And this is the one where Cody gets hurt real bad, even though when I started this I basically thought he was dead. Turns out he's fine. Ted's pale and black-eyed, but Cody's looking better than ever and back on RAW. And he won a match that Monday!

So here's what would have happened if Cody had gotten hurt.

PS: Everybody give a big round of applause to Dusty Rhodes! It's the first time I've tried to seriously stretch my Dusty-muse, because my last portrayal of him was pathetic.

Ted approached the wide observation window, blanched and worn out. A dark purple bruise colored his left eye, but he barely felt the sting. His limbs were heavy, numb now when they were sore not an hour ago. An hour ago…when his lover, his Coddles, was shipped from the ring on a stretcher. The horrible image was embedded in the young DiBiase's mind forever. It burned him through to think that he could've prevented it.

…if I had just been quicker, if I had just been smarter about it…

But that wasn't the case. He hadn't been able to help his beloved when he had gotten trapped in that cage alone. Ted had to watch as Hunter and Shawn took turns tossing the young man around like he was nothing but a sack of grain. The heart-wrenching sounds that escaped Cody's throat were almost too much to bear, and every scream of protest Ted let out had been real. By the end of the beating, he could tell that Cody was hurting more than he ever had before.

So they strapped him down, put him in a neck brace, and took him to the nearest hospital.

Randy followed close behind him; Ted hadn't been able to drive himself.

"You need to let someone check you over" Randy stated, not for the first time that night.

"I'm fine" Ted bit out through clenched teeth.

Randy looked the younger man over, noting the bruises that peeked past the hems of his shirt and the black eye he sustained, "No, you're not."

Crimson dotted the back of his white shirt, staining it, revealing that he had been hit at the wrong angle at some point in the match.

"Listen" Ted whipped around, fire in his cerulean eyes "Cody, my Cody, is in there in God knows how much pain because of me. I thought I heard something about him breaking his damn back! This could be the end for him, Randy! I can't fuckin' take another minute of not knowing, and yer not gonna stop me from seeing him as soon as I can!"

Randy held out his palms, stopping dead in his tracks, "Alright, Teddy, alright. Just…be calm, ok? Once you see that the kid is fine, then will you let someone take a look at you?"

"I've got some pain pills in my bag, I'll be alright" Ted turned, walking at a much slower pace toward the window. In a way, he didn't want to look. What if Cody couldn't breath on his own? What if he was permanently injured? His boy had just started blazing, a shooting star not even a quarter across the sky, and now this happened. DX had no right to do what they did, they hadn't even tried to pulled their punches with Cody out there. Every hit was full on, aimed to hurt, aimed to torture.

Even in kayfabe, those two egomaniacs didn't like the fact that two up-and-comers defeated them in a submission match. Planned down to the last move, their pride simply couldn't let them leave it how it had been. And now? Cody was paying for it.

Ted stopped in front of the window, swallowing down his concern and peering inside. Cody was laying there on the hospital bed, out cold. He had an oxygen mask over his face, his breath fogging the plastic with every exhale. His shirt was gone, revealing his wrapped ribs and some kind of brace low on his hips to support his lower back. He had an IV piercing the soft inner skin of his forearm, the steady saline drip laced with morphine to take the edge off anything he was feeling. Bruises colored his flesh, some mirroring Ted's own body almost comically.

Cody looked…God, he wished he could say peaceful, but the words that came to mind were harsh.

Cody looked broken. He looked like he was in pain, even with the morphine.

Ted couldn't take it, he pounded his fist onto the glass in frustration. A strong hand fell down onto his unbruised shoulder, a solid grounding as he nearly lost himself in his grief. He sank against the wall, leaning his head against the cool window and letting it sooth his fever hot flesh.

"This is my fault" he murmured, crestfallen.

"Come on, Teddy" Randy pulled him back into a half hug, casting his sad gaze on the youth in the hospital room "You can go sit by him after you get looked over, ok?"

Ted nodded, slowly pulled away by the older man.

//I'm sorry, Cody// Ted let his palm linger on the glass, teary eyes locked on his lover's broken form //When you get out of here, I'm going to make it up to you. Somehow.//

That Thursday on Superstars, Ted basically declared his love for Cody to the world.

"I want your thoughts and prayers to be with my partner tonight."

Cody watched from his hospital room, still reclined in the bed and still a bit drugged up. His father was seated beside him in the plush armchair, smiling fondly at the TV. He tilted his head toward his son, the same fond smile on the boy's face as well.

"Well, a-looka that" Dusty chuckled "Little Teddy's got it bad-bad for ya, I do say."

"Yeah, Daddy" Cody murmured, eyelashes at half mast as Ted took the brunt of the boos on his behalf "I love him."

"Well, I know-a this" Dust reached out, gently patting the young man's hand "You-a two lovey-dove birds have been shacked up for quite some time, now. But he's a good boy, my son, he's a damn good boy and he damn loves ya and a father couldn't ask for less. I'd be pretty 'nigh selfish if I wanted better for you, cause let me tell you - let me tell you…"

Dusty sighed heavily, leaning back in his seat with a satisfied smile as Ted proceeded to beat the hell out of Evan, "…there ain't a-one better for my son than little Teddy. You two were a-meant to be, I tell you what. Yer mother even says so herself."

"Thanks, Daddy."

Well, what do you think? I just wanted some nice Codiasi H/C, and I think I got it. It took me WAY too long to write it, though. So much Codiasi, so little time. Guh *sigh*

Love, Emono