7/4/05…

"You alright there?" Amanda heard, looked and saw OVW wrestler Ken Doane, who was known as Kenny.

"Just… thinking. We could possibly end up on the main roster around the same time." Amanda answered as 19 year old Kenny rested his right hand on her left one. "I got into the developmental roster, I start in September." She said as the two smiled.

Looking from the picnic table was Mark, who stood up and was stopped by Santino.

"Buddy, relax. She's just talking to him." Santino replied, Mark standing up and walking over… he dragged Kenny up to his feet by his shirt, Amanda standing up as well.

"Hey, no fighting! Calm down, Mark, let him go!" The 15 year old said, trying to keep things from spiraling.

"The little lady and I were just talking!" Kenny explained but it didn't lessen Mark's anger.

"Just talking?! No, you back off, get OUT OF HERE!" Mark yelled, before he slammed his fist into Kenny's face, and naturally Kenny began to fight back.

But a mistimed fist hit the wrong target, Amanda falling to the ground and John seeing it from where he was and running to her, him and Kenny helping her up.

"Go get some ice." John said, Kenny doing so. "Mark… care to explain why you just punched my kid sister?!" He growled at the taller man, John holding Amanda close to him.

"Aim all wrong John, every hit was for that asshole who just left!" Mark answered angrily.

"Aim all wrong?! My eye and face feel like they just exploded! Fucking hell, Mark!" Amanda snapped, John applying the ice pack to the bruising skin under Amanda's right eye.

"Can't take a hit, guess we all know who won't be following their brother's footsteps." Mark muttered as he looked out of the window.

Amanda slammed her foot into Mark's right knee and caused him to scream as he fell before she locked her legs around his left shoulder and pulled on his left arm with her hands, Mark trying to pull at her hair to get her to let go of him until he felt his shoulder snap out of its socket and John and Eddie pulled Amanda off of Mark.

Amanda caught her breath as she felt Eddie's hands cradle her face, Eddie lightly kissing her on her forehead.

"I applied it wrong, didn't I, Eddie?" Amanda asked quietly as Eddie stroked her hair.

"You'll learn in time, kiddo. It takes years of practice, even some of us on the shows get it wrong from time to time." Eddie responded.

Amanda nodded as Mark stood up and relocated his shoulder before limping off.

"I like that kick to the knee though." Eddie said.

"If I could suplex him, I would." Amanda replied as the two chuckled and hugged…

Present time…

"Didn't exactly have a solid grip on submission holds then… once Eddie and Chris started helping, I picked it up like it was second nature. Turned out that day that Mark had fractured my right eye socket… but when a man who's 6'6" punches a girl barely over 5ft tall, something's gonna break." Amanda said.

"It's a foregone conclusion with that. And sometimes it takes a certain style of teaching for us to learn things, sometimes styles which only certain people can get." Finn replied.

"They always had their different styles but also had a solid friendship… they were like brothers. Chris took Eddie's death like he had lost himself… and in a way, he had." Amanda responded as both heard the curtains rustling and saw that the window was open. "I thought hotel windows didn't open… was it open when we fell asleep?" She responded.

"Didn't open it." Finn said as they sat up… and Amanda remembering.

"There was this one violent storm in spring of 2005 that left Fayetteville in a blackout… when it started feeling stifling, Chris opened the windows halfway to try to get some ventilation going through the house." Amanda replied. "I know you're there. What the hell's going on?" She said before Chris appeared and noticed her missing incisor before walking over and sitting down in the nearby chair.

"We're always around… but someone else is too." Chris replied.

"Sachael…" Amanda said quietly.

"Yes… and I myself am a lot more than a ghost." Sachael responded as she appeared, Amanda seeing that she now had deep blue eyes like that of an infant, and wore a long, cyan blue dress.

"We had dresses similar to that for our preschool photos…" Amanda replied.

"Yeah… we did. But this… this is the garb of angels. Quite… literally." Sachael responded with a smile at that memory.

"Sache… I've missed you so much." Amanda said as Sachael lightly wrapped her left hand around Amanda's right wrist.

"I've always been somewhere near you… you were, and always will be, like my sister. It's been too long since we've talked." Sachael replied, brushing Amanda's tears away as she again remembered the pain of losing her best friend.

"It has…" Amanda whispered as she was once again fighting exhaustion.

"Let's let them sleep, okay Chris?" Sachael replied, Chris noticing the scar on the palm of Amanda's left hand.

"I hate that I did that to myself… but I couldn't understand why you three were gone." Amanda whispered as she felt Chris's hand brush against her shoulder.

"No one takes loss lightly… but we're always here. There's no need to feel that pain anymore…" Chris responded.

"Because no one ever really leaves." Amanda whispered, Chris kissing her on her forehead.

When they were gone, Amanda and Finn settled into sleep.

It was well into the morning that Sachael appeared to Becky and Becky saw her.

"There's a strange man passed out in front of your room." Sachael replied.

"You… you were Mandy's childhood friend, I remember seeing a picture." Becky responded.

"Yes… and there's a strange man outside your door." Sachael repeated herself.

Becky stood up and opened her door, Mark slumping to the ground and hitting his head, which woke him up in his hungover state.

"Ow, my head… hi there, lady. Help me up?" Mark said, Becky pulling him up to his feet and seeing an old picture in his hand of himself and Amanda, who Becky guessed was about 13 in the photo.

"You know Mandy?" Becky asked.

"I don't know where I'd be if I didn't… but lately it hasn't been so good, to say the least." Mark answered.

"Jealous love isn't true love." Sachael responded from the edge of the room, sat on the windowsill where Mark hadn't yet noticed her. "You say you love her… but if you did, you wouldn't be hurting her by tormenting anyone else close to her, no one can take anyone for themselves."

"The love I meant when I said I love her a lot… I'm not sure how to describe it, my fiancee confronted me on it when she saw the old photos I kept." Mark explained after noticing Sachael and then turning to Becky. "Was there any kind of love between you and Finn that wasn't sibling like?" He asked.

"There was, once… but we got to know each other more and we realised that we supported each other more like siblings than romantic partners, and it just shifted to that. There's always… lingering thoughts, as with anything. But it's what we are now." Becky answered.

"I don't know what to make of him around Mandy… and someone left this on my car last night." Mark replied, showing Becky a photo that showed Amanda and Finn kissing and holding each other… but she also saw that it was edited.

"Let me guess… either a dark haired man or a blonde and red ombre haired woman left this for you." Becky replied, Mark backing up slightly when he saw that her temper was out.

Sachael scrambled out in a hurry, hoping to find someone.