Chapter 2

Chris sat in the kitchen on a bar stool and watched Jess as she put the finishing touches on dinner. She had thrown dinner together remarkably fast under such short notice, and it pleased him immensely. Just another reason I love her, he thought. Must add "performs well under pressure" to the never-ending list.

"What are you thinking about, honey?" Jess asked, pausing to look over her shoulder at her husband. She had felt his eyes on her, watching her, and she absolutely loved the feeling.

"Just thinking about how perfect you are for me," he said, smiling at her. "You're so perfect."

"I'm far from perfect, but thank you," she said, walking over to him. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him softly.

"Have I told you how perfect your lips are?" he asked, putting his arms around her.

"Many times," she giggled, nipping at his bottom lip. "Yours are perfect, too."

"Oh, ew, this is too much for my eyes," Rich said, entering the kitchen. He leaned against the doorframe and smiled at them. "You guys should get a room, if you want my honest opinion."

"We don't," Chris joked. "And this is our house... We can make out when we want to, where we want to."

"I agree... Like this," Jess said, kissing him lightly. She pulled away and gazed into her husband's mesmerizing eyes. "Why don't you go find Steph and tell her it's time for dinner?"

"I'll do it!" Rich volunteered. When Chris and Jess both looked at him, he grinned at them. "What?"

"You guys don't get along," Chris reminded him. "So why in the world would you want to go get her?"

"Because I'm a nice guy," Rich answered with a shrug, but they could all see the wicked little glint in his eyes. He grinned again, resembling the Grinch for a minute, then disappeared out the door. "Be right back!"

"He's up to something. I can feel it," Chris said, looking over at the door where Rich was no longer standing. "Something sneaky that Steph's not going to like very much."

"You know your friends," Jess said, shrugging. She turned around. "Mind helping me set the table?"

"Sure, I'll help," he said absently. He wondered what Rich could possibly be up to, and he hoped that Steph wouldn't get too mad...

Rich knew exactly where Stephanie had gone with Ash, because after he had put his luggage in the guest house, he had seen her from the window. She was sitting under a big tree in the backyard with Ash in her lap, looking out over the lake. He had watched her for quite some time before going to unpack his stuff...

When he walked over to the big tree, she was still sitting there, and Ash was on her lap fast asleep.

"Yeah, so that's how I met your dad," Stephanie finished.

"Oh, how sweet," Rich said, startling her. "Did you just tell Ash the story of how you met Chris...again?"

"Shut up," she said with an exasperated sigh. She looked up at him. "What do you want anyway, weirdo?"

He sat down next to her. "I was told to come get you for dinner," he said, looking at her. He looked down at the little boy in her lap. "Looks like your story put Ash to sleep. Are you always that boring?"

"You don't even know me," she said, shaking her head. She looked back out over the lake and held the boy a little tighter against her, biting her lip with a serious expression on her face.

"Why so serious, Steph?" he asked, brow furrowing. She usually never gave in this quick. She was always quick to come back with a witty comment, and the fact that she had basically given up so soon confused him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing you'd be interested in knowing," she said after a few moments of silence. She stood up and slowly started walking towards the main house, carefully holding Ash so he wouldn't wake up. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go take Ash in the house now."

"You're pretty good with him," he said seriously, getting up and catching up to her. He fell into step beside her and looked at her. "Do you plan on having kids?"

She sighed. "I did, once upon a time. I doubt that's ever going to happen now."

"Why not?" he asked. "I'm sure there are some willing guys out there. I mean, lots of guys would be willing to be Stephanie McMahon's 'baby's daddy' or whatever."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Whatever," she said, one hand gently patting Ash on the back.

"Ok, what happened to you in the last hour? At first, you loved arguing with me, and now you're all...submissive," he said, frowning. "What the hell?"

"Like you'd care to know," she said, sighing again.

"How would you know if I cared to know?" he demanded.

"Just drop it, Rich," she said in a tired voice as they reached the house.

"Fine, for now," he said, opening the door for her. He watched her walk into the kitchen, and then he followed her inside and shut the door behind her. They walked into the dining room, where Chris and Jess were talking about something or other.

"Ash fell asleep," Stephanie said simply when the married couple looked at her. "Should I wake him up so he can have dinner or not?"

"Let's take him up to his room," Jess suggested. "Poor little thing, he's probably exhausted..."

"That would make two of us," Stephanie replied. She and Jess walked out of the kitchen, already deep in conversation. The two men watched them go without speaking.

Finally, Rich broke the silence. "What's wrong with Stephanie?" he asked curiously.

"She's just going through some rough times right now with her family," Chris answered, still looking at the door his wife, his son, and his best female friend had disappeared through. He looked at Rich. "Why do you want to know? Did something happen when you went to get her just now?"

"Not really," Rich said, looking away. "It's just, you know how we always argue and everything?"

"That's all you guys do," Chris said, shaking his head. "I wish you could just get along with her, and vice versa."

