An early morning run was something that Paul did without fail whenever he was home. His regular four mile circuit was good not only for his fitness but also on days like this Sunday it was a way to blow away the faint hangover that he had woken with. The headache was more than worth it given that there had been sex with an amazing brunette who sadly had not been beside him when he awoke for some more. She had taken off and not left a number which was something that he was fine with, he would not have called her anyway. What was the point when he could pick someone different up whenever he liked? He was just over half way around his circuit when the rain started to fall. "For fuck's sake," he grumbled to himself as he pulled the hood of his light grey hoodie up and over his head without slowing his pace. Unfortunately within two minutes the rain was battering down and also being blown in his face by the wind which had just picked up. Enough was enough so he stopped running and took shelter in the doorway of a store which looked like it sold pre-owned video games for those who chose to waste their lives in front of a TV rather than doing something productive. It was annoying to have his run interrupted but he had no intention of drowning and now the rain was coming down even faster, the huge drops making loud impacts in the rapidly increasing puddles out on the sidewalk.

With nothing else to do to pass the time as he waited for the rain to ideally stop or at least ease significantly he took out his phone. Twitter had sent him a notification to tell him that nine of the people he followed had retweeted a photo. It was strange that they assumed that he would care but nonetheless he touched the notification to see what was so interesting. It was at that moment, standing in the doorway of a store trying to avoid a rain shower, when he found out that his son had entered the world. The picture appeared and it showed Stephanie McMahon sitting up in a hospital bed looking exhausted and in a bit of a state but with a big smile on her face and more importantly a baby in her arms. The caption underneath read: Meet my son Bodhi McMahon. It was followed by a bunch of emoticons and there was another tweet giving the time of the birth and the babies weight and confirming that everything was okay.

Unsure what to think he stared at the picture for a long moment before looking back out into the street and seeing that the rain shower had eased significantly already. He returned the phone to his pocket and finished the rest of his run without interruption although something was nagging at him, irritating him and making him angry. When he made it back home to his condo he changed out of the wet clothes and put them in the machine to wash. Only then did he open up the Twitter app again and look at the picture once more. The picture with his son it. Bodhi McMahon. Bodhi? "What kind of fucking name's that?" He mumbled to himself. It was not the first name that irritated him so much though. Bodhi McMahon. He repeated the name aloud to himself as he stood in the kitchen area of his condo, "Bodhi McMahon. McMahon. Fucking McMahon? She called my son McMahon? Fucking bitch."

Yes, he had told Stephanie that he did not think that she should keep the baby and also that he did not have any intention of getting involved with a kid but the fact was that Bodhi was his son, his blood. Bodhi Levesque was the correct name not fucking McMahon. He walked into the living area, still looking at the picture on the screen of his phone. The picture with his son in it. The tiny almost bald headed baby in the picture with his eyes tightly closed was his son. He was a father. This was insane. Suddenly and totally unexpectedly he felt the urge to call Stephanie. Her number was still saved in his phone, assuming that she had not changed it since their last contact. He was torn. Until now he had been in no doubt that he wanted nothing to do with what he had always referred to as Stephanie's baby. Now however, having actually seen a picture of his son and felt the anger at Stephanie's exclusion of his name some other emotions had entered the picture.

A few minutes of contemplation convinced him of one thing; if he called Stephanie it was going to end in an argument, probably a brutal one because he could not trust himself not to lose his temper with her over what she had done. That was if she even answered his call. If she still had his number then there would be very little chance of her accepting the call. Should he do it or not? It was during that moment of indecision that Laura Molinaro's voice started to repeat itself in his head. So many times over the last few months she had gotten on his case about this.

"Paul you need to call Stephanie."

"Speak to Stephanie, Paul."

"You're going to be a father Paul, sort your head out."

"What's wrong with you? Just call her."

"Do you want me to call her for you?"

"Paul speak to Stephanie."

She might be a friend of sorts but Laura definitely could be mad irritating at times. Her advice had the opposite effect to that which she had intended as Paul's stubbornness took control. Laura was not going to decide what he was going to do with his life. He was not going to call Stephanie, instead he was going to stick to what he had told himself all along; show no interest in her or her stupid kid. So what if she called him McMahon instead of Levesque? When all was said and done why should he care? That was the attitude which caused him to miss out on the first three months of his son's life.

The phone on Paul's desk rang, breaking his concentration on the storyline proposal that he was trying to read. He glared at the offending object but then saw on the display that it was Laura who was calling him directly. The fact that he was probably the only person in the place who she called personally instead of having her secretary do it was worth a small smile of satisfaction as he picked up the phone, "Hello?"

