Disclaimer: first page. Jay and Silent Bob, Dante and Randal belong in the Askewniverse.

A/N: still working to 7-29 Raw. It may be the next chapter. And I'm sorry if it seems a bit rushed. Well, it is. Stuff happened and I got behind. Wanted to catch up with the show. And thanks to all my reviewers. You guys reek of awesomeness! By the way, a friend who reads this for me wondered with such an angsty/serious theme, why do I keep adding humor? I say, how do you deal with grief? These guys try to laugh. Ok, I'll shut up now.

Shawn and I had made it to my personal gym to work off some steam when the doorbell rang. I looked at my watch, 12:37. "That would be Big Grumpy and his nurse."

He quickly put his barbell back on the rack and raced up the stairs. I followed a little more sedately. I put my weights back and walked up the stairs, listening in.

Scott's voice came down the hall first. "Hey man. Move to the side please. Gimpy has to get in a chair."

"Dang it Scott. I'm not that weak."

"No, no. Chy and me pulled out the couch bed this morning. Go lay down."

Kevin growled. "So help me Michaels, I swear. I am not a baby. I will be just fine if you two would stop with the mother henning shit."

I stopped where I was and made a detour. Into the kitchen, just off the side of the living room where they were gingerly sitting Kevin down. I walked to them with a glass of water, silently held out my hand to Scott, and he put some meds in it. Handing the water and pills to Kev, I waited. Stood there silently until he took them and sat back against the pillows as Shawn propped up his leg on another pillow. Man, I love being the strong silent type.

"Alright!" Scott cried out. "Silent Chyna is back. Hey, hey, can I be 'Jay'?"

"Nope," Shawn cut in. "Billy is Jay. He has no competition in the dumb blonde department."

Kevin grunted. "All I know is that I am not Dante or Randal. And let's leave it at that."

Shawn had been thinking. I could see the mischief in his eyes. "Well, I don't know who supplies Jay and Silent Bob, but I'm thinking Jesse and Kid have us all nicely in check."

That was it. I broke my silence. "Don't remind me. Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep those two under control?"

They all just looked at me. Of course they knew, stupid question.

"Um, Mom?" Shawn turned to me. "You do remember that the two of them have been clean for a year and a half right? I mean, you aren't going to go nuts on them again are you?"

I was starting to get a headache already. I rubbed my temples, "No Sunshine. I will not give them the third degree unless they do it again. Or at least, as much as they used to." I heard Scott's sigh of relief. "And don't tell me they have been completely clean, I know better."

"They will be fine." Kevin's voice was slurred. The meds were kicking in. "Now if all ya'll would shut up for a minute, a man could get some sleep." We laughed and I leaned over and tucked him in. It felt like normal. Being Mom again.

But one piece was missing.

Hunter.

We left Kevin to his dreams. The boys decided that dinner would be in order soon, so they went to the store for drinks and to hunt down some take out. Shawn and Scott would probably be a while. They haven't seen each other in a few months and there are just too many distractions on the way to the store. I elected to stay behind and care for our patient and to get my guest rooms ready. Yes, guest rooms. Between the money I made from the Playboy magazines and my in ring career, I had enough cash to buy us a house that could hold us all. Of course Shawn and Hunter helped pay for it, they made more cash than I did.

I have a home with four bedrooms. Two had twin beds and one had a single bed in it and then there was mine. Two full-sized beds pushed together. It was my little luxury. I tended to roll in my sleep and sometimes I would be joined by one of the guys. Heck, we are pretty big people and sometimes regular beds just don't cut it. Hunter and Shawn had a hell of a time moving that thing in the house. They complained like little whiney babies. But, later when we all collapsed into it, tired from moving, they sure paid it a lot of compliments.

In a trance, I cleaned the rooms. I was spending time thinking about the past and what we were going to do. What Hunter had done was not going to go away. We had to deal with this apparent abandonment. Now, DX members had turned on each other before. Hell, I had turned on Hunter to join Vince once, but every time this had happened, we had known about it. It was defections that we discussed that fans saw. We fooled the company plenty of times, but we always knew. Every one of us made these moves to further a career. But Hunter, well, to say this was a surprise would be taking it lightly.

I went to check on Kevin on my way through the house. Still sleeping. I made my way down the hall and into the laundry room. I was getting some extra blankets to put in the rooms, when something hit me. It was just a feeling of wrongness. Like there was something I had to do, but had forgotten it. You know the kind. The feeling you get when you wake up the morning your English paper is due and you forgot it. Yeah, that was the feeling. Wondering why, I started back down the hall.

"You feel it too?"

I jumped as Kevin spoke. "I thought you were sleeping. You scared me."

He shifted. "Sorry. I was asleep. I just woke a minute ago. Saw your face. You feel it too don't you? Like you are looking at one of those Magic Eye Puzzles and just can't see the picture. What are we missing? And I know its not that Hunter isn't here. It isn't that obvious."

I motioned with the blankets in my arms. "Let me go put these down. Stay awake and hold that thought." I walked to the rooms, slinging blankets on beds and made my way back. Sitting on the edge of the pull-out, I motioned for him to continue.

He sighed. "I know that Shawn wants us all to be here for him to discuss it, but I feel the need to say this. You still love him, don't you?"

My heart stopped. Play cool. "Yes, of course. I love you all. He's just done…."

"That's not what I meant." He cut me off. "And you know it."

It's just easier to admit. "Yes." I couldn't help it. Last night was the first time a guy had been in my bed since Hunter. Shawn and me tried to have a physical relationship once. It didn't work. But I loved Hunter and I think he loved me."

He glared. "They why Steph?"

"We were having problems and it was a career advance. He had my support." I saw the confusion and couldn't answer it. "I don't know what I was thinking and I don't know why he let me. Just take it as it is."

He nodded and was about to say something, when the guys busted in. "Hi honey. I'm home." Shawn called, peeking his head into the living room. "We've got food. Give us a minute and well bring it in here."

Scott yelled in from the kitchen. "You'll bring it. I ain't nobody's waiter."

So we ate that night and carried on as we usually did. But it was strange. The boys weren't there and neither was Hunter. And there was this cloud hanging over our heads. Now some people call it a big, dark cloud of trouble. But not for us. No, this one was neon green.