Silence descended on the living room of Vince and Linda's house as she gave him the news. She watched as every part of her husband's body and face tensed. Before the explosion could take place she spoke to him gently, "She's not our baby girl any more Vince. She's twenty three, she's old enough to make her own decisions and she's with a man she loves. We're going to be Grandparents Vince, our first Grandchild. Please try to be happy about this."

The explosion was avoided as Vince seemed to deflate before her, "I'm really finding it hard Linda and you're wrong, she will always be our baby girl."

Linda put an arm around him and worked her magic on him with her soothing voice, "I know what you mean but we've got to let her make her own decisions now. She's not a kid any more. She wants to come home and she misses us as much as we miss her but she doesn't want to come here if you're going to rage at her or more importantly at Paul. You're going to be a Granddad to Steph and Paul's child Vince, surely that makes you happy if you really think about it? Imagine having our Grandchild running around this living room Vince, imagine how amazing that would be."

Vince was clearly trying hard to rid himself of his anger as he sat with his eyes closed and after a moment slowly let out a faltering breath, "A Grandchild? Granddad Vince?" After so many years together Linda knew her husband inside out and at this moment she knew that she had finally made a breakthrough as she beamed, "And Grandma Linda."

A hint of a smile began to appear on Vince's face, "A future WWF Champion? Or Women's Champion?"

Linda laughed, "Without a doubt. So you're pleased about this? You're not going to go wild at them when they show up on Tuesday?"

Vince shook his head , "I'm a stubborn old bastard Linda, even I know that but I'm not going to apologise for caring about our children. In answer to your questions yes I am pleased and no I won't go wild at them. I just want to see Steph and congratulate her and give her a great big hug."

Linda planted a soft kiss on her husbands cheek, "I'd rather you be stubborn and care than not care. When they get here you're going to shake hands with Paul and you're going to apologise to the man. I'm sure you've been treating him like crap at work, I know how you work when you're in that frame of mind."

Vince nodded and now sounded almost guilty, "Yeah I have. I should apologise. Uh... Linda, they're having a baby so they'll obviously need a place of their own."

"Obviously. What are you thinking?"

Vince finally managed a wide smile, "Maybe we could help them out with that. We did it for Shane and Marissa." Linda felt tears welling up in her eyes at her husband's drastic change of heart, "Oh Vince I didn't think of that. Yes, we have to do that."

As Paul and Stephanie walked back through the patio door into the living room of his parent's house it became immediately apparent that Stephanie had not made as good a job as they thought of hiding the fact that she had been crying as Patricia immediately asked with concern, "Stephanie are you okay?"

Paul took off his leather jacket as he answered for his girlfriend, "Guys Steph is missing her family real bad and we've decided to fly out tomorrow so that she can go home." Stephanie was hit by another wave of guilt at being the reason that Paul and his parents would not get to spend the time together that they had planned and she found herself starting to cry yet again as she said, "I'm so sorry."

At the sight of her tears Patricia was up quickly from the couch and made it to Stephanie faster than Paul could as he was hanging his jacket over the back of a chair and she hugged her, "Don't be silly sweetheart. If you want to go see your family then you need to go. We'll drive you to the airport tomorrow, right Paul?" This question was directed at her husband who answered, "Of course."

Although the hug from Patricia was appreciated Stephanie really only wanted Paul and she gently separated herself from the older woman and retreated into the comfort of her boyfriend's arms. "I don't know why I keep crying, I can't help it."

"We've had a lot of stress to deal with and you're missing your family. It's only natural Steph. You'll be fine tomorrow when you get home, I promise," Paul comforted as he once again held his girlfriend tightly. In response Stephanie whimpered, "You can't promise. You don't know what dad will say or do."

"You're right," Paul admitted reluctantly.

The rest of the afternoon and evening seemed to drag by so slowly for Stephanie. She liked Paul's parents a lot and she liked being around them and staying in their home but she simply did not want to be there right now. All she wanted to do was get to bed and sleep and wake up the next day knowing that she was going home. Despite this as she finally lay in bed she had started worrying unnecessarily about what would happen if they made their surprise visit and her parents were not home. It really was starting to drive her crazy, all she wanted to do was see her family. She decided that when they had talked to her mom and dad and then she would call Shane and ask him to come over too. Shane lived locally with his wife Marissa so hopefully there could be a reunion with the whole family. If only her dad could just be happy for her. Paul had already drifted off to sleep with his arm wrapped around his girlfriend's stomach as was already starting to become a habit that he had not even noticed himself. It was not something that he even did consciously, it just happened. He could not hear Stephanie's quiet plea, "Be happy for me dad, please."