"It's always fun to argue with her, though. She's witty, and it makes conversation with her interesting as hell. She must really hate me now, man," Rich said with a sigh.

"Steph doesn't hate anyone," Chris said matter-of-factly. "She loves everyone, but that doesn't mean that she has to like everyone."

"Well, I get the feeling that she doesn't like me," Rich said. "But something must really be wrong with her because she didn't even take the bait when I went out there to get her."

"Like I said, Steph's going through some rough times right now," Chris said, looking down at the floor. He felt bad for Stephanie, for all of the crap she was going through, for all the crap she had been forced to go through in her life. "I want to help her through it. That's part of the reason she's here."

"To get away from it all," Rich said thoughtfully. "Seems like she really loves spending time with Ash, too. I asked her if she planned on having kids, and she said that she doubted it would ever happen now."

"Poor Steph. Kids are a really sensitive subject for her," Chris said, looking sad.

"Why?" Rich wanted to know.

"If I tell you something, you have to promise never to talk about it with anyone," Chris said, biting his lip. "I mean, this secret goes no further than this room. It stays between us."

"Tell me already!" Rich said as curiosity got the best of him.

"Around the same time that Jess got pregnant with Ash, Steph got pregnant with her first child. She was really happy about it, but her happiness didn't last very long..." Chris's voice trailed off.

"What happened? Did she...lose it?" Rich asked, eyes wide.

"Yeah, she lost it," Chris admitted softly, looking away. "And we...she...was heartbroken about it... Really upset."

"Damn," Rich muttered, shaking his head sadly. "That had to be hell for her."

"Yeah, but eventually she got over it. She took a strong liking to Ash, though. She would've made a great mom," Chris said with a heavy sigh. "Now, she has other family problems on her mind... But I'm sure that pregnancy is still a touchy subject for her."

"I can see that now." Rich sat down in a chair at the table and looked down at his hands. "Poor Steph."

"I never thought I'd hear those words come out of your mouth in a sincere tone," Chris joked, but Rich didn't laugh. Chris looked at him. "Remember, this conversation stays between us."

"Right, between us," Rich said, but his voice was distant. He looked up as Stephanie and Jess entered the dining room, and his eyes lingered on Stephanie. How had he not seen what a sad woman she was before? How much pain she was in? Even though they'd had their ups and downs, he found it hard to be upset with her now. He'd never really hated her, but damn, a miscarriage? He wouldn't wish that on his worst enemy...

"I'm going to go start bringing the food in," Jess said. She looked at her husband. "Help me?"

Chris looked at Stephanie and Rich, then back at his wife. "Ok," he answered, feeling kind of apprehensive about leaving the two alone, especially after what he'd just told Rich. He knew that Rich wasn't a bad guy, but when it came to Stephanie, he didn't know what Rich would pull next. Still feeling apprehensive, he followed his wife out of the dining room and into the kitchen, leaving his two best friends alone in the dining room.

Stephanie sat down at the table in a chair directly across from Rich and looked at him. "And what the hell are you looking at?" she asked snidely, trying to get back into her usual routine with him. He annoyed her, but she had to admit that arguing with him was fun sometimes.

"You," Rich replied solemnly. "Are you ok?"

"I'm as perfect as I've always been," she answered, cocking her head sideways and looking at him suspiciously. "What's up your ass, Ward?"

"Nothing," he said, shaking his head. "I just... It seemed like something was wrong with you and-"

"And don't tell me, you got worried?" she finished, smirking at him.

She's back to her usual self, he thought, feeling a little better. "Yeah, I got worried... Worried that you wouldn't be feeling up to going out tonight and making my money on the corner."

"Your money?" she scoffed. "Are you implying that you're some kind of a pimp?"

"Well duh," he said, as if it had been obvious. "And you're my main ho."

"Right," she said, rolling her eyes.

"I always am," he replied.

"You are such a loser," she muttered, looking away.

"And you're so loose," he said right away. "What was it someone once said about you? Something about flying an airplane through the Grand Canyon? Something like that?"

She looked up at him and her mouth dropped. "That was a low blow, Rich," she said, shoving her chair back and getting up. "A really low blow."

Chris walked back into the dining room just in time to see Stephanie disappear out the door. He looked quizzically at Rich, who looked surprised. "What the hell did you do to her, man?"

"Nothing, I swear," Rich said, holding his hands up as if to say he was innocent. "We were back to the usual arguing and then I said she was loose, and then I brought up that little joke someone made about her being like the Grand Canyon and-"

"Rich!" Chris exclaimed. "You actually brought that up again?"

"It was funny," Rich protested. "We were just doing our usual back and forth thing."

"God, she must be really upset now," Chris said, holding one hand up to run his fingers through his hair. "When Jess comes in here, tell her I'll be right back, ok? I have to go check on Steph."

"Sure, I'll tell..." Rich didn't finish his sentence, because by then Chris had already bolted out the door after Stephanie.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, you guys. I still don't know where this story came from, but it had to be written... A new muse has appeared, and it's bugging me!