Stephanie's household had fallen victim to pure chaos in the blink of an eye.

"Take your ring and get out!" Stephanie lashed out, hurling it directly at Chris's face. He was able to duck in time, and the jewel landed with a light thud on the living room floor behind him. Stephanie was fuming, her face having flushed scarlet in the short amount of time it took to stalk down the stairs of their house so she could verbally massacre what was left of Chris. Her eyes simmered with fury as she clenched her fists at her sides and rocked on her heels. "I said get out!"

"What the hell are you so pissed off about?" Chris asked, genuinely bemused by her sudden outburst. "We were fine just a second ago, and now you're throwing stuff at me?"

Moments ago, he had been in the middle of packing to see Cheryl but excused himself to go downstairs for a drink, and Stephanie had offered to continue folding his clothes in his absence. He encouraged her to do so to speed up the process, but before he could return to their bedroom, she had stomped down and was screaming, huffing, and tossing rings at him. His heart jolted at her first mention of having discovered a ring, but he hadn't yet purchased her engagement ring, so that couldn't have been her point of contention. Even so, she wouldn't have become as furious as she was if she had merely discovered a ring he bought for her, so there had to be infinitely more to the story than he was getting through her sudden wrath.

"How dare you, Chris! How dare you do this to me, and especially when I'm pregnant."

"Steph, I don't know what you're talking about," Chris frowned, gingerly taking a few steps forward and impulsively reaching for her, but she slapped his hands away.

"Don't you dare even think about touching me right now."

"Baby, I don't — "

"'Baby, I didn't do anything'," she interrupted, imitating him in a mocking tone of voice as her lips curled in disgust. "That's all you ever have to say, isn't it? You're never the person at fault and you never do anything wrong? Well, you can take your stuff and go live somewhere else, because my home is no longer your home!"

Chris scratched his head, bewildered by her abrupt change in mood. There were the average mood swings that came along with pregnancy, but Stephanie's outburst was something entirely different, on a plain all its own, and all that was left was for him to figure it out. It wasn't often she exploded, but when she did, she didn't back down from any part of a fight, and Chris wasn't going to contribute to her ire when she was carrying his child. In his mind, their son was probably already upset by the agitation Stephanie was projecting, and Chris made the decision then and there to only do and say things that might serve to diffuse her distress.

Anytime Chris saw her in pain, his natural inclination was to reach out and pull her close, but each time he tried, Stephanie was having none of it. He racked his brain, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation as to what had set her off, but nothing was coming to mind. He was traveling to California again, but she had already known that ahead of time and had even encouraged him to go the day before, when he was making their lunch. There were the pictures that surfaced online with him and Cheryl, but even then, that was a topic they had already hashed out and put behind them.

As he took a closer look and noticed her heartbeat rattling so intensely that he could see the pulse through her shirt, Chris knew the situation was in grave danger of affecting her health and his unborn son's. There was no way he could go through with flying to California with her in that type of hostile condition, and he was already in the process of making a mental note to call Cheryl and cancel their dance lessons when he was pulled from his thoughts by his wallet zipping past his head. When Stephanie geared up to throw an article of clothing at him as well, Chris had enough and stepped in, grabbing her securely by the arms as she shouted for him to let her go. He pinned her arms against the wall, in a manner that would subdue but not harm her, and she thrashed wildly against his firm grip.

"Stop this and calm down," Chris instructed evenly.

"Let go of me! I don't ever want to see your face again," she shot back.

"Stephanie, stop fighting against me," he urged, his irritation growing the more she struggled in his clutches. "I'm not hurting you, so stop fighting and I'll let you go."

"Fine," she huffed, and when he made the mistake of trusting her word and releasing her arms, the bitter sting of a rigid slap seared across his left cheek.

He reached a hand up to cover the sore spot, and Stephanie slipped away long enough to tread back up the stairs. Chris didn't follow her for fear he would only make things worse, and his mind screamed at him to call her parents, because Vince and Linda were probably the only two people on the planet who could calm her when she was infuriated in such an intense way. At the same time, he and Stephanie were adults who had a son on the way, and they couldn't expect to go running to their parents each time they found themselves thrust in the midst of a grievous dispute. Their personal lives needed to be kept private, and they needed to come to a solution together.

