Disclaimer: I don't own anyone, other than Kelly and Cassiopeia.
Rated: T
Warning(s): Slash, Threesome, Past Mpreg, etc.

A/N: Based off of an article from WWE Magazine, which showed backstage in-your-face pictures of the Shield before they entered the squared circle. In this particular article, however, Roman looked a little... upset. Like crying, upset. Have a look at the cover photo to see for yourself.

Anyhow, based off of that picture (and the generic outcry for more stories involving Kelly, and the gentler side of Roman), I bring you this one-shot. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words. Or, in this case, 3,686 words.

"Daddy," Kelly raced over to Roman, a look of panicked concern on her little face. "Where's Annie, Daddy?"

'Annie', of course, referred to Kelly's favorite Raggedy Anne doll - the one that she had had practically since she was a newborn. She and that doll were practically attached at the hip, which is what made this so difficult. Several of their suitcases had been lost somewhere along the border between New Jersey and Delaware, and even tough they had immediately reported the loss to Vince and, subsequently, the transportation company, none of their items had been located. Unfortunately, included in the items that had been lost was Kelly's Raggedy Anne doll.

"Princess," Roman really didn't know how to tell her, but knew that he had to. There was little to no chance that her doll would be recovered, and he didn't want her waiting for something that was next to impossible. "There was an accident with Annie, Kelly. She got lost, and we don't know where she is."

The panicked concern melted away into terror, and tears started to bubble in her pretty blue eyes. "Annie is lost?"

"I'm sorry, princess. I know that you really loved that doll, but we can buy you a new one." Kelly was appalled by the idea, as evidenced by the tears now pouring down her chubby, reddened cheeks.

"I don't want a new dolly! I want Annie!" Kelly was screaming now, on the verge of a full-out tantrum. And Roman, who had been abandoned by the other two members of the Shield, was left to deal with it alone.

"I know that you want Annie. We don't know where she is." Roman repeated calmly.

Kelly swallowed hard. "I want my dolly!" She was shaking, she was so upset. Roman, sighing, reached down to comfort her, but she quickly maneuvered herself out of his reach. "No! You lost my dolly!" He tried to reach for her again, but again, she evaded him. "I want my dolly!"

"C'mon, princess... please don't be like this." Roman said. He hated the look of absolute betrayal in Kelly's eyes. "I'm sorry about what happened to your doll, but -."

"I hate you!" Those three words reverberated in the silence, and Roman found himself frozen, unable to comprehend what his baby had just screamed at him. "I hate you! I want Mommy!" And then she ran off, presumably to find Seth.

Roman slowly rose until he was standing erect, feeling his stomach lurch as those three awful words echoed repeatedly inside his head. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. All because of an old, tattered doll that was about to fall to pieces anyhow. The sound of her little fists slamming down onto the door at the end of the hallway permeated the awful silence, her sobs so forceful she practically choked on them. His precious princess, their miracle baby (and how could she be anything less, when Seth had suffered five miscarriages before her), hated him. All thanks to a doll.

His vision blurred as tears collected in his eyes, but he refused to acknowledge him. Never one to wear his heart on his sleeve, he forced the rapidly fluctuating emotions down deep. Even so, it was difficult to contain the involuntary shivers that racked his body, a side-effect of the tears which were so anxious to fall. But he wouldn't let them. Instead, turning around to face the sink, he turned the water on as cold as it would come, and splashed it on his face. Shivering for an entirely different reason this time, he dried his face with a hand towel and took a deep breath.

It was then that Seth emerged from the back room, carrying an exhausted Kelly in his arms. "What the hell happened out here?" Seth asked. However, upon looking at Roman, he offered a brief, "You look like hell, man."

"Yeah, thanks." Roman snarled, before grabbing a water bottle and his sweatshirt. "C'mon, we should've left a half-hour ago. Dean will have our asses if we're late."

Seth looked a little uncertain, and felt the need to point out, "You never answered my question."

Roman continued out the door, pretending at first that he had not heard Seth's comment. It was only when they stopped at the elevator, waiting for it to stop at their floor, that he muttered nonchalantly, "Nothing. Nothing happened."

"I think that something is wrong with Roman." Seth said, watching as Roman slowly prepared for their match tonight. It would be an easy win - a three-on-one handicap assault on Daniel Bryan - but each movement Roman made seemed like he was heading out there to face a death sentence.

