FOZZY'S REVIVAL

INSURREXTION –1, MAY 4TH, 2001

"Baby, you’re looking good," Jericho announced as he took his place in the chair. Lita, Jeff and Trish had already taken turns today and had even reported mysterious eyelid movements, but Jericho couldn’t see it. As far as he was concerned, Angel looked the same as she had since she’d been in here. A few less machines, maybe and a couple of Band-Aids gone from her face, but on the whole there was no difference. He had a feeling the others were simply indulging in wishful thinking. True, there was nothing wrong with that, but Jericho just hadn’t personally seen any signs that made him any more hopeful than he already had been. "Yep, baby. You’re looking good."

He had a lot of trouble thinking of what to say to Angel. Could she hear him at all? Would she care if she could hear? Would she even want him to be there? Would she even want him to be there? Probably not. Sometimes he talked about his matches, sometimes he quoted scripture. Or sometimes, like today, he just sang. He sang loudly, not caring if he was bothering anyone. Today he was singing one of the songs that Angel hated. One of the ones she’d tried to turn down. She obviously didn’t get the point. The louder it played, the better it sounded. It was an undisputed fact of heavy metal music.

Jericho smiled to himself as he thought about all the times Angel had fought with him over his music. Every single time they got in a car together. She was more reliable for that than Old Faithful. But now she had to listen, like it or not. What would she do if she was conscious now? Of course, it didn’t have the same effect without the guitars and bass and amps and drums, but she'd still be pissed, no doubt about it. She’d give him that look of death she was so good at and say, "God, can you please shut that shit off?"

Yep, that’s what she’d say, all right. She’d swear, blaspheme and say please in the same sentence. Suddenly he stopped singing and stared at her. That had been too weird. He’d been so deep in thought it had actually been like he’d heard her say that, those exact words in that accent that was both endearing and annoying.

"Insane, baby," he said, watching her carefully. "Now you’ve got me imagining things. But I’m not going to let that stop me from finishing this song."

He started belting it out again, tapping the beat on Angel’s bed, even grinding out the guitar solo with his vocal cords.

"I mean it, Y2J. Turn that shit down."

Jericho’s mouth dropped open. Her lips had moved. No kidding, they had. At least, he thought they had. He decided to try something before he started screaming like a woman. He kept singing, even louder and more obnoxiously than before.

"For God’s sake, Jerky. Turn it down!"

Yep, they’d definitely moved.

"Hey Angel," Jericho said excitedly. "Why don’t you open your eyes?"

And she did, just like that. For a moment, she looked absolutely bewildered, but then she focused on Jericho and formed a small frowned.

"God, I feel like death," she said weakly. "Not that I still couldn’t kick your ass."

"Right," Jericho replied, unable to shake his grin. "You know what? You look like death."

"Thanks," Angel mused.

Her head was swimming and she felt so sleepy it was all she could do to keep her eyes open. There was also pain coming from somewhere, but she couldn’t locate it, almost as if her mind was too heavy to properly let it through. When her eyes closed she let them stay that way, deciding it was preferable to having to look at Jericho. Jericho. What the hell was Jericho doing here?

"You watching me sleep, Jerky?" she murmured. "That’s really creepy, you know."

"Why, do I scare you?" Jericho teased.

He was awash with relief. Talking to someone was so much easier when they could talk back.

"Clowns are scary. You’re not," Angel informed him. "Actually, you couldn’t even scare me if you dressed up as a clown. Oh wait, you did that once, didn’t you?" She didn’t open her eyes to gauge his reaction. She was just too drowsy.

"I was having the best dream before," she said quietly. "I dreamed that you and Benoit fell off a cliff. Oh, did I say you fell? I meant I pushed you. And it was so good because you both died."

"That’s funny." Jericho’s voice filled her ears. "Because you nearly did die."

Angel’s eyes shot open, but it wasn’t because of what Jericho had said.

"Shit, I’ve gotta get to Benoit’s match. If I don’t show, he’s gonna go absolutely insane."

"Sorry, baby. You’re almost a week too late."

"What?" Angel cried as loudly as she could, which wasn’t particularly loud. "What do you mean? What day is it?"

"Friday," Jericho replied simply.

"Bullshit. You’re just trying to mess with my mind." She finally took a look around as best she could without moving too much. "Am I in hospital?"

"Yes, baby. You are."

It was all too much for Angel and she lay back heavily. "Okay. Tell me what happened. And don’t try to bullshit me. I can tell when you’re lying."

Jericho raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Why don’t you tell me what you think happened? What do you remember?"

