"You and I are going on a date."

"A date?" Stephanie asked as she rested her hand on her stomach. Seven months pregnant and still going strong.

"Yeah, when's the last time that we got to go on an actual date?" Chris asked her. "We were dating before this, right? I mean, before we suddenly got domesticated, we went out on the town and had fun like five nights a week right?"

She smiled down and scratched her ear, wondering what he was getting at with this date idea, "Yeah, we did all those things, but I also wasn't pregnant."

"So what? So we tone down the fun a little bit, we don't go dancing and drinking like we used to, we can still do something fun," he told her, tugging at her shirt. He looked like a giddy, little boy right now and she had to smile at that.

"I don't know."

"Come on, we haven't done anything like this in forever, and I want to go out and just let loose or you know, just go out and do something that we can both enjoy."

She studied him for a moment. He looked so excited and like he wanted to go out so badly. She felt badly for that. If she hadn't gotten pregnant, they could go out every night like they used to, and they could drink and party like they used to, and if he wanted, he could dump her. There would be no strings attached if that happened. But the baby growing inside of her said differently. The little boy who still had no name was the magnet which kept Chris tethered to her.

Her feet were aching and her back was sore, but she didn't want to deny him a night out. She didn't want to be the one that held him back any more than she had already held him back. "I'm not feeling a hundred percent, Chris, but if you want to go out with the guys or something, I have no problem with that."

Chris shook his head, "I don't want to go out with the guys, I want to go out with you."

"Why? I'm no fun, I'm just a fat, pregnant lady," she told him.

"You might be those things, even if I think you aren't, but you're my girlfriend, and like most guys with hot girlfriends, I want to show you off," he told her, pulling her into his arms. She liked when they were like this, when he made her feel special because sometimes when she closed her eyes, she didn't feel special, and she didn't feel all that needed. The baby inside of her was the miracle, not her. She was just the one lucky enough to carry the miracle.

"Hot girlfriend?" she asked.

"You're hot to me, and millions of other guys. You being pregnant doesn't change anything."

"Just the entire parenthood thing, right? Since we will be parents in a couple of months."

"Yeah, we're going to be parents in a couple months so let me still go out with you when I still only carry the title of your boyfriend, and not your baby daddy," Chris chuckled as he tried to sound ghetto. Stephanie looped her arm through his as she went to his side.

"Well, I guess if you really want to go out, I can go along with that."

"Yes!"

Stephanie clipped the necklace on around her neck and let it fall against her chest. She studied herself in the mirror before her. She didn't look different and she wondered momentarily if she should look different. She was moving on with her life and it should've been something so monumental that she suddenly should look different. But she didn't, she looked the same as she had the month before when she had a boyfriend and a happy home.

She hadn't been on a date in years, well, that wasn't true. She and Chris had gone out a number of times since they had conceived Finnegan, but they always took a different tone after they had found out about him. They weren't so much dates as just going out and doing something. It was strange how things change after you have a child. She wouldn't say they were any different on the dates, although more subdued, but something in the air had changed.

She was nervous, she knew that. She had only met this guy a couple of times when Trish got married last year, and she was sure one of those times she had been drunk and couldn't remember. So she went in with minimal knowledge. It was also nerve-wracking in the sense that she hadn't been out with anyone other than Chris in over six years. Before she had started dating Chris she hadn't gone out with anyone for about a year. So she hadn't gone out with anyone in the romantic sense besides Chris in over seven years. And seven years ago, she had been twenty-four, and a much different person with a much different outlook on life.

She tucked her hair over her shoulder as she dared to glance up in the mirror again. This time she saw something different, not the woman she saw moments before. She saw someone who was braving something new and different and didn't know the outcome to this new and different thinking. She wasn't sure what tonight would feel like, and she was almost scared that she'd have a good time because maybe it would feel like she was betraying Chris.

But she had given that man everything she could possibly give him, and if it wasn't enough for him, then it wasn't enough for him. She gave herself a smile, forcing all thoughts of her ex-boyfriend out of her mind. If only it were simple enough to just think of Chris as an ex-boyfriend and nothing else.

She turned to Finnegan who was laying on his stomach on the bed in the room, coloring furiously. "Hey Finny?"

