Thanks again for all your lovely reviews. It's more than a gal like me deserves lol. You'll have to forgive me if this makes little sense. I'm doped up on medication and there's every chance I've just rambled on...and on...and on...lol.

Chapter 27

Paul lifted his head from the soft, crisp white pillows. His eyes flickered open as they adjusted to the pink hues of the sunlight streaming through the curtains. Peering around the room, he felt his head pounding and he let out a groan knowing he was going to feel like shit on the flight. Bleary eyed, he swung his legs over the edge of the bed. The room started to spin in front of him and Paul was about to lay back down when he felt the nausea rise to his throat. He ran to the bathroom just in time to lean over and throw up into the toilet bowl. Once his stomach was empty, he flushed and slumped down to the floor, bringing his knees to his chest. His throat felt raw and he had a disgusting taste in his mouth. He was desperate for some water but he didn't have the energy to move. Instead he leant back against the cool tiled wall and closed his eyes.

Vague recollections of the previous night flashed through his mind. Paul could remember everything up to a point. He remembered going to the bar and he remembered getting drunk in some lame attempt to block out the pain because it was tearing him up to be away from his family. Sure he'd been away before and sometimes for a few weeks at a time but this was different. He had left on bad terms with his wife and his departure from her felt sort of permanent. At least it felt that way in his heart.

Paul sighed heavily and placed his head in his hands. His fingers clutched his blonde hair tightly as he realised that quite frankly, he didn't know what he was doing anymore. It was definitely becoming harder to justify his actions to himself especially after his phone call with Ellie last night. His daughter was hurting and it was entirely his fault. He was the one who had walked out on her. He was the one causing her pain and for what? A fucking picture and some ridiculous notion that the same picture somehow proved Stephanie had been having this affair behind his back. Paul reached up and rubbed his temples. Maybe he was just a bitter and jealous asshole. Maybe he was imagining things that weren't even there. But even as he thought that, Paul knew he hadn't imagined the look in Stephanie's eyes as she smiled at Mark in that photograph. There was definitely something there that proved there was more than simple friendship between them. Something that he just couldn't get past no matter how hard he tried. And then of course there was the fact his wife was perfectly content keeping secrets from him.

"Feeling rough?"

Paul jumped at the sound of his voice. He hadn't even known Shane was here in his hotel room. How the hell did he get here and when? Paul pushed back his hair and looked up to see him leaning against the doorway. "I feel like shit actually." he admitted hoarsely.

Summoning what little energy he had left, Paul pushed himself up the wall and walked gingerly in the direction of the sink. The room was still moving and there was every danger he could throw up again. He turned on the faucet splashing the cold water on his face in a vain attempt to somehow feel a little better.

"You look like shit too."

Paul scowled at Shane's comment as he lifted up the towel beside the sink and dried himself off.

"God knows how much you drank last night. You were out of it by the time I managed to drag your ass back to the room."

Paul felt a pang of guilt as he flung the towel down. It was obvious by Shane's appearance that was well as escorting him back here, he'd also stayed the night with him. His clothes were a crumpled mess and his eyes looked tired, pretty much a mirror image of how he was looking right now only Shane didn't look like complete shit. "Sorry, man." he said contritely.

And he was sorry. Sorry for getting drunk. Sorry for getting his brother in law involved in this mess in the first place.

"Don't worry about it. You can do the same for me some time." Shane said, smiling.

"Yeah, well hopefully you won't be dumb enough to find yourself in this predicament." Paul shot back as he rubbed his forehead wearily.

"Then can I ask why?"

"Why what?" he replied as he brushed past Shane and walked back through to the bedroom. He sat back down on the small double bed. He wasn't sure he could have stayed standing for very much longer. His knees were trembling so badly they felt like jelly. Paul picked up the bottle from the nightstand and took a drink of water. The cool liquid provided relief to his hot throat.

Shane sighed as he approached him slowly. Paul obviously wasn't in the best frame of mind right now but he needed to talk to him. He needed to find out what was going on in that head of his if he had any chance in hell of fixing this. Shane sat down on the chair opposite the bed where he had spent the better part of the night and decided to bite the bullet and ask the question that had been at the back of his mind ever since his mother had called him yesterday. "Why are you doing this, Paul? Why are you even going on this tour?"

Paul let out a heavy sigh as he rubbed his big hands across his face. He absently scratched at his beard knowing he didn't really want to talk about this but he knew Shane deserved an answer. Stephanie was his sister. He was concerned about her which was understandable. That and Shane was a McMahon and a common trait in the McMahons was their stubbornness. Vince had it. Steph was the same way and of course so was her brother. They were like a dog with a bone until they got what they wanted and experience told him it was a battle of wills he was never going to win. Shane wouldn't let this drop until he talked. So he reckoned his only option was to do just that especially if he had any hope in hell of making his flight in a couple of hours.

