The women came to their room, which Angle had promised to have them checked into.  Their little group was staying close together, so Steph and Torrie's room would be sandwiched between Adam and Amy's and Kurt's rooms.  In the room directly across the hall from them, Jay and Nora would be esconced.

"Okay," Stephanie said as she clasped her hands together after dropping her bags beside one of the beds.  "I'm not really hungry, but what do you say we go downstairs to the cafe?  I'll bet the others are in there for lunch."

"Sounds good to me," Torrie replied as she placed all of her stuff, with the exception of her purse, on the opposite bed.  Like the brunette, she wasn't hungry, either, and had surprised the both of them when she'd gobbled down not one but two Big Macs at Mickey D's.  After the horror she had experienced in Paul's ultimate violation of her, the blonde would have thought she'd be unable to eat even a single bite of food.  In fact, when she'd lain in the hospital, refusing to eat their food except for a few meager bites, she'd feared she was going to have a relapse of bulimia - from which she'd suffered as a teenager.

"Come on," Stephanie said with a tiny smile.  With that, they left their cozy room in search of their friends.

*

Adam wrapped an arm around Amy's shoulders, drawing her closer to him.  She had been very quiet, too quiet, for the last few minutes.

They were sitting with Jay and Nora at a table in the hotel cafe, eating lunch.  They'd been in the middle of a conversation about what they thought was going to happen with the WWF - wondering the fate of the company after the arrest of Vince McMahon.

"I think Stephanie is going to take control," Jay was saying, "or she and Shane."  The older McMahon sibling had returned to Stamford several days earlier - before all of the unbelievable events had occurred - as he typically spent a lot more time working behind the scenes, preferring his sister, rather than himself, stay in the spotlight.

"Paul is still out there..." Nora suddenly said, her blue eyes haunted.

All eyes shifted to the little blonde.  Amy instinctively pressed herself closer to Adam.  Nora had just verbalized her thoughts.

"They're going to catch him," Jay said firmly as he gazed directly into the blonde woman's eyes.

"I...know..."  Nora winced, wishing she could keep up the positive attitude she'd felt the previous day.  After visiting Torrie Wilson in the hospital, she had felt stronger than she had in months.  It seemed as though Nora had drawn strength from the tall blonde - and vice-versa.

"Hi, everyone..."  The four of them looked up to see Stephanie and Torrie standing near the table.

"Hi!" Adam exclaimed.  "Sit down - join us..."

"We just got here," the brunette explained as a waiter came by and pulled chairs from the next table up for the women.

Stephanie sat at the head of the table as Nora instructed the blonde to sit near her.  "We were stuck in a big traffic jam," the younger McMahon sibling explained.

"We know - Kurt told us after he called you back," Amy put in.

"Hey, where is Kurt?" Stephanie asked.  She'd felt disappointed when she hadn't seen him there with everyone else.  She'd wanted to see him as soon as they'd arrived.

"He went to the gym," Adam said.  "He mentioned something about wanting to get rid of all this excess nervousness..."

*

With the entire day off, Amy really wanted nothing more than to stay at the hotel doing nothing - well, that is, nothing besides having Adam all to herself.

Long after Jay, Nora, Stephanie and Torrie left, they lingered at their table in the cafe.  A great sense of mortality came over the redhead as she gazed at her boyfriend.  She realized how close he'd been to losing his life on more than one occasion, and it dawned on her that Levesque might try to do something against him again - even though his "benefactor" was now behind bars awaiting arraignment.

"What are you thinking?" Adam asked quietly.  He'd been deeply studying her for awhile, as she'd been unnaturally silent except for an occasional sigh.  She seemd to be almost in shock, when she would normally be so strong and optimistic despite the bleakness of their situation.

Amy tilted her head, gazing up at him with her hazel eyes.  "Just about how much you mean to me..." she said softly.  "...and that I'd probably do anything for you."

The blond man smiled as he reached out to caress her cheek.  After a beat, he spoke again.  "Why don't we get out of here and go for a drive or something?  Just the two of us..."

The redhead blinked as she kept her gaze on him, wondering if that was such a good idea.  They'd been keeping close to and with the rest of their group, which had become like a little clique - but with good reason.  She thought about it for a few seconds, deciding.

"Okay...but I need to go up to our room first..."

*

"I'm so tired..." Torrie said with a yawn as she stretched out on her bed.  She and Stephanie had returned to their room, and the blonde woman was having trouble keeping her eyes open.  She found it odd that the doctor in the hospital had given her a prescription and bottle of sleeping pills to take, as he'd explained that many women in her predicament had trouble sleeping.  She also had a prescription for pain medication, which she was currently taking twice a day - her wrist as well as her bruised cheekbone bothered her a lot.

