Disclaimer: I don't own anyone, other than Lily and Madison.
Rated: M
Warning(s): Slash, Past Mpreg, Storyline Fanfic, etc.

"That was beautiful back there. Really, it was absolutely marvelous." Mark rolled his eyes as they made to exit the airport, several unwelcome eyes following them along the way. As it turned out, Hunter's little spat with Phil had attracted quite the audience.

For several moments, Hunter silently massaged his swelling cheek, brooding. Finally, he produced, "If that little bastard thought that a 3-on-1 handicap gauntlet was me going easy on him..." he shook his head, manic ideas rapidly coming in and out of his brain, "he won't even know what hit him."

"Don't you think that it would be smart to... oh, I don't know... lay off of them for a little while? You already had one walk out on you, do you really want to lose both of them? Like them or not, they're assets to the company. Assets that you can't afford to just throw away." Mark said.

Hunter scowled. It pulled the swollen flesh of his cheek down in an incredibly unfavorable manner. "You certainly know how to be a buzz-kill, don't you? Torturing the little hairy troll is the only fun I have at that stupid desk job -,"

"If you think that that desk job is so 'stupid', why were you so hesitant to agree to the match with Bryan at WrestleMania? It would be like killing two birds with one stone. Get rid of your troll infestation, and get rid of the 'stupid' desk job." Mark said in a matter-of-fact tone. He always made things sound so easy.

Hunter shifted uncomfortably in his shirt. It was stuffy in the airport and the shirt had now become unbearably tight. "I'd explain it, but you wouldn't understand."

Hunter took Lily by the hand and marched her out of the airport, where their private rental was waiting. Mark lagged a little ways behind, slowed down by the cumbersome burden of the baby, the diaper bag, and Lily's various accessories. It seemed that Hunter was above 'sharing the burden', and was more than happy to make Mark into his own personal bellboy. Mark rolled his eyes. The doctors had said that the hormones from the pregnancy could remain unbalanced for several weeks post-pregnancy as his body returned to normal, but if he remembered correctly, things hadn't been this difficult after Lily...

By the time Mark made it to the car, Hunter had already set up the baby car seat for Madison and had buckled Lily into her own. Mark dropped the various accessories by the car rather unceremoniously, before gingerly tucking the baby into her car seat and buckling her in. When he had finished and the bags were still there, Mark realized that Hunter had walked around the car - and, clearly, had seen the bags - and merely ignored them. He shook his head. Things definitely had not been this rough after Lily. Tossing the bags into the trunk, he slid into the car beside Hunter and closed the door.

"What do you think of a verbal dressing-down from the Authority on RAW, followed by a beat-down by yours truly?" Hunter was back on their earlier subject. Mark pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to keep himself in check.

"I think that you've gone and lost your damn mind." Mark said firmly. "Phil will skin you alive... and I'll sit back and watch it happen."

Hunter frowned. "Phil wouldn't risk the future of his fiancé's career just to get even on a vendetta that he may or may not have against me."

Mark replayed the scene from earlier in his head. The sharp slap as Phil's open palm made contact with Hunter's face could still be heard loud and clear. "May or may not? You'd have to be blind to not see that he wants your head on a pike! And I'd never be too sure if he would or would not actually go through with it."

"Phil and I used to have a rather pleasant working relationship." Hunter said - the last words were swallowed by Mark's obnoxious laughter.

"Are you kidding me?" The look on Hunter's face said that he had not, in fact, been joking. That sobered Mark up a little bit. "Phil's hated your guts from the beginning. Just because he didn't castrate you when you passed in the halls doesn't mean your working relationship was 'pleasant'."

"And how would you know this? Hmm?" Hunter raised one eyebrow, face open and interested. Mark frowned.

"We're not going there, Hunter. That's not what this conversation is about." He said.

"Oh, really? Because, and correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't you the one who brought him into this?" Hunter fumed. "Just because you used to have a relationship with him, and want to have one again, doesn't put you in the position to make insinuations about my relationship with him!"

Mark rolled his eyes. "Are you really that insecure?" The biting quip cut deeper that Hunter had thought that it would. "We dated for six and a half months, during which you and I could barely stand to look at one another. It's over. He's with Daniel, and I'm married to you. Those are the facts. That's what matters."

Hunter stared into his eyes for a moment, before attempting to call his bluff. "You're lying to me."

That was the straw that broke the camel's back. "Oh, for the love of -," he got the attention of the driver and ordered him to pull over.

