A/N: A huge thank you to everyone who is reading and reviewing. Also huge thanks to KiwiStar and NellyLove for their pointing me in the right direction.

Disclaimer: As always I own nothing that is WWE related. All rights belong to Vince McMahon/WWE.

I give you,

Chapter 6

Girl Talk

Peyton arrived at school with about twenty minutes to spare. Quickly entering the building, she made her way down the hall exchanging hellos and good mornings with fellow staff and students alike. Entering her classroom, she was thankful that it was still empty. Storing the gifts from the WWE in the classroom closet, for now, Peyton set about preparing for her day. Digging through her old neon pink messenger bag, she found her lesson plans for the day. Turning the blackboard, she found her chalk, and set about her daily routine.

Within minutes students began filing in, taking their seats; with a chorus of "Morning Ms. Ross or Hi Ms. Ross." Seconds before the warning bell rang; Carrie stuck her head in the door. Walking to the blackboard she teasingly elbowed Peyton. Looking around the room at the incoming students Carrie whispered, "Shannon had a great time last night. You and Sheamus are all she could talk about this morning."

Peyton was certain Shannon had enjoyed herself, but it was still nice to hear. "I'm glad" replied Peyton, "It was a lot of fun – I'm glad she went with me."

As the final bell rang, Carrie promised to stop back at lunch time so they could talk. Watching her friend leave, Peyton groaned inwardly. Realistically, she and Carrie had not known each other that long, yet already she thought of Carrie as her best friend almost a sister really. Carrie was the only person beside her grandmother that could pull Peyton out of her shell and get her talk. When lunch time rolled around, she knew Carrie was going to want all the 'juicy' details. She expected nothing less from Carrie, so why did the mere idea of telling her about breakfast have her stomach tied in knots? Pushing all thoughts of Carrie and a certain Irishman to the back of her mind – Peyton turned her focus to her class "Good – Morning Class."

The morning simply flew by in a flurry of collecting last night's writing assignment to their next English assignment, to preparing for their upcoming science test. Peyton was taking her class down to the lunch room – much sooner than she was entirely comfortable with. Walking back to her classroom, she saw Carrie making a bee line straight for her open door. Grabbing a chair from one of the student's desk, Carrie moved it to sit to the right of Peyton's much larger desk. Both women were quiet for several moments as they tucked into their respective lunches; Carrie with her chicken salad pita and a coke – Peyton with her peanut butter and jelly with chocolate milk. Having banished some of her raging hunger pains for the moment, Carrie spoke "Sooooo…tell me about last night?"

Peyton laughed "There's not much to tell Carrie. We had a good time. Stephen was a very gracious host."

If possible the grin on Carrie's face tripled in size in mere seconds alone. "Stephen was a gracious host," she parroted back to Peyton. "Stephen was a gracious host," she muttered once more to herself than to Peyton this time. "Do you hear yourself Peyton Elizabeth? You spend the evening being the personal guests of one of the sexiest men alive and you tell me he was a gracious host. Oh and when did he become Stephen instead of Sheamus? I want dirt woman!"

Peyton smiled typical Carrie. "Yes I kissed him….on the cheek for luck before his match."

"And?" Carrie prompted "Tell me more!"

"He gave us a tour backstage. He introduced Shannon to a number of other superstars and divas. She had a great time watching from his dressing room…."

"Peyton…" Carrie began with the patience of a mother scolding a small child. "I saw the way he was looking at you yesterday during the assembly. Hell a blind man could have seen the way he was watching you. The looks he was throwing you silently screamed. Are you telling me he made no move on you – not one?"

Peyton silently cursed leave it to Carrie to notice something like that. 'Dammit' thought Peyton she had barely analyzed the near kiss in the parking lot or breakfast herself yet. Did she really want to share the details with Carrie? A part of her wanted to keep them private – hold onto them just a little while longer before sharing. At the same time there was a part of her that really wanted to spill her guts and share every little detail with Carrie. She could feel her nerves taking over, what if she was just being silly? What if she shared everything with Carrie – the details, her thoughts, her feelings and nothing more ever came of it. Was she more afraid that he would call her again or that he wouldn't?

