TITLE: Picturesque Discoveries Chapter Four/?

AUTHOR: Juliet3:16

EMAIL: PG - 13 for now.

CONTENT: VIOLENCE, ADULT LANGUAGE

CATEGORY: ADULT, DRAMA, ANGST

SPOILERS: Although I AU some of the WWF storyline in a minor way, spoilers would run too about a week or two before Armageddon 1999. If you know how Stephanie and Hunter first got married, and how much she 'wanted' out of that marriage before she revealed her true colors at Armageddon then you should be good to go. She'll still be a babyface in this, meaning she still hates Hunter when this story begins.

SUMMARY: A discovery in her late parents' attic sends formerly only child Stephanie McMahon on a search for the brother she never knew.

DISCLAIMER: Vince owns most of the people appearing in this story.

DISTRIBUTION: WWOMB, Anybody else please ask.

Picturesque Discoveries

Chapter Four

About a boy

Whatever Pat thought Stephanie was going to ask, the existence of a brother was not one of them!

In the shocked silence that followed Steph took the photograph of her parents and the baby out of the front of the book and flipped it over to where the inscription was.

"'Our Beloved baby boy,' " Stephanie read it outloud. "Pat, this is in Mom's handwriting."

Pat looked distinctly uncomfortable and touched his nose as if it itched.

"Where did you find that?" he asked.

"The attic," Stephanie replied shortly, "does it really matter where I found it?"

"No, I don't suppose it no longer does," he responded quietly, traces of his Irish heritage lacing his voice.

"Pat please," Stephanie pleaded, her voice breaking, "I need to know."

"Yeah, I suppose you do," the man who loved Stephanie as much as he would if she was his own daughter told her. His only regret was that it was not Vince who was here to tell her this. If anything, Stephanie should have found this out years ago, and not be forced to find out after the deaths of both her parents. Now though, was neither the time nor the place to rail at a circumstance that not even Vince McMahon ever had control over.

"I - I'm not sure of all the details," Pat began, "I really didn't know your father all that well then. Your grandfather was still handling most of the business at that time. You weren't even born yet when everything with Shane -"

"Shane?" Stephanie interrupted.

"That, that is, or was your brother's name," Pat said quietly.

Stephanie had to fight the gasp that was threatening to erupt out of her, instead allowing a silent, sharp intake of breath. It was the first time anybody had confirmed what she had suspected when she had found the baby book. Suspicions were one thing, hearing somebody say the words to her for the first time gave them a whole new reality.

"I have a brother,' Stephanie marveled. An older brother, or had one. Pat's words did not leave a hopeful fate for the child.

"What happened to him?" She asked when the silence between the pair threatened to engulf them both. Pat looked at his hands.

"Like I said, I'm not sure of all the details. Your uncle Rod may know more about what happened. All I'm aware of is that one day Shane disappeared and just never came back."

"So, is he like dead or something?" Stephanie asked, hating to ask the question, but needing to know the truth. Pat seemed about to answer in the affirmative, but shook his head mournfully.

"Nobody knows. From what I know he just vanished one day while playing. I know your parents never gave up hoping, Vince never gave up searching. After thirty years though..." Pat trailed off, his hands spread out helplessly.

Stephanie struggled to let everything sink in.

"I see. So I was like what? The replacement baby?"

"What?" Pat exclaimed, "No! no, Stephanie, no. Your parents loved you with all their hearts. Vince absolutely adored you. There was not a single thing either one would not have done for you."

"I may not know much about what happened all those years ago, but I know this: You were never a replacement for anybody. Vince and Linda would have loved you just as much if Shane had been there all along. They loved you. Always, always remember that."

Stephanie sniffled a little and nodded, but Pat could see it would take awhile for her to fully believe Pat's words.

"Steph, you really need to talk to Rod," he told her, "he would know more about Shane and what happened than I ever would."

Stephanie nodded, not really trusting herself to speak. Pat saw the tumult of emotions playing out on her young face. She was like Vince in that way Pat knew. When both were really emotionally those emotions played out across their faces, especially in extreme circumstances. Pat felt this counted as an extreme circumstance.

Roderick McMahon had no real interest in the family business, preferring to live in North Carolina near Stephanie's grandmother. Stephanie knew that if it had been such a secret for so long, then she might have an uphill fight getting her uncle to talk about her brother. Pat was right though; if anybody knew the whole story about her missing brother, it was her uncle Rod. She had to get him to open up about it. Stephanie desperately wanted to know the truth. Taking out her cell phone from her purse, she dialed a number she rarely used but knew well.

"This is Stephanie McMahon. I need to make arrangements for a flight to North Carolina," she paused, waiting for a response on the other end of the line. "Tonight if possible. Yes, thank you. Bye."

"Since Uncle Rod left yesterday after the wake, I'll go down after the show and talk to him," Stephanie explained to Pat, "hopefully he'll tell me everything then."

"I hope he does," Pat told his goddaughter, "remember what I said. You were always loved by your parents. I know if they were here, they would tell you themselves."

"Thank you," Stephanie whispered.

As the duo hugged, neither were aware that the wrong person ended up hearing their conversation.

please don't throw things at the author