Disclaimer: The Undertaker A.K.A Mark Calaway is not mine... but I would be his if he asked.. :-)

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Chapter Eighteen
He Tried…

Missing: Fifty-Two Hours

"What the hell do you mean I can't go?" I roared at the detectives.

We've spent the last four hours marking out spots on a map of North Carolina where Ashley may or may not be. After what felt like forever, we were finally finished and about to rescue her from her cave of hell. Now the detectives were informing me that I wasn't allowed to go.

"Mr. Calaway, with all due respect, you will do nothing but slow us down. We have trained for this as the others that are helping us are also trained. We need to get in there without being detected and we can't have a civilian with us as we go." Phelps was trying to placate me, but he was only pissing me off.

I shook my head. "That's bullshit. I need to go."

Johnson shook his head as he stood. "I'm sorry, but you are not going with us. If you try, we will arrest you."

Phelps sighed as another detective, one I didn't know, entered the conference room. He nodded at Phelps who nodded in return. He then turned to me. "Mr. McMahon is here."

That statement earned them a growl. They called my boss like I was a child. "I don't need a babysitter." I hissed.

Phelps nodded. "We aren't saying that you do, but we thought he could help in keeping you away from the mountains of North Carolina."

I didn't reply to that. I just watched as the handful of detectives and a few members of the SWAT team left the crowded room. I just stood there trying to get myself under control before I lost it. It pissed me off that I couldn't go with them. That I couldn't be there to rescue Ashley from the clutches of that asshole. I wanted to rip Crestfield apart but now I wouldn't get that chance. I could go by myself, just follow closely behind the police, but if I got caught then I would be arrested and I wouldn't be of any use to Ashley behind bars. What the hell was I going to do while they went and rescued Ashley? The waiting would probably kill me.

Vince entered the conference room, clearing his throat to let me know he was there. I shook my head and held up a hand. "I don't want to hear it."

"Good cuz I didn't want to say it." He replied tossing a pamphlet like paper on the table between us. "Take this and go." He added.

I picked it up to discover a plane ticket. To Greenville, South Carolina. "What the fuck is this?" I hissed.

Vince smirked. "I thought that was obvious. It's a plane ticket to Greenville, South Carolina."

I tossed it back. "Why would I go to South Carolina?"

"There's a house show tonight, Calaway. A house show that you've already been scheduled to appear in weeks ago. You've already missed two."

I shook my head. "I'm not going to no damn house show in Greenville fucking South Carolina."

"Yes you will."

Still shaking my head, I replied. "I need to be here in Charlotte. Closer to Ashley when they find her."

Vince took a deep breath. "You don't even know if she's still ali—"

Before he could finish, I had him by the throat, against the wall. "DON'T." I growled, squeezing a little tighter.

He was gasping for air and I was taking pleasure in it. "Let." Gasp. "Me." Gasp. "Go." Gasp.

After one more squeeze to his throat, I released my hold and took a step back. "Don't ever say that again. EVER. Ashley is alive."

"What the fuck has gotten into you, Calaway?"

I grunted, turning away from him. "She's alive. Don't assume things you don't know."

"Damn." He murmured.

I turned to look at him. "What?" I growled.

He shook his head. "I never would have thought the The Lord of Darkness would fall in love."

My eyes narrowed. "What the hell are you talking about? I've been married before." I replied, not bothering to deny the love part.

Vince nodded. "Yes you've been married, but you weren't in love."

"That's bullshit."

"You just had your boss in a choke hold. I could not only fire you, but I could have you arrested. All for a girl. You wouldn't have done that before."

I took a deep breath, leaning against the concrete wall. He was absolutely right. I've never lost control like that before. Especially not over any woman, but Ashley just wasn't any other woman. She was Ashley. She was … in trouble, in danger and there wasn't a damn thing I could do but pace and worry until they rescued her. I hated feeling like this. She made me lose control and I needed to gain back a little bit of my control.

"If I refuse to go?"

Vince inhaled sharply. "I would hate to fire my best wrestler, but that wouldn't stop me from doing so." He replied nonchalantly.

