Kevin found Mark sitting outside staring up at the stars, taking no notice of the snow that fell relentlessly around them. "What are you doing out here?"
"I just needed some air," Mark said, breathing deeply and letting his shoulders slump.
"Seems to me you got a bit upset in there," Kevin pointed out, glancing at his friend as he sat next to him. He watched as Mark shrugged but said nothing. "Want to talk about it?"
"Not particularly."
"Well, I think you should. We all know what you can be like when you bottle things up," Kevin said, giving a mocking laugh that made Mark's hair almost stand on end.
"You can fucking talk! Every time something happens to you in your life, you try beating the shit out of half the roster, so don't go trying to make out that I'm..."
"There, that's better, isn't it?" Kevin cut in, grinning.
Mark stopped talking and gave a short laugh. "You son of a bitch, you always manage to get me talking."
"That's what friends are for, isn't it? That, and pointing out when you're acting like an asshole," he added. "Why'd you walk out like that? Surely you're not sulking because she didn't answer my little question?"
"I've been waiting for her to look at me and remember what I said to her. I guess she just did," Mark said, trying to sound as if it didn't matter.
"Did you see her looking at you like that? Because I didn't. She has a very expressive face, and she didn't look like she was accusing you of anything," Kevin said, looking more serious suddenly. "She did look guilty though, if you want my opinion."
"She did?" Mark asked, his head jerking around to look at Kevin to see if he was joking.
"Yes, she did. Vince told me she apologised to you virtually the moment she woke up, so she must be blaming herself for all this." He pursed his lips. "That's bad enough, for her, without you blaming yourself as well."
Mark shrugged. "I can't help it. I keep going over and over what I said to her."
"It ain't your fault, man, I would probably have reacted the same way," Kevin said, having heard the full details of what went on.
"Yeah but it wasn't you, was it? It was me. I was the one who grabbed her and shook her, I was the one who yelled at her....God I should have seen it, I should have known..."
"Right that's it!" Vince yelled, startling both of the men sitting outside as he came up behind them. "I have had just about enough of all this! Amy is the one we should all be thinking about and the way you're acting at the moment you'd do her more harm than good!"
"Yeah but.." Mark began, trying to interrupt.
"Yeah, but...nothing! She doesn't need this and you need to get your head sorted out Mark." Vince stared the younger man down until he retreated and looked away. "That being the case, you're going back on the road as soon as I can arrange your flights. No arguments!" he bellowed when Mark tried to object. He lowered his voice and sat next to the younger man. "I know you want to be around Amy, but you won't be any good for her if you're this uptight. Get back on the road, do your stuff, sort your head out and then come back and see her. I'll keep you informed the whole time okay?"
Mark sighed deeply and slumped. "I don't want to leave her."
"I know you don't, but you know I'm right. She needs time to recover and she'll probably hate you being away as much as you will."
"Then why the hell send me away?" he demanded, frowning.
"Because you're driving everyone crazy, that's why!" Glenn snapped, joining them outside with Tammy and Paul Wight shadowing him.
"How do you expect me to behave?"
"Not like this! You've been blaming yourself and anyone else who happens to be near you, and we've all had enough. I've said it until I'm blue in the face, it is not your fault, not my fault, not Amy's fault. The blame lies entirely at the door of that asshole she used to work for and he's paying for it right now. So enough." Vince sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "You get the hell out of here and let her get better. She'll be waiting for you when you get back."
Mark stood up. "I don't see why the hell I should...."
"You'll do what's best for Amy," Glenn said, standing next to him.
"Damn right you will," Vince agreed, giving him a hard look. "I'll call you with regular updates." When Mark looked like he was going to argue again Vince frowned. "Actually, maybe I won't. I'll call Glenn, or Kevin. If I have to listen to you blame yourself for this one more time I'm liable to fire your sorry ass!"
Mark and the others watched as he walked away from them, Linda giving them an apologetic smile as he joined her at their car. Kevin stood up and brushed some flakes of snow from his tux. "Well, I suppose we'd better go and get some sleep. Sounds to me like we're going to be sent on our way later today, Christmas Day or not."
Mark stood up next to him. "I'll come back to your hotel for tonight, but not just yet. If I have to leave then there's something I have to give Amy first."
Kevin raised his eyebrows. "Don't you think she's a little ill for that just yet?"
It took a second for his meaning to sink in and then Mark glowered at him. "Not that, you idiot! God, how did I ever become friends with someone like you?"
