PART 60

FIVE WEEKS LATER

Britney sat in the Women's Locker Room, tossing the pants she wore to the ring into her bag.  She sighed, zipping the gym bag shut and plopping it down on the floor.  The door opened and she looked up, smiling when Amy, Trish, and Stacy walked in.

"Hey guys," she said happily, waving to the three women.

"Hey," they all said cheerily, taking seats around the room.  Amy smiled warmly as she looked at Britney, who was currently humming away as she put her left shoe on and tied it.  The month off that Vince had given Britney and Adam must have done them a lot of good, because upon their return the couple had a whole new attitude.  Amy couldn't remember a time in their entire relationship where they had looked so happy.  Glancing over at the other two blonde women, who were both currently pulling their cell phones out to make calls, Amy stood and quietly made her way over to Britney.  Walking up behind her, she placed her hands on her friend's shoulders, grinning widely when she didn't even jump.

"Hey… what's up?" she asked, taking a seat next to her.

"Nothing really Ames… just getting ready to leave," Britney replied, turning to face her.  The redhead frowned, meeting Britney's eyes in concern.\

"You're leaving?  You mean you're not going out with us tonight?" she asked.  When Britney shook her head, Amy continued, "Aw, but why?  It's your first night back!"

"Exactly," Britney said, laughing.  "I'm tired.  We're still adjusting to being on the road, and today's the first day Adam and I woke up before ten in a month.  I promise, we'll come out with you guys next time."

"Oh, fine," Amy gave up, tossing her hands in the air.  "I'll bet you're tired.  You guys had a hell of a night."

"Yeah we did," Britney agreed.  Britney and Adam hadn't wrestled that night, but they had made a surprise appearance on Raw.  They came out during a promo that Chris, who was now the World Heavyweight Champion, was cutting.  Not only did that mean they were working their way back into a storyline, but they were working their way into a storyline for one of the two major championships.  The reception that she and Adam had gotten was amazing… deafening, to say the very least.  The fans, even the casual ones, knew that the couple had gone through a lot over the last few months, and they showed them a tremendous deal of love and respect.  It felt so good to be back, and for the first time in awhile they actually looked forward to showing up.  Britney opened her mouth to continue, but the door opened, so the two women looked up.  They saw a head pop into the doorway.

"Hey punk," a voice called from the door.  Amy and Britney laughed when they saw that it was Chris, eyes resting on the two of them.

"Yes?" they both answered, bursting into giggles.  Rolling his eyes, Chris shook his head.

"If you being back and all happy and crap means I have to put up with the giggling again, go back to being depressed," he said jokingly.  "I meant that punk," he continued, pointing to Britney.

"Yes?" Britney repeated, this time without Amy.

"Loverboy wants to know if you're ready to go," he said, propping himself in the doorway.  He nodded hello to Trish as she stepped past him and out the door, talking loudly on her phone.

"Well why didn't he come here and ask me himself?" Britney asked curiously.

"Cause he's a lazy piece of shit," Chris said.  "Actually, he pushed me out the door, pulled it shut and locked it and told me that he wouldn't let me in until I had you with me."  Britney and Amy cracked up, both women getting a mental picture of Chris getting shoved out the door and being locked out of his own locker room.

"Okay, I'm coming," Britney said, waving goodbye to Amy and grabbing her bag as she followed Chris out the door.  Once they were outside, Britney turned to Chris, looking over at him as they walked down the hall.

"So Chris, are you happy I'm back?" she asked, eager to see what his response would be.  Scoffing arrogantly, he looked down at her.

"Please, I didn't even know you were gone," he said.  Britney shook her head.

"Would that be because you spent half the month at my house?" she asked, grinning at him.  He lowered his head sheepishly.

"Well, maybe… but don't tell anyone."

"Gotcha."

The two of them continued on down the hall, walking along in a comfortable silence.  When Chris noticed that Britney's gaze was glued ahead of her, he snuck at glance at her.  He smiled, fighting to contain a laugh.  He hoped they reached the locker room soon, because there was no way he could keep what he knew a secret for long.  In fact, the reason why he was thrown out was because the others knew of his big mouth, and when the 'thing' was brought out to be shown to everyone, they forced him to leave.

"What is wrong with you?" Britney asked, laughing as she raised an eyebrow at him.  Snapping his head in her direction, he looked at her with innocent eyes.

"What?  What's wrong?  Uh… nothing," he said nervously, looking away from her.  Britney grinned knowingly.

"I know that look Chris!  It's the 'I know a secret' look!  Spill it Irvine!" she exclaimed excitedly.  Shaking his head profusely, Chris pushed her away from him.

"No way… I'm not telling this time," he refused, cracking a smile.

"Please?" she said, pouting at him.  Chris looked at her for a moment, then forced himself to look away.

