A/N: Thank you SO much for the reviews for this, I'm so pleasantly surprised you liked it because well, it's H for goodness sakes! lol Anyways, I found it really funny that despite me thinking I was writing H all sympathetic and Chris and Steph as the bad guys, everyone still wants Chris/Stephanie together! I guess that goes to show their power. Anyways, I know I said it was a two-parter, but it looks like it will be a three-parter. Beyond that, probably nothing, but still, there is one more chapter on the way. Hope you enjoy this one and leave a review if your fingers feel so inclined. :)
"This is a nightmare!"
He looked over at her. She was sitting at her desk in their home office. The kids were taking a nap at the moment and he was hanging out with her. Things were stressful because the majority of the WWE roster was stuck in Europe. The SmackDown crew were better off; they were taking a bus ride to Madrid and catching a flight there. It was looking more and more likely that the Raw crew was not going to get home, which was sending Stephanie into a frenzy. Her hair was pulled back and out of her face and she wasn't wearing any make-up, but she was wearing a look of horror as she tried to contemplate all the plans for Raw going right out the window.
"Okay, so we're going to need to set it up so the SmackDown guys are here for the show and then we'll have to think of some segments on the fly because everything is going to hell now. Then…well, we have you," she said, glancing over at him. "So you're at least someone there. I think we can have it set up so that we have videos of the Raw guys so they can at least say something. Air travel is still restricted where they are, I don't know if they're even going to make it for SmackDown so we can just switch it up a little."
"You need to calm down," Paul said, going behind her and massaging her shoulders. "You're pregnant and you need to calm down. The baby isn't going to appreciate the constant jostling and freaking out."
She laughed a little as he came around and knelt in front of her, placing his hands on her knees. "I just don't know what to do. I mean, I've never been in a situation like this before, nobody has so there's no precedent. I mean, we're going to have to completely rewrite the show. I know we do rewrites even late into Monday, but we've never had to completely overhaul the show because nobody will be there."
"Hey, come on, it's not going to be as bad as you think, everyone is going to understand this is a unique--" He was cut off by her cell phone ringing. It was Chris's theme song so he didn't need to guess who it was. He scowled a little, but she ignored it and went straight for the phone, like she forgot he was even there.
"Hello?" she said, then visibly relaxed. "Hey, Chris, what's going on now?"
Hunter pushed himself away from her and stood up. He didn't really want to stay there and listen, but he did stay there because he kind of wanted to hear the end of their conversation. Stephanie had taken some time off from traveling so she hadn't spent time with Chris since that night at the Hall of Fame. She'd been sweet and attentive with him and he'd convinced himself that things were going well between them and maybe he'd been wrong all along and they really were just friends and everything would sort itself out.
"No, do not say that!" Stephanie laughed. Why was it he could calm her down in moments when he tried and tried and still go nothing? "Chris, you cannot post that, everyone is going to think you're on the verge of death."
He wanted to tell her that he could make her laugh and smile if she would just let him. It was like what took him great effort took little to no effort with Chris. He did not hang around the man much, but from what he knew of him, he was always making people laugh. It was one of the things that bothered him when Chris had first come into the company, when Kevin had told him to be wary of him. Chris had an infectious personality and it wasn't long before everyone was his friend. Even Shawn, his best friend, genuinely liked Chris and hung out with him sometimes. Still, nothing stung more than Stephanie.
"I'm not going to let you put that you're teetering over a cliff," Stephanie laughed again, her mood completely lifted. She paused a moment and then responded. "I know, it's going to be rough, we're going to try and write you guys into the show and then put some videos of the Raw guys."
Why did she sound so rational and level-headed now? What secret did Chris hold? Was it the tone of his voice? Was he just more reassuring than he was? Paul knew that he could be gruff and maybe unfriendly, but he tried not to be that way around his family. Aurora and Murphy seemed to like him just fine.
"Yeah, you're right," she sighed. "I know, it's just…well, it's just a complete overhaul." Stephanie paused again to listen to what Chris had to say and Paul held his breath, wondering what Chris was saying to her. It couldn't be words of love. Chris was on a bus surrounded by their coworkers, there was no way that he would be so bold as to tell Stephanie something like he loved her or wanted to be with her or in her and Paul shuddered inwardly at that disgusting thought. The image of Stephanie and Chris in bed revolted him.
"Yes, yes, I know you're a professional," Stephanie giggled. "Okay, yes, I better get back to work. I guess I'll see you later." She closed her eyes and then laughed again. "I do too, bye, Chris."
"So that was Chris?" he asked when she hung up the phone. Chris's name felt like bile running against his tongue, like sandpaper.
"Yeah, he said he wants to update me every five minutes," she laughed, "but I talked him down to calling every hour. He's letting me know the progress of the Raw crew. He was joking that he's going to start acting like the bus is going to break down to freak everyone out. He's crazy."
"Sounds it," Paul muttered.
"Something wrong, Paul?" Stephanie asked curiously. He looked down at her and she was looking up at him questioningly. He longed to ask her about the real nature of her relationship with Chris, but this was neither the time nor the place. He was just a paranoid husband whose wife had a close friendship with another man. That was all. He kept reminding himself of that so as to keep as much of his sanity as he could.
"No, nothing, just hope that everything works out. I don't want you so stressed, especially not when you're pregnant."
"Come here," she said, grabbing the hem of his shirt and bringing him down, kissing him slowly. She pulled away and then made a face at him. She did love him, he had to believe, he just had to. "Look, I'm fine, okay. I'm just on edge with the whole situation over in Europe, with everyone so far away and up in the air, but I'll be fine, the baby will be fine too, I promise. Besides, I've got Chris updating me on where the crew is and you know what he did this morning?"
