Disclaimer: All the events and character description taken place in this story is COMPLETELY FICTION. No copyright infringement intended. All characters are copy written to their respective owners. No profit is being made from this story. It should be viewed only as entertainment.
Chapter Twenty-Three
She didn't want him there… That was all that Kurt could think about during his lonely night in one of his and his wife's guest rooms. He had offered to be with her and the kids instead of going to the UFC event, yet she refused. Steph was determined to take Aurora and Andrew over to her parents' house alone to visit with Paul. It almost felt like Levesque had gotten the better out of him. It was like he was winning Stephanie's attention. Was her love and affection going to be next?
Angle tossed and turned causing the bed sheets to twist and tangle around his muscular frame. He exhaled sharply before bringing his hands to his face. He was torturing himself with possible scenarios of what would happen when Paul was given the opportunity to be alone with Steph without him there. There would be no uninterrupted sleep until these thoughts ceased from bombarding his mind. There was no escaping it. Overwhelmed with frustration, Kurt threw one of his pillows across the spacious room, and then ripping back the covers. Angle was done wrestling with his thoughts in the dark and silent bedroom. He needed to occupy his mind with something else.
Kurt leaned over and grabbed the blue sweatpants he had left on the floor next to the bed. He then put them on over his briefs as he got to his feet. Doing his best to be quiet, Angle crept out of the guest room and down the hall. Noise coming from the nearby nursery caught his attention, causing him to quietly enter.
"Hey little buddy, you can't sleep either?" Kurt whispered with a smile the moment he saw his son sitting up in the crib babbling and cooing to himself.
"Dada dada!" Andrew exclaimed with a smile after he got this his feet inside of the crib. He began banging his little hands on the smooth rail of his pickled pine crib.
"Shh, come here you, come to Daddy." Angle said in a whisper. He reached out and gently lifted his son up and out of the crib and into his arms.
Holding his child, Kurt quickly felt that the baby had a soiled diaper. Perhaps it was a dirty diaper that was keeping little Andrew from falling asleep. He laid the eleven month old down onto the nearby changing table.
"Shh, we've got to be quiet so we don't wake Mommy or Sister." Kurt told his little boy, leaning down close to his face when Andy was starting to fuss a little.
Angle was nowhere as quick as Stephanie was when it came to changing a diaper. The amount of time the diaper change was requiring caused the baby to be impatient. Andy hated lying still for too long, just as all other children his age did.
Finally, with a fresh diaper on his son, Kurt decided to take the baby with him downstairs to the living room so that he could watch some television. He was hoping that Andrew would fall asleep in his arms while he tried to keep his mind occupied with one of the shows on his DVR. A few finger presses to the universal touch screen remote, and Angle had settled on the latest episode of TNA Impact.
"Lots of Foley and Jarrett, where are the young guys?" Angle commented aloud. He was quickly fast forwarding through the beginning of the show. His comments were really just him expressing his thoughts aloud. It wasn't like little Andrew even knew what his father was talking about. The baby had managed to wiggle out of his daddy's grasp so that he could slide off the couch.
"Dadada Dat Dada dat?" Andy cried out holding up to his father a glass coaster from the coffee table.
"No, no, no, put that down. That's glass, little man. Come sit with Daddy." Kurt told his youngest child.
He was quick to remove the coaster from the baby's hand and set it back on the table. Angle then lifted his son onto his lap. Being contained by his father's muscular arms caused Andrew to tense up his body. His little face turned red as he let out a loud whine.
"Hey, you can't be mad at Daddy too. Let's get your pacey and a toy." Kurt told his baby in a strained voice as he reached out for the pacifier that was on the coffee table and then a little colorful plastic Fisher Price toy train from the floor.
With a pacifier in his mouth and a toy in his hands, Andy fell silent and content sitting on his father's lap. His cooperation came just in time for Angle to grab hold of the universal remote and return it to normal speed.
