The next morning Stephanie was reluctant about waking the girls up because she really didn't want to deal with them being tired and cranky because they were up late last night.
Pushing open Vaughn's bedroom door she couldn't help but smile at the way the girls were still cuddled together, even asleep their bond could not be broken and as a Mother it made her happy to see her children so close together. Walking over to the bed she gently shook their shoulders, "Come on girls, you need to get up as you need to get ready for school."
There were a few mumbles and groans but soon their eyes were open so she left the room to go and wake Aurora. Entering her room she sat on the edge of her bed and shook her shoulder gently, "Come on Rory, wake up." She watched as her eldest daughter stretched and then patted her bed looking for her book, "I put your book on the side last night, you shouldn't have lost your place."
A sleepy smile crossed the little girl's lips as she pushed herself into a seated position, "Thank you. I was reading whilst I waited for you and I don't know what happened."
Leaning forward she pressed a kiss to the top of her head, "It's okay, I came in to check on you and you were fast asleep with the book resting against you. No reading now though, just get yourself up whilst I check on your sisters please." Heading out of the bedroom she hoped the morning went smoothly.
The last time that she had left the girls they were all getting dressed which meant any second now it would sound like a herd of elephants was coming down the stairs before they would all rush into the kitchen looking for their breakfast.
Setting out three bowls on the table complete with spoons she turned around as the stampede began and barely made it to the counter before they came running into the kitchen, "What have I told you about running in the kitchen? Don't do it please as you don't know what you will find as there could be hot pans or sharp knives being carried around. Please sit down whilst I get the cereals."
Picking up two boxes of cereals she turned and placed them on the table, "Help yourselves but no fighting." Making her way over to the fridge she had forgotten to get the milk out but as walked the short distance to the fridge she could hear whispered arguments behind her which was not a good start to the day. Retrieving the milk from the fridge she turned to go back to the table as the arguing continued, "Can you not argue please? It is only a cereal, it is not a life or death decision."
Gentle nudges turned into pushing and almost shoving until Vaughn fell off her chair and onto the floor with her bottom lip quivering, "I hate you."
Sighing she had turned her head briefly as she had thought she had heard her phone ringing and she turned back to see her youngest on the floor with her bottom lip quivering, "Seriously?! What the hell has gotten into you lot lately?" Placing the milk on the table she bent down brushing Vaughn's hair back, "You'll be okay won't you Princess?"
Throwing her arms around her Mom's neck she held her tightly, "Please don't hate us."
Hugging her daughter briefly she was confused so she slowly pulled her back by the shoulders, "Hate you? Why would I hate you?"
"I was bad and so was Murphy and we 'manded Daddy and you can't hate us, we just loves him but we loves you too, lots. Please don't hate us."
Pulling her daughter close again she held her tightly and closed her eyes trying so hard not to cry.
When their Mom hadn't forgiven them already Murphy abandoned pouring her cereals and ran the short distance around the table throwing her arms around her Mom, "Please don't hate me, I loves you."
That was all it took to break the barrier that was holding back her tears and soon they were like a waterfall falling down her face as she slid her arm around her middle daughter too.
Watching the scene unfolding in front of her Aurora slipped off her chair and wrapped her arms around her Mom too, "I love you Mommy, don't cry."
Taking a deep slow breath she tried to contain her emotions, "I'm not mad at any of you and I most certainly don't hate any of you."
Pulling back from the hug Murphy and Vaughn looked at her hopefully, "Really?!"
Wiping at the tears on her face she then slipped an arm around her eldest's waist and pulled her closer kissing her cheek, "I love you too baby girl." Releasing Aurora so she could go back to her breakfast she nodded her head, "Really. I was upset and frustrated that you wouldn't listen to me last night because I wasn't trying to keep you from your Dad, it was just late and you needed to go to bed so to make up for it I was going to see if he could spare five minutes for you this morning but you don't need that now. I will call him for you though Aurora if you want."
Keeping her head low Aurora was suddenly finding her cereals really interesting.
Looking down Murphy and Vaughn felt like they were being told off, "Sorry Mommy."
"It's okay, just don't do it again please. Sit back down and eat breakfast please as you need to go to school and I need to do some work."
The rest of breakfast had seemed to pass uneventfully and she managed to get the girls to school and herself to the offices with no problems.
She had an hour until the conference call meeting to discuss the details of Raw so she had enough time to get some of her own work done before it began. Setting herself an alarm to make sure that she was finished in plenty of time before it began so she was prepared she immersed herself in her work blocking out almost everything around her but her concentration was broken when her phone beeped a couple of times in quick succession so she finished the sentence that she was typing and sat back to check her phone.
