The last episode of AMC I saw was the one where Bianca died, I think. Or from around that time, lol. So Erica Kane has a doppelganger or a split personality? I'm lost haha.
So, for this one...did a steady progression of subtle hints before making what's going on a tad more obvious. In this chapter, practically everything from previous chapters is explained. Takes place the same day as ch. 11. Hope you all enjoy! Let me know!
"This has to stop," Stephanie whispered as she stared at her reflection. She tried to focus on the woman in the mirror – on herself, really - but the words written across it kept distracting her. They were short, simple and to the point.
He's not yours to keep.
She walked back into the main area of her and Hunter's locker room and tore a paper towel from the roll. She tried to use the task at hand to calm her rattled nerves and shaking hands. She imagined that her hands had written this while Hunter had been off to get them some water about an hour ago. It was luck or fate that kept him from seeing this shit. Right now he was blowing off the steam from their fight in the ring. If he hadn't been so ticked off with her he would've stayed and embraced her. He would've eventually gone into the bathroom and seen this. And he'd have questioned her and she would have had to cover her tracks. Not hers...but hers.
The strange happenings in her life had been sporadic for the most part. People claiming that she said and did things that she didn't recall at all. Things that were out of her character. Things that were often hurtful and caused gaping holes in her personal relationships.
Stephanie walked back into the bathroom and placed the paper towel under the faucet, dampening it.
It was never that difficult for her to talk her way out of these situations, because her confusion was never an act. She really didn't remember what they were talking about and balked at the idea that she had done what the person was accusing her of. This had only happened a few times until she hit college. Then the frequency of these sorts of events increased dramatically.
It was just lucky for her that because of the presence of wild parties, alcohol and drugs, she was able to pretend that her uncharacteristic behavior had been the result of one of those elements. No one had questioned her on it further and she just became known as the bookworm by day and party girl by night.
That couldn't have been more accurate if they tried. She'd realized that it was usually at night, that she...disappeared, so to speak.
To maintain what little sanity she had left, she liked to think of it as a compromise. Her own special way of coping with the stress and pressure of her schooling.
This pattern continued until graduation and then stopped.
She lifted her hand and began to wipe at the words written in angry red strokes of lipstick, while she continued to reminisce.
Andrew had been a breath of fresh air for her. He was unpretentious and a decent guy. But, that wasn't why she had been receptive to his attention. It was simply because she knew her family wouldn't approve of her dating him. Contrary to what people thought, she did develop genuine feelings for him. And she was ready to marry him for the simple fact that she would be a free woman. Free from her overbearing parents and brother. The plans for the wedding continued to come along fine.
Until she got knocked in the head with a trashcan and suffered amnesia. It was a legitimate condition and it had taken almost a month for her memories to return fully. Yet, when that happened she began losing chunks of time again. Most of the time it was like going to sleep in one place and waking up in another without having any idea how you got there. But, unlike in her college days, nothing seemed to be amiss when she came to, so she dismissed it as some strange side effect of recovering from amnesia. She'd visited a doctor and they'd informed her that there was no medical reason for this to be occurring. And just like that; it stopped. She chalked it up to the power of thought and prepared to embrace her upcoming new life.
But, that never happened. On the night of her bachelorette party she went away again. Originally, she thought she had been drugged, as Triple H had claimed. But, that wasn't the case. According to him, she was very much conscious for the wedding and pretending otherwise. It was all a part of their grand scheme to shame her family so badly that they'd vacate the WWF. Part of it, was maneuvering her father into a position where he would be willing to pit a chance at a title shot against his daughter's freedom from the marriage. But, she didn't know that back then of course.
She thought that her father would win, her marriage would be annulled, she would resume her plans to marry Andrew and that would be the end of it.
Stephanie had watched her father's match with Hunter from the front row of the crowd. Her father had raised the sledgehammer high above his head, preparing to strike Triple H with it, when she was hit with a bright idea.
It was her hands that should knock this bastard out. Because it was her life he had almost succeeded in ruining. He almost destroyed her only chance at breaking the hold her parents had on her. She wasted no time hopping the barricade and getting in the ring. Her father reluctantly passed her the sledgehammer. She poised herself to take out all of her anger, sadness and frustration on the human being that was responsible for some of it. Her emotions were like a beast that no cage could contain. Hunter sat on the ground in front of her, silently asking her not to do it. But, somehow his unspoken pleas for mercy seemed insincere. Her vision blurred while she became overwhelmed by her thoughts.
