"Well, where are the flashlights kept?" Hunter asked softly, as he and
Stephanie made their way through the living room.
"Huh? Oh, yeah....kitchen." Stephanie replied, equally as soft, pulling Hunter in the direction of the kitchen.
"Steph?"
"Yeah?"
"You want to maybe let go of my arm? Your nails are digging in."
"Well gee, I'm just sooo sorry...I mean, hey, I've only been photographed and poisoned and now the guy might be in my parents' house with my mother! So maybe I'm a little freaked out! But God forbid I actually scratch your arm!" Stephanie whispered loudly.
"Hey! You're the one who insisted on coming in with me! I told you to wait in the car, but nooo, you have to come in yourself."
"I wanted to be sure you don't get hurt!"
"So this is for my protection? Steph, really! What the heck are you going to be able to do that I can't? Flash him?"
"In case you've forgotten, flashing probably wouldn't work because he's probably seen it all!" Stephanie hissed.
"Just shut up, okay? Can you just shut up?"
"We're almost at the kitchen. Right through the door."
Stephanie said.
"I remember where the freaking kitchen is, Steph! I have been here before!"
"Don't get all upset with me. I'm just trying to help, Hunter."
"I know. But it really would've helped more if you'd just gone back to the limo and stayed with Chad."
"No, it wouldn't have helped! I would have just been worried about you and Mom and then I would have just started panicking. And then I would have come in here all alone! At least this way, whatever goes down, I'm right here. Do you understand that?"
"Find the flashlight, Steph." Hunter told her as they finally reached the kitchen.
"Um, it should be right here in this drawer...but it's gone!"
"What do you mean it's gone?"
"Well, I mean that it's not here, missing in action, gone!"
"In about three seconds, I'm going to start choking you!" Hunter said exasperated at her sarcasm. "What about candles?"
"What the hell do you think I'm looking for? Yes! Got one! Now matches, come on baby!" The match lit and then finally, there was the ever- reassuring presence of light.
"Be careful you don't blow out the candle, you're breathing really hard."
"Shut up, Hunter."
"Stop bickering with me! Let's go find your mom and make sure she's okay!"
"You're right...let's try her bedroom first."
They started quietly out of the kitchen when Hunter stopped and put his finger to his lip. He pointed at the door. Stephanie got behind the counter with the candle as she gripped her branch and Hunter went behind the door, raising his tree branch.
The door swung open.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!!!" Both Stephanie and the woman coming in screamed shrilly. Hunter had come out from behind the door and had the woman in a chokehold with the thick branch.
"Linda?" Hunter asked, stunned, as he released his deathly grip. Stephanie dropped her branch and rose up to hug her mother, who dropped the baseball bat she had been holding with a loud thunk.
"Stephanie? Hunter? Oh, thank goodness it's you!" Linda said.
"Sorry, Linda..."
"Oh, Hunter, don't apologize. I heard noises coming from downstairs and I came down to check it out. I'm so relieved it's the two of you...I thought...well, it doesn't matter what I thought! Come, sit down, both of you!" Linda invited, turning on her flashlight and she escorted the them to the living room sofa.
"Why are all of the lights out?" Hunter asked.
"Yes, Mother! We were worried sick! Are you really okay?" Stephanie asked.
"Yes, yes, I'm fine. It's the strangest thing really. I was catching up on some e-mail when all of a sudden the lights completely went out. Your father's still not home, and I had sent all of the security guards home a couple of hours ago--"
"You did? Why on earth would you do that?" Hunter asked.
"Well, with the new security alarm your father had installed last week I really felt it was unnecessary to have all of those guards. They made me nervous. Your father told me he has finally told you about the...situation?" Linda asked Stephanie.
"Situation? That's what you're calling this?! Mother, some guy is stalking our entire family, and you get rid of security because they make you nervous?! They're here to protect you, make certain you're safe! You don't just send them home on a whim!" Stephanie yelled furiously.
