Chapter 8

"So we should be back in a few hours. You know our cell phone numbers and you know where to call in case of an emergency," Jess said to the two people she and Chris had contacted to be Ash's babysitters for the day. These were the same two people that they always called, but Jess was just one of those parents who always worried about her son... "Ash is upstairs sleeping right now, but he should be up soon. Don't forget to-"

"We go through this same little speech every single time we baby-sit Ash," Edge interrupted, flicking a few strands of his blonde hair back. He looked at his girlfriend. "Li, tell her that everything will be fine. You're the only one who can convince her."

"Everything will be fine," Lita assured Jess. "Ash is an adorable little boy. We always watch him and take care of him as if he's our own...and we're going to have one of our own soon, so watching him is great practice for us."

"Are you serious?" Chris asked, speaking up for the first time in a few minutes.

"Yeah. We're going to be parents. I'm going to be a dad," Edge said proudly, standing behind Lita. He put his arms around her and kissed her on the neck, letting his hands rest on her still-flat stomach. "We just found out."

"Well, you must be excited!" Jess said with a smile. "Congratulations!"

"So what are you having?" Rich asked curiously. "A boy or a girl?"

"We don't know yet," Lita said, placing her hand on top of Edge's hands, which were still on her stomach. "When I go for my next checkup, that's when we'll find out for sure what we're having."

Chris looked over at Stephanie, who was looking down at the ground. "Um, Steph, can I talk to you for a sec?" he asked. She looked over at him and nodded, and he leaned over to whisper in his wife's ear. "Honey, I'll be right back. Steph looks kind of sad and I think I know why."

"Oh God, I forgot how sensitive she is about pregnancy," Jess whispered back. "You go ahead and talk to her. Rich and I will wait in here for you two."

Chris nodded, then walked over to Stephanie. "Come on," he said, and he led her out of the room and down the hall a bit to the nearest room where they could be alone, which just happened to be the bathroom. He let her go in first, then walked in after her, shutting and locking the door behind him, then leaning against the door. "You ok?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" she asked, looking around. She smiled and tried to change the subject. "I can't believe we're having a conversation in the bathroom."

"Edge and Lita are having a baby. I know that couldn't have been easy for you to hear," he said, crossing his arms across his chest. He knew that she was trying to change the subject, but he wasn't falling for it. "It wasn't easy for me to hear after everything that happened, so I know it was hard for you, too."

"You just don't know, Chris," she whispered in a shaky voice. "You just don't know how much I wanted our baby."

"I wanted our baby, too," he whispered back, looking into her tear-filled eyes. He opened his arms and stepped towards her. "Come here, sweetheart."

She stepped into his arms and the tears just started coming out. "It's just not fair," she sobbed, closing her eyes. "I wanted that baby so much, and God took it away from me...away from us. And now, it seems like everyone's having a baby. Did you know that Marissa's pregnant again, too?"

"I know, and I'm so sorry that our baby didn't make it," he said, holding her a little tighter. "But you're going to have a baby, and you're going to be so happy..."

"When, Chris? I'm not going to be young forever," she pointed out, laying her head on his shoulder. "I'm 29, I'm divorced, and I'm not in a relationship with anyone right now. A couple more years from now and I'm not going to be able to have children at all, and then what? What will I do when that happens?"

"It won't happen, Steph. You're going to find someone to be with, and you're going to have a baby," he assured her. "And when that happens, you're going to be a great mom. You'll be terrific, and your child is going to love you so much. Ash loves you even though you're not his mom, so I have no doubts that your child will love you, too."

"How do you always know the right thing to say?" she asked, pulling back a little to look at him.

"I don't know. I just say what I feel," he answered, wiping her tears away. "I say what I know."

She studied him for a minute, looking first at his perfect features, then into his eyes. "Our baby would've been beautiful. Hunter would've figured out that we did the whole invitro fertilization thing, and then he would've divorced me. But you know what? I wouldn't have been that upset, because I would've had..." Her voice trailed off and she sighed. "Well, you know."

"You would've had the baby," he finished for her. He stroked her face lightly. "And you would've had me, too. I would've been there for you, just like I am now, and I would've stepped in and been a part of that baby's life. I would've been a father for that baby, Steph, just like I am for Ash. You wouldn't have been alone."

"How would you have done that? You're married with a son," she reminded him.

