TEST TIME

The week leading up to Jeff's departure for Florida had been one of the slowest weeks of Trish's life.

Every time Jeff would open his mouth to ask her something, Trish was scared that he was going to ask her about her doctor's visit--that she was still managing to keep mum about--but lucky for her, Jeff had been so busy preparing for his trip out on the road that anything other than hello, I love you, and goodbye had been removed from his vocabulary--much to Trish's relief.

"All right, I guess this is everything." Jeff spoke up; causing Trish to look up from the parenting magazine she had been skimming through and laugh out-loud as Jeff tried with all his might to close the suitcase he had pretty much stuffed to the brim with clothes and random toiletries. "Man, I forgot how much stuff you needed out on the road. I don't think I'm going to be able to fit all of my stuff into this one bag."

"Well, maybe if you had folded all of your clothes correctly, you wouldn't be having this problem right now." Trish jokingly remarked back, before getting up, moving her boyfriend aside and quickly unpacking and then repacking the rather large bag he had bought; afterwards throwing Jeff a smug grin when after she had finished packing the suitcase, he was able to zip it up without so much as any effort. "See! Now, that wasn't so hard, was it?"

After rolling his eyes in mock annoyance, Jeff outwardly replied that he'd show her hard, before pulling the still giggling Trish into his arms and silencing her laughter with his inviting lips; an action which caused her to moan slightly in appreciation and Jeff's brother, who had just walked into the room, to groan with disgust.

"Oh come on, I was only gone for two seconds, not this again!"

Pulling back from Trish, Jeff threw Matt an annoyed glare while sarcastically replying, "Well maybe if you learned to leave our house for more than two seconds, you wouldn't have to see this again."

"Then where would the fun in that be?" Matt innocently asked, causing Trish to slightly laugh and Jeff to curse the other man's existence.

"All right boys, enough's enough. You keep yelling at each other and you're going to miss your flight and we definitely don't want that, now do we?"

Knowing the blonde was right caused both men to stop horsing around and state that if they really did not want to miss their flight, they should start leaving now.

"All right, Trish, I'll see you in a couple of weeks," Matt commented, before giving the woman he already considered his sister-n-law a brief hug goodbye and then exiting the room; leaving the two love-birds alone by themselves—much to Jeff's delight.

"You sure we don't have time for a quick one before I leave?"

After rolling her eyes in amusement and telling her horn-ball of a boyfriend that they definitely did not have time for a quick one before him and Matt left, Trish closed the distance between her and Jeff; enjoying the feel of being in Jeff's arms one last time before he left.

I can't believe this is the first time that we're going to be away from each other since getting back together. And that was more than eight months ago.

With that thought in mind, Trish outwardly told Jeff, while pulling out of his embrace, to call her as soon as his plane touched down, just so she could know he had made it to Fort Lauderdale safely.

"Don't worry, I will." Jeff replied back, before picking up his bag from the bed and bending over slightly to give Trish one last kiss goodbye, "I love you."

"I love you too, babe." Trish outwardly replied back, before absentmindedly watching on as Jeff turned away from her and made his way out their bedroom door, giving her a small wink in appreciation before he disappeared from her line of vision.

I can't believe he hasn't even left yet and i already miss him...this really will be the longest week of my life.

(The next day)

"All right, Miss. Stratus, we're about to begin. Now I don't know how much your doctor has told you about this procedure, but all we're going to do is stick this tiny needle into this syringe, place it through the area where the lump is located at, then take a small sample of the tissue surrounding it out to determine whether the lump is benign or cancerous. You may feel a slight pain or discomfort in that area for a couple of days afterwards, but by the time the pain has faded away, your results will have come back and then we can proceed onto whichever step we need to continue on with. Okay?"

Knowing at this point in time that it didn't really matter anymore if she was okay with this or not caused Trish to absentmindedly nod her head in acknowledgement before closing her eyes and praying to God that this would be over and done with quickly so she could hurry up and put her clothes back on and then get as far away from the hospital as she could possibly go.

The only thing I can't stand more than doctor's offices is hospitals and this is the third time in the last two weeks that I've been in one of them. I wonder if they can just give me my results over the phone or if I actually have to come back here—knowing my luck right now, I'll probably be right back here.

"Okay, I'm going to go ahead and slide the needle in now. You will feel a series of pricks in that area while I'm doing so, which will sting a little, so feel free to squeeze the nurse's hand to your right if need be."

