A/N: This chapter is based around the song, "Across the Universe," the Fiona Apple version.

To read the original version with song lyrics go to: bitter-solemnity. com /fics /ALHT.php (just get rid of the spaces).

Chris had never been more hurt in his entire life. The words that Stephanie had said to him, they were words that she had never directed at him. He hated leaving like that, but he suddenly couldn't stay there anymore; he didn't want to see his replacement. So this was what it was like to be replaced. It was a strange feeling, one that left him feeling hollow like a chocolate Easter Bunny.

It was almost like he was floating, but not in a good way. It was like his soul was ripped into two and he knew that part of his soul, if there really was such a thing, and if it was a thing he could have given away, he knew that part of his soul was with Stephanie, and it cut him even deeper to feel like he had lost her.

Who was he going to talk to now? Who was going to be the one that got all his silly references? Who would he joke around with and have conversations with that were at a speed of a hundred words per minute? Who was he going to have to fight with to get the last word? For so long it had been Chris and Stephanie, Stephanie and Chris, and suddenly, now it was Randy and Stephanie, Stephanie and Randy. The change had been so sudden and unexpected that he was left with this feeling of whiplash.

He found his locker room and sullenly walked inside. He sat down on the couch, and saw his luggage from his trip. Stephanie had taken the car and he had said he would get a ride with Trish. And there sat his luggage that he had taken when they were away, not hours before. He leaned back against the couch and looked up the ceiling.

Trish bounded into the room happily, "Hey there Chris, did you want to put your stuff into my car to save you the time later."

"Trish, do you have anything planned for the show tonight?"

"Nope, you?"

"No, I don't have anything planned, you wanna get out of here?" Chris asked, desperately wanting to leave the arena.

"Won't Vince be mad? Oh wait, Steph can handle that right?"

"Sure," he told her, trying to sound positive. He didn't want Trish to know that anything was bothering him, and he'd rather just leave now before he had to run into Randy and Stephanie in the hallways.

"Ok, then let's go. You gonna take me out to dinner?"

"Are you gonna pay?" he teased, feeling a little better now that she was here.

"No, you owe me, I let you leave me," Trish said, pulling him up. "Come on, we'll just have a night to ourselves for a change and you can tell me amusing stories about whatever snack food you want!"

"Even Ho-Hos?"

"Even the little powdered donuts," she said, raising a suggestive eyebrow.

"I'll be glad to get out of here," Chris muttered to himself as he went to grab his things. The sooner he was away from Stephanie, the better he would feel. If she didn't want him around, then he could turn it around and play the same game to her.

Stephanie sat idly at her desk. She was supposed to be looking over a contract for her father, proofreading it really before the lawyers took a look at it. But she was just tapping her pen on the desk. Her father could wait anyways, it wasn't like he ever did anything nice for her. He didn't even care about what she thought. This was just menial task work, something one of her father's lackeys could do on his lunch break. But since her father hated her and didn't think her opinion matter, she was stuck doing this.

She was thinking about Chris and the things that she had said to him. She didn't even know who said those harsh words to his face. She had never said anything like that. It was like this was the Invasion of the Body Snatchers and she had been momentarily transported out of her body and some evil being had inhabited it. Or maybe it had been her evil twin and she was up to her mind games, because she always believed that her evil twin would be just like the rest of her family.

She felt bad for even joking in her brain. She had treated Chris so poorly and she couldn't take back what she had said because she wasn't that type of person and Chris knew it. Chris knew that she always meant what she said. And she had called him a bad friend…among other things. She rested her head in her hands when she thought about what she had said to him. She had said that he never did anything to get her parents off her back!

The hurt look on his face after that, and after it was all said and done, it was a face that she would never forget. She had put that face on him, she had cloaked him in this immense hurt and everything, and she couldn't take it back. The words were floating out there like when you threw bread on the water for ducks, and it floated, and then the ducks would fight over it. Even though she wasn't fighting over the bread, it was like she and Chris were fighting. They were fighting…or she had ended their relationship. Had she really ended their relationship? Had she ruined the one thing in the world that she could count on?

"Stephanie, I was wondering if you wanted to go out and grab a bite to eat after the show?" Randy said, walking into her office. She was staring off into space and he closed his eyes. He still didn't get why she had gone off on Chris like that.

"I can go now," she answered dully.

"But work?"

"It's ok. My dad only has me doing grunt work. It's nothing special and he doesn't even want me here. Neither does my mother. They called me the other day to give me the lecture about how I'm one year older and yet I'm nowhere near as mature as I should be. Every damn year since I turned twenty she's been telling me I need to grow up. It wouldn't be a birthday without a patented Linda lecture."

