Stevie had just gotten word from her mother that she was on her way. But fortunately, her father had called and said he was on his way. (Note the absence of Selena.) Daryl had asked Stevie for an acting lesson, so they decided to past the time with that. They called their game: "Alena Billington", they pretended to be the fictional Alena and they tried to keep up her personality for as long as they could. Steph walked through the front door with Lucy a few minutes later and greeted her children. She soon went to gather a bulky change of attire and after she finished. Mark walked in.
Daryl and Stevie glanced at each other instantly, Steph's head snapped around and laid a harsh look at Stevie. Mark looked uncomfortable. Obviously had wanted to avoid this as well. Steph turned to leave, grabbing Lucy and Stevie shot up, blocking the door.
"What in hell, are you doing?" Steph growled.
"Would you just sit down and hear us out, please?" Stevie growled back.
Both her parents looked surprised at this attitude change, but Stevie looked like she meant business so Steph sat down. Mark did the same and Daryl relaxed quite a bit.
"Alright, Stevie. What do you need?" Steph asked.
"I want you two to read this, together, like a couple would." Stevie said.
Steph didn't really like this idea, and Mark just stayed quiet.
"Just trust me."
Stevie held out the piece of paper to Steph and she opened it with a gasp when she realized what was inside.
"Mark...Look." Steph said softly.
Mark got up slowly and leaned over Steph's shoulder.
"I thought you lost this." Mark replied, his tone as soft as Steph's.
"I thought I had too. Where did you find it?" Steph asked.
"Behind a photo of you and Dad, this is a photocopy of the original, I didn't want anything to happen to it. Just in case." Stevie responded.
They slowly read over what had been written so many years ago and Steph looked at Mark, she looked ready to cry.
"We promised. We promised Dad wouldn't tear us apart...L-Look what happened to us." Steph said, now she was crying.
"I wouldn't let it go, when I should've." Mark replied.
"But I pressured you. I threatened you! Look what happened, I almost ruined this for us. And we have two teenagers!"
A silence followed and it became uncomfortable. Stevie didn't know what to say, she'd done her part. Right? Was this how you saved your parents marriage?
"It's not your fault, Steph." Mark finally spoke. "We should have thought about this, a long time ago. We should have settled this back in 2001."
"I can't believe we were so stupid...What on earth could these two have felt?" Steph motioned towards Stevie and Daryl. They were old enough to understand, unlike Lucy who just didn't quite get it yet.
"We felt like we had to get you two back together." Daryl said, with a small smile.
Steph laughed through her tears, she was surprised when Mark hugged her. After their embrace, Steph looked at Mark and asked a very serious question:
"Only one of us agreed to marrying the other...Why don't we renew our vows? If you even want to take me back at this point." Steph asked.
Mark smiled. "Sounds good to me, Steph."
Another hug and Daryl looked at Stevie, with a yell, both of them were dancing around laughing, crying, yelling, which got Lucy excited, and brought a smile to their parents faces. This time everyone hugged, and Stevie looked at her Mom.
"Does this mean your staying here now?" she asked.
"Once I retrieve our stuff from Shane's. Yes." Steph replied.
Stevie whooped again and paused, looking at her father, she said: "What the hell happened to, Selena?"
"Stevie, language." Steph warned.
"Sorry, Mom." Stevie said.
Mark laughed and when he sobered up he said: "She decided to ditch me after I agreed to come. Then all of a sudden it was a terrible idea for her to come along. That's when I figured out you two were planning something."
"Crap...You knew?" Daryl asked.
"Not entirely. I just knew to expect everything." Mark replied.
"Daryl, we need to work on our scheming skills." Stevie told her sister.
"Not while you live under this roof, you're not." Mark answered.
Everyone--except Stevie--laughed and Stevie sat down at the table.
"Thank you, for reading me out." Stevie told her parents.
"It was nothing...We should have kept track of it, better." Steph said.
Mark nodded and Lucy looked at her parents. "I don't get it. Why is everybody so emotional?"
Steph picked her up and said: "You know how it's been sorta cold and mean around here?"
"Yes."
"Well, Mom and Dad had a little disagreement. Thanks to your sisters, our family won't be separated." Steph told her.
"YOU TWO WERE GOING TO SEPARATE US?!" Lucy hollered.
Stevie and Daryl almost killed themselves laughing. Lucy was sooo naive sometimes.
* * *
11/27/98
"Steph, there was a reason I was late to pick you up. I had an important purchase to make." Mark said, he looked somewhat shy as he pulled a small box out of his jacket.
"Oh my God, that isn't...Is it?!" Steph asked with excitement.
"I've been debating doing this for a while, and now seemed like a good time...Stephanie Marie McMahon, for these past several years, you've brightened my life so much. And I would be the happiest man alive if you became my wife. Will you marry me?"
Without hesitation Steph yelled: "YES!" and hugged him. Mark grinned and placed the ring on the wrong hand.
"Wear this on the wrong hand, just until we tell your parents. And tell them it was on sale." Mark said.
"Because it matches my eyes...How are we going to tell them?" Steph asked.
"I don't know, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it." Mark replied. "And please, don't mention this storyline, if your Dad knew, we're both in serious trouble."
"I promise, I won't." Steph answered.
After a long--hard0-0--kiss, Mark noticed the time.
"Anna's probably waiting up for you. We'd better get back."
"Agreed." Steph answered.
"And Steph?" Mark said.
"Yes?"
"I promise, I'll try to keep you as safe as possible during this next year, no matter what your Dad does, nothing falls back on you."
"I know you will, I'm having a little trouble believing he'd hurt me, like you say. But I trust you." Steph answered.
Mark turned the engine on and pulled out of the abandoned parking lot they'd been in for the past couple of hours. During the silent ride home, Steph had time to reflect on what had happened tonight. First dinner, then some shopping to ease the pain of full bellies, then some dessert and a long chat in that parking lot. It'd happened so fast, one of the last nights they could be together for a long time. But Steph knew, it'd be worth it in the end.
_______________________________________________________________
If you think this is the end, we still have a little ways to go. I wanted to cover a few more things, like somebody's retirement (should've been done in 2014, LIKE IT WAS SUPPOSED TOO, but nah, who am I to judge?), so this next few chapters will be a mix between happy and sad.
No, I'm not crying at all that one of my favorite projects is ending, nooo, you must be thinking of someone else.
:')