________________________________

Because they had to travel to the next city for a house show, Adam and Amy, Jay and Nora, and Kurt were off.  They took their rental cars, the tall blond man and the redhead in a new one, and drove.  Stephanie opted to stay behind and catch up with all of them the following day, as she would have Torrie Wilson traveling with her.  The battered blonde had been cleared to leave the hospital the next morning.

Amy was silent as a stone while Adam drove their new rental car.  Both of them were trying to absorb all of the events of the last few days.  It was all so unbelievable.

Torrie had never been what Amy would call a friend in the short time the blonde had been employed by the WWF - but what had happened to her shook the redhead to her very core.

Paul Levesque had raped two women already - and he was still on the loose.  What was to say he wouldn't be back to strike again?

Amy shuddered as she recalled having gone into Torrie's room in the hospital to visit her.  She'd gone separately, without Nora or Stephanie, after asking a nurse to check with the blonde woman if it was okay if she saw her.

The redhead's heart had nearly broken as she'd entered the room.  Torrie was a tall woman, but she'd looked so very small in the bed, engulfed by the stark white sheets and pillows.  She had a darkening bruise on one cheek, and at first, Amy had wondered if her cheekbone had been fractured.  The woman's left wrist had been broken, and she wore a small splint.  Her long, straight blonde hair seemed rather limp and lifeless.  There was a look of fear in her blue eyes, but Torrie had sucked it all in.  She explained that she and the smaller blonde had decided they were both going to be strong - instead of victims, they were survivors - and in the end of all of this, they would win.  Torrie had looked Amy directly in the eye, stating in a surprisingly strong voice that Levesque would be caught and stopped - and justly punished.

The redhead sincerly hoped so.  She was usually one who prided herself on being strong, confident and optimistic - at times overly so - but right now, she was scared.

"Are you okay?"

Amy turned to face Adam as he briefly took his eyes off the road to study her with concern.  His green eyes looked tender and loving as he gazed upon her.  She could tell he was worried - about her - which touched her heart.  Here, he had been a victim - Levesque had tried to kill him more than once, at the request of Vince McMahon, and he was concerned about her.

"I was just thinking about Torrie - and Nora," she said, reaching across the seat for him.

The blond man put his right arm out toward her, gripping her hand in his and giving it a gentle squeeze.  As he turned his eyes toward the road, steering with his left hand, he spoke.

"Amy, it's like you keeping telling me - we're going to get through all this - together."

The diva managed a tiny smile as she drank in his beautiful profile.  "I love you," she said softly.

Adam briefly turned to gaze at her again.  "I love you, too..."

*

Paul Levesque was furious enough to want to smash his cell phone to bits.  Moments before, he had changed rental cars, switching to a completely different company.  That wasn't the problem, but he had just gotten off the phone with Linda McMahon.

The bitch...Vince's wife had the kind of attitude that she basically believed that her husband had gotten what he'd deserved.  Apparently, she had suspected him of shady dealings.  On top of that, she'd said nothing to help him.  Paul had called to find out where he could reach Vince.  Well, Linda had said one thing - that the boss was being transferred to a holding cell in their hometown of Stamford, Connecticut until there was a trial.  He was being brought up on conspiracy charges.

Levesque had been furious when Linda had told him to give himself up.  He'd wondered how the hell she would know what was going on, as Vince had always kept their dealings private from her.  And then he pieced it all together - Stephanie...

The brunette had known he was up to something.  He recalled the suspicion in her blue eyes when she'd caught him spying on Adam Copeland and Amy Dumas. Stephanie was the reason he was in his current predicament - her and the redheaded slut.  Vince may have been sitting in jail because of someone else - whoever that might be - but Paul was screwed because of Stephanie McMahon.

He put more pedal to the metal as visions of the tall brunette flashed through his head - damn that little whiny bitch!  He wondered what he'd ever seen in her, how he could have possibly fallen in love with her.  She was just as useless as the rest of them - and nothing but trouble - just like Torrie Wilson, Nora, the Dumas bitch, and even his former girlfriend, Joanie Laurer - they were all cut from the same mold.  Every one of those women were beautiful and desirable, but at the same time, they were all nosy and meddlesome.  And the only use he had for any of them was to screw them.  He'd already taught three of them a lesson they would never forget - no one knew the true reason Joanie had quit the WWF.  She'd been muscular and exceptionally strong, but she was still a woman, and therefore no match for him.  He recalled Joanie's struggles as he'd brutalized her, forced himself on her.  For such a big, strong, tough woman, she had wept like a little girl when he was done with her.

