A few nights had passed, and Ted still had not spoken to Cody. He couldn't find the right time to do it, and he didn't want to see the betrayed look that he knew was going to cloud his lover's eyes. Randy wasn't helping matters much. It seemed every other conversation he was badgering him to tell Cody the truth, already. He seemed on edge about something else as well, but Ted couldn't tell for the life of him what that was about. He mentally shrugged as he played his video game.

Maybe he was just worried about Mike. The smaller man had been somewhat withdrawn over the last few days, and no one knew just why. It seemed that it had started the same night that he had blurted to John about his...affair. All the same, it wasn't normal for the Clevelander to be as quiet as he was, and it didn't sit right with Ted at all.

The fact of the matter was that he had other things on his mind that had to be taken care of first. He had to be honest to Cody about what had happened. That was why he had managed to get a couple of days off for the both of them. He had to tell his lover the truth no matter what the consequences would be.

He is pulled from his thoughts by a key sliding in the front door of his apartment. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. This was going to be a long night.

5 days later

Mike sat in the middle of yet another hotel room after an intense workout. He was reading a magazine, but if asked, there was no way he could guess what he was reading about. What was it that Randy wasn't telling him? Why was Ted so upset? He was Ted's friend, right?

But it seemed that both his lover and friend were keeping something pretty big from him, and it was starting to grate on his nerves. If Cole hadn't said anything to him, he wouldn't have even known that something was wrong to begin with. That Ted was crying, and Randy was holding him in an embrace, while John stood in the background looking uneasy. Of course, he wouldn't expect John to tell him anything.

So, he was left to only guess what the hell seemed to be wrong with his friends and lover. Maybe he should give Cody a call. He was about to pick up his phone when Randy walked with a look of annoyance and concern that seemed to be a permanent fixture on his face recently.

"Where were you?" Mike asked jokingly. "Dinner is almost going to turn into a midnight snack." Randy groaned in realization.

"Oh, yeah, about that," he said distractedly. "I need to go talk to Ted for a while. You're OK to do something by yourself, are you?" He pulled the smaller man in his arms and placed a brief kiss on his temple. Mike was not having this.

"This is the third time; what the hell is going on?"

"I've been helping him with some stuff." Randy inwardly winced at the transparency of what he said. How lame did he sound?

"Fine, go ahead and help him with some "stuff"," Mike said rolling his eyes. "I was just about to call Cody, we haven't talked in a while."

"No!" the quick response made Mike jump back. "I mean, I don't think that's a good idea right now."

"Why?" Mike asked. "What is going on? Is there something I should know about? These are my friends, too, you know."

Randy studied the other man for a moment, feeling guilty at the hurt he could hear in his lover's voice. "Ted and Cody are having some problems right now, and I have been helping Ted through some of it."

"What kind of trouble?" Now Mike was really starting to get worried.

After a thinking it over, the other man told him everything that was going on the last few days. How Cody was refusing to talk to almost anyone apart from a couple people on Smackdown and his older brother, and would not even be in the same room with Ted. How Ted had been inconsolable and hated himself. All through the whole narrative, he could think of only one thing.

"Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"Ted asked me not to mention this to anyone. He didn't want this spread around the locker room-"

"You think that I would tell anyone about this? Like I'm some gossip whore?" He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"No!" Randy insisted. "It's not like that! You know how Ted is when he's upset about something. And Cody is practically a recluse these days. The few people who know what's going on have been sworn to secrecy."

"I'm not just anyone around here, damn it!" Mike seethed. "I thought that I was there friend. And I thought that you were my boyfriend." he added icily. "What else have you not told me about?"

"Mike, please," Randy didn't know what to say. "Look, why don't you come with me, and we'll both talk to Ted. Maybe we can get him to get some fresh air that doesn't involve promo work or trying to convince people he hasn't lost his mind. How does that sound?"

"So you told me because now I can be useful to you?" Mike sneered burying the feelings of betrayal.

"What? No! I'm asking, because I thought you would want to help. This isn't about you, Mike!'" Randy rubbed his forehead getting more and more angry with the situation. "Look, when you're done being a self centered ass, I'll be at Ted's trying to stop him from hanging himself."

"God, fine! I'm going to go eat dinner. Alone. Again." Mike grabbed his keys and wallet and stormed out of the room slamming the door for good measure. As he went down the hall, he didn't even notice he was being watched.

Randy found Ted in his room laying on his bed. With no one else around to talk to him aside from Maryse and he had regressed deeper and deeper into depression.

"Have you moved in the last few hours, Ted?" Randy asked. He was trying to keep the concern out of his voice.

"He's going to leave me," Ted droned. His gaze never left he ceiling." He's going to leave, and it will be all my fault. He won't talk to me, look at me..." Tears began to fall down his face.

"Ted, you can stop that from happening," Randy insisted. The emo routine was starting to get to him."But you need to pull yourself together. Yeah, you fucked up, but you just need to prove to Cody that you still love him, and that you won't do it again. Yeah, it's going to be hard, but it'll be worth it in the end."

"He's going to leave me, and-" but Randy had heard enough. Between Mike's outburst and Ted, well, lack of anything, it all became too much. He grabbed Ted and carried him to the bathroom with a hand over the younger man's mouth to muffle the shouts of protest. He quickly stripped him down to his boxers and threw him in the shower. "What the hell are you doing?"

Randy turned on the cold water at full blast and slapped Ted in the face for good measure. "Waking you to hell up! Now I'm going to day this again: If you want Cody to take you back, you need to do anything in your power to prove that you are not going to whore yourself out to the next guy that comes your way. Work on your appearance. Give him little gifts and shit! Whatever it takes, Ted!"

Ted looked back at Randy temporarily speechless. Then he found his voice.

"OK," he murmured weakly.

"Well, that's one way to get him out of bed." The two looked to the doorway and saw John (H) and Maryse standing outside the small bathroom looking amused.

"It's good to see you out of bed," John continued. "Now when you're ready, we can try to get Cody to stop hiding in his room, and we'll be in business. Where the hell is Mike, he can usually help out."

"Mike's busy," Randy replied trying not to betray too much of what was going on. There was no way he wanted John to know that they were arguing. That was the last thing he needed right now.

"He doesn't know what's going on yet," Ted said, unknowingly coming to Randy's rescue for the time being.

"He doesn't know what's going on at all?" John asked surprised.

"The only people who know around here are the people in this room and John," Maryse threw in. "The less people sticking there noses in this, the better."

"Good point," John mused. "But I wouldn't keep him in the dark too long. He acts all hurt if you do. I should know." "And it looks like you know, too. Don't you, Randy?"

"Look, let's just worry about him right now," Randy grabbed a towel and flung it at Ted. "We have a relationship that needs some serious rehab."

John watched him and knew that there was something he wasn't saying, but he kept it to himself. He did what he could do for his friend, and he hadn't made him see sense. Ah well, he would just have to learn the hard way.

A/N: OK, so Ted is getting off of his ass. Will he be able to prove to his coddles that he isn't a complete man whore? Will it be enough to save his otherwise doomed relationship? Reviews are food. Feed me.