Mending Hearts

"Hey, buddy!" Chris Benoit greeted Adam as he walked into the hotel. "It's been forever!"

"It's only been a few months since I've seen you," Adam smiled.

"It felt like forever," the shorter man grinned. "You've been working out again, huh?"

"Does it show?"

"Well, you look better," Chris grinned. "And not like the 200 pound stick figure I've heard about on the internet."

"For the last time," Adam grumbled, "I don't know who that fan saw, but it wasn't me! I haven't gone to one game this season."

"Well, you know how rumors start," Terry smiled as he sidled up to the two Canadians. "How's the neck feeling?"

"Fine, Mother," Adam laughed. "And yours?"

"Stop being a wiseass," Terry, also known as Rhyno, frowned. "You still haven't been cleared yet."

"Yeah," Chris agreed, mirroring Terry's paternal expression. "We know how easy it is to give into the urge to overexert it, too. Like when you visit a friend and start playing muscle men in a bar when you're not supposed to."

"I didn't hurt it again," Adam sighed defensively. "And Lance pulled back immediately when I asked him to. We were just horsing around."

"I read his account of it and yours," Terry replied. "I also read between the lines."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning we know you must have been in a lot pain to even say something," Chris finished for Terry. "Stop pushing yourself before your body's ready. Or I'll put you in a crossface and really give you something to complain about."

"Yes, Mothers," Adam grinned.

"Did you see Matt on Raw?" Terry asked changing the subject, much to Adam's relief.

"Yeah," the tall blond replied. "He looked good."

"Poor Shannon, though," Chris muttered.

"Why?" Adam frowned deeply. "What happened?"

"Matt's a friend of yours," Chris said with an arched eyebrow. "So don't take this the wrong way, but he's a prick sometimes."

Adam remained quiet but beckoned for an explanation with his eyes.

"He used the kid," Terry cut in. "He used his longtime friendship with him to get him into bed, told him they'd be a rising force on Smackdown then took the first chance he could to jump to Raw. He didn't even ask the writers to work something out for Shannon before he left. Like the kid didn't mean a thing to him."

Adam tried to keep a neutral expression on his face but it was hard. Matt slept with Shannon? But he and Adam talked just before the Canadian's operation and Matt had indicated that he was pining for someone on Raw, though he wouldn't say who. Matt had gone a little crazy when Jeff left, so Adam just assumed that he was missing his brother. But Matt and Shannon never seemed like anything more than two old friends teaming up together. Adam hadn't revealed his infatuation with the smaller blond to anyone, so Matt couldn't have known. But if this was true, Adam figured the dark- haired Southerner had gone a little crazier than he'd first suspected. It didn't sound like the friend he knew.

"So, how's Shannon doing?" he asked as nonchalantly as he could muster.

"Well, he's okay for now," Terry said. "Heyman is coming up with a new image for him and working a small program where his character is punishing Shannon's for not telling him Version 1.0 was leaving for the competition. But the kid's still pretty down in the dumps."

"I can't believe Matt did something like that," Adam sighed.

"Believe it," Chris said shrugging. "He's been different lately, Adam. Not like the Matt you used to hang with."

"But the poor kid," Adam said.

"Yeah, we agree," Terry said. "That's where you come in."

"Me?" Adam asked jerking his head back up to meet Terry's gaze, then Chris'.

"Yeah, you," Chris smiled. "The kid's got no one to travel with at the moment, seeing as how Matt kept him close after you left."

Adam nodded silently, but inside his head the wheels were turning. Travel with Shannon? Oh, they didn't need to ask him twice. He'd do it gladly. He'd also try to get the smaller blond to cheer up and open up. He wanted to know what the hell happened since he'd been gone.

"Can you do this for us?" Chris asked sincerely.

"Yeah, no problem," Adam smiled.

