Chapter XVI: Just Lying Around, Sleeping, Crapping, and Talking

"This is absolutely amazing," Stephanie said in awe as she stepped through the massive marble propylaia, the gates, to the Parthenon. "I've always wanted to come here," she breathed.

"I never thought I'd ever make it here," Therese replied casually, straddling her own emotions of wonderment and nervousness of what they were about to find here regarding their husbands.

"I was a Greek mythology nut in high school and this is what represents Greek mythology most to me," the brunette added. She could only stare at the massive structure but then was jarred out of her stupor as other people on the walk pushed past her.

"Why don't you look around and I'll, um, make the call?" Therese offered.

"No, I want to be here when you make it."

"What if we have to rush off? Don't you want to see as much of this as you can?" the blonde genuinely asked, waving her hand toward the marble building.

"No, I want to be here for it. Plus, I plan on bringing Shawn back to see everything we've been to," she answered with a hopeful smile.

Normally, Therese would have been irritated and would have tried to send her away. Instead, she replied, "I understand."

The man was sleeping heavy, having a lewd dream about his girlfriend and her best friend. The first rings of the cellphone didn't faze him but several more shook him out of slumber and he began the sluggish ascent back to consciousness. It was his night off from guard duty and he was staying in his girlfriend's apart while she was out of town visiting her family. He fumbled for the phone but it stopped ringing. The phone was too cheap to have callerID but only one person had the number—Therese Blair. She had found the next spot way too quickly, which meant she was probably wrong. He wanted to curse her for waking him and interrupting the dream he was obviously enjoying.

The dark-haired man stumbled into the bathroom to relieve himself and splash cold water on his face to wake himself up. He then settled on the bed to return her call. Before pushing send, he decided against dealing with the bitch. He always called Therese and his partner always called Stephanie. No doubt, the agent had used her resources to trace the numbers but he was intentional in leaving her with a dead-end. Now, he planned on playing a little game with them and dialed Stephanie's cellphone number.

Therese, now having wandered over to the stone wall surrounding the hill and contemplating the city of Athens, changed her ringtones like she changed underwear but, when Stephanie found one she liked, she stayed with it for a while. When the blonde heard the tune, she hurried over her friend flipped open the phone. "Is it him?" she mouthed.

Stephanie nodded but then tuned Therese out as she concentrated on the call. "Mrs. McMahon-Michaels, how're enjoying your trip?"

"Fine enough," she nonchalantly replied. "Just planning on where Shawn and I will be going for vacation together next week."

"That confident, huh?"

"Yes, sir," she replied, forcing a smile that elicited a lilt in her voice.

"So, you figured out the riddle?" he asked nonchalantly.

"What? You're not watching us this time?" Stephanie joked.

"Talk, don't lecture," the man warned.

"I am standing before the Parthenon in Athens. What's our next move?"

"You're wrong. That's not the answer."

"What! Yes, it is!" the brunette forcefully responded, trying to control the screech in her voice.

"No," he adamantly replied and hung up.

"Well?" Therese asked as Stephanie folded the phone.

"We're wrong," she whispered, not even lifting her eyes to meet Therese's.

"What do you mean 'we're wrong'?"

"That's what he said."

"But we can't be," Therese replied, running a hand through her hair and twisting about to look around her.

"We have to start over," Stephanie informed the wild-eyed blonde. "He wouldn't even talk to me. We'll just keep trying until he gets fed up with us and tells us more."

"Yeah," Therese replied, running a hand exasperatedly through her hair again.

"Wanna look around?"

"Might as well enjoy what we can while we can…that is, if we can."

The two women spent a few hours wondering the Acropolis—the hill on which the Parthenon sat—and the surrounding area that contained Mars Hill and two theatres—one of which Yanni played in. However, the idea that they were in the wrong place kept niggling at them and they gave up on exploring Athens and returned to the hotel.

While Therese was taking a long, hot shower to clear her mind, Stephanie was separating out all the information they had so far. When the blonde entered the bedroom all pink and in a white terry cloth robe, she found one bed covered in papers that the VP had organized chronologically and by information, very impressed with her work. Hours later, they still hadn't made headway. Stephanie made them both a cup of coffee from the little machine on top of the refrigerator and they carried them to the roof.

On all occasions, they had stuck with hotel names they recognized, which usually meant expensive and prime location. This time, they could view the Acropolis from the roof of their hotel. "God, it's beautiful," Stephanie sighed.

"I hope you get back here soon with Shawn," Therese sincerely replied.

"You don't want to come back?"

"Well, given the fact that we may not have any money left and I need a babysitter for however long we're gone—don't say it, I've used Sharon and Joe way too much—I doubt I'll ever be back here."

"I wish everything didn't shut down so early," Stephanie sighed, glancing toward the shop district.

"But you have to admit, it would be nice to not have to work past five or six. Kinda like the cultures that always close down for a nap in the afternoon—now that's the way to go," Therese replied with a giggle.

