She Knows

Adam Copeland opened the door.

And to say that his jaw dropped would be an understatement.

It was 3am and a warm breeze gushed through the door of his Florida home where the girl now stood. Her long mousy brown hair strewn messily down her back, her face a picture of pure exhaustion. Behind her was a cab, its motor still running, evidently waiting for her.

"Kalli?" He looked into her eyes, surprised to see the tears in them, "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you," her voice sounded as tired as she looked.

He shook his head, still muddled from sleep and completely blindsided by the appearance of this girl on his doorstep.

The last time they had seen each other...

He leant forward, getting right in her face, “Wanna hit me, don’t you, Kalli? Because the truth hurts.” He chuckled darkly, “It fucking hurts.”

Somehow, only barely, she managed to keep herself in check long enough to tell him, “Stay away from me,” before she turned to go again.

But so furious was Adam now that he grabbed her, turning her back to him, his hands tightly, painfully gripping her upper arms as he shoved her backwards, pinning her against the wall. “You’ll never understand it, Kalli, but I love her.” Tears brimmed in his angry eyes, “I fucking love her, and you and Jeff and Matt, you’ve taken her away.” Without thinking, he yanked her forward far enough to slam her back into the wall again.

Her back jarring under the pressure Kalli gasped, looking up at her friend desperately, “Adam... Adam, you’re hurting me.”

“And you haven’t hurt me?” He cried out into her face, “Krissy has left me, Kalli. Krissy is gone. I’ve lost her. I’ve lost the only woman I will ever love again, and I’ve lost the baby... The baby Krissy and I created together, out of love. Someone else is going to raise *MY* baby with Krissy!”

Still completely unthinking he slammed her back into the wall again and she whimpered, tears coming to her eyes, “Adam, please... Please, you're hurting me..."

It hadn't been pretty.

He'd said things. Things he regretted in someway.

And he'd done things. Things he had regretted wholeheartedly.

Because of Kalli McMahon, the woman he loved had been emotionally battered. Because of Kalli McMahon, the woman he loved was in the arms of another. Because of Kalli McMahon...

Krissy McMahon had settled for second best.

"What..." He broke off. Tired and confused he asked, "Why?"

She clenched her hands together when she went to speak, instinctively playing with the ring on her left index finger. Anyone that knew Kalli knew it to be a nervous reaction, and Adam was surprised in spite of himself to see that she was nervous now. When she spoke, her voice wavered slightly in a kind of dread he hadn't expected to hear from her, and when he looked closely past the sleep that still hung in his eyes, he could see she was trembling.

"I needed to tell you something," she whispered.

Still confused, he asked, a slight edge to his voice "And that would be?"

"That you were right." She whispered painfully, her voice cracking under the pressure of tears that needed to be cried, no matter how hard she was trying to fight them. "You were right about everything."

Now even more confused, Adam stammered sleepily, "Kalli? I don't understand..."

"You were right." She tried to keep her voice level, "I kept pushing Krissy toward Matt because I didn't want to feel..." She struggled, stammering near inaudibly, "this." She shook her head in an attempt to shake away the pain and guilt that came with the words, with this admission she had hoped to never make. "I wanted Krissy and Matt together because I didn't want... I didn't want to deal with what I feel for Matt..." She locked her eyes on Adam's and told him, all honesty for the first time in weeks, "I pushed them together not because he was the right one for her..." She whispered, tears spilling onto her cheeks, "I pushed because I love him."

The temptation to say 'I told you so' nearly consumed Adam for all of two seconds.

The more he took in the look on her face, the more he read her eyes, the faster the need to gloat slipped away.

"And I'm sorry," Kalli went on. The words a rush of emotion, "I'm sorry I fought you on this. I'm sorry I fought you when..." These words shamed her most of all, "You love Krissy more than Matt ever could."

Shocked to the core by this, Adam looked at her, somehow stammering a little lightly, "Have you been smoking something?" He shook his head again, "Kalli... You're..."

