Muncie, Indiana

One Night Only – this Saturday

1 hour before Raw

Seth and Leon were just outside the arena killing time. Seth was sat cross-legged while Leon stood up leaning against the wall.

Seth was about to speak when his mind drifted back to Chicago. Leon walking in on him while he was lip synching Don't Stop Me Now. Now that Seth thought about it he didn't know if he could actually socialise with Leon asides from segments on TV.

Seth stood up and headed inside. Leon didn't even look at him. Clearly he felt the same way as Seth. And strangely Seth was ok with that.

He spotted Owen just down the hall. Seth wandered over to him. "Owen, what goes on?"

"Nothing really," Owen answered. "

"Nothing really?" Seth repeated. "You could be talking to Bret or Jim. Hell, you could have a deep conversation with Dustin if that's what you want. But no you're just standing here, minding your busin… what the hell is that?"

Owen looked to where Seth was pointing. "That's my phone. It's a device that lets you talk to people when their far away."

"I know what a phone is," Seth said. "But I'm pretty sure that isn't one."

"What are you talking about? That is a real life, fully functioning, mobile phone!" Owen said.

"Dude, it's a freaking brick... with some numbers written on it."

"Ok so it's not like the ones by today's standards," Owen said. "But it works!"

Just then the phone began ringing. Owen picked it up and answered it. "Hello? Oh, hey Natalie. No I'm not busy."

Without thinking, Seth retreated quietly to the locker room.

"Yeah, that sounds great. Ok, talk to you soon. Bye." He hung up and would have said something Seth until he realised he had gone.

Raw

While the referee was checking to see Bret Hart was ok, the British Bulldog lifted Mosh up and hit a Running Powerslam. Bulldog went for the pin while Bret attacked Thrasher in the corner. The ref counted three and the match was over.

The Bulldog raised his arms in the air and Bret leant against the ropes. They had fought the Headbangers in a Tag Team match and had emerged victorious and with that win they had become the new tag champions.

Thrasher was arguing with the referee, who then looked at the Headbanger who had just been pinned. And just when Bret went over to Bulldog the ref had changed his decision and waved off the original. He told Tony Chimel who then announced it.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the referee has said the illegal man was pinned in the ring and this match must continue."

Bret and Davey couldn't believe it. Bret looked like he would blow a fuse as he shouted at the ref. He was irate.

However no one in the ring had noticed the British Bulldog had exited the ring. He snatched an American flag from a fan in the front row. He struck Thrasher with it causing the disqualification. He continued with a few more strikes before removing the flag from the pole as Bret levelled Mosh.

Bret picked up the flag and wrapped it around Mosh's neck and began to strangle him. Just then Thrasher had gotten to his feet only to get pushed into a corner by the Bulldog.

The crowd began to cheer as the Patriot, Vader and Seth Hardy ran to the ring. Patriot went after Bulldog while Vader head-butted Bret forcing him to release his hold on Mosh. Seth followed that up with some strikes of his own. Vader placed Bret into a corner and he and Seth took turns throwing shots at him. The Patriot was doing the same thing with the Bulldog in the opposite corner.

Vader Irish-Whipped Bret into the ropes. When he rebounded Vader stepped aside to allow Seth to execute a Superkick onto the Canadian. Bret went down to the canvas.

Vader dragged Bret to a corner and climbed the ropes. Just as he was about to hit a Vader Bomb Bret rolled out of the ring while at the same time the show came to an end.

After the show

"Where did you disappear off to earlier?" Owen asked Seth as they walked out of the arena.

"I… I didn't want to risk interrupting your call," Seth lied.

Owen gave him a look. "You're good at many things Seth but lying isn't one of them. Why don't you tell me why you really walked away?"

Seth sighed. "Ok. Back at SummerSlam was the last time I spoke to Natalie. We both agreed to just stay as friends. But I left because… uh, I didn't feel like I could talk to her."

"Why not?"

"I don't know," Seth answered. "As soon as you said her name something just clicked in my brain telling me to leave. I can't really explain it."

Owen didn't say anything. He bit his lip deep in thought. "You know… you could stay with us for a while."

Seth looked confused. "What the…"

"I mean, you stay with my family for a short period of time. Do you have plans in… December?"

"Probably stressing about the fact I forgot to buy my brothers a Christmas present," Seth answered. "Do you mean, you want me to come to your place for Christmas?"

"Only if you want to."

"Can my family come too?"

"Yeah of course." Owen smiled. "If they want to as well."

They walked back to the hotel in silence. Seth had to remind himself to call home at some point between now and December.