A/N: Indie, Immy, Sandy, Aestrid, Ty and his gang, Sachael and her family (Sachael and Lila in flashbacks only), Andre and Molly are Cry-Of-A-Warp-Engine's characters.
October 20th 2015…
"Hey… Finn, what…" Amanda whispered, having woken up to the sounds of screaming a few rooms down the hallway of the hotel. She'd had a tough few days and Finn had been there to help her relax herself through the events… but waking up now, he too heard the yelling and his eyes widened a little, as it sounded young, and distressed.
"Damn it… come on, follow me." Finn said, the two getting up and Amanda putting the hotel key in her pajama pants pocket before they left and reached the room. Amanda knocked on the door before it opened, Indie shaking violently… and Amanda reacting on instinct and picking her up.
"It's okay, kiddo… it's alright." Amanda whispered as the undersized 12 year old cried into her shoulder, her arms wrapping tightly around Amanda.
"N… no it's not, she's… she's dead, she's gone! He shot her and shot me!" Indie responded through her tears, Amanda seeing half of the scar in her shoulder uncovered by the neckline being disheveled to one side, and knowing it was from a bullet.
It wasn't long before Indie fell back asleep and Amanda looked at Finn.
"She wore herself out… the question on my mind is where's any of her family members?" Amanda whispered, lightly stroking Indie's light brown hair as Indie was using Amanda's left shoulder as a pillow.
"By the looks of it… she's not even a teenager yet…" Finn responded quietly, before his eye was caught by the opel blue book on the bedside stand. He wouldn't normally have touched anyone's diary, that was a person's innermost, personal thoughts on those pages. But he and Amanda both needed to know who Indie was, and why she was alone in a hotel at no older than 12.
"First pages sometimes have things like… an 'about me' thing, when they're child-oriented." Amanda whispered, remembering one she'd had herself when she was little. Finn opened it, the first page being a blank separator to the thin cardboard cover, but the second was what Amanda had suspected.
"Yeah… name, age, family…" Finn responded, before he quietly read it out. "Indiana Evon Lucas. 12, with 11 and 10 crossed out. Family names… 'Mommy said she liked to be called Isi, I wish she wasn't dead, I miss her a lot'..." He paused after that, sitting down as his legs seemed to lose their strength as he read that. "Dad… in big capitals, 'PSYCHOTIC MEANIE'... Aunts or uncles… her mom told her that her sister lived in France last that she knew, but that was years ago as…" He then flipped to the second part of the 'about me' section. "Because… she's been parentless since she was 6 years old…"
Amanda carefully sat down and Indie clung on tighter to her, having calmed down and was dreaming a happier dream.
"Mama…" Indie whispered, Amanda kissing her on her forehead… on the side of the table was a picture of a newborn Indie, her mother and a much younger Seth.
"I'll go wake him up… stay with her, she's already gotten attached to you." Finn whispered, lightly hugging Amanda and Indie.
"Second floor, room 216." Amanda said quietly, Finn heading out of the room.
Seth growled as he heard knocking at the door and pulled himself up, going to the door and opening it.
"What happened?" Seth asked, noticing the serious look on Finn's face.
"There was a kid in a night terror that woke me and Mandy up, we went to check on her. Seth… there's a picture on the table in there of her as a newborn with her mom and… you." Finn explained.
"Indie?" Seth said quietly before grabbing his hotel key and following Finn up to the fourth floor. When they reached the room, Seth saw how Indie was clinging onto Amanda and walked over, Indie opening her eyes.
"Mommy knew you a long time ago… she said you were her best friend." Indie said quietly.
"Why are you here alone in this place, kiddo?" Seth asked.
"She's gone…" Indie answered with tears in her eyes, Seth sitting down and resting his hand on Indie's back.
"If there was ever a woman who knew me better…" Seth started to say, stopping himself as he trailed off. "Don't you have… some sort of foster parent?"
"Yeah… sort of. They… move me around and pay for my rooms." Indie answered.
"What… they won't have you in the house? Do you even see them any other time?" Seth questioned, turning angry but hiding it.
"Their little girl didn't like me… they separated us after she started hitting me, even when they told her not to… no… I don't see them any other time. Only when they move me every few months…" Indie answered.
Indie rested her hand on Amanda's face and saw the tears, Indie lightly brushing them away.
"You look… so tired, so stressed…" Indie said.
"We're on the road a lot… but we're adults, it's no life for a kid." Amanda whispered.
"It's been years since I… stayed in one place for long. Not since they made me move…" Indie replied, before tensing up her upper body and wincing slightly.
Amanda lightly rubbed her hand up and down Indie's back until she calmed down, Indie looking at Seth.
"Can I stay with you?" Indie asked, Seth nodding and the three helping Indie settle into Seth's room.
Finn looked for Amanda after realising how quiet it was and then walked to the elevator… when he got into it, he reached the lobby and walked outside, finding Amanda bundled up in a trenchcoat to block out the mid autumn chill.
Reaching over, Finn pulled Amanda into his arms as he knew she was trying to hide that she had been crying.
And he knew she was understandably furious at how Indie had been treated…
Present time, August 1st 2016…
Seth took a swing at Finn and Amanda but they kicked him and then his right hand entwined with her right one before they hit him with a Double Pele Kick and Seth fled the ring as Finn and Amanda stood tall.
"You want to cheap shot me?! At SummerSlam, you're done for!" Seth shouted.
Finn turned to Amanda and cradled her face in his hands, seeing tears in her eyes.
And it was clear that Seth saying "It should've been you instead of Sachael that died.", while scripted, had hit Amanda hard.
