Disclaimer: I don't own any of the wrestlers, announcers, etc.

A/N: First off, I do apologize for where I have the wrestlers and announcers in this story. I started writing this awhile before the 2008 draft and was working on it a lot during the weekend leading up to the draft (I wrote nearly 7 pages one day, so that should tell you how much I was writing. And yes, I know that that probably wasn't a good idea). I came very close to changing all of this and making it work for the various draft changes, but I decided to leave it where I had it- wrestlers exactly where they were before the draft, but with Matt on Raw.

Also, I know NOTHING about the injuries I'm using in this story. I'm basically going off of research, but knowing me, I got everything backwards and screwed this up. Some things I did exaggerate, but please, if you know more than I do then I would love it if you could help me out a bit!

Professional wrestlers always had to deal with the various injuries that came along with the job, some more than others. Torn muscles, broken noses- they were used to these kinds of things. Jeff Hardy had always counted himself lucky that he hadn't needed to have major surgery before, despite wrestling for years. That didn't mean that he wasn't affected by his career, though. So when his back started hurting him again, he just figured it was the after effects of his latest match. He treated it like he had always treated back pain and did his best to ignore it.

His back was still bothering him when it was time for his match on Raw and for once he was glad that he was booked to lose. He wasn't sure how long he would be able to wrestle and, worst come to worst, Orton could pin him earlier to end the match. Although it was obvious that Orton suspected he was in pain, the match continued regularly, as if nothing was wrong. For awhile they were both pretty equal; one of them would gain the upper hand, only to have the other knock them down and stop their momentum.

Jeff was glad when they were nearly done with the match; his back had only been hurting worse the longer he wrestled. He quickly delivered the Twist of Fate, his back throbbing even more once he was done. The crowd was going wild, expecting the Swanton and pin from him, though that wasn't what would happen. He was going to do a Swanton, yes, but Orton would roll away and, after he got up, counter with an RKO for the win. He climbed to the top rope, the crowd screaming, and did his Swanton. However, when his back connected with the mat, a sharp pain ran down his spin and legs and he couldn't help but cry out. He tried to get up so Orton could do an RKO and somehow managed it, though he felt like he would collapse at any moment. He staggered forward, only to be hit with an RKO, as planned.

After the match he just lay there, not even bothering to try to get up. His back was throbbing and he didn't think his legs would support him again. Matt, who had been out supporting his brother, climbed into the ring and knelt next to him, with the ref on Jeff's other side. "Jeff? Jeff? Are you alright?" He asked.

"No," Jeff ground out through clenched teeth. "My… my back. There's something wrong with my back."

"Someone get a stretcher out here!" The ref yelled.

Everyone, from the crowd to the WWE staff members at ringside, waited anxiously to see what had happened. Injuries, whether planned or legitimate, always worried the people watching. The King and JR commented on what was going on, acting like they usually did during a staged injury, though they too were wondering what had happened. Finally, after a few minutes, a stretcher was brought down to the ring. Jeff was quickly lifted on to it, strapped in and carried away, with Matt walking alongside him.

As soon as they got backstage and relatively out of the way of the rest of the show, the medics got to work calling an ambulance, checking him over, and just trying to figure out what had happened. While all of this was going on, various superstars and divas had gathered around Jeff and Matt, asking questions of their own.

"Look, I know all of you are concerned for him, but if you don't stop asking him questions we will not be able to figure out what's wrong, so if all of you would please take a few steps back and stop talking, it would be a big help!" One of the medics finally snapped.

"C'mon guys, let's clear out. We'll let you know what's going on later, but right now these guys need to do their jobs!" Shane McMahon said as he walked over. The superstars and divas slowly walked away, though a few of them looked annoyed at having to leave. Only Matt stayed, though neither the medics nor Shane forced him to leave. "My dad's out there for part of the show. He'll come back when he's done," Shane told them.

The medic just nodded and turned back to Jeff. "What happened?" He asked.

"I don't know," Jeff said. "My back's been killing me for a couple of days now, but I didn't really think much of it." All of the wrestlers dealt with various aches and pains enough to not get too worried about them; the medics were used to hearing the "I didn't think much of it" line. They usually just frowned in disapproval and continued to check them over; tonight was no exception.

