Christian, being the vain creature he was, was yet again watching his reflection in the bathroom mirror of his hotel room. This time, however, he wasn't simply admiring. He was pressing under his eye lightly, examining the small bruise. It was small, yes, but a flaw still. He sighed.

Maybe he had pushed his brother a little too far this time.

Of course, Christian wasn't sorry. Edge should have seen it coming. He knew Christian better than to not expect much colder revenge for the whole Jeff incident than just hitting him with a chair or two. That had just been childish frustration.

There was a knock on the door. Looking past his reflection, Christian saw Lance get up from his laptop and head towards the door. "Uh, Christian?"

"Yeah?" he asked back, taking one last look at himself before backing away from the mirror.

"It's... Edge."

Christian had come from the bathroom and he attempted to paste on a bewildered look, finding Lance double checking what he'd seen through the peephole. "What the hell does he want?"

"How should I know?" Lance asked.

"Go ahead, let's see what he wants."

"Maybe he wants to give you a matching shiner for your other eye."

Christian sneered. He had hoped it wasn't that visible. "Thanks, Lance."

"I'm just saying..."

Christian pulled him away from the door and opened it, not bothering to see what Edge was doing before he opened the door. It turned out that he was standing in the middle of the hall, head hanging slightly, wearing those obnoxious sunglasses as usual, hands in his pockets. He raised his glance slightly as the door opened and Christian could almost see the death glare through Edge's reflective shades.

"We need to talk."

"Like hell," Christian answered defiantly, dying to hear what Edge had to say, but still putting on a show for Lance.

"Now," Edge responded, shooting a hand out quickly to grab the coller of Christian's shirt and yank him in the hallway.

"Hey, -!" Lance started, but the fact that Christian wasn't objecting too physically, coupled with the harsh way Edge snapped his glance to Lance, convinced him to let Christian go.

"Easy on the shirt!" Christian griped through clenched teeth as he tried to fight off his brother's hold. Edge ignored him and dragged him down the hall. Lance debated following to help, but when Christian freed himself finally and kept following Edge, he washed his hands of it and went back to his computer.

"Where are we going?" Christian whined.

"Somewhere private," Edge muttered, trying to make sure that no one was paying attention to them. After a couple winding hallways, Edge finally stopped at a small room with an ice machine and a soda machine. Christian knitted his brow in confusion, trying to figure out why Edge chose here for whatever it was that he wanted. Couldn't he have kicked out Hogan or whoever it was he was traveling with these days and gone to his room?

Turning back to his brother, Christian started to question him. "What are you -?"

"Here," Edge said, forcefully shoving a handful of paper scraps at Christian.

Christian took them, confused, and started straightening them. "What's all this?"

"Jeff's cell number. Jeff's home number. Matt's cell and home numbers. Lita's too, I think. Take them. Track Jeff down. Call him. Tell him how you feel."

Christian's jaw dropped as that registered. He slowly lifted his eyes to Edge, glaring. He saw the desperation in Edge's face. He was honestly afraid that Christian was going to win Jericho over.

"Fuck you, Edge," Christian growled, throwing the papers at him. "I can't fucking believe your nerve sometimes."

"You said yourself that you don't love Jericho, you love Jeff." Edge raised his voice, ignoring the fact that it might not be the best idea to attract attention to Christian and himself. He took off his sunglasses finally, attempting to show Christian his sincerity. Unfortunately, he only succeeded in revealing his fear.

Christian carelessly matched his brother's harsh tone and volume. "You really think I could have him now? Huh? Do you really think he'd give me a second glance after what you did to him?"

"What did I do to him?"

"Nothing," Christian muttered. "You treated him perfectly. He fell in love with you."

"He didn't love me," Edge rolled his eyes, setting his hands on his hips.

"No?" Christian asked, giving his brother a cold stare that caused him to rethink his relationship with Jeff.

"I don't think he did, at least."

"Or maybe you were just too fucking distracted to pay attention to him?"

Edge remained silent.

"Planning on doing the same thing to Jericho?"

"No!" Edge yelled, suddenly animate. "Of course not."

"Easy for you to say now."

"Look, Chris, things have changed. I've changed. This isn't the same at all."

Christian sighed deeply, looking his brother over. "I'm sick of this. We both know that if we both chase him, you'll only win in the end. Just like Jeff."

"That's not true."

"Isn't it?"

"You never chased Jeff!"

"Of course I didn't. It wasn't supposed to be a 'chase.'"

