PROMISED A HEAP LOAD OF UPDATES AND THEY ARE STILL COMING. Hope you like. Is a pretty slow chap, but does give a little more detail into what's going on. And yay, Canadian Boys all the way. Aside from Punk and Steamboat- oh and that piss poor degrading "Diva" match, every I hoped would win did. Christian is the new ECW Champ! And that backstage scene with Edge was great. Haha I'm rambling. REVIEW PLEASE PEEPS.

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CHAPTER SEVEN

Tatum sat at the table next to Jeff and across from Beth and Shannon, who didn't seem all too happy about the arrangement either but considering that she got there late, and both people had been sitting there since Jesse and Matt had started cooking dinner. As she played with her food, her mind went back over the events from earlier. She was still confused why Jeff had kissed her, but she'd liked it. A lot.

Her mind wandered up until she felt a hand on her knee which jolted her back to reality. She didn't jumped but her heartbeat did kick up a thousand beats as the hand ran up her leg slowly, gripping her thigh lightly before resting there. No one was able to see and that was because they were sitting in close to the able, not to mention no one was looking at them. They were too occupied with Shannon recounting a tour he did overseas recently.

"You are adorable," Jeff mumbled. "When you blush." She went to smile but his grip on her leg tightened which made her swallow the lump in her throat.

"So Jeff did you check who won out of the Blackhawks and All Stars?" Matt asked, finally looking over at his brother.

Jeff's hand abruptly left her leg. "Yeah. The All Stars did." He glanced at Tatum and grinned. "Blackhawks crashed and burned."

"No. They didn't crash and burn. The All Stars got away with a lot," Tatum said, challenging the younger Hardy's words.
"Bull! Blackhawks never got one bench for that fight, which they started!"

Matt grinned while watching his brother and their young aid argue with each other somehow switching from Hockey to Baseball.

"Alright. Enough, the pair of you," he ordered. Tatum slapped his arm lightly and he nudged her while they both smiled widely at each other, clearly only joking. Beth glared at Jeff when he looked up at her. His smile fell and he turned his attention to Shannon. Tatum saw the glare on Beth's face and suddenly felt guilty about what she had done earlier.

- - -

After showering, Tatum crawled into bed. The others were downstairs and the young woman, while tempted to join them she didn't want to face a still glaring Beth. A knock on the door made her sit up as it opened. And there he stood. Jeff smiled a little as he left the open slightly, Tatum drew her knees up to her chest.

"Hey there, Tatum," he said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "Look about this afternoon. I- We- Can we keep it between us?"

"Who could I tell anyway?" she replied. Jeff smiled at her and leaned forward once checking to see if anyone was coming up the stairs. Tatum blushed and ducked her head, giggling a little as Jeff kissed her cheek and nuzzled his cheek against hers, which she shied away from a little.

"Night Kitten," he whispered to her.

"Night Tiger."

- - -

Shannon looked up as Jeff came back downstairs dressed in boxers. "What took you so long?" he inquired. Jeff shrugged.

"I couldn't find my Scooby-Doo pair," he answered, pointing to the boxers he was wearing. They read 'I'm a doctor, trust me' across them. Shaking his head Shannon watched as his friend stretched out before diving down onto the mattress he'd dragged out for one of them to lay on. Beth lay on the lounge, fast asleep. Matt was curled up on the other lounge, asleep and snoring lightly while Jesse was buried into his side. They were the only two awake and Shannon looked at his friend as he scratched his chest absently and yawned.

"Alright, what is up with you?" Shan blurted out suddenly.

"Your Scooby-Doo boxers are at your house, which means you are covering something up."

"I ain't covering anything up," Jeff retorted, resting up on his elbows to glare at the man across the room from him. The pair of them glared one another down before Jeff finally gave up and sighed heavily. "Alright. Promise you won't say a word?"

Shannon gave him a look that said Are you really asking me that?. Jeff climbed up and made Shan follow him into the kitchen.

"Spill it."

"I kissed Tatum-" Jeff mumbled in one breath, barely audible even though Shan heard him plain as day, "but you can't tell anyone."

Shannon looked at him. "Are you serious?!" he asked simply, folding his arms over his chest.

Jeff rubbed the back of his neck, while nodding. "Yes. Yes, I am."

"Why?" he asked, holding his hands out in a gesture as if to emphasize his question. The other man shrugged, not knowing what he else he could say. Shannon bit his lip and shook his head. "This is messed up. Well- What did she do?"

"Kissed me back. And, I wanna kiss her again," he admitted.
Shannon sighed heavily. "I ain't going to say anything, but- don't make this into anything more than it already is alright? You don't need this. You're getting marri-"

"Things can change at the drop of a pin, Shan," Jeff retorted defensively and the other man grimaced.

