Disclaimer: I don't own… well, anything.

A/N: Er… perhaps it would be better if you read the author's notes at the end? And please, keep in mind while you're reading this that the first chapter of the sequel is already up. And… I won't say anything else until the end.

Two weeks. Technically two episodes of Raw, and then the rest of that week until Wrestlemania, but for all intents and purposes it was two weeks, especially since they needed to have a solution by that last episode of Raw. Two weeks ago they thought they'd have plenty of time to figure everything out. After all, it was mostly just going through the information they already had and maybe asking people a few more questions.

The problem was, two weeks seemed a lot longer from the other side of the strike.

Two weeks. Fourteen days. 336 hours. Jeff had done the calculations and he knew how much time they had- and it wasn't a lot. That confident, if at times panicky and depressed, attitude his brother and he had had up until that point had disappeared. Sure, they had the information. The problem was piecing it together and figuring out just what it was that they had.

Every spare moment that they had they spent going through their piles of notes. Matt was taken off Raw, mostly because Creative didn't have anything for him until the results from Wrestlemania, so both he and Jeff returned home to work. They met at Jeff's house everyday and spent hours upon hours pouring over the information they had. Yet, despite the time they put into it, it didn't seem like they were getting anywhere.

One week. 7 days. 168 hours. They were exhausted- absolutely exhausted- but they didn't stop trying to solve the mystery unless they absolutely had to. They knew their time was running out and they began to examine every possibility. Every single person on the Raw roster- and several people on ECW and Smackdown as well- was considered.

"Jericho… what about Jericho? It seems like something he'd do…" Jeff muttered as he paced back and forth, occasionally flipping through the papers he held in his hands.

"Mm, yeah, but considering he's supposed to be "better" than everyone else, it doesn't seem like something he'd do, since there's not really anything he'd be punishing you for or anything," Matt said, not bothering to look up from his own papers.

"Orton, then? You know how ambitious he is…"

"Yeah, but who isn't?"

"A Diva, then? We had considered Maria at one point…"

"But I can't really picture one of the girls doing something like this, not when none of them are really involved in what we do right now."

Jeff sighed and flopped down onto one of the relatively empty chairs. "What are your theories, then?" He asked.

Matt continued to go through the papers and said, "I think we're going about this the wrong way."

Jeff sat up and stared at his brother. "What?"

"Well, we have." Matt was still completely calm, acting as if this was just any other conversation.

Jeff frowned. "I don't follow. How the hell could we have been going about this the wrong way for nearly seven weeks?"

"Think about it. You just named Jericho and Orton. The other people at the top of our list are Rhodes and DiBiase. At one point, we also suspected Hunter, Shawn, and Maria- but we don't anymore," Matt explained.

"And your point is? All of those people could be behind it and we did have logical reasons for removing Hunter, Shawn, and Maria from the list," Jeff pointed out.

"Fine, but look at it this way. Who haven't we considered at all? Cena, most of the Divas, London and Kendrick, Jamie Noble- we've basically been focusing on the heels on Raw," Matt said. "And yes, I know that we've ignored some of the heels," he added, seeing that his brother was going to start arguing again. "But the only people we're really considering right now- and briefly considering someone and then clearing them doesn't count- are the heels that are at the top of their game. We've been focusing on the characters, and not the actual people."

"And we aren't dealing with their characters in this…" Jeff murmured, finally seeing what his brother was getting at. "We're dealing with someone who went after me because that's the type of person he is, not because that's something his character would do."

Matt nodded. "Exactly. I mean, look at Orton. He tried to give us some sound advice early on in this- and we ignored it, because of his character."

"Not to mention Jericho gave us that piece of information, which we've completely ignored simply because of the bastard he plays on TV."

"And look at Hunter and Shawn's pasts. They haven't always been the nice guys they are to us," Matt pointed out.

Jeff sighed. "We've really screwed this up, haven't we?"

Matt chuckled humorlessly. "I think that's putting it a bit lightly…"

Jeff sighed again and ran a hand through his hair, brushing it back from his eyes. "So what do we do now?"