"I've had an epiphany," she cut him off with a little whisper. "And I'm sorry."

Still unable to completely comprehend Kalli's appearance, and above all else, the things she was trying so desperately to say to him, he asked softly, "You love Matt? You're telling me that..." The words were not at all gentle and he nearly flinched as he voiced them, "You finally got a clue? You finally realized what everyone else has known all along?" He mumbled a little disgustedly. "You love Matt."

Hurt my his words, but knowing she should expect nothing kinder from him after all that had passed between them, she simply nodded, her eyes downcast.

Despite the fact that he had suspected as much, Adam Copeland was still shocked.

Not for Matt. Personally, Adam didn't give a rat’s ass what happened to Matt anymore...

Maybe a little of it was for Kalli.

Maybe a lot of it was for Krissy.

But most of it was for Jeff.

"You're going to leave Jeff, Kalli?" He asked bitterly, "You're going to kick him to the gutter and forget all about him for Matt? For Matt Hardy?"

Her eyes snapped up, locking on his, "I never said that."

Taking in the passion with which she spoke the words, the emotion behind them, he nodded, "Yeah... I guess you didn't." He sighed, "Kalli..." Trying to speak as levelly as possible he asked her, "What did you even hope to achieve coming here tonight?" His eyes rest accusingly on hers, "You took her away from me. A simple 'sorry, you were right...' That's not going to make it better."

"I don't expect it to. I just... I needed to say it."

He asked quietly, "Wanted to relieve that guilty conscience?"

"No," she shook her head, again lowering her eyes in a vain attempt to hide her pain. "Nothing can do that." She cleared her throat when she started to choke up. "Anyway... I should go..."

He'd rather not give a damn where she was headed now...

But for a long time, she had been his friend.

And as much as he didn't want to, he cared.

"Where are you headed?"

She motioned to the cab, "I'm gonna check into a hotel."

"At 3am?" She nodded and he sighed, telling her reluctantly, "We both know you're better off staying here, Kalli."

She shook her head, "Heidi is already checked in. I'm going to meet her in the morning..."

"Then stay here and get a cab there in the morning..."

"Kalli," he looked down at her from the front step, his eyes still conveying his anger but the remnants of their friendship battering him with compassion. "You're so exhausted you can barely stand up. Come on inside..."

She started again, "Adam..."

His voice gentle he cut her off with a concerned, "Please."

For moments she simply looked at him, their gazes locked together. "All right," she nodded, "Just let me go pay the guy."

"Okay," he stepped back into the house as she turned down the front path. When she was nearly at the cab he called out, "And don't you even think about doing a runner."

She looked back at him, giving him a little smile...

"Damn," Adam whispered under his breath. "What the hell am I doing?"

He couldn't help it.

Kalli McMahon may be a selfish pain in the ass these days...

But deep down, he knew.

She had always been his friend.

"Will this be okay?" Adam asked from the doorway of the spare bedroom in his Florida home.

Kalli dropped her bag onto the double bed before her, keeping her back to him and nodding, her voice quiet, a sure sign of her continuing discomfort. "Yeah, Adam. It’s good. Thanks." She slowly pulled her jacket off, dropping it onto the bed and rubbing the back of her neck tiredly.

Watching her closely from where he stood, concern crept in on Adam. Her movement's were forced and barely controlled at best. Her shoulders where hunched forward and even her breathing seemed a little laboured. While he knew that undoubtedly she would be jet lagged from the trip back to the States, and she was clearly exhausted, there seemed more to it than that. "Are you okay?"

She nodded again, her back still to him. "Just tired."

"Just tired?" He asked dubiously.

She nodded a third time, "Yeah." She rubbed her forehead, "And a little headachy," she cast a forced smile over her shoulder at him. "Much to your regret, I'll live."

He sighed softly, "It's not like I'm praying for your demise, Kallikins."

The girl turned at the use of her pet name, a surprised, and moved little smile, firmly fixed on her face. "Kallikins..." She whispered.

