Disclaimer: I own nothing but my imagination. The story is purely for entertainment purposes and to make Smoochy Dreamers dreams come true;-)
A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates on this one. Home is Where the Heart is took over the muses completely for a short period of time. Things are back to normal now, so on with the story! As always, all reviews, good or bad, are welcomed and very much appreciated!
"Stephanie, would you please hurry the hell up?" Chris said exasperation evident in his tone.
"Would you please shut the hell up?" Stephanie muttered under her breath.
"I heard that," Chris said standing at the bathroom door watching her get ready.
"Why are you in such a hurry anyway?" Stephanie said while brushing her hair.
Chris walked into the bathroom and behind Stephanie. He made eye contact with her in the mirror. "It's simple Princess, I'm ready to go home."
"Home?" Stephanie said her brush stopping in mid-stride. "Home as in your home?"
"Well, yeah. What home did you think I was talking about?" Chris asked.
Stephanie quickly finished brushing her hair and turned around. Looking at Chris, she could see the puzzlement in his face. She didn't mean to sound like she didn't want to go home with him but she had things that she had to do at her house. "I thought maybe you were talking about my home."
"I take it that we don't know where we are going yet," Chris said summing up the situation in one sentence.
"Evidently not," Stephanie said with a sad look on her face. "I know you need to go home and I need to go home but I don't want to be without you."
"I agree with that," Chris said pulling her into his arms. "So how do we fix this?"
Stephanie was quiet while wrapping her arms around Chris. She wasn't sure exactly how they were going to handle it. She lived in Connecticut and he lived in Florida. It wasn't really that far away from each via airline but they were still living in 2 different states; a complication that neither one of them had really considered before now.
Chris was quietly contemplating their situation also. It just dawned on him that his relationship with Stephanie was going to be really complicated, more so that what he had originally thought. "Look, we've waited so long to be together; we'll find a way."
"I know, it's just I never thought about us living in two different states before now," Stephanie said closing her eyes.
"I didn't either. You know, technically there's a lot of things that we don't know about each other," Chris said.
Stephanie pulled herself back to look in his eyes. "What do we do now?"
Chris smiled and kissed her softly on the lips. "We compromise. I'll go home with you for a few days and then you come home with me a few days."
"You make it sound so simple, like we can just do what we want when we want," Stephanie said with a sad smile.
"It is that simple Princess. We are both adults living on our own. Who can tell us what we can do and what we can't do?" Chris asked.
Stephanie's smile took his breath away. "You're right, you're absolutely right."
"I'm always right Princess, don't forget that," Chris said sarcastically.
"Be careful what you say, it will be held against you at a later time," Stephanie said with a fake smile.
"I guess we had better get moving," Chris said kissing her on the forehead before walking out of the bathroom.
Hunter walked thru the airport with Ric and Dave as if he owned it. He pulled his glasses off and looked at Ric. "Natch, have you been thinking of a plan yet?"
"Have I, the Nature Boy, been thinking of a plan? Trips, I'm always thinking of a plan. My mind is like a constant whirlwind of activity all the time, not to mention a few other places," Ric said lifting his eyebrows up and down.
"You know, I always get what I want and what I want is Stephanie McMahon," Hunter said a glazed look on his face. "I want her more than I've ever wanted anything before."
Ric patted Hunter on the back. "Don't worry about it, it will happen. Evolution always gets what it wants."
Dave quietly stood by taking everything in. Randy was one of his closest friends and he hated what had happened to him. He hated knowing that he was a part of it. Unknown to Hunter and Ric, Dave stayed in contact with Randy on a regular basis.
When he first joined Evolution, it was just the shot in the arm that his career needed. The next thing he knew, he was flying around the world in leer jets, riding in limousines, and had more women hit on him than ever before. He was living the high life and loving it until he started noticing things.
It wasn't any one particular thing; it was the little things at first. Slipping girls money to go to their rooms was the first thing he noticed that was odd. They were Evolution, why would they have to pay women to be with them. It hit him with a cold hard reality check after Randy got booted; Evolution was all about power and money and nothing else. Friendship did not exist in Evolution.
