A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys, keep them coming. :D
~
Trish and Jericho walked hand-in-hand into the arena the next Raw. Things had been going better than ever since last week, and Chris's revelation about his and Stephanie's relationship. Figuring that he was just supposed to be her friend had afforded him vast amounts of comfort when he awoke from his dreams. Not to mention he was making progress, he hadn't had one sex dream since he had figured out the real reason for his dreams. That was a step up for him.
"So how about you come to my house this weekend?" Trish asked, looking up at him, question in her eyes.
"Well, I'll have to look at my schedule," he answered, then paused, "Well, would you look at that, I'm all free."
She laughed, "Good."
"Why your house?"
"Well, we always go to Florida, and I just wanted to go to my house for a change, is that a problem?"
He bent down to kiss her slowly, letting his tongue graze her lips, "Not a problem at all."
"Get a room."
Chris and Trish looked up and saw Christian standing there, Lita at his side like usual. Christian was smirking at the two of them, as Lita whispered something in his ear, causing him to smirk even more. Chris gave him a dirty look, taking a good guess as to what Lita had just whispered to him.
"We have a room, we just didn't feel like using it at the moment because we love to torture you with the public displays of affection."
"And torture us it does," Christian answered, "We don't need to see you guys with your tongues in each other's throats, we know you like to play hockey Chris, but how about keeping it on the ice?"
"Did you hear that Chris? Christian wants us to make out on the ice, that could turn potentially kinky," Trish said.
Lita laughed, "Come on Trish, there's something I want to show you."
"Cool," Trish said, then leaned up to kiss Chris quickly, "See you in a while babe."
"Ok, have fun."
"I plan on it!" she called out as she jogged to catch up with the already leaving Lita.
Christian walked over to Chris and they fell in step with each other as they started walking, "So how are you and Trish?"
"We're fine, better than fine, great," Chris answered, smiling to himself since it was the absolute truth.
"Lita told me that Trish dropped the L-bomb on you," Christian said, "But she didn't tell me if you said it back."
"The L-bomb?"
"Love idiot," Christian said, hitting the back of Chris's head with a smack.
Chris shoved Christian in the shoulder before rubbing the back of his head with his palm. He hadn't told Trish that he loved her……….yet. It was only a matter of time before he said it, that he knew. He could feel himself falling more and more in love with her. It was a scary feeling, definitely, but it was also comforting knowing there was someone out there that he could attain such feelings for. He was lucky that he had figured out his feeling for Trish.
"No, I haven't said it yet, but that doesn't mean I don't think about it," he said, not knowing why he was being so unusually open about his feelings.
"Oh," Christian said, nodding and turning his eyes downward.
"What's the look for?" Chris asked.
"What look?" Christian asked.
"You just have this look, like you don't believe me or something," Chris said, "Have you said it to Lita?"
"No, but she hasn't said it to me either," Christian said, looking over at Chris, "We're taking it slow. She's still broken up over Matt, and I don't want to rush her feelings. But I know how I feel."
"So do I, I just said that I thought about it!" Chris said, starting to get defensive about what Christian was suggesting.
"I've seen you hanging around Stephanie," Christian told him quietly.
Chris turned his head towards Christian. What had he been doing, spying on his or something? What happened between him and Stephanie was private and not meant for anyone else's ears, and how dare Christian tell him that with that hint of suspicion in his voice, like he was sneaking around with Stephanie, while Trish knew what was going on. Well, most of what was going on. She didn't know about the dreams, but she knew that he and Stephanie were getting to be friends, and she was fine with that. Besides, it was Trish he cared about, Stephanie was just a lonely person who he didn't………..no, he cared about her too, but in a completely different way.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Chris asked.
"I've just seen you around and you're looking pretty tight if you ask me," Christian said, "Look, I just don't want Trish to get hurt………."
"Are you fucking kidding me? Do you think I'm with Stephanie?" Chris demanded to know.
"Look, I don't know, it's just all of a sudden, I've seen you with Stephanie, and I mean, you guys weren't even friends a couple of weeks ago."
"So? I'm not allowed to hang out with other people now that I'm with Trish?"
"I just don't want to see Trish hurt," Christian told him, "I know that she was hurt when she found out about the bet."
"Stay out of my fucking business Christian," Chris said testily, "I don't need you being my fucking conscience."
Chris stormed off, leaving Christian in his wake, staring dumbly as the words that Chris had yelled at him sunk in. Chris walked huffily down the hallway, not believing what Christian had said. How dare he think those things about him? Nothing had ever happened with him and Stephanie, and nothing ever would. Not in real life anyways, not ever.
"You look like you're upset."
Chris looked up and saw Stephanie leaning in her doorway, a clipboard in hand and a pen stuck over her ear. A smile involuntarily came to his face. Finally a friendly face who wouldn't try to sway him one way or another. Wait, swayed what way or the other, he mentally shook his head of his thoughts, then looked up at Stephanie.
"You could say that," he told her.
"You want to talk about it."
"You don't want to hear about it."
"I don't have anything better to do," she shrugged.
