Chapter X: No Regrets?

The plane taxied on the runway for take-off and Stephanie shifted in her seat again. She was used to long plane rides but once a year was about all she could take. Therese was already absorbed in a book, something she considered odd for the woman. Casually leaning forward, the brunette noticed it was an English to Turkish language book. At least, one of them would be able to know what was going on. During the preparations, she was beginning to feel like a fifth wheel. She couldn't help with the background researches and she was completely at a loss as to determining who was behind this with what information they did have. She felt slightly important in booking their travel arrangements but the plans for their stay were out of her hands. As much as she hated to admit it, this was Therese's element and she had to defer to her. At least when they were working together on the stalker case, they were in her element and she controlled more of the plans then than now.

As funny as it sounded, things were easier then. Too many lives were being negatively affected by this abduction. Six years ago, it was only her life in danger, not ones she loved or their loved ones. Her emotional turmoil was much different. Then it was dealing with her father's empty threats, a battle with Sable, and the fight to keep control of SmackDown! Now, only one thing mattered and that was more important than anything related to wrestling—and that was Shawn Michaels. It seemed the same with Therese as well. The blonde had the ability to take up and go on assignment, only leaving behind her brother. Her worry was never for her life, not one's who was close to her. Although, the agent probably would beg to differ about that fact near the end of that particular assignment. Now, the life of her children's father could be in danger. Therese could survive without him financially—Stephanie would see to that—but the Nash family would be much worse off emotionally for it. They would never be the same again.

Thinking of who Therese was leaving behind this time, Stephanie recalled how hard it had been to watch the blonde leave her daughters in the care of Sharon and Joe. Therese had one last errand to run before they finally left—sign Dinah up for ballet classes. When Stephanie questioned why the former tomboy would sign her daughter up for dance instead of some sport, Therese rolled her eyes and muttered something about Kevin being adamant that his little girl wouldn't be getting her face messed up by playing hockey. "Long fight, long story," she said as she signed the check and handed it over to the receptionist. "Unfortunately for Kevin, it ain't the end of the fight either." Stephanie had two replies but she kept them to herself—her New Yorker friend used 'ain't' and it would be fortunate if Kevin were home to finish that fight.

They had gone straight from the dance studio to the Johnsons. Stephanie hung back and watched the mother kiss her babies 'goodbye'. Sharon walked her to the door where the brunette waited and began to whisper to her where she thought Stephanie wouldn't hear even though she caught some snippets.

"Honey…some advice…show him you're his wife, his lover…dress like a woman…not a new mother…some make-up and do your hair again…"

"I'll call every day to talk to Dinah so she doesn't think I've left her and to see if there's anything you need," Therese replied to Sharon's pearls of wisdom.

"Take care, sugah," Joe called from where he was tickling Lily's feet, making her emit cackles of laughter that caused every one in the room to giggle with the girl's belly laughs. Therese hugged the elderly woman and left after one last look of longing at her children.

"Well, it's definite—she thinks your marriage is falling apart," Stephanie commented.

"Yeah, all that about cleaning myself up, she has no idea how hard I worked my ass off to get rid of that pregnancy fat. When other mothers would be sleeping, I was working out. Besides, she hardly sees me when Kevin's home because we're always with the girls or too busy with…" Therese stopped suddenly and emended the rest of her response. "…with each other."

"And that doesn't bother you?"

"Nah, she just cares about her nephew and her grand-nieces. They might as well be her own grandchildren. I've been without family so long that I don't care if she gets nosy on occasion. I'm just happy she doesn't know what's going on and only thinks Kevin and I are having marital problems."

The conversation set Stephanie's mind in motion and she wondered how little of Shawn she would see if they…when they had children. She knew Kevin's and Therese's marriage couldn't be any stronger but that didn't mean hers and Shawn's wouldn't change. She rubbed her forehead as if she could rub away the concern. Therese glanced up from her language book and noticed. "You okay? I got some Tylenol if you want it."

"I'll be fine," the brunette replied and dropped her hand to her lap. "I'm just worried about all this."

"I know it's like telling the sun not to rise but don't worry and get some sleep. There's no reason to get worried." Stephanie shot her an angry glance that said, 'Too late for that that.' Therese held her hands up and added, "No reason to get really worried."

Stephanie had brought a book to read even though she figured she wouldn't be able to concentrate on the story. Instead, she pulled out a magazine she had purchased in the airport. Flipping through the glossy pages, she casually noticed an advertisement for a collection of Sandra Bullock movies which included the Miss Congeniality movies. The ad sparked a question that Stephanie had wanted to ask Therese out of curiosity but was afraid it would make her feel guilty since choosing to come out of the field. "'Rese, why didn't you go into the FBI? There's not much difference in what you did before you married Kevin and what they do."

Therese placed a marker in her book and then set it in her lap. "What makes you ask that?"

Stephanie wasn't about to explain that the thought was now initiated by the fact Therese once wore similar suits and clunky shoes like Sandra Bullock's character in the movie and, now, the blonde had one of her black suits on again. This time, at least, her shirt was a brilliant lime. "I just thought about when you saved me from Jenkins—"

"You always give me too much credit for that," Therese replied, waving her off.

"Anyhow, it's not much of a leap from what you did and to what the FBI does."

"Let's just say that I didn't have the same priorities as they did."

"Well, now you're gonna have to explain."

Therese sighed over the life she could have had, even though she didn't regret the life she had now and probably preferred. However, she would never know. "I went through all their tests and made it in. Problem came during initial orientation. Basically, I could be transferred anywhere at any time. Not to mention, I could be sent off for months at a time at a moment's notice. In other words, single parents need not apply. I couldn't do that to Evan at such a young age—or, really, at any age," she added the last more to herself.

"Oh," Stephanie replied quietly.

