Disclaimer: Anything related to TNA or anyone else clearly doesn't belong to the writers of this story. This is written purely for entertainment purposes. If TNA is willing, though, the writers of this story would very much love to own any of the TNA-owned people mentioned within this story. We'd also like to say that we do not own Sterling James Keenan. As far as we're aware, he owns himself (but, once again, we wouldn't mind owning him either, if he was agreeable). That is all.

A/N: Before I say anything else, I want to say a huge thank you to my co-writer, Lizzie, for sorting our mammoth story into chapters. No matter how busy she is, she always takes the time to chat to me, share ideas and just generally give this story her all. So, Lizzie, thank you.

Now, to everyone who has reviewed so far, thank you as well. It means a lot that you're all enjoying this story as much as we're enjoying writing it. Some new characters make their appearances in this chapter. Read on and let us know what you think. Phoenix


While all this was going on, however, Chris was quietly making his way to Lily's office, which he found out from a staff member wasn't too far away from Jarrett's (obviously), so he would have to proceed with caution. He had encountered her for only a collective total of a few minutes for the first time in fourteen years and the woman was already infuriating him! How dare she deny him the right to see his own child. But he should've known, given the animosity between them, that Lily Myers wasn't going to make it easy for him to get to know Kadence, so Chris would just have to do it on his own. How shocked he was when he saw how his little girl turned out, and the subsequent rage he felt towards Lily for letting her turn out to be so arrogant, disrespectful, and antisocial. What kind of mother lets her child get away with that?

"Bitch," he muttered under his breath while making his way to her office which was now just around the corner.

It wasn't his intention to confront Lily again, or to go searching through her stuff, but Chris would do what was necessary to see Kadence again and let her know the truth. He stopped outside the door and hesitantly raised his fist to it, knocking and hoping that she wasn't there. When no one answered and there was no indication that anyone was in the office, Chris took the liberty and turned the doorknob and pushed forward.

The door opened with ease and he walked into the room which was dark, so he flipped the light switch on. A respectful, neat office for someone in Lily's position, and noticing the couple of bags on the floor by the desk, he knew she must've not had a chance to get settled in. Of course, that was with the exception of the contents of Lily's handbag on the floor, spilled everywhere. Kadence.. He thought with a small smile.

Chris slowly walked over to the desk and eyed the contents that sat on top. A computer, a few files, pens, a date book... nothing out of the ordinary. He then focused his attention on the three bags that were leaning against it on the floor. He walked over to them and knelt down, lightly touching one of them and thought about going through them. This could be his only chance to find Kadence and tell her the truth without Lily getting in his way again. For all that child's life, Lily had thwarted his attempts to talk to and see Kadence, but not anymore. He was sick of her bullshit and not planning to put up with it anymore – only in recent months had he cast out any hopes of seeing his daughter again, but now... now that had all changed.

Seeing the bigger picture in mind, Chris then had no qualms about rummaging through Lily's personal belongings and started going through her things – starting with the mess that Kadence had left. Using his finger tips, he spread out the contents to get a better a look at what was there and to see if there was anything that could help him. Lipstick. Compact. Address book. Tampons. A few pens. Gum. Seeing something else, Chris picked up what looked to be a photo, a small, one and turned it over.

It was Lily and Kadence, when she was about six or seven years old. He felt his chest contract sharply at the image of Kadence grinning happily, like any child should, wearing her ballet outfit and sitting in her mother's arms in what looked to be a park. Lily also looked very happy in the picture. It was hard for him to imagine that the beautiful little girl in the picture became that antisocial, disrespectful teenager he had been arguing with earlier that day.

"Fuck you, Lily." Chris whispered, hating her for keeping Kady away from him, and at the same time hating himself more for being so stupid as to actually leave. As much as he wanted to blame Lily entirely for what happened, he couldn't. He was the one to leave, not them. "I can't believe this."

He then placed the picture on the desk and didn't want to look at it anymore, it was painful for any father in that position. Resuming his search for evidence as to where they lived, Chris picked up the next bag and dumped the contents onto the pile he had gone through seconds earlier. This time, there were files and documents of some sorts. Jarrett must have given her these. The third bag had the same things as the second one. Chris stood up, muttering curse words in frustration. He returned his attention to the desk and moved around to stand behind it, in front of the computer monitor.

