5th May

"This is really nice." Stephanie observed as she sipped her drink. X-Pac snorted. "The meat is burnt, the drinks are warm, it’s raining and as for the company…"

The others exchanged amused looks at the glare he shot Tori. They’d had a domestic at a nightclub the night before and as a result, weren’t talking at the moment. Again. ‘Hanging with DX us like having your own personal screening of Jerry Springer, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.’ Stephanie thought with a smile as Hunter winked at her. ‘And I’m sure they think I’m like their own personal Springer screening as well."

"It is nice." Jesse agreed, understanding what Stephanie meant. "Kicking back, not thinking about work. We used to do it all the time, until…"

He stopped speaking abruptly, catching sight of the wistful look on X-Pac’s face and the way Hunter’s shutters had come down. Tori looked over the top of her sunglasses. "Not used to shooting the shit?"

"Tori..." Hunter’s voice held a note of warning. Stephanie shrugged. "Not like this. Everything with Vince and Linda was business related. Even when I left home, my circle of friends still consisted of wrestlers. So no, I’m not used to just kicking back like this. How about you, Tor? Do you have a history of ‘shooting the shit’ with your family?"

"Yeah there’s a fair amount of shit in my family all right."

"Toriiiii…" Hunter said in a sing-song voice, shooting the other woman daggers. He could guess where this conversation was headed and knew that it could only end badly. Damnit, he wanted to protect Stephanie from all the bullshit that surrounded her, not add to her pain. ‘God the last thing I want to do is hurt her.’ And if the conversation continued in this vein, then Steph was gonna get hurt. "Why don’t we change the topic?"

Tori’s mouth opened slightly as it dawned on her. "Oh." A Pause. "So anyone seen any good movies lately?"

Jesse tried not to laugh and failed miserably, while Stephanie who’d succeeded where her DX teammate had failed, shook her head. "I wouldn’t mind seeing U-571, but I haven’t had the time. Or the energy."

X-Pac looked up suddenly from the comic book he’d been engrossed in. "Why should we change the topic? I mean, the girls know about our familes, the McMahons are like Springer on crack – apologies Steph and present company excluded – so why can’t we talk about Tori’s family?"

"Cause it’s not a good topic to discuss that’s why." Jesse snapped, sobering instantly. Tori flashed him a grateful look, then got up and headed over to the fridge to get herself another beer. X-Pac looked at Tori. "Wanna get me one of those babe?"

Tori threw a can at him. He smirked back at her. "Thank you so much."

Stephanie watched the exchange with interest. She’d picked up on the undercurrent of tension that had sprung up almost as soon as the conversation had begun. It seemed she was the only one who didn’t know what was going on, and while she wanted to know, if it was something Tori didn’t want to talk about, then Stephanie would understand and respect her friend’s decision.

"Hey Pac, lay off Tor okay?"

"No." It seemed X-Pac was still mad about Tori’s behavior the night before. As she’d explained to Stephanie while the guys were messing with the BBQ ‘If he won’t dance with me, then I’m gonna find someone else to dance with.’ Steph had been surprised – she hadn’t picked X-Pac as the jealous type. "No, I wanna talk about Tori’s family. How’s your sister babe?"

Tori froze as she took the top off her beer. Hunter inhaled sharply, watching closely. Jesse raised his eyebrows and bit his lip. X-Pac’s smirk widened. "How long’s it been since you’ve seen her? At least six months isn’t it?"

"Not long enough." Murmured Tori quietly. She slowly raised her eyes. "You’ve made your point. You win okay? Let’s drop it."

"What you’re not gonna fight me?" sneered her boyfriend. The other three watched in varying degrees of fascination and horror. "C’mon Tor, you can do better than that."

"You win okay?" She snapped back. "Not this topic. Not here, not now."

"What, are you ashamed of your big sister or something? Cause she’s certainly ashamed of you."

"I don’t care what she thinks." Tori shouted, finally losing her temper. "I got where I am on my own, not by fucking my way to the top. Everyone knows that the only reason she got her job was because of Hall’s infatuation with her. Sable wouldn’t –"

A choking noise from Stephanie drew everyone’s attention away from the arguing couple. Hunter was out of his seat and kneeling in front of her in a second. "Steph… Steph, baby, c’mon, talk to me."

"Oh Lord…" whispered Tori in shock. "Steph, I’m sorry. I never meant…"

"Come with me Tor." Jesse put his arm around her shoulders and lead her inside, shooting a furious look over his shoulder at X-Pac. Hunter turned his attention away from Stephanie to glare at X-Pac. "Get out."

"Hunter, I –"

"Get out. Now." The older man turned his attention back to Stephanie, who still looked stunned. "Stephanie, please say something."

She slowly looked down at him, arms wrapped around herself. "What do you want me to say?"

"I don’t know! Just… anything." Hunter begged, feeling like a monster. Stephanie shrugged and he was alarmed to see the defeated look on her face. "You knew. You knew this whole time that Tori is Sable’s sister. You knew what Sable did. And you never told me?"

The tone of betrayal was almost more than he could bear. "I didn’t want to hurt you Steph. I didn’t –"

"I trusted you." She interrupted. "I trusted you. I trusted you unconditionally. I.. I need some time off okay? Just… I need to get out of here."

Stephanie stood up, pushing past Hunter. Hugging herself tightly, she slowly walked across the yard, not towards the house but for the back gate. Horrified, Hunter called after her. "Steph!"

She paused, but didn’t turn around. "I’ll contact you."

Hunter looked at the ground, cursing himself thoroughly. When he looked up a second later, Stephanie had gone.