I growl as I snatched the plane ticket from the table and placed it in my pocket. "I'll go to South Carolina and to your little house show, but you need to stay here."

He nodded. "I'll stay here and I'll call you immediately as soon as the police have found Miss Martin."

I handed him my hotel key. "You can stay in my hotel room until they call. As soon as the house show is over, I'll be on my way back."

Vince nodded then let out a sigh. "What happened to my Undertaker?" He asked me with a sneer.

I met his eyes with my own which I was sure were emerald in color. I was pissed. I hated this feeling of helplessness. I hated that I was being led around by my emotions. The Undertaker didn't have emotions. He was the damn Undertaker for fuck's sake. But the only solution I could think of was letting go of Ashley and that simply wasn't an option.

"I'm still the Undertaker. I just have a private life outside of wrestling." I replied softly.

"Yes and your dick leads that private life." He responded.

I took a menacing step forward and Vince backed up several times. "Watch it, McMahon or I'll give you a real reason to fire my ass."

"You've changed, Calaway."

I shook my head. "No I haven't. I'm still the same bad ass I've always been. I just have another reason to live besides wrestling."

Vince gave a slight laugh. "The Undertaker I know would have never have said that."

I didn't respond to that. It was pointless. "Call me as soon as you know something. I'll be back as soon as I can." I told him before walking out of the conference room. I just hoped that I didn't regret leaving the state of North Carolina.

Eight Hours Later—

I just started regretting my decision when Vince called to let me know that Ashley had been found and taken to the hospital. I just started feeling guilty when it took me two hours to finally touch down in North Carolina. I just started to force down the guilt when I entered the hospital. When the elevator doors opened onto the ICU floor and all I could hear was screaming the guilt returned full force. Along with that ball of pain in my chest.

Vince intercepted me before I reached the nurse's station, but it took all his strength to actually get me to stop.

"What?" I asked through clenched teeth.

"You're Ashley's POA." He replied quickly.

"What? How is that possible?" I asked.

Vince actually looked a little guilty. "Let's just say I pulled some strings."

I nodded my acceptance. "I need to go." I told him as I pushed past him. This time he let me go. I made it to the nurse's station before I was intercepted again. This time by an elderly woman with a 'Golden Girls' hair do, pretty blue eyes, and a sincere smile.

"Are you Mark by any chance?" She asked me to my surprise.

Another scream ripped through the quiet corridor, but before I could take a step, the gray haired lady stopped me. "Wait right here. I promise you won't be waiting long. They actually need you." She said before walking off and into the room where I was sure Ashley was. I began making my way to the room when the elderly woman followed by a younger doctor came out. The doctor was definitely younger than me, but older than Ashley. His hair was black, his eyes brown, and his face stricken with years of rough hospital work.

I took a step towards the doctor. "Can I see her?" I asked, barely able to keep the flinch off my face as Ashley went to screaming again.

The doctor nodded, but held up his hand. "You will be able to but please let me explain a few things first."

My eyes narrowed in anger, but this time the anger wasn't directed at myself but at the young doctor. "Can't it wait? I can hear her screaming. Isn't she more important?" My teeth were grinding together as she continued to scream. This time I was almost sure that it was Mark that she was screaming.

The doctor nodded. "She is, but I need to prepare you before you go in there."

I took a deep breath and nodded.

"I'm Doctor Blackthorne. When Ashley arrived—."

Whatever he was about to say was cut off when Ashley screamed again and this time I knew what she had said. She was screaming bloody murder and she was calling for me. She wasn't calling for Taker. She was calling for Mark. Whatever the doctor had to say, he could just fucking wait. My given name coming from her, well I was barely able to resist throwing the good doctor down the hall and going to her.

I strode past him and into the room; his weak attempts of stopping me were laughable. I walked right past him, ignoring him and his stuttering. The first thing I noticed was Ashley. Her hair was all over the place, her face was covered in bruises, she had a large bandage across her throat, the part of her arms and legs that weren't covered by the gown were covered in bruises and there was blood dripping down her right arm.

