Chapter four

Vince McMahon had been talking to one of the crew when he looked at the monitor. He nearly exploded with panic when he saw Amy being held by The Big Show and The Rock, looking absolutely terrified.

"What the hell is going on?" he yelled to anyone within earshot. Mark walked up behind him then, and looked at him strangely.

"What's the matter with you?"

"They got Amy! The dumb idiots, they were supposed to take Bethany!" he said, nodding at a girl who was standing looking impatient.

Mark felt his heart thunder in his chest when he looked at the monitor. Rock and Big Show wouldn't hurt her, he knew, not intentionally. But Bethany knew what moves were going to be made on her and Amy didn't, plus she looked like she was on the verge of passing out.

"How the hell am I gonna get her out of there without ruining the show?" Vince asked, heading to the stage entrance anyway.

"Wait, I can do it. Cue up my music," he said, marching out as his music instantly filled the arena.

He rushed out to the cheers of the crowd, pulling his face into its habitual frown and snarling at the two wrestlers holding Amy. He practically threw himself under the ropes and stood up in front of the two men, grabbing a microphone for himself.

"You've got the wrong girl," he stated loudly, glaring at them and pulling the Big Shows arm down with some force, his eyes softening slightly when he looked at Amy. She was visibly shaking and her face was as white as chalk. He dropped the microphone out of range and leaned down to her. "Just go along with this honey, and I'll get you out of here, okay?" He watched her nod her head slightly, her eyes huge and frightened. Rock heard what he said and looked down at the girl he held, his brow creasing in quick realisation. He knew it was best to play along with this. "What are you talking about, the wrong girl? This is McMahon's latest piece of ass, and we're taking her for ourselves, unless someone's gonna try and stop us?"

"She isn't McMahon's, she's mine, and I will stop you, boy," he threatened in his most deadly tones, getting an ear splitting roar from the audience.

Rock widened his eyes in mock horror and abruptly pushed Amy gently towards Mark. "Have her, she ain't worth it anyhow, Dead man!" Rock yelled. "It's McMahon we want to fight, not you!"

"You'll be fighting me if you touch what's mine again, do you understand?"

Rock sneered at him and nodded. Suddenly Vince strode out with Bethany, smiling evilly up at the Rock.

Amy was in a stupor by now, not really hearing what was going on around her, just concentrating on breathing. She felt strong arms lift her up again and started to panic, struggling against the seemingly immovable body holding her. "Shh, honey, it's just me, okay?" Mark asked her, still frowning as he was in character, which simply set her off more.

He watched helplessly as her eyes rolled up in their sockets and she flopped limply against his chest. It made it easier to carry her, and the audience were lapping it up, thinking it was all part of the act, but he truly wanted to break someone's neck for this. He took her as quickly as he could to the backstage area and into his dressing room, the nearest place he knew of that he could lay her down. When he had deposited her on the couch, he knelt down next to her and pushed her hair out of her face, stroking her cheek softly and waiting for her to come round.

Her eyes fluttered open a few seconds later and then widened as she tried to push herself away from him.

"It's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you, alright?" he said, holding his hands up in front of him.

Amy took a deep shuddering breath and nodded, before putting her hands over her face and bursting into tears. Mark felt totally helpless. "I'm sorry," she said, her voice muffled behind her hands and barely audible.

"Honey, you haven't got anything to be sorry for!" he said, pulling her into his arms and cuddling her. She didn't object to the comfort and he rocked her, amazed at how right it felt to be holding her like this. "They made a mistake, that's all. They would never have hurt you, but they thought you were someone else."

Amy sniffed and nodded, calming down a little. "I guess it scared me," she mumbled.

Mark chuckled at that understatement. "I guess it did."

"You must think I'm an awful coward," she whispered against his neck.

"I don't think anything of the sort. Those two are enough to scare the sh...er...the life out of fully grown men, let alone a little bit like you!" he said, his voice rumbling pleasantly against her face.

