A/N: Thanks for the reviews, everyone, hope you like the chapter, things are starting to pick up, reviews are welcome and cherished. :P
I bend over and try to catch my breath. My back is against the door of my office and I'm panting. I don't even know how I got here exactly, but here I am. As soon as Chris told me to run, I just ran. I didn't even think about where I was going, I just ran. I think I heard people calling my name as I ran down the hallway, but it was all a blur. I managed to get to my office and I threw myself inside, the door slamming behind me. My hands fumbled for the lock and I managed to do it and now I'm standing here and I feel like there's an earthquake because my whole body is trembling. I'm shaking so hard that it's hard to get to the couch, but I manage to.
I collapse against the smooth leather and sink into the sofa. I lean forward, putting my elbows on my knees and I let my head fall into my hands. I don't know what to do, if I should say anything, if I should leave. I don't even remember if I have a scene tonight. I don't think I do, I might, but…I'm not even sure what's going on or what time it is or how long I stood by the door expecting it to be thrown down by Sean at any moment.
I try to clear my head, but I just keep replaying what just happened over and over again. Sean was going to…he might have. I like to think that I would've overpowered him, but I can't be sure that would've been the case. I feel weak right now and I know I felt weak when I was in that room, when he was hovering over me and I thought nobody would ever show up to help me. Except…except someone did show up and help me, no, that's not right, someone was always there to help me.
It's only now that I'm calming down, my heart starting to return to a normal beat that I think about what really just happened. I was so scared and running so hard that my mind couldn't process what I'd just seen. Chris had been able to throw something at Sean, throw something. For anyone else, I wouldn't bat an eyelash, but Chris can't touch anything, Chris has never been able to touch anything. He's told me before that the way he can persuade me to do the right thing is through his words. He's never touched me, he's never been able to. I've tried, my hand went right through him. So how did he throw that chair?
He looked as shocked as I did that he was able to do that and I don't understand a lick of it. How did he pick it up? How did he even know he could pick it up? I look up and around, expecting Chris to be around, but I don't see him anywhere in the room. "Chris?" I call out tentatively.
There's no answer and I look around again, "Chris?" I call out again, my voice wavering. "Are you here?"
There's still no answer so I stand up and I look around, peeking in the bathroom like he's lurking in there. He has to be around, he's my guardian angel and he just saved my life. He can't just disappear after something like that. I think back to running away from Sean. I don't remember Chris being near me or telling me to run faster. Was he with me then? I think the last time I saw him was when he told me to run, but where is he now?
"Chris, if you're invisible, will you please become visible again?" I ask the air, looking around quickly like he'll just appear right in front of me. "Chris, I'm asking you nicely if you'll just appear for me. Chris, I'm not okay, please, please can you just come back?"
I spin around again, but there's still nobody there. I'm about to ask again when there's a knock at the door. My body tenses as I look at it, like it's going to just come off its hinges. I slowly step towards it, fearing that at any moment, Sean is going to get me and this time, Chris won't be there to stop him. "Who is it?" I call out, my voice quiet and weak.
"Steph, are you in there?" It's my brother and I go to the door, flinging it open and stepping into a hug with my brother. He's obviously confused, but he hugs me back and gently pushes me back into the office, letting the door close behind him. "Steph, what's wrong?"
"Everything," I mumble into his suit jacket. He hugs me tighter and I can feel my eyes burning with tears, but I don't want to cry in front of him or anyone. I just want this night to be over and I want to wake up and forget. I wonder if Chris has any kind of power to make me forget what happened. I know that he probably wouldn't do it anyways, but I kind of hope he would.
"What do you mean everything?" he asks me as we go sit down on the couch. I stay close to him and he brushes my hair away from my face. "What happened, Steph? Why are you so upset? Did something happen with Paul? Did you guys have a fight?"
"No, Paul is great," I say morosely. Paul is the last thing I want to think about right now though. I don't want to think about him and how great he is because if I do, then I go right back to Sean. Plus, Paul has always been so great to me and I don't want Shane to think he hasn't been.
"Then what is it?" Shane asked. "Did Dad say something to you? You know that you can't listen to half of what he says, especially on show days, he's horrible to everyone. You have to let it roll off your back."
"It's not that either," I say, wiping at a tear that ran loose from my eye. "It's just…do you promise not to get mad at me? I mean, you really have to promise."
"Of course I promise."
"Um, I was just…Sean, you know, Waltman, he just, well, I went into his locker room to talk to Paul, but he wasn't there so I decided to wait and Sean was in there and he doesn't like me and he just kind of…Shane, I don't want to talk about it," I turn away from my brother, hoping that he gets the point without me needing to say the words.
"He…what? What did he do, Stephanie, I'm going to need to know what he did and…no, you know what, I think I'll find out from him just what happened."
"Stephanie!" The door flew open and Paul was there and rushing to my side and he takes me in my arms and he's hugging me. "Are you okay?"
"Paul, what's going on?" I ask him.
