"Can I…can I talk to you?"

Chris looked up from his desk and licked his lips before smiling in a genial way. "What did you need, Hunter?"

"I wanted to talk, like I just said," Hunter shoved his hands into his pockets. "Look, I know that…can we just talk?"

"Sure, go ahead," Chris sat back in his chair and folded his hands behind his head. "Say what you have to say, I'm listening."

"Alone," Hunter said, glancing over at Stephanie who was flipping through a magazine on the couch in Chris's office. She glanced up at him, smiling innocently, like she'd only just noticed that he was here.

"Oh, do you mean me?" Stephanie asked in her fake Southern drawl.

"Yeah, sorry, do you think you can leave?" Hunter asked.

"Anything you say to me, you can say to her, she is my wife after all," Chris said and relished in saying that even if Hunter didn't know who Stephanie was. It didn't matter that Hunter thought he was dead, Chris knew the immense advantage he held over the other man and that was satisfying enough for him.

"Please," Hunter implored and if Chris and/or Stephanie had a conscience, they might feel bad for Hunter right now, but after everything that had happened, they couldn't even muster up the slightest bit of pity for him. He'd tried to end their friendship, using nefarious means and was their response warranted, perhaps not, but they never claimed to be good people.

"It's okay, sweetheart," Stephanie said, her voice dripping with sweetness. "I can just go to the cafeteria and get myself something to eat, it's not really a problem, would you like me to bring you anything, my love?"

"No, I think I'll meet you down there after I'm done talking with Hunter," Chris told her, smiling and crooking his finger towards himself. She leaned down and kissed him hard, her mouth opening as the kiss deepened. Chris returned it fully, wrestling his tongue with hers and both knowing that they were putting on quite the show for Hunter. That was half the fun of it all.

"Okay, I love you so much, honey bunch," Stephanie ran her hand down his cheek. She pulled away and "I hope you have a nice talk. It was nice seeing you again, Hunter."

"Yeah, you too," Hunter stared after her before he turned to Chris, who was back to folding his arms behind his head, making himself look so superior, but that's how he felt right now. He had an inkling of what this was going to be about and all Hunter had to do was confirm it. "Look, I know we hate each other, but I really need to talk to you about something and I need you to be serious with me."

"First you'll have to tell me what this is all about," Chris said, "then I'll make judgments."

"Look, this is serious alright, I'm not joking around," Hunter sunk into the chair in front of Chris's desk. "Do you ever feel…feel like Stephanie isn't really gone?"

"Of course I feel her presence everywhere," Chris said, pretending to be sad and wistful. "Sometimes I like to think she's watching over me, you know, my own personal guardian angel."

"No, I don't mean like that," Hunter said gruffly, "what I mean is do you ever feel like she's not…gone as in that she's kind of hanging around in some way, some weird…way…"

"You mean like a ghost?" Chris asked skeptically, trying to hold in his laughter. It seemed that Stephanie's impromptu phone call to him the other day had really spooked him. Good, Chris thought, because he wanted him to be spooked.

"I guess, I mean, that's silly, right?" Hunter asked. "It's just that the other day, I got this…God, this is going to sound unbelievable, but I got this phone call and it was from Stephanie—"

"I'm going to have to stop you here, man," Chris said, "you got a phone call from Stephanie? Don't you think that's a little unbelievable, maybe even a little crazy? Stephanie has been dead for a long time now. You know, it's probably time that you move on completely."

"You don't know what it's been like for me," Hunter snapped at him. Nobody understood what he was going through. Why did they all think he could just recover from this without any repercussions? Why did they think he was ready to go out and see other people when he wasn't? He was so close to having Stephanie right where he wanted her. He had her away from Chris, she was going to marry him, and then this, all of this would have been his. Didn't people get how hard it was to give all that up?

"Oh, I don't," Chris scoffed. "Do you remember what Stephanie was in my life, huh?"

"You didn't have her," Hunter leaned forward giving Chris an almost dangerous look. "You thought you had her, but she was mine, never forget that, Jericho." Chris laughed this time. "What makes you think you ever had her? You keep claiming that she loved you and you have what, one note that you don't even know where it came from? There was nothing between the two of you."

"You know nothing about what Stephanie and I were," Chris challenged him. "You never understood her. Not for one damn moment in your entire fucking relationship did you understand her. You tried to fit her in some goddamn box, some wife that you wanted, but you never knew her."

"Don't tell me what I did or didn't know!" Hunter yelled at him. He took a deep breath and looked down. "That's not what I'm here for, I'm not here to argue with you. I'm here to talk about what's going on and hoping that you had some kind of explanation for it."

