____________________________________________________________

Three Weeks Later...

"Okay," Stephanie McMahon began as she flipped through some papers on her desk, glancing up at her brother Shane.  "Who are you going to to have win the WCW title?"

"I think it should be The Rock."

Stephanie smirked slightly, knowing her brother favored Dwayne Johnson over a lot of other wrestlers.  As the two main idea people of the WWF's creative department, they were trying to decide the outcome of the matches that would take place at SummerSlam.  The pay-per-view was coming up the following month, and Steph would be deciding the outcome and winner of half the matches, Shane the other half.

After a moment of scanning over the paper she held in her hand, the brunette sighed.  "The Intercontinental title match...You know what?  I think the winner should be Edge..."

Her brother looked up at her sharply, a slight look of disbelief on his face.  "Edge?  After you sure, Steph?"

The young woman nodded.  "Yes...Adam has been with this company for three years, and he's a very talented and popular wrestler.  He...he deserves it - it's his time."

Shane studied his sister's face silently for a few moments.  He was worried about her, and afraid she might break down at any moment.  He didn't know about her idea, but when he really considered it, her decision to make Edge the new Intercontinental champion didn't really surprise him.  Perhaps she thought that if she did this for Adam, she would receive a favorable response.

"Okay, sis, if you really think that," he finally said.  "I'll go along with it."

Stephanie met her brother's brown eyes and managed the tiniest trace of a smile.

"Are you okay?"  Shane reached out and laid a comforting hand on his younger sibling's shoulder.

"Yeah...I'm fine."  Then, meeting his doubting eyes, she said, "Really, Shane - I am."

"Okay."  Despite the words, the older McMahon didn't look convinced.

The siblings continued working together on the SummerSlam matches for awhile longer until Shane said, "All right, that's it - we're finally done.  I'm going to go talk to Dad about my half of the matches."

Stephanie nodded.  "Sure...see you later, Shane."

When her brother was gone, Steph stared blankly at the papers that lay strewn over her desk.  As she sorted through them, she found something in the clutter that caught her attention and caused a sharp pain in her heart.

Lifting up the object and gazing at it, her blue eyes unblinking, Stephanie began to cry.  Damn it - she had already shed a river in the past three weeks.  She felt she should have been wrung dry by now.

After awhile, she placed what she'd held in her hand down on top of the desk, rose and fled to the small bathroom within the room.  She locked the door behind her, sinking against the door as her tears continued.  Trying her best not to sob, for she didn't want Shane or anyone else to come around and hear her, she slowly sank to the floor in a heap.  The object she'd been examining and had placed on her desk atop all the papers was still fresh in her mind...

...It had been a large photo of Edge.

*

Adam Copeland sighed and ran a hand through his long blond hair as he gathered up his stuff from his locker.  It had been a long three weeks, and he reflected on them and the last two and a half years previous.

He knew intellectually that he had nothing to feel guilty for, as he hadn't intended to hurt anyone.  But it hadn't been fair - not fair for either of them.  His choice had been the right one - it just had to be.

As he zippered his bag to a close, the tall blond man made his way out of the locker room and headed out through the hallway.  He was on his way to the next city for the next RAW.  Normally, Adam would be traveling with Jay Reso, his best friend, but the other blond Canadian had had an appearance elsewhere that day.

"Adam!  Wait up!"

He stopped and turned around at the sound of the voice.  It was Amy Dumas.  The redheaded diva rushed to catch up to him, her wheeled suitcase trailing behind her.  His eyes scanned her form appreciatively, wondering what she wanted.  Not that he minded - she was a friend, and although she had no idea, he had realized in the last couple of months that he had come to like her a lot more.

"Hey, Ames...what's up?"

"The stupid place I called for my rental car screwed me," she explained.  "I was waiting for someone to drive it over here by eight, but when it didn't turn up by nine, I gave them a call.  Turns out they gave my reserved car to someone else by mistake!  So, here I am, stuck without a ride to our next stopover."  She met his green eyes hopefully.  "If it's not that much trouble, I was wondering...would it be okay if I come along for the ride in your car?"

Adam gazed into her hazel eyes and began to chuckle.  "Sure - no problem," he replied, grinning at her.  Damn, she was pretty.  The two of them had become good friends in the last year and a half since she'd joined the WWF.  His mood was lifting already, the guilt he'd been feeling only moments earlier abating.  Amy would be a fine distraction from all that.

