Amy bit her lip in regret as she, Matt and Jeff watched the scene unfold before their eyes.  They were witnessing the official breakup of seven-time tag team champions Edge and Christian, and it was not pretty.

Christian had run to the ring a moment earlier to "save" his brother from an attack by Lance Storm, who had been his opponent that night.  But after a hug, the shorter blond nailed Edge in the head with a steel chair.

Although it was all scripted and Jay would do his best to not really hurt Adam, Amy winced as Christian picked up Edge's King of the Ring trophy - the one he loved so much that it was always in his possession - and hurled it down onto the other man.  Afterward, he repeatedly pummeled his former partner - over and over again with the chair, even going so far as to place a second one under the fallen Edge's head to deliver an even more devastating one-man conchairto.  What made this even sadder was that they were in Adam and Jay's hometown of Toronto...

The redhead felt she could cry out at any moment, for she knew that some of those chairshots must have hurt - but she remained mute.

Matt noticed her silence and said so.

"Hey, Amy - I'm surprised you're not saying anything..."

"Huh?"  She looked up, her eyes broken from the horribly mesmerizing chaos on the TV monitor.  "Oh...I...well, this sucks!" she finally said, her voice laced with anger.  "I mean, what a stupid idea of Mr. McMahon's this is - breaking up the best tag team in the WWF!"

"Hey!" Jeff cried, a hurt expression on his face.

Amy turned toward him, playfully ruffling his colorful hair.  "After you guys, I mean," she laughed.  "But seriously...you two, the Dudleys and those guys are the best teams in the company.  Next thing you know, Vince will be splitting you apart!"

"Bite your tongue, woman!" Matt shouted, his dark eyes widened as he gave her a mock evil eye.

"Hey, actually, that wouldn't be such a bad idea," the younger of the two brothers said.  "Without this anchor, I can really move on to bigger and better things - like the Intercontinental title."  He pointed to his sibling on the word "anchor."

"That's true," Amy said, covering her mouth with one hand to stifle her giggles as Matt moved around her to take some playful jabs at Jeff.

After a moment, Matt spoke again.  "I bet Adam and Jay are real bummed out about this, though."

"Oh, I know Adam is," the redhead agreed with a nod.  He had confided in her a couple of weeks previous that, although there were probably big things on the horizon for him as a solo wrestler, he was not happy with the upcoming split.  Adam had said that he didn't like the direction they were taking with the angle, either.  He and Jay had grown up together and had been best friends since they were nine.  Likewise, he felt things between Edge and Christian shouldn't end the way the WWF wanted.

"I'm going to go check on Adam," Amy suddenly said.  She slipped out of the locker room, leaving her friends to bicker over who the better Hardy Boy was.

*

Amy knocked tentatively on the door to Adam and Jay's locker room.  She could hear their voices from within.

"Come in!" Adam called.

The redhead opened the door and stepped inside, cautiously surveying the scene.  Jay looked angry and tense, and Trish Stratus, sitting closely beside him on the small couch across the room, was trying her best to comfort him.  She had one hand on his shoulder, a gentle, sympathetic expression on her pretty face.

Amy's eyes shifted over to Adam, who stood just before the couple.  His emerald orbs were drawn to her, and they looked somewhat sad.

"Adam, are you okay?" Amy asked with concern as she edged closer to him.  She placed one hand on his bare arm as she peered up into his handsome face.

"Yeah, I'm fine," the tall blond muttered.  "Physically anyway."

"What did I do to deserve this kind of punishment?!" Jay shouted, drawing both of their attention on him.  He put both hands to his head, tearing at his long blond hair.

"You mean we," Adam corrected.

"No, I mean I...Let's face it, man...you're going to be a big star and get pushed like crazy...I'm just going to melt into the big pot of has-beens and be jobbed out," the other man said bitterly.

