LOL...I did rack my brain trying to think of who else could be sending the flowers, that made sense. I passed on Y2J since he's already a villain in Entwined and WAN. There's another twist up my sleeve and it'll be in the next/final chapter. Enjoy!
Hunter squared his jaw and swallowed roughly. He wasn't going to do anything too sudden. Jack was a vulnerable newborn and God knows what Andrew came here to do. Stephanie inched her hand over to his and squeezed. Whether she was trying to offer him solace or calm the temper she knew would be at its boiling point, he had no idea. He couldn't think about that. All he wanted was to find a way get his son away from Test. "What do you want?" He asked as civilly as possible, hoping it was something reasonable. Something that got everyone out of this in one piece.
Andrew looked up from Jack and smirked at Hunter. The two men held each other's gaze in stoic silence. Dismissing his competition, he shifted his stare to Stephanie. His smile disappeared and he scowled at her instead. "Go in the bathroom and get your fucking clothes on," he hissed lowly and harshly.
Stephanie squeezed her husband's hand again, but continued to sit, staring at her former lover wide-eyed. What the hell was currently happening?
"Now!" He commanded, shifting Jack to just one arm, extending it as if he were about to drop him.
Stephanie ignored her aching body and quickly put up both of her hands, beckoning for peace as she jumped off of the bed, tears springing to her eyes. "Okay! Just p-please. Please don't hurt my baby," she begged. She continued to hold out a hand as she grabbed her overnight bag from the floor, retreating to the bathroom.
Andrew nodded and then looked down at Jack. "Mommy's a good girl, isn't she? Yes she is," he cooed.
Hunter didn't trust himself to speak. He needed Stephanie here to warn him of when he was going too far. He simply burned a hole through Andrew with his stare. If he wasn't mistaken, every last one of his muscles was stretched taut, ready to break this bastard in half for having the nerve to come in here and touch his child. And for yelling at Stephanie.
His head turned at the sound of the bathroom door opening. Stephanie reappeared, clad in somewhat loose, black sweatpants and one of his WWE t-shirts. He couldn't help but take a moment to marvel at how beautiful she managed to be after giving birth barely two hours prior and being dressed like a couch potato.
Her frightened blue eyes stayed on Andrew and Jack and he could see that she longed to pry the baby from the man's hands just as much as he did. She sat down next to him on the bed. "What do you want?" She echoed Hunter's earlier question.
"I want you," he said without hesitation.
"I'm married and I'm a mother," she pointed out. "Neither one of those has you as a necessary component," she said between her teeth.
Andrew narrowed his eyes and wiggled the baby to keep her attitude in line.
Stephanie bowed her head and squeezed her eyes shut briefly to reign in her anger. It suddenly occurred to her that Kurt hadn't been carrying roses tonight. He'd been carrying a mixed bouquet. "The roses to my house and my job...it was never Kurt, was it?"
Andrew sent her a somewhat wicked, lopsided smile. "This whole thing was my idea. From as far back as February. But I didn't have the resources to execute my plan alone. That's where Kurt came in. He hates Triple H and wanted you for himself. That was useful to me and I convinced him he should split you two up. But, he was sloppy and Shane found out what he had done. That pretty much meant I could do as I pleased because anything that happened would be blamed on him."
"And if I'd somehow fallen for Kurt?"
He laughed under his breath. "Wouldn't have mattered. I'd have found a way to get you away from him. Kurt is...easy to dispose of." He jerked his head towards Hunter. "Him, not so much. Partially because of his rep and smarts and partly because of his connection to you."
"I'll never love you, Andrew. I love Hunter. You know that," Stephanie said evenly. Rationally.
Andrew shook his head to disagree with her. "That's what this is about, Steph. You were perfectly content with me until he came along and stole you right from under me."
"I'm not some goddamn possession," was her heated reply. She was trying hard to not lose her cool and to just try to understand what the hell was going on. But, she was failing. She was a human being with free will. How dare Andrew threaten her child just because he believed he was entitled to her. And that he felt Hunter had pilfered her away from him. "I can't be bought, sold, traded or stolen. I picked him. I wasn't tricked or forced into it."
