A/N: This is for Jodi since she really, really wanted an update. Hope this doesn't disappoint. And for all the other faithful readers, thanks for sticking with this story. Please leave a review, I'll love ya forever. ;)

Enjoy. :)


"King me!"

"I haven't played checkers in the longest time," Stephanie confessed as she put a red piece on top of Chris's checker piece. "I didn't even know that I had this, it must've come from my old stuff from my parent's house."

"Well, you probably didn't bring it out because you suck at it," Chris told her. "But don't worry, next game I'll go easy on you."

"Gee, thanks," Stephanie said sarcastically and then yawning. Chris noticed this and just looked at her for a moment before Stephanie caught wind of his look. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

"No, you just yawned."

"I guess I did," Stephanie answered.

"Are you tired?"

"A little."

"Maybe you should try and get some rest," Chris suggested.

"Chris, I'm fine, I don't need to sleep all the time. I'm getting more rest now that I'm on vacation. And trust me, I won't be rushing back to work, I'm already embarrassed by this. I don't need people looking at me like some charity case when I go back."

"I doubt that'll happen."

"Oh yeah, you're right, some people will think I'm nuts and need to be put in a looney bin with a straitjacket, but that's fine, all in a day's work."

"I'm sorry."

"For what? You actually came out to see me, and stayed two extra days when you didn't even have to. Are you sure that Trish isn't going to get suspicious?"

"No, I called her, she's just feeling guilty that this happened, I think she's actually worried about you, as crazy as that sounds," he said, remembering how upset Trish had been when she had spoken about Stephanie, and how sorry she still sounded every time that he called.

"She shouldn't, it's my own fault."

"I tried to tell her, but she won't listen, and hey, I'm your friend and you're going through a kind of rough time right now, it's the least I can do to come visit you and see how you're doing."

Stephanie smiled at that and went for her next move on the checkerboard. She would never admit it to him, but she was really grateful that he had come. She had been feeling really lonely by herself in this big house. She wasn't really recovering from anything serious, but it was nice to have a familiar face around to keep her company.

"But you really didn't have to come," she responded, still trying to play the "I'm ok" card, even though she wasn't really that ok.

"I know I didn't, but I'm not leaving, rumors be damned."

"Oh great, so I have to deal with more rumors when I get back, I suppose these ones are going to deal with you and me and anything that people will think happened this weekend."

"Ding, ding, ding," Chris answered, tapping his nose. "That's exactly what's going to happen, but don't worry, I'll have Trish, Christian and Lita to debunk all those rumors, they're like my own personal army."

"Must be nice…so how are things with Trish, I didn't really want to bring her up because of…well, what happened, but I'm curious to know how you two are doing," Stephanie said, showing genuine interest in what he had to say. Chris had been so wrapped up in making sure that Stephanie was going to be ok that he kind of forgot to talk about himself.

"I think we're doing fine. She's over the entire…well thing that happened," he said, avoiding the words like Stephanie had. "It was just a mix-up."

"So you've told her you loved her then?" Stephanie asked innocently.

"Um, no," Chris said, rubbing the back of his neck, something he did when he was nervous. "I don't know, maybe there's something wrong with me."

"Join the freaking club," Stephanie scoffed. "I'm sure she understands that you thought I was someone else."

"Yeah, but I still thought that you were yourself. I didn't think that you were someone else entirely."

"Sure you did," Stephanie said, "You thought that I was your wife; that I was your wife, Stephanie, but I'm not your wife. That's just some dream world that you've thought up. You know, dreams can come from anywhere, and who knows, maybe these dreams are just telling you that you need more fiber in your diet or something."

"If only, I'd rather be dreaming of large bran muffins, no offense."

"None taken," Stephanie said, waving his words off.

"I just wish I had some sort of motivation behind these dreams."

"Maybe you're just thinking about nostalgic things, like our old storyline, you're projecting that into your dreams and instead of Trish you see me, but it's really Trish that you want to be married to and that you want to have kids with," Stephanie said, then laughed, "Look at me being the dream psychologist."

"Hey, you don't know, it could be true," Chris shrugged. "Sounds pretty plausible to me."

"Yeah, it," Stephanie didn't get a chance to finish as she gave a huge yawn, her face distorting as her mouth opened. "Excuse me."

"You're obviously tired, why don't we hit the sack."

"It's sounding like a good idea," Stephanie said, gathering up their dishes. Chris intercepted her hands and grabbed them from her.

"I'll do that, you just go to bed," he said.

"Ok, thanks," Stephanie said, trudging upstairs.

Chris took the dishes to the kitchen and put them in the sink, running the water as he started to rinse them off and load them into the dishwasher. He had become a little bit acquainted with Stephanie's home over the last few days and finished up easily, drying his wet hands before making sure everything was locked. He cleaned up in the living room before turning off all the downstairs lights.

He walked upstairs and got ready for bed, feeling the exhaustion wipe over him as well. It wasn't easy being so lazy, it actually was tiring. He climbed into the very girly bed and closed his eyes, knowing that sleep would come for him quickly and hopefully bring a blissfully dreamless sleep. He sighed and buried his head deeper in his pillow, feeling the minutes tick away and sleep coming soon. But then he felt a pair of eyes settle on him and he opened his eyes.

Stephanie was standing in his doorway, watching him. There was little light in the room, but he could make her face out well enough. She looked exhausted, her eyes dark and with bags under them. Her hair looked unkempt and it was pulled back into a messy ponytail and she had her arms wrapped around her. She was staring at him, just standing there and staring and she looked so sad.