Adam shrugged as nonchalantly as possible. "Force of habit."

But he knew as well as she did that it come out much more affectionately than he had planned.

"Yeah," she sighed softly, "Probably is." She turned her back to him again, moving to step nearer the bed, her stomach swimming a moment, she stumbled forward, her head light. Her vision blurred and she could barely make out the bed nearing her as she began to fall...

"I gotcha." Adam snatched her arm, pulling her up right. "You okay?"

Still light headed and struggling to keep herself up right she murmured, "Uh huh."

Moving her back a step or two, he sat her down on the bed, kneeling before her, one hand still on her arm, the other pushing strands of her long hair back out of her face. "Kalli..." She seemed to be filtering back and forth between consciousness and complete catatonia. "Kalli, come on, talk to me..."

Fighting the wave of nausea surging in her stomach she whispered, "I'm okay..."

He told her as lightly as he could, "When you said you'd live, I thought you meant it."

She giggled breathlessly, "So did I." She breathed deeply, trying to catch the breath that had suddenly left her, slowly opening her eyes to look up at him. "I guess I'm a little more tired than I thought..."

"You look like you're about to keel over, Kalli."

The McMahon Heiress managed a weak smile, "I feel like I'm about to keel over."

"Here..." He lay her back on the bed, bent over her as he spoke, "I'll get you some Tylenol." She started to shake her head in protest but he shook his head at her, "No, you're taking something, Kalli. You look like hell."

She whispered, amused, "You're not doing a very good job at being pissed with me right now, Adam."

Despite himself the WWF Superstar grinned, "Yeah, well, when you don't look like death warmed up, I'll be pissed." He ruffled her hair softly, "I'll just be a second, okay?" She nodded, seemingly slipping off into unconsciousness again as he exited the room.

It was unsettling, in a way. Seeing Kalli like this. He couldn't even remember the last time she had been sick, aside from the bump on the head she had taken at Unforgiven.

His money was on Jeff as the reason for this bout.

Damn, who even knew which Hardy Boy effected her most anymore?

He moved out into the kitchen, grabbing her a glass of water and some Tylenol before heading back to the spare bedroom. Seeing her sick made it damn near impossible to remain angry with her...

But it didn't change anything.

Krissy and he were apart because Kalli couldn't keep her nose out of other people's business.

He stepped back into the room and Kalli's eyes fluttered open. He could tell she had nodded off while she was waiting for him. He moved over to the bed, "Sit up, Kalli." And she tried, she did.

But she just didn't have the strength left for it. He set the glass down and helped her into a sitting position on the bed before handing her the glass and Tylenol. She took both gratefully, swallowing the Tylenol before look at him sadly, "I'm sorry for this."

Adam smiled gently, "You're sick, girl. No biggy. And it's nothing to be sorry for either."

"I know, its just..." Her blood shot eyes locked on his. "I feel like I'm inconveniencing you." She smiled softly, "Once again."

"Kalli," he told her as gently as he could manage, "I can't pretend things are all right between us." He shook his head, his face downcast, "No friend has ever hurt me the way you have, but..." He shrugged, "We've always been friends, right?"

The McMahon Heiress nodded, "Always."

Silence beset upon the two for a few moments, each pondering the past, the present...

And what the future might hold for both of them now.

Adam was in love with a woman who was pregnant with his child, but clinging desperately to a relationship with someone else.

Kalli was torn between two men, brothers as it would happen...

And neither one knew where fate would lead them next.

"Get some sleep, Kalli." Adam leant forward, kissing her forehead, "We'll talk more in the morning." He took the glass from her, resting it on the bed side table and then helped her out of her shoes and socks, letting her remove her own pants so she could sleep in her t-shirt and then tucking her into bed. He moved toward the door.

"Adam?" Kalli called out to him as he reached the door.

He looked back at her, "Yeah?"

"For what it's worth..." She told him sincerely, "I'll never interfere again."

The man sighed, "Goodnight, Kalli." Then he turned the light off, closing the door and disappearing down the hall.