Andrew nodded, but he still didn't agree with her. "You'll want me again," he said confidently. "But not while he's distracting you and while this baby bonds you to him."
The little bit of patience Hunter was exerting to try to keep Andrew peaceful had finally snapped. He stood up and clenched his fists, his entire body rigid with rage. He'd done a very good job of staying quiet so that they could hear Andrew's reasoning for the sick thing he was doing. "Give us our son, you fucking asshole!"
"Speak to me that way again and you'll never see him again," was his cool reply.
Stephanie tugged on Hunter's hand and he looked down at her. Her eyes were begging him to control his temper. She was just as pissed off and scared as he was. But they had to hold it together and play by this freak's rules if they wanted to get Jack to safety.
Hunter didn't relax his position and continued to clench and unclench his fists.
Despite her aching body, Stephanie got up from the bed again. "What do you want from me?" She asked, but she was almost afraid of the answer.
Andrew's eyes softened when he looked at her. "I want us to go away together. Leave Hunter here to raise his demon-spawn alone. You and I will start our own family."
Inwardly, she cringed and her stomach lurched at the idea of touching this man for anything other than to cause him physical harm. There was a reason she'd left his sorry ass in the first place. Did he really think that she would just willingly leave her husband and child behind to run off with him?
Speculatively, she eyed him. No, he doesn't think I'll leave willingly. That's why he has Jack. She nodded. "Fine."
Hunter's head spun around. "What?" He asked incredulously. "Stephanie, no," he said looking her in the eyes very seriously.
"I have to, Hunter!"
"No," he repeated, shaking his head vehemently. "I'm not just going to let you trade yourself like this. Who knows what he'll do to you!"
The look they exchanged said that they both realized Andrew had made his intentions rather clear.
Stephanie tried to silently communicate to him that this wasn't by choice. If Andrew so much as dropped Jack, it could cause irreparable damage to his little body and mind. That couldn't happen. Not when she had the power to stop it. She nodded meaningfully and arched an eyebrow. "I want to," she said calmly before picking her purse up from the floor.
The tone of her voice conveyed that she was anything but calm. She didn't want this. He could see it in her eyes. But, there was something else there, too. Something that he couldn't pin because his head was in twenty different directions. He loved Jack and Stephanie unconditionally. Trading one for the other was unbearable. Yes, Stephanie had a greater chance of defending herself than Jack did, but that didn't make this any better.
Behind them, Andrew laughed and talked to the baby. "See? You're going to stay with your father and he'll find you a new mother," he soothed the faintly whimpering infant.
If he'd bothered to pay more attention to Hunter and Stephanie rather than being wrapped up in his own smug thoughts, he would have seen her mouth "trust me," to her husband.
By the time he looked up, the duo was staring at each other intently. Hunter didn't like this. Not one damn bit. He trusted Stephanie implicitly, but she was tired, stressed out and sore. She clearly had a plan, but what was it? Even if her body was in tip top shape, she wasn't strong enough to fight Test off. No plan she could have to attempt to do that was okay by him.
She gave her husband a pained look before turning back around to face Andrew. "I'll go with you. But give the baby to Hunter."
Andrew smiled and wiggled a finger playfully. "So that he can just sit him down on the bed and come after me? I think not. What we're going to do is go outside. Follow me," he instructed. He felt comfortable enough in his position to turn his back to them. If anyone tried to hit him, he'd drop the kid with no questions asked. They were clearly fond of the brat, so they wouldn't risk it.
Stephanie and Hunter followed in silence. Andrew stopped at the clearing of elevators and pressed the button to call one up.
Andrew rocked Jack in his arms casually as they waited. As if he was the father. He turned to the actual parents and said, "Steph and I will get on the elevator. I'll hand you the baby right before the doors close."
Hunter's mind worked quickly. Andrew was counting on the fact that they were so far from their room that he wouldn't be able to put Jack down to come and kick his ass. By the time he got his son to safety, his wife would be gone. Hunter didn't know whether or not Andrew was carrying any kind of weapon. To restrain Jack, he obviously didn't need it. And though Stephanie would thrash wildly as soon as Jack was with him, she'd be no match for Andrew.
