As she looked at her son sat on the floor surrounded by the things Hunter had bought him Stephanie couldn't help it when her eyes welled up with tears. Pushing herself up from her place on the floor she silently left the foyer and headed into the kitchen.

Having stood there and watched her daughter Linda knew it was hard for her watching Mikey being so excited about the gifts from Hunter. Watching her get up from the floor and walk towards the kitchen she followed her to attempt to talk some sense into her.

Walking into the kitchen Stephanie went straight for the sink leaning on it gently as she looked out over the spacious garden, so lost in her own thoughts she failed to hear her Mom follow her into the kitchen.

Standing behind the island in the kitchen so there was distance between them Linda decided to broach the subject of Hunter, "what Hunter has done for Mikey is nice."

Spinning around angrily to face her Mom she shook her head at her, "nice?! You think what he has done is nice?! Did you put him up to it?"

Trying to avoid looking at her daughter like she was crazy she was starting to worry for her, "why would I put him up to it? For one I'm too busy to call him so how or why would I put him up to it?"

Rolling her eyes Stephanie turned back around to face the window, "well if it wasn't you then it must have been Dad, somebody has to have put him up to this little stunt with the toys and the flowers."

"Or maybe, just maybe, seeing you with Mikey this week has has made him sit back and reflect on you, his life, the mistakes he has made and maybe he just wants to put it all behind him and move on. You did say yourself that he has attempted to talk to you all week and the card with the flowers said that he wants to talk to you."

Groaning Stephanie raked her fingers through her hair really not in the mood to deal with this today, "well I don't want to talk to him and not going to the shows any more I don't have to either."

Leaning against the island Linda shook her head, "yeah because don't you know burying your head in the sand and running away from your problems solves everything. Isn't that how you ended up in this mess? You buried your head in the sand about the problems in your marriage to Hunter and instead of sorting out the problems you panicked and hired an actor to tell Hunter the truth but because it was an actor you got found out and it all ended badly."

Turning her head she glared at her Mom, "yeah and whose fault was that? Weren't you the one who sent him the tape?"

"So what if it was me? If I hadn't sent it then somebody else would of and you would still be in the same position because you're stubborn like your Father and refuse to back down. At least Hunter appears to have somewhat grown up and is willing to talk to you about things but then you're too stubborn and rather than face up to the problems you'll just run away. There's only so much running you can do before the past will catch up to you."

Their conversation was interrupted by Mikey appearing in the doorway, "Mommy. I needs to say fank you to Hunter."

A small smirk graced Linda's lips before she reinforced Mikey's statement, "yes Mommy, you both need to say thank you to Hunter for your presents."

Frowning at her Mom she shot her a death glare, "well unfortunately I don't have his phone number any longer so we can't."

She knew her daughter would kill her for this but she was going to play dirty, "well I do know he'll be at Raw next week so maybe you could go and run the shows and you can both personally say thank you to him."

Mikey jumped up and down clapping, "yay, 'renas. Mommy we go to the 'rena for Raw?"

Stephanie was getting pissed now, first her Mom had brought over the stuff from Hunter and now she was trying to get Mikey to convince her to go to the arenas to run the show, "no. There are no questions here Mikey, I have decided we won't be going to the arena again and that is that. Be a good boy and go and play please whilst I have a chat with Grandma."

Stomping his foot Mikey turned around and walked out of the kitchen heading to the foyer to grab some of his new toys to take them to the playroom.

As soon as Mikey had left Stephanie went over to the kitchen door and shut it tightly, "what the hell do you think you're doing encouraging Mikey to ask to go to the arenas to personally say thank you to Hunter? I have already told you that we're not going back to the arenas and I'm not going to run the shows and I am not going to change my mind no matter what dirty tricks you play. Are you going to help me choose somebody else to run the shows or not?"

Deciding to just be truthful with her daughter Linda shook her head, "no I'm not. I can't sit back any longer and watch you destroy your life by running away when things get difficult, it's not good for you or for Mikey. Why are you so afraid to go to the shows to run them? What exactly do you think is going to happen to you?"

