Matt Hardy sat in silence in the locker room as he watched his brother lacing up his wrestling boots.  His mind was preoccupied as it had been for the last seven days.  He'd been thinking it all over, trying to piece everything together, but the puzzle in his mind just didn't seem to want to fit.

"Jeff...?"

The rainbow-haired Hardy looked up as he finished tying his left boot.  "Hmm?"

Now that Matt knew for sure that he knew the truth, it was actually difficult for him to get the words out.

"So...it's been Adam she's been with all along, huh?"

Jeff raised his head sharply to stare at his older brother, trying his darndest not to allow the shock he felt show on the surface.

"What?" he asked innocently after a brief hesitation.  "Where'd you ever get that crazy idea?"  He couldn't believe it.  Matt had been completely off-track about who he'd thought Amy was seeing, but all of a sudden... He wondered how he'd found out.

"It's not a 'crazy idea,' Jeff," the dark-haired man stated.

The younger man simply stared at him, his right eyebrow raised.

"Look, I know..."  Matt's brown eyes were clear and unwavering.  "I know she's with Adam - not with Jay, not with Chris, not with Drew...not with you...I've known for a week now, Jeff..."

Jeff kept staring at him, not wanting to say a word to confirm or deny his brother's words.  He swallowed guility, hating the fact that he was about to finally discuss the situation truthfully - and all after Amy had pretty much begged him not to say a word to Matt.  But he'd kept his promise and never told his brother a thing - somehow, Matt had figured it all out himself.

"H-how did you find out?"

"Last week, during RAW, when I was looking for Amy after our little spot in the women's locker room...when I went to the buffet, I ran into Trish, who said she didn't know where she was..."  He sat down as he continued.  "...so I ended up going down the hallway and I finally found her - leaving Adam's locker room!"

Jeff sucked some air into his mouth between his teeth.  No doubt about it, Amy and Adam had been caught.  He cringed inwardly at the horrible scene he could easily envision.

"Now, why..." Matt continued.  "Why would Amy be coming out of there when she hates Adam, and he can't stand her, either?  It's not like Jay was there for her to visit that night!"

Jeff ran a nervous hand through his colorful locks as he remained silent and listened to his brother's soliloquy.

"I just can't believe it!  All this time, they've both been pulling the wool over my eyes!"

"Matt, listen to yourself, man..." the younger Hardy finally said.  "I know I already asked you this awhile back, but...what's the big deal?  Do you want Amy for yourself?"

"No!" Matt said.  "It's not that...like I told you, I don't want to see her get hurt.  And Adam Copeland's-"

"Your friend!"  Jeff interrupted and finished his sentence simultaneously.  "Keep that in mind, Matt - he's your friend!  So, I suggest you keep a level head about all of this."

"Well, how can Amy be with him when he's always insultin' her and calling her names and stuff?  She's setting herself up for-"

"It's not like that," Jeff told him.  "The last little while when they've had fights in front of you - it was all an act to throw you off their trail - and I'm the one who suggested they do that!"

Matt's eyebrows rose.  "Oh, is that so?"  He couldn't help feeling a little bit impressed, as they'd been so convincing.  "You suggested it?!"

"Yeah, and..."  Jeff took a deep breath, exhaling it fully before continuing.  "Matt, don't mess this up...Amy told me everything back in March.  They'd been...'seeing each other' since November...Matt, Amy is in love with Adam."

"Oh, really?  Well for her sake - no, for both their sake, I certainly hope it's mutual..."

Jeff kept his lips pressed tightly together as he stared at his brother.  As much as he honestly believed in his heart that Adam did love the redhead, he'd never actually heard his friend say as much.  You and me both, bro, he thought.  You and me both...

*

Amy eyed Adam with concern as she sat near him in his and Jay's locker room.  She bit her lip as she worried about how he would come out of his match for the night.  The Canadian would be facing none other than Rob Van Dam.

The redhead winced as she watched her boyfriend retrieve a pair of sunglasses to wear to the ring.  It wasn't that she didn't like his evening's opponent - she liked RVD quite a lot and had ever since their ECW days together - but the man tended to be very solid in the ring, and he was definitely one of the most stiff workers she'd ever seen.  So many of Van Dam's opponents had been busted open facing him - Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Jeff... Amy had been so worried about her colorful-haired friend when he'd had his Hardcore title match against the man at SummerSlam.

Adam straightened up from his bag, turned around and saw the diva chewing on the thumb of her left hand.  She sometimes did that when she was nervous or upset.

"Hey...what's the matter?"  He came toward her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her to him.

She ducked her head slightly, then raised it to gaze up into his green-emerald eyes.  With a sigh, she explained herself.

"It's just that...well, I'm a little worried for you, that's all..."

"Why?"

"Because you're squaring off against Rob..."  Adam blinked as he stared her soulful hazel eyes.  "So?"

