"Stephanie?"
"Yeah, that's my name isn't it?"
"Yeah, but-but you said………what are you doing here?"
"I had to see you, I've been thinking about you and Regan non-stop since you left."
"You have?"
"Yes, I've been watching you on television, and I-I found myself missing you."
"Chris, who was at the door?" Marissa called out.
"Am I interrupting something?" Stephanie asked uncomfortably, thinking that he might be with another woman, and that she was too late.
"It's just a neighbor Marissa, I'll be right in," Chris said, closing the door, so he and Stephanie could talk in private.
"I must be too late," Stephanie said, her gaze on the ground.
"What?" Chris asked confused, then realizing what she thought, "Oh! No, no, Marissa is your brother's wife. Your family is here because we're having a barbeque for—"
"Regan's birthday," she finished.
"Yeah, how did you know that? Do you have your memory back?" Chris asked hopefully.
"No, I don't."
"Oh," Chris said, his hopeful smile fading.
"But it's coming back," she told him, "I keep getting these flashes, clear memories, and they come every so often."
"Really?"
"Yeah, and I wanted to find you. I thought you'd like to know."
"How did you find us?"
"You're not very subtle," she answered, holding up the back of the picture, with the address on it.
"Well, it was worth a try, and it worked didn't it?" he said laughing a little.
"I want to remember Chris, but most importantly, I want to be with you and Regan when I do."
"Well, you're always welcome here."
"So I can stay?"
"Stephanie, you never have to ask to stay here, I guess that's the first thing you have to learn."
"And I guess I have a lot to learn right?"
"Not that much," Chris paused, "Um, would you mind if I hugged you?"
"No, not at all," she answered.
Chris tentatively stepped closer to her, and wrapped his arms around her. Growing more confident, he pulled her closer to him. She wrapped her arms around him, and hugged him back. Chris clung to her tightly, so glad that Stephanie was in his arms again. She might not exactly be the Stephanie he knew, but she was still here. He pulled away and smiled at her, which she returned.
"I'm glad to see you," Chris said.
"I was a little bit afraid that you wouldn't want to see me, because of what happened."
"Stephanie, there will never be a time when I don't want to see you."
"Thank you for letting me come back."
"Thank you for coming back. Do you want to come inside?"
"I'd like that, yeah," she answered.
"Your family is here, you can meet them," he told her.
"Great, I'd love to meet them."
Chris opened the door before he grabbed her suitcase with one arm and wrapped his other arm loosely around her waist. She found his presence comforting instead of foreign. They walked inside and Stephanie looked around trying to remember living here. She vaguely knew her surroundings, having seen this place in her dreams, and the memories that she had been able to recall.
"It'll probably be better if I tell them about you first before you just show up."
"You're probably right."
"Wait here," he told her, motioning for her to wait in the living room.
"Ok."
Stephanie watched him walk out into the backyard. She walked over to the mantle, and looked at the pictures that sat perched on it. She smiled as she looked at pictures from her and Chris's wedding, pictures of her and Chris, pictures of her and Regan, and Chris and Regan. Her eyes fell on one particular picture, and her mind suddenly came to life.
"Would you take the damn picture," she said, pretending to be annoyed.
"Ok, why don't you come over and look at this thing, there's like 5000 buttons on here."
She walked over to him, and the camera he was looking at. She shifted the infant in her arms, making sure that she was holding her tightly. She looked at the camera, and sighed.
"That one," she said pointing to one of the buttons.
"Yeah, you've probably read the manual or something."
"Or maybe I'm not a huge idiot," she said raising an eyebrow.
"Just sit down, so I can take the picture."
"Fine." She sat down on the bench, sitting the baby on her lap so they were both facing the camera.
"Ok, here we go," he said pressing the button.
He ran over to the bench and sat beside her, settling himself at her side. He wrapped an arm around her waist. He smiled at the camera, waiting for the flash to indicate a picture had been taken. He noticed she wasn't smiling all that much.
"I adore you," he whispered in her ear.
Her smile widened as the camera flashed.
Chris walked out into the backyard, breathing deeply. He kept thinking about how he was going to bring up the fact that Stephanie was currently standing in their living room. How does one bring up the topic of someone who everyone thinks is dead, but really isn't?
"Chris, where've you been?" Shane asked.
"I was outside talking to someone."
"One of your neighbors right?" Marissa said.
"Um, not exactly, I have some news I have to tell you all."
"What news?" Linda asked.
"Please let me finish before you say anything." Everyone nodded in compliance.
"Of course," Linda replied.
