Chapter 3

Stephanie shook her head as she surveyed the pieces of chewed up cookie that lay scattered all around the bottom of highchair and could only stand and smile at the state her son was in. He had chocolate all over his face and hands and he was sucking furiously at the tiny piece of biscuit he still held in his chubby fingers. "Jake Levesque. Look at the mess you've made."

Jake gave her a big grin as he held out the perfect hand which held the cookie. "Num, num num."

Her lips curved up gently as she smiled back at him. "You're enjoying that, huh? You like it when daddy sneaks you cookies don't you."

Jake waved his hands up and down as he squealed with excitement.

"Yes you do. Well I hope Daddy realises he's the one that has to clean up this mess."

Stephanie's nose scrunched with her distress as she surveyed the damage to her freshly washed floor. She glanced up to see her daughter sitting at the kitchen table scribbling away with her crayons. "What are you making there Ellie?" she asked her as she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

Ellie looked up and smiled. "I'm drawing a princess."

Stephanie frowned as she instantly spotted the tell-tale chocolate smudges around her daughter's mouth too. "I see you've been eating. You know the rules Ellie. No snacking just before dinner."

The little girl threw down her crayon on the table in dismay. "But Mommy, it wasn't my fault. Daddy said I could have one."

Stephanie raised her brow in quiet surprise as Ellie clambered down from the table. "Oh he did, did he?"

"Yes Mommy. He said if I ate it real quick you wouldn't find out."

She felt her lips twitch with that admission and she bit down on her lip trying her best not to smile as her daughter stood in front of her. "Well Daddy is in deep trouble for doing that."

"Can I go and tell him Mommy?"

"Yeah and while you're at it, tell him he'd better get in here and clean up Jake."

Ellie's feet scampered across the floor as she raced through to the living room and up the stairs to her parents' bedroom. She knew her daddy had gone up there to get changed after being down in his gym. He was pulling on a t-shirt as she ran into the room.

"You're in trouble Daddy. Mommy knows." she panted.

Paul turned round at the sound of her voice and raking his big hand through his damp blonde strands, he smiled at his daughter who was looking at him with a worried expression on her face. He chuckled as he walked across and leant down to wipe away the smudges with the pad of his thumb. "I guess the chocolate gave the game away, huh?"

Ellie nodded her head as her big brown eyes stared back at him. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to tell."

He smiled at her affectionately tapping her nose. "Hey, don't worry about it short stuff."

Paul turned his attention from his daughter as he walked across to the dresser and smoothing his hair back over his head, he pulled his damp strands into a ponytail.

"Mommy says you've to clean up Jake. He's a real mess Daddy. There's cookie everywhere."

He chuckled as he scooped up Ellie in his arms. "There is? Well I'd better go and face the music I guess."

Her small hand rested on his shoulder as he carried her along the hallway and down the stairs.

"Do you promise to save me if Mommy gets too mad?" he asked her.

Ellie giggled and shook her head. "But I can't save you silly. I'm only five."

Paul wrinkled his nose and stuck out his tongue at his daughter. He walked into the kitchen and grinned when he saw the state his son was in. "You were right Miss Ellie. Your brother is in a mess."

"And I wonder whose fault that is?"

Paul turned round to see Stephanie standing behind him with her hands on her hips. He looked back at Ellie and his brown eyes went wide as he pretended to look scared. "Uh oh!"

She giggled once more as Paul placed her down on the floor and when he straightened back up, he saw Stephanie standing directly in front of him.

"So what do you have to say for yourself?"

His lips curled into a smirk as he lifted his shoulder in a shrug. "I didn't mean to do it?"

"Don't get smart now. Your daughter's standing right in front of you. Do you want to set her a bad example?"

Paul tried to keep a straight face as he saw the twinkle in Stephanie's eyes that betrayed the stern expression on her face. "No Ma'am."

"Good. So I'm assuming you have something to say now."

Paul rolled his lips together thoughtfully pretending to ponder over that for a moment as he scratched at his chin. "I'm sorry?" he pouted.

Ellie giggled and Stephanie looked at her daughter and shook her head. "It's not funny now. Daddy should know better."

"I'm sorry Mommy. Is Daddy going to get punished?"

"I don't know sweetie. Look, why don't you go and wash up. Dinner will be ready in five minutes."

"Okay."

Ellie turned round and raced out of the kitchen. Stephanie looked back up to see Paul grinning at her.

"It's not funny Paul. You know the rules. The kids don't get any snacks before dinner."

