Chapter 20

Her eyes slowly fluttered open the following morning, groaning when she tried moving and felt her muscles straining against her will. She had to get up though and slowly sat up, looking down, raising an eyebrow at the Kane t-shirt that was on her. Glen must've brought her back because this was her hotel room. She sighed heavily, raking a hand through her hair, and groaned when she felt mud in it. Oh yeah, it was definitely time for a shower.

She peeled the shirt off and threw it in her bag, seeing that's all she was wearing, and knew Glen must've stripped her of her sopping clothes. She didn't mind, she knew he would never hurt her. Turning the shower sprays on, Grace stepped inside and let the hot water assault her, groaning as her muscles contracted. Last night had been surreal and she was still wondering if it was all a bad nightmare.

Glen slipped back into the room, carrying two hot coffees, not sure if she drank coffee, but...He heard the shower running and glanced at the bed, seeing the mud staining it and knew housekeeping was going to have a field day, sighing. He drank his coffee quickly while she was in there, putting his mask back on the minute he was finished. Hopefully she didn't mind it that he'd changed her, he didn't want her catching cold.

Grace walked out a half an hour later, a towel wrapped around her body and drying her hair with another, stopping when she seen Glen. "Morning." She murmured, walking over and taking the coffee before kissing his masked cheek. "Thank you big guy." She whispered, tossing the towel to the side after her hair was just damp, not soaking wet. "I don't mind what you did. Don't worry about it." She stated from behind, knowing he was wondering if she cared he'd stripped her. Grace grabbed the Kane t-shirt with a pair of blue jeans and garments, walking back into the bathroom, and changed. The shirt wasn't dirty and it was the only one she had clean at the moment. Laundry time. Sighing, she walked back out, seeing the mud was just on the pillow, and slipped her shoes on before resuming sipping her coffee. "Are you alright?" She asked softly, knowing he had to be in some sort of pain from last night.

Glen nodded, watching her curiously. Other than his legs feeling a little stiff, he had woken up feeling excellent, which is more than he could say for her. "I pulled the splinter out of your hand." He said finally, gesturing to her hand. "You should probably put something on it again, just so it doesn't get infected." That splinter had been a long and ugly and made him shiver.

"I did while showering and put a bandage on it, see?" She held it up, smiling at him sweetly before beginning to brush her hair out. Grace noticed it when she was taking a shower, remembering how much that hurt. Damn splinter. It had been worth it though, at least she helped Glen out of the hole, and shivered involuntarily at the look in Mark's eyes. He did it on purpose and she knew it. She pushed that thought out of her mind, setting the brush aside and walked over, wrapping her arms around Glen's neck tightly, glad he wasn't hurt. "Thank you." She whispered, pulling back to stare into his eyes. "Thank you for everything you've done." She meant it, knowing it was hard for him to battle his big brother.

Deciding not to tell Grace how much he had wanted to smash Mark's skull in, Glen just nodded. "You're welcome." He whispered, standing up slowly. "Would you ride with me today?" He asked, not too comfortable with her driving by herself, not after what had happened the night before. He couldn't be too sure what his brother would do.

Grace smiled at him, knowing he was going to be even more protective of her now, and nodded. "Sure, let me gather my things up and we'll get going." She said, watching his body relax, and winked before zipping her bag up after throwing her toiletries and whatnot in it. It took her five minutes and Grace was ready, keycard in hand, and pulled the blanket over the pillow, giggling when Glen shook his finger at her. "They'll get over it." She snorted, walking out of her room, and headed to the elevator, smiling when Glen took her hand. She leaned against his side, feeling safe and secure with him. Even though she was older than him, she considered Glen a big brother and always would.

Glen somehow wasn't surprised to see Paul Bearer coming and stopped him from getting on the elevator, a growl escaping him as he ushered Grace onto it.

"Gracie..." Paul pleaded, trying to stick out his foot to stop the doors from closing only to pull away with a panicked yelp when Glen's own foot kicked his away. "Please?" He sighed when the doors closed in his face.

