Chris Jericho looked around the gym with a grin. This was how he liked to work out, nobody else around, no interruptions. It was the only place he could empty his mind, not having to worry about anything.

Everything lately seemed to stress him out - not just work and his feud with Benoit, but there was still no word from Lydia on when she'd be back, and to be perfectly honest, he was sick of Christain complaining, sick of Integra complaining and sick of Edge complaining about the constant complaining from his fiancee and brother. In addition to that, he'd heard through Integra the real reason that DX had turned on Billy at No Way Out was because X-Pac had discovered that Billy knew the identity of Chyna's new man and wouldn't tell the others. If Hunter would do that to a close friend, then what would he do to someone he disliked?

"Chris!"

The shout broke into his thoughts. Chris looked up and waved at Integra, who was standing in the doorway. He adjusted the settings on the excercise bike as she made her way over. "What's up Teg?"

"Not a lot. Just freaking out about the Tables & Ladders match and missing Lyd." She sighed. "How about you?"

"Just enjoying the peace and quiet." He replied pointedly. Integra laughed. "I can take a hint. Just thought I'd let you know that someone's looking for you."

"Who?" He asked curiously. It wouldn't be Chyna, they'd already had lunch together that day. She grinned. "Stephanie."

Chris nearly fell off the bike. "What the hell does she want?"

"I don't know."

"You're lying."

"Maybe, but you'll never be able to prove it." She teased, glancing at her watch. "Anyways, I better get gone. See you later."

"TEG!" Chris shouted angrily, but she'd gone. He frowned. What the hell did Stephanie want with him? To the best of his knowledge he hadn't done anything to piss anyone off - although on the few occasions they'd seen each other since Lydia's departure he'd been less than civil.

With a frustrated sigh, he stepped off the bike and headed for the showers. Hopefully this had nothing to do with the double title, double falls match. He didn't care who got what title, as long he walked out with one of them. Knowing his luck, it was more of a personal matter. This was the last thing he needed.

"Hey Jericho!" called Test as Chris walked through the lobby. "I hear she who must be obeyed is looking for you."

"Yeah, I heard that too." He said with a shrug. "If she wants me, she can find me."

"That's the spirit." Test waved as he was joined by Trish and Albert. Chris and Test had never been friends, a direct result of their separate relationships with Stephanie. Chris had heard from Vanessa that the only reason Test had proposed so soon was because he had heard a rumour about Jericho being recruited and was scared of losing Stephanie to her old lover. Despite that, Chris knew his fellow Canadian had cared about her and was still bitter about the McMahon-Helmsley Era. It was for that reason and because of their mutual friends, that the two were associated with each other.

With a sigh, Chris headed for the elevator. He was going to hide out in his hotel room. He knew that if Stephanie was looking for him, then she'd find him. He just wanted to put off the inevitable for as long as possible.

~~~

"Stephanie, this is insane." Hunter carefully shut the door behind him. She sighed. "Yeah, but do you have a better idea?"

"Get the guys to ambush him, knock him out with my 'Sledgehammer of Doom' and before he regains consciousness, take him out to the car. You'll be halfway there before he comes round and then he'll have no choice to but to go with you to see Sally and Daisy." Hunter grinned at Stephanie charmingly. He knew how important this was to her and was ready to kill Jericho for being so goddamned stupid. How could he not see that something was going on? The man was an idiot.

"Very mature Hunter." Stephanie remarked, trying not to laugh. Hunter grinned at her. "If he won't agree voluntarily - and he won't - then can I hit him with the sledgehammer?" His voice turned silky and almost seductive. "I'll even let you hit him with it if you want."

"Hunter!" Stephanie started giggling. He chuckled. "So where do I hide?"

"You don't hide. You leave."

"But then I can't hit him with the sledgehammer!" Hunter mock whined. Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Exactly. Hunter, this is really important. I don't want you clowning around and messing this up. Please, go away."

"No problem." Hunter hugged Stephanie. Looking down at her he said softly. "I'm sorry. I know this is important to you. I just don't think that it's a smart move thinking that you can get him to go along just by asking. He's gonna need persuading. That's when I get to deal with him."

"That's a deal." Steph smiled at him as he headed out. With a sigh, she sat on the couch and waited.

~~~

Chris pushed open the door, then paused to let his eyes adjust to the dim light. He frowned - it looked like there was someone sitting on the couch. Sighing, he flicked on the light switch.

"Good afternoon Chris."

"What the fuck are you doing here Princess?" He dropped his bag on the floor and crossed his arms, glaring at Stephanie. She stood up. "We need to talk."

"About what? I have nothing to say to you." Chris motioned at the door. "Now get out."

"No." Stephanie crossed her arms and glared back. "I'm not leaving until you hear me out. I need your help."

Chris looked at Stephanie in disbelief then started laughing. "You need my help? What's the punchline?"

Stephanie struggled to keep her temper. Hunter had warned her how hard it would be, but she hadn't believed him. She kept her voice even. "There's no punch line. I need your help."

"With what?" Chris could see how hard Steph's struggle to keep her composure was and suddenly realised that this could be something serious. He finally shut the door. "What's wrong Steph?"

"There's someone I'm going to see in a couple of days. I want you to come with me." Her voice sounded slightly pleading. "I don't want to take Hunter because.."

"It's about the past isn't it?" Chris asked looking at Stephanie carefully. "It's about our past."