"Yeah, because I know what's going on," Chris scoffed, "I don't even know what you heard. For all I know, you're going insane."

"Don't say that," Hunter muttered angrily. He'd been contemplating that very fact for a long time. He didn't want to think he was going insane, but that seemed to be the only explanation. At the very least, it was the only explanation that made any kind of sense. He wasn't generally a guy who believed in things like ghosts or the supernatural, but what else could there possibly be?

"Well, what else can it be? What exactly did this 'Stephanie' say to you?"

"She was just saying that it was dark and to help her and that she needed my help," he mumbled embarrassedly. When he said it out loud, it sounded so ridiculous. But it had happened, he was so sure of it. It couldn't have been a dream. He knew he was awake when it happened, at least he thought he was. Maybe his life was starting to blur together.

"And you think this is real?"

"I don't know what to think anymore," Hunter said, "weird things keep happening and I don't know what to think or to feel. I know what I heard, I know that it was real, it just has to be real, but I can't explain it, I don't know how."

"Sounds to me like you're going psycho."

"I'm not going psycho. I tried calling the number back, but nobody answered, I looked it up, it was a pay phone, just a regular pay phone. How could Stephanie call me from a pay phone if she's supposed to be dead? And the call came from around Stamford, so it was in the area. It was definitely in the area where she would…be or something…"

"How about it's a hoax," Chris told him. "Someone that sounded like Stephanie probably called you as a prank. I'm sure it can't be that hard to find your phone number, it was probably someone trying to mess with you."

"You think I'm lying."

"I think you're crazy, yes," Chris told him. "I think you're blowing something out of proportion. I mean, here you are, talking about ghosts and Stephanie coming back from the dead or whatever it is you're thinking. I mean, seriously man, what? You think that she's haunting you?"

"I told you I don't know what to think, but I know what I heard was her voice, I know what she sounds like and I would know if it was an imposter. I would just know it."

"Didn't you mention that weird things have been happening to you for a while?" Chris said to him, having fun with the man. That Hunter was buying all of this was just the icing on the cake. With any luck, it wouldn't take much more to completely break the man into a million different pieces. He really wanted to witness that happening.

"Yeah, but this was by far the weirdest," Hunter ran his hands through his hair. "I don't even know how to explain it. She also said it was cramped, like she was somewhere. I know you don't believe me, but I just…I guess nothing has happened to you then?"

"I haven't seen any otherworldly visions of Stephanie if that's what you're asking," Chris told him. "I think you need help, dude. You should really start going to a psychiatrist or something, maybe some kind of grief program. You never know what's going on in your head. I mean, you're seeing ghosts or hearing them or whatever…wait, you haven't seen Stephanie, have you?"

Hunter gulped, "No…"

"Holy shit, dude, you think you've seen her?" Chris laughed. "Wow, you need to get laid or something. How can you just like, go on with yourself? You need a good woman or some really good meds."

"I'm not fucking crazy!" Hunter yelled again, standing up and slamming his hands on the table. "I know what I see is real. I think Stephanie is out there. I think she's out there and I don't think she's dead."

"What are you going to do? Have them pull up her coffin and check?" Chris asked, knowing there was no way that would happen. There was no cause for them to and Vince was in charge of that legally and he had enough money to make sure that empty coffin was never opened.

"No, but…there has to be some explanation for this, some logical explanation."

"Yes, you are going crazy because you miss her so much," Chris stood up and stared him down. "You need a lot of help. Look, why don't I call around, get some numbers. I'm sure this will be covered by the company and you can get back on track."

"Fuck you," Hunter told him.

"I'm just trying to help," Chris shrugged.

"Help, my ass," Hunter stormed out of the room as Chris watched him walk in the direction of the elevators. Chris watched him with a smirk on his face, waiting a little bit before going for the elevators himself. He went down to the cafeteria and spotted Stephanie eating some French fries in the corner. He went and slid in next to her, giving her a peck on the cheek before grabbing a fry and eating it slowly.

"So what happened up there?" she asked quietly so nobody else could hear her.

"He went on and on about how he was seeing Stephanie and how he heard her and he wanted to know if I'd heard from you as well. He was trying to come up with explanations, hoping that I had seen the same thing. Little does he know that I see Stephanie every night," Chris winked at her and she fed him another fry. "He's completely upset about it, stormed out of my office and everything, just like the little baby that he is."

"What did you say to him?"

"I told him that he should get laid immediately," Chris said, "he really just doesn't know the power of a good pussy."

"Blah," Stephanie rolled her eyes, "what else did you say, what else happened, what do you think is going to happen now?"

"Well, I think there's definitely one thing happening."

"What, don't keep me in suspense."

"I think Hunter is just about to go over the edge."