AN: This plot bunny is alive and kicking in my brain guys. Alive and very well.

He wasn't sure what he'd said or done when he was out in the middle of the ring with Stephanie. But what he did know was that it was probably messy and completely unprofessional. And from the looks he was getting from people, he was entirely sure of it. He took a stop at his locker room, grabbing a black zip up hoodie and put it on, finding his headphones before starting down the hallway. He felt around his pockets to make sure he had his phone — even though if he was without it, he wouldn't have gone back to get it. He hadn't planned to get to catering, but he figured he could just sit at a table and be left alone — everyone was avoiding him anyway.

He could see his co workers actively avoiding eye contact as he grabbed a bottle of water and an orange. Paige would have said hi to him already but she simply stared at him with her head titled to the side. Turning away from the table of food, he pinpointed a corner and slowly walked over — making sure to eye certain people which made it clear they weren't to talk to him.

He sunk into a chair, with the metal legs scraping the floor as he scooted back. Hunching over, he stuck his headphones over his ears, letting music fill the quiet. He peeled his orange and started to think of something to do to prove what he'd said when he challenged the Authority. But nothing was coming to mind. He ended up just thinking about his earlier conversation with Dean. He felt bad about how he handled that conversation but he couldn't bring himself to shoot Dean a quick text to apologize. He couldn't tell if he actually felt sorry enough.

A scowl settled on his face.

Someone grabbed the side of his headphones, ripping them from his head. Roman turned abruptly ready to yell at whoever it was until he saw that it was a family member.

Naomi snickered, crossing her arms on the table as she sat next to him. "What that orange do to you?" She asked, bringing it to his attention that he was peeling the fruit angrily.

He rolled his eyes and pressed his lips together, dropping the orange on the table as if to tell her he was done. She flipped her newly dyed hair over her shoulder and watched him.

"Waddya want?" He asked, wanting to sound like he was mad but she snorted.

"Boy, if you don't stop acting like anyone 'round here scared'a you…" she laughed, throwing her feet onto the table.

"Don't you have divas to be tormenting?" He asked her, smiling at her despite himself.

Smiling — her white teeth nearly blinding him — she took his orange and ripped a piece off, "I'm taking a break." She sighed, sitting back. Making a face, his eyebrow raised as he tilted his head up slightly. After a short pause, she bit her lip.

"What, 'Omi?" He asked, sighing. "You gonna lecture me?" He rubbed his hands together, and up his arms. She could tell he was uncomfortable and uncertain.

She shook her head, "Nope." Shrugging, she took his water and took a swig — he rolled his eyes but couldn't not smile at her — before she continued. "I just think you should know that we support you."

The corners of Roman's mouth dropped, before his lips skewed to one side. He was quiet and unsure of what he should feel about that. He wasn't about starting a one man crusade against the Authority, he had just wanted his championship back and would enjoy beating Hunter up for it. "That's — who exactly?"

Naomi sucked her teeth, looking at him like he was dumb for not knowing. "Everyone, Fool." She said, clipping the back of his head with her hand. When he looked at her with a deadpanned expression, she grinned.

"Who's everyone?" He asked, his eyes widening as his chin dropped forward and he shook his head.

With a long, dramatic sigh, she started listing off names. "Me, Jimmy, Jey, 'Mina, Sasha-"

He held up his hand to stop her from continuing, "Got it. Okay. Cool." Ducking as she lunged to hit him again. He laughed.

"Okay, good. He's not homicidal anymore." Another voice became clear, and the sound of a chair sliding on the floor cut through Roman and Naomi's laughter.

Roman looked up quizzically, "Jimmy, did you really send your wife over here to -"

"Hell yeah." Jimmy laughed, nodding as he sat down. "I wasn't trynna get hit with one of the TVs on the wall." He joked, leaning over to steal a kiss from Naomi. She rolled her eyes but complied and then pushed him away playfully. Jimmy looked back at Roman. "Do you even remember how crazy that was?"

"That shit was wild." Jey said, appearing with a full plate of food in his hand as he sat down too. He stabbed at a leaf of lettuce as he stared at his cousin, "You were yelling plain nonsense man."

Roman scratched the back of his head, the bun he'd wrapped it in wobbled as his finger dug into the back of his scalp. He blew out a breath, embarrassed. "Is it bad that I don't even remember what I was doing half of that time?"

Naomi's lips puckered, displaying the struggle she was having to snap at him. Jimmy and Jey looked at each other, obviously talking without actually talking. Abruptly, Jimmy's head turned back to Roman and he laughed. "Anyway…"

"Why are you guys sitting over here, looking like a group of serial killers?" Another voice asked from a few feet away. Looking up, they saw it was Sasha, dressed in jeans and a cropped top version of her WWE t-shirt. She had a hoodie on like Roman and her hair was up in curlers.

