"Whatcha readin, Jay-Jay?" Adam asked, walking into the locker room he was sharing with his longtime best friend, Jason Reso.

"Your book, Chumpstain, what did you think I'd be reading? Hell, you'd have thought you'd have let me read it while you were writing it, or at least once it was finished before publishing, but noooooooo" Jay wined, still engrossed in reading what Adam had to say, and evidently, it was a lot about him.

"Yeah, well, I wanted you to be surprised when it came out, ok?" Adam responded, laughing at the very 'Christian like' pout Jay was performing.

"Oh, I'm surprised alright! Damn, Addy, why didn't you just name this thing Adam Copeland on Christian?" Jay asked, finding the perfect passage, he continued with his point, reading aloud from Adam's new book. "Although I had a girlfriend, Jay and I were still attached at the hip. One day, during our outcast, rebels-without-a-clue phase, we decided to pull an all-nighter."

"I know what it says, Jay-Jay. I wrote it! Besides, could I really tell my life story without writing about you? I DID tell you that I mentioned you in there, and not just your character. Besides, do you know how gay we would have sounded if I called the book Adam Copeland on Christian? I mean, come-on, Jaybird, you know what that sounds like?" Adam told him, flashing him his trademark grin before turning to his bag to pull out his ring attire.

"Yeah, and you already make enough comments to convince people that we're a couple of flaming queers, don't you?" Jay responded, trying, and failing, to not smile back at Adam.

"Awe, it'll be okay, baby. You know the fans just get a serious kick out of the whole ambiguously gay couple thing." Adam told him, placing a wet, sloppy kiss on Jay's cheek, before bursting into hysterical laughter, reminiscent of their brood days.

"Adam, cut it out, that's gross!" Jay shrieked, wiping his cheek where Adam had kissed him, trying to glare at Adam to cover the longing he always felt when his best friend showed him such easy physical affection. Adam was always easy with his affection to anyone he cared about, that was just him.

And it was just Jay that always wished he was more than just Adam's best friend.

No, according to Adam's book, Jay was his 'buddy'. Or to be exact, he was "In life, you are the brother I never had. On TV, the brother I do have." Jay knew this because he had already read the acknowledgements. Lisa was his best friend; Jay didn't even have that to cling to anymore.

Shit, even when Adam called him his best friend in the business, he had to share that role with Terry, or as Adam insisted on calling him, Rhyno. Fucking Rhyno!

"Jay-Jay, you alright?" Adam asked, as he glanced back at Jay, realizing for the first time that Jay was genuinely upset about something, and not just fucking with him, like Adam had thought when he first came in here.

"I'm fine, Adam. I'm gonna go talk to Shane about our match, I'll see you later." Jay told him, marking his place in the book and setting it down on top of his bag before walking out the door, presumably to talk to Shane Helms about their match.

Not having a clue what was wrong with his friend, Adam sat down in the space Jay had so recently occupied to think back over their conversation for any clue as to what could be bothering Jay. Unable to come up with anything, he absently picked up the book Jay had set down and opened to the page Jay was on and began reading.

'The bikers were hot on our heels, the illumination of their flashlights bouncing all over the dense forest, and I mean dense. Jay and I were hightailing it, ducking and dodging, until the forest, she overwhelmed us. Jay was ahead of me. He tripped and fell headfirst into a tree. Of course, I tripped over him and landed on him in a Kamala the Ugandan Headhunter-like splash. One of the bikers took this opportunity to strike. He swung for the fences with his trusty flashlight. I'm lucky I tripped over Jay, or the biker might have taken my head off. I rolled off the now moaning Jay, onto my back..." (Page 60, Adam Copeland on Edge)

Adam smiled as he remembered that scene. He and Jay had been goofing off, as usual, and they had gotten separated from the rest of the guys, but that was nothing new. Adam remembered pushing Jay ahead of him to run from the bikers, figuring if they caught one of them, it would be him and at least Jay would get away. Adam remembered Jay tripping over a tree root, and falling on top of him. Adam remembered the fear and the excitement. Finally, he remembered them laughing all the way back to the house.