The three desk drawers might wield some evidence. He pulled the first one open and sighed. Nothing. The same could be said for the other two. Just as he was about to leave, he spotted something under the desk - Lily's wallet. Chris smiled and picked it up. Inside, there were some ATM receipts, a couple of pictures of Kadence as a baby... and Lily's driver's license. He studied the driver's license for a few seconds before he picked up a pen and a note pad that was sitting on the desk and quickly scribbled out the address. If Lily wouldn't bring Kadence to him, then he would just go to her.

Thirty seconds later he stepped out of the office, closing the door behind him with a satisfied smile on his face. He was in a rush so he didn't bother to fix the mess he had made, but that wasn't of concern to him right now.

"Harris!"

He looked over his shoulder and saw Andy standing with his tag partner, Chase Stevens, down the hall and he rolled his eyes. Off camera they all pretty much got along okay, but these guys could still be damn annoying sometimes. Before he could even turn to move in the other direction, Andy and Chase had already started to him. When they got there, Andy eyed the nameplate on the door of the office Chris had just come out of. Lily Myers.

"Uh... you okay, Chris?" he asked tentatively, not sure if he wanted to know the answer.

"Yeah, why?"

"Just wanting to know why you're coming out of Lily's office, that's all."

Chase, somewhat confused as he was left in the dark, frowned. "Who the hell is Lily?"

His partner started to reply, but Chris punched his arm in a symbolic gesture telling him to keep his damn mouth shut unless he wanted to get his ass thrown through the wall. Still feeling the affects of the America's Most Wanted member shoving him around in the ring not too long earlier, Andy backed off.

"What?" Chase pressed. "Man, I swear Jarrett's gonna go nuts if you start messing with his assistants again," he stated, remembering the time that Chris got into an altercation with Jarrett's former assistant, which led to the guy's resignation. It was quite an amusing moment, actually.

"Guys, it's nothing," Chris insisted, impatiently. "I gotta go..." he hurried off before his colleagues could get another word in otherwise and Chase shook his head.

"Okay, what the fuck is going on?" he demanded. "Is there some running joke I should know about?"

"No joke, man. Trust me, it's gonna hit the roof soon." Andy replied and walked to Lily's office door and opened it, peering inside. The mess on the floor and on the desk made it easy for him to assume that it had something to do with that kid and Lily.

Just then, Lily came around the corner and stopped, staring at Andy and the other guy looking in her office. She walked up behind them quietly and cleared her throat.

"Something I can help you with?" She asked, slightly amused at having made Andy and his friend jump almost out of their skins.

"Uh... Lily. Hi. Um... no, no there's nothing. Come on, Chase, let's go." Andy stammered before trying to pull Chase away.

"Wait, you're Lily?" Chase asked politely.

"Yes, I am." Lily replied. Chase held his hand out to her and she shook it tentatively.

"I'm Chase Stevens – Andy's tag partner. You're Jarrett's new assistant, right?" Chase introduced himself.

"Indeed, I am. If you'll excuse me, I have something urgent that I need to take care of." Lily excused herself before pushing past Chase and opening the door to her office. She took one look at the mess and walked back out. Andy and Chase hadn't gotten very far.

"Andy... what the hell is this?" Lily called to him, pointing back into the office.

"Um... it... well, the thing is..." Andy stammered, not sure what to tell her.

"It was Chris Harris." Chase supplied the answer for him, only to have Andy hit him in the arm.

"Ow! Dude, not cool." Chase muttered, glaring at his tag partner. He totally missed the look on Lily's face but Andy didn't.

"I'll help clean it up. Catch you later, Chase." Andy dismissed his friend before following Lily back into the office. Once the door was shut, Lily turned on him.

"Tell me what you know and tell me now." She demanded.

"All I know is that he came out of here earlier. When I asked him what he was doing, he said it was nothing and then said he had to go." Andy told her honestly. Lily looked around at the mess and pulled a hand across the top of her head.

"I really don't need this shit right now. Kady's still missing and I need to go home and see if she's there." Lily mused.

"Well, my mother used to say that many hands make light work. The sooner we start, the sooner you can get out of here." Andy figured. Lily nodded and walked around her desk to survey the mess from another angle.

