Matt Hardy walked through the curtain with Michael Hayes and his big brother, Jeff, with his Tag Team Championship warm in his hands while out of breath. He hoped he put on an entertaining match and that the fans got what they wanted.

"I still say that your matches could be longer." Michael Hayes said to Matt and Jeff as they made their way down the stairs off the Titantron.

"Doesn't matter to me, as long as we got these belts. We can have two minute to thirty minute matches. I don't care as long as I got my baby." Matt said as he hugged his championship belt tight.

"I'm telling Amy you called someone else baby." Jeff replied.

Matt quickly put his belt to his side and got quiet. Michael and Jeff laughed. They both know that Matt's girlfriend, Amy Dumas, had him on lockdown. The guys were now walking down a hallway passing their co-workers and a million other people. There were always tons of people backstage at the shows. Matt and Jeff got the occasional "Good match, man" and "Y'all okay" from them. They all nodded, thanked them and walked into the musty and humid locker room where some were watching the show on a small television set. Some were changing out of their wrestling gear and some were chatting away on cell phones.

"How is Amy doing anyway?" Michael asked.

"She got an offer from ECW the other day so she's going there." Jeff said.

"Cool." Michael replied.

"Well, it's not all good, Michael. Paul Heyman told her that he only wanted her as a valet. I told her not to settle for that but she said yeah anyway." Matt said as he & Jeff took their tight shirts off.

"Ooooooh...sexy." Chris Irvine (a.k.a. Chris Jericho) joked around as he felt on Matt's chest.

"Get the fuck away from me, man." Matt pushed Chris away.

Chris laughed and walked out the locker room onto his match for the evening. They all changed out of their wrestling gear and placed it in their bags. Matt changed into a Carolina Hurricanes long-sleeved shirt and black sweat pants. Jeff changed into some orange parachute pants, a orange bandanna on his forehead and a no-sleeved white t-shirt. He put his hair in a ponytail. Michael changed into a WWF Attitude shirt and just kept his pants on. Jeff laid down on the long wooden bench and drifted off to sleep as usual. Matt swung his belt over his shoulder as he sat down with the other guys who were finish wrestling and began watching the rest of "Raw Is War."

**Later**

Matt and Jeff were making their way out of the arena. Matt had his leather bag on his shoulder and Jeff was pulling at a black suitcase on wheels. Jeff was still a little drowsy after the long nap that he usually took anyitme he could get a chance.

"Hey, Matt!" Someone yelled.

The brothers turned around to see Jason Reso and Adam Copeland (a.k.a. Edge & Christian) walking towards them. They greeted each other and did their special handshake.

"We need a ride to the next town, you don't mind, do you?" Jason asked.

"No, not at all. The more, the merrier." Matt replied.

Jeff grumbled since he wouldn't be able to sleep on the whole backseat as usual.

"It's okay, Jeffrey. You can sleep on my shoulder." Adam said.

Jeff laughed and gave Adam a playful shove. They all got to the Ford Explorer that Matt had rented from the airport. They tossed their things inside and got in. Jeff & Jason got in the back, Matt & Adam stayed up front seats. Adam put a Pearl Jam CD in the player. Eddie Vedder's voice echoed through the car and then, they were off. Matt had to stop at McDonald's Drive Thru for his little brother and get his usual meal. Adam got something too.

"Watch how you eat in here, I'm not paying for no stains in the carpet."

"Alright, we'll watch our shit." Adam replied.

Jeff & Adam blessed their food and started to eat. As they gobbled up their food in the car, Matt went to Wendy's for he and Jason. Everyone got out the car to eat in the fast food place since no one was in there so they wouldn't get recognized. Matt and Jason got their stuff and started eating themselves. They didn't say a word to each other since they were eating. The silence was broken when Jeff's cell phone rang. Jeff rolled his eyes and put his Big Mac in his lap. He answered it.

"Hello...what's up, girl?! How you doin'...that's good. Why you ain't call me back last night?" Jeff said in his natural low voice.

"Who's that?" Jason asked Matt.

Matt looked up and wiped his mouth with those yellow Wendy's napkins.

"Some girl he's talkin' to, I think her name is Beth. Just another girl. We'll see how long this one lasts." Matt said about his brother.

