Dark Secrets

Chapter 2 – A Day to Relax

….

Jeff sat on the front porch of Undertaker's home, taking in the heat of the sun. This was his type of weather: bright sunlight, cool breeze and the smell of a BBQ dinner wafting through the air. Sighing in contentment, Jeff wiggled his way further into the wicker chair, wanting to just close his eyes and take a nice, long, nap . . .

"Wakey wakey sleepy head."

Unfortunately that was not meant to be.

Cracking his eyes open a little against the glare of the sun, Jeff could make out the silhouettes of two individuals standing right in front of him. Tilting his head slightly to get the light out of his eyes, Jeff smiled up at the two men.

"I'm not sleeping." He replied as he tried to stifle a yawn in the process. "I'm just enjoying my last week of rest and relaxation."

"Who would have thought that he would get any rest being out here? Relaxation maybe, but rest?" Shawn smiled as he gave Jeff a subtle wink.

"They have to get tired at some point don't they?" Rey answered, shaking his head at the Heart-Break Kid.

"And whoever said that I couldn't be both rested and relaxed while here?" Jeff asked, his brow rose expectantly at the two of them.

"Well, aren't you really busy lately?" Shawn retorted.

"Now what could I possibly be busy doing?" Jeff asked simply. "It's not like I have anything that needs to be done immediately, do I?"

"Guess it all depends on how you define it." Shawn giggled childishly.

"Oh, go bug Mark for a while." Rey chided. Shawn merely stuck out his tongue before running off to go find the Deadman. Rey shook his head; not wanting to think of the trouble Shawn was about to get himself into. Turning back to Jeff, Rey smiled. "Sorry about that."

Jeff shrugged. "I'm not the one who has to live with him."

"It's not that bad." Rey sighed. "You just need to have a lot of patience and love."

"Which you seem to have tons to spare." Jeff replied.

"One does strange things when they are in love." Rey smiled.

"So, are you going to tell me?"

"Hmm, what?" Rey stammered, his mind being brought back from the past.

"Are you going to tell me who you loved and lost all those years ago?"

"When did I say that?"

"When you and Shawn were telling me that you'd have Mark begging for me by the end. Which, by the way, he hasn't been."

"What?"

"Mark hasn't been begging me to do anything." Jeff repeated. "When is the begging supposed to start?"

"Who's begging who now?"

"Matt!" Jeff exclaimed as he jumped out of the chair to hug his brother.

"Wow!" Matt smiled. "What the hell is he feeding you? I haven't gotten that kind of reception in years."

"It hasn't been that long has it?" Jeff pouted as he looked at his brother.

"How long did Cena have you all but wrapped around his finger?" Matt asked.

Jeff's shoulder's slumped in defeat. "You had to bring that up." He muttered, his eyes down cast.

"Way to bring him down." Rey chided, shaking a finger at Matt.

"It's okay, Rey." Jeff smiled as he winked at Rey. "I'm just bugging him."

"No, no. He's right." Matt replied. "I shouldn't have said anything."

"I'm over it anyway." Jeff shrugged his shoulders as he looked up at the two men in front of him, a big smile on his face.

"Really?" Both Rey and Matt asked together.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Jeff asked in return. "Why would I stay in the past when I've got a great future to look at?"

"Are you sure you didn't mean a great ass to look at?"

Everyone turned to find Shawn standing in the doorway, his hands on his hips, watching them expectantly.

"I didn't want to make my brother deaf by saying that." Jeff admitted sheepishly as he glanced sideways at his brother.

"You honestly think that after all this time I'm not used to the fact that my brother loves a guy?" Matt asked in shock.

Jeff, Rey and Shawn all looked at each other before responding, "No."

"Why not?"

"It's you." Jeff replied simply. "I highly doubt that you've changed your mind that quickly."

"But I told you that I approved of your choice before you even started to date him!" Matt retorted.

"Of course you did." Shawn smiled, shaking his head.

"It's true." Matt replied.

"But how many times did you tell him that you wanted nothing to do with his new love life?" Rey asked suddenly.