"Oh, don't you dare take that tone with me, Stephanie! You know what it's like to constantly have people watching your every move! You hate it too, that's why you've insisted on having no guards for yourself in the past!"
"Well, that's all changed now Mother! I'm not taking any risks! If it were just me, maybe it'd be different, but now I'm having a baby, and I have to think about him too, keeping him safe! So I'm going to get bodyguards first thing tomorrow." Stephanie felt, rather than saw, Hunter's surprised expression.
"Stephanie, darling...I heard about the poison. It was absolutely horrifying! I called the hospital earlier, they said you had already left. I tried both your cell phones, but neither of you had yours turned on." Linda said, a touch reproachfully.
"Mother, we were a little preoccupied."
"Still...I was worried! But you're fine, I'm so glad. I would have come to visit you, but the doctor told me you were being released, and since you're staying here, I knew I'd get to see you tonight."
"That's all well and good!" Hunter interrupted. "But let's get back to the subject at hand here! How did the electricity get shut off in the first place? You said it was strange. Strange how?"
"Well, like I said. Everything was fine one minute, the next it was pitch black. I called the electrician, he'll be here first thing in the morning. And I called security back, they came and checked the grounds."
"And? Did they find anything? Tampering with any wires or something?" Hunter asked.
"No...that's the strange part. They looked at the fuses, everything seems to be fine. So the went outside, and looked around, and they couldn't find anything wrong there either. But like I said, they found no tampering or anything like that, so I don't think it was anything beyond a minor coincidence. Does that reassure you both?"
"But the security checked everything? You're certain, the entire house?" Hunter pressed.
"Yes, they were quite thorough. They offered to stay here with me, or drive me to a friend's home, but I thought it was ridiculous. I'm not going to allow someone to run my entire life. This is my home, and I feel perfectly safe in it."
Stephanie looked at Hunter, clearly wanting him to say something to her mother, about how stupid and irresponsible she was being, but Hunter couldn't think of a thing to say. Linda was in denial. She was clearly afraid for her family, but she refused to recognize it so her behavior was bound to be erratic. She wasn't going to budge on this one, no matter how ridiculous she was being. And he knew it. There was only one thing to try, he thought. Hunter stood suddenly.
"Well, that's that then!" he said brightly, as he leaned in to kiss Linda's cheek. "I'm so relieved nothing happened, that Steph and I were just being overly cautious. I think I'm just going to head back to the hotel now, get some sleep, like the two of you should definitely do." He saw Stephanie's eyes widen out of the corner of his eye, but it was Linda's reaction he was waiting for.
"Oh, Hunter...it's getting late. And you're right, we should all get some sleep. You're perfectly welcome to stay with us here tonight." Linda was stammering.
"You're sure?" Hunter asked as he winked at Stephanie.
"Oh, of course, I'm sure! You're always welcome here, you know that. At least, I hope you do. Since I'm guessing you won't be staying in Stephanie's bedroom this time--Stephanie coughed, choking at this--You're perfectly welcome to make use of the guest bedroom. It's two doors away from mine, and three away from hers."
Hunter pretended to mull it over for a minute. "Thanks, Linda, you're the best. You're right, I'm really beat. I think I'll just sit down here for a while, relax a bit, then I'll head on up. Sound good?"
"Sounds great. Good night, both of you."
"Good night, Mom." They both said, as Linda went up the stairs.
"Very smooth, Mr. Helmsley. An excellent performance. Heaven forbid you take that long, long limo ride back into the city." Stephanie cooed.
"Thank you, my dear. I do try." Hunter smiled. "You going to bed, then?"
"Yeah...actually, I'm just going to take a quick shower first. I'll use the one downstairs. So, um...good night...."
"And?" Hunter prompted.
"And what?"
"It just sounded like you were going to say something else."
