Chapter 28

One month later...

Trish looked over at Chris, who was sitting on the leather couch, deep in thought. She knew what he was thinking about. He was contemplating whether or not he should send Stephanie the letter he had written her. She felt so incredibly bad for him, for all the pain he was going through. He had confessed to her that his "mystery woman" was Stephanie, and for some odd reason, she hadn't been surprised. She had been upset, though, as she had observed how sad and misty-eyed he got when he talked about her. She didn't know why Stephanie wouldn't just be with him, and it pained her to see him so broken up about her.

She hadn't mentioned to Chris the fact that Stephanie was pregnant. She was pretty sure now that it was Chris's baby, but she knew it wasn't her place to inform him of that. It was none of her business. She hadn't told Hunter that she knew who the father of Stephanie's baby was either, or that she knew that he wasn't the baby's father. She wanted to tell him more than anything, to help him speed up with the divorce, but again she knew it wasn't her place to let the cat out of the bag, so to speak.

"I'm going to do it," Chris said, finally speaking after a long silence.

Trish didn't even have to ask what he was referring to. "Good for you, Chris. I'm glad that you're finally going to do it."

"It's the only way I can start to try do the impossible and get over her, by telling her how I feel," he reasoned. "I mean, she hurt me, Trish, and I loved her."

"Loved? As in, past tense?" she asked curiously.

He sighed. "Ok, I still love her, but you're not helping me here," he said with a slight, forced laugh. "You're supposed to make me hate her, abhor her, detest her..."

"Those all mean the same thing," she pointed out. "And you can't pretend that you don't love her. It's not healthy for you."

"And pining away for her is? Staying awake at night so I won't dream about her is healthy? How about feeling like bursting into tears at the mere mention of her name, is that healthy?" he asked, running a hand through his hair. "What kind of man does those things? What kind of man does that make me? I'm pathetic!"

"You're not pathetic," she said, going over and sitting next to him. "You're just a man in love... A man who has had the unfortunate luck to fall for a married woman."

"I guess you're right," he conceded, looking down at the envelope in his hands. "I don't regret falling for her, though, as crazy as that might sound. Those few months when she was mine were the best months of my life..."

"I should be offended by that, but for some reason, I'm not," she laughed. She looked down at the envelope in his hand. "So...how are you going to give that to her when she's not here anymore?"

"I'm not giving it directly to her."

"But you just said-"

"I'm giving it to Hunter," he interrupted smoothly. He stood up and stretched. "And since I don't know if I can refrain from kicking his ass if I get him alone, I need you to come with me."

"Um, I don't know about this," she said, biting her lip nervously. I mean, she thought to herself, this is the man I love you're talking about here!

"Come on, Trish, I need you," he pleaded, holding out his hand to her. She placed her hand in his and he pulled her to her feet. He pouted almost comically as he looked at her. "Will you?"

She looked up into his eyes, those beautiful blue eyes, and she saw that behind his comic pouting, there was pain in those eyes. "Chris..."

"Shhh... Just say yes," he whispered, suddenly putting his arms around her fully and looking down into her eyes. If he didn't stare at her features too hard, he could almost imagine that she was Stephanie, not Trish, who was in his arms. He could almost believe it, he could believe it, as he leaned down, his lips inching closer and closer to hers...

But at the last minute, his eyes took in a loose strand of her blonde hair, and his trance was broken as he realized that it wasn't Stephanie. He blinked rapidly and shook his head, backing away slowly. "I... I'm sorry, Trish," he apologized. "I didn't mean to almost...um..."

"It's ok, Chris," she said, stepping closer to him. "I understand your pain. It's how I felt when...he...wouldn't be with me... So if you need me to comfort you in any way, I'm here..." She kissed him on the neck softly, then started sucking lightly on it in that spot where she knew it made him shiver. If she could take his mind off of the fact that Stephanie wasn't with him, then maybe things would be better...

He closed his eyes, an image of Stephanie appearing immediately in his mind. He could feel hands touching him, and he imagined that they were Stephanie's hands that were traveling to the bottom of his shirt and lifting it up. He imagined that they were her hands as he felt Trish's nails lightly grazing over the taut skin of his muscular chest. His hand reached up to tangle in a mass of silky hair, and he imagined that it was Stephanie's hair as he pulled her head back and his lips came down on hers. He felt her wrap her arms around him and rub against him, and he growled a little, kissing her hard. He broke the kiss and his lips traveled to her neck as her hand went down to the front of his jeans and started rubbing him through the material.

"Stephanie..." It was a whispered moan from him, as he felt himself getting aroused. His lips found her ear, where he whispered into it. "Stephanie..."

"I'm not Stephanie, but I'll help you forget her."

He opened his eyes immediately at the sound of Trish's voice, disappointed that it hadn't really been Stephanie. He looked at Trish, who was standing there in his arms, panting lightly and giving him bedroom eyes. She looked so ready and willing to try to make him forget, but he knew that sleeping with Trish wouldn't do anything but cause complications. He knew deep inside that sleeping with Trish would do nothing to help him forget Stephanie.

He would never be able to forget Stephanie.

"Never mind. I'm going to be a man and give Hunter the letter by myself," he said after a minute. "You don't have to come with me... I can control myself and I'll be ok."

