I'm not going to be able to post much over the next week or two so I thought I'd give you a double installment. And for those of you like me who are frustrated as hell with Paul and Steph in this story, things may just get better soon...sort of...mwhahahahaha lol. Oh and as always, thanks so much for your lovely feedback and for sticking with me on this! :)

Chapter 37

"Here. This is for you."

Paul lifted his head from his hands and tilting it slightly, he peered at Stephanie through the blonde strands that hung like a silk curtain across his face. She was hovering by him and her smile was shy and hesitant as she extended the paper cup in his direction.

"It's a coffee and it's black." she offered.

He pressed his lips together tightly as his stomach churned in protest at the mere thought of the hot drink. He'd already consumed enough of it to sink a small vessel not to mention the fact his hangover was beginning to kick in and the very idea of anything passing his lips gave him the sudden urge to gag. Quickly shaking his head, Paul straightened up in his chair and pushed back his blonde strands from his forehead.

"I don't want it."

"Tough. You're drinking it."

"And I should do what you say why?" he snapped, his face flickering with his annoyance at her barked instructions. He scowled as he saw that stubborn look on her face; the look he'd seen more times that he cared to remember and the look that told him that Stephanie was determined to make him do what she wanted and take the coffee. Well, she had another thing coming if she thought she could order him around like he was one her damn patients. As far as he was concerned, she could take the drink and shove it straight up her ass. He wasn't touching it and it was as simple as that. Stretching his right leg out in front of him, he crossed his left foot over it and his arms mimicked that same position as they folded over his chest. He could feel Stephanie's outrage as she glared back at him, her frustrated snort echoing around the empty waiting area.

"Is there a reason why you have to be so damn infuriating?"

"Maybe it's because I choose to be." he shot back at her, his eyes still not quite looking at her and lips twitching with his smirk as he heard her irritated sigh.

"Look Paul, I'm not in the mood for this. Just take the damn cup will you?"

Stephanie snapped, holding the coffee out even further to his face as her blue eyes stared back at him defiantly. Unfortunately for him, he made the fatal mistake of lifting his head and looking into them for a brief second and that was all the time he needed to get sucked in and feel that all too familiar weakness in his chest. He swallowed hard deliberately drawing his eyes away from her and reluctantly taking the cup; anything to stop those ocean blue pools from looking at him any longer. They unnerved him and reminded him exactly why he'd been keeping his distance from her and trying his hardest to forget all about one Stephanie McMahon. And he'd tried. He really had. The only problem was that "out of sight" didn't necessarily mean "out of mind", at least not in her case. If anything, it had only reminded him how major a part of his life she was and how at times it felt so empty and pointless without her. Still, he was finding a way to adjust and slowly he was getting things back on track. He'd even managed to convince himself he was halfway to being okay; or at least he had been until this had all happened. Now his best friend was lying in a hospital bed and he was forced to just sit here and try and wait patiently to see if he would pull through. And he had to pull through; the alternative just didn't bear thinking about.

God knows he'd felt physically sick when Stephanie had told him Matt had been in an accident. The guy was like a brother to him and he'd never had anything bad like that happen to someone close to him before and it had definitely freaked him out. That's why his first instinct had been to pull Stephanie into his arms and hold her tight, looking for the comfort and the strength that he usually found in her. She had always been his rock and the glue that held him together when he needed someone. But now he couldn't need her. He couldn't hold her because she was no longer that person for him; not any more. Stephanie stopped being the one he turned to the second she had shattered his heart into tiny pieces. But in spite of that, in spite of everything that happened between them, here he was sitting with her feeling strangely comforted by her presence. Just knowing she was here soothed him and stopped him from going nuts over Matt yet at the same time he still felt so angry with her. It just didn't make sense but quite honestly, when it came to his feelings for Stephanie, it never really did and he gave up even trying to figure it out a long time ago.

Sighing heavily, Paul shifted in his seat and his nose wrinkled in disgust as he caught a nauseating waft of the hot black liquid. "I don't know why you keep insisting on making me drink this crap." he complained.

"Well you're the one who needs to sober up." Stephanie told him matter-of-factly as she settled back in the seat next to him.

"I am sober." he glowered.

"Maybe so but one more cup won't do you any harm."

