Knight Falls, Gold Fades

Chapter 1

The next day was strange for Jeff. He'd slept badly the night before. Somehow, his bed had just seemed too cold and lonely, and he'd found he missed the little sounds of Ana shifting in her sleep. Instead the silence had seemed to echo around him until it was deafening. He'd lain there in an unfamiliar Indianapolis hotel room most of the night, and for the first time in his life, Jeff seriously considered packing up and going home. This was just no way to live, alone all the time, never home, always in unfamiliar surroundings. He had a contract to honor, though, and ducking out wasn't really an option.

Jeff arrived at the arena expecting a mixed reaction from the people at work, considering he had purposefully attacked two veterans on the roster, though Test and Albert weren't the most popular guys in the locker room. He usually tried to stay laid back behind the scenes. He stayed out of other people's business and tried not to make enemies for the most part. He left the politics and the jockeying for position to his brother. Jeff was just happy to wrestle, and he preferred to save his energy for the ring.

Jeff was patted on the shoulder by three different Divas as he made his way to the locker room.

"What's with everyone?" Jeff asked when he found his brother.

Matt looked embarrassed. "Uh, I guess we're not as good at whispering as we thought. A few of the guys overheard what you did for that girl, and then the story got around about what happened with Test and Albert. People put two and two together, so congratulations, you are now the hero of all the women on the roster, crew, and home office," he explained. "Try not to let them wear you out."

Jeff felt his heart sink. "Home office knows about this?"

"Oh yeah," Matt said. "Vince wants to see you in his office. I don't know if he's mad about Test and Albert. Test is fine, but Albert's gonna need time off to heal. You really jacked up his face, hitting him in his piercings like that."

"Aw, man," Jeff groaned. "Well, I better go face the music." He stood up and slapped his legs. "Keeping Vince waiting ain't gonna make things any better." And with that, he headed for the office.

Vince got to him after only a few minutes of waiting, but it was long enough to set his stomach churning.

"Sit down," Vince ordered. Jeff took a seat across the desk. "I hear you're starting fights in my locker room," he stated baldly.

Jeff winced and nodded. "They snatched a friend of mine. Scared her," he said.

"You put one of my wrestlers on the injured list for scaring your friend?" Vince asked.

Jeff straightened up. "Yes, sir, and I'd do it again," he said sternly.

To his surprise, Vince chuckled. "Good for you, kid. This is a tough business, and it's no good to let people think you're weak. Now don't let it happen again." Jeff just sat there feeling shocked. "Tell me about this girl of yours. Is there any truth to the rumor going around that you rescued her?"

"Well I was getting a burger after the show, and I saw four punks drag her into an alley. There was no time to call the police, so I went after them. They were trying to, ah, you know, and I took them down before they got too far," Jeff explained. "That's why I went after Test and Albert the way I did. For them to snatch her up the day after she went through that…I don't care if they were just joking or not. They nearly scared her to death. You don't joke like that with people you don't know."

"Hmm, I'll be having a word with them. I can't have them leaving the company open to lawsuits," Vince said.

"Well, I took it out of their hides, and they've paid uh, restitution, to Ana," Jeff said.

"Nevertheless," Vince said. "Well, this story of yours is really quite dramatic. I'm thinking it will make a very good storyline with, let's see, how about Molly Holly?"

"Ah, no, sir," Jeff replied.

"Not Molly? Oh I see, you're a leg man. You want Stacy Kiebler," Vince said.

"No, sir," Jeff said again. "What I mean is no, I can't do this story line. You can give it to someone else, but I can't use Ana like that."

"You do realize you're passing up a big opportunity here, son. Do you want to think about this?" Vince asked.

"There's nothing to think about, sir," Jeff replied, and Vince let him go after that.

Jeff left the office feeling confused. The meeting was definitely not what he expected. He'd been anticipating a lecture, a suspension even. Not a pat on the back and a career advancement opportunity. It was a strange business he was in.

Matt was waiting for him, trying to act casual like he had some business near Vince's office. "How'd it go?" Matt asked anxiously.

Jeff shook his head. "Not here." They went and found an unoccupied spot on a stairwell.

"Well, what is it? Are you suspended? For how long? Oh, God. Will you be back by Summerslam?" Matt asked. "You can't miss the first ever TLC match. It's going to make our career."

"No, I'm not suspended," Jeff said, still shaking his head in confusion. "I admitted that I attacked Test and Albert, and Vince said 'good for you.' Then he offered me a storyline!"

"Wha—?!" Matt exclaimed. "Wow, man, that's great!"

"No man, I turned it down," Jeff said.

"You what?! Jeff, you can't do that. A storyline is the next step. This could do so much for you. For us, Jeff," Matt argued.

"I can't, man. He wanted me to act out Ana's story with Molly Holly or Stacy Kiebler. I can't do that to Ana," Jeff explained.

"Jeff, you don't even know this girl. You helped her out, and that's great, now let her help you out," Matt reasoned. "I'm sure if you asked her, she'd want to help you."

"She probably would," Jeff answered, "but we'd all know it's wrong. You weren't there, Matt. You don't just take the worst day of someone's life and act it out for fun, for entertainment!"

"I still think you're making a mistake," Matt said. "You can't afford to pass up opportunities in this business."

"You think I don't care about my career, but I do, Matt. I'm just making sure I can look myself in the mirror," Jeff said. He reassured his brother, "Look, we got a good gimmick, we're over with the fans, we got this tables, ladders, and chairs match coming up. Like you said, it's gonna make us. We don't need to sell our friends down the river."

Matt nodded, unconvinced.