So, since everything has been bobbing along quite nicely in Dean and Lauren's little world, I figure it's about time we throw a bunch of angst in. Hope you enjoy this story, it's my favourite one of theirs and I'm super excited to finally be sharing it…

Let me know what you think!

*Crosses fingers*

Let's go!

Misdirection Techniques

Back when I had worked at the diner in my hometown, one of the waitresses had started dating the head chef. They had made a cute couple and individually I had liked them, but in getting together they had suddenly become the worst.

Within the space of two weeks I had caught them in flagrante not once but a dizzying total of six times. Including a make-out session in the freezer. The actual walk-in freezer.

How had they not been cold?

But the bottom line for me had been one that was simple. You didn't get romantic when you were in your place of work. It wasn't rocket science – it just wasn't professional – and I had known even then that it would never be me.

Which was why dating Dean had been kind of a revelation, in terms of affection and – more bluntly – in terms of need. I yearned for Dean every second I wasn't with him and not just his presence but his body as well. At some point I had morphed into a sexually starved animal and to be honest, I sort of loved it.

Dean definitely did.

It was why – the day my life started to crumble – the pair of us were hidden and very hard at work. Pressed against the wall backstage in the arena and screened by pallet crates, kissing like mad. Dean had his hands flattened over my hip bones and the warmth of his palms burnt in through my dress. In return I had my fingers cupped in over his cheekbones, my tongue across his lips as I pulled him in close. It was messy kissing, hot and desperate as if we might not ever be given another chance and although it had only been a minute since we'd started I was already panting and giddy as well.

"Mmmm," I moaned into his mouth with a giggle, breaking the kiss with an instinctive, broad smile. Dean pulled back to look at me suspiciously, quirking a brow up,

"What was that noise for?"

"Nothing," I grinned, my fingers sliding upwards and carding through his wild, slicked back locks, "I'm just – you know – I'm just happy."

Dean smirked a little in response at me,

"Okay good."

Then, before I had the chance to explain things – as if I really needed to – he kissed me again, with such sudden force that my head hit the brickwork, or at least, would have had it not been pillowed by his hand.

I meant every word of it. I was completely happy. In fact I was ecstatic with the way things had turned out. The past seven months of my life had been crazy, but I only had to look at where I was and who with. I got to work in my family business and make out in the corridors with the man I loved the most. Sometimes I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming or – as an alternative – just kiss Dean some more.

"This is kind of naughty," I whispered against his neck line as he finally allowed me to come up for breath, "Doesn't this feel naughty? Making out in the corridor? Where anyone could find us?"

Dean pecked my lips,

"Princess, is this you gettin' kinda kinky on me?"

I shrugged a little,

"What if it is?"

Dean grinned wickedly and dropped one of his hands down. His palm still burnt through me, but in a very different place. It made me shudder and I blew a little breath out and bit my bottom lip until it physically hurt.

"This the kinda thing you had in mind Princess?"

I nodded almost mutely in anticipation,

"Yes."

Gathering up my dress folds, Dean slowly inched his hand up, his fingertips tickling across my inner thighs. All the while his lips were laying kisses on my collarbone, tracing up my neck until they reached my jawline. In response I pressed my hips in against him and he grumbled just a little and gave my skin a gentle nip.

"Kinky little Princess."

It was more a happy murmur and giggling just a little, I dropped my hands down to his belt, fumbling the buckle in my full-bodied excitement and responding to his touches.

Come on, come on.

It was already pretty much a fairly wild encounter, by my standards anyway, probably not by his. Never had I ever done the deed in a corridor, with people and danger and a million risks involved. Generally speaking I liked to keep things simple and private and personal. Although not anymore. It was all just part of my sexual awakening, although – despite his frantic kissing – Dean was clearly not so sure.

"You wanna do this right here, right now?"

I nodded again, sounding breathless,

"Uh huh."

"Might have to do something about that mouth of yours then Princess," he ground out roughly, "Since you get kinda loud."

"Is that a threat or a promise?" I whimpered, trying for sexy but failing pretty hard. Luckily however, the fact it wasn't brazen, seemed to turn Dean on even more and he suddenly dragged another violent kiss from me that made my lips blossom and wilfully throb.

