A/N:Thischapter is based aroundthe song "Always on my Mind" by Elvis.
To read the original version with song lyrics go to: bitter-solemnity. com /fics /Moments.php (just get rid of the spaces).
Jericho walked through his front door, sighing as he turned on the light. He had just gotten back from a date that Christian had set him up on. The woman had been nice enough, but he just couldn't feel attracted to anyone but HER. Stephanie, his ex-wife.
It had been almost nine months since they had gotten divorced, but he still wasn't over her. He wasn't sure he'd ever be over her. Sitting there at dinner tonight, with this strange woman in front of him, his mind couldn't help but try to find any traces of Stephanie in her. He found that he did that with any woman he met, he tried to find just a little piece that reminded him of her.
He set his keys down on the table, and went to check his messages. He looked at the machine and noticed there were two messages. He pushed the buttons and listened to them. The first one was from Christian, asking how his date had gone, and telling him to give him a call tomorrow. The second one was from Stephanie.
"Hi Chris, just calling to confirm that you were picking up the kids this weekend. I guess you're not there, so if you want to give me a call then you can. Otherwise, I'll see you on Friday, bye."
Jericho stood silently, just listening to her voice. It sounded the same every single time he talked to her, like she wanted to be any place but talking to him. He listened to it one more time, just wanting to hear her voice again. He sighed, deleted the messages, and went to bed.
Jericho pulled up to her house, ready to pick up his kids. They both had custody of them, but since Stephanie had decided to work from home, rather than go to the office anymore, she took care of them more often. Jericho, who still traveled with the company, saw them whenever he had a free weekend, which was usually once every two or three weeks.
He got out of the car and walked up the front door, ringing the doorbell. He could hear someone running to the door, and it flew open, revealing Rory who ran to him, and wrapped her arms around his waist.
"Daddy! I missed you!" she yelled happily, as Jericho moved to pick her up.
"Hey there cutie, I missed you too," he smiled widely at her. He looked into the house and saw Gwynn walking towards the door holding a bunch of things.
"Hi Daddy, I have all the stuff we're bringing," she told him, dragging some bags out.
"Did you bring your whole closet Gwynn?" he said reaching out to ruffle her hair. She smiled at him, two teeth missing.
"Well Daddy, Mommy always says you never know what mood you'll be in, and you always need an outfit to match." Jericho let out a small laugh. Gwynn was more like Stephanie every day.
"Oh, I see, where is your mother?"
"She's cleaning up Chrissy," Rory chimed in. As soon as she said that Stephanie came walking down the hallway, holding Chris Jr. in her arms. Jericho's breath caught, just like it did every time he saw her. He still thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on.
"Hi Chris," Stephanie said smiling at him as best she could. Jericho set Rory down, and took Chris Jr. from her arms.
"Stephanie," he greeted her nodding.
"So you're going to bring the kids back on Sunday right?"
"Yeah, probably in the afternoon, is that okay with you?"
"That's fine," she told him.
"Good, well, see you later," Jericho said, awkwardly.
"Bye," she told him before kissing each of their children goodbye. He turned around and walked to the car, not once looking back.
"Daddy?" Jericho looked to his younger daughter, his other two kids fast asleep on the airplane.
"Yes cutie?"
"Why don't you live with us anymore?" she asked curiously. Jericho was surprised by the question. He didn't really know how to answer that one.
"Well, Mommy and I, we decided that we needed to be apart from each other," he explained the best that he could.
"But why?"
"Because sometimes Mommies and Daddies just can't be around each other anymore."
"But don't you love Mommy?" Rory innocently looked at him. Jericho didn't even hesitate for a moment before answering.
"Yes, I do."
Rory nodded then went back to the coloring book that she was working on, satisfied with the answer she had received. Jericho looked at her for a moment, wondering what had prompted her to ask that. And he kept wondering the exact same thing that she was, why weren't he and Stephanie together?
Maybe if he had tried harder, she might still be with him. Maybe he could have made her happier if only he had put more effort into it. Had he put her behind his job or something, he really didn't know. Whatever problems they had, he should have tried to resolve them. Then maybe she would still be with him. Maybe they would still be a family.
A few months later, Jericho was sitting across from his best friend, Kurt Angle. Kurt was acting as the general manager for SmackDown, so they were both still traveling with the company. They had decided to catch a bite to eat after the show.
"So how are the kids?" Kurt asked.
"They're good, I had them last weekend. We went to New York for the weekend. Took them to Central Park, Statue of Liberty, it was pretty fun."
"So I guess that means you had to see Stephanie."
"Well, yeah, why?"
"Just wondering if you two had come to your senses yet," Kurt said with a smile. Jericho groaned at him.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, the fact that you two are idiots for ever getting divorced, when it's so blatantly obvious that you still love each other."
"I don't know what you're talking about, you're crazy Kurt."