It was hard to tell who was the most nervous of the two people in the back of the cab as it neared the end of its journey from the airport to Vince and Linda's house. Paul had never been there but he sensed that they must be near mostly from the size of the houses that he could see on the streets they were driving on but also from the increasing tension that he picked up on from his girlfriend who sat next to him looking out of the window on her own side of the cab. They both glanced at each other at the same time and Paul saw tension as plain as day on Stephanie's beautiful face as she asked him, "This will be okay won't it?" Paul was impressed with the confidence he managed to put into his voice when he did not feel any at all, "Of course. Your family miss you Steph, they'll be delighted to see you."

Stephanie looked sad, "It's not that part that I doubt. We're here."

Paul looked out of the window at the huge house that the cab had pulled up in front of. It was set back a fair distance from the street and had an immaculately paved driveway and an even better maintained lawn. There were lights on inside even though it was lunch time due to the dull winters day so clearly someone was home. The cars must have been in the large garage at the end of the driveway. The place looked incredible and yet Paul dreaded going anywhere near it. It had to be done though so he paid the cab driver and got out. Stephanie was already removing their bags from the trunk until Paul told her, "I'll get the bags, I don't want you carrying things."

Mainly due to the tension she had been feeling Stephanie laughed much more than was necessary, "I'm pregnant not disabled Paul, I can carry a bag." Paul took a bag in each hand and slammed the trunk closed and then the cab pulled away. "No you can't, not while I'm here to do it."

Stephanie beamed at Paul and he still felt the same way about that smile as he had the first time he saw it. She was so stunningly beautiful and now she was going to be the mother of his child, even if Vince went wild that was not going to change. This made Paul feel a lot better as they walked up the driveway. Stephanie took her keys from the pocket of her leather jacket but before they reached the front door Paul had an idea, "Don't walk in, ring the bell. It will make the surprise better."

With a nervous smile Stephanie did as he said. It seemed to Paul that it was taking forever for someone to answer the door but it was in fact less than twenty seconds before the door opened and Vince appeared. His eyes widened and a huge smile burst onto his face as he saw his daughter, "Steph! Oh god I'm so glad to see you!" Paul did not have to force himself to smile any more. Seeing how happy his girlfriend was as she rushed into her father's arms was all that he needed from today, he did not care if he got the riot act himself. Stephanie was blubbering again, "I missed you daddy. I love you."

Vince held his daughter and Paul noticed that he had not even been looked at yet as Vince said, "I missed you too sweetheart, I'm so happy you're home and I'm so happy for you that you're pregnant," finally Vince made eye contact with Paul, "Both of you."

As Paul smiled Stephanie burst into tears and seemed to wonder if she might have misheard, "You are?"

Vince kissed her forehead, "Of course I am. I'm sorry about how I've been acting." As he was saying this Linda came out the kitchen asking, "Who is it Vince? Oh my god, Steph!" Linda rushed over and Vince released Stephanie to embrace her mother and he returned his gaze to Paul. The two men stood face to face for a long moment and despite what Vince had already said Paul wondered what would come next but then Vince held out his hand, "I'm sorry. No hard feelings?"

Without hesitation Paul shook the man's hand firmly, "Of course not, no hard feelings. I can understand why you feel the way you do, or did, but we want the same thing Vince. We want Steph to be happy, she means the world to both of us." Stephanie had heard this exchange and she was now sobbing into her mother's shoulder but unlike all of the previous times she had cried in the last twenty four hours it was now from relief and happiness. Linda was trying to get her daughter to stop crying as Vince said to Paul, "Come in, it's freezing out here. Let's get some coffee on the go."

Paul walked into his girlfriend's home for the first time and closed the door. When this was done he looked around him and thought that this place was indeed incredible. His parents were by no means poor and their house was very nice but this was something else entirely. Linda had managed to calm Stephanie down and had produced some tissue from somewhere that Stephanie was using to wipe her eyes as she said, "It's so good to be home."

Following her husband into the kitchen Linda said, "Let's have some coffee and something to eat and we can talk, okay? I'm sure you have things that you want to say and we have something to tell you, right Vince?"

Vince's voice came from the kitchen, "That's right."

Stephanie was clearly wondering what that was supposed to mean as she walked over to Paul who was thinking the same thing. He felt strange inside as she smiled at him and he realised that no matter how long he had been in the relationship with Jo he had not loved her, not truly loved her anyway. What he felt now was true love as he looked into Stephanie's beautiful, perfect blue eyes, "I told you it would be fine. I love you."

As she nestled herself into him Stephanie kissed him, "I couldn't be happier than I am right now, I love you."