Disclaimer: All the events and character description taken place in this story is COMPLETELY FICTION. No copyright infringement intended. All characters are copy written to their respective owners. No profit is being made from this story. It should be viewed only as entertainment.
Chapter Thirty-Six
The week of Christmas had come. Paul was relieved to have the weekly traveling to each and every SmackDown and house show come to a standstill for the holidays. He had stopped going to RAW after he had found himself practically invisible backstage. Levesque promised himself that he would never put his self in a situation to be ridiculed again. But all that was in the past. The holidays were approaching and he was doing his best to enjoy spending time at home with Stephanie and Aurora.
"Where are you off to?" Paul asked his wife as he watched her gather her purse, blackberry, and car keys from the kitchen rather quickly.
"I want to try and pick up a gift from Dad. There are so few days left until Christmas so I thought I would take advantage of the sales." She explained walking toward the house entrance to the garage.
"Don't you want to take Aurora with you?" He asked looking over at their one year old sitting in the living room with her toys.
"You know how crowded stores are around the holidays. I just want to get in and out without any big production. Besides, she likes spending time with her daddy." Steph replied before giving her husband a smile and walking out the door to the garage.
Levesque slowly cocked his head to the side as he turned to face his child who was still at play. She was obviously so engrossed in play that she didn't notice her mother's departure. It was a good thing that she didn't. After how attached little Aurora had become to Stephanie, Paul wasn't exactly sold on the idea that his wife kept on offering him of their child enjoying spending time with him.
"What are you playing with, sweetheart?" Levesque asked curious to see what had captured his young child's attention for so long.
Paul leaned down into a crouch next to where his daughter was sitting with a group of toys that her mother had placed around her. In her little hands was the pink teddy bear. Aurora was smiling as a string of random vowels and consonants came out of her wet mouth. She then bounced the stuffed animal a few times on her lap before bringing it in for a hug and a kiss bite on its plush nose.
Why was Stephanie so insistent in giving her that stuffed pink bear to their child? It had to be the fact that Kurt Angle had given it to Aurora. This had to be her way of rubbing it in his face. She knew he wouldn't say anything about it. He still had to grovel to her and the rest of the McMahon family for his infidelity with Michelle North. When was it all going to end? One thing was for sure; his daughter wasn't going to be a part of it if he could help it.
"Give to Daddy." He whispered as he gently tugged on the teddy bear.
Aurora let out a whine which intensified when her father's force behind the pulling increased. Of course her gripe on the stuffed toy was no match for her father's pulling force. When Paul had to bear in his hand he arose from the squat and began to walk away with the toy. Aurora continued to whine as she was now on the verge of tears. Getting to her feet, she followed her daddy over to the nearby bookcase.
"I don't care what Mommy says. I don't want you playing with this." Paul said to his daughter as if she was going to understand what he was telling her. He sat the small stuffed animal on one of the high shelves which was still in Aurora's sight.
The little girl just stood there keeping her eyes on her favorite toy. She had her right arm stretched out as high as she could reach. Her hand she began to open and close as if she was trying to grab the teddy bear.
"Dada dat!" She whined in a strained voice. She was doing her best to tell her father that she wanted him to give her back to teddy bear.
His daughter's reaction to him putting the teddy bear up somewhat angered Paul. What was so great about that stupid teddy bear Kurt Angle gave his daughter? Why was she so insistent about having it? She had dozens upon dozens of toys that were much better than it. It almost felt like Aurora was doing it to upset him.
"Come on sweetie, let's go play with your other toys." Paul replied trying to keep his frustration in check as he took the outreached hand in his and began to lead her away from the bookshelf.
Aurora wasn't at all compliant to move away from the bookshelf. She didn't want to move her feet as her father walked away holding her hand. Stiffening her body as she shrieked and cried, Levesque bent down and tried to get her to comply. Her face was red showing her dismay.
"No!" Aurora hollered with force as she used her left hand to slap out at her father while kicking her foot out. Her hand hit him in the face and he quickly grabbed it so that she couldn't do it again.
"Aurora, no! No hitting Daddy!" Paul said with force as he used his other hand to hit Aurora on her diapered butt. His hand had been cupped causing a good smack sound. She began crying harder. It was probably her father's stern voice along with the sound of the spanking that upset her further rather than the hit on the diaper hurting her.
Levesque had never spanked his child before. He was a bit surprised that he had done it after the fact. It was like he had just acted without even thinking. All it did was cause Aurora to intensify her crying. All this crying over a stuffed animal? He couldn't believe it. She had to be over tired. Normally, Aurora would have never acted this way. She had never hit out at him before.
