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.
"Who… does that to a kid? To anyone in their care, just because someone else didn't like them?!" Amanda hissed, anger slipping out as she spoke.
"People who aren't fit to be parents to their own kid, let alone one they take in…" Finn responded, holding Amanda close to him as she shivered. She unfolded her arms and wrapped them around him as the predawn light began to subtly become noticeable.
But neither were aware of a woman with dark blonde hair a few feet away until she kicked the stone step, the two seeing her with rage in her green eyes.
"The hell do you think you're doing, messing around with that kid?!" The woman growled.
"She needs love and she sure as hell isn't getting it from you. Maybe you should have your own head examined and be put on antipsychotics, you cold bitch!" Amanda responded after she and Finn let go and his right hand remained wrapped around her left wrist.
"Yeah, for putting her where people like you could get to her! We'd have her in the house if it weren't for our own daughter trying to kill her about a year ago! She probably told you that she was hit by her, what about the fact that the day we moved her out, my own daughter came home with a damn knife in her bag?!" The woman responded.
"And did you take it away?! No, you kicked Indie out instead of putting your own kid in therapy or getting her to see a psychologist!" Amanda replied, the woman seeing the knife scar on the palm of Amanda's left hand.
"Well the thing is we did that in an attempt to make it safe for her to come back, and three different therapists said along the lines of 'she's been made mentally allergic to outsiders'... reminiscent of an immune system, something turns up that shouldn't normally be there and she fights it off, even tries to destroy it! And two of them had the damn nerve to blame it on how we've been raising her!" The woman responded, stepping back slightly as she noticed that Enzo was watching from inside the lobby with eyes that were clearly locked to intercept her if she made any sort of physical threat.
"If you didn't want kids or want to raise them properly, you should've had your tubes tied!" Amanda hissed, grabbing the woman's right hand to prevent herself from being slapped and Enzo running outside as Finn pulled Amanda back.
"The hell is going on out here?!" Enzo asked.
"Oh this bitch, Enz… she fostered a practically orphaned kid, then because she and her own child didn't get along, she holes the kid up in hotel rooms, moving her every few months and never seeing her apart from when it's moving time!" Finn responded, as Amanda's anger shot eyes were locked onto the woman, who was glancing between the three of them.
"You can damn well believe that the authorities are gonna look into this, take your own kid away and have you and your husband taken off any foster parent lists, now fuck off!" Amanda said threateningly. The woman stood at about 5'9" where as Amanda was barely 5'1" but she didn't have the kind of strength Amanda had and stormed off into the early morning.
Finn helped Amanda sit down, Enzo crouching down and resting his hands on Amanda's knees to get her to look at him.
"She'll be safe now… Indie won't have that woman or her husband to worry about, you'll be far from alone in making sure of that." Enzo said, looking at her too.
"Seeing Indie like that… I think something's wrong with her heart, she was guarding her upper body." Amanda whispered as she felt Finn's hands on her shoulders.
"She might have a problem… you know what to do? Give her a bit of time to settle into having people around her again… then maybe take her to the hospital, or have a doctor come out and check her. Find out through them or maybe dig out her medical records…" Enzo replied, standing up again after kissing Amanda on her forehead.
Enzo headed back into the hotel, Amanda leaning against Finn as his arms wrapped around her.
"I told you… about little Connor Michalek, right? Sweetest little boy in the world. He had terminal brain cancer… the night before he died, Daniel and I went to go see him and he looked stronger, I thought he was getting better. And when we found out he was gone… no child should ever have to be sick, it's not right…" Amanda said quietly as Finn brushed her tears away.
"It isn't… but we'll find out if anything is wrong with Indie and if it can be treated or cured… none of us, even the craziest of who we know, will let her suffer." Finn replied.
Amanda nodded and let Finn pull her up to her feet, taking her back into the hotel and resting his hands on her face to try to warm it.
"We're not gonna be able to settle back into sleep and you know it." Amanda whispered as the two hugged.
"I wouldn't have expected it… we'll be tired as hell later on but we can't help it, we won't be the only ones." Finn responded, before they let go as they stepped into the elevator to take them back to the room.
As early as it was, they got ready for the day and headed back downstairs… heading outside, they saw Baron, who immediately noticed Amanda's reddened eyes.
"Something tells me you've had a hellish time so far." Baron said after they stepped over to each other.
"I… was about to beat the hell out of a cold hearted woman who'd rather put her foster daughter in a hotel than put her biological child in therapy. I hate it when people treat kids like that." Amanda explained as Baron reached down and adjusted the Balor Club beanie on Amanda's head.
"Don't we both… I presume you got the kid safer than alone in a room." Baron responded.
"She's staying with Seth… he knew her when she was a newborn." Amanda said as she and Baron hugged for a few seconds.
"Go… go clear your minds for a bit, you two." Baron responded before Amanda and Finn left… he waited for a bit before heading into the hotel and sitting down.
"Was that Mandy that just left? Why is she up so early?" Corey asked after sitting down next to his friend.
"She ran into a kid… who's lost her parents and then been mistreated by her foster parents." Baron explained.
"Damn… has anyone called the police?" Corey asked.
"I'm not sure but Amanda… she was gonna hurt the foster mother and badly." Baron responded, Corey knowing it was true.
After breakfast, Finn and Amanda were still out in the city… and Finn looked over to the passenger side of the rented Altima, seeing that despite the espresso, Amanda was asleep.
"I don't blame ya one bit…" Finn whispered, pulling over and grabbing a blanket from the back before putting it over Amanda.
At the arena, Hunter looked towards the security doors and back at Aestrid.
"It's only 9:30, who's here?" Aestrid questioned.
"Mandy and Finn… yeah, they are up early. Come to think of it, why are you as well?" Hunter responded, turning to her at the end.
"Crazy night… Val, JJ and Wayne know how to make a bar night last." Aestrid answered, Hunter noticing that her eyes were slightly bloodshot from the restless morning and the lingering alcohol in her system.
"And that's why I don't drink anymore." Hunter said before heading out to the parking lot with her and over to the car.
"I'll explain everything once she's stretched out on the couch…" Finn responded, opening the passenger door and unbuckling a still asleep Amanda before picking her up into his arms.
In the arena after Amanda was on her right side, Finn explained what had happened and Hunter crouched down to Amanda, lightly brushing her hair back as she slept.
"You know… that kid will probably be a bit freaked out when she realises what we all do. To someone her age who doesn't know… fighting for a living isn't what they'd expect to find out. I just hope that Seth puts his quarrels with you two aside, at least for the time being, to take care of Indie. She confides in him because she feels she can trust someone who was trusted by her mom… if that got damaged, it may well be irreversible after all she's already lost." Hunter said quietly.
"I hope he does." Finn responded as Amanda relaxed a little more, reminding Hunter of how Amanda was as a child.