"So, he's rough in the ring," the redhead said with a wince.  "Look at what happened to Chris when he faced him at Unforgiven!"  Their friend had suffered a laceration on his forehead, and he'd walked out of the match a bloody mess.  "Hell," Amy continued, "look at what happened to you at that pay-per-view!  And that was only against Jay..."

"That wasn't Jay's fault, it was my own," the blond interjected.

"I know, but my point is that Rob will leave you more bloody than that..."

Adam's handsome face brightened with a small smile.  She was really concerned, really worried for him, which demonstrated how she truly felt about him.  Up until Unforgiven, she'd never displayed such tender concern about a him in a match he was involved in.  It was...sweet.

Instead of words, he pulled her to him and enveloped her in a tight hug.  He found it hard to believe he had ever doubted her, how he could have ever felt insecure... Well, that was all way in the past now.

His heart swelled pleasantly.  He had never felt so in love with anyone as he did with Amy Dumas.  She was special, and for keeps.  Too bad he had such a ridiculous fear of actually telling her he loved her - it bordered on a phobia.  That made him feel lousy, because she deserved to hear that, to know that.  He knew she had to love him, but he had an irrational notion that she didn't - that if he were to say those three little words to her, she might not respond - or worse yet, laugh in his face.

He was a coward, and he hated it.  They'd been together, albeit on and off in the very beginning, for nearly a year now, and he was still a coward.  The way he'd always seen it, why would the redhead want him?

Adam gazed down into Amy's eyes, forcing a smile on his face as these thoughts flitted through his mind.  "Baby, I'll be all right...don't worry..."

The redhead looked somewhat sad as a pout he found absolutely adorable came over her face.  "'Don't worry'?  Well, I think I have a right to worry..."

Adam couldn't resist a chuckle at that.  It wasn't that anything she was saying or the situation struck him as funny - he was just feeling touched.  She made him feel so good.

"Come here, you..."  He gently tugged her closer again, dipping his head to kiss her passionately.  He gently sucked on her lower lip, then deeply penetrated her mouth with his tongue.

Amy clung to the blond man with every fiber of her being, wishing she could somehow just have him all to herself and not have to worry about hiding how she really felt about him to everyone.  Maybe it was time to suck it all in and tell Matt - but she knew she wouldn't do that - at least not yet.  She wished she and Adam could take some time off - a vacation, a trip, just the two of them, away from everyone and everything having to do with the WWF - but if they went to Vince to request time off, things might get messy.  They would have to do that separately, since the boss, like everyone but Jay, Jeff and Trish, knew nothing of their relationship.  Mr. McMahon would become suspicious if one of them asked for time off and then the other did the same sometime after - especially since they would obviously be requesting the exact same days.

Oh, hell... Amy pushed all these thoughts from her mind and only concentrated on Adam.  She loved him so much.  He was pretty much her whole world now - well, at least a good percentage of it.

When their long, drawn kiss came to an end, the tall blond man raised his head from hers and gazed into her eyes, then moved forward to place a sweet kiss on the tip of her nose.  He was smiling at her, and the diva couldn't help but feel a smile of her own coming to her face.  The days when she had disliked him with a passion couldn't have felt more in the past.

"How about later on, after RAW, we go out somewhere on the town?" Adam asked enthusiastically, a gleam in his beautiful eyes.  "Just you and me..."

Amy's breath caught in her throat.  In all the time they'd been together, they'd never really gone out alone while they were on the road.  It always seemed that their friends wanted to hang out together - so either one or both of them would go.  If they were both out, they deliberately avoided one another like the plague.  If one was out, they would stay out for only so long before making up an excuse as to why they had to return to the hotel earlier than everyone else.  Or, the other thing that frequently happened was that neither of them went out, and instead, they found excuses not to go - and then they would be together.

"Oh, I would love that!" the redhead cried happily.

"Great...we'll have to make like we're both staying in tonight in case Chris or Matt or someone wants to go out..."

And you know they will," Amy finished for him.  It never surprised her when Chris Jericho wanted to hang out at clubs all hours of the night, as the self-proclaimed "Party Host" was exactly that - as well as a party animal.  Matt was a different story.  Sure, he'd always enjoyed hanging out, but up until only a few months ago, he'd never initiated that sort of thing.  As long as she'd known the Hardys, Jeff had always been the more partying of the two - Matt had always been more of a stay-at-home, or, in their case, stay-at-hotel type.

It had occurred to Amy awhile back that perhaps the older Hardy had changed these habits just to try to catch her - maybe Matt had thought it would be easier to figure out who her "mystery man" was if all the "suspects" were out with her.  That thought had annoyed her.

"We'll figure something out later, okay?" Adam was saying.  "Promise..."

"Great..." the diva said with a smile.  She reached for him, and they exchanged one last kiss before she left the locker room.

Outside in the hall, Amy smiled as she thought of something special she had planned for Adam's birthday the following night.  She wanted everything to be perfect.  But for now, she had to concentrate on her upcoming match against Stacy Keibler.