"Yes." She whispered, fighting back tears. Chris felt his guts twist a little. He'd said it to himself, to his friends and to Stephanie more than once that the past was exactly that. Mentally pulling himself together, he replied sympathetically. "I'd love to help you Steph. I really would. But as much as I hate it, you're married to Helmsley now. It's his job to help you with stuff like this. Not mine."

"Chris -"

"No Steph." He replied, firmly but gently. "Hunter is your husband. I don't know what your reasons for marrying him are and they're none of my business. If Hunter won't go with you, then ask DX or Integra. I'm just your ex boyfriend."

"Just shut up and listen to me for a minute!" Stephanie shouted angrily. She took a deep breath. "The reason I don't want to take Hunter is because it's.. it's about.. our daughter."

"Our daughter is dead Stephanie." Chris's voice was harsh. Steph knew this was the perfect time to tell him the truth, but she wanted to see the look on his face when he saw Daisy/Christina. "Look, I can't take Hunter because he simply doesn't understand."

"Well he's not the only one." He sat down and looked at Stephanie. "I try not to think about it - it just hurts too much. Not just the loss of my baby girl, but the fact that you didn't see fit to even let me know I was going to be a father!"

"It wasn't like that!" Stephanie protested. Chris held up a hand. "I'm going to remind you of something. And I want you to shut up and just listen. Can you do that?"

"Yeah." With a sinking heart, Steph realised what was coming.

"One day, a few days before Lydia's birthday, we were hanging out with the others at their place. Lydia was moody, worse than usual. She and Christain started fighting, then Edge said something that made you and Teg look at each other, concerned. Later that night, while we were watching TV you told me that you thought Lydia might be pregnant. Do you remember that conversation?"

"Yes." Stephanie couldn't look at him.

"Do you remember what I made you promise me?"

"I do." Her voice was little more than a whisper and she was struggling not to cry. "To tell you that if I ever suspected that I might be pregnant, let you know."

"I thought you might have forgotten. After all, you would've had to suspect it by the end of July and known by mid August. Correct?" His voice was ice cold. Stephanie bit her lip. "Yes. I was too scared to contact you. I didn't think you'd want to know after.. after what happened."

"You knew what my thoughts on us having children together were and you thought I wouldn't want to know?" Chris finally lost his temper. "Goddamnit Princess, I was going crazy! I knew, I knew that something was wrong, something was seriously not right and I knew it had something to do with you. I didn't know what and that scared me! I was terrified!"

"I'm sorry."

"Of course you are. I remember telling you how much I liked the idea of having kids and especially how much I liked the idea of us having kids. I can't believe that's something you'd forget so quickly. Instead, I spent over two years, wondering what the hell had happened. Then, as a last ditch effort to get out of marrying Test, you come to me and tell me 'Oh guess what I was pregnant when I left.' I barely adjust to that, then suddenly I'm hearing 'Too bad, she died at birth.' Within five minutes, you gave me the one thing I'd wanted most, then taken it away from me!"

Stephanie couldn't remember ever seeing him so furious before and quite frankly, it scared her. She stepped backwards. The movement made Chris look up and the first time since Stephanie had mentioned their daughter, he looked directly into her eyes. The fear he saw there shocked him into silence. The last thing Chris ever wanted to do was scare Stephanie. It was a struggle, but eventually he managed to bring his temper under control.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

"I had no idea you felt like that." Stephanie said quietly. She laughed bitterly. "I should have."

"You should've." Chris's voice held no rancour. "I've had that pent up for quite a while. I'm glad to get it out of my system. I'm sorry, I really am."

"No, I'm the one who's sorry." She apologised. "You're right, I should've written and let you know. For what it's worth, I wanted to, I really did. But there was some.. stuff, that I had to deal with, in addition to the stress of being pregnant."

"I wish I could've been there for you. I really do." Chris said, reaching out a brushing a strand of hair off Stephanie's face. She smiled at him shakily. "I wish you could've too."

Without thinking about it, Chris held open his arms. Stephanie hesitated for a few seconds, then flew across the room and into his arms. She rested her head on his shoulder as he lightly stroked her hair. They stood there for a few minutes, then Stephanie looked up at Chris. He was surprised by the tearstains on her face, cupping Steph's cheek in his hand and wiping them away with a thumb.

Chris looked at Stephanie, wondering how he could have forgotten how right they felt together. From the look in her eyes, he could tell she was asking herself the same thing.

Instinctively and without thinking about what he was doing, he lowered his mouth and gently brushed his lips over hers. Stephanie responded instantly, tightening her arms around him and opening her mouth slightly.

"Hey, Chris!"

There was a bang on the door and a shout. They sprang apart guiltily as Integra barged in.

"Hey Steph. Chris, what are you doing tonight? Cause a bunch of us were thinking about going to see a movie and I decided that you and Chyna are coming with us, because-" She stopped suddenly and looked at them both suspiciously. "What's going on?"

"Nothing." They replied in unison. Stephanie smiled, looking flustered. "You know how I wanted to talk to him about something? Well I found him."

"Obviously." Integra wasn't buying it. "In that case, I'll leave you two to 'talk' and see if I can convince Chyna to come. Chris, I'll talk to you when you're less.. busy. Catch ya later Steph."

She smiled sweetly and left. Stephanie and Chris looked at each other. Steph spoke first. "So I'm meeting Sally at 2pm on Wednesday afternoon. Will you please come with me?"

"I can't Steph." Chris said slowly. "It has nothing to do with me."

"But it's about your daughter!" She shouted. He shrugged. "I didn't know until less than a year ago I even had a daughter! It doesn't even seem completely real. I'm not going Steph and that is final."