He was just about to sneak his fingers into my underwear when two loud voices suddenly broke the mood, accompanied by the clatter of high heels on floor tiles as a couple of staff members briskly strode by.

"Honestly, some days it's like I never stop moving, I am literally literally run off my feet."

"Oh, I know and my boss is so useless, I mean, get your own dry cleaning picked up, y'know?"

Crap.

Instinctively I clutched at Dean's vest top, dropping my head against it like I was burrowing inside. Fortunately we were hidden almost completely by the packing crates but there was simply no denying the sense of horror I felt. Suddenly the thought of public sex with my boyfriend, wasn't so much arousing as a massive turn off and it wasn't until the footsteps had clattered past us and then turned a corner, that I was able to breathe out.

Wow that was close.

Dean snorted,

"I knew it."

"Knew what?" I frowned at him, lifting my gaze. His blue eyes were staring down at me twinkling and he looked almost amused,

"You're just not that kinda girl."

"What kind?"

He shrugged,

"The whole against the wall kind."

I flushed in embarrassment and stuttered a little,

"But – ,"

Before I could finish however, Dean leaned in closer, covering my mouth – and my protest – with a kiss. It was deep and sensual and altogether soothing. So much so that I almost forgot to breathe. When he broke away, he was very lightly grinning and as I blinked at him blissfully he reached up and thumbed my cheek,

"Lauren, 's okay, no one said you have to be. Fact is, it would probably freak me out if you were."

"It would?" I frowned a little, "Really?"

"Yeah, I'd think I somehow fucked you up – like – I got this perfect apple pie girl-next-door type and turned her into somethin' kinda trashy and just wrong."

I giggled at him brightly,

"So – just to recap – you don't want me trashy?"

Dean smoothed my dress out and shook his head,

"Nope."

Then he kissed me again much more lovingly and towed me from our hiding place back out into the world. Generally speaking it was a world I was at home in but that still caught me out every once in a while. The previous night had been no exception.

Wrestlemania XXX.

No big deal, right?

Wrong.

From the outset I had been warned that things might get crazy but nobody had told me how wild they would get. Not just on account of the fan base either but up to and including the wrestlers themselves. The arena had been packed and the place had been pumping as every last person had whistled and cheered, waving homemade banners and screaming their lungs out in a broiling, spine-tingling rolling wave of sound.

For the most part I had stood in gorilla, doing my usual of handing out towels but I had managed to sneak to the edge of the curtain to spy on The Shield match – which they had easily won.

For the past few weeks they had been tussling with their manager – that is to say Director of Operations – Kane. Night after night he had sent men to needle them including some old buddies but that hadn't lasted long. Kane's putting down had been swift and pretty brutal and I had relished every second of the thing.

I hated Kane.

It was why I led Dean and I to the locker room practically skipping I was so full of glee. Dean followed smirking, clearly thinking I'd gone mental but why in world would I not have worn a grin?

Life was perfect.

Well, pretty near perfect and I couldn't keep that hidden.

Dean grunted,

"So fuckin' cute."

We were turning the corner in the direction of gorilla when we suddenly spotted Stephanie stalking our way. Over the months our relationship had blossomed but the same could by no means be said of my stepmother and Dean. Much like Hunter she put up with him – barely – but that was a situation I was hoping to change. Part of me felt certain that a family meal together or a weekend vacation would straighten things out and I had vaguely been toying with inviting them to Vegas although I hadn't told Dean because I knew he'd just growl.

Still, with my good mood swirling in around me, I didn't let my boyfriend's sudden glower drag me down and instead I tangled my hand in his fingers and squeezed it very mildly,

"Everything okay Steph?"

"Where have you been?" she snapped in our direction, talking to both and neither of us at once, "I need to see you, now, in my office."

"Me?"

"Both of you, the others are already there."

Dean and I exchanged an expression.

Others?

"Um, what others are they?"

She turned on her heel without bothering to answer and began to stalk off back down the hall. Vaguely I wondered how many calories she burnt off by spending her nights hotly pacing around. Probably somewhere in the region of a thousand. Maybe even more on a really good night?

Beside me I heard Dean snort reluctantly and I shot him a quick smile.

