on white shoes of some kind.
"That's better," he told her.
"What?"
"You looked like death when you first came down here," he smiled.
"I'd have to agree with you on that. But still, shut up," she told him with a smirk.
"I make you food and you tell me to shut up? How ungrateful," he stated jokingly, gesturing to the plate he'd made her. "I like eggs and I didn't even make myself any because it would make you sick."
Stephanie gushed, leaning up to press a quick kiss to his cheek, "Aw. Thank you so much, Hunter. Really."
Hunter ignored how good her lips felt against his cheek. He also ignored the urge to remind himself of how good her lips would feel on his. He cleared his throat and said, "You're welcome. I'm supposed to be taking care of you, here. I don't think that cooking something that I know will make you sick falls into that category," he smirked, before taking a seat at the table.
Stephanie took a seat at the table, as well. She had managed to keep the toothy grin off of her face, but she was pretty sure she had the dreamiest look in her eyes right now. It seemed like her and Hunter could possibly get back on track. The fact that he could let her live with him for a month, as well as actually care about her well-being was more than enough to send her over the moon. She was going to tell him the truth about what happened with Jericho. She just needed to have the right timing. She also wanted to see how long it would take him to admit to her – while he knew she was conscious – that he still loved her. Maybe it was his massive ego that allowed him to say it only while he thought she was unconscious. That didn't matter to her, though. Hunter still loved her and as long as she knew that, she was confident that she would be able to work things out with him, regardless of how long that would take.
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Jericho sat in his hotel room trying to figure out who else could be after Hunter and/or Stephanie. He didn't know anything about the person who was messing with them, let alone which one of them – if not both – this person was out to get. His only concern was protecting Stephanie. He couldn't care less what happened to Hunter.
Chris realized that the way he'd been to Stephanie on Thursday night was only going to push her away from him. She had just broken up with Hunter. She doesn't realize I'm the man for her, yet. Oh, but she will. He just knew it. In the future he would play it cool; not go after her so much. He needed to establish a friendship with her first. Get her to drop her guard with him. When that happened, he would try again, more tactfully. After all, she thought that he was the father of her baby. And, if her and Hunter really were finished, then she would look to the next best, available thing. Me, he thought with a smile. Stephanie would be his. Once she fell out of the fallacious love she had for Hunter, she would realize whom she should really be with. Chris was sure of it. He would give her a couple of weeks to forget about how things had gone so sourly in his hotel room a few nights ago. She couldn't stay mad at him forever.
But, for now, he had more pressing matters. He couldn't do any of that until he first made sure that she was going to be safe. So, he had started a chart of all the people who disliked Hunter and Stephanie separately and jointly. After a few minutes, and no end in sight, he decided it was best to make a chart of who didn't dislike them. It would take far less time. He knew that much. This would be the list of people that he wouldn't have to keep such a close eye on. Just because these people hadn't made their dislike of the duo public, didn't mean that the feelings weren't present. These were just the people on the bottom of his list of people to keep a close watch on.