"Oh, no. No, no, no." She muttered, having spied her wallet sitting open on the desk. She picked it up and noticed the photo of her and Kady sitting below it. Chris had, no doubt, been in here looking for their address. He'd obviously found it on her license.

"I have to go, now. Leave the mess." Lily ordered before ushering Andy out of the room and running out to her car in the parking lot.

Chris had slipped out of Universal Studios unnoticed. He'd quickly gotten his rental car going and had headed for the address on the piece of notepad paper in his hand. He now stood, staring up at the house. It wasn't anything particularly flashy but he had to admit that it looked like a nice place. He walked up the path slowly and stood in front of the front door, wondering what he should say to Kady if she answered the door to find him there.

Finally deciding to play it by ear, he reached out and knocked. He waited a little while, hoping to hear her yell out from inside, but there was nothing. He knocked and waited again before giving up and sitting down on the stoop. She either wasn't here or didn't want to answer. Raking his hands through his hair, Chris wondered what his next move should be. He had no idea where Kady would be, other than here.

It was at this point that Lily pulled her car into the driveway. She sat in the car, staring at the man sitting on her doorstep. She prayed that he hadn't said anything to Kady. For all she knew, he was sitting there after having Kady slam the door in his face. She got out of her car and walked slowly towards Chris.

"You went through my stuff. Very mature of you, Chris." She spoke up. He lifted his head slightly and glared at her.

"Kady beat me to it. I don't think she's here, Lil." He told her, the concern in his voice shocking Lily a little. He seemed genuinely worried. Remembering James' words from earlier, Lily motioned for Chris to move so she could get past him.

"She's probably upstairs with her headphones on." She figured, unlocking the door and stepping inside. She held the door open for a moment before sighing.

"You can come in - just so long as you don't go telling Kady the truth. Not yet. Give me time to talk to her about it." Lily offered. It was Chris' turn to be shocked. Was this the same person he'd been arguing with earlier?

"Thanks. I guess it was stupid of me to come running over here to dump the truth on her but... she needs to know, Lil. I need her to know." He replied as he stepped into the house.

"I'll be right back." Lily told him before she headed up the stairs to Kady's room. The door was open, the room empty. Lily searched through Kady's closet and drawers quickly, realizing the girl had taken a lot of her clothes with her.

"She's gone... run off." Lily explained to Chris as she came back down the stairs.

"What? Where would she go?" Chris asked seriously, pulling his car keys from his pocket.

"I... I don't know. She doesn't know this place at all. We only just moved here." Lily replied, being cut off by her cellphone ringing in her pocket. She pulled it out and quickly answered the call.

"Lily speaking."

"I hate you, you fucking bitch! You're a piece of shit, you know that!" Kadence's voice yelled. She was clearly crying.

"Kady, baby, where are you?" Lily asked, her motherly concern on high alert.

"Like you fucking care! Why didn't you tell me he was my father? Why did you let me believe for so fucking long that my father didn't care? How could you do that to me?" Kady screamed into the phone.

"It was wrong of me, I know. Please, just come home and we'll work it out, okay?" Lily pleaded, trying to stay calm.

"Fuck you! Florida isn't my home and it never will be." Kady replied defiantly. Chris watched Lily's expression cloud even more than it had when she'd first realized it was Kady calling her. He reached out and took the phone from her, swatting her hand away when she tried to get it back.

"Kady, get your punk ass back to this house right now." He spoke quickly and gruffly into the phone.

"Who... who is this?" Kady asked uncertainly, the shock of a male voice over the phone snapping her out of her hysterics.

"Who the hell do you think it is?" Chris shot back.

"Chris?" Kady whispered.

"Give the girl a medal." Chris replied wryly. Kadence came out of her stupor and remembered what was happening.

"Well, now you have a valid reason not to give a damn about me. I'm not there, just like you weren't all those times I needed you." Kady spat before ending the call. Chris looked at the phone in shock before handing it back into Lily's outstretched hand.

"Angry little thing, ain't she?" He mused.

"My fault, like everything else, I suppose. Did she say anything about where she was?" Lily asked quickly.

"Nope, not a thing. I could kind of hear a bus or something in the background, though." He told her.

"A bus? Oh, god... she said Florida wasn't her home and never would be... she's gone back to Kentucky!" Lily guessed. Chris resisted the temptation to show his smugness at Lily's relenting to the fact that she has royally screwed up with Kadence, but right now wasn't the time he knew so if it was necessary, and it looked like it was, he was gonna have to make a pact with this devil. At least until they had Kady back here where she was safe.