A knock at the door made him glance up and Glenn stepped into room, looking at the scene in front of him with raised eyebrows and not a small amount of shock. "I hate to interrupt, old buddy, but we gotta be out front in 3 minutes!"

Mark swore softly. He nodded to Glenn and watched as he left the room, waiting until he was gone before moving Amy gently away from him. "I have to go, sweetheart. I have a match."

Something that one of the other wrestlers had said in the ring suddenly filtered into Amy's mind. "They...they called you dead man."

"Yeah they did."

"But that's...didn't they...who are you?"

"Honey, I'm The Undertaker. Looks like you nearly worked it out for yourself! Listen, stay here all you like or go back to Vince's office. I'll be back soon and I'd like to make sure you're okay." He sat her back on the couch and ran a finger down her face, wiping away the remnants of her tears. "You gonna wait for me?"

Amy nodded, wondering at the odd emotions she felt when he touched her. He didn't scare her as much as he had, and he certainly didn't scare her as much as she thought he should have. He stood up and then bent to place a small kiss on her lips, almost as an afterthought. He was gone before she could react in any way and she sat there, touching her suddenly tingling mouth with her fingertips.

Vince walked in seconds later, looking a little worse for wear and saw her touching her mouth. "Dammit! What did they do? Did they hurt your mouth?" he said, reaching down and pulling her hand away from her lips. When he saw there was nothing wrong, he looked puzzled, then suspicious. "What's up with your lips?"

Amy shook her head. "Nothing."

"Mmm-hmm. You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It just scared me, that's all," she said, giving a shaky smile. "Can we go and watch TV in your office? I want to see The Undertaker...I mean...Mark...fight."

"Oh, so you know who he is now huh? Sure, come on," he took her hand and tucked it in the crook of his arm, walking her back to his office and setting her up in front of the TV once again.

Amy watched with fascination as Mark actually drove a huge motorcycle down the ramp and into the arena, guiding it expertly around the ring once before parking it and stepping off. With him was another huge man dressed in red and black and wearing a face mask, so she couldn't see what he looked like. She soon learned that his name was Kane and that he was supposed to be The Undertakers brother, the two of them about to have a grudge match with another two wrestlers. She winced as the fighting started. She knew it was all set up, and that the moves were pretty well choreographed, but it could look so real. And these bigger wrestlers managed to make it look that much more violent too. She soon found herself so caught up in it that she put her hand over her mouth every time Mark looked as if he was getting hurt. Before too long, both he and Kane grabbed their opponents by the necks simultaneously, and lifted them off their feet. She had a few seconds to marvel at their strength before they brought their hapless victims crashing down into the ring and apparent unconsciousness.

Kane and The Undertaker left the ring triumphant, much to the approval of the crowd and Amy smiled happily. Her smile quickly turned to a frown. Why hadn't he told her who he was? He had just let her ramble on about The Undertaker being her favourite wrestler and hadn't said a word. She felt embarrassed. She also felt an unreasonable urge to go and confront him, but she snorted at this. Yeah, right, a woman as nervous as she was, confronting a great hulking beast like him? Not likely! Even as she thought it, she shook her head. He wasn't a beast though, was he? He was very nice, surprisingly.

She realised that Vince was still sitting next to her, watching her expression with faint amusement. "Enjoy the wrestling?"

"Yeah, it's..." she searched for right word, "...very amusing."

"Not so amusing when you're in the middle of it though, huh? I'm sorry that happened. They were supposed to take Bethany out there and do their little act, but apparently she wasn't where she was meant to be and they found you instead."

"It's okay, they didn't really hurt me, I just panicked." She reached a hand up and touched her neck, still feeling slightly sore from where that enormous man had been holding it.

Vince's eyes dropped to her hand and he frowned. "Let me see," he said, reaching forward to pull her hand away.

