Thank you so much for continuing to read this story! It really means the world to me.

Enjoy~

Monday had rolled in and The Bellas, Seth, and Roman had flown into the next city for Monday Night Raw. The weekend went pretty well for them especially after Brie and Roman had their little talk. Roman was now more conscientious about the way he acting towards her and realized she didn't deserve it at all. He promised to himself that he would keep his feelings for Paige separated from his love for Brie and hoped that it was possible. He still couldn't stop thinking about Paige and wishing that she hadn't ended things with him so abruptly. She was ignoring and avoiding him at all costs and he knew it. He hated feeling so distant from her, and hated that this had been the second time that he lost her. Roman needed to get Paige back because it was really messing with his head and emotions.

As they entered the backstage area of the arena, Brie gave Roman a quick peck on the lips before they separated so she could enter the divas locker room to prepare for the show. Nikki smiled at Seth then followed her sister's lead. Things were a bit confusing between her and Seth. Neither of them were entirely sure where their relationship stood after the weekend. All Nikki knew was that she was swooning hard for Seth, but she just wanted to go with the flow and see where it takes them.

As the women entered the locker room with their luggage in hand, Nikki spotted a diva in the corner of the room and slightly furrowed her eyebrows. She watched Paige as she slipped her jacket off and put it down on one of the benches. Nikki looked at the jacket because it seemed exactly like the one her sister described to her. She turned away from Paige to look at Brie to see if she noticed. Brie was in her own world and wasn't even facing Paige's direction. Nikki looked back at Paige and inspected the jacket. It was black leather, had zippers where the pockets were, and was studded near the collar and shoulder area. Nikki bit her lip as she thought to herself. She was trying to convince herself to stop speculating because she didn't even know what the jacket really looked like since she never saw it for herself. All she knew was a description of it and that it was in Roman's bag. She shook her head and tried to tell herself that maybe she was going overboard and that it couldn't possibly have been the same one. She wanted to ask Brie if that was it, but she really didn't want to alarm her or make her concerned. Nikki finally broke her stare from Paige's jacket and turned around to put her things away as she tried to escape the thoughts in her head.

"What are you going to say to Dean when you see him tonight?" Paige asked Emma, who was on the ground, going through her luggage to find her ring gear.

Emma looked up at Paige and gave her a confused look. "What do you mean?" The Australian diva asked.

Paige shrugged, "I mean, he's been pretty much avoiding you since the night he slept over. And it was strange how he sneaked his way out in the middle of the night."

Emma sighed and turned her attention back to finding her stuff. She didn't want to think about Dean right now. She was embarrassed by the situation. She was a bit intoxicated and asked him to lay in bed with her. Then he snuck out of the hotel room in the middle of the night while she and Paige were asleep. She tried texting and calling him a couple of times since, but he didn't answer. Emma had no clue what was going with her and Dean. Things just didn't seem as normal between them anymore.

"Emma?" Paige said, still waiting for an answer.

"I'm going to apologize to him because I was drinking and clearly made him uncomfortable." Emma responded after thinking for a moment.

Paige slightly raised an eyebrow, "Emma, I saw you two together. He was not uncomfortable." she stated.

Emma shrugged and didn't respond. Paige opened her mouth to speak but was stopped when she heard her phone go off, signaling that she had a new text. She looked at the phone and saw that she had a new message from the last man she wanted to talk to. She was about to delete it but before she got the chance, another one came in. She took a deep breath and turned the phone off. As her phone powered off, she looked over at Brie and instantly felt that guilty pain in her chest. She wished Roman could just stop and leave her alone for the sake of Brie. Paige knew that Brie didn't deserve any of this and she began wishing she had never even walked into Roman's hotel room the night when this whole thing began. She ran her fingers through her hair as she sighed deeply.

Later on in the night, Paige had a match and segment with AJ to continue their story line. Afterwords, Paige was backstage with Emma and Seth as they spoke and watched what was going on in the ring. Everyone was doing their best to put on an excellent show because there was a pay per view coming up this weekend. Seth gave Paige some pointers and ideas about what she could do during the Smackdown taping the next day to really get the audience intrigued in the diva's championship story line. Paige listened with open ears. She, Emma, and Seth always had this bond where they could go to each other for tips and advice. As they continued speaking, Paige could feel a presence behind her but she didn't turn around.

