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***Matt's POV***

I never fall back to sleep after the dream.  I lie awake the entire night, asking myself over and over what was happening...not only did the humiliation in the bar keep coming back to taunt me, but that dream....it seemed so vivid, but...Eddie????

Finally, the morning rolls around and I have an excuse to be awake.  Of course, there's still nothing to do but sit around and get on my own nerves, so it's not a terribly great improvement.

Until there's a knock on the door.  Probably Jeff, forgetting his keys again.  I get up to open the door...

"Where's your slut of a brother?" Benoit growls at me as he shoves his way into the room.  Saturn and Malenko aren't too far behind.

I shake my head.  Oh God, they're in my room...there's three of them.  "I...I don't know."

Malenko tilts his head.  "I think he's lying."

Benoit glares at me, but it soon twisted into a sick smile.  "He is.  But that's ok, we can always kick his ass instead..."

Before I even know what's happening, Saturn shoves me down and Malenko is holding me there.  I close my eyes tightly, whatever happens I don't want to see it.

All my breath rushes out of me with the first punch.  Oh God, it doesn't hurt this much in the ring...

And there's the noise of scuffling, but I do not dare to open my eyes for fear that they're just figuring out who gets to hit me next.  Then, I feel gentle fingers brushing over my face.  "Are you ok?"  The voice is accented...oh shit.

I open my eyes slowly to stare into Eddie's face.  "What's...."

I never get the chance to finish my question, because Eddie gets up and leaves without answering me.  I try to follow him, but he's gone around a corner by the time I collect myself enough to get off the floor.

I slump onto the couch.  Dammit, I hate this!  I don't even know what the hell just happened.  Eddie...he hurt Jeff.  I know he did, it was the Radicals, Jeff told me.  But Eddie saved me....from his friends.  Is this some kind of set-up?  Am I just falling into a trap?  I want to hate him...but I can't, because when I try, I see his face when he  was leaning over me, I feel his arms around me in my dream.

"Matt?  You were supposed to meet me downstairs ten minutes ago...."  Sean's voice from the doorway is gentle.  I must look really pathetic to escape his mockery today.  "Matt, what's wrong?"

I look up at him.  "The Radicals came by looking for Jeff, but he wasn't here, so they decided to get mad at me instead."

Sean shakes his head.  "Don't you know anything?  Like as in look before you open the door?"  He  sighs in exasperation.  "Your eye is swelling.  Come on, lemme get something cold on there."  He leads me into the bathroom, where he orders me to hold a cold towel against my eye.  "Do you think this has anything to do with you confronting Gurerro yesterday?"

"That's the most confusing part.  It was the other three that came in to kick my ass.  I had my eyes closed...but I heard fighting...and  then Eddie was there and not the others."  I glance up at Sean.  "He left before I could ask him why."

Sean stared at me for a moment, then shook his head for the millionth time.  "Matt, you're giving me this look like you just lost your puppy..."  He stopped. "No.  NO.  You are NOT falling for him."

My throat started to close.  "Of course not..."  Sean's questioning gaze stops me.  "Ok, so maybe I am...it's not like I can choose to or not."   Alright Matt, go for the cliched defense.  I'm just batting a thousand here today.

Sean lightly brushes his fingers down my face, and again, his voice is surprisingly gentle.  "Matt, I know it's hard but...it just isn't right.  Eddie...he'll hurt you, and no one wants to see that happen."  He sighs.  "Look, we need to get going now so that we get to Smackdown on time, ok?  Let’s just get on this plane…” His face breaks into a grin, “get some nice booze into you, and help you forget about that Mexican sewer rat, ok?”

I really don’t get much of a choice in the matter.

***Sean’s POV***

I learned something new today.  It doesn’t take all that much to get Matt Hardy drunk.  And once you get him drunk, you really can’t do much else with him, cuz he gets real depressed and starts singing really bad country songs…it’s just too awful to think about.  Needless to say, the first thing I did when we got off a plane was get Matt a nice hotel room and tuck him into bed.  Then, I headed down to the bar to try and work myself into blessed inebriation.

Everything’s going great, until a blonde sits down next to me.  “Hey X-Punk…”

I groan.  “What do you want, Jerky?”

Chris Jericho looks offended.  “I want to talk.  Is that so wrong?”

I’m still skeptical.  “Coming from you, yes.”

He sighs.  “Look, I was just thinking…maybe you had some idea what the hell is going on with Matt Hardy?”

Ok, now I’m on the defensive.  Jericho is Eddie's little friend, and Mat’s got some freak obsession with Eddie...and none of it adds up.  “Why do you care about Matt?”

Jericho shifted, turning to look at me.  “Eddie’s been sulking around, looking all moody…and it isn’t like him...and I heard him mention Matt’s name…”

Oh great.  Now he’s playing the sympathy card.  How the hell do I let myself get dragged into these things?  “Maybe kicking Jeff’s ass is catching up to him…”

Jericho tilts his head.  “What’re you talking about?”

Looks like we got a real smart one on our hands.  “Last night?  The Radicals jumping Jeff?  Remember?”

He’s trying not to smile.  “I hate to burst your bubble, but Eddie was with me all last night.  He doesn’t exactly spend much time hanging around with the rest of the Radicals.”

“How stupid do you think I am?”  If this guy, with his blue little eyes and pretty blonde hair thinks he’s gonna con me, he has another think coming.  “I know you’re covering for him.”

Jericho shook his head.  “Look, I thought you might want to actually not be a prick for a few minutes so we can figure out how to get your friend out of the mess that my friend is in, but I guess not.  I’m gonna go…”

He got up to leave, but I pulled him back down by his sleeved.  “Ok ok.  So, what the hell is going on at your end?”

“I’m not quite sure.”  He shrugged.  “I was with Eddie at the bar last night and Matt pretty much went off on him.  And then today, I come to find Eddie, and he’s bleeding from the knuckles, and all he’ll tell me was he had to help Matt out...and he told me to avoid the Radicals…and he;s just sitting up there moping around.”  He rubbed his forehead in frustration.  “Care to fill me in on the other end of the story?”

I took a deep breath.  “The Radicals kicked Jeff’s ass.  Matt got upset, yelled at Eddie, who acted like he had no idea what was going on.  Then today, they stop by and try to beat Matt up, but apparently Eddie came by and helped out.  And now Matt’s in a drunken stupor.”

We sit there in silence for a moment.  “Well, I’m still clueless…” Jericho finally remarked.

***Matt’s POV***

I don’t know how much longer this can go on.  Of course, I’ve spent 25 years utterly lost as to who I am and what I’m doing here, but I’m more confused than ever now.  I’ve never been attracted to the “bad boy” type, I’ve always tried to find someone who I know won’t hurt me, who will keep me safe…but Eddie is definitely not that.  He is dangerous, I know this, and yet there’s just…something...that tells me there’s something beyond what I see.  But then again, am I just over-romanticizing again?  I do that sometime...imagine that people are things they aren’t because it fits my vision of who I wish they were.  Basically, I’m only sure of one thing right now…that I’m not sure of anything anymore.

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I think you're so mean, I think we should try
I think I could need this in my life
And I think I'm scared that I think  too much
I know this is wrong it's a problem I'm dealing