"No but it will probably kill me. It tastes like shit." Paul made a face as he rocked the cup in the sideways motion watching the murky liquid as it sloshed against the edge, his brown eyes peering at it suspiciously.

"You're actually supposed to drink it you know, not play around with it." remarked Stephanie.

But she immediately regretted opening her mouth when Paul slowly turned his head and threw her an icy glare before pointedly placing the cup on the small table next to him and pushing it from his reach. She shifted uneasily in her chair and dropped her eyes to the floor silently cursing herself for making things even more tense between them. God knows things were difficult enough as it was without her smart-ass comments stirring up the mix. But she just couldn't help herself. At least by needling Paul, she got a response and didn't have to suffer this overbearing silence that had developed between them the minute they had stepped out of the apartment and gotten in her car to drive over here. It made her nervous and edgy and she hated every single second of it. Still, it was no less than she probably deserved. She had hurt Paul badly and Matt's accident didn't magically erase any of that. If anything, it had only reminded her how much of a coward she had been. Because really, how could the thought of forever with Paul have scared her so much when it was a hell of a lot scarier to know that she could face having to spend the rest of her life without him. In fact, the very idea of being without him terrified her to death especially when her mind had briefly entertained the fact that it could have been Paul in that accident last night. But she had quickly pushed those thoughts away unable to bear even thinking about it. It was killing her already to know that Matt had been in such danger. Thank God though the signs were good and that the operation had been successful. There was no further evidence of any internal bleeding and his vitals were strong and responsive. Now all they had to do was wait for him to open his eyes and come back to them.

Licking her lips and letting out a shaky breath, Stephanie glanced wistfully towards the empty hospital corridor where Matt had been moved to from the recovery room. For the umpteenth time in as many hours, she found herself silently praying for his good health, even plea bargaining with the man upstairs one more time as she sat there waiting for any news.

"I think my ass has gone to sleep."

Paul's voice surprised her and lifted her from her haze. Blinking her eyes, she slowly turned her head in his direction to see him fidget on the padded cushion as his long legs stretched out across the floor. His big hand lifted to brush a few annoying strands from his face as he stared straight ahead, once more refusing to even look at her. Still, she felt a little encouraged that he was at least engaging in some form of conversation with her.

"How long have we been sitting here anyway?"

She lifted her shoulder in a shrug as she clasped her hands together and rested them on her lap. "A few hours or so."

"Is Naomi still in there?"

Stephanie nodded. "She's with Matt's parents. They don't want to leave him. The doctors think he should wake up soon."

Paul's shoulders rose and fell with his heavy sigh. "I hope so. I hate all this waiting around. God knows these places make me nervous enough as it is."

Her blue eyes filled with sympathy as she watched him look around the waiting area anxiously. Her hand reached out to him tentatively at first before resting on his leg, patting it on it gently.

"Try not to worry. He will be okay, you know."

"Don't." Paul said quickly, shaking his head abruptly while his brown eyes stared at his leg for a second before he batted her hand away from him. "Just don't do that, okay?"

"Do what?" Stephanie asked as she turned in her seat, trying her best to disguise the pain that she felt at his obvious rejection. "I was only trying to help. I know how nervous you get in these situations." she explained.

"Yeah well that's my concern, okay."

She shook her head in disbelief pushing the brown strands angrily behind her ear. "Oh so now I'm not allowed to be concerned about you?"

"Actually, no! You're not." he shot back and this time Paul did look at her. His dark eyes narrowed in her direction and his top lip curled into a snarl as his long digit pointed at her. "You lost all right to be concerned about me the minute you wrote me off and threw all that shit back in my face."

"And you're just never going to forgive me for that, are you?" she scoffed.

"Why the hell should I?" he replied in a raised voice but he quickly pressed his lips together as the sound of his loud, gravelled tone echoed in his ears. This wasn't the place for any of this and he was damned if he was going to be drawn into an argument with her no matter how badly he wanted to scream at her right now. There was more important things to worry about, namely Matt. Letting out a calming breath, Paul quickly pushed himself up from the chair, suddenly stifled by Stephanie's presence and the emotions connected to her that were rushing at him all too fast.