"Nope. Just good night. Oh, and I'm taking the candle." Stephanie said, disappearing around the corner. Hunter heard the shower turn on, and he settled into the couch, enjoying the total darkness. He called Chad quickly on his cell phone, told him to go home and return back tomorrow. Talk about the day from hell, he thought tiredly. He must have dozed off for a moment because the next thing he knew, there was a drop of water dripping on his face and Stephanie was standing over him, dressed in a robe, with a towel around her shoulders.
"Sorry to wake you, but I know how much you hate it when you fall asleep on the couch. Your back always hurts in the morning. Want to come up to bed with me?" Realizing how that sounded, she actually blushed.
Hunter laughed. "Talk about your invitations. I'm glad you woke me, let's go up." He headed for the stairs with her, got up halfway and realized she was still at the bottom, looking at the staircase, horrified.
"Steph? Steph, what's wrong?"
"I don't want to say." Stephanie said.
"What? What don't you want to say?"
"You'll just think I'm being really stupid. Just go to bed. I'll get up there when I get up there."
"You don't actually believe I'm going to leave it at that, now do you?" Hunter asked, coming back down. "So?" he prompted her.
"Can't you just leave it alone?" Stephanie asked desperately.
"What are you even talking about?" Hunter asked, his frustration growing by the second. He would have left, but she looked like she was actually going to cry.
"You need to get upstairs, get some rest, like the doctor said."
"I will!"
"Then why don't you already?!"
"You're not the boss of me!"
"I'm not the boss--Steph, we are not in the fifth grade here! Get going!"
"I'm working on it. I just--"
"You what?!"
"The stairs are freaking me out, okay? Are you happy now? I try and get my foot even on the bottom stair, and it feels like my legs are going to give out!"
"Is it the senna? Do you want me to call the doctor, because if you're feeling that weak--"
"It's not the poison! I feel okay, it's just, you know, pregnant woman, big staircase, I don't know--I just feel really, really weird about it!"
"You're kidding, right?"
"See? I told you you'd think it was stupid, and I was right! I told you to go to bed, but you just have to stay here and embarrass me."
"That's not what I'm doing! Look, I can see that you actually are freaked out about this. So why don't you just tell me why?"
"I--I don't even know! I can't explain it. My legs just don't feel like they'll hold me up. I think I'll just sleep on the couch tonight." Stephanie turned away quickly, but gave a little scream when she felt herself being lifted off the floor and Hunter started carrying her up the stairs.
"Put me down! The couch would have been fine, damn it!"
"You get really cranky and bitchy whenever you don't get your sleep, so why don't you just let me bring you up there, okay? You've had a rough day, it's understandable that it's starting to all catch up with you."
"You're not making fun of me?" Stephanie asked, her breath so close it tickled his goatee.
"I'm not making fun of you. Really." he reassured her.
"Well, okay then."
"Okay."
"That's what I said."
"Yeah." Hunter opened the door to her bedroom and sat down with her on the bed. "You want me to check your room out?" he asked.
"No...well, you know, if you felt like it..."
He checked, making a big show of looking under the bed with the candle, peering in the closet, making horrifying faces to scare anything away. Stephanie was laughing on the bed silently.
"You are such a dork." She said in between giggles.
"Yeah, but at least you know your room's fine."
"You know, that invitation earlier...it truly was genuine." Stephanie said suggestively.
Hunter looked over at Stephanie, floored. God, she could change moods at the drop of a hat. One minute ago, she was scared just to climb a flight of stairs, the next she's trying to entice him over to the bed. He simply shook his head, and left, closing the door firmly and saying over his shoulder, "Good Night, Stephanie."
Stephanie wasn't surprised, but she had to admit she was disappointed. She lay back into the pillow, glad that her legs had stopped shaking. She quickly changed into a nightgown her mother must have left out for her and climbed back into the bed, burrowing under the covers. She had finally started to drift off a bit when there was a soft knock at the door.
Stephanie sat bolt upright. "Come-come in." She said quietly. Maybe Hunter had decided to take her up on her invitation after all? Hey, a girl could only hope, couldn't she?
