A/N: Thanks for all the reviews you guys. I hope that you are enjoying the story, and that you will continue to review, because they really help. I know a lot of you are waiting for some Jericho/Stephanie romance, and I have to say, I'm thinking about it, but I'm not sure if I should, if someone feels compelled to convince me. ;)

Chris was bouncing all over the place, well, not literally, but he was definitely acting like a little kid right now. Stephanie's birthday was coming up the next day, and he was very excited for it. They always did something huge on her birthday and this year would be no exception. He just had to figure out what he wanted to do for her. He already had her present picked out; he had had it picked out for months and months.

"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know," Chris said, jumping up and down in place.

"Will you calm down?" Trish asked, laughing. "Why are you jumping around?"

"It's Stephy's birthday!" Chris said, his grin never wavering. "Her birthdays are the best, second to mine of course. Last time we had a pie eating contest and it turned into an all-out war. The best part was when I got her with the lemon meringue and it completely stuck to her face."

"Do you two celebrate by yourselves?" Trish asked, giving him a strange look.

"Uh huh, tradition," he answered. "One year we went to Universal Studios, and we pretended that we were being eaten by Jaws when we went to the beach after going on the tour. The lifeguard guy was not amused, but you should've seen Stephanie's impression, that girl can make it look like she's getting eaten by a shark, she's so talented."

"She must have some weird talents."

"She can write with her feet, now if that's not a useful talent, I don't know what the hell is."

"Ok, so she's really, really talented. What did you get her for her birthday?"

"Nope, can't tell, it's a major secret and she has to see it first, because what if it ruined the surprise. It would crush my tiny, little heart it twain."

Trish shook her head and leaned up to kiss him. "You're so cute when you're really excited."

"When else am I cute? I mean, I know that technically I'm cute all the live, long day, but there must be times when I'm cuter than cute. The averages even themselves out with me."

"You're cute when you care so much for your best friend," Trish answered. "I find that incredibly endearing."

"Wow, I need to run to my diary because that's a first. I can write it with all the I's dotted with hearts, and then I can put 'Mr. and Mrs. Jericho' all over it with hearts drawn around and then clutch my teddy bear and pretend its you and play kissy-face with it."

"You are one of the craziest men I've ever met in my life."

"Why do people say that I'm crazy? I'm not locked in a mental asylum. I wouldn't even look good in a straightjacket, I don't think white's exactly my color. Though the padded walls would be really fun to bounce off of, and I can't think of a more comfortable way to fall asleep sitting up."

"SNOOKS!" Stephanie's voice came rumbling down the hallway, and she appeared a second later in some jogging shorts and a shirt that said, "I'm Not Yours, Don't Touch" on it. She ran down the hallway at full-speed, crashing into Chris sending them both to the floor. "It's my birthday tomorrow, it's my birthday tomorrow!"

"I know!" he screamed back, people starting to stare, but seeing it was Chris and Stephanie, they went about their business. This was just their normal behavior.

"Hey Trish," Stephanie said, getting off of Chris, and then helping him up. "Have you been treating my Snooks well?"

Trish made no mention of her use of the possessive "my" that Stephanie had said about Chris. It was only natural that she refer to him as "hers," since they had been friends for a long time. And for a long time, the only people they had were each other, so it was bound to be a kind of possessive nature.

"As best I know how," she said kindly. "So I don't know where I heard it, but I heard it was your birthday tomorrow, congratulations."

"Uh huh," she nodded. "Now I just have to wait to see what Chris got me. Hopefully it's something good and useful like a chainsaw, and not something crappy like a sweater or jewelry."

"Um, you want a chainsaw?" Trish asked, a little taken aback that she would rather have a chainsaw than jewelry.

"I'm not going to like pull a Massacre on anyone or anything, though that would be so funny if I just started running around with a chainsaw, but then the cops might be called, I'd go to jail, and that would be one more thing my parents could hold over my head, and I would never give them the satisfaction. I want a chainsaw because power tools are fun."

"Ok," Trish said, feeling very out of her element. She would never want a chainsaw over a nice necklace or a beautiful pair of earrings, but that was just her. Stephanie was different, everyone knew that she wasn't your typical girl...or person for that matter. She was very much unique, in a good way of course.

"Well," Chris teased. "I didn't get you a chainsaw, because that's just impractical Stephers. But I guess I can tell you where we're going tomorrow for your birthday, since you're going to have to get ready for it."

Stephanie jumped up and down, "I'm excited! This is like....well, if I did gymnastics, or diving, or some other competitive sport and I was awaiting my scores to see if I was going to get the gold medal, so I'm expecting the gold medal. But hopefully I don't get the silver if the present is a little crappy."

"Would I get you a crappy present?"

"No, you're the best at buying me gifts Snooks. I still use the purring kitten slippers, even though one of the kittens is losing its purr, so it's really like a dying kitten, but I don't want to think about dying kittens! How depressing!"

"Ta-da!" Chris explained, pulling an envelope from the back of his pants and presenting it to Stephanie. He put his arm around Trish's waist as he waited for Stephanie to open it.

"You got me an envelope! Talk about your useful products. I can send important letters, or cards, or bills! You got me a bill-paying envelope, that's so thoughtful of you Snooks, you never steer me wrong."

"Open up the damn envelope."

"I'll hold you personally responsible if I get a paper cut."