"You know what? I'm not even getting into this." he told her before disappearing down the corridor, the soles of his shoes intermittently squeaking against the spotless linoleum. His tired eyes burned with the rays of the bright morning sunshine that filtered through the windows that lined his path. As the heel of his hand lifted to rub at them, he heard her voice behind him and he scowled in annoyance.

"Paul, wait!"

He felt Stephanie's hand grip his arm to spin him round. Her fingers burned through the material of his blue cotton shirt making his skin tingle with her warmth and Paul swallowed thickly as he shrugged her off. He didn't want to feel the familiarity of her or remember how alive he felt every single time she touched him. Those were forbidden memories; memories that he had been forced to forget in order to find a way to move on from her. And he had tried to move on. He'd taken every touch and every whispered word they had shared and locked them away in the furthest recesses of his mind thinking one day they would somehow just disappear and he would be free again. But he had been kidding himself to even think that way because how could he ever truly be free from her when it wasn't his mind clinging onto those memories. It was his heart; the same stubborn heart that refused to let go of her and the same heart that had discovered its beat once more the second he saw Stephanie walk out of that car last night and back into his life. And it hadn't stopped beating since and even right now it was racing in his chest at the simple act of just being near her. He was hopeless, either that or just completely helpless. He guessed it was probably both.

"Look I'm sorry. I really am." she apologised.

His brown eyes darted around him refusing to meet Stephanie's face as he felt her staring intently at him.

"I'm so sorry for all those things I said to you that day in your office but I didn't mean them. I didn't mean any of it. I was just hurt and angry and …."

She pressed her lips together, her words resting on the tip of her tongue as Paul held up his hand to silence her. His expression was pained as he raked his fingers through his hair, the blonde strands resting in a soft frame around his face.

"Just stop right there. Please. I don't want to hear it. Because I was fine, you know. I was handling this."

Stephanie shook her head sadly as her big blue eyes looked at him but again they were looking at nothing as once more he refused to even look in her direction. "Yeah well, congratulations. Because I'm not. I'm not handling it at all."

Her spoken admission hung in the air as Paul turned his face to the window, the light yellow rays illuminating his handsome face. She saw his jaw flicker before he rolled his lips together.

"That's not my problem any more, Stephanie."

His dismissive tone sent a dagger to her heart and she pushed back the lump in her throat, determined not to cry. Not in front of him and not in front of a man that quite clearly no longer gave a damn about her. Shaking her head angrily, her fists clenched tightly as they hung by her sides. "Of course not because God forbid you even give a crap about me or my feelings."

Paul's brown eyes flashed back at her as he spun on his heel to face her. "And why should I?" he spat back. "You never gave a crap about mine."

Stephanie's mouth parted to reply when a voice behind them interrupted them.

"Well it's nice to see some things never change."

Hearing Naomi quickly brought them to their senses. Paul's face flushed with embarrassment as he quickly checked around himself making sure their argument hadn't attracted an audience. The last thing he had wanted was to cause a scene but thankfully it was still the early hours of the morning and the hospital ward was practically deserted. Still, he would have preferred it if Naomi hadn't been witness to it all. God knows she had enough to deal with; they all did. Sighing and shuffling his feet underneath him, his expression was apologetic as he met Naomi's red rimmed eyes.

"Although I suppose shouting at one another is a step forward from completely ignoring each other."

"Look, I'm sorry….."

She quickly shook her head. "Save it."

Briefly turning to the window, she pushed back her auburn hair with her slender hand, her shoulders rising and falling with her shaky breath.

"You know it's always about the two of you. Even when Matt's in there fighting for his life, it's all about you and your little melodrama. In fact, you're probably the reason why he's lying there in the first place."

Paul's brown eyes widened at her accusation. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

She spun round from the window, her green eyes sparking back at him venomously. "You know fine well what I mean. It's because of you that Matt is lying in that bed."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about. You and Stephanie!" Naomi hissed as she glared back and forward between the shocked pair of faces staring back at her, both of them silent and both of them unsure what to say to her outburst. She was glad. It was about time they listened to someone and they were going to listen to her whether they wanted to or not. This crap had been going on for long enough. Licking her lips, she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"For weeks now, Matt's tried so hard to be there for you both. He's listened when you needed someone to talk to or he's just been there supporting you. He was so determined that neither one of you would have to deal with this alone. But it wasn't easy for him. God knows he hated being stuck in the middle and seeing his best friends torn apart but of course how he felt didn't matter. How it affected him wasn't important. All that was important to him was trying to find a way to get his friends back together. God knows he was worried sick about you both and ran himself ragged trying to talk to you and trying to make you see sense."