"Maybe I am. But tell me this, do you love her?"
"Yes, but obviously that wasn't enough," he said dryly.
"Well, that's half the battle then, I know that she still loves you."
"And just how exactly do you know this, has she revealed this information to you personally?"
"No, but come on, it's obvious, she loves you, I know it"
"I hate to burst your bubble Kurt, but she doesn't love me, ok, and we're not going to get back together. That's just the way it is," Jericho sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Every time he got into a serious discussion with Kurt it would always end with talk about him and Stephanie.
"Just you wait Chris, when you two get back together, I'm going to gloat all over the place."
"You know what Kurt, if Stephanie and I ever do get back together, which won't happen, but if it does, then I give you full permission to give me a big, fat 'I told you so' ok?"
"That's all I ask."
Later that evening, Jericho was lying down in his hotel room, and thinking about what Kurt had said. Kurt seemed so sure that he and Stephanie would get back together. How could Kurt be so sure that they would end up together? Sure he still loved Stephanie, but he thought it was pretty obvious that they had both moved on.
He had seen a couple women since the divorce, nothing serious of course, he just couldn't bring himself to get serious with a woman right now. Or maybe ever, he didn't know. He knew that Stephanie had seen some guys since they split up. He had either heard from some of their friends, or the kids had let it slip.
It hurt to think of Stephanie with other guys. Sure, she had been married before he had been with her, but she had confided in him that her first marriage hadn't been all that happy at all. She and HHH always competing for control, it was hardly the prototype for a happy marriage. She had also told him that she was actually happy they had gotten divorced, because by the end of their marriage it had been all bitterness. He wondered if she felt the same way about their broken marriage?
But this was different than her first marriage, Jericho wasn't in love with Stephanie when she was married to HHH, but he was in love with her now. Maybe it was hypocritical of him to not want Stephanie to see other men when he had seen other women, but he didn't care. Just thinking of the woman he loved kissing another man made him shudder in disgust.
She had ruined him, he concluded. He was ruined for other women because of her. He couldn't be with someone else now, not after her. He would look at a woman and all he would see would be Stephanie. He couldn't stop thinking about her, she invaded his every thought, clouding him from every other woman he had ever come across.
He thought back on all the women that he had gone out with since Stephanie. He realized that he had stopped seeing them all for the same reason: he couldn't get over Stephanie. He felt like he was cheating on her each and every time. He knew he wasn't technically, but his heart told him otherwise. His heart still belonged to her, and it always would.
Jericho was sitting at the park watching his kids run around like mad, enjoying themselves. He couldn't help but smile. Gwynn looked over at him, and he smiled at her. She walked over and sat down on the bench next to him.
"Daddy, are you ok?" she asked leaning her head on his arm.
"Of course Princess. Why do you think I'm sad?"
"I don't know Daddy, you just looked kind of sad."
"I'm not sad, I'm with you guys, you don't make me sad."
"Sometimes Mommy seems sad." Jericho looked down at her curiously.
"What do you mean?"
"Sometimes she looks like she's gonna cry. She just says that she needs hugs." Jericho wondered why Stephanie would be sad. It couldn't possibly be for any of the reasons he hoped for.
"But Brad makes her smile." Jericho's eyes widened and he looked at Gwynn in shock. She was still leaning on him, and didn't see the expression on his face.
"Gwynn, who's Brad?"
"He's the man Mommy's been going out to dinner with. He's very nice. He's been coming to see her for a while."
Jericho stared straight ahead, not being able to move. So Stephanie had a new someone in her life, and according to Gwynn he had been over for a while. He didn't know how to take this news. From what he had heard Stephanie had only been out with guys once or twice, but now she was actually seeing someone regularly.
Jericho had always had a thin shred of hope that he and Stephanie would find their way back to each other. It was mostly fueled by Kurt's diatribes on why him and Stephanie belonged together. He would never tell anyone though, they would probably laugh at him. Well, except for maybe Kurt. If he told Kurt he knew he would come up with some stupid scheme to try to reunite them.
But now that thin shred of hope had been cut, and Jericho knew that he had lost her. And his heart started to ache, the dull ache spreading through his body, until he was just numb.
Jericho woke up with a start, feeling his stomach flip-flop. He got out of bed, and went downstairs to fix some breakfast. He looked to the clock and realized it was almost lunchtime. He noticed the mailman drop off his mail, and went outside to pick it up.
He opened the mailbox, and suddenly a feeling of dread passed over him. He looked both ways making sure there was nothing behind him. He grabbed the mail, and the feeling was still with him. He walked inside his house and looked through the mail.
He came across a simple white envelope...
THE END
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this prequel, and now that it's finished, you should go read "I've Been Loving You Too Long" ;) But seriously, I hope you liked the story, and I thank all of you for taking the time to review it. I really enjoyed writing this one. :)