It's been almost a week since I last uploaded and I would like to apologize for the long wait. Real life issues are constantly in the way and I don't even find the time to write in peace. Work, work, work!

I hope you all understand, and I can't promise to update again this week. Bear with me!

ShannonTheAwesomeOne, thanks for some of your amazing lines and ideas which I partly used for this chapter. Same goes to rrsexybeast and mrsrkoshield as well as pezziecoyote. Thanks for your constant support.

Now enjoy & review, my beautiful readers! :)

...

Chapter 10: Girls' and boys' night in

A few weeks had passed and both Seth and Maxine couldn't be any happier. After taking that next step of sleeping with each other, their relationship had intensified and their love had become even stronger. Needless to say that he couldn't get enough of her ever since, making love to her each and every night, sometimes even twice a day.

"And you're sure you'll be fine with the girls?" Seth asked concerned, a frown on his face.

"Of course, baby. You enjoy your night with the boys and I'll see you again tomorrow. It's not like we're far apart. Dean's house is only two minutes away. Would you please stop worrying now?" she more stated than asked, slightly annoyed by his constant protective behaviour.

"I'm just acting all worried 'cause I'm not getting any tonight," he admitted with a pout, chuckling when she swatted his chest playfully, rolling her eyes.

"I'm sure that you'll survive one night without sex," she said, moving closer to him and nibbling on his earlobe, a moan escaping his lips. "Okay, bye."

She all of a sudden let go of him, bursting out laughing when he stared after her, not believing that she left him there high and dry.

"You little wench," he yelled, taking a deep breath before finally following Roman and Dean who were already waiting for him in front of the Reigns' house.

"You've become such a pussy," Dean mumbled, taking the bag with Leni's stuff while Roman was carrying her in her infant carrier.

"You were the same when you started dating Shannon, so shut up," Roman replied, face palming his friend before starting to walk away from the other two.

"Ah, you know what Reigns? You're the biggest pussy of 'em all," Dean scoffed, quickly following Roman with Seth in tow, both of them catching up immediately.

"So, who decided we take Leni with us and not Dylan?" Seth asked nonchalantly, looking at Dean confused when he huffed.

"Because she's the little princess and gets everything she wants," he stated, earning a slap from Roman to the back of his head.

A few weeks ago, their women had decided to spend a girls' night in, inviting Maxine over so that she would feel even more comfortable in their little clique, wanting her to know that she was now part of the family too. The boys had then decided to do the very same, all three of them catching up and talking about good old times. Leni somehow ended up with the men while Dylan was with the ladies he loved so much.

"Will you ever stop being jealous of a baby?" Roman asked annoyed, waiting for Dean to open the door when they stopped on his front porch.

"I'm not jealous," he shrieked, flipping his Samoan friend the bird. "I just know that she has you wrapped around her little finger and she knows how to get your attention. She's difficult."

"She's difficult? Are you fucking kidding me? It's Dylan who is..." Roman snarled, being cut off in the middle of the sentence by his two-toned friend.

"Okay guys, relax...it's all good. Let's just get inside, grab a few bottles of beer and watch the game," Seth admonished, pushing them into the house before closing the door behind them.

Sometimes he thought that he could have a more mature conversation with Leni than with these two fools, but they were his best friends and he loved them to death. A lot of things had changed ever since the kids were born, not only for Roman and Karolina as well as Shannon and Dean, but for Seth as well. Meeting his friends wasn't a spontaneous thing to do anymore. They couldn't just go out and party, getting shitfaced and come home in the early hours of the morning.

They were parents now, responsible for a little human being they brought into this world. And together with his friends, Seth had grown up as well. But most of this he had to thank Maxine for. She was the best thing that had ever happened to him.

A couple of hours and several shots and beers later, Leni started grouching for the first time that evening, giving her daddy a sign that she was hungry when she started sucking her tiny little hand, making smacking noises with her lips.

"Is Daddy's princess hungry? Is it time for dinner now, sweetie?" he asked in a baby voice, picking her up from the baby blanket she had been laying on, before bending down to get one of the already pumped breast milk bottles out of the bag.

"So, that came straight out of Karo's tit?" Dean asked before quickly swiping one of them out of the still open bag before Roman could get it back from him.

