This chapter contains adult situations and profanity. You have been warned.


"What's on your mind, Hun?" Peter asked a distracted Amy. For the entire evening, she was thinking about Matt.
'Why doesn't he like me?' she sighed inwardly, feeling like a sixteen year old girl all over again. "Oh, nothing," she smiled guiltily. Here she was on a wonderful and very expensive date with a guy who adored her, and all she could think about was the dark haired Hardy.
"Are you sure? Are you feeling all right? Do you want to go back to the hotel?" Peter asked worriedly. "No, I'm fine. I'm sorry, I've just been preoccupied with work, that's all," she lied.
"Well, forget about that, and concentrate on us," he smiled taking hold of her hand. Every guy had his flaw, and not liking wrestling was Peter's. He thought it was fake and barbaric, but Amy would always try to convince him that it was neither. She nodded her head and looked into his clear blue eyes. They were a beautiful colour, but they held no warmth. Matt's eyes were always… 'No, stop thinking about him!' Amy commanded herself. He's not here, in front of you, in a five star, roof top restaurant. He's in his room, being completely stupid and oblivious to how she really felt for him. Men… can't live with them, and can't figure them out…

The evening was wonderful, technically, but Amy's heart just wasn't into it. Her thoughts would always wander back to Matt. Everything seemed to remind him of her. It got so bad, that she started seeing him everywhere. Peter noticed this, and his brows furrowed. Instinctively he knew what the reason was, and it annoyed him. It seemed like days before the two headed back to her hotel.
"Thank you for a lovely evening," Amy smiled at him, relief evident in her eyes.
"It was my pleasure, but does it have to end so soon?" Peter asked giving her his best 'Take me inside' look that made all the girls sigh and giggle.
"Actually, I'm exhausted, and I really just want to sleep. I'm sorry. Maybe another time," she said as a statement rather than a question. She knew that this was one of the last times, it wasn't fair to him, or her.
"Come on. You've been cold and withdrawn for the entire night. Give me something," he replied with anger evident in his voice.
"Excuse me? I'm sorry no. This isn't working…" she started but he grabbed her wrist quickly and held on to her tightly.
"I've spent hundreds of dollars on you tonight. I'm not going home empty handed," he growled quietly as he grabbed the keycard from her hands and shoved them through the lock. Before she could react, he pushed Amy into her room and shut the door.
"I'm warning you. Get out now," Amy's breathing became uneven. Who was this man? This wasn't the gentle and quiet Peter she knew. This was an animal, an angry vicious animal.
"Or what, Amy? You going to try one of your little wrestling moves on me?" he sneered pushing her to the bed.
"Get out!" Amy glared while her voice got louder.
"I don't think so," Peter said before he pinned her down on the bed with his strong body. He kissed her roughly, but Amy was twisting and struggling.
"Stay still," he slapped her across the face. Amy was stunned, and this gave Peter the opportunity to kiss her again, forcing his tongue into her mouth. Amy nearly gagged and she bit his tongue hard.
"Bitch," he swore hitting her again, this time harder. It was hard enough to send Amy seeing stars. As she tried to recover from his blow, his hand squeezed her right breast harshly. Amy cried out in pain and she struggled more, but he had his knee in her stomach and every move she made only made his knee dig in. He ripped the delicate dress off her front to find she wasn't wearing a bra. "Hmm.. a slut, should've suspected it," he sneered before his head went to her bare breast. He began sucking harshly and then bit down on the small brownish pink bud. Amy cried out louder this time and this only fueled him. "You're going to give into me," he boasted before switching nipples and attacking the other one. This time his knee had traveled lower until it was between her thighs. Peter grinded his knee between the juncture of her thighs and Amy had enough.
"Amy? You alright in there?" she heard Jeff's voice outside her door, knocking gently. Hearing his concern gave her the strength she needed and the distraction. With all her might she shoved Peter off her and sent him flying to the floor. She scrambled up off the bed and held the tattered dress and made a dash for the door. Just as she was going for the doorknob, Peter stuck out his hand and grabbed her foot, causing Amy to fall and hit her head against the door. She moaned weakly when the throbbing set in almost instantly. "Amy! Open up!" Matt said pounding the door.
Matt had never been more scared in his life. He heard a muffled, but clearly angry, female voice on the other side of the room. Then obvious sounds of some sort of disagreement, and Jeff and him were knocking the door. He heard a thud against the door and then a weak moan. For the entire night, he had an uneasy feeling but he couldn't figure out what it was. "Hey Jeff, did we turn of the stove before we left home?" Matt asked at around nine thirty.
"I'm pretty sure we did, why?" Jeff asked.
"I've got this bad feeling inside, but I don't know why," he answered. The two called their dad and asked if he could check for them. A few minutes later, he called to say the house hadn't burnt down, and the stove was indeed off. 'Then what the hell is my problem?'
"Amy, open up, Baby!" Jeff said, now his turn to imagine the worst. He heard hushed voices out in the hall, just a few minutes ago, knowing that Amy must've been back. What was going on behind that door? A few minutes and heart stopping thumps and cries of distress, Amy finally opened the door, disheveled and nearly naked. The front of her dress had been torn and she was holding it back up while holding the door open, tears streaming down her voice.
"Amy!" Matt pushed past him to hold her and Jeff looked behind them, just to find himself being shoved backwards by an enraged looking Peter. He began running down the hall to the stairs exit, and Matt was soon in pursuit of him. As his older brother passed him by, Jeff saw that look of pure rage in his brother's eyes, and if he wasn't stopped now, Jeff knew that Peter wasn't going to be alive the next day.
"Matt, no," Jeff tried to hold his brother back, but he wouldn't be stopped. By this point in time, a few other wrestlers peeked out of their rooms to see what the kafuffle was.
"Matt, please no," Amy's quivering voice quietly called out. Jeff probably wouldn't have noticed that she said a word if it wasn't for his brother stopping dead in his tracks. Jeff knew the power that Amy unknowingly had over Matt, and never really knew how far it went until now. For all of his life, Jeff knew Matt was the most determined person he'd ever come across. Once he had his mind set on something, he did it, or at least tried to. Nobody had ever stopped him; until now.
"What happened?" Jason asked, speaking for the small crowd. Jeff just shock his head, telling them that it was better if they went back to their rooms. They understood and obeyed, sensing that they couldn't help even if they wanted to. Matt still had his back turned to the two. Amy was shaking furiously, and Jeff had to put an arm around her to steady her. "I'm going to kill him," Matt growled. "No, don't leave me," she said before breaking down into tears. At that moment, Matt turned around and rushed to her side. Jeff saw the pain in his brother's eyes, and all of his uncertainty of how these two felt about each other died. Amy turned her head and cried into Matt's shoulder as he cradled her in his arms. Jeff looked at his brother and nodded. He knew that these two both needed each other. He kissed Amy's forehead and then left to his room as Matt carried her into her room. 'I hope you guys find each other,' Jeff thought to himself.

