A little over a month passed by since Lita and Ethan stayed with Adam at his house. It wasn't all that bad even though it was a bit awkward at times especially the moment after their little food fight a couple of weeks ago. They spent a lot of time together the past couple of weeks and it was actually nice which scared Lita because she felt she was getting too comfortable as was Adam. One night, she fell asleep while the two were watching a movie together. Next thing she knew, she woke up with her lying against him and his arms wrapped around her waist. He was sleeping so she tried to remove herself from him without waking him up to avoid any awkwardness, but that was a fail and resulted in an uncomfortable moment between the two who said nothing to one another and simply parted ways and went to their separate rooms. They never spoke of that incident afterwards.

It was the first day Lita went back to work and it felt good to actually be able to do something other than being cooped up in the house even though it was on a part time basis. But she was also happy to be back home- er, Adam's home- because she was tired and she just wanted to spend some time with Ethan who should have been home by now from daycare since it was past six.

Lita took the bus to and from work that day even though her friends said they had no problem in taking her to work and dropping her off. But she said they were already helping her enough and she just wanted to get some of her independence back again even if it was just going to and coming back from work by herself. The nearest bus stop was a twenty minute walk which she didn't mind at all since she did go for walks with Ethan, and even Adam, at times because she couldn't workout so walking was a form of exercise she was actually able to do.

She finally arrived to her destination and walked into the house and saw no signs of Adam or Ethan anywhere. Adam's car was in the driveway so maybe the two were somewhere upstairs or maybe in the backyard. She went upstairs and walked to her room to drop her things off and then went looking for Ethan. She walked to Adam's room and saw he was looking through some book but there was no sign of Ethan.

"Hey," she said getting Adam's attention who looked up from the book and turned his attention to her after he closed the book and put it away on his night table.

"Oh hi. When did you get back?"

She shrugged. "Like two minutes ago," she said still standing in the doorway of his room. "Where's Ethan? I don't see him anywhere."

"Um yea. He's actually still at Dawn's. I asked her if she could keep him for a while longer because I wanted to talk to you about something. We should probably pay her more because we're always leaving her with him even after her hours are done." He tried lightening the mood with the last statement which didn't work, it only told Lita he was very nervous about what he wanted to talk about.

She arched a brow. "Oh? Okay. What is it?"

"You should probably come inside first and sit down. It's important and might take a while."

"Um okay," she said as she hesitantly walked into his room, but didn't take a seat. "So what's up? What did you want to talk about?"

"You don't want to sit down?" He asked gesturing to a spot next to him on the bed.

"Uh... no thanks," she shook her head. "I'm fine standing right here." Away from you. Too close is not good. "So spill. What did you want to talk about?"

He looked around the room nervously before he looked back up at her and stood up as well and walked a little closer to her, but there was still a reasonable amount of space between the two. He took a deep breath before he spoke. "Okay. Um. I just... I think it's time I told you..." he trailed off. Why was this harder than it was supposed to be? Why couldn't he just spit it out?

She waited for him to continue, but he didn't. "Told me what? What's wrong?"

"I love you," he blurted out which didn't only shock her, it shocked him as well. That wasn't what he wanted to say. Well, at least not right now.

"What?" She asked after she registered what he just told her. Did he just tell her he loved her or was she hearing things?

"That's not what... I mean... okay, I do love you. I always have and I never stopped. I don't think it's possible for me to stop loving you, but I didn't want to say that right now. I wanted to tell you what you deserve to know. I wanted to tell you why I left."

"Stop," she interrupted him before he could go any further. "I don't care. I don't care why you left." Liar.

"Okay, but I need to tell you. Just please let me tell you."

"No," she said backing away from him. "I don't need to hear this. We can just pretend that you even told me that you love me. You should pick up Ethan. We have nothing to talk about." She turned around to leave, but was stopped when he grabbed her wrist. "Please leave me alone. We have nothing to talk about."

"No," he said not letting his hold on her wrist to loosen even the slightest bit. "We are going to have a conversation about this. No more running away. It's about time. I've been back for almost six months now. We're going to talk about this now. And we're not going to pretend I didn't just tell you I love you, because I do. We just need to have a civil conversation once and for all and clear any confusions you have about why I left."

"No! We don't need to talk about anything!" She exclaimed when she turned around to face him. "I do not want to talk to you about anything at all because there is nothing to talk about! Especially not anything that I want to hear! Just get the hell off of me and leave me alone!"

"No!" he repeated once again, this time his voice was matching hers. He was pretty pissed off and annoyed at her trying to steer clear of this particular conversation. "You will not avoid this! We are going to talk about this! I don't know why you won't ever listen to me, but you deserve to know the truth and I want to tell you! I need to tell you!"

"I don't give a damn!"

"Too bad!"

"Shut up! Just get the hell off of me!" She tried to pull her wrist out of his hand but to no avail.

