Chapter 3

Stephanie hurried over to the guest house and stepped inside. She sat down on the couch and put her head in her hands, willing the tears not to come. Why had Rich mentioned that stupid Grand Canyon comment? It made her think of Hunter, and memories of Hunter always made her cry.

"Steph, honey, are you ok?" Chris asked, coming into the guest house. He saw her sitting on the couch with her head in her hands. Damn it, Rich! he thought, shutting the door and walking over to her. He sat down next to her and put his arms around her. "Talk to me, Steph."

"Did Rich tell you what he said to me?" she asked, leaning against him.

"Yes, and I'm really sorry about that," he whispered soothingly, squeezing her lightly. "I promise you, he didn't know how that simple joke would affect you, or else he wouldn't have said it. He's not a cruel person, really."

"I know," she said, a tear slipping out of her eye. "But it made me think of Hunter, and you know how I hate thinking of him."

"I know," he said, rubbing her back gently. "I know."

"Hunter hurt me, Chris," she whispered, closing her eyes tight. "He hurt me bad."

"I know, Steph," he said quietly. Thoughts of everything Stephanie had gone through with Hunter filled his mind, and he felt seemingly angry blood rushing through him. "Just try to forget about him. We're done with him."

"You're right," she said finally, taking a shaky breath. "We're done with him. He's no longer a part of our lives."

"Right. And we don't want him to be," he went on. He looked at her again. "You want to come have dinner now?"

She sat up straighter and thought about it for a while. "You know, I think I'll just stay here," she said, after mentally debating on the issue. "But tell Jess thanks for cooking dinner."

"Steph, I wouldn't feel right having dinner without you," he said.

"I'll be fine," she said sincerely. "I'm a big girl now."

"I don't want to leave you alone," he said, looking into her eyes. He licked his lips slightly as he looked at her.

"It's ok. I'm used to being alone now," she said softly, returning his gaze. "So it's ok, really."

"It shouldn't have to be that way," he whispered, fingers softly touching her cheek. "You shouldn't have to be used to being alone."

"I am, though," she said, moving his hand from her face. She squeezed his hand lightly and forced herself to smile. "Go back in your house, Chris, and have dinner with your wife."

"Fine," he said, standing up. As he stood up, he pulled her to her feet as well. "But I'm coming back to check on you after dinner, later on tonight," he went on, hugging her to him. "I'm going to help you get through this, through everything. I promise..." He was no longer just talking about the joke Rich had said to her. He was talking about the real reason she'd decided to come stay at his house for the next few weeks.

"I believe you," she replied in a low voice. She hugged him back, taking a moment to breathe in the fresh scent of his hair shampoo and his cologne. She closed her eyes for a minute, thinking, wondering what she'd done to deserve Chris as a best friend. She was just very lucky, and she was grateful for him.

He pulled away after a moment. "You sure you don't want to come back to the house with me?" He knew that there was really no point in trying to persuade her to come in for dinner, but he felt that he had to at least try.

"I'm positive, Chris," she answered. She tucked some of his hair behind his ear. "And don't forget to tell Jess what I said about dinner."

He smiled at her, then headed for the door. "You're so stubborn," he joked.

"I know..." She watched him leave, then sat back down on the couch. Chris was right. Hunter was no longer in their lives, and she would get through this rough spot in her life. Hadn't she gotten through the hard times after she'd lost their...her...baby? Chris had helped her through that, and he would help her through this. As long as she had Chris, she knew that she would be ok...

Chris walked back to the main house and stepped inside. He made his way back into the dining room, where Jess and Rich were waiting patiently. They had yet to touch their dinner.

"Oh, you didn't have to wait for me," Chris said, sitting down at the table.

"We wanted to," Jess said, smiling at him.

"Where's Steph?" Rich asked worriedly. He glanced at the door a few times, like he was expecting for her to appear in the doorway, but she didn't.

"Stephanie won't be joining us for dinner this evening," Chris said. "She's...feeling a little down right now." He looked pointedly at Rich, who bowed his head.

"I didn't mean to upset her that bad," Rich said with a sigh. "Maybe I should go apologize."

"That would be nice, but that's totally up to you," Chris answered.

"I'll be right back," Rich said, getting up quickly. "But go ahead and start dinner without me."

"Rich?" Chris said. His friend turned to look at him. "Please be careful with Steph. Despite that tough exterior she seems to have...she's really very vulnerable inside. Watch what you say."

"Believe me, I've learned that lesson. Now I'm going to go apologize," Rich said, then disappeared into the kitchen.

Jess looked at Chris with wide eyes. "Did I miss something, or did Rich just say that he was going to apologize to Stephanie?"