"Yeah?" Finnegan asked without looking up from his coloring book.

"How does Mommy look?" she asked.

Finnegan stopped his coloring momentarily and looked up at Stephanie. "You look nice, Mommy."

"Not old?"

"No," he said, going back to his coloring book.

"You're not a very big help," she laughed as she sat next to him. "What are you coloring?"

"A dog," he answered distractedly as he continued to color his picture, putting down the brown crayon and opting for a blue crayon to draw the collar on said dog.

"It's very nice," she told him.

"Thank you," he responded. Stephanie sat there for a second, wishing that Finnegan was about twenty years older and a female. He wasn't exactly the most attentive person to help her get ready for her date. But if it had to be a decision between her baby and anyone else, well, she'd take her baby any day. She ran her hand up and down his back as she leaned over to watch.

"You're very good at that," she complimented.

"Uh huh," he nodded as he continued to color. "Do you want to color too?"

"No, Mommy actually has to go somewhere. I'm meeting someone tonight and we're going to go have dinner and talk."

"I'm going too?" he asked.

"No, you're going to go see Trish for a while and then Daddy's going to come pick you up and you're going to spend the night with him," Stephanie explained.

"Okay," Finnegan answered, not really caring about that at the moment. Stephanie kept rubbing his back, almost wishing that Finnegan would throw a tantrum and tell her that she couldn't go out tonight. She almost wished he would ask her to go back to Chris, look into her eyes with those pleading ones he had and just ask her to go back to daddy.

"Finny, I'm sorry," she whispered to him.

"Why?" he asked, glancing up at her. "Did you do something bad, Mommy?"

"No, not bad," she said. "I'm just sorry that I drove Daddy away, I know that you miss him a lot of the time and I'm just sorry for that."

"Its okay," he shrugged.

She knew that Finnegan didn't understand, but she still appreciated the fact that he wasn't being mean or cursing her out. And she knew he was only four, but still, he could be an angry, little kid. She stood up and went to get her purse and make sure that she was completely ready. She grabbed Finnegan's backpack and his things and then looked to the little boy.

"Finny, are you ready to go?"

"Yeah," he said, not getting up from coloring.

"Grab your crayons and your coloring books and let's go," she told him sternly. He got on his knees and grabbed his crayons and closed his coloring book as he jumped off the bed and ran towards Stephanie. She smiled and looked down at him. "Thank you."

"Uh huh," he said as he raced to open the door. He held it open for her, something Chris had taught him a while ago because they were usually loaded with bags while he would race in front of them. They called him their little doorman, jokingly of course, not because he was their slave or anything.

"Thanks Finny," she told him as they walked into the hallway.

Trish was only about fifteen minutes away from the hotel by car and she had put in a CD of Finnegan's favorite music in the player so that he could sing along if he so desired, which he did so desire. Luckily he had gotten Chris's musical talent and not hers because she had heard herself sing and it wasn't pretty at all. When they arrived at Trish's, Trish was happy to greet the little boy.

"Hey there Finn," Trish said, picking him up and hugging him. "You look so handsome, has anyone told you that? You get more handsome every time I see you."

"Okay," he said, grinning at her. Trish laughed and hugged him again.

"You give the best hugs," Trish told him and Finnegan gave her another hug as Stephanie laughed. "I'm going to take your son Stephanie, that's it, I'm so taking him."

"Okay, if you really want him, I guess you can have him. Did you hear that Finny, Trish is going to take you and you're going to live here from now on. I hope you like it here in your new home."

"Mommy!" he said angrily as she laughed.

"I'm kidding Finny," she said, leaning over to kiss him.

"I'll take good care of him while he's here," Trish said. "You look great by the way."

"Thanks."

"You're nervous huh?" Trish asked, sensing it off of her friend.

"Yeah, I am," Stephanie admitted. Then she shrugged. "It's just I haven't been out with someone in a long time, and it's going to be different."

"I know," Trish said. "Are you sure you want to do this, Steph? You can always back out if you're not ready. It's only been a month since you and Chris broke up and you were together for six years before that. I know that if Ron and I broke up, after being together eight years that it'd take me a while to get over it and we don't even have a child."

