I'm sooo worried about Roman and his "injury" after the match with Randy. I know there is speculation about him having a concussion but please pray for him (and me) that he's okay since I want to see him at a house show next week. PRAYER CIRCLE! That cut above his eye looked nasty...ouch. Poor guy.

Okay, I whined enough!

Enjoy & review the next chapter :)

...

Chapter 7: Trouble, trouble, trouble

"Who are you texting?" Shannon asked weakly, the sedative pill the nurse had given her a few minutes ago now finally becoming effective.

"Roman. He probably wonders where we are. I hope he can keep Dylan overnight," Dean mumbled, eventually sending the text message after it took him endless minutes to write it before pushing his cell phone into the front pocket of his jeans.

"Why would he need to? You can pick him up later and take him back home," she said confused, wishing the pain she was experiencing would finally go away.

Dean looked at his girlfriend as if she had two heads, knowing that she was sedated already but didn't know it was that heavily.

"Do you really think I'm going to leave your side?" he asked, sighing when she still looked at him dumbfounded. "I'm gonna stay, sweet cheeks. No matter what. If I could, I would even hold your hand while you're having surgery. But I sure as hell will be here when you wake up afterwards."

If Shannon wasn't that exhausted and tired already, she probably would have started crying now. She was so touched by his words as well as the sincerity and love in his eyes that it made her heart melt.

"You don't have to," she whispered, looking at him teary-eyed while grabbing his hand, squeezing it tightly.

"But I want to," he whispered back, swallowing hard when he saw how weak the love of his life looked in this very moment, laying there in this hospital bed all pale and wiped out.

He wished he could take away all the pain. He would do anything in his power to stop the suffering and fear she was going through. Hell, he would even go under the knife for her if he could. But all he could do was to be there for her and that he would do. That was for sure.

"Miss O'Brien, we'll move you to the surgery room now," Dr Tenner interrupted the couple, Dean's heart heavy in his chest when he saw that Shannon seemed to be scared to death now that things were becoming serious.

"Can we have another minute, doc? I'll make it quick, I promise," Dean asked, looking at the doctor pleadingly and smiling at him when he nodded his head. "Thanks."

After the doctor had left the room again, he turned back to face Shannon, sitting on the edge of her bed before once again taking one of her hands into both of his, rubbing the back of it with his thumb in order to calm her down.

"As I said before, I'll be here when you wake up, ok? Everything's gonna be alright, I promise you that. All that matters now is that you get better. I don't care if you come outta there without a cervix. Fuck it, I wouldn't even care if you came outta there without boobs…and you know that I'm a breast man. Although I wish that wouldn't happen," he said, mumbling the last part which made her chuckle. "Anyways…all jokes aside, I just want you to know that I love you for who you are, Shannon. I know I'm not good with words and you're probably going to puke because of my cheesiness but I just wanted to remind you that you're my life and well…yeah…I'd better stop now. Just…uh…I love you."

She raised her free hand with all the strength she could come up with, cupping his cheek with a small smile on her face, a silent tear streaming down her face.

"You sound as if I might die," she chuckled, taking a deep breath when he wiped away the tear with his thumb. "But yeah…I love you too, weirdo."

"Here we go….that's how I like you, always cursing me," he said with a chuckle, bending down so that he could place sweet kisses first onto her forehead, then her nose and finally her lips, resting them there for several moments. "Be strong, sweet cheeks."

A knock on the door once again interrupted them, Dr Tenner and two nurses entering the room, none of them saying a word.

"Well, she's all yours, doc," Dean said, trying to lighten the mood but Shannon was obviously the only one in the room that understood his sense of humour.

He once again squeezed her hand before they wheeled the bed out of the room, leaving him behind, all alone with tons of thoughts running through his head. He prayed to God that she was going to be okay. And that was a statement considering that he didn't really believe in the big man up there in heaven. He couldn't stand the thought of losing Shannon. His love, his life, his everything.

It was that very moment that he knew that things needed to change. Right now.

…

It was more than half an hour later that Dean was sitting in the waiting room of the hospital, his head in his hands, the painful expression on Shannon's face haunting him. Seconds felt like minutes, minutes felt like hours. And he felt so alone. That was until…

"Mind if we joined you?" a deep male voice asked, making him raise his head, his eyes wide when he realized who it was.

"What are you doing here?" he asked curiously, slowly getting up so that he could greet his friends properly.

Roman, Karolina, Seth and Maxine all hugged him tightly, giving him encouraging words to cheer him up as he seemingly and also understandably was incredibly worried about his girlfriend.

"Do you really think we would leave you alone now, bro?" Seth asked, patting his best friend's shoulder, giving him a small smile.