"He's making me miss my woman. I haven't seen her in two whole days." Jason complained.

"Hell, I haven't seen Allanah in a week. I had to do that autograph signing with Gangrel last week so I couldn't see my boo."

"Look at us, we're sprung as hell over females." Matt said as Jeff continued chatting to Beth.

"Don't you even start. We all know how crazy you are about that girl...what's her name? Oh, yeah, Amy." Adam replied as took a huge bite out of his hamburger.

"If you had a woman like me, you'd be crazy about her too." Matt said.

"But my question...what's a girl as fine as Amy doing with a dude like you?" Jeff asked as he hung his cell phone.

"Ooooooh, you got played." Adam commented.

"How you gonna play your own flesh and blood like that?" Matt asked Jeff.

"I don't claim you." Jeff answered as he threw his food away.

Matt looked at his brother like he was crazy. Jeff turned around and smiled at Matt.

"Come on, let's go." Jeff laughed.

They all got up, threw their food away and walked back to the car. Adam drove this time while the other three men fell asleep. A few minutes later, Matt awoke to his cell phone ringing. He sat up, looked at Adam who was eating a Granola Bar and drving at the same time, rubbed his eyes and slowly answered the phone.

"Hello...hey, Amy! I haven't talked to you in a long...we need to talk? What about? Well, I should be home late Tuesday night. There's no house shows this week...is it serious...oh, okay. I miss you like crazy...why do you find that hard to believe? Amy, you know I can't control my schedule. It comes with the job...of course, you come first but there's nothing I can do about it. We've already discussed this, baby...okay, I won't call you that...fine, I'll see you Wednesday then...Bye." Matt spoke into the phone.

"What's wrong with her?" Adam asked as he kept his eyes on the road.

"You're asking the wrong man. She says we need to talk about something when I get home."

"She ain't pregnant, is she?"

"How the hell can Amy be pregnant if I ain't never home?"

"Oh, yeah. That is true. She mad at you?"

"She was trippin' about my schedule again. 'I never see you no more. Why can't you ask for some time off?' You know, the usual. I hope she gets to the WWF one day so that we don't have to go through this anymore."

"Well, you know what they say, never say never. Plus, you know how ECW is. Nobody stays there for a long time."

"Hopefully, you're right, man."

"Adam is always right." The canadian blond smiled.

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

Matt tossed the last pile of his laundry into the dryer. He turned it on and walked out of the laundry room. Matt walked back to the living room and fell back onto the couch. He was so tired. He was at his father's house, where he had been staying all his life. His daddy was out at the post office sending off some things. Matt was watching his match at King Of The Ring '99 that his father recorded last week. He really enjoyed getting in the ring with Edge & Christian and Matt had a feeling that they would have a real bright future together. Yet, Matt wasn't thinking about Adam and Jason, he was thinking about his girlfriend, Amy. She called him earlier and told him he would be over the house later to talk to him about something in a minute. Matt cleaned up the house real good since he was having company. He was wearing a black shirt and a pair of shorts to match. His hair was in a ponytail. He tried to get his mind off Amy and think about his match next Sunday at Fully Loaded with the Acolytes. Ditto. That didn't work but he seriously had to go in his backyard later and try some new moves. He looked at his Tag Team Championship lying on the coffee table beside the television and smiled a little. The doorbell rang, Matt jumped out of his seat, ran to the door and opened the door. There she was, the beautiful Amy Dumas. She had on a pair of short shorts and a black fitness top with a white skull on it. Matt's heart emptied the lonliness it felt and filled with satisfaction.

"I've missed you so much." Matt said as he hugged Amy.

"It's been a long time." She replied.

Amy stepped inside, Matt closed the door and followed her to the living room. He got a quick glance of Amy's legs as she sat down & crossed them slowly. He sat beside her.

"Where's your daddy at?"

"At the post office."

"Oh."

"How you been?"

"Look, Matt, we gotta talk…seriously.  I got a feeling there's a lot we need to get off our chests."

"Yeah, you're right about that."