"If I don't do this now, I'll never do it, and what if Chris finds someone and I'm stuck here on the sidelines, thinking about him and never moving on, I have to do this in the hopes that I can have any semblance of a life from now on."

"If you insist," Trish said.

"What? Now you think this isn't a good idea?" Stephanie asked, challenged really.

Trish sighed and looked at Finnegan for a second before looking back at Stephanie, but she couldn't look her in the eyes. "I don't know, Stephanie. It just doesn't feel right to me, but that's just me, I don't know how you feel. I just don't want you to be doing this for the wrong reasons, and I don't want you to put people through unnecessary hurt."

"Like who?"

"Like Finn, like Chris," Trish answered.

"I'm not hurting Finny," Stephanie protested.

"I know that you're not, I just…it's hard to explain while I'm standing in my doorway," Trish told her.

"I don't have time to listen to this, Trish. I'm just trying to move on with my life. If it ends up not working out, then it ends up not working out, but I have to try. Chris and I are over, he's made that painfully obvious. And so what am I clinging to if he doesn't want me?"

"He said he didn't want you?"

"Not in so many words, but trust me, something happened, or was going to happen and he told me that he couldn't be with me," Stephanie told her, choosing her words carefully around Finnegan. She didn't want him to know anything was terrible between his parents. It was bad enough he had to be couriered around.

"Okay, if you think this is best," Trish said. "I'm just looking out for you, Steph."

"I know," Stephanie said, looking down at her watch. "I've got to go, I'm meeting him in like twenty minutes. Be good Finny."

"Bye Mommy," he said waving.

Stephanie turned to leave and Trish took Finnegan inside and set him down. "What do you want to do Finn?"

"Color," he told her as she led him to the table and helped him set up his coloring tools. She sat there and watched him color for a little bit and thought back to what Shane had said. Shane was right, and she hated admitting that. They had to think of Finnegan in all of this because if it affected anyone, it was this little boy, and Trish would be damned if anything hurt this sweet, little boy.

"Finn?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you want your Daddy to come home?" Finnegan looked up and her and nodded eagerly. Trish smiled at him. "I thought so. You don't like that he's gone huh?"

"I miss him," Finnegan said, his voice a little tinged with sadness. Trish frowned and closed her eyes. "But Mommy said that he can't come home."

"Yeah," Trish said. "Well, you know your Uncle Shane is going to try his hardest to get your daddy to come back home. He really looks out for you, you know? And I'm going to try and help, just because I want you to have your daddy back home because he's always lived there, huh?"

"Yeah, he has an office, and he lets me play in there," Finnegan told her with a smile. "But I want him to come back cause I miss him."

"Yeah," she said, kissing his temple. "I know, Finn, but just remember you always have someone looking out for you."

They spent the next half hour coloring and talking about the different things they were coloring. Finnegan was really good with his animal identification, but she shouldn't be surprised. Stephanie had been reading to him and everything since he was right out of the womb. But those McMahons never did settle for second best at anything, and then bring in Chris and you had a lethal combination for success. But then Finnegan was more than likely set for life so it hardly mattered.

"Hey Finn, what do you want to be when you grow up?"

"Chris Jericho," he answered without a hesitation. Trish giggled at the immediacy of his response.

"Who wants you to be Chris Jericho?"

"Mommy," he mumbled.

Trish was about to answer when the doorbell rang and she figured it was Chris coming to pick up Finnegan. She told the little boy to stay there while she went to the door to let Chris in. He looked around expectantly as he stepped inside, like Stephanie would be here or something. She could see the pain in his eyes as clear as day and she wondered why Stephanie couldn't see that. Maybe if she took a moment to look, she would notice.

He looked haggard and older than his years would indicate. It was such a difference from the last time she had seen him a few months ago when they had been in Toronto for one of Chris's media things, a television show or something. He was happy then, and right now, he was anything but happy and Trish could tell that with her eyes closed. The pain was emanating from him as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Where's Finn?"

"He's in the kitchen, we were coloring," Trish said. "Did you want to go get him?"

"Yeah, I did," Chris said as Trish closed the door. "So you…uh, saw Stephanie then?"