Oh SHIT!!!! Is that what's wrong with Jay? Adam hadn't mentioned that part. He had made Jay look like shit, didn't he? He had made him seem inferior.

Adam went back, reading through that passage. Then, he flipped through the book, chronicling their life, and stared in shock at what he slowly began to realize. Never once did he tell about the wonderful things Jay has done for him over time. Never once did he tell about how Jay saved his ass. Okay, once he had mentioned how Jay came through for him with a ride to a show that he was in, but he had glossed that over so much it looked like nothing, instead of the ordeal it was. Jay had actually had to beg, borrow, and steal to manage that, and he wasn't even IN that show.

Feeling like a complete ass, Adam went off in search of Jay, but evidently he was avoiding him right now, because when Adam get to Shane's locker room, he was long gone, he was not in catering or in the main locker room either. Glancing up at the clock, Adam knew that they still had an hour before show time, so he headed back to check their locker room, but evidently, he had missed Jay, because Jay's bag was still there, but his ring attire was gone, signaling he wouldn't be back until after his match, at the earliest. And considering tonight, if Jay wasn't on TV, Adam was, he MIGHT see him in passing at the gorilla position.

Knowing he needed to find Jay, and talk to him before the show, Adam went back out looking for him again, this time asking around to see if anyone had seen him. Finally reaching the locker room Jericho had been given, Adam knocked on the door. This was his last hope. He had tried all their other friends, and even people that Jay only associated with, but no one had seen him recently.

"Who is it?" Chris hollered.

"It's me, Chris! I'm looking for Jay, have you seen him?" Adam asked through the door, watching down the hallway to make sure that Jay didn't walk by while he was here. Adam heard some whispering inside the room, before Chris answered him.

"Haven't seen him today!" Chris hollered finally.

"Well, can I come in for a second?" Adam asked, wondering who was in there with Chris.

"Uh, Adam, I'm busy right now, could I just talk to you later?" Chris hollered, pushing Jay towards the other door, knowing Adam would try to come in anyway.

"Jay's in there with you, isn't he?" Adam accused, opening the door and stepping into the room, seeing Jay's retreating form headed into the attached shower, fully dressed, so obviously, he was NOT getting ready.

"He doesn't want to talk to you right now Adam. Just give him a little while, okay?" Jericho told him, looking over at Adam unhappily. Evidently he knew what was wrong with Jay, but he didn't look like he was planning to tell Adam what it was. Nor did he look like he was planning to let Adam talk to Jay anyways.

"Can you at least tell me what I did?" Adam asked, forlorn.

"If you don't know the answer to that, you're dumber than you look." Chris told him, pushing him out the door, sneering "Pretty boy!" before he slammed the door in his face, audibly locking it behind him.

"Just great. I really fucked up this time, didn't I?" Adam muttered to himself, before heading off to talk to Vince. Maybe if he got permission to mention Jay in his promo for the book, Jay would at least talk to him. Besides, as much as he had talked about Jay in the book, it seemed right to mention him in the promo. Maybe he could find a way to apologize to him in the process.

Two hours later, it was time. Hiding around the corner from the Gorilla Position, Adam watched Jay going out before he walked up. He had to wait for the match to start before going out there. When he had pitched the idea of mentioning Jay in his promo, Vince had let him go one better and his first promo would be during Jay's match.

The second Jay appeared to be having trouble in his match, Adam pointed to the entrance, and immediately his music started. Headed out with a copy of his book and a mic in hand, Adam smiled when he noticed the look on Jay's face. Instead of interrupting the match, like he was sure everyone was convinced he was going to do, he pulled out his mic and began to speak. He told everyone he was back, and he was sure 'Christian' wouldn't mind him coming out during his match, since he mentioned him so much in his book, really stretching out the so to make it seem ridiculous. He tried throwing in as many references to Jay as he possibly could before walking over to JR and King. Once over there, he talked to them for a few minutes, frantically showing them pictures of himself and Jay, smiling hugely when King seemed to get the hint and began mentioning them on the headsets. He stayed out as long as he could, feasting his eyes on Jay, noticing that Jay would occasionally glance up at him, as if to see if he was still there. He left right before the match was supposed to end, and waited in the Gorilla Position again; hoping Jay would at least speak to him on his way by.

