A/N: Wow, can't believe it's been so long since I've been able to post a story...or watch a Raw...or Smackdown...or television in general...alas, the life a grad student T_T

However, to take a sanity break before finals, I dusted off this old one shot I was never confident enough to post. Hopefully the polishing I've been doing to it, has made it into something enjoyable.

Happy holidays everyone and thanks for reading :)

WANTED

Dean had screwed up...again...and now his only hope of redemption sat next to him in the passenger seat, completely obvious to the fact that all of his hopes rested on it. Pulling up in front of Roman's apartment, their temporary home base until tomorrow's Raw, Dean parked and let out a long sigh. He'd swore he'd never do anything like this, yet here he was.

With a deep breath, Dean grabbed his gift, threatening to return it if it wouldn't stop squirming and wrinkling up the pink bow he'd painstakingly tied to it.

The walk to the front door felt shorter than Dean had hoped. Still not coming up with the right words in his mind to express his remorse, Dean rang the door bell, stood back and held his present up in front of his face; maybe if it was the first thing Roman saw when he opened the door, he'd go a little easier on the Lunatic...

"Don't forget to act cute," Dean said, glaring menacingly at it as the front door opened.

"You never think, do you?" Roman said in heated annoyance. He immediately regretted his words. The pain and disappointment that flashed across Ambrose's face told Reigns that Dean had, in fact, put a lot of thought into the gift.

Dean chose to stare at the ground, deciding that since his gift didn't work, silence was his next best option to keep from making matters worse.

"Hey Rome, that's not fair. I'm sure Ambrose meant well," Seth said, trying his best to calm the big man and support his blond friend.

"That's beside the point, Seth. What are we even going to do with it?" Roman asked.

"We could try feeding it for one, I can count its ribs," Seth said, grabbing the caramel colored puppy–one that had been plopped into Roman's arms the second he'd opened the door–from the big man. Seth scratched her head. She was clearly some type of pit bull, but mixed with what, he wasn't sure. Shrugging, he took her into the kitchen, deciding to raid Roman's fridge while the Architect let the two talk out their problems.

"Dean, look," Roman said with a defeated sigh, "thanks for the gesture, but we're gonna to have to give her back. We can't take care of a puppy and be on the road at the same time. She'd always be home alone and that wouldn't be fair to her."

"So then because no one else wanted her, I was supposed to let the pound put her to sleep? Is that fair to her?" Dean asked quietly, his icy blue eyes, with a gleam of defiance, finally meeting Roman's gentle gray ones.

"No, Dean, I didn't say that. And how do you know she would have been put to sleep? She's so cute, I'm sure anyone would want her," Roman said, this time taking the same, gentle approach he used when he tried to convince his stubborn daughter to see his point of view.

"Nope," Dean answered.

"How do you know that Dean?" Roman asked in slight exasperation.

"Because I went in and told them I wanted the next dog they were going to put down, and they brought her out. And you want to know why they were going to kill her?" Dean asked, a strange disdain entering his voice.

"Why's that, Dean?"

"Because she's a mutt. She mixed with too many 'dangerous' dogs, so no one wanted her," Dean said, turning away from Roman. "She's never done anything wrong, but the world's already written her off."

The lightbulb finally went off in Roman's mind, and he instantly understood why Dean was so upset. With a few quick strides, he closed the distance between himself and Dean, wrapping his arms around the smaller man's waist and leaning his chest into Dean's back. "I'm sorry," Roman whispered in Dean's ear.

Dean stayed silent, not trusting himself to speak.

"Look we can keep her, okay?" Roman offered, trying to turn a reluctant Dean around to face him.

"I'm glad. She's pretty cool," Rollins said happily as he reentered the room, "I already taught her sit, wanna see?" he offered.

Seth came up short as he finally saw what he'd walked into. "Oops, sorry to interrupt. Come on puppy, back to the kitchen," he said quickly, pulling gently on the energetic puppy's leash.

Dean cleared his throat as he pulled away from Roman, refusing to meet anyone's eye. Quickly walking over to Seth, Dean snatched the leash away, and the puppy trotted with a wagging tail behind him as he opened the front door.

"Where're you going?" Seth asked, confused and a little bummed that Dean had taken the puppy away.

"Well, apparently she's not good enough for Roman, so I'm taking her back," Dean said, facing the open doorway.

"Didn't he just say we could keep her?" Seth asked, his brow furrowing.

"She doesn't need his pity. I don't need his pity. He doesn't want us, that's fine, we're out of here," Dean said, his control over himself and his emotions quickly deteriorating.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Roman said, stepping forward and placing a restraining hand on Dean's shoulder and pushing him gently, but firmly away from his escape route. The puppy, confused whether it was going or staying, focused its sky blue eyes on Seth for help.

"No one said anything about not wanting you or Avery," Roman said.

Dean finally stopped struggling against the Samoan's grip and looked him in the eye. "Avery?"

"What, you don't like it?"

"No, I think...I think it's fine," Dean said after a moment of consideration.

"Then Avery it is," Roman said, giving Dean a gentle pat on the back. "Now why don't we get our newest family member a proper meal? Seth's right, you can see her ribs."

With that, Roman gently took Avery's leash from Dean's grasp and lead both her and the reluctant Lunatic Fringe into the kitchen. Roman wasn't sure what they were going to do with the puppy, or how traveling with her would work, but he decided they'd figure it out soon enough.

Grabbing a steak for Avery and a beer for Dean, Roman watched as the puppy tried to decide if she wanted to eat, or if she wanted Dean to continue rubbing her belly. Even though Dean had claimed time and again that he hated animals, that they were just an extra expense and waste of time, Roman knew that Avery had captured Dean's heart the moment he'd seen her, even if the hardheaded man would never admit it. Dean had seen too much of himself in her and her situation to simply his turn back on her.