"When I was in England, and I went to where Stephanie's plane had crashed, I met someone there. It was a girl, and she started talking to me as I was standing there looking out at the water. I took her out to dinner that night, but after that we decided to part ways. But she's here today, and I want you all to meet her."
"You met a girl?" Linda asked incredulously, saying what the others were thinking. They had been under the impression that Chris would never get over Stephanie.
"Yes, but that's not the end of it," he took a deep breath, "The woman was Stephanie."
"What?" everyone exclaimed.
"Stephanie is here, and she's inside."
"Chris, are you joking with us?" Shane asked, looking at his mother, who had tears in her eyes.
"I'm not joking," Chris said seriously.
"But-but how is she alive?" Shane asked.
"How about I bring her out here, and then we can explain?"
"Please do," Vince said, wrapping a supportive arm around Linda.
Chris jogged back to the house and caught Stephanie staring at the pictures on top of the fireplace. He walked over to her and lightly tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped slightly before turning her eyes to him.
"Sorry I scared you."
"No, it's ok, did you tell them?"
"Yeah, they want to see you."
"Let's go," she said instinctively taking his hand in hers. Chris looked down surprised at their clasped hands, but didn't bother saying anything about it.
They walked out into the backyard, and everyone gasped. Tears fell down Linda's face as she saw her daughter for the first time in two years. Vince and Shane's jaws dropped as they saw Stephanie, and Vince pulled Linda closer into his embrace. Regan saw her, and ran over.
"Emma!" Regan cried, and stopped in front of her. Stephanie kneeled down to her level.
"Hey there Regan," Stephanie said, hugging the little girl.
"You come for my birthday?"
"Yeah, I did, do you mind if I stay here?"
"Stay!"
"Ok," she said smiling before standing up again.
"Oh my God, Stephanie," Linda said getting up and hugging Stephanie.
"Hi, you must be Linda," Stephanie said returning the hug. Linda pulled away and looked at Stephanie confused.
"Stephanie, what are you talking about?"
"She has amnesia," Chris filled in for them.
"Amnesia?"
"Yeah, I do."
"How did that happen? How is Stephanie alive?" Vince asked.
"Let's sit down," Chris said, letting everyone sit down before continuing, "Stephanie was never in the plane that crashed. She was attacked before she could get there."
"But they found your identification and your things."
"We figure that they took my things, and got on the plane themselves. I was in a coma for a couple of days, and when I came out of it, I had amnesia."
"But how did you find her?" Shane asked.
"Like I said I was at the beach, and she showed up."
"And you didn't tell us?" Vince said.
"He didn't want to get your hopes up," Stephanie said, "I told him that we should just leave me dead, because I couldn't remember. And that we should go our separate ways, and pretend like he had never found me. But I couldn't stay away, I found myself thinking about him and Regan, and I knew I had to come back."
"And you can't remember anything?" Shane questioned.
"After Chris left, I started getting these flashes of memories, so I'm hoping that eventually it will come back, but as of now, I can't remember all that much."
"My poor baby," Linda said, going over to Stephanie again, and hugging her.
"I'm glad you're alive Stephanie," Shane added.
"Thank you, Shane, I've seen you on television, you're very good at what you do."
"Thanks," Shane answered, just happy that Stephanie was back, memory or no memory.
"And Vince—"
"You can call me Dad," Vince put in.
"Dad," Stephanie complied, "Your character is extremely ruthless, I hope you aren't like that in real life."
"No, no I'm not," Vince said smiling at his little girl.
"So what are we going to do now?" Shane asked them all.
"What do you mean?" Chris said.
"Well, what happens now?"
"Um, I'd like to try to go back to my old life," Stephanie told them all, "If that's ok with all of you?"
"You mean, like your old job and things like that?" Shane said.
"Well, as close as I can without, you know, interfering or anything."
"We'll definitely see if you can fit back into the company," Vince told her.
"Thank you, I'd like that," Stephanie said smiling.
"We can re-introduce you to the roster at the next show on Monday, we can hold off bringing you on television for a while."
"Television, I would get to be on TV?" Stephanie asked in amazement.
"Yes, eventually."
"Wow."
"So, we'll see how it goes."
~Later that evening~
Chris was cleaning up some plates and things as Stephanie and Regan sat watching wrestling tapes in the living room. He could hear their laughter, and he had never heard a more wonderful sound then his daughter and wife laughing as they watched TV.
He never thought he would ever get to hear that sound, but hear it he did, and it warmed his heart. Her family had been completely in shock since Stephanie's arrival, and Stephanie had been so kind and nice, trying to get to know them again, trying to remember.