"Just lucky I guess," Kevin said, grinning inanely. "Okay, we'll see you back at the hotel. But don't you keep that little girl awake any longer than she needs to be!"
"Don't worry, I ain't gonna wake her up," Mark murmured, walking off before anyone could ask him what he was going to give her that she didn't need to be awake for.
He walked into her room quietly and sat next to her, studying her relaxed face and brushing the backs of his fingers over her soft skin. He really didn't want to leave her, but Vince was right. He was in no fit state to help her recover at the moment, but he would be when he'd worked through this guilt trip, and then he'd come back. Putting a hand in his pocket he pulled out the pendant on it's chain and opened the clasp, leaning forward to slip it around Amy's neck and settle it on her chest. "There you go sweetheart," he whispered, lifting her hand to kiss it. "It's back where it belongs."
He stood up and gave her one last look, then left the room.
****
Vince came back to see her later that day, and this time he wheeled Stephanie in the room in a wheelchair. "Here you go, someone wanted to come and see you," he said as he parked his daughter next to the bed. "I'll just go get some coffee for us and I'll be right back," he said and left the room.
"Hey, how are you doing?" Stephanie asked, smiling and grabbing Amy's hand.
"I'm feeling a bit more normal today," she replied, starting to feel better now they had reduced the pain medication. It was still being pumped into her body, but in lesser quantities, so her brain was functioning a bit quicker now. She looked at the sling Stephanie was wearing and grimaced. "Are you okay?"
"Yes I am. Don't let the wheelchair fool you, the nurses wouldn't let me walk here, but I'm feeling pretty good. Actually it's not as bad as I thought it would be. It hurts, sure, but I've broken my arm before and that hurt worse. I was lucky though, he could have shattered the bone, that would have made it really bad." She saw the look of pain that crossed Amy's face and squeezed her hand. "Don't you dare feel bad about this, or anything that you said. Dad told me you felt guilty, and there's no need. You're not the only one who said some awful things you know. I had to tell Dad that it was you when I spoke to him on the phone, remember?"
"You had to, Tony was threatening to kill us," Amy said, and Stephanie wondered if she was even listening to her own words.
"Exactly, which is why you can't blame yourself either. I'm okay, and apart from a scar, I'll heal up nicely. Anyway, I'm pretty sure I could get a plastic surgeon to look at it if it's that bad. On the other hand," she said, smiling wickedly, "I might be able to show it off to people as a genuine war wound! Maybe it would impress people, you know, men?"
"Men? Any man in particular?" Amy asked, picking up on the odd note in Steph's voice.
"Er...no, not really. Well, maybe," she admitted, biting her lip and looking slightly embarrassed.
"Who?" Amy asked, honestly curious as Stephanie hadn't shown any interest in anyone as far as she knew.
"Promise you won't laugh? You won't say anything to dad or anyone?" the older girl said, the colour getting worse.
Amy looked confused for a second. "I promise."
"Well, I sort of like...er..Paul," she said quietly, looking at Amy to see what her reaction would be.
"Paul? I thought you already pretended to have a relationship with him?"
Stephanie was the one who looked confused now, and then her mouth formed an 'o' as she realised what Amy meant. "You mean Paul Levesque? HHH? No, not that Paul. I mean Paul Wight," she said, her voice dropping to a whisper again as she said his name, as if she was saying something wrong.
"You like The Big Show?" Amy asked, surprised all over again.
"Yeah. I know, it's probably stupid. But he's actually really nice and we've been talking a lot lately, and he came and saw me the other day." She raised her eyes to Amy's again. "Do you think we'd look stupid together?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you know, he's huge and stuff and he's older than me. I don't know, I guess I'm worried what people will think."
Amy smiled as she thought about Paul Wight, and what a lovely man he was. "I think you'd be cute together, he's really nice. Why worry about what other people think?"
Stephanie smiled with relief. "I guess I shouldn't give a damn huh? You're the first person I've told that I like him. He doesn't even know yet."
"Does he like you back?" Amy asked, shifting about as she tried to get more comfortable, making the pendant shift with the movement.
Stephanie shrugged. "I don't know. I don't even know if he'd tell me if he did like me, most of the guys I've been out with are worried because they think I'm the rich bitch they see on TV."
"But Paul sees you all the time, he knows what you're really like," Amy pointed out.
"I suppose," Stephanie said, then smiled. "You know, I guess I could invite him to the next party we have, or the next dinner or something, see how it goes."
