Disclaimer: I don't own any wrestlers, WWE officials, etc.
A/N: So, sorry for the bit of the delay. I went on vacation again, but I was busy this time, so I didn't have as much time to work on the story as I did before. I apologize for the poorer quality of this chapter, it was horrible to try to write it out and it still didn't come out as good as I would have hoped.
Neither Matt nor Jeff brought up their conversation on the ride home from the hospital again. In fact, Jeff's stunt may have easily been forgotten, for the most part, except for two small things. The first was simply the sheer amount of phone calls from friends and family, and letter from fans, frantically asking about Jeff's stunt on Raw- Was the Swanton planned? How injured is he? Is he still able to wrestle? The two of them continually answered the same questions as person after person called to ask how Jeff was.
The second reminder Swanton was the simple fact that Jeff was still in a considerable amount of pain. Despite the fact that he was too proud admit it, it was obvious to anyone who knew him well that he was not capable of doing the things he used to be able to do. Matt had a feeling that his brother was still in quite a bit of pain, but it wasn't until he saw the prescribed medication that Jeff had been trying to hide that his suspicions were confirmed. He didn't say anything though; if Jeff didn't want him to know then he wouldn't bring it up. Besides, he told himself, most of the pain was probably from the intense physical therapy sessions than anything else. Jeff would be fine after a little while; there was no reason to worry right now.
Still, it took awhile for the brothers to adjust to living with the other; they were used to having their own houses where they weren't constantly bumping into the other at every turn. They needed to completely readjust their routines so they could work around the other without any problems. On top of that there were several things that sparked arguments between the two of them. Most of these were largely insignificant, such as Matt's habit of playing loud music early in the morning or Jeff taking over a room in the house as a temporary studio.
Some of the arguments were over more major things, such as the ongoing discussion about how much Matt was allowed to help Jeff while he was injured. Jeff insisted he could do everything by himself, but Matt wanted his brother to rest more so his back was under less stress. After fighting it out- verbally, of course, though Jeff did throw one good punch at his brother- they found settled on a good comprise and moved on.
These incidents were usually never spoken of again, and were simply added to the growing collection of topics that Matt and Jeff had silently agreed to never bring up. There was one, and only one, exception to this unspoken rule, oddly enough, it involved wrestling.
"Why aren't you watching Raw?" Matt asked as he sat down on the couch next to Jeff a week after his infamous Swanton.
Jeff continued channel surfing as he answered. "I don't want to."
"Why not?" Matt couldn't figure out why his brother wouldn't be watching Raw. Wrestling had been their life for so long he had just assumed his brother would want to at least try to keep up with what was happening in the business.
"Because I just don't want to!" Jeff snapped. "Do I need a reason?"
"Yes, you do! You've practically lived and breathed this business for I don't know how many years; it's just not like you to not even want to try to keep up with what's going on."
"Did you ever stop to think that maybe I don't want to be reminded of the fact that I can't wrestle?"
Oh, Matt thought. I should've known. Part of Matt wanted to respect his brother's wishes and not bother him about watching Raw, since he still felt like he had caused enough pain already, but he knew that in the long run this wouldn't do anything to help Jeff. "You can't avoid wrestling forever, you know," he said softly.
"Why not?" Jeff's practically yelling now. He had spent the past week reliving his mistake over and over again when all he wanted to do was try to forget what had happened. He was angry at himself for what he did, frustrated with the lack of noticeable improvement in his back, and depressed as all hell at the thought of possibly never wrestling again. "Why do I have to watch Raw or Smackdown or even ECW? Maybe I don't want to watch it because I don't want to wrestle again! Did you ever think of that?"
"We both know that's a lie." Matt didn't know how he was remaining calm, but somehow he managed to keep his voice quiet and his emotions under control, despite the voice in his head that was screaming that his was his fault his brother was thinking like that. "Wrestling has always been your dream. You're not just going to give it up."
Jeff snorted. "What does it matter, anyway? It's not like I'm going to be able to wrestle again!" If he had actually been paying attention to his brother he would've noticed Matt's slight flinch at his words, but he was so absorbed in his own emotions that Matt's reaction didn't even register.
"That's not true."
"Isn't it? My back is completely screwed up, Matt, or didn't you notice that?"
Matt didn't answer right away, as he tried to stop his brother's words from getting to him. Finally, after a few moments of silence, he spoke again. "If you really want to return to the ring you could. It won't be easy, but it's not impossible." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Besides," he glanced over at his brother. "I never thought you'd be a quitter."
Jeff whipped his head away from the TV and glared at Matt, his eyes narrowed slightly. "I am not a quitter!" He said hotly as he began going through the channels again.
Matt chuckled and said quietly, almost to himself, "Sure you aren't… Try channel 43." He said the last part loud enough for Jeff to hear him.
Jeff scowled but listened to his brother anyway and quickly turned to the suggested channel. Less than a second after he changed the channel he stiffened slightly, his eyes widening as he saw who was standing in the ring. Randy Orton. It wasn't that he was afraid of Orton, but he had forgotten that he would be talking about how "he" took out the Hardys- which would mean being reminded not only of his initial injury but his Swanton from last week.
"Two weeks ago on Raw I destroyed Jeff Hardy's back in my match against him." The start of Orton's speech was nearly drowned out by the boos from the crowd. Several different chants started up in different sections of the crowd, which only contributed to the overall noise. "Shut up!" Orton yelled and, surprisingly, most of the chants did quiet down.
