Chapter twenty-seven

Glenn paced around the waiting room at the nearby hospital and wished he smoked. Tammy had stayed behind to wait for Linda and let her know what had happened. They hadn't been able to get the older woman on the phone immediately, and none of them could wait around doing nothing, so Tammy had offered to stay. Glenn was waiting for her arrival and for Vince to come back from wherever he had disappeared to once they had brought Stephanie in.

As for Mark, no-one knew where he had gone. Glenn had used his cell phone and called virtually everyone he could think of, but had come up with no leads. He would wait only as long as it took to find out how the two girls were and then he would go and find him himself, and slap him upside the head for abandoning Amy like that, he thought grimly.

He turned as the waiting room door burst open and Tammy came rushing in, closely followed by Paul Wight, Paul Levesque, Dwayne Johnson and lastly, Kevin Nash, all of them looking shocked. "What's going on, Glenn? Are they okay?" Dwayne asked while Tammy rushed over to hug the big man.

"Stephanie was bought in a short while ago, so I'm not sure about her. Amy," he shook his head and grimaced, "she stopped breathing and me and Shane did CPR. The paramedics took over and managed to get her back, but other than that I don't know. It doesn't look good if you want the truth."

"You think she'll die?" Kevin asked him, looking sombre.

"Let's just say I wouldn't be overly shocked if she did. That scumbag stabbed her, he actually stabbed her and he was beating on her too...I wanted to kill him!" Glenn growled, looking furious.

"But you saved her didn't you?" Tammy asked him softly.

"I guess so, but it doesn't feel that way right now. Stephanie's been shot in the arm. God what a mess!"

"What about Mark and Vince? Where are they?" Paul Levesque asked, frowning at the emptiness of the waiting room.

"Vince is somewhere around, probably talking to the doctors. Mark went AWOL at the scene. No-one has any idea where he is."

"I'll find him," Kevin said, moving towards the door. "I have a fairly good idea of where he might be."

Glenn grabbed his arm, stopping him. "Wait a while. We need to know how Amy is before we find him, in case he asks."

"He doesn't deserve to know!" Kevin said fiercely and glared at Glenn, shaking his hand off.

Glenn raised his eyebrows and grimaced. Kevin Nash in a bad mood was not something anyone needed right now. He was well known amongst the wrestlers for his bad temper, and he was an equal to Mark when he got angry enough. A smile briefly touched Glenn's mouth. Maybe he should just let him go and find Mark and knock him about for a while, teach him a lesson. He stared at Kevin silently for so long that the older man became slightly uncomfortable and ran a hand through his hair.

"Sorry man, I shouldn't have yelled at you, it ain't your fault," Kevin said, sitting down suddenly on a chair and leaning his arms on his knees.

"It's okay, we're all a bit tense at the moment. But I still think we should wait a while, okay?" Glenn said, taking a seat himself and beginning the long wait for news.

Vince eventually joined them, looking worn and every year of his age, Linda and Shane trailing in behind him. Kevin was the first to jump up. "How are they?"

Vince remained standing whilst everyone else sat down. "Stephanie will be fine, eventually. The bullet went straight through her arm and just grazed the bone, but luckily there was no nerve damage. She'll have a hell of a scar and she's lost a lot of blood, but she'll be fine." He took a deep breath and shook his head. "Amy...she's not doing good. They're operating on her right now. It seems the knife wound wasn't the worst of it, although it caused major blood loss. It was the beating she took that did the most damage."

Tammy started crying against Glenn's shoulder and all the men in the room became silent as they waited for Vince to continue. Kevin stood up and started pacing around, unable to keep still any longer.

"He busted one of her ribs and the rib punctured her lung, that's why she stopped breathing. If Glenn and Shane hadn't kept working on her she would be dead now, or severely brain damaged."

"Why are they operating on her? What are they doing?" Kevin asked quickly.