"So I don't want to know all the dirty details of his sex life." Matt conceded. "Is that so bad?"

"Yes." Shawn and Rey said together.

Matt looked at the two men in confusion. "Why?"

"Because you're his family. You should be there to listen to all the things he wants to talk about." Shawn answered simply.

"What if I don't want to talk about that portion of my love life?" Jeff asked suddenly.

Shawn looked at Jeff as though he had grown a second head. "Why wouldn't you want to discuss it?"

Jeff shrugged. "Maybe I want to keep the details to myself."

"But you're with the Phenom!" Shawn exclaimed. "People are going to want to know how he performs outside the ring!"

"Well that's private information." Jeff replied. "And I don't want to share it with anyone."

"That's fine by me." Matt smiled as he clapped Jeff on the back. "I don't need to know that kind of information."

"Why don't you?" Shawn asked, hoping he could get Matt on his side.

"I didn't want to know about his sex life when he was with a girl. I really don't need to hear about his sex life with a guy."

"You're no fun." Shawn pouted.

"Sorry, Shawn." Matt said, shrugging his shoulders.

"So, how was your trip?" Jeff asked, deciding it was time to change the subject.

"Uneventful." Matt answered simply.

"Really?" Rey said as he looked up at Matt.

"Strange, I know." Matt smiled. "But everything went as expected: no flight delays, no emergencies, no lost luggage."

"Lucky." Rey shook his head. "Our flight was delayed for 5 hours."

"Why?"

Rey shrugged. "Weather problems."

"Got to love the weather related delays." Shawn chuckled. "You never know how long those will last."

"Makes me glad that we got out here last week." Jeff smiled. "We didn't have any problems coming here."

"Yeah, well, I'm sure the weather was terrified of getting in Mark's way." Shawn smiled. "The Deadman would not have been happy if your flight was delayed due to weather."

"He would have taken his bike and driven all the way here instead of being stuck at an airport terminal." Rey agreed.

"Hence why they had no problems." Shawn smiled.

"Someone's having problems?"

All four of the men turned around to look at the person who spoke. Jeff smiled up at the tall, dark figure that stood behind the rail of the front porch. His bright green eyes were looking between the four men on the porch, lingering ever so slightly on Jeff. His brow rose expectantly.

"Hey, Mark. No, no one is having problems." Jeff answered simply.

"We were merely talking about flight delays and how you two didn't have any problems with that." Rey smiled briefly. "Aren't you supposed to watching the food?"

"I am." Undertaker replied.

"You are?" Matt asked, confused.

"I am. I sent Shawn back here to tell people that the food was ready." Taker paused briefly. "But, when people weren't heading to the back I figured I'd check to see if Shawn got lost."

"I don't get lost." Shawn retorted.

"If you didn't have Rey giving you directions you'd have never made it here in the first place." Taker answered simply.

"Anyway, foods ready?" Jeff interrupted in hopes of keeping the smaller man from getting into a fight with the Deadman. That would not go over very well.

Undertaker looked up at Jeff and nodded. "Yes."

"Great, I'm starved." Jeff smiled as he stood up, stretching out the kinks that had appeared while he was dozing off in the chair. Apparently, though he had felt comfortable, his body thought differently. Once he had stretched out his body, Jeff leapt over the railing and followed Taker to the back of the house. Though he could have followed the rest of the guys and walked through the house, it was too nice a day to spend any of it inside.

Especially when he's outside too… Jeff thought to himself as he watched the Deadman disappear around the corner and onto the back deck.

"You better stop that or you'll start drooling."

"I don't drool, Matt." Jeff retorted, glancing briefly over at his brother.

Matt snorted. "With the way you were watching him, I think you'll start soon."

Jeff shoved his brother lightly. "How could you ever think of me drooling after another man?"

"I told you, I'm okay with you dating other guys." Matt replied, playfully shoving Jeff back.

"But drooling?"

Matt shrugged. "Can't I make fun of my brother?"

"You never said anything like that when I was dating girls." Jeff pointed out.

Matt paused. "True." He admitted. "Guess it's more fun bugging you now."