"Jesus..." Chris shook his head.

He had never done this before, so he had no clue as to what to do and by the expression on Lily's face, he knew she was just as torn up and confused as he was. The years of dealing with a troublesome child and her never ending anti-social behavior. And you know what? For a microsecond, there, he almost felt sorry for her, but easily shook himself from that and came back to reality. This day had started off so normally, and now all of this was going down... it was overwhelming, even for him.

"So now what?" he broke the silence, and he managed to work through his anger and total hatred of this woman whom he never wanted to see again, who was standing across from him, and Kadence's safety was the only thing he could concern himself with now. Lily looked totally lost, and appeared to have gave up arguing with him.

"I... I... I don't know, Chris. I don't know. I'm a horrible fucking mother! Is that what you want me to say? So you can quit giving me that goddamn look! You happy now? I've admitted it. You win, you sonofabitch." she cried and fell against the wall, her arms flailed hopelessly at her side.

For an instant there, Chris felt that urge to hold her again, but that only last a microsecond and he rolled his eyes with disgust. If she had been a more responsible with Kady, this wouldn't be happening. But then again, if she had been responsible, that would probably have meant that this very tumultuous day would not have come to pass. Chris looked around the house – it was moderately sized, appropriate for a single mother with a teenage daughter. Boxes littered the hallway and most of their belongings were unpacked as of yet. And already Kady had rejected it.

"Look, forget it Lil." Chris controlled his temper for the sake of rationality. "Who knows what the hell she's gonna do... I have no bright ideas for what we're gonna do..."

"We?" Lily responded, incredulously. "Excuse me, there is no we in this—"

"What the--? As I recall, we are her parents. Like it or not, I'm in this too. Get over yourself and start thinking about our kid, here."

"I am!"

"She fucking knows, Lil!" he retorted and crossed his arms. "How she does, I have no idea considering this morning she had no clue who I was. Another wonderful indication of your parental abilities..."

"Oh don't you dare!" Lily fumed and stormed up to him, not afraid of his imposing frame or dangerous glare.

Tearfully, she forced herself to look at him, the man who had walked away from her and Kady thirteen years ago, and the contempt he had for her now... it was hard to believe that this was the same guy who she had loved with her life once upon a time. And what was even more infuriating? That he was now more than likely gonna force his way back into their lives, and they'd have to coexist for Kady's sake. Lily was willing to do anything for her daughter, but this was asking a lot. He genuinely looked and sounded like he wanted to help and be there, but it was a lot more than that.

"You're the one who told me to let it go just a few seconds ago. I will, if you will." It sounded more like a dare, a challenge, than a request – Lily figured it was probably the only way to get his cooperation right now. Chris huffed and briskly pushed past her and over to the front door. After opening it, he stopped just in the doorway and gave a quick glance over his shoulder, not wanting to meet her darkened, tear-filled eyes. Just the way she looked when he had last seen her all those years ago, and the guilt had still yet to dissipate.

"You coming?"

"What?"

"Lily!"

She hurried past him before he slammed the door behind her and stepped onto the front step. Already she was halfway to the car, obviously not waiting for him nor caring much if he did decide to get in or not.

Kady had almost worn herself out with sobs after talking to both of her parents. Wow, how weird. They were both in the same place. She briefly wondered if they were at each other's throats or if their breakup had been a friendly one. For all she knew, they were playing catch up over a nice hot cup of coffee.

She'd hoped on a bus straight after hanging up on Chris and now she was... hopefully, miles away from Orlando, Florida. She hated everything about that place. The fake people, the sunshine. It was all too much. She longed to be back in Kentucky with her friends. Thinking about it, Kady almost managed to smiled. She pulled her cellphone out and searched it's directory for a particular number. Once she'd found it, she pressed the call button and held the phone to her ear, wanting to hear the familiar voice of her best friend.

"Danny here. Talk if you must." Danny Hertz answered the call with his usual antisocial greeting.

"Hey, freak. You sound like you miss me." Kady spoke quietly, still not completely over the sobs from earlier.

"Kady? Of course I miss you. Freakdom is not the same without you here." Danny told her seriously.