"I know that, but you're important to me, Steph. You're my best friend, remember?" he asked, leaning a little closer. "And you would've been the mother of my child, too, so I would've been there to support you. You know that, right?" She nodded, and he closed the distance between them and kissed her.

She pulled back after a minute and reached up to touch his face. "Thank you, Chris, for being here for me. You've always been here for me, and I've put you in some really...difficult situations, especially with the baby thing."

"I was glad to help you out, Steph, and to be honest... I couldn't imagine sharing a child with a greater woman," he said in a low voice.

"Besides Jess," she replied.

"Right, yeah, besides Jess," he added quickly. "And speaking of her, I'm sure she's probably wondering if you're ok now."

"We should go back out there," she said, pulling away. "Just let me clean up a little. My face must be a mess by now." She turned and walked over to look in the mirror so she could check out her reflection.

"You're still beautiful, though," he said, leaning against the door again.

She smiled. "And my life would be perfect if every guy out there thought that as well."

He didn't say anything in response to her comment. He just leaned against the door, looking off into space with a thoughtful expression on his face. He'd just had an amazing idea, an idea that was sure to make Stephanie happy. He looked over at her and smiled to himself. She'll love me even more for this, he thought, still smiling as he looked at her.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked, looking at him through the mirror. "Are you having second thoughts about telling me that I'm still beautiful?"

"Of course not," he said, walking over to her. He stood behind her, pressing himself against her and putting his arms around her just like Edge had done to Lita a short while ago. "I just had the most brilliant idea ever, and I know you're going to agree with me." He placed his hands on her stomach as he stared into her eyes through the mirror.

"What... What idea did you come up with?" she asked, leaning back against his solid, muscular body.

"You're my best friend, and I want you to be happy, Steph. I want to make you happy," he began. He paused for a minute, trying to figure out how to say what he was going to say. He spoke again after a minute. "I think we should give it another try."

"Give what another try?" she asked, confused.

"I think we should...give the whole baby thing another try," he said in a rushed voice. "Only this time, we won't go through the whole process of invitro fertilization. This time..."

Her mouth dropped, and she turned around to look at him. "Are you serious?" she whispered.

"Yeah, I'm serious," he said, smiling at the look of surprise on her face. "I just want you to be happy, and you have no idea how upset it always makes me when I remember the fact that our baby didn't survive... This time, it could work."

"You would do that for me?" she asked, in awe.

"I'd do anything for you, and this would work out perfectly," he said. "Remember what we decided we'd do when Rich leaves? That could be it, Steph. That could be the perfect time to give you this baby that you want so much..."

"That sounds too good to be true," she whispered, leaning her forehead against his. "But what about Jess? Just doing what we've planned to do in the first place is bad, but actually trying to have a baby... That's even worse."

"You do want this baby with me, don't you?" he asked her with a strange look on his face.

She couldn't believe that they were really having this discussion. "Well, yes, I want this baby. I want a baby so much, Chris, but-"

"No buts," he interrupted, right before he kissed her hard. He didn't know why he was acting this way with her. He didn't understand what was making him do these crazy things, like the way he'd been about to take her in the room next to his son's room, or the way he'd been grinding against her in the closet. He'd never been this way with her before, ever. As a matter of fact, the day before, he never would've even thought that he'd be suggesting something like this to her... But he'd suggested it, and he'd meant it. He wanted to do this for her...

She was confused, so very confused at the way he was acting, but when he kissed her, she just kissed him back. It was like a natural instinct for her to return his kiss, and besides, he wanted to give her something that she'd been wanting for quite some time: a child. She was going to have her own child... She kissed him back with everything she had in her, with all the passion that she could muster.

He pulled back a while later, breathless. "I don't know what I'm doing, Stephanie," he whispered, pulling her to him. "I don't understand why I'm feeling like this... I don't think it was until I found out that you and Rich slept together that I started acting like this, and I can't figure out why."

"I don't know, Chris," she said, also breathless. "I don't know what we're doing, but I can't tell you how much it means to me that you want to do this for me..."

Just then, there was a knock on the door. "Hey, you two! Hurry up! You've been in there forever!"

"We're having a conversation, Rich. We'll be out in a minute," Chris said, trying to sound normal.

"Ok, well hurry up," Rich called. "We're ready to leave."

Stephanie looked at Chris. "We need to get out of here," she whispered.