"Huh? Oh, yeah....kitchen." Stephanie replied, equally as soft, pulling Hunter in the direction of the kitchen.
"Steph?"
"Yeah?"
"You want to maybe let go of my arm? Your nails are digging in."
"Well gee, I'm just sooo sorry...I mean, hey, I've only been photographed and poisoned and now the guy might be in my parents' house with my mother! So maybe I'm a little freaked out! But God forbid I actually scratch your arm!" Stephanie whispered loudly.
"Hey! You're the one who insisted on coming in with me! I told you to wait in the car, but nooo, you have to come in yourself."
"I wanted to be sure you don't get hurt!"
"So this is for my protection? Steph, really! What the heck are you going to be able to do that I can't? Flash him?"
"In case you've forgotten, flashing probably wouldn't work because he's probably seen it all!" Stephanie hissed.
"Just shut up, okay? Can you just shut up?"
"We're almost at the kitchen. Right through the door."
Stephanie said.
"I remember where the freaking kitchen is, Steph! I have been here before!"
"Don't get all upset with me. I'm just trying to help, Hunter."
"I know. But it really would've helped more if you'd just gone back to the limo and stayed with Chad."
"No, it wouldn't have helped! I would have just been worried about you and Mom and then I would have just started panicking. And then I would have come in here all alone! At least this way, whatever goes down, I'm right here. Do you understand that?"
"Find the flashlight, Steph." Hunter told her as they finally reached the kitchen.
"Um, it should be right here in this drawer...but it's gone!"
"What do you mean it's gone?"
"Well, I mean that it's not here, missing in action, gone!"
"In about three seconds, I'm going to start choking you!" Hunter said exasperated at her sarcasm. "What about candles?"
"What the hell do you think I'm looking for? Yes! Got one! Now matches, come on baby!" The match lit and then finally, there was the ever- reassuring presence of light.
"Be careful you don't blow out the candle, you're breathing really hard."
"Shut up, Hunter."
"Stop bickering with me! Let's go find your mom and make sure she's okay!"
"You're right...let's try her bedroom first."
They started quietly out of the kitchen when Hunter stopped and put his finger to his lip. He pointed at the door. Stephanie got behind the counter with the candle as she gripped her branch and Hunter went behind the door, raising his tree branch.
The door swung open.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!!!" Both Stephanie and the woman coming in screamed shrilly. Hunter had come out from behind the door and had the woman in a chokehold with the thick branch.
"Linda?" Hunter asked, stunned, as he released his deathly grip. Stephanie dropped her branch and rose up to hug her mother, who dropped the baseball bat she had been holding with a loud thunk.
"Stephanie? Hunter? Oh, thank goodness it's you!" Linda said.
"Sorry, Linda..."
"Oh, Hunter, don't apologize. I heard noises coming from downstairs and I came down to check it out. I'm so relieved it's the two of you...I thought...well, it doesn't matter what I thought! Come, sit down, both of you!" Linda invited, turning on her flashlight and she escorted the them to the living room sofa.
"Why are all of the lights out?" Hunter asked.
"Yes, Mother! We were worried sick! Are you really okay?" Stephanie asked.
"Yes, yes, I'm fine. It's the strangest thing really. I was catching up on some e-mail when all of a sudden the lights completely went out. Your father's still not home, and I had sent all of the security guards home a couple of hours ago--"
"You did? Why on earth would you do that?" Hunter asked.
"Well, with the new security alarm your father had installed last week I really felt it was unnecessary to have all of those guards. They made me nervous. Your father told me he has finally told you about the...situation?" Linda asked Stephanie.
"Situation? That's what you're calling this?! Mother, some guy is stalking our entire family, and you get rid of security because they make you nervous?! They're here to protect you, make certain you're safe! You don't just send them home on a whim!" Stephanie yelled furiously.