It's going to be fine.

It wasn't just reluctance though, he was pissed she'd ignored me.

"Come on," I sighed, "Let's just find out what she wants."

As it turned out Steph hadn't been joking when she told us that the others were already there, because as she swept like a whirlwind into the office we were greeted by a stern-looking Roman and Seth. The room itself had been done up like a brothel – or what I assumed a brothel looked like – one of those nice high end one for business types with walls draped in fabric and deep blue up-lights. There wasn't a desk but there were comfy sofas and a camera crew clustered off to one side.

I bit back a groan.

I hated TV spots – almost as much as I hated Kane – although as it turned out they weren't quite ready to roll yet which apparently meant we were waiting for one more.

Loosening his grip, Dean headed for his teammates and took a spot beside them to stand and look firm. In response, I folded down onto the couch arm and beamed across at him starting to feel hot. I loved when Dean and the guys were in work mode, I loved how he looked when he put on the face. The face that warned anyone from moving against him and viewed the world with a measure of scorn. It was possible that the expression was part of the reason that my father and Stephanie didn't like him much but to flip that the expression was also the reason that I simply adored Dean as much as I did. That was the face that protected me from danger and that was the face that made me feel loved. He only brought it out when he was with people he cared about and there were only three people he ever used it for.

Seth, Roman, Me.

That was everyone.

It was a very special thing to be part of his group.

For a moment no one spoke and the silence floated round us, threatening to spill over into an awkward boiling soup. It actually made me tug at my necklace, idly shifting the pendant up and down. It was something I had taken to doing when I was anxious and on hearing the zipping noise, Steph turned to look.

The pendent was one Dean had given me for Christmas, made from an earring my late mother had once loved. The other one had gone missing one day somewhere and so the survivor had sat in a box, all unloved. Then Dean had transformed it into something I could use and quite frankly, since that moment, it had rarely been off.

"Um, sorry," I whispered, dropping it down again as the noise seemed to beat a path into her head. Again Dean's eyes narrowed in instinctive defensiveness but luckily the door swung and the final man came in.

Well, I say luckily, what I mean is unluckily because instead of my father or anybody useful – hell, at that point I would have even taken JBL – the person we were waiting on was bigger and more frowny, with a scrunched up face and the temperament to match. It was someone I hated and had hoped to see the back of.

It was someone we all hated.

God damn it.

It was Kane.

At the sight of the big man stepping through the doorway I instantly shifted myself onto the other couch, sliding off the cushions and towards where Dean was standing and shuffling past the cameras to take a safer feeling pew. The way my boyfriend's shoulders relaxed just a little told me that he thought I had made the right move and he gradually unfurled his tightly clenched fingers and moved them to his vest in a more casual hold.

The tension in the room was practically palpable and zinging back and forth across the purple cloth lined walls. Sensing it, the cameras began rolling on instinct and the second that they had triggered, Steph set off as well.

"I don't care what happened between you at Wrestlemania," she offered up shortly, her tone sounding clipped. She was standing in between them in no-nonsense boss mode, waving her hands warningly and just generally holding court. Frankly it was kind of an impressive performance, like a mother with naughty children. I was just glad she left me out, "Because what really matters – what's really important – is that Triple H becomes the fourteen time world heavyweight champion."

I blinked a little.

Huh?

Since when? I had spoken to my father earlier that evening – stopping in to see him as I always liked to do – in fact I had seen him last night and phoned him. At no point had he made any mention even in passing of going for a belt.

It was all completely new.

Stephanie however, wasn't done with her lecture, jabbing a finger towards the ground,

"Tonight."

In response to it Dean let his eyes flicker briefly, his tongue moving wildly around the inside of his mouth. I could tell he was trying to bite a retort down – trying really, really hard – which was why I was grateful when he just huffed a sigh out and looked back up silently.

Yes, atta boy.

Somewhere in front of him Steph was still talking but I vaguely got distracted. Dean's dimples were out and as usual even in the midst of swirling tension they captured me completely.

Holy crap he was cute.

"That all sounds great," Seth put in lazily, glancing towards his teammates as if for support, "But I – I feel like – Kane – you're missing some buddies. Where are the New Age Outlaws pal?"

