"Well, well, well..."

He looked up to see Matt Hardy suddenly standing beside him as he sidled up, also retrieving a bottle of water.

"Hey, Matt..."

"Hey..."  The dark-haired man studied him, a serious expression on his face.  "So, where've you been hiding yourself all night, Adam?  I mean, it's your birthday - you should be where everyone can easily find you."

"I haven't been anywhere special..."

Matt's dark eyes narrowed.  Oh, so she isn't special? he thought angrily.  Aloud, he said, "Oh...Well, anyway...so, what are all of us guys doin' for your birthday after the taping tonight?  How about a strip joint?"  He grinned mischievously, swatting the other man in the shoulder.

The tall blond studied the other man warily.  He'd never known Matt to exactly be the type to hang out at strip clubs.  Then, he suddenly noticed Amy and Trish had just stepped into the room.

Christ... He realized that, judging by the expression on the redhead's face, she'd heart Matt's question.

The dark-haired man turned to look just over his shoulder, noting the two divas.  Amy appeared to be glaring over at them.  Matt smirked a little as he turned back to face Adam.  "Well?  I don't hear your answer...What's it gonna be, man?  Wanna do the strip joint thing tonight?"

"Nah...I'm not really in the mood," the Canadian replied evenly.  "Besides, after that match with Rob, I don't really have all that much energy."

The dark-haired man stared at him with what Adam considered the oddest expression on his face.  He wondered what the hell was going on in Matt's mind.

"All right, suit yourself...but man, are you a party pooper."

"Whatever...I'm just not much in the mood...maybe we can all do something on Thursday since we have that day off."

"Okay - now there's an idea," Matt replied.

Adam chanced a quick glance at Amy out of the corner of his eye.  He was sure this was so brief that the other man didn't even notice.

"All right, man...We'll talk about it.  See you later," he said, then left, his water bottle in one hand, the sandwich in the other.

Matt glanced over at the two women nearby, particularly the redhead, but she wasn't looking his way, and he couldn't read anything on her face at the moment.  Without a word to the divas, he too left the buffet.

The moment he was out of earshot, Trish turned to face Amy.  "What the heck was all that about?"

The redhead frowned, shaking her head.  "I don't know, Trish...but what I do know is that Matt is up to something..."  She suddenly gasped, raising her hand up to her mouth.  "Oh, God..."

"What?" her friend asked as she eyed her with concerned brown eyes.

Amy shifted her eyes to meet Trish's.  "I think he knows..."

"You really think so?"

"Maybe..."  The redhead's frown deepened as she thought about the conversation Matt had just had with her boyfriend.  Judging by the entire strip club thing, it was very possible that he did know about her and Adam.  Damn it... If he tried anything stupid, or tried to break them up...

*

Adam sat in his locker room a bit later to catch Amy's match.  She was in a six-person mixed tag team contest that saw Lita and the Hardy Boyz against Stacy Keibler and the Dudleys.

For the most part, the match was okay, and the tall blond man didn't really feel as though he had to worry about his girlfriend.  Stacy, with whom Amy had been becoming friendly in the last couple of months, took obvious care not to land any kicks or punches to the other diva's face.  Clearly, the leggy blonde didn't want to aggravate the already very noticeable bruises on the redhead's countenance.

"Hey," Jay said as he entered the room.  He closed the door and came to sit near Adam on the couch.  "Aha...why does it not surprise me that you're so entranced in front of the TV monitor during this match?"  He chuckled.

At the very moment, Lita was in the ring with Stacy.  The blonde diva was no match for the tough redhead, who flung her around the ring like a ragdoll.  However, Stacy managed a spinning heelkick with one of those extra-long legs of hers.

Adam didn't have anything to worry about until toward the very end of the bout.  Amy was standing on the apron, and Buh-Buh Ray whipped Matt into the ropes - and in the process, the Hardy Boy knocked right into the redhead, sending her sailing to the arena floor.

"Oh, man!" the Canadian cried, afraid his girlfriend might have hit her head into the announcers' table.

Although this was a part of the script, Adam was still annoyed.  Amy had gotten banged up pretty badly last night, and now this happened, and he was concerned about her possibly getting injured.  She'd insisted she was all right after RAW the previous night, but what about now?  If her head hit the table hard enough, she could be seriously hurt.