"He'd probably like that," Amy said, smiling as Vince walked back in the room and Stephanie gave her a warning look not to say anything.
"Peaches," he said, dropping a kiss on her head and sitting down, handing Stephanie a cup of coffee. "Sorry, honey, none for you until the doctor says so," he said apologetically to her as she watched the two of them drink the fragrant drink.
She looked up at the clock on the wall and bit her lip. "Is Mark...is he not coming today?"
Vince looked at her. "No, honey, he isn't. I sent him back on the road so we didn't have to put up with his misery."
Amy looked at her godfather in confusion. "Misery?"
He nodded and smiled. "Someone seems to think this is all his fault, and we were just about ready to kill him. So he's gone."
She felt tears sting her eyes and she blinked them away, feeling another load take their place. "He isn't coming back?" she whispered, her lip trembling.
"Hey, don't get all watery on me! He'll be back in a few weeks. If it helps, it was hard getting him to go, he didn't want to leave you."
"He just feels sorry for me," she mumbled, wiping at her eyes and sighing, her hand falling to her throat and a frown creasing her forehead. She felt her pendant and looked down at it, wondering how it had got back there. Before she could voice the question, Vince started speaking again.
"No he doesn't. He feels a lot of things for you, honey, but not one of them is pity, so stop talking shit," Vince said, frowning. "I've sorted him out, now it's your turn."
Amy looked at him, wondering what he meant. She didn't have to wonder for long. "What happened was bad, and it was horrible for everyone involved, particularly you. But it's over now, and no-one blames what happened on anybody but Tony Castrogiovanni. He's locked up, honey, and he'll be staying there for a long time, even without your testimony. He killed a girl some years ago and they're going to convict him for it, and for a string of sexual offences that he was never caught for." His mouth twisted into a sneer. "As for Sara, she'll be going down too, and she'll learn her lesson when she's inside. Her scheming has finally got her exactly what she deserves, and I don't know one person who feels bad about that except her!" He smiled at her. "As for you, you're getting better and the doctor said that if all goes well, you'll be coming home in a week or so. I understand why you feel guilty, but you have to realise that we all feel guilty too, for what we said. Now we just have to get ourselves back on track, okay?"
"Okay," Amy agreed, nodding and giving a tentative smile. Vince had a knack of making her feel comfortable with any given situation. "But...does he want to see me again?"
Vince gave her a knowing look. "Can't help yourself can you? Yes, of course he does. He isn't going to for a while, although I'm quite sure you'll be getting some of those messages you're so fond of." He watched as she smiled and colour came to her face for the first time since she had woken up. "That's much better. Now let's concentrate on getting you well again okay?"
******
Amy was released from the hospital late the next week and Vince happily took her home, surprising her with a small welcome party of just the family. She was overwhelmed with being made such a part of them, and she finally started trying to put what had happened behind her. The only dark cloud on the horizon was the fact that Mark hadn't contacted her in any way, although she knew that Vince was relaying her progress through Glenn and Kevin, so he knew she was at home now. When she mentioned it to Stephanie, the older girl laughed. "You do realise that cell phones work both ways? Why don't you contact him?"
"What would I say?"
"If I have to tell you that, then maybe you shouldn't bother?" Stephanie said, raising her eyebrows and leaving her on her own.
She pulled her phone out and chewed her lip. A text message wouldn't hurt, she supposed, but she couldn't decide what to say and so eventually settled on something small. 'Hello', she typed in, adding, 'how are you?' and wondered if it was too formal. But she sent it anyway and waited for a reply. It didn't come and she spent the day worrying that she hadn't been personal enough.
She needn't have worried, as it turned out. Her phone bleeped at her later that evening and she hurriedly pulled the messages up. 'I've been worried about you. How do you feel?' the message read and she bit her lip.
'I'm good. I miss you', she typed, getting a bit more personal and wondering what he'd say.
It took a while for the message to come back and Vince smiled at the way she waited impatiently for it, glad to see her returning to normal. When the phone bleeped again she couldn't read the message quick enough.
'I miss you too, baby, so much it feels like my insides have been torn out.'
She read the message and sat silently for a moment, a smile slowly brightening her face as she read it again, making sure it really said what she thought it did.
"Something good?" Vince asked, indicating her phone.
"He misses me," she said, beaming now.
"Well, of course he misses you. Sometimes I think you're as dumb as he is," Vince said jokingly, grinning at her.