"Well, I'll remedy that, shall I? Guess where I am." Kady replied, knowing he'd actually take the time to try and guess.

That was one of the things she liked about him. No matter what else was happening around him, he'd take the time out to give her his full attention. It had been that way since their first day of kindergarten when he'd knocked over a bigger kid that was hassling her. He was the closest thing she had to a brother and, right now, she considered him to be more family than her own parents.

"Hmm. It's noisy... I'm guessing a bus. Knowing you, you're on your way back here." Danny accurately guessed.

"You know me too well. Can I stay with you?" Kady wondered, knowing she had nowhere else to stay if he said no.

"Yes, as always. I'll hide you in the attic." Danny joked, reminding her of the time she'd run away at 12, only to end up hiding in his attic for two days before Lily had come to take her home.

"Attic's been done before. Let's go for the basement this time, okay?" Kady laughed slightly.

"Deal. Let me know when you're almost at the bus terminal and I'll be there to meet you." Danny assured her.

"Thanks, Dan. You have no idea how much I appreciate this. The whole state of Florida should be deemed an insane asylum and everyone in the state right now ought to be locked up." Kady told him.

"I'm sure there's more to this story and I look forward to hearing about it without the bus noise in the background.I have to go scrounge up some food. Talk to you soon, yeah?" Danny asked.

"Yeah. Save me some pizza." Kady teased, knowing that that's about all Danny chose to eat these days.

"Will do. See ya soon, Kady." Danny farewelled before ending the call. He really must've been hungry.

Now that she thought about it, she was starting to feel hungry herself. She silently berated herself for not grabbing anything to eat on the way out of the house. Her stomach grumbled so loud it almost drowned out the sound of the bus. The kindly bus driver looked back at her in the mirror and smiled.

"There's an old diner up ahead. I usually pull in for a coffee. Any complaints?" He called, loud enough for Kady and the other passengers to hear.

No one seemed to care about the stop, so the driver pulled up outside a rundown diner in the middle of nowhere. Kady got off the bus carrying both her bags and headed inside, making a detour to the bathroom before she ordered anything to eat. When she emerged from the bathroom, she headed straight for the counter. The place was almost empty so she didn't have to wait to be served.

"Oh, dear. You're meant to be on that bus, aren't you?" The waitress asked, pointing out the window. Kady turned and looked, only to see the back end of the bus fading into the horizon.

"Oh, great. This day couldn't possibly get any worse. Can I get a menu, please?" Kadence asked, figuring she may as well eat now. There was no way she'd catch up to the bus, unless she could turn into Roadrunner. The waitress handed the strange girl a menu before turning to tend to another customer that looked, to Kady, to be a regular.

After ordering and receiving her meal, Kady dug into it hungrily. She was quietly contemplating what she should do next and decided that hitching a ride was her only option now. That or call her mother and admit defeat, which wouldn't be happening any time soon. She turned her attention to the road the bus had gone down, guessing that that was the way to Kentucky. There was barely any traffic out here, only a few beat up old cars that probably wouldn't be going far. Every now and then, a newer model car would go past but it didn't happen with much regularity.

Once she was finished her meal, Kady paid up and hefted her bags onto her shoulders and then walked out to the road. She dropped the gym bag at her feet and placed the backpack next to it before looking back up the road the way the bus had come. Nothing for miles. Groaning, Kady sat down on top of her gym bag and pulled her sketchbook from her backpack. On the back of one of the pages she wrote 'Need a ride to Kentucky'. She then flipped the book so that anyone passing would be able to read the note while she sat there sketching to pass the time.

After around an hour, a car pulled up at the curb near her. Kady lifted her head and surveyed the vehicle. Not too shabby. Next, she turned her attention to the driver. A guy in his early 20's was leaning over to speak to her out the passenger window. He had long black hair pulled back in a ponytail and Kady could see a lot of tattoo's covering his arms. He was wearing a black t-shirt with the letters IWC on it. Deciding he looked slightly creepy, Kady got up and walked over slowly, making sure she stopped far enough away from the car that she'd be safe.

"I'm not going all the way to Kentucky but I can get you a little closer to it." The guy offered. Kady still wasn't sure about the look of him.

"Uh... I'll pass, thanks." She replied, turning to walk back to her bags.

"Hey, kid!" The guy called out. Kady turned back and indicated that she was listening.