Matt visibly hesitated and Jeff's heart sunk, knowing what was coming next. Sure enough, Matt finally said, "We need to scrap everything and start over."

Jeff was already shaking his head. "No," he said firmly. "We can't just scrap everything. This is seven weeks worth of research and questioning here! We can't just say "Oh, let's ignore all of it" when we have less than a week left to work!"

"Jeff…"

"No! Look, isn't there something else we could do? I mean, we have a lot of information here- we have to be able to find something in it that could lead us to who did it!"

"You know as well as I do that we aren't going to find out anything unless we go back and start looking at everything from a different angle," Matt said gently.

Jeff slumped back down in the chair. "Fuck…" He sighed. "You do realize that there's no way we're going to have enough time to figure everything out, right?" Matt didn't say anything. "Of course you know that, what am I talking about…" he murmured. "So what? Do we just give up then?"

"No, of course not!" Matt said. "We need to let Vince know that we're going to have to have Creative come up with someone we can pin this on. We'll start feuding with them and continue the investigation off camera. Then, once we know who it is we'll reveal them- or whoever we're feuding with can, if that would make more sense- and we'll move on to fight them."

"I still don't like this," Jeff said quietly.

Matt didn't say anything. He didn't particularly like the situation either; if he had his choice he would have loved nothing more than to find out who was behind everything and expose them at Wrestlemania. Yet he knew that, if they weren't careful, they could end up pinning the blame on the wrong person- and if Creative wasn't there to control the situation they could ruin someone's career. As much as he wanted this whole nightmare to be over, he wasn't willing to ruin someone's career if they were innocent.

Matt was startled from his thoughts by his brother asking, "Do you want to do the honors or shall I?" Jeff was standing in front of him holding out the phone and, judging by the fairly amused smirk on his face, he'd been there for quite awhile.

Matt scowled and snatched the phone. "I'll call," he grumbled. "Considering I'm the one that decided we needed to restart the investigation…"

He dialed the number he wanted and waited for someone to pick up on the other end. "Hello?"

"Hey, Stephanie," Matt said. "It's Matt. Do you have a minute?"

"Yeah, I'm just going over the final script for Monday's Raw," she said. "Is this about what's going on at Wrestlemania?"

"Yeah, it is."

"Do you want to talk to my father about it first or is it strictly an issue for Creative?"

"Well, at this point I'd say it's more of an issue for Creative," Matt said. "See, Jeff and I kind of realized that we're going to have to rework our entire investigation if we want to find out who suggested that storyline, and we won't have enough time between now and Wrestlemania to come to a solution."

There was silence on the other end of the line for a few seconds. "Are you sure you can't do anything between now and then?" She finally asked.

"No, we can't." He sighed. "Look, I'll admit. We've screwed up big time. We've gone about this the wrong way entirely and we're going to need time to regroup and start again."

Stephanie sighed. "And you need someone to take the blame for this at Wrestlemania."

"Exactly. Hopefully we'll be able to figure it eventually and we can clear whoever you chose and start feuding with the person who's really behind it, but until then we need a scapegoat of sorts. Can you come up with someone?"

"Mm, I can try. I'm going to have to go through and see who doesn't have a feud going into Wrestlemania, though," she murmured. "I'll have to get back to you on this. I need to talk to a few people and possibly rearrange a few things before I can tell you what's going to happen."

"Okay then. Listen, thank you so much Stephanie," Matt said sincerely.

She chuckled. "Don't mention it. Just try not to make a habit of it, alright? This is the second time you guys needed to be saved- so to speak. Let's not make it three."

Matt grinned. "Fair enough," he said. After they had said goodbye Matt hung up and tossed the phone at his brother.

Jeff caught the phone and tossed it onto and empty chair, causing a stack of papers that had been sitting there to fall onto the floor. "How'd she take it?"

"Surprisingly well. Not too thrilled that she's going to have to find someone to pin the blame on, but she wasn't screeching at me either, thank god."

"Well that's always a good thing," Jeff said as he did his best to suppress a grin. "Any idea who's getting the blame for everything?"