After winning his match, and showing off Viscera, Jay came back. Looking at Adam, he mumbled "I'll talk to you after the show" and headed back to the locker room. Adam didn't even have time to respond before someone was screaming for him to come do his next segment with Benoit. The craziness ensued through the rest of the night, with him and Jay passing each other a few times, but no time to speak, before one or the other of them being sent out to the ring. Finally the night ended, and Adam walked back to his locker room, only to find Jay already gone. There was, however, a note on his bag from Jay.



Adam,
Sorry I didn't stay, but I was wrong. I'm not ready to face you yet. I'm sorry. See you next week.
Jason



Re-reading the note, Adam began to throw his things in his bag. Angrily, he headed for his car. He wondered if he could catch Jay in his hotel room, or if he had changed to another hotel. He knew all the aliases Jay used when traveling, though, so he would find him, unless he was bunking with someone else. Someone who wouldn't tell Adam that Jay was there. Someone like Jericho.

Adam headed back to his hotel, and first thing, checked with the clerk to find that, sure enough, Jay had cancelled his room, so he checked the registry to find out if any of the aliases were listed, and no, they weren't. Neither was Jericho. Next, he went upstairs and spent several hours calling every hotel listed in the phone book, looking for either Jay or Jericho, who Adam was now positive that Jay was with, and having no luck at finding either.

Wondering just when his life went so wrong, Adam sat down on his bed, thinking about Jay, wondering just when his life had taken this turn. This was supposed to be the new chapter in their life, where everything went perfect for them.

Damn, there he went again, automatically assuming that he and Jay were the same again. Was that the problem Jay was having?

Fuck, as far as he knew, whatever was wrong with Jay didn't even have anything to do with him. But if that was the case, why didn't Jay want to talk to him?

He was finally starting to fall into a fretful slumber when his cell rang. Stumbling across the room, Adam picked up the phone and fumbled to answer it.

"Uh, Hello?" Adam mumbled into the phone after finally getting it cut on.

"Adam? You need to get over here. Now!" The disembodied voice said.

"What? Who is this?" Adam mumbled groggily.

"It's Chris. Look, Chris and Jay are here and..." Benoit said.

"Benny? Where are you? Is Jay okay?" Adam cut him off, now fully awake, worry about Jay easily winning over sleep.

"We're here in the hotel, room 512." Benoit got out before Adam hung the phone up on him. Benoit hung the room phone up and walked over to the door, to open it, just in time, evidently, because as he opened it to step out and wait for Adam, Adam came barreling through the door, not even glancing at Benoit in his search to find Jay.

"What happened?" Adam asked, advancing on the double bed Jay was lying on, slowly taking in his friend's form.

One of Jay's eyes was swollen shut, the other was bruised, and only able to open halfway, there were cuts on his forehead and right cheek. His bottom lip was split and swollen badly. There were bruises on his neck. They looked like fingers, Adam noticed, growing sick to his stomach, he forced himself to continue his visual path down Jay's body. There were cuts on Jay's chest and a nick at his neck that all looked like they came from a knife. There were bruises on his arms, his hands were cut up badly, and the left one appeared broken. His stomach was starting to turn colors from what appeared to be deep internal bruising. Jay's jeans were still on, but they were torn at the knees, and Adam could see the blood from where they were both scraped pretty badly. His right ankle was swelling badly, and also appeared bruised.

"Adam? Help me, Adam? Where'd you go? Why did you leave me?" Jay screamed, obviously asleep.

It broke Adam's heart to hear it and see the tears falling down Jay's cheeks. He advanced towards the bed to take Jay's hand and let him know that he was here now, and heard another voice.

"I'm here, Jay. I'll do what I can, but we really need to get you to the hospital." Jericho said, limping into the room with a wet washcloth and a basin of water.