Paul didn't really want to know what Chris did, but he was imagining something heroic that made him look better in Stephanie's eyes. It was hard competing with a man when you didn't even know if you were really in a competition. It gave Chris and unfair advantage. Paul didn't know when to strike or if he should strike. Chris had all the balls in his court and Paul had none and it wasn't fair, this entire thing was not fair.
"What did he do?"
"Well, before they left…yeah, before they left, he sent me something where I could track his phone," she said, turning her laptop towards him. "He has this application where it's a GPS thing and so I can see exactly where in the world they are right now. I've been tracking their progress all morning. It's great. He's a genius. I never would have thought of that."
Point to Chris.
"That's really great."
"I know, I'll be so relieved when I see that dot over here," she said, pointing to the East Coast of the United States. "Then I won't have to worry any more, at least not for a little while."
"Yeah, that must be great," he said. He kind of wished that dot would go right over there, his eyes looking towards Antarctica. Maybe Chris could spend the rest of his life on a nice ice floe. That would be perfectly suitable for Paul.
"It is," she said, then smiled over at him. "You sure you're okay? Oh, are you worrying with me, you're such a sweet husband."
"Just sweet?" he asked playfully. Push Chris out of his mind and then work on pushing Chris out of her mind.
"Um, sweet…funny…kind…do you want me to go on?"
"You can go on," he said. He just wanted to hear it from her lips. He wanted her voice to tell her things like this because if she did then Chris would be gone. He wouldn't be this phantom third wheel.
"Um, a great wrestler…a great man…great friend…you're just an all-around great guy," she laughed. He smiled and brushed some of her hair away from her face. He was going to lean in and kiss her, but Chris's theme music hit again and her eyes lit up. He wanted to deny that those eyes lit up for Chris, but he couldn't deny it. She gave him a peck on the lips and then grabbed the phone. "I told you every hour, not every five minutes!"
Paul had to leave then. He just had to. He couldn't sit by and watch as his wife, the woman he loved, pulled farther and farther away from him. He shouldn't feel this way in a marriage, like he was the outsider and in the times that Chris was not in the picture, he didn't feel that way, but Chris was becoming more and more prominent. Before he'd left on his extended hiatus from the company, their friendship was strong, but not as strong as it was now. Now things were different and they were inseparable and Paul felt like he was being phased out of the equation and one day he would come home and the locks would be changed on his front door. He couldn't live like that, with this fear eating away at his insides, but what could he do?
He went upstairs and peeked in on his daughters. He looked for a long moment at Murphy, tracing her features with his eyes, trying to put her face side-by-side with Chris's kids. He tried to line them up. Stop torturing yourself, he kept trying to tell himself, stop this torture.
Except the torture kept coming. He woke up the next morning to Stephanie's hand rubbing his back. He opened his eyes and saw her kneeling next to the bed. He attempted to pull her back in when he saw she was dressed. "Where are you going so early in the morning?"
"Chris's hotel room," she told him, running her finger down his jaw. "The girls are still asleep so can you take care of them for the day? I'd bring them with me, but I don't want to bug Chris."
"His hotel room?" he asked, his voice rising at the end, sitting up in a flash. "What are you going to do there?"
"We're just going to hang out. Well, I'm going to hang out. He's going to try and write some more chapters for his book. I think he's actually going to cover our storyline and well, he didn't say he needed me there, but his goal is to write 25 pages today, which is ambitious and so I'm just going to keep him company and help him remember some of the stuff that happened with our storylines. It'll be fun, I haven't really gotten to hang out with him in a while."
"I don't like that you're going."
"Why?" she asked.
Here was the moment of truth, did he tell her what he thought was going on between her and Chris? Or did he chicken out and just tell her some bullshit lie to keep her here? He didn't know which way to turn, which one would yield the deeper results. If he chose the first, then she'd probably slap him and storm out and right to Chris. If he took the second, there was a chance she'd stay. So he chickened out.
"Well, I mean, you know the girls love to spend time with you," he said, hoping that using their daughters would make Stephanie stay.
"It's just for the day, besides, they need Daddy time too," Stephanie said, leaning over and kissing her cheek. "Have fun today."
"Stephanie," he said, grabbing her hand. She turned back to him.
"Huh? What?"
"Do you really have to go?" he asked. Did she really have to choose Chris again over him? That's what it was feeling like. Like every time she had to make a choice, Chris was the one she chose. Just once, he wanted to believe that she would choose him, just Paul.
"Yeah, I promised Chris, plus, I want his book to do me justice and the only way to ensure that is to make sure that he writes me correctly," Stephanie said with a laugh and a stern look. She was so pretty, he thought to himself. Everyone who met her loved her and even the people that hated her, once they saw that smile and her genuineness, they couldn't help but love her, like he did.
"Well, if you're sure…"
"Hunter, it's the day, we're not running off together," she joked, but that made him even feel worse. No, she'd probably grab the girls and take them before running off with Chris. He felt low at that moment. Just so very low and small and insignificant in his wife's life. "Don't worry, I'll make him say nice things about you, but you'll never read the book so it wouldn't matter. Hey, maybe I'll make him vent about you then, but I'll just be projecting."
He didn't say anything and she sat on the bed and kissed him. "I love you," he mumbled.
"And I you," she told him, kissing him again before breezing out of the room and down the stairs and out the door and straight to Chris, who would make her smile and laugh and write about her with pretty words that Hunter could not come up with.
She hadn't even really said she loved him.