"I walked into my locker room and Sean was in there and he was bleeding from the head and he said that something attacked him, but he didn't know what, I guess his brains got scrambled, but he said that something attacked him and I asked what the hell he was doing in my room in the first place and he started calling you some crazy, psychic bitch or something, what happened?"
"Sean attacked her," Shane supplies and that's not what I said, but I guess it's the truth at least and I don't correct him.
"He attacked you?" I can tell that Paul is incensed now. "I'm going to kill him. He's a dead man, he is a goddamn dead man."
Paul starts to get up, but I tug at the hem of his shirt, "Paul, please, I just don't want any trouble, please?"
"No, not going to happen, Stephanie. I can't believe I was friends with that bastard, no more. He blew it and he can go to fucking hell for all I care at this point," he tells me while clenching and unclenching his hands.
"Please, this is just what he wants, to prove that I'm trying to control your life. That's why he didn't like me in the first place."
"I don't care, Steph," Paul insists. "He can't just get away with this."
"He won't," Shane interjects. "He's not going to. He's going to be punished and punished severely. We're not going to stand for this kind of behavior. I gotta ask though, you hit him? Is that why he was bleeding from the head?"
Both Paul and Shane are looking at me and wondering just what happened. Paul saw Sean bleeding and saying that something attacked him. If I say that it was my guardian angel, they're going to think that Sean hurt me or that I'm in too much shock to tell the truth. I look around the room, hoping that Chris will show himself so that he can tell me what to say, but I guess he's in so much shock that he had to disappear for a while. I know he's around, he has to be around, he's my guardian angel and they don't just abandon you.
"I don't remember, I tried to pull away from him, I…I don't know," I lie; I know exactly what happened, but they would never believe me if I told them the truth. "I might have hit him, I just wanted to get away. He was blocking the door, as soon as I could, I got out of there and ran here. I just…I wanted to get away."
"It's okay, of course you did," Shane reassures me that I did the right thing. "You were trying to defend yourself, I'm proud of you."
He should be proud of Chris because it was Chris who saved me, not myself. I was the stupid one. I was the one that stayed in there even though Chris told me over and over that I should leave. He was the one I should have listened to the whole time, not my own stubborn thoughts. Maybe that's why he hasn't shown up yet, maybe he's angry with me because I didn't listen to him. He knows when bad things are going to happen and so he must have known something was going to happen and stubborn me didn't listen. Who could blame him for being angry after that? I imagine that if an angel is going to be angry, this is an incident that would incite it.
"Thanks," I mumble.
"You don't have to be on the show," Shane tells me, "why don't you go back to your hotel and relax for the rest of the evening? Dad and I will take care of Sean and everything."
"Okay," I don't have it in me to argue right now. Going back to the hotel and being away from all the wrestlers and wrestling in general sounds really nice right about now. And maybe Chris will come back and talk to me, if he's not mad at me that is.
"I can drive you back if you want, I'm not on until the end of the night," Paul offers.
"My dad came in a limo, we can send her back in that," Shane says, "that way you don't have to leave and come back, but you can walk her out to her car."
"Of course, anything," Paul nods and he gathers my things for me. Shane leaves me with a hug and then Paul is grabbing my hand and leading me down the hallway. "I'm so sorry that he did that to you, Steph. I didn't realize he had such a problem with you, if I had known, I would've stopped being friends with him. I care far more for you than I do for him."
"Thank you." It's a really nice thing to say and I wish that it warmed me in the way that I know he means for it to warm me. He wraps his arm around my shoulder and he's being protective of me, but it's not the type of protective that seems to break the laws of time and space. But this is the last thing I should be doing right now, comparing the two of them like this. They aren't anything alike and it's not fair to either one to compare them to the other.
Paul walks me out to the limo and I'm sure my brother called to tell him I was coming because the driver is standing by the back with the door opened, waiting for me. Paul helps me inside and kisses me briefly before closing the door. I'm locked into the darkness now and I blatantly hope that Chris will be sitting across from me or next to me, but he's still not there. He has to be mad at me, but I'm so sorry for what I did.
"Chris," I whisper into the limo, "I'm sorry, please don't be mad at me."
There's still nothing and I sigh as the driver starts taking me back to the hotel. When I'm finally in my hotel room, I change into my pajamas and order a downright heart attack of a meal. I figure I deserve it after everything. I'm waiting for room service to show up and I don't even turn on the show because I want one night away from wrestling. There comes a knock at the door and my room service smells delicious as its wheeled into my room, but still, there's no Chris.
"You know," I say when the room service guy has left. "It's not fair that this happens to me tonight and you don't show your face, Chris. You know I'm terrified and you won't even be with me. How is that fair?"
There's still nothing so I figure he's not going to show his face tonight and I think him cowardly. How could he just abandon me like this? My comfort food now has more to comfort me about and I sigh and finish my food and look through the movies. There's another knock on my door and I get up, walking slowly towards it. The show isn't over, but my dad very well could have fired Sean and the first place he could have come was here.
"Who is it?" I call out, standing a few feet from the door.
"Steph, it's me." I race to the door and open it slowly.
Chris is finally here.