Even though Trish assumed the pain she was about to feel couldn't be as bad as the natural childbirth she had gone through with Angela a few months ago, she still opted to take the hand of the woman beside her. An action which she found had been greatly necessary as the doctor began administering the needle into her left breast, causing Trish to almost scream at the intense pain she was feeling.

Oh my God…

After almost five minutes, and what felt like a million samples being taken from her breast, Dr. Gonzalez announced to Trish that she was done and could—with the nurse's assistance, of course—put her shirt back on.

"My secretary should be calling you in about a week to come in for the results of your biopsy test. Now, if there are no further questions, you can go as soon as you finish getting dressed, okay?"

After outwardly thanking the nurse for all her help, Trish told the patiently waiting doctor that she had no further questions, but then as an afterthought she inwardly added to her self:

Just show me the way out of this place...

(A half-n-hour later)

"I'm going to go read Angie a story and then put her down for her nap; do you want me to get you anything before I do so--maybe a hot cup of tea?"

While inwardly smiling to herself at the memory of her older sister Christie saying that their mother always tried to cure everything with a hot cup of tea, Trish outwardly told her mom that she was fine and was just going to go call Jeff before joining Angela for a quick nap, herself.

"Okay. I'll come in and check on you once she's asleep and then I might go ahead and start dinner so you don't have to cook anything tonight. Is that all right?"

After telling her mother that she didn't need her permission to do anything in her and Jeff's house, Trish waited until she heard her mom enter her grand-daughter's bedroom, before making herself as comfortable as possible on the living room couch and then afterwards dialing Jeff's cell phone number.

"Hey babe, I was just thinking about you, what's up?"

"Nothing," Trish began, while furrowing her eyebrows at all the background noise she heard through the phone, "I just remembered that you didn't have to be at the arena until six tonight, so I was just calling to check up on you. What's all that background noise? It sounds like you're at the mall."

After a small second's pause, which Trish figured Jeff had gone to find somewhere quieter to talk in, the youngest Hardy quickly replied, "That's 'cause I am. Amy got this bright idea that she wanted to check out Sawgrass Mills mall—which is supposed to be one of the hugest malls in South Florida, so she says—and since she couldn't get Matt to budge, her next option was me. And you know how I'm a sucker for a woman's pout."

Knowing just how much that statement was true and how she always used to love using it on Jeff when they first started dating so she could get her way, caused Trish to slightly laugh. But then afterwards, she had to hold back a wince as the pain from earlier came back full throttle.

I'll have to remind myself to pick up some pain killers while I'm at the drug store later on.

"So, how's everything over there? Your mom getting on your nerves yet?"

Even though she wanted to tell Jeff that it was just the opposite and her mom was actually being a god send right now, knowing she couldn't really do that without exposing too much, caused Trish to outwardly reply, "Not yet. I'm sure soon though. How's everything there though? Tonight's your first match right?"

"Yeah, it's against Adam, but I think this is probably going to be his last house match for a while. Theirs been some murmurings going around that he's about to get a big push and might just be on the televised shows from now on. Lucky him!"

Knowing that Jeff would give anything to be able to be back on television wrestling again caused Trish to tell her boyfriend that she was sure that he'd be getting his big break soon and that she couldn't wait to video tape every match he was in so when Angela got a little bit older she'd be able to look back at all the matches she had missed out on.

"At the rate I'm going, there might not be that much for her to look back on."

Even though she knew that was meant to be a joke, Trish didn't find it to be a very funny one; a fact which Jeff seemed to pick up on.

"I'm sorry. I know it's going to take some time for me to get back to the level that I once was before. I just get frustrated and impatient sometimes when I think of how long it might take me. I don't mean to bring you down with me though."

Without even bothering to think about it, Trish outwardly replied, "You're not bringing me down, babe, I just don't like to hear you talk like that 'cause we both know that this is just a small stepping stone for you and soon you'll be back on the air before you even know it--and then, I'm going to have to get back in shape so I can compete with all those young girls out there vying for your attention. Damn, now I'm starting to bring myself down."

After slightly chuckling at his girlfriends' words and then telling Trish, when it came to him, she'd never have any reason to compete with anyone else, Jeff continued with, "Uh-oh, it looks like Amy's giving me the evil eye. I guess that means I have to get off the phone and follow her into another store. You guys going to be home in an hour or so? I'll call you when I get back to the hotel."

"That's fine," Trish reluctantly replied, having not wanted her conversation with Jeff to have to end so shortly, "Just call me when you get a chance. I love you."

"I love you too, bye beautiful."

"Bye Jeff."

Next part soon