"As I was saying, I destroyed Jeff Hardy's back two weeks ago on Raw, but the funny thing is it was Hardy himself who did the most damage!" The clip of Jeff's Swanton from last week began to play and, though neither of them wanted to relive that moment, they watched the recap anyway.
For the first time Jeff saw a glimpse of what Matt had told him on their way back from the hospital the week before. He could clearly see the panicked look on his brother's face and hear him screaming for him to just get down. He looked away from the TV, not wanting to finish watching the scene. He felt horrible for having put Matt through that and for being the cause of him having to take time off. He silently swore that somehow he would make up to Matt. Somehow, he would repay Matt for everything he put aside to help him.
Matt, on the other hand, couldn't look away. He stared at the screen, watching and reliving what had happened last week. Where did I screw up? He wondered. What could I have done to stop this? He watched every second of it, the now-familiar feeling of guilt bubbling up inside him again. I'll never ruin your career again, Jeff. I swear to God I will never do anything to ruin your life again.
Luckily, it wasn't long before the recap finished playing and the cameras moved back to Orton. The crowd was booing louder than they were before and Randy smirked slightly at the noise. "What's even better than that is that not one but both of the Hardys are gone! Matt's left to care for little Jeffery and I think it's safe that we won't be seeing-"
Randy was cut off by the opening lines of "Sexy Boy" echoing throughout the arena. If he wasn't so busy wondering why the hell Shawn Michaels was coming out, Jeff would've marveled at the crowd's ability to change moods so quickly and their amazing lung power. One moment they were completely filling the arena with their boos, the next they were chanting "HBK" and were louder than they had been all night.
"Now, I'm not one for coming out here and calling people liars," Shawn said. "But I remember things happening a bit differently then how you're telling them."
"Is that so?"
"See, the way I remember things you had nothing to do with it. He was injured after missing a Swanton, then by his own actions- neither of which were because of you."
"That's not important! Hardy is still gone from the WWE!"
"See, I don't think that's quite true either. There was someone else who returned after a back injury and I can't quite remember the name… it's on the tip of my tongue…" Shawn paused for a few moments, acting like he couldn't remember the name. "That's right. Me."
"This isn't about you, though!" Orton yelled. "Besides, just because you came back doesn't mean he will! Hardy is gone!"
"You know, I'm getting rather tired of hearing him say that," Jeff commented.
"Shut up, I want to find out what's going on."
Shawn had started speaking again. "So what you're saying is that I'm wrong and you're right?"
"That's right!"
"But I'm saying that you're wrong and I'm right," Shawn continued. "Of course, in the WWE, there's only one way to solve a problem like this and I believe there's a pay-per-view coming up soon…"
The second interruption came that night in the form of Chris Jericho. "Wait just a minute!" he yelled. "Shawn, I'm not done with you yet! If anyone should fight you at the pay-per-view, it should be me!"
"He challenged me to a match first!"
Shawn spoke before Jericho could respond. "Well, this won't work. I can't fight both of you at the pay-per-view." He paused. "Actually I could, but I'm not going to. So how about instead, you two fight each other tonight and the winner gets to face me?
"Fine," Jericho spat. "But Orton, that match is mine. So tonight, you'd better watch out, because I will win- no matter what."
Jeff continued to stare at the TV long after Raw had gone to commercial. "That has got to be one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen!" He finally said. "Was it that strange when I was defending you after you were attacked?"
"Not really," Matt replied. "But that's because it was you and not Shawn Michaels. That storyline made a bit more sense then this one. Still," he grinned slightly and glanced over at Jeff. "Aren't you glad you're watching wrestling now?"
Wrestling became the only time during the week when the two brothers could really relax. Those too-few hours allowed them to temporarily forget that Jeff's therapy didn't seem to be working, while the tense atmosphere caused by too many arguments and too much anger seemed to dissipate. It was ironic, really, that the show that had unintentionally caused the entire situation would be the same show that would grant them an escape for two hours at a time. The brutal physical therapy sessions and lack of information, from Dr. Carleson were pushed to the back of Jeff's mind during Raw and Smackdown.
Outside those few hours, though, the tension and worry would return. Jeff continued to remain silent about any pain he was been in. He wouldn't talk about how his therapy was going, leaving Matt frustrated and forced to guess what was going on. Even Jeff, though, didn't always know what was happening. Dr. Carleson had started avoiding answering his questions, responding only with vague answers and unhelpful comments.
Even Shawn beating Jericho at the pay-per-view and moving on to feud with Orton couldn't chase away the fear that was starting to consume Jeff. He knew something wasn't right with his therapy and the lack of definitive answers only worried him more. The only thing he knew was that he shouldn't have been in so much pain, but even then he didn't know what that meant. Still, he did his best to hide it from Matt. He had put his brother through so much already; he didn't want to worry him about anything else.
He knew he couldn't keep the pain from his brother forever though, especially not after it became harder and harder to do simple tasks. It hurt to walk and it hurt to stand, making physical therapy nearly unbearable and just walking across the room a chore. Finally, the day came when he couldn't hide it any longer.
"Jeff, Raw's about to start!" Matt yelled to his brother, who was in his room upstairs. "You gonna come down?"
There was a brief paused before Jeff appeared, stopping to rest against his doorframe. He was panting heavily and he was shaking from the effort of trying to stay upright. "I don't know if I can," he admitted before his legs gave out and he collapsed on the ground.