PART 10

THE NEXT DAY

Adam paced back and forth in the locker room nervously.  He knew he had to approach Shane McMahon tonight before Raw was over, as the man was heading back to Stamford, Connecticut, after the show.  The Canadian ran a hand through his hair, trying to decide on what he would say when he went to Britney's cousin.  He wasn't sure how Shane would react to him, or whether he'd even be willing to answer his questions.  Shane was extremely overprotective over Britney, even more so than he was over Stephanie, and Adam wasn't so sure when he found out what had occurred in his absence.  As he continued pacing, he didn't notice Kurt Angle walking up behind him.

"Great match last night."  He jumped as the Olympic Gold Medallist smacked him on the back, turning around swiftly.

"Oh, hey Kurt," Adam replied distractedly.  Kurt looked at the taller man, concern filling his eyes.

"You okay, man?" he asked, eyeing Adam as he began pacing again.

"Y-yeah," Adam said, "I just… I kinda have something on my mind."

Kurt nodded, "Ah.  Well, did you want to tell me what that something is?"  Adam swung his head, turning his glance toward his shorter friend.  Looking over at the door, he made up his mind that it was now or never.  He had to go talk to Shane NOW.  Walking past Kurt, he patted his friend on the shoulder.

"Maybe later," he said as he made his way out the door.

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Once outside, Adam headed in the direction of Shane's office.  As he thought of what he was going to say to Shane, his eyes widened slightly, as his often did when he was nervous.  Turning a corner, he smacked directly into a bright redhead.

"Sorry Ames.  I… wasn't paying attention to where I was going," Adam apologized.

"It's cool," Amy said.  "Hey, what's wrong?  You look like you've seen a ghost or something."  Adam sighed, pulling her over to the side of the hall.

"More like or something.  I'm on my way to see Shane.  I… I need to talk to him," he told her.

"I don't like the sound of that.  What do you need to talk to him about?" Amy asked curiously.

"Well, I was doing some thinking last night, and I realized that Britney never opens up about her past.  I REALLY want to know what when on in her life… specifically when she was 15 to 20, since that's when she was…"

"That's when she was with Brock," Amy finished knowingly.

"Yeah," Adam said, "and I know I'll never get the story from Britney herself.  Vince with his delusion filled mind doesn't know shit, and Steph isn't much help either."

Amy nodded, "Well, did you want me to go with you?  I was supposed to meet Matt, but I could just…"

"No thanks, Red.  I'll be fine," Adam cut her off.

"Alright Blondie.  Call me and let know how it goes then?" she requested, squinting as she looked up at him.

"Sure," he said, smiling as he reached out to ruffle her hair.

"I gotta go now.  I'll talk to you soon."  Amy smiled, "See you Adam."  She watched the tall man disappear down the hallway, jumping slightly when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey babe," Matt Hardy said, spinning her around and planting a kiss on her lips.  "What are you looking at?" he asked, pointing down the hall where her gaze had been set.

"Oh, I was just talking with Adam," the redhead answered her boyfriend.

Matt sent her a questioning look, "You look upset.  Is Adam okay?  Wait… did something happen to Britney?"  The older Hardy brother's mind was working a mile a minute, jumping to a million conclusions until Amy shook her head.

"No, no nothing like that!  He's just… stressed as usual.  Love can do that to you, you know," she said, grinning as she playfully smacked him on the arm.

Matt sent her a dramatic look, "Are you saying I stress you out?"  Shaking her head, she took his hand.

"Shut up, you diva.  Let's go," she said, taking his hand and leading him down the hallway.

SHANE MCMAHON'S LOCKER ROOM

Shane sat at his desk, gathering some stuff together before he headed back to Stamford.  After Raw, he was heading back to the WWE offices to resume his job as head of Media Relations.  As he heard a knock at the door, he put his things aside and called for whomever it was to come in.

"Hey Adam!  Have a seat, what's up?" Shane said, grinning upon seeing the blonde man at the door.  Shane noted that Adam appeared to be a little nervous as he took a seat.

"I, uh… was wondering if I could maybe… talk to you for a little while," Adam said in a jittery tone.

Shane smiled, "If this has to do with you rooming with Britney, I'm not upset… or surprised for that matter.  In fact, you're a god to me right now for keeping that faggot away from her," the dark-haired man reassured him.  Adam smiled and sat back, relaxing a little.  Well that makes the rest of this conversation a little easier.

"Well, I'm glad to help.  Actually though, I'm here because and I've been thinking, and I really don't know much about Britney's past.  I was hoping you could help me out," Adam said pointedly.

