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Summary: Jeff Hardy has got a lot more then wrestling on his mind lately, and it all centers around a certain WWE Diva. Will he admit his true feelings in time or will he lose his chance forever.
Distribution: The places that have the rights to this fiction as of its inception are The WWE Fan Fiction Library Open/Selected Archives, Fan Fiction Dot Net, and my own personal site, whenever I get my butt in gear and update it. If you would like to host this fiction or any of my work, please email me with a request.
Authors Notes: I wouldn't normally leave an authors note for this chapter, but I figured that since I deleted the reviews from my email without responding last night, and I wanted to agree with one of my favorite reviewers, I might as well do it here. So Skittles, I totally think the rational part of our brains needs to take a vacation. I think that with a lot of relationships that happen in real time, people don't say or do the things they want too because that part of the brain tells them not too. As with what was happening with Ashley. The rational part should tell her to screw off, but the proper part, the part where you need to take a chance, that one wont let her, hopefully. LOL. Thank you all for the reviews thus far, its awesome to see :)
It had been weeks since she had been here, but the atmosphere hit her almost immediately. She was used to Smackdown, with the way everyone acted as if they were on the same page, but over here, she felt the animosity course through her veins. It seemed like everyone on this show was out for blood, and the match she was currently getting ready to watch in the back was no different.
Of course Matt had invited her over to the show after they had been been at the One Night Stand Pay Per View and she had accepted his invite. She knew they were long over but she loved spending time with him and his entire family and wouldn't miss a chance to do it. Considering she wouldn't be due to tape until the next night and town they were in.
But you are not here for Matt and you know it.
There went her brain again, as it had done non stop since the Smackdown taping the week before and Michelle's bombshell. She never heard either way if anything had happened with the two of them but she was sure to find out tomorrow night. Michelle wasn't known to keep anything quiet for long.
She really had no say in what Jeff did and knew that if Michelle was really the girl he wanted then she would be happy for him. Her heart might not take it well, but she would have no other choice but suck it up and accept it.
You wouldn't have to accept anything if you just came out and told the boy you like him.
She also knew this to be true. She knew deep down that she was acting like a school girl and not the woman in her 20's that she was now. She knew that a successful woman such as herself should have no issues going up to the man she liked and telling him just what she thought of him and what they might be together. But Ashley wasn't like most girls and the thought of putting her heart on the line scared the crap out of her.
What happened if all he did was smile politely and walk away in the other direction? She knew the answer to that before she even got the thought out of her mind. Jeff was not the type of guy to just casually throw someones feelings aside as if they didn't happen. She just couldn't completely convince herself that he wouldn't do something equally heart breaking in the process.
She heard the conversation going on around her, all the women were standing around and waiting for the tag match that was about to take place. It was common practice on both shows that when the Hardy's were in a match, then everyone had to sit and watch. They might miss the shot of the night if they didn't. It was the tail end of the conversation that she caught that made her head spin.
"So apparently Jeff hurt his back last night and now according to script they are going to go out there and strip them of the titles. That to me is totally messed up! I mean who hold those belts better then the Hardy's?"
Ashley agreed with the tail end of the statement because it was true. All of the other tag teams they had tried to make carry the belts on Raw just didn't live up to what the Hardy's could do. And why were they losing their belts on Raw and not at the next pay per view? Where Vince could get people to pay to see it. She didn't like this one bit. It had screw job written all over it.
She interrupted the girls, wanting to know as much as she possibly could before going to find Jeff. She was sure he was aware of the script but she only hoped he didn't do anything serious out there tonight to really injure himself.
"Jeff is injured?" she inquired delicately, trying not to let on that she cared in the slightest.
"Yeah, and pretty bad too from what I've heard around the back. He messed up his back during the ladder match and then there was something wrong with his knee."
She soaked up the words Maria was telling her, all the while thinking that if Jeff wasn't careful he could do some serious damage to himself. She nodded her thanks to the girls for the information and went off in search of the locker room and the Hardy brothers.