"No pouting!  I hate pouting!  Look, I really can't tell you, okay?" he insisted, trying to be serious even for just a moment.

"I'm going to find out soon though right?" Britney asked hopefully.  Chuckling slightly, Chris nodded.

"Yes… now leave me alone."

Britney nodded, satisfied for the time being with the little information that she got out of him.  She supposed if she kept pouting for a little while longer, Britney could have gotten the whole thing out of him… Chris was always a sucker for pouting… he thought it was cute, but she was too tired for all that.  Instead she just shut her mouth and waited, sighing as they reached the locker room.  Chris reached his hand up and knocked on the door.

"Is Britney with you?" they heard Jay's voice call out.

"Yes," Chris said in an aggravated tone, rolling his eyes.

"How can I know for sure?" he called from the other side of the door.

"Say something Brit," Chris said, nudging her hip.  Britney smiled, doing her best to contain a laugh as she sealed her lips shut.  Chris told her to speak again and she shook her head, shaking with laughter.  "Say something damn it!" he screamed after awhile, reaching out and tickling her.  When she started laughing loudly, Jay smiled and pulled the door open, laughing as well when he watched Chris pick Britney up off the floor and hold her upside down, carrying her into the locker room.

"Cat must've got her tongue," Jay commented to Chris, who in return snorted at him.

"Asshole," he said, sticking his tongue out.

"Grow up Chris," Adam said grinning.  Then, noticing Britney hanging upside down over his shoulder, he spoke again.  "And get your hands off my woman!"

Sighing, Chris dropped her, laughing as she brushed the hair away from her face.  Adam shook his head, standing and walking over to Britney.  When he reached her, he leaned down, meeting her lips for a quick kiss.  Chris shook his head in mock disgust at the two of them.  He may have been snorting at them outwardly, but on the inside he was incredibly happy.  Adam and Britney were two of the best friends he'd ever made, and it was such a relief to see them finally getting their lives together again.

"So, ready to go?" she asked as she broke the kiss, pulling away from him.  He nodded, picking up his bag and making his way to the door with her.

"Yeah… see you guys tomorrow!" he called, waving over his shoulder.  The guys waved back and Jay, Chris and Matt Hardy all looked up.

"Good luck Adam," they said, causing him to shoot his glance their way and shake his head.

Outside the door, Adam wrapped his arm around Britney's shoulder as they made their way out of the arena.  "So," he started.  "I know you're probably tired and all, but do you think maybe we could go somewhere?  I have something I want to show you."  Smiling as Britney realized this probably had something to do with the secret Chris knew, she immediately agreed.

"Sure," she nodded.  Adam grinned, silently sighing with relief.  He hoped to God that tonight would go as he planned for once.

ABOUT 45 MINUTES LATER

"Okay, we're almost there, keep going," Adam said, his hands wrapped around Britney's face, covering her eyes.  He helped her down the steps, watching as she almost tripped when she reached the sand at the bottom.  He laughed, bringing her along a little further before stopping.

"Okay, you can look now… tell me what you see," he said, pulling his hands away from her face.  Britney looked around, eyeing her surroundings carefully.  They were on a beach, but that was all Britney could tell.

"Um… we're on a beach?" she offered, thinking that she was missing something.  Adam laughed, putting his arm around her shoulder again.

"Yes, we are… but do you have any idea what happened on this beach?" he asked, confusing her even more.

"Um… people got sunburned?" she asked, laughing.  "I… I really don't know Adam.  I feel like I should, but I don't."

"Okay, fine… I'll give you a hint.  It has something to do with a little over a year ago," he hinted, smiling at her playfully.  Britney wrinkled her nose, thinking deeply for a minute, when suddenly it popped into her head.  She gasped, realizing exactly where they were.

"This is where we got together!" she cried, satisfied at herself for getting it right.  Adam nodded.

"Yup… I was worried for a minute there that you wouldn't remember," he said with relief.

"Wow… this is awesome Adam.  Wait, I'm not forgetting anything else am I?  I mean, it's not like an anniversary or something that I completely forgot about, is it?" she asked worriedly.

"No, no… nothing like that," he assured her, shaking his head.  Britney sighed with relief, but she was still confused.

"Okay… so then why are we here?  Just for the hell of it?" she asked, hoping he didn't take offense to that.  It would be really sweet if he had just brought them there for the sake of doing so, but she wasn't sure that that was the case.

"I have a reason," he insisted, but then said nothing more.  Britney raised an eyebrow.

"Care to tell me what the reason is?" she asked.  Adam stopped walking, turning in front of Britney and looking down at her.  Taking her hand in his, he brought his free hand up under her chin and tilted her face up so that she was looking at him.

