Chapter 15

Stephanie's office...

It was a week after the storyline with Trish and Hunter had finally debuted on TV, and now it was time for Raw again. For Stephanie, the week had passed by slowly. She hadn't seen much of Chris after the previous Tuesday because he had decided to go visit his parents back in Canada. She had tried staying busy with her work, but it had been difficult for her. She had been more distracted than she'd ever been...

The most trying times had been the nights she had spent with her husband. He had been just as distant as ever, turning his back to her as he slept. It had been six months, she should've been used to it by now. Still, though, it was painful, the fact that her own husband wouldn't cuddle with her, and Chris, who had been nearly a total stranger... Chris had been willing... And every night for the rest of that week, she had fallen asleep with thoughts of her encounters with Chris on her mind...

Now it was Monday again, and she was at Raw, anxiously awaiting the time when she would see Chris. They'd only been together a few times, and already she could feel herself getting close, growing attached. She didn't want to get attached to him, but she couldn't help wishing that he was there in her office, just holding her against him, touching her... If Hunter would just do what Chris had done, she would be so happy... Why wouldn't he?

"What are you thinking about?" Hunter asked. He had walked into her office a minute or two earlier, and she hadn't even noticed him. She was busy staring off into space with a wistful expression on her face.

"Nothing," she said quickly, breaking out of her Chris-induced trance. "Just, you know, thinking about how much you and I have sort of grown apart."

"What do you mean?" he asked curiously, sitting down on the edge of her desk. "Fill me in."

"It's been six months since Chris and I discovered you in the shower with Trish, and things just haven't been the same since," she began.

"I thought you'd forgiven me for that."

"Yes, but things have been different. You have been different, and you know it."

"Different how? I'm still your husband. We still have our marriage," he said, secretly regretting that simple fact. Had it not been for Trish literally begging him to stay with Stephanie, he would be a free man, free to be with Trish, the one woman he was in love with. He loved Stephanie, but he knew that Trish held his heart. He wished he could tell Stephanie and end their marriage, if that's what their union could truly be classified as...

"No, everything is different with us now. Before... Before, you used to touch me and kiss me... You used to make love to me all night without question, so tenderly, so lovingly..." Tears sprang to her eyes as she remembered the way things had been once before. "You used to love me every night, you wanted me like I wanted you, and now? Now, you won't even kiss me, let alone hug me! What happened to you?"

"Steph, I..." His voice trailed off as he tried to think of an excuse.

"What? You don't love me anymore?" she asked loudly. "Tell me why, because I can't understand!"

"It's not that, Steph, and it's never going to be that," he said, pulling her to her feet and touching her face. God, he hated seeing those tears, knowing that he was the reason she wept. "It's not that I don't love you. It's just that I love you too much to just dive back into bed with you after I betrayed you. I want to earn your respect back, to earn your trust again..."

"You have it, Hunter," she whispered, gazing adoringly up at him. "You have my respect and my trust, times ten. I need you so much... Can't you just...kiss me?"

She was making this all so difficult for him, so very difficult. He looked over at the clock. "Wow, it's almost time for Raw and I haven't even gone over tonight's stuff with Trish. I'll be back later," he said in a rushed voice. He saw the look on her face, that crushed look, and he kissed her softly on the forehead. He took one more look at her, then made a quick escape.

"This is pointless," she said with a sigh. She sat down at her desk and put her head in her hands. She didn't even know why she tried so hard when it came to Hunter, or why she had expected for him to want to kiss her or hug her. I ask him for a kiss and he kisses my forehead, she thought, and then her vision blurred as the tears started flowing...

Chris's locker room...

"So," Trish began, looking at Chris.

"So," Chris repeated, looking off into space. He knew that Trish was trying to begin a conversation with him, but he wasn't in the mood to talk to her. He wanted to talk to Stephanie, to see how she was doing. He had been sort of apprehensive about going to Canada to see his parents and leaving Stephanie all alone with her husband. He was concerned for her, very concerned. He honestly couldn't understand why Hunter didn't want to touch her, or how Hunter actually refrained from touching her. God knows he couldn't. She was just so damn...touchable.

"Chrissy, are you listening to me?" Trish asked, noticing how he had that far away look in his eyes. He was sitting there on the steel chair just staring off into space, brows furrowed, obviously deep in thought. She couldn't seem to get his attention no matter how hard he tried, so she got up and walked over to him. She sat down facing him, straddling his lap, and brought her hands up to cup his face. "What's the matter, honey?" she asked in the sweetest voice she could muster.

"Nothing. I just have a lot on my mind," he said evasively, still thinking about Stephanie.

"Anything I can help with? Or rather, you want me to take your mind off of it?" she asked seductively.

"No, you can't," he replied.

"Never say never," she said with a little laugh, right before she kissed him on the neck.

"Trish, I'm not in the mood," he said bluntly, trying to pull away. "I mean, I've never been in a mood like...never mind. You wouldn't understand."

"Why wouldn't I understand?" she asked petulantly.

"Trust me, you just wouldn't," he said shortly. He made her get off his lap, then stood up. He walked over to the door, then pulled it open and was greeted with a bit of a surprise. "Hey," he said stiffly.

"Hey, Jeri...Chris," Hunter said, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably. "I needed to go over tonight's plans with Trish. Do you mind?"