The second thing I noticed and didn't like at all was the fact that the two detectives and two male nurses were crowding Ashley in the corner, trying to –well I didn't know what they were trying to do, but the look of pure terror on her face was enough to send me into a rage.

When one of the male nurses took a step forward, Ashley screamed again. It was then I heard the terror and the fear in her voice. She wasn't 'here' in the physical sense. She was too scared to realize she was in a hospital and safe. The look on her face was too much for me.

"What the hell are you doing?" I barked, my voice loud and angry, making all four males jump.

At the sound of my voice, Ashley looked up at me. Her eyes widened. "Mark." The word was whisper soft and full of hope. Oh my name coming from that sweet mouth. Now I really wanted to brand her.

I swallowed hard. "I'm here, Kitten." I strode past the four dumbass men to reach Ashley's side. Picking her up, she wrapped her arms around my neck, her legs around my waist, and buried her face in my neck.

"Mark, don't go." She whispered and that was when I noticed the sound of her voice. It was rough as hell.

I tightened my hold on her as I walked to the bed. "I'm not going anywhere, Baby girl." I told her as I stroked a hand through her hair. I perched on the edge of the bed with her in my arms. I continued to stroke her hair and down her back, ignoring everything and everyone around me. I waited until she went lax in my arms before I turned my gaze on the men in the room. The two male nurses had left, leaving only the detectives.

"What the hell happened?" I asked.

Phelps collapsed in the only vacant chair, rubbing his hands over his face. "He got away." He murmured.

My body tightened in anger. "What did you say?" I hissed. Because surely I miss understood.

"He heard us coming and he high tailed it out of the cave and down the mountain."

"And you let me him go?" It was taking a lot of control not to yell. I was normally not a yelling man, but right now I felt like yelling.

"We didn't have a choice?"

"What? Why the hell not?"

Johnson slid down the wall to sit on the floor. "We took two men with us so there were four of us. We should have taken more, but we didn't think and there were four other groups sent out to four other locations. We—."

When Johnson couldn't continue, Phelps spoke again. "Crestfield had several booby traps up alongside the mountain. Nothing life threatening, but it took out our two SWAT team members so there was just the two of us."

"I still don't get why one of you couldn't have gone after him." I snapped.

"He slit her throat." Phelps stated softly.

I hissed through clenched teeth. So that was what the bandage on her throat was. The bastard slit her throat. Ways of killing him flashed through my mind so quickly that I had to draw several breaths before I got myself under control. Ashley whimpered softly and I couldn't help but squeeze her to me a little more. That bastard had tried to kill her. It was pure luck that he didn't succeed.

"We think that because he was in a hurry he didn't slice deep enough to kill her. We arrived before she lost too much blood."

I nodded, pushing all those ugly thoughts away. I needed to focus on the positive which was Ashley. "Why are you two here?" I asked softly as not to disturb Ashley.

"To keep her protected. With that asshole still out there, there's no telling what he'll do. He could come after her."

I nodded again. That made sense, but then why they were scaring the hell out of her. "Why did I find four men cornering her with her scared to death?" I asked.

"She had passed out on the way to the hospital so the doctors were able to patch her up and uh—." He cleared his throat and looked at his partner.

Phelps actually rolled his eyes. "The hospital did a rape kit."

The breath I was about to take caught in my throat. I knew it was a possibility, but I hadn't really thought about it until now. "And was she?"

The older detective shook his head. "She wasn't raped or at least Doc Blackthorne said there weren't any signs of vaginal or anal penetration." He replied.

I nodded, feeling a little relieved. Hell, I was really fucking relieved. That bastard hadn't raped her. Thank God for small favors.

"But she was sexually assaulted." He added after a minute.

I pushed that to the back of my mind. I couldn't think about it right now. There was no possible way.

Johnson cleared his throat. "When she woke up, she went a little crazy. She ripped out her IV and went to screaming for you. By that time, you had already been contacted so the only thing we could do was sedate her until you got here, but she wouldn't let any of us near her."

I took several deep breaths. "Go get the nurse to put her IV back in." I told Johnson who nodded and stood up. He walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

I turned my gaze on the older detective. "What are you guys doing to find Crestfield?" I asked.

