Chapter 18

The next morning, Jeff woke up before his brother. He grabbed his cell phone and went to the bathroom to call Meg. He was surprised when she didn't answer the phone. He left a short message:

"Hey Meg, it's me. I'll try your cell." He dialed the other number but she still did not pick up. Jeff figured that she was probably at a friend's house, or it was just too early for her to be up. He put down the phone and looked in the mirror. He actually felt relieved that she hadn't picked up the phone. Last night was the happiest he had been in a long time. So where does this put him and Meg, he thought to himself.

He came back out and looked to his brother. Matt was still snoring. Jeff shook his head and went to look in on Jessica. He stared at her sleeping peacefully in the bed. For the longest time he dreamed of seeing her like this again; a part of his life. Jess always brought out the good in him and he was thankful for another chance. He went to shut the door when he heard her stir.

"Jeff?" She asked softly.

"Yea, it's me." He said. "I just wanted to check and make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine. Do you want to come in?" She sat up as he entered and sat on the bed.

"How ya feeling?"

"Believe it or not, I got a headache." She said.

"Must have been the orange." He joked. "Do you want an aspirin?"

"Yes, please."

"Wait here. I'll be back." He left and came back with the aspirin and a glass of water.

"Ugh, you're not gonna pour that on me are you?"

"No, you're safe, for now." He smiled.

"Thank you." She said and took the pill. "I think I should have stayed with Vodka."

"The legend falls." Jeff shook her head. "Wait till I tell Jay."

"Don't you dare." She yawned.

"Still tired?"

"A little. What time is it?" She asked.

"Almost nine. We should probably get ready." She nodded to him and looked down at her clothing.

"Did my clothes dry?"

"I think you left them lying on the bathroom floor. Don't worry. I got to have something you can borrow. Help yourself." She got up and went into the other room. She stopped briefly and looked down at Matt.

"I forgot how loud he snored." She said and went to Jeff's bag. She pulled out a tee shirt and some pants. Jeff watched her as she held up the pants.

"There should be belt in there somewhere, maybe you can use it. Go take a shower; I'll wake up sleeping beauty. While Jessica showered Jeff punched his brother to wake him up.

"Ow!" Matt jumped up.

"Morning" Jeff said and quickly backed away before his brother could respond.

"Nice." Matt grumbled and headed to the bathroom to clean up. As he shut the door Jeff's cell phone went off. Thinking it was Meg he answered the phone.

"Didn't you get my message?" He heard a deep voice say to him. "I told you to stay away." The phone went dead. Jeff stared down at the screen on the phone that flashed unknown caller.

"Who was on the phone? Matt asked as he came out.

"Guess." Jeff said disgusted.

"He called your cell?"

"Yea." Jeff went to the door and checked to make sure the guards were still there. He nodded to them. He handed them the phone.

"Call Vince." He told them. "We got another call." He shut the door, when he heard Jessica coming out. Jeff quickly glanced at his brother to warn him not to say anything.

"Morning. She said to Matt as she came out. "Jeff, I think I killed your belt." She said and held up the part she had torn off.

"Don't worry about it." He said and there was a knock at the door. Jeff opened it quickly and stepped outside. The guards were there as was room service. "She doesn't know." He warned the guards, "and I don't want her to." Jeff pushed the cart inside.

"Come and get it." He said and they came over to check out the food. Jeff lifted the first lid and saw fruit and yogurt.

"I think that's mine." Jessica said and grabbed it. Matt and Jeff were relieved to see regular food on the other two plates. They ate and finished getting ready then watched some TV before heading downstairs to leave. They got in their car and took the short ride to the arena. Since the guards were there they stayed silent. Jeff laughed at how awkward the situation felt. Jessica looked at him and knowingly smiled.

When they got to the arena they were quickly ushered in. Shane was waiting for them.

"What the hell are you wearing?" He said as they walked up to him.

"I didn't have any clothes so I borrowed some of Jeff's." She told him.

"Well Stephanie sent me with this." He handed her a bag. She looked inside and pulled a top out.

"Look! Girly clothes." She exclaimed.

"Why don't you change before everyone starts arriving?" Shane smiled at her.

"Okay." She gave him a peck on the cheek. "Thanks Shane." She went off to change leaving the three of them alone.

"My dad said she was really upset yesterday." Shane said looking at them.

"Yea, she was." Matt said.

"Well, I'm glad you were there for her." He let them know. Jeff looked at him surprised. "I just want her to be happy."

"So do we." Jeff said.

"I know that and I apologize for some of my earlier behavior." Shane put out his hand. Wearily, Jeff shook it, then so did Matt.