A singles bout between Frankie Kazarian and Christopher Daniels was now displayed on the flat screen LCD television that was the primary source of light in the dark living room. The match was fast paced with a large number of unique spots that had the TNA fans on their feet chanting their signature, "This is awesome!" chant.
"These guys should be in the main event. They have so much raw talent. I miss working with them." Kurt admitted aloud in a mutter, expressing his thoughts out loud while his eyes remained fixed on the action.
Andrew's small right hand found its way to his right eye which he rubbed. The other side of his face was lying on his father's bare chest. The tranquility and low volume of the television in the barely lit room contributed to the baby's sleepiness. The small plastic toy fell from the sleeping baby's grasp and tumbled to the carpet floor. The small disturbance caused Angle to briefly take his eyes off of the match. Realizing that his son was a sleep, he placed a soft kiss on top of his head.
Kurt loved his youngest child. He would never forget the day Stephanie came back into his life and announced that they were pregnant. Angle was sure that it was the pregnancy that gave Steph the courage and conviction to finally leave Levesque.
She wasn't the only one who made a life altering decision in the mist of the pregnancy. Kurt himself had made the decision to leave TNA Wrestling, the company that had been so good to him. He didn't just go back to his former employer; Kurt married into World Wrestling Entertainment. As much as he loved TNA, WWE would now and forever be his home because Stephy and their child were there.
While some of his long time friends in TNA were supportive of his decision to go back to WWE, many of the young guys saw him as a sellout. Coming into TNA in 2006, Angle had made a promise to the young talent to devote himself to working with the young stars and help TNA grow. It had to come across as very sudden when he announced his departure. Long term storylines had to be revised and many of the young guys suffered with demotion back to their mid card status. The boys in the back made no attempt to hide the fact that they had lost respect for him. This, above anything else, bothered Kurt. He thrived on being a leader and respected by others. The idea of his popularity amongst his peers being diminished was the hardest thing about giving up his legacy in TNA Wrestling so that he and Stephanie could be together. While being with Steph and their baby was most important to him, there were times like this that he would question his decision to abandon TNA Wrestling.
The night seemed endless and Angle was barely able to sleep at all. Leaving his bed at the break of dawn, he felt like he was sleepwalking as he made his way to the kitchen. Kurt was exhausted. He let out a long sigh and then a yawn before bringing his hands to his face. Angle was sitting at the kitchen table with a hot cup of coffee in front of him. Kurt wasn't used to being up before Stephanie and the kids. It felt weird sitting in the kitchen without his family. There was no activity going on and the silence was beginning to bother him.
It wasn't until five minutes after seven that the silence was broken by the voices of his three year old stepdaughter and wife coming from the other end of the house. The voices, which were first inaudible, became clearer as Stephanie and Aurora walked toward the kitchen. Aurora was asking her mother question after question that ranged from where they were going today to what she was going to have for breakfast. Kurt flashed a weak smile the moment they entered the kitchen.
"I made coffee." Angle said aloud. He was making his presence known in the kitchen even though he was sure that Steph saw him in her peripheral. Hopefully she wasn't still mad at him and they could start the new day with a fresh start.
"I can see that…" Steph replied back in a dull mutter; so much for starting over with the new day.
Her face remained unchanged as she lowered Andrew from her hip onto his feet. Andy wobbled only slightly; he then followed Stephanie close behind like a little duckling following its mother. Steph approached the counter and began to pour herself a cup of coffee.
"We go outside and play now, Daddy?" Aurora asked as she walked up to where her stepfather was sitting with her finger pointed toward the sliding glass doors to the deck and backyard.
Hearing little Aurora refer to him as her daddy was enough to make Kurt push aside his feelings of fatigue and disconnect. Even though Steph was still giving him the cold shoulder, her little daughter knew nothing of his behavior and was going about her day as if it were any other.
"That's 'Kurt', Aurora. After we have breakfast and get dressed, we'll go see your daddy." Stephanie corrected her child quickly before Angle could even reply to the three year old.
