Jeff sat on the bench in the locker room, his head bowed over the belt splayed across his lap. The golden face threw his reflection back at him and he sighed heavily. He could vividly remember the first time he won the Intercontinental championship. It was exciting and gave him a sense of validation. Everywhere he went he wore the belt with pride. But this time, it was different.

There was no excitement. No sense of validation. The only thing he felt as he stared at the belt was a sad, hollow emptiness. He doubted that he'd be parading around the grocery store displaying his achievement like he had the first time. Of course there was one glaring difference between now and the first time he had won the belt.

Trish was gone.

The first time he won the I.C. title, they had been starting out in their relationship. She had been so happy for him. Possibly even more excited and proud than he had been. Even though they both knew his title run was not going to be for the long term, they celebrated as if it was. And when their impromptu party ended, they spent hours talking about their respective futures in the business and where they hoped they'd personally be in five years.

All of her dreams had come true. Trish became one of the best women's champions in the history of the WWE. She found the right guy and got married, walking away from the business at the top of her game. If she ever decided to come back, her return would be welcomed, celebrated. And knowing her it wouldn't take her long to reclaim the glory she left behind.

But while she had been successful in obtaining her dreams, he failed miserably. Nowhere on his list of personal or professional goals were being fired twice by two different companies, pushing away the love of his life and ultimately damaging the relationship beyond repair or spiraling down into the hell of drug addiction. Yeah, he overcame his addiction and the WWE hired him back but the one thing he wanted to repair, he couldn't. No matter what he did, he lost Trish forever.

He lifted his head, letting out a tremulous breath and closed his eyes. A drink would be damn good about now. It always took his mind off the fact that his life sucked. By the time he was completely numb, he couldn't remember his name let alone what made him need to get that way.

"Hey Hardy." Shawn Michael's greeted as he swept into the locker room and dropped down on the bench beside him. He inclined his head toward the belt still spread out across his lap, "Congrats man."

"Thanks." He tried to feign excitement for his idol's benefit. "Just can't believe that I have the chance to hold this again."

"I know what you mean. Don't forget, a few years ago I thought that I'd never wrestle again. But god works in mysterious ways."

He forced himself not to flinch at that remark and nodded vehemently. "That's true."

"Then why are you so down?" Shawn inquired knowingly, "You should be on top of the world but everyone can tell you're not. So don't waste time denying it."

Jeff debated if he should just tell the other man the truth but decided that it was best if he kept it vague. "I was just thinking about how much things have changed since the first time I was IC champ."

An eyebrow arched, "Professionally? Or personally?"

"A bit of both, I guess."

"That means it's the latter." HBK chuckled and shook his head. "So, who is she?"

"Huh? There's no girl…"

A heavy sigh let him know that his pathetic attempt at denial was not well received. "A guy only gets that low when there's a woman involved. So quit wasting time and spill it. This girl obviously meant a lot to you so tell me how much."

"She was the one I never should've let get away."

"Ah," Shawn nodded in understanding. "So what's brought on this sudden onslaught of nostalgia about her?"

"She got married recently." He admitted sheepishly. "And it's got me thinking about what I could've done differently. If I should have called her and told her that I still loved her before the wedding…"

The icon shook his head. "I know that it's hard to let someone go when you love them but if it was meant to be between you and Tris…" He paused and cleared his throat with a cough. "this woman, then things will work out how they're supposed to when all's said and done."

"And if it wasn't meant to be?"

"Then be glad that you got out of it before it was too late."

Jeff nodded, not accepting the answer but seeing the logic behind it. It didn't really ease the ache in his chest though. "It does get easier, right?"

"Sure kid, eventually." The former world champion rolled his eyes. "It's gonna sting for a long time but you're still young. You still have plenty of time and opportunity to have that next great heartache."

"Actually, I don't want to go through it again." He expelled roughly, raking his hand through his hair. "I'm never going to feel about someone the way I felt about her. So why bother to go through the motions when you know that it's only going to fail?"

"Nothing is written in stone, except the commandments." Shawn drawled with a tired laugh. "And take it from someone who loved and lost more times than he can count, love comes along again when you least expect it to."

He didn't bother to watch his childhood idol leave. His mind was on the knowledge the man had imparted. As much as he respected the heartbreak kid, he knew that the older man was wrong about this one.