Stephanie walked into the ballroom, making last minute observations and watching the caterers and planners wandering around, making sure the tables were set up neatly. She smiled as she looked around. It looked absolutely gorgeous in here, the lighting, the tables, the pictures along the back wall. This was going to be one kickass party and she was the one who had coordinated the entire thing. She wanted to give herself a nice pat on the back for a job well done. She was so proud that she had done all of this with all the stuff going on in her life.

Her cell phone rang in her purse and she grabbed it out of the small clutch. "Hello?"

"Hi Mommy!"

"Hey angel, what are you doing?"

"Kista said I call!" he told her, referring to his babysitter.

"Sweetie, let's take the voice down a step or two okay?" Stephanie told her son.

"Sorry," the little boy said. "Miss you."

"Oh sweetie, you're just upstairs and I just saw you a little while ago," Stephanie told him with a soft laugh. "But if you really, really don't want to stay there with Krista, you just tell me and you can come down here, okay?"

"Okay Mommy," Devin said softly. "I colored."

"Wow," Stephanie said in awe as she smiled at the thought of her little boy coloring, which was his favorite activity, it made her want to run upstairs and join him. "What did you color?"

"Animals!" he yelled happily.

"That sounds like so much fun, you'll have to show me what you colored when Mommy and Daddy go upstairs, okay?"

"Yeah!" he screamed. "Where you Mommy?"

"I'm downstairs in the ballroom," she told him.

"For party?" he asked. Stephanie laughed, she really had been talking about the party too much if her 2 year old son knew that was what she was doing at the exact moment.

"Yeah, for the party, Mommy would let you come down, but you're going to bed soon and Mommy and Daddy don't want you to fall asleep here. Did you eat dinner?"

"Uh huh, I had mac-cheese," he told her. "Yummy."

"Sounds yummy, did you save some for me?" she teased.

"No, I eat all of it," he told her. "Where Daddy?"

"Daddy's around, why angel? Did you want to talk to Daddy too?"

"Yeah! He party too?"

"Yeah, he's part of the party too," Stephanie explained patiently, knowing that her son was very inquisitive. "Let me go find Daddy for you angel, okay, then he can say goodnight to you because you'll be asleep when Mommy and Daddy get back."

"No sleep," he protested.

"Yes sleep," Stephanie said firmly but gently. "When you wake up, Daddy and I will be right there to get breakfast with you and you can stuff your face."

"Okay," he said, but still sounded disappointed.

Stephanie walked out of the ballroom and started to look around so she could hand off Devin to his father. She wandered around until she saw Hunter talking with Chris, Chris was adjusting his sleeves while Hunter was talking to him animatedly. She smiled at the two of them talking. Chris, the best man, was reassuring Hunter, the groom, that tonight was going to well. Chris and Hunter looked over to her and smiled. She walked over and Hunter gave her a friendly hug.

"Hey," she said to Hunter, forgetting for a moment that her son was on the phone.

"Hey you, big night huh?" she said with a grin.

"Yeah, it is," he said, giving her a smile too.

"Hey, hate to break up the love fest over there," Chris said, rolling his eyes, "but you seem to have a phone in your hands and there might be someone on the other end of that phone just sitting there like a loser."

"Oh God, I'm stupid, it's Dev," Stephanie said, then jutted out her bottom lip. "He wants to talk to his Daddy."

"Oh, let me talk to him real quick," Hunter said, taking the phone from Stephanie, who shrugged. "Hey there Dev."

"Hi!" the little boy said brightly. Stephanie looked around and saw a very uncomfortable Christian near the entrance to the hotel. She nudged Chris in the ribs since Hunter was still on the phone with Devin and gestured towards him.

"Should I go talk to him?" Stephanie asked.

"He does look a little uncomfortable."

"Okay, I'll be back then," she announced to Chris, since Hunter was still on the phone. Stephanie walked over to Christian and tapped him lightly on the shoulder, causing him to jump a little bit. He turned towards her and smiled. "Hey Christian, how are you?"