"I wanna go out…" Aurora whined in a bit of a strained voice while she now stood on her tippy toes trying to reach the handle of the sliding door herself.
"Listen to Mommy, little girl." Angle said aloud to his stepdaughter as he got to his feet.
"I wanna play outside!" She said in an outburst of anger before hitting the glass door with her right hand.
"Now how did this sack of potatoes get over here by the door? I don't remember putting them there." Kurt announced with a smile before running up behind Aurora and lifting her up off her feet.
Aurora let out a burst of laughter as Angle made her do a backward flip before he put her on to his right shoulder like he was carrying a heavy sack. Her daughter's continued laughter caused Steph to watch her husband interacting with her daughter. She let a small smile shine through for only a few seconds so that her husband wouldn't see. Even though she was still upset with him after last night, he really did make it hard for her to stay mad, especially with the way he was with little Aurora. The smile though was sort lived and quickly faded as she thought back to Angle's comments from the night before.
"Now where should I throw this heavy sack?" Angle asked aloud as he walked around the kitchen pretending that he was looking for a spot while Aurora howled with laughter, kicking her feet.
Kurt quickly spun around in place for a few rotations before finally choosing to sit Aurora down in her booster seat so that she would be ready to have her breakfast.
"You can put your son in his high chair too." Stephanie told her husband in a stagnate tone of voice. She wasn't even looking in his direction when she spoke to him. Steph just wanted to go about her morning routine in getting the kids and herself ready for the day.
Angle didn't bother replying to her bland request; he simply began to do as his wife requested by making his way across the kitchen to where his son was standing next to Stephanie. Andy looked up the moment his father approached him. Taking the cue of his father bending down, Andrew lifted his arms to be picked up. Kurt smiled proudly looking on at his third child the moment he was in his arms.
"Why don't I take the baby with me for the day? That way you can devote your time to Aurora and her visit with her father." Angle suggested as he moved to the counter where Steph was standing.
"Take him where, to the UFC event? No, that's no place for an eleven month old." Stephanie quickly replied before moving away from the kitchen counter that her husband was standing at and toward the refrigerator.
"And being around the guy who pushed him off a sofa is? It's no secret that Paul hates the fact that we have a child together. The baby being there is only going to cause problems." Kurt quickly answered back switching the child to his other hip when the baby tried to go after the sugar bowl on the countertop.
"No Kurt, the only one who's causing problems is you! You have absolutely no proof that Paul has ever done anything to Andrew! You go on and on how petty and irrational he is when you're behaving just like him! I'm done discussing this with you! Andrew Vincent is not going with you today!" Steph yelled showing her annoyance and frustration with her husband's attitude. Her outburst caused Andy to fuss and pull on his brown baby fine hair with his little hands, while Aurora arched her body in her chair as she tried to look behind her to see why her mommy was yelling.
"Look, even your son knows that you're being an ass. Give him to me." Stephanie told Angle after she put down the breakfast ingredients on the counter. Noticing that raising her voice bothered the kids, she calmed herself down. She held her arms out toward her husband waiting for him to give her the baby.
"I'm the problem now? I'm being an ass? What the hell is going on with you? Here, take the baby. Have a good fucking time with your ex." Angle said forcefully, almost yelling as he handed over their child. Once Andrew was in his mother's arms, Kurt stormed out of the kitchen.
If Angle didn't know better he would have thought he was dealing with Karen. Stephanie was playing the part of an extremely moody bitch that his ex-wife had mastered. Who would have thought one mistake on his part last night at dinner could cause a shit storm from the missus? It was like she was slipping into her old on screen role of Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley. But this wasn't the year 2000 and she wasn't twenty three anymore. Still, on screen roles aside, this wasn't her usual behavior. She had never been so sensitive when it came to her ex-husband during the first year of their marriage. Was the first year of marriage simply the "honeymoon" period for them? Was this what their marriage was going to be like from now on?