June 30th 2004…
"Okay… your turn." 14 year old Amanda responded, handing the pencil and notepad to Ashley… the girls had started a 'Things to do before we're 30' list and were writing things down… but Ashley gave Amanda a look after reading what she wrote down.
"You want to go into the business?" Ashley asked.
"Well, yes… come on, don't you?" Amanda responded.
"Already planning my debut for next year." Ashley said.
"I'm hoping to start training by next year." Amanda responded as Strangelove by Depeche Mode played from the radio… and the volume was turned up, both seeing 18 year old Cody Rhodes. "There's the birthday boy." She said, Cody sitting down on Ashley's bed.
"Hey, hey. Boyfriends get to sit there." Ashley said as a joke.
"I'll be a boyfriend to one of you one day. And I got this." Cody replied before revealing a bottle of Jack Daniels.
"That's the good stuff." Amanda responded before the three put some of it into glasses and drank.
From downstairs after a while, Jeff and Matt heard drunken laughing.
"Woo! We're gonna need more." Ashley said, tipping the empty bottle upside down.
"Yes we are…" Amanda responded before she sat up and started to dance like a stripper in front of Cody.
And Cody was enjoying it… until the door got busted open, the three jumping in fright and seeing Matt and Jeff.
"Hey assholes! You owe me a new door!" Ashley yelled.
"And it's my-" Cody shouted, yelping when Jeff grabbed him by his shirt.
"Jeff put him down!" Ashley warned.
"Oh, I'll put him down. I'll throw him out the fucking window, you girls are drunk!" Jeff responded.
"Oh like you can talk about drinking!" Ashley yelled.
Amanda was looking back and forth between the two… and knew one day that she would look back on this…
Present time, Third Person Perspective…
Amanda opened her eyes again, Devitt waiting there.
"You haven't left…" Amanda responded.
"Wouldn't feel right to… you're in a private room, they're gonna keep you overnight. And your family's on the way." Devitt explained as he sat up, half asleep.
"He hasn't come back yet…" Amanda replied.
"He was here, just before... they managed to get away from him." Devitt said.
"Son of a bitch!" Amanda muttered, attempting to hit her injured wrist against the bed frame but Devitt stopped her. "Sorry… just really hate that they did this to me. I've known them for 10 years, they became family before I knew it…" She responded as his right hand rested on her left one… which 25 year old Seth Rollins saw when he walked in, Seth turning confused.
"Are you the one who found her?" Seth asked.
"Yes… look, if you find Jeff and Ashley Hardy, please get them into rehab. They need help." Devitt explained, Seth turning tense.
"They're the ones that hurt Mandy?" Seth asked.
"Jeff did… and then both tied me up, that's how… Devitt found me." Amanda explained as John ran in and over to her, the two hugging each other.
"As soon as I get my hands on those Hardy kids…" John muttered.
"John, they need rehab, not…" Amanda responded, cringing as pain spasmed through her back and John lightly rubbing his right hand up and down it. "A beating. Besides, you'd end up in jail for assault." She replied as they let go and John saw a sharpie nearby.
"I know but one of these days, one of them is going to end up in a coma or worse, dead." John said.
'You don't know how right you are.' Devitt thought after signing Amanda's cast and handing the sharpie to John.
Crossfire by Stevie Ray Vaughan played from Amanda's phone and she picked it up, seeing that Matt was calling and answered it.
"You feeling okay?" Matt asked.
"Yeah… Devitt told me that they got away." Amanda responded.
"Yeah they faked passing out and I got worried. As soon as I looked in there, they jumped me and disappeared." Matt responded.
"Fuck." Seth muttered.
"Yeah I've found Jeff, he's fine. He hasn't heard from Ash, figured she pretty badly hungover." Matt said.
"They're gonna have worse than a hangover to deal with when I find them." John responded after the phone was in his left hand after signing Amanda's cast, Seth signing it before capping the sharpie and setting it aside.
"I think it might be best if we leave them alone, for now." Matt said.
"Matt, I'm out six weeks because of these injuries!" Amanda responded.
"I know but there is nothing I can do about it!" Matt yelled.
"Okay, let's not let this turn into a shouting match." Devitt responded, Matt turning angry at him and was on speakerphone.
"Alright you listen to me and you listen good! They're my siblings, I'll deal with them!" Matt yelled.
And with that, the call ended and John handed the phone back to Amanda.
"He's not going to deal with them isn't he?" John asked.
"I'm starting to think Matt lost his sanity when Lita cheated on him." Amanda muttered as John held her.
Two days later….
Crossfire by Stevie Ray Vaughan played on Amanda's phone and she looked at it, seeing Jeff's number.
"Why do you keep calling?!" Amanda responded after answering it, staying at John's home.
"I just need you to answer this, have you heard from Ashley?!" Jeff asked, Amanda noticing the panic in his voice.
"No, I haven't…" Amanda responded as Devitt walked over and sat down next to her, Jeff's breathing starting to become shaky.
"I'll call you back." Jeff said.
"Jeff, don't you dare-" Amanda responded, cut off by Jeff hanging up and Amanda setting the phone down. "That's definitely a sign of something bad." She replied.
"Ring him back, you have the right to know what's going on." Devitt said.
"Damn right." Amanda responded before calling Jeff back… but it went to voicemail.
She then sent out a text to Ty.
'Hey, need help, can you please track Jeff's phone? Something feels wrong.'
After a few minutes, Ty responded.
'Mandy, you're not gonna like this but I tracked both his and Ash's phones to Florida Hospital ER!'
Helping her up after grabbing the keys, Devitt handed Amanda's crutches to her and guided her out to the Charger that John had given Amanda for her 16th birthday. When they were both buckled up and the doors closed and locked, they headed to the ER and found where Jeff was.
Ashley was on the gurney in a treatment room, doctors flushing the drugs out and her coughing when she became alert as Jeff held Amanda back from going in there.
"They're gonna save her, kiddo." Jeff whispered as he held the sobbing brunette to him.
When everyone was waiting in the ER, Matt cautiously watched Amanda as she seemed out of it while she was stretched out… her head was on Devitt's lap as he lightly stroked her hair as Show Me How To Live by Audioslave played through her earbuds.
Tubbs And Valerie by Jan Hammer was the next song to play as Amanda looked up at Devitt, her right hand entwined with his left… in the two days they had known each other, they had become close and comfortable like they had known each other their entire lives.
"Family of Ashley Hardy?" They heard, everyone stopping whatever they had been doing when the doctor walked over. "She overdosed but we flushed every trace of the drugs out and she's gonna be okay. She just needs to recover." The doctor explained, everyone taking a moment to relax before Jeff and Matt went to go see Ashley.
Her hazel eyes slowly opened, Ashley seeing her brothers and hugging them after they helped her sit up.
"I'll go into rehab." Ashley responded.
"Me too, Sis… we can't keep going on like this, we're hurting not only ourselves but everyone we love." Jeff replied.
At the same time, Amanda and Devitt looked at each other as he held her.
And as he turned the corner, Cody watched his friend being comforted by a man he hadn't met before… and he didn't like it.