He was referring none too subtly to Billy Gunn and Road Dogg, their opponents at Wrestlemania who had been brutally put down.

"Come on man," Dean snickered back at him, loving the ribbing, "We already know. As long as we're around I don't think we'll see them."

God.

How could he be so attractive when smug?

"I'll see to that personally," Roman chimed in finally and at the three-on-one teasing, Kane almost completely burst. In fact it was almost impressive that he didn't although there was simply no ignoring the words spat across his teeth, accompanied by a warning pointy sort of finger and a pair of small eyes narrowed further by rage.

"You three don't know you're on thin ice do you?"

Stephanie held a pacifying hand up,

"Kane – ,"

"Because Triple H sees you for what you are. Nameless, faceless, expendable pawns."

It was entirely possible he was having a breakdown and sensing it, Stephanie tried to cool him again.

"Kane – ,"

"What? You think you can just go around and beat up Triple H's friends? He thought that you would learn your lesson. In fact when I had you decimated on Smackdown a couple of weeks ago he was the one that told me to do so – ,"

He was interrupted by a sudden shrill screeching as Steph ramped swiftly right up to def con five,

"Kane."

But it didn't really matter, she could have kept on shouting, because he'd already said it and the rest of us had heard.

Hunter had set the New Age Outlaws on The Shield boys.

My father had ordered his friends to whale on Dean.

All of a sudden I felt sick and shaken. It couldn't be true. It had to be a lie? Hunter would never have done that to me. He would never have agreed to hurt the man that I loved. I sucked a very audible breath in and Steph's eyes flickered over and then just sort of stayed. The look on her face was weary and heated but there was also a sort of hesitant worry there as well.

That's when I knew that Kane wasn't lying.

Looking back on it, that was when it all fell apart.

With the cameras still rolling almost gleefully however, Steph had few options but to gamely press on, pushing Kane back with the force of her shouting like she came with gale force warnings.

She probably should have done.

"There is an injustice here and no one understands that better than the three of you."

She was pointing at the guys and in response they shifted hotly, each them nearly pulsating with rage. Despite that though, they continued to listen, fighting down the urge to erupt which they did well. In fact if it weren't for the fact that they were glowering, I might have even thought that the moment was done. That they had swept the whole Hunter deal under the carpet but that wasn't likely.

Those guys could bear a grudge.

Somewhere in the background Steph was still talking, mostly about Daniel Bryan and his threat. Somehow she was trying to paint him as the villain but even as a Helmsley I wasn't buying her sell. Daniel Bryan was a pretty awesome feller and had always been super super nice to me. Sure he had always had beef with my boyfriend but then lots of people did.

My dad made one more.

"So tonight," Steph bit out, drawing me back again as she clearly built up to her climactic end, "You are going to be on the same page here, because what the boss wants, he gets. Am I clear?"

"Yes."

The response was mumbled from Kane, looking shame-faced and no sooner was it issued than he turned and shuffled out, his eyes on the carpet looking kind of like a school child who had been scolded by a teacher for pushing another kid. The Shield on the other hand, were stormily silent and so Steph whirled back warningly to repeat it,

"Am I clear?"

For a minute I wondered if any one of them would answer her but then finally – finally – Roman spoke up, eyeing his boss with a stubborn expression and grumbling a word out.

"Crystal."

Mic drop.

Together the guys began to stomp from the office with Dean hanging back to hold out his hand. Instantly I slid off the cushions and grabbed it, entwining our fingers like a lifeline.

Steph looked up,

"Lauren? Can I please have a word with you in private?"

It was obvious that she wanted to try and calm things down. Maybe even explain what had happened but quite frankly she had nothing I wanted to hear. My father had purposefully set men on my boyfriend and had then kept it from me. I didn't know which was worse. But what I did know was that I didn't want to hear it – not there and then – and so I shook my head.

"Not now."

"But sweetie – ," she countered, stepping forward a little to have Dean cut her off.

"She said not now."

Then he towed me from the office with my whole body shaking and my heart beating wildly.

Everything was wrong.

How could I not try to cover this storyline? But yeah, sorry Lauren...um...my bad?