"Come on, let's put you down for a nap." He muttered barely hearing his own words because of his daughter's loud crying. He picking her up. She was still in the middle of a tantrum. Perhaps it was best to have the baby lay down in her crib for a while. He was beginning to feel overwhelmed and angry at her behavior. A bit of quiet time for both of them would certainly help.
As Paul carried his crying one year old out of the living room, her hands were outstretched to her toy which her father chose to ignore. He wasn't going to give into her by giving her the toy back after she misbehaved. That would be just bad parenting; letting the child know that her misbehavior would be rewarded. Paul was sick and tired of her acting out and just wanted her to take a nap so he could have some peace and quiet.
"Lay down!" He barked after placing his daughter in her crib. She was standing at the rail of her crib crying with her arms extended toward her dad. Aurora refused to lay down so Paul picked her up and laid her down in the crib himself. She had handfuls of his shirt that she didn't want to let go of. He had to pry her hands from his clothing so that he could stand up right again. She continued to screech and cry while kicking her legs out showing her anger.
"Now go to sleep. I'm done with you until you calm down." Levesque muttered as he turned his back on the crying child and exited the nursery, closing the door behind him.
When Paul reached the kitchen he was relieved to have peace and quiet. He could no longer hear his daughter's crying. The silence was short lived for his cell phone began to ring where it was being charged on the nearby counter.
"Hello?" He said quickly into the cell phone after opening it.
"Hey Paul, just wanted to wish you an early Merry Christmas. Rebecca and I are taking the kids to Florida for Christmas to visit her parents. Are you enjoying your week off?" Shawn Michaels asked.
"I was. Aurora just had a major meltdown. She smacked me in the face. I had to put her in her crib and close the door. She and her mother have me on my last nerve. Between all the bullshit I'm having to swallow in an attempt to fix my marriage, and my one year old daughter having tantrums, I'm ready to say screw the both of them." Levesque told his friend.
"You need to keep it together, Paul, especially now around the holidays. God tests us even during the holidays through our families. You have to remember that by keeping your cool and staying positive, you're being a good husband and a good father. Take the higher road, Paul. God will look after your family if you keep the faith." Shawn preached.
"I'm trying, Shawn. There's only so much shit I can take from Steph and her family. And to top it off, I think she's still in contact with Kurt Angle. God forbid I question her about it. I swear though, one more excuse she gives me to question her, I'm calling her on it. I'm sick of always having to make nice." Paul replied as he began to pace around the kitchen with his cell phone pressed to his ear.
"Have you thought about praying to God for some clarity and strength?" Michaels asked after hearing his best friend's feelings toward his spouse.
"Shawn, I'm going to let you go. I have to call my wife and tell her to pick something up while she's out shopping. Have a merry Christmas…Yeah bye." Levesque said evading his friend's question as he quickly ended the conversation.
He was telling the truth about wanting to call Stephanie. He noticed that they were out of protein shakes that he religiously drank and needed to have. He found his wife's cell phone number in his contact list and hit the green send button. The cell phone didn't even ring but went directly to her voice mail signaling that the PDA was shut off. Why would she shut her phone off if she was going Christmas shopping?
"Where the hell were you? I tried calling you but I only got your voice mail." Paul told his wife as soon as she walked into the living room to where he was sitting. He didn't even give her a chance to greet him.
"I told you, I went shopping for a gift for my father. I'm sorry you couldn't get a hold of me. My PDA battery died and I just started charging it." Steph explained with a look of confusion. She was not expecting her husband to greet her with questioning.
"Well where's the gift?"
"I wasn't able to get it. They were all sold out." Steph quickly replied setting her purse down on one of the sofas.
"If it was sold out then why did it take you so long to come home?" Levesque asked throwing out another question at his wife as his eyes remained fixed on her.
"I went to more than one store. What is this, an inquisition? Where's Aurora?" Stephanie asked a bit pissed off by her husband's series of questioning. It was like he wanted to argue with her over everything today. Stephanie's eyes avoided his gaze as she scanned the room looking for her child.
"I put her down for a nap after she had a meltdown." Paul told his wife watching her cross the room to the bookshelf.
"Why is this little teddy bear up here?" Stephanie asked picking the teddy bear up off the shelf.
"She slapped my face when she threw a fit. I couldn't believe it." Paul told his wife as he ignored her question about the stuff animal.
"Did you do something that deserved it?" Stephanie asked raising an eyebrow before she gave a little chuckle before walking away with the pink teddy bear.