"Oh, don't you dare take that tone with me, Stephanie! You know what it's like to constantly have people watching your every move! You hate it too, that's why you've insisted on having no guards for yourself in the past!"
"Well, that's all changed now Mother! I'm not taking any risks! If it were just me, maybe it'd be different, but now I'm having a baby, and I have to think about him too, keeping him safe! So I'm going to get bodyguards first thing tomorrow." Stephanie felt, rather than saw, Hunter's surprised expression.
"Stephanie, darling...I heard about the poison. It was absolutely horrifying! I called the hospital earlier, they said you had already left. I tried both your cell phones, but neither of you had yours turned on." Linda said, a touch reproachfully.
"Mother, we were a little preoccupied."
"Still...I was worried! But you're fine, I'm so glad. I would have come to visit you, but the doctor told me you were being released, and since you're staying here, I knew I'd get to see you tonight."
"That's all well and good!" Hunter interrupted. "But let's get back to the subject at hand here! How did the electricity get shut off in the first place? You said it was strange. Strange how?"
"Well, like I said. Everything was fine one minute, the next it was pitch black. I called the electrician, he'll be here first thing in the morning. And I called security back, they came and checked the grounds."
"And? Did they find anything? Tampering with any wires or something?" Hunter asked.
"No...that's the strange part. They looked at the fuses, everything seems to be fine. So the went outside, and looked around, and they couldn't find anything wrong there either. But like I said, they found no tampering or anything like that, so I don't think it was anything beyond a minor coincidence. Does that reassure you both?"
"But the security checked everything? You're certain, the entire house?" Hunter pressed.
"Yes, they were quite thorough. They offered to stay here with me, or drive me to a friend's home, but I thought it was ridiculous. I'm not going to allow someone to run my entire life. This is my home, and I feel perfectly safe in it."
Stephanie looked at Hunter, clearly wanting him to say something to her mother, about how stupid and irresponsible she was being, but Hunter couldn't think of a thing to say. Linda was in denial. She was clearly afraid for her family, but she refused to recognize it so her behavior was bound to be erratic. She wasn't going to budge on this one, no matter how ridiculous she was being. And he knew it. There was only one thing to try, he thought. Hunter stood suddenly.
"Well, that's that then!" he said brightly, as he leaned in to kiss Linda's cheek. "I'm so relieved nothing happened, that Steph and I were just being overly cautious. I think I'm just going to head back to the hotel now, get some sleep, like the two of you should definitely do." He saw Stephanie's eyes widen out of the corner of his eye, but it was Linda's reaction he was waiting for.
"Oh, Hunter...it's getting late. And you're right, we should all get some sleep. You're perfectly welcome to stay with us here tonight." Linda was stammering.
"You're sure?" Hunter asked as he winked at Stephanie.
"Oh, of course, I'm sure! You're always welcome here, you know that. At least, I hope you do. Since I'm guessing you won't be staying in Stephanie's bedroom this time--Stephanie coughed, choking at this--You're perfectly welcome to make use of the guest bedroom. It's two doors away from mine, and three away from hers."
Hunter pretended to mull it over for a minute. "Thanks, Linda, you're the best. You're right, I'm really beat. I think I'll just sit down here for a while, relax a bit, then I'll head on up. Sound good?"
"Sounds great. Good night, both of you."
"Good night, Mom." They both said, as Linda went up the stairs.
"Very smooth, Mr. Helmsley. An excellent performance. Heaven forbid you take that long, long limo ride back into the city." Stephanie cooed.
"Thank you, my dear. I do try." Hunter smiled. "You going to bed, then?"
"Yeah...actually, I'm just going to take a quick shower first. I'll use the one downstairs. So, um...good night...."
"And?" Hunter prompted.
"And what?"
"It just sounded like you were going to say something else."