"Dean..." Roman simply said, raising an eyebrow at his younger friend, silently begging him to shut up.

"I wonder how she tastes..." he mumbled, looking at the bottle intently before sensing that his friends were looking at him dumbfounded. "What? It's not gross! It's weird, but it doesn't taste bad! I've tried it! Well, not really on purpose but... I can't help it if I love on my woman so good that she leaks a little bit."

And Dean wouldn't be Dean if he wasn't really wondering how Karo tasted because only god knew how many times he had tried to love on Shannon's breasts and got some milk instead.

"You're a freak," Seth said, taking the bottle away from Dean and putting it back into the bag. "Dude...seriously."

"What? I bet Roman knows what I'm talking about. Right, big man?" Dean asked, looking at him expectantly when he sat down again, trying to get Leni to open her mouth.

"Uhm..." he mumbled, not looking at his two friends who he felt were staring at him intently.

"Uhm means yes. You can't tell me you didn't suck her nipples and didn't get some milk," Dean said, taking a huge sip of his cold beer. "That's okay, dude. It happens."

Roman sighed heavily, happy that Leni finally parted her lips and started drinking the milk.

"It was so awkward the first time I did. I didn't really think about it and boom, here comes the milk," he explained, making both Seth and Dean chuckle. "I can't say it's that yummy though. It's... weird."

"And so he moved down to lick the pussy," Dean said as a matter of fact, finishing his beer before opening another bottle shortly afterwards. "Eating pussy is still the best."

"Preach," Seth said, raising his fist to bump it with his friends, taking the beer Dean was offering him.

"Speaking of...you've never told us about Maxine," Roman spoke up, surprised that he really questioned his friend about his sex life.

Normally he wasn't the one to start this kind of conversation but after being best friends with them for so many years, he had learned that nothing was off limits between them.

"She's amazing, dude. Never has a woman given me anything like she does. She's thoughtful and..." he started but Dean just rolled his eyes and quickly interrupted him.

"Listen, we wanna know if she's any good in bed. I don't care about her characteristics," he huffed, emphasizing the word 'characteristics' mockingly before taking another sip of the cold beverage.

"Dean, characteristics make things in the bedroom even more interesting, you fool," Roman scolded, putting the now empty milk bottle onto the living room table, picking Leni up so she could rest on his shoulder, waiting for her to burp.

"You two really have become wussies," Dean scoffed, laughing when Leni let out a loud burp. "She has your genes, man."

"Well, to say it in Ambrose's words: she has amazing hips. Hips I can hold onto when I'm taking her from behind. And boy, she has a nice ass. But the best thing about her is her pretty little mouth. I swear to God, this woman knows how to suck a dick," he swooned, rearranging himself before he would get a boner just thinking about that.

"Did you make her swallow?" Dean asked bluntly, grinning when Roman rolled his eyes at him.

"Dude, what the fuck? Why are you so fascinated with the girls swallowing our cum?" Roman asked appalled, hoping that his little daughter really wouldn't understand what they were talking about.

"Because it's hot," he simply said, shrugging his shoulders innocently and watching how Roman placed Leni into Seth's arms, this being the first time this evening that someone else apart from Roman was holding her.

"I know it is, but would you keep concentrating on your girl taking your cum and forget about our girls?" he asked a little upset.

The room fell silent a few moments later, Roman and Dean lost in the football match that was shown on the TV while Seth was cuddling with Leni, her tiny little hand wrapped around his index finger.

"You're the most beautiful little girl I've ever seen," he whispered to her, brushing his lips over her forehead, his heart melting when she opened her big blue eyes, staring into his. "I see you understand what I'm saying, right princess?"

Slowly a small smile spread across her face, making his legs feel like jelly. She definitely had Roman's smile. It was adorable.

He picked her up and held her in the air so that she was face to face with him, placing butterfly kisses all over her face which made her grunt, a possible sign of her laughing.

Her hands touched his face, at first grabbing his nose and squeezing it, before moving to his jaw, feeling up his beard which made her shiver.

"I'm not sure if your daughter likes hairy faces or not but she keeps shivering and grunting when she touches my beard," Seth said with a chuckle, directing his statement at Roman.

"I think she loves it. I keep rubbing mine against her tummy when I change her diaper and she always starts making funny noises," Roman said, glancing at Leni and Seth, a small smile on his face.

