Disclaimer: All the events and character description taken place in this story is COMPLETELY FICTION. No copyright infringement intended. All characters are copyrighted to their respective owners. No profit is being made from this story. It should be viewed only as entertainment.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

"I'm going to call Kurt." Steph announced in somewhat of a matter of fact tone while jumping to her feet. It was almost like she had a coiled spring under her because of how fast she was able to get off the couch.

She couldn't get out of the living room fast enough. Even though Paul had stopped the DVD recording, the tension from the viewing of it was still hanging in the air. The few short minutes of recording had caused Stephanie to think about one of the most difficult times in her life.

Levesque felt like a complete asshole. If only he had watched the home movie before bringing it over to show Stephanie and Aurora, this all could have been avoided. The purpose of showing them the movie was to remind both of them of how happy they had been together. Instead, it had the opposite effect for Steph because it again reminded her of his infidelity.

Now she knew how he felt. Paul was constantly reminded of Stephanie finding "comfort" in Kurt Angle every single time he had to lay eyes on Andrew Vincent Angle. After all, that baby was conceived when Steph was still married to him. She was a cheater too even if she chose not to admit it. And what good what it do for him to point that out to her? It would only piss her off. Levesque wanted to be closer to Steph, not further drive a wedge between them. Proving that he was right and she was wrong would get him no where if he really did want to get her back.

"Hey babe, I'm just checking to make sure you and Andrew got to the arena safely." Stephanie said into her cordless phone the moment her husband answered his cell phone.

"Yeah, we got here fine." He said back quickly. His reply was unusually brief and vague. He had no antidotes about the trip and their arrival that he wanted to share with her.

"Why didn't you call me when you arrived in Pittsburgh? Did you get to see Kyra and Kody?" Steph then asked in a bit of an inquisitive tone of voice. She had expected Angle to check in with her regularly because he was traveling alone with their young child.

"I'm just dealing with some shit right now, Steph. I don't want to talk about it over the phone. We'll talk when I get home tomorrow. I have to go, I'm in the middle of doing pre-tapings."

"Wait, who's watching Andrew while you are doing the pre-tapes? You didn't leave him by himself did you?" She questioned thinking about her youngest child's welfare.

"The baby's fine. Candice Michelle was nice enough to offer to watch him while I did the pre-tapes and during my match tonight."

There was a few second of silence online as Stephanie used the time to have his words register. Did she really hear him correctly? Was Andrew being watch by Candice Michelle? Steph had made it clear to her husband that she didn't feel comfortable with the diva watching their child when the young woman was overtly flirting with her husband.

"Why is he with Candice Michelle? Kurt, didn't I make it clear that I didn't feel comfortable with her watching him? How could you under mind me; especially when I'm not even there with the two of you?" Steph finally asked showing her disappointment in her tone of voice.

"Why are you making such a big deal about her watching him? I didn't want to leave him without someone looking after him when I did the pre-tapes. You know how busy your dad is before and during the show. I didn't think you wanted Andrew at the gorilla position with him. I was just doing what I thought was best, babe. Please don't make a big deal out of it." Angle explained keeping his voice calm despite him sensing that Steph was about to fly off the handle.

"Can you see how this looks from my position? You didn't even call me when you got to Pittsburgh, I had to call you! And when I do call you, I find out that you handed our baby off to Candice Michelle, who is constantly acting like a little bitch in heat anytime you are around her! How does that sound, Kurt? Can you see why I think it is a big deal?" Steph hollered into the phone as she then began to pace around her kitchen.

Stephanie's loud outburst caught her ex-husband's attention. Compelled by his curiosity, Levesque had left the sofa and began listening in on his ex-wife while she talked to Angle. Hearing that the two of them were not having a loving conversation was a relief. He wasn't the only man in Steph's life who was being bitched at. He reveled in the fact that the Olympic ass wipe was being put in his place. The fact that Candice Michelle played a pivotal role in all of it made it all the more interesting. Perhaps now Paul really had something to work with. Hopefully, Steph's anger was now redirected to Kurt instead of him. This was his chance to smooth over his unplanned misstep with the home movie.