Edge scowled and looked back to the ground.

"Edge, there is nothing you can say or do right now - short of physically incapacitating me - that will make me stop trying to get Jericho, so -"

"You don't think I would physically incapacitate you?" Edge mocked darkly. Christian was starting to piss him off.

"I don't think you could."

Edge glowered and lunged at Christian, but Christian sidestepped him and kicked him in the side angrily as he fell to the floor. Edge grabbed Christian's foot mid-kick and pulled him off his balance, causing Christian to hit the thinly carpeted ground - hard. Edge jumped on the opportunity and started to pummel his little brother, like he used to when they were kids. But he wasn't playing this time. And Christian was much more able to defend himself, Edge painfully discovered.

"What the hell are you doing?" a voice growled from behind them. The two ignored it, so the owner grabbed Edge from behind and picked him up off of Christian. Christian looked up, surprised, as he learned that his unexpected savior was Triple H. Edge stopped struggling after a moment and Triple H let him go. Christian got to his feet hurriedly, straightening his shirt, and Edge wiped away a small trickle of blood from his mouth, not taking his eyes off Christian. Triple H glanced between the two of them, disgustedly.

"I know what you're up to," Triple H warned. Edge and Christian hung their heads guiltily, not exactly sure what he was referring to. "You're acting like little children fighting over a toy."

Christian found himself biting the inside of his lower lip, and cast a glance to Edge. Was he referring to Jericho? How did he know? Edge, on the other hand, was looking pretty smug. Triple H wasn't paying attention to him, so he assumed that Triple H had come to help him. Triple H got in Christian's face. "Can't you act your age?"

"You don't know what you're talking about," Christian snapped back at him, thinking, as Edge was, that Triple H was only chastising him. "Mind your own business."

Edge, still proud of himself for getting off easy, chuckled at Christian's defensiveness.

"What are you laughing at?" Triple H turned to Edge quickly. Edge snapped to attention, his jaw dropping.

"I... ah..."

"I've seen you doing it, too."

Edge and Christian looked at each other quickly. How did he know what they were doing to Jericho? Is that what he was referring to at all? Edge sputtered, then, "What are you talking -?"

"Don't play dumb," Triple H warned. "Leave him alone."

Christian quickly repressed his reflex instinct to mock his brother and followed up with his second instinct - trying to save his ass. It just so happened that saving his ass this time involved helping Edge. He picked up Edge's playing dumb tactic. "Leave who alone?"

Triple H went to answer, but was cut off by a timid, "Hunter?"

The three snapped their attention to the door quickly, startling Jericho, who froze when he saw both Edge and Christian watching him, side by side. The brothers took advantage of Triple H looking away to exchange confused glances. Christian mouthed, 'Hunter?', causing Edge to shrug, and the two looked back to Jericho.

"Chris?" Triple H pressed, gently.

"I.. I... um," Jericho stuttered, turning to Triple H slowly. When the two made eye contact, Jericho finally smiled, shortly, and held up a dollar bill. "I changed my mind. I do want a coke."

Triple H grinned and took the dollar from Jericho, holding onto his hand. This seemed to renew Jericho's confidence, and he finally smirked at Christian, then Edge. "What did he do to you, junior?"

"I didn't do that," Triple H started with a laugh. Edge self-consciously wiped the side of his mouth, noticing that it was still trickling slightly. "His brother did."

"And the black eye?" Jericho asked Triple H, grinning now, with a glance to Christian. Christian turned an interesting shade of red, a cross between anger and embarrassment.

"Not me again. But I get the feeling that they might quit hassling you now," Triple H grinned as he let go of Jericho's hand long enough to get him a coke from the soda machine, then came right back. "Right, boys?"

That sounded as fully condescending as Triple H had intended, and Jericho and Triple H left without waiting for a response. That was most likely a good thing, as neither Edge nor Christian spoke for a long time. They stood in slackjawed silence as they watched their toy walk away. Finally, still without saying a word, Christian turned to a motionless Edge and nailed him with a swift blow to the jaw, knocking him back. Edge would have said something, but Christian left too quickly. Edge decided he had lost enough of his dignity to chase after his brother and let him go, massaging his jaw gently with a frown. Christian, on the other hand, as soon as he rounded the first corner, dipped his hand in his pocket - double checking that Jeff's cell number had somehow fallen into his pocket.

He flashed a grin and looked over the numbers. "Sweet."