"They can't re-inflate the lung for some reason and she's still bleeding profusely, so they have to find out why. They said she has a fifty-fifty chance of surviving." Vince ran a hand through his hair and closed his eyes, his pain showing for a moment.

"You don't think she's going to make it do you?" Kevin asked, slumping back down in his chair in shock.

"I really don't know what to think," Vince replied, going over and sitting next to his wife, pulling her into his arms as he comforted and was given comfort in turn.

It was nearly two hours later when a surgeon finally walked into the room, looking around at the assembled wrestlers with surprise. He turned to Vince, the one person he had seen before and smiled, making the older man's legs almost go out from under him with relief.

"She's doing fine. We had to remove a portion of her lung I'm afraid, but she won't even know it's gone. She's had a transfusion and we've sorted out the blood loss. Now all we have to do is wait for her to wake up," the surgeon said, happy that this one had worked out so well. He had seen similar cases where the victim had died whilst they were desperately trying to save their life.

"Can we see her?" Vince asked, managing to get his shaky legs to stand up.

"Well, only you and maybe your wife, she's only just come out of the recovery room. Give me a while and I'll arrange for you to see her in ICU."

"God, thank you so much," Vince said, grabbing the man's hand and shaking it enthusiastically. "If there's ever anything you need, anything at all..."

"Mr McMahon, you've contributed so much to this hospital over the years that it's just nice to pay you back for some of it," the surgeon said, shaking his head.

"Yeah, but this is different, this is personal. Thank you," Vince said again, letting a smile touch his mouth as the panic left him.

"It was my pleasure. Give me ten minutes and I'll send a nurse for you, okay?"

Vince nodded and watched as the man left the room, closing his eyes with heartfelt relief and then turning to the others. "Where's Mark?"

Glenn grimaced and relayed the story, seeing fury written in Vince's eyes, and then sudden understanding. The last emotion confused him and Vince could see it. "I know how he feels," Vince explained. "I believed what that asshole made her say, and so did Mark, and neither of us should have listened to one word. We should have known."

No-one contradicted him and eventually they all settled down and talked about everyday things, trying to keep their minds off the awful events of the day. A nurse came and got Vince and Linda and the others waited impatiently until they got back, their heads bursting with hundreds of questions they wanted to ask.

"She's okay, she's already shown signs of waking up, but they think she'll probably remain out of it until tomorrow at least. She looks a damn mess though." Vince said, looking angry again. "I've never seen so many tubes and wires coming out of one person!"

He looked at Glenn and then at Kevin, pursing his lips. "Do either of you two know where Mark might be?"

Kevin nodded. "I have a good idea."

"Good, let's go and find him then, shall we?" Vince asked and then turned to his wife, kissing her on the forehead. "I'll be back soon okay?"

Linda nodded. "I'm staying here until I know both of them are settled properly," she said, worry still evident in her face. "Shane will stay with me."

"Okay honey. Take good care of my girls okay?" Vince said, smiling sadly and then leaving the room, motioning for Glenn and Kevin to follow.

"Hey what about us?" Paul Wight asked, standing up and dwarfing everyone else.

"Yeah," Dwayne seconded, standing next to him.

"You lot can all go home," Vince told them, his voice and his expression brooking no arguments. "We don't need you to help us right now, but you're welcome to come back and see the girls tomorrow."

This seemed to satisfy them and they all nodded and started to move. Glenn grabbed Tammy to him and gave her a kiss, cupping her face in one big hand. "I hate to leave you like this, but I have to go beat some sense into Mark. You just stay here with Linda and I'll come and get you later okay?"

"It's okay," Tammy murmured, running one hand up to smooth his hair. "I want to be here in case there's any more news anyway. I'll see you soon."

Satisfied that everything was sorted out, the three men left the room and made their way outside to search for Mark.

They found him some time later, sitting in bar drinking one whisky after another. He looked up as the three of them surrounded him, his mouth drawn down in a scowl.