Jeff pouted. "Why must you tease me?"

"Oh, come on. You know you love it."

"No, I don't." Jeff smiled as he shoved playfully at his brother before running the rest of the way to the back deck where he could hide behind Taker. Undertaker looked up at Matt as he walked up the stairs in confusion.

"Did I miss something?" Taker asked.

"Nope." Matt smiled. "You haven't missed anything at all."

Undertaker's brow rose as he glanced over at Jeff who was currently using him as a human shield. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything." Jeff said defensively.

Taker's brow rose. "And I'm being used as a human shield because?"

"He's bugging me." Jeff answered, pointing at his brother.

Matt shrugged when Undertaker's gaze fell on him. "I don't know what he's talking about. I wasn't bugging him."

Jeff scoffed. "Yeah, right."

"What was he saying then?" Undertaker asked.

Jeff looked up at the Deadman, his mouth open as if to reply, then he closed it quickly as he looked away in embarrassment. "Nothing."

Undertaker looked at Jeff in confusion. "Nothing?"

Jeff merely nodded before moving to take his spot at the table. Undertaker looked over at Matt who merely shrugged his shoulders and took up the spot across from his brother. Taker shook his head and turned back to the barbeque at the same time that Shawn and Rey stepped through the backdoor and onto the deck. Neither men seemed to take notice of the silence as Rey took a seat next to Matt and Shawn took up the seat next to Jeff.

"What am I, am server? Come and get it." Taker said as he picked up a spatula.

"Sorry, Mark." Jeff said as he jumped out of his seat and made his way over to the barbeque. "Please and thank you." He smiled as he held up his plate.

Undertaker chuckled softly as he placed the burger on Jeff's plate. As soon as everyone had their food, more food was put on to cook and they all were seated, the group ate and talked about everything that had happened over the past three weeks Jeff and Undertaker had been away.

"You really should have been there." Shawn laughed. "The look on his face was priceless."

"Poor Jay." Jeff said, shaking his head as he tried to hide a smile. "I bet he wasn't so amused."

"I think that he took it well enough." Matt shrugged. "He's pretty good with stuff like that."

"Yeah, but . . ."

"But nothing, it was fun." Shawn smiled.

"On another topic, when are you guys scheduled to come back?" Rey asked as he looked between Jeff and Taker.

"I'll be back next week." Jeff answered. "I'm scheduled to make an appearance on the next episode of SmackDown."

"And what about you?" Rey asked, turning to look at Taker when he didn't respond.

The Deadman shrugged. "I don't know yet."

Matt, Shawn and Rey looked at Taker in confusion. "What? Why not?"

Undertaker shrugged. "I haven't completely decided when I want to return."

"He's thinking about retirement, actually." Jeff said, receiving a glare for Undertaker.

"Why are you even considering retirement?" Shawn asked, disbelief written all over his face.

Undertaker leaned back in his chair. "We both are not as young as we used to be. That match at WrestleMania had me thinking of how many more of those I have in me."

"Well, hopefully that type of match isn't needed anytime soon." Jeff replied.

"If you have to fight in another match like that, then the Deadman has lost his touch." Rey said simply as he played with the label on his bottle.

"Exactly." Shawn agreed. "So there is no reason for you not to return."

"What if I lose my touch?" Taker asked, his brow rose in challenge.

"Then I'll kick your ass and fight the match for you." Shawn replied, shrugging his shoulders.

Rey shook his head. "I think that Jeff and I would be a better match in the ring against any opponent. We are younger than both of you."

"Ouch, that hurt." Shawn muttered as he held a fist to his heart.

"Get over it." Jeff smiled. "You still look good at your age."

Shawn smiled and winked at Jeff. "Wishing that you had gotten to me sooner?"

"Hell no." Jeff said, trying to keep his face serious.

"Why not?" Shawn pouted.

"Mark looks a lot better than you." Jeff answered seriously. "If anything I wish I got to him sooner."

Shawn laughed. "I bet you do."

Both Rey and Undertaker shook their heads.

