vince owns all. :]

i cant believe im on chapter 10 already! :D:D
i think this is my favourite chapter. :]
we see a really vunerable side of Stephanie in this one. :]

PLEASE REVIEW! thank you.

It's raining, hard. You frantically turn to the left, then the right, and finally spot her half a block away, still running. You chase after her.

She's not stopping. You wonder momentarily if she's trying to outrun the pain that's chasing her. But then she comes to a sudden halt. She's on her knees, violently throwing up into a bush, when you catch up to her.

With the amount of alcohol she has consumed it doesn't surprise you that she flipped when she saw Kelly. She walked up to her and you did nothing, you should have tried to stop her from heading towards her in the first place, held her back, pulled her into Amy and Matt's room, anything. But you didn't, you watched the scene unfold like wrapping paper from one of those sweaters you get from your grandparents at Christmas, you know whats going to happen but you cant stop yourself from letting it unfold.

[flashback]

"Kelly!"

Kelly whips round at the sound of someone calling her voice and her eyes widen in shock when she realises who it is, the wife of the current man she's standing there waiting on.

"Stephanie…hey"

"Don't hey me."

"Okay."

Amy walks up to the two, knowing fine well whats going to happen, if it were her she would've smacked Kelly long before now, she wouldn't have even spoke to her, just walloped her in the face. But Stephanie is a different person, she's not the fighter, she'll give you a look that means the shits about to hit the fan and then say some evil things, she feeds off confrontation but would never get to the point of embarrassing herself.

This time she did.

You watch Amy struggle to hold Stephanie back, you brain eventually kicks into gear, about fifteen seconds slower than it should have and you rush up and pull Stephanie off of the much less stronger blonde that she tackled to the floor. Your arms grab her waist and forcefully pull her to her feet. She's determined to hurt someone and at the minute its you, she's kicking and punching you, trying to get you to let go so she can get herself some more of Kelly.

You refuse to let her go, a couple of people have now left their rooms and are standing watching, their eyes widened at the fact that its Stephanie that's causing the commotion. You hear the ding of the elevator and Stephanie does too, she stops and watches the doors open and gasps as her soon to be ex-husband stares her down.

Stephanie know realises what she's doing and just stands there, she runs her hand through her hair realising that the demon drink has unleashed something no-one expected.

"What am I doing?" You hear her whispering that to herself over and over again, she stares and Chris and asks him why he cheated, was she not good enough, not pretty enough, not skinny enough, too tall, too brunette, was it her personality, was she not funny enough and she kept going on until you stepped in.

"Steph…"

You see the look in her eyes, it's the look of shame. She looks at you, then Chris, the you again and then Kelly, you cant figure out whats running through her mind and that's when the tears start, you see them forcing themselves out while Stephanie is trying so hard not to cry. Amy walks up and touches her arm, trying to get her back into the room but she doesn't, she just takes one look at you and runs, again.

[end flashback]

You drop down beside her, reaching out and pulling her hair away from her face. You rub her back as her fingers dig into the dirt and her body contracts painfully. Her breathing is shallow, and even through the rain, you can see the beads of sweat on her forehead.

You wait until she stops heaving, then very carefully, you turn her around and pull her into your arms. She doesn't protest. You wrap your arms around her, still rubbing her back, softly stroking her hair.

You can feel how tense she is. Her arms are wrapped around your neck, and you can feel her nails digging into your skin. You pull her closer.

"It's okay, Steph. It's okay. Just let go. It's okay."

You keep repeating this, over and over and over. She's clinging to you desperately, fighting with all her might to keep the emotions, the pain, inside where she thinks they belong. The rain is soaking the pair of you, and just when your about to give up, to pick her up to take her somewhere dry, she lets go. Her hands slide from around your neck down your chest and her head follows.

The sob almost explodes out of her. It's the most heartbreaking, anguished sound you think you've ever heard. It's a raw, painful, agonizing cry. And then she's sobbing, her fists tangling in your shirt, and she's trying to climb into your lap, trying to get closer.

You pull her tighter against you, wrapping yourself around her. One hand is around her back, one is against the back of her head, and your rocking her. You don't say a word. You just hold her.

"Im a whore." she whispers, the hysterical cries turn into soft cries, she is sitting on your lap, her hands are rubbing against her legs trying to remove the dirt and just generally distract herself from anything.

"No your not." You run you hand through her hair, which is stuck to her head due to the force of the rain.

"I am, I am, I was cheating, I was doing the same as Chris, I was cheating."

You don't know what to say, its true, she was cheating, she wasn't a whore though, she was anything but.

"Steph, your not a whore, your not. Yes, you strayed, but you tried, you tried to work on your marriage. But it was useless, but you tried."

"I still went on though, I didn't stop it, I should have…I should've stopped it." She stopped crying and is now just sitting there, the tears still there, but there's no shaking or contracting.

"Its okay, no-one will know if you don't want. Nothing has to happen. We can be over if you want…" you notice her eyes widen in shock and her breathing labours. "Not forever…" You run your hands through her hair again and kiss her forehead gently. "Just until this whole thing blows over, only if you want."

She sits in silence, as the rain hits you, you begin to notice that you are sitting on the sidewalk down from the hotel, you thank your lucky stars that its late and there's very few if not any people out and about.

"I don't know what to do anymore…"

"Well, I think we should get off the ground…" You smile when you hear her giggle softly. "Before both of us get ill, c'mon, I'll walk you to your room."

You lift her off your legs and push yourself up and hold your hand out. She graciously accepted and took your hand in-between both of hers and you both walk back to the hotel in silence.

You manage to walk about ten steps before she stops and stares straight ahead. You notice just what she's watching, her husband making out with Kelly, practically having sex with her against the wall…

Stephanie pulls her hands from yours and turns back into a nearby alley and empties her stomach and starts crying again.

_________________________________

Finally getting her back to the hotel. You help her take her soaking wet clothes off and put on a pair of pyjamas you found in her bag, and lie with her on the bathroom floor while she alternates between fits of hysteria and emptying her stomach of the copious amounts of alcohol she managed to consume. She's breaking your heart, and you can't help but feel like you've somehow failed her in the most grievous way.

She had curled up on the bathroom floor, with her head in your lap and when it didn't appear she was going to be sick anymore, you lifted her up and put her in bed.

You kissed her head softly and made sure the covers were pulled right up so she didn't wake up cold, you looked around for a bucket or something incase she was going to throw up again and placed it on the ground just below her, you whispered goodnight and turned to leave before she whispered in the dark, "Please don't leave me," so you crawled in next to her. You figured she at least deserved to not have to spend the night alone.

"Im sorry." she whispers. "For everything…I really…"

"Stephanie, its okay."

"No its not. I told you we'd be together, everything would be perfect, we'd be happy, but we're not. I don't know what to do."

"Steph, honey. Its fine. I didn't think we would."

She turns around and feels around for your hand. "What do you mean?"

"Steph, you just asked your husband for a divorce, there was no way it would be easy."

"Im sorry. I dunno how long this will take." she runs her fingers over your hand and up your arm and you lean in and kiss her softly.

"Your worth the wait."

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