Disclaimer: I don't own.
A/N: Sorry for the delay! I've been swamped with work, plus I wasn't quite sure where I wanted to go with this chapter. But its spring break now so hopefully I'll be able to get another chapter up quicker! Also, I find it highly ironic that I wrote most of this on April 5th, considering what one of the Wrestlemania matches is going to be…
"Don't worry. No one's going to do anything."
Jeff nodded but didn't get out of the car. He stayed where he was, hands gripping the wheel tight, eyes fixed on the arena in front of him. Matt might think that everyone would be thrilled that the two of them were on good terms again, but Jeff knew better. Most of them would be mistrustful, at best. They'd assume that he only pretended to forgive his brother so that he could hurt him even more deeply later.
"C'mon, Jeff, it doesn't matter what they think," Matt pleaded. He knew his brother was expecting the entire locker room to shun him, but it wasn't like Jeff to let that hold him back. He had changed during the last few weeks and Matt had been too distracted by Jeff's fake-anger towards him to notice.
Matt could say that, but the truth was, it did matter. Jeff didn't want to have to spend the rest of his career dreading his arrival at the arena out of fear of how his coworkers would treat him that day. "It does matter," he said quietly. "You wouldn't know what its like to walk into the arena knowing that you're just going to be shunned and hated by everyone."
"That may be true, but did you ever stop to think about those fans that were cheering for you? Or those coworkers who supported you? Don't forget that I was the one who was framed here. How do you think they felt about me?"
Oh crap. "Matt, I'm-"
Matt cut him off. "It doesn't matter."
The car was silent. It does matter, Matt, Jeff thinks, stealing a glance over at his brother. Matt was looking at the arena, but it was easy to see that his thoughts were elsewhere. What did you go through during the past four months that I don't know about? Who on the roster gave you a hard time? How bad were your problems with the fans? And why won't you tell me any of this? We don't need anymore secrets between us…But Jeff didn't say any of that aloud. He was still afraid of accidentally pushing his brother too far and, once again, losing him. He wasn't going to risk that now.
"We really do need to go in." Matt's voice interrupted his thoughts. Jeff nodded and, after only a split second of hesitation, got of the car.
When they walked into the arena they were met with silence as all conversations temporarily paused. Their coworkers stared at them as they passed, some looking happy others mistrustful. Very few of them looks outwardly angry, for which both Matt and Jeff were very thankful.
"Matt! Jeff!" The sudden shout caused both Hardys to start as they turned to see Shawn walking towards them. "Glad to see you two on speaking terms again," he said. "I just wanted to remind you that you should probably get to Vince as soon as humanly possible. You know he's going to want to talk to you before the show."
Matt knew that, though they did need to talk to Vince, Shawn was intentionally providing them an excuse to get away from their coworkers, at least for a little while. "Thanks for reminding us, Shawn," he said. "We'll go see him now."
The conversations started up again as Matt and Jeff walked away, a dull murmur of voices in the background, though it wasn't hard to guess what- or rather, who- they were talking about. They were lucky and didn't run into anyone on their way to Vince's office. Matt knocked on the door and, after receiving permission to enter, opened it and walked in.
"Oh. You two." Jeff winced. It certainly wasn't the best reception they'd ever gotten from their boss, but it could've been worse. "Well, sit down. I have to say, I am surprised that I didn't have to send someone to look for you for once."
"We figured we should probably see you right away, sir," Matt said.
Vince nodded. "I'm assuming that you two have reconciled?" Matt and Jeff nodded. "What are your plans now? Creative won't go anywhere near this mess so I need to know what you're going to do. You need to talk to the fans tonight, but what about in the long run? Are you going to go back to your hunt?"
"Yes."
"No."
"Well which is it?" Vince snapped. "I don't have all night, you know!"
"Matt, you know I don't want you to waste your career for my sake anymore," Jeff said softly.
"And I told you, I don't care if you feel that way. You're my brother and I'd do anything for you," Matt responded.
Vince sighed. "Look, just as long as you know what you're going to tell the fans tonight you're free to go. Just let me know by next week what I'm supposed to tell Creative about your immediate future storylines."
Matt and Jeff nodded, stood up, and left his office. They were silent, neither of them quite wanting to start an argument when things were still delicate between them, but they both knew that they needed to decide what they were going to do.
"Hey, guys," Maria said as she walked over to them, a huge smile on her face. "I'm so happy that you two are talking again! Listen, I just wanted to let you know that you're going to be going out after the first match, so make sure you're ready!"
"Thanks, Maria," Matt said.
"No problem! Like I said, I'm just glad that you two aren't fighting anymore!" She grinned at the two Hardys before walking away.
Jeff chuckled. "Glad to see at least one person is happy that we're not fighting."
Before Matt could respond, a voice behind them said, "Jeff, can I talk to you for a moment?"