"Well, you and I have been together a little over a year now, and I just wanted to, um… see where we stand," he said, immediately cursing himself.  That wasn't how he'd wanted that to come out at all.  Britney sent him a confused look.

"Where we stand?" she asked, her tone just as confused as her expression.

"Okay, that wasn't what I meant," he said, sighing and trying to collect his thoughts.  This was going to be harder than he thought.  Stop thinking so much Adam… just go with what your heart tells you, stop listening to that damn head of yours.

 "Britney, I…  I'm just trying to say that I love you.  We've been through so much over the past year… it's hard to believe it's been *only* a year.  I just… well, when Alanah and I broke up, I didn't think I was ever going to really fall in love again, but then you came along.  I've never been so in love before… I've never been with someone where I felt like I really couldn't live without them.  When… when you were in the hospital and they told me they didn't know if you were going to make it, I thought I was going to die.  I would have if you hadn't made it out okay.  The whole time I was there, I thought about what my life would be like without you.  I… I realized that I wouldn't have a life at all.  You're everything to me.  I don't want to ever have to spend another moment apart from you ever again," he explained.  Britney looked up at him, her eyes slightly wider and glazed with tears.

"W-what are you trying to say?" she asked, her tone shaky and hushed.  Adam lowered his gaze for a minute, looking down at the sand beneath them.

"I-I guess I have to ask you a question," he said quietly, bringing his gaze back up to hers.  Britney's eyes widened as he reached into the pocket of his pants, pulling out a black box.  She gasped as he got dropped down to his knee.

"I love you Brit, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.  Would you… will you marry me?" he asked, looking up at her.  He looked up at her anxiously, desperate to know what her response would be.  Britney's eyes grew even wider as she eyed the beautiful diamond ring, sparkling in the moonlight.

"Oh my God," she breathed, eyeing the ring in amazement.  Then, Adam's question hit her… he asked her to marry him.

"Uh, Brit?  Could you say something?  Please?" Adam asked nervously.  Not only was his whole future resting on the weight of the answer she gave him, but he kneeled on the wrong knee.  He knew with his torn MCL he wasn't going to able to stay in that position for long.  It would be a comical, yet horrifying situation if he fell over before she got a chance to answer.  Looking down at his expectant face, Britney's face broke out into a huge grin.

"Yes!  Of course I'll marry you!" she cried, watching in awe as he slipped the ring onto her finger.  After he put the ring on her, Adam jumped up, picking Britney up on the way and wrapping her up in his arms.  He picked her up off her feet, swinging her around him once before placing her back down on her feet.

"You don't know how glad I am that you said yes," he said, pulling her to him once more.  Grinning, she sighed happily as he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her softly.

"Did you actually think I'd say no?" Britney asked in disbelief.

"I guess not," Adam admitting, unable to wipe the grin off his face… not that he wanted to.  Pulling him down to her, Britney kissed him once more, letting all of the emotion and love she felt for him flow into that one kiss.  After a minute or two, she pulled away, admiring her ring again.

"It's beautiful… and this," she said, gesturing to the empty beach, "this was a genius idea."  He grinned, satisfied that she was happy, wrapping her up tightly in his arms again.

"I'm glad you liked it," he said.

"I loved it," she said, breathing in his amazing scent.  "And I love you."

"I love you too, Brit."

With that, he leaned down again, drawing her to him for another kiss.  It seemed like all the struggle, all the heartache they had to endure over the past year was all worth it.  This one moment erased all the bad memories and gave them a clean slate to start a new life.  And that was just what they were going to do… start a new life together.  Adam pulled Britney into one last hug, holding her there.  He noticed that that grin was still plastered on his face.  He tried and tried to make a serious expression, but he just couldn't.  He looked down at Britney one more time, a tightening sensation in his heart.  He could have died right then and there and he would have died a happy man.  He put his arm around her shoulder as they began to walk back in the direction they came from.  Adam looked up at the sky, thanking whoever it was that was working up there for making everything turn out well in the end.  He shook his head, feeling the grin creeping up on him again.  He knew then and there that he was deeply in love, and that grin wasn't going anywhere for a long time.

THE END

Well, this is it… all done.  Now I get to do my long speech, and you *better* all be reading it, LOL.  I just want to thank you guys SO much for reviewing this story.  When I started this, I never expected to get so much feedback, and especially not so much that was positive.  I absolutely loved getting reviews for this story, and I have to say that I have grown to love those who reviewed every single chapter (you know who you are!)  I hope you guys continue to read and enjoy my stories, since I do write them for you.  Now, 'mushy shit' outta the way, how does a sequel sound?  It seems like people didn't want this story to end, so how about I do a continuation?  I have a million ideas (cough*wedding, trial, more drama… sound good?*cough).  Well, you guys will decide, so let me know.  I really hope you enjoyed this story, and I love you all!