Grace stopped Glen when they got off of the elevator, watching as her father came stumbling through the doors, having taken the staircase. "Hold on." She whispered to him, crossing her arms in front of her chest, and stared down coldly into his beady eyes. "What do you want, Paul?" She demanded, seeing the heartache in his eyes and didn't care. That was NOTHING compared to what he made her feel and suddenly Grace felt the anger well up inside of her. "No, you know what? I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear anything you have to say to me. You lied to me for YEARS about my boys. Though I guess you brainwashed one of them while the other was smart enough to get away from your manipulation. You make me sick. I hate you. I hate everything about you. Because of you, they will never be brothers, they will fight each other until their dying day. You told me...you told me Mark was dead...and all this time..." She started crying, feeling Glen's hand on her shoulder. "I'll never forgive you for what you put me through, for what you put THEM through, for everything you've done." She couldn't stand the sight of him before running away and out the door.

Shooting Paul a warning look to keep away from her, Glen chased after Grace, his long legs catching up with her before she had gotten too far. "Grace..." He reached out a hand, gently touching her shoulder, his voice muffled under the mask and sighed, turning her around to pull her into his arms. Wishing there was something he could say or do to take away her pain.

"He broke my heart. For years I mourned over you and Mark, YEARS Glen. And he has the audacity to try to talk to me? He lied to me and watched me go through the pain and heartache, never saying a word to me. I don't care what his excuses are, he needs to stay away from me. I don't have a father anymore." She held him tightly against her before slowly pulling back, wiping her tears away. "Come on, let's get out of here." She took his hand and let him lead her to the rental car, wanting to get as far away from this hotel as possible.

For a brief moment that he credited to temporary insanity, Glen had been tempted to tell her that Paul had probably thought he was doing her a favor by protecting her from Mark's obvious madness. He didn't for a few reasons. One, he didn't trust Paul and couldn't defend him, the guy had stuck him in an institution for Christ sakes. Second, she didn't need to hear someone lying about her father just to make her feel better.

~!~

Later on that night, Grace and Glen pulled into the arena parking lot, after grabbing something to eat at a McDonalds. It wasn't the greatest, but they had been in a hurry. She slid out of the car, pulling her hair up in a messy bun, not caring how she looked and decided to leave her bag in the car. Glen had asked her to start sharing a hotel room with him, promising double beds, to which she started laughing and teasing him. Together, hand in hand, they walked inside the arena, not caring what people were saying. He wanted to protect her and Grace honestly knew she wouldn't be able to stop him even if his life depended on it, especially after what happened the previous night at his parent's plantation.

"Wait a moment." Steve halted when he seen them, one leg frozen in the air, blue eyes taking in their joined hands. "You two dating? Kane, you go man!"

Glen was glad for the mask, it hid the fact that he was blushing.

"To be honest, I wasn't sure if ya had the parts to keep a woman, but...good to know!" Steve slapped Kane on the back before continuing on his way.

"We're not dating, cue ball." She snorted, causing him to stop, and suddenly was running down the hallway away from him as he chased her. "Steve stop it!" She squealed, knowing what was coming when he caught up to her, catching her and threw her over his shoulder. "Put me down right now Austin!" She ordered, laughing as he began tickling her sides, seeing Glen was simply shaking his head in amusement. She laughed when he pulled her away from Steve, breathing heavily, and smacked him in the arm, seeing his blue eyes twinkling. "I'm not dating anyone, Glen is like my brother. That would be incest and I'm not going down THAT route, ever."

"Incest? Only if he was blood related." Steve snorted, shaking his head sadly at Kane, blue eyes still sparkling. "So you remain dateless to this day?"

Sighing exasperatedly, Glen nodded.

"Hmmm...Well, that puts on the brakes."