Chris went to the couch and took a seat, leaning forward and placing his elbows on his knees and his chin in the palm of both hands. He wanted to move, to take action, to do something that would make their situation better, but Stephanie had rattled him to the point that he found himself in serious need of an adult time-out, so that's what he was doing. His thoughts returned to canceling his quickly approaching flight and calling Cheryl to let her know he wouldn't be seeing her for a while, but he was interrupted by the distinct sound of a heavy object toppling down the stairs. He couldn't quite place the noise, but when he chanced a glance, he found his open suitcase resting at the bottom of the stairs, his clothing scattered about in the aftermath.

His eyes followed the stairs to the top, where Stephanie was watching from above, a haughty look of satisfaction on her face as she crossed her arms in front of her. She called out from the top, "There's all your stuff. You can leave now."

Chris stood from the couch, going to the bottom of the stairs and resting his hand on the bannister, "I don't understand what this is, and you can keep pushing the limits all you want, but I'm not going to fight with you, Steph. I love you, and aside from that, you're carrying my child, and it's not in his best interest for you to be getting worked up like this. If you want me to leave, then I will, not because I want to, but because I want to do whatever will make you feel better right now. I can come back once you've cooled down and we'll talk, okay?"

Much to his surprise, she broke out in a round of applause, "Oh, bravo, Chris. That was such a beautiful, manufactured speech that you probably didn't mean a single word of."

"What?" he asked, taken aback.

"If you cared about me, you wouldn't have done what you did."

"I don't get this at all," he mumbled, more to himself than anyone else. Chris shook his head, pacing the ground floor with his hands on his hips before calling up, "When can I come back to talk to you about this?"

"I don't want you back here, Chris, not when I can't even trust you, so just stay away."

"I'll go if that's what you really want," he agreed. He would simply give her a few hours of solitary respite and then call to see if they could meet somewhere and talk. It was only a matter of time before their one-sided argument blew over and they could return to being the happy little family they usually were. Chris decided to leave his clothing and suitcase right where it was since he anticipated being back soon anyway.

"I do," she confirmed.

"Then that's what I'll do. I really do care about you, even if you can't stand me right now, and I hope you'll talk to me soon. I just want to make things better, baby."

"How? By stealing a ring from my jewelery box and bringing it to her?" she spat out furiously. "I'm sitting here, like an idiot, waiting for you to come home from all these little visits with Cheryl so we can spend time together, and you're going behind my back and stealing my rings so you can try to pass them off as presents you bought for her? You can't make anything better after stooping that low, and I don't ever want to see you again. In case I haven't been clear enough, consider us broken up. Now, take your stuff and leave."

Chris was too astounded to respond, and he watched her cross the landing and disappear from sight before he heard the thunderous impact of her bedroom door slamming shut behind her. He hadn't stolen any jewelery from Stephanie, so he couldn't even begin to piece together what she meant by making such an accusation, but she was clearly convinced he had wronged her in some unacceptable manner, so there must have been something. His mind kept returning to her mention of a ring, and it was then he remembered she had tossed one his way at the beginning of the confrontation. He whirled around immediately and scanned the carpet with unbridled desperation, attempting to locate the ring in question.

His thought process was that if he at least found the ring, it would jog his memory and help him determine where he had gone wrong. He resorted to lowering on his hands and knees, scouring the carpet below until a ray of light flooding in through the front window bounced off something underneath the coffee table. When he followed the twinkle, Chris found Stephanie's steel blue ring, which was the thoughtful present he purchased for her on Valentine's Day a couple of years before. He slipped his hand underneath the table and picked it up, hanging it from the tip of his thumb as he sat on his bottom and studied it.

It was only a matter of seconds before the bigger picture pieced itself together in his mind and, suddenly, it all made sense. Chris had taken the ring from Stephanie's jewelry box the day she twisted her ankle. Back then, he had been convinced they weren't going to be a couple anytime soon and had taken it as a personal token to remember her by, shoving it in his pants pocket before locking the place up and driving her to her doctor's appointment. He had set out a specific set of clothing that he was packing to bring to Cheryl's, and apparently, the ring he forgot to remove from his pants had made an appearance when Stephanie was packing his belongings, and she got the wrong picture.