"Steph and I just need some space right now." Paul explained, his brown eyes flickering with his sadness.

"I see. Can I ask why?"

"She lied to me Shane." he sighed as lifted his shoulder in a shrug. "She lied to me about Mark. Do you know she never even told me they had dated? According to her, they were just friends. Well you don't go around fucking kissing your friends."

"Stephanie kissed him?" Shane asked, his eyes widening with his surprise.

"According to Mark she did. According to my wife, Mark kissed her. Go figure." Paul replied, shaking his head and sighing. "And of course it didn't help that Steph never even told me about the damn kiss. Oh no. She thought it would be better to keep it a secret from me."

"So how did you find out about it?"

"I accidentally overhead the pair of them talking one day. Do you know how that made me feel? To know my own wife not only kissed another guy but she felt the need to keep that from me? Because if it meant nothing like she said, Shane then why not admit what had happened in the first place. Why not tell me the guy had kissed her?"

"Fair point. But saying that, you know, Steph." Shane replied as he tried to reason with his brother in law. "You know she hates any kind of confrontation and trust me, I know sometimes that's hard to believe. God knows she puts up one hell of a front but the truth is my little sister isn't as tough as she likes to make out. She hates fighting Paul and she hates fighting with you, of all people. You know that. So the thought of telling you about the kiss will have freaked her out. Not because she wanted to keep it a secret but she was scared of your reaction. She didn't want you getting angry with her or being upset with her."

Paul shook his head defiantly. "I wouldn't have been upset Shano."

"Are you kidding me?" Shane shot back as his brown eyes looked at him pointedly. "Paul, be honest. I know you. I know how you feel about Steph and I also know how you would feel about another man putting his hands on her. You would have seen red the second the confession left Steph's mouth."

Paul wore a sheepish expression unable to deny the truth any longer as he sighed, pushing his hand through his hair. "I'm that transparent, huh?"

"When it comes to her, yes you are. You always have been." Shane smiled as he lifted his shoulder in a shrug. "You love her, Paul so much so sometimes it affects your ability to think clearly."

"And you think this is what this is?" Paul shot back throwing his hands in the air suddenly feeling defensive as his actions appeared to be in question. "That me going on this tour is because I can't think clearly over her?"

Shane shook his head quickly. "No. I never said that."

"Good because you don't know the truth, Shane. You don't know what the fuck has been going on between my wife and that fucker across the street!" Paul cried and he closed his eyes as the pounding in his head intensified. His fingers began to make small circles against his temples as he seriously contemplated curling up in a ball and dying right now. God knows it had to be better than feeling like this and rehashing the fucking disaster that was his life right now.

"You're right. I don't know. So why don't you tell me."

"What's the point? It's not going to change anything." Paul said as lifted his head and opened his eyes. His arms felt heavy as they dropped to his sides.

"Well maybe I need to understand." Shane told him simply. "Maybe I need to try and get my head round all of this Paul because honestly, I can't believe Stephanie would cheat on you."

Paul's face fell at his admission. "You know about that?"

"You of all people should know how quickly news travels in this family." Shane replied with a tight smile. "Mom told me. She talked to Stephanie yesterday. In fact she went over to the house to see her."

Paul sighed as he tentatively asked the question that had been preying at the back of his mind ever since he had walked out of the house yesterday. "And how was she?"

"Not good, Paul." Shane admitted. "Not good at all."

Paul pressed his lips together tightly not sure how knowing that made him feel inside. On one hand he was glad he wasn't the only one suffering right now. On the other, it pained him to know that his wife was hurting and upset. God knows he never could bear to see her in her any sort of visible distress. Every tear was like a kick to his gut especially when he was the reason those tears were shed in the first place, tears he felt like shedding himself every single time he thought about her.

"Yeah well I know how that goes." Paul sighed, raking his fingers through his messy strands. As his hand dropped back to his lap the sun caught the ridge of his wedding band and it glinted back at him almost taunting him and reminding him of the vows he'd made to Stephanie nearly seven years ago. He'd promised to love and cherish her for better or for worse. His heart had never imagined the worse being the possibility of the woman he adored slipping away from him because Stephanie meant everything to him. She had always been enough for him. It just hurt him to know he obviously wasn't enough for his wife. How could he be when she had feelings for someone else, someone who simply wasn't him.