Naomi laughed. "It's not even that dark over here."'

Roman dropped his head and his forearms onto the table in exasperation. He should have known he would never actually be left alone — they would have found him in his locker room too. He couldn't be upset. He felt lighter, like the weight of being alone had been lifted.

"Wait, pause." Jimmy said, holding his hands up in the time out sign. "Weren't y'all two just beefin'?"

"What?" Sasha asked, shifting her weight onto one leg. She had her hands upturned as she watched him. Both she and Naomi were looking at him.

"Uce," Jimmy reach across the table and touched Roman and Jey's forearms — obviously asking them to cut in — but both his twin and cousin looked at him like he was on his own. "Man I coulda sworn you got jumped by…" His words faded away as his wife shook her head and shook her hand by her neck, telling him to stop.

Both Sasha and Naomi knew what he was talking about. Sasha had broken off from team B.A.D. but they were over that little rift. But they hadn't really talked about it. "What are you talking about?" Sasha asked, fighting a smile, knowing full-well what he was referring to.

Roman watched the scene, mentally mapping out a way to escape from the table. Jey looked at him, his lips pursed, telling him he knew what he was thinking.

"So, what are you planning to do about Triple H?" Jey asked, changing the subject.

With a sigh, Roman shrugged. "I was thinking about that when I was so rudely interrupted by your sister-in-law over here."

"Booooooy," Naomi sucked her teeth, crossing her arms to slap her hand to his forearm. "You wasn't doin' nothin' but sittin' here assaulting that orange."

Roman rolled his eyes again as the rest of the table laughed.

"So you don't have a plan?" Sasha asked, cutting through the noise everyone else was making. She noticed the taken-aback look on his face but thought nothing of it.

"Nope." Roman answered anyway — despite not really knowing her. He took a large gulp of water and his free hand flipped in an well it is what it is gesture.

"We figured you and Dean would be planning your homicidal shit together." Jimmy laughed. When he saw that Roman's posture stiffened, he looked confused. "What?"

"Nothing." Roman tried to play off the awkward way the air around them seemed to fill with silence.

"You guys not talking?" Naomi asked, pouting.

"Can y'all stay outta my business for 5 minutes?" Roman snapped, his arms outstretched onto the table.

"No." They all answered at the same time.

"Well I'm not talking about this with you guys." Roman huffed, crossing his arms. He himself didn't know what was going on with his friendship with Dean. He didn't know if he wanted them to continue being each other's crutches — he couldn't tell if what he was feeling was just misplaced anger or if it was actual, real, justified resentment.

"What, you don't like him anymore?" Naomi asked jokingly, "He steal your hair conditioner or somethin'?"

"Funny." Roman faked a smile, letting out a mocking laugh. The corners of her mouth curved upward into a smirk as she flipped her hair dramatically. "I'm just not sure I like him very much right now. And he's a distraction. It's not that deep."

"Well you better figure it out…" Sasha muttered, "Cause he sure likes you."

It took Roman a few seconds to realize what she'd just said to him. Then he played the implication in his head, over and over until it really clicked, "What?"

Naomi panicked, "Oh, shit." She chuckled nervously, "When did it get so late?" She grabbed Sasha by the arm, giving her a look that read: you fucked up. They smiled awkwardly, Naomi kissing Jimmy on the side of his face, "We gotta go." She was dragging her friend away before any of the three men could say anything.

"What?" Roman repeated, irritated and confused. He hit his hand against Jey's chest, "What the fuck was she talking about?"

They looked at each other, the twins not knowing how to handle how awkward the situation just got. Roman was growing more agitated as the seconds ticked by.

"Man, you know how people just talk shit." Jimmy started, clearing his throat, "It's probably just some rumor she heard."

"Well that's not gonna be something I'm involved in." Roman muttered, still trying to process, "I'm here to get my championship... rumors, whatever, I don't care. This ain't that."

Roman dragged his bags behind him as he headed toward where his car was parked. His adrenaline was still pumping from the attack on Triple H in the parking garage. His hands were sore from hitting Hunter as hard as he had. He'd avoided everyone since then, dodging Renee — actually ignoring her when she'd stopped him after his attack on their boss — and waited until the show was over to avoid anyone else.

He made his way out the double doors, not paying attention to where he was actually going because he'd gotten used to people moving around him. But of course, there had to be an exception.

His hand reached out to grab whoever it was because the person was smaller — much, much, smaller — a tiny ooomf accompanying the impact of their face and his chest. He realized it was a woman when he looked down to see who he was cradling against his chest. Her forehead pressed to his sternum and he could feel her release the tension from the impact of their bodies colliding. Tiny hands clutched the back of his shoulders like she was still falling. She was crying. He was confused. Had he hit her that hard? Jesus Christ. He didn't have time for this.