Angel's frown was full of distrust. "What are you, a cop?" She sighed. "Okay. I remember leaving the locker room and being real happy because I had you and Benoit convinced I was going to be William Regal’s valet. And I was looking for Edge and Christian so I could wish Christian well on his Euro title match. And then…then I think I might have asked some guy where they were. Yep, I definitely asked. And after that…after that…" She took a deep breath. "Oh, screw this. Why don’t you just tell me?"

Jericho blinked heavily. "That’s seriously all you remember?"

"Screw you," Angel scowled.

Jericho shook his head. Attitude, attitude, attitude.

"You got the living hell beaten out of you, baby," he announced matter-of-factly.

"Oh really? Who did it, you?"

"No," Jericho sneered. This girl really did bring out the worst in him.

"Yeah, figures," Angel muttered. "So do tell, Jerky. Who beat me up?"

"Edge, Christian, Kirk Angel and Rhyno."

"You’re lying," Angel accused. "Kurt Angle, maybe, but not the others. They’re my friends."

"Hey, you asked, I told," Jericho shrugged.

"I can tell when you’re lying, Y2J," Angel said again, but now her voice was softer.

Jericho said nothing as she thought about what he’d just told her.

"So, how did I get here? If what you’re saying is true, they wouldn’t have called for help."

"I found you," Jericho said quietly. "You were out cold. You weren’t breathing. I gave you CPR…"

"What?" Angel snapped. "So you couldn’t wait to get your lips on mine again, huh? You had to jump me when I was unconscious."

"Get over yourself, baby. If it wasn’t for me, you’d be in the damn morgue."

Angel fumed. Her head was still swimming, but now it was worse. Now she had a lot to digest and was not coping with it too well. And then…

"Arrgh!" she screamed.

Jericho jumped back. "What?"

"My arm, jackass," she cried through clenched teeth, trying to grab at it with her right hand.

"Yeah, it’s broken," Jericho informed her.

"No shit, genius."

Jericho got to his feet. "I’ll go get a nurse. Maybe she’ll give you some morphine to shut you up."

"Sit your ass down!" Angel demanded. "I’m not done with you yet."

Jericho sighed but there was no arguing with someone who just a short time ago had been a coma patient. So he sat.

"So, what else is wrong with me?" Angel asked.

"You had massive head injuries. They seemed to have concentrated on your head. Most of the rest of you is okay, except for that arm. You probably broke it trying to fight back, knowing you."

Tears were filling Angel’s eyes as she tried to remember but got nothing.

"It makes no sense," she whispered. "They’re my friends. Why would they attack me? It just... I don’t get it. Why?"

"I don’t know, baby," Jericho soothed, putting his hand over hers. She pulled it away as quickly as she could and glared at him. She was so tired but there still seemed to be so much she didn’t know.

"Have you been here all week?" she asked weekly.

"Well, I had nothing better to do."

"Right," Angel muttered. "So, where’s Benoit? Did he get revenge for me like he’s meant to?"

"Yeah, we all did. It’s what we’ve been doing all week."

"We?" Angel frowned. "Who’s we?"

"Your friends. We’ve all been hanging around, waiting for you to return to the land of the living…"

"Who, Jericho?" Angel insisted.

"Me, Benoit, Trish, Lita, Matt…"

"Lita?" Angel cut in. "Lita’s here?"

"Yeah, she’s waiting outside. Matt and Jeff too."

"Send Lita in," Angel said. "I want to see Lita."

"Okay," Jericho shrugged, getting to his feet. "I’ll go get her."

"Oh, and Jerky?"

Jericho turned back.

"Can you see if I can get some water? I’ve got something down my throat and it’s making it real hard to talk."

Jericho nodded slowly. "It’s called a feeding tube."

"Whatever." She closed her eyes and awaited the arrival of her cousin.

* * * *

Jericho nearly danced as he returned to the others, stopping briefly to poke his head through the doorway to the nurses’ station to relay Angel’s request for water as well as his own for morphine – for her, of course. Then he approached the group, who noticed his smile and stared at him in anticipation.

"My friends, she has returned."

They all reacted differently. Benoit just nodded and leaned back against the wall again, Matt and Lita hugged, Jeff clapped his hands together, then ran his fingers through his hair while Trish bounced excitedly.

"So," Lita started nervously. "How is she?"

Jericho raised his hands slightly. "She’s fine. She was talking, back to her usual pain in the ass self and sister, she asked for you."

"Me?" Lita echoed, suddenly uncertain.

"Yeah. She told me to send you in."