Without another word to his husband, he unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the door, climbing out of the car. Hunter opened his mouth to ask him what in the hell he thought that he was doing, but one look from the Deadman silenced all questions of the sort. The door slammed closed and the car started moving again, gaining speed until Mark was nothing but a blur in the distance. It would seem as if he was ready and willing to walk to the hotel, rather than spend another twenty minutes in the car listening to Hunter bitch about the past and his current rivalry with Daniel Bryan. Mark was just done.

Hunter leaned backward, allowing his eyes to fall closed. Why did everything have to be so fucking difficult where Mark was concerned? He missed the days when life was easy, before he had to worry about keeping everything in check - like an acrobat attempting to keep all of the plates spinning simultaneously, he knew that it was inevitable that one would eventually come crashing down. And then, like dominoes, one after another, they would fold in. In the wake of it all would be Hunter, sticks in his hands, staring at the broken shards and wondering how something so beautiful could also be so horrifying.

First to fold would be his marriage. He could feel himself pulling away from Mark, distancing himself as a security measure so that, when the actual break came, it wouldn't hurt as badly. He was trying to push Mark away in any way that he could... Mark was only just now starting to be able to take a hint. Then, would be his children. Lily could only take so much discord and chaos in her life. It wouldn't be fair to force her to endure that permanently as the Authority took more and more control over the WWE. Then, his friends. Then, his job. Like dominoes, he'd just sit back and watch them all... fall... down...

Lily leaned forward a little - as much as her car seat would allow - and looked at Hunter with quizzical eyes. "Where Daddy going, Mommy?"

Hunter looked out the window, only to realize that too much time had elapsed and Mark was no longer visible. He shrugged, "I don't know, sweetie. I don't know."

As it turned out, that was not entirely a lie. Hunter did not see Mark again until RAW - where he found out that the Deadman had booked a room in the hotel across the street. While the comment about Mark still harboring some form of feelings for Phil had been little more than unfounded speculation, the secrecy of this hotel room made him doubtful and wary. His relationship with Mark was solid, now that they had worked out their differences - or, at least, that was what he wanted to believe. But just like when they were together in the Attitude Era, Hunter could tell that something was... off.

When he finally caught up to the Deadman, he was talking to Daniel Bryan outside of the younger star's locker room. They seemed to be on fairly decent terms, but Hunter could tell that the conversation was heated and slightly awkward. He leaned in closer, catching, "...apologize for what he said to Phil."

Daniel shrugged, scratching at his beard. "Thank you. I really appreciate you being man enough to come and apologize, because those comments were unfounded and uncalled for... and just enough to get me a one-way ticket to the floor for the next three days." Daniel laughed ruefully. "Phil's really pissed off."

"Can't say that I blame him. Phil was always one hell of a wrestler, and he took great pride in his looks. What Hunter did was shameful." Hunter's face became hot.

"You could say that again." Daniel huffed, aggravated. "I think that what Phil was really pissed off about, though, was that I didn't do anything about it. But what should I have done? Tackle him in front of his kids? He'd have me arrested."

Mark shrugged. "All I can say is that it all comes out in the wash. Karma is a bitch, and everyone has to pay for their crimes some time."

Daniel cocked his head to the side. "You're amazingly moderate, considering your husband's radical approach to anything and everything."

Once again, Mark shrugged. "Someone has to be the voice of reason in the household."

They talked like that for several more minutes, and Hunter could feel bile rising in his throat. Why was it that Mark could talk so easily to an enemy of the Authority, but he couldn't talk about anything with his husband? And then Mark was laughing. Laughing. Hunter wanted to storm in there and forcibly tear them apart, to talk some sense into his husband - but he refrained from doing so, merely because he was afraid that Mark would then laugh at him. He didn't know if he could bear having that beautiful laughter turned at him. Not when the weight of the world seemed to be attempting to crush him at once.

After awhile, they broke apart with a casual slap on the shoulder and the usual wish for 'good luck' in whatever chaos that particular night brought them. Hunter quickly moved away, doing his best to look casual as Mark went by. And that is exactly what happened. Mark went past without a word to Hunter, which both startled and unsettled the dirty blond. Mark was a man of few words, yes, but to walk by without even so much as a casual nod or a small, knowing smile was practically unheard of. A knot formed in Hunter's gut and, instinctively, he reached out for Mark. Mark tensed and turned to look at him with cold, calculating eyes.

"Mark, I -," Hunter's words were cut off as Mark brutally wrenched his wrist out of Hunter's hand.

"Don't touch me." And, turning around, he started off for his contract signing with Brock Lesnar.