Roman still remembered how jealous he was of Seth after the first time he met Leni. But Karolina made him understand that he was just her Uncle Sethie and could never replace him as her daddy. He needed to let go sometimes, although that was still hard for him to do.

"You would make a great dad, Seth," Roman added truthfully, taking another gulp of his beer until the bottle was empty.

"Don't give him ideas, man," Dean immediately said, looking over to see the strong bond Seth seemed to have with Leni. "I swear to God, he's just as much into her as he was into Karo."

"That's not the right term to use in this case," Roman quickly disagreed, shaking his head slightly. "He simple has the same closeness to her as he has to Karo. It must be in the Schneider's genes. They just clicked."

"Well, whatever...just do me one favour, Seth. Keep banging your chick and enjoy your life before your kids cock-block you," Dean huffed, finishing his beer as well. "How about you get some more beer, Reigns? You know where the kitchen is."

"Lazy bastard," Roman said after getting up, collecting the empty bottles before leaving the living room to make his way into the kitchen.

"Dude, can you hold her real quick? I need to take a piss," Seth said as a matter of fact, standing up and waiting for Dean to open his arms.

"Are you crazy, dude? Our little princess here doesn't like me," he said appalled, involuntarily opening his arms for Seth to put her into them.

"I'll be back in two minutes...jeez," Seth mumbled, quickly hopping out of the room before his bladder would explode, a sight nobody would like to see.

Dean watched Leni intently, holding his breath and cringing when she started grimacing, probably realizing that she wasn't with her daddy or Seth anymore.

"Ugh, please don't cry, honey-pie," he pleaded desperately, trying to think of something to do to make her stop quickly. "Ha, I've got an idea."

He cleared his throat and straightened up, trying his best not to let her cries distract him.

"Where it began, I can't begin to knowin'. But then I know it's growing strong. Was in the spring, and spring became the summer. Who'd have believed you'd come along. Hands, touchin' hands. Reachin' out, touchin' meee, touchin' youuuu. Sweet Caroline, ohohoooo, good times never seemed so good. I've been inclined, to believe they never would. But now I... ...look at the night, and it don't seem so lonely. We fill it up with only two, " he sang, putting all his passion into the song, but she started crying even harder.

He held her close to his chest, hoping that his steady heartbeat would calm her down but this was also to no avail.

"Okay, here we go," he mumbled, bending over to get to the left-over pizza from an hour ago, snatching off a piece of peperoni and holding it against her lips. "Open up, sweetie. Maybe you're hungry."

Naturally Leni parted her lips, her tear-stained face all puffy, but the crying immediately stopped when she started licking the food.

"Dean, what the fuck are you doing?" Roman yelled as soon as he entered the living room, quickly putting the six-pack of beers onto the table, grabbing his daughter away from Dean.

"Relax, man. She wouldn't stop crying, so I tried to feed her," he said almost apologetically.

Roman closed his eyes tightly for a brief moment, sighing heavily before trying to clean Leni's lips and tongue from the peperoni and tomato sauce. He knew that Dean always wanted to do everything right, trying his best to be a good dad and uncle, but there were times where he was still very inexperienced and even clumsy.

"I'm sorry, bro," he said again, massaging his temples tiredly. "I didn't want to harm her in any way and you know I really love that little girl but I just can't seem to bond with her somehow."

"It's okay. Don't worry, man. Maybe she needs a little more time with you. Just wait until she's older. She's gonna love you. You're a good guy," he comforted him, realizing that Dean was sincerely sorry for not being as close to his daughter as Seth was.

"He's a good guy?" Seth asked jokingly after entering the living room again.

"Kiss my ass, motherfucker," Dean quickly replied, making everybody laugh.

"That's how we know you," Roman said, extending his arm and putting his hand into a fist, smiling when his two friends joined him, showing off the symbol of excellence.

...

At the same time, little Dylan, all dressed in his Dean Ambrose miniature leather jacket, was in Maxine's arms, desperately trying to suck on her nipple but it was to no avail as the thin fabric of her shirt and bra was making his life a living hell – as far as he was concerned.