"I'm sure you've heard the old saying 'never judge a book by it's cover'. I'm not as scary as I look." He told her. Kady almost laughed.

"Whatever. I've learned to trust my instincts and they're telling me not to get in your car. Sorry." She shrugged. The guy laughed slightly, amazed that this young girl would refuse a safe ride with him, just because of the way he looked. Considering she didn't look all sweetness and light either, it was quite ironic. He was about to say something else when a junk heap of a car pulled up just behind him. The girl walked away from his car.

The driver of the second car tooted the horn and Kady walked over to see if this guy looked any better than the first one. He seemed to be more clean cut. He was wearing a pale blue button down shirt and his hair was short and styled nicely. She crouched slightly to talk to the guy through the passenger window, just as she had at the first car.

"Where you headed, sweetie?" The guy asked, his accent more familiar to her than the harsh Floridian accent she'd had to put up with since leaving Kentucky.

"Kentucky, or as close to it as possible." Kady told him. The guy nodded.

"I'm headed there, myself. Grab your stuff." He offered.

Kady smiled and ran back to her bags, stuffing her sketchbook into her backpack before lifting both bags from the ground. As she was headed back towards the car, the guy from the first car called out to her again.

"Hey, kid. Be safe, okay?" He called to her.

Kady thought it was an odd thing for him to say but waved halfheartedly before throwing her bags into the backseat of the second car. She climbed into the front passenger seat and closed the door before the driver peeled away from the curb, going around the first car that had stopped. Kady settled into the seat and watched the scenery out the window, happy to be lost in her own mind. The scenery quickly turned repetitive and boring; just a long highway with nothing interesting surrounding it. Kady yawned and blinked in rapid succession in vain attempts to not fall asleep. What did that dude mean? Be safe? Well, whatever it was, she really did not giving a damn anymore and settled back into her seat. The man looked at her and raised an eyebrow in her direction at the totally gothic, reclusive-looking girl who didn't look to be more than fifteen years old. He returned to focusing on the road ahead of them.

"So how old are you, kid?" he asked casually, and what seemed to be concern. Kady shrugged, nonchalantly.

"Fourteen," she replied and stifled another yawn.

"What you doing hitch hiking, anyway? Aren't you a little young?"

Again, Kady shrugged and kept gazing out the window. "Does it matter? Some shit went down and I just wanna get home."

"Ah,I see."

The conversation kinda died right there as he could tell she didn't wanna talk much, and let it go. Every so often he'd cast a glance in her direction to see that she had not moved an inch, and her body language suggested that whatever had happened with her, she didn't want anyone to know about it. Five minutes passed since their last communication, twenty minutes after he had picked her up.

"I'm Mark, by the way."

Kady remained silent, seemingly lost in her own world. So he tried again.

"What's your name?"

She rolled her eyes at his pathetic attempts to break the silence, but decided it wasn't worth the effort to risk him kicking her out in the middle of nowhere, stranding her. She pushed a few stray bits of hair from her face and cleared her throat.

"Kady."

"Nice to meet you, Kady. I assume your parents don't know about any of this?"

"Mind your own business," she snapped before she could catch herself. The venom with which she spoke caught Mark off guard and Kady quickly changed her demeanor. "Sorry," she added. "It's been a long day. I just don't wanna talk about it."

"I forgive," he chuckled and smiled in her direction. It was a comforting smile and Kady relaxed a little. "I understand. Sorry, I didn't mean to pry. Might help if you talk about it though..."

"Do I look like the 'talkative' type?" Kady responded.

"Okay, okay, I give up!" Mark laughed and checked his rear view mirror.

The only other car on the road was a fair distance behind them, otherwise the highway was pretty much deserted. The long stretch of road showed no signs of relenting, giving them both a clear indication that there was still a fair way to go and Kady still had no idea of where exactly she was. Not that it mattered much anyway, and she closed her eyes and imagined about arriving at Danny's house and just chilling out with him and telling him everything about what happened. He would be as shocked as she was to find out that she now knows who her father is. No doubt they'd be bitching about Lily and Chris for a while before falling into the usual bored, effortless place of doing nothing. And pizza. Kadence was starving to have her favorite food and just hang out with her best, and pretty much only friend.

