Time for some sweet boyfriend fluff I think, pretty sure our girl has earned it at this point…

xXBalorBabeXx, Kane really came through for once (but don't ask him about it, he'll say it never happened). I thought I should probably let her get out of there at some point, plus I was missing super overprotective Dean (not as much as she was though!)

Mandy, Kane and BIg Show have flip-flopped back and forth between heel and face so often I can't keep up. Pretty sure evil Corporate Kane is my favourite though because we got to see that weary glare! Glad you loved Dean swooping to the rescue, one of my many guilty pleasures!

TheSilverWolf, Kane's teddy bear side is very deeply hidden, but still just in there enough to help facilitate the save which is what counts. Glad I didn't give you a heart attack with this one and just to make up for all the drama, this chapter is super sweet (mostly!)

Wolfgirl2013, Aww is right, Dean being worried and cuddly makes me so happy to write. So much so I'm giving you some more here and lots more over their other stories too. I mean, who doesn't love teddy bear Dean, right?

Labinnacslove, Yay! Glad you're back and don't worry, life gets away from all of us. I can't believe it's March already. Where is the time going? Anyway, super glad you're enjoying it. I probably shouldn't say it, but this installment is totally one of my faves!

Sodapop25, Hey, glad you're still enjoying all the drama we've got going on in this one, although I'm being kind and giving the guys a bit of a breather. Not that anyone is happy and especially not when she's done explaining what happened…

Raze Olympus, Well, the break actually happens in the next story (which is even longer than this one I hope you'll be pleased to hear) so you don't need to get your extra thick aloe vera tissues out in this one...soon though! *Loud villain laugh*

Minnie1015, Even I missed those two being together and I wrote the damn thing! As for what Dean was up to while she was missing? Mostly I think he was just tearing stuff apart although probably he thought he has some sort of method. Men, huh?!

Skovko, Funnily enough the Seth turn is the next story and this might come up as a bone of contention since I'm making the Authority even more heinous than they were! Still, power corrupts and so do shiny belts and things!

HannonsPen, Kane is just going to keep his head down and plead ignorance throughout the whole thing. Plus Randy is the golden child so he probably stamped his foot and his surrogate daddy gave him a key...Hunter isn't doing his best thinking in this story that's for sure!

Time for the boys to hear what went down...


Home Sweet Home

I slept on and off for the rest of journey snuggled protectively in Dean's strong arms. I woke once or twice when we stopped to top the fuel up but each time Dean would shush me and his voice would lull me back. Sleep was safe now and god did I need it, which was proven by the fact that I then slept right through, surfacing only as I was shifted and then carried, my head on someone's chest inhaling their warm smell,

"Dean?" I had croaked and his voice had rumbled through me, hushed and easy.

"It's okay, we're back."

Back?

Back where? I had wanted to ask him.

But I had been too exhausted to form the words to talk, only on the very vague fringes of awareness as he lowered me gently down onto a mattress and then set about changing my old clothes for bed, peeling the layers off slowly and steadily and wrapping me up in clean fresh threads. Once he was done, he had leaned in and kissed me, pressing his lips beneath the hair on my forehead,

"Love you baby."

"L've y' too," I'd mumbled and then instantly I had been lost to the warm world of sleep.

By the time I woke up again the world had grown darker with the brightness of day having fled for the night. There was a light on somewhere, painting the room orange but in spite of that – briefly – I couldn't fathom where I was.

Oh god, oh god.

Panic seized me bodily and flooded my system with cold icy dread. My brain filled with visions of Randy and captivity and I instantly stiffened.

How long had I been out?

What had Randy done while I'd been sleeping?

More importantly, where was he now?

I was so busy freaking and sucking deep breaths in that I wasn't really looking around at where I was and so as the bed shifted beneath another body I let out a high pitched and terrified squeak. Someone was crawling up the mattress towards me and moving with alarming and purposeful speed. I couldn't get loose. The sheets were wrapped round me and trapping me so tightly that I very nearly screamed. Then suddenly a black fluffy face appeared in front of me and a pair of brown eyes locked in on my own. The features were wide and grinning beneath a black nose and accompanied by a big bright lolling pink tongue. Blinking in astonishment I stretched a slow hand out, gazing at the creature in wonder,

"Boomer?"

