The Relapse (Candice and Jeff)

Candice was singing along with the radio as she straightened up the bedroom she shared with her fiance, Jeff Hardy. Since the proposal, she had been on cloud nine, anxiously awaiting the day she's officially become his wife. Their relationship was solid, dependable, passionate and full of love. These days, she felt like nothing could touch them.

As she placed some laundry in the dresser drawers, she absent-mindedly caught something out of her eye, before taking a closer look.

Her singing stopped abruptly, while her heart stopped and her blood went cold. She could only stare at the drugs sitting at the bottom of the drawer. An icy fear gripped her heart.

Jeff had been out in the ImagInation again. Hed been spending a lot of time there as of late, trying to keep himself relieved and calm, but his art could only do so much...especially with Matt injured from his car accident and he'd recently found out about everything about his new niece as well as Shannon's younger sister. He'd found some slight comfort in his art and then...his old problem...except now it wasn't really a problem anymore. It felt good again.

Once he finished up outside, he headed back into the house for a nice hot shower and maybe another hit...he'd try not to if he could help it but...he couldn't. It just made all the stress and everything bad go away. He knew he didn't wanna do it forever...just until things slowed down again. Then he'd quit...for good.

He got upstairs and found Candice in their room. "Hey beautiful...you alright?" he asked, noticing the look on her face.

Candice shuddered slightly, turning to face him looking paler than usual. "You want to explain to me about the drugs I just found?" She said weakly.

"Drugs?" he asked, finding it a bit harder to breathe. "What drugs?" he asked, going for the denial road first.

"These drugs," Candice pointed to the dresser. "The ones in your sock drawer." She said, beginning to regain some of her color.

"Just some pain meds I keep around from a rough night in the ring...that's all baby." he said, hoping the excuse would fly.

"Then why aren't they in the medicine cabinet?" She raised her eyebrows.

"You know I'm messy and I don't keep things organized." he said, trying to use everything he could to get her to stop asking questions.

She grimaced. "Jeff, why are you lying to me?"

"Candice, it's under control...nothing to worry about." he said, going for that approach.

"Under control?" She repeated incredulously. "Do you listen to yourself? Jeff, it's drugs!"

"Candice, it is not that serious...it's not like I'm shooting up heroin or snorting coke." he told her. "It just...helps relieve my stress, alright? I got a lot of stuff goin on right now."

"So you resort to drugs?! Jeff, I can't believe you, I thought you were past all this!" Candice shook her head wildly in horror.

"It's not that simple, Candice." he said defensively. "And it's not like I do it all the time...it's just a little bit here and there...I'm gonna stop once things start going back to normal."

"So what, every time something gets a little bit hectic in your life you're going to turn to drugs? What am I, chopped liver? Jeff, you shouldn't be turning to drugs. If something's wrong, that's what I'm here for!" She argued.

"No, Candice...just...I dunno...I didn't want to worry you, I guess and I just got so stressed...and then Matt got into the accident and then with Callie and Shannon's sister Katrina, and it's just a lot." he said sitting on the bed.

"What more do you want me to say?" he asked, glancing over at her.

"Didn't want to worry me? Jeff, I'm your fiance! If you can't lean on me when things are tough, how do you expect us to work? What your actions are saying is that instead of telling me, letting me help you, you'd rather have a quick high!" Candice rubbed a hand over her face.

"I'm sorry, Candice, okay?! I'm sorry!" he said, trying to stay calm. "I just...something inside me snapped...and I found those bottles I thought I lost...and then before I knew it I took a few, and it felt good again..." he said softly.

"Get rid of them." Candice said. "Get them out of here. I can't watch you do that to yourself, make it stop, Jeff, I'm begging you. No more relapses."

"Help me, Candice...please...it's so hard..." he said, running his hands through his hair. "My painting won't help, my music doesn't help...make it go away..." he said softly.

"I will, but you have to tell me when something's wrong, Jeff. Not turn to these," She gestured to the pill bottles. "Just to make the pain go away. You have to talk to me."

"I just...didn't want to burden you...and I thought I could handle it myself..." he told her softly. "It's so hard when I've this fight time and time again..."

"Jeff, this is what I'm here for! You're supposed to burden me. What if the roles were switched. Would you rather I turned to drugs because I didn't want to tell you my problems?!" Candice asked.

He never thought about that. No one had ever posed that situation. what if it was CAndice having these problems and she didn't tell him about it.

"I'm so sorry..." he said, a few tears escaping and he wiped at them furiously.

"Baby please don't cry, we'll fix it." Candice assured him, crossing to him.