"Paul, come to my office for a moment please."

"Sure." He could hardly say no, he had even merited a please this morning. He headed out of his office and made the short journey up the hallway to Laura's office. What could she want him for? It was the middle of the morning so it was not going to be one of her JD and coke sessions. Well, it would surprise him if it was anyway. It was probably going to be something boring about ratings or something like that. Or maybe someone was injured and needed to be taken out of a storyline? Without bothering to greet the secretary he pushed Laura's door open and saw not one but three people looking at him as he entered. This was not a business meeting at all. Laura had sent him right up the river, the bitch.

"Meet your son Paul," the bitch smiled. Where did she get off interfering in his life like this? He was about to react angrily but then something made him ask himself why Stephanie was even here? And why was her son here with her? What business did Stephanie and Laura possibly have to discuss? "What are you doing here?" He demanded of Stephanie who sat there in a light grey dress which revealed that she was not in bad shape despite how recently she had given birth. The stupid bitch looked great, there was no doubt about that. There had never been any doubt about that.

"I'm coming back to work soon. I brought Bodhi along to meet his mom's boss and maybe even his dad too, if he can stop being a self obsessed jerk for long enough to take an interest?" Words totally failed Paul as he stood in the doorway and looked at the scene in front of him. There was an empty stroller standing near to where Stephanie sat. It was empty because her son, Bodhi, was in her arms. He knew literally nothing about babies or how to raise one. He did not even know what the stupid little one piece outfit with a cartoon character on it that the baby had on was called. The baby himself seemed to be quite well behaved, he was just lying there in Stephanie's arms randomly waving one of his own arms around and making strange noises. Now what was he supposed to do?

"Come in then," Laura encouraged. As she had studied Paul it had been hard not to chuckle to herself. It might be true that Paul disliked Stephanie but now it was also obvious that there was another reason that he had been so against the idea of having a child with her. He was nervous of Bodhi. The idea of having a child and being responsible for him frightened Paul. Laura never would have believed it but it was so obvious now that she saw it and had been all along in hindsight. Laughing at Paul would only make him get angry and storm off which was the opposite of what she wanted to happen.

As if from nowhere Bodhi started to cry at that moment, a sound that Paul had always hated. It grated on his nerves like nothing else could. Whenever he was in public and heard a baby crying he always found himself fighting the urge to yell at the parents to make the kid be quiet. Stephanie at least was attempting to do just that. As Paul stood watching from just inside the office Stephanie stood and spoke comfortingly to Bodhi. Before he really knew what was happening Stephanie had walked up to him, "Maybe he wants his daddy?" She said gently.

"What?" Paul took a step back in surprise. Stephanie studied this reaction for a moment, now making the same realisation as Laura had moments before. She wanted Bodhi to have his father in his life. There were many women who used the fact that they did not get along with the father of their child as a reason to prevent the father from being involved in the child's life but Stephanie had decided that she was not going to be like that as in the long run it would hurt Bodhi as much, if not more, than it hurt Paul. "Just hold him Paul, look how I'm holding him. Make sure you support his head like this."

With that Stephanie offered the now screaming Bodhi over to Paul, leaving him only two choices; take his son or turn his back and walk away. Something was preventing him from taking the second of those options. Awkwardly he took the tiny child from Stephanie and held him in his arms in the way that he had just been showed. "Hey, uh... little guy," he mumbled, feeling like the most awkward prick in the world.

"Bodhi, that's your daddy, can you can stop crying for daddy?"

Stephanie's use of 'that' voice that everyone used, talking to babies like they were idiots also grated on Paul. "Bodhi, stop crying. Us guys don't cry, okay?" Paul spoke to his son as if they were both adults rather than as he should have done to a baby. Stephanie was about to chastise him for it but to her astonishment Bodhi stopped crying and stared up at that huge man who was now holding him with wide eyes. "There we go," Paul smiled in satisfaction, considering this a victory over Stephanie.

"Oh bless," Stephanie breathed, not disappointed at all about what Paul perceived as her loss of face, much to his own disappointment. "He loves you Paul."

Now totally forgotten about at her desk Laura sipped from her cup of coffee to hide the smile that she could not keep from her face as she watched this first family moment. It was hardly a model example of parenting but for Paul and Stephanie it was at least a start.

END

Author's note (21/2/16):

The sequel to this story is now live and can be found on my profile. It is called Rise.