On hearing his name he moved in a little closer, trampling across me and half-flattening my chest. But it didn't really matter because Boomer meant one thing and glancing round confirmed it.

I was at home.

I was at home in our bed, beneath our sheets with one of Dean's oversized comfy sweatshirts on. Around me were my things – things we'd bought together – and I blew out a breath of relief.

Thank god.

"Boom-Boom, I'm here, you're here – ugh, I missed you."

Reaching over I grabbed him gently by the jowl fluff and pulled his head down to give him a kiss. He responded by wagging his tail like a maniac and flashing his tongue out in a smooch of his own. It caught me across the cheek and I giggled and wiped it off again, taking it to mean he had missed me as well. I felt almost drunken with unspoken happiness but there was one thing still missing and I cast around,

"Dean?"

The light that was on was not in our bedroom but was shimmering in from the hall just outside. Somewhere beyond I could hear the sound of voices and they made me tense a little.

Where had Dean gone?

Had Randy stormed in and taken him hostage in a desperate attempt at snatching me back? Had Hunter shown up to try and drag me away with him and the voices were he and Dean fighting the issue back and forth?

My heart began pounding and my brain ran wild with thoughts and fears which didn't really make sense. But god they seemed plausible to my poor scrambled system and I sucked a tiny whimper in.

Please don't take me back.

Suddenly, in response to me, Boomer moved closer and gave my clenched fist a very gentle little lick. He was lying almost on top of me, his big head on his forepaws and although he was worried he looked contented and relaxed. If his much loved master had been in any sort of danger or arguing with someone he would have done more than that. He would have been pacing, or whining or growling and his easiness quelled my panic attack. Maybe the voices were just the television set?

Either way I had to find out.

I needed Dean to soothe my mini freak out and comfort me in the way that only he could. It meant untangling myself from the covers and shunting Boomer off which I did in one roll, dragging the quilt with me and draping it round my shoulders to trail on the floor like I was some sleepy five year old. Boomer trotted with me as I stumbled towards the hallway and then kept pace as I wobbled down the stairs. Once on the ground floor, the voices were louder and I recognized all three of them.

Dean, Roman and Seth.

The realization struck me like a thunderbolt – or something warmer and gentler than that – and letting out a breath, I turned in their direction and padded the last few little steps into the den.

"Hey," Seth barked on seeing me entering, "There she is. Sleeping Beauty awakes."

From his position on the couch I watched Dean sit up straighter, looking guilty that he hadn't quite realized I'd woken up.

"You alright Princess?"

I shuffled towards him, letting him grab my hand and pull me down against his side. Once on the sofa I snuggled in near him and tucked my feet up as his arm curled round. With his free hand he tucked the blanket folds tighter and I let out a little hum.

I loved when he did that.

My big wrestler boyfriend being all kind and thoughtful and just generally fussing around me like a middle aged mom. In response I dropped my head against his collarbone and he kissed my forehead,

"Better?"

"Uh huh."

I meant it as well, my world felt less shifted like the whole thing had righted and put me back where I belonged. Boomer clambered up clumsily beside us and despite the fact that we ran a no couch rule, neither Dean or I made a move to push him off. Taking his chance, he collapsed down quickly and tucked himself with a tiny happy grunt against my side,

"I gotta say you look a lot more like yourself again," Roman commented from his spot across the room, sitting one leg hooked over the other in the leather recliner, a beer in his hand.

I nodded,

"I'm starting to feel kind of me-like as well, you know? Not quite so weird and sort of spaced out."

"You had us kind of worried for a second," Roman continued, by us meaning Dean, "Not like you to go off without calling and letting this one over here know where you were."

He gestured lazily with the neck of his bottle and – yep – sure enough, he was pointing at Dean. Clearly my boyfriend had gone crazy in my absence and he and Seth had been the ones to calm him down. Or at least as much as they were physically able to, which undoubtedly hadn't been a very easy task. Acknowledging it, Dean vaguely dropped one of his hands down and gave my blanket covered hip a minute little tap. It was at once equal parts both chiding and comforting as if to silently reassure himself that I was there. In response to it I reached up and kissed him on the jawline and his eyes slid to mine and held me there, firm.

"So," Seth offered briskly, ruining the moment in the special and fired-up way that only he could, "Are you going to tell us what actually happened? How did Hunter get you?"

I blinked.