"Nope. Just good night. Oh, and I'm taking the candle." Stephanie said, disappearing around the corner. Hunter heard the shower turn on, and he settled into the couch, enjoying the total darkness. He called Chad quickly on his cell phone, told him to go home and return back tomorrow. Talk about the day from hell, he thought tiredly. He must have dozed off for a moment because the next thing he knew, there was a drop of water dripping on his face and Stephanie was standing over him, dressed in a robe, with a towel around her shoulders.
"Sorry to wake you, but I know how much you hate it when you fall asleep on the couch. Your back always hurts in the morning. Want to come up to bed with me?" Realizing how that sounded, she actually blushed.
Hunter laughed. "Talk about your invitations. I'm glad you woke me, let's go up." He headed for the stairs with her, got up halfway and realized she was still at the bottom, looking at the staircase, horrified.
"Steph? Steph, what's wrong?"
"I don't want to say." Stephanie said.
"What? What don't you want to say?"
"You'll just think I'm being really stupid. Just go to bed. I'll get up there when I get up there."
"You don't actually believe I'm going to leave it at that, now do you?" Hunter asked, coming back down. "So?" he prompted her.
"Can't you just leave it alone?" Stephanie asked desperately.
"What are you even talking about?" Hunter asked, his frustration growing by the second. He would have left, but she looked like she was actually going to cry.
"You need to get upstairs, get some rest, like the doctor said."
"I will!"
"Then why don't you already?!"
"You're not the boss of me!"
"I'm not the boss--Steph, we are not in the fifth grade here! Get going!"
"I'm working on it. I just--"
"You what?!"
"The stairs are freaking me out, okay? Are you happy now? I try and get my foot even on the bottom stair, and it feels like my legs are going to give out!"
"Is it the senna? Do you want me to call the doctor, because if you're feeling that weak--"
"It's not the poison! I feel okay, it's just, you know, pregnant woman, big staircase, I don't know--I just feel really, really weird about it!"
"You're kidding, right?"
"See? I told you you'd think it was stupid, and I was right! I told you to go to bed, but you just have to stay here and embarrass me."
"That's not what I'm doing! Look, I can see that you actually are freaked out about this. So why don't you just tell me why?"
"I--I don't even know! I can't explain it. My legs just don't feel like they'll hold me up. I think I'll just sleep on the couch tonight." Stephanie turned away quickly, but gave a little scream when she felt herself being lifted off the floor and Hunter started carrying her up the stairs.
"Put me down! The couch would have been fine, damn it!"
"You get really cranky and bitchy whenever you don't get your sleep, so why don't you just let me bring you up there, okay? You've had a rough day, it's understandable that it's starting to all catch up with you."
"You're not making fun of me?" Stephanie asked, her breath so close it tickled his goatee.
"I'm not making fun of you. Really." he reassured her.
"Well, okay then."
"Okay."
"That's what I said."
"Yeah." Hunter opened the door to her bedroom and sat down with her on the bed. "You want me to check your room out?" he asked.
"No...well, you know, if you felt like it..."
He checked, making a big show of looking under the bed with the candle, peering in the closet, making horrifying faces to scare anything away. Stephanie was laughing on the bed silently.
"You are such a dork." She said in between giggles.
"Yeah, but at least you know your room's fine."
"You know, that invitation earlier...it truly was genuine." Stephanie said suggestively.
Hunter looked over at Stephanie, floored. God, she could change moods at the drop of a hat. One minute ago, she was scared just to climb a flight of stairs, the next she's trying to entice him over to the bed. He simply shook his head, and left, closing the door firmly and saying over his shoulder, "Good Night, Stephanie."
Stephanie wasn't surprised, but she had to admit she was disappointed. She lay back into the pillow, glad that her legs had stopped shaking. She quickly changed into a nightgown her mother must have left out for her and climbed back into the bed, burrowing under the covers. She had finally started to drift off a bit when there was a soft knock at the door.
Stephanie sat bolt upright. "Come-come in." She said quietly. Maybe Hunter had decided to take her up on her invitation after all? Hey, a girl could only hope, couldn't she?