"So why are you doing this, Paul?" asked Shane interrupting his thoughts once more and Paul lifted his head, blinking as he focused on the man sitting in front of him, watching him carefully. "What makes you think my sister would ever dream of betraying you like that?"

"I saw a photograph." Paul told him half expecting Shane to laugh in his face because actually saying it out loud made it sound ridiculous. And it would have been ridiculous if he hadn't seen the proof for himself, proof that compounded with Stephanie's need to keep everything a secret from him made a very good case for his wife's infidelity. But Shane didn't laugh and his simple nod instead of the baffled look he had expected made Paul roll his eyes knowingly.

"I take it from your less than surprised expression that you heard all about that too." he surmised.

"The McMahon women, Paul. Nothing is sacred." Shane replied with a hint of a grin.

Paul shook his head lightly, faintly bemused despite his inner turmoil. "So it seems."

"And this photograph? I assume it was incriminating in some way?"

He nodded. "It was the way she looked at him, Shane." Paul sighed sadly and as that image of Stephanie and Mark flashed through his mind, he briefly closed his eyes shutting it out. He didn't want to see it. He didn't want to remember because every time he did he swore he died a little more inside. "See I know that look." he continued as his brown orbs lifted, settling on Shane once more. "It's the same way Steph looks at me. Or at least she did once upon a time."

"She still does Paul." smiled Shane sadly.

"Yeah? Well it's obvious she cares about this guy. Fuck, she could even love him. And then of course there is the history between them."

"What history?" Shane replied matter of fact as he frowned. "Look they only dated for a couple of months at the most and from what I gather it was pretty much one sided. The truth was Mark was infatuated with Stephanie. Unfortunately for him those feelings were definitely not reciprocated or least not in the way he wanted them to be."

"But she never told me, Shane. Steph never mentioned they were together." Paul said.

"Well that only goes to show how important he was to her. Or not important as the case may be."

"Or Stephanie had something to hide." he shot back.

Shane rolled his eyes incredulously in response. "Paul, come on. Don't be ridiculous." he cried.

"I'm not being ridiculous, Shane. Stephanie obviously wants to be with the guy. Why else would she refuse to stay away from him when I specifically asked her not to and not only that, she's sneaking him to the house when I'm not there. For all I fucking know he could be there now."

Paul felt the knots in his stomach twist tightly at that thought. Just the very idea of Stephanie being anywhere near that ugly fucker made him want to absolutely puke. That and punch his face in. God knows he'd been itching to do that the second he'd clapped eyes on the guy.

"You know I should have trusted my instincts the first time I met Mark." Paul said voicing his thoughts out loud. "I didn't like him and I didn't trust him near Stephanie. Not one little bit. The way he would look at her. Do you know she's even the spitting image of his missing wife?"

"Steph is?" asked Shane.

Paul nodded his head.

"That's fucking creepy."

"Yeah well so is he. Mark is a fucking creep who's taken great delight in screwing with me and my family. In fact I think he gets off on it." Paul said as he leant back rubbing his fingers over his temples which continued to throb relentlessly and this conversation about Mark wasn't doing his headache any favours. In fact all it was doing was fuelling his anger and his need to bash the guy's face in. As Paul glanced over at Shane, he saw the look of bewilderment on his face. It was no wonder the boy wonder was confused. His head had to be spinning. Paul knew his was. His life had felt like one giant soap opera lately. God knows what it sounded like to Shane.

"You know, you could be on to something there." his brother in law suddenly announced.

"On to what?" Paul asked impatiently, too hung over to think straight any more or even at all. "What are you talking about?"

"Mark. Maybe he is screwing with you."

"What? How?"

"I don't know." said Shane thoughtfully as he absently rubbed at his chin. "But something is going on, something that's been bugging me all night. You know it's almost like he's trying to twist things, mess with your head. I mean you said yourself Mark said Steph kissed him but she denied that was the case."

Paul nodded. "According to Steph it was the other way round."

"And did you believe her when she told you that?"

"Well, yeah." he admitted softly, nodding his head once more.

"So why don't you believe her now when she's denying cheating on you?"

"We've already gone over this, Shano." sighed Paul as he raked his fingers through his hair. "The camera doesn't lie."

"But neither does Steph. You know that, Paul and so do I, which is why I'm starting to doubt that picture is even legit."

"Oh it's legit all right and I should know. It's engrained in my fucking mind. And do you know what really ticks me off." ranted Paul as he stood up from the bed and walking a few steps he turned to look in Shane's direction. "The fucker had the audacity to hand deliver it to my house. He even had the nerve to come on my property and do that."

"I told you. He's messing with you."