"You want a Randy lecture?"

She looked up at him and knew what he would lecture her about. She didn't need to feel worse than she did. "Unless it's about how Corn Pops and Raisin Bran don't go together, then no, I don't really want to hear your lecture."

"Come on, let's go have dinner," he said, grabbing her hand.

"I guess I should eat."

Chris picked at his food, stabbing the same piece of steak until there were puncture holes all over it. Trish had been eating her chicken, occasionally trying to make conversation with Chris, but he was either thinking about something, or he found the fish tank in the corner of the room way more fascinating than she was comfortable with. She figured it was something to do with someone, rather than something.

"Did you know that fish need to be underwater for their gills to open up and that's why when they're out of water they die? Because their gills can't open," he said, turning to look at her.

"I didn't know that," Trish said, giving him a strange look because that was rather random.

"Stephanie would've said something like, 'doesn't matter to me because I'd still eat them,' or something equally as strange," he told her. "Maybe she'd comment on how they're pretty colors, or how water is fun. Something random. She's very random."

"Chris, sweetie, did you want to invite Stephanie to dinner?"

"We had a fight, we're over, through, done with, finito, no more, the great era is over," he said, going back to stabbing his steak with his fork.

"Oh, this is a joke, this is one of your jokes that you two have, but you're really thinking about what you're going to get her to go so you guys can go pig out after we get back to the hotel," she said, laughing. "I can smell a ruse Chris."

"I'm not joking. She…I don't even know how to put it. Broke up with me? We're done."

"She broke your friendship?"

"Yeah, she said that Randy was more important to her now and I should just stay out of her business. And Randy has gotten her parents off her back which I've never been able to do," he said, his voice cracking as he stabbed his steak rather violently.

"Chris, I'm sure this will blow over. You two can't stay mad at each other. You are two of the best friends I've ever seen. You guys…like you told me, you complete each other. Not romantically, thanks for that, but I don't know, on some cosmic level, you two are soulmates."

"No, I should've taken her to court when she scaled me with that hot chocolate. I should've accepted her apology and then told her that was it. This is my fault, I let her into my life."

"She would've found a way in somehow. Look at the two of you…you have the same thoughts."

"No, we're different, we've always been different."

"Chris, I bet that right now, she's feeling the exact same way that you are."

Stephanie pushed her mashed potatoes around her plate, not actually eating any, but simply pushing it around and around. She stared at the drink menu they kept on the table, wondering how much alcohol she would have to consume in order to forget Chris entirely. Right now she was calculating that it would take twice the alcohol ever produced in the entire history of the human race. And that was rounding down.

"Are you making a potato volcano?" Randy asked her.

"No, usually I make a potato village," she told him. "And then when I drown them in gravy, I pretend it's like Pompeii and all the villagers are going to get caught in the lava. Why have a volcano that doesn't do anything when you can have a volcano and a town that causes mass destruction?"

"Well at least you haven't lost your sense of humor," Randy said, reaching across the table to squeeze her hand.

"No, this is my reserve humor. I keep it in a little tank in my purse. When I'm feeling low I turn it on and it gets me through. This is by no means my best work."

"Well, your reserve humor is very good."

"Yeah, it should, cost me a pretty penny it did. But it comes in handy."

"Your heart is broken," he said matter-of-factly. There was no jealousy or anything in his tone, he was just stating what she knew to be true. She nodded almost imperceptibly, hanging her head down.

"I just ended a four plus year relationship. My heart, she is broken," Stephanie said, the saddest smile Randy had ever seen coming over her face. It was as if this dark cloud suddenly passed over her and shrouded her features. She just looked so sad and so lost and completely helpless.

"Do you want to go back to the hotel?"

"Yeah, I do," she answered, then going back to pushing the mashed potatoes around her plate. Randy called for the check and paid it quickly, standing up and giving Stephanie a hand to stand up. He put his hand at the base of her back and started to lead her away, only to look back at the last moment to make sure that they had gotten everything from the table.

Stephanie had spelled out "Chris" in her mashed potatoes.

Stephanie had decided to bunk alone tonight, promising Randy that she wouldn't get drunk or anything. She didn't plan on it because she would need copious amounts of alcohol to numb this pain inside her stomach. She went into the bathroom and ran a hand over her face, trying to erase that hurt look in her eyes, but it was still there. She washed her face and pulled her hair back into a messy ponytail.

