Chapter 4
Finally, unable to stand the now cold water any longer, Reigns exited the shower, toweled off and got dressed. Reentering the room only served to tighten the icy guilt he felt clenching his stomach. Seth was black and blue...but that was only his arms and face. Roman had no idea how many more bruises were popping up under Seth's ring gear.
Settling himself quietly in a chair across the room, Reigns only had time to get moderately comfortable before Ambrose burst back in. Reigns watched Dean enter with food bags balanced precariously in one hand, as the other tried to lock the door. As Dean turned from the door to head towards the room's table, Reigns shot daggers at him for being so inconsiderately loud. Reigns only kept from hitting Dean because thankfully, Seth had stayed asleep. Ambrose ignored the large man. He was still angry and hurt at Seth's uncharacteristic snapping, and didn't honestly care if he woke his friend up or not. It would serve him right, Dean thought to himself in annoyance. He set the bags down, grabbed his burger, and decided to settle himself at what he supposed passed as the "dinner table." Watching Dean settle himself with his burger, it was obvious to Roman that Dean had no intentions of waking Seth for dinner. Sighing, Reigns rose and walked over to Seth's sleeping form. He felt bad for this, but he had to wake his friend. Gently, he shook Seth, "Hey man, dinner's here."
If it would have been possible, Seth's startled jump would have sent him colliding with the ceiling. Suddenly feeling hands on him, Seth struggled frantically, trying to defend himself from his attackers. Looking around wildly, and not really registering the hotel room or its occupants, it took a few moments for the voice Seth heard to finally begin to crystallize. The words, Roman's soft, confident, soothing words, eventually began to penetrate his fuzzy brain. "It's okay Seth, we're here. It's just me and Dean, don't worry. We'll protect you," the big man kept repeating. Once able to get his breathing under control, Seth locked eyes with Reigns, giving him a quick nod to let his friend know he was back with them.
Dean, who had leapt to his friend's side on the bed, now stared guiltily down at the bed sheets, feeling worse than ever that he'd given the obviously shaken and hurting Seth such a hard time. Dean went back to the table again once he saw that Seth was coherent, but he simply stared at his burger, his appetite suddenly gone.
Reigns, once able to see that Seth was really awake and aware of his surroundings, pried his friend's death grip from his arm so that he could return a moment later with the younger man's soup. Handing Seth a spoon, Reigns tried to ignore the very obvious tremors coursing through Seth's body as the hurt man tried unsuccessfully to get the shaking spoon of soup up to his mouth, blushing when he failed.
Roman cleared his throat, feeling uncomfortable as he now found himself in the role Seth normally occupied: fixer and peacekeeper. "So, wonder what's on TV this late at night?" Roman pretended to muse to himself, trying to turn the attention away from Seth's embarrassing battle with his soup. As Reigns grabbed the remote, he settled in to eat his salad, groaning inwardly: that's what he got for letting a still annoyed Dean pick his dinner for him. Dean looked up and smirked for a second, then once Roman caught his eye, Dean resumed his careful study of the burger he now had no interest in eating. Dean's simple goal now was to avoid the gaze of the other two men until it was time to go to sleep. Deciding to let his issues with Dean drop for the moment, especially since Seth was hurt and hated when his two friends fought, Roman broke the awkward silence by flipping through the channels. He stopped with a small smile as he saw both Dean and Seth perk up at the sound of one of their favorite show's theme music. Happy with his selection, all three men settled in with their dinners to watch a late night episode of Cops.