She paused as she shook her head, sniffing back the tears that now threatened to fall and her hands dropped to her sides as she took a second to compose herself.

"Not that he should have bothered because neither of you listened to him anyway." she continued. "You were both too wrapped up in your own melancholy and perfectly content feeling sorry for yourselves. You point blank refused to leave the apartment and you…." she said waving her manicured finger at Paul. "You just holed yourself up in that gym twenty four hours a day. You were hardly ever at the apartment which was why Matt had to drive there to see you after work yesterday and that was when that stupid car crashed into him."

Her words stung and Paul's mouth parted in shock as he struggled to process what Naomi was telling him. The very idea that he was responsible for Matt being somewhere he shouldn't ate him up on the inside and he could feel the knots of guilt twisting in the pit of his stomach.

Naomi pressed her lips together almost in satisfaction as she noticed his stunned expression. "That's right, Paul. Matt was on his way to see you and now he's lying in that hospital bed and I ask you now, what was it all for? Why the hell should he have bothered about your happiness when you're too damn stubborn to ever want it for yourself. I mean why won't you just admit that you want to be with Stephanie? I mean it's obvious to anyone with eyes in their head that you're still in love with her. God knows she's still in love with you and I should know. I've had to see her wallow around my apartment too pathetic to do anything about it. Instead, like you, she'd rather dwell on the past and blame everyone else for this, that and the next thing and just be plain miserable for the rest of her life. Well fine!" she cried, her emotions welling up and beginning to get the better of her as the tears spilled over her lashes. "Both of you be miserable and shut one another out but do it on your own time. Don't make everyone else around you miserable too by dragging them into your stupid shit!"

Naomi sniffed and wiped at her cheeks with the back of her hand. Her green eyes darted back and forth between them.

"Matt didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve to be hurt and if he doesn't get through this I'll never forgive either of you, ever."

Her strangled sob echoed around the silent corridor as she ran in the direction of the restrooms and Stephanie stood there frozen to the spot, feeling absolutely shell-shocked by Naomi's blunt accusations. Her words had cut her deep but if she was being honest, it was only because they had carried the brutal element of truth. She had wallowed in her own misery. She had been too pathetic to handle the consequences of her fall-out with Paul and in turn had dragged Matt into the whole sorry mess without sparing a thought for how it was affecting him or making him feel. After all, Paul was his friend too. She wasn't the only one he was fretting over yet she hadn't cared about that. All she'd cared about was her own broken heart and she'd done nothing but whine and complain and cry every time he'd come over to the apartment. And Naomi had been witness to that. She'd seen how it had torn Matt in two so it was no wonder she had been so bitter and angry with them just now. If it wasn't for her own stupid guilt over Luke and her fear of love causing this entire mess with Paul, then none of this would be happening right now. Matt would be perfectly fine and Naomi's heart wouldn't be breaking over him, worried sick that she was going to lose him.

Letting out a shaky breath, her concerned blue eyes glanced in the direction where Naomi had just disappeared. "I should probably go after her." she said, turning on her heel to face Paul.

The look of pure devastation that she saw across his face made her breath catch in her throat. She had to fight her instinct to pull him into her arms and hold him as tightly as she could. Instead she reached for his shoulder, her fingers tentatively touching him as the tears burned her eyes.

"You know she didn't mean it, Paul. She's just worried and upset about Matt and…"

But her words were quickly silenced as he shook his head, deliberately stepping back and putting a distance between them as his brown eyes stared blankly ahead.

"Just go and check on her, okay?" he said, softly.

Stephanie pressed her lips together and slowly nodded her head as her composure shook and a solitary tear trickled down her cheek. "Okay." she whispered as she reluctantly backed away from him and slowly walked down the corridor. She didn't want to leave him. Everything inside her wanted to stay and comfort him but Naomi needed her. Paul didn't; not any longer and she had to try and accept that. God knows her selfishness had caused enough damage to him and to Matt. She would be damned if it was going to cause them any more.