"Her… past?" Shane replied, eyes darting up, almost nervously.

The blonde man nodded, paraphrasing himself, "Yeah, so is there anything you could tell me?  Like, what was she like as a teenager?"  Shane frowned, as he didn't like answering this question at all.  Still, after all Adam had done for his baby cousin, he deserved to know.  But that doesn't mean I'm going to like telling it.'

"Fucked up," Shane answered dryly, causing Adam to do a double take.  Okay, so he wasn't expecting an amazingly wonderful answer from Shane, but the answer he was provided with certainly surprised him.

"Excuse me?" Adam asked, wondering if maybe he'd misheard him.  Sighing, Shane tried to think of where to start.

"Well, her mom died, an OD, when she was 12.  Her dad was shot by drug dealers a little over 9 months later, so she moved in with us.  My parents were good to her, way better than hers ever were, but still… you just can't replace your birth parents, you know?  So anyway, she wasn't exactly an angelic child for awhile then," he explained.

Adam's emerald eyes were wider than ever.  He knew what usually happened to kids whose parents were involved in drugs… they became involved as well.  He sighed loudly, "Did she… did she start using?"

Shane nodded, "Yeah.  At first, she was just being a normal teenager, smoking pot every once in awhile, which was fine with me, cause I did it myself every so often.  But then she started messing around with acid, and then she started doing cocaine.  I mean, she was only 14 years old and she was doing fucking cocaine.  I remember, this one night, she," he paused to rub at his eyes, which appeared to be tearing up a little, much to Adam's chagrin.  "She… did some coke and then she went out after and drank a lot.  Me and Steph were the only ones home, cause my mom and dad were away on company business, and when they were gone we had no control over her at all.  That night, she came home while I was asleep.  She came in the door and passed out, right on the floor.  Steph was still up, and she SCREAMED for me, and I ran down the stairs to find her laying there, face down on the floor.  They… they had to pump her stomach to get rid of the alcohol poisoning.  And she… when she woke up, she told me that she wanted to die.  That that was why she did it, because she just couldn't stand living anymore.  But she said she changed her mind, and she BEGGED me to keep it a secret from my parents, and to let her stay.  She just kept saying, 'I want to be good now, Shane.  I really want to.'  I didn't know what to do, so I just hugged her.  She said that Steph and I were the only things she had anymore," he finished, not caring anymore as a tear slipped down his cheek.

"Oh my God," was all Adam could mouth.  He couldn't believe what he was hearing.  As if the poor girl hadn't gone through enough in the last five months, she'd been living that way her whole life?  How could Britney, HIS Britney, have gone through all of it and still manage to be happy?  How could she ever be really happy again?

"Oh, I'm not done yet.  It gets REAL good now," Shane said sarcastically.  "This is where good ol' Mr. Lesnar comes into the picture.  I hated that bastard from the beginning, and I knew I should've done something… but… he was the first person Britney had outside of us who REALLY listened to her.  He would sit up with her, sometimes till four in the morning, and listen to her talk about her life.  I know, cause I've sat up in my bed a million times waiting to hear her finally creep up the stairs and go to bed.  He knew what he was doing, cause she fell for him so fast.  And I HATED the age difference, he was 19 and she was had just turned 15.  Now that she's an adult, I probably wouldn't mind it too much, but she was a freshman and he was a senior AND was held back a grade… it just didn't settle well for me.  I knew he wasn't sincere, but everyone told me I was 'too overprotective.'  As first, their relationship went smoothly, but after awhile, Brock got antsy."

Adam watched as Shane stopped to take her breath.  "See, Britney confided in Steph or me about everything, so when he told her that he wanted to have sex with her, she went to her.  She just knew how I'd react, so she stayed away from me.  That's how it had always been.  If either one of them had a problem with a friend or a guy they didn't like bothering them, they went to me.  As far as boyfriends and sex and all that shit, they went to each other.  Anyway, I'd heard a story from a friend about how Brock had a pattern of going out with girls who were "weak" and had been through a lot, because it was easier to sweet talk his way into bed with them.  According to my buddy, who had never lied to me before… and I know he wouldn't make stuff like this up, Brock found that the girls who had rough home lives were the easiest to… well, the easiest to get to fuck him.  He… well, I'm not saying that Brit was an innocent or anything, but…she was… well, that was the last semblance of innocence she had left, and she didn't really want to part with it, not that young.  She'd already parted with everything else."

Adam watched as the occasional tear slid down Shane's cheek, desperately trying to prevent the same thing from happening to him.

"So… so what happened?" Adam asked, although he wasn't so sure he wanted to hear any more answers.