Kady didn't resist as she felt her eyes drooping and her muscles relaxed even further. Mark watched her fall into what looked to be a light sleep, maybe dozing, and studied this – child – a bit more carefully. All he could see was not only she deeply troubled, but from what it sounded like it was pretty serious as well. Despite all the make-up and very depressing attitude and the creepy clothes, Kady is a very pretty girl... Who knows how much time had passed when Kady let out a small groan and shifted, barely awake, in her seat. She opened her eyes and let them refocus for a few seconds before she realized that it was dark – it had fallen into night now. But the strange thing was... she didn't feel the car moving.

She rubbed her eyes and willed herself to stay awake when she now felt something tugging at the bottom of her shirt, at her hip and then it hit her. Her heart beat started growing more rapid and intense and looked around her. The car was, in fact, not moving and looked to be parked on a dark, narrow gravel road that was definitely not the highway. Actually, there was no sense of civilization or human touch around them; it was all nature – trees, bushes... no road! Only a matter of seconds had passed since waking up and the panic was setting in and Kady turned to find out what was going on, and Mark's eyes caught hers and he was smiling at her. This wasn't like how he was smiling earlier, now it was creepy – a smirk – as if he knew something she didn't.

"What... what the fuck? Where are we?" she breathed, raggedly, and looked around with her eyes darting around, wanting to find something that would suggest they were near other people. But there was nothing. "Did we break down or something?"

Mark shrugged and shook his head. "No," he replied softly and unbuckled his seatbelt. "I just needed a rest, you know? Been driving for the past two hours, you know? I need a break."

Kady looked between him and where his hand now sat, on the hand break between them, apparently inching closer to her and she tensed up. What the hell was going on here? Mark didn't look tired and he had something on his mind, she could tell. Kady wasn't stupid, and it clicked almost right away what was going on. Deciding to play it safe and not do anything that could agitate him and get her chopped up into little bits and left to rot in the forest, she exhaled and played it cool... as best she could.

"Fair enough," she muttered. "Look, um... I really need to be getting home, so I'd appreciate it"
"What's the rush?" Mark interrupted, the ego oozing out of him now. He slid his hand onto Kady's thigh and started massaging it and moved closer to her, and leaned closer. She shoved his hand away.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she yelled and undid her seatbelt. The creepy smile didn't diminish from his face and Mark, moving quicker than her hand could reach the door handle, flipped a button that central locked the car. "Let me go you sick asshole!" "Wow, you're feisty," he commented.

Kadence tried her best to fight him off but gave up a lot in sheer size, weight and strength. There was no way she'd be able to stop him if he decided to go further. She leaned as far away from him as possible and reached one of her hands into her pocket to grab her cellphone. As she got it in her hand in front of her, she quickly found her mother's cellphone number in the directory. Just as she'd pushed the Call button, Mark tore the phone from her hand and tossed it out his, now open, window.

"Hey! Let me go, you asshole! Let go of me!" Kady screamed as Mark pulled her towards himself.

Just then, a hand reached in through the open window and wrapped around Mark's throat. Another hand reached in and unlocked the doors, allowing Kady freedom and also allowing the person to open the door and pull Mark from the car. Kady got out of the car as quickly as she could and stood, glued to the spot, watching the heavily tattooed guy from earlier beating Mark mercilessly.

"Don't you ever, EVER, touch a child that way again you sick fuck!" The guy was yelling at Mark as he hit him.

Feeling her confidence return now that she was sure Mark wasn't going to have his way, Kady moved around to the driver's side of the car to try and break up the fight. All she wanted was to get out of there, to get home to Kentucky. This tattooed guy may have seemed strange to her at first, but now she knew he meant no harm to her.

"Stop, please, stop!" She told him, trying to get his attention away from beating Mark senseless. He didn't seem to notice. Kady took a deep breath and quickly stepped into the fray, hoping to get his attention before he accidentally hit her instead of Mark.

"Please, stop. I just want to get out of here... please?" She pleaded. The guy stopped, his arm raised, fist clenched. It took him a moment to register what she'd said but, once he had, he let Mark go, shoving him to the ground violently.

"Get your gear." He told her, attempting to calm himself down.

As Kady ran back to Mark's car, the guy looked down at Mark and felt the bile rise in his throat again. He didn't want to think about what may have happened to the girl if he hadn't followed the creep's car when it turned off the highway. Feeling the anger rising once again, the guy kicked out at Mark, connecting solidly with his midsection.

