The following week

Thursday

Seth's second session

Roman was sitting outside the therispest office waiting for his session to be over. Ever since the Hunter incident Roman was always looking over his shoulder and they never went anywhere alone. Seth was now back working at his old job as was Dean. Roman had been in a bad mood all week because he still hasn't heard anything from Phil regarding Hunter. He left a message about Hunter showing up and threatening them but still got no response. He got to his feet when the door opened and Seth walked out, shown behind him. "Hey, how did it go?"

"Good but there is still some things Mr. Rollins needs to work on." Shawn says. "I want to try something next week." He says. "If you and your other partner Mr. Ambrose are free I would like you to join my next session with Seth. I already talked to Seth about it I think this will be good for the three of you and who knows, it could even bring you closer."

Roman smiled. "That sounds good to me." Reaching out he shook Shawn's hand. "And I guess we will see you next week."

"We'll do, you two have a nice day." Shawn turned and headed back into his office.

Roman turned and looked at Seth. " Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, come on let's go." Set got up and followed Roman outside and to his truck. "So you still haven't heard back from Phil?"

"No and it's starting to piss me off." Roman says, his grip on the steering wheel getting tighter.

...

Roman pulled into his apartment complex and got out with Seth. He started to head inside but stopped he noticed Seth wasn't following. "Seth?" Seth was staring out across the street and he followedhis gaze and saw a car sitting by the entrance. The windows were rolled up and tented so he didnt see who it was. Moments later it drove away and he walked over to Seth. "Come on Seth."

Seth silently followed Roman up and into the building. Just as Roman opened the door the door across the hall opened and Beth walked out. "Hey Beth."

"Hey." Beth says. "An officer Brooks came by not too long ago asking about you guys. I told him you were probably at work so he told me to tell you he'll come back later."

"Thanks." Seth walked passed Roman and wenten inside.

Roman watched him go then turned to Beth. "Thanks Beth." He turned around and went inside to find Seth sitting on the arm of the couch watching him.

"What do you think he wanted?" Seth asked nervously.

Roman shrugged. "Maybe they finally have something on the McMahon's and Hunter and they want to talk to us about it." He sighed and looked around. "Are you hungry, can I get you something?"

"I'm okay." Seth says. "So do you think Dean will want to with us next week?"

"Come with you guys where?" Dean asked walking into the apartment, clearly on edge.

Roman knew immediately that something was wrong. "What's with you and what are you doing home so early?"

"I got fired." Dean snapped walking into the kitchen and grabbed a beer from the fridge.

"What?" Seth says joining them in the kitchen. "Why?"

"Apparently my boss is on the McMahon's payroll." Dean says. "He calls me and tells me he wants to talk so when I go to his office I see that old fucker Vince there with a smile on his face. He tells me that it's not working out and he has to let me go, this is fucking bullshit!"

Seth winced and started chewing on his bottom lip. The guilt starting to creep back into his head. "Excuse me."

"Seth!" Roman called out to him but the two toned man just walked into the bedroom, silently closing the door behind him. Sighing he looked back to Dean.

Dean lowered the bottle from his mouth and ran his hands over his face. "Sorry, this whole Hunter and Vince just has me on edge a little."

Roman was about to respond but his phone started ringing. "Finally." He says getting to his feet. "That's Phil so I'm going to take this outside but why don't you go talk to Seth."

Dean nodded and started to leave but stopped. Turning around he gave Roman a kiss before heading to the back. Pausing at the closed door he reached up and knocked. "Seth, can I come in?" No response. "Seth?" Seconds later he heard the door unlock so he opened it and peeked inside and found Seth lying face down on the bed. He walked over and sat next to him. Before he could say anything he heard Seth mumble that he was sorry. "You have nothing to be sorry for and you know that Seth. " He laid down and turned to face the two toned man. "Hey I don't blame you for any of this, they're the ones who are fucked up. Stop feeling guilty when you have no reason to be, okay."

Seth sighed but nodded. "Okay." Sitting up he rested against the headboard. "So before you got home Roman and I were talking about my next session with the therispest. He thinks it's a good idea for all of us to talk together. Roman already agreed to come with me and I was wondering if you could too."

"Seriously." Dean says sitting up. "You know how much I hate sitting out there while you're in there pouring your heart out."

Seth smiled. "So is that a yes?"

Dean reached over and pulled Seth into a kiss. "Of course that's a yes."

...

