"Do you plan on getting up at all today?"

Stephanie smiled at the ceiling, not moving her head, but instead letting his voice roll over her. She closed her eyes then and took a deep breath while trying to keep the smile off her face. "Yes…"

"So you want me to take care of three kids for the entire day while you stay in bed?"

"Yup," she held in the giggle that threatened to escape.

"You know I worked all week, right?"

"Not as hard as I did," she countered, knowing it was only provoking him. She could practically hear his smile from across the room. She could feel his emotions most of the time, and it made her heart warm at the thought that she could be so connected to him.

"Is that so? It's not like you're running the company or anything."

Stephanie gasped and put her hands over her heart, "Did you just insult me?"

"No, of course not, I would never," he told her, and she could almost hear the soft thud of him leaning in the doorway. "But if you do want to stay in bed all day, I suppose that I could take care of three unruly kids who all love their mother."

"Great, thanks, I appreciate that."

"Remind me again why we don't have a nanny?"

"Um, because you decided we shouldn't have one because we could certainly raise our kids ourselves, I think that was the argument you made, back when we were expecting just the one, but then after two and number three you just kept saying that adding one more wasn't that big a deal."

"I may have been wrong, are we planning a fourth one because I'm totally on board with that nanny thing at this point? Where does one find one of those? I've been lead to believe they are either your brother in drag or they come via a flying umbrella."

"I'm not quite sure that's how it works, but only just quite," she told him, finally leaning her head so she could see him in the doorway. He wasn't dressed for the day, instead sporting a pair of pajama pants and a loose tank top. By now, Paul would be dressed and ready to go, ready to take the world by storm. Certainly, her life with Paul was faster-paced, but sometimes she needed that more laid-back approach to life that Chris gave her.

It wasn't like they were busy people. In fact, she and Chris here were probably busier than she was with Paul on the other side of her life. The difference lay in the fact that Chris had so many projects going on at one time that he was often flitting off someplace while she and Paul both worked for the company, which of course had travel associated with it, but it wasn't of the same ilk as what Chris did. Still, Chris managed to make everything look easy, which was one of his many, many talents (she actually blushed as one particular talent came to mind).

"What are you smirking about?" he wondered.

"Oh, nothing, just about this guy, no big deal," she told him, turning on her side so she could see him better. "Where are the kids?"

"Rora and Murphy are happily sitting on the couch sharing a box of Cheerios until breakfast is ready, enjoying their early morning educational television, and Vaughn is in his Pack and Play, probably drooling on himself like a true McMahon."

"And you say we need a nanny," she scoffed, crooking her finger at him. He took a few steps into the bedroom before launching himself at the bed, landing with a loud woosh of air next to her. She squeaked in surprise as she turned so she was facing him. "I think I have all the nanny I need right here."

"But who will I tell to do things then have sex with while you're away?"

"Nobody is the answer to that," she said, brushing his hair away from his face. It was getting a little long in the front and he'd need a cut soon. "Nannies can be nice, but it's also nice to raise your kids on your own."

"You act like you know the difference. Did you hire a nanny behind my back and when I'm not here, she comes out of the woodwork."

"Yup, that's exactly what I do," she said, not even mentioning or thinking about mentioning that she did have a nanny in another world, and it wasn't so bad, and she helped out immensely when things got crazy."

"Daddy!" came Aurora's screeching voice.

"Ahh, just like her mother, screechy and demanding," Chris made the move to sit up, but Stephanie pushed him back down a little bit.

"What are the odds that she'll be quiet and think we left and just take care of the other two by herself?" Stephanie whispered. "We can probably get out of here in five minutes, make the Florida border by sundown and head straight back up to Canada, do I have citizenship there because you do?"

"I'm not sure that's how it works."

"Isn't it though?"

"Are we really going to make a run for it?"

"Daddy!" Aurora yelled again. "Daddy!"

"Wow," Chris winced. "That Canadian border is looking better and better by the second. I'll be back, stay in here as long as you want, but if you plan on making any kind of escape, don't forget to grab my hand on the way out."

"I'll start packing," she winked at him. He leaned over to kiss her quickly before hopping out of bed and walking out of the room. She could hear him thud down the stairs and then the distant voices of her husband and children floated up the stairs and she smiled up at the ceiling again. She finally dragged herself out of bed, not bothering to change out of her pajamas.