"Steph, I can't do this right now. I have way too much on my plate. We can talk about this tomorrow morning when I get home. I'm not going to get into it with you on the phone. I love you, honey, but I have to go now." Angle told his wife after weathering her rant. After the drama he was being forced to endure thanks to his ex-wife, now he was getting shit from Stephy. It was too much at once and he had to end the conversation.

"Fine, goodbye!" Steph sternly snapped back before ending the call and throwing the phone onto the counter top. She hadn't given Kurt the opportunity to say another word. It was clear he was giving her the brush off so that he could go back to work. Obviously, her being upset about Candice was trivial to him.

"Is everything okay?" Paul asked in a hushed voice as he walked into the kitchen. He had decided that it was now the time to make his presence known to her and try his hardest to be sweet and understanding.

"Yeah, it's just some personal stuff, don't worry about it." Steph explained quickly as she moved to the counter to pick up the phone she had tossed so that she could return it to its cradle. She was a bit embarrassed with the thought that her ex-husband had heard or seen her outburst.

"Listen, Steph, I just want to apologize again for what was on that home movie. I had no idea that was going to be on there. I just wanted Aurora to see us as a family. That's the only reason I brought the movie over. I never wanted to hurt you." Levesque replied with his voice filled with sincerity.

He was slowly moving closer to his ex-wife while hoping his honest apology would smooth things over. It was when he was right next to her and she turned to him that he saw there were tears in her eyes. Her argument with Angle had left her emotional and vulnerable and he was ready to comfort her. In one fluid motion, Paul brought his ex-wife into a gentle embrace which to his surprise, she gladly accepted.

"Thank you Paul, I appreciate that. I can tell that your heart was in the right place. And Aurora really loved seeing herself as a baby. We shouldn't focus on the bad things that happened to us as a family in the past. The focus should be on Aurora and the happy times we had with her." She said through a few sniffles. It was obvious Steph was trying to fight back her tears.

As much as Steph didn't want to admit it, the hug from her ex-husband was like an oasis in the middle of a blistering hot desert. Her anger and frustration had quickly subsided the moment she was taken into Paul's arms. It was like she was going back to something very familiar and comforting. She was so grateful that it finally seemed like they were on the same page again for their child. And as if that wasn't enough, he was finally reminding her why she had fallen for him those years ago. It was a relief.

Paul couldn't help but smile. Stephy was back in his arms. It felt like she had never left. Levesque hugged her the way he used to when they were together, caressing her back gently with his strong hands. Her perfume and the smell of her hair was even the same. God he missed being with her. With her hugging him back, Paul felt like he had a purpose again; he was meant to be with her.

"Let's go spend time with our little girl. She deserves to see us getting along while we both play with her." Steph told him after being the first to let go of their embrace. Her stressed demeanor had been replaced with a hopeful and optimistic one.

Levesque smiled and gave a nod following her back into the living room. Her words were like music to his ears. He loved the fact that Stephanie was seeing how important it was for the two of them to be together for their child. She was finally putting him and Aurora first and letting Kurt Angle and the new baby fall to the wayside.

"Look, see Daddy? See him on the TV? Daddy looks so cute in his wrestling gear." Candice said with a laugh. She was trying to point out Andrew's father to him on the television monitor that was streaming the matches in real time. Andrew couldn't care less about seeing his father walking to the ring; he too busy whining to be put down.

"I don't think he cares about watching his dad. He wants you to put him down." Maria Kanellis pointed out while she and the rest of the divas stood by backstage.

All the divas had been keeping an eye on Candice Michelle while she watched Kurt and Stephanie's baby. There had been whispering amongst them. Everyone was trying to figure out why Andrew had been put into her care while Stephanie McMahon-Angle wasn't even at the show.