Trish placed one hand gently on his cheek, turning Jay's head so that he was gazing directly into her chocolate brown eyes.  "Now you listen to me, Jason Reso...you are not a has-been.  You are one of the most talented, charismatic wrestlers in this entire company...and you are not going to be 'melted in the pot of jobbers.'"

Jay absorbed his girlfriend's words and kept his eyes locked on hers.  He realized just how lucky he was to have her.  After a moment, Jay finally spoke.

"I love you, Trish," he said softly.

"I love you, too, Jay."  They kissed tenderly.

Adam and Amy watched their friends for a beat, then glanced at each other.  The redhead, suddenly uncomfortable, quickly shifted her eyes elsewhere.

As she averted her gaze, Amy didn't notice Adam wince.  He was being reminded that he would never be as close to her as Jay and Trish were with one another.

"...he is my friend, and that's all he'll ever be..."

*

Later that night, Amy strode into the hotel's small bar.  She was looking for Chris and found him.  Her friend, who was currently climbing quickly up the WWF's ladder by feuding with The Rock, was sitting with Andrew Martin.

"Hey, guys," she said with a smile as she came over to sit on the barstool next to Chris.

"Hey, Ames," Drew greeted.

"Hey, you," Jericho smiled.

"What's up?"

"Well, believe it or not, I was just trying to talk Drew here out of making the biggest mistake of his life."

The redhead leaned in closer.  "And what might that be?"

"Asking out Torrie Wilson!" Chris replied in a loud whisper, a look of horror on his handsome face.

Amy made a face of her own.  She wondered if Drew knew everything Chris had told her about Torrie.  Her guess was probably not, because she knew that the tall blond didn't like slutty girls.

"Now, Drew, why would you want to go and do that???" she asked.

"Ah, because she's so damn hot," the big man replied.  "I know you, being a woman - a straight one - don't get that, but it's true...however, after all this guy just told me, I'm not so sure..."

"Wasn't she just screwing Shane McMahon last month?" Chris muttered after a swig of beer.  "She's trash, Junior...you don't know where she's been."

"Damn," Drew said, arching an eyebrow, "if Matt wasn't already with Stacy, I'd ask her out...she's a really great chick...man, Hardy's a lucky man."

Amy smirked at all the "man" talk.  She thought that if the level of testosterone increased anymore, she would have to leave.

All of a sudden, Chris stiffened in his seat.  "Guys, you're not going to believe this, but...speaking of the devil, Torrie just stepped in..."  He subtly glanced her way without turning his head.

Great, Amy thought.  That's just what I need.  She wondered if the blonde would try to hit on Drew right there in front of her.  It seemed Torrie enjoyed hitting on her male friends in her presence.

Amy suddenly realized what she'd feared wasn't going to happen as she spied the platinum blonde slipping into a booth to join Billy Kidman, who sat several feet away.

As Torrie passed by without so much as a word, Chris exhaled the breath he'd been holding in relief.  Drew turned around to stare at the young woman, not caring about being obvious.  Amy turned toward her friends and rested her chin on her hands, elbows propped up on the bar.

"What's she doing now?" Chris mumbled to her.

"Nothing - she just joined Kidman at a table over there," she replied, gesturing in the general direction with a slight turn of her head.

"Good."

It was obvious that the guys would no longer be discussing Torrie, so Amy decided to change the subject.

"So, Chris...looking forward to your WCW title match against The Great One?"

"You bet, Ames...To think I finally get to win that thing - and after the three grueling years I spent in WCW and could never even get a shot at it!  Ahh, what a rush!"  The blond's crystal blue eyes shone in his excitement.  "This is almost like the ultimate revenge, I tell ya..."

The redhead smiled and patted him on the shoulder.  "Well, you sure deserve it, Junior," she said, poking fun by addressing him with the name he always used for everyone else.

"Oh, I was so glad to see that asshole get his clock cleaned!" they suddenly heard Torrie's voice loudly exclaim.

Amy's ears perked, the fine hairs on the back of her neck suddenly on end, but she didn't turn around to stare at the annoying woman.  Instead, she tried her best to ignore her.