Taking a deep breath, Peyton decided to share some of the details – just not all of them. "Did she also tell that after she fell asleep – it was Stephen who carried her to the car?" The look on Carrie's face as she very nearly choked on her chicken sandwich was priceless. Peyton couldn't stop the bubbling laughter.

Carrie sighed, "That sexy hunk of man – carried my baby girl!"

Peyton rolled her eyes heaven ward – she enjoyed watching Carrie carry on so. Looking at Carrie – really looking at her; Peyton felt a stab of envy. If she hadn't known that Carrie was a mother – she never would have guessed that she had given birth. Normally the physical differences between her and Carrie were a non-issue, but today felt different. Carrie was a beautiful size six or eight. As she looked at her beautiful leggy, blonde hair and blue eyed best friend she was surprised to find that she felt the beginning pangs of jealousy. After her morning with Stephen, she found herself wishing she were 'that' girl. The one who could hold a man's attention – the way Carrie did. With her feelings suddenly bouncing all over the map – Peyton decided to keep the almost parking lot kiss to herself.

"Soooo," Peyton began mimicking Carrie from just a few minutes prior "do you want to talk about last night or breakfast this morning?"

Peyton could see Carrie's wheels turning - before she could embarrass them both Peyton blushed hotly "No Carrie he did not spend the night – yes we had breakfast together at my place this morning."

"You had breakfast with Sheamus!" Carrie all but shouted.

Blushing uncontrollably Peyton looked around praying that no one heard Carrie's sudden outburst. "Yes – now could you please keep your voice down? I really don't want the whole dang school to know."

Carrie looked around "The kids are still at recess. Now tell me all about breakfast."

Peyton hardly knew where to begin. She felt a small smirk growing across her face as she thought about how 'big' he looked standing inside her small apartment. "What?" demanded Carrie, "What's that smirk for?"

Peyton laughed "you know how small my apartment right?" Carrie simply nodded. "Now picture Stephen sitting in my living room," Peyton continued. Carrie smirked a little herself as she continued to press for all the 'juicy' details. Realizing that they had less than ten minutes before the students would return from recess; Peyton began picking and choosing which details to share - giving Carrie the condensed story of breakfast with Stephen.

Carrie sensed that there was more to the story than Peyton was sharing. Carrie prayed that Peyton would just relax and enjoy the attention. However, knowing her best friend the way she did – she guessed that there were details that she was over analyzing. She would also wager to guess that doubting herself was high on the over analyzing list. Squeezing her hand Carrie smiled "Just enjoy it Peyton – don't over think it too much. You're a beautiful single woman. He's a beautiful single man. Just enjoy it – see where things might lead."

Peyton knew her friend meant well, but she couldn't stop the doubt that was creeping into her eyes or the fear that was growing in her chest. After only two occasions together she was undeniably attracted to him, but did he feel the same way about her? As the students began filing in from recess the girls quickly cleaned up their lunch mess. Carrie made Peyton promise to call her later so they could finish dishing about breakfast, before scooting out of the room. Peyton laughed as she watched her friend go. She wished she could feel as carefree as Carrie did.

The afternoon passed quickly, most of her students seemed to have worn themselves out during recess; making for a very quiet easy afternoon. Minutes before the final bell, Peyton reminded her students about their math homework. As the bell rang, she dismissed class for the day. Scooping up the students WWE writing assignment from the night before – depositing them in her messenger for bag for grading/review she turned off the lights and headed out for the evening.

Walking to her car she realized that she hadn't looked at her cell phone once all day. Pulling the phone from purse she was surprised to find that she had three missed text messages. Unlocking her car, she slipped in behind the wheel before checking her messages. Her brother Alex and Carrie were really the only people who texted her. Alex and Carrie both loved to text. Pulling up her messages she wasn't surprised that the first was from Alex – just checking in to see how she was. The second surprisingly was from Papa – trying to learn how to use the phone Alex just brought him and Nana. Laughing she thought 'that's it Alex drag Papa and Nana into the twenty-first century kicking and screaming.' The third text surprised her. It was from Stephen. He wanted to thank her for breakfast. He also promised to call later first chance he got. Tossing the phone in the general direction of the passenger seat – she started the car heading for home. Was she surprised that Stephen texted her…yeah maybe? Did she want him to call her again? Yes would be lying to herself, but so would no. The truth was she just didn't know and that scared her more than she wanted to admit. Lost in her thoughts, she quickly found herself back at her apartment.