"He's not even hungry! He just loves boobs... Do you know how many times I try to feed him but he just ends up groping me for the hell of it? I looked online and other moms say that it's supposed to mean that the baby feels extra safe and is showing you love and crap like that but I just really think he's a boob guy," Shannon explained, making both Karo and Maxine laugh heartily.

"Well, if he's just a little bit like Dean, then yes, he's a boob guy," Karo confirmed, helping Maxine to free her clothed breast from Dylan's grip, making the little boy whine.

"I just wonder why he can't get enough of mine. Karo's look a lot more promising," Maxine said, looking at her new friend's chest, raising her eyebrows in admiration. "I have to admit, they look amazing."

"Don't we all love Karo's boobs?" Shannon more stated than asked, taking Dylan away from the girls to rock him back and forth so that he would stop whining.

"Uhm...do we?" Maxine asked dumbfounded, scratching the back of her head.

"Yep, we all do. Roman, Dean, Seth, Dylan, obviously Leni...me and now you. It's not a secret," she replied bluntly, whispering calming words into her son's ear.

"Seth does too?" she asked unsure, all of a sudden feeling extremely insecure about her own appearance and the closeness Seth shared with Karo – once again. It had happened before. Many times.

"Shan, just shut up, ok?" Karo said annoyed, turning her attention back to Maxine. "It's not like that. It's just a weird thing between all of us. You really don't have to worry. As far as I know he's pretty much in love with your boobies."

"Ohhh, you've got insider information?" Shannon wondered aloud, sitting down opposite of the two girls, perking up her ears. "Spill the beans, baaabay."

"I'm not sure if Maxine wants t...," Karo started but couldn't even finish her sentence when Maxine interrupted her instantly.

"SPIT IT OUT," she urged the blonde woman, moving even closer to her, looking at her expectantly.

Karolina couldn't help but let out a chuckle, the look on her friends' faces too funny.

"Well, apparently he's addicted to you...and your pretty little mouth," she began, giggling when Maxine raised her finger as if she wanted to ask for permission to get out a question.

"My pretty little mouth?" she asked confused, frowning slightly.

"Yes, that's exactly how he said it. He claims you give the best blowjobs in this universe," she giggled, making Maxine blush slightly.

"Can't be true because I do give the best," Shannon insisted, yelping when Dylan once again started groping her breasts.

"Nope. It's well-known that I give the best ones. Get in line, ladies," Karo said cockily, raising her chin before bursting out laughing.

"It is indeed well-known. Or so I was told," Shannon teased, winking at her best friend who gave her a sign to shut up.

"Now is it? How come?" Maxine asked curiously.

"It's not that imp..." Karo started but was immediately interrupted.

"Actually Dean told me about that sex tape with Drew and he was impressed by her sucking technique only by watching," Shannon babbled, not thinking about her friend not wanting everybody to know about THAT tape.

"A sex tape?" the auburn-haired girl asked in shock, covering her mouth with one hand after gasping. "You did a sex tape? Who with?"

"I didn't do it voluntarily," Karo sighed, running a shaky hand through her long blonde hair. "I had a one night stand with one of the wrestlers. And he seemed to have it filmed. The whole roster watched it."

"God, what about Roman? Did he break up with you?" she asked dumbfounded, not believing what she had been told just now.

"It was before she started dating him. He actually picked up the pieces and made her whole again," Shannon said, laughing about her own cheesiness. "Aww, wasn't that just cute?"

"It's heart-breaking if a guy treats you like you're not worth anything though," Maxine mumbled, the quiet words that escaped her lips making the other two curious.

"What do you mean?" Shannon asked concerned, handing Dylan over to Karo who immediately rearranged her shirt so that the little boy could not push it down to grab her boobs.

"What? Uh...well...never mind. It's not that important," she tried to convince them, but the sadness in her voice gave away that it indeed bothered her until this very day.

"Listen sweetie, you can trust us with whatever is on your mind. If you need to get something off of your chest, we're always here for you," Karo told her, wanting her to feel like she was an equal part of their group.

Maxine took a deep breath and closed her eyes tightly for a few moments, not sure if she was really ready to open up to them just yet. But why shouldn't she? These girls told her everything, not keeping many secrets and sharing everything with her.

"I really have this trust issue ever since breaking up with my ex-boyfriend. That's why I was so cautious with you when I first heard about your past with Seth," she started to explain, looking at Karo quickly. "I wanted to get married to that guy. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. We even talked about having kids. I'd been with him for several years and I was so happy. Life couldn't get any better than this. But one day I found out about him going to these...clubs."