Picking up her phone she saw that it was a few emails so she contemplated ignoring them until later but her curiosity won out and she unlocked her phone to see exactly what they were about but as she opened her email client she almost wished she hadn't as it was a reminder about the Eisenhower Fellowship that she was doing. Clicking to open the first email she really did wish that she hadn't checked her emails as it was informing her of her trip to Brazil in ten days, she had completely forgotten about the trip after all of the personal upheaval and now she wasn't sure how was she meant to go to Brazil at this moment in time. Ignoring the rest of the emails she exited out of the email client and turned her attention back to her work.
She had tried to contribute in the meeting but neither her heart nor her mind were really in it so when her cell phone began to ring soon after the end of it and she saw her Father's name she knew she was about to get ripped in to, "I'm sorry."
Vince didn't care much that his daughter hadn't been herself in the meeting from a boss stand point but from a Father stand point he was concerned so he took the first opportunity he had to call her and luckily that was straight after the meeting. Making sure that his office door was locked he sat down at his desk and called her confused by her greeting, "You are? What are you sorry for?"
Sitting back she was now confused, "I'm sorry that I wasn't myself in the meeting, my mind was elsewhere because I received an email about the next stage of the Eisenhower Fellowship and my trip to Brazil is ten days away. How am I meant to leave the girls and go to Brazil?"
It all made sense as to why she was off now and he felt bad for her, "You know your Mom and I would offer to watch them but there is no way we could for that time period however they do have a Father, isn't that what he is there for?"
Talking to Paul about it had crossed her mind but she didn't know how she could trust him any more, "I don't know."
"Just think about it Steph, he is their Father and you shouldn't miss out on this amazing opportunity just because he couldn't keep his dick in his pants."
Sighing heavily he had a point, she would hate to have to pull out and to miss this but she didn't trust her husband any more and she couldn't risk her daughters being around his other woman, "I can't trust him though. I don't want another woman in our house to confuse the girls, they are struggling enough as it is without me willingly putting them through that."
The pain he could hear in his daughter's voice and hearing the struggle his Granddaughter's were going through made it so hard for him not to just punch Paul out but he had to be level headed and he had to be there for his daughter right now when she needed him the most. Taking a deep breath he clenched and unclenched his fists a couple of times, "Set ground rules then, tell him what he can and cannot do in the house. If he breaks your rules I will break his neck."
Her first reaction was that he was crazy, she couldn't set out rules for her husband to live by in his own house but on the other hand if she did set him rules then it might put her mind at ease, "I'll think about it Dad, thank you."
"You're welcome, that is what I am here for. Am I still not allowed to punch him out though?"
Laughing she shook her head, "You are still not allowed to punch him out, as much as he deserves it and I would take great pleasure in doing it myself it is not a good example for the girls."
Grumbling he knew that she would say that so it was expected but the old man didn't have to like her decision, he just had to accept it, "Whatever you want. I should go back to work but if you need me Steph you know where I am."
"I do, thank you. I love you Dad."
"I love you too Stephanie."
Hanging up the phone Vince got on with his work whilst Stephanie took a moment to sit back in her seat, did her Dad make a valid point about writing rules? Would Paul actually stick to them? Would he not want to watch the girls at all if she had rules for him to follow? The whole thing was starting to make her head hurt so she got up from her desk to go and get a drink to go along with the lunch she had brought in for herself.
Returning to her desk with her food and drink she planned to just relax but her Dad's words were still in her head so she decided to write out the rules she could think of to see if they were reasonable enough:
1: Under no circumstances are any women that you are or were in a relationship with to come over to the house and/or stay the night.
2: No conversations involving any women that you are or were in a relationship with are to be held around the girls or any where the girls may hear them whether they are held on the phone/Skype/FaceTime or in person.
3: You are not allowed to meet up with any women you are or were having a relationship with whilst the girls are actually with you.
Satisfied with the rules for now she saved them so she could review them later and then turned her attention back to her lunch to just get a few minutes peace and quiet if she could get her mind to just shut off for a little bit.
Her mind shut off long enough for her to eat some lunch in silence before she had to go back to work and focus on both aspects of her job. Normally at times like this when real life overwhelmed her she would lose herself in the television side of the business as she just played a character and it wasn't real but when the television side of the business was so closely tied to the reason she was so overwhelmed she felt like she had nowhere to go to escape. Part of her was really hoping that she could go to Brazil as she felt like this would do wonders for her, especially now, the space and change of scenery might allow her to clear her mind and come back having made a final decision on exactly what she was going to do about her marriage.