Hit him, he tried to ruin you. Don't hit him you're not that kind of person. But, you could be. Do you want to be? He should look more scared. No he shouldn't, he knows you're not going to do it. You were unhappy with life way before he came along. I was. So, don't take it out on him. Her vision had blackened at the edges and she struggled to keep it together but the warring ideas came faster and faster in her head.
And then she went away again. While she was gone it seemed that everything had changed. And this time she lost two weeks of her life instead of just mere hours.
Apparently, Andrew was out of the picture. Because when she returned, she was in the throes of passion with none other than Triple H.
They were about to have sex. She was too shocked for words as he kissed a heated trail up her body. Her thoughts were going a mile a minute. Then, he kissed her and they all stopped.
It was in that moment that she realized she didn't mind whatever the hell had happened while she was outside of her own body. In fact, she was rather enjoying it and wasted no time returning his kiss and using her feet to push his boxers down his legs to free him so that their bodies could join.
From then on, she had been largely present. She had a great reason to fight back, though. She had soon fallen in love. Maybe that was enough to keep her tethered to reality and not the nothingness she often experienced during her college years.
She was pretty sure Hunter was in love with her, too. Just like it was obvious that she adored him. Neither one of them had verbalized it until a simple misunderstanding over Trish Stratus almost split them up. Their marriage managed to survive that but the damage had been done. She was too stressed and out of whack emotionally. Ever since Armageddon she'd receive huge warnings that she was about to lose it. That was new. Usually she was just gone in a snap and was unable to react fast enough to stop it. But, after that amazing first night with Hunter, she was actually successful in staying present. It wasn't that difficult; she was happy in life and stronger than ever. But, the ordeal with Trish had threatened that. Doubt and suspicion weakened her defenses and she found that she was no longer able to win every single time. In consequence, her confidence in her ability was shattered and things went back to the way they had been.
She just went away too fast to be able to fight against it.
Blatantly flirting with Kurt Angle? She was never there.
Kissing Kurt Angle? She'd struggled trying to push him off...gone away for a few seconds and then come back to find him hovering over her while he smiled in adoration. All she could do was grab her hair in frustration at what had obviously happened.
Disappearing with the man after Summerslam? She had been knocked out cold, sure enough. But, she was exiled to nothingness right after that, because an entire day had passed before she was in control again. Of course she'd talked to Kurt and he'd reassured her that absolutely nothing happened...though he was confused as to why she didn't remember that for herself.
Mostly, the proof was there. When she had doubts as to what had occurred, the answer was usually no farther away than a clip from some televised event.
All she could do was shake her head at what she was seeing and try to figure out how to talk her way out of it. She was usually successful. But, she couldn't go on like this much longer. She didn't figure the "it wasn't me" excuse would fly the next time her body did something she wasn't supposed to. Nor did she think her rambling, crying apologies would keep getting her out of the messes she found herself in. Hunter would soon think she was a pathological liar or absolutely crazy.
Maybe she was. But, only she knew why.
She was not alone in her body – in her mind, to be more accurate. There were times that someone else took over entirely. And Stephanie was usually left to clean up the chaos that this other person left in their wake. In her life, really.
She'd allowed this other woman to get away with ruining her chance at a relationship many times before. And maybe her alter-ego was right; Hunter wasn't hers to keep. After all, it wasn't her that decided to marry him and take over the WWF as a way to screw over her family. She imagined that it was supposed to end there. She probably wasn't supposed to come back at the moment she had and she certainly wasn't supposed to fall in love with him.
But, now that she had, she didn't intend to let him go.
"You hear me, bitch?" She directed at the mirror. "He's mine."
"Who's yours?" Asked Hunter's voice from the main room before she heard the door close.
Christ, she had been so absorbed in her thoughts that she hadn't even heard him return from his workout. Before she could reply, he walked into the bathroom to greet her. "You are, of course," she purred, grabbing the collar of his shirt.
Hunter grinned and tugged at her ponytail affectionately. Then it hit him that things were still unresolved from earlier. Damn her for trying to distract him from the fact he was still pissed off at her. He shirked away from her hands and took a few steps back, making his face neutral. "What are you up to?"
Stephanie recognized the change in his demeanor and dropped her arms to her sides limply. He was still mad. God she hated it when they were fighting with each other. Especially when it was for something she didn't actually do. She glanced at the mirror, fully aware that she was imagining her reflection standing with her arms crossed and brow arched as if to say, 'I'd like to see you get out of this one!'
Instead, she turned back to her husband and said, "Nothing much. I just didn't like what I saw on the mirror so I was cleaning it." It wasn't the whole truth. But it wasn't a lie either. It seemed like that's all she could do lately in terms of communication with the people close to her.