"I'll never interfere again."

The Canadian took a deep breath. Chances were it didn't matter anymore anyway.

There may never be enough of he and Krissy left for Kalli to even try to interfere with ever again.

The girl's sleepy voice came through the phone, "Hmm???"

"Kalli?" She cleared her throat, asking softly, "Kalli, where are you?"

"I'm still at Adam's. I stayed the night." She told her sister, "I'll meet you back at the hotel this afternoon if that's okay. I want to talk to Adam a little more before I go." She thought for a moment and then said, "And I want to stop in on Melly too. I haven't seen her in so long... Then I can come get you and we'll see Jason and Tiara." She added thoughtfully, "That is if it’s okay with you."

"Yeah," she mumbled, "I just wanna sleep some more."

Kalli smiled at this. It was 10am. Still way too early as far as Heidi was concerned. "Then go back to sleep, sweetheart. I'll see you this afternoon."

"Okay," Heidi mumbled and the phone went dead.

Giggling still, Kalli closed her cell phone, resting it back on the bedside table. Her giggle died away as a yawn escaped her. "Man," she climbed from the bed, standing and stretching, feeling significantly better than she had when she had arrived the night before. The Tylenol and a bit of sleep had cured her headache and though she was still tired, she felt much livelier.

She moved to the door and headed out, down the hallway and into the kitchen, smiling slightly when she saw Adam already up and about. "Morning," she cooed.

He looked up, managing an slight smile of his own, "Hey Kalli." He motioned to where he was making himself some toast. "You want something to eat?"

She shook her head, moving over to the cupboard beside him and grabbing herself a cup. Without thinking she poured herself a cup of coffee from the pot and turned her back against the bench, leaning there to look at him.

Adam grinned. She still knew her way around the kitchen. "Kalli," he mused, "When are you going to learn that coffee is not a breakfast food?"

He nodded, "Figures." Pulling his toast from the toaster, he started to butter it. "You feel any better?"

"Uh huh," she sipped at the strong cup of black coffee she clutched in her hands, "You can be all mad at me again now."

The WWF Superstar chuckled, "Don't encourage me." He finished up with his toast and moved over to the kitchen table to sit down, motioning for her to join him. When she did so, he took a bite of his toast and said, "Things are pretty fucked up right now, huh?"

"Yeah." She murmured softly, looking at him intently, thinking a moment before asking, "What are you going to do, Adam? About Krissy? And the baby?"

He bit another chunk from his toast, "Beats me. Matt certainly has his claws dug right in at the moment." Kalli's cheeks flushed slightly and he said a little more softly, "I want to be with her, Kalli. I want to raise our little boy together."

Kalli smiled, "What makes you so sure it’s a boy?"

"I just know these things." Adam told her all seriousness and she giggled. Despite himself he smiled at her giggle. It was kind of nice to be just sitting here with her, talking like they used to...

But it didn't change the facts.

Krissy still wasn't with him.

His smile faded away and he said quietly, "I don't know how to win her back, Kalli."

The McMahon Heiress' giggled died. After a long moment she said, "Adam... I wish I knew what to tell you." She shrugged, "I know that you love her, I know you'd do the right thing by her this time round, but... Matt loves her too."

"Matt loves you, Kalli. Not Krissy."

"No," she shook her head, "No, he doesn't." She paused a moment and then recounted slowly...

He leant closer to her, whispering, pain in his voice, "Goodbye, Kalli."

Then he kissed her lips ever so tenderly, climbed from the bed...

And for the second time in his life he did the one thing he never thought he would do.

He walked away from Kalleasto McMahon.

Adam shook his head, "Kalli, that doesn't mean anything."

"Yes it does." She told him softly, "It means he made his choice." Her eyes locked on Adam's, "He chose Krissy, Adam. Matt Hardy does not love me."

And Adam Copeland could hear the doubt in her voice. "You're not sure you really believe that, are you?"