Dean, who had been placing a Disney Princess blanket over Kelly's unconscious body, offered the bigger man a casual glance. "He's probably just tired. We've crossed the borders of three different states in three weeks and have been in two different time zones." He said matter-of-factly. "Don't worry about him too much, okay?"

"He just seems... sad." Roman lifted his left boot-clad foot onto the wooden bench, lazily lacing them up. Every once in awhile, he would rub at his eyes agitatedly.

"How can you tell? He looks the same as he always does." Dean remarked sarcastically. "I think he picked the wrong profession. He should've been a poker player."

Seth slapped him on the shoulder. "Be serious now! I think that he's really upset." As if to prove Seth's point, a soft sniffle came from Roman's direction.

"Is he crying?" Dean looked like someone had struck him across the face. Roman simply didn't cry. It wasn't in his nature. "What the fuck happened?" Kelly started to stir as the voices grew louder, and Dean stroked her hair softly, attempting to lull her back to sleep.

"I don't know. I asked him the same thing, and he told me nothing. But..." his eyes flickered from Roman to Kelly's sleeping body. "I have a feeling it might have something to do with Kelly." A pause, "She came running to me, crying and screaming. It was awful." Looking back at Roman, "I think they had a fight."

Before the conversation could continue, Roman joined them. His eyes were swollen and red-rimmed, with evidence of drying tear tracts on his face. Neither man mentioned the obvious fact that he had been crying, however. It seemed wrong to bring up something that was obviously hurting him so badly - at least before he was ready to talk about it himself. Roman, casting one last look down at Kelly, sniffled, and then made his way out the door. Seth and Dean shared a look, before Seth leaned down, pressed a kiss to Kelly's forehead, and they hurried out behind him.

Unfortunately, they had forgotten that tonight, they had agreed to let WWE cameramen follow them from their locker room to the ring, in order to do an article for WWE magazine that allowed the WWE Universe complete inside access to the Shield pre-match. One poor fellow in particular, Dean was pretty sure his name was John, was hounding Roman for a facial-shot. Roman obviously wasn't interested, but the idiot didn't seem to want to take no for an answer. In the end, he got his wish. A photo of Roman pushing the hair out of his face, revealing a tired man who appeared to have been crying for some time. Then Roman knocked him out.

"Whoa," Seth whistled, clearly impressed.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Maybe you could hit him a little harder next time, Roman? Break his camera, maybe?" Dean knelt down beside the poor sap that just didn't know when to take 'no' for an answer. "Hey, we need a trainer over here! Anyone?"

One of the trainers came rushing over to help Dean with the fallen cameraman. Seth watched for a moment, before continuing, "After that, you can't tell me that nothing happened and expect me to believe it. I wasn't born yesterday, Roman."

That earned him a dark glare, which chilled him to the bone. "Fuck off, Seth."

"No." Seth forced out defiantly. "I can tell that something's bothering you. I would hope that you'd be mature enough to tell me," the glare intensified, and Seth swallowed hard, "but now, it seems, I'll just have to get it out of Kelly."

For the first time, Roman cracked a half-smile, clearly not threatened by Seth's statement. "Yeah, good luck with that."

Kelly might've been their little angel, but when it came to getting information out of her, she certainly could be a little bugger. Their little fight from earlier would be a prime example, even if she hadn't necessarily gotten in trouble. She would still be upset about her doll, and understandably so. Most likely, any attempts made to talk about it would lead to another tantrum... which was the last thing that any of them wanted. Suffice to say, Seth probably wouldn't be getting any information out of either of them soon. Seth huffed, crossing his arms exasperatedly. He hated it when Roman was right.

Realizing that his first approach wasn't working, he tried something different, "Did you two have a fight?"

"You could say that." Roman acquiesced, allowing that small amount of information to leak.

A pause, then, "Look, I know that you're not really one to like to talk about your feelings, but... I can see that something is bothering you. And I just want you to know that, if you want to talk about it -,"

Here, Roman cut him off, "I don't."

"- I'll be here." Seth finished weakly.

The heavy bass that accompanied their music seemed to shake the very ground they were standing on, and they knew that they couldn't dawdle any longer. Seth watched as Roman turned away from him and stormed down the nearest staircase, their conversation stuffed away into the dark recesses of his mind. Seth stared after him for several moments, wondering what could've been so bad as to hurt Roman so deeply. Whatever it was, it was clear that Roman wasn't about to say anything anytime soon. With a sigh, Seth started down the staircase after Roman. This conversation was far from over.