Paul sighed as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to him. "Okay. Point taken!" he conceded.

His lips brushed over hers as he kissed her softly.

"So, am I forgiven yet?"

Stephanie tried to maintain her stern expression as she shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know."

"Well how about now?" he smiled as his mouth moved to her neck. His lips nipped at the smooth skin and his tongue flicked out to taste her causing Stephanie to moan softly.

"Okay. You're forgiven."

"I am?" asked Paul as he lifted his head, lightly shaking it in disbelief. "Damn woman, that was far too easy. You could have at least tried to resist a little bit longer."

She shoved at him playfully as she rolled her eyes. "Just go and clean up your son will you?!"

His deep laughter filled the kitchen as he wandered over to the high chair. "Hey, little guy."

Jake squealed as he threw a small piece of cookie to the ground.

Paul chuckled and shook his head. "You're meant to put it in your mouth, not on the floor." He unclipped the belt that held his son in and lifted him up. "Come on. Let's get you cleaned up."

He sat him down on the kitchen counter, pushing him back from the edge as he grabbed some wipes that were always to hand and began to clean his son's face and hands.

Stephanie smiled at them as she began to serve up the dinner. "Oh I meant to tell you. I met our new neighbour today when I took Jake for a walk."

"You did huh?" Paul replied turning to grin at her mischievously. "And I bet you managed to get every single detail out of them like who they were, what they ate for dinner last night…..."

Stephanie scowled back at him but her eyes twinkled with her amusement. "As a matter of fact, I didn't have to. Smart ass."

But Paul seemingly wasn't paying attention as he smiled at Jake and tickled his sides making the baby burst out in giggles.

"So aren't you going to ask me who they are?" prompted Stephanie impatiently as she held the serving spoon in her hand.

"Who are they, honey?"

She stuck out her tongue in response to her husband's obvious sarcasm but it didn't deter her from telling her story as she continued to scoop the spaghetti onto the plates. "Well it's a funny story. It turns out it's a guy I used to know. His name is Mark and I can't believe he's got two kids now. They're both girls and I think they're similar ages with Ellie and Jake actually."

"So the guy is married?"

Stephanie lifted her shoulder in a shrug as she tossed the empty pan into the basin and turned on the faucet. "He didn't say but he did tell me that the girl's mother didn't move here with them. In fact Mark doesn't have a clue where she is. Apparently she suffered from post-natal depression and one day she just upped and left them. Mark hasn't heard from her since."

"Really? I guess that's got to be tough on the guy."

"Yeah."

"So how come you know him anyway?"

"Oh we went to the same school."

Just then Ellie ran back through and interrupted them as she held out her hands for inspection. "Look Mommy, I'm all clean."

"Good girl." Stephanie smiled proudly "Now hop up on your seat. Dinner is ready."

As Ellie went to sit down, Paul picked up Jake from the counter and kissed his chubby cheek.

"There you go buddy. You're all clean."

Stephanie began to serve dinner. "By the way I invited Mark and the kids over here tomorrow."

Paul screwed up his nose in confusion as he looked at his wife wondering when she had suddenly become so hospitable. They weren't in the habit of entertaining especially with the crazy schedule he had. "And why would you do that?"

"They're our new neighbours, Paul. I just wanted to make them feel welcome."

"And since when did we care about our neighbours?"

Stephanie sighed heavily as she put two more plates down on the table. "Since our neighbours happen to include an old friend of mine. Besides I wanted to, okay? I guess I just felt sorry for them. It's obvious the guy has a hard time of things."

"Yeah well you know you're too soft hearted for your own good sometimes."

Stephanie sighed at that comment knowing it was the truth and slid her arms around her husband's waist as she looked up at him. "But you love me for it, right?"

"Oh you know I do." Paul grinned.

Jake squealed as he kissed Stephanie gently on the lips. As she broke their embrace to finish serving dinner, Paul smiled at their son distractedly. He couldn't help but be bothered by the fact he hadn't met this Mark guy in his life before but he was suddenly invited into his home, his private home. It made him dislike the dude already and although he knew he was being extremely petty, he couldn't help himself. Not only did it sound like this guy had literally poured his heart out to his wife, he was also intruding on his own personal time with his family. He was flying out to RAW tomorrow night and would be gone for the next three days. It would have been nice to have spent the day alone with his girls and not entertaining other people. He'd just have to hope that by the time he got back next week, the novelty of the new neighbours would have well and truly worn off. In the meantime, he'd just have to make the best of tomorrow and suck it up.