"What the fuck do you want?" Mark asked blearily, glaring at Vince like he was responsible for all his troubles.

"I want to tear your head off, but I guess I'll have to wait, because in this condition you wouldn't even feel it. And I want you to feel it, you son of a bitch! What the hell is the matter with you?"

"Me? What are you talking about?"

"I thought you loved her, but I guess I must have been mistaken. No-one who loved her would up and leave her when she needed them the most," Vince snarled, settling himself next to Mark and snatching the bottle of whisky away from him.

He expected Mark to argue or shout, but he said nothing, losing his angry demeanour and starting to look how he really felt, depressed. "How is she?"

"How the fuck do you think she is? And why do you care?"

"Will she be okay?" Mark continued, feeling guilty again.

Vince stared at him for some time, reading his expression correctly, and he relented. "She will be, eventually. But she needs you, Mark, more now than ever."

"She needs me?" Mark asked, surprised.

"Of course she needs you, you big dope. Christ you're stupid sometimes," Glenn said, motioning for the bartender and ordering a pot of coffee. "Get sober and get to the hospital. She'll be unconscious 'til morning, but she'll need you when she wakes up and remembers what happened."

"She'll blame me for all of this, for not believing in her," he murmured, rubbing one big hand over his face.

"No she won't, she won't blame any of you. You know how giving she is, regardless of what life's thrown at her."

Vince listened to Glenn speak and then reached out and awkwardly patted Mark on the shoulder, trying to ease the deep pain he could see in the other mans eyes, the slight mist of moisture that was quickly blinked away. "She loves you so much, that even if you had been the one hitting her, she'd forgive you. Don't you know that?"

"I don't fucking know nothin' any more," Mark mumbled, taking the coffee that was placed in front of him and gulping at it, relishing the burning on his lips and tongue. He stared blindly into his coffee cup.

Vince gave him a sympathetic look, knowing he wouldn't want anyone to see him like this. "I'll go catch a cab, but Glenn and Kevin are going to stay with you, to make sure you get sobered up. Listen," he said, placing a hand on Mark's shoulder. "Don't make it so hard on yourself. You didn't do this and you didn't let her down, so stop blaming yourself. That little girl loves you and I have to believe that she is intelligent enough to have picked someone with a brain to fall in love with. I want nothing more than to see you get to the hospital and make her happy, but don't do what you think is the right thing, do what you really want to do, okay? I'll see you."

Mark lowered his head and tried to fight his emotions as Vince walked away, but it was a losing battle. Kevin gave a heavy sigh and sat next to him, grabbing him and pulling him into a quick bear hug, patting his back awkwardly. He was the only man who Mark would ever let hold him in such a way, and right now he needed as much reassurance as he could get. He smiled as Kevin pulled back and stared at him, raising his eyebrow. "Don't think this means I have the hots for you, cos I don't," he said, grinning. "Christ, I don't even know why Amy likes you, you're as ugly as a bucktoothed bull."

"Yeah, well, I'm hung like one too," Mark shot back, forcing himself to lighten his mood as he downed the coffee and stood up.

"I've seen you naked, man, I know that's a lie. A really big lie too," Glenn put in as he walked out of the bar behind both men. "If anyone here is hung like a bull it's me. Just ask Tammy. Oh, wait, you can't, she hasn't had the privilege yet."

"You two haven't done the deed?" Mark asked, distracted.

"Well, hell, no. She's...you know...she's never done it before," Glenn answered, trying not to feel too embarrassed.

"Nor has Amy," Mark said, his lips twisting thoughtfully. "But she will, as soon as she's better."

"Maybe she won't want to, what with you being so small in that department," Kevin said, laughing at Mark's outraged expression.

"When I feel more myself you'll be paying for that," Mark warned and followed them to their car.

"I wonder how I'll cope with the fear of anticipation?" Kevin mused, laughing again as Mark finally cracked a genuine smile. "Come on, let's go see your sweetheart."