"So does Jeff know yet?" Phil asked Matt, as they walked down the hall of the arena in Los Angeles.

Matt frowned, "no."

Phil and Jay both stopped in their tracks, "what?" Phil asked.

"You're not going to tell him. You know that he won't take it well." Jay said to Matt as they continued walking.

Matt sighed, "look, I know I need to tell him. I'm just trying to avoid it until after the shows already started."

"Matt, come on man, they're going to have to work together in the ring tonight." Phil stated.

"Yeah, Matt. Giving him less time to get ready for the inevitable isn't going to do him any good." Jay said.

The three men stopped at the corner of the hall.

"I know. Okay. I know I have to tell him soon." Matt said, knowing that Jeff wasn't going to take the news well. He couldn't blame his brother.

"Tell him." Jay told him as he and Phil turned the corner to head towards catering.

Matt just waved them off; they were right, he needed to tell Jeff. With that thought, he continued walking, looking for Jeff.

"Welcome back, big man."

Mark's blank expression quickly morphed into a large smile when he lifted his head to meet the eyes that were locked on him. Mark took his bag off of his shoulder and placed it on a large crate as he stopped in front of his greeter.

"You ready for return number, what, 857?" the man laughed as Mark pulled him into a hug.

Mark smirked, "funny, Orton. Didn't Cowboy ever teach you to respect your elders?"

Randy laughed, "yeah, he did. I should know better than to mess with old guys like you."

Mark grabbed his bag from the crate and moved to put his arm around Randy's shoulders.

"Mind helping an old man find his locker room, punk?" Mark asked, smiling.

"I guess I should, seeing as how I've already made myself comfortable in there." Randy smirked, leading Mark and himself to what was now their joint locker room.

The two men walked through the hall and luckily were able to avoid any of their friends. Thankfully, most of the other wrestlers were either at a promotional gig or had yet to arrive to the arena.

When they reached the locker room Mark threw his bag onto the floor and watched as Randy hopped onto the table in the room. Mark made himself comfortable on the couch across for where Randy was sitting.

"How was your flight in?" Randy asked.

"Too long and very tiring. A bit uneventful without all of the guys. Quiet planes are always a little weird when I'm used to being on one with all of you knuckleheads."

"I asked if you wanted me to take a flight into Texas. I would have flown in with you." the Viper told the Deadman.

"No, I know you offered. I appreciate it, but I didn't want you to have to make extra arrangements just to keep me company." Mark replied.

"It wouldn't have been a problem. I've been making the effort these past couple of months, wouldn't have hurt to do it one last time." Randy told Mark.

Although they had always been pretty close friends before, Mark and Randy had really gotten a chance to know each other a little better while Mark was out rehabbing his injuries. Randy was in Texas for a small promotional tour for shows the WWE would be doing later that year and because he was added to the press tour at late notice, it was too late for him to call for a hotel. Because he and Mark were good friends, he called him up and asked if it would be possible for him to stay the night there. He had called and reserved a hotel for the following night, but Mark had insisted he stayed with him, saying spending the money on a single nights stay in a hotel was ridiculous. Randy was quick to accept the offer when he was sure he wouldn't be an inconvenience to Mark.

The two days; although quick and uneventful, had sparked something in both men. At first it was very innocent, Mark and Randy were both unsure what to make of the situation they found themselves in.

Two weeks after those two days Randy spent at Mark's place, he decided to call him up and see how he was doing.

"Still stiff and sore, but i'll be back. Don't go thinking I'm ready to drop my spot and let you take over it, kid." Mark laughed into the phone.

Randy laughed too, "no, no, of course not. I'm waiting for my Wrestlemania rematch. I'm aiming to break the streak before I knock you from your throne."

"Well, you never know. Maybe you'll be the punk I lose it to." Mark couldn't see Randy, but he could picture the small smile on his lips that he knew must have formed at the idea.

Randy indeed wore a small smile at the idea, "one day, Deadman, one day. Just wait."

"I'll be ready for you. A few new parts since the last time, but I'll be ready." Mark told him.

After that call, they continued to stay in touch and soon Randy found himself changing his schedule in order to visit with Mark for a few hours.

