Disclaimer: I don't own the people used in this work of fiction. They belong to themselves. The company and their respective onscreen persona's belong to Vince McMahon. The song Play with Fire is owned by Hilary Duff and is being used solely for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: Written for the WWE FanFiction Library's July fic contest. An encounter at an airport leaves a former couple shaken by the realization that things between them may not be as over as they once believed.
I can't believe it's really you
Been so long
Trish had frozen in her tracks, eyes narrowed as her gaze was focused on the waiting area of the airport. Her shock was only surpassed by her anger as she glared at the rainbow hair cascading over the back of the chair in front of her. There was no way she wouldn't recognize it. She had spent so many nights, twisting a lock of those colorful tresses around her finger or running her hands through it as they made love.
But those memories were no longer happy. His abrupt, unexplained exit from her life had tainted them. Gone were the days of looking back on them fondly and wishing things could have been different. Time and no communication had skewed her view. Now when she allowed herself to reflect on the two years they had spent together, there was nothing but sadness and questions that entered her mind.
As if he felt her scrutiny, he turned in his seat and those emerald eyes that used to make her weak in the knees locked onto hers. A million different emotions danced in those fathomless green pools but they only served to enrage her more. Because he no longer looked like the skeletal, strung mess that she remembered. He looked healthier and more substantial. Much less confused and chaotic, more grounded.
You look good
I hear you're doing really well
Jeff ragged in a deep breath then sighed, heavily as if it pained him and got to his feet. He stopped a few inches away from her and his eyes scanned over her entirely then came to rest on her own. "Hello Trish."
"Jeff." She responded curtly, arms crossed over her chest and her eyebrows arched. "Are you waiting for someone?"
"Matt."
Her breath hissed in over her slightly parted lips, hot and bitter. The only reason she was at this airport was because the older Hardy had led her to believe that he couldn't pick up Shane from the airport and begged her to do it. So she had agreed, never once suspecting that he was setting her up.
"You all right?" His sweet southern drawl lilted with concern.
Don't ask me
Let me tell you how I been since when you left
"Like you care." She snapped angrily, lips curving into a deep scowl. "Were you in on it?"
"In on what?"
"This setup?"
His expression betrayed his confusion as he looked wearily at her. She seen the same expression before, whenever she suggested something he thought was crazy. Like rehab, taking time off or counseling to get his life back together. "What setup?"
Since you left me for dead
Finally every tear has dried
"This one." She gestured from herself to him, glaring. "Matt asks me to pick up Shane from the airport because him and Ashley already had plans. But what do I find when I get here? You, in all your screwed up glory."
He winced as if she had hit him but shook his head, "I had no idea that he was going to do that. If I did, I would have rented my own car."
"Why are you here?"
"To talk to Vince." He stated flatly, his gaze never wavering from hers. "I want to come back."
I've wiped you
From my life
Trish felt like she had been punched in the stomach. It clenched painfully and her breath caught in her throat. Her mouth opened and closed but no sound came out and she blinked, trying to clear the blackness that was edging into her field of vision. Weakly, she leaned against the pole and closed her eyes, mentally cursing her luck.
"I've got my life together." Jeff informed her quietly. "Got the passion and focus back. This is something I need and want to do so I won't blow it this time."
"Good for you." The sarcasm weighed heavily in her words but she didn't care. His callous disregard for her feelings and the impact his return would have on her life frustrated her. "But honestly, it wouldn't surprise anyone if you flaked again. Commitment's never been your strong suit."
Do you remember all the times you said you'll call me
Cus' I remember all the reasons people warned me
And now I hear you saying that you still adore me
But if you think I'd ever get with you again
Then you can just...
"Come on, don't be afraid." His tone was challenging but his expressive eyes flashed with barely suppressed anger. "I know that's not all. Let me have it with both barrels. I deserve it."
She rolled her eyes at his childish response. It was typical of him. Whenever someone called him on his lack of responsibility or the things he did wrong, he got confrontational. But she refused to play this game with him anymore and waved a negligent hand in dismissal of his antics. "You know what? It's not worth it."
"Don't you mean I'm not worth it?" He queried and the deep seeded bitterness was evident in his tone. "Isn't that what you told everyone after I left? Said that our relationship was never anything serious or important?"
"Obviously it wasn't if you could just walk away from it like you did." She countered heatedly, not about to be made the bad guy in this scenario. "And never once call or write to tell me that it was over."
Love me, love me, feed the flame
If you want me back again
"It wasn't easy!"
A roll of her eyes followed his vehement denial, "Sure as hell looked like it was."
"Looks can be deceiving." He shot back, hands clenching and unclenching, as if he was fighting the urge to hit something. "You of all people should know that."
"I think the ways things ended proved that I never really knew you at all. Because I never thought that you'd be like every other selfish jerk in the world and toss me aside like I was nothing."
Burn to the sky
Higher and higher
"Nothing?" Pain was prevalent in his voice, causing the word to crack. "You were never nothing to me. I don't know how you could think that…"
"I thought that because it was the truth!" The bitterness exploded from her mouth and caused even more people in the waiting area to stare at them. "Maybe you still can't admit but I can."
"You're wrong."
"Whatever." She turned to go but he grabbed her shoulder and spun her around to face him again. Wrenching herself from his touch, her eyes narrowed irately. "Don't touch me!"
Baby, can you play with fire?
Jeff held up his hands in a gesture of mock surrender. "Then don't throw an accusation at my feet and try to walk away without giving me a chance to correct you on it."
She laughed, a scornful, mocking sound that was foreign to her own ears. "I don't owe you a chance to correct anything."
"No, I guess you don't." He agreed sadly and raked a hand through his multi-colored tresses. "Go back to the arena. Tell Matt that I decided to get my own car."