They both sipped their coffee in silence while leaning on the balcony railing. "Supposedly the military kept their explosives in the Parthenon. So, when it was hit, it basically blew the Parthenon up," Stephanie said, needing to just be able to talk.

"That's terrible. I bet it was absolutely beautiful in its original condition." Therese began to sip her coffee again but practically choked when the epiphany hit. "No, no, no!" she shouted. "Of course, we're in the wrong place! God, how could I be so stupid! We've go to go!" She grabbed Stephanie by the arm and began dragging her towards the elevator.

"What?" the brunette asked, jerking her coffee away from her body to keep it from spilling on either of them as Therese pulled her towards the elevator.

"Come on."

"Calm down and explain it to me," Stephanie calmly but forcefully said as she came to a screeching halt.

"The dodo said that it was the original glory. Your theory about them being back home was right. See, Nashville, Tennessee, was called 'The Athens of the South.' The city built the Parthenon as we originally think it was supposed to look like. Plus, the cell phones were purchased in Berry Hill, a suburb type town of Nashville."

"Compared to where we're at, that's your own backyard," Stephanie replied, disbelieving of where they would need to go.

Therese smacked her forehead. "How could I have been so stupid?"

"You're not the FBI and I specialize in wrestling of all things. These idiots designed this game this way. Easy enough to figure out but hard enough to torture us. Unless they're physically torturing Kevin and Shawn, this is about us," Stephanie replied, gesturing at both her and her friend.

"I can only think of two people who would hate us both—Eric Bischoff and Colin Jenkins."

"Colin? But he's still in jail," Steph replied with a quizzical look on her face.

"I know. He just had his parole hearing and no one notified us if he was released, which they would have had he been, and, if he had escaped, the prison would have gotten in touch and police surveillance set up on our houses."

"Yeah…but you left out my dad and Sable," the brunette added, ticking the two people off on her hands.

"Sable's still too busy playing house with Brock Lesnar and your dad would want us to know he was behind it."

"Very true."

"All we can do is fly home and show up in Nashville, no matter who it is," Therese responded, folding her arms across her chest in thought.

"Do we know what today is?" Shawn asked from where he lay supine across the desk, his legs dangling across the edge from the knees. He looked like an extremely bored child wasting time.

"I think it's Sunday."

"Ah," Michaels mused but there was a long silence that followed. "I don't suppose we'll be going to Vengeance tonight."

"Nope," Kevin replied. He too was lounged out but on the floor with his hands behind his head.

"Did I ever thank you for agreeing to be my second?"

"What? In a match that never happened?" Kevin asked with a derisive laugh.

"Yeah, but you didn't have to agree to it, whether or not it happened. I still think that was a brilliant idea," Shawn replied, tilting his head sideways to look at his best friend on the floor.

"Yeah, if it had worked," Nash responded with the same contemptuous tone.

"It would have," Shawn replied in a sort of masculine whine.

"I don't wrestle anymore."

"You've still got one good match in you."

"I don't doubt you would have beaten Chris Jericho. Look at his second—Ric Flair. I could have easily taken him with one hand tied behind my back," Kevin replied, kicking the desk and receiving an apologetic look from Shawn.

"Yeah, it's pretty bad that those two are all Triple H's got. I'm surprised he took your idea instead of making it a tag-team match."

"It sold," Kevin blatantly explained. "It was a great plug for his match against me at Vengeance. Come on, a duel but the duelists choose wrestling instead of guns. The second only steps in if the duelist is pinned. How novel can you get?"

"Yeah, well, we were stuck here on Monday. The contracts were signed and we were counted out. We could have been on our deathbeds and we would have been counted out anyhow." Shawn sighed but then continued. "We'll never get tonight's match back. Hunter's gonna be general manager for another year. If I wasn't worried about what Steph's going through, that would be what I'm most mad about for being in here."

"I still can't believe he put his position on the line," Kevin replied, shaking his head.

"I can taste exactly what I wanted to do with that position," Shawn dreamily said, smacking his lips.

"And you don't think I wasn't dreaming about throwing my weight around? Funny how I married a bodyguard and now I'm your bodyguard. Tell me again how you got the match to be general manager and not me?" Kevin asked and laughed. "Afterall, I was the one doing all the threatening when Lily was born."

"Hunter wouldn't give it up without a fight. You wanna fight him?" Shawn asked with a bit of defensiveness to his voice.

"Not one-on-one. We've been down this road before. I was only joking. Besides, I was only threatening him because I could."

"Sorry," Shawn apologized. "It's that I'm so damn frustrated with being in here. Dammit, I love you and all but I can only take so much of just lying around, sleeping, crapping, and talking."

"Well, after tonight, you better get used to it for two months. Not only do you not get general manager but the both of us to get lie around, sleep, crap, and talk for two months worth of suspension," Nash replied, a hint of anger in his voice.

"Hey, at least that sleeping and lying around is with our wives," Shawn added, sitting up and grinning at Kevin. "Sorry, but you're a poor substitute for a bed buddy."

"Like you're any better?" he replied with his own mocking smile.