He couldn't say he blamed her for jumping to conclusions. In her mind, he had absolutely no reason to have possession of any jewelery he had bought for her in the past, and even less of a reason to have been rummaging around in her jewelry box. If the ring had fallen out of a pair of his pants while Stephanie was folding them in preparation for tucking them into his suitcase, it would make sense that she would think he had taken the ring for deceitful reasons — namely, to give to Cheryl. He wanted to laugh, knowing it was a whole misunderstanding he could clear up with her in a matter of minutes, but when he looked towards the staircase, Chris knew it was too soon to attempt such a conversation.

Instead, he would allow her to cool down and swoop in later.

Meanwhile, Stephanie's hand covered her distraught features as she leaned against the headboard of her bed, a single pillow squished in place behind her, while she waited to hear the sound of the front door closing. As soon as she could tell Chris had respected her wishes and left, she was going to call her mother and give her an earful. She didn't want to unload all her relationship drama on her parents so often, but Chris had pushed her way past her limit, and she couldn't take the lies and deception anymore. She had trusted him enough to believe what he said about being friends with Cheryl, and he tossed her naiveté right back in her face, without even an ounce of remorse about it.

There was such a delay in his departure she nearly considered returning downstairs to remind Chris she no longer wanted him in her house, and that was precisely when she heard the front door close. She shifted sideways, so her feet were hanging over the side of the bed, and pushed off the mattress, tentatively unlocking and opening her bedroom door. After descending the steps, she was angered all over again to find Chris's clothing and suitcase still there, although he had cleaned up the mess and placed the clothes back inside it. She kicked the piece of luggage in anger and snatched the cordless phone from its charger before dialing her parents' number and waiting for someone, anyone, to answer.

"Hi, princess," Vince answered, having recognized her number on the caller ID display. "What are you up to this morning?"

"Dad, I'm so pissed, and I can't even stand it. Can you please go get Mom before I seriously lose my mind?" Stephanie asked.

"I'll go get her, but what's the matter?"

"Daddy, please, I really need to talk to her. I'll talk to you both on speakerphone, but can you at least get her?"

"Okay, I'm going, just a minute," Vince agreed, scrambling to meet her persistent request. He returned to the line after a brief wait with Linda in tow, and they placed her on their speaker so they could listen to the conversation together.

"Hi, sweet pea, it's me," Linda announced. "Dad's here too, so we're both listening. What's going on there?"

"I just broke up with Chris. He's doing all this stuff behind my back, and I don't know if he's capable of actually cheating on me, but there's stuff that made me really suspect it and I — "

"Let's back this thing up," Vince cut in. "What do you mean he's cheating on you?"

"I know I'm talking way too fast, but I'm livid," she explained. "Chris said he just had to go to California to see Cheryl, which is an annoyance in and of itself because he should be here with me instead, but I told him to go because I was a good enough girlfriend to trust him. I saw all the online pictures of him hanging out with Cheryl, but I told myself it was only a friendship, and Chris even told me himself he was only friends with her."

Vince and Linda silently exchanged looks, fully aware of what was going on with Chris and Cheryl. It would be difficult to throw Stephanie off the scent without giving away the truth of what was happening, but they were going to give it their best shot. Linda took her whack at it first, easing into the topic by saying, "I know it might seem suspicious, but Chris always talks about how much he enjoyed his time on Dancing With the Stars, and I'm sure he just wants to recapture some of that."

"Yes," Vince added rigidly, not as great of an actor as he wished to be, "he's just having fun. That's what guys do, so you've got to give him some leeway to go out and have a good time."

"That's what I thought too, until just now," Stephanie said. "I was upstairs packing his clothes so he could get going since his flight is in the next hour, and I picked up a pair of his jeans and the ring he gave me on Valentine's Day a few years back fell out of the pocket. First of all, there was no reason for him to be going through my jewelery in the first place, but even if he did, there was no excuse for him bringing that ring to Cheryl's unless he was planning on giving it to her."

