Roman was starting to wonder if his initial assessment of Dean being too close to the case had been right. They were already a week into investigating, and Dean was feverishly searching through every inch of paperwork they had, and seeing as Dean hated paperwork… It worried Roman.

"Come on Dean, let's head home. It's late."

"But I'm close to finishing this section," Dean said stubbornly. "It's just a bit more."

"It'll be there in the morning Dean," Roman said, resting his hand on Dean's shoulder as Dean took a sip of coffee from the travel mug on his desk. "You don't need to keep staying in late. Nothing's going to change in that paperwork between now and tomorrow. And if you really want to find anything out of it, you need some sleep."

Dean finally looked up, sighing. "I just want to find a lead."

"And you'll find one sometime soon. Just not now." Roman spoke firmly. "You're coming home with me. Now."

"Someone's bossy tonight," Dean observed, rubbing his eyes before bookmarking his place in the file, closing it and placing it in one of his desk drawers, leaving the surface of his desk spotless—something else that concerned Roman. A clean desk was a bad sign with Dean involved. Dean stood up, quickly downing the last of his coffee before grabbing his coat. "Are we getting dinner on the way home at least?"

Roman nodded. "I called in an order for pizza," he told Dean. "We'll pick it up on the way."

"Good," Dean said, leading the way out of the office; now that Roman had pried him away from his desk he seemed to be in a hurry to get home. "Are there any games on tonight?"

"I think there might be a football game on," Roman said with a shrug as they left the office. He left the door unlocked, knowing there were still a few of their coworkers inside, who, like Dean, were committed to finding what they needed for whatever cases they were working on. Roman's main concern was getting home so he could get some sleep. He was exhausted and his eyes hurt from staring at a screen and paperwork all day; Dean had left him the paperwork from finding Batista.

Nothing had come of that either, except for the fact that the coroner had determined that it actually was Batista after running a DNA test. It was lucky that Batista had been a convict at some point in his life, because it meant his DNA had been in the system. Otherwise it would have been far more difficult to figure out whose body it was.

Detective Bryan had also been in touch with the neighbors again, but apparently none of them besides a kid named Tyler Breeze had been able to tell them anything, and Dean said he'd gotten information the first time around. Dean had mentioned that Breeze had described a man with hair similar to Seth's, and that made Roman a bit wary to venture outside the realm of paperwork; it could mean that the Authority knew very well they were being investigated and were cleaning up any loose ends.

Roman was still lost in his thoughts by the time they arrived at the pizzeria to pick up the pizza, and he tried to clear his mind a little, wanting to forget about the case now that he had left the office. He closed his eyes, relaxing back in his seat as Dean went inside to pick up the pizza. It did cross his mind that he hoped Dean remembered to tip the person at the counter. When Dean set the pizzas down in the backseat and then sat back down in the driver's seat Roman opened his eyes, knowing that home was only a short distance away.

They arrived a short time later, and Dean headed inside ahead of Roman, who walked up the path to the front door where Dean was waiting, one hand resting on the door. "You plan on making it back in here tonight?" Dean teased, and Roman rolled his eyes, pushing past Dean to head inside.

Dean closed the door behind them, and Roman headed into the living room, sitting down on the couch and reaching for the remote. Dean had already put the pizza on the coffee table, and Roman opened the box, pulling out a slice and turning on the TV as he took a bite.

Dean dropped down to the couch a moment later, two beers in hand. He handed one to Roman, who took it from the other man as Dean grabbed the remote out of his hand. Roman didn't protest though, just letting Dean flip through the channels as he ate his pizza.

They ended up settling on a game show, avoiding all the police dramas like CSI that were on; Roman occasionally enjoyed watching an episode or two, but he ended up nitpicking what the show had gotten wrong, and he wasn't in the mood when he was trying to forget about work for a little. The game show was thankfully a distraction, and they watched a few episodes before Dean started falling asleep, his head drifting over to rest on Roman's shoulder. Knowing that Dean would end up hurting from sleeping like that, Roman roused him and sent him to go get ready for bed, promising that he'd be along shortly. He cleaned up the mess left in the living room and turned off the TV and lights, walking down the hall to the bedroom, where Dean was already lying on the bed, his eyes half-closed. They immediately opened back up as Roman walked in though, a result of the wariness their job sometimes required. Dean then relaxed again, and Roman went to go brush his teeth.

By the time he climbed into bed Dean was nearly asleep, though he was wakened by the bed moving. He gave Roman a small sleepy smile before Roman turned the light off, and Dean slid up against Roman, his body warm against Roman's. Roman listened to Dean's breathing even out as he fell asleep, and Roman closed his eyes, slowly heading for dreamland.