"You don't get to tell me what to do." She reminded him coldly and sighed. "I told Matt that I'd do him this favor and I will."
Burn to the sky
Love me, love me
Burn to the sky
If you want me
"I'm tired Trish." He expelled a rough breath. "Trying to prove myself to everyone is exhausting. Arguing my case gets so repetitive and frustrating. I don't want to do it anymore."
"Then walk away like you always do."
"No." There was a conviction in his tone had been absent all those years ago. "I don't want to do it but I have to. Because I refuse to let you believe the worst."
The laugh that escaped her mouth was mirthless and droll, "It's too late for that."
"It's never too late."
You never know just what'd you got till' it's gone
You freak out
But I'm not falling for that game
He stepped toward her, a strange determination painted on his face. His hand cupped her cheek and she froze at the contact, willing her body not to respond to the familiar touch. Fingers traced her cheekbone, floating lightly over the flawless skin and she felt goose bumps rise on her arms. The hand traversed her face and down her neck, his thumb swiping lightly over her pulse point. It came to rest on the back of her neck and gently kneaded the knot that formed there.
Her breath tumbled helpless over her lips in pants. She wanted to pull away, to put as much distance between them as possible. But her limbs wouldn't comply with the frantic suggestion of her brain, remaining rooted to the spot.
"I never stopped loving you." He informed her softly, his voice and eyes hypnotic. "But I knew that if I stayed, I'd only hurt you. So I walked away, to save us both."
He'd always been good with words. Being a poet gave him an unfair advantage, one he always capitalized on. So he never failed to say the right thing and make you feel like you were the most important person in the world. But when it came to backing up the sentiment behind those perfect words, he fell far short.
Boys like you, never change
You made me feel I wasn't enough, wasn't enough
She steeled herself and found her voice, "Practiced that a lot, haven't you?"
"It's the truth."
"No, it's not." she shook her head slightly, feeling his palm brush her skin from the action. "You've always been able to turn a phrase. To tell people what you think they want to hear. Romanticize away the pain you cause with those poetic, deep contrite expressions."
"But then you go and do something that proves just how hollow the words and sentiment behind them are."
For your love
But it was insecurity that made you run
It wasn't me
He licked his lips, opened his mouth to speak but then closed it and weakly shook his head.
His grasp on her loosened and she slipped out of it, gulping in air like she was starving. She pinched the bridge of her nose and continued. "You never grew up. Never wanted to deal with things when they got complicated. It's easier for you to run."
She continued, wanting to deliver her point before he found his voice and poetically denied the truth. "And for the longest time, I blamed myself. Wondered why I wasn't enough for you, why I couldn't make you see that if we tried, we could have conquered your demons together."
So, don't you sit there trying to give me more excuses
I don't have time for this
"But eventually I came to realize that the only one who deserved the blame was you. And the only one who could fix the mess you made was also you." She laid it out for him simply.
"I know that you tried. Matt told me everything. TNA was a clean slate and started off promisingly but then I heard how it all went downhill again. Why?"
I'm off to play in Houston
And I'm too busy with a million things I'm doing
You can't make up for what you've done
You still try to be the one
"Because my heart wasn't in it." He answered quietly, his eyes devouring the uninteresting white tiled floor as if it was the most fascinating thing he ever saw.
"Is your heart in this comeback? Or is this just going to be brief chapter in your life story?"
Love me, love me, feed the flame
If you want me back again
Burn to the sky
Higher and higher
"It is." The ring of confidence and conviction rang clearly in his voice.
"Then I hope you succeed."
Baby, can you play with fire?
He forced himself to look at her and in those dazzling emerald depths, she saw the blatant determination and desire. "I'm going to succeed in the ring. Of that I have no doubt. But there's something I need to know and only you can tell me."
"I'm over you." While it wasn't entirely true, she was working on making it a reality. Her relationship with Carlito was a promising step in that direction. "I'm with someone."
Oh, by the way, by the way
I found someone
Who gives me space,
Keeps me safe,
Makes me sane,
Found someone to take your place
"Carlito." He nodded but the gaze he had trained on her was searching. "I heard how things went from onscreen to off screen. Just answer me one thing?"
She drew in a shaky breath, a bad feeling that she knew what he was about to ask blossoming in the pit of her stomach. But she refused to cower from his inquiry, to run from the conversation that they needed to have. "What is it?"
"Do you love him?"
Now I'm safe
In his arms
And I decide that only he can play with fire
"No," she ventured cautiously and saw the light bloom in those green eyes and knew that she had to extinguish it quickly, before it consumed them both. "But given time and effort, I probably could."
He gave her a lopsided smile, one that still made her heart melt and his touch became surer, stronger. "Probably could huh? That doesn't sound real convincing. To me or to yourself."
Love me, love me, feed the flame
If you want me back again
"Love takes time." She answered lamely, fighting the desire to just give in and admit that he still possessed her heart and might always.
"Love can't be controlled or forced. It's an explosion that consumes every fiber of your being. One that makes you feel as if you're burning from the inside out." His words were low, measured and sensual.
Burn to the sky
Higher and higher
She was burning. Not with the anger that had consumed her earlier but with the passion she still felt toward this man. But to give into the pull she felt would only result in the same pain that had dominated her life for the past three years.
"You feel it Trish." Jeff's face was inclining toward hers, slanting so he could capture her lips once more. But he didn't. His lips just hovered above hers, so tantalizingly close that she could feel the warmth of his breath fanning against the lush fullness. "Tell me that you don't."
Baby, can you play with fire?
I can't believe it's really you
Love me, love me
I hear you're doing really well
If you want me
She couldn't deny that she felt it. And she could no longer resist it. Her arms bound around his neck as her lips closed the slight distance between them.
Finally every tear has dried
Love me, love me
Boys like you, boys like you
Play with fire