Paul was a bit surprised by his wife's reaction to hearing that their child had hit him. She didn't even seem taken aback by it. Was she being serious with her reply or was the chuckle her way of showing that the comment was meant to be a joke? Could it be a bit of both? Stephanie taking the teddy bear from the shelf made it clear that she was going to give it back to Aurora. She had to know that he had taken it from their child because he didn't want her to have it Steph must not have cared how he felt about it. There was no other explanation.
Christmas day came and the Levesques went the annual McMahon family Christmas get together and Vince and Linda's estate. Because of the holidays and to make his daughter happy, Vince was tolerant of his son-in-laws presence. The McMahon mansion was decked out of the holidays complete with a grand Christmas tree that was beautifully trimmed and had gifts a plenty under it. Stephanie had herself and Aurora dressed to the nines in matching Christmas dresses that Linda and Marissa both made a point in gushing over.
"Steph, are you feeling okay? You looked a little flush." Linda asked her daughter noticing the redness of Stephanie's forehead and cheeks as she stood with her and Marissa in the kitchen.
"I'm fine, Mom. I think it was just the cold that did it. You should have seen Aurora's face this morning when I brought her into the family room and she saw all of her presents under the tree. She's so into Christmas this year compared to her first. I just can't wait till next year for her third when she's even a year older." Stephanie said with a smile as she shifted her daughter to her other hip.
"Did Paul video tape it? Shane video tapes the boys every year on Christmas morning. They're growing so fast." Marissa said with a smile as she watched Aurora nuzzling close to her mom.
"Yeah he did. I kept getting lectured about getting in the way of the shot though. Is it hot in here?" Steph asked changing topics as she fanned her face with her hand.
"Maybe a little bit because of the cooking. Why don't you go sit with your dad and Shane in the living room?" Linda suggested seeing that Steph was a bit uncomfortable standing in the kitchen.
She took her mother's advice and took a seat next to her husband on the couch across from where her father was sitting with Shane. To her surprise, Vince was watching a taping of last week's episode of Impact; more specifically, Kurt Angle's main event match with fellow veteran Christian Cage. Steph's eyes widened as she saw Kurt on the plasma screen slowly she looked over at Paul who was looking down at the carpet floor with a pissed off look on his face.
"Holy shit! Did you see that missile drop kick? I didn't think he did that anymore!" Vince exclaimed looking over at his son who was sitting next to him.
"Dad we need to get him back. His ring work is still stellar. I still want to do another match with him. Our street fight in 2001 was the best match of my career."
"It's not 2001 anymore, Shane. You don't bump as well as you used to. Isn't there anything else on? Can't we watch something Christmas related?" Levesque muttered still refusing to watch the ongoing match.
Stephanie's eyes focused on Kurt as the referee raised his arm in victory. He looked like he was in a trance after he pulled his arm away from the referee. The ref looked intimidated by him and took a few steps back to give Angle room. Then suddenly without warning, Kurt gave the referee a huge head butt that caused the bloody ref to fall to the canvas.
"Did you see that? Angle is a freaking beast!" Shane hollered doing a quick point at the TV screen.
"He's a man possessed! Look at that intensity! He wasn't even like this in ECW!"
Steph's eyes widened even more as her mouth fell open. She watched as Kurt removed one of the referee's shoes and proceeded to beat the ref's skull over and over again with it until a few trainers and other referees were able to detain him. She had never seen him like this. He was raging. It was like he had taken all his sadness and channeled it into pure rage that he was now taking out on his opponents and staff members. She couldn't help but feel responsible. Stephanie knew that it was her leaving him to return to Paul that caused the pain she could still see in his blue eyes.
Steph didn't even notice that Aurora had gotten off her lap and was now walking toward the plasma TV. She had a smile on her face as she walked up to the plasma screen and placed her moist hands on the face of Kurt as the TNA camera man zoomed in on his face as he stood on the TNA ramp.
"Would you look at that, Aurora remembers the Olympic Champ." Vince pointed out watching his granddaughter begin to babble as she moved her hands up and down the screen. He didn't seem to mind her touching the screen with her hands.
"Aurora, no, you'll ruin the television." Paul muttered quickly as he quickly approached his child and picked her up causing her to fuss. Once his daughter was in his arms he carried her across the living room and set her down next to where her two cousins were playing.
"Shouldn't we start opening the gifts?" Paul asked as he watched Vince begin to rewind the footage as if he was going to watch the match again; Paul now standing at the eggnog punch bowl now serving himself a second cup of the spiked holiday drink.
"Well Steph already gave me my gift early at last week's RAW." Vince replied not taking his eyes off his universal remote as he pressed a few buttons while his reading glasses sat on the tip of his nose.
