Disclaimer, etc., in part 1.
Part Four
"We have to keep her out of it."
Roman Reigns looked over at Dean's words, the man arching a brow. "I thought we already talked about that."
"We did. Sort of. Thing is... Once Seth realizes that she's back, we can't know what he'll do. I mean, she said she hasn't talked to him since Monday before we left for RAW. I'm inclined to believe her. Maybe even more now that we've talked to her and she said it would probably be best to keep her distance from us at the shows," he said, looking over at the other man. "If she was a plant for the Authority, she would be playing it differently. She would *want* to be with us, because then she could tell them our plans. And she wouldn't be scared that they would put her in the middle of this mess because she would have no reason to be afraid of them."
"You have a point there. You think Seth knows she's back? I mean... Just because she didn't tell him she was coming back, doesn't mean he doesn't know. He could try and use her against us."
"I can't see it," Dean muttered, shaking his head. "Seth loves her. Or he loved her, anyway. Or he was just fucking fantastic at faking it. I just... I can't picture him putting his hands on her or threatening her as a way to get to us."
"Maybe not. But I didn't picture him hitting us with chairs, either, and he did that," Roman muttered. "We thought we knew the guy, but after Monday night, it's looking like we didn't. And you may want to insist that he wouldn't hurt a woman, but... Are you willing to stake Eve's safety on that?"
Dean cursed softly, then shook his head. "No. But here's the deal... There's two of us. The Authority has Triple H, Randy Orton, Kane, and now Seth. Even with Batista quitting on Monday night, we're still outnumbered four-to-two. Right now, they're probably thinking they don't need any other leverage against us simply because of the numbers. And Eve was right earlier. She and Seth were always careful about their relationship. Unless Seth told Triple H about him and Eve - and I don't see any reason for him to do that - then I don't see Triple H knowing about them. And I don't care how big of a bastard we think Seth is right now... I'm not sure I can picture him putting Eve in a position to be used as a pawn in this. Not intentionally. And if Triple H doesn't know that Seth and Eve were together, then I'd guess that Seth has no idea that she's back. Hell, he may be pushing her away because *he* doesn't want her involved in this whole thing."
"He knows we wouldn't hurt her," Roman said, and Dean shrugged.
"Yeah. But he also has to figure that we would be suspicious of her. Or maybe he just knows she'd be pissed at him about what he did to us, and he's avoiding her. Fuck it, man, I don't know. I know it probably looks suspicious that Eve's here tonight, but... I don't think she's thrown in with the Authority. She wasn't exactly thrilled when *we* were involved with the Authority. And with Kane being a part of them... You know how she feels about him. She wouldn't willingly get within twenty feet of the guy. Not unless it was to kick him in the nuts or something."
Roman made a face, then nodded. It wasn't exactly a secret that Eve didn't have good memories of Kane. After all, the guy had come after her during a match once, not to mention cornering her in the divas' locker room... And once chasing her into an ambulance, then trying to drive off with her. So yeah. Kane was pretty high on the list of people Eve didn't like... Which had made it all the more satisfying to beat him and the New Age Outlaws back at WrestleMania. Not to mention the other beatdowns they'd put on the guy... And the beatdowns they were likely to put on him in the future.
"True enough. If Seth hasn't told the Authority about his connection to Eve... About our connection to her... If he doesn't tell them about it, then we have to stay the hell away from her at the shows," Roman finally said, the big man frowning. "We know what Kane is capable of. We've both seen it in the past. He's gone after a lot of women over the years, and people are way too damn quick to forget about that. And Triple H and Orton may not be as bad as him, but they aren't exactly saints, either. They've both done their finishing moves on a woman in the past. More than once."
"Not gonna argue with you there," Dean replied, pushing a hand through his hair, causing it to stick up every which way. "If they go after Eve, I'm not just gonna sit in the back and let it happen. You know that, right?"
"If they go after Eve, that means that they either saw her with us, or Seth spilled the beans and told them that she's friends with us. And if that's the case, then staying away from her wouldn't help her. If it turns out that they know the truth, or they figure it out... She could be our manager. If she wanted. It would keep her close to us, and give us a reason to be close whenever she had a match," Roman said, and Dean nodded.
"Yeah. But only if it looks like they're going to drag her into things anyway. Right now... As far as any of us know, Triple H knows nothing about the fact that Eve and Seth are together... Or, given the fact that they haven't spoken all week and he seems to have completely cut her off... That they used to be together. As long as that stays the same, it's just us against them, and Eve is away from the whole fuckin' mess. But if any of them lays one hand on her..." He trailed off, and Roman nodded slightly, looking over at the other man.
"They touch her, then all bets are off."