"What happened? Have you called a doctor? What can I do? Stop, you're hurting him!!!" Adam said, noticing how Jay flinched away from Chris when he tried to wipe his face. Quickly advancing, he pushed Jericho out of the way and took the washcloth from him, gently murmuring to Jay as he slowly brought it forward to wipe Jay's face gently, tears falling unnoticed down his face. "What happened?"

"They attacked him in the alley outside the bar. There were seven of them, from what I saw. Two of them grabbed onto Chris and held him back and forced him to watch while the other five of them beat the shit out of Jay. They didn't seem to want money; it looked more like hate to me. Paul, Dave and I were coming out of the bar when we saw them, the damage had been done, but we managed to chase them off. Before he passed out, Jay begged us not to take him to the hospital, so Chris and I brought him back here." Benoit said, walking over and wrapping his arms around Jericho. "I was wondering why you were late, baby. You should have been there an hour before, so I wanted to find you."

Adam nodded, eyes still on Jay, not noticing what was happening behind him, nor did he notice what had been said at the end. He was too busy thinking about what had happened to Jay, and how much worse it could have been. And how it wouldn't have happened if Jay was with him, where he was supposed to be. Damnit, this was all his fault. Jay needed to be with him where he was supposed to be, where Adam could protect him. Where he was safe. Where he was loved.

Whoa, back up, Copeland! Adam thought to himself. Jay is your best friend, but you love your wife, not Jay. Remember, the woman you married? The woman you called your best friend?

But that wasn't true; Jay was his best friend, not some woman he had known for less that a year and a half. So why had he ever said differently? Because it would make *her* happy, and if he had learned anything from his last marriage, it was make them happy, and then life was easier. Besides, he had called Jay his brother, and that was far more important, at least to his mind.

"Love you, Addy." Jay murmured in his sleep. Something that he had said millions of times, but in his arrogance, Adam had never replied to. Oh yeah, he showed Jay an easy affection, more so than he did for anyone else, but he had never just said it. Was it really that hard?

"Adam, do you want me to call a doctor?" Benoit asked, gaining Adam's attention for the first time since he had seen Jay lying on the bed. Benoit was now sitting on the other bed in the room with Jericho curled up in his lap. He had his arms around Jericho, and was holding onto him for dear life.

"Yeah, if you don't mind, maybe one of the trainers could do something. At least they could let us know if anything's broken, and if we should put him in the hospital. We might want to call Vince, too. Let him know what happened." Adam told them, noticing for the first time how close these two appeared to be, and watched, shocked as Benoit kissed Jericho on the neck before reaching for his cell phone to make the requested phone calls.

"Adam, should I call Jay's wife now, or wait until we know more?" Jericho asked, pulling out his own cell phone.

"I'll call her after the doctor leaves. No sense waking her up and upsetting her when we don't even know how bad it is." Adam replied after a moment, he had honestly not even considered the fact that Jay's wife deserved at least a phone call to find out what had happened. Even if they were fighting, she was still Jay's wife; he hadn't divorced her yet, so Adam guessed she had a right to know.

A knocking on the door drew their attention, as Jericho got off Benoit's lap and went to answer it. Seeing Danny, one of the trainers, Chris quickly stepped back, allowing him into the room and drug him over to the bed where Adam was still gently washing Jay, now at the chest and arms.

Danny checked over Jay, trying to find the extent of the damage while the Chris's, now sitting slightly apart from each other, told him what had happened. Adam sat on the side of the bed and held Jay's good right hand while Danny checked him over.

"Adam, I need to get on that side now." Danny whispered to him, trying not to wake Jay up just yet.

"Adam, no, don't leave me." Jay whimpered, weakly squeezing Adam's hand as he stood to get out of the way.

"I'm not going anywhere, Jay-Jay. I promise." Adam told him, immediately sitting back down and glaring at Danny, as if to say I'm not moving, and you can't make me.

"Jason, where does it hurt the worst?" Danny asked, now checking Jason's ribs, trying to find any that appeared broken or fractured.

"My head. It feels like Paul took a sledgehammer to it." Jay joked, holding onto Adam's hand for dear life as Danny again tried to get between them.