"Just stop acting so stubborn and listen to me!" She was about to say something back, but he wouldn't let her. "No! You are going to listen to me! Whenever I try to bring this up, you always say you don't care or you don't want to hear it, but now I don't care!" He finally let go of her wrist when he felt she wouldn't walk away from him and would probably listen to what he was about to say. She backed away from him, creating some space, but didn't leave because she knew he would just grab her again if she tried that.

"I love you so much," he continued, much more calm than he previously was. "You really think I wanted to leave all those years ago? Do you really think I didn't want to tell you anything about what was going on? I wanted to, but I didn't want you to get caught in the middle of anything. I would do anything to protect you even if it meant I had to stay away from you." She was pretty much confused by what he meant by that, but he kept going on so she didn't have a chance to question him about it. "I hated being away from you. Those five years were pure hell without you. And actually being here with you is even more difficult because you're in front of me and yet I can't tell you or show you how much I actually love you."

Lita wanted nothing more than to just leave, but she felt like she couldn't move at all.

"I missed you so much which was why I called you every now and then just to hear your voice and I hung up right after I heard you talk." She looked at him in surprise. "I missed you so much, I just needed to hear your voice sometimes. And don't even lie and say you didn't miss me because I know you did. I mean, that's the only thing that can explain why you have a bottle of my old cologne in your closet as well as one of my old shirts for all those years."

She tried not to show surprise on her face by his revelation, but she failed at that. She shook her head as she tried to put a blank expression on her face. "No. I only kept the cologne because I like that smell and you know that."

He nodded, but that didn't mean he believed her. "Okay. Still doesn't explain the shirt."

She shrugged. "I don't know. It probably fell out and I forgot it when I threw everything out," she lied, hoping she was convincing him.

"Don't lie. Because if it just fell out like you say it did, then it wouldn't be folded up with the bottle of cologne next to it. I know you missed me like I missed you. I know you still love me like I love you."

She closed her eyes when she felt them get watery during his admission. She didn't want to cry in front of him. She finally opened her eyes after a while and spoke when she felt it was safe. "You're..." she felt her voice crack so she paused for a moment trying to get herself together before she continued. "You're wrong. I didn't miss you and I don't love you. As hard as this may seem for you to hear, I was actually able to get over you."

"I said don't lie. You even told me that you love me."

She interrupted him before he could get any further. "Okay, Dawn told me about that. I was like unconscious so it doesn't mean I was talking to you. It could have just been something random."

"Why are you pushing yourself away from me? I love you."

"That's good for you, but I really don't care. We're done here." She was about to turn around and walk away, but she just had to say something before she left. "Don't worry. Unlike you, I'm not going to leave in the middle of the night without telling you. I'm actually leaving tomorrow. But I don't think it's a good idea for me to stay here any longer. Ethan can stay with you a little while longer if he wants, but I think it's about time I go back home."

She turned around and started to walk away, discreetly wiping at her tears. He knew he had to say something at that moment to stop her so he could tell her what he wanted to in the first place. And then he said something which made her stop in her tracks and turn around to face him, her heart stopping for a moment and then proceeding to beat really fast after his confession. He blurted out the reason of why he left.

"There were some people that were after me and wanted me dead."

*August 2007*

Adam felt like he was being followed the past few days. His feeling was all but confirmed when he was ambushed one night after a late night at work by two men who were shouting at him and demanding money from him that he allegedly owed them. He supposedly owed them almost three hundred grand. They threatened to kill him if they didn't receive their money within a week and he owed them double now, meaning almost six hundred grand, since it's already been a while and he never paid them on time. He was utterly confused by what was going on. He didn't report the attack to the cops right away, but then he kept getting followed again and thought it would be better if he did report the attack because he was convinced that they were a legitimate threat to him.

He described the two males to the cops as much as he could remember and found out they worked for a loan shark, Hunter. There was another man with the same first and last name as Adam who actually owed the loan shark the money, but the two men were convinced they had the correct person. The cops told him that Hunter and his two goons, Dave and Randy, were on their wanted list for multiple crimes which included attempted murder, but they were never able to capture them, which was why they had another plan in mind for him.

He knew he had to tell someone what was going on and for him that someone was Christian. He told Christian he needed to talk to him something important and to meet him at his apartment. There was no way he was going to be seen in public with one of his friends because he didn't want Hunter or his goons to get to him through his friends. He knew Randy and Dave were keeping a close eye on him and if they saw Christian enter and exit the apartment building he lived in, then they wouldn't really be able to know that he was one of Adam's friend. He would just be another random person they thought that lived in the building.

"Okay, what's going on? I've been here for ten minutes and you haven't said anything. You keep checking outside the window for some reason. So tell me what's bothering you." Christian asked Adam who was looking out the window once again.

Adam covered the window with the blinds before he turned around to face Christian, but said nothing.

"I repeat, what's going on?"

Adam shook his head as he made his way over to Christian and took a seat right next to him on the couch. "It's... I'm moving in a couple of days."

"What?" Christian asked confused. If Adam was moving in a couple of days, why was he just finding out about it now?

"To somewhere in Idaho."

"What?"

"Someone is after me."

"What?"

"Actually three someones."

"What?"