"Steph?"

She didn't say anything, but just kept staring. Chris didn't know if she had even heard him because he had been speaking very low. He repeated her name a little louder this time, but again she didn't respond, at least not immediately. She paused and then walked over, sitting on the edge of the bed so she was facing him. She smiled down at him, but it was so sad that it was almost making him sad too.

"What's up?" he asked her, but she seemed to stare through him.

"I miss you," she whispered and he had to strain to hear her.

"Ok, well, we can chill if you want to here."

"Can you hear me?"

"Yeah, I can hear you," he told her, sitting up a little bit.

"Yeah, of course you can," she laughed. "I know it's stupid to ask, I mean, it's only you and me here in the room."

"It's ok," he answered, "It's pretty quiet though."

"It's very quiet this time of night," she responded. "I've gotten used to it. You get used to it after a while. Even those tiny little sounds, they're just various things you know, and they get drowned out from your thoughts."

"I know how it is, once I'm asleep, I'm gone," he laughed. "Don't even try to wake me up because it's not going to happen."

"I'm just sitting there alone and I think and I think and my parents say that it's a bad thing, this thinking and that I should just try and stop, but I really don't know how."

"Yeah, it is pretty hard to stop thinking, especially when you have a lot on your mind."

"I try not to, I really do try, but it's hard, it's so hard and if I don't think, if I just sit here, if I just stay here and not move, I'll go crazy. I know it's silly."

"No, it's really not silly."

"Look at me, talking like I'm going to get all the answers in the world, like I'm going to suddenly see you and you're going to see me back and see everything and know everything and you don't because you're wherever you are and I'm here and I'm waiting."

Chris furrowed his brow, "What are you waiting for Stephanie?"

"I can see your eyes, you at least give me that every so often, but then you go back into hiding Chris."

"Stephanie? What am I hiding from?" he asked.

Stephanie reached out to him, and brushed his hair back, smiling at him, smiling with some emotion swirling in her eyes, "Don't leave me ok? I'm not ready for you to leave me."

"Stephanie, I'm really not going anywhere, but where do you want this to go? I mean, you're sitting here and telling me these things and I'm starting to wonder if you're sleepwalking," Chris said, going to take her hand off of his head, but at the last moment, she pulled it away again. She rested it in her lap as she sighed and stared at him.

"Maybe if I sit here and watch you, those thoughts won't consume me."

"If you want," Chris told her, again trying to reach out for her, but she stood up again. Chris didn't know where she was going, but he wanted to follow her, to make sure that she was ok. She was acting so strangely. He got out of bed after waiting a few moments, but when he looked in the hallway, she wasn't there. She must have scurried pretty quickly to her room. Maybe she was embarrassed by what she had done.

He tiptoed to her room and opened the door, the room dark and he didn't know his way around. He bumped straight into a trunk and fell down to the ground, cursing and grabbing his foot. He heard a snuffling from the bed and then heard Stephanie gasp and sit up, turning on the light from her nightstand. She saw Chris sitting on the ground and she rubbed her eyes.

"Chris, what are you doing?"

"I should be asking you the same thing," he said. "Hey, how did you fall asleep so quickly?"

"So quickly, Chris, I've been asleep for like," she looked at her clock, "Three hours."

"No, you were just in my room," Chris said, "And you were talking pretty crazily, I thought you were going to kiss me."

"No, I was in bed, I swear."

"No, you were…" Chris was going to finish what he was saying, but he couldn't because he was noticing that Stephanie was not wearing the same thing that she had just been wearing and there was no way that she could've changed her clothes so quickly and then gotten into bed by the time he had walked into her room.

"Chris?" Stephanie asked curiously.

"You didn't change?"

"No, why would I change?" she asked. "I'm comfortable as it is."

"But I swear I just saw you in my room and you were talking to me and making no sense and telling me not to leave you."

"It must've been a dream then," Stephanie said, "Do you want to talk about it."

"No, that wasn't a dream," Chris told her, shaking his head. "It was too real to be a dream, you were too real to be a dream, I could feel you touch me, I felt you touch me. You were touching me."

"I didn't touch you Chris, I swear to God. I wouldn't want a repeat of what happened when you told me…what you told me, remember?"

"I could've sworn that it was you," he said, but now she didn't quite look how she had looked just a little while earlier. She looked better right now. "Maybe it was a dream or something."

"Yeah," Stephanie said. "It must've been."

"Oww," Chris said, grabbing his wrist.

"What's wrong, did you land wrong when you fell?" Stephanie asked, jumping out of bed and kneeling down beside him. "Should I take you to the hospital?"

"The hospital…" Chris said, thinking for a second. "No, I don't need the hospital, I just must've hurt it when I fell. I couldn't see the trunk that you have here. I tripped."

"I heard," Stephanie said. "How's your ankle?"

"I think I'll live," Chris said, trying to ease the tension in his wrist. "It hurts, but it's nothing that I haven't dealt with before. I guess I just need to learn to watch where I'm going."

"Or not to sneak into someone's room at night," Stephanie said, helping Chris up. "Do you want me to walk you to your room?"

"No, I think I've had enough of you for one night, I could do without anymore dreams of you," Chris told her. "Night Stephanie."

"Goodnight Chris, and just remember, it's all a dream, just a dream."