As soon as she found out that Dean was at the doctor's office, Renee left everything behind and started running. The image of him hitting the ladder after Harper's powerbomb kept replaying in her mind and freezing the blood in her veins. He landed straight on his head and neck and it looked like the impact had broken him in half. She could swear that she saw blood on the back of his head when the cameras panned to him and the doctors outside the ring, but she couldn't be sure.

She didn't even wait for an answer when she knocked on the door of the office, breathing heavily and opening it. She was greeted with a surprised look from the doctor, who was cleaning the dried blood off Dean's head after he had stapled the wound there, and a small smile from Dean. He immediately got on his feet and opened his arms so she could hug him and bury her face in his chest.

"It's just a bit of blood. Not even a concussion." He leaned his chin on top of his head and stroked her hair.

"I don't care. Just let me stay like this for a moment." Her muffled voice made the corners of his lips twitch upwards. He gave a thankful thumbs up to the doctor, who wordlessly waved at him before leaving the office. "So that's why you didn't want to tell me anything about the match. I nearly had a stroke after that stupid powerbomb."

"I landed pretty badly. It probably looked awful."

"Yeah, never do that to me again."

Dean chuckled. "Sorry, darling, but I think you'll have to go through many more moments like that with me."

Renee groaned and unwillingly took one step back to look at him. He was usually high on adrenaline after his matches, pacing around and unable to stand still, but this time he was unusually calm. It slightly worried her, but she said nothing.


Another night, another loss. This time to Cena, for the United States Championship. Dean kept telling Renee how losses didn't mean much to his character, but that was the catch. The losses didn't mean much to Dean. Jon was a different story.

He was quiet during the entire drive from the arena to their hotel, and after he'd showered and lied in bed as well. Renee tried to cheer him up with a few stupid jokes Cesaro had told her and JBL earlier that day and the story about Bo Dallas driving with Nattie and Tyson and nearly crashing their car into a tree, but it just got a few weak smiles from him. It bothered her. She wanted her goofy, rambling Dean back.

"You can talk to me about anything that's on your mind", she told him quietly, playing with his hair. "You know I'll listen."

He sighed, closing his eyes for a brief moment. "I just wish I had more of a… direction. I mean, I know that my moment will come, but… sometimes I feel really bummed out. Losing at WrestleMania and losing at Raw afterwards feels bad, y'know. Not having an idea where I'm heading is even worse. Especially when everybody around me seems to be enjoying an amazing moment in their careers and I can't even win the US title. It feels like I'm doing something wrong."

So that was why he was being so quiet the whole time. It pained her to listen how disappointed he was, but she tried her best to look on the brighter side. "You know they're trying to elevate both the US and the IC titles. Neither Cena nor Bryan will drop them so fast now. But you know what… Money in the Bank is in a little more than two months." A small smile appeared on her face. "And it's in Ohio."

"Let's just hope the fans don't turn on me before that. I just got used to being face, I don't wanna go heel just yet."

"You're crazy. The fans love you. Everybody loves you." She smiled. "Like you said, your moment will come. I know that you're a patient man, and if you can wait, then I can too. We'll get through this together."

A genuine, grateful smile stretched across his lips. "You're the best."

"I am. Now sleep. You need it." She pressed a kiss on his temple before snuggling into his chest and reveling in the inviting warmth of his body. He would get his chance to shine. She just knew it. He was far too amazing to not become a big player in the business one day. And as he wrapped his arms around her protectively, she smiled and silently promised to herself that she would stay with him on that path.