"Why?  His voice was broken, dejected.

Tazz looked pleadingly at him.  He didn't have an answer.  He didn't
have a reason, He just had to.  His gut told him to.  He had to.

"Why?  Why couldn't you tell me?"  Finally Michael Cole looked at his
friend.  He looked at someone who had turned his back.  A betrayer.
"Why couldn't you tell me?  We're friends.  You said so on national
television.  You said it in front of everyone.  And then you just...you fucked me
over!"  He was pacing.  He just couldn't stand still, he was so angry.  How
could he just turn his back to it all.

Tazz watched Michael Cole pace, trying to calm himself.  He couldn't'
blame the  man.  He understood.  But he couldn't explain.  THey had
approached him and he couldn't say no.  How could he?

"You couldn't even tell me.  You couldn't give me some sort of
warning, something, anything.  That's all I want to know.  Why couldn't you
tell me?  That's what friends do.  Or were you just playing me?  Was it all just
a trick?"  Finally he stopped and stared down at the man who was sitting
on the table in front of him.  He knew it wasn't the brightest idea, Tazz
could snap and leave him bloodied in the hall way.  But he didn't care, he
was too mad to care.

Tazz met his eye's, not wanting to see the hurt and betrayal in his
eye's, but he owed it to the man.  "I had to."

"Why?"

"They're family."

Michael just stared.  Family.  How could they be family.  Tazz had
been with the WWF for over a year.  He thought...he had been wrong.  "Family?"
His whisper was almost broken.  "Was it all just a trick?  Was it a trap,
a plan?"

Tazz jumped off the table, looking around for ease droppers.  "Look,
just ride back with me to the hotel.  I got a room to myself and we can...I
don't know...talk or something."

He was acting so unlike himself that it through Michael and he nodded.
____________

Michael's POV
____________

I don't understand.  How could he go from defending me and calling me
his friend to turning his back on me and on our team.  And he couldn't
even tell me.  That's what I don't understand.  We're friends, he said so, and
he still couldn't tell me.  That's what hurts the most.

And now he's just sitting there.  He's driving, keeping his eye's on
the road, not talking.  No music, it's just so quiet.  I hate this.
There's no sound and my mind is just too loud.  I can't stop thinking and I don't
want to think anymore.  The thoughts keep rolling around.  Why, why him,
why now, why did he do it?
____________

Tazz's POV
____________

He's so quiet.  I...I don't know what to tell him.  I don't know what
answers to give.  How can I explain that when they cam e to me, I had
to say yes.  These guys are my family.  I been around them more than anyone
else.  They needed me and family is important.

But I don't want Cole pissed at me.  He 'is' my friend.  And i don't
have many friends.  Family's are different.  You can hate them and love
them but they are always there.  Friends, friends matter.
____________

Once in the hotel room, Tazz didn't know where to start.  He just sat
on the bed, watching as Michael leaned against the wall.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I..I couldn't."

"Why?"

Michael's eyes held so much hurt, it was painful to look at him.  But
Tazz forced himself.  "I just...couldn't.  I...I didn't want you involved.

I...wanted you safe."  His voice was soft and Michael had to
concentrate on just listening.  He stared down at the man he didn't know if he could
trust.  "I...I wanted you as far away from it as possible.  I didn't want
you hurt."

"Hurt."  His laugh was bitter.  "To late."

"Michael."  Michael stopped, Tazz never called him by his first name.
It was Mikey, Coleslaw, or MC...never Michael.  He had never seem the
rough man so emotional.  Except when defending him, when demanding an apology
from Austin.  The emotion in Tazz's voice had been palpable.
"I didn't want you hurt,  I didn't want you in the middle of it."

"In the middle of it?  How can I not me in the middle of it?  Tazz,
I'm your partner, your friend.  I'm already in the middle."  He sighed in
resignation and sat next to Tazz on the bed.  "And now we're not partners anymore.
We can't be, not if you're gone."

"I ain't goin' no where....."

"Yes you are.  We can't commentate anymore.  No heat, no SmackDown.
It's over because you left."

Tazz knew he couldn't do commentating anymore and he would miss it.
He would miss hanging out with Michael even more.  The man could think on
his feet, and it was so much fun to just sit back and watch the man's mind
work.  "Maybe...but I'm still your friend."

Tears pricked Michaels eye's.  "I don't even know if we can be that
Tazz.  You're with ECW.  I work for the WWF.  I'm a reporter and your a
wrestler with the competition.  How can we be friends if we're on opposite
sides of the wall."

Tazz didnt' have an answer.  There wasn't one.  How could he be
friends with the enemy.  It was impossible.  If Vince knew they were friends, he'd
fire Michael and Tazz wasn't going to cost him his career.  Tazz was a
wrestler and this business meant everything to him, he knew it meant the same
to Cole.  He just wished...

"Tazz?"

"Yea?"

"Was it me?"  H couldn't take it if Tazz said yes, but he had to know.
Tazz had...walked in on him once.  He had been in Jeff Hardy's arms,
kissing the man.  Tazz hadn't spoken to him for days and then acted as if it had
never happened.  Was it because...  "Is it because of...the way..the way I
am?"

"What?"  He couldn't believe his ears.  "I don't care if you want to
suck face with every guy in the locker room.  It's your life.  That don't
bother me."

"But you were so mad.  And you wouldn't talk to me..."

"I wasn't mad."  His laugh was light.  "I was surprise as all hell,
but not mad.  Coleslaw, it's 'your' life.  What ever makes you happy."
Turning, he looked the man in the face and smiled.  "Besides, I'm friends with
Raven.  I have been for years."

"Oh."  He couldn't look at Tazz.  The kiss had been an accident, a
mistake.  He had been upset and had needed someone to talk to.  Jeff was his
confidant and he was his friend.  He couldn't handle working so closely with
Tazz.  He had always been attracted to strong, rough me and Tazz was perfect.
Jeff had been listening to him, holding him as he cried.  He had kissed him to
comfort and it had gotten a little out of control ws all.  Jeff had
apologized and blushed and run off right after Tazz had about faced
out of the room.  They had finally talked about it and they were still
friends.  But kissing wasn't allowed.  Too weird and not right.  "But why didn't
you talk to me?  And then you acted like nothing happened."

Tazz sighed.  he didn't want to go there.  He didn't want ot think
about what he felt when he saw Jeff and Michael kissing.  He had been
surprised but also upset.  Michael was his partner, his friend, HIS.  "Hey man,
I didn't want ot make you uncomfortable with your boyfriend."  His eye's
dropped to the floor and he tried to ignore the pain that shot through
his heart and the word boyfriend.

"He's not my boyfriend, just friend."

Tazz's eyes shot back to the man beside him.  "He's not?"

"Michael shook his head, praying he wasn't reading Tazz wrong.  "No,
just a friend.  That kiss...it was a mistake...an accident."

Tazz felt a burst of hope fight through him and he couldn't keep it out of
his eye's.  Michael leaned forward, faltering only inches away.  Tazz closed
those inches.  Pressing his lips against Michaels, he sighed and
wrapped his arms around the young man.

It was brief and soft.  Nothing passionate, just a tentative meeting
of lips.  Pulling away, Michael threaded his finger's through Tazz's.
"What do we do now?"

"I don't know.  You're the enemy.  The 'MAN'.  I'm just a thug
wrestler.  I...I just don't know."

Michael knew it was imposable.  Nothing could change the way things
were.  "Sometimes...I wish...I wish..."  His voice trailed off and he
squeezed the hand in his.

Suddenly Tazz's eyes grew wide and a smile graced his lips.  "What if..."

"What?

"MC...Michael...come with me?"