The moment was so comfortable and warm and relaxing and yet saying the next sentence was going to blow it up. They would all of them be angry but Dean would go ballistic and I didn't want to spoil my newly contented mood. Still, what other option was there but to tell them? I would have to at some point.

I lowered my eyes.

"Hey," Dean grumbled, bumping me a little and drawing me out of myself, "Don't clam up."

"I – I don't want you to be angry."

He snorted wryly,

"Already fuckin' am. You really think I could ever be calm after seein' the shit they put you through back there? Princess, there were fuckin' bars on the windows. They bolted you in so you couldn't get out. No one gets away with pullin' that crap on you. Doesn't matter who the hell they are, I'll make 'em fuckin' pay. So tellin' me how they got you there won't change that. They were dead the moment they touched you, alright?"

I nodded sort of mutely, stunned by the sentence but also cosseted by it as well. It made me feel safe, like Randy couldn't get to me, like Dean could chase away all the evils in my world and as it fired through me I sucked a deep breath in and decided to tell them the truth.

Here goes.

"Hunter – ," I stopped and faltered a little, "Hunter drugged my drink."

Seth barked at me,

"What?"

"How baby girl?" Roman asked more evenly as Dean's palm braced almost painfully against my side. Clearly he was struggling to keep down his emotions and so I fought free my hand and slipped my fingers inside, slotting them under his big tense digits and curling around them to loosen them up.

"Um, I guess he must have had me followed, because he sort of showed up in the middle of the bar."

"What bar?" Seth frowned and I shrugged back mildly,

"I don't know, just some place I wandered into, that's all."

Roman let out a deep sort of grumble and then cleared his throat,

"So he bought you a drink?"

"Actually no, he – he went and got me water," I glanced across at Dean, "He said you'd be upset."

"About what?"

It was the first time he'd spoken since I'd started and his bubbling ferocity was hard to ignore. It made me abruptly drop my gaze to our fingers, still tightly held and closely entwined,

"About me being drunk. Which is crazy because – I mean – looking back on it now, I wasn't drunk at all. He just made me feel like I was all kind of wasted and said I needed water to help clear my head. Didn't really think to even watch him as he got it – ,"

I was angry with myself, but Roman sighed,

"He's your dad."

"Was," I bit back, my brow drawing tightly, "I don't want anything to do with him now."

In response to that Dean's grip lightened up mildly and he jiggled our hands like he thought I was right. In ditching my family I was standing up on their side and that clearly pleased him.

It was us against the world.

"So then what?" Seth pressed, drawing me back again and a lump caught my throat.

The story.

Oh, right.

"Then I started to feel kind of weird, like the last time when Bray – ,"

I bit my lip down.

Remembering what had happened some seven months earlier was not a good way of improving my mood and honestly I couldn't help feeling kind of stupid for somehow allowing it to happen again. Letting out a sigh I untangled my fingers and dropped my head to study the quilt. I didn't want to see the looks on their faces.

I knew what they were thinking.

I was such a hopeless mess.

Clearing his throat a bit – to fight down the fury – Dean wrapped his arm with sudden purpose around my head, splaying his big warm fingers across my temple and then using them to gently steer my face back down, coaxing me flatter until I was pillowed against his collarbone, the tears wetting his shirt front.

Wait, what the –

Tears?

At some point – seemingly – I had opened the floodgates and in response to it Boomer whined and placed his head against my knee. I reached a shaky hand out and tousled his ear fluff, my other digits finding and then gripping tight to Dean,

"Sssh, s'alright Lauren – ,"

"No it's not. I'm an idiot."

He gently palmed my hair back,

"Bullshit, okay? You're not. Not a damn thing he did to you is your fault, you got that?"

Seth snorted,

"You talking Hunter or Bray?"

"Both," Dean grunted before turning to me again and capturing the top of my forehead with his lips, "I'm serious Princess, you don't deserve this shit – any of it, alright? This isn't on you. Roman's right. Hunter's supposed to be your father. I mean not even the three of us saw this shit storm goin' down and we don't trust the guy at all. Thought at least he would keep that in-ring crap away from ya. Guess I was wrong, huh?"

I tightened my hold, balling up the front of Dean's aftershave scented t-shirt and drinking him in like he was a dose of smelling salts. The aroma was powerful and acted like medicine, lowering my heart rate and slowing my breathing down.