It set a pattern for the next couple of weeks as Amy went through the process of full recovery, and Vince was certain that the mass of messages the two sent to each other helped her along. Then the messages just stopped, and Vince rang to find out why, laughing helplessly when he found out Mark had smashed his phone to pieces when a message wouldn't send. He had made sure he telephoned Mark or one of the others every day with any news, and also to find out how things were going. He had managed to arrange it so he could stay at home for the majority of the time, only having to travel over to the company twice to appear on screen. Soon, much to Amy's excitement, the day came around when Mark was due to return and Vince drove her to the airport with Stephanie in tow. The older girl had wanted to be there because some of the other wrestlers were coming back too, Paul Wight included. She hadn't spoken to him since she had seen him in the hospital, but she had made sure her father had invited him back just the same, along with Kevin, Tammy and Glenn. Unbeknownst to Amy, a party had been meticulously planned for a night later that week. Stephanie had made her go shopping with her, and told her that she should get some belated Christmas gifts as that was what she would be doing as well. "I sort of missed out on Christmas, so I'm going to give people their presents when they come back this way," Stephanie explained and was pleased when Amy didn't see anything weird in that and went about buying her own gifts. She hadn't seen what she had bought Mark yet, but she knew she had got him something.
They walked through the busy airport and then found some seats, sitting down to wait. Amy found she couldn't sit still and she stood up again when his flight was announced, moving nervously from foot to foot as she stared at the arrivals gate, waiting for a glimpse of Mark. After what felt like forever she looked at Vince. "What if he doesn't want to see me?" she asked, chewing her lip.
"Of course he'll want to see you," Vince assured her, putting his arm around her shoulders.
"But it's been six weeks, and he hasn't called me for a whole month. Maybe he's seeing someone else or something," she mused, feeling horror and pain lurking inside her waiting to burst forth if her words proved to be true.
"Don't be ridiculous! He hasn't called you because he broke his phone, you know that. But he knows how you are, and from what Glenn tells me he's been a pain in the ass the entire month. That has to be because he misses you," Vince said with a smile.
"Do you really think so?" Amy asked him, turning her gaze up to his face.
Vince flicked her nose affectionately. "Yes, I really think so. Look," he said, glancing up at the arrivals gate and pointing. "Does that look like a man who doesn't want to see you?"
Amy turned in time to see Mark standing there like a statue whilst the other passengers tried to squeeze by his huge form. His face conveyed his astonishment that she was there, then a huge grin transformed his expression in an instant as he dropped his bags and started towards her.
Amy started smiling and found she couldn't stop, she was so pleased to see him, and when he got within a foot of her she flung herself into his outstretched arms, wrapping her slim arms around his neck as he hoisted her off the ground.
"Oh, darlin', I missed you so much," Mark groaned, trying not to hold her too tightly. He drew his head back enough to see her face. "How are you feeling? Are you all right? Do you hurt anywhere? Have you been okay?"
She gave a small laugh. "I'm okay, I'm fine, no and yes. Except I missed you," she admitted, gazing adoringly into his eyes as Glenn and Tammy came up next to them carrying Mark's forgotten bag.
"Hey everyone," he said happily, his greeting echoed by Tammy, Glenn grinning like a lunatic as he watched Mark stare at the small woman as if he were hypnotised.
"Hey Glenn, Tammy," Amy said automatically, not moving her eyes from Mark's. "Can I take you home with me?" she murmured.
"Sure, you can take me anywhere you like," Glenn said, his big grin still in place.
Mark shot him a look that quelled his humour briefly. "Not you, ya damn fool." He turned his attention back to Amy and smiled, his whole expression softening. "You can take me home for now, but you're coming home with me in a week."
"I am?" she asked, her eyes widening and her smile following suit.
"Yeah, you are. I have time due to me remember? I said I'd take you to my home, and now I'll finally be able to do it. With Vince's blessing of course," he said, looking belatedly at his boss.
Vince smiled, pleased that Amy was so happy. Mark had already asked him if he could whisk her away for two months, and he had no objections as long as Amy wanted to go. "You've got it."
"Thanks," Mark said, more grateful than he could say. "Then you're mine for two whole months."
"Two months?"
"Mmm hmm. Think we can find something to keep us occupied in all that time?"
"Yes! You can go horseback riding, swimming maybe, read a good book, watch TV.." Vince said, listing things and ticking them off on his fingers.
"I think we may find something better than that," Mark said, giving him a shit eating grin and receiving a glare.