"Jason, I have to check the rest of your body. Guys, could ya'll leave so I can get him undressed and check his legs and ankle out? I think I'm going to have to cut your jeans off, Jason. Are you sure you don't want me to just take you to the hospital? You're going to have to go for x-rays and a cat scan anyway." Danny asked, checking Jay's head, and finding a bad gash and a bump. "And I think you have a pretty bad concussion, too."

"Adam stays." Jay told him, a note of finality in his voice. As much as he hurt right now, he could see the look of panic that was quickly masked in Adam's eyes at the threat of separation, and he was just too hurt and tired to keep hiding.

"Fine, Adam can stay, but Adam, give Benoit your room key and him and Jericho can go over there and wait. And try to move to the other side of the bed, please, so I can check this side." Danny told him, reaching for his medical bag.

After Adam handed Benoit his room key, he moved to the other side of the bed to sit beside Jay and quietly watch Danny work, promising to call the room when it was over and let them know just how bad it was. It took him three hours, eighty-two stitches, a cast on his left arm, and more gauze than a mummy, but finally Danny was finished, and ready to give instructions.

"Okay, I really think he should go to the hospital, but since he refuses, well, there's not really that much I can do. First of all, Jason has a bad concussion, and is not to sleep for twenty-four hours, and if he's not going to the hospital, then that means that you're going to have to stay up with him for that time, too. I'll check on him again tomorrow evening, and if the swelling has gone down some, then he can sleep for two hours at a time then, but you will have to wake him up and make sure he is cognizant every two hours. He took thirty-eight stitches to his head, twenty-three in his chest, and thirty-one in his left arm. His left hand and wrist are broken. His right ankle is badly sprained, and he shouldn't walk on it for at least two days, and after that, he should use crutches for a few days. He's going to be sore for awhile, but he should be as good as new in a couple weeks. Oh, and no flying for four days, at least. Hell, I'd rather he didn't even get out of that bed for a day or two." Danny told them, closing up his bag and heading up to Vince's suite to let him know what had happened.

"Adam, will you sit with me while you make those calls?" Jay whispered pathetically, looking at Adam and trying to make out the expression on his face.

"I'm not going anywhere, Jay-Jay." Adam told him, lying back on the bed next to Jay and pulling the phone to sit beside him so he could call Benoit and Jericho.

Jay lay there listening to Adam repeat the doctor's instructions to Benoit, then again to Jericho. Next, he listened to him call and cancel their flight, and extend the time on his rental car. All the while, Adam was softly rubbing Jay's chest and stomach.

"Well, we're all set, Jay-Jay. Is there anything I can do for you?" Adam asked as he turned to face Jay as he hung up the phone.

"Uhm, well, I don't want to mention this, but I got to take a piss. You think you could get me a bottle or something?" Jay told him, blushing bright red.

Adam shook his head, getting up; he searched and finally found a water bottle. Heading back to the bed, he wondered just how Jay was going to manage this. He tried handing Jay the bottle, but he was unable to hold it tightly and it fell out of his grasp.

"Jay, not to be rude, but how are you planning to manage this?" Adam asked.

"You're going to have to help me. Sorry, Addy." Jay whispered.

"Not a problem, Baby." Adam said, unthinkingly, as he took the top off the bottle and reached for Jay's dick to aim into the bottle, but he got the shock of his life when it was already half hard, and hardened completely under his touch as he grabbed it. "Uh, Jay?" Adam asked, surprisingly he did not mind holding his best friend's hard-on, but wanted to know just what was going on.

"I'll manage it, Adam. I don't have to go anymore, anyways." Jay mumbled, face flushed with embarrassment and arousal.

"Oh and how are you going to do that, Jaybird?" Adam asked, running a finger down the pulsing vein in Jay's cock, smiling ferociously when his friend shivered and moaned.

"I don't know. I'll think of something." Jay told him, trying to pull away again, but stopping and moaning again when Adam squeezed him.

"Oh, that's interesting. So tell me, Jay, is it the pain, the embarrassment, or me?" Adam asked, running a hand over Jay's stomach, not hard enough to hurt him, but enough so he could feel it.

