Seth thanked Daniel and Brie again, before leaving the couple and heading up to his room. Setting his bag on his bed, Seth decided to take a quick shower to give himself time to think of how he was going to fix this newest problem between Dean and Roman. Seth stood in the shower until the water was ice cold, but no brilliant ideas came to him. He was just going to have to wing it, he finally decided as he toweled off.

Once dressed, Seth went into the hallway and knocked on Roman's door, across from his own. No answer.

"Reigns, are you in there?"

Nothing.

"Come on man, let me in."

Silence.

Hearing no noise from inside the room, Seth finally took out his phone and hit speed dial. He'd tried calling Roman on the way to the hotel, but his friend had his phone off. At least this time, it rang.

Just as Seth was thinking of what he'd say in his voice mail, Roman's gravelly voice broke through his thoughts. "What Rollins?"

Seth, taken aback by Reigns' unusual gruffness, stammered a reply, "I uh, I was just calling to see what's up? I tried your room, but you didn't answer."

"That's because I'm not there," Roman replied as if Seth was a dim witted child.

Seth tried to keep the hurt from his voice. "Um, well, where are you?"

"Why?"

"Well, I'm bored by myself in my room, so I wanted to hang out," Seth tried.

"Hang out with Dean. I need some time by myself."

"I would, but he's not with me."

Despite Roman's obvious anger, Seth could also hear the sudden concern he was trying so hard to keep out of his casual inquiry, "Where is he? You were his ride."

"I know. I gave him the car and got a ride back with someone else. Dean will be here soon, but until then, you're the only entertainment I've got."

"Wrong Rollins."

Seth frowned as he suddenly found himself listening to the dial tone. Nice Rome, Seth thought in annoyance. Seth's brow creased with worry as he pocketed his phone. He'd heard the voices in the background. Things between Dean and Roman had finally reached critical levels as Roman was now taking refuge in the one place he'd promised Dean and Seth he'd never go again.

Dean made a mental note to thank Daniel and Brie for being so lovey dovey all time. As annoying as their public displays were, this time, they'd actually served a purpose: they're hippy, artsy attitude, as Dean thought of it, had inspired him.

Entering the little hole-in-the-wall store that he'd ended up driving past three times, a chipper, elderly woman greeted Dean from behind the register, "Hello son. Let me know if you need any help."

Dean, already annoyed from driving, simply gave a small wave of acknowledgment in response, afraid of what would come out of his mouth if he answered her in his sour mood.

Looking around the craft store, Dean felt overwhelmed. He knew he had no talent for any of this stuff, but if it helped, he'd make Roman a pot, or knit him a scarf...he'd do whatever he could think of to win the big man back.

However, the longer he was in the store, the worse and worse Dean began to feel about himself as, with every aisle he passed, another thing he couldn't do was added to his growing list. He couldn't draw, unless stick figures counted, and his painting skills were about on par with his drawing skills. Not to mention he couldn't even imagine how he'd figure out how to knit if he hadn't even mastered chopsticks yet. He didn't have enough of an attention span to do any sort of beading or stitching. In fact, the more he looked around, the more useless he felt.

His pacing between the aisles grew more and more frantic as his only idea for fixing things with Roman was soon turning into a flop. He owned nothing he could actually give Roman that had any value, but he thought that maybe if he made him something, something that he'd actually put some thought and time into, that perhaps it might help towards fixing the damage he'd caused. To make matters worse, he had no backup plan if he couldn't find something to make; he had no idea how else to show Roman how sorry he was without it seeming forced.

Suddenly, a small, cold hand on his arm, startled Dean out of his brooding and self loathing. "You look like you could use some help son," the old woman from the front of the store said sweetly.

Upon closer examination, Dean thought that the woman didn't seem so bad. Her gray, wispy hair was done up in a neat bun, and her apron was decorated with colorful, intricately embroidered flowers. Eying what he hoped was her handy work with a needle, Dean decided that perhaps he would play nice and see if someone talented like herself could give him some hope of an idea.

"Um, yeah, I guess," Dean started cautiously, "I have a friend that I really made mad. I want to make him something...something that lets him know how truly sorry I am...but I'm not really good at anything."

"Hm, well I can see how that could be a problem, if your plan is to make him something from the heart," the woman said gently as she crossed her arms over her chest, already making a list of possible solutions.

When the blond man had come in with his leather jacket and ripped up jeans, she'd thought that maybe he'd come into the wrong store. However, as she watched his trips down the aisles becoming more and more frantic, and watched how his face darkened with every aisle he came out of empty handed, something about him had made her feel compelled to help. Now, his icy blue eyes, shining with a mix of hopeless and heartache, made her determined to help the poor, disheveled man before her. "Well, if you say you aren't artistically gifted at all, at least that narrows our search a bit," the woman said, trying to inject some sort of positivity into the dejected man.

"Unless you have some stick figure projects, I'm pretty much useless at art," Dean said, hoping to narrow the search even more.

The woman thought for a moment, then her face lit up with excitement. "Do you know what color your boyfriend likes?" the woman asked.

"Sure, he likes–wait a second, who said anything about a boyfriend!?" Dean said, unable to hide his shock. Was he really that easy of a read?

"Son, I have two boys of my own, and I know heartache when I see it. Not to mention, if you had a girlfriend, you could just buy her flowers or chocolate. With boyfriends, it's a little more challenging to make up with them."

Dean found himself nodding along with her, amazed at her level of understanding.

"Lucky for you, I think I have just the thing to help you win him back," the woman said with a triumphant smile as she took Dean's arm and lead him across the store. Dean allowed himself to be pulled along, still dumbfounded.

Hehe, mean ol' cliff hangers...I couldn't resist! Thank you for all the reviews so far, and I hope chapter two has lived up to your expectations :) Up next in chapter three, we get to find out where exactly Roman is, and how Seth plans to get Roman calmed down to hear Dean out. Good luck Seth...