"A loan shark and his goons." Christian was about to let out another 'what?' but was interrupted before he could. "Say 'what' one more time and I might have to hit you."

"Sorry, I just... I'm confused by what's going on."

"And you wouldn't be if you actually let me finish without you interrupting me."

"Yea, right, sorry. It's shocking and I just... someone's after you?"

Adam sighed before he continued. "Yes. Remember how two weeks ago I told you and Li I fell down the stairs?" The other man nodded, so he continued. "Yea, that didn't really happen. I only told you two that because it seemed the most convincing as to why I was all banged up, but that wasn't the truth. Obviously I lied because you two wouldn't leave me alone. But um.. I um... I actually got jumped by the thugs."

"What?" That earned Christian a glare from the other blonde. "Sorry, but seriously, what? Why did they do that? Why are they after you?"

"They think I'm someone else who owes them a shitload of money. We have the same first and last name. You would think they would know how someone, who owes them over six hundred grand,-"

"Wow."

"-looks like."

"So what's up with you having to move to Idaho?"

"I talked to the cops and they told me that the three are wanted for several crimes. They can never seem to find them because they always seem to escape. They were even suspected for murder which may or may not have been them. I don't think I want to die just yet so I'm thinking I should accept the help of the protection program." Christian said nothing as he was trying to register everything that Adam just told him. "I feel like I'm running away which is something I don't want to do. But they did actually hold a gun to my head when they threatened me so I am inclined to believe this is basically a life or death situation and I think I want to choose life. The person handling my case at the protection program already told me how it's all going down and how I have to change my name and a whole bunch of other details."

That new piece of information about being threatened with the gun shocked Christian much more than he already was. But he was finally able to speak up after a while. "Okay. So did you tell Li? What did she say? How is she handling all of this."

Adam shook his head before he spoke. "She said nothing because I didn't tell her."

"Well, are you going to tell her? You did say you're moving in a couple of days. When are you going to tell her?"

"Never."

Christian was totally confused and just wanted and needed more information. "Why didn't you tell her? Don't you think she deserves to know especially if you're moving? What are you planning on doing? Randomly leaving in the middle of the night?" The look on Adam's face confirmed to him that he was going to do just that by leaving without telling her. Christian sighed, shaking his head. "You cannot be serious. I was kidding about the whole leaving without telling her. I'm one hundred percent sure she'll go with you if you actually told her and asked her to go with you. She'll tell you she's going with you even before you ask her."

"Which is why I'm not telling her anything." He continued before Christian had a chance to tell him how stupid his idea was. "I don't want her to be in any sort of danger if this whole protection program thing doesn't work out. I don't want them to use her as a way to get to me. I just... if I leave without telling her anything, then she'll end up hating me and that's probably a good thing if this whole thing doesn't work out and if I die."

"First, don't think that way. This protection program stuff is actually legit so I really don't think they won't find you when you leave. I'm sure they have it down to how to get you out of here without the three finding out. It's a case of mistaken identity. Maybe the three will realize they have the wrong Adam Copeland and leave you alone."

"Probably not. They'll probably still want to kill me either way."

"Whatever. You're really stupid." Adam was about to protest, but Christian wouldn't let him. "Just hear me out and then say whatever you want. Just the other day you told me you wanted to ask her to move in with you and you wanted to propose, and now you're just going to leave without telling her anything. How can you even do that?"

"I told you I'm just trying to protect her."

"Okay, but I still think it's a stupid idea that you're not going to tell her anything. You should just talk to her about this all before you take any drastic measures."

"You're not going to talk me out of this. I only told you this because you're my best-friend an-"

"She's your girlfriend. Who you, by the way, want to marry. So... I don't even... You are making no sense to me right now."

"I don't care," Adam shrugged. "This isn't your choice. It's mine. And don't tell her. Or Dawn. She tends to run her mouth sometimes."

"When are you actually leaving?"

"Two days."

"That's so soon."

"Yea."

"Just rethink this all. Tell her before you leave. And if she says she wants to go with you, just tell her you don't want her to because you want her to be safe."

"No."

"Adam-"

"No. Just leave it. I'm not telling her. There's nothing you can say or do that's going to change my mind. Just drop it and be happy that I told you. Just promise me you won't ever tell her anything."

"I don't know if I can do that."

"Please. Put yourself in my shoes and Dawn in hers. Wouldn't you do whatever you thought was the best in order to protect her?"

Christian sighed before he answered. "Fine. I won't tell her. Still think it's a stupid idea, but I won't tell her anything. Ever."

Christian said nothing after that. He knew Adam wasn't about to change his mind. It was pretty hard to even get him to change his mind when he was set on doing something. And the only thing he actually seemed to think of right now was to make sure Lita was protected and in no harm. There was only two days left until he was going to leave, so maybe Adam would change his mind. Not likely but there was still a slight chance.

*End*

Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. I hope you liked this chapter.

So now you know why he left. Her reaction is in the next chapter! How do you think she's going to respond? What is your reaction? Was it lame? Was it good? I'm interested in reading what you thought.