"God, Addy, what are you doing?" Jay asked, as he arched his back and tried to stop his hips from jerking with Adam's harsh jerking.

"Something I evidently should have done years ago, Jaybird. Showing you who you belong to, now answer the fucking question." Adam told him, still jerking roughly, and grinning ferociously when Jay threw his head back, panting, and thrust his hips savagely into Adam's waiting fist.

"All three...God, Adam, please? Please...I'll do anything....please, Addy?" Jay breathed out, thrusting faster, not knowing just where this was coming from, but more than happy to go with it. After wanting Adam for years, here he was, giving Jay almost everything he wanted, missing only the word of love before it started, and the dick in his ass, but at least the second part of that could be rectified. Adam said that he was his now, right?

"Oh, no, you're not getting away that easily, Jason." Adam said, pulling his hand away right before Jay came.

"Adam, please, don't stop, please?" Jay begged, rocking his hips, trying desperately to make contact with Adam's hand, which was hovering just out of reach.

"What do you want, Jay-Jay? You want me to leave you alone? You want me to put my hand back on you? You want me to make you cum? You want me to fuck you? You want me to suck you off? Tell me, Jay-Jay, and if it's what I want to hear, I might do it." Adam told him, as he smiled down at Jay's face, which was flushed with arousal and growing embarrassment now that Adam was no longer touching him.

Not knowing how to answer, Jay tried to still his hips, and looked up at Adam, silently begging for whatever Adam was willing to give him. Not sure how well this was going to go, Jay finally decided to answer.

"Anything." He finally responded, head down, humiliation complete. He was now willing to beg for whatever scraps of attention Adam was willing to give him

"I like your answer, Baby, but I'm not going to be able to fuck you till you heal up some." Adam told him, lowering his head to take Jay's erection into his mouth, sucked hard, bringing Jay back to the edge in no time at all.

Jay unconsciously lowered his good right hand down to tangle into Adam's hair and Adam took that as a sign to bob his head quickly over Jay's length, taking as much of him as he could into his mouth. He brought his hand back into play a moment later as he lifted his head and quickly pumped Jay's massive erection.

"Who do you belong to, Baby?" Adam asked, as he lowered his head back down to Jay and sucked him back into his mouth.

"You, Addy. I belong to you." Jay responded, trying his best not to thrust up into Adam's mouth.

Growling around Jay's erection, Adam pulled him as deep into his mouth as he could, swirling his tongue around the head.

"Cumming, Addy!" Jay screamed, frantically trying to pull Adam away, but Adam just held on tight, swallowing down as much as he could and licking up what had dribbled out once Jay leaned back, spent. Finally lifting his head, Adam smiled gently down at Jay.

"So, NOW do you have to pee, dorkchop?" He joked.

"Uh, yeah." Jay moaned, still trying to catch his breath.

After dealing with that, then heading to the bathroom to flush it, and take care of going himself, Adam settled down next to Jay on the bed, settling his arms around him as gently as possible. Lightly raining kisses down on Jay's chest, Adam thought over the events of the day, and wondered if what he had done was right, or just an act of desperation.

"What are you thinking, Adam?" Jay whispered, fear evident in his voice.

"Just wondering why it took me so long to realize that I love you." Adam said, for the first time ever saying it aloud. "You know I'll never let you go now, right?" Adam asked, possessively.

"And I'll never ask you to. Adam, how long do I have to wait to have you inside me?" Jay whispered, wondering if he was pushing too much by asking.

"Until we get home. Fuck, I forgot, I haven't called the wives yet! Oh well, I guess I better call mine and tell her it's over. Wonder if the fans would buy the she was a rebound angle?" Adam mused, pulling the phone back onto the bed, trying how to gently break it to his wife of less than a month that he was leaving her for his best friend of twenty-some years.

"Just tell her that you've decided what to name your next book." Jay told him, seeing the wondering look on Adam's face.

"Yeah, what's that, Angel?" Adam asked.

"I was thinking maybe Adam Copeland.........................On Christian!"



End