Matt shook his head. "She said that she'd have to talk to some people first and rearrange a couple of things before she'd know."

Jeff sighed. "So basically all we can do now is wait."

XXXXX

Wrestlemania. The Grandest Stage of Them All. The pay-per-view where careers were made and people became legends. For Matt and Jeff it was the night they had been anticipating for two months. While they didn't have their culprit yet- and the investigation was far from over- they were still happy that Wrestlemania had finally arrived.

"Just think, after tonight the ban on my moves will be lifted," Jeff said as he waited backstage with his brother for their cue to go out. "And we don't have to worry about continuing the investigation onscreen anymore."

Matt grinned. "What happened to Oh, I hate going into Wrestlemania without knowing who did this or whatever it was you were saying before?"

"Yeah, well, weren't you saying the exact same thing?" Jeff asked with a chuckle.

"Oh shut up," Matt said, though there wasn't any real annoyance in his voice. There was something about the excitement that seemed to literally charge the air that made it nearly impossible to truly be mad at anyone.

In almost no time at all their music came on and they were out in the arena to a huge pop from the crowd. The two of them took their time getting down to the ring. Once they had finished their traditional poses on the turnbuckles, they both grabbed mics and Jeff spoke first.

"It is good to be here!" He said. "For awhile, I didn't even expect to last long enough in this company to make to Wrestlemania but, through the actions of my brother and many superstars across the brands, I am still here!" The crowd cheered and Jeff paused for a moment before continuing.

"As you all know, about a year ago I injured my back in a match against Randy Orton. Months later, after truly believing that I would never wrestle again, I made my return to Raw- only to have Mr. McMahon tell me that, because of an unknown coworker, I wouldn't be able to use any of my moves, unless I found out who they were by Wrestlemania."

"And that brings us to tonight," Matt said, picking up where his brother left off. "We know who did this, so Vince, why don't you come out here so we can settle this matter once and for all."

Vince's music hit and he strutted down to the ting. "I had been hoping that you wouldn't figure it out so I could fire your ass-" he looked directly at Jeff as he spoke; Jeff just glared back at him, but didn't say anything. "-but a deal's a deal and it looks like not only will you be staying in the WWE, but you'll be getting a title shot for any title you want."

"Any title?" Matt frowned at the question. Why's he asking about this now?

"Any title," Vince confirmed. "Why? What were you thinking?"

"Tag Team titles," Jeff said casually. "That is, if Matt here can be included in the offer."

Matt froze. "Jeff, no!" he said. "Use it for the WWE Championship, or the World Heavyweight Championship!"

Jeff shook his head. "No," he said. "When I was out with my injury I swore that I would do something to make everything- you having to take months off to help me, the stress I put you through, just everything. I know that this may be one of my only opportunities to win a major championship, but after everything you've done for me during all of this, I want nothing more than to be Tag Team Champion with you again."

Matt knew that it wouldn't do him any good to protest- and he found that he didn't really want to. He knew that Jeff wanted to win a major championship so much; he had worked and strived for it and always fallen slightly short, which drove him nearly insane. The fact that he was willing to give up a perfect chance to achieve that dream, simply to repay him touched him deeply.

"As touching as this is, you aren't getting any title shot unless I am told who the person behind everything is," Vince said impatiently.

Before Jeff could even open his mouth to speak a timid voice said, "E-excuse me, but I-I have a m-message for you three, if that's alright, sir." Jeff recognized the speaker as one of the new employees that had just been hired. Despite the interruption, Jeff heart went out to her. She looked completely terrified, not that he could blame her; she was just starting out and yet she had to come out during Wrestlemania to interrupt something. I wonder what she wants, though, he wondered.

Vince, however, wasn't feeling as compassionate as Jeff. "What the hell do you think you doing?" he snarled. "This had better be important or I will be firing someone tonight after all!"

"Well, s-someone passed a n-note to me and I d-didn't have time t-to catch you b-before you c-came out, b-but someone wants you t-to watch this before th-they reveal who did it, sir." She pointed up at the Titantron before scurrying backstage.