"I don't think I can do that Phil." Roman says pacing back and forth in the livingroom. "I'm not going to force him him to do that, especially after everything he's been through. Are you sure that there's nothing else you can do." He ran his fingers through his messy hair and sighed. "Fuck."

"Rome?" A voice called out.

Roman turned and saw Seth standing there. "Hey, is everything okay?"

"I call you back later." Roman hung up the phone and walked over to Seth. "Everything's alright, it's just something from work that I have to do."

"Come on Roman, I just heard you say Phil so I know it's not anything from work." Seth says. " What's wrong?"

"Things with Hunter aren't moving along as quickly as they hoped and Phil thinks that if you testify against Hunter about all the stuff he's done that might help." Roman says. He watched as Seth's eyes dropped and he saw the fear behind them. "Don't worry they can't make you do anything and I'm sure as hell not going to. They'll just have to figure something else out." He walked closer to Seth and took his hand. " We'll get through this together, all of us." He rested his head against Seth's and ran his fingers through his hair. "We're going to be okay?"

...

Early Friday morning

Dean was sitting in the livingroom watching TV and eating a bowl of cereal. Roman had left early for work and Seth was off so it was just the two of them. Besides the TV it was dead silent in the apartment, to quiet. Sitting up he turned the TV and looked back towards the bedroom. Getting up he headed back to the bedroom and found Seth sitting up against the headboard, knees pulled to his chest. He also noticed that he was sweating. "Seth, are you okay?"

"Just a bad dream." Seth whispered not looking over at him. "You and Roman never came back for me and I was stuck with Hunter and Dave. They wouldn't stop...no matter how much I begged...how much I pleaded...it just got worse and worse."

Dean got on the bed and sat in front of Seth. "Seth look at me." Seth didn't move so he used his hand and brought the two toned man's eyss to his own. "It was just a nightmare..Hunter is nowhere near here and he's not going to come back."

"He always does." Seth looked up at Dean, eyes filled with water. "You can't protect me from him, no one can. Even if I testify against him I'm never going to be free of him. He's in my head, I see him every time I close my eyes."

"Seth stop." Dean continues. He tries to touch Seth again but Seth pushed him away and got to his feet.

"I can't face him Dean, please don't make me do it!" Seth started pacing back and forth, gripping and pulling at his hair.

Dean knew what was happening with Seth. The same thing that happened when they were young. When Seth woke up screaming about going back to his abusive dad. He had a shut ever one out, locked himself in his room. He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard Seth wheezing. "Seth you need to calm down and breathe."

"Just leave me alone!" Seth yelled, pushed pass Dean and bolted to the bathroom. After locking the door he knelt down in front of the toilet and vomited.

Meanwhile Dean was freaking out on the other end of the door. The last time he witnessed Seth like this the only person to end it all was Roman. Running back to the livingroom he grabbed the cordless phone and called him.

Not ten minutes later Roman burst into the apartment. He went straight to the bathroom and found Dean sitting on the floor across from it, hands in his hair. "Dean what the hell happened?"

"I don't know." Dean says. "It's like when we were younger and he had panic attacks about his dad coming back to get him. Back when he shut every one out, everyone but you."

When Dean finally looked up at him he saw how red Dean's eyes were. "Dean?"

Dean wiped his face and stood up. "Just help him okay, I just need some air."

Before Roman could say anything else Dean walked away from him. He wanted to follow him but he remembered how Seth was back at the shelter so he headed over and knocked on it. "Seth open the door!" He got no response so he picked the lock. Seth was sitting in the tub while water poured on him. His head was in his lap and arms wrapped tightly around. He could also see him pulling at his hair and hear him crying. He went over, shut the water off and got in beside him and after nearly an hour of trying he was finally able to pull Seth back.

Back in the bedroom

Seth was sitting back on the bed watching Roman as he got dressed. "Where's Dean?"

Roman paused. "I don't know, he left after I got here saying he needs air."

Seth looked down. "He hates me, I pushed him away Rome."

"Dean doesn't hate you." Roman says. "Just give him some time and he'll be back before you know it." Just then his cell phone started ringing and he saw that it was his job. He pressed end and sat it on the dresser before looking back to Seth. "Come on, I'll fix you something to eat."

Hours later Dean was stil nowhere to be found. Seth was sitting on the couch in the livingroom when Roman walked in. "Where are you going?"

"To find Dean." Roman says. " I don't like him out there on his own, especially while Hunter's out there. Why don't you get dressed and we can go find him together."

"Okay." Seth says heading back to the bedroom. Five minutes later thhe two of them left in search for Dean.

...