Notes: A huge thank you to everyone who's reviewed this story so far and to anyone who reviews this chapter. I really appreciate the responses :)

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Part Twenty Four

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"Where the hell are they?"

The voice caused her to jump and Devlan whimpered. She tried to comfort him without hurting his already sore body. She whispered gently in his ear and rocked him from side to side. She couldn't believe this was really happening.

She could barely see through the crack, but, every time one of them walked past, her heart stopped. The first time she'd thought they'd come, it had actually just been the nurse who had ended up searching the room frantically, before heading back out of the door. Just as Torrie had been about to give up and get out of her hiding spot, they'd come.

"They can't have got far," Angle said, throwing the sheets onto the floor. Torrie rolled her eyes; the man really was stupid if he thought they were under there.

"What's going on in here?"

Torrie winced and hoped that the nurse would get out of the room before she got hurt. Whilst they might not be inclined to hurt complete strangers, she didn't think they'd exactly refrain if it came down to it. They'd been looking for a while, from what she had gathered. In fact, if Devlan hadn't been moved from the ICU earlier that day, they might have been successful by now.

She watched with bated breath as they argued back and forth with the nurse, trying to persuade the woman that they were family, and finally let out a relieve sigh when they all left the room. She waited, wondering how long she should leave it before getting out of the cupboard.

She glanced around the small space. She'd never been particularly claustrophobic before, but she vowed never to voluntarily get back inside something this small again. She might even take the stairs from now on in hotels.

"Auntie Torrie?" Devlan said in an exaggerated whisper. "Can we get out now?"

She glanced through the crack again before turning to look at him. She smiled. "Yeah, Dev, I think we-"

Suddenly, the door was thrown open.

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She heard the bell ring, shifted around, tried to scream, but she knew she couldn't be heard over the crowd. She was struggling with her hands, trying to get the knot to come loose, but she had come to the conclusion that Dawn Marie had to have been a Girl Scout. A slutty one, she had no doubt, but a Girl Scout none the less. The knot wasn't budging.

There were tears in her eyes, but she wasn't crying. She wouldn't cry, because she refused to give them that satisfaction.

There were noises coming from beneath her as well as above, but she didn't have a clue what was going on. It was hot and dark and she had hardly any room to move and, objectively, she knew that she was beginning to panic. Given a few moments, she was pretty sure she would start hyperventilating as well.

Suddenly the area around her was flooded with light. She tried to scream, tried to get away, tried to move or get free, but nothing worked and she couldn't breathe.

Someone was coming to get her and she had no idea who it was.

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"Fuck!" Edge cried, kicking the prone man again.

"Was that necessary?" Lilian asked. "He's already unconscious."

"It made me feel a damn sight better," he growled.

"Can you see anything, Rob?" she asked anxiously, watched her boyfriend. She was currently unable to see his head, given that it was sticking through a hole in the roof.

The noise of the crowd was all around them and she was pretty sure that the match had just finished, but they had no idea what was going on. Matt was lying next to Edge's boot, unconscious and bleeding, and Benoit was standing over Dawn Marie, who was nursing a split lip as she struggled to get herself free of the bonds that were tying her to the chair she was sitting on. Granted, the 'bonds' were actually the sleeves of Rob's shirt, but Lilian was quite proud of herself; for both the right hook she'd so perfectly delivered as well as the inventive method of tying the woman up. She'd ignored Edge's remarks about having had experience at that.

"Anything?" Edge asked as Rob fully reappeared.

"I think you guys should get up here."

Lilian didn't think, just ran forward, throwing her hand in the air for Rob to take hold. Jeff Hardy had already completely disappeared through the gap and Rob was on the lookout to see what was going on. There had been no sign of Lita.

She grunted as she skinned her arm on the edge of the opening, smiling a little as Rob muttered an apology, and crawled through the ceiling. The underneath of the ring was cramped and dirty and she swore when she saw a small trail of blood and the tail end of what looked like Lita's shirt. Whether it had ripped off in her attempts to get away, or otherwise, Lilian wasn't sure, but either way she was angry.

She followed the path Jeff had left through the debris and appeared out of the side of the ring a few moments later. She blinked under the lights and glanced around her, noting that the crowd were cheering and smiling at her, a few of them were even laughing.

A hand was suddenly in front of her face and she jerked her head, slowly following the path up the arm, to the shoulder, and finally into the smiling face of the Heartbreak Kid. She let out a breath she hadn't even realised she was holding and took his proffered hand. He tugged her to her feet just as Rob and Edge appeared from under the ring, fighting with each other as they tried to get out of the small space at the same time.