"What do you think Dave?" Hunter said his eyes narrowing as he noticed that Dave seemed to be in his own world. He didn't like it when people did not pay attention to him. Especially a member of Evolution; that was just not acceptable."I think that when you're in Evolution, you don't have to think. You just destroy," Dave said putting his mask back on carefully and slowly.
Hunter grinned and slapped him on the back. "That's my boy. You hear him Natch, he sounds just like me."
"WOOOO, I like the sound of that," Ric said grinning from ear to ear.
"Now back to business, I want Stephanie. I will have her, willing or unwilling; it makes no difference to me. With her by my side, I could take over the wrestling world. I would have the power and the respect of the McMahon name," Hunter said with a gleam in his eyes.
"What in the hell does she see in Jericho?" Ric asked shaking his head.
"I don't know but I'm going to make damn sure that that relationship doesn't last long. Jericho's a dumb ass that doesn't even have a clue to what he has," Hunter said closing his hand into a fist. He shut his eyes and slowly opened them. "It doesn't matter; we've got daddy's permission and that's all we need."
"Home sweet home," Stephanie said opening the door the to her house. She reached back to pick up her bag but it wasn't there. She turned around and noticed that Chris had it in his hand. "I'm a big girl, I can carry my own luggage, you know."
"Yes, I know. I'm just being a gentleman," Chris said smiling sweetly.
Stephanie smiled back and walked in. "Just set them down there."
Chris set down the bags and looked around Stephanie's house. He walked over to the mantel of the fireplace and saw the pictures of her family. There were various pictures of all different ages of her and Shane. Some pictures with mom and a few with dad at happier times in their lives.
"This is nice," Chris said looking around and noticing how neat things were. "But I bet you $100 right now that you don't clean this house."
Stephanie grinned and said, "How did you guess?"
"I've been in a room with you for two days. You're messy," Chris said grinning from ear to ear. "So, you going to give me the tour or am I on my own?"
"You are on your own for now, I've got to sort thru this mail," Stephanie said already thumbing thru her mail and checking it out.
"Ok, I'll be back," Chris said in a mocking voice.
He walked into the kitchen and was fairly surprised. She seemed to have all the latest appliances from a flat top stove to a refrigerator with a TV on the door. There were plenty of cabinets and she evidently like roosters. The whole kitchen was covered in them. Shaking his head, he walked down the hall.
The first room on the left was the bathroom. It was bright and cheery with a beach theme to it. "So she likes the beach, so noted for future reference," he muttered to himself before walking down to the next room.
The next room was her office. He grinned as he noticed papers everywhere on her desk. He knew in his gut that if he moved something, she would know it. He noticed the Women's Championship Belt in a case hanging on the wall. He then noticed that there were pictures hanging on the walls.
He walked around the room stunned at the amount of pictures she had. There was at least one picture of her with every wrestler that had ever worked with the company, from the time she was a child till she was 'fired'. He grinned when he saw a picture of her and him right after the King of the Ring kiss backstage. Both of them looked flushed and happy which was exactly how they felt after it was all said and done.
He walked out of the room and noticed that there was only one more room left to look into. He opened the door and grinned. "Who would have ever thought the Princess does her own laundry?" He noticed the washer and dryer along with an ironing board and an iron on the wall. Shaking his head, he exited the room and walked back into the living room.
"Nice house Stephanie, where's the bedrooms?" Chris asked.
"Upstairs," Stephanie said reading some of her mail. "Go ahead, take a look."
Chris walked up the steps and noticed there were only two rooms. He took a chance and walked into the room on the left first. Bingo, it was Stephanie's room. He walked around on the cream covered carpet looking at more pictures of her and her family. He grinned when he noticed the huge tan colored teddy bear with a red bow tie on the bed. He couldn't stop himself from picking that up.
"That's Freddy," Stephanie said smiling as he walked into the room.
"Nice to meet you Freddy," Chris said to the bear. "By the looks of him, you've had him for a while."
"That would be correct, I got him for my 8th birthday from my mom," Stephanie said sitting down on the bed looking at the bear. "He's my most prized possession."
"Here," Chris said handing her the bear. She took it out of his hands and placed it back on the bed.
"So, would you like to see the guest room?" Stephanie asked.
"That would probably be a good idea," Chris said grinning.