"Matt," she sobbed weakly. Matt felt his heart breaking at her pain.
"I'm here, Baby," Matt answered tenderly. He had never thought he'd see Amy, the strongest woman he knew, so broken and defeated. "What happened, Baby?"
"I just wanted to… he tried… I pushed him…" she hiccupped.
"Ssshhhh. It's okay, you don't have to talk about it," he stroked her hair while holding her possessively in his arms on the bed.
"I was tired, and I wanted to go in, but he got angry at me and he tried to… he tried to…" Amy began, but she couldn't get past the last part.
"I know, Baby, I know the rest," Matt interrupted and kissed the top of her head. "Why was he mad?"
"I was thinking about other things during the date, and I wasn't really paying attention to him. He said he spent hundreds of dollars on me, and the least I could do for him was…" she trailed off helplessly sobbing once more. "Matt, I was horrible to him…"
"No!" Matt said sharply, Amy looked up alarmed. "No," he repeated lowering his voice. "You didn't do anything wrong, anything to deserve this. Nothing, do you hear me, Amy?"
"But I was…" she trailed off looking away.
"No, Amy. Nothing you could've ever done or said made you deserve this. You did nothing wrong. It was that asshole…" Matt trailed off, his mind wandering. Matt knew that if he ever saw that asshole ever again, he would pound him so hard…
"Matty," she sighed leaning into him. Her voice brought him back from his murderous thoughts.
"I won't let him hurt you," he whispered maneuvering them both so they were under the blanket.
Amy snuggled closer to Matt. As horrible as this night his been, she found comfort in his strong arms. She heard the edge in his voice when he was talking about Peter, and she heard the sincerity and gentleness when he said he would protect her. Matt pulled Amy close and enveloped her in his arms. She welcomed his arms and pressed herself closer to him. With both arms, he moved her up so she was using his chest as a pillow. Amy felt and heard his heart beating and she closed her eyes, concentrating on Matt and Matt alone.

