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*April 14, 2006*
He stood in his modest kitchen, surprising himself by actually whistling as he chopped onions. The man was fixing breakfast, preparing to make an omelet. He startled himself as he realized he was actually whistling - something he hadn't done consciously or otherwise in a long, long time.
Whistling should have meant that he was happy, or at least content. He wouldn't say he was either of those things.
Shaking off his dire, dark thoughts, he carried the dish of chopped onions to the stove. There, he mixed them in with the beaten eggs he had in a bowl, along with grated cheddar cheese, and poured the contents into the already heated frying pan. And that was when the vision suddenly came.
The man lost his balance as he was nearly blinded by the intensity of it. He cried out, reaching up with both hands to his temples, as the pain was unimaginably unbearable. The vision tore through his head with the most shocking clarity and color, sparking a migraine with its viciousness. Although it only lasted moments, to the man it seemed an eternity.
And then, it was over. He came back to his senses to realize he was sitting on the kitchen floor, the fork he'd used to prepare his meal laying face-down nearby. His temples throbbed and his breath came fast and heavy as he recalled what he'd seen...
... A woman, long red hair... Athletic type. Beautiful but naturally so. She was in possession of a camera... Something wrong, very wrong - with her car. She was going to die. He didn't know the method by which this would happen, as the vision hadn't provided that information. He saw her lovely face fully, a soft and easy smile dominating it... And she was looking directly at *him*.
Adam Copeland's breathing was still fast and heavy as he slowly rose from the floor. He tossed the fork into the sink and only then smelled the burning - so much for his omelet. He decided to go out to the diner in town for breakfast. And maybe, just maybe, he would run into the young woman he'd seen in the vision. He had no idea who she was and had never seen her before... But that didn't mean he was going to let her die.
*
"Damn it!"
Amy Dumas wanted to kick the side of her 2001 Dodge Stratus. She tore her hands through her long red hair helplessly as she peered cluelessly under the hood of the car. Although she'd always been a tomboy and never much of a "girly" girl, she knew next to nothing about cars other than driving them.
This was turning out to be a piss-poor day, and it made her heart sink. April fourteenth wasn't just any ordinary day - it was her birthday. Today was her thirty-first, to be exact.
The redhead raised her head and surveyed her surroundings. There was a diner just across the street. She hadn't eaten breakfast yet, as she'd tried to go on an assignment bright and early. She was hungry, and she figured there might be someone inside who could help a damsel in distress with her broken down automobile.
Amy turned her head and suddenly spotted a man she hadn't noticed a minute earlier. She squinted as their eyes met. He was quite tall, with longish blond hair that fell to nearly his shoulders. From this distance, as he was across the street, she couldn't make out the color of his eyes. He was good-looking, even handsome. His face wore just about the oddest expression, however, and it sent an unpleasant chill down her spine. Creeped out, she looked away. If he was a weirdo or crazy, that was the best thing to do - ignore him. He would soon get bored and walk away.
Amy focused her attention on the mechanics of the Stratus, pretending she knew what the hell to do. She reached in with her right hand and touched a wire, but she recoiled in a flash as she burned herself!
"Need some help?"
She looked up quickly, her gaze instantly meeting that of the same man she'd spotted a moment ago. Now that he was this close to her, she could see the color of his eyes - they were green, but the oddest shade of green eyes she'd ever seen anywhere including in cats. They were so dark, deep foresty pools. He was even more handsome than she'd thought, too. Her breath was momentarily lost as she gazed up into his face. Also, at five-seven, she was by no means a short woman, but this man had nearly a foot's height advantage to her. She estimated him as being around six foot five.
"Err... Yeah, I do," she finally managed to stammer. She was quite embarrassed by the amount of time it had taken for her to answer his question.
The tall blond leaned over the ajar hood of the car and peered inside.
"Ahh... Yes, there's definitely something wrong in here."
"Well, I knew *that*." The redhead felt a little bad for uttering those words.
The man straightened up again to face her. He seemed to gaze right through into her soul with his strange, beautiful eyes as he spoke.
"I'm afraid I'm just like you - I don't know much about fixing cars. By the way, I'm Adam. Adam Copeland." He held one of his large hands out to her.
She eyed him dumbly for a beat, then shook his hand, which was incredibly warm and soft as well as large.
"I'm Amy Dumas."
"Nice to meet you, Amy Dumas." He gazed at her for a long moment, then, "I know someone who eats in there who can fix the car." Their hands were still holding in the handshake, and he finally released hers.
Another vision seemed to be coming to him, but it was so slight and faint that he couldn't even glimpse it. However, he was grateful for that, as the woman might freak out if she witnessed him in the throes of a full-on vision. After all, they'd only just met and she didn't know him or a thing about him.
"All right," the beautiful redhead said with a slight nod. "If someone who eats there can help, great. I'm a little hungry, anyway."
They headed to the diner's door, and as the tall, mysterious blond man stepped back to allow her to enter first, she felt his eyes on her back.
A chill came over her, though she didn't know if it was in a bad or good way.