"So man isn't it cool that Ashley came tonight? I didn't think she would, you know with the way things ended. I'm glad we can still hang like this."
Jeff wanted to tell his brother to shut up about Ashley and get his head in the game, but he thought better of it. If he did that then Matt would surely think something was wrong and the whole sordid thing might come out.
He also knew that what Shane had told him the week before was valid. If Matt found out that Jeff in any way wanted to have something with Ashley, he would have his head on a platter faster then you can WWE. But he couldn't help it, hearing about her made his mind go places he wished it just wouldn't go.
"Yeah its cool bro, but what are you expecting from this?"
He hated asking it this way, pretending he cared that Matt might be interested in his ex girlfriend again but he just had to know. There might be a time where he could possibly date her, or at least get up the nerve to tell her about his feelings, his cravings to be more exact and he had to know where Matt stood before that might happen.
"Nothing man, that part of our lives is past for the both of us. I just like having her around, she makes me feel good about myself. Something that hasn't exactly been easy since Amy and Adam did what they did."
Jeff heard that. He knew his brother had gone through hell with the team extreme diva a few years back and also knew that he hated being reminded of it. He was just happy that someone had helped him move on the way that he had. His brother had come a long way from the angry man he once was.
Before Jeff could comment further, Ashley burst through the door, her face red like she had been running and hadn't stopped to catch her breath. Jeff also noticed the beads of sweat dangling on her forehead and wanted nothing more then to wipe them off of her.
He shook his head and then threw his brother a look. Was it possible Ashley was here to see Matt about what they had just been talking about? Was he now going to be privy to a relationship renewal? Just the thought of it made his stomach turn in knots.
"Please tell me you are not going to go out there tonight, either one of you and make idiots of yourselves flying off ladders and the like. I do not think my heart could take it."
Jeff laughed, not being able to contain himself. He had been worried for nothing and the laugh was more of his way of letting off the steam of the previous thoughts. When he saw her reaction to the laugh he instantly felt horrible. She thought he was laughing at her concern. Not a good thing to do to a woman.
"It's not funny alright Jeff? I just found out your injured more then you are willing to admit and I know you, you tend to go too far sometimes thinking your a super hero." She then turned and faced Matt, ready to unload on him as well. "And you, you do not do a thing to stop him from killing himself, you just go ahead and add to it and make it worse."
Matt walked closer to Ashley, putting his arm on her shoulder to try and calm her down. "Nothing is going to happen out there tonight other then us getting our asses handed to us and losing the titles. Nothing we don't know about anyway. So you don't have to worry. Jeff is fine, I am fine, We can do this."
Ashley stared at the two brothers, obviously deciding if they were lying to her or if they finally knew that they couldn't do so much tonight and were actually going to take care of themselves. She wanted to stop worrying but something in her just kept screaming that Jeff would do something and kill himself.
Matt motioned to his brother then and then turned back to Ashley. "We have to go, our match is next. Please don't worry about us, we'll be fine."
She watched him leave and then Jeff started to follow suit. But thinking about it he stopped and turned around quickly to face the woman who was now walking behind him. When he saw the look in her eye he felt his heart melt. She wasn't so much worried about what would happen in the ring as she was about him in general and it was nice to finally have someone care that much to come and tell him to be careful. He had never had that before with any woman and he found that it made him love her more.
"Please Jeff, for me, don't do anything stupid tonight, just wrestle and come back here in one piece."
He nodded and then reached in and kissed her on her sweaty forehead. When he pulled away, he crookedly smiled at her and walked from the room. Without so much as a word about staying safe in the ring.
As he walked out of the room, Ashley still standing in place she touched her forehead. The place where he had kissed her was warm to the touch and as she walked from the locker room she realized she was more of a school girl then ever now because she didn't ever want to wash that feeling off of her face.