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Jeff Hardy looked up at the sound of his locker room door opening forcibly, seeing that it was only his brother who'd stepped inside. However, Matt looked furious.
"Hey, man... What's wrong?" he asked, an eyebrow arched. When he'd seen the older man earlier, he'd been nothing but smiles, all happy. He knew Matt had missed being in the ring, and missed all of his friends and Amy in particular.
"What's *wrong*?" the other man echoed angrily. He glared at his younger brother, gesturing wildly with both hands. "*Everything* is wrong, Jeff!" He shook his head, his voice lowering in tone. "Everything..."
"What do you mean?" the colorful-haired young man asked.
"Just like I said - everything! I just found out a few things... For starters," he went on, turning to face his brother, his brown eyes hardening. "Adam thinks he's Amanda's father!"
"Oh," Jeff replied casually. "Well, you know? He *is*."
The dark-haired man nearly did a double-take as he gaped at him. He stared at him wordlessly for a full minute, his mouth dropping open, before he finally rediscovered his voice.
"You knew? You knew that?!"
The other man nodded.
"*How*?" Matt demanded, his face still reflecting the shock he felt. "Did he or Amy tell you?"
Jeff shook his head.
"No, they didn't say a word. But it's pretty obvious."
The older Hardy narrowed his eyes, not comprehending.
"How is it obvious?!" he asked incredulously.
"C'mon, man... Just look at Mandy - really look at that little girl. Doesn't she look an awful lot like Adam?"
Matt still simply stared at his younger brother, not speaking a word in response. He looked at Jeff as though he were an alien from the planet Pluto.
"Seriously, Matt... I never really noticed until I saw the two of them together. Look at little Mandy - the blond hair, some of the facial features... She's even kinda tall for a little girl her age," the rainbow-headed man pointed out. "She looks like Amy, or at least I always thought so, but she looks even *more* like Adam."
The elder brother stood there like a stone, his eyes taking on a faraway look as he stared at nothing and considered everything Jeff had just said. It was all beginning to sink in, really sink into his brain when he suddenly got hold of his senses again. He shook his head, the anger beginning to seep back in.
"No... That can't be... I won't believe it!" he shouted.
"But Matt-"
"No 'but Matts!' Know what I did? I just confronted that bastard, and I demanded there be a paternity test!"
"Why?" Jeff questioned.
The darker Hardy brother rolled his eyes. Why did his sibling always have to be so naive? But even more importantly, how was he so perceptive all the time? And on that note, how could he be so perceptive and yet so *naive* simultaneously? He could swear Jeff had a strange wonder about him - he'd *known*, or at least sensed that Adam could be Mandy's father even before all of this mess had happened!
"Why do you *think*?"
Jeff shook his head.
"I mean," he elaborated, running a hand through his red-orange-yellow locks, "you *know* what the outcome's gonna be. She's his kid, not *yours*."
"Shut up!" Matt yelled, raising a hand clenched into a fist. Damn it, he was seconds away from punching his own brother. He was well aware of that, and shamed, he lowered his arm. "I'm sorry, Jeff. I know *I'm* not the father... but I'll be damned if Adam Copeland *is*!"
*
Amy rushed back into the locker room, concern evident on her face and guilt coursing through her. She instantly came to sit beside the tall blond man on the couch, the ice pack raised in her left hand.
"I'm *so* sorry this happened," she said softly. She winced as he took the ice pack from her, raising it to the side of his jaw. He was beginning to develop a purplish bruise where Matt had punched him.
"No, no..." Adam protested, shaking his head. He turned to fully face her, noting the sorrow in the redhead's hazel eyes. "... Don't apologize. This was *not* your fault, Ames." When she shook her head and began to speak against his last words, he raised his free hand, silencing her with a finger to her lips. "Shh... You did what you *had* to do. And it's not your fault."
Her gaze locking on his, she still looked sad and unconvinced.
"Hey," the blond man said, lowering the ice pack from his face, "telling him the truth was the right thing to do. Besides, it's the only way we can be together without sneaking around and being dishonest - right?"
The redhead nodded, and she sucked in a light breath at the thought of what Matt had insisted upon. At this point, she didn't care *what* the dark-haired man thought of her, but it hurt her heart when she thought that Adam might think something that wasn't true.
"I'm so sorry, regardless... I'm sorry he's insisting on a paternity test," she said. Her gaze found his green eyes and held them. "Adam, I hope you don't think... God, the way Matt made me sound! Adam, she's *yours*... There was no one else, I swear."
"Shh..." He tossed the ice pack aside, to a small table just beyond and gathered her into his arms. "... I know," he said, hushing her with his right hand, which stroked gently over her long red hair. "I know, sweetie." He held her slightly back, just enough to gaze down into her worried hazel eyes. Damn it, she was really terrified he would believe what the other man had insinuated.
"I don't want you to think-"
"Shh," Adam hushed her again. He softened, his heart doing flip-flops as he gazed down upon
her. He moved forward to claim her lips with his own, his breath leaving him in a drawn sigh as
she instantly responded.