"But where are the kids?" Dean asked dumbfounded, only now realizing that they weren't even around.

"Sika and Patty are taking care of them now," Karolina answered, chuckling when Dean raised an eyebrow at her.

"All of them?" he asked, almost shrieking as he was surprised.

"All four of them," Maxine replied, giggling when Dean shook his head in disbelief.

"Your parents are one of a kind, Roman," he said with a smile, bumping fists with the big Samoan, silently thanking him and his parents for being so supportive. "I don't even know how to thank you all."

"Dean, we're your friends. There is no need to say thank you for something that goes without saying. We want to be here for you and I know you would do the same for me if it was Karolina in there," Roman said, the first one to sit down on one of the chairs, the others following shortly afterwards.

"I definitely would," he answered, running a shaky hand through his messy hair, knowing he needed to explain to his friend what was really going on. "So, apparently she has some kind of swelling around her cervix. I don't really know what all of this means but the doc said that if they don't remove it immediately, she wouldn't stop bleeding and the swellings might one day turn into a tumour. And from that moment on, we both knew that she didn't have a choice…"

There was an uncomfortable silence between them, all of them deeply lost in thought, trying to process what Dean had just told them.

"God, I don't even wanna think about how she must feel. Having your cervix removed must be one of the most horrible things…," Karolina said quietly, breaking the silence after what felt like an eternity.

"Yeah…it's like…you know…she can't have kids anymore. That's so devastating," Maxine added, gasping when she realized what she had said.

"She's talked to you about having another baby?" Dean asked curiously, noticing how Maxine and Karolina were telepathically talking to each other but he was having none of it. He needed to know. "Girls, spit it out!"

Maxine looked at Karo pleadingly, hoping that she would explain all of this as she was a lot closer to Dean than she was. Maybe that would ease the tension a little.

"She didn't PLAN on having another one but deep down she was hoping that one day you would decide to go for it again. After having Dylan she realized how wonderful it is to be a mother and I think she wanted at least one more," Karo told him, holding his hand in hers and squeezing it gently. "She wouldn't have forced it onto you or anything. It's just something she was dreaming about."

Dean swallowed hard after hearing this. He had decided for himself that he didn't want any more kids without having talked things through with her. He had no idea that her desire to have another baby was that big and now he felt even worse. She would wake up after that surgery without a uterus. She would never be able to have another baby again. And he now knew what she meant by saying she would not be a real woman anymore. She must feel as if a huge part of her was missing.

"Dylan told us this morning that he had a dream about Shannon being pregnant and giving him a baby brother," Dean said to no one in particular, staring at the floor, Karo's hand still in his. "It breaks my heart to know that he will never be a big brother. Never. How do I explain this to him when all of you have more than just one child? He will be all alone. He will have nobody."

"Let's not think about this yet," Seth said disapprovingly, sighing heavily when Dean scoffed mockingly. "Look, Karo is barely showing and won't be for a few more weeks if she keeps wearing Roman's awful shirts. We still have plenty of time to explain to Dylan and Leni what's going on. And speaking of that: Dylan will never be alone. Leni, Joan and Hayley are like sisters to him and you know it. And hey, if Roman and Karo have a little Fred, he will have a brother after all."

"He's NOT going to be called Fred," Roman and Karo said in unison, making everybody chuckle, even Dean.

"And leave Roman's shirts alone. I like them," Karo added, sniffling at them before moaning playfully, giggling to herself.

"You guys are nuts," Dean said, shaking his head with a weak smile on his face. "But that's exactly what I need right now."

"That's what we're here for, man," Seth stated, one arm wrapped around Maxine's shoulders, pulling her close. "Actually we…"

Seth wasn't even able to finish his sentence as all of a sudden the door to the waiting room was opened, Dr Tenner entering with a clipboard squeezed under his right arm. "Mr Ambrose, the surgery went very well. Your girlfriend is back in her room now and will wake up soon."

"Thanks doc," Dean breathed a sigh of relief, quickly making his way over to the doctor, shaking his hand firmly. "Thanks a lot."

Dr Tenner just smiled at the young man before nodding his head towards the others, as quickly leaving the room as he had entered it, giving the group of friends a few minutes to themselves.

"Well, I guess she will be pretty exhausted after all of this…," Dean mumbled, trailing off as he looked at his friends unsure.

"It's okay, handsome. I'm sure she needs some rest now. Call us if you need anything and give her a kiss from us, ok?" Karo asked, embracing Dean lovingly before kissing his cheek. "She will be okay again. And don't worry about Dylan. He can stay with us as long as you need him to."

He hugged each and every one of them tightly, thanking them for their constant support and the encouraging words they had giving him. Without them he would have been so lost.