"Look," he started, thinking of a way to get her off of him without being rude. "I didn't mean to hit you as hard as I did. I should have been watching where I was headed. My fault." He felt her start to pull away, curly hair blowing in the breeze of the dark night. He knew her — obviously — but for the life of him he couldn't remember her name.

She quickly wiped at her widened eyes to flick away tears, "It's okay. I turned and just rammed right into — Im a clutz." She tried to laugh, but she sounded more pained than anything. She still hadn't stepped away from him fully — her hands still gripped his waist — his grip on her forearms as he inspected her for injuries didn't loosen. His conscience wouldn't be able to handle hurting her or anyone else besides The Authority. He was being a paradox of his new self — a monster with a conscience. He told himself he'd work on that. He left destruction in his path from the week since he'd been back — a few injuries on her wouldn't be new for someone who'd come in contact with him. But he still didn't move past her.

"What you crying for?" He heard those words and it took him a moment to realize that the question had slipped from his own mouth. The give away was the expression of complete shame on her face. And then he was a goner. He didn't like when women cried. She could have been Stephanie and he would have still been concerned — then again, it would take more consideration and a little bit of blind, morbid curiosity.

But he knew deep down, a little, dead part of him just took interest in her problem because he had so many of his own. And after some consideration, he realized that his family — Naomi — would beat him up if he left this woman out there crying in the middle of the night. He didn't know why knowing that changed anything. He was supposed to be tired of caring. But there he was nonetheless.

"I um-" she started, gathering her hair in her hands, rolling her curls together at the side of her neck nervously. He took the time to survey the surroundings. Nothing out of the ordinary. Fans were gone. He had waited that long before he'd ventured out of the building.

"You don't have to actually tell me." He amended, taking the moment to fully separate his body from her's. Things were getting awkward. "It's none of my business."

She laughed a small giggle. It made him smile a little — little upturn of the corners of his mouth. She cleared her throat, stepping further away from him as he just stood there wondering why he hadn't gone and made a beeline for his car yet.

Her hair had caught in the zipper of his hoodie, both of them laughing lightly as she stumbled back toward him so he could untangle her. But just like laughter, the moment was fleeting and all but gone when she opened her mouth to explain.

"It's not that serious now that I think of it." She shrugged, hugging her arms around herself. "I just frustrated… I was supposed to ride with Summer and Renee and they left without me. But I'm sure they didn't mean to."

Roman rolled his eyes and shook his head. Anything Renee related was actually, somehow, always Dean related and Roman was on a Dean sabbatical. He was walking away before he could really recognize that he'd thoroughly confused and insulted her by walking away without a thought. But he didn't stop moving.

Getting to his car he dumped his bags into the backseat and started the car. And in what felt like an abrupt turn of events, he was angry again. And slightly confused by what Sasha had let slip in catering. He was just… done. So doooooone that he could only sit in the front seat, clutching the steering wheel as if his sanity depended solely on his ability to breathe — the slow inhale through his nose and exhale out his mouth were the only noises in the car for a long while — and it took an enormously embarrassing amount of effort to not let the anger ruin him.

Nope. Nope. Nope. He chanted as he started his car and put on his seat belt. He was reversing out of his parking space, telling himself he would drive right away from that parking lot with no guilt attached to the action. But then again, he found that when he told himself to do something, he just ended up doing the opposite. With an agonizingly annoyed sigh, he was turning the corner, pulling up to where she was still standing, frantically texting away. Rolling down his window, he set his head on the back of the seat, looking at her, "Get in."

"What?" She looked up at him in disbelief, laughing nervously.

He got out of the car, bent over and flicked the tab that released the lock on his trunk. He walked over to her and grabbed the handle of her bag, "I'll give you a ride."

She looked to be contemplating it for a moment. She'd no doubt seen what he could do when he was angry, and he could tell the exact moment she got scared. She looked around, seeing only a few cars left. He noticed that she seemed to be contemplating it. He could see the exact moment she realized that all the other women were gone and she probably didn't know who anyone else left was…She swallowed thickly and nodded her head with a determined intake of breath. She was jogging to the passenger side of the car before either of them could consider changing their minds.

It was then that she realized that by getting in his car, she had silently agreed to accompany him to the next city and he probably didn't even remember her name. She watched him mutter obscenities to himself as he dumped her bag in his trunk.

The SUV shook as he slammed the trunk shut before walking back to the driver's side and getting in. He looked over at her briefly. He put on his seatbelt, motioning for her to do the same.

"I'm JoJo, by the way." She muttered, looking straight ahead, nervously as he started to drive off.

He cleared his throat, nodding like she had just said something dumb. "I knew that."

She snorted, knowing he was lying. And she didn't know why, but that made her laugh.