"Well, he deserved it!  He deserved a lot worse!  The guy must be gay for rejecting me!"

Amy, Chris and Drew all exchanged glances.  They all knew who Torrie was talking about.  Chris rolled his eyes.

"I hope the next time Adam Copeland gets hit in the head with a steel chair, he bleeds!"

Amy whipped her head around sharply to stare daggers into the blonde.  She was suddenly furious.

"Torrie, calm down," Billy Kidman was saying placidly, placing one hand across the table on her arm.

"No!" the blonde shouted.  "I hate that guy!  He made me feel like a fool!  There I was, on his bed, offering myself to him, and he said no! Nobody does that to me!"

Chris smirked as he turned toward Drew.  "I do...Eddy Guerrero does...and oh, yes - Adam does, too," he muttered softly, then shook his head.

Amy, meanwhile, could not believe her ears.  Had Torrie really done what she'd just told Kidman she had?  Offered herself to Adam??  She glared at the blonde, stepping closer to her booth as Torrie continued her verbal assault of her friend.

"Hey!" the redhead shouted, over her limit with the woman.

Torrie looked up at her quickly, her face reddening slightly.  It was evident to Amy that she hadn't even noticed her presence until that very moment.  She was truly that self-absorbed.

"H-hi, Amy," the other woman stammered, trying to regain her composure but failing miserably.  There was the smile.

"Don't 'hi' me, you bitch," Amy hissed.  "Stop talking trash about my friend!"

Torrie widened her blue eyes slightly.  "I didn't...I mean, I wasn't-"

"Don't bother lying to me, Torrie...I heard every word."

By the bar, Drew nudged Chris.  "Uh oh...looks like Ames is about to kick somebody's ass!"

Seeing that the "innocent" tactic wasn't going to work, Torrie's face suddenly exhibited her true emotion - anger.  "Oh, excuse me," she spat.  "I wasn't aware I was talking to you!"

Amy felt a vein throbbing in her temple.  "You don't have to be talking to me - I don't like the stuff you said about my friend...and I don't like you."

Surprisingly, Torrie stood up and came over to Amy, standing toe-to-toe with her.  They glared at each other wordlessly for a moment, then, to the redhead's shock, Torrie slapped her.  Amy's head was rocked to one side with the surprising force of the blow, and her cheek stung.  She placed a hand to her face for a second, then, quick as a flash, she swung her right fist directly into Torrie's face with all her might.

Billy Kidman sprang up from the table, in shock.  At the same time, Jericho and Drew, abandoning their beers, ran over in time to see the two women fighting on the floor.  Other men in the bar hooted and howled at the scene with appreciation.

As Torrie tried to yank a handful of Amy's hair, the redhead again pummeled the blonde in the face, catching her in the jaw.  Suddenly, Amy felt a pair of strong hands lifting her up and off her nemesis.  She struggled mightily to free herself, but to no avail.  She realized it was Chris who was holding onto her when she heard him yell, "Enough!"

Kidman had helped Torrie to her feet, and now the blonde tried to charge for more of Amy's punishment, but the dark-haired man grabbed her from behind like Chris had Amy.

"I don't want to hear...you...talking shit...about him again!" the redhead shouted furiously, trying to catch her breath as she pointed an accusatory finger at the other woman.

Torrie simply stared at her, lifting a hand to her face.  She would later develop a shiner, as Amy had punched her pretty hard in the eye region.

Amy knew the blonde was terrified as she stared back at her and didn't speak.  She could plainly see the fear in her blue eyes.

"All right, show's over!" Chris bellowed as he steered Amy over to the bar, Drew beside them.  The two men placed some bills on the table, then took the diva out of there.

"Nice work, Ames," Drew said with a wink of appreciation.  "You sure gave it to that witch."

Amy eyed him wordlessly, then shifted her gaze to Jericho.  She couldn't quite believe what had just happened.  She just hoped the consequences she suffered because of it wouldn't be too severe.