The sound of her heels echoed through the hallway. Due to an impromptu morning meeting, her breakfast had only consisted of black coffee and her schedule was already totally messed up. Thanks, Dad! With a new stack of folders in hand, Stephanie rushed to her makeshift office.

Until she crashed right into a very solid chest, hard enough to almost lose her balance.

She registered strong arms steadying her, before she even had the chance to look up and apologize. "Easy there, McMahon. You might want to watch your step."

Hunter was beaming at her. They hadn't seen each other since they left Nashua two weeks ago as she had to miss the last two tapings to take care of pressing issues at the headquarters. There had been a few texts, but nothing of substance, and she had made it a point not to call. She knew Hunter had needed some space to figure out what to do and she wanted to give him that.

"Why would I if it lands me in the arms of a handsome guy?" She pecked his cheek lightly. "It's good to see you, Hunter."

He picked up her papers that had been scattered onto the floor and gave them to her. "And here I was thinking you were avoiding me."

She punched his arm playfully. "I told you I was busy, you big goof."

Hunter laughed. "Oh, I see how it goes. First a kiss, then she slaps me and calls me names. I just can't win with you, can I?"

"Nope. Women are complicated creatures like that."

"Oh, don't I know it."

"Hey!" With him, it was always easy to fall back into an easy banter. Quite frankly, Stephanie had missed that.

Hunter held up his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright. How about a peace offering? I'll stash away my stuff, grab us some lunch and we can catch up."

She briefly glanced at the pile of documents she was holding, but decided those could wait a little longer. "Deal. See? You're my savior after all."

About 40 minutes later, they were sitting in Stephanie's assigned office space with plates from catering in front of them. They got carried away talking about tonight's show and upcoming storylines, carefully ignoring the Shawn-shaped elephant in the room. As long as they could at least.

"It's okay. You can ask me, you know?"

Stephanie looked up from the script. "I… didn't want to pry. It's not my business."

Hunter moved his chair a little closer to hers. "If it's anyone's, it's yours. After, well, everything."

She simply nodded, still hesitating to bring up the subject of Shawn. She wasn't even quite sure what she was hoping for. When Hunter reached out, interlacing their fingers, and their eyes met, she suddenly didn't feel as conflicted anymore. She knew she wasn't in love with him, but she would always care deeply for Hunter. As a friend. The end of what they had these past few months wouldn't change that. For neither of them.

"Did you go see him?"

"I did, yeah." Hunter's voice was quiet. "Just last week, actually. On neutral grounds so to speak." Stephanie didn't fail to notice the soft smile on his lips that he probably wasn't even aware of. "Shawn made the effort to fly up to Boston. No promises or guarantees on my part other than meeting up for coffee somewhere in town. Coffee turned to dinner and we stayed in the same spot till the place closed down for the night, just talking."

Relief washed over her. Part of her had been worried for Hunter, wondering if Shawn had been full of shit after all. She didn't think so, but it wasn't like Shawn hadn't given her, or Hunter for that matter, not enough reason to doubt him.

"That sounds… like a start?"

"Yeah, I think so…" Hunter cleared his throat. "I want to hope so, at least. I'm sure Shawn realized that I still had my guard up, and trust me, Steph, that won't change for a while, but… It felt good to talk to him, be honest with one another. I can't even remember the last time we were able to be this open with each other."

Gently she squeezed his hand that was still holding hers. "Do you believe there's a chance that the two of you will work things out?"

Hunter let go and leaned back in his chair. "I have no idea, but I want to find out. For now, Shawn and I will work on becoming friends again. Anything else… We'll see." He paused, seemingly pondering about that meeting again for a moment. "I could tell that he's changed. He's different. The bitterness and anger at the world were gone. He seemed full of life." His gaze wasn't on her anymore, but nonetheless she could see the emotion in his hazel eyes. "Like the man I fell in love with so many years ago."

Stephanie got up and stepped behind Hunter, wrapping her arms around him. Her face was close to his when she said, "I'm happy for you. I really am."

His fingers traced across her arm. "Thank you, Steph."

They stayed like that for a bit, neither of them saying anything. It had been a whirlwind-like ride, but she didn't regret any of it. She was grateful that, if nothing else, all that heartache had brought them closer together. And she was certain that over time the same would be true for Shawn and Hunter.

Because someone had to get that happy ending, right?