'What have I done?' Mark asked himself. He had told her the truth about himself and had watched her for some type of reaction. He saw many things in her eyes: fear, surprise, excitement, and wariness. Just as he pushed the elevator button to go to his room, a scream flooded down the hallway and to him in Alicia's voice.
 
    He was off in an instant, running as fast as he could back to Alicia's room, the screaming getting louder and louder. Finding that the door was locked, he rammed his body against the thick door, desperate to get to her. People were coming out of their rooms, both wrestlers and backstage hands, wondering what was going on and a bit surprised at the sight they saw, but Mark didn't care at the moment, for he could now hear his angel crying out for help. No matter how hard he tried, the door refused to budge. A few of the larger wrestlers came forward to help. After a single hard shove, the stubborn door swung open. Mark wasted no time and ran into the room and momentarily froze at the sight. Venis was attempting to take advantage of Alicia, drunk out of his mind and had yet to notice that they were not alone. Through her tears, Alicia saw Mark standing there, and screamed his name.

     The sound of his name brought him out of shocked state and he could feel his anger, fury, and hatred toward Val boil as he rushed to the bed, ripping Venis off of her. Mark held him at arms length and drew his fist back and punched him so hard that the sheer force caused him to stumble back and hit the opposite wall. His eyes glazed over as Mark approached Venis's form that had slid down the wall and to the floor. He reached down to pick the man up for another hit but had found that his arms were being restrained by the wrestlers that had followed him into the room to try to stop him from killing Venis.

     As the men tried to get Mark to calm down, Ivory pushed through the crowd and flew to Alicia's side, hugging her and glad to see that her friend was all right. After a few minutes of pure confusion, Val was removed from the hotel room and Mark shoved everyone out of the room. Ivory only left after he promised that he would get her if
Alicia needed anything. After she finally left, he realigned the door's hinges and closed it for a moment of privacy with Alicia.

     He walked slowly to the bedroom where Alicia was. He found that she had not moved from her sitting position on the bed and her blue eyes were wide and unblinking from her shock. He pulled a chair to the side of the bed and sat down. She didn't seem to realize that he was there, so he said her name to get her attention. She finally looked at him and broke her trance by releasing the tears she had been fighting to hold back and quickly crawled to him, lacing her arms around his neck and crying into his shoulder.

     Mark slowly wrapped his arms around her trembling frame, growling softly at the feeling of her in him arms. He slowly nuzzled her hair that covered her tiny ear, whispering reassuringly to her. She pulled back to look at him, but did not move out of his embrace. Strands of her hair clung to the trails of her tears and he kindly pushed them away with his thumb. Her eyes were red and puffy, clearly showing her fear that caused an icy dagger of anger to spear through his heart.

     "I'm sorry." He faintly heard her whisper.

     "For what?"

     "I'm sorry that I got you in trouble."

     "Trouble? How did you get me in trouble?"

     "You helped me when you didn't have to. You . . . you hit Val. and I'm sure that he will press charges against you." Her voice was noticeably trembling by the time she finished.

     "He will not press charges, and if he does, you should not worry about it. It was my actions that cause him to blame me, not yours."

     "But . . ." She was silenced by a hand over her mouth.

     "Now is not the time to talk of such things. You need your sleep." With that said, he stood up and began walking towards the door.

     "Where are you going?"

     He stopped and turned in midstep. "Back to my room."

     She looked down, suddenly unable to look him in the eye. "Oh." He knew what she wanted, but wasn't sure that he was the right person.

     "I could take you to Ivory's room . . ."

     "No! I mean . . . could . . . could you . . ."

     He knew what she was trying to say and didn't want to see her embarrass herself on his behalf. "I will stay with you if you wish me to."

     "If you don't want to, that's ok . . ."

     "I said I would. And I will, but I must go back to my room for only a minute. Lock the door if you want to. I will be right back."

     It seemed like forever before she heard a soft knock on her door. She looked through the peephole and slowly slid the chain lock back and unlocked the lock on the doorknob before opening the door. She stepped aside to let him in, but instead of coming in, he reached out and grasped her shoulder, gently pushing her back away from the door and closing the door himself instead of letting her do it. He locked both locks, making sure that she could see that he did so. He turned away from the door and looked at her, seeing that she had yet to move. He walked to her, all the while his eyes lever leaving hers. He pointed to an open doorway that led to the small sitting room. He waited until she had looked at the direction he was pointing at before he spoke.
 
    "If you need anything, I will be there."
 
    She nodded and turned toward the bedroom. "Goodnight."
 
    It had been so soft that he almost didn't hear it. "Goodnight Alicia."
 
    She turned the lights off and climbed into the big bed, burying herself under the warm blankets. After a minute or so, she looked out the open doorway of the bedroom and smiled at the sight. She didn't know if he knew it or not, but she was able to see him. He sat in the dark room reading at a desk that was only lighted by the desk lamp. His feet were propped up on the desk, crossed at the ankles.
 
    She found herself continuing to look out the doorway, just to see if he was going to keep his word and stay there. He did. Even when she had awoken sometime in the middle of the night, he was still there. She ended up falling asleep with a smile on her face, forgetting the problems that tomorrow would bring.
 

    Copyright 2000 by Lady Serria

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