"Good morning!"

Jay eyed his best friend suspiciously, then shifted his blue gaze to Amy.

"Jeez, you two are ever chipper considering it's only nine AM."  He studied them again, realizing this was the first time he'd seen Adam smiling since they'd heard of Stephanie being attacked by Paul Levesque.

"Oh, I get it...you two have been having some really great sex, huh?"

"Jay!" Nora cried, the little blonde reddening at her boyfriend's bluntness.

"Hey, it's okay, sweetie," the blond man quipped as he met the diva's blue eyes.  "Adam's like my own brother...we've got no secrets from each other, right, man?"  He clapped a hand to the taller man's shoulder, a broad smile on his handsome face.

"But Amy's not..." Nora said between clenched teeth, her eyes slightly widened as she shifted them to the other woman.

"Not what?"

"I think she means I'm not like your 'own brother,' Jay," the redhead said with a chuckle.  She shook her head at the situation.  It felt so good to get things off her mind and have a little silly fun with friends to lighten the mood of the last several days.

"Hey, where are Stephanie, Kurt and Torrie?  Are they going to be fashionably late?"

"No," Nora replied with a shake of her platinum blonde head, her loose curls shaking slightly.  "They decided to eat in Stephanie and Torrie's room this morning after...what happened last night..."  Her eyes took on a faraway look as she shuddered at the thought of what might have happened to the brunette if not for Angle.  Then, raising her gaze back to her friend's, she said, "Kurt called us this morning and told Jay so we wouldn't worry when they didn't show."

"Oh," Amy said, her good mood waning a bit.  Since they had the day off, she wanted more than anything to do something fun.  They could all use a little mindless fun.

A waitress came by to take their orders, and when she was gone, the redhead eyed each of them in turn as she spoke.

"Hey, I overheard something about a county fair in the area around here...why don't we go check it out today?  We've all been under a tremendous amount of stress, so it would do us some good to get out for awhile.  What do you say, people?"

Jay didn't even have to think about it.  "That sounds like fun - count me in."  He glanced at Nora, then stumbled on his next words.  "Oh, God, I'm sorry...I should have checked with you fi-"

"I'd like that, too," the petite blonde piped in, a genuine, happy smile on her face.  She reached across the table for Jay's hand, silently telling him that it was really okay.  She loved the redhead's suggestion, and she'd certainly always enjoyed amusement parks.

Amy still hadn't heard from one person.  She swung her hazel gaze to her boyfriend.  "Adam?"

The tall blond man raised his gaze from his silverware to her.  Their eyes met and held, and after a beat, he smiled.  "Yeah...you know, that does sound like fun.  Let's go for it."

*

Stephanie chewed her food methodically, her eyes staring unseeingly ahead at something unseen in the distance.

Torrie watched her with concern as she sipped her herbal tea, then swung her blue eyes to meet Kurt's.  They shared a bit of a silent communication for a beat until the man cleared his throat to speak.

"Err...Steph...Are you okay?"

The brunette looked up, her eyes instantly drawn to the Olympian.  "Yeah...I was just...thinking."

"It's going to be all right.  It really is," Angle said firmly.  He reached across the small table to grasp Stephanie's hand in his own, managing a small smile.

Torrie bit her lip as she watched the two of them together.  They really seemed to be crazy about each other, and she couldn't help feeling a tiny twinge of envy toward her brunette friend.  She had a man who obviously cared a great deal about her, and who would go out of his way to be her superhero and protect her.

The blonde woman felt a bit lost as she reflected on the last few years of her life, since she had started in the wrestling business.  She'd not had one single meaningful relationship with a man since David Flair, which dated back to 1999.  Although the son of the Nature Boy had been a few years younger than her, he had treated her like gold.  Of course, she had been stupid by messing things up with him in running around with Kevin Nash behind his back.

Torrie winced as she recalled how she'd hurt David.  Although they'd been together under a year, the young man had actually expressed a desire to marry her someday.  He had truly loved and cared about her.  In fact, the platinum blonde diva realized that David was probably the only man she'd ever been with who had ever really felt that way about her - the only one who had loved her for her rather than just using her for sex.

Visions of Shane McMahon flitted through her head as she glanced down into her plate of scrambled eggs.  She'd noticed the way the man had looked at her the previous night - not the same way the jerks she'd been with had leered at and ogled her like she was a forbidden piece of candy - but as a person he respected.  When Shane had spoken to her, he had been so sweet and gentlemanly.  Even though they'd talked very briefly, he had made her feel special and important - and like a lady.

"What are you smiling about?" Kurt suddenly asked, and Torrie looked up to meet his eyes.

"Oh, I was just...thinking about how you two make me feel like a third wheel," she said teasingly, a tiny smile coming to her lips.

"Oh, do we?  Is that so?" Angle asked with a smile of his own.  The two of them began to laugh together.  Kurt reached over and nudged the blonde on the shoulder.  He really liked Torrie, and in the last few days, he'd come to think of her as a good friend.

Both pairs of blue eyes shifted over to Stephanie, and both were glad that the brunette was actually smiling... It was a little smile, but a smile nonetheless.

*

Amy laughed heartily as Adam drove their rental car, Nora and Jay sitting in the back.  Jay had brought up the funny storyline about Edge and Christian's upcoming gag against Lance Storm, which was supposed to occur at the next week's RAW.  Christian was supposed to go to the ring and get on a microphone, claiming his pride over being Canadian and thereafter calling out the ever serious man.  As he would be throwing fake praises Storm's way, Edge would sneak into the ring behind their backs from the crowd to pull the former ECW tag team champion's tights down, revealing him to be wearing Underoos underneath.

"I just can't picture Lance in that kind of situation," the redhead said, her giggles decreasing.  "He was always so serious."

"That's what makes it so funny," Jay said with a chuckle.  "I'm gonna enjoy RAW next week - but you always get the fun parts!"  He looked at Adam through the rearview mirror pointedly.

"Maybe that's because I'm just so much more charismatic than you..."

"You more charismatic than me?  Ha!"  The smaller blond man stuck his tongue out at his best friend.

Nora laughed hard, and she felt better than she had in a long time.  She was really glad she'd given Jay a chance, and that she had these people in her life - they were so special - each one of them.  Too bad the others didn't join us, she thought.

"Okay, am I going the right way, angel?" Adam asked the redhead as he glanced around the area.  He had just gotten off the exit she'd told him to take.

Amy consulted the road map she had open on her lap.  "Okay, let's see...you have to make a right at the next light and then drive another six blocks..."

"There goes my hero...watch him as he goes!" Jay sang along loudly with the Foo Fighters on the car's radio from behind Adam.  The taller blond smirked at his best friend's rendition of the song by one of his own personal favorite bands.

"Dude, do you really hate this song that much?"

Jay flipped him off through the rearview mirror, and Nora burst into a big fit of giggles.

*

Paul Levesque smiled evilly to himself as he steadily trailed the four wrestlers in Copeland's rental car.  He made sure to follow at a distance, and to put a couple of other cars between them, as he didn't want them to become suspicious.

"Clueless bastard..." he muttered to himself as he steered his vehicle off the exit he'd seen his enemy take.  He wondered where the two couples were headed, hoping it was someplace secluded so he could sneak up on the tall blond man.  This time, he would make sure the asshole wouldn't be getting away from him.

Tick tock, tick tock...your time is running out, Copeland! he thought as he reached across the seat, fingering the object he had stored in the duffel bag on the passenger's seat.