"Last week? I thought you went out to try and find your dad a present earlier this week, Stephanie!" Paul hollered across the room at his unsuspecting wife. His outburst that seemed to come out of nowhere caused both Shane and Vince turn and look at him. Marissa and Linda even came out of the kitchen to see what was going on.
"Paul this is not the time for us to discuss this. We can talk about it when we go home-" Steph replied in somewhat of a hushed voice. She looked very embarrassed by her husband's outburst.
"No, we'll talk about it right now! Where were you earlier this week when you said you were going to the store to buy your father a present? You were with Kurt Angle, weren't you? Go ahead, deny it! I saw his number on your personal contact list weeks ago and I deleted it! You never said anything because you knew if you did, I would know that you were screwing him! You are! Aren't you! Don't fucking lie to me!" Paul screamed cutting his wife off. His nephews Declan and Kenyon looked very uneasy as they quickly got up and ran to their mother.
"No! I haven't seen Kurt since I left him to come back to you!"
"Bullshit! Then where were you? Huh? What possible explanation could you have? Huh?"
"I was at the OBGYN's…I'm pregnant… I'm a month along and I haven't told anyone! I didn't want anyone to know! I thought if I kept it a secret maybe this baby would be safe and I wouldn't lose it like the last one, you fucking asshole!" Stephanie screamed as she became hysterical. Linda tried to run to her daughter and comfort her but Steph refused. She quickly ran from the room. A few seconds later the French back door slammed shut.
"Nice job Levesque….you piece of shit…" Vince snarled in disgust as she spoke to his son-in-law before he walked out of the living room.
"You are a piece of shit, Paul…" Shane echoed his father while shaking his head. He followed his father out of the living room.
Both Linda and Marissa were standing there in complete shock because of what had just transpired. Unlike the men, they said nothing to Paul. Linda slowly walked over to where Aurora was sitting and scooped up her grandchild into her arms and walked back into the kitchen while Marissa followed closely behind with her boys.
He was an asshole. Looking back on the past month since he and Steph had gotten back together, all the signs of her being pregnant were there. Her moodiness and increased appetite were easy to see. Paul was just so occupied with worrying about Kurt Angle coming back to WWE that he didn't see the truth. It made sense for Steph not to tell him about the pregnancy. She had miscarried only a few months ago so naturally she had wanted to keep this new pregnancy under wraps until the first three critical months were past her. Unfortunately he had ruined that for her by forcing her to reveal the pregnancy to him and the rest of the family; on Christmas, of all the days possible. Once again, he had let his paranoid thoughts hurt his marriage and his standing with his family. He had impregnated his wife the very first night she returned to him and was completely blind not to see it.
Paul was full of guilt as she stood at the French doors watching his father-in-law hugging Stephanie and whispering words into her ear. Paul knew what he had to do. He was going to have to apologize to her. He had to let her know that he loved her and was happy about the news.
"Vince, I want to talk to my wife alone please." Levesque said in a coarse yet confident voice as he stepped out onto the back deck.
"It's okay, Daddy. You can go inside." Steph whispered in a raspy voice as she then breathed in her congestion. She was assuring her father that she would be okay to talk to her husband alone without him there.
McMahon gave his daughter another hug as he then gave his son-in-law a cold stare before he slowly went back into his house leaving his daughter alone with her husband. Once he was alone outside with his wife, Paul ventured across the deck to where his wife was standing with her back to him. Her whole body was shaking as she wept in the bitter winter cold.
"Steph, I'm so sorry…" Paul began as he approached her. He placed his hand on her back.
"I should have been able to tell that you were pregnant. I'm so grateful that we're having another baby, Steph. I remember what you told me about out the last pregnancy…That the new baby was going to be a fresh start for us…I know I ruined that. I ruined everything. I want to make it right this time, sweetheart. This new baby is going to give me the chance to do that. Please tell me that we can get through this and make a new start with a second child." Paul whispered as she slowly turned his wife around to face him.
When he turned her around, she began to cry harder looking directly into his hazel eyes. She wasn't going to reply to his words. It was obvious that she was far too distraught to even comment. He brought her into his arms and she began to sob into his broad chest. Paul didn't need her words to assure his feelings for her. He knew in his heart of hearts that he was doing the right thing. Everything happened for a reason. Just like Shawn had told him, God was looking after his family by blessing them with another miracle that was going to be a new staple of their family. Paul was going to do it right this time. This new baby was a gift from above and he was determined to not destroy this precious gift like he regretfully did the last.