"The crowd's already invested in you and AJ, so just try to put on the best match you can-" Seth was saying before he slowly stopped speaking and eyed his fellow Shield member who was standing behind Paige and listening in on the conversation.

Emma turned to see what Seth was looking at and smiled brightly when she saw Roman. "Oh, hi!" she exclaimed with her cheerful tone.

Paige turned around to see who Emma was speaking to and released an exasperated breath at the sight of Roman. Roman smiled to Emma and gave her a little nod to acknowledge her then turned his attention back to the person he was there for as Seth watch on. Roman nodded his head to the side signaling Paige to go with him to talk. Paige glared at him then turned around to face Seth again.

"Sorry, what were you saying?" She asked him, hoping Roman got the hint that she wasn't interested in going anywhere with him.

Seth's eyes remained glued to Roman and he opened his mouth to continue speaking. He finally looked back to Paige and Emma after glaring at Roman for a few more seconds. As he spoke, Roman was growing frustrated with Paige. She wouldn't even give him just a moment, and he just wanted to know what he did wrong so he could fix it. He looked around the area and scanned it to see if anyone was watching them. When he saw that everyone was busy doing their own things, he moved a bit closer to Paige. Their was barely any space left in between them and Paige could feel the warmth of his body behind her. He did it so slyly that Emma, who was facing the same direction as Paige, didn't notice him move. Seth on the other hand did notice. Seth was well aware that something was going between Roman and Paige but he thought they had ended things so he was a bit confused at what was going on. He, Paige and Emma, continued their discussion but Seth still had an eye on Roman.

"Please talk to me." Roman whispered in Paige's ear as quietly as he could as he stood close behind her. Paige suddenly felt that nervous feeling in her chest and stomach. She couldn't believe he was doing this so overtly. It's like he didn't care who saw anymore.

"I'll talk to AJ about what you told me and we'll work it out. I'm excited for our match on Sunday. I think it'll be great" Paige told Seth, completely ignoring Roman.

Seth nodded to Paige then turned his attention to Emma. "What about you? Do you know if you're on the card for the PPV yet?" he asked her.

As Seth and Emma spoke back and forth, Roman leaned into Paige again and whispered, "Paige, please stop ignoring me." Paige rolled her eyes wishing that he would just go away. She shook her head a little bit so that Seth and Emma wouldn't notice but just enough so Roman would get the hint. Roman released a frustrated sigh. He wondered to himself why Paige had to be so stubborn and difficult at times. He realized that the only way that he could get her to cooperate would be if he made her do it the hard way. "If you don't walk away with me by the time I count to 5, I will pick you up in front of all of these people and carry you away." he whispered.

Paige shook her head and rolled her eyes at his threat. She knew he wouldn't actually do it. That would risk everything. Someone would see and Brie would instantly know. In fact, Brie could walk in on the scene at any given moment. She knew Roman wasn't dumb enough to actually risk everything.

"1..." Roman whispered quietly in her ear as she contributed to the conversation with Emma and Seth again. "2..." he went on. Paige shook her head and smiled at the fact that he was actually counting. "3..." She pushed her dark hair behind her ear as she nodded in agreement to something Emma was saying. "4..." Roman continued. Paige still ignored his threat because he was clearly bluffing. Before he reached to 5, he slowly placed a hand on her hip. Seth continued speaking but saw everything that was going on. Paige silently gasped at the feeling of his finger tips and palm on her skin. Roman slowly moved his hand further around her body to wrap it around her so he had a good grip. Paige was stunned; he was actually getting ready to do it. "5-" he whispered. Before he got the chance to make his move, Paige quickly removed herself from his grasp and stepped away from him. She placed both of her hands in her hair and ran them through it.

Emma stopped talking and looked at Paige. "Are you okay?" she asked with concern.