It would be so easy to lie, but...

“I worry about you, Kalli. I don’t want you to lock everyone out...”

“I won’t...” She snapped defensively.

“You will.” He snapped back. “You know you will.” She groaned and he sighed, reaching out to press his palm to her cheek completely without thinking...

She froze beneath his touch, looking up startled. “Matt,” she whimpered, “Please don’t.” Her heart was pounding once again, tingles spreading beneath her skin. If he never touched her again, she would be just fine; she would never succumb again...

But he was touching her now.

“What’s happening, Matt?” She whispered, crying softly, afraid as if for her life. “I don’t understand.” She struggled desperately, her voice barely audible, “I love Jeff. I know I do. I love him.” She was shaking now, “But when you touch me...”

He nodded, still not removing his hand, his thumb stroking lazily across her cheekbone. “I don’t understand it either...” He leaned closer to her, completely unaware of how near to each other they were until her hot breath touched his face. “Kalli...”

So close to him, Kalli was overcome. She fought, dying to step away from him and run while she still could...

But the battle was lost.

She leant forward, reaching from her tip toes, her lips lightly touching his in a kiss.

And Matt Hardy did not resist.

Again, Adam shook his head, "Kallikins..." He finished the last of his toast, thinking a while, choosing his words carefully, "Why are you so determined not to see the truth in all this?" Her face fell and he nodded knowingly, "Jeff."

"I know you do." He asked her softly, "But you’re in love with Matt too, aren’t you?"

She stammered weakly, "It's not the same..."

He cut her off, "Then I'll take that as a yes."

She sighed softly, "It's not like with Jeff." She tried to explain it, but her words were coming erratically, her inability to express herself infuriating her, "Jeff is... He's everything, Adam. When I think about him... I can't... Dammit..."

"You love Jeff," he offered gently, "But part of you is wondering what would happen if you and Matt gave your feelings a chance."

Kalli shook her head adamantly, "No."

But there wasn't nearly as much conviction in the word as she had wanted.

Adam watched her as she lowered her head, her messy hair falling into her painfully shame-laden face. After a few moments he asked, "Do you believe Matt loves you more than he loves Krissy?"

Her eyes snapped up, horror on her face, "Adam," her lower lip trembled with the threat of tears.

"Answer me," he pushed gently.

But the girl was on her feet, shaking her head, "No. No." She rest her coffee cup down, afraid she was about to drop it.

"No!" She shouted at him. "Don't, Adam. Don't! I see what you're trying to do."

He stood up, keeping his eyes on hers, "Answer me, Kalli."

"How would I even fucking know, Adam?"

"Dammit, Kalli." His own voice rose angrily, "Fucking think about it. When Matt hurts, who does he run to? You! When you hurt, who is the first one there? Who drops fucking everything for you time and time again?" He growled, "Matt. It's always Matt, Kalli!"

She whirled to go and he took her arm, "Kalli... Open your eyes..."

"I can't..." Her voice was a whimper and it was only now he realized she was in tears.

"Kalli," he whispered, "It would be so much easier for you if Matt loved Krissy and not you, wouldn't it? Then you could go back to Jeff and pretend that this never happened." He turned her slowly, taking hold of both her shoulders and looking into her eyes, "If you lie to yourself now, Kalli, you and Jeff will never be happy." He demanded gently, "Tell me what you want."

"Jeff," she whispered, the words so hollow they terrified her, "I want Jeff."

He shook his head, his voice a command for honesty, "Tell me what you want."

She looked at him a long time and then she sobbed heart wrenchingly, "Matt." Another sob racked her body, "I want Matt." Yet another sob filled her, and another, and another...

And though it was the answer he wanted, Adam Copeland was completely taken aback, lost as the girl continued to cry, literally falling apart before him. "Kalli," he sighed, stepping forward and wrapping his arms around. "I'm sorry," he cooed softly into her hair, "I'm sorry."

He had just gotten what he wanted...

But for some reason, Adam Copeland didn't feel any better.