"I guess with the exception of the McMahon-Helmsley era and the end of your run as SmackDown!'s GM, I guess you're doing what you always wanted?"

The VP gave Therese a few short nods. "Yeah. But it seems that wherever I am, I'm happy. From the time I start modeling wrestling t-shirts at twelve years old until I graduated from high school, I wanted to be a star. I remember wanting my face on a shirt. I just knew that the day I turned sixteen, Dad would let me be on TV and I wouldn't have to be just a, um, pretty face to close deals."

"I don't know if it's fortunately or unfortunately that I know that that didn't happen," Therese replied, glancing away.

"Yeah, he shipped me off to college as soon as I graduated. Said I didn't know enough to even begin to understand the business."

"Why not a business degree or advertising or something in sports?"

"Those were my electives. To him, communications covered the ability to present myself on TV and in public relations. If I couldn't communicate, then what good was advertising? As to the business side, that's what a diverse board is for. As long as you can follow the financials, you didn't need to know how to prepare them," Stephanie explained evenly, not even a hint of her anger at her father showing.

"So what happened to this need to be a star?"

"There was just too much to the business. After graduation, I just wanted to know everything about the business. I thought that one day Dad would give me and Shane the business. Man, was I wrong," Stephanie muttered the last to herself. "I loved my father so much that I wanted to be like him. I would make him proud one day and be everything he wanted in a daughter. Yeah, well, I need not remind you of what happened. I try hard to forget the mess I made out of wrestling by leaving Andrew for Hunter. I'll never forget what my father did to me on national TV with the Mr. America fiasco." The brunette stopped for a moment and looked out the window as their altitude continued to grow. "I've forgiven him for what he did. That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt anymore or that I will trust him ever again. But I don't have that little ball of hate sitting in the pit of my stomach anymore."

"No regrets?"

"Only about Hunter."

"Really?" Therese asked, twisting around in her seat.

"Okay, so I lied. I regret what I did to everyone else when I was with him. I know I had that brief moment of regret over our divorce, but Shawn took care of that. Shawn…" She whispered his name with loving care. "I miss him so much already."

"I know. It'll be over with soon and they'll both be back home where they belong." Therese reached over and squeezed Stephanie's hand. The brunette blinked back a tear and smiled.

"Now what?" Stephanie asked as they cleared the last checkpoint of Istanbul's airport.

"Stay with the luggage or go on to our hotel while I canvas the airport." Therese bluntly replied.

"I thought I was going to help."

I said no such thing, the agent thought, hoping she wouldn't regret her decision to allow Stephanie to come. She brought with her pictures of their husbands and of the only people who had the time to abduct them or make a trip out of the country. After a few carefully placed phone calls, it seemed that possibility only lay with Dylan Bergeron and Hunter Hearst Helmsley. It didn't mean any of the others weren't involved and it was long shot but it was better than not having one at all. "I've only got a copy of one photo of the each of them. Who's gonna watch the luggage?"

"We can carry our own luggage and I show that picture I have of the four of us," Stephanie proposed.

"They didn't come here of their own free will…if they came at all," Therese replied, referring to the two other pictures she had.

"But if they did, Kevin stands out in a crowd no matter how he got here. One of the employees is bound to remember him."

They had run every scenario possible: the abductors had made heavy threats against Kevin and Shawn and fabricated passports for them; the culprits had done the same or drugged the two men and got them on a private flight; Kevin and Shawn weren't even in Turkey but this was just another hoop to jump through to find them and only the abductor/s had made the trip to Istanbul. Therese was hoping to get a head start by canvassing the airport and maybe determining the identity or location of the kidnappers before they made contact again…if they made contact again. The next clue to finding their husbands may only lie with a contact there that the abductors had planned on Therese or Stephanie finding.

Therese glanced around, trying to come up an alternative. "Okay," she replied a little condescendingly. "What are you gonna do when you get someone who doesn't speak English?"

"Call you and you can tell me what to say," Stephanie replied as if she should have already known the answer.

"What? You got a global phone too?"

"Yeah, while you were upgrading yours, I did mine as well."

Therese replied only with an angry sigh. "Alright, if they came in on a commercial airline, they had to come this way. It doesn't matter at the moment if they left again. You start with lost luggage and work as much as you can with airport employees. You'll probably get more people who speak English that way. I'll take baggage claim, the porters…We can hit the taxis together later. Check in with me in an hour," Therese concluded, wiggling her cell phone. "Good luck." Stephanie nodded to wish her the same.

The security agent carefully arranged her luggage, pulled out her photos, and canvassed the baggage claim area. She methodically planned her attack and started with the porters. Unless their targets were average tippers, these would be the men who remembered them the most. She approached a porter and asked slowly in Turkish, "Have you seen these men?" She held out a picture of Shawn and Kevin together and the page with both Bergeron and Triple H. The man replied in the negative. She thanked him and moved on to someone else.

The hour was over so fast that she just knew that Stephanie had found someone who could help when the phone rang. "What'd you get?" she breathlessly asked.

"Absolutely nothing," Stephanie sighed.

"They why are you calling?"

"It's been an hour!"

"Really?" Therese asked, glancing at her watch.

"Yeah, I've hit about everything back here but no one knows anything."

"Okay," the blonde sighed. "Finish the rest, start on the car rentals, and call me in an hour if I don't meet you somewhere around there in an hour."

The agent clipped her phone shut and strode over to the last carousel where she could see an employee. She held out the pictures and asked the same question for what felt like the two thousandth time. The man's dark brown eyes lit up and he smiled broadly. Therese could feel the butterflies starting to grow in her stomach. He pointed at Triple H's picture and said several sentences in what she assumed was Turkish even though she only caught a few disparate words that made no sense. Her legs began to tingle in anticipation.

TBC…