The blond man stood up and raised both hands to his head as he continued to watch the action.  Jeff had gone over to the outside to check on the redhead, leaving his older brother alone in the ring with both Dudley Boyz.  The match ended with a 3D on Matt.

"Oh, well..." Jay said with a shrug.  He glanced over his shoulder at his best friend.  "Hey, you okay, man?"

"Yeah, I am...but she'd better be."  He frowned, thinking that he might just go and have a little 'talk' with Matt about the bumps he was giving Amy - and in the process, although inadvertent, let the dark-haired man know about his relationship with the redhead.  He couldn't help wondering suspiciously about the two mishaps between Matt and Amy.  What if the elder Hardy was being a little more forceful than he needed to be because of his bitterness over knowing she had a "secret" boyfriend?

"She looks all right to me, Adam," Jay said.

"A black eye looks 'all right' to you?!"

"Well...that's the nature of wrestling," the other man pointed out.  "You can't expect anyone to come out of all their matches without a scratch...or a bruise."

Adam chewed on his lower lip as he thought about what his best friend had just said.  Then, raking a hand through his long blond hair, he said, "Yeah, you're right...I can't help it, though.  Two nights in a row of stuff like this happening to her - it's too much."

Jay eyed the taller man knowingly.  Adam looked keyed up enough to go after Matt Hardy and punch his lights out for the last couple of little "mishaps" with the redhead.

"I'm going to go see her," he announced as he strode toward the door.  The Canadian stepped out into the hallway and made his way to the women's locker room.  He knocked tentatively, hoping that Trish Stratus was in there for the moment.

To Adam's surprise, Amy herself was the diva who answered the door.  She looked up at him with surprise, glancing quickly over her shoulder at the other women who were inside the room, then quickly slipped out into the hall.

"Hi..." she said with a smile.  "I just got back here."

"Are you...are you okay?" the tall blond asked, his eyes full of concern.  "I saw what happened out there."

"Yeah, I'm fine."  She glanced around furtively, a feeling of paranoia going through her.  "...look," she said, lowering her voice to a whisper, "I'll meet you back at the hotel, okay?  My room..."  She gave him a little wink.

"Okay."  He desperately wanted to kiss her, but as it was, they were taking enough chances talking like this out in the hallway.

"See you later."

Adam stealthily slipped away as the diva went back into the locker room.

*

Amy looked up as the door to her hotel room was suddenly opened, and Adam stepped in, a keycard in his right hand.

"Hi, birthday boy."  The redhead smiled at him as he came over to the bed on which she was relaxing, holding her arms open to him.

In an instant, the blond Canadian man was all over her, and he tightened his arms around her waist as they kissed.  Amy's arms went around his neck, and she moved her hands so that they were in his long, soft hair.

After a moment, the redhead pulled back a bit and smiled as she gazed up into his green eyes.  "I have a surprise for you..."

"Yeah?"  He grinned at her.

"Yeah..." she bit her lip gently as her smile broadened.  "...I think you're going to like this...it's half-birthday, half-anniversary present."  As he arched an eyebrow, she continued.  "You and I have the rest of the week off."

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

"I spoke to Stephanie last week," Amy admitted.  "Okay, I told her about us...and I explained what I had in mind, and our situation, and...well, she agreed to let us take some time off, starting tomorrow.  And...we can go wherever we want, Adam."

The blond's emerald eyes lit up as he gazed at her, a smile taking residence on his face again.  "Wow...that's awesome!"  He lowered his lips to hers to give her a quick kiss, then raised his head again.  "Where do you want to go?"

"I don't care," she replied, lifting one hand to his face, gently caressing his cheek.  "As long as I'm with you, I'm in paradise."

Adam grinned even more widely.  God, he loved this woman.  Now, if only he could garner up the nerve to actually tell her he loved her... "You're amazing, baby," he said softly.  He rolled over, his arms still around her waist, so that she was the one on top.  He held her head down to his and kissed her intensely, and the redhead kissed him back fervently.

In his mind, nothing could be more perfect.  Nearly an entire week alone, away from prying eyes and gossip - this was the nicest gift she could have given him.  And he intended to make it a present to remember - for both of them.