Dropping her keys, purse, phone, and messenger bag at the little entry table she made her way to the living room. Collapsing on the couch she slipped off her boots, put her feet up, and closed her eyes for just a few minutes. The still quiet felt good to her senses. As she sat her feet propped up on the coffee table, her head resting against the back of the couch – she thought she could still smell his cologne from this morning. She smiled, she was probably being silly, but she really thought she could still smell his scent lingering in the air. Shaking her head she stood from the couch, collected her boots and made her way to the bedroom. Stripping off her works clothes, Peyton went in search of something much more comfy. As she dressed in a pair of holey jeans, and a faded, soft, worn in cotton t-shirt she felt her stomach beginning to growl in hunger.

With the refrigerator standing wide open – Peyton stared inside hoping the contents would magically change. A second or two later she realized that she really need to go grocery shopping. Deciding that she really didn't have the energy to cook, she grabbed an apple and her favorite Chinese take-out menu from the counter. After ordering some sweet and sour chicken with shrimp fried rice she tore into her large red delicious. Sitting at the table she began reviewing her students WWE writing assignments. Her students always had the ability to surprise and impress her when they put their thoughts and feelings to paper. As she was finishing her review of the sixth or seventh paper, the door- bell rang…."dinner" she thought with a smile.

Having paid for dinner she was just shutting and locking the door when her cell began to ring. Grabbing the phone she answered quickly shoving it between her ear and right shoulder "Hello" she replied making her way back to the kitchen. "Hello yehself" came the reply.

Peyton nearly dropped her food on the floor "Stephen" she all but whispered – surprised to hear his voice.

Stephen smiled he enjoyed the surprised quality in her voice. He couldn't put his finger on it just yet but there was definitely something about this woman had him intrigued. "Ah' only have a few minutes before the show begins."

"You're in Chicago tonight right? How was your trip? You weren't late were you?"

"Yes Ah'm in Chicago luv, the trip was fine, and no Ah' wasn't late. How 'bout yeh, how was yeh day?"

"It was a good day…a little long maybe, but good. The kids were all still buzzing from your visit yesterday. Just before your call I was reading some of their thoughts and opinions about your visit. You and your friends made quite the impact on my kids. They simply adore you guys and most importantly they seem to have got the message."

Stephen listened to her words, he noted the way she said 'my kids,' not my students but 'my kids.' Finding that little tidbit interesting he tucked it away for further thought later. "That's great to hear Ah' glad they enjoyed it as much as we did. Listen Pey, Ah've got to run, will yeh be around later?"

"I'm home all night – it's a school night after all" Peyton replied a little cheekily.

Stephen smiled "good well then Ah'll give yeh a ring after the show – ok?"

"Sounds good – be safe and I'll talk to you then"

"Always are little lass – always am" was his only reply before disconnecting and heading off to business.

Peyton ate, cleaned up the kitchen, finished reviewing the kid's homework, and watched a little television before deciding to go and take a hot bubble bath. Grabbing her favorite over-sized 'Sons of Anarchy' t-shirt and her hot pink boxer shorts she headed to the bathroom. Adjusting the water temp she added her favorite lavender vanilla bubble bath before sliding into the tub. Leaning back against the tube she sunk down into the bubbles closing her eyes she felt every bone in body relax. Five minutes later her silence was disrupted by the pair of ringing jeans lying on the bathroom floor. Expecting it to be Carrie wanting to finish their lunch time chat; she leaned over the edge of the tube dried her hands on the nearest towel while reaching for the phone. Without looking at the id she simply answered "Hello Carrie how are you? I'm good thanks…No I don't want to talk about Stephen and breakfast this morning."

The deep male chuckle from the other end of the line startled her. "Ah' good lass…although not much of a Carrie, more a Stephen Ah think. How come yeh don't want to talk about breakfast with me?"