I've been really busy so I'm sorry it took so long for this update. This chapter is short but I'll make the next chapter longer. I just liked where I left off here at the end and this chapter is more in Paul's perspective since there wasn't much in the last chapter. Thank you guys for your reviews, they are always appreciated and I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
Stephanie sat frozen in her chair not knowing how to respond. She knew she should tell Aiden that yes he did have a daddy but then he would start asking questions about who his daddy was. There was no way she could tell him the truth about who his dad was with her family standing in the room with them. But the only thing she could do was just tell him the truth that he did have a dad and hope he didn't ask who it was because she didn't want to lie to him. And that was what she would have to do if he asked because she couldn't let her family know the truth right now.
"Yes you have a daddy- "
"Why doesn't mommy tell you about him later though? How about right now you and I play with the train set that grandpa and grandma got you for Christmas?" Shane asked Aiden who nodded his head quickly and slid down off of Stephanie's lap. Stephanie mouthed thank you to Shane before him and Aiden went over to his train set. That was the second time Shane had saved her that day and she was starting to think he deserved some kind of best brother award.
"What are you going to tell him?" Linda asked as Vince walked over to join Shane and Aiden.
"The truth" Stephanie replied pushing her hair behind her ears as Marissa and Linda took a seat on the couch.
"Do you think he may be a little too young to tell him exactly what happened?"
"I'm just going to tell him who his father is and if asks any further questions about where he is I'll just have to dance around the subject"
"I have to say I was no expecting that today. We all knew at some point he would start asking questions though" Linda replied letting out a sigh as she looked over at Aiden.
"Yeah me either" Stephanie murmured wondering how she was going to tell Aiden that Paul was his father. Linda was already on her case about something going on between her and Paul because Aiden had mentioned Paul to Linda. So she was sure if she told Aiden that Paul was his dad everything would come out to her parents. Now she wasn't sure if she should just tell her family first or tell Aiden the truth first. Either way the truth would have to come out eventually it was just the consequences from her family she was the most worried about and not just for her but for Paul too.
As the day progressed and everyone had finished eating dinner Stephanie decided to start taking all of Aiden's Christmas to the car so they could get ready to go home. She was exhausted and nervous for any more questions from Aiden about his daddy even though so far he had seemed to forgotten about it.
"Hey" Stephanie heard Shane come behind her as she loaded Aiden's Christmas gifts in the car.
"Hey" Stephanie replied turning around to see Shane carrying some more of Aiden's gift. "Thanks for earlier."
"You're welcome. I didn't want you to have to get into that today of all days and you looked like you needed some help"
"I did. You saved me twice today just so you know."
"When I did I save you the second time?" Shane asked with a confused look as he handed Stephanie the gifts he was holding.
"You saying that to Aiden was the second time. The first time was when me and mom were in the kitchen when she was insinuating something was going on between me and Paul because Aiden had mentioned him."
"Oh so mom sees it too huh?" Shane asked with a laugh as Stephanie finished loading all of Aiden's stuff and turned to look at Shane.
"There is nothing going on" Stephanie lied crossing her arms. She really hated lying but she wasn't completely sure how Shane would react to the truth. He told her he wouldn't say anything to their parents about how he found Stephanie sleeping on top of Paul but that had been innocent. It could be a different thing if she were to come out and tell Shane that there actually was something going on.
"Whatever you say Steph" Shane replied shaking his head and turned around and headed back inside the house. Maybe she wasn't going to be able to hide what was going on between her and Paul as well this time as she did last time.
Paul walked on to the porch and knocked on the door. Stephanie had called to let him know they were back from her parent's house so he decided to go back over and spend what was left of Christmas with them. Even though it was almost time for Aiden to go to bed but he wanted as much time as he could get.
"Hey" Stephanie greeted him when she opened the door.
"Hey" Paul replied as she stepped aside for him to come in. "How was everything at your parents?"
"It was good"
"Paul!" Aiden exclaimed coming into the room where they were with a huge grin on his face and then made his way over to Paul and grabbed his hand. "I want to show you what grandpa and grandma got me for Christmas."
"Okay" Paul chuckled lightly and followed Aiden into the living room.
Paul sat down on the couch as Aiden showed him his gifts that we scattered on the floor around him. Every once in a while he would sneak a glance over at Stephanie who had joined him on the couch. She was sitting and staring off into space most of the time, it looked like she had something on her mind.
"Did you have fun with your grandma and grandpa?" Paul asked Aiden who nodded his head.
"Yeah and Uncle Shane and Aunt Marissa. Uncle Shane said he is going to be a daddy"
"He is?" Paul asked looking over at Stephanie who looked a little pale.
"Yeah. They told me a while ago but I had to keep it from mom and dad because they wanted to surprise them with it today"
"Well before long you'll have a cousin to play with" Paul said looking back over at Aiden who didn't really seem all that interested in what he was saying.
"I don't think he cares right now" Stephanie replied with a chuckle "maybe once the baby is here and old enough for him to play with then he'll care more."
"You're probably right"
"How was Christmas with your family?" Stephanie asked turning more towards him on the couch.
"It was good. I just wish you and Aiden could have been there." Hell he wished he could tell his family about her and Aiden but that was something he would have to talk to her about at a later time.
"Me too" Stephanie gave him a smile and looked at Aiden who was still playing with his toys in the floor. He noticed that she had started to chew on her bottom lip which was something she did when she was nervous. It was something he had noticed a couple of times before and she had been kind of acting off since he got there.
"What's wrong?"
"Huh?" Stephanie asked looking back at him.
