John was becoming more than slightly concerned about Ted these days. Maybe it was the look in his eyes that clearly said that he wasn't sleeping nearly as much as he should. Or maybe it was the fact that he cringed every time he heard about anyone that Cody was hanging out with. Or maybe it was still the look of borderline jealous rage he was now currently shooting at Drew through the television screen in an arena when he thought no one was looking. That was just plain creepy.

"You just keep your hands off him, you hear me?" he growled.

"No, Ted, he doesn't," John's voice caused him to jump two feet in the air.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked, annoyed with himself for being caught.

"I wanted to talk to you. Ted, you're starting to worry me with this jealousy thing."

"I'm not jealous, OK?" Ted replied somewhat petulantly. "I just can't get the vision of them out of my head. There they were walking together and talking. I can't stand it, John!" John stared at the blond for a minute.

"Ted," he said slowly," Are you listening to yourself right now? They are allowed to talk to each other. They're friends. Friends walk and talk together all the time. So someone caught them talking and decided to put it on YouTube. They do that all the time. You know there's a video of Randy bumming a cigarette off of a fan?" He chuckled at that. The things people spent their time doing. "Look, my point is that you shouldn't worry about who Cody hangs out with."

"I know," Ted groaned. "I probably sound like an idiot, but I can't stand the thought of Cody being alone with someone else and me not being there to make sure nothing bad happens."

"What the hell are you talking about? What do you think that Drew is going to rape him or something? Do you think that now that you're not there to be with him that he's just going to all of a sudden start to sleep around? What's the deal with you?"

"I slept with someone else!" Ted blurted out. There was a stunned silence. John stood and stared at the younger man in front of him, and was for once lost for words. Ted sleep with someone else? Why in the world would he do that? He loved Cody. He went to open his mouth.

"What?" But it wasn't John's voice that growled that one word. No, this voice was lower and laced with a sudden rage and promised a potential ass kicking. Both John and Ted slowly turned their heads to take in the sight of a very pissed off Randy.

"Sweet mother of God." John mumbled.

10 minutes later...

"I CAN EXPLAIN, DAMN IT!"

Ted was now currently locked in his rental car with a now demonic looking Randy Orton prowling around the parameter.

"Explain? You want to fucking explain? You whore! You mother fucking whore! How long, you bastard! How long did it take before you went and screwed some slut? Huh? Cody loves you, you selfish prick!"

John had since given up on trying to restrain his friend having received a blow to the ribs for his efforts already. He stood back at a safe distance and tried to talk some sense into Randy before Ted ended up in the hospital.

"Look, you just need to calm down, Randy. There could be a very good explanation for all of this," he tried to soothe.

"And just what would that be, John?" Randy seethed as he kept his glare firmly on Ted. This was not going to be easy. Randy always saw Cody as his little brother. He would do anything in the world to protect him from any heart ache. John would have to be extremely careful.

"Maybe it was an accident." Smooth, dumb ass. Smooth.

"An accident?" Randy screamed. "What, did someone fall and land on his dick?"

"Randy, please, just let me explain," Ted pleaded. He had to get his former mentor to calm down. He was becoming more and more frightened being stuck in a small car with Randy being in the state he was in. Visions of him with his jaw wired shut suddenly flashed in his head. These were not happy thoughts.

"Come on, Randy," John urged. "This is not the way to settle this. We need to take this somewhere else."

Seeing his friend calm down ever so slightly, John cautiously approached him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Let's get back in before someone calls the cops," he said gently.

After a moment's pause, Randy slowly nodded in agreement and started to head back inside. After waiting for Randy to walk a small distance Ted slowly made it out of his car and walked towards them at a distance just in case there was another temper flair. Deep down he knew he deserved to get his ass kicked, but he never wanted to do anything to hurt Cody. As he made his way through the hallways, he thought about how he had gotten into this mess to begin with.

It was a couple weeks after Cody left and Ted sat in a bar feeling miserable. Music was playing fairly loudly, but he didn't really pay attention to it. He was lost in his own world to the point where he didn't notice the smaller man watching him from a distance. Then the younger man approached him.

"Hi," he said. "I'm Greg."

"Hi, Greg," Ted said looking at him for the first time. He was somewhat lanky but handsome with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. "I saw you sitting here all by yourself, and you just looked so lonely."

"My boyfriend and I are kind of having a long distance relationship."

"Ouch. How's that going for you?"

"It pretty much sucks," Ted admitted. "I miss having him close to me. I'm so used to being with him all the time but now..."

"You're feeling a little withdrawal?" Ted nodded. "I know the feeling. Mine just got transferred last month."

The conversation went on for the better part of an hour. Talking led to drinking. Drinking led to dancing. Dancing led to flirting...

"And I guess you know the rest," Ted said as he paced John's locker room. A tear rolled down his face, but he didn't bother to wipe it. "I woke up the next morning next to him and I got out of there as fast as I could. I still can't believe I did it. But, now I wonder if Cody is doing the same thing. What if he found someone else and I'm stuck here? What if he moves on?"

Randy sat in a large chair staring into space with an intensity that was starting to make the other occupants of the room even more apprehensive. After what seemed like an eternity, he looked at Ted with a mixture of anger, and what was the worst, disappointment, and spoke calmly.

"You are going to have to tell Cody." Ted paled.

"How am I going to tell him that I cheated on him?" he asked desperately. "I can't, Randy. It'll kill him-"

"You should have thought of that before you slept with some random guy!"

Ted winced. He knew his friend was right, but how was he going to do this. He turned and looked to John for some support, but all he got was silence and a small shrug. After looking over his options for a minute, he turned back to Randy.

"I'll tell him," he said quietly. "But I'm doing it on my terms. It'll be when I can tell him to his face and when I know how to." He took a deep breath. "I never wanted to hurt him, Randy. You have got to believe that I love him."

Randy stared back at Ted, his face now blank. He suddenly felt very tired as if he had run a marathon. He never thought this of Ted. He thought he knew him better. At least he was owning up to his screw up, though. He had to give him that.

"I fully expect you to make this up to him, you hear me? Cody deserves someone who is honest and doesn't fuck around just because things get tough." Ted nodded numbly as fresh tears fell down his face. Randy sighed and placed a hand on his shoulder pulling the distraught man in an awkward embrace.

Ted placed his head on the larger man's shoulder and tried to draw in what strength he could. He knew deep down that he should tell Cody what had happened. But, could he do it? Could he admit that he had done that to him?

Cole could not believe what he had just heard. Ted had cheated on his precious Cody? What the hell was this world coming to? He knew that Ted worshiped the ground that Cody waled on. And Randy wasn't killing him? He was hugging him. He couldn't believe his luck! This was giving him so many ideas.

He headed to the ring, as he had heard Mike would be practicing there. A smirk crossed his face as a plan formed in his mind. If things worked out, he would have Randy in the palm of his hand in no time. He schooled his face into a look of concern as he approached Mike.

"Oh, hey Cole, you're back early. Hey, are you OK? What's wrong?"

A/N: Tensions are running high, Randy is pissed, Cody is clueless, and people are plotting. Something has got to give! What is Cole up to? How will this effect Mike? Is this going to spell the end for Cody and Ted? All this and more coming up. Reviews seem to be hard to come by these days. Please let me know what you think.