"Trust me, it won't take long until you guys have another fight again. That will be the day you know she's fine again," Roman teased, patting his best friend's shoulder before leaving the room last, making Dean smirk.

…

It was later that day when Seth and Maxine put Joan and Hayley to bed after feeding them and changing their diapers. It had been a very long day and they were happy to finally have some peace for the rest of the night.

"God, that was exhausting. I don't even wanna know what Sika and Patty did with them to make them so fussy," Maxine sighed, snuggling closer to Seth who was lying next to her on their king-sized bed.

"Trust me, you really don't wanna know," Seth said with a chuckle, absentmindedly playing with her waist-long auburn hair he loved so much. "I wanna know something though."

Maxine moved her head so that her chin was resting on his well-toned chest, her eyes looking deep into his with curiosity reflecting in them. "And that would be?"

Seth took a deep breath, not even sure how to address this subject as it had never been an issue until this very day. But today everything had changed and he needed to talk things through with her before they ended up like Shannon and Dean.

"So…uhm…now that all of this happened to Shannon, and since this apparently is a huge thing for a woman, do you…well…do you plan on having another baby down the road someday?" he asked, brushing a strand of hair out of her face lovingly.

Maxine stared at him emotionless for a few moments, surprised that he would ask her that as she hadn't even thought about something like that after all. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to have another baby or not. And she also wasn't sure if the insecurity that shone through when Seth asked her that meant that he didn't want to have more children.

"I honestly don't know. Right now, I definitely would say no. Raising Joan and Hayley is a challenge, for both of us, and I'm not sure I could handle another one. But that might change one day, when they're older maybe, who knows? But the question also is: do you want another one?"

Just like his wife, Seth had never really thought about this subject. Having Joan and Hayley around didn't even give them the time to think about this at all. And now that he soon would go back to be on the road, that was out of question anyways.

"You know what? I think I feel the same way. Right now we have our hands full with the girls. But hey, we're still young. We can still have dozens of babies. I'm open to it," he said with a huge smile on his face.

"Dozens? Are you nuts? You already sound like Roman," she giggled, pinching his thigh which made him yelp.

"Well, I'm only joking, he on the other hand is serious about it," he laughed, taking the hand she had been pinching him with into his and slowly moving it in between his legs. "But how about we practise a little, sweetheart? I'm having some severe case of blue balls."

Seth didn't know what it was but for several weeks the sex between them had been awkward. He was satisfied and so was she, that was not the problem, but it confused him that it always happened with the lights turned off or hidden under a blanket. Not only that, but sex had come a rarity for them. It could be the stress with the kids, it could be that she simply wasn't as insatiable as he was, but deep down he had the feeling that there was more to it.

As suspected, she turned slightly to reach the light switch, wanting to darken the room once again but he was quick enough to grab her wrist and stop her from doing so. He wanted to see his beautiful wife and not only imagine how she looked like when she was writhing underneath him in pleasure.

"How about we leave the lights on this time?" he asked seductively, immediately claiming her lips so that she couldn't even answer, smiling to himself when she moaned into his mouth, their tongues passionately wrestling for dominance once she had parted her lips.

His hands started roaming her body, feeling up every inch of her, goosebumps covering her from head to toe. Her moans were music to his ears and the way she now stroked his erection through the thin fabric of his boxer briefs made him lose his mind. He didn't know how much longer he could keep going like this, his throbbing length almost aching painfully. He wanted and needed to be inside of her, to be united with her again on the most intimate level there was.

But when he grabbed the hem of her nightgown, wanting to push it upwards so that she could get out of it, she instantly tensed up and stopped him, making him pull back, a confused look on his face.

"What's wrong, angel?" he asked curiously, licking his now swollen lips, surprised when she didn't even answer but tried to get him out of his boxers as if she wanted to distract him.

And she was indeed successful. As soon as his hardened cock was released from the disturbing clothing, she wrapped her hand around it gently, kissing the tip of it and slowly licking off the precum that was oozing out of it, tasting the salty liquid.

Seth couldn't help but roughly grab her hair and push her onto him, her mouth absorbing his cock inch by inch until he hit the back of her throat, making her gag slightly. He wasn't forceful though, he never would be, but he knew how much Maxine could handle and he would immediately stop whenever she gave him a sign he was too hard on her.

"Oh yeah…suck that dick, baby," he moaned in ecstasy, watching her intently as her head was bobbing up and down on him, the way she looked at him almost sending him over the edge in an instant. "You want that cock inside your sweet little pussy, don't you? Yeah…that's what you want."

He thrust his hips up when she started massaging his balls at the same time, knowing that it would only take him a couple more minutes to cum if he wouldn't stop her right now. And he only wanted to cum inside of her, her walls tightening around him, milking him, squirting his hot seed deep inside of her.