"For instance?" Vince prompted, trying not to let his protective instincts for Amy get out of control. Again.
"We could go to the cinema, maybe rent a movie, play chess...any number of things really. Why, what were you thinking about?" Mark asked, feigning ignorance.
Vince studied him slowly and let down his guard, smiling. "Maybe making a start on those great-god-children...or whatever you call them," he murmured, turning and walking away with Glenn before Mark and Amy could get their mouths closed.
"Did he really just say...?" Amy said, shocked.
"He sure did. And what a great suggestion," he returned, smiling at her and then lifting her up level with him and squeezing her tight again. "I didn't think it was possible to miss someone as much as I've missed you little girl. I think some of my buddies were about ready to crucify me, the way I've been acting."
"I didn't know I could miss someone so much, either. It felt like someone ripped part of me away...please don't go away again," she said unsteadily, her hands desperately grasping his shoulders.
"Well, you know I have to go away sometimes, but maybe not for so long, hmm?"
"I don't ever want to be away from you again," she said huskily, her bottom lip trembling as she buried her face against his throat.
Mark gave a deep chuckle and held her close, loving the feel of her, feeding on it like a starving man. He frowned suddenly and hugged her tighter. "Amy, I'm so sorry, baby. I believed all that bullshit you fed me, it never even occurred to me that you might be lying. I guess I still have some issues with trust, but I should have had more faith in you. I'm sorry I was such a prick, I'm sorry you got hurt....Christ, I'm sorry I hurt you!"
He sounded so anguished that Amy held him as tight as she could, trying to give him some measure of comfort. "It's okay, it isn't your fault. I should have been stronger, I shouldn't have let him make me say those things...."
"Stronger? Don't you fucking dare blame yourself for what that asshole did! Don't you dare!" he said harshly, drawing his head back to look at her and seeing guilt clearly on her face. "I don't know one single person who could have defied him, not with him threatening Steph and you! God, how can you possibly think you're at all at fault?"
Amy's lip trembled briefly before she got it under control. "I hurt you," she whispered, taking a shaky breath. "I hurt Vince too. If you had said those same things to me I would have wanted to kill myself. I should have refused to do what he wanted."
Mark closed his eyes on a wave of pain at what she must have been feeling over the last few weeks. "And then you would have wound up dead. You nearly did. I don't ever want to hear you say that you were to blame in any way, okay? As to what you said, I ain't gonna lie honey, it hurt like hell, but only because I thought you meant them. I'm falling hard for you and to hear you say those things..! But you didn't mean them, they weren't even your words were they?"
"No! I would never say that to you, never! I feel so bad for hurting you."
"No worse than I feel, and I don't have half the excuse you have. I wish I could take back the way I acted, the things I said, the things Vince said. I'd give the world to make everything right again," he said earnestly.
"But it will be all right now, won't it? Tony will be in prison forever, he can't hurt me again. And you..."
"Me?" he asked, smiling slowly as she stopped talking and just gazed at him.
"You'll take me home."
Mark smiled affectionately. "I'll take you home," he agreed.
"Will you..." Amy said, frowning and chewing her lip for a second before continuing, her fingers tracing a pattern on his shoulder. "Will you still feel the same about me?"
"No, I won't," he said, watching her eyes widen and jerk up to his. "I'll feel even more for you," he clarified, smiling at her.
"Oh," she said softly, her lips curling up at last. "You will still kiss me and stuff won't you?"
"Oh, yeah, baby, ain't nobody gonna stop me from doing that, nobody in the world. Come on," he said softly, dropping a kiss on her lips. "Let's get back to Vince's and I can start taking care of you, can't I?"
She nodded with a small smile, her eyes alight with love for this huge man, something he couldn't possibly miss. He turned around and saw Stephanie still standing there and grinned sheepishly at her when she looked amused. "You coming back with us?"
Stephanie bit her lip and looked towards the arrivals gate. "I guess so. Er....Mark, where are Kevin and Paul?"
Mark looked behind him. "They're back there somewhere, looking for their bags. They'll be along, I'm sure they said they were coming straight over to your dad's when they got here. Why?"
"Oh, er... nothing. Shall we go?" she asked, looking uncomfortable.
Mark frowned briefly and then looked down at Amy, who had given his hand a hard squeeze, shaking her head slightly. "Yeah, let's go." He gave Amy a look that let her know he would be finding out all about this later, but for now he was happy to have her awake and well and walking next to him again.