"Jeffro." Matt said, finding his brother.

Jeff, who was walking out of the locker room, was turned around abruptly, "Matt, slow down, man. What's going on?"

"Mark's here." Matt said before he lost the nerve. Jeff just looked at him, "Mark's here. He's back in the ring tonight."

"Okay." Jeff answered, hoping his voice didn't betray him.

Matt shock his head, "no, Jeff. He's in back in the ring tonight, after your match. You're going to have to work with him."

"Fine." Ruffling through his bag, Jeff just mumbled to Matt, "it's fine, Matt. Don't worry about me. I'll just go talk to Vince about what it is we're doing. It'll be fine."

Grabbing whatever he was looking for, Jeff gave his brother a weak smile of assurance and then walked out of the room.

Randy fidgeted with his iPod as Mark sat on the couch talking to his sons on his cell phone. When he hung up, Randy put it down and spoke without looking at the Phenom in front of him.

"Mark, I know I probably assumed a little with bringing my bag in here and making myself comfortable. It didn't really hit me until a little while ago. I feel really awkward now. We never really talked about what it would mean when you came back on the road." he said.

He heard a chuckle and finally raised his head, "you're right. We didn't discuss any of the specifics, but I figured that we'd just roll with it."

"I just figured that with you coming back we'd... I don't know. That it'd be like this, I guess, but... I don't know now." Randy shrugged.

Seeing the look of confusion and regret on his face, Mark spoke up,"maybe we do need to discuss things then." he suggested, "but for now, I think everything's fine. I enjoy your company and I definitely don't mind sharing my locker room with you, if that's what you're worried about."

Randy sighed and gave Mark a small smile.

Mark stepped up to the table to lean against it, he folded his arms across his chest and sighed.

"I think I know where you're getting at, and yeah, I guess we do need to talk about it. Can't really ignore it now. I assure you though, you don't need to worry about anything. Nothing's going to change." Mark paused for a moment and when Randy still hadn't reacted he added, "At least I hope, I think I know where you're getting at and i'm not making a fool of myself."

The smile grew on Randy's face and he turned to Mark, "I think you do. But I do have some questions and things I need to get off my chest."

"Okay. We'll talk tonight. After the show." Mark said turning his head and catching a ghost of a kiss from Randy's lips.

"I'm the Legend Killer, the Viper, Randy Orton and you've got me sitting here feeling like a school girl." he laughed, shaking his head.

Mark shrugged, "I'm The Undertaker," he simply stated with a smirk.

"Have you seen Vince? He's not in his office and i've been waiting for half an hour." Jeff asked John Laurenitis.

John looked down at his clip board, "He's, uh... Oh, he's not coming in until later. He's having a meeting with some people. Must be why no one's been yelled at."

Jeff laughed, "well I need to talk to him about the show."

"Yeah, the spot with Mark. Hold on a second." John told him.

Jeff took a step back as John made a phone call. As he waited, he started to feel the butterflies start to flutter in his stomach. He doesn't love you. He probably never did. You don't need to give a fuck about him anymore.

Snapping Jeff out of his haze John informed him that he'd have to speak to Mark about it. He already knew what was supposed to happen and unfortunately for Jeff, he was the only who knew how the night was going to play out.

"Alright, thanks, John. I'll see you later." Jeff said, his heart in his throat.

After ten minutes of trying to will himself to look for Mark and about a ten minute search for Mark's locker room, Jeff found himself staring straight at the door in front of him. With a huge sigh he brought his fist up to the door and knocked on it three times. He swallowed, dropped his arm and waited for Mark to answer.

another chapter done. i'd LOVE to see some REVIEWS on it. didn't get as many REVIEWS on my last two chapters as I was hoping. i really hope that i haven't lost all of my readers. i really appreciate the REVIEWS i got from Slashdlite, BellaHickenbottom, TorturedTourniquet and Takers Dark Lover. i really APPRECIATE it. THANK YOU!

i think i actually know where i want this story to go, so hopefully the chapters will come to me a bit quicker. thanks again to all those reading. please REVIEW! =]