Lilian, however, was barely paying attention as she searched the area for her friend. In the ring, she saw that Triple H was still lying unconscious, surrounded by referees, medics, and a pool of his own blood. Glancing at the cut above Shawn's eye, she realised that her new friend had definitely come out the least worse off of the two. By a long shot. She looked past Shawn and smiled, bouncing a little on the balls of her feet as, a few feet away, she saw Lita and Jeff hugging each other.

"Thank God," she muttered and Shawn laughed.

"You have no idea."

She looked at him, smiling when she saw how he was looking at the redhead. "You really like her, don't you?"

He started and, for a moment, she thought he was about to tell her to mind her own business. But he didn't.

"Yeah. Yeah, I do." Suddenly his eyes widened in panic. "Oh, God, Devlan! He knows about D-"

"Calm down, man," Rob said, stepping in front of Shawn. "It's okay, don't worry, we got it covered."

"What?"

Edge and Billy exchanged a glance, smiling as Lilian took hold of Shawn's arm. "Rey found us when we were searching the hallways. He told us he heard Angle and Flair talking about going to the hospital. He had no idea what was going on or who they were after, but he figured it might have something to do with us. He and Billy went after them."

"Just the two of them?" Shawn asked, his worry clearly still considerable.

"Not exactly," Edge answered. There was a smile playing on his lips and, when Lilian finished explaining, Shawn understood exactly why. He felt like smiling himself.

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Torrie eyed the man warily, still not sure why he was there. Not that she thought he was there to hurt her, but she couldn't deny that he scared the crap out of her either. She glanced across the room at Billy and smiled.

"I am so glad you guys got here," she repeated for the thirteenth time. "I mean, really."

"Really, Tor?" Billy asked with a smirk. "We'd never have noticed."

She stuck her tongue out at him before she tucked the covers around Devlan once more, glancing around the new room the boy had been assigned. Due to the trouble that had occurred and the fact that the Police had arrived to remove Kurt Angle and Ric Flair from the hospital, they still had a private room rather than a place in a ward. Torrie also suspected that it had something to do with the nurses being rather terrified of the man in front of her.

"Thank you," she said, smiling uncertainly and the man nodded his head.

The door burst open behind them and Torrie couldn't help the small scream she let out. Seeing Shawn and the others, however, she closed her eyes in relief. She really wanted this day to be over, because she wasn't sure her heart could survive much longer.

When Shawn had checked on Devlan and Torrie found herself wrapped up tightly in Jeff's arms, she smiled more openly and repeated, "thank you" to the man across the room.

"You guys are all right now?" he asked and they nodded.

"Yeah," Shawn replied. The man moved to the door and, just as he was leaving, Shawn called him back. "Hey, Taker. Thanks. For everything."

He didn't reply, but he offered a small smile before exiting the room. Shawn was actually rather disappointed to see him go. He was surprised by the number of people who had actually approached him after the match, the number of people who had helped, not just for Lita, but for him as well. Perhaps he wasn't as alone as he'd thought.

"Unca Shawnie," Devlan said, breaking the silence that had followed the Dead Man's departure. "I missed your fight."

The pout on his face was adorable and Torrie laughed as Shawn sat down on his nephew's bed. To be honest, she was glad that they had missed it. Not because she'd particularly enjoyed being closed in a cupboard scared for her life, but because she had the feeling that it was the kind of match a boy Devlan's age should never have to witness. Regardless of what the man had done, Devlan still referred to Triple H as 'Unca Hunter'. That meant something to him, no matter what the man did.

"Hey."

She turned to smile at Jeff. "Hey yourself."

"Come 'ere."

She followed him out into the hallway, gently closing the door behind them, but didn't turn to face him. Along with all the fear for Devlan's (and her own) safety, along with her worry for Lita, for Shawn, and for the others, she had been terrified for Jeff. He'd already lost his brother and she didn't know what she could do to make that better. The butterflies in her stomach weren't helping either.

"Hey," he said again.

She felt his fingers brush her chin and allowed him to tilt her head up to face him. "How are you?" she asked and he let out a wry chuckle.

"Shouln' I be asking you that?"

"Matt," she said, her voice trailing off. She had no idea how to word what she wanted to say. The fury on his face was evened out by the pain. He was upset and angry and she had no idea what to do about it. So she kissed him. Not seeking anything from him, just a gentle touch of the lips. It was supposed to be comforting. She hadn't bargained on the tingles running through her and she didn't object when he pulled her closer.

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End of Part Twenty Four

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One more chapter left! That's right, there's just an epilogue to go and then we're all done! And, don't worry, the last part is all Lita/Shawn :p

I still can't believe I have over 200 reviews.