"I'm good," Christian said, leaning towards her and giving her a hug which she gladly returned. "You look great."

"Thanks," she blushed. "What are you doing here so early, the party isn't expected to start for another twenty minutes."

"Well, I didn't know if you needed help or anything, or you know, I thought maybe I should just say my congratulations, drop off the present and then leave since you know…"

"Know what?"

"Come on Steph, we're both not stupid, we both know who's going to be there at the party and I don't want to ruin this party, I know how much work you've been doing on it and Hunter too, and I just don't want to be a nuisance."

"Nonsense," Stephanie said, shaking her head. "You wouldn't have been invited if nobody wanted you here. Hunter specifically asked you to be here, and I didn't argue one bit. Trish and that whole situation, well, we can put that aside for one night, can't we?"

"I don't know," Christian said, looking down. "I mean, I haven't seen her since…well, I've seen her on television, I watch her on television and well, I mean, you know, I haven't really talked to her."

"Christian, she's seeing someone, did you know that?" Stephanie asked gently.

"Oh, is she?" Christian asked, his voice a mixture of surprise and disappointment. "Who's the lucky guy?"

"It's John Cena," Stephanie told him. "Look, I trust both of you not to ruin tonight for anyone. You're both adults and you both know how to behave. Everyone wants you here Christian, trust me on that one."

"Yeah, okay," he said, and he forced a smile on his face. "So is there anything I can do before the party to help you out since I'm here a little bit early?"

She thought for a second, "I think I've got everything covered, why don't you come over and say hello to Chris and Hunter, that's something you can do."

"That's definitely something I can do," he said, and she looped her arm through his and walked over to the duo standing by themselves, Chris looking at his watch as Hunter was still on the phone with Devin, apparently having a very deep and in-depth conversation with the little boy.

"Are you STILL on the phone with him?" Stephanie asked as she walked over.

"Hey, I can't help it, he's telling me all about this DVD he was watching earlier, and he's a really good storyteller," Hunter said. "Besides, I like talking to him, he's the only one around here who gives an honest opinion."

"Hey! I'm honest," Chris protested.

"Too honest," Stephanie muttered.

"You guys have not changed," Christian said as he shook Chris's hand. "I trust that you've been taking care of your missus."

"She's still alive isn't she?" Chris joked and Stephanie just shook her head at him.

"You're such a weirdo," Stephanie told him.

"Well, you're such a slut," Chris said back with a smile. "Dirty, rotten slut who got herself knocked up…twice."

Stephanie just licked her teeth and kept her mouth shut as Christian just laughed. "Still the same old Jericho and Stephanie, always at each other's throats. So this party is going to be like extravagant?"

"The princess wouldn't have it any other way," Chris said, mocking Stephanie again.

"It's going to be nice," Stephanie said, "I wouldn't say extravagant, more like elegant and sophisticated."

"Hey Steph, I've got to go," Hunter said.

"Oh, so you're finally off the phone, did Devin get tired of you?" Chris joked.

"No, he wants to tell me all about the different animals in his coloring book, but well, the party's almost starting and I've got to…get the you know what," Hunter said, then handed the phone back to Stephanie, but not before throwing out a, "Night Dev, sleep well okay?"

"Okay Trip," Devin said excitedly, obviously the farthest thing from tired, even though his bedtime was fast approaching.

Hunter handed the phone back to Stephanie, "I'm going to kill you Chris for teaching him to call me that."

"What? Trip is a good nickname and do you know how hard it is for him to say Hunter?" Chris told him. "Besides, he likes it, and I call you that, and well, Dev wants to be exactly like me in every way."

"God help us," Hunter said. "Okay, I'll see you two in like forty-five minutes, wish me luck."

"Good luck," the three of them said, and then Chris turned to Stephanie, "So can I finally talk to my son?"

Stephanie laughed then handed him the phone, "There you go Daddy."

"Finally," Chris said, taking the phone from Stephanie, "Hey there mini-J, what's up?"

"Daddy!"