"If you get a paper cut, I will personally drive you to the hospital and sit by your side as the doctor exams you," he said with a smile. "Now open the envelope before I grab it and gnaw at it with teeth."

"Fine, no need to turn into an animal," she said as she opened the letter to find a couple of plane tickets and an agenda of some sort. She read the tickets and what was on the agenda and grinned widely. "Snooks! I can't believe it! You remembered!"

"Do I ever forget? I must be part elephant or something...no wait, that's Asshole, what with the nose and everything."

"Who's Asshole?" Trish asked, though she felt like she shouldn't interrupt in this situation. She was feeling extremely like the third wheel right now, despite being Chris's girlfriend.

"Oh, that's our name for Hunter," Chris explained. "Or at least it's my name for Hunter, that stupid dirty bastard."

"Calm down," Stephanie, said, then went up to him and gave him a big hug. "Thank you so much, I can't believe you remembered."

"Hey, I've seen that commercial a million times. Although it didn't discourage me what with the whole cute surfer guy instructor. Because it's not my problem if you want to go out and find yourself a cute surfer, that's the Dreamboat's problem."

"I've always wanted to try surfing," Stephanie said, paraphrasing the offending commercial that made her want to try surfing in the first place. "Luckily I always pack my trusty Snooks Survival Pack. I'm ready to go when you are."

"Great, we're flying out to Southern California tonight!" Chris said, giving Stephanie a high five.

Trish tugged on Chris's sleeve. "I'm going to go and let you pack ok Chris. I'll see you when you get back, which will be?"

"Day after tomorrow," he said to her, giving her a quick kiss. "Then we can do whatever, my treat."

"Snooks is just treating everyone right now. Get him while he's in a good mood Trish, he'll do just about anything you ask if he's in a really good mood. I know from experience."

Trish laughed, "Good to know, have fun you guys."

She left Chris and Stephanie, who were talking excitedly, each one batting the other's hand away when it got to close to their face. She sighed as she turned around to give them one last look. She didn't want to get jealous of her boyfriend's best friend, but Chris was a completely different person when he was around Stephanie, someone she barely even recognized.

When he was around her, he was still his happy-go-lucky, fun-loving, hilarious guy, but when he was around Stephanie, he always got this excitement about him like he just wanted to spend every moment with her and nobody else. It was like the two of them had their own world and nobody else was allowed into their secret club. She wanted to be invited too, but it looked like it was solely for them.

She walked down the hallway, and saw Dave walking the other way. Dave was one of Stephanie's good friends and she held up a hand to stop him. He looked down at her and smiled nicely. "Hey Trish, what's up?"

"Your friends with Stephanie right?" Trish asked.

"Yeah, she's cool, crazy sometimes, but she's cool."

"And how long have you been friends with her?"

He thought about it for a second, then answered, "A couple of years now. She was actually the one to get me up here from OVW, though she said that she liked my OVW look more, but that's Stephanie for you, she always loves everything to be slightly crazy."

"Yeah, I get that vibe from her."

"She's the best though isn't she?"

"Well, I don't know her too well. She's just Chris's best friend, I haven't really gotten around to...you know, hanging out with her."

"You should, especially if you're dating Chris. Those two are joined at the hip. He's what keeps her grounded, with her parents always getting on her nerves and pouncing on everything about her, Chris really balances that out with her."

"Oh," Trish nodded. "Maybe I should get to know her better."

"Definitely, you will soon find out that Stephanie is probably the coolest person you will ever know. She's a good person, that's what makes her so fun to be around. Randy is really a lucky guy to be dating her. If I wasn't one of her friends, I would've asked her out a long time ago," Dave laughed. "Of course, I know I couldn't keep up with her, barely anyone can, but Chris."

"Thanks Dave," she said patting his arm. "I'll keep what you said in mind."

Trish continued down the hallway, still thinking. She didn't know why she was so concerned about Chris and Stephanie, she knew they were friends. She just thought it bothered her because they were such close friends and of different genders. Hadn't someone along the line said that a guy and a girl could never be "just friends?" It worried her that at any given moment, the two of them could just crash into each other.

"But that's silly," she mumbled to herself.

"What's silly?"

She looked up and saw Christian standing in front of her. They had gone on one date, and incidentally, they found out they were much better as friends, which made it a lot easier to choose to go out with Chris, even though she had rejected him the first time he had asked her out. She grinned at Christian and gave him a hug.

"Nothing," she told him.

"Oh come on, I don't hear you mumbling to yourself everyday."

"Well, I was just thinking about Chris and Stephanie, and the possibility that they could ever become an item."

"But isn't Chris dating you?"

"Yeah," she replied.

"Then why would he and Stephanie become an item if you two were together?" he asked, slightly confused.

"They wouldn't, I'm just thinking nonsensical things," she said, shaking her head, then turned serious for a moment, "You don't think they would ever, well, you know, hook-up and not tell anyone do you?"

"No."

"I wonder if they've ever...you know," Trish said, tilting her head to make an implication.

"Have you ever asked him?"

"NO! How could I do that without sounding like a complete fool? They probably haven't. I mean, yeah, they haven't, they couldn't have. I mean, really, do you think they have?"

"I think you can only ask him," Christian said.

"And if he has?"

"Then you reevaluate I guess."

"I don't know if I could look at them the same way if they had."

"Just ask him Trish."