Walking into Stephanie's office Shawn was surprised to see Paul sat at his desk staring at his cell phone, "you know that won't make it ring right?"
Jumping at the sound of Shawn's voice he lifted his head to look at his friend, "I was just thinking."
"That is a dangerous activity for you. What has got you thinking so hard anyway?"
Sighing Paul shook his head, "you don't even want to know. What are you doing here anyway?"
Looking at his friend like he was crazy he shook his head, "it's lunchtime, you know the time of the day where you take a break from work and eat some food to sustain you for the rest of the day."
Glancing at his watch he realised that his friend was actually telling the truth, "oh. I didn't realise what the time was, I lost all track of time thinking about my Mom."
There was definitely more to Paul's mood than just his Mom, "I think we need a talk. Come with me and we will get some food and talk along the way." Without waiting for a response Shawn marched into Stephanie's office, "Paul and I are going to get lunch, do you want anything?"
Lifting her head at the sound of Shawn's voice she smiled at him, "well isn't that nice for you? Unfortunately some of us have to work through lunch again so just bring Paul back in one piece along with lunch for me please."
Standing straight he saluted her, "yes Ma'am." Turning around he walked back out of her office, "so we can leave now Paul."
Rolling his eyes Paul stood up and pulled his jacket on not in the mood to fight with him, "I don't have long to spend so we'll have to be quick."
"You have an hour for lunch, I'm sure like the plenty of times we did it before that we can be there and back in next to no time."
Pushing his friend towards the door Paul followed him out not wanting the third degree about anything.
They were on their way down in the elevator when Shawn decided to start from the beginning, "so what's wrong with your Mom?"
Sighing he leant against the rail, "she had a bad fall at the weekend and badly bruised her hip and sprained her knee."
Frowning Shawn really liked Paul's parents so it was, "well that sucks, I'm sorry to hear that. Is she getting better?"
"She's still in a lot of pain obviously but she will be okay."
The elevator stopped and the two men walked off the elevator and headed outside to go to their regular sandwich shop to get some lunch. The walk there was taken up by random conversation about the kids and anything under the sun but on their way back Paul had something he needed to know, "has Rebecca ever kept secrets from you?"
Turning his head to look at his friend Shawn shook his head, "no, well not really. She did keep a secret but it never lasted, she eventually told me what was up and more often than not the only reason she was keeping the secret was because she was trying to protect me. Why do you ask?"
"Because I am absolutely certain that Stephanie is keeping some sort of secret from me and it makes me nervous to think what it is, especially because she seems petrified that I'm going to leave her. You don't think she's cheated do you?"
Laughing Shawn shook his head, "no way on this Earth. I know Steph is like my little sister and she is a really close friend of mine but I know her and I know that she would never ever cheat on you."
As much as he wanted to know what was going on he was relieved to hear that Shawn didn't think she was cheating on him, "then what is going on? Ever since Saturday when I went to the hospital to be with my Mom and left Stephanie at home with the kids and Kara for Sarah's visit she has been acting really funny."
"Kara and Sarah came face to face? The house was still in one piece when you got home?"
Nodding his head, "actually it was yes. Ever since that though Stephanie has been acting weird, acting like she was keeping something from me and I hate it, I just want to know what's going on in that pretty little head of hers and find out what she is keeping from me."
Sighing softly Shawn wished he had some half decent advice for him, "time will heal all wounds or well in this case time will give you the answers you want. It is unlikely that she will keep the secret from you forever, she will eventually tell you what happened if it is really important. Knowing Sarah she probably flipped out and accused you of all sorts or told Steph a bunch of lies and she's probably trying to process it all in her head."
"But why is Stephanie so concerned that I might leave her?"
Shrugging his shoulders Shawn couldn't answer that, "I don't know but women are funny creatures so trying to work them out is a waste of both yours and my time. If you love her and think you can spend the rest of your life not worrying about why she acts funny when she inevitably acts funny and if you trust in her and in your relationship that she won't cheat on you then let this go and just move on. Prove to her and yourself that you don't need to know everything that happens, if it is important then she will tell you in her own time."
Surprised by the sense that Shawn was talking he raised his eyebrow at him, "when the hell did you get so knowledgeable?"
Laughing he lifted his hand and pointed to his wedding ring, "nearly ten years of marriage. After this long together I should know the way women think and I most certainly do, well mostly, but women do like to keep us men on our toes and keep throwing curve balls at us from time to time but we have to trust in them and our relationships otherwise we will be sad and alone."
"Do you think I can trust Stephanie?"
Putting his hands up in the air Shawn wasn't going to answer that, "do you think you can trust her? It doesn't matter if I think you can trust her, it only matters what is in your heart and soul and if you think you can."
Sighing softly as he thought about it it didn't take him longer than a few seconds to come to the conclusion, "of course I can."
"Then why are you worrying? If you believe that you can trust her then quit worrying about what she is keeping from you and just focus on being with her."
Paul nodded, "I will, don't you worry about it."
Walking back into the office Paul felt more relaxed than he had since Saturday afternoon. A smile came to his face when he saw Stephanie sat at his desk, "I thought you said earlier that you'd be working through lunch."
Shrugging her shoulders as she looked up she was supposed to be but she didn't want to, "I changed my mind about two minutes ago. I came out here to wait for you guys to come back."
He stood there and watched as she got up from his seat at his desk and walked around the desk to greet him giving him a quick hug and kiss to the lips, "can we sit together?"
Nodding his head he took her hand in his and led her back to the desk before he took his seat and pulled her onto his lap.
Sliding her arm around his neck she leant her head against his shoulder as Shawn dished out the sandwiches. She could feel the difference in his body language and it made her happy to know that he seemed relaxed and wasn't stressing about the weekend any more, "so I was thinking about going to see your Mom after work. I thought we could call your parents and tell them that I'll cook, I thought your Mom would appreciate the visit from the kids."
Smiling softly that sounded nice, "my Mom would love that, she was pretty angry when I told her that your parents had the kids all week so I think she would kill me if we don't go and visit at least once this week."
"Then that is settled, we'll pick up supplies on the way to pick up the kids and then we'll go to your parents for dinner, you can call them after we eat."
Shawn pouted, "what about me?"
Stephanie smirked, "you can go back to work after lunch."
Sinking down into his chair he sighed heavily, "you're so mean to me."
Paul chuckled, "it's the least you deserve. Now shut up and eat."
Seeing Paul smiling and being relaxed Shawn was happy, he was glad to see that he wasn't worrying any more, he only hoped that whatever Stephanie was keeping from Paul was not bad and would not break his heart.