He answered but he kept his eyes on Ashley. "Everything we can. I promise."

Before I could say anything else, Detective Johnson reentered the room with one of the male nurses. He glanced at Ashley in my arms before turning his attention to me.

"I'm going to need you to put her down so I can get the IV in." He said tentatively.

I grunted. "Not going to happen, but I will turn her around." I replied before lifting Ashley and turning to face the nurse. I cradled her like a bride and the nurse reached out and took her arm. It only took a few minutes and he had reinserted the IV and left the room.

Three Hours Later—

Several nurses came in and out several times, checking vitals and changing the bag hooked to her IV. The doctor came in once to explain what was going on with Ashley in the medical sense. Her throat was cut, but only deep enough for stitches, she was lucky. He didn't hit anything such as her voice box or an artery. She was covered in bruises, but she didn't have any broken bones or internal bleeding. She had been sexually assaulted, but there wasn't any tearing or bleeding. She was banged up and traumatized and a little malnourished, but she would be okay. She had been asleep all this time, but I couldn't put her down. I switched positions so her head was now on my chest. I wanted her to feel safe when she woke up and I knew my holding her was the only way that would happen. When she finally began to stir in my arms, she immediately went stiff as a board.

My lips brushed across her forehead. "It's just me, Kitten."

A heart wrenching sob ripped from her throat. "Taker?"

I made a sound deep in my chest and I was sure she giggled. She pulled back and met my eyes. And then she smiled.

"Hi." She replied, wrinkling her nose.

I smiled in return. "Hi."

"Did you win?" She asked.

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You smell like you've been wrestling. Like sweat. I was just wondering if you won." She responded.

I laughed. I couldn't help but laugh. She was so damn cute. "Of course I won." I shrugged like it was no big deal. I always won.

She giggled again and snuggled closer to me. "I figured as much. You're the best. Much better than CM Punk."

I chuckled at that, kissing her forehead. We were both silent as I listened to her soft breathing. I could feel her struggling with what to say. I wasn't sure if I should offer up information or if I should wait to see what she wanted to tell me. Even though I had a million questions racing through my mind, I knew I needed to wait until she was ready to talk.

The door opened a few minutes and a young nurse brought in a breakfast tray. She smiled at me and I nodded in return. She placed the tray on the movable table before giving another smile and leaving the room.

I brushed a strand of hair from Ashley's forehead. She needed a bath and soon. She had dried blood all in her hair. "Are you hungry?" I asked.

She shook her head.

"When did you last eat, Kitten?" I asked.

She shrugged. "What day is it?" She asked.

I frowned. "It's Friday morning."

"I've only been gone for five days?" I could hear the horror in her voice.

"Four days. They found you yesterday evening."

She shuddered. "It felt like so much longer."

"I know the feeling, Kitten." I replied.

"I haven't eaten since last Friday."

I choked back the rage. She was taken on Monday night so Saturday and Sunday she hadn't eaten. Had she been too upset to eat or just forgotten. She did that a lot. "You need to eat, Baby." I said, grabbing the table and pulling it closer to us. She clung to me tighter and shook her head. "Is your throat hurting?" I asked.

She shook her head. "No." Her hand reached up and touched the bandage. "It hurts here a little, but my throat doesn't hurt."

I turned her in my lap with ease. She whimpered. "I'm not hungry." She stated.

I grunted. "You're going to eat, Ashley. You need to eat."

She sighed. "What is it?"

I lifted the cover. There was oatmeal, yogurt, scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon along with orange juice, chocolate milk, and hot tea. This hospital went all out. I opened the orange juice first and foremost and handed it to her. She took it with a small smile and drank half of it almost immediately. I then opened her yogurt, grabbed the spoon, and handed that to her. She finished the juice, sat down the empty container and took the yogurt. Ten minutes later, she had eaten all of the yogurt, the bacon, scrambled eggs, a piece of toast, and drank her chocolate milk. She refused to eat anymore. She was full. I pushed the tray away, lifted her in my arms and walked to the bathroom.

"You want a quick shower, Kitten?" I asked.