God I loved this man.

Seth cleared his throat again and it made me jolt a little,

"So you started feeling weird – okay – what happened then?"

"He – um," I paused as Dean brushed my tears off, gently swiping them away with his thumb, "Dragged me to his car. He – he was saying stuff. That I couldn't have both and he was sorry and things like that. I didn't really know what he meant but I knew something because I didn't like it and I tried to get out. The doctor was there – ,"

Dean blinked in confusion,

"What fuckin' doctor?"

"The one who took my blood. The one who came to my hotel room last year to take the sample for the paternity test. That was when I shut you in the bathroom and after that we almost kissed. Um. Don't you remember that?"

Dean rubbed my head with knuckles,

"Course I remember. Had to go have a long cold shower after that. Did bad things that night lyin' there thinkin' 'bout 'cha – very bad things. But why the fuck was he there?"

He meant the doctor although momentarily I was captured by the thought of Dean doing said bad things. It sent a wave of excitement pulsing through me, which was good since I had worried that Randy's actions might break that down.

Nope.

I still wanted – and needed – to jump my boyfriend and that was a massive relief in itself.

"Princess?"

"Huh? What?"

"I said why was the doc there?"

I shuddered a little at the memory,

"Oh, he – um – he put an oxygen mask on me, I think – I think he was making sure I was okay."

Seth snorted angrily,

"Man this is messed up. Even by our standards, this is whole deal is insane."

Roman ignored him, his own tone more even in a deep and grumbly way that settled my nerves,

"What happened then baby girl?"

"I don't remember, except – ,"

I stopped pretty suddenly and Dean frowned,

"What? Princess? Don't go silent on me now, okay? What're you not tellin' us?"

"Um, Randy was there."

"What, in the car?"

"Uh huh," I looked down again and Dean's warm fingers tensed in my own,

"What did he do?"

"Nothing – well, nothing then at least."

My boyfriend bit a curse back,

"What did he do?"

Apparently we were no longer talking about what happened the night that Hunter had knocked me out and hauled me off. Evidently we were suddenly talking all about Randy. They knew there was something more I wasn't saying – Kane had virtually told them that much – but having to explain it to them felt too massive and I struggled to find the right way to get it out. Besides which, saying it would make it feel real again when I had sort of been passing it off as a dream. A really vivid, really screwy nightmare but an image as opposed to an actual event.

"I – he – ,"

The words wouldn't come to me and as the panic rose up I started crying again, big hot tears streaking down my cheeks like boulders and splashing right onto the quilt beneath my chin.

"Fuck."

In an instant Dean had enveloped me, throwing his arms around me and pulling me in close. I went with it willingly, falling down against his stomach and then burrowing in deeper so I was fully snuggled up.

"Easy baby girl," Roman put in soothingly, while Seth piped up with a more stressed sounding shit. Boomer whined again and pawed himself closer, nuzzling my thigh with the top of his head. Dean reached out and scrubbed his ear gently before clearing his throat. His voice sounded tight,

"Princess? You're kinda freakin' me out here. Tell me what he did to you baby, let it out. I fuckin' promise I'll make it all better but first I gotta know what happened, alright?"

"He – ," I coughed then almost choked a little, the words feeling bitter, "He attacked me last night."

"Attacked?" Seth barked, but Dean was more specific,

"What does that mean Lauren?"

His heart was going mad, with my ear pressed against him I could physically hear it and what was more, I could feel it as well. Clearly he was thinking in terms of worst case scenarios and so I shook my head vaguely,

"He – he didn't get that far."

My voice was barely raised above a whisper, which was basically the only possible way to get it out. In response, Dean blew a deeply relieved little breath out and held me tighter,

"Thank fuck for that."

I shivered again,

"But he – he would have. I – I've never seen him so drunk. He was saying he thought that we should be together and that Hunter would like it and that you'd given up – ,"

My boyfriend growled, as in physically growled at me,

"Never fuckin' happenin'."

I whispered,

"I know. I – I told him I didn't believe him but he wouldn't stop touching me. I tried so hard to fight. Really I did but I just couldn't do it and he was so strong – ,"

Dean's grip tightened,

"Sssh, Princess calm down,"

At some unnoticed point the tears had snuck back up on me and without even knowing I was sobbing against his chest, reliving the nightmare and the fear and the emotions and hating every one of them.