"The men we love." Rey muttered as he glanced up at Taker who only nodded in response. Rey frowned slightly at the lack of response for Taker. As Jeff, Matt and Shawn continued their conversation, Rey moved closer to Undertaker.

"Are you alright, Mark?" Rey whispered, his concern showing on his face.

Undertaker's brow rose in confusion. "Yeah, why?"

"You just seem . . . distant."

Taker shrugged. "I'm fine. I don't know what you're seeing."

"Alright." Rey conceded. "If you say so."

"What are you expecting?"

"Nothing." Rey shook his head. "You just seemed a little off there for a moment."

"A little off?"

Rey shrugged. "I'm not really sure." He admitted.

"Then how do you know I'm a little off?"

"Same way I knew there was something wrong that night you were sitting on that bench after Jeff was suspended."

"If I remember properly, I also asked you what was wrong with me." Undertaker reminded Rey.

"True." Rey admitted. "But I sensed something was wrong before you even said anything."

"Oh?"

Rey shrugged. "It's not often you see the Phenom sitting on a public bench in a hotel, let alone when he's staring off into space."

"I wasn't staring off into space."

"Mark," Rey sighed, "I am one of the few people who can say that they know you. I can tell when you are troubled by something and when you are off in your own little world."

Taker shook his head. "I guess I was just thinking about if and when I would return to the ring."

"Is that all?" Rey asked his head tilted a little to the side. It was obvious that he believed that there was more to the situation than Undertaker was letting on.

"That's all." Taker nodded. "I have to make my decision soon."

"How soon?"

"The sooner the better."

Rey nodded in understanding. "What are you leaning toward?"

Undertaker sighed and shook his head. "I really don't know. I don't want to leave . . . but . . ."

"But your body is telling you differently." Rey continued when Taker paused.

"Pretty much." Undertaker said as he looked up at the sky.

Rey leaned forward in his seat. "Are you worried about leaving him alone?"

Undertaker looked at Rey, a frown on his face. "What are you talking about?"

"Him." Rey answered, nodding slightly in Jeff's direction. "Are you worried about leaving him alone so quickly?"

"He's fine."

"I know he's fine. But he's been with you for the past two weeks."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Rey rolled his eyes. "It means he's been able to relax, to become comfortable with himself again." When Taker remained silent, Rey continued. "To use a phrase Shawn likes, you're his knight in shining armor. You're his protector."

"Are you saying that if I am out of the picture, on a regular basis, that he would be abused again?" Undertaker asked in disbelief as he leaned in closely to Rey.

Rey shrugged. "I'm no psychiatrist and, in all honesty, I don't think anyone of the roaster would allow him to be picked on let alone abused again. Doesn't mean that he won't become a recluse."

Undertaker leaned back in his chair, staring off in the distance before shaking his head. "He's not weak."

"I wasn't saying that." Rey retorted. "But Jeff is not the same now as he was before you two left. I am a little concerned that he will change back, even a little, if you aren't with him."

Taker snorted. "He's not dependent on me. He can, and will, take care of himself."

Rey looked over at Jeff. "I hope you're right."

"Why wouldn't I be?" Undertaker asked. "When he confronted me at the Hall of Fame he could have easily ran away. He could have said nothing. But he stood his ground and would not budge, no matter what I said."

"He knew that Shawn and I would have forced him to talk to you." Rey replied simply.

"So, you're telling me that if I was mean to him, if he came back to you in tears, that you would have still forced him to come talk to me?" Taker asked, his brow rose slightly in challenge.

"I . . . I . . ." Rey shook his head. "No."

"Of course you wouldn't have. You would have protected him." Taker said, shaking his head. "And I believe that he knew that. The fact that he stayed, even though I gave him absolutely no reason to stay after the first few seconds he was there, means that he won't go back down that road."

Rey nodded. "You're right."

"Of course I am." Taker nodded.

"Hey! What are you two whispering about?" Shawn asked suddenly.

Rey looked at Taker briefly before meeting Shawn's gaze. "Nothing."

"Are you sure?"

Rey nodded. "Yes. So, what's for dessert?"