Looking at her Mom like she was crazy Stephanie was speechless, she really had to ask those questions?

The silence told Linda a lot, "are the questions too difficult for you to answer?"

Snapping at her Mom she knew she shouldn't but she couldn't help it, "no! I am scared to keep going to the arena, Hunter is clearly intent on pursuing me for whatever reason and I don't want Mikey to get caught up in our mess and for him to get hurt."

Taking a moment to decide how best to respond without angering Stephanie further Linda sighed, "and you don't think when he grows up he'll remember this and the questions he is likely to have about his Dad added together could mean things turn out very very badly for you. I am in no way saying that you should put Mikey out there and allow him to get hurt but shielding him like this after putting him into the situation, I mean the WWE and not Hunter, could be counterproductive."

"Counterproductive? How the hell could it be counterproductive?" Stephanie was very confused right now.

"Think of it this way, right now Mikey likes Hunter correct?"

Nodding her head slowly Stephanie wasn't sure where this was going, "yes, apparently."

Linda was pleased to have her attention, "do you believe that Hunter will ultimately end up hurting Mikey?"

Grabbing a glass from the cupboard Stephanie silently poured a glass of water and put it in front of her Mom, "I think you need this right now because you're sounding kind of crazy. Of course Hunter would end up hurting Mikey, that's what he does."

Smiling at her daughter Linda picked up the glass and took a sip of the water, "then why don't you prevent yourself the hassle in ten years time and allow Mikey to be around Hunter now so Hunter can hurt him now before he starts school. If Hunter hurts him now he's young so he'll get over it and then when he grows up and asks about his Dad you can tell him and he'll remember Hunter and then he'll know why you did what you did."

Mikey took as many of his new toys as he could carry into the playroom and dumped them on the floor when his eyes settled on the suitcase. Dropping Bubbles and the new monkey onto the floor he ran to the suitcase and struggled with the zip before he was able to pull the papers out. Squealing with excitement when he had them in his hand he went running out of the playroom and barged into the kitchen "Mommy! Mommy Mommy!"

Before Stephanie was able to answer her Mom Mikey came barging in waving some papers around, "what's wrong Mikey."

Coming to a stop in front of his Mom he thrust the papers out to her, "surpise! Tishy helped me."

Taking the papers from Mikey's hand she looked at them and her eyes welled with tears with a few trickling down her cheeks, "this is lovely, thank you Mikey."

Mikey flung his arms around Stephanie's legs, "love you Mommy."

Placing the papers on the island she knelt down and hugged Mikey back, "I love you too baby boy. I guess we're going to the arena on Monday so we can say thank you to Trish and Hunter in person."

Stephanie winced as Mikey squealed in her ear before he pulled back and clapped excitedly, "fank you."

Kissing the top of his head she sighed softly watching as he quickly ran out of the room again.

Linda was confused by Stephanie's sudden change of heart, "what the hell just happened here? I thought you would take a lot more convincing than that to go to the arena."

Shrugging her shoulders before she raked her fingers through her hair she wasn't sure what her Mom wanted from her, "what do you want me to say? You talked a lot of sense when you said I can't keep running away from him. I refuse to directly put Mikey out there to be hurt though."

Breathing a sigh of relief Linda nodded her head in acknowledgement, "so you promise that no matter what, well within reason, you will run the shows every week until your Father is better and able to come back to work?"

Nodding her head Stephanie was going to do it, "yes I promise that no matter what I will run the shows but I swear if he bothers me too much I'll kill him."

Laughing Linda shook her head, "try not to go the murder route because that won't help Mikey but anything else is fine with me."

"Well it is good to know that I can do everything but kill him."

Taking another sip from her glass of water Linda nodded her head, "if you really don't want him to bother you you could always just talk to him and that'll get him to leave you alone."

Putting her hand up to silence her Mom Stephanie shook her head, "I would quit whilst you're ahead if I were you."

"Point taken. So what shall we do this afternoon now then?"

Pulling out one of the stools at the island she took a seat, "nothing, I think we have earned it."

Linda pulled out her own stool before she sat down, "sounds good to me."