"Okay." She shared glances with Matt and Jeff, then extracted herself from Matt’s arms and walked steadily into Angel’s room.

The nurse was just finishing up injecting something into Angel’s IV line.

"For the pain," she explained, giving Lita a warm smile. "I’ll bet you’re glad she woke up."

"Oh we are, definitely," Lita enthused.

Angel’s eyes opened. "Lita? Is that you?" Her voice was weak but clear and Lita felt tears of relief fill her eyes.

"Yeah, Ange, it’s me. How you feeling?"

"Well, I have a broken arm. And my head feels like someone sat on it, but…" She gave an attempted self-deprecating smile. "I’ll survive."

Lita let out a small laugh as she wiped away tears and sat next to her cousin. "I’m glad, Angel. I really am."

Angel blinked heavily, against the pain and against the drugs invading her bloodstream. "So, you’ve really been sitting around here for a week waiting for me to wake up?"

"Since Monday," Lita confirmed. "It’s been a tough week."

"Hey, Lita…"

"Yeah, Ange?"

"I love you."

Lita paused as she broke into a smile. "I love you too, Ange."

"You do?"

"Of course I do. You’re my baby cousin."

"But you said…"

"Angel, I just said that because I was mad at you. You’re still my cousin and I still care about you."

"You really mean that?" Angel asked softly.

"Of course I do. I’ve been so worried about you. We all have. Especially Jeff, he’s been absolutely…"

"Matt and Jeff are here?" Angel cut in.

"Yeah," Lita nodded. "Do you want to see them? I can come back later. I mean, we have to fly to England this afternoon, but I’m sure Jeff really wants to see you. I’ll send him in right now if you want."

"No, not Jeff," Angel said quickly. "I want to talk to Matt."

"Matt?" Lita frowned.

"Yeah, not Jeff. I don’t want to see Jeff."

"Are you sure?" Lita asked. "I’m sure Jeff would love to check in and see you’re okay."

"Well, you can tell him that. Please, Lita. I want to talk to Matt, just for a minute."

Lita nodded slowly. "Okay. I’ll send him right in."

"Thanks, Li." Smile restored, Angel felt her eyelids drooping again, so she let them and began to compose in her mind what she was going to say to Matt.

Lita walked hurriedly to rejoin the others.

"Angel’s looking good," she confirmed, before stepping over to Matt. "But for some reason, she wants to talk to you."

"Me?" Matt frowned.

Lita nodded. "I don’t know what it’s about, but I said I’d get you."

"Okay," Matt shrugged. "Then I guess I better go in there."

He hummed uneasily as he made his was towards Angel. She was lying there, eyes closed, looking as she had the past five days.

"Hey Angel. Lita says you wanted to see me?"

There was a change. She had a slight smile on her face and looked very peaceful, but his words hadn’t caused her to open her eyes.

"Angel? It’s Matt."

But she didn’t answer.

"Well, I guess you’re sleeping," Matt sighed. "I’ll talk to you later."

* * * *

Trish just couldn’t get out of the habit of talking to Angel like she was still in a coma. While Lita and Jeff had held silent bedside stints, Trish just kept talking…and talking…and talking.

"So, right when I was about to track down George Clooney…I mean Doctor Ross and ask him to…you know, discuss your condition over coffee in the cafeteria. This is today, since you woke up, by the way. Not even I’d do that if I didn't think you’d be okay. Anyway, so right when I was looking for Doctor Ross I ran straight into this other doctor and I swear, it was that Russian guy, Doctor Luca! So I was like, sorry, I’m so clumsy. And he was really sweet and said something about he’s a doctor, so clumsy people keep him in business. And we got to talking. He was just finished his shift and he asked me out for coffee. And I so wanted to go, but then I thought, if I go with him, I won’t get to see Angel again and maybe talk to her before I fly to England. So, I couldn’t do it, could I? I explained this to Doctor Luca and he gave me his number and said, ‘if you’re ever in Chicago again’. And I assured him I would be, because we come here so often. Then he gave me a kiss on the cheek and said, ‘I hope I hear from you, Trish’. He was so cute! But then as I was walking back here I was suddenly like ‘Trish, what are you doing? Hitting on some other guy when Chris Jericho’s been nothing but sweet to you all week’. He has, you know and I think he’s interested, but… I guess I just want to wait and see what you think. I mean, you work closer to him than I do."

"You don’t want to get mixed up with Jericho, trust me."

Trish’s hands flew to her mouth. "Angel? You’re awake?"

Angel opened her eyes and smiled sleepily. "Hey Trish."

"Hi! Did I wake you before? I’m sorry."