"Yeah," she told him. "Why? Was she supposed to leave something here? Besides Finn, that is."

"Oh, no, I was just wondering if you saw her," he asked, his voice a little hoarse and she wondered why. He cleared it a little, "Was she dressed for her…date?"

The word sounded choked to Chris's mind, and he had to choke it out of his own mouth. He knew he was transparent as glass right now, but honestly, what did he have to lose that he hadn't already lost? The only thing worse than losing Stephanie would be losing Finnegan, but that kid was strong and he wasn't going anywhere. Stephanie, on the other hand, he had already lost her and he never thought it would feel like this.

Chris prided himself on his strength and ability to weather any storm. He had gone years and years being able to stand on his own two feet, and that had seemed fine. Then there had been Stephanie, and then Finnegan. And they had been a family. He hadn't been mistaken in thinking that, had he? At some point, the three of them had been a family. It was funny how in just one month the world could turn upside and Chris could no longer stand on his own two feet.

When he realized that he was stumbling through this life now, he came to an important conclusion. Chris couldn't weather every storm, he couldn't weather any storm if Stephanie wasn't near him, wasn't by his side to weather it with him. Somewhere in their six years together, Chris had learned to lean on her, and when his other half had left, he was left with just one foot and he wasn't very good at balancing on it. He could weather any storm with her by his side, but the moment she disappeared, he disappeared.

When she had said she was going out with someone else, it felt like everything was lost, like the last six years had meant nothing to her. He knew that eventually, maybe down the line, he might find someone with whom he felt even better than he had with Stephanie. But that was really a ways away. Not this soon. Or maybe he'd never get over Stephanie. The last six years had brought a joy to Chris's life that he didn't think could ever be duplicated. Their first year together had been fun, just out and out fun, and the last five, since the moment she told him she was pregnant had just been the best things to ever happen to him. Nothing could compare to that.

He was afraid nothing would ever compare to that again.

"Yeah, she was dressed," Trish said, uncomfortable with the subject.

"What was she wearing?" he asked, just trying to sound curious.

"Um, red dress," Trish said, thinking back.

"Was it low-cut or was it like a scoop neck type thing because she has both. The low-cut one she usually wears for special occasions when she wants to look good and a little sexy and not feel so much like someone's mom, but the scoop neck one is when she wants to come off a little more mature," he told her quickly and Trish raised an eyebrow at his intimate knowledge of her wardrobe.

"It was the scoop neck."

Chris sighed in relief; he didn't want anyone to be looking at his girlfriend's cleavage. Or his ex-girlfriend's cleavage. No, Stephanie would always be his, so he didn't care what he thought of her as. Even if she was his ex, a part of her would always belong to him, he was sure of it. If nothing else, he was the father to her child.

"So she obviously paired that with her strappy shoes and probably her gold necklace with the pearl pendant," Chris said.

"Chris?"

"Sorry, I know too much about the things she wears," he said, looking down, embarrassed that he had been grilling her best friend over what she was wearing.

"You love her." Chris blinked back the tears that surfaced in his eyes whenever he thought about how much he loved her. "Chris, it's okay to admit it."

"Not when she's out with some other guy."

"Chris, why are you doing this to yourself?" Trish asked earnestly.

"She doesn't want me, Trish. I've tried…for six years, I've tried, and I constantly fail. She doesn't want me."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Trish said. "Maybe you just need to try harder."

"And what? Fail again?"

"You don't know that."

"I do know that. She's out there right now, with her date," he said, pointing out to the great unknown. "I love her Trish, and I'm not afraid to say it, but I can't…she's out there with some other guy."

"Maybe she doesn't know how much you love her."

"She knows, I've told her a million times."

"Where's the ring?" she asked.

"What are you talking about?" Chris asked her.

"The ring. You proposed so many times, I'd figure that you have a ring to give her," Trish said, then she looked at him. "There's no ring?"

"I always figured she could pick it out. She's like that you know. She likes things to be in her control, and I wanted her to have that control."

"I don't know Chris, maybe she just always wanted the perfect proposal."

"I don't know anything anymore."

"But it never hurts to try."