"I'm not putting him down on the concrete floor. I'm like his substitute mommy for the night. What kind of mother would put her baby on the dirty floor?" Candice replied back as she began to sway back and forth in an attempt to calm the baby down.

The nearby RAW divas exchanged looks at each other in response to hearing Candice refer to herself as Andrew's substitute mother. No one said anything aloud but each and every one of them was thinking about what the repercussions would be if Stephanie could see what was going on.

"Well then let me have him. He's probably tired of being carried around by you." Maria stated holding her arms out so she could accept the baby.

"I'm not giving him to you. Kurt wanted me to care for his son while he wrestled tonight. He didn't ask you. He only trusts me with his baby boy. Don't be jealous all of you." Candice laughed as she pointed at Maria and then all of her fellow divas. She then left the locker room with Andy who was still fussing.

"Did anyone get that shit on tape to send to Stephanie?" Maria asked the other girls. She then pulled out her cell phone and began to text out the latest piece of gossip.

"Hey Maria, text this: Either Kurt Angle's screwing around with her or she's talking out of her ass. We're more inclined to believe the latter." Melina dictated aloud causing all of the other ladies to burst out laughing.

The main event tag match had gotten underway. The office had booked Kurt and Jack Swagger to team up against Kofi Kingston and the WWE champion, Chris Jericho. Swagger seemed to be a bit nervous about pulling off the match because Kurt had barely talked to him about it before hand. With how he was feeling, Kurt didn't want to have to walk Swagger through each spot he needed to do. He simply told the kid to follow the loosely developed script of what needed to happen and simply improvise the rest of the match.

Like always during stressful times in his life, Angle was able to give his usual 110% in the ring while making his opponents look strong against him. He knew how to turn it on when he needed to and tonight was no exception. He hit all of his usual moves, the three German suplexes, the Angle Slam that was reversed, and even the quick fake out Angle slam from the top rope. When he tagged Swagger in and he was standing on the apron in his corner, he allowed himself to take his head out of the game. His thoughts were focused on not just Kyra and Kody but also the argument he had with Stephanie earlier in the day.

Jack Swagger kept hitting textbook suplexes and belly to belly throws on Kofi Kingston. Each time he would hit a technical move, he would turn and look to see Angle's reaction to his athleticism. Kurt wasn't even looking in his direction. Noticing this caused Swagger to look on with disappointment while Kofi did his job selling Jack's suplexes as he stiffened his body on the canvas. Jack then flashed a quick taunt causing the crowd to boo him intensely. He was playing his role of heel perfectly. As the crowd began to chant "You suck!" chants at him, Swagger grabbed Kofi by his black braids and began to set up the gutwrench powerbomb spot. This was Angle's cue to run into the ring and attack Jericho, knocking him to the outside off the ring apron.

Kurt ran at Jericho and gave him a shot that knocked him off the apron and into the announcer table. Angle too then got out of the ring. As Swagger began to lift Kofi over head to hit the powerbomb, Kingston began to punch Jack's head before he did a back flip back onto his feet and then a hard kick to Swagger's face. The RAW crowd popped for Kofi Kingston as he began to dance around the ring.

Meanwhile on the outside, Angle and Jericho were fighting back and forth up the ramp. It was obvious to the fans that the match was going to end with Kingston and Swagger. Still, the cameras followed Kurt and Chris to the RAW stage where Jericho attempted to suplex him. Angle blocked, wrapping his leg around Jericho's so that Chris couldn't lift him off the stage, and then Kurt followed up with a suplex of his own. Jericho yelled out in pain as his back smacked into the hard metal stage.

In the ring, Kofi looked like he was thinking about going for a double leg drop to finish off the match. He sized up Swagger who was still prone on his back, and then turned to run to the ropes. Before Kingston could even reach the ropes, Jack Swagger sprung into action grabbing the ankle of Kofi with both hands. This maneuver, that seemed to come out of nowhere, caused Kingston to trip and fall onto the mat and allowed Swagger to get to his feet and snap on the ankle lock. Kofi Kingston began to scream in pain while Jack smiled and torque his ankle while dragging him to the center of the ring. The crowd was looking on in confusion. They didn't know what to make of Kurt Angle's tag partner using Angle's signature submission move.

