When the Smoke is Going Down

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Amy awoke to the sound of Adam's cell phone ringing. She bolted up in bed at the intrusive noise, her head spinning with her sleepiness. She was momentarily disoriented as she reached for the phone but then remembered they had checked in at a motel for the night.

Reaching around blindly, she found the nightstand lamp and flicked it on. As she squinted in the harsh glare of the light, she picked up her husband's cell phone and flipped it open.

"Hello?"

"Amy, it's me!"

"Jay... What's wrong?" she asked, glancing down at Adam. He was somehow still sleeping.

"You guys need to come on over to my room, pronto!" the man said.

"What? Why? Can't this wait until daylight, Jay? Adam is sound asleep," she said softly.

"No, you have to come over now," he insisted. "It's urgent."

The redhead hesitated at the tone of the short-haired man's voice. She sighed and spoke again.

"Okay. We'll be over in a minute."

"Great."

As Amy hung up, flipping the cell phone closed, she used her other hand to shake her husband. He stirred a little but didn't waken.

"Adam, wake up," she murmured. She put the phone aside and shook the exhausted blond with both hands.

He let out a little moan of frustration and opened his eyes. He recoiled at the light for a beat, then shielded his eyes as he opened them again.

"Baby, what is it?" he asked.

Amy pushed a few strands of her mussed red hair out of eyes.

"Jay just called... He wants us to go to his room now."

the tall blond man groaned and pushed himself up. All he knew was that his best friend better have a good explanation for this.

*

Kurt yawned noisily as he stood against the wall, his arms crossed. He and Stephanie had arrived first, and he was growing impatient.

There was a knock at the door, and he turned to answer. Torrie and Shane, both looking extremely sleepy, walked inside the room.

"Come on, Jay," the Olympian complained, giving a pointed look toward his girlfriend, who seemed to have fallen asleep on a cheap easy chair nearby. "Why'd you wake all of us to come over?"

"Not yet," the short-haired blond man said. "Adam and Amy aren't here yet."

"Oh, for crying out loud! Can't you just tell us and we'll pass it on to them?" Kurt bellowed. Stephanie suddenly awoke, thanks to him.

Jay looked from him to the brunette.

"If that's what you have to put up with every morning, I feel for you, Steph."

The younger McMahon smiled.

"He's always cranky when he's tired."

Torrie frowned and turned her head to exchange glances with her boyfriend. She knew they were thinking the exact same thing - if Jay was cracking jokes right now, something good, or at least promising, must have happened!

"What's going on, Jay?" the dark-haired man asked, only to be interrupted by another knock. Since he and the platinum blonde were nearest to the door, Shane did the honors.

"Okay, we're here," a rumpled and disheveled-looking Adam said. "What is it?"

As Amy made a beeline for the bed to pretty much collapse on it, the Canadian faced all his friends in turn. He took a deep breath and let it all out in a blurt.

"I got a call about twenty minutes ago. It was from a police officer."

Angle eyed his friend with aggravation. He shrugged.

"So?"

"Kurt, shut up and let him finish," Stephanie ordered her boyfriend.

"Gee... Sorry!" the bald man cried, crossing his arms over his chest. He just wanted to go back to their room, crawl under the blanket and go back to sleep.

"He was calling from a hospital," Jay continued, as though he'd never been interrupted.

Torrie's eyes widened with horror. She took the tiniest step forward and held a hand out in the Canadian's general direction.

"Oh, God... Jay, you don't mean-" She couldn't even finish.

The short-haired blond man shook his head. Along with that gesture, he waved a hand.

"It not anything like that," he said. "The cop told me Nora was there, asking for help! Apparently, Levesque brought her there, and she managed to call for help."

Amy's jaw dropped in surprise. In fact, everyone started buzzing as though they'd never been woken out of sleep.

"Did they arrest him?"

"Is she okay?"

"Where is she now?"

All of those questions and more were hurled at Jay. He shook his head again and made the next announcement.

"The officer told me to go to the hospital to get her. If you're all too tired, I'll go alone."

"Not on your life," Adam said with a grin. He playfully smacked his best friend in the back, happy about Nora's apparent escape. "We're all going."
 
 
 
 

Part 22

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