Chris could denote a look of sadness in her eyes. It made him think that she did have things she needed to do, but she was so desperate for some kind of friendship, some kind of human interaction. He walked into her office, patting her shoulder as he walked by. She gave a small smile at the contact.
"Thanks for listening to my shit," Chris told her as he laid across her couch.
"What am I? Your psychiatrist?" she joked as she sat behind her desk, facing him.
"Would you like to be?"
"What's up?"
"Christian and I just kind of fought. It was stupid actually, but what he said, it just wasn't something I wanted to hear, you know?"
"Probably not, I don't have too many friends," she told him.
"Which really is a shame," he told her, trying to reassure her, "You're a really great person."
"Don't lie Chris," she said, "Nobody around here likes me, nobody talks to me. I think you're the only one who I've actually had a normal conversation with since I came back."
"It's cause you work too much Stephanie," Chris told her, "Have you tried to make any more friends."
"Not really, I just……….I just have so much to do around here that I'm always working," she sighed.
"I know that you want to impress your dad, but come on, you should have a life too," he told her.
"I thought I was supposed to only hear about your problems," she said, switching the focus back to him.
"Hey, I never said I couldn't hear about yours, that's what friends do for each other," he told her, looking at her stunned face.
"You think of me as a friend?" she asked.
"Stephanie, I've had dream sex with you, I think that I can consider you my friend can't I?"
She laughed, "Sure."
"Speaking of which, I haven't had any dreams about us having sex recently," he told her happily, "So that's a step in the right direction don't you think?"
"Yeah," she told him, "Any other dreams?"
"Yeah, nothing too big, the usual really," he answered.
"How are the kids?"
He laughed, "They're fine, they adore you. I mean, if this were real life in my dreams, you would be so happy with them as children."
"I'm sure I would. So in other news, what did you and Christian fight about?"
He made a face, "You know how I told you that I haven't told Trish I love her?"
"Of course, because you don't love her."
"Yet," he emphasized, "Yet."
"Ok, yet," she told him.
"Well, he insisted on bringing up the fact that I'd been hanging around you a lot, and he was practically accusing me of cheating on Trish with you, I mean, is that the stupidest thing ever or what?"
"Well, it is pretty silly, because I've seen you with Trish," Stephanie said, tapping her chin, "But why'd you get so angry?"
"Because he was accusing me of cheating!"
"But you know it's not true, just say that, and if he doesn't believe you, walk away," she told him.
"Easy for you to say, you don't have to worry about people thinking your cheating," he said.
"Well, if anyone thinks it, that's their faux pas," she told him.
"Yeah," he said, then looked at her, "Did you want to go get some food after the show?"
"This is not helping the 'no cheating' image you're trying to portray," she answered, raising an eyebrow.
He smiled sarcastically, "Trish would come along of course, I just wondered if you wanted to come along, and don't tell me you have to work, you have seven days a week to finish work, and I know you can't possibly use up every single minute of every single day doing work."
"Fine, but only because I know you won't take no for an answer," she said, "Now get out of here so I can…………"
"Finish your work," he said, ending her sentence for her.
She rolled her eyes, "Just go."
He grinned at her, "See you later. We'll come get you so we can go together, ok?"
"Sure."
Chris walked out of the office and looked both ways before looking for Lita's locker room so he could go get Trish and go back to their locker room. He knocked on the door to Lita's locker room, opening the slightly ajar door and sticking his head in. Lita and Trish were sitting against one of the walls, next to each other and giggling over some magazine.
"Can I come in?" Chris asked.
Trish looked up, still laughing, "Oh, it's ok Chris, I'm just leaving."
"See you Trish," Lita said as the blonde got up.
"Bye," Trish waved, then opened the door and linked arms with Chris, "So where did you run off to?"
"I just--"
"Oh wait, before I forget," Trish interjected, "Christian and Lita, mostly Lita, but you know Christian is going to be with her, well, they invited us to this bar after the show, and I told them we would go."
"Actually, I invited Stephanie to go out to dinner with us," Chris told her, stopping in the hallway so they could talk.
"Oh," Trish said, then perked up, "She can come too!"
"I don't think she'd like the club scene," he told her, wincing a little at the thought of Stephanie in a club.
"Oh, well, it's just that Christian knows this great bar in town," she said, "Here, you can go out with Stephanie, and then I'll just go out with Christian and Lita, no biggie."
"Are you sure you want me to go out with Stephanie alone?" he asked.
"I trust you," she answered, kissing him, "Besides, it'll be nice that Stephanie gets to go out with a friend, I think it'll do her good."
"I'd like it if you two could become friends," he told her.
"We'll see, I'll have to be a little bit nicer to her from now on," she smiled.
Chris smiled as he walked into Stephanie's office after the show was over. He was freshly showered and had just pulled his damp hair into a ponytail. He straightened his polo shirt and waited for her to look up. She signed something and then smiled briefly at him before grabbing her things. She looked around curiously before turning to him.
"Where's Trish?"
"Oh, she's going out with Christian and Lita, but I'm still taking you out to dinner," he told her.
Stephanie looked at him uneasily, "You know what Chris, you don't have to take me out, I'm fine eating in my hotel room, I'll just order something up."