"That's right, tap! Tap!" Swagger hollered the moment Kofi gave up and began slamming his hand down on the canvas repeatedly.

"What the fuck?" Kurt muttered under his breath. He was standing on the stage with both of his hands on his hips looking on in disbelief. Did Swagger just finish the match with his ankle lock? Angle's eyes narrowed as he watched Swagger celebrate the victory while Swagger's "Get On Your Knees" theme blared throughout the arena and the Lillian Garcia announced both of them the winner.

"Dad, did you see that? What the hell was that? Did you tell him to do that?" Angle asked his father-in-law the moment he walked back behind the curtain to the gorilla position. Kurt was so pissed off that he didn't even wait until Swagger left the ring before going to the back.

"I didn't tell him to do that. I thought you were working with him and it was your idea. The script only specified that he would get the win over Kingston." Vince explained calmly. He could see that his son-in-law was really upset.

"I would never tell him to try and be a blatant copy of me! I'm trying to help him build his own character!" Angle hollered back pointing toward the curtain that lead to the stage.

"Okay, okay, calm down. We'll talk to him about it. It's not a big deal." Vince said taking off his headset before getting up from the table to try and console Angle.

"Did I tell you to fucking do that? Huh? What, you think you're Kurt Angle now? Are you going to start sleeping with my wife too?" Angle snapped the moment Swagger came backstage through the curtain. Vince had to get in front of his son-in-law to keep him from getting physical with the younger wrestler.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Angle! I swear I didn't mean anything by it! I was just trying to make you proud of me! I did it in honor of you!" Swagger quickly apologized taking a few steps back. He was wide eyed and somewhat fearful of the man he idolized.

"Get a hold of yourself! Damn it Angle, what the hell is wrong with you? Something's wrong, I can tell!" Vince yelled. His words caused Kurt to take a few steps back and take a few deep breaths. He was regaining control of himself.

McMahon's eyes stayed focused on Kurt. He could see tears beginning to form in Angle's eyes. Something really was bothering him. The moment Kurt knew Vince had seen him become emotional he turned around and started to walk to the metal stairs that connected the gorilla position with the backstage part of the arena.

"You just make sure everything gets wrapped up. I'm going to find out what's wrong with him." Vince told one of his cronies as he left the spot where he would always be during the entirety of every show. McMahon's biggest fear was that Angle and his daughter were having marital problems. Whatever was bothering his son-in-law, it seemed to be of a personal nature.

Jack Swagger shook his head and muttered a curse word. He felt like shit knowing his plan to impress Kurt Angle had backfired. The last thing the young man wanted to do was upset Kurt. Judging by how angry Angle was, this would be the end of his tutelage.

"Good night house and goodnight mouse. Goodnight comb and goodnight brush. Goodnight nobody, good night mush. And goodnight to the old lady whispering 'hush, hush'." Paul read to his little girl in a soft whisper from one of her favorite bedtime books, "Good Night Moon" by Margret Wise Brown.

Stephanie was standing in the doorway to Aurora's room watching her ex-husband tuck their daughter in for bed. It was definitely way past their child's bedtime. Paul had been so playful with his little girl that Steph had not had the heart to send her to bed at her normal time. The three year old's eyes were now getting heavy as things were winding down.

"Mommy! I want Mommy!" Aurora whined as if something had snapped her out of her drowsiness. She was interrupting her father before he could finish the final few pages of the book.

"Hey, no, where do you think you're going? Stay in bed, it's night-night time." Levesque explained to his little girl while stopping her from getting out of her big girl bed. He noticed that Aurora's face was turning red right before his very eyes. Was she about to have another melt down?