"He said it," Chris said, looking at her. "I just hope he does it, and in the right way."

"What did he do to her?" she asked curiously.

"He mentioned this joke Hunter once said about her," he said. "You know which one I'm talking about."

"The one about the Grand Canyon?" she asked in disbelief. He nodded. "Oh no. Poor Steph!" she exclaimed, shaking her head sadly. "Am I right to guess that she's thinking about Hunter now?"

"Unfortunately, yeah," he answered. "And maybe she's thinking about when she lost the baby, too... I get the feeling that she was feeling a little down about that, too, after I talked to Rich a little while ago when you and Steph were taking Ash upstairs."

"Oh, poor Steph!" she exclaimed again. "I honestly don't know what I would've done if I'd lost Ash."

Chris thought about the baby that Stephanie had lost. He had been just as devastated about the loss as she'd been, if not more. Only he and Stephanie had known the true identity of the baby's father, and that man had been Chris. Of course, they had never slept together. It had been complicated. Stephanie had wanted a baby more than anything in the world, and Hunter had been basically "shooting blanks" every time they tried to conceive. Stephanie had been desperate, and she had came to Chris with the idea of invitro fertilization...

To make a long story short, Chris had basically donated the sperm that had eventually gotten Stephanie pregnant. They had gone through the professional procedures, and neither Hunter nor Jess knew about it. Everyone thought the baby was Hunter's, and they'd done nothing to tell people otherwise. Chris had never cheated on Jess, and he didn't plan on doing it anytime in the future, near or far. He'd only done a favor for a friend, a favor that he had purposely neglected to tell his wife about. She didn't need to know, so he would never tell her.

And besides, the baby hadn't made it, anyway...

"Honey? Hello, you still there?" Jess asked, momentarily breaking Chris out of his thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm still here. I was just thinking about something," he answered, shaking his head to try to get rid of the thoughts. Those kinds of thoughts were depressing. He hated having to live with the knowledge that one of his children had survived and the other one hadn't. Ouite simply, it sucked.

"You haven't touched your food yet," Jess pointed out.

"I know," he said. "It's just... I hope Rich doesn't upset Steph even more..."

Rich entered the guest house and saw Stephanie sitting on the couch looking blankly at the TV in front of her. He closed the door quietly behind him and walked over to the middle of the room. He stood there, directly blocking her view of the TV and of whatever she had been watching. She kept looking in the same direction, and he couldn't shake the creepy feeling that she was looking right through him.

"You can't ignore me forever," he said finally, when the silence became too loud for him.

"I'm not ignoring you," she replied, looking up at his face. "I'm just thinking."

"Oh." He bit his lip nervously. "Mind if I sit next to you?"

"Be my guest," she said, looking away.

He walked over and sat down next to her. This was going to be difficult for him, because apologizing just wasn't his specialty. He hadn't apologized to his wife when they'd had their last argument. In his opinion, apologizing was a sign of weakness. Instead, he'd opted to come to Chris's house, and now he was on the verge of apologizing to Stephanie. How ironic was that?

Something was definitely wrong with this picture.

"Ok, I'm not very good at this, but I'm going to give it a try," he began, turning to look at her. "I didn't know how that comment I made was going to affect you. If I had known how that comment I made was going to affect you... If I had known it would upset you so much, I never would've said it." He paused, taking a momentary break from his rambling. "I guess what I'm trying to say is-"

"It's ok," she said, leaning back on the couch and looking at him. "It was an honest mistake." He looked at her, his mouth a wide "O" of surprise, and she just smiled. "You know, Rich, with your mouth like that... You kind of remind me of a-"

"Don't ruin a good moment," he interrupted, standing up. He held out his hand to her. "Let's go have dinner."

"I already told Chris that I wasn't coming, and he accepted it," she said.

"You should know by now that I'm not Chris," he said. "Let's go."

"Fine," she grumbled, getting to her feet. She was annoyed at the authoritative tone in his voice, but she admired his persistence. "But I'm only going because I'm hungry, not because you ordered me to."

"No, you're going because I'm The Duke. You're going because you know that I'm the master," he teased as they headed for the door.

"Yeah, right," she laughed, shoving him lightly. "Master of what? The toilet?"

He thought he felt a little jolt of electricity when she touched him as she shoved him, but the feeling passed just as quickly as it had come. He shook his head, then dismissed it. "Yes," he said, holding the door for her so she could go out ahead of him. "I'm master of the toilet."

A/N: I know, I know, this doesn't need to be another Chris/Steph story. I'm really trying to not turn it into a Chris/Steph thing, I promise! But who knows what's going to happen...