"Go right ahead," Chris said, moving aside and letting him walk in. He turned to look at Hunter as he made his way into the locker room. "Uh, where's Stephanie?"

"Stephanie's in her office," Hunter said, biting his lip as he remembered the state in which he had left her. "Why?"

"I just wanted to check up on her, that's all," Chris said quickly. "Maybe I'll just pay her a little visit and say hi."

"I'd be careful going in there if I were you," Hunter warned him. "She's kind of down right now, lots of tears and stuff."

"And you left her alone?" Chris asked incredulously.

"Well, yeah," Hunter said with a shrug, figuring that he had to lie. "I had things to do, and I didn't really have the time to spare to find out what was really wrong. It's like she was upset and crying for no reason."

"You should know why, insensitive bastard," Chris muttered under his breath, walking out of the locker room. He had to go see Stephanie and make sure that she would be ok... He felt like he was her protector all of a sudden, like he had to be there for her. She hadn't turned out to be the person he'd thought she was, and he could honestly say that he liked her. He didn't like the idea of her crying, though, so with that in his mind, he headed down the hall towards her office...

Hunter watched Chris go, then closed and locked the door. He walked over to the chair Chris had been sitting in a little earlier and sat down, sighing. He looked at Trish with sad eyes.

"I can't keep doing this," he said in a low voice.

"Doing what? Sitting down?" she asked, hoping to change the subject.

"No, lying to Steph. She's hurting, Trish, she's really hurting, and I hate to hurt her," he said, sounding anguished.

"Why won't you just sleep with her?" she wondered.

"Because I can't, not while I'm with you," he said, shaking his head fervently. "I can't betray you that way."

"Betray me?" she scoffed. "Hello, I'm the mistress. She's the wife."

"Doesn't have to be that way," he said seriously, gazing at her. He loved her and he wanted to be with her, but as long as he was married to Stephanie and she was with Chris, that couldn't happen...

"Yes, it does have to be that way, for the sake of the plan," she reminded him. "Besides, I don't see the big deal with you sleeping with her. I sleep with Chris as often as he'll let me...which hasn't been that often in the past week, now that I think about it."

"That's...that's horrible!" he exclaimed. "Why would you sleep with him when you have me?"

"Because, babe, Chris is my boyfriend, and I have to do something to make him think that I'm loyal to him." She walked over to sit on his lap, giving him a deep kiss before pulling back and saying something that he would never forget. "Sex is it. Haven't you learned that yet?"

Stephanie's office...

Chris knocked lightly on the door to Stephanie's office. He waited for a few minutes, then knocked again. When she didn't reply, he opened the door and slipped inside. Seeing her hunched over her desk weeping silently, he uttered a low swear, damning Hunter to the very pit of hell. Stephanie didn't deserve this at all. He closed the door and locked it, then walked over to her desk and kneeled next to her chair.

"Steph, honey, you can stop crying now," he said in a soothing voice right near her ear. It was funny how just the week before, he hadn't known how to comfort a distraught woman, but now he knew. He touched her shoulder. "The sexy beast, the King of the World, the Highlight of the Night...has arrived, and he's here for you."

"Chris," she breathed, turning to him and smiling through her tears. She hugged him tightly, like she hadn't seen him in years, and then she pulled back to look at him. "I'm really glad to see you."

"I'm glad to see you, too," he said, glad that he'd made her smile. He leaned forward and kissed her, tasting the tears on her lips. He pulled back, confused when he felt her crying even more. "Did I do something wrong?" he asked worriedly.

"No... It's just that earlier, I asked Hunter to kiss me, but he wouldn't kiss me properly," she explained sadly. "He kissed my forehead...but you, you just came in here and kissed me..."

"I apologize if that's not what you wanted me to do," he said immediately. "I don't want to force myself on you or anything, so you let me know if I'm overstepping my boundaries."

"Don't apologize. I really like your kisses," she said honestly.

"Good," he said, letting out a deep breath that he hadn't known he'd been holding. "Cause I'd be offended if you told me that I sucked at kissing."

"You don't. You're an expert," she assured him quickly, reaching out to gently touch his face. "And the only boundary I have right now is with love. I don't want to fall for you, Chris, and I don't want you to fall for me, either."

"Don't you think it's a bit early to be talking about us falling for each other?" he asked softly, his hand covering the one she had on his face.

"When there's intimacy involved, I don't think it's ever too early to consider that, especially when the...experiences...are as powerful as ours are," she said firmly. "So are you going to promise me that you won't cross that line?"

"I can't promise you that it won't happen, because you never know when you're going to fall for someone, but I'll try really hard not to cross your line, so to speak," he said solemnly. She smiled, and he smiled back. He stood up, then sat on the edge of her desk. "Do you want to tell me what else Hunter did that got you so upset earlier?" he asked, looking down into her eyes.

"I don't want to talk about him right now," she said, standing up and moving to stand between his open legs. "I need you right now, Chris... Are you up for that?"

"I'm pretty sure I could 'get up' for you," he said with a wink, pulling her against him. "And... I locked the door... Thinking ahead and all that good stuff."

"You amaze me," she whispered, putting her arms around him. "I'm only just getting the chance to get to know you, and I think you're amazing."

"That's me. I'm just amazing...but you're not so bad yourself," he whispered back, and then he kissed her...

A/N: I loved writing this chapter, and I don't know why! Leave me a review so I can know if you liked it, too!