*******************************

Shannon studied the carpet beneath the chair he sat on thoughtfully. It was a nondescript piece of gray with little rust-colored dots woven through it. Sterile. Antiseptic. Like hospital carpets, he decided. He'd seen enough hospital carpets in his time. Between his own injuries and his father's, he'd seen the inside of many a hospital in his young life. Thoughts of his father further depressed him. How he missed the man. This wasn't a hospital, however. It was the lobby of another hotel. He'd seen a lot of those, too.

Matt hadn't been gone long but Shannon already felt cold inside. He knew the older man hadn't loved him. He'd never lied to Shannon about where his heart was. But he had promised that their relationship in the ring was going to help make Shannon into the caliber of star he and Jeff were. He also promised not to hurt him. But that seemed to be too much of an oath to keep, too.

Shannon had attempted to keep his feelings for Matt on a friendship level and had resisted Matt's advances at first. He knew the other man loved someone else, but he didn't know who that person was. He just didn't want to end up feeling dumped in the end. But Matt was persistent and Shannon had had a crush on the older Hardy for so long. One night, though, when he and Matt both had a little too much to drink, he gave in. He thought it would be a one-night-stand, but Matt surprised him in the morning with a long kiss and a promise not to hurt him.

Well here he was, hurt and alone. He didn't even want to talk to Jeff, because his voice reminded him of Matt's. And he didn't want to hear Jeff tell him he'd warned him. He had warned him, of course, but Shannon hadn't heeded. He didn't need a reminder, though.

"Hey, Shannon?" a deep voice called to him from his left.

He looked over to see Adam Copeland, better known as Edge, leaning against the wall. He didn't look like a man convalescing from a major neck operation at all. He looked the same. Better, even. Shannon hadn't had many conversations with the stunning Canadian before he'd left for the surgery, but he did like the man. He'd always treated Shannon as an equal, even though the smaller blond was a "lowly" cruiserweight.

"Hi, Adam," Shannon smiled halfheartedly. "How's it going?"

"Could be better," Adam grinned back. "I could be back already."

"Yeah," Shannon nodded looking back down at the carpet. "I guess."

"How are you doing?"

The question brought Shannon's eyes back up. What had he heard? Were the rumors making the rounds again? He was embarrassed enough about what happened. Adam's eyes showed no hint of pity, though, so the small blond couldn't be sure.

"Doing okay," Shannon shrugged.

"I have a favor to ask you," Adam smiled sheepishly back at him.

This piqued the younger man's interest. What would "Edge" need from "Shannon Moore, M'Fer" anyway? He nodded for the taller man to continue.

"I don't have a travel buddy for the trip," Adam said softly. "It was sort of thrown together and when I was last here . . ."

His voice trailed off. So he had heard some of the rumors, Shannon thought glumly. Well, it was bound to happen. He would ignore it.

"You were traveling with Matt," he finished for Adam.

Adam shrugged and waited for Shannon to render a decision. As if the small blond would refuse him. No, Shannon could use the company and at least he wouldn't be alone for this trip. He'd been considering joining Brian "Spanky" Kendrick and Paul London for a while, as they said they could use a third driver on long car trips. Translation: they wanted someone to drive while they made out in the backseat. As cute as Shannon found them, he couldn't cope with that yet.

"I'd like that," the small blond said and Adam grinned again. "Who are you rooming with?"

"I was kind of hoping you would help me out there, too," Adam shrugged. "The two mother hens over there," he pointed to Chris and Terry a few yards away who were talking and seemed to be trying to look inconspicuous while they watched Adam's and Shannon's conversation, "are threatening to 'keep an eye' on me, and that makes me VERY uncomfortable."

"It should," Shannon laughed. "I know exactly how it feels."

"So, we're roomies?" Adam asked hopefully.

"Sure," Shannon chuckled and handed him one of the two electronic key cards he'd been given upon checking in. "You don't snore do you?"

"No more than a buzz saw," Adam replied gratefully accepting the key.

"Not a Japanese one, right?" Shannon smiled. "I've enough of Japanese buzz saws for a while."

"No, not like a Japanese buzz saw," Adam said. "Just a big Canadian one."

"Well, that I can handle," Shannon said picking up his bag and leading the way to the elevator.