"Well, let me get my shit out of the way first.  It's like this, Matt.  I don't think we should be together anymore and before you start bitching about it, let me explain myself.  Long distance relationships never last and I just wanna end this now before you really get your heart broken.  I mean, isn't it obvious to you that this ain't gonna last?"

Matt's head started spinning. He couldn't believe what Amy had just told him. The woman that completed him wanted out. He swallowed his feelings and tried to talk.

"If you really want the truth...Amy, no.  I was willing to put a lot of time into this.  I thought what you and I had was special."

"Exactly my point.  What we HAD was special.  What we HAVE NOW isn't.  I never see you, I never talk to you and when we do talk, you ain't got nothing to say.  Your priorities are not what they should be and I don't think I can ever get used to your schedule."

    Matt felt awful.  He knew this was coming.  Now, that it was here, he didn't know how to handle it.  He really loved Amy and he could tell that she really loved him but fate has a way of proving some people wrong about certain things.

"I can't believe this, I can't believe this is over.  I really liked you, Amy."

"I really liked you too, Matt.  I just realized that this isn't gonna work right now with me in ECW and you in the WWF.  There's no way.  Maybe we can try this again in the future but we cannot have a relationship at this point in time.  I'm sorry, Matt."

"Don't be.  If I were you, I would've gotten tired of sitting home waiting for a phone call too.  Let's get one thing straight though.  I didn't do the things I did intentionally.  I just never had the time to see you or even call you with the autograph signings and the house shows.  I never had the time.  If I had my way, it wouldn't be like this."

"I'm not blaming you.  I'm just saying that we need some space.  That's all, nothing more, nothing less but I do have something else to tell you."

"Is it good or bad?"

"I don't know but you remember what you just said about me sitting home waiting for a phone call?"

"Yeah."

'Well, you're exactly right.  I've been wanting to break up with you for a long time but you were never home when I called so…I started seeing someone else since our relationship was never real anyway."

"What?  You…you cheated on me?"

"Not necessarily because like I said, we never had a relationship ever since Michael Hayes became you and Jeff's manager.  It got to the point when someone would ask me if I had a boyfriend, I would say no, so I started seeing someone else."

"I don't even care that much, Amy.  Who was it though?" Matt shrugged.

    Amy got up off the couch, walked to the door and turned around to see Matt looking straight in her eyes.

"Shane."

"WHAT?!"

"Yep, Shane.  I thought you didn't care though."

"Amy, you don't understand.  Shane and me are like brothers.  How could he do something like this to me?"

"Hey, don't you feel bad!  'Cause I sure as hell felt like shit with you never trying to contact your own girlfriend?  You expect me to sit here and wait on your ass for like three months?  I think not."

"I helped him get to where he is today.  I really helped him out and he turns his back on me by seeing you?  That little bastard."

"Hold up now.  Shane is a sweet guy.  At least he makes the time to make me feel like I'm special.  You used to do that for me but you stopped.  You changed, Matt, that's why I moved on."

"Man, Amy, you're not making this any easier for me to deal with."

Amy sighed, opened the door and stepped onto the porch.

"Look, you and me fussin' about this is just gonna end pissing both of us off so let's just shut up now. I've moved on but hopefully, you can move on too, Matt.  I'll always love you, you know that and this isn't goodbye forever.  This is only temporary, okay?"

"Yeah, temporary." Matt said barely under a whisper.

    Amy gave him a hug. Matt fought off the tears he felt in his eyes and just smelled Amy's brown hair as he held her in his arms. He knew it would be a long time before that would happen again.

"No matter what happens, I'll always love you, Matt. You know that."

"I love you too."

She slowly walked to her car as Matt followed. She turned around and kissed him on the cheek.

"Tell your daddy and Jeff I said hey."

"I will." Matt's said as his voice cracked.

"Look, this isn't goodbye forever, we'll meet again."

"I know. I just hope that ain't a long time."

A small smile appeared on Amy's face. She got in the car and rolled down her window.

"I might call you, I might not." She said.

Amy drove off, looked back through her rear view mirror to see Matt hanging his head as he walked back into the house.

Matt closed the door, leaned his back against the door and slowly fell to the ground. He buried his head between his knees. He realized that he lost a very special person for the moment and the hardest thing for Matt to do was to forgive himself for that.

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