Sat at a table in the courtyard of a secluded restaurant on Wednesday lunchtime Stephanie was awaiting her Mom's arrival. When she had spoken to her Mom the previous day to discuss details for lunch Linda had informed her that her Father was on the warpath and it was best if they were not actually seen together right now so Linda had set aside a block of time in her schedule and had apparently labelled it as a lunch meeting with somebody her Father had never heard of so if he asked questions of her Secretary he wouldn't know anything.

Stephanie was anxious to find out what her Mom thought about everything, as hard as it was to potentially lose her Dad for real the thought about losing Paul forever hurt as much if not a little more.

She was brought out of her thoughts by the appearance of her Mom so stood up, "Thank you for coming."

Hugging her daughter Linda could see the stress on her daughter's face, "You're welcome. You know you're my daughter and I always enjoy having lunch with you."

Sitting down the two of them looked at the menus deciding what to have for lunch whilst exchanging some small talk but as soon as the menus were taken along with their orders things became serious, "So your Dad has been in a horrible mood since Monday. Care to tell me your side of the story?"

Taking a sip of the soda that had just been placed in front of her she was so anxious, "Paul and I have been back together for a few weeks, we have been keeping everything secret for all of the reasons you can probably imagine but Dad caught Paul leaving my hotel room on Monday morning. As you can imagine Dad completely flipped out and told us he expected us to split up and we stood up for ourselves and told him no. The time apart and then being back together made us realise exactly how much we love each other and want to be together and we don't want to be apart again. Anyway Dad kept insisting we split up and he told us that we had one week to split up otherwise he was disowning me."

"He WHAT?!" Looking around anxiously Linda was grateful that they were alone, "He actually said that he would disown you if you didn't split up?"

Nodding her head she tried to recall his exact words, "I believe he said something similar to 'I am tired of dealing with your childish antics and blatant disregard for my rules and if you don't split up then I will disown you'. We know that we disobeyed him but he and I haven't exactly been on speaking terms and we just wanted to do things on the quiet without anybody sticking their nose in for a while."

Linda could appreciate where her daughter was coming from, she suspected they were back together a while ago so the news wasn't a surprise to her but her husband's reaction was, "I don't understand your Father. Are you in the wrong? To a degree yes but why do you have to splash your relationship about again when the locker room was the reason you split in the first place? I don't know what the answer with your Dad is, I am hoping he was just bluffing and trying to test the relationship between the two of you."

"And if he wasn't? Are you going to disown me too?"

Placing her hand over her daughter's as it lay on the table she shook her head, "Never. No matter what I will never disown you and will always support you as long as you are happy."

Breathing a sigh of relief she was so relieved they had one person's support, "Thank you Mom, I really appreciate that. Let's enjoy lunch now."

Raising her glass Linda smiled, "Here here."

Clinking glasses the two women enjoyed a wonderful lunch together.

After lunch with her Mom Stephanie headed straight to the airport to catch a flight down to their secret place as she had dinner reservations with her boyfriend to keep.

He had just left the gym and was heading home when he spotted his girlfriend arriving, jogging the short distance between them when he was closer he called out to her, "Hey you."

Spinning around Stephanie smiled as she saw him approaching her, "Hey! Did I miss dinner?"

Laughing he shook his head, "No, I have just been to the gym whilst I waited so you're right on time. How did things go?"

"We'll talk about it over dinner."

Taking her offered hand the two walked the short distance to the front door hand in hand before they entered the house to settle in to enjoy the next few days away from every one and every thing.

No mention was made of Stephanie's lunch with her Mom for the next hour as they prepared for dinner and Stephanie slipped into a little black dress wanting to dress up for her boyfriend and look good as there was always a small doubt in the back of her mind that he would walk away after what her Dad had said.

Admiring her as she walked down the stairs he couldn't believe his luck, "How exactly did somebody like me get somebody as hot as you?"

Blushing she ducked her head nervously, "You are the sexiest man I know, you have a heart of gold and everything about you is hot so we're even."

Pulling on his jacket he held his hand out towards her, "Would you care to join me for dinner?"

Taking hold of his hand she smiled brightly, "It would be my pleasure."

Walking hand in hand to their favourite restaurant they smiled politely at the locals as they recognised faces along their short journey. As they entered the restaurant they smiled noticing the way Gino perked up from his position behind the hostess' desk, "Good evening Gino."

Smiling brightly he greeted the couple, "Good evening Miss Stephanie, Mr Paul. Will it just be the two of you again this evening?" Receiving two nods of the head he picked up two menus before he led them over to a table to seat them and to take their drinks order.

As soon as they had received their drinks and placed their food orders it was time to talk, "So what did your Mom say Stephanie?"

"Well it appears my Dad hadn't told her the whole story, if any of it at all, because when I told her that Dad had said that he will disown me if we don't split up she was shocked. She basically hopes that he is bluffing when he said that he will disown me but even if he wasn't she said that as long as I am happy she will support me."

Nodding his head slowly he wasn't sure what that meant for the two of them, "Well I'm glad your Mom is going to support you no matter what but what about us?"

Shocked her eyes widened wondering why he was asking, "Wait, what did I miss? Do you not want to be with me?"

Reaching across the table he took her hands in his, "I do not want to break up with you, I don't want to lose you but I had to ask, I have to know if the reality of potentially losing your Father for good changed things."

Shaking her head he was her constant, he never questioned her decisions or treated her like a child who didn't know her own mind, "Nothing changes between us unless you want it to, I love you now and I will always love you. If you are willing to put it all on the line to continue to date me then I am willing to walk into Raw on Monday hand in hand."

"Walking in to Raw hand in hand huh?"

Nodding her head there was no other way to make a statement, "Yes. I want to make a statement but if you're not comfortable with that we can just tell my Dad."

If this was going to be his exit he would rather do it with a bang, "Hand in hand it is."

Standing up she walked around the table and kissed him softly, "I love you."

Stroking her cheek gently he smiled, "I love you too but let's end all talk of work and your Father for now and enjoy dinner and then the rest of the week before next week okay?"

She gave him one final kiss before she sat down, "I agree with this."

As if on cue their dinners arrived and they had something to focus their attention on.