"What's this I see?" The guys turned to see Jessica coming out to them. "Am I witnessing peace?"

"Don't make a big deal out of it." Shane told her. "Come on, we have a lot of work to do. Let's get you guys settled then you need to work on your promo."

Shane showed them the security settings that Vince had put in place, then took them to the board so they could see their schedule for tonight. After he gave them their scripts for the promos, Shane gave Jessica a hug, wished them all good luck and excused himself.

"That was a very mellow Shane." Jeff said.

"Yea. Well, here comes a wilder one." They looked to where Matt was gesturing and saw Shane Helms and Shannon Moore coming up the hallway. Shannon swooped Jessica up and spun her around.

"Hey Shan, slow it down."

"Wow, One week and already you're in the big brother mode." Helms said. "You work quickly. How ya doing baby" He hugged her.

"Great, now that all my boys are here." She looked at them with a smile. "It's good to see you guys."

"Man I can't believe it's really you." Shannon said. "And you are hotter than ever."

"Watch it." Matt said and Jessica laughed.

"I missed you to Shanny." She kissed his cheek.

"Hey, what about me?" Helms asked.

"Oh I'm saving something special for you." She joked.

"All right enough of this." Jeff said and protectively took her hand. Shannon and Shane looked to Matt. "Jess, why don't you head over to makeup and get ready for the shoot. We'll meet up with you after we get settled." Jessica's face turned serious when she realized that Matt and Jeff planned on telling their friends everything that is going on.

"Just don't make me seem so pathetic." She said to him.

"I could never do that. It'll be okay. Go ahead." He let go of her hand and she walked away.

"So what's the deal?" Shannon said when she was gone. "Last I heard from you guys, she was freaking out. You left for New York and we haven't heard anything since."

"Yeah, sorry about that. It's been really hectic." Matt relayed everything that had happened to Jessica, before and after her return.

"So some son of bitch is out there terrorizing her?" Shane asked.

"Not only her." Matt said and looked to Jeff.

"He's not scaring me." Jeff said. "He's pissing me off."

"Jeff's been getting phone calls since the day Jess return." Matt told them.

"So how do we help?" Shannon asked.

"Jess doesn't want to go home, not after what happened so Vince agreed she's can stay with me." Matt said.

"It'd be great if one of you guys can hang out there." Jeff told them. "I don't want them to be alone." Jeff said.

"What about you?" Shane asked him.

"I'm gonna stay at my place." He said.

"Yeah, I still don't think that's a good idea."Matt told him.

"Look, we don't have a real choice. Besides what about Meg?"

"Massive sleepover?" Shannon joked and everyone just stared at him. "Sorry."

"Now is not the time for Meg and Jess to meet. Trust me." Jeff said. "So I'll stay at my house and Jess will be with Matt."

"You know I'm with ya, bro." Shane said to Matt.

"Yea and I'll stay at Jeff's just in case." Shannon said.

"Who are you gonna protect me from?" Jeff said to him.

"It's agreed" Matt cut him off. "No arguments Jeff. Shannon will stay with you and Meg. Either that or everyone stays and my house and we let Jess and Meg meet." Matt said knowing his brother did not want that. Jeff's fist slammed the wall. He knew he had no choice. He was afraid of the two of them meeting. Jessica knew he had cheated on her but he wasn't sure how she would take to the fact that he was still with Meg. The women he cheated on her with. He wasn't sure if Jess even knew who he had cheated with, but he didn't want to find out.

"Let's go find Adam and Jay and work on the promo." Matt said to his brother. "You two stay out of trouble." He told Shannon and Shane.

They went to the dressing room and Jay and Adam were already there.

"Hey guys." Jay said as the two brothers came in.

"Where's Jess?" Adam asked.

"Make up." Jeff told them. "We'll meet up with her for the promos."

"She okay?" Jay asked.

"Yea. She just needs us to act normal. Do are jobs." They nodded at him.

"So what are we doing tonight?" Matt said

"Ladder match" Adam said.

"So quickly? You'd think they want to build it up." Jeff said.

"They do. This week, ladder match, next week chairs. Anyone want to guess the next?" Jay asked.

"TLC?" Matt guessed.

"Bingo. But they're saving that for the pay per view."

"What about Jess?" Jeff said.

"She gets to cut a killer promo with all of us and Vicky, then she'll be at ringside and take Vicky out again." They discussed their match and what they wanted to do. Eventually they headed out to tape their promos. When they got there Jessica was fully dressed and decked out laughing with Vicky.

"Hey no fraternizing with the enemy." Jeff said and came up to her.