She trudged downstairs, stretching and letting herself be with Chris. The last few days had been so fraught with anxiety that it was nice to take a step away from that and just be with Chris. She knew that she only brought it on herself, and that part of her still felt guilty for trying to choose Chris, but she was out of that other situation, where her sister-in-law believed she was having erotic dreams about a coworker.

It was her turn to lean in the doorway as she observed him making breakfast for the kids. He did this little dance as he walked back and forth across the kitchen, which delighted their children. Vaughn was banging out a tune on his highchair with a little spoon, and she smiled and went over to pick him up, but was intercepted by Murphy, who tugged on her long shirt and lifted his arms to her.

"Hey there, Murph," she kissed his cheek. "Did you sleep well?"

"Mmhmm," he snuggled into her.

"Rethinking that plan?" Chris asked as he set down a plate of pancakes in front of Aurora, who started to gobble them up almost immediately. Stephanie walked over to Chris and he pulled her and Murphy into his arms, kissing the top of her head before he extricated Murphy from her arms and set him down a chair with his breakfast.

"Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa are going to take us for the day, right?" Aurora asked.

"I don't know, I didn't think you wanted to go out with them so I told them not to bother coming to get you," Chris told her with a shrug, which made Aurora's mouth drop open and her eyes widen in shock.

"Daddy, you didn't!" Aurora cried, her breakfast forgotten about in lieu of this horrible turn of events.

"Maybe…"

"No, you didn't," Murphy said, knowing his daddy was joking.

"Okay, I didn't, finish up your breakfast before they get here then we'll get dressed and all our stuff together."

"Grandpa said we could go swimming if we wanted," Aurora said, "I wanted to go swimming, but he also said we could maybe go to the zoo, and I really like that, so I don't know what we're going to do."

"I'm sure whatever it is will be fun," Stephanie ruffled her hair as Chris served the rest of breakfast. They all ate in companionable silence before Chris and Stephanie got their kids ready for their day with their grandparents. Right on time, Vince and Linda showed up to take their brood of grandchildren out for a day of fun, which left Chris and Stephanie time to have a day of fun too. The first thing they did was climb back into bed.

She settled into his side and was happy for the first time in days because she didn't have to think. She could just lay there with him, and as he stroked the back of her neck lightly. She closed her eyes and fell into the silence with him, focusing on how good his fingers felt on that little patch of skin, and how it still sent shivers down her spine.

"I love you," she whispered, and she said it so quietly she wasn't sure he heard her, but his stroking intensified a little bit, which let her know that he did hear her.

"I love you too," he finally responded after a few more long moments of silence.

"Sometimes," she started, but then she heaved a sigh. She continued after trying to gather her thoughts together. "Sometimes, I think about what it would be like without you. Sometimes, I think about what would happen if I said yes to Paul that night and not you, if I decided to go out with him and not you."

"Where is this coming from?" he asked, lifting his head a little bit so he could look down at the top of her head. She didn't move from her position so he laid his head back down and waited for her to respond.

"I've just been thinking about life in general," she confessed then had to come up with a plausible reason for it all. "I was just thinking about how my father was thinking about retiring and how it could have gone if he'd actually decided to go ahead and retire, and I guess it just got me thinking about how life is so full of choices, and how with every choice you make, you take yourself down a different path."

"And that's where you think your life diverged?"

"And I took the road less traveled by," she joked, and she could feel him chuckle.

"I'm the road less traveled?"

"Nobody would have expected us," Stephanie told him, "I don't think people saw us together, I think they were surprised when I…chose you so to speak."

"Like there was any doubt about that," he said, "but I'm glad you did, I don't know what my life would be like without you. I'm trying to think of where my life might have taken that same turn, but unlike you, I didn't have multiple women wanting me. I guess I'm just a loser after all."

"It really is a wonder that I decided to go out with you. I just…felt it more," she told him, and she didn't know why in this world she felt it more with Chris than with Paul.

"Felt it more?" He gave a lecherous little snort, "do you think you would have been as happy with Paul?"

Stephanie didn't know how to answer that because she was happy with Paul, but the question of the hour, of the day, of her life was whether or not she was as happy with one man or the other. Why was this question continuously coming up in her life? Why was it the theme of her entire existence? Was it because she had to answer it? Did she have to answer this question so her life might start to really resemble something normal?

"No."