She nodded eagerly. "Yes please."

I grinned. "Well maybe a bath would be a little better." I replied.

Thirty minutes later and she was pretty damn clean. I washed her hair carefully as not to get the bandage on her neck wet and then I washed the rest of her with gentle ease. I tried to keep the anger from showing, but at times it was hard. Her entire body was covered in bruises. Most of them in the shape of hand prints. The hand shaped bruises on her breasts and thighs were the hardest to see. That bastard had taken what he wanted without regard for Ashley. I made a promise to myself to beat him within an inch of his life if I ever got a hold of him.

She kept her eyes closed and I had to wonder what was going through her mind. I asked if I was hurting her and she shook her head no. She was just too quiet for me and that was saying something. I was the king of silence.

After drying her off, combing her hair, dressing her in a clean gown and carrying her back to the hospital bed, I laid her down. She grabbed my arm quickly and shook her head.

"What?" I asked.

"Please don't leave." She was pleading with me. She didn't need to. I wouldn't leave her.

I leaned down and brushed her mouth with mine. "I'm not going anywhere, Kitten."

She sighed in relief and scooted over. She patted the space beside her and I grinned. It would be cramped but I would and could make it work. And I did. She was mostly lying on top of me, but I dared for anyone to say anything. Her cheek lay directly over my heart and I was sure she was counting the beats. Her fingers were tracing the designs in my t-shirt. It was the one she had gotten me from Beijing. It still hadn't been washed. Her legs were entwined with mine and my arms were wrapped around her; holding her to me. I had one hand in her hair and the other one resting on the curve of her hip.

"Do you like your t-shirt?" She asked.

"I do. Who made it?" I asked.

"I did."

"You did?"

She made an mmmm sound and nodded. "There was this shop where you could make and design your own t-shirts. I took the elements I wanted in the shirt and the gentleman there helped design it. He's actually the one that made all of it blend together into a lump of color."

"I love the shirt, Kitten. I need to wash it, but I wasn't sure I could."

"That was one thing I wanted to know. I told the man that you were always on the road so you didn't need a shirt that was going to have to have special care. He informed me that these shirts are hundred percent washable in cold water with light detergent. Definitely no bleach."

"I'll wash it once you get released from the hospital."

"I got me one too."

"You did?"

"Yep."

"What's on yours?" She hesitated and I gave her a nudge. "What's on yours, Kitten?"

She let out a sigh. "It's exactly like yours, Taker."

I didn't know how to respond to that. Or maybe I did. "You wanted my name on you." I stated.

She shrugged. "I liked it."

I chuckled. "Ever thought of getting a tattoo?" I questioned.

She shook her head. "No, but maybe one day."

I nodded, my hands continued to rub and soothe. I couldn't wait any longer. "What happened, Kitten?"

"I didn't want to go with him." She finally said after a good few minutes.

"Then why did you?" My words were gentle.

"He threatened you."

I took a deep breath. I thought as much, but I was sure I could have taken him. "How?"

"He knew that your favorite foods were chocolate milkshakes and cherry cheesecake. He said he would be so easy to put something in your food and no one would ever know."

Fuck. She was right. No one would ever know. "I'm sorry, Kitten."

She gave another shrug. "I wanted him to leave you alone so I agreed to go with him."

"You want to talk about what happened in the cave?" I asked.

She nodded. "His hands were everywhere. He kept me naked most of the time. Every time he tried to –. He couldn't keep it up. So he used his fingers." She gave a shudder and burrowed closer to me. "He made me suck on him. I bit him."

Her smalls grabbed handfuls of my shirt. "That's when he grabbed my nipple and twisted it real hard. It hurt so bad. I was scared. But I just kept thinking of you."

"That helped?" I asked.

She nodded against me. "He tried to kill me."

"By cutting your throat." I replied.

She shook her head. "He was going to throw me off the cliff. He held me by my arms over the cliff."

I inhaled sharply. "What? Why?" Stupid question, Calaway. The man was a psychopath. I wanted to kill the bastard.

"He wanted to me to take back what I said and I couldn't do it."

"What did you say, Kitten?"

"That I love you."