"You know, I really do like hanging out with Stephanie."

"I knew you would."

"Sure, she gets a little bossy when you're talking about work, but once you get past that, she's really cool," Trish said, kneeling next to Chris as they sat on the couch in their hotel room.

"Then just don't talk about work," he said.

"I try not to, I have a feeling that it dominates her mind though."

"It's just because she wants to make her father proud of her, and she doesn't know any other way to do that except throw herself into her work."

"You seem to have her pretty figured out," Trish observed.

"She's pretty easy to read once you actually take the time."

"I'm glad that you suggested we be friends," Trish told him, kissing his cheek, "I like being friends with your friends."

"Well, you were pretty much friends with them all before we started dating."

"I know that," she said, hitting him lightly, "But I mean, I never thought that I would get along with Stephanie, and lo and behold, I actually do."

"Good, that makes me glad," he said, turning to kiss her fully.  She returned the kiss eagerly and he pushed her lightly onto the couch and lay on top of her.  She laughed and looked up at him, smiling softly at him.  He gazed back at her before leaning in to gently touch his lips to hers.  She wrapped her arms around him tightly, pulling him so they were chest to chest.

He lost himself in her, and he couldn't remember ever being as perfect as he felt with her.  It was a different feeling entirely, and one that he could definitely get used to for the rest of his life.  He kept kissing her, knowing that he never wanted to be anywhere, but here, with her.  He pulled away slightly and gazed into her lovely, brown eyes.

"I adore you," he told her softly.

She kissed him briefly, a smile on her face as she heard his words, "I love you so much."

"I never thought I could find anyone as perfect for me, but you," he told her, meaning every single word.

"Yeah, too bad we wasted so much time being apart," she said, "If I had known how wonderful you were, I would've snatched you up a long time ago."

"Who says I would've?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

"Are you saying you wouldn't have wanted me?" she shot back.

He gave her a once over, "Nah, I wouldn't say no to this.  I'd hit it."

Her mouth gaped, "You and your little jokes, I have a good mind to hit you."

"I can think of more productive things for you to do."

She just shook her head and went back to kissing him, "I think we'll be getting to bed late tonight."

"You sure that you don't want me to go with you to the gorilla?" Stephanie asked him, sitting there, looking almost hopeful.

"Babe, it's alright, I can go by myself, I don't want you to have to wait for me," he said, kissing the tip of her nose.

"Ok, if you don't want me there," she said, batting her eyelashes in the most pathetic fashion.

"Fine, fine, come on," he said, tugging her hand, "Let's go."

"You do want me around," she said, giving him a cute grin and kissing his cheek.

"Yeah, I guess, I just can't seem to get rid of you actually."

"Like you'd want to," she answered, giving him a look, "Face it Jericho, you want me so bad, you'd be willing to do anything to stay with me."

"That's very true, I even went so far as to marry you, if that doesn't say how much I want you, then I don't know what will."

"I don't know either," she said as they reached the gorilla, "Now go out there and make me proud."

"Do I ever not make you proud?"

She gave him a sweet smile and kissed him softly, "No, never."

He grinned, wiping the lipstick off his mouth with the back of his hand.  He turned to walk away, but she pulled him back with a hand.  She reached up and wiped the corner of his mouth where he still had a little bit of lipstick.  He started walking away, only letting go of Stephanie's hand when he had to.  He went out and posed for his entrance, just like usual and smiled to himself as he turned around.

He went down the ramp to his match against Edge and walked into the ring.  The match began and started with chops on both sides before it escalated into a fast-paced match.  Chris bounced off the ropes and gave Edge a running bulldog.  He slammed Edge's face into the mat and then ran to try and get a Lionsault.  Edge brought his knees up into Chris's ribcage.  Chris laid down as Edge tried to go for the pin, but he kicked out at the last moment.  Chris got up and gave Edge a hard clothesline, laying him out on the mat.  Chris went for another Lionsault, this time hitting it perfectly and pinning Edge for the win.

Chris panted as he walked backstage.  He grabbed his ribs, those would definitely be sore tomorrow.  He walked backstage and looked around for Stephanie.  He didn't see her in the immediate area and figured she must've gone back to the dressing room.  She had mentioned wanting to call the kids.

"Help!"

Chris's ears recognized that voice.  It was Stephanie's.  He searched around frantically, wondering where she was.  The voice echoed, and he couldn't pinpoint its location.  The pain in his ribs was forgotten as he searched around for his wife.  He finally turned the right corner in the right hallway and saw her being pressed up against the wall by the Kane.  He had her by the arm and she was struggling to break free of his grasp.

"Get your hands off of her!" Chris shouted as he rushed towards his wife.  He pushed Kane out of the way, before punching the man until his nose was bleeding.  Kane ran off and Chris turned to Stephanie.  Her eyes were watering and she was rubbing her arm.

"Baby, are you ok?" he asked gently.

"Yeah," she nodded, "I'm fine."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah, Chris, I'm fine."  He could tell she wasn't, but she was trying to be brave.

"What happened?"

"I don't know, he just cornered me, I wasn't expecting it," she said, leading him back to their dressing room, "You came just in time."

"I would never let anything happen to you."

Chris looked around the dressing room the next day.  He wondered where Trish had gone, probably to go talk to Lita or something.  He pulled up his wrestling tights and then grabbed his boots, lacing them tightly, making sure that they would stay on for his match later on.

"Hey you," Trish said, walking in, "Damn, I missed the show."

"Oh, you mean me getting dressed?"

"Yeah, I'm always interested in that," she said, raising her eyebrows in delight.

"I figured you were, judging from past experiences," he told her.

