Part 5
Stephanie by disposition was not on the whole a nervous individual. Nevertheless the nearer she got to the conclusion of her pregnancy, the more nerves that she didn't know she had began to show. Not that she was on her own in her pregnancy, she had her parents, her brother and her sister-in-law all fussing over her; but still something was omitted and that something was Kurt.
Fundamentally her days were occupied with her mother hanging over her, her father spending all his free time at home indulging her, Shane calling - at least once a day - to update her on what was going on with Smackdown and it's superstars. Hell, even her sister-in-law, Marissa had volunteered to be her labor coach. With all that going on she only just got a moment to think about herself, never mind time to feel sorry for herself over Kurt's nonappearance and what he was missing out on.
After spending weeks panicking over every little hiccup and indigestion attack, the genuine commencement of labor was a considerable disillusionment to Stephanie who had anticipated so much more pain. Nevertheless eighteen hours into labor she had modified her attitude towards the process, at least until she gave birth to her son - who just happened to be the spitting image of his absent father. From the second he came screaming into the world, he was the centre of attention for all the McMahon's.
A small amount of hours later when Stephanie at long last managed to get a private moment with her newborn son, she couldn't do anything but look intently at him and be in awe at how picture perfect he was. Gazing into his diminutive eyes she whispered, "I wish your daddy was here. He'd love you so much... and he'd probably know what to call you."
"Still haven't thought of a name?" Linda asked as she put her head around the door into her daughter's private hospital room.
"Mom? What are you doing here? I thought you and daddy went home."
"We did," Linda replied walking over to her daughter and grandson. "I stayed for about ten minutes and then came back. I just can't keep myself away from the little guy."
"I know the feeling."
Linda sat down in the uncomfortable hospital chair that had been provided for visitors and looked directly at her family, especially at her grandchild. "He just looks so much like Kurt... he's almost a clone."
"Hey," Stephanie objected thinking her mother had insulted the man she loved and her son. "Kurt's a good looking guy."
"I never said he wasn't, Stephanie Marie," Linda retorted smiling at her. "Besides I agree with you, Kurt is extremely cute."
"Mother!"
"I'm old, not dead."
Stephanie laughed like her mother had intended and then turned her concentration back to the sleeping infant. "So... do you have any ideas for a name?"
"All the names I like, your father hates with a passion," Linda told her. "It was your dad's idea to name your brother Shane. I wanted to call him Andrew."
"Andrew? I like it," Stephanie said. "Andrew Vincent McMahon."
Linda grinned at them, "Well I like it and your father will, if only because he got his name in there."
Stephanie smiled back at her mother, but privately her heart felt like it was shattering into a million infinitesimal pieces. She missed Kurt *so* much and wished that he was with her, but that wasn't going to happen. The last time she had called Kurt's mother to ask about him, she had been hung up upon. Staring down at her son she thought to herself that if she couldn't have Kurt, at least she had a small part of him.
Stephanie returned home a few days later with baby Andrew and found that her family had arranged a small gathering, just her parents and Shane and Marissa to celebrate Andrew's birth. As fatigued and weary as she was, Stephanie didn't want to ruin her family's considerate surprise and so she went along with it.
The whole evening was a pleasant affair with presents for Andrew and lively chatter. Stephanie also managed to get infinitesimal satisfaction out of watching her father interact with Andrew, his first and so far only grandchild. Unfortunately towards the end of the evening things turned sour. Vince and Linda had long since gone to bed, Stephanie was so exhausted and had a cantankerous baby to deal with, that was when the fight started.
Stephanie took Andrew upstairs to her room and settled him down before she came back downstairs to see if her brother and his wife had cooled off. They hadn't in fact they were going at it worse than before. Suddenly without warning, Marissa simply walked out in the middle of what Shane was saying, causing him to sink down onto the couch in a fit of despair.
"Shane?" Stephanie asked concerned for her brother.
Shane shook his head, "It's nothing, Steph."
"Yeah, that's what it looked like to me," Stephanie retorted sardonically.
"Don't be a brat."
Stephanie sat down next to Shane and lay a consoling hand down onto his knee. "You know I'm here if you need to talk, don't you?"
"You have enough troubles of your own, Steph. You don't need mine."
"Look you and the parents have always been there for me. I just want to be there for you now. It's what family is all about."
Shane looked closely at his baby sister and smiled sadly. "Thanks, it means a lot to me. However the truth is I don't know what's wrong."
"You could start at the beginning..."
Shane looked tempted by the offer, but in the end he shook his head. "Sorry, Steph. I'm just not ready to talk about it."
Stephanie watched as her brother staggered sadly away and wished that there was more that she could do to help him. Regrettably her relationship guidance wouldn't exactly hold much authority; her first engagement was a catastrophe, her marriage had ended in an exceedingly acrimonious divorce and now she was a single mother living with her parents.
Without forewarning, Andrew's distraught wails began to permeate through from upstairs. Heaving a sigh, Stephanie got up from the couch and went to see to her son.
Two days later Kurt - the masochist - was once again watching Smackdown, when Shane gave an interview backstage. It was on Stephanie and the birth of her son. Until that very second Kurt had not comprehended just how excruciatingly painful it would be to hear of the baby's birth; it was tangible proof that Stephanie had moved on without him and now had a family. All of his personal dreams were now shattered, as was his fragile heart.
Although part of him was pleased for her, that she had found someone to make her happy. That she now had something she had always wanted a family of her own, one that was away from the prying eyes of the public. Something was simply for her. He loved her enough to want that for her, but it didn't prevent the hurt.
After Shane's interview was over, Kurt simply got up and wandered out of the common room. Upon returning to the small room assigned to him, he flopped down on the lumpy single bed and stared at the ceiling. He lay there willing the pain to go away or even better to wake up next to Stephanie and find that these months had been nothing but a nightmare. Turning onto his side he heaved a sigh and closed his eyes to allow sleep to overtake him.