Just as he did, Mark walked into the room, having just broken all speed records showering and getting changed. He saw what Vince was looking at and joined him, crouching by her chair and lifting her chin up with his large hand. "Dammit," he muttered, seeing the bruises forming on the slender column of her neck. He felt himself vibrate with rage at the marks on her skin and stood up abruptly, gritting his teeth. "I'm gonna go have a little word with Dwayne and Paul," he said, moving to leave the room. He was shocked when Amy reached out a small hand and grabbed his arm, stopping him from leaving as effectively as if she had placed a wall in his way. He looked down into her imploring green eyes and found himself trapped in that gaze, unable to look away.

"Please don't," she said softly, looking worried. "They didn't mean to do what they did, you said that yourself."

"Yeah, but I didn't know they'd actually hurt you, did I?"

"I'm okay, it doesn't hurt, really," she said, tugging on his huge treelike arm.

"It must hurt, it's bruised," he pointed out, sitting in a chair next to her at her gentle insistence, still frowning. "I shouldn't have left you there on your own," he persisted.

"It's not your fault either. Let's just forget about it, okay?"

"Forget about it? Right," he said, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "Like you didn't just faint from shock when I picked you up? You scared the crap out of me!"

Amy raised her eyebrows and couldn't stop a small smile forming on her full lips. "I scared you? I thought nothing scared the big, bad, dead man?" she said, lowering her voice dramatically.

Mark was surprised when a laugh burst out of his throat. "Yeah, well. A little lady like you can sure put the heebie-jeebies into a fella," he drawled, looking down at her hand still curved over his huge arm.

"I can?" she asked, her eyes wide at his sensuous tone, her heart beating that much faster at his incredibly sexy accent. He had been dropping endearments on her since he had met her, but for some reason she found it nice. Other men that had done the same had made her feel somewhat uncomfortable. She blinked at the heated look he was giving her and cleared her throat in discomfort. She must be imagining it, she thought. A man like him would never look twice at someone as plain as her. Mind you, she mused, her eyes dropping to his very sexy mouth, he had kissed her. Even though it had only been a tiny kiss, to her it meant a lot.

Mark saw her eyes drop and cursed the fact that Vince was still in the office, keeping himself busy behind his desk and pointedly ignoring the two of them while surreptitiously watching over his goddaughter. He knew that if the older man were absent he would have pulled her against him and kissed her senseless, an urge he found hard to suppress even with their current audience.

"Do you...er," he cleared his throat and lowered his voice. "Are you seeing anyone?"

"No," she answered, honestly wondering why he had asked.

"Good, I mean, well, do you have plans for dinner?" he found himself asking before he even thought about it, and he felt odd, almost embarrassed like he had when he was about seventeen and had asked a girl out on a date, a girl he had been lusting after for months. For some reason he felt unsure of himself right now, waiting for her to answer him.

"Yes, she does," Vince said from the background, proving that he had been listening to them all along. "She's eating with Linda and myself tonight and tomorrow night. Of course, you're welcome to join us tomorrow if you'd like, if Amy doesn't mind?"

Mark glanced briefly at Vince and then pinned Amy with those burning eyes once again. "How about it, sweetheart? Would you mind if I joined you?" he asked, thinking of another kind of joining he'd much rather be doing with her.

Amy shook her head. "I'd like that," she said, smiling shyly.

He smiled back and then narrowed his eyes. "Sure you ain't gonna be scared, darlin'?" he drawled deeply, in his best Undertaker voice.

She contemplated his words seriously for a second. "No. No, you wouldn't hurt me," she said, gauging his kindness and the gentle way he had handled her.

"Damn straight I wouldn't." He brushed his fingers gently down her cheek and then stood, making arrangements with Vince on where to meet the following evening and what time, before winking at her and leaving the room.

Amy let out a deep breath when he left, feeling her heart beating overtime in her chest. She heard Vince chuckle and turned to see why he was so amused. "I don't think I've ever seen Mark act so gentlemanly in all the years I've known him. You seem to have a strange effect on him, Peaches!"

Amy blushed. "He's very nice," she said softly.

"Apparently so. You sure seem to like him, anyway," Vince pointed out, chuckling again and shaking his head. "Well, I'm finished here. Let's go find Linda and get ready to go out, shall we?" He took her arm and guided her out of the room, a silly grin still spread across his face.