"I remain dateless too." She stated emphatically, shaking her head. It was true. Steve was the only one she had dated for a short period of time. Then they had an awkward sex session and decided to be friends. It was fine. Grace didn't want a boyfriend, not with everything that was happening in her life. No offense to Glen, but she couldn't see herself with him, ever. They were too close to even consider something and besides, she didn't want to complicate things between them. "I'm late! I gotta go!" She kissed Glen's cheek then Steve's before flying down the hallway toward Larry's office.

Larry was already busy with the Undertaker. "You actually walked into him?"

"He walked into me."

"With what?"

"His fist."

Larry cleaned the gash across 'Taker's eyebrow, shaking his head. "What'd ya do?"

'Taker smirked.

Grace walked in and stopped, seeing Larry was working on Mark, taking a deep breath. "Evening Larry." She greeted with a smile, setting her bottle of water down. "Sorry I'm late." She immediately got busy wiping down her station, ignoring Mark's presence completely, hissing at her hand and shook it a little. When Larry asked what happened, she sighed heavily and looked back at him. "I got a really bad splinter and I don't want to talk about it. I'm fine. It's bandaged securely so I can work." She assured him, slapping on some gloves. "Besides, that's why we wear these." She grinned.

"Smartass." Larry snorted.

"'Taker!"

"Ken."

"No fighting Ken." Larry warned.

"Where the hell is Ryan?"

"Last I knew still asleep in my bed, she's a bit worn out."

Grace closed her eyes momentarily upon hearing that, finishing up and nodded at Larry when he asked her if she could handle the stitches. "Yeah, go on."

She watched him escort Ken Shamrock out the door, leaving her alone with Mark, and didn't say a word to him. She knew Larry was hesitant about leaving her alone with this monster, but she was professional and this was her job. She couldn't pick and choose who she sewed up and dabbed the rest of the wound before turning to the sutures. She would not speak a word to him, her focus on the task at hand, knowing the sooner she did this the sooner he would be out of here.

He stopped her before she could suture him. "It doesn't need stitched. It needs a butterfly bandaged and it'll be fine. Larry overreacts." He said quietly. He had made the mistake of wearing his eyebrow ring today, the resulting gash was from it being ripped out. He wasn't keen on his eyebrow being stitched anyways, that would look ridiculous.

"That gash is over two inches long and deep. You need stitches. Now either sit back and get them or get out of here and stop wasting our time." She stated evenly, shrugging when he stood up and threw the sutures back on the tray. She wasn't going to force him into them. Let him bleed to death. She could only hope as she whipped her gloves off and threw them away, washing her hands, wanting to get his touch off of her. She felt him behind her and tensed, drying her hands. "Leave me alone Mark." She ordered evenly, trying not to show emotion, gripping the sink with her hands.

"Why should I?" He asked, his tone curious.

"There a problem in here?" Larry demanded, walking back in and halting. "'Taker, get it stitched."

"No. I have an upcoming match with Kane tonight and it'll sell better if he 'busts me open'." 'Taker said flatly. "I'm already busted so I'm going to have wardrobe hide it until he punches me."

Larry had to admire the man. "That is slick."

She sighed when Mark refused to leave her alone, turning around to stare into his green eyes. "What? What the fuck do you want?" She snapped, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Seriously, what the fuck do you want? I'm tired of the games, Mark. I'm sick of them. Just leave me the hell alone, how hard is that? I wouldn't think it would be that hard considering I don't want anything to do with you. I said my goodbye. Now if you're gonna do what you said, then why the fuck are you even in here wasting our time? We have other Superstars to see and treat." She walked around him and toward her station, trembling from suppressed anger.

"Better check her temper, Larry." 'Taker drawled amusedly on his way out the door. "Coming from a wanna-be doctor, that's not very professional." His laughter remained long after he was gone.

"What a dick..." Larry muttered, looking over at her. "You alright, Grace?"

"I'm fine Larry." She said in a softer voice, taking a few deep breaths, and flashed him a smile though it didn't reach her eyes.