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Part One

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"Jeff, honey, are you decent?"

"Li, I'm never decent."

Lita rolled her eyes and smiled as she opened the door. "You need to get yourself some new jokes, Jeffrey, they're getting old and used."

"The old ones are the best," he said as she sat next to him on the window seat, picking his feet up and placing them in her lap.

"Whacha doin'?" He shrugged and seemed to clutch tighter at the book he was holding. "Jeff?"

He sighed and handed her the book, almost afraid to let it go. "It…Matt made it for me when Nana died. He went though all our pictures and took out everything he could find with her smiling in it. She loved to smile, when she smiled everyone around her smiled." Lita grinned and looked up at him. "See?"

She laughed and turned another page, staring at the photos. She smiled and fingered the largest one on the page. There was an elderly lady that she assumed was Jeff's Nana, holding a little boy in each arm. The devilish grin betrayed Matt to her straight away and the cute, cheesy grin and beautiful hazel eyes screamed Jeff at her. She laughed a little, suddenly realising that she'd never really seen many childhood Hardy photos.

"You seem happy."

"I was."

She heard his voice break a little and looked up at him. "Jeff, what's wrong? I know Matt turned on us again, but-"

"On me. He turned on me again. He wanted you to go with him, honey."

"Then he doesn't know or love me anywhere near as much as he pretends to. I'd never leave you, ever, and he should have known that." Jeff tried to smile but just closed his eyes, not bothering to stop the tears falling from his face. "Jeff, what else? There's more to this."

"She died that day."

"What?"

Jeff opened his eyes and smiled sadly. "That night Matt turned on me-"

"On us," she reaffirmed.

"On us…she died twelve years ago that day. I lost my Nana that day and then I lost my brother."

"Oh, Jeff," Lita shifted her position so that she could cradle his head, pulling him close, holding him. "I'm so sorry, baby. I'm so sorry."

"I just don't understand how he could…why would he…"

"I don't know, Jeff. I wish I had an answer for you, honey, but I really don't know." She pulled him closer and closed her eyes, not stopping her own tears. Matt would pay for hurting them, for hurting Jeff. She would make sure of that, even if she had to move heaven and earth to do it.

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Lita shifted slightly in her sleep and Jeff winced, trying not to wake her. He attempted to pull his arm from under her head, but to no avail. Sighing, he lay his head back on the pillow, hoping that his bladder would hold until Lita woke up. The solution was provided for him when the phone rang, rousing Lita from her sleep.

"Morning, sleepyhead," he said, kissing her on the forehead. "Can you get that, I really need to pee."

Lita gave a sleepy chuckle and nodded as Jeff slipped from the bed where they had fallen asleep. He put the photo album on the bedside cabinet and made a run for the bathroom as she picked up the receiver.

"Hello?" Lita frowned, hearing no reply. There was clearly someone at the other end of the phone. "Hello," she said more forcefully. Again, there was no reply.

Jeff came out of the bathroom mouthing, "who is it?" and she shook her head.

"Matt if this is you, then you had better get-"

"It's not Matt."

It wasn't so much the reply that startled her as it was the voice that she recognised. "Chris?"

"Chris?" Jeff asked questioningly. "Chris Jericho?" His voice hardened as he realised who was on the phone.

"Chris, what do you want?" Lita asked, raising a hand to stop Jeff taking the phone from her. There had been something in his voice that made her think he wasn't calling to irritate them. She turned on the speakerphone so that Jeff could hear the conversation.

"I-I just wanted to…"

"You just wanted to what, Chris?" she asked softly.

"I just wanted to make sure that you and Jeff were all right." They sat in silence, part of her unable to digest what he was saying. Taking her silence as rejection, Chris sighed. "I'm sorry, it was stupid. I'll-"

"It wasn't stupid, Chris," Lita said, a smile coming to her face.

"Thank you," Jeff said softly and there was a startled noise at the other end of the phone. "Speakerphone," Jeff said in reply. "I wasn't convinced when I heard it was you…well…"

"You thought I was calling to cause trouble," Chris finished. "I can understand that." He was silent for a moment. "Listen, I've been a jerk, I know that-"

"Now there's an understatement." Lita chuckled and Chris joined in.

"Yeah, well, I've always been like that, I was just usually able to control it and…well…Lita, I'm so sorry, I just-"

"It's okay, Chris," she said hastily, shooting a quick glance at Jeff. The younger man seemed confused but didn't question them. "I think I understood."

"But I still hurt you and I'm sorry. I didn't know how to take it back." He sighed and they could imagine that he was running a hand through his hair. "When I saw what Matt did, it made me sick to my stomach and I couldn't…I just realised what I'd done even more, I guess, and I…well, I wanted to make sure you were both okay."

Lita smiled and Jeff noticed that she seemed more relaxed. Chris had always been able to do that for her and he was glad that Jericho had chosen now to come back into their lives, assuming, of course, that that was his plan. Lita needed to learn how to smile again.

"We're not okay, Chris," Jeff replied. "But I think we will be."

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End of Part One

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