Shannon and Karo looked at each other confused, not knowing where she was going with this but they decided to remain silent so that she could carry on.

"As you can imagine these weren't clubs where you get shitfaced and dance the night away," she said, sighing heavily and swallowing hard. "Swingers clubs...that's where he went."

There weren't any more tears left to shed for the man that had broken her heart. All she felt now, sitting there and telling her new friends about this, was humiliation and embarrassment.

"I know that probably everyone going into such clubs would tell you that what they were doing is not cheating but I wasn't involved in any of this, so you probably understand how I must have felt. The worst thing, apart from him having sex with several women he didn't know, was the fact that he also slept with men," she explained, running a hand over her face. "It's not that I'm against gay people, not at all. It just hurt so much when he told me that these guys could give him more than I ever could. He said I was a boring, prudish little girl. He was sick of me and I don't get why. I did everything for him. I pretended to be someone I wasn't, I neglected and lost my friends and my family. He used me to his advantage, over and over again. Needless to say it was my money he spent for all this porn he bought. And then I ended up all by myself, mentally broken," she finished, taking one of the pillows that were on the couch, trying to hide her face behind it.

Both Shannon and Karo needed time to let this sink in, an uncomfortable silence in the air. They would have expected anything but this. Clearly they were relieved that she hadn't been raped or physically abused but they also knew that mental abuse could hurt just as much, if not even more.

"I know, it's ridiculous. Sorry for disturbing you with this...," she said after a few more moments, getting up and slowly making her way over to the stairs, wanting to get into the guestroom as soon as possible.

"Where do you think you're going, missy?" Shannon asked, grabbing her wrist and pulling her down, making her sit next to her on the couch.

"I...I need to go to...bed," she stuttered, not being able to look into their eyes, ashamed of what she had just told them.

"You see, you have to share a bed with us today," Karo said, looking at Shannon and nodding her head. "Right, sister? Girls' night in means sharing a bed."

"And don't worry. Hers and Roman's bed is big enough. And she promised me she put new sheets on," Shannon said, making Maxine smile weakly. "So no sperm strains."

A few moments of silence passed until it was Karo who spoke up again. "Thanks for sharing this with us, sweetie. Your secret is safe with us. And please, do me one favour. Don't feel humiliated. And there is no need to act as if this is ridiculous. I can totally understand how you feel. That's probably the reason why you were giving Seth such a hard time at the beginning, right?"

"I feel so stupid for letting him suffer because of something that happened to me in the past. But I was afraid to trust again. I finally got my life back together. And there he was, stealing my heart. I just don't want him to replace me with someone. I'm afraid of him finding someone who is better than me. I don't want him to ever tell me he is bored with me...or even disgusted by me. I don't think I can handle that anymore," she said, now sniffling as a single tear escaped her eyes, running down her cheek.

"Seth loves you, babe. With all his heart. And if he's committed to someone, then you're not getting rid of him anymore. Not sure if that's a good thing or not, but in your case I think it is. He's somebody who talks things through. And should there ever been anything bothering him, with you or your relationship, then he will come to you immediately," Shannon tried to soothe her, taking her hand into hers. "Now look at my son, he looks all sad seeing you cry. You don't want him to be cranky, do ya?"

Shannon wiped away her tears with her thumbs, surprised when all of a sudden Karo handed Dylan over to Maxine, the little boy staring at the light-green eyed woman intently, a smile spreading across his face when she caressed his velvet-like hair.

"He's gorgeous," she said quietly, placing a kiss on his forehead, confused when Shannon started chuckling.

"Can you do that again? I wanna take a picture of that and show it to Seth and Roman. He always punches them in the nose if they try kissing him," Shannon said, taking out her cell phone and waiting for Maxine to repeat the action.

She snapped the picture of Maxi kissing her son, added it into a text message to Roman and simply wrote: "Take that, motherfuckers."

Now that she had opened up to Shannon and Karo, and after having Dylan taken her into his heart, it was crystal clear that Maxine was a fully accepted member of their Shield clique.

And The Shield would never break up. No matter what was thrown their way. Believe that.

And believe in The Shield.