"No, it’s fine," Angel murmured. "I’m glad you did. You really do have the strangest life."

Trish pouted. "I don’t think it’s strange."

Angel actually laughed a little. "So you guys are about to fly to London?"

"Yeah," Trish replied, checking her bracelet watch. "In about an hour."

"Okay," Angel said thoughtfully. "I hope that son of a bitch Benoit doesn’t think I’ll be going."

"Oh, of course he doesn’t!" Trish cried.

"Good," Angel said softly as her eyes began to close again.

"Are you still sleepy, Angel?’ Trish asked sympathetically.

"Yeah," Angel murmured. "Funny how exhausting sleeping for five days is." Suddenly, her eyes blinked open. "Actually, before I crash again, can you go get Matt Hardy for me? I need to talk to him."

"Matt?" Trish repeated with a frown. "Okay."

"Thanks," Angel smiled. "Oh, Trish? Good luck in your Insurrextion match. I know you can do it."

"You think so?" Trish asked. "Wow, thank you, Angel."

"No problem. Everyone needs someone who believes in them." With that, she lay back to wait for Matt.

* * * *

"Hey Angel." His uneasy smile held a lot of emotions. "How you holding up?"

"Just fine," Angel replied. "And get that look of pity off your face. It doesn’t look good on you."

Matt was taken aback, but she was probably in a lot of pain and today would have been overwhelming for her. She had the right to be a bit of a bitch. "You wanted to talk to me, Angel?"

"Yeah, that’s right. I did. Look, Matt, I know why you and Jeff are here."

Matt frowned. "Well, of course we were gonna be here, Angel."

"You’re here because of Lita. Now, don’t give me that look, I’m not mad. I’m actually very relieved. I’m glad Lita has you and Jeff, Matt. I really am. And I want to properly mend things with her, I do. But that doesn’t mean I need you or Jeff in my life…"

"Oh, come on, Angel," Matt cut in. "It’s not just ‘cause of Lita and you know it."

"That’s very valiant of you, Matt, but you don’t have to pretend with me. I love the fact that you’ll do anything for Lita, that is very cool and if you ever hurt her, I promise you, I will kill you. I also know that you and Jeff are closer to her than maybe I’ll ever be. That’s why I’m going to step back. I have my life with the two gay Canadians and you three have yours. I’m glad Lita’s not mad at me anymore, but I know that while you and Jeff are around, we’ll never be as close as we were when we were kids. So, you can have her, Matt. At least now I know she cares about me as much as I care about her. Just knowing that is enough for me."

Matt shook his head. "You’ve got it all wrong, Angel."

"You see, I don’t think I do. I think I’ve got it right, that I’m finally starting to make amends. I don’t want to fight with Team eXtreme anymore, but I also don’t want to be a part of it. I’m stepping back. You have my blessing as Lita’s boyfriend, but while you are, I’m not going to be around. I don’t need that and neither do you. I caused enough trouble the first time."

"God, Angel, are you sure?" Matt sighed.

"Yeah, I’m sure, Matt. Just make sure you look after Lita. Because I will be watching you. Do you understand?"

Exasperated, Matt shook his head. "Don’t do this, Angel. Please, if only for Lita…"

"It’s because of Lita I’m doing it," Angel told him solemnly.

"Come on," Matt said again. "At least let me get Jeff and see if he can talk you out of it."

"No!" Angel cried forcefully. "I don’t want to see Jeff. I didn’t even want to see you, but I guess you’re the lesser of two evils. At least you don’t scream at me."

Matt cringed. "Angel, about that. Jeff was only…."

"I don’t care why he did it, I don’t want to see him, okay? Thank you both for coming to see me and looking after Lita, but I’m going to be fine. I have Trish and the two jackasses, so all I need from you is to know you’ll look after Lita. Can you do that?"

Matt paused, realizing she wasn’t going to change her mind. "Yeah. We can do that."

"Good," Angel said softly. "That’s all I want. Goodbye, Matt."

Matt sighed and got to his feet. She’d chosen her words carefully. It was very melodramatic and very, very final.

"Bye Angel," he said quietly and then he left the room.

When he got outside, Jeff immediately jumped to his feet, a look of nervousness and hope on his face.

Matt stopped him with a solemn shake of his head.

"Forget it, bro. She’s still pissed at you."

Jeff frowned his confusion. "What?"

Matt shrugged. "She doesn’t want to see you, man. She thinks we’re only here to support Lita."

"But that’s bullshit!" Jeff cried. "I’m here because I care about her!"

"I know," Matt sighed. "I’m sorry."