Their match hadn't exactly been as easy as they had once believed it would be. Roman, who had been distracted for the better part of the match, had received a kick to the back of his head for his trouble. The kick had knocked him off the apron, where he'd been waiting for the hot tag from Seth, only for him to hit his head again on the apron... and, well, he'd spent the majority of the match after that trying to wake up. In the end, however, the Shield had been victorious. With a cheap blow between the legs from Dean, Daniel had been easy pickings for Seth's finishing maneuver.

It had been somewhat difficult to get Roman to the trainer's room - not because of his protesting, mind you, but simply because he couldn't walk a straight line to save his life... - but they'd eventually left him there to be examined. They'd learned from past experience that Roman didn't appreciated being worried over. Usually, this manifested in a silent spell that spanned several days, maybe even a week, or, at worst, no sex for a week. (Personally, Seth didn't know how Roman managed to swing that one, with the fact that he had the libido of an eighteen-year-old). But, in this case, Roman was already hurt. They really didn't want to push it.

When they arrived at their locker room, they found a bubbly, excited Kelly waiting to greet them. She'd carelessly tossed her Disney Princess blanket onto the floor and was running around in her matching footie-pajamas. Her little blonde curls had been 'fashionably' styled with drool from her little nap, and now pressed flat against her head on the left side. She had her V-Tech coloring book open, and she shoved this at Seth mere seconds after he came inside. The white screen was littered with little red and green splotches, which she called 'flowers'. Seth smiled and gratefully accepted her little gift.

"When'd you wake up, Kelly?" Dean asked, reaching down to fold her wrinkled blanket. It wouldn't be good to get it all dirty on the floor, after all.

Kelly, who couldn't yet tell time, stuck her index finger over her little rosebud mouth, considering for several seconds. And then, she proudly recalled, "Uncle Bray and Cassie got here late. Cassie sick, so she didn't wanna play. So I readed to her." Kelly said proudly.

Kelly couldn't read all that well, aside from the books she knew from memory. And her spelling was atrocious. But the look of accomplishment on her face was too cute to resist. "Well, I'm sure that she really liked that. She's lucky to have such a good friend."

The little girl was practically beaming. "That what Uncle Bray said!"

"What did you read to her?" Seth asked, pulling out her fluffy purple coat and matching booties.

"I readed Little Red Riding Hood and Beauty and the Beast and The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham and -,"

"Did you sleep at all?" Dean asked, exhausted just by listening to the list of books she had 'read'.

Kelly nodded enthusiastically, saying that she had slept for one whole match. Unfortunately, that match had been 3MB v. Los Matadors, which had lasted a whopping ten minutes. She then asked how their match had gone - even if she didn't exactly understand what 'wrestling' was (they'd also called it 'wrestling' when she'd walked in on them in the middle of a rather heated moment in the bedroom...), she knew that they could get hurt, and had decided she didn't like it very much. They told her it went well, just like they always did. No reason to scare her, after all. What was surprising, however, was that she didn't ask where Roman was.

Instead, and perhaps equally as startling, she took her V-Tech over to Seth and asked, "Mommy read me story?"

Seth frowned. "But princess, Daddy is the one that reads you your stories." At the mention of Roman, Kelly scrunched up her nose. Again, she pushed the V-Tech at Seth's stomach. "Sweetie... why don't you want to wait for Daddy?"

"Because Daddy mean and lost Annie!" Kelly exclaimed, pushing the V-Tech at Seth once again. "Want Mommy to read story, no Daddy."

Now, it was Dean's turn to interject, "But Daddy didn't lose Annie, sweetie."

"I hate Daddy! Want Mommy to read story, no Daddy!" Tears were bristling in her angry blue eyes, and Seth and Dean couldn't have been more confused.

Until, of course, it clicked. "Kelly, princess, did you tell Daddy that you hated him?" A pause, and then an angry, frustrated nod. The tension in the room could've been cut with a knife. With a sigh, he picked Kelly up and sat down on the sofa where she had just slept. "Do you realize that that hurt Daddy's feelings?"

"It doesn't matter." Kelly said defiantly. "He hurt Annie!"

"No, he didn't, baby." Dean had squatted down beside Seth and was gently stroking Kelly's messy curls. "You know that we travel around a lot. We get to see a whole lot of pretty places, right?" Kelly nodded. "Well, Annie got lost in one of those pretty places. Not because of Daddy, but because of an accident with the luggage."