"Something is bothering you, I can tell. So what is it?" Paul asked as she sighed and looked back over at Aiden before standing up from the couch.
"Let's go to the kitchen"
"Okay" Paul replied standing up and following her into the kitchen feeling nervous himself now. When they made it to the kitchen he went over and leaned against the counter as she stood silent. "So what's wrong?"
"Aiden asked me if he had a daddy today after Shane was talking about being a daddy"
"What did you say?" Paul asked feeling his heart begin to beat faster.
"I told him that he did but I didn't tell him who it was because he asked in front of my family. Everyone was standing there staring at us and Shane kind of took over the situation and got him preoccupied with his Christmas gifts."
"I thought you said if he asked then you would tell him that I was his father" Paul replied crossing his arms feeling his blood boil.
"And I will but I couldn't with us being in front of my family. My mom had already called me into the kitchen not long before Aiden asked me that and she was telling me that Aiden had been talking about you. Then she insinuated something was going on between you and I, which she isn't wrong about. But I didn't tell her that because after that she warned me about the whole not dating wrestlers rule" Stephanie explained and he scoffed because it just seemed like there was always some excuse for her not telling Aiden the truth. It was starting to get to him and he felt like she didn't want Aiden to ever know about him, it still felt like she didn't trust him. "I don't know what to do."
"Just tell him the truth"
"Then my family will find out. I know I have to tell them but I'm not sure if I should tell them before we tell Aiden or tell Aiden first. I'm terrified too because once they know you could possibly lose your career."
"Then I'll find another job. Yeah it will suck but I'd rather lose my job than to lose out on Aiden knowing that I'm his dad" Paul replied a little loudly and then closed his eyes and breathed in slowly to calm down. Yelling and fighting wouldn't get them anywhere but he couldn't help how pissed off the whole situation was making him.
"Mommy?" Paul heard Aiden say softly and he opened his eyes to see Aiden staring at them. "I'm sleepy."
"Okay sweetheart. Go ahead and change into your pajamas and I'll come in and tuck you in" Stephanie replied as Aiden turned around and left. "Can we finish this discussion after he goes to sleep?"
"Yeah" Paul replied pushing away from the counter and headed out of the kitchen with Stephanie following behind him. Hopefully he could calm down more while him and Stephanie tucked Aiden in for the night. He didn't want to fight with Stephanie tonight and he didn't want to get mad enough to actually start yelling and end up waking Aiden up later.
Paul headed into Aiden's room to find him finishing putting on his pajamas and then he crawled into his bed.
"Are you mad?" Aiden asked looking at him as he came over to his bed.
"No. Why do you think I'm mad?" Paul asked crouching down beside of Aiden's bed.
"Because you were yelling"
"I'm sorry. I wasn't yelling, I just got a little loud and I'm sorry if I scared you" Paul replied with a smile to try and reassure him while Aiden let out a yawn. The last thing he wanted to do was scare Aiden.
"Are you my dad?" Aiden asked and Paul froze. Aiden must have heard what he said in the kitchen which he should have realized once Aiden said he had been yelling. He had no idea how to answer because he wanted to tell him the truth but doing that without Stephanie's permission would certainly piss her off.
"Yes, Paul is your dad" Paul heard Stephanie say from the door of Aiden's room. He had no idea she had even joined them until now and he was really surprised that she had just came out and told Aiden the truth. It made his anger from earlier start to fade away especially when a huge grin formed on Aiden's face. "We can talk more about it tomorrow when you wake up."
"I'm not sleepy now though" Aiden replied but then yawned again.
"Uh huh sure" Stephanie replied with a chuckle as Aiden rubbed his eyes. "You were awake very early this morning so I think you are tired. Just lay there and close your eyes and get some sleep."
"Will you be here tomorrow?" Aiden asked looking at Paul.
"Of course I will" Paul replied pulling the blanket up over him while Stephanie came over and leaned down to kiss Aiden on the cheek.
"Get some sleep okay. I love you" Stephanie said straightening back up.
"I love you too mommy" Aiden replied with another yawn before he looked back over at Paul. "I love you daddy."
"I love you too son" Paul replied with a smile as Aiden closed his eyes. There was no way to describe the happiness he was feeling right now from Aiden's words. It had completely made his Christmas the best one so far.
When Stephanie started to move towards the door of Aiden's room Paul got up from his position and followed her. He looked back to Aiden one last time who had seemed to fall asleep pretty fast and turned off the light.
"Thank you" Paul said once they started down the hallway back to the living room.
"I told you I would tell him the truth if he asked" Stephanie replied tucking her hair behind her ears. "I'm definitely going to have to tell my family soon now."
"Hey" Paul said grabbing her arm gently and pulling her to him. "As long as I have Aiden and you then I don't care what happens. Don't worry about it, everything will work out the way it needs to. I'm never going anywhere either if that is what you're still worried about."
"I'm just…." Stephanie trailed off as he brought his hand up and cupped the side of her face. "Scared."
"I'll be right here. I'll go with you to tell your family if you want. Anything you want Steph I'll do it" Paul replied as she gave him a small smile and he leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips. The truth was he was a little scared too because he was sure things weren't going to go very good with her family once they knew the truth. He would deal with it the best he could though because he was telling her the truth when he said he didn't care as long as he had Aiden and her. They were the two most important people to him and nobody was going to take that away from him. He just wished things would have been different, that he would have never left in the first place all those years ago. That he wouldn't have missed out on the first years of his son's life but at least he was here now and Stephanie was giving him a second chance. It was more than he probably deserved and he wasn't going to ruin that again.