The two of them walked out of the arena and into the parking lot, and Adam glanced around in search of his rental car.  He had forgotten where it had been parked, so the pair had to walk around for a few minutes.

Amy's ears perked as she heard the loud sound of a vehicle's motor being revved up.  She glanced in the direction of the noise and noticed a black SUV a ways away from them and just sitting there.

"Ah...I think I see it," Adam said, referring to the car.  He took a couple of steps forward, Amy following behind him, when the diva accidentally dropped the handle of her suitcase.  As she bent to pick up the bag, she looked up and suddenly realized that the same SUV she'd just noticed was barreling down toward Adam at top speed.

"Oh, my God!  Adam, look out!" the redhead screamed.  The lanky blond stood in his tracks, unmoving, staring at the vehicle as if transfixed.  Amy instantly reacted, leaping at the man and pulling him out of the path of the speeding truck just in the nick of time.  Together, they rolled a little ways over the hard concrete, falling in a heap in front of a parked black Cadillac.  The SUV zoomed past them, its tires screeching their protest as the vehicle was driven at too fast a speed for the small space of a parking lot.

Amy watched with widened eyes as the truck sped out of the lot and onto the road beyond.  She was breathing hard and fast, the wind knocked out of her, and had some small cuts on her hands and and a larger bruise on one knee, but she would live.  She glanced frantically down at the tall blond man and gently touched his shoulder.  "Adam...Adam, are you okay?"

Adam looked up at her from where he lay on his back, a haunted look in his eyes.  His breathing matched hers as he panted and asked, "What the hell was that?"

"An SUV," she explained breathlessly.  "It almost ran you down."

"Oh, God," he said.  "I can't..."  He winced and lifted a hand to his head, feeling for the bump he knew was there.  Then, to Amy's shock, Adam suddenly blacked out.

"Adam?  Adam???"  The diva gently slapped at her friend's cheek, trying to rouse him.  "Oh, God...oh, God," she cried.  She blindly reached for her cell phone in the pocket of her cargo pants and dialed 911.

*

He opened his eyes slowly, his vision initially blurred as he stared up at a white ceiling.  As his perception cleared, he realized he was lying in a bed - and that he was in a hospital.

Adam glanced around, wincing as he felt the pounding headache.  His eyes finally came to rest on the redhead who sat to his right at his bedside, her head slumped over on one shoulder as she slept - Amy.

As he watched her wordlessly, it all suddenly came back to him - the truck.  Amy had jumped at him, shoving him out of its path.  He had hit his head - which obviously had to be why it hurt like a son of a bitch right now.

"Adam?"  The diva, suddenly awake, had sprang out of her chair and was standing at his bedside.  "Oh, God...you gave me such a scare!"  She reached over with a gentle hand to stroke his brow.

Adam realized he had a tube in his left arm.  "What?  What's wrong with me?"  He stared at the young woman with fear in his normally strong, brave green eyes.

"The doctor said you went into shock," she explained gently.  "That's why you have that."  She gestured to the tube that was feeding him hydrating nutrients.  "But you're going to be all right."

The blond Canadian tried to push himself to a sitting position, but the diva told him to relax.  "Am I going to be allowed to leave tonight?"

"Adam, the doctor said he wants you to stay overnight," Amy explained.  "Just as a precaution.  You'll be fine.  Don't worry - I called Mr. McMahon and told him what happened.  He said not to worry, that we don't have to make it to the next RAW."

The young man nodded, but his mind was only half there.  He'd gone into shock?  He wondered how long he'd been unconscious.  And then, another, and quite obvious memory struck him.  He pushed some of his long blond hair, which had gotten mussed in his ordeal, away from his face and gazed up at the woman looking down at him with concern.

"You...you saved my life," he breathed, his eyes never wavering and not even blinking once as he stared into her hazel depths.

A tiny smile appeared on Amy's lovely face.  "I only did what came natural," she said.

"My God," Adam whispered.  "You really saved my life...you're...you're an angel..."  He thought she really did look like one - she may have had dark auburn hair rather than blond, and didn't have a pair of wings, but she truly was an angel.

Amy continued to stand over his hospital bed, stroking his face gently and gazing down at him until he drifted off to a peaceful, natural sleep.