Jeff helplessly squeezed his eyes closed, before they flew open. "Forget this. I love her. I want to be with her. I don’t care what she thinks, I’m gonna tell her."

He stepped purposefully towards her room.

"Go get her, Jeff!" Trish encouraged.

Matt cringed. "This is not going to be pretty."

* * * *

"Angel! Angel, I know you’re awake so open your eyes and talk to me a minute. Angel!"

Angel scrunched her face up. "Shut up, Jeff. I don’t want to see you."

"Well, that’s too bad, because I want to see you."

Angel gave an exasperated little sigh, but opened her eyes.

"God, Jeff. Couldn’t you just let it be?"

"No, not this time. I have something to say."

"Great, me too. But wait, I already said it all to Matt so I really don’t think I need to repeat myself. So I’ll tell you something I didn’t tell him – the reason why I don’t want you in my life." She closed her eyes, finding it impossible to meet his gaze when he was staring at her like that. "You told me once…just before you kissed me, that you wouldn’t hurt me. I remember it clearly. You said, ‘Angel, I would never hurt you’. And then, stupidly, I said, ‘I know, Jeff’. Do you remember that?"

"Yes," Jeff replied quietly.

"Well, guess what, Jeff? You did hurt me. And not just once. Once I would have forgiven, but you kept on hurting me, over and over and over again. It’s like every time I run into you, you find something new to say that you know is going to hurt me. Well, I’ve had it, Jeff. It’s got to stop. I think it’s time to leave each other alone."

"But Angel, I…"

"You don’t want to leave me alone, I understand. You like to play these games with me. Because of you, me and Test no longer hang out, because he thought there was something going on between you and me. So please, Jeff. For the sake of my future love life, stop the games. If I want mind games, I’ll play with Benoit and Jericho. I don’t need them from you, okay?"

She finally opened her eyes to gauge his response and nearly burst into tears. His eyes were so serious and his features formed the perfect frown. He’d hurt her so much that just one glance brought it all back, as if it was happening again.

"Angel…" He broke off with a pained sigh. "I…I really don’t know what to say."

"Don’t say anything," Angel replied quietly, eyes locked on his. "Please, just go."

Jeff just stared at her. He wanted so badly to touch her, but there was no way in hell she was going to let him do that.

"Okay," he said at last, voice filled with hopelessness. "If that’s really what you want."

His eyes had her trapped. She couldn’t look away.

"Yes, Jeff. It’s what I want."

He nodded slowly, solemnly and suddenly a lone thought broke through her mind. ‘Kiss me.’ She drove it away immediately. Where the hell had that come from?

"Okay, Angel," Jeff said gently. "I guess this is goodbye, then."

She nodded slightly. "Goodbye, Jeff."

He sighed and gently laid his hand on the edge of her stomach. She almost grabbed it and threw it off, but didn’t trust herself not to keep hold. So she just watched him turn and walk away, until he was completely out of sight.

‘You’ve done the right thing, Angel,’ she told herself. ‘You’ll be happier, Lita will be happier, he’ll be happier. You did the right thing.’

Still, that confrontation had taken a lot out of her. She was absolutely exhausted, the kind of mind numbing exhaustion that cripples you and brings you to tears. She squeezed her eyes shut to stop the flow of tears, but she was still sobbing quietly.

"Angel, my baby. We were so worried about you." A familiar voice filled her ears.

"Mama?" she cried, eyes wide again.

"Angel! Lita and your friends told us you were awake. How are you feeling?"

"I’ve been better," Angel muttered, before blinking her surprise. "Mama, what are you doing here?"

"We had to come, baby. We would have been here earlier, but we just couldn’t get a flight."

"We?" Angel puzzled. "Who…who else?"

"Hello, darling."

"Papa!" Angel cried. "Oh wow! You…you two shouldn’t have come all this way. It must have cost a fortune."

"Of course we came," her mother scolded. "Our baby needed us."

Angel couldn’t wipe the grin off her face. "So, you’ve been talking to Lita?"

"Yes, she’s filled us in. We didn’t know you were awake, though. That’s fantastic."

"I always did have impeccable timing," Angel joked.

Suddenly, Lita appeared in her view.

"Hey, Ange. Sorry to interrupt the reunion, but we have to go. We’ll see you when we get back late Sunday, okay?"

"Okay, Lita. Good luck."

"Thanks, Ange. You too. I’ll see you later, Uncle Rick, Aunt Colleen."

"So long, Lita," Angel’s father said. "Have a safe flight."

Lita gave one last smile and headed off.