The moment Stephanie stepped forward to voice her concern, Aurora's mouth opened and vomit came spewing out of it all over her father's shirt, her own pajamas, and her bed. After she threw up, Aurora began to wail while reaching for her mother to comfort her. Paul looked down at his shirt in disgust. The vomit was warm and smelled terrible. It was so bad that for a moment, Levesque thought he was going to get sick.

"Oh sweetheart, are you sick? Come here, let's get you cleaned up." Steph softly said, her voice filled with concern as she lifted her little girl out of the bed and into her arms. She then walked out of the room leaving Paul still sitting on the bed.

"All over my fucking shirt..." Paul muttered in a grumpy mumble as he threw the children's book onto the floor. Slowly, he got to his feet and went to find where Steph had taken their sick child.

"Hot! It hot! Mommy, ouch!" Aurora cried out the moment Stephanie sat her down into the bathtub that was being filled with lukewarm water.

"No baby, it's not really hot, you're starting to run a fever. It's going to be okay, sweetie. Mommy's here." Steph replied quickly as she got down on her knees next to the tube. With her right hand, she turned the faucet a tiny bit to the left, just to make sure her daughter would be comfortable with the temperature.

"Steph, a little help here would be nice. This shirt is ruined. There's puke all over it. I can't even take it off." Paul told Stephanie the moment he entered the bathroom where she was tending to their sick daughter.

"Can you please hand me that clean washcloth by you on the towel rack?" Steph asked completely ignoring his comments about his polo shirt.

Levesque let out a sigh and grabbed the wash cloth she had requested and tossed it to her. When he did this, he caught sight of himself in the mirror. He really looked like a sight with vomit all up the front of his shirt. Thanks to his daughter, the polo his former wife had bought him was probably going to have to be thrown away.

"Is she going to be okay? She didn't seem sick when he took her upstairs for bed. Now she is puking and has a fever?" Paul asked as he got closer to where Steph was starting to gently wash the crying three year old with the wash cloth.

"I think she got a mutation of whatever her brother had. Andrew wasn't vomiting but he had a high fever. I'm going to take her to the doctor tomorrow. I'm sorry about your polo shirt. If you want, you can borrow one of Kurt's shirts to go home in." Steph offered.

So this was how his visit with his little girl was going to end? Aurora puking all over the front of his shirt complements of Angle's sickly baby. Levesque didn't want the visit to be over. How many more chances would he have to be alone with Steph and Aurora without Angle and his baby there to horn in? The answer was none.

"I don't really care about the shirt. I mean, it's really reeking right now." Paul said with a chuckle as he waved his hand in front of his face to illustrate the terrible odor coming from the polo.

"Here, let me help you out of it. Put your arms up." Steph instructed before she got up and went over to him. With one quick motion she lifted his shirt up over his head and exposed his large muscular torso. The moment he was shirtless in front of her, he tensed his muscles, trying to make his abs even more defined in the hopes she would notice.

"I can wash this for you if you want. When I'm done taking care of Aurora, I'll get you a clean one to put on. I'm sorry all this happened during your visit."

"It's no problem, really. I'm worried about our baby girl. I don't want to leave her tonight. I don't know if it would be too forward to ask if I could just stay in one of the guest rooms. I just want to have the comfort knowing my sick baby is right down the hall from me."

Stephanie bit her bottom lip as she began to ponder the idea Levesque had suggested to her. He wanted to stay over in her and Kurt's house while Kurt was away for the night. Steph knew that there would be no way her husband would approve of it. After all, it did sound a little screwy: the ex-husband spending the night at his ex-wife's house while her new husband is away on business. Then again, Kurt had decided to go against her by letting Candice Michelle watch their son even after she told him not to. Besides, Paul's interests were strictly focused on Aurora. He was trying to be a good daddy, and for that, she shouldn't punish him.

"Okay, you can stay in one of the guest rooms for the night; just so you can be here for Aurora."