Shane got up from his chair and joined Paul to stand in the middle of the small hotel room.

"Makes you wonder what else he's messed with too." he added.

"What do you mean?"

Shane's brown eyes sparkled back with clarity. "Maybe Mark messed with the photograph. I mean he wanted you to see it didn't he? In fact he went to great lengths to make sure you did."

Paul's brow furrowed with his frown. "Yeah but I still don't get what you're trying to tell me."

Shane rolled his eyes dryly throwing his hands in the air in mock frustration. "That's because when it comes to computers and such like, you are a little….how shall I put it? Technologically retarded?" he grinned.

His brother in law scowled back in reply. "Gee thanks Shane. Kick a guy when he's down."

"You know what I mean and can't you see what I'm getting at?" Shane asked, animated. "There's every chance Mark rigged that photo Paul. He's made it look like he and Steph are together."

"But why would he do that?"

"Why do you think? He wanted to get a reaction out of you." he explained, gesturing in Paul's direction. "He wanted to make sure he caused trouble between you and Steph."

Paul rolled his lips together thoughtfully. "You think so? For real?"

Shane nodded his head. "And the more I think about the whole thing, the more it makes sense. A lot more sense than Steph messing around behind your back anyway. She loves you Paul. I just don't see her throwing your marriage away like that. Not now. Not ever."

"But you would say that." Paul smiled tightly. "She's your sister."

"And she's your wife, Paul. Doesn't that count for something?"

"Of course it does." he scowled.

"Then prove it. Talk to Steph." pleaded Shane. "Work this out because if you've got any doubts, Paul, any doubts at all that the photo Mark sent you isn't real, then you owe it to her to at least try."

He watched as Paul bowed his head and silently pondered over everything he just said. He'd hoped he'd gotten through to him because the more he thought about their conversation the more Shane was convinced he was right. Hell, he knew he was right if only for the fact that Mark rigging the photograph was the only thing that made any sense to him. It certainly wasn't Stephanie cheating on Paul. He knew his sister. He knew how much she loved her husband and she would never jeopardise that love, ever. Not when he knew how much Paul truly meant to her and he'd seen for himself how much shit the two of them had endured in the beginning just to be with one another and there was no way his sister would just forget all that and risk losing Paul. She wouldn't. Not for her and not for the kids and Shane honestly believed that and he knew Paul believed it too, deep down. His jealousies and insecurities had just made him forget it for a while. He had doubted his marriage and that was all thanks to Mark. The guy had played Paul well if his theory was correct. Now they just had to find a way to prove Mark was a liar and the obsessed freak he was clearly turning out to be.

"Come on, Paul. You guys belong together." sighed Shane as he raked his hands through his hair. "I know it. You know it too if you'd just get your head out of your ass and stop feeling so damn sorry for yourself."

Paul lifted his head sharply and his brown eyes narrowed in Shane's direction. "Don't hold back on my account, will you?"

"I'm serious, Paul. You need to fix this."

He let out a sigh knowing Shane was right. He did need to fix this if only for the simple fact it was killing him to be without Stephanie and the kids especially now when he was beginning to doubt his own reasons for leaving them. They had seemed so valid at the time but now after talking to Shane he suddenly wasn't so sure. His hurt and anger at what he thought was proof of an affair had clouded his judgement and Shane was right when he accused him of being irrational. He had been irrational. He had refused to believe or even listen to Stephanie when she had tried to tell him her side of the story. Instead he'd held the moral high ground accusing her of lying to him and trusting a photograph when what he should have been doing was putting his trust in his own wife. A wife he loved with all his heart and every second he spent without her felt like an eternity and that was when Paul realised he couldn't do it. He couldn't go to Europe on the tour. Not now. Not after this.

"Think your dad will be pissed if I bail out on him?" he asked Shane and his reply was the huge grin that crossed his brother in law's face.

"Trust me. He'll be over the moon. You're doing the right thing, Paul."

"I know." he agreed as he offered Shane a nervous smile.

Inside, his stomach was churning in anxious anticipation. He wasn't sure what was waiting for him back home but one thing was for sure. He had to sort this out and he had to believe there was a chance Shane was right. God knows the more he thought about it, the more he could believe it was true. Maybe Mark had been fucking with his head all along. And as happy as he would be if that was the case, part of him would be devastated too. He had let Stephanie down badly. After all he was the one who had lost faith in her and their marriage. He hadn't trusted her and he just prayed he could find some way to fix it and make her believe in him again, in them. He had to hope Stephanie could forgive him because God knows if it turned out he'd put her through all that hurt and pain for nothing, he didn't know if he could be able to forgive himself.