The medic continued to question Jeff. Was there anything else that hurt? How would he describe the pain in his back? What had he done in the past few days to treat his back pain? Jeff did his best to try to answer their questions, though it was obvious that he was getting frustrated with the lack of answers the medics had.

By the time the ambulance had arrived the medics still didn't know what the problem was, though Jeff had heard many different theories from slipped vertebrae to a simple muscle strain. He was put back on the stretcher and loaded up into the ambulance; his brother climbed in after him. A fairly large group of superstars were gathered around again, either wishing him well or just joking around a bit to try to lighten the mood.

"Listen, kid, just rest your back for a bit, okay?" Shawn said before the ambulance left. "Don't do anything stupid to risk your career. You have too many years ahead of you."

"I will if they say I have to," Jeff said. He wasn't going to take time off he didn't need to, not now when they were talking about giving him another shot at the WWE title.

Shawn opened his mouth to respond, but before he could say anything the medics swung the ambulance doors shut and finally rushed Jeff off to the hospital.

XXXXX

Going from the chaotic arena to the hospital was more than a bit of a shock. Despite the number of tests and scans being done on his back, there still weren't as many things going on as there was backstage of Raw. After the doctors and nurses had left to look at the results of their tests there was nothing for Jeff to do but sit in his bed and wait for someone to come back to tell him what the hell was going on. The only thing even remotely interesting or amusing was Matt's constant attempts to get the nurse on duty to let him in to see his brother. Yet even that got boring after awhile and Jeff finally yelled to the nurse to just let his brother in.

"You could've told her that earlier, you know." Matt flopped down in the chair next to the bed and put his feet up on the bed next to Jeff.

Jeff pushed the feet off his bed and just rolled his eyes Matt put them up there again anyway. "Why? It was the only thing happening around here," he said.

Matt suddenly became more serious. "I take it you haven't heard anything from the doctors, then?"

Jeff shook his head. "They ran 'bout a million different tests on me when I first got here, but I haven't heard anything yet."

"Did they mention anything it could be?"

"Like I said, I haven't heard anything. The medics back at Raw named a couple of things it could be, but I haven't heard anything for sure. Wonder when they're going to come back."

Matt opened his mouth to say something, but closed it immediately, muttering something that sounded like "Speak of the devil…" Jeff turned around and saw one of the doctors from earlier walking into the room. She glared at Matt and pointedly looked down at his feet, which were still on the bed. He just grinned and left them where they were.

The doctor sighed and turned her attention back to Jeff. "Hello, I am Dr. Smith. You must be…" She looked down at her clipboard. "Jeff Hardy?"

Normally he would have been thrilled to have a doctor who didn't know who he was taking care of him, but from the way that Dr. Smith was frowning at him, most likely because of his purple hair, he couldn't wait to get away from her. "Yeah, that's me," he told her. "Do you know what's wrong with my back?"

She glanced over at Matt again. "I'm sorry, but what I have to say concerns Mr. Hardy's medical condition. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Matt jumped up as if to start a fight, but Jeff leaned over and pushed him back down into the chair. "This is Matt Hardy, my brother. Whatever you say, you can say in front of him as well."

Dr. Smith looked less than thrilled at Matt staying in the room, but she finally relented. "Well, Mr. Hardy, the x-rays and the CT scan seem to indicate that you have spondylolisthesis, a slipped vertebra. The pain in your legs also seems to indicate some nerve compression; however, there is no reason to think that it is anything serious at this point." She looked down at her clipboard again. "This says that you work with the WWE for a living? What exactly does that job entail?"

Jeff could hear Matt snickering next to him. "Well, Dr. Smith, the WWE is a wrestling business."

Dr. Smith's opinion of him visibly dropped dramatically. "You wrestle for a living?" She sighed. "That would explain how you might have acquired the stress fracture that lead to this." She began writing on her clipboard. "I'm going to transfer you to a hospital near your home," she told him without looking up from her clipboard. "The doctors there will most likely start you in with physical therapy which will hopefully take care of both the slipped vertebra and the nerve compression. You'll need to take at least a couple of months off of work-"

"A couple of months?" Jeff repeated. "Look, I know you don't watch wrestling, but they're talking about giving me a title shot, there's no way I'm taking that much time off!"