"Hey! Everything okay?" Jessica asked.

"Everything is great. I may have even remembered my lines." Jeff told her as Stephanie and Shane came in.

"Okay let's get going. We're running late." Stephanie said. She went over to Jessica. "I think you'll need this. I took the liberty of improving your style." She joked and handed Jessica a bag filled with more clothes.

"As long as I can stop wearing Jeff's clothes, I'll wear anything."

"Okay. Let's do this." Shane said. Jessica, Jeff, and Matt were on scene first, while the rest hung back till their cues.

Jeff: Well you could have at least called.

Jessica: What, and ruin my surprise? (Jessica leaned into him suggestively.)

Matt: Well, did you have to knock Vicky out in the process?

Jessica: Vicky? Vicky? I can't recall the name.

Matt: The general manager of Smackdown.

Jessica: Oh, her. What can I say? I wanted to make my presence known. (Vicky enters with Edge & Christian)

Vicky: Who do you think you are?

Jessica: I'm sorry. We haven't been (Pause) properly introduced. I'm Jessica, I'm sure Edge had told you all about me. (She stroked Adam's chest. He looks excited.)

Vicky: Edge!

Edge: Sorry, babe. Listen, we got screwed last week.

Christian: Yea, before she got involved we were winning.

Jessica: That's not the match I was watching.

Christian: Shut up.

Jeff: Don't talk to her that way.

Vicky: That's enough. Tonight we will have Edge and Christian vs. The Hardy's in a ladder match.

Matt: That's just fine with us. (They start to exit, Jessica heads towards Edge)

Jessica: (Seductively) See you in the ring. (Exits. Vicky looks at Edge then storms off)

"Cut!" The director said.

"Perfect." Stephanie said. "We don't need another take."

"I bring out the best in them." Jessica teased.

"Okay, just go work on your match. Make it good" They all headed off. After reviewing the match again, they passed the time telling jokes and replaying previous pranks they had pulled on one another. Before long they were all headed to the ring. Adam and Jay went out first to a lot of heat. Then the beats to the Hardy entrance theme went off and the crowd went crazy. The three of them ran into the ring like old times. They took a few extra minutes to interact with the crowd. Then Jessica stepped out of the ring and the match started.

Jessica watched and cheered her boys as they all attacked each other in the ring. Then they pulled the ladders out. They continued assaulting each other with ladders and incredible high flying jumps. Jeff came out of the ring and threw the twenty foot ladder into the ring. As he set it up in the corner the crowd went crazy. Jeff climbed the ring post preparing to leap frog the ladder as Matt knocked Adam down. Jeff put his arms on the ladder and jumped off.

That's where everything went wrong. Instead of him flying over the ladder as he pushed of it, the ladder buckled and then collapsed. Everyone watched in horror, as Jeff Hardy came crashing down through the ladder. For a moment know one moved. Matt quickly came up behind Adam and pinned him for the win as Jessica rolled into the ring to check on him.

"Jeff?" She yelled but got no response. Matt came over to check on his brother. He shook him but Jeff was still unresponsive. An emergency crew came out to check on him. After applying some smelling salts Jeff started to move.

"Stay still." One of the EMT's said. They strapped him to the board and he was pulled out of the ring in a stretcher. All of them followed behind worried. The crowd cheered as they left, thinking they had just witnessed just another plot twist.

When they got to the back everyone was panicking.

"What the hell happened?" Shane asked.

"I don't know." Jay said. "Everything was going fine and then the ladder just broke, almost in half." Jessica and Matt were over by Jeff as the doctors checked him out.

"I'm fine. Just get me out of this."

"Jeff," Matt started. "You've took a pretty big fall."

"I've taken bigger, now unstrap me!" Jeff yelled. Matt nodded to the staff and they unstrapped Jeff from the board. He sat up slowly. He looked to Jessica.

"I'm fine." He tried to reassure her. She took his hand.

"Are you sure. Maybe you should let the doctors check you out." She said softly.

"I'm good. Just help me up." She helped pull him up and he fell into her. "Sorry." He said steadying himself. She looked at him worryingly.

"Maybe you should sit back down." She started then stopped after looking at him. "Well, at least lean on me."

"That I can do." He smiled. They noticed the commotion at the entrance ramp. Vince came over to them.

"You okay?" He asked Jeff.

"I'm fine."

"Good. I need you guys to head to the office." Vince said and walked away.

"What's going on?" Jessica asked.

"Let's just take this somewhere private." Stephanie said looking around at everyone who had gathered. Jessica also looked around and realized that her security guards had returned and they were standing right behind her.