As Kady came back over, Mark reached up from the ground and grabbed her leg, attempting to either pull himself up or pull her down. Kady let rip with a bloodcurdling scream. This caught the attention of her savior and he once again kicked out at Mark, this time harder. The kick connected with Mark's ribs, resulting in a satisfying cracking sound. Mark released his grip on Kady and clutched at his ribs. Kady took the offered hand from the tattooed guy and let him lead her to his car.

As the pair walked away, Mark pushed himself to his feet and stumbled back towards his car. Noticing Kady's cellphone on the ground just beside the car, Mark growled before stomping on it and smashing it to bits. On the other end, Lily screamed as the line went dead. Chris, who had just come back around the corner after they had split up upon entering the bus terminal to look for Kadence, gave her a strange look and approached her again. A dozen or so other people around them stopped momentarily to see what the problem was, Lily fell back against the wall and almost dropped her cell phone. Instinctively, Chris reached out and touched her shoulder just in case she needed extra help to regain her balance, and right away she pushed him away. He looked between her and the phone – Lily's face was streaming with tears and her breathing had turned to hyperventilation.

"Lil? Lily? What the—" seeing her trembling and no longer able to stand he ignored her weak attempts to push him away and he led her over to a seat about three or four feet away. She sat down. "Lily what's up? Was that Kady? LILY!"

She jumped when he raised his voice and looked up. "I... I..."

Chris knelt down in front of her – he would shake the information out of her if he had to, neither of them had time for this. They had to find Kadence before she could get herself into anymore trouble. If only they knew...

"Snap out of it, woman!" he firmly shook her but not hard enough to hurt her. Lily whimpered and inadvertently gripped his arm for support. This was about as friendly as the contact between them would probably get.

"It was Kady, but it wasn't!" she told him quickly, flustered.

"What?" again, he had to resist the temptation to slap her upside the head and force her to tell him what was going on. "Lily, I swear to God if you don't tell me what you're rambling about I'm going to—"

"Something happened, there was screaming and shouting and her phone went dead; fuck Chris something happened! She was screaming, I could hear it! Chris, she could be hurt, I—"

It was at that point that Chris let her go and his arms dropped by his sides in shock – did he hear her right? Someone was attacking his girl? Lily calmed down just enough to see what his reaction was, and to her surprise it was calm. But inside he was fuming; Chris' mind was running so fast that his body had barely begun to react to that news, the worst news that a father could hear... especially when he is a father who was never actually in his daughter's life and was never in a position to protect her. Everyone else around them resumed what they were doing, leaving Chris and Lily alone to absorb what just happened. Now, being a wrestler, you'd expect him to go off on a psychotic rampage about how he was gonna kill the fucker who dared to touch a hair on his child's head, but Chris... he didn't. Instead, he looked to the ground and took a deep breath, which of course left Lily in confusion. Why was he acting so calm when she just told him their Kady could be hurting, or that some creep was doing something to her? Even though the kid could be a real pain in the ass at times... there's nothing that Lily wouldn't do for her. She could only hope that Chris would be man enough to do the same thing.

"Chris?"

He looked up and to Lily's complete shock again, what she saw was not what she expected from the man she was now struggling to hate. Not that she had forgiven him or anything like that, but it was more like they had put their differences on hold for Kady's sake. But he looked... guilty. Chris burned with emotion and fought to keep it inside, there was no way he would lose his cool now, though it was pretty hard not to.

"Chris?"

He blinked away any tears that could've been visible and shook his head. "God damn it, Kady." he whispered. "Fuck..."

"Chris, please!" Lily pleaded for his attention, though wasn't succeeding. "We have to find her! You gotta help me get my little girl back—" she stopped when he cast a deadly glare in her direction, and cleared her throat. "Our girl back," she corrected herself.

He then stood up, and without a word he turned around and briskly walked off, leaving his ex wondering what the hell he was doing.

"HARRIS!"

"Let's go..." he called back.


A/N2: For all those interested in finding out more about Sterling James Keenan, say so in your review and I'll send you the link to his website since it won't let me post it here. This guy is going to be something big! Leave us a review and let us know what you think. Constructive criticism is accepted. Thank you! Phoenix