As comfortable as she was, Amy just couldn't get to sleep. She lifted her head up slowly to find Matt sleeping soundly with a bit of a frown on his face. For minutes, Amy just watched this man under the moonlight. Half of his beautiful face was covered with shadows, but the other half illuminated under the pale light. Even though his eyes were closed, Amy knew the warmth in them. She could fall into the depths of his chocolate brown eyes. Her gaze traveled lower, to his tall nose. Then down to his pouting lips. She wanted to reach out and brush her fingers against them, but she kept her hands where they were. Then she etched the image of his sleeping face into her mind, never wanting to forget the gentleness and kindness he'd shown. She slowly stood up, careful not to disturb Matt. She quickly took off the dress, wanting to burn it, and put on an old t-shirt with shorts on. She went to the bathroom and looked at her reflection. A bruise was starting to form under her eye, and she touched it gingerly. Wincing at the sting, she ran facecloth over cold water and wrung it out. Walking out of the bathroom and going to the window, she pressed the cloth under her eye. She watched the sleeping city bellow her, and thought about Matt.
He watched her motionless form for a long time. Waking up to an empty bed alarmed him, but he calmed down when he noticed her at the window. She looked so beautiful, even in her t-shirt and shorts. He loved her like this, natural, just Amy. He noticed that she was holding a facecloth to her cheek. He got up quickly and silently, making his way to the vision in front of him.

Amy jumped when Matt came up from behind her and put his hand on her shoulder. "You scared me," she sighed turning her head.
"Sorry, Ames. Didn't mean it," Matt answered taking his hand off her shoulder.
"What's wrong with me?"
"What? Absolutely nothing!" Matt answered quickly putting his arms around her. "You're perfect."
"Then why'd this…"
"Because that guy is an asshole. It wasn't your fault."
"It was the first time I ever felt helpless. He hurt me…" Amy broke down into tears again.
"Ssshhh…" Matt turned her around and hugged her tightly. "I'll never let anything hurt you ever again. I promise." Once more, Amy blubbered like a baby while Matt held her patiently. He walked them over to the bed once more and held her in his arms. Amy started talking, and didn't stop until it was three thirty; an hour later. She couldn't believe how patient and how understanding Matt was. He never interrupted her, he let her speak her heart, and he was genuinely interested in what she was saying. Amidst the tears, she was falling harder and deeper for this man.
"Matty…"
"What is it, Baby?"
"Don't ever leave me."

When Amy woke up the next morning, the right side of her face was aching. She looked up to find Matt staring down at her.
"Good morning," he smiled sweetly.
"How long have you been awake?" Amy asked groggily.
"A few hours."
"Why didn't you wake me?!"
"You needed your rest. And you looked so peaceful, I didn't have the heart to bother you," Matt answered. "How are you feeling?"
"My head hurts, and so does my cheek," Amy sighed getting up. "I just want to forget that last night ever happened."
"You can't do that, Baby."
"Why the hell not?" Amy snapped involuntarily. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell."
"You can yell at me all you want. But you gotta do something about that guy."
"Oh, I did. If memory serves me right, by this point in time, he should have a nice big shiner."
"Don't ever do that again," Matt said staring straight at her.
"Do what?! Nearly get raped? I'm sorry, Matt, I'll try not to next time. I guess I was leading him on for the entire night, right? And when I didn't feel like doing anything, I called foul! What, do you think I'm a slut too?" Amy yelled losing it again, tears flooding her eyes.
"Amy no! I didn't mean it like that, I'm sorry. I… I only meant to say that you scared me last night. You scared Jeff too. We don't like seeing you hurt. I don't like seeing you hurt. I didn't mean it like that at all!" he exclaimed getting off the bed and wrapping his arms around her.
"I'm sorry Matt. I shouldn't have yelled at you. You didn't do anything wrong," she sniffed.
"Neither did you," he murmured gently.
"Thank you for being so wonderful to me," Amy closed her eyes and leaned into him. "I don't know what I would've done without you." Amy felt the tears in her eyes once more, but it wasn't because of last night. Never in her life had she felt so loved, and so wanted, but Matt made her feel it, and he didn't even know. He had no idea the power that he held over her.