Mark's POV

Shannon was the one who called me and told me about what happened to Jeff. He knew Jeff and I were close and obviously Matt was too damn distraught to do it himself. I immediately dragged Glenn, James, Connor and Cooper out to the nearest flight to Raleigh, which was where Jeff was at the moment. I knew that this was going to be bad, even if Jeff lived. I knew exactly what Matt was going to do. He would stay by Jeff's side while silently blaming himself for this entire situation. Then once Jeff had recovered from the physical injury he had received, the idiot would break off the relationship and shatter Jeff's heart into a million pieces. He would do it because he would think it would keep Jeff safer and I knew that no matter what I said, there would be nothing I could do to stop him. The idiot was one of the most stubborn people I had ever met in my life.

James tapped me on my shoulder, interrupting my unpleasant thoughts. "You and Glenn are going to be the ones going straight to the hospital," he informed me. "The boys and I have something that we need to do."

I stared at him intently. "You're going to see if you can find the guys who did this, aren't you?" I knew that it was pointless to ask that because I already knew the answer.

"You know it has to be done Marky," he said quietly. "I don't care who these assholes are; they are going to pay for what they did."

I nodded. I whole heartedly agreed with that statement. "Just don't get your stupid ass caught," I warned him. "If I have to come bail you out of trouble, I'll fucking kick your ass to China."

He grinned. "Come on Marky, I'm the expert at this kind of stuff. Do you really think I'll get caught?"

No, I honestly didn't. If anyone was going to find a way to get those thugs out of jail and on to the pointy end of his knife, it would be James. I patted him on the leg and grinned back at him. "Don't worry Lawson, I trust that you'll make me proud. You getting some retribution for Matt and Jeff isn't really my biggest worry at the moment."

James gave me a knowing look. "You think Matt's going to be stupid and break it off with Jeff."

I nodded. "I'll try to talk him out of it, but Matt can be a real dumbass sometimes. If he thinks leaving Jeff is going to be the best way to keep him safe, then that's what he's going to do."

"Oh Jesus, I hate it when people try to be selfless like that," James muttered. He looked positively annoyed now. "Does the idiot even realize he's going to hurt Jeff more in the process by doing that?"

"Probably not," I replied honestly. "Neither of those boys are great at looking at the bigger picture. That's why I want to try to talk some sense into Matt before he does the stupidest thing he can possibly do."

"You're going to fail," Connor spoke up. He was sitting in the seats behind us, but he leaned forward so he could join the conversation. "Everything is falling apart. London bridge is falling down, falling down…"

I frowned and looked at James. "What the fuck is wrong with your boy?"

James shook his head. "I don't know. I'm starting to think he's psychic or something. He told me the other night something bad was going to happen to Matt and Jeff and now this happened."

Well that was just plain fucking creepy. I looked away from Connor and fiddled with the zipper of my jacket. I doubted very much that Connor was actually psychic. He probably just had a bad feeling and he was taking that as a stone cold fact. Still, with everything that had happened, and knowing Matt's nature, I couldn't help but agree with Connor's prediction. London bridge was definitely falling down--only this time, London bridge was Matt and Jeff's relationship. Hopefully it won't be like Humpty Dumpty and we'll be able to put it back together. Wait, why am I thinking in nursery rhymes? Jesus, I'm the Undertaker for God's sakes! What the hell is wrong with me? That's it, I can't hang around with Connor anymore. He's destroying my badass persona by warping my brain.

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Jeff's POV

As I started to come to, I felt like something was shoved down my throat. It hurt like hell and without even opening my eyes, I grabbed on to it and started pulling at it. I could also feel something in my nose and arms, but I would get them later. Right now, the thing I was pulling out of my mouth was the bigger problem.

"Jeff stop!" a voice said just as I got it out. Someone grabbed my arm and tried to get it back in. "Jeff wait a second."

"No!" I yelled hoarsely. My eyes felt heavy and I wasn't sure if I could even get them open. "Get it away! I don't want it!"

"Jeff calm down baby. It's just a breathing tube. It's not going to hurt you."

Breathing tube? It took me a minute to remember that I had gotten stabbed. Hospital. That's where I had to be. I finally opened my eyes and saw Matt, Shannon and Shane standing around me. "No breathing tube," I begged. "I'm breathing just fine on my own Matty."

Matt stared at me for a moment, the relief that I was alright mixed in with his worry and anger that I had just gone ahead and ripped out something I wasn't supposed to. Sighing finally, he tossed the tube down and hugged me tightly. His eyes were red and puffy, and he had obviously been crying earlier. "Don't you ever do that again!" he growled at me. "Do you understand me?"

I nodded as I hugged him back just as tightly. "Okay Matty," I said quietly. Like I was going to say no to that. It wasn't like I had even wanted to get stabbed in the first place. "Where's Daddy?"

"Vending machine," Matt told me. "He said we're not going to do you any good by collapsing in hunger."

"It's mostly Matt he was worried about," Shane said. "The idiot has refused to eat ever since we got here."

I wondered briefly how long I had been in the damn hospital when something else drove it out of my mind. As Matt released me from the hug and sat back down in the chair right by my bed, something felt very wrong with the situation. Even as he was holding my hand, I could sense that the wheels were turning in Matt's head. He was planning something and I knew right then and there that I wasn't going to like it. "Matty?" I said hesitantly.

"Yeah?" he said quietly.

"You still love me, right?"

He nodded. "Of course I do. I'll always love you."

"Kiss me?" I requested, still not reassured at all."

He did just that, but instead of making me feel better, I just felt worse. A certain piece of knowledge was forming in my mind, and no matter how much I wanted to go away, it wouldn't. Actually, it probably couldn't if it wanted to. What I was starting to realize was almost surely inevitable, and that made it impossible to ignore.

We broke the kiss just as Mark and Glenn walked in. I saw the way Mark looked at us and I knew that he knew the same thing that I did. We both knew that it wasn't going to happen today or tomorrow, but it was going to happen sometime down the road.

Matt was going to leave me to protect me…and then I was really going to die.