"Stop, angel," he suddenly said, trying to catch his breath as he barely could contain himself, almost spurting his sperm into her mouth. "It's your turn now."

In one fell swoop, he had her pinned underneath him, kissing her lips softly while his hands were once again grabbing the hem of her nightgown. But just like before, she stopped him again.

"You don't need to. It's okay…I…I just want you to be inside of me," she stuttered, moving awkwardly to remove her panties without getting out of her gown, making Seth look at her suspiciously.

"What the fuck is going on here?" he asked annoyed, sensing that something was terribly wrong.

"What do you mean? I thought my man wanted to make love to me right now," she said sweetly, wrapping her hand around his cock once again but this time it was him who stopped her.

"Maxine, don't bullshit me. Why are you acting like this? I really thought I was imagining things but apparently I'm not. For weeks we've been fucking in the dark, you're constantly hiding under a blanket and I don't even get shower sex anymore. Now you don't want to get out of that freaking gown and you wanna tell me nothing's wrong?" he almost yelled, angry at her for acting like this and thinking he would buy it.

Maxine swallowed hard, closing her eyes tightly for a brief moment before pushing him off of her, wanting to get out of the bed but he stopped her.

"Stop it. Let go of me. I don't wanna talk about it," she snapped, trying to get him to let go of her but he simply wouldn't.

"I don't care if you don't wanna talk about it or not, we're going to discuss this now. Do you think I'm stupid?" he asked, quickly letting go of her hand so that he could get into his boxers again, his erection more or less gone again after all this drama.

"This isn't about you being stupid," she huffed, looking into the other direction when he sat down next to her on the edge of the bed.

"Then tell me what this is about. Obviously it's something that is bothering you, so why wouldn't you talk to me about it? Don't you trust me anymore? I'm your husband, for god's sake," he said, trying desperately not to lose his temper now.

"You wouldn't even understand," she whispered, not wanting to start crying in front of him as she knew that he wouldn't take her seriously if she told him.

"How would you know that? Just fucking tell me and we'll find a solution," he insisted, eventually losing his patience with her. She was so stubborn.

She remained silent for several minutes, not sure where and how she should start explaining to him what was depressing her so much. He was a man after all. How could he even sympathize with her?

"I feel so ugly," she eventually said, her voice almost a whisper. "Ever since Joan and Hayley were born, I wasn't even able to get back in shape. I know I've never been a supermodel, but what's underneath these clothes is disgusting me."

"Don't fucking continue with this crap. I don't even wanna hear it," he said angrily, not even given her a chance to further explain herself. "This is bullshit and you know it."

That was exactly what Maxine had been afraid of. He didn't understand. He had no idea what she was feeling, what she was going through. At the beginning, after the twins were born, it was normal that she was still a little chubby, the pounds she had gained during the pregnancy not vanishing just like that, and although she had lost weight again, her body had changed. To the worst, at least in her opinion.

"This is bullshit? IS IT?" she yelled, suddenly doing something she never thought she could have done but she really lifted up her nightgown, pushing it over her head and throwing it away aimlessly. "Look at me and tell me this is bullshit! Look at me and tell me that my boobs haven't backed down to gravity. Tell me I don't have all these stretchmarks. Fucking tell me this is BULLSHIT."

Seth hadn't expected her to yell at him like that, but when he saw how endless tears were streaming down her face now, he finally understood that this was bothering her so much that she wouldn't even feel confident enough to show herself to him, her husband, the man that loved her unconditionally. And that meant something.

"This is bullshit," he insisted, his voice a lot more calm and quiet now.

He slowly stood up to stand right in front of her, taking her hands into his and squeezing them gently.

"It's not," she sniffled, not even being able to look into his eyes anymore. She felt so ashamed, so humiliated.

"Look at me, Maxine," he pleaded softly, feeling horrible for having barked at her like that but he was at the end of the rope with everything that had happened that day. "You are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my life and I really mean it. Of course your body has changed. You've carried my baby girls in there for more than 8 months and I couldn't thank you enough for that. I love you the way you are, stretchmarks or not, who cares about them? I don't. I just wished you would have talked to me about it."

The disappointment in his voice didn't go unnoticed by her but she couldn't even feel sorry for him right now when she only wanted to pity herself.

"I've already seen a plastic surgeon. I want to have my breasts done," she informed him out of nowhere, not surprised when he looked at her wide-eyed.

"You what?" he asked dumbfounded, not believing what he was hearing. "You sure as hell are not."

"I will, Seth. I have to. I'm sorry..." she said sadly, making him let go of her hands so that she could leave the bedroom without saying another word, making him scream out loud in anger.

When would things finally calm down again?