To his surprise, it wasn't Dr. Smith who spoke next, but Matt. "Jeff, you are not going back to work! I may not be a doctor, but I know that a pinch nerve is a lot different than just some aches and pains. However," he turned towards Dr. Smith. "Can't he stay in his own house? Why does he have to go to another hospital?"

"Mr. Hardy, your brother will need someone with him at all times to make sure that his condition doesn't get worse, besides the fact that if there's pain in his legs I do not want him driving."

"I'll stay with him then," Matt told her.

"What?" Jeff stared at his brother. "Vince is never going to let you stay home for a couple of months!"

"Why not?" Matt asked. "We're basically in the same storyline; it would be easy to write me out. I could fake an injury or just use the truth, that I'm home taking care of you. It'll work. Besides, our next show is near home, I'll just show up for that to work out whatever they're going to do about the plot then stay home with you."

Dr. Smith cut in before Jeff could continue the argument. "If you can promise me that someone will always be taking care of him, I'll let your brother stay at his house. However, I will be alerting the hospital nearest to him about his condition and I expect you to make sure he gets the treatment he needs."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of everything," Matt promised.

True to her word, Dr. Smith let Jeff leave, after reminding them that she would be sending their information to a North Carolina hospital and giving them a note to show Mr. McMahon, explaining what needed to happen for Jeff to recover as quickly as possible.

As soon as they were outside Matt turned on his cell phone and dialed a number. Jeff couldn't hear any of the conversation; he was sitting on a bench a little ways away, since it hurt to stand for too long. However, knowing Matt he was calling someone to get a car sent over here. Sure enough, after a few minutes, he hung up and walked over to his brother.

"Hunter volunteered to drive over, since most of the others are out at local bars. He should be here in a few minutes and before you ask, no, I did not tell him what the doctor said, I'm leaving that for you." Jeff just grinned; sometimes his brother knew him too well.

Not long after that a car pulled up in front of the hospital and they could hear Hunter yelling, "Get in the car, Vince wants to talk to you ASAP!"

Jeff jumped up and would've started running over, but Matt held him back. "Doctor said nothing more than walking right now, just to be safe," he reminded him. Jeff scowled, but complied and walked slowly over to the car.

As soon as they were both in, Hunter glanced back at Jeff. "So what's the diagnosis?" He asked.

Jeff sighed. "Slipped vertebra and most likely nerve compression," he said. "The doctor wants me to take a couple of months off."

Hunter whistled softly. "Wow, that's rough. Any idea what treatment you're going to be getting?"

"Physical therapy, but I'll have to stay in a rehab center if Matt can't get time off, since apparently I'm not supposed to drive. I'm not even allowed to do anything more strenuous than walking!"

"That bad, eh?" Hunter shook his head. "Vince is not going to like both of you leaving for a couple of months, but you might be able to talk him into it, if you're lucky. Steph caught me on my way out and told me to make sure that the two of you talked to him tonight."

Hunter made sure that they were actually talking to Mr. McMahon before he left them and, like he had predicted, Vince did not take the news of them leaving very well.

"I understand why Jeff needs to leave and to be perfectly honest I wouldn't let him stay, not if he's injured. You, on the other hand…" He sighed and looked up at Matt. "I'll need to talk it over with the writers, see if there's a way to write you out of your storyline. I'll contact you before the next show to let you know if you can have the time off. You're flying back home tomorrow morning, correct?"

"Yes sir," Jeff said. "We need to leave the hotel by eight."

"Then I probably won't see either of you again before then. Jeff, you just get better as soon as you can. Matt, I'll be calling you within a few days to let you know what's going on. Goodnight."

The Hardys muttered their goodbyes and left quickly. Neither of them said anything until they reached their hotel room, when Jeff flopped down on his bed, winced slightly, and said "Well, that didn't go too bad." Matt just stared at him for a moment before he started laughing.