He felt as tired as he looked.  Over the last thirty-six or so hours, he had slept very fitfully, on and off.  He was lucky if he'd gotten two solid hours at a time.

It was late afternoon as he stepped into a back entrance of the arena.  So intent on getting to Eric Bischoff's office, he didn't even notice the man that was standing in the hallway nearby.

"Young Adam...whatever brings you here to RAW?"

The tall man turned his head in the direction of the heavily-tinted British accent to see William Regal.  The man was standing beside a table upon which was a coffee machine, cups, sugar and other paraphernalia.

"Hey, Regal," Adam said.  "Actually, I'm here to speak to Eric Bischoff...would you happen to know where he is?"

"Certainly..."  The man took a gulp of his coffee, then pointed down the hall as he told the Canadian which door he needed to go through in order to see RAW's General Manager.

After thanking Regal, Adam set off down the hall to go directly to that room.

The door to Bischoff's office was closed as he came to it.  Adam paused for a moment as he heard the man's annoyed voice shouting at someone.  He wondered who the unfortunate victim of the GM's wrath was until he heard a female voice speaking softly - Stacy Keibler.

Adam took a deep breath, deciding he would at least interrupt and thus postpone the tall blonde diva's further tongue-lashing.  He rapped hard on the door with his knuckles.

"Come in!" the man's angry voice barked.

The Canadian, surprised that Bischoff hadn't first asked who was at the door, turned the knob and stepped inside.  The boss' back was to him, as the man was standing.  Stacy's brown eyes widened slightly as she saw him.  He knew what she was thinking - she was wondering what on earth he was doing there.  Everyone knew how loyal he was to Stephanie and SmackDown.  Besides, from what he'd heard about Eric Bischoff from Amy and his friends who were on RAW, the former WCW president was no picnic to work for.

The General Manager turned to see who had so surprised the tall diva, and when he saw Adam, he looked surprised.

"Edge...what are you doing here?  Taking my advice after all?"

Before Adam could reply, he went on.  "So, you've decided to come to RAW..."  The man wasn't asking, he was making a statement - an arrogant assumption, at that.  His face looked as smug as his voice sounded.

"No, Mr. Bischoff...that's not why I'm here."

"Oh," the GM replied, and the tall blond man didn't miss the note of disappointment in that single word.  "Very well...Stacy, excuse us..."

The tall blonde woman nodded at him obediently, almost as though she were afraid of Bischoff.  She managed a tiny smile at Adam, mouthing the word "hi" as she stepped past him and departed the room.

"Now, what can I do for you?" Bischoff asked the moment Stacy was gone.  He crossed his arms, his face looking displeased as he faced the blond man.

"I came here about Amy..."

"Is that so?  Well, she had better be here with you tonight, or else..."  Bischoff gestured with a pointing finger as he spoke before crossing his arms again as he leaned against his oak desk.

Adam ran a hand through his hair as he tried to control his rising temper.  He'd promised Amy he wouldn't do anything drastic, and he didn't want to do anything to threaten her job.

"She's not," he said, looking the man straight in the eye.

"What?!  I told you I was going to fire that woman if-"

"She's in the hospital," Adam blurted calmly, cutting Bischoff off.  He was getting fed up with the man.

"In the hospital?  Why??  She seemed fine the other day.  Oh, wait...is she getting plastic surgery?  Tell her she doesn't need any God damned plastic-"

"No!" the blond man shouted.  "If you would just let me-"

"Then what the hell is that woman's big problem?!" Bischoff yelled.  "Or is this a bunch of bullshit you're handing me bec-"

The man's words were cut off as Adam, enranged well past his limit, suddenly lunged, grabbing him by his shirt collar.  He lifted the shorter man up a bit to glare directly into his shocked eyes.

"Look, you pathetic little prick..." he spat, green eyes wide.  "...Amy is in the hospital, and not only is she not here, she will not be able to appear on your damn show for awhile...you see, if you'd let me explain over the phone last night, I would've told you then - and you wouldn't be looking scared enough to piss your pants right now..."

Bischoff swallowed hard as he stared into the taller man's eyes.  As he listened to his words, he was painfully aware of the fact that he was literally shaking in Adam's grasp.

"...the reason she's in the hospital," the Canadian continued, his voice nearly a snarl, "is because she was carrying my baby with an ectopic pregnancy - and she's just had emergency surgery to get rid of it..."  With that, Adam let go of the sniveling General Manager, his fingers releasing Bischoff's collar as though it were a flame burning his flesh.  The man sickened him as his facial expression went from fear to shock and perhaps even regret.

"Oh, God..." Bischoff murmured.  "...I'm so...God, I'm sorry...I had no idea."

"Of course you didn't," Adam muttered.  That's because you never gave me a chance to explain, you prick!  He still felt furious, but at the same time, his other emotions - the sorrow and grief he felt over the loss of his and Amy's child - swelled up inside of him.

"Okay," Bischoff said as he unconsciously straightened his collar, "Amy can take off as much time as she needs to recuperate...I'm sorry about...the baby."

The tall blond Canadian's expression was stern as he eyed the man and nodded.  Then, without another word, he turned and walked out of Bischoff's office.

*

The pain... The pain that wracked her body was horrendous.  The young woman wept, unable to contain the harsh sobs that ripped through her.

She hung her head, partly in shame and partially to mentally curse herself.  Not for the first time, she wondered why she hadn't walked back with one of the guys to the hotel at which they were staying on Queens Boulevard.  She couldn't believe where she was now, and all because of her own stupidity.  She always had to be so determined to prove to the guys that she was strong and could take care of herself - that she could hold her own.  It was because of that attitude that she was imprisoned in this fucking cold basement and had just been raped by a God damn lunatic who thought her "stage" name was her real one.

Part of her wanted to die - to just slit her wrist or throat or whatever and end her life the way her innocence had ended.  She hadn't been a virgin, but her innocence to violence and violation of the worst kind had been stripped away - in a most brutal fashion.

The other part of her wanted desperately to survive - to somehow escape this Godforsaken place and get the ultimate revenge on the sick bastard - see to it that he was found out and found, and ended up rotting the rest of his pathetic existence in prison.