The Road Less Traveled

"You are worried that we will take Tara away from you, are you not?"

Justin's quiet voice broke into Shannon's thoughts as they walked along the wooded path behind the hotel. The young wrestler had been nervously entertaining thoughts of how easy it would be for the larger man to attack him and hide the body in such a location. Ridiculous though it may seem to any sane person, Shannon was well aware he wasn't dealing with any normal father figure just now. These two men who'd saved Tara had questionable pasts to say the least. And they'd been the ones to turn her into a lethal fighting machine. He didn't think it would take much on their part to get rid of him if they chose to.

"Th' thought crossed my min'." he conceded.

"I do admit that when I first learned of your relationship, I had intended to do just that," Jussaidsaid. "She was so fragile when I met her. You do not know how difficult it was to save her.

"I think I can imagine," Shannon retorted. "It was no picnic tryin' ta reach 'er while she was Rio."

"She chose to become Rio on her own," the taller man said stopping and leaning against a tree. "We did not encourage that transformation."

"Why'd she do that?" the blonde man asked as he stopped walking as well.

"Sven tells me he believes it was her way of surviving," Justin frowned as he studied Shannon. "He said he could literally see her shut down her emotions and put herself on a sort of autopilot while she trained."

"Why?"

"She had nothing substantial in her life except her husband," the dark haired man explained. "When he died and she lost her baby she had no base to ground her. She fell into a cataclysmic depression and wanted nothing more than to die herself."

"She 'ad a baby?" Shannon asked shocked. He was still trying to get into Tara's mind little by little. He'd never anticipated this, though.

"She has much to tell you, has she not?" the other man returned in an emotionless tone. Shannon wasn't fooled though. Justin was anything but ambivalent about Tara. The man truly adopted her and the young wrestler knew that if any harm were to come to her Justin and Sven would be merciless.

"Can ya tell me?" he asked the larger man sincerely. "I love 'er so much, Justin. Bu' she's afraid ta lemme git too close."

"She has told you she loves you, has she not?"

Shannon nodded silently.

\ muc much closer do you need to be?"

"As close as I can git," he replied.

Justin watched him mutely for a while and Shannon wondered if the enigmatic man was ever going to break the silence. At last Justin nodded and sat down beneath the tree making a gesture that the young man do the same. "This may take some time."

"Ya think she'll be mad?"

"No," the older man said thoughtfully. "I believe she knew I would be the one to speak with you, though I am sure she would have chosen Sven for the task if it were up to her."

"Why?"

"She thinks I am too intimidating."

"I guess ya can be," Shannon smiled sitting down across from him.

"So can you."

"Me?" the blonde man was surprised. "I don' think so."

"You have my daughter," Justin replied smiling. "She was not an easy woman to get, I imagine."

"You can say tha' again."

"I have not known her very long, but I do know her well," Justin said maintaining eye contact. "And I will tell you what I know because I trust you and that is because SHE trusts you. You do understand how precious that trust is, do you not?"

"Definitely."

"I met Tara when she was attacked by two men one night," the larger man began with a darkening expression. "She had been keeping vigil beside her husband's bed in the intensive care unit of Mass General. Sven and I were in town investigating the murder of a friend's daughter."

Shannon watched the man as he spoke. While Justin had been in complete control of his emotions and facial expressions before, he was far from it now. His voice grew hard and his stare turned sharp. It was as if reliving the experience through his mind's eye was changing him. Oddly enough, Shannon was more comforted by this glimpse into the man than frightened. It was good to know these men had taken Tara under their wing. He couldn't conceive of a more protective place for her.

"When I pulled the first man off of her, the second escaped," Justin continued. "I threw the man on the ground headfirst and he died." He stopped and looked at Shannon for a reaction, perhaps and accusation. Shannon refused to give him one. He would have wanted to kill the men himself and understood Justin's actions. Justin seemed to appreciate this because he nodded once before going on. "I did not see her again after that night for some time but Sven would not let the matter rest. Finally he made me agree to salvage her and I was shocked at what we found."

"Whatdja find?"

"She was not directly trying to kill herself but she had decided to let herself die," Justin said, his eyes turning sad. "She weighed close to nothing and refused to speak to us."

"Whatdja do?"

"I simply took her out of there and we brought her home with us," he said. "She stayed with us for nearly a year. She did not like to discuss her past, but slowly she began to bond with us. Especially Sven. He would get her to smile once in a while. The nightmares were the worst part in the beginning, but they lessened over time."

--------------------------------------

Matt and Todd left the sporting goods store with the red knee and elbow pads needed to complete the Fury ensemble. Matt was surprised at how well he was getting along with Tara's brother considering how things had started off earlier. They reached the car and sat in it for a while, trying to give Sven some more time with Tara.

"Ya gonna kick some ass this weekend then?" he asked slapping the younger and larger fighter on the back lightly.

"I'm going to have my sister's back," Todd replied with a grin. "She's going to do all the fighting, I'm sure."

"Ya don' min' that?"

"She's something to behold in the ring, isn't she?"

"Yeah, bu' I worry about 'er when she's in there."

"You shouldn't," Todd said seriously. "I've trained with her. She can handle Sasquatch on her own. Hell, she can handle him AND Goliath in a handicap match and neither of those two assholes would leave the ring on their own."

"Yeah, I believe that," Matt said smiling sadly. "Bu' she's no' th' unattached fighta she used ta be."

"You think her feelings for Shannon will get in the way, don't you?"

"Don' you?"

"No," Todd said with confidence. "If anything, it makes her stronger. Henry and friends threatened you all and pissed her off. Now they'll see what it's like to face Rio with Tara's temper. I, for one, can't wait!"

Matt smiled. "I neva considered that."

--------------------------------------

"Why'dja start trainin' 'er?" Shannon inquired.

"She asked us to," Justin said. "One day, she was watching television and saw some fighting show. Sven had been trying to coax her into coming out of her depression by suggesting she temporarily become someone else until she was able to handle the pain. She came to us and asked if we would teach her to defend herself. I used it as an opportunity to get her to eat more substantially and she began to physically recover."

"She started becomin' Rio."

"Yes," the darker man said. "She chose the name herself."

"Any idea why?" Shannon asked curiously.

"Yes," Justin nodded. "She told us some time later why. Her husband had promised to take her to Rio de Janeiro one day because he had been there as a child and remembered how beautiful it was. He had wanted to share this with her."

"An' 'Angele' came from . . .?"

"He used to call her his angel," Justin sighed. "The name was a tribute to him because, though she wanted to forget the pain, she never wanted to forget the man."

Shannon nodded slowly, assimilating all of the new information gravely. He was still a little worried that he would always be fighting her memories of her husband and, now, her baby. Justin still watched him carefully but Shannon had broken the disconcerting eye contact.

"She loves you very much," the older man said.

"Bu' I fo'ced 'er to."

Justin suddenly laughed out loud, startling the young wrestler into looking up again in confusion.

"That is very funny, Shannon," he said wiping his eyes. "I have not laughed that much in some time."

"Wha's funny?"

"You forcing her to do anything," he explained. "I specifically trained her to disarm any man who used his . . . manhood as a weapon. You would never have come within a ten-foot radius of her if she did not have feelings for you. Of this, I am positive."

"Yo' no' as scary as I pictured you," Shannon smiled.

"So long as you treat my daughter well, I shall remain so," Justin replied.