Stephanie and Christian left Chris to talk with Devin as they walked into the ballroom. Christian turned to Stephanie and she gave him a kind smile. She knew what he was thinking about and she led him to the closest chairs because she could sense that he wanted to talk about what had happened with Trish, and what he was feeling now. Stephanie had become quite perceptive in her motherhood.

"So lay it on me."

"What's there to lay on?" Christian asked.

Stephanie sighed. "Christian, you and Trish, that's what I'm talking about. I could tell that you were a little upset when I said that she was dating John Cena, so obviously there's something there…"

"You said it yourself, she's with John, that's what it is, I'm not going to see to it that her happiness is stripped away."

"Why did you leave her Christian?" Stephanie asked. "Everyone's been wondering it and everyone's been too afraid to ask, but why did you leave her? Everyone thought you guys were in love."

"Not everything can be as perfect as your marriage," Christian snapped.

"Whoa, if you think my marriage is perfect, you're delusional. If you think Hunter's engagement is perfect, then you're delusional. Look around you, nobody's relationship is perfect. Take your brother and Lita, they started dating because they cheated, that's hardly ideal, but they're happy, but it's not perfect."

"You can't tell me that you and Chris aren't perfect. You're married, you have a son, you have another on the way apparently, and everything is great for you."

Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Why is it I'm always giving the counsel? Why do I have such an inviting face? Christian, listen to me, Chris and I have our fights, just like you and Trish had, but the difference is we didn't run away. You think it was easy for your brother to come out and say that he loved Lita in spite of what happened, no, it's not easy, but you don't run away."

"I get it Steph, I was a coward and now I've lost everything, that's what you want me to say isn't it?" he demanded to know. "You want to me to tell you that my life is screwed up and nothing is ever going to be good again because Trish is gone, well it ain't going to happen."

"I don't want that. I just want to know why you left, and if you aren't going to tell me, then I wish you would at least tell Trish. You don't know what you've done to her. Everyone can see it and nobody can help her, but you can help her Christian. You can help her and at least hope that maybe she'll move on, or at the very least understand why you did what you did."

"It was too fast, too serious," he said quietly.

"Pardon?" she said, not quite hearing what he had to say.

"Trish and I, it was just…it was too much, I was too in love with her. I got scared and I ran, just like you said. I ran because I didn't know how to face my feelings for her. You don't understand what it's like to love someone so much Steph. I know you love your guy, but it's different with me and Trish, it's so intense, you and Chris, you're all settled in, like Hunter is settling in, but Trish and I were always turbulent. It scared me that I needed her so much and I was scared she didn't need me the same way."

"So you ran away?" she said, putting her hand on his knee.

"That's no way to solve your problems," Christian said. "But it sure solved mine. So you're expecting another kid?"

"Oh no you don't," Stephanie said, shaking her finger at him, "no, you don't get to do this. You don't get to change the subject. Trish is with John now, but it's plain as day that she still feels something for you. I think if you both want to move on, together or apart, you need to talk to her."

"Let me ask you this? And I pretty much know the answer, but still, when you told her I was coming, she freaked out didn't she? She couldn't handle it and she freaked, am I right?"

"You're right," Stephanie answered softly. "But that doesn't mean you shouldn't talk. Look at the two of you, you don't look so hot yourself."

"I'm doing okay," Christian protested.

"Yeah, right, and I'm the freaking Queen of England. All I'm saying is tonight is a perfect opportunity to clear the air with the both of you and I think you owe it to yourselves to at least talk this out so that the both of you can move on."

"You sure are full of wisdom aren't you?"

"What can I say?" Stephanie shrugged, then patted his shoulder. "Just think about it Christian. Think about Trish and what she deserves. What she deserves is an honest explanation from you. And John deserves that too, he's a good guy Christian, he treats her really well and he loves her, even if he doesn't come right out and say it. But you're holding her back, and if you want what's best for her, you'll help her."

"I'll try Steph, really I will," he said sincerely.

The only problem was…he wasn't sure if he wanted her to move on.