Paige looked over at Roman who seemed like he was waiting desperately. "Yes, um, I have to go. I have to talk to someone." she said, emphasizing her last words as she looked directly into Roman's eyes, finally giving up her fight. Roman smirked at his accomplishment. Paige held her stare with Roman as she started walking way from Seth and Emma, knowing that Roman would follow her. Roman waited a moment before going after her so things wouldn't seem so obvious. As Paige walked, unsure of exactly where Roman wanted them to go, she turned around to look at him again. Roman nodded once to her to assure her that he would follow.

Roman smiled at Emma before stepping away from her and Seth. As he walked away to follow Paige, Seth looked to Emma and opened his mouth to speak. "Excuse me, I'll be right back." he told her before following after Roman. Paige waited awkwardly around the corner unsure of where Roman wanted her to go and wait. She was trying to mentally prepare herself because she knew that, with just one look, he had the ability to tear down the walls that she had built to guard herself from him.

As Roman continued walking past people to get to Paige, he was caught off guard when he felt someone aggressively grab his shoulders to turn him around. He angrily clenched his jaw and glared as he waited for an explanation from Seth, who was now standing in front of him. "What the hell is your problem?" He growled at Seth with a deep and cold tone.

Normally, Seth would be a little intimated by the powerhouse but right now, it was taking all of his strength not to knock some sense into Roman. "What's my problem?" he scoffed. "You need to stop what you're doing."

Roman took a small step back as he gave Seth a puzzled look. "What are you talking about?" he question.

Seth shook his head with disappointment. "Look man, you might be fooling Brie and the rest of the world, but I see what's going on and I suggest you put an end to it."

Roman was left speechless, unsure of what to say. There was no way that Seth actually knew, Roman thought to himself. He waited for Seth to clarify what he meant before he could respond or react.

"Paige is like a little sister to me, and so is Brie now. What you're doing to both of them is-" Seth said before Roman shhh'd him to tell him to lower his voice.

Roman looked around to make sure no one overheard. "You need to shut up."

"You're not really doing a good job of hiding it yourself; that scene back there wasn't very secretive." Seth responded with irritation.

Roman was so done with this conversation. He knew Seth wasn't the best at keeping secrets but he also knew Seth wouldn't tell Brie because he wouldn't ever dare do anything to hurt her. Roman stepped to the side and forward to walk past his two-tone haired tag partner but Seth stepped in front of him again.

"No, you need to end this right now." Seth demanded as Roman gave him a cold scowl.

"Mind your business, Rollins. None of this concerns you." Roman seethed.

"I just want to know, how could possibly think any of this was ever okay? Brie's so in love you, man. Does that mean nothing to you? And what about Paige? You're just going to string her along... then what?" Seth asked as he could feel the anger and disappointment boiling within him. He couldn't believe a man he considered to be his brother could do something so disgusting to two women that he cared about so deeply. To be honest, he could see this from Dean, but he never thought Roman could be that guy. He could never look at him the same again.

Roman ran his hand through his long dark locks as he listened to Seth's painful words. "I know, Seth. I've had this conversation with myself a million times. It's just a lot more complicated than you'll ever know." He finally said, feeling defeated.

Seth really couldn't wrap his head around it but he could hear the pain and desperation in Roman's voice. It was a tone he had never heard from him before. He knew that all of this was extremely bad and needed to stop, but he could see how hard it was for Roman. He sighed as he argued with himself in his head about what he should do. This was a huge moral conflict for Seth, but he could tell that Roman was really struggling just by looking at him and hearing him.

"You need to figure it out. Figure out what you want, because this isn't going to end well for anyone." Seth advised. Roman slightly raised his eyebrow, a bit stunned that Seth was backing down so soon. Seth once again shook his head, "I'm just going to warn you though, that if you end up hurting both of these women... you might not only lose them. You've already lost a lot my respect, but you'll probably end up losing my friendship too." He warned.

Roman was taken back a bit by Seth's threat and warning. Seth gave him an assuring look to make it clear that he was 100% serious before finally stepping out of Roman's way and finding his