"Follow me," Stephanie said leading him out of her bedroom and into the bedroom across the hall. "This is it. It's a little small but the bed is full size and it's comfortable."
"It's great, just as long as I have a place to sleep, I'm good," Chris said plopping down on the bed. He kicked his shoes off and patted the bed beside of him. "Come on, lay down with me."
Stephanie grinned, kicked off her shoes, and did as he requested. He put his arm around her shoulder and she put her arm around his stomach with her head resting on his shoulder. They were content holding each other for a few minutes.
"Stephanie?"
"What Chris?"
"Why do you want to be with me?"
"Why?"
"Well, I think we need to know what the other wants."
"Ok, well, I know that I love spending time with you. You make me laugh and I haven't laughed in such a long time. Coming from my family, I think you can understand why I haven't laughed. You have this way of looking at me and I'm the only person in the room. You make me forget my problems and when they do get in the way, you push them right back out of the way," Stephanie said looking up at him. "Your turn."
"Wow, where do I start?" Chris said with a small grin. "I think you are one of the funniest people that I have ever met. You've got this way of making people smile even when they are having their worst day ever. I think that you're beautiful, smart, and way too good for me. I'm still in shock that you're with me."
Stephanie's eyes widened at the last statement. "If anybody is too good for anybody, you're the one that is too good for me."
Chris chuckled at the look on her face, "I'm going to have to disagree with you there Princess."
"I tell you want, let's just agree to disagree," Stephanie said with a small smile.
"Deal," Chris said spitting a little in his hand.
Stephanie laughed out loud and did the exact same thing as Chris. She hadn't done the 'special' handshake since her and Shane were kids. She was almost giddy with laughter when she shook hands with Chris.
"I take it that you haven't done that in a while but it brought back a good memory," Chris said reading her like a book.
"I haven't done that since Shane and I were kids," Stephanie said with a smile.
"Glad to bring back good memories," Chris said with a grin.
"I hope that is all that we will have about each other is good memories," Stephanie said with a dreamy expression on her face.
"Reality check dear, we're going to have to take the good and the bad. You know, there will be a time when we really don't agree on something and it will cause problems," Chris said trying to be realistic. Men and women argued; it was a little known fact of life.
"Nope, not with us," Stephanie said with confidence.
"And just what makes us so special Princess?" Chris asked intrigued by the confidence in her voice.
Stephanie leaned up and kissed him softly. "Because you're the King of the World and I'm the Billion Dollar Princess," she said smugly.
"Oh really?" Chris said with a gleam in his eyes.
It was a gleam in that Stephanie had seen before. Chris was up to something, she wasn't sure what it was, but he was definitely up to something. She looked at him and then noticed how bright his eyes. "Uh Chris, what are you doing?"
"Who me?" Chris asked innocently.
"Yeah you," Stephanie said with a grin. "What are you doing?"
Chris kissed her softly on the nose before tickling her sides. She busted out laughing and was trying to get away when he pinned her underneath him. "Now, I've got you!" He then started tickling her every spot that he could think of finding all of her most ticklish spots within a few minutes.
"Please stop! You're going to make me pee in my pants," Stephanie gasped out thru her laughter.
Chris immediately stopped tickling her looking at her seriously. "I so don't want you peeing on me."
"Oh really, I've just filed that for future reference," Stephanie said with a gleam in her eye.
"Ok, now you've had it," Chris said tickling her all over again.
She finally got enough leverage to flip him over to where she was on top of him. She then proceeded to find all of his ticklish spots much to his chagrin. He grabbed her arms and flipped her again holding her by her wrists firmly but not harshly.
"Truce?" he said his breathing labored from all the exertion.
"Truce," Stephanie said with a small grin.
Suddenly, it hit both of them the position that they were in. Chris leaned down and kissed her gently nibbling on her bottom lip until she opened her lips. Slipping his tongue into her mouth, he released her hands to place them on her face while she wrapped her arms around him.
The heat that started as a spark slowly turned into a raging fire that was starting to burn out of control. Chris had moved his hands off of her face to place them on her hips. Stephanie had slid her hands under his shirt feeling the heat off of her skin.