"Why? I'm right here, ready to take you out, which I would pay for by the way," he said, adding extra incentive.
"But Trish wouldn't be there, and I'd feel uncomfortable going out with a guy who's taken already."
"She knows about it," Chris said, "She told me to go actually, so come on, I'm starving."
"Ok," she said, a little unsure, but grabbing her things nonetheless.
He opened the door for her and let her walk through. They went out to his car and he took her things from her so he could put them in the backseat, telling her to forget her work for the rest of the night. They got in the car and they found a steakhouse type place to eat. They were seated immediately, since it was kind of late, and most people were hanging around the bar in the middle of the restaurant.
They ordered and waited for their food, mostly talking about the show and all the things going on with that, the matches and everything, gossip mostly. Chris could tell that Stephanie was having a good time, and he was glad that he was able to get her mind off of things for an evening. She just needed a friend, and he was glad that he could be her friend, because frankly, she wasn't all that bad to hang around. Their food came and they ate quietly, Stephanie stabbing her pasta on her fork as she ate.
"So what've your dreams been about if they haven't been about sex?" Stephanie asked.
"Well…………""I want you to be a good boy," Stephanie said to Reid as he grabbed his duffel bag, "Be good to Grandma and Grandpa ok?"
"Yes Mommy, I will."
"And watch over Bren ok? He's still a little kid and he needs watching."
"I know."
"Bren! Come on sweetie, Grandma and Grandpa are going to leave without you!" Stephanie called out.
Chris came hobbling into the foyer, Brennan clinging to his leg, burying his face into his father's pant leg. Chris tried to pry the youngster off of his leg, but he wouldn't budge, just clinging on tighter. Stephanie and Chris knew that Brennan was in that stage where he was really tight with his parents and hated leaving them even for a second. Stephanie came over to kneel next to Brennan, rubbing his back.
"How's my little boy?" Stephanie asked.
Brennan mumbled something, but didn't show his face to Stephanie.
"Sweetie, can I see your cute face?"
Brennan slowly turned to face his mother.
"There's my sweet boy," she said smiling, "Grandma and Grandpa are waiting, don't you want to go visit with them in Canada?"
"No," he mumbled, leaning his chubby cheek on Chris's leg, "Stay."
"But Grandma and Grandpa never get to see you and they love you so much. And Grandpa will take you to play hockey, and you can back cookies with Grandma. And I'm sure you'll do lots of fun stuff with them."
He shook his head, "Stay."
"So you want to make Grandma and Grandpa upset."
"They stay too," he shrugged.
Chris laughed, "Hey buddy, it's not going to be for that long, and then when you come back, you can show me and Mommy all the fun things you did."
"No, I stay," he said resolutely.
Stephanie leaned in close to Brennan and kissed the tip of his nose, "For Mommy, please."
Brennan slowly let go of Stephanie's leg and hugged her. She hugged him back tightly, kissing his cheek. Chris looked a little relieved that the toddler had relinquished his death grip on his leg. Chris ruffled Brennan's hair as Stephanie handed him to Chris's father. They both kissed Reid goodbye as they left to go take a flight back to Canada for a week. Stephanie waved until the car was no longer in sight before sighing and turning around, smack dab into Chris. He grinned lecherously down at her.
"We're all alone."
"I know," she answered, then started running upstairs, "Last one upstairs has to do all the work!"
Chris chased after her quickly.
"You have such nice dreams," Stephanie mused as she wiped her mouth and put her napkin on the table, signaling she was through, "I have dreams about facts and numbers and all that kind of stuff."
"Too bad you aren't in my dreams………wait, you are," he joked.
She laughed, "Yeah, they do seem idealistic."
"Wanna trade? I wouldn't mind dreaming of facts and figures."
"You don't want my life Chris, trust me. It's lonely and it's just……….."
Chris didn't make her finish, "Here, I'll go pay the check and we'll go back to the hotel ok?"
"Ok," she said, "Though part of me wishes that I didn't have to go back to an empty room."
"Ok, you twisted my arm, let's go watch a midnight movie."
"Really?"
"Sure, Trish probably won't be back until like three so I've got the time, come on."
He went and paid and they drove to the nearest movie theater, finding a couple of movies showing soon. They picked one at random and went inside, grabbing candy and popcorn along the way. They watched the boring movie, talking the entire time, laughing and making up their own dialogue rather than walk out. They got shushed five different times and just laughed. After the movie was over, Chris drove back to the hotel and walked Stephanie to her door. She stopped in front of it and hugged him suddenly.
"Thanks for tonight," she whispered, "I needed it."
"No problem," he said, hugging her back, "I needed it too."
"Night," she said, opening her door, "Tell Trish I said hello."
"I'll tell her," he said, watching as she disappeared into the room. He walked down to his own room, and opened the door. Trish was in the bedroom, just getting into her pajamas. He smiled and walked over to her, kissing her deeply, "How was your night?"
"It was so much fun," she said, "I wish you could've been there, but it was still fun."
"Great," he smiled, glad that she had had a good time.
"What about you? How was your night?"
"Fun," he said, "More fun than I thought it would be."
"Good, I'm glad that you guys are getting along."
"Me too."