Linda didn't know the specifics about the ring in question and was planning to ask Chris about it, but she was going to give him the benefit of a doubt and assume it was a simple misunderstanding. "Well, honey, I know Chris loves you, and I don't think he would ever do anything on purpose that he thought would hurt you. What did he say when you confronted him about it?"

"I yelled a little because I was mad, and I didn't really give him a chance to respond," Stephanie admitted. "I pretty much told him I didn't ever want to see him again and that I couldn't believe he could do something like that to me."

"But how do you know what he did if you wouldn't give him the chance to explain?" Vince wondered.

"I just have a feeling. I know something's going on that shouldn't be, because I can feel it," Stephanie answered. "Call it women's intuition or whatever, but I can tell. I never thought he would do this to me after all we've been through. What was even the point of him coming back to me and saying he wanted us to spend the rest of our lives together if he was only going to do this in the end?" she asked, following that up with a light gasp. "Oh no...what if this was some kind of revenge? Maybe he's still mad about me getting pregnant and wanted to hurt me the way he thinks I hurt him."

"That's a big accusation to be making of someone who gushes about you and the baby all the time," Vince said. "You're my daughter, and I'm always on your side, but you shouldn't be talking that way about Chris. He loves you and that baby, and in this past month or so, I haven't heard him talk about anything except how much he can't wait to have his own little family."

"Well, he's not showing it when he treats me like this," Stephanie said.

"Where is he right now?" Linda asked.

"I don't know," she replied. "I told him to get out of my house, so he left. I didn't ask where he was going, and at this point, I don't care."

"You really shouldn't be so flippant about somebody you're so close to," Linda said. "I can understand why you're angry and want answers, but you can't decide he's guilty without giving him a chance to explain. There might have been a perfectly reasonable explanation as to why he did what he did, but you never asked for it, so how could he have possibly told you?"

"I don't know," Stephanie said, her voice dropping a few octaves. For the first time since her tirade against Chris, she was feeling guilty about coming down so harshly on him. Not only had she been too harsh, but she'd slapped him in the face completely unprovoked, and all he had done was try to calm her down.

"You need to call Chris and settle this with him," Vince said. "You might be surprised to find nothing worth your concern is going on at all."

"I can't talk to him right now," she said. "Maybe I can call him later when I've cooled down, but that might take a while."

"Take your time then, but please don't go for days on end without talking to him," Linda said. "No matter what, he's the father of your child, and he's worth fighting for. If I honestly believed he wasn't treating you well or being faithful, you know I'd hunt him down and wring his neck, but I really don't think that's the case. Promise me you'll at least talk to him before the day is over."

Stephanie sighed but didn't rebel. "Fine, I will."

"Good. Do you need me to come to your house and sit with you, sweetheart?" Linda offered. "We can order in and watch a movie, or talk, or whatever you want to do. I'd be more than happy to spend the day with you, and if you decide to have Chris back over, I'll leave and give you your privacy so you two can talk."

"I think I'd feel better if you came. I really want to talk," Stephanie said.

"I'll be right there. You hang in there and be strong."

"I will," she answered. "Thanks, Mom, and thank you too, Daddy."

"You're welcome. You've got a good man in your life, and I wouldn't say that if I didn't honestly believe it," Vince told her. "Don't push him away because of a single argument. You two are better than that as individuals, as a couple, and as soon-to-be parents."

"I know," she spoke quietly. "I'll see you when you get here, Mom."

"You sure will. I'll bring food, so don't eat too much before I come," Linda said.

"I won't," Stephanie agreed.

When they hung up, Linda turned to Vince, cocking an eyebrow. Though Stephanie had a valid complaint, they couldn't help but feel there was a perfectly good explanation for all that appeared enigmatic at first glance. It was understandable that seeing Chris spending so much time with another woman would send Stephanie over the edge, especially when she had no clue why they were meeting up. From her viewpoint, it looked like Chris was leaving her home alone to fly out and relax with another woman, and it made perfect sense that it didn't sit well with her.

When her gaze locked on Vince's, they reached a nonverbal understanding about what they had to do. Under normal circumstances, they wouldn't have ever considered interfering in Stephanie's relationship with Chris, but this was a unique case. If nothing else, Chris needed to be brought up to speed as to why Stephanie was suspicious of him to begin with. That way, he could prevent a catastrophe from happening before he even got the chance to propose. Linda nudged Vince's arm, "You know what to do."