He must have a weapon hidden somewhere, Hunter decided. Stephanie would scream bloody murder as he tried to get her past the staff and out of the hospital. Surely he had something to keep her quiet.
Hunter just had no damn idea what to do. But, he was out of time. The elevator dinged and opened. Andrew gestured for Stephanie to get on first and she did. Andrew stepped on after her and held Jack with one arm. He reached into his front pocket, lifting the blade just high enough for both Hunter and Stephanie to see it before letting it rest in his grip at his side loosely.
Why the hell did his wife look so composed? A crazy person was threatening their child and was using the infant as a bargaining chip to kidnap and force himself on her. She should look terrified. Instead, she just looked extremely annoyed. Like she was simply inconvenienced and no one's welfare was in jeopardy.
Stephanie watched Andrew press the button for the lobby. He extended Jack to Hunter and she breathed a sigh of relief when he was safely in his Dad's arms. She stared directly at Hunter and shifted the strap of her purse.
The realization dawned on him as Andrew smiled triumphantly and Stephanie reached in her bag.
His wife quickly used her other hand to stop the elevator from closing and concurrently set off the fire alarm. Andrew reached out to grab her as he swung the blade in her direction. Anticipating his move, she side-stepped him and pressed the stun gun to his throat. The knife fell from the man's shaking fingers.
The weapon hissed menacingly as she continued to hold the prongs against his skin. She watched with morbid satisfaction as Andrew convulsed and finally dropped to the ground.
Hunter barely heard her voice over the sound of the alarm. But when she pressed the weapon to the man's crotch, he managed to make out a really creative and vulgar string of profanity.
Once she was satisfied that the would-be kidnapper was incapacitated enough for her to stop shocking him, she straightened her posture. She turned to leave, but the mild stinging changed her mind. The psycho had managed to cut her arm. She extended her leg and kicked Andrew in the ribs just for good measure. "Bastard!" Was her hissed insult.
Hunter held their son out to her and her eyes softened immediately as she quickly stepped off the elevator. "Take Jack," he instructed stiffly.
Stephanie eagerly reached out and clutched their sleeping infant to her chest tightly. She hardly batted an eyelash when Hunter mounted Andrew and started smashing his face in using his fists. All she could concentrate on was the fact that her son was safe. Andrew's muffled, nearly unconscious grunts and the blaring of the alarms weren't getting to her at all. She rubbed her cheek against Jack's affectionately, her lips curved up in a smile.
She was so lost in her little world of contentment that she didn't realize her father and brother had just stepped off the other elevator. It wasn't until they ran across her line of vision and each of them grabbed one of Hunter's arms, pulling him off of a bloody-faced Andrew while dragging him out of the elevator that she realized they were here.
Stephanie continued to rock Jack in her arms. Her eyebrows drew together in concern when her husband made no move to get off of the floor despite the fact he was no longer being restrained. Instead he just leaned forward and pressed his palms to his eyes.
Shane and Vince figured it appeared unnecessary to explain to her what they had found out and discussed earlier. Andrew's lack of consciousness said that Hunter and Stephanie were already well aware of what he'd been up to. They had intended to confront Andrew at the arena for his actions and felt a sense of dread when he was nowhere to be found. They were hoping that he hadn't come to the hospital, but either way they needed to warn Hunter and Stephanie.
Vince reached out and took his first and only grandchild, while Shane motioned that his sister needed to go to her husband. She dropped down to the floor beside Hunter and pulled his hands down from his face.
Blue eyes scanned hazel ones and she noticed that they were tinged pink, but not too watery. Meaning that he was on the verge of losing it and was trying not to. She felt her own tears prick the back of her eyes as the weight of everything came crashing down around her. She reached out to Hunter and he embraced her fervently, burying his face into her hair.
Neither of them moved from their spot, but they heard the commotion all around them as doctors, nurses, staff and security guards surrounded them, chattering anxiously, trying to see what the hell was going on.
It was over. No more stalker madness, no more crumbling marriage. All that was present and intact was their family.