A video began playing on the screen. It was obvious that it wasn't filmed on a professional camera. It was hard to make out exactly what was going on, but they could see someone standing with their back to the camera in what looked like the backstage area of an arena. The person seemed to be in the middle of a conversation on a cell phone. Everyone in the arena watched eagerly, hoping that this would be proof of who did it.

"I think he's fine. I mean, he wouldn't be back here if he wasn't," the person was saying. The voice was too distorted to clearly make out who it was. There was a pause, presumably to let the person on the other end say something, before he spoke again. "I know… I wish he hadn't come back… No, I'm not going to go to Vince about this… Don't worry. I'll think of something." The person said goodbye and tucked his phone in his pocket before turning around.

The arena was dead silent. The picture may not have been completely clear, but there was no mistaking the face that was now frozen on the screen.

It was Matt.

No one spoke. No one moved. The crowd was in too much shock to boo, the announcers too stunned to even try to describe what was going on. Vince looked lost as to what he was supposed to do and Matt looked confused.

Jeff didn't notice any of this. The arena could have fallen down around him and he wouldn't have noticed. He just stared up at the picture of his brother on the Titantron. His initial reaction had been that Matt couldn't have been behind everything. Yet the more he thought about it, the more he thought Why not? Ignoring all of the conspiracy theories that were running through his mind, there were two points that stood out: Jericho's clue, where he hinted at Matt knowing what he was talking about and Dr. Carleson specifically telling Matt- Matt alone, though obviously he later told him- that his high risk maneuvers would put him at risk for more serious back injuries. And then there's the video…

"Matt…" Jeff said quietly, turning to face his brother and finally breaking the spell that had settled over their group.

Matt looked at him and grinned shakily. "Looks like someone was listening in to our conversations before you had your back surgery, when we were joking about fighting each other…"

Jeff stared at him incredulously. "Are you seriously making jokes right now?"

"Oh come on, don't tell me that you believe that video…"

"Matt, do you even realize what's going on? You were caught on film having a conversation that honestly sounds like you were hinting at setting this up! What am I supposed to think?"

It was Matt's turn to stare at him, his mouth open slightly. "You actually think that I had something to do with this? After all I've done to help you?"

"I don't know what to think!" Their voices were getting louder, but the arena stayed silent. "Right now that video looks damn convincing and you haven't said anything to explain it!"

"You want an explanation? Fine. I had that conversation, but there was more to it. Whoever wanted that shown edited out parts."

Jeff didn't know what to think. "Even if you were guilty you'd say that…" he muttered.

"What? Jeff, I can't believe you! What sort of idiot would honestly think that his own brother would set him up like this?" Matt knew it was the wrong thing to say, but it slipped out anyway. He was just so frustrated with Jeff. Why doesn't he get it?

"Oh yeah, because insulting me is really going to help things," Jeff said sarcastically. "For someone who's innocent, you certainly aren't acting that way."

"What do you want from me?" Matt yelled. "I've told you that the video's fake and you still don't believe me! In case you've forgotten, I've been there for you through every step of this. Your fucking injury, this screwed up mystery- every damn second of it I've been there, even when I've wanted nothing more than to walk away from it!"

"And wouldn't this be the perfect way to get out of it? Get rid of me, get rid of all of your problems, right?" Jeff didn't want to believe it, but other than flimsy excuses Matt hadn't done anything to convince him he wasn't to blame.

"I can't believe you," Matt repeated, his voice quieting dangerously. "I just can't believe you." He threw down his mic, climbed out of the ring, and began walking up the ramp. If his brother wasn't going to listen to reason, he wasn't going to stand there arguing with him anymore.

As he walked away he heard Jeff say, "Mr. McMahon? I'd like to use my title shot for a different belt."

A/N2: -hides from anger readers- Hey, hey, calm down. If you kill me you'll never know what happened, right? In my defense they were both acting a bit like asses, so you can't say that just one was overreacting. And remember, the first chapter of the next story is already up, if you want to read it.