"Oh, you know me too well," she said, sitting next to him, "Maybe I should get dressed and give you a show."

"Now we're talking," he said, grinning lecherously in her direction.

"Of course, that might give you too much distraction for your match later on, and we can't have that," she said, pretending to be serious.

"If you get me worked up, then I might be taking off my clothes again," he said, laughing.

"Oh really?  Then let me see what I can do to get you all hot and bothered."

She pretended to think for a second, giving him a coy look.  He looked at her for a moment before tackling her to the couch and kissing her deeply.  She giggled in surprise as he practically mauled her.  He kissed her over and over, ravishing her and messing up her perfectly coiffed hair by running his fingers through it.

"You're such a crazy man," she told him, but her gaze was loving.

"Only crazy for you."

"Wow, that ranked a ten on the cheesy scale," she laughed.

"Well then...."

He started tickling her and she tried to move away, but he was laying on top of her.  She pushed him off and he landed on the floor next to the couch and she just laughed at him.  Her laughing turned to a scream as he pulled her down to the ground.  She fell on top of him and she straddled his lap.

"This is what I'm talking about," she said, "Crazy."

"But I make your life interesting don't I?"

"I'll give you that one," she nodded, "But don't expect much more."

"Damn, so that means I'm not getting any tonight doesn't it?"

"Well.we'll see," she said.

Chris heard a scream and looked up towards the television.  Stephanie had been in the ring making an announcement and Evolution had come down to the ring, Hunter leading the little group.  Stephanie had tried to stand up to her ex-husband, but she was sorely out-numbered.  They had backed her into a corner.

"Shit," Chris muttered, "She doesn't have anyone."

"Go," Trish said, getting off him quickly, "Go help her!"

Chris was on his feet with lightning speed and ran out into the hallway.  He was practically to the gorilla, when he was stopped.  He turned around quickly and saw Christian standing there, holding his arm.  He looked at him, perturbed by his presence.  He wanted to go help Stephanie before she got seriously hurt.

"Chris, where are you going?"

"To help Stephanie!" Chris yelled, shrugging off Christian.

"Dude, what is with you two?"

"What do you mean?"

"You hang out, you go out, and now you're saving her?" he said, his eyebrows furrowing.

"She's my friend you asshole!  And she's about to get hurt!"

"What about Trish?  Forgotten about her?"

"No!  She told me to go to Stephanie you idiot, so I'm going to go help my friend, and I don't give a shit about what you think about it!"

"Fine Chris, throw away something great with Trish for Stephanie!"

"Where the fuck are you getting these ideas, I'm with Trish, not Stephanie!"

Chris ran away, seeing out of the corner of his eye that Hunter had grabbed Stephanie by the hair and Batista had come around behind her and grabbed her by the arms, holding her against him.  She was screaming now and Chris put all his attention on helping her.  She had tears streaming down her face, and Chris saw red.

He slid into the ring going after Hunter's quad, knocking him down before anyone else.  The other three came after him, Batista savagely throwing Stephanie down to the ground where she landed on her arm with a gasp.  Flair and Orton were laying into him, but he could only see Stephanie, laying there, staring at him in shock.

"Steph, get out of here!"

Stephanie nodded mutely and got out of the ring.  Chris endured the beating his was receiving, trying to get some offense in, but finding it hard, now Hunter was in the mix as well and the beating turned to four on one.  Batista picked him up and gave him a powerbomb and Chris felt his head bounce lifelessly off to the ground, then everything went hazy.  The last thing he remembered was seeing Stephanie with a chair, hitting all the guys.he had told her to get out of here. 

Leave it to Stephanie to not listen.

He was in a dream world it seemed.  Everything was bright and lazy, and he could hear the distant voices, but couldn't focus on them.  His mind saw Stephanie being beaten, screaming for help.  Her assailant was blurry, his mind drifting from the real world to the dream world with quickening pace.  He saw her getting hurt by Kane, then getting threatened by Evolution.

He couldn't see anything clearly, couldn't settle on any one thought and it scared him terribly.  He tried to grasp onto any one thought, but they were coming too hard and too fast for his tired brain.  He heard Stephanie's voice, the only thing persistent in this haze. 
She was in his dream world and in his real world, she was where the line blurred, she was the glue holding everything together.

"Chris!  Chris, can you hear me?"

That was Stephanie's voice, pleading, but where was it coming from.

"Chris, please, wake up!"

He opened his eyes, or at least, he thought that was what he was doing.  He wasn't too sure about that at the moment.  His mind was adrift in an endless fog, and he wasn't too sure where he was at the moment.  All he could see was Stephanie hovering over him, her hands holding his tightly, as if to never let go.  He smiled at her softly; she was so beautiful.

"Oh Chris, thank God," she said thankfully.

He looked around and saw some trainers around him, but not much else.  He couldn't be too sure about where he was.  Where was he anyways?  A show, and Stephanie was by his side.  She was by his side because she was his wife.  Right?  He tried to clear his mind, something about Trish came to his head, but he couldn't pinpoint what that feeling was. 

No, Stephanie was his wife, and they had two kids, Brennan and Reid.  Reid was five, and Brennan was just a little two year old, but they were both little spitfires.  They lived in Connecticut, in a big, nice house, and Stephanie stayed at home with the kids while he traveled.  Yes, that was his reality wasn't it?  It seemed so real.

He looked up to Stephanie, her gaze fixed on him, worry marring her brow.  He reached out to touch her face with his palm.  She looked at him, stunned by his actions.  He was just trying to reassure her that he was going to be just fine.  He smiled at her, and she smiled tentatively back, seeing his eyes sort of glazed over.  She wondered what was going through his mind.  She didn't have to wait long.

"Stephanie, I love you."