It was 3am and Paul had just arrived at the local Connecticut airport, as he went to grab his bags to get home when a fan stopped him. Paul wasn't really in the mood for autographs and questions but he had to be professional, "what's your name?"
To the fan it felt like her lucky day, "Louise, where's Stephanie?"
Paul quickly signed the autograph and said, "working, now if you'll excuse me I've had a long day and I need some sleep, it was nice meeting you."
He walked off to get a cab before she could say anything else.
By the time Paul reached home, well Stephanie's house but he called it home anyway, it was 3:45am and all he wanted to do was sleep. Walking into the house he picked up the mail throwing that and his keys on the table and dragging his bags upstairs and throwing them into the corner before quickly undressing and climbing into bed. Paul didn't then wake up until 8:45 but when he did he rolled over to put an arm over Stephanie when it hit him that he didn't know where she was so he dived out of bed and into the shower.
Paul knew he still needed to eat properly so once he was out of the shower and dressed he walked downstairs and made himself some breakfast, while eating his breakfast he saw the mail on the table and decided to flip through it to see if there was anything there, "junk, bill, bill, junk, junk, fan letter. Urggh nothing, where the hell is she?"
Once he had finished his breakfast he went back upstairs and checked his messages, there was one from his Mom and that was it, "damn you woman."
Throwing his phone onto the bed in frustration he hated being stuck in limbo like this.
Paul knew he had to start looking for clues or asking questions so he opened Stephanie's closet, although she had a lot of clothes he knew what she had packed with her originally so he could see if there was more missing, as he rifled through he noticed that there was some trousers missing and some skirts, they were all the ones she'd relax in not work in so he knew she'd be doing no work, he then went over to the dresser and sure enough a lot of her tops were gone and some bikinis, which he didn't take notice of straight away, he knew she'd gone away from Greenwich but he didn't know where.
Having established the fact that Stephanie had gone away all he needed now was her whereabouts and the one person he knew who might know, his last hope of finding out, would be at work so Paul headed downstairs grabbed a set of car keys and his house keys and headed to Titan Towers.
Paul was on first name terms with everyone at Titan Towers so when he arrived he said 'hi' to Billy the doorman and then when he walked in Julie said, "morning Paul, how are you this fine Tuesday morning?"
He smiled politely at the receptionist and said, "I'm wonderful thank you Julie, your beautiful self?"
Julie smiled and blushed, "Paul, you'll get me into trouble. Stephanie will kill me if she sees you flirting with me."
He smiled back and chuckled, "don't worry, I can handle her. Now if you'll excuse me I have places to go and people to see."
He walked to the elevator and pressed '4' for Linda McMahon's floor. Once Paul reached the floor he walked over to her office and saw Mandy her Secretary sat outside, "hi Mandy, is Linda in please?"
Mandy looked up and smiled immediately recognising the familiar face around these parts, "hey Paul, where's Steph?"
Paul sighed, "she's working, so may I see Linda then?"
She shrugged, "yes Paul Mrs McMahon is in but she said no visitors as she has a lot of paperwork to do."
He smiled sweetly and put on his best innocent face, "I'm sure she wouldn't mind seeing her future son in law though, I'll catch you later Mandy."
Paul walked to Linda's door and knocked on it waiting for her to allow him inside.
Meanwhile Stephanie had just arrived at the apartment in Florida and she threw all her stuff in the bedroom and started to unpack, the first thing she saw was a picture of her and Paul that she always carried with her, she clutched it to her chest as tears started falling down her cheeks, "why did everything have to be so hard? I love you Paul."
She gently placed the picture by the bed and continued to unpack.
Back at Titan Towers Linda was piled up high with paper work when there was a knock on the door and figuring it was Mandy bringing her a cup of coffee she invited her in, "come in."
Having assumed it was just a cup of coffee when she heard the door open she just pointed to an empty piece of desk and said, "thank you, just put it there please."
When there was no movement she slowly looked up and the first thing she saw were the black pants and as she moved slowly up the body she realised it was that of her supposed to be future son in law Linda looked to his face not sure what emotions she could see there, "hi Paul, what can I do for you? Shouldn't you be at Smackdown with Steph?"
Paul looked at Linda incredulously, "yeah Linda I'm sure you think Steph is at Smackdown. What, do I look stupid?"
She sighed softly, "what's wrong Paul?"
He was getting frustrated so he walked to the window, "you know full well what I want; I want to know where Stephanie is."
"She's at Smackdown, isn't she?"
Paul looked back at Linda with a frown on his face, "you can't lie to me Linda, I know you know she's not there and I think you know where she is."
She sighed and got up and went and stood next to him, "okay Paul you're right, I do know that she's not at Smackdown and I do know that she has taken time off but I've been sworn to secrecy as to her whereabouts and as much as I love you Paul I love my daughter more and my loyalty is to her so I can't tell you."
He turned and looked at her, "I love her Linda, this is killing me deep inside not knowing where she is and where I stand with her. I don't suppose you know how she feels about me do you?"
Linda could see the deep hurt on Paul's face and it broke her heart, "Paul I know you love her and to be honest I'm pretty sure she loves you to but as always when the going got tough Steph would get going, ever since she was a little girl. I honestly believe she thinks she is doing what's right for you."
"She's not doing what's right for me though, what's right for me is having her by my side again, being there when I go to sleep and wake up, being there just so I can hold her and tell her how much I love her."
Paul then wiped a tear from his eye causing Linda to sigh, "Paul I want to help as I can see how much this is hurting you but promised her I wouldn't tell you but if you were to work it out all on your own then that would be a different story. I don't suppose you noticed anything missing did you? I assume you've been to the house."
He thought Linda had lost her mind, "ummm loads of tops and trousers and skirts, all relaxing ones had gone and also some bikinis . . . some bikini's, that has to be a clue."
Linda smiled at him and enjoyed seeing that little sparkle of hope in his eyes, "bikini, now where would she need a bikini? Say somewhere hot and relaxing but she didn't have time to book anywhere so she'd have to know somewhere she could stay."
A light bulb went off in Paul's head when he realised exactly where she could be, "Florida, you guys have got that apartment in Florida, she's gone to Florida."
Not wanting to verbally tell him that he was right she just smiled at him indicating he got it right without saying the words and breaking Stephanie's trust.
Paul hugged Linda tightly, "thank you, you've been so much help."
Linda hugged him back and said, "remember I never told you anything."
He smiled at her, "of course not, thanks Linda."
He rushed to the door opening it and nearly flattened Mandy who was on her way in with a cup of coffee in his hurry to get out the door.
Curious as to what was going on Many had to ask, "what was his problem?"
Linda just smiled and said, "let's just say I hope I've helped the course of true love to run a little smoother."