Jeff frowned and turned around, sure that he was hearing things. To his surprise, he wasn't. Standing just a short ways behind them was Hunter. "I'll be here if you need anything," Matt said quietly. Jeff nodded. Neither of them had forgotten the match the week before, or what had led up to it.
Jeff walked back to where Hunter was standing. "What do you want?"
Hunter sighed. "I… I wanted to apologize for how I acted last week. I don't know why you did what you did, but it was easy to tell that you hated having to fight him and it's obvious that you care about him enough to have a good reason for doing what you did."
Jeff stared at him. It wasn't like Hunter to apologize for things like that. "Thanks," he said. "It means a lot that you're willing to apologize for last week."
Hunter nodded. "How's your back doing?" he asked. "I wasn't exactly going easy on you last week and you took some bad falls during your match last night…"
So that's why he apologized. He'd feel like shit if he screwed up my back and cost me my career. Jeff glanced back at Matt. "It hurts like hell," he said quietly. "I haven't had a chance to get it checked out, but I doubt it's anything more than the usual strain of a couple of rough matches. I should be feeling better in no time."
"Just take it easy. You know that it's not a good idea to try to work through back injuries. Maybe ask Vince if you can work some tag matches with Matt for awhile, just until it gets better."
Jeff nodded. "Yeah, I might do that. Thanks."
"Sorry to interrupt, but we're going to be going out soon, Jeff," Matt said as he came over to where his brother and Hunter were standing.
"Alright," Jeff said. "Nice talking to you, Hunter."
"Yeah. And remember what I told you," Hunter said. He nodded to Matt before turning around and walking away.
"What did he want?" Matt asked as him and Jeff began walking in the opposite direction.
"Just to apologize for what happened last week," Jeff said.
"Seriously? That's not like him at all…" Matt could sense that there was something Jeff wasn't telling him, but he didn't want to pry. "Anyway, what are we going to say when we go out there? Or are we just going to wing it?"
Jeff shrugged. "I need to give some explanation as to what I did and we should reassure them that we're on speaking terms again."
"What about a vague idea for what we'll be doing in the future?" Matt asked. "Something to just let them know that we aren't continuing the investigation now, but it's a possibility for the future."
Jeff frowned, but knew that it would be hopeless to try to convince his brother to drop is completely right now. "Alright," he said. "And, if you don't mind, I was thinking about tagging for a little while. Just so the fans know for sure that we're working together." He hated to hold his brother back even more, but the fans would need concrete proof that they had reconciled- the fact that his back would get a slight break was just a bonus. At least, that's what he told himself.
Matt nodded. "I was actually thinking about that myself," he said. "Besides, you know that Vince would probably just force us into tag matches anyway."
"You two are up now," one of the backstage employees told them. "Whose music are we playing?"
"Jeff's," Matt said. Jeff looked at him quizzically at the employee relayed the message to the production truck. "What? We always play your music when we go out together."
Jeff couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his face at those words. His music echoed throughout the arena. "Well, come on then, let's get this show on the road!"
The two of them ran out into the arena and the fans went wild at the sight of both of them together again. They made their way down to the ring and did their usual poses. Jeff grabbed two mics and passed one to his brother before pausing for a moment to listen to the crowd. It was amazing how those who had been booing them the night before were now back to their usual excitement at seeing the two Hardys together again.
"I suppose I owe you an explanation for what's been going on the past few weeks," Jeff finally said. "The fact is, at first I did think that Matt was the one who hurt me and I was angry at him. Then, I began to doubt the validity of the video, but I realized that if I told Matt that he would only want to resume the investigation and I didn't want my brother to put his career on hold for my sake anymore. So I began to purposefully push him away. I wasn't thinking straight and I thought that that would protect his career. But I couldn't do it."
He paused and motioned to the TitanTron, where the end of the match the night before was playing.
"Jeff explained all of this to me and, while I don't agree with what he did, I understand why he did it," Matt said. "And I forgive him." He pulled Jeff into a quick hug as the fans cheered.
"We're going to be tagging again for awhile, and as of right now we're unsure as to whether we're going to continue the investigation, but right now that's not high on our list of things to do," Jeff finished. "Right now, we're just glad to be on the same side once more again and we're going to kick some ass as a tag team again!"
Jeff dropped his mic and rolled out of the ring, followed by Matt. The promo was short, but it got the point across without feeding the fans promises they couldn't keep.
Since neither of them were going to be needed later on in the show, they decided to head back to the hotel early.
"What's that?" Jeff asked as they made their way over to their car. Stuck underneath one of the windshield wipers was a white envelope.
Matt frowned. "I have no idea." He grabbed it and cautiously opened it. There was a single piece of paper inside, with one sentence in an unfamiliar handwriting.
Don't think this is over.
