__________________________________

Amy lay awake that night, her mind too occupied to allow her any sleep.  It was still dark outside, yet she had no idea what time it might be.

She needed her sleep.  She had a match against Trish Stratus that night, and she wanted to be fresh for it.  Sighing sadly, she ran a hand through her long red hair, then turned onto her right side.

She heard a soft, muffled moan from Adam, who she knew had slept for a least part of the night.  She closed her eyes and sighed again, but this time for a different reason, as she felt the blond man's arms go around her waist.

"Mmm..."  Adam pulled the redhead against him, nuzzling the side of her neck.  "What's the matter, angel?  Can't sleep?"

"Not a wink," Amy replied sadly.  She snuggled up against his warm front.

Adam held her even closer as he moved her hair with his other hand, placing soft, hot kisses on the nape of her neck.  His hand traveled underneath her short-sleeved pajama top, his fingertips barely touching the nipple on her left breast.  He moved his face closer to her head, his lips by her ear.

"I'll help you to fall asleep," he whispered.

Amy let out a sigh as she felt the Canadian's hot breath in her ear.

Adam grew hard as he continued to fondle the diva's breasts.  They hadn't made love earlier that night, and he had been wanting her all that time.  He pressed his erection against her bottom, eliciting a moan from the redhead.

"You have all this tension in you, angel..." the lanky blond whispered.  "...you need some release..."

"Oh..."  Amy sighed more deeply, arching her back slightly as she felt his hardness.  She pressed herself into him as she moaned.  "Make love to me, Adam..."

"Nothing would make me happier..."

*

Stephanie and Torrie each buckled up as they settled into the brunette's rental car.  They exchanged glances for a moment, the blonde letting out a sigh.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes...yeah, I'm fine," Torrie managed.  "At least I think so."

It was little after nine in the morning, and she had just checked out of the hospital.  Although she would definitely miss the kind nurse whom, after a single night, she'd actually begun to think of as a surrogate mother, she was relieved to be discharged.  The platinum blonde had always hated hospitals - she'd hated having to lie in that bed, with everyone giving her sympathetic looks, feeling sorry for her, tiptoeing around her, whispering about her and clucking their tongues, and she had absolutely despised the food.

"Okay," Stephanie said, interrupting the other woman's reverie, "we're off then..."  She pulled the car out of the parking lot and onto the street.  At the first red light, she looked at Torrie again.  "Oh, I promised Kurt I'd give him a call when we left the hospital..."  She utilized her hands-free device, dialing the Olympian on her cell phone.

Torrie closed her eyes and leaned back in her seat to get comfortable as she listened to the other woman.

"Hi, Kurt...yeah, it's me...we just left.  Oh, you should expect us within the hour..."

After a couple more minutes, Stephanie said goodbye and ended the call.  Checking her watch, she figured she and Torrie would be at the hotel by ten.

*

Kurt paced the floor by the door in Adam and Amy's room, mutterings coming from him every now and then.  He checked his watch for what Adam thought had to be the tenth time in the last five minutes - and at least the hundredth time in the last hour and a half.

"Where are they?"  He was frantic with worry.  Stephanie called at around ten after nine that morning, stating that she and Torrie Wilson had just begun their journey.  That had been well over two hours earlier, as it was now gaining on eleven-thirty.

"Kurt, will you stop pacing?" Adam demanded.  He was sitting on the edge of the bed, and Amy was sitting Indian-style near him.  "You're driving me nuts..."

"Adam," the Olympian cried as he stopped in his tracks to stare at the tall blond man, "don't you understand the implications here?  Steph and Torrie should have been here over two hours ago!  Two hours!

"I'm sure they're okay..."

"But you don't know they are!" Angle cried, throwing his hands up in his nervousness.

"Kurt, please," Amy said.  "It's not going to do any good to get so excited."  She bit her lip, not adding that she too was worried about the two women.  But she hadn't been driven to near-hysteria as Angle had.

"Damn it!  I knew I should have stayed at the hospital with Stephanie!"

Adam eyed the other man silently.  He supposed that in different circumstances, he would find it great that Kurt obviously had feelings for his former girlfriend - and he was glad for Stephanie that another man cared so deeply and genuinely for her.  It was something she needed, and the brunette was the type that craved love - but at the moment, Angle really was driving him batty.  The other man's nervousness was making him anxious and upset.

"Why don't you try calling her again?" the Canadian suggested.  Kurt had tried ringing Stephanie's cell phone four times in the last hour and a half.  The first time, he had gotten through, but the call had been cut short, as her phone had suddenly gone dead.  He didn't panic at the time, figuring the brunette's phone had limited service wherever she and Torrie were - but then later, each time he'd tried to call her back, he'd heard nothing but a series of beeps, followed by silence.

"Okay," Angle said.  "I just hope to God I get through this time..."  He pressed a couple of buttons on his cell phone and then pressed it to his ear.  He was surprised and looked up from Adam to Amy, mouthing, "It's ringing..."

*

Stephanie banged the steering wheel with the heel of her right hand in frustration.  A string of softly-muttered curses left her lips as she stared around at all the traffic on the highway.

She glanced at her watch, noting that it was just after eleven-thirty.

"Oh, this is ridiculous..." she whispered to herself so as to not disturb Torrie.  The blonde had fallen asleep in the passenger's seat, obviously thoroughly exhausted, and Stephanie couldn't blame her after everything she'd been through.  She glanced over at Torrie, noticing the way the woman's brow furrowed in her sleep.  Evidently, it wasn't a peaceful slumber.

Stephanie nearly gave a start as her cell phone started ringing, piercing the silence.  She had shut off the radio when Torrie had fallen asleep, and except for the air conditioner, the car had been silent.  She quickly reached for the call button on her phone, the hands-free earpiece still in place in her right ear, as she'd wanted to be prepared.

"Hello?"

"Steph!  Thank God!"  It was Kurt.  Even without the caller ID display on her phone, she would have known his voice instantly.  "Where are you?  Are you okay?"

Stephanie realized the Olympian sounded frantic.  Despite everything, she couldn't suppress a tiny smile from forming on her face.  "Yeah, we're fine," she said in a soft voice.  "We're just stuck in a traffic jam on the highway..."

"Why are you talking so low?"

"Torrie's asleep," the brunette explained.  "I think there must have been an accident or something."

They talked a bit for several more minutes, but the car moved only inches.  Angle promised he would call her back, and they ended the call.

Stephanie craned her neck in hopes of seeing something - anything - telltale, but there were too many vehicles on the road blocking her view.  If there was an accident, it had to be a few miles ahead.

"Where are we?"

The brunette glanced over at the other woman, who had just woken up.  The blonde ran a hand over her face and hair as she glanced out the window, then met Stephanie's eyes.

"We're actually almost there, but this stupid pileup...we should have been there over an hour ago."

Torrie glanced at her watch, then back at the brunette.  "There must be a really bad accident down there..."

"That's what I've been thinking," Stephanie admitted with a nod.  "Ugh...I can sure stand to stretch my legs a bit."  She grimaced.  "When we get moving again, why don't we stop somewhere real quick, just for that?"

"Okay," the blonde replied.  "And I'm a little hungry...I have the most unbelievable craving for a Big Mac."

"All right," the other woman replied.  "We'll stop at the first McDonald's we see..."