He walked into the living room, and Stephanie looked up at him and smiled. He found himself smiling back, before plopping himself down on the couch next to Regan. He saw they were watching an old Raw from when him and Stephanie had been "business partners."
"Princess, it's almost time for bed," Chris told the little girl.
"But Daddy, I wanna watch wefwing," she whined.
"You can watch wrestling tomorrow, I promise, now let's get ready for bed," he said, picking her up.
"Can I help?" Stephanie asked.
Chris looked at her for a second, "Sure."
Stephanie smiled before getting up. They took Regan upstairs, and got her ready for bed. He saw that the smile on Stephanie's face never seemed to wane, only growing brighter and brighter each second. And it fueled his own bright smile. It was like a dream come true, him and Stephanie putting their daughter to bed. He almost wanted to cry tears of happiness.
"Good night Princess, I love you," Chris said leaning over to kiss her forehead.
"Night Daddy, I love you," Regan said.
"Good night Regan," Stephanie said to the little girl.
"G'night Emma," Regan said smiling.
"You can call me Stephanie," she said.
"Kay, Stephanie. Night."
Chris and Stephanie left the room, but not before Stephanie looked back one more time at Regan. She smiled as she thought that that little girl was actually hers.
They went downstairs, and sat on the couch opposite each other. They both knew that they had to discuss some things, and there was no better time then the present.
"She can call you Mommy if you want her to call you that," Chris told her.
"I don't want to impose or anything."
"You're her mother, it wouldn't be imposing."
"I don't know, I guess I kind of feel like I'm intruding or something," Stephanie said, looking down.
"You can't intrude on your own life. You'll get back into the swing of things, I promise."
"Thank you, I think I needed to hear that. I was wondering something………" she said, her voice fading.
"Yeah?"
"Do you have any like home videos of me that I can watch? Like our wedding, do you have our wedding on tape?"
"Yes, of course I do, it was only one of the best days of our lives, hold on," Chris said, before getting up and going over to a shelf full of tapes. He pulled one out and popped it in the VCR.
"Thanks," she said, gratefully, wanting to find out about her previous life.
"Not a problem, sit back and enjoy," he said, as she started laughing.
The movie came to life, and they both watched in silence as the tape replayed their wedding. Stephanie sat engrossed as she watched herself on screen, wanting desperately to remember what was probably one of the best days of her life. Chris kept looking over at Stephanie trying to decipher her emotions.
As the tape ended, Stephanie wiped away a solitary tear that fell from her eye. Her wedding had been so beautiful. And the vows that they had said were so heartfelt and tender. She hated not being able to remember, having to rely on video tapes to tell her what her wedding was like.
"Stephanie, are you ok?"
"Um, yeah, it's just that was such a beautiful wedding. Your vows were so moving."
"Thanks," he said smiling.
"I wish so much that I could remember it," Stephanie said before yawning.
"You must be exhausted, let me show you to the guest room," Chris said, getting off the couch.
"Yeah, I am a little tired, lead the way," Stephanie said, getting off the couch as well. Chris led her upstairs, and showed her to one of the guest rooms. He didn't want to seem forward and invite her back to their bed, even though they were married.
"Here we go," Chris said opening the door, "There's a bathroom right through there."
"Great, thanks."
"No problem. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask, my room is down the hallway."
"Ok, goodnight," Stephanie said, leaning up and kissing him on the cheek. Chris was surprised by her actions, but didn't want to question her just yet.
He smiled and said, "Goodnight to you, sleep well………Oh, and Stephanie?"
"Yeah?"
"Welcome home."
Chris left her then, and walked back to his room. Today, Stephanie had held hands with him, and kissed him on the cheek. Maybe it was just second nature for her to do that, her instincts kicking in when she was around him. He would have to see how that developed.
Stephanie got ready for bed, and snuggled underneath the warm covers. For the first time in a long time, she felt really truly safe. She fell asleep thinking about how at home she felt here, even though technically it was her home, but she loved the feeling she got while she was here. She fell asleep thinking about that.
Stephanie woke up later, and noticed it was still dark outside. She got up from the bed, suddenly feeling the urge to watch some more videos and try to unlock the secrets to her past. She walked down the hallway when she noticed that Chris's door was slightly ajar.
Curiosity getting the best of her, she quietly walked up to his door, and gently pushed it aside. She saw him in the dim light coming from the hallway. She couldn't take her eyes off of him, wanting nothing more than to climb in next to him. His face was so angelic in sleep, and she wanted to run her hands through the golden locks that were splayed across his pillow.
She shook those thoughts from her head, and backed out of the room. Deciding that sleep would be better, she went back to her room and climbed back into bed. She lay there thinking about Chris for a while before drifting off to sleep.