"I only wanted to help you forget. You know that, right?" she asked him.

"Yeah, I know," he said, walking over to the door. He opened it, then looked back at her. "Problem is, I can't forget about her... But thanks for trying..."

Trish watched him disappear out of the room and sighed, taking a seat on the leather couch and closing her eyes. I guess I was wrong, she thought. Sex can't solve everything... But she was glad that he had turned her away, because he wasn't the man she wanted to be with. Hunter was...

Chris walked down the hallway, clutching the envelope tightly in his hand. Trish would never help him forget Stephanie. No one could help him forget Stephanie because it just wasn't possible. He hadn't seen her in a month, and he hadn't talked to her either, but she had been constantly on his mind and in his thoughts and dreams for every single day of that month. If he closed his eyes right now, he would see her face, would remember how it looked when he was hovering over her in bed, or how her eyes looked when he was looking up at her in the bed... He could hear her voice in his ears... This separation thing was killing him inside, killing him slowly... When would it ever stop? She was a... What was the name of that song? Yes, she was a slow poison, creeping slowly through his veins, taking over his mind... Toxic.

He reached his destination and looked up at the name on the door. How he detested this man, because this man had everything he wanted, including Stephanie's love... He closed his eyes and steeled his nerves, then knocked three times on the door...

"Come in!" Hunter called loudly from inside the locker room. He was sitting on the leather couch, going over the divorce papers Stephanie's lawyer had sent him. He wasn't mad or bitter about the divorce or about the fact that apparently, Stephanie was in love with another man. He was just a little upset over the fact that her baby wasn't his. They had talked when she was in the hospital, and she'd told him all about this guy she'd fallen for and whatnot. He didn't know who this guy was, and he didn't care to know. Only one thought ran through his mind.

He was almost free.

Everyone still thought that Hunter and Stephanie were a happily married couple, but it was all a facade, a sham. She had decided to divorce him, he had agreed, and everything was going smoothly. The only thing she wanted was for him to pretend to still be married to her for a little longer until the divorce was finalized, and then they would truly be over. It wasn't that long, because they both had the best lawyers around, and the divorce was going to be over much faster than the average divorce normally took. Of course he had agreed, and he hadn't told anyone, not even Trish.

He wanted to surprise her with the news.

Hunter looked up as Chris stepped into his locker room. He put all his papers up and then he stood up as well. "Jericho," he said in a gruff voice.

"Hunter," Chris replied.

"What do you want?" the taller man demanded.

"Look, I know you know that your wife and I are...were...friends for the past couple of months," Chris began. "And-"

"And now you're not. Care to tell me why?" Hunter interrupted.

"No," Chris said in a flat voice. "I just need for you to give her something important for me."

"Something like what?" Hunter asked curiously.

"This." Chris held out the envelope, which was a plain white letter envelope with Stephanie's name written in elegant cursive across the front. He handed the envelope to Hunter. "Don't open it, and don't tell her who gave it to you. Just give it to her, ok?"

"Fine," Hunter replied, unsure of exactly why he had agreed. Chris nodded and turned to leave, but Hunter stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

"What?" Chris asked.

"You've been looking a little down lately, and I was wondering if something was up," Hunter said plainly.

"You don't even like me, Trips, so don't pretend to be all concerned," Chris said, shaking Hunter's hand off his shoulder.

"Doesn't matter if I like you or not. Stephanie liked you...loved you, even, so there must be something ok about you," Hunter said, observing his face at the mention of Stephanie's name. "Besides, I can spot a man in pain a mile away, and you? You're a man in pain."

"So I'm that transparent?" Chris asked with a sigh.

"As transparent as a transparency," Hunter cracked.

"Not funny," Chris said, rolling his eyes. "And as appealing as a heart to heart talk with you of all people sounds, I think I'll pass. You're the last person I'd talk to about my love life, the last." He turned and quickly headed for the door, but was stopped soon after by Hunter's amazed voice.

"It's you, isn't it?" Hunter asked, in awe. "You're the one, aren't you?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Chris asked, confused. "I'm the one for what?"

"It is you. Why Jericho, I never thought you'd be the one," Hunter said, still amazed. "I mean, I did, but Trish told me you weren't and apparently I'm very easily convinced, but...you were... You are."

"Quit with all the vagueness man," Chris said, turning to glare at Hunter. "What are you blabbing about?"

Hunter walked over to him and stood there, glaring down at him. "You're the one who screwed around with my wife."

Chris's first instinct was to deny, deny, deny. After all, he was talking to Stephanie's husband here... But he couldn't find it in himself to deny it anymore.

"Yeah, I'm the one," Chris said, not backing down. "What are you gonna do about it?"

A/N: Let's recap this chapter! It's one month later and Steph and Chris still haven't talked. Trish is there for Chris and tries to comfort him the only way she knows how...but it doesn't work. Hunter and Steph have mutually agreed to get a divorce. Chris has a letter for Steph, which he asks Hunter to deliver, and then Hunter finally realizes that Chris is the guy who Stephanie fell for. Took him long enough, didn't it?

I don't know if it seems like it to you, but to me, this story seems to be winding down. Don't get me wrong, I just love writing this story, but there's a set point I'm trying to get to, and I'm almost there! So expect for there to be a few more chapters, and then...it'll be the end... Don't forget to review!