"I was s-so scared – ,"

"Easy baby, easy," Dean grumbled back at me, his whole body tense, "He's not touchin' you again. Not gonna let that fuckin' asshole near you. I'm gonna break his fingers and then his fuckin' head."

For a minute we simply sat huddled in silence, with Dean's warm hand rubbing circles round my back. I was still snivelling and choking and making sort of clucking sounds and at every last one of them my boyfriend seemed to flinch. He was furious – furious – but he was holding it back for me, staying in control because I needed him more. In reality he would rather have been putting his fists to something including Randy, our crockery and the wall but apart from the tremors that shivered through his muscles he sat just holding me and keeping me calm. Eventually, after another few minutes, I stopped grizzling long enough to add something else, slotting in the very last piece of the puzzle and pawing my soggy tear trails,

"K-Kane saved me,"

"I know."

"Fuck," Seth groaned, "Does this mean we owe him?"

Dean shook his head,

"After the New Age Outlaws shit? Nah, no way. I'd say this makes us even."

"But we're still going after Evolution, right?"

"Right."

It was funny but five days ago that sentence would have shocked me and worried me and generally made me freak out. The idea of my boyfriend going up against my father would have filled me with horror and dread.

Now? Not so much.

Hunter was dead to me – utterly dead to me – and in my dazed and broken state I didn't care if he got hurt. I didn't care if The Shield completely buried him. After everything he'd done, it was the least he deserved. My father had tricked me, drugged me and imprisoned me, then left me with a man who'd assaulted me as well. I hadn't even seen him since I'd awoken on that first day.

Hunter had abandoned me and left me with no hope.

The thought made me shudder again and I clutched harder, practically pinching great handfuls of Dean's skin,

"Please don't – ," I mumbled, "Please don't let them get me. I don't think I could survive it again."

Dean kissed my cheek with sudden fierce passion,

"Don't worry about that Princess, you're not leavin' my sight. They want you, they'll have to come through me to get to ya. I'll keep you safe from 'em baby, alright?"

To steady myself, I breathed him in deeper, his t-shirt and the quilt half muffling Seth's snarl,

"So will we. I mean – hey – you're one of us now and we protect our own."

Roman nodded,

"Damn straight."

In the semi-ebbing tension that was swirling all around us, Boomer whined very lightly again, thumping his tail as I stretched a tear-stained hand out and happily licking the salty wetness away. Surrounded by my house and my boyfriend and his teammates, I felt safer and happier and utterly loved. Absently I placed a hand across the pendent now hanging back where it belonged around my neck. I felt kind of weird, like I was standing on a precipice and staring down at something, but I wasn't sure what. The last time I had felt it had been back when I'd met Hunter.

It was a feeling of having a brand new life.

Seven months back that had been a life with a father but now it was the opposite and I was cutting him loose. There would be no more chilled little daddy-daughter lunch dates or weekend visits to stay at their house. There would be no more idle girly shopping trips with Stephanie or seeing Vince as family.

That was all done.

Instead I had Dean and Seth and Roman and Boomer and I still had Kelly, so I didn't need anyone else. Perhaps that was what the last half year had taught me? Perhaps there was a lesson within the chaos I'd had to learn. My whole little life I'd yearned for a big family. The kind that argued and was crazy but filled with love. I had wanted the Christmases surrounded by relations and their updates on cousins and babies and life. I had wanted the big warm summer family parties and the strange little in-jokes and lovable quirks. I had wanted it so much that when I had got it, I had been so swept up I hadn't seen it for what it was. More than that, I had ignored that I already had it in the few precious people that adored me.

They were all I'd ever need.

Snuggling down deeper, I blew an even breath out and Dean kissed my nose,

"You feelin' alright?"

"I – ," I stopped, not sure how I was feeling beyond one important point, "I love you so much."

He towed me in closer and settled back against the cushions, pulling me down with him so we were almost reclined. As Boomer got up and tried to clamber in across us – acting like the tiny little lap dog he was not – Seth and Roman chuckled in the background.

It was nice.

Family.

Dean grunted,

"I gotcha Princess, you're back where you belong."


So, now we've had some nice, cute-style cuddling time, I think we need to get back to the wrestling world and see what happens with her old man...