Shane sighed deeply, "Well, he, uh… got what he wanted of course.  To this day, she swears on her mother's life that she wanted it to happen, but I just know.  The way she looked at me after I found out… and the way she looked at HIM, I… I just knew.  He… he forced her.  He HAD to… she wouldn't have done it if he didn't.  She never accepted it… I think she just couldn't."

Adam was completely dumbfounded.  He had gotten so much more than he had bargained for that he almost regretted going at all.  My God, how can she ever trust a man again?  The tall blonde closed his eyes momentarily, desperately fighting the tears burning at his eyes.  He just couldn't bring himself to cry in front of Britney's cousin, it just didn't seem right.  The two men sat in complete silence, though the room was heavily filled with emotion.

"I-I… I, uh… damn," Adam broke the silence a few long moments later, though he really didn't say anything.  Shane looked up, seeing that tears had formed in the man's eyes.

"You love her, don't you?" Shane asked, in what Adam swore was a hopeful tone.  Still, as vulnerable as both of them were at the moment, Adam wasn't sure he could afford to give Shane the wrong answer.  If Adam wanted any chance at all of getting through to Britney he would need Shane's help in doing so.

"Well, I… uh… I care about her a lot, and… uh," he stuttered, still not sure of what to say.  Shane eyed him for a moment.  He has to feel SOMETHING for her.  The way he looks at her… he just HAS to.

"Adam," he continued, "Please tell me that you love her.  She TRUSTS you, and you don't know how unbelievably hard it is to earn her complete trust.  You… if you… you might be the one person who break through her walls and show her that she's worth so much more than she makes herself out to be."

Adam studied the brown-haired man intently.  Shane knew Britney… and what was best for her better than anybody.  And he WANTS me to be with her?  He honestly thinks that I can break through to her.

"Yes, Shane, I really love Britney.  In fact, I… I don't think I've ever loved someone as much as I do her.  And I feel this need, this fierce need, to protect her, and it's only intensified after what you told me," Adam said truthfully.  Shane looked closely at Adam, the sincerity in the Canadian's eyes shining through.  Shane knew by those eyes that Adam truly did love his cousin, and upon realizing this, he smiled.  Adam gave him an uneasy half smile.

"W-what are you smiling at?" Adam asked nervously.

Shane shook his head, "No reason.  I'm just happy to see that my baby cousin finally has eyes for a REAL man… wow it's late.  You should really go get ready for the show, you know you're on early.  I, uh… I'm glad you came, though."  Adam's half smile turned into a full grin as he stood, shaking the other man's hand while doing so.

"Me too Shane.  Thanks," he said, slowly heading for the door.

"Adam?  Everything I told you stays between me and you.  I don't want any shit going around the locker room," Shane said.

"You got it," Adam replied.  "Shane?" Adam spoke again, looking back at him.  "Do you really think I have a chance with her?"  Shane remained silent for a minute, causing Adam's breath to catch in his throat.

"Did you tell her how you feel about her?" he asked, although he knew the answer.

"No," Adam answered, somewhat sheepishly.

As he turned to exit the door, Shane shook his head, "Don't you think it would be a good idea?"

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As Adam stepped out the door, he sank back against it, heaving a giant sigh.  All the information Shane had given him was too much for the blonde man to handle.  He wasn't sure how he was going to approach Britney about all of this.  He wanted her to know that he knew everything, and that he loved her regardless.  He just wasn't sure he could muster up the strength to do so without breaking down.  He closed his eyes, once again forcing the tears away.  When he opened them, he saw a group of the girls walking down a distant hallway.  Stacy, Torrie, Amy, Nora, Terri, Jacqueline… and Britney.  Britney was the only one who noticed the Canadian standing in the distance.  Her face lit up immediately as she waved to him.  He smiled and waved back, but as she disappeared, so did his smile.  He hoped that from the distance she couldn't see the expression on his face, or his slightly red-rimmed eyes.  He couldn't help but think of what she'd been through, and how well she hid it.  He understood why she hid it, and he also understood that getting her to talk about it would be incredibly hard.  But he didn't really care anymore… all that mattered to him was how terribly he wanted to make all the pain it caused go away.  Pummeling Brock Lesnar along the way didn't seem to be a bad idea, either.  He finally had everything he needed to break through to her, all he needed was the will power to do so.  God, keep on giving her the strength to go on like she does.  And while you're at it, send some my way, too.

TBC

Was gonna add the next chapter with these 2, but I think I'm going a little fast.  It'll probably up tomorrow or Wednesday.  Thanks for the reviews! Anymore of those, or suggestions for the story or a new story would be much appreciated!