He was startled awake a short time later by Dean tensing, gripping Roman's arm painfully. Cursing, Roman guessed Dean was having a nightmare and shook his shoulder, attempting to wake the other man up. It worked, because Dean sat up with a gasp, looking around the darkened room in a panic before he realized he was just in their bedroom. Roman waited for him to speak before saying anything, just rubbing circles on Dean's back, the other man slowing his breathing back down before speaking.

"I thought you said the nightmares weren't going to come back," Dean accused.

Roman flinched. He'd forgotten that promise to Dean, having still been half-asleep when he'd said it, and he'd mainly said it to soothe Dean. He certainly hadn't expected to be assigned to a case with Seth Rollins as one of the main suspects when he'd told Dean that. He didn't know what to say, and Dean just sighed, dropping down to lie on his side, his back to Roman. Roman moved to lie down behind him, pulling Dean up close against him. "Was it about him breaking up with you again?"

"No." Dean shivered. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Alright." Roman knew it probably wasn't healthy for Dean to keep it bottled up, but he wasn't going to push. He kissed the back of Dean's head. "Let me know if you do though, okay?"

"Okay." Dean's reply was quiet, and Roman almost missed it. He listened as Dean fell asleep again, relaxing in Roman's arms, revealing just how tense he had still been. Once he was certain Dean was asleep, Roman closed his eyes, falling back asleep.

It was the alarm clock that woke him this time, and he sat up quickly, reaching over to turn it off. Dean was still sleeping, undisturbed by the alarm and Roman's movement. Knowing Dean needed all the sleep he could get, Roman slipped out of bed, heading for the shower.

By the time he finished getting ready for work Dean was still soundly asleep in bed and Roman was once again reluctant to wake him. They needed to get to work though, so he shook Dean's shoulder gently, and the other man's eyes slowly opened, darting up and down to take in the appearance of Roman's work clothes. Dean sat up with a yawn, stretching. "What time is it?" Dean asked him, rubbing his eyes.

"Time for you to get a watch," Roman teased.

"I have a watch," Dean grumbled.

"As if you ever wear it," Roman pointed out. He glanced over at the clock though. "It's 7:30. That'll give you an hour to get ready and a half hour for getting to the office."

Dean slid out of bed, muttering about the cold and early office hours. He headed for the shower though, and Roman left the room to go make breakfast now that he knew Dean was up, though he figured the smell of breakfast cooking would likely have woken the other man.

By the time Dean emerged from the shower it was already getting late, and Roman had already finished his breakfast and his coffee. He reminded Dean to hurry up as he went to go brush his teeth, leaving Dean to his own devices for the moment and hoping Dean didn't take forever.

They arrived at the office just on time, though Roman had had to push the speed limit coming up to the office, and not for the first time he reminded himself to wake Dean a bit earlier so they could make it out the door without rushing. And not for the first time Roman was aware it probably wasn't going to happen. So instead of fretting about it he followed Dean into the office, heading back to their desks, sitting down just as AJ walked into the room.

She walked over to them after a moment, stopping just beside their desks with a smile on her face, as perky as ever. "Hi guys. How's it going with your case?"

Dean pulled out the file he'd been reading the night before. "It's hurting my eyes," he told her.

"There's a lot of paperwork," Roman clarified as Dean started reading where he'd left off, feverishly searching the pages. He gave AJ a quick smile, hoping it made up for Dean's rude, antisocial behavior. "We'll get through it eventually."

"Alright then. Don't be afraid to ask me for anything if you need it." AJ smiled, and she walked off, her gait just barely hinting at a skip.

Roman relaxed as soon as she was back out the door. It wasn't that he hated his boss, but having AJ in the room was extra pressure he didn't want, not when the case was already like it was. He rolled his chair back a bit, setting up his desk the way he wanted it to start his day. It was just about ready when Roman's desk phone started ringing, and Roman answered it. "FBI, special agent Reigns. How can I help you?"

"I'm calling with an anonymous tip," the person told him, and Roman pulled out a pad of paper, holding the phone to his ear with his shoulder as he uncapped a pen.

"About what?" Roman asked, writing 'anon tip' at the top of the paper.

"About Dave Batista's death," the person told him, and Roman quickly wrote that down, his pen scratching across the paper as Dean leaned over curiously, reading the words as Roman wrote them.

"What can you tell me?" Roman asked him, noting that the person had an odd-sounding voice.

"I can't tell you anything over the phone," the man told him. "I'm limited on time. Meet me at the Starbucks on 5th Avenue in an hour and I can talk," the man said urgently, clearly in a hurry. "I'll wait there for an hour—I'll be in the back booth. After that I'm gone." With that the man abruptly hung up, leaving Roman to curse softly as he set the phone back down in the cradle.

"What was that about?" Dean asked in interest, staring Roman's notes.

"Anonymous tipster who wants to meet up in person," Roman told him, standing up and picking his jacket up off of the back of his chair, along with his gun, badge, and cell phone. "Grab your coat. We just got us our lead."