Stephanie eyed the battered young woman sympathetically.  She thought about how she would be if she were in Torrie's shoes - she knew the blonde had been refusing to take the sleeping pills, and she didn't understand how she managed to fall into a natural sleep after all she'd endured.

Torrie opened her eyes and glanced up at the brunette as she heard knocking at their door.  Stephanie made certain to ask who it was before unlocking, then opening it.

It was Kurt.  He had just returned from the gym, and he still seemed nervous.

"Steph!  Thank God...I-"

"Shh...Torrie is trying to catch a nap."

"Oh...sorry," the Olympian said, lowering his voice to a whisper.  "Would you come to my room so we can talk for awhile?"

Stephanie ducked back into her room, glancing at the other woman, who looked at her plaintively.

"Torrie, I'm going with Kurt to his room for awhile, okay?"

The blonde's expression looked pained.  "Stephanie, p-please don't leave me!"

The brunette was taken aback by the words.  Torrie was obviously terrified of being alone now that she was no longer in the hospital.  She couldn't say she blamed her.

"I'll only be a few minutes - I promise...okay, hon?"

The blonde diva stared up at her with wide, fearful blue eyes but nodded.

Stephanie turned and stepped out into the hall with Kurt, slipping her keycard into her pocket as she shut the door.  Angle gently pulled her into his room by her hand, and once inside, he enveloped her in a big hug.

The brunette put her arms around the man, whose arms held her even more tightly.

"I was so worried about you!" he exclaimed.  "When you and Torrie didn't get here by ten, I tried not to panic, but..."  He held her at arm's length to stare into her pretty face.  "...after another half hour had passed, I had this horrible feeling that..."  Angle pulled her to him again, holding the brunette for all he was worth.  He pressed his face into her long hair and sighed, as if with relief.

"We were okay, Kurt...we were okay."

"I know, but..."  The man held her slightly back again to gaze into her blue eyes.  "Remember when we had that storyline going on last year, when you had gotten knocked out - and they carried you backstage and laid you on that sofa?"

She nodded weakly but somehow knew the exact spot he was talking about.  It had been a SmackDown taping.

"When I went to you that night and told you how much I cared about you, I really meant it," he continued, his blue eyes locked on hers.  "I really care about you, Steph...I care about you more than ever..."

"Oh, Kurt, I care about you, too," she said, her voice nearly a whisper.

"You're very dear to me...very special," Angle said, reaching up with one hand to caress the brunette's cheek.

Stephanie moved her face slightly closer to his, and the next thing she knew, Kurt's lips were on hers.  Their kiss was long, sweet and tender...

*

Adam watched Amy as she bent over by the foot of the bed in their hotel room, rummaging through her suitcase.  She'd remained quiet as they'd gotten back there, not eluding to what she'd needed in the room.

The tall Canadian had assumed she was going to change her clothes, but that was not the case, as his eyes suddenly caught a flash of silver she held in her hand.

The gun... He knew she had been toting it around in her purse, but then he realized she was loading it with more ammunition.

Adam shuddered as he realized how terrified his girlfriend must be feeling to stock up like that.  He'd never been fond of guns and had never been around one, but Amy had obviously felt a need for this.

"Is that really necessary?" he finally managed to ask as she stood up after loading the magazine, then slipped the safety catch before putting the weapon back into her purse.

"I think it is," she replied, eyes trained on his.  "After all, that maniac is still out there..."

The blond merely stared at her, a feeling of worry crossing him, but he didn't reply.  He knew she was right about that last statement.

"Baby, I wouldn't do this if I didn't think it was necessary," Amy said softly, reaching up to tangle one hand in his long hair as she edged close to him.  "I just have this...gut feeling that something's going to happen...and I want to be prepared..."

*

Paul Levesque hung up the payphone at the rest stop and smirked to himself.

He had just gotten off the phone with a butler at the McMahon estate.  Before the servant could give the phone to Linda, Paul had insisted he speak to him instead.  The man had questioned him as to why, but Paul had made him a monetary offer he couldn't refuse.

Paul had found out the name and location of the facility Vince had been brought to, and now, he had plans to somehow contact the boss.  The only problem was figuring out how he was going to do so.

He couldn't very well go there to Connecticut, for he still had business to attend to here.  He had to take care of Stephanie and Amy.  And he definitely wanted to take another crack at Copeland - the damned arrogant son of a bitch.  Levesque figured the man probably thought he was immortal by now.  He had more lives than a damn cat - and more luck than a leprechaun.  But his luck would be running out very soon...