Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and real people in this story. The characters belong to Vince and WWE, and the real people own themselves.

A/N: Just a little short story that came to me and thought I'd jot it down in between all the work I have to do for school. It might be a little confusing and if it is, let me know and I'll explain to you through e-mail or whatever.

Be brutal if you want to. :)

She sat by his bedside in vigil, as stupid as that sounded to her own ears. She was simply waiting for the inevitable to come, and come it would. She had watched, slowly as he faded away. It wasn't supposed to happen this way, she wasn't supposed to watch him deteriorate in this fashion. Someday, down the line, a long, long way, that's when she could lose him, and only then, and even then, she wanted to go first.

But life is never how you plan it and life is never perfect, as much as you hope and pray it will be. The world is only perfect if you are that child, that child that believes in the goodness of a person's heart, and having the optimism that only comes from the eyes of a child. Unfortunately for her, those days were gone, and they were out of her mind right now as she looked to the hospital bed.

It had been an ordinary match, one they had planned so meticulously what was going to happen. He won, like he usually did because he was one of the big names of the company; he carried a banner flag for the company and she was his...he was her everything. Then walking up the ramp, being in California did not help one bit as the earthquake ripped through the arena.

She had read about that big earthquake in California, years and years ago, when was it, 1988, 1989, one of those years, and it had been a big one. They had been having the World Series there, in San Francisco and an earthquake had ripped through that game and that city causing destruction. Unfortunately for her and the company, their sets for the Pay-Per-View were not earthquake proof and she had to watch as a piece of equipment fell on him.

They didn't expect recovery. So she sat here, reading a newspaper on the death tolls around the city, but still, he had not succumbed, had not become one of those numbers. But he was going to, they all knew it. She would sit by him the most but his parents would be here just as long, watching as he slowly faded away. She wasn't married to him so she couldn't tell them to end his suffering and they couldn't convince his parents to take him off the life support so here he was, laying there, dead except for the machine beeping.

They were supposed to get married. They were supposed to have children. They were supposed to rule the company and live out their years together as the rulers of WWE. That was how it was supposed to be, that's how the rest of her life was supposed to play out. Not here, watching him pass away from internal injuries, from a blow to the head that took away most of his brain function. She couldn't bear to think about it, so she retreated to the world of what could've been.

He had promised her, when he said that he was going to marry her that every year on their anniversary, no matter what day it was, he would take her to the beach where he was going to propose and they would walk along the beach together. She had been looking forward to those walks.

They were supposed to do so many things, but now that was simply a pipe dream. Supposed to, they were such simple words, two words cohabitating in her mind until they became almost one word, one word to her mind to describe the memories she would never get to hold in her heart, to memories that would never come true, that he would take with him to that eternal city to hold for her until she went back to him. He would keep them well, she knew that.

"Stephanie..."

She turned to see his mother standing there, "Hey, you're back."

"We were talking to the doctor and...well, he can be an organ donor if we let him go, and...we've decided to let him go," she said quietly.

Stephanie nodded her head and smiled the whisper of a smile, "I'm sure he would've liked to know that he made a difference in someone else's life. I think this is for the best."

"So do we," she said coming to stand next to Stephanie and took her hand. Stephanie let her squeeze her hand as they both gazed at the man laying there.

At least this way, he'd be somewhere on the Earth, living even if it would be him entirely. It was good in a way, this way she could actually think about him as a living thing, even if it was in someone else's body. His mother left her then, maybe to let her have a moment to say goodbye. She didn't want to, but she couldn't bear to watch him waste away.

She stood up and stood next to the head of the bed. He was so peaceful in this almost eternal slumber. She wondered if it was pretty where he was; maybe she was there. She could only hope that she was. She sighed and reached out to touch his blonde hair. It felt soft under her fingertips and she twirled a piece of hair around her finger.

They were supposed to do a lot of things. He wasn't supposed to die on her. She hadn't signed on to that and as her hand fell from his hair and went down to trace his jaw and then down to his neck and chest, she knew that this would be the hardest thing to do. To only see this man in her dreams and never in the flesh. She leaned down to hug him, knowing he couldn't feel it. A few tears fell from her eyes to create wet spots on the white sheets pulled up to his chest.

She stood up and wiped at her eyes as she stood there. She leaned down once more to kiss his forehead one more time and then once more on the lips. She sighed and closed her eyes. They were supposed to have vacations together. They were supposed to...

"Sleep well."

She sighed again and couldn't turn away until she felt someone slowly pull her away from the bedside and she gladly let them. She fell against them as she walked outside the room and let his parents walk inside. She felt herself being pulled into someone's lap and being grateful for the presence of someone else she let her head fall against their shoulder, feeling the soft brush of hair against her cheek.

"How're you holding up?"

"I feel like a horrible person," she said as her back was rubbed comfortingly.

"Why?"

"I feel guilty. I mean, we were supposed to be married and all of that, and I loved him and everything, but..."

"But?" he prompted.

"I was going to break up with him, I was going to break his heart. That night, I had it planned, I was going to break it off with us. That's why I didn't let him propose...we were supposed to break up."

"But you couldn't?"

"No, because part of me did want to marry him, and wanted to walk on the beach on our anniversary and wanted to marry him, and I wanted that, a part of me wanted that, and now I feel guilty because a big part of me didn't. I was sitting in there thinking about what could've been, what we could've done together and I kept thinking...I was going to marry him, and I was going to do all this stuff, and it was a lie!" she said raising her head to look into her companion's eyes. "It was all a lie, I didn't want to marry him, I didn't want any of those things with him, but because he was dying, I thought I could convince myself that I did, but I didn't and now he's dying and I'm a terrible person because I keep thinking of it as an easy way out of the situation."

"Hey, it's ok, you're not horrible, you just don't know how to deal with this, and that's fine. Yeah, once upon a time you were supposed to do all of that, but you can't convince yourself to do something you didn't want to do in the first place. The mind can convince you of many things Steph, and you're not any less of a good person because you convinced yourself of things you didn't want."

"I want you," she confessed.

He smiled softly, "I know you do, who do you think you were breaking up with him for?"

"So I'm not a horrible person?"

"I don't think you ever could be."

"I love you."

"I know, and I love you right back."

"Can we go now? I don't want to look in there again, I don't think I can without thinking that I should be more upset than I am."

"Yeah, we can go. I think you've spent enough time here, and there's nothing more you can do."

They stood up and he started walking away from her as she stood rooted to her spot. He turned back to her and silently gestured for her to follow. She held a hand up to stop him for a moment and turned back to the door of the room. She put her hand on it for a moment and whispered.

"Goodbye Hunter."

Then she ran to catch up to Chris.

THE END