The doorbell rang constantly but was ignored by Stephanie and Chris. In their minds, they were hearing bells ringing from being with each other. It never dawned on either one of them that it was the doorbell. Finally, when Shane hollered, they pulled apart reluctantly. The real world had come tumbling around them with a crashing halt.
"Stephanie, are you home?" Shane said wanting to check on his baby sister.
"Well, shit," Stephanie muttered under her breath. "Yeah, I'll be down in a second," she hollered looking at Chris with an apologetic look on her face.
Chris laughed and smoothed her hair out of her face a little. "It's ok Princess, we were just getting started."
"I know but I wanted to finish," Stephanie said with a look in her eyes that took Chris's breath away.
"You keep looking at me like that and we're going to finish it with your brother downstairs," Chris said with a growl in his voice.
He immediately stood up and held out his hand. Stephanie placed her hand in his and got up off of the bed. She kissed him on the cheek and said, "Let's go see big brother."
"Wait a second," Chris said with a gleam in his eyes. "You might want to check your make up before we go down there. It seems as though your lipstick is smeared."
Stephanie punched him in the arm and walked over to the mirror on the wall. She fixed herself and straightened out her hair as best as she could. She then grabbed Chris by the hand and practically pulled him down the stairs behind her.
"Hey Shane," Stephanie said with a smile on her face.
"Hey sis," Shane said with an eyebrow raised. "Well, I saw Raw, I saw you two kissing, and I really thought it was part of this special unique story line that dad had come up with until I got a phone call from him right after the show."
"Sorry to disappoint you but it's not a story line," Stephanie said with a gleam in her eyes.
"Wait a minute, do I look disappointed? No, I don't. I think that it's great that you two finally, after all this time, are hooking up," Shane said with a grin.
"What do you mean after all this time?" Stephanie asked.
"What I think he is trying to say is that we didn't do a very good job of hiding our feelings from everybody else," Chris said with a smile. He held out his hand for Shane to shake. "How have you been man? It's been a while."
Shane shook Chris's hand and said, "Yeah it has. I've been doing good. Or at least, I was doing good until the phone call from dad. You two have really pissed him off good."
"What else is new?" Stephanie said plopping down on her couch pulling Chris with her.
Shane sat down in the recliner across from the couple. "Well, I have to tell you, I'm a little worried this time. I mean, I've seen dad lose it before but not like this," Shane said with a worried look in his eyes.
"What do you mean?" Chris asked.
"I think he is taking this personal. Hell, I know he is," Shane said letting out a deep breath and rubbing his eyes. "Look, as long as you're happy, I don't care who you are with. I'll help you in any way that I can but you had better watch your back."
"Why? What's going on?" Chris asked.
"I'm not sure but I do know that dad and Hunter had a long meeting after you left," Shane said.
"Why does that not surprise me? Dad and Hunter, now there's a match made in hell," Stephanie muttered with an aggravated tone in her voice.
"You know, you might want to listen to your brother," Chris said looking at Shane.
At that moment, Chris and Shane had a silent but mutual understanding. They would do whatever it took to protect Stephanie. It didn't matter that they had to take on Vince. It didn't matter that Hunter was involved. All that matter was keeping Stephanie safe.
"You know if Hunter is involved, then Evolution is not far behind," Shane said looking at Chris.
"I know, Hunter can't do anything by himself," Chris said the anger in his eyes flashing.
Shane stood up and Stephanie, along with Chris, followed. "Ok, I've got to run. I just wanted to come by and tell you to keep your eyes open."
"Thanks Shane," Stephanie said walking up to her brother and giving him a hug. "It's nice to know that there is one decent man in the family.
"Thank mom for that," Shane said with a wry grin. He turned to look at Chris. "Take care of my baby sister man."
"I'll do more than take care of her, don't worry," Chris said with a small grin.
Shane turned and walked out the door with a smile on his face. He was still worried about her but not as bad as he was before he got there. She had Chris with her and that was a good thing. She was going to need him.
Shane knew how ruthless his father was when it came to getting his way. He also knew that sometimes his father was his own worst enemy. He only wanted his sister to be happy and if that was with Chris Jericho, then so be it. He knew that Chris would do whatever it took to keep her happy and safe.