Now, two of the five women currently on his mind were left and had yet to become his pupils.  He had to get his hands on Stephanie and the redhead.

*

"Why don't we get out at the next rest stop for awhile?" Amy said.  She had to use the bathroom, and she wanted to stretch her legs a little.

"Okay," Adam replied, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.  He knew she was still preoccupied.  "Hey...are you all right?"

"Yeah," the redhead replied.  She ran her other hand lightly over the side of her face and through her hair.  She was still shaken, but she would get hold of herself and be strong - she had to.  "I just need a little fresh air, that's all."

The blond man was silent for a moment before he spoke again.  "Angel, are you...afraid that Levesque is going to come after you?  To...try to do the same to you that he did to Torrie?"

Amy turned to fully face him.  He was really perceptive.  She'd noticed that about him, that he had a bit of a psychic side to him at times.  She had been worrying about that.  After all, Levesque was still out there, and it seemed that the man had no love lost toward her.  Certainly, he had to think of her as a hindrance to the times he had attempted to harm Adam.

The tall Canadian put the right signal on, then turned off the side of the road to the rest stop.  As he steered the car into a spot and put it in park, Amy turned her head and spotted Jay and Nora with their signal on as well.  The two of them and Kurt were following one another because they had vowed to stick together, knowing there was safety in numbers.  The five of them, plus Stephanie, were now a team - "united we stand, divided we fall."  And because of the circumstances, Torrie Wilson had joined their little group as well.

Adam stepped out of the car, pushing his silver sunglasses up over his eyes as he gazed out at the highway.  Jay pulled up the silver-blue rental car he and Nora were in and parked in the empty spot directly right of them.

Amy stood on the grass in front of the car, stretching her legs a bit as she watched the couple step out of their car.  Her eyes met the short blonde diva's as Nora approached her.  The two women shared a knowing gaze, similar thoughts running through both their minds.

Kurt suddenly pulled up into a nearby parking space.  After putting the car in park, the Olympian exited the car and came over to join his friends.  He shaded his eyes from the brilliant sun for a moment before speaking.

"I'm a little worried," he admitted.  "Steph is going to be traveling all alone just with Torrie...what if...that son of a bitch follows them?"

"Kurt," Jay said, "don't think like that...I'm sure she'll be all right.  I'm sure they'll both be all right.  I mean, how could that bastard try anything with the police looking for him?  He probably knows what happened to Mr. McMahon and is keeping a low profile now..."

"I don't trust him," Angle replied, not feeling as optimistic as the other man.  "And I wouldn't put it past him to go after her.  Jay, Stephanie told me how Paul's been watching her...damn it," he muttered, meaning the curse for himself, "I should have stayed behind to travel with them..."

"But she didn't want you to, Kurt," Nora suddenly piped in.  "She insisted you come with us...you can't..."  She ran a hand through her platinum blond curls as she swallowed hard.  The words she was about to speak were difficult for her, as only a few short days ago, she'd hardly believed in them herself.  "...you can't dwell on the worst, and you can't always live your life in fear...you have to just...take chances sometimes."  She glanced over at Jay, who gave her the slightest trace of a tiny smile of encouragement.  Then, turning back to the Olympic Hero, she said, "Kurt, Stephanie is a strong woman...she will be okay.  I-I just feel it.  Besides, I don't think Paul would dare go after her because of who she is.  I mean...even though she and her father are not on good terms by any means after everything that happened - she is still a McMahon...crazy or sane, I think Vince would go ballistic if he ever did anything to his daughter."

Jay nodded.  "Nora's right, Kurt..."

Adam and Amy exchanged glances, and the tall blond man edged closer to his girlfriend.  "I think we should all listen to the woman," he agreed with a nod.  "She makes a lot of good points.  Come on."  He grabbed hold of the redhead's hand.  "Let's get something to drink...I'm practically dying of thirst."

*

Paul's face was dominated by a deep frown as he stared out the windshield of his rental car.  As he customarily did, he'd gotten a vehicle with tinted windows so that nobody could peer in at him and cause him - or themselves, trouble.

It was early enough for him to see that he had beaten just about ever other WWF superstar to the hotel.  Since about ninety-nine percent of the staff stayed here whenever the company was in this town, he felt highly confident - he would meet up with Stephanie, Amy, and that bastard Copeland.  And if he didn't meet up with them here, he would do so at the arena...