"Isn't the saying 'things can change at the drop of a hat'?" Shan questioned. Jeff looked at him with pure annoyance written across his face.

The young woman who they were talking about in question appeared at the doorway, half asleep and both men turned their attention to her before looking back to each other. She giggled suddenly, seeing them watching her and not understanding why they were doing so. "What?"

Jeff smiled at her. "Nothing."

Shannon grinned to her and patted her arm as he left the kitchen to go finish watching the movie that was playing. Tatum looked at Jeff who was watching her as she walked over to the kettle. "Wha-"

As if she could read his mind, Tatum spoke. "I was cold. So I decided on a hot drink to warm me up." Her back was to him and Jeff grinned, silently stepping up behind her and sliding his arm around her tiny waist. "Wha-"

Jeff nuzzled his head into her hair slightly. "Warming you up." She managed to get out of his grip, wondering why he was suddenly so cuddly. When he made to grab her, she pulled away and leaned up to find a mug. She however wasn't tall enough and Jeff leaned up over her, his entire body against hers as he stood behind her and grabbed two mugs.
"Thanks." He nodded and headed outside to smoke. Collapsing down onto the swing chair that was now on the back porch. After a few minutes, Tatum walked out and handed him a mug before curling up on the swing chair beside him beneath the rug that was out there, burying her toes beneath his leg to keep them warm.

"So- when are we gonna hit the batting cage?" he asked after finishing his smoke.

She shrugged. "Whenever you feel like it. Or have time."
"Tomorrow? When is your next game?"

"On Saturday. You won't be there because you're going to that Pay-Per-View, but- we have one the weekend after that," she answered, staring down into her drink.

"Tomorrow it is and then I'll come watch you next weekend," he told her. She looked up at him and smiled, saying a silent thank you to him. He leaned forward and without a word, pressed his lips to hers softly. It had him hot at the thought of everyone else inside even though they were all asleep. Tatum pulled away from him after a few minutes, going back to sipping on her drink. He bit his lower lip and leaned his head back, looking up at the ceiling of the porch. Feeling Tatum stand up, he grabbed her wrist. Standing up, Jeff saw her look down at where his hand had hold of hers and then up to his face.

"Jeff," she whispered and he turned slightly and leaned down, kissing her again, his hand coming up to caress her cheek. He felt her shiver and grabbed the mug that nearly dropped as her hand loosened on the handle of it.

"Good night, for real this Kitten," he murmured and watched her walk inside, a little more than flustered. Smiling, Jeff realised that in those few simple minutes, he had gone against what Shannon had said. He hadn't left it at just those kisses this afternoon. No, now he had gone and kissed her again and while he didn't regret it, he certainly knew that this was going to be a problem. It was like he was addicted to something that he'd only just tasted and already wanted more of it.

Groaning as he headed inside and rinsed out the mugs, he saw the hard look Shannon gave him and scowled in return which in turn made him chuckle. Jeff shook his head, muttered that he was gonna crash in the guest room on the spare mattress that was in there and he could have this one.

- - -

Morning found Jeff not where he had said he would be, well it did but at the same time, Jeff had been secretly hoping that Tatum would roll down of the side of the bed and curl up with him. It was cold on the mattress and hadn't been able to find any of the blankets that were normal under the bed. Sighing, he sat up, shivering as his barely covered torso was racked as the cold air reached him. Looking at Tatum, he found her curled up into a ball close to his side of the bed. Getting up onto his knees he eased Tatum away from the side of the bed and lifted the covers not seeing her wake-up.

"Hello," she said groggily as he dived beneath the four thick blankets, shaking a little.

His teeth chattered and he buried himself into her side, trying to get warm, only to have her squeal and pull away from him. "What? I'm not diseased."

"You're freezing," she told him.

He looked at her pointedly. "No shit Sherlock," he remarked, "Now, come back here and help me warm up." Grabbing her by the waist, he easily tugged her back to his side and buried his head into her neck.

"What if someone comes in?" she asked, a slight blush coming onto her cheeks.

Jeff shrugged. "I'm just sleeping in a warm bed. With a very pretty girl." Her blush deepened and he grinned, kissing her red cheek. "Like I said yesterday. You're adorable when you blush."

"What time is it?" she asked, clearly trying to pull away from the subject. Jeff rolled over and looked at the clock and then rolled back to her.

"Nine o'clock."

"We have to go!" Jeff watched her jump up and try to find her jeans.

"Urgh! Can't I just stay in bed?" he complained, pulling the covers up over his head. A second later, Tatum was on top of him and tugging the blankets away from his head.

"Because you promised we'd go to the batting cage and we have to have breakfast first. Plus, I have somewhere I want to take you."

"What like on a date?" he asked watching her blush again and shake her head.

"No. Its some place I just want to show you." Jeff grinned and finally agreed to get up. "My dad use to take me there."