Chris nodded at her. "We will, but first, tell me... Do you want to give it another try?"

"Yes," she said without hesitation. "When Rich leaves and I move back out into the guest house... Then we'll do it."

He smiled at her. "You're going to be so happy... That's all I really want."

"You're such a great friend, Chris," she said, hugging him again. She rested her head on his shoulder again and pressed a light kiss to his neck. "I love you..."

"I love you, too," he whispered back. They'd always told each other that they loved each other, but he felt that at that moment, it meant so much more. He pulled back and headed for the door while she checked her reflection in the mirror again. "I'll meet you out there."

"Ok," she agreed. He reached for the doorknob and she turned around to look at him. "Wait a minute, before you go..."

"Something wrong?" he asked, immediately concerned.

She walked over to him. "Your hair's a little out of place... Let me fix it." She fixed his hair for him, then stepped back to look at him. "Ok, it's perfect again."

"Thanks," he said. He looked at her for another minute, then left the bathroom and walked back out to where everyone was standing, hoping that he looked normal.

"Well? Is she ok?" Jess asked him as soon as he walked into the room.

"She's ok, just a little sad," Chris said, glancing over at his wife. "But I think I cheered her up a little bit, so our little excursion to the mall is still on."

Stephanie walked into the room right after his comment and everyone looked at her. "Sorry for holding everyone up. I just got a little...emotional for a minute there, but I'm ok now, really."

"That's good to know," Lita said, smiling at Stephanie. "By the way, I never pictured you as a red head, but Jess tells me that you're going to be wearing a red wig today."

"Yeah, unbelievable, isn't it?" Stephanie said with a laugh. "So, um, are you guys ready to go?"

"I was ready two hours ago," Rich teased, wanting her to look at him.

"Ready to go home?" Stephanie asked him, trying not to sound too hopeful. She glanced at Chris and noticed that he was looking at Rich, too, waiting for his reply.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but no, I'm not going home yet," Rich said, looking at Stephanie. "But I did talk to my wife and I'll probably be leaving sooner than I originally thought."

"Like when?" Chris asked casually.

"Probably in about a day or two," Rich answered. "But I want to get at least a little fun in before I go, so can we get this thing on the road and hit up the mall?"

"He's right. Let's get out of here," Jess said, grabbing Chris's hand. "Are you driving your car?"

"Sure, I'll drive," Chris replied, holding her hand. "Come on, let's go."

Five minutes later, Chris pulled his car out of the garage and drove off. His wife was sitting next to him in the front seat. Rich sat behind her, and Stephanie sat behind Chris. He looked in the rearview mirror and straight into her eyes, then looked back at the road and tried to focus.

"So Stephanie, I bet you're used to being in the backseat," Rich said to Stephanie, trying to get her to argue with him like they usually did. "But knowing you, you're probably used to being naked in the backseat..."

"Yeah, with your dad," Stephanie replied absently, looking out the window. She had too much on her mind to be joking around with him. All she could really think about was the fact that soon she would have a child of her own...and she couldn't wait.

"I wondered why my dad got herpes that time," Rich went on with a little laugh. "I guess he got that from you, huh?"

"Rich, I have a lot on my mind right now. I'm not really in the mood to play with you," Stephanie said, still looking out the window. "Can't you just be quiet for a minute?"

"So what do you guys want to do first when we get to the mall?" Jess asked, trying to ease some of the tension in the car.

"I want to go to Victoria's Secret," Stephanie said immediately. "I heard they have this mega sale on, and I thought I could pick up some...stuff."

"That's a great idea," Jess said. "You and I should go there and pick some stuff out. I bet they have some sexy lingerie on sale right now."

"I don't want to go there," Rich piped up. "That's not my type of place."

"We weren't inviting you anyway," Stephanie muttered.

"Are you suggesting that we split up?" Chris asked, looking at Stephanie through the rearview mirror again.

"For a little while," Jess said, answering for Stephanie. "I don't want you to see what I'm buying from Victoria's Secret...but I promise you'll see it later on tonight..." Her voice trailed off and she smiled at her husband. "You'll even get to take it off me..."

Stephanie looked out the window. Too much information, she thought, shaking her head. And all of a sudden, she just couldn't wait to get this whole trip to the mall over with, even though it had barely even started...

A/N: This chapter started off the way that I wanted it to, but then it went in its own direction... Weird, huh?