The two men returned to the living room and Stephanie insisted that she was okay to carry on with the rest of her story. The family all listened in shock as she talked through what went on in the apartment that day. As she reached the end of the story, when Paul had spoken to her about her mom in the hospital it was obvious that she was becoming very tired.

When she had finished Paul went over to her, "Come on Steph, let's get you to bed, you're exhausted." He helped her get up and everyone took a turn to give her a hug. Marissa said, "I couldn't have done it Steph, I couldn't have fought him like that."

Stephanie had a strange faraway look on her face, "You could. You don't think, you just do it. You fight to survive, like an animal."

She seemed to summon a reserve of energy from somewhere, "You should all know that I have made some decisions today. I'm not talking through them with you, I'm telling you what I'm going to do. Firstly I'm going to be contacting John's dad and offering him money for his treatment."

Paul interrupted, "Steph I don't think that's..."

Stephanie closed her eyes, "Paul please don't, I've decided okay? I've also decided that I'm going back to work Monday. I'm not spending time by myself in this house going over and over this in my head. I'm done with it. I'm done!"

She had started to cry so Paul hugged her, "If that's what you want honey then that's what we'll do, right Vince?"

Vince wasn't convinced at all that it was a good idea but he agreed, "Yes, absolutely."

Stephanie hugged her dad, "Thanks dad, I just need some sleep. I'll be okay tomorrow." She hugged Shane and Marissa too and they all said goodnight. Paul walked with Stephanie upstairs and made sure that she was comfortable in the bed, "You were incredibly brave tonight Steph, that must have been so hard for you."

Sleepily she mumbled, "It's hard for everyone."

"Just get some sleep. You'll feel better tomorrow." He kissed her and left the room.

It nearly scared the life out of Paul as he was woken by his wife sitting up in bed and screaming. "Steph! Steph it's okay. What's wrong?"

She was covered in sweat and crying, "He could have killed me."

Paul had known this would happen, he was surprised it had not happened before now. He guessed that now that Stephanie had everything figured out in her own head this was why the night terrors had started.

He pulled her down towards him and held her, "Please don't cry Steph, I'm here with you, you're safe here."

"I wasn't safe then though", she panicked, "he could have killed me at any time."

Paul held her tighter, "He didn't want to kill you honey, and he certainly can't do it now."

She was sobbing now, "But he could have. And I didn't even panic. How didn't I panic? I could barely move, I couldn't scream, I couldn't even see anything and I just lay there. It terrifies me now but then it didn't."

Paul didn't know what to say so he just held his wife and hoped that it would help her.

"I could be dead. I could have never seen you or the girls again."

Paul lifted her head so that he could look into her eyes, "But you did baby. I'm here holding you and the girls are asleep in their beds. They are safe just as you are." They lay there like that until Stephanie had cried herself back to sleep. Paul mumbled to himself, "And she's insisting she wants to return to work?"

The next day Stephanie felt a lot better as she sat down in her office at home. She was troubled by the night terror she'd had but she could not let it bother her today, she had something important that she wanted to do. She called the office and got the phone number she needed. It was the phone number for John Cena's parent's house. Apparently John's dad was also called John. She figured that was just perfect, another John Cena to speak to. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly then dialled the number. After a few rings and male voice answered, "Hello."

"I'd like to speak with John Cena please."

"Who is this?"

"My name is Stephanie McMahon."

The voice sounded angry, "You've got some fucking nerve lady."

"Excuse me?"

"Why are you calling here? What do you want with my dad?"

Stephanie wasn't used to be spoken to in this way but she tried to remain polite, "I have something to discuss with your father, so if you would be so kind as to..."

"Wait." She heard what she imagined was the phone being slammed onto a table. The call had not been ended.

She was able to hear shouting although it was not near the phone, "Dad! Phone! You won't believe who it is!"

There was a long pause then she heard voices closer to the phone, "Who is it?" "It's Stephanie fucking McMahon the bitch. You believe the nerve on that woman?" "Go away Dan, she's obviously calling for a reason."

Stephanie heard a man clear his throat, "Mrs. McMahon before you say anything I want to apologise on behalf of my son." Stephanie was tempted to ask which one he was referring to.

He had continued, "What he did to you is unforgivable, no matter what else went on between you."

"Well thank you but that isn't why I'm calling. May I call you John?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, John here's the thing. Your son uh... mentioned to me about your health... situation."

"Mrs. McMahon I don't really..."

"Call me Stephanie, please."

"Okay Stephanie, I don't really want to discuss this with you."

She decided to get to the point, "John told me that you can't afford the necessary treatment and thanks to me he can't help you now either. Therefore I'm offering to send you money to cover it."

There was a long pause. She was beginning to wonder if he was still there. "I can't accept money from you for treatment."

"Sure you can, you just say yes."

"Stephanie..."

She figured that the man wanted to accept her offer but he was too shocked by it to respond, "John, drive over here next week and we'll talk face to face in my office and work this out. How does that sound?"

There was another hesitation, "I'd like to talk with you about this, but I don't travel well right now. My illness means I'm sick a lot of the time and..."

"Then I will come to you."

She couldn't figure out the emotion in his voice, maybe there were many at the same time, "I can't ask you to do that."

"I don't think you did. Give me your address."

He hesitated yet again, "I'm sure you're a busy woman."

"I'm free all day Wednesday, You're still in West Newberry, right? You're not far from here."

"Okay, but we won't meet here though I don't want my sons to be there and... well... they don't have a high opinion of you."

"I picked up on that."

"Sorry. Can you give me your number? I'll get us into a restaurant for lunch."

Stephanie gave him her number.

"I'll call you Wednesday morning Stephanie and uh... well thank you for agreeing to meet me."

"It's the least I can do," Stephanie smiled as she hung up.