Climbing into bed was comforting, knowing that she could go to sleep soon. She propped up the pillows and turned on the television, hoping to catch something decent. There was never anything on these damn hotel channels and she would give anything to be at home with her multitudes of DVD's and a big bowl of ice cream. Although, it wasn't that late and so she grabbed the phone, called room service and asked them to bring up three ice cream sundaes with the works, a slice of apple pie, a small lemon bundt cake, and brownies. She needed some food to wallow in.

After the food came she situated herself in bed and bought one of the movies off the television. She wasn't really paying attention to it, but she was thinking about Chris and how much she missed him. They should be together right now and laughing and gorging themselves on all these sweets and making fun of this stupid movie with its stupid, pointless plot. But she had severed all those ties.

It hit her then that she WAS alone because she wasn't a person who traveled in groups. Sure, she had Randy, but she couldn't connect with Randy on some things. Chris, she could connect on everything with, and now he was gone and she wanted to cry and shout and rant, but she…she usually did that with Chris. She needed her best friend.

Before thinking about what she was doing, she grabbed her cell phone and dialed his cell phone. She waited for a moment and then, "If you know why the chicken crossed the road, don't tell me! I'm still trying to figure it out! Leave a message…but not about the chicken!"

She contemplated on leaving a message, but by the time she had decided, the words were already tumbling out of her mouth. "I'm sitting here, and I've got mountains of ice cream and brownies and pie and cake, and I'm surprised that I don't have one of those sugar sculptures like on the Food Network. I'm mourning the loss of someone important to me, and…I needed my best friend, only my best friend…I don't know, I just know that I'm alone with tons of sweets and I need to vent and talk and pig out and I have no one to do it with. They always say that you shouldn't drink alone, and I'm not drinking, but I'm eating alone, and that's got to be on par, or maybe not as worse, but it's got to be bad when I'm sitting here stuffing my face, and I'm just…I'm doing horribly and I couldn't even eat tonight, and you know that I love food, and I just…I need my best friend, and I suddenly don't have a best friend anymore and I have nobody to turn to. Randy doesn't understand, and my family certainly doesn't understand, and there's nobody that understands but you, but you hate me, you must hate me, and I'm going now, I'm sorry you had to hear me ramble. It won't happen again. Bye."

Stephanie hung up and then cringed. Yeah, she didn't come off as desperate at all. She fell back against the pillows and grabbed another brownie off the plate next to her. She grabbed the huge pitcher of milk on the nightstand and poured herself another glass. Nothing like a brownie with a milk chaser to clear up the blues.

"Play it again Sam," she called out to the empty room. She was mid-chew when there came a knock on the door.

Expecting Randy to come visit her despite her wanting to be alone, she padded to the door in her Grumpy slippers (they weren't the slippers that she wore when she was grumpy, they were actually Grumpy from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs). She stuffed another piece of brownie into her mouth as she opened the door and saw that it wasn't Randy there, but the man she had just called.

He knew how much she wanted him.

"I heard someone needed a best friend and had lost theirs."

"Mmhmm," she mumbled around her brownie.

"I thought I could be a replacement best friend. If you wanted me to be. It's kind of like when you haven't done your laundry and you only have the bad underwear left that's too tight or too big, but you're forced to wear it. So since you've lost the good pairs of underwear, I guess I can be the too tight pair, a substitute if you will."

"I have brownies."

"I can tell by the crumbs on your face."

"I have ice cream."

"I can tell by the crumbs on your face."

"I got three sundaes."

"That's a lot of ice cream," Chris said.

"I know, I can share…" she said hopefully.

"Well, I've never been known to turn down a good bowl of ice cream. Unless it was Pistachio ice cream because that is just bad ice cream. Stack it up against your Cookie Dough's and your Cookies and Cream's, it's just not in the same league. I hope it's not Pistachio."

"No, Vanilla with caramel on top."

"A girl after my own heart," he smiled.

Stephanie couldn't stand it anymore and threw herself at Chris, hugging him so tightly her body practically melded with his. Chris just smiled and leaned in to her hug and wrapped his arms around her and didn't let go, resting his chin against her shoulder and letting her hug him as long as she wanted.

"I'm stupid."

"And smart."

"And crazy."

"And funny."

"I'm trying to apologize."

"Oh, I thought we were listing all of your qualities," Chris said. "But if that's your apology, I'm fine with it."

"You were just trying to be a good friend, and like the stupid jerk that I am, I tried to push you away, but you're the best. You understand me. I love you…as a friend of course. Don't think I'm declaring my love for you romantically."

"What! I was expecting you to have fallen in love with me! Well this ruins my entire night, I'm leaving," he said, pretending to leave.

"Get your ass back in here, I have apple pie."

"Ok, I'll stay…but just for the pie."