Here, Seth chimed in, "It was a dumb accident that could happen anywhere, baby. It was a silly mistake - kinda like when you used to put the wrong shoe on your foot when you were a baby. It wasn't anyone's fault but the machine that sorts the luggage. It can malfunction too, just like this V-Tech."

Here, Kelly smiled a little, thinking of how Seth would smack the V-Tech on the table to get it to turn on every once in awhile. "So, Annie no hurt?"

"Nope." Dean shook his head. "In fact, I bet she's just fine. She's in a nice place with plenty of stuff to remember you by."

Kelly's excitement mounted and she leapt off of Seth's lap, running around frantically and spitting out all sorts of ideas about how she would write letters to her and send her presents and postcards. She would make sure that Annie knew that she was missed, but that she could stay wherever she was if she wanted to, because Kelly wanted her to be happy. But then, her excitement came to a crashing halt. Her face fell and the tears returned to her eyes. Rushing over to Seth, she buried her little face in Seth's shirt and started to sob. Seth, concerned for the little girl, stroked her curls gently.

"What's the matter, princess? Aren't you happy that Annie is safe?" Seth asked softly.

"Mhmm." Kelly sniffled. "I hurt Daddy's feelings." She said, shaking.

"Hey, it's gonna be okay, sweetie." Dean attempted to console her, but she wouldn't hear it.

"No, no it's not! Daddy hates me and he don't want me no more! Daddy hates me. Daddy hates me." She continued to repeat those three words, clutching onto Seth's chest for dear life.

"Daddy could never hate his princess." Seth assured her. "How about, when we go back to the hotel, you talk to him?" But Kelly didn't seem to like that idea, because she started to cry harder. "Kelly, c'mon, you are Daddy's little princess. He could never hate you. I promise."

A red-eyed Kelly pulled back and, weakly extending her pinky, asked, "Pinky swear?"

Seth smiled a little, before locking pinkies with her. "Pinky swear."

The room was dark, so as not to add more fuel to the fire that was Roman's concussion. He lay in the middle of the bed, eyes closed - but far from sleep - with a heavy ice pack on his forehead, right over the purpling bruise that had formed when he conked his head on the ring apron. In the silence, he had plenty of time to think about what had happened over the last twenty-four hours. And those three words reverberated loud and clear inside his head. The fact that they became louder each time they bounced around inside his head didn't exactly help his throbbing headache either...

That's when he felt little hands on the bottom of the bedspread, and cracked one eye open. A blonde head arose over the end of the bed, quickly followed by two little arms struggling to grip onto the slippery blanket. Finally, after much strain, she threw one chubby leg onto the mattress and rolled onto the bed... coming to a stop right at Roman's feet. She looked up Roman, their red-rimmed eyes near identical. And then, without further delay, Kelly launched herself at Roman's chest and started to cry again. Roman, still a bit disoriented from the smack to the head, was a little slow to respond.

"What's the matter, princess?" He asked gruffly, his words a tad slurred.

"I'm sorry!" Kelly squeezed tighter, virtually sucking all of the air out of Roman's body. "Daddy no hurt Annie. Annie in better place now. Annie safe and warm and happy." Kelly was rambling and reverting to basic caveman English, which she only did when she was really upset. "Kelly no hate Daddy. Kelly love Daddy."

Roman's eyes widened a bit. Maybe they really did get the actual story out of Kelly - he'd have to thank Dean and Seth later. "I love you too, princess."

"No you don't. Daddy hate Kelly 'cause Kelly hurt Daddy's feelings."

"Is that what you think?" Roman slowly drew Kelly up and snuggled her against his chest. "Yeah, it did hurt... but I knew that you were upset about your doll, and you had every right to be. I could never hate you, Kelly."

Kelly sniffled, before holding out her pinky in a familiar ritual. "Pinky promise."

"Pinky promise." Roman agreed. "I love you, princess. Nothing is gonna change that."

Dean and Seth returned a little while later to absolute silence. Slightly worried, they made their way down to the master bedroom and peered inside. And there, on the bed, were Kelly and Roman. Kelly had fallen asleep curled in a ball, with her head on Roman's chest. And Roman had his arm over Kelly's middle, providing comfort and protection while she slept. Seth, smiling, made his way over and placed a kiss on his little girl's forehead, before leaning down and pressing a kiss to Roman's lips. Everything was back to normal.