"I know," he confirmed, picking the phone right back up and dialing Chris's number. It rang a few times before his stressed voice came on the line.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Hi, Chris, it's me and Linda. We've got you on speakerphone, just to make you aware," Vince announced.

Seeming to know exactly where they were headed, Chris asked, "Is this about what happened this morning with me and Steph?"

"It is," Linda answered. "She seems to think you took a ring you originally bought for her and were bringing it to give to Cheryl instead. Can you explain to us what happened?"

"Yeah, I kinda figured on that after she made me leave her house," Chris said. "The thing is, I did take that ring from her, but I wasn't bringing it to Cheryl. Do you remember weeks ago when she twisted her ankle coming down the stairs?"

"I do," Linda said.

"Okay, well, that day was when I flew in to bring her to the doctor's appointment for the baby. Since her ankle was hurt, I carried her to the car and had her wait there while I went inside the house and made her an ice pack. While I was in there, I went up to her bedroom, and I went through her jewelry and took the ring, but it's not for the reason she thinks I did," Chris said. "We were still broken up back then, and I thought we weren't getting back together for a long while, if ever, so I took the ring so I would have something of hers for when I missed her. Honest to God, I thought it would help me feel closer to her, even when we were apart. It might sound corny, but that's the truth of it all."

"That's really sweet, Chris. It really, truly is," Linda said, bringing a hand to her heart, touched by his kind words.

"What I'm wondering, though, is how did the ring end up in the pocket of some pants you were packing for your trip to Cheryl's house?" Vince questioned.

"Those were the pants I was wearing the day I took that ring," Chris explained. "I shoved it into my pocket so Steph wouldn't know I took it, and I meant to take it back out later, but I ended up forgetting. Through us getting back together, and reconnecting, and going to the baby's appointments together, I ended up forgetting I ever took it. I guess I had no need for it anymore, because I had the real thing back. I wanted to explain all this to Steph earlier today, but you know how stubborn she is. I don't think I've ever seen her so fuming mad before."

"I knew there would be an answer for this that made perfect sense," Vince said, letting out a deep breath. "She called us so worked up, and we kept telling her to talk to you, but when she gets an idea in her head, it's hard to shake it away."

"Yeah, I know, and it kills me to think she's sitting at the house hurt and alone, but she told me she didn't want me there, so I left," Chris replied. "Normally, I would have tried harder to get her to listen to me, but she was really upset, and I was worried it was upsetting the baby too, so I did what she asked."

"Thank you for that," Vince responded. "You did the right thing, and we're glad."

"Thanks," he said.

"You're welcome," Vince returned. "Now, just to give you an update, Stephanie called us and wants Linda to go over and spend some time with her so they can talk. They're going to have some food and watch a movie, or whatever it is women do when they get together," he joked, getting a laugh out of Chris despite the situation. "When they finish up, we're going to try to convince Stephanie to ask you back home so you two can sit down and talk. Have as much of a good day as you can and cool down, and we'll make sure Stephanie makes contact with you by the time night falls."

"Okay, I can do that," Chris agreed, though the sadness was evident in his tone.

"You're more than welcome to spend your day over here if you want to," Vince offered.

"Actually, I called Shane and told him I wanted to come over, so I'm headed to his place now," he said.

"That's probably good for you," Linda said. "You need to talk to someone your own age who might be able to help put this situation into perspective. The added bonus is that Shane knows Stephanie well enough to give sound advice."

"Actually, I'm not so much going to him for advice," Chris corrected. "I'm going to pick him up so we can go take a look at some engagement rings. This whole situation today showed me how much I'm putting my relationship with Steph in jeopardy by keeping her in the dark. I haven't done anything out of line with Cheryl, but it makes sense to me that it looks like I am, based on Stephanie's view of the whole thing. I'm cutting the dance lessons with Cheryl short, and I'm just going to use what I know and go with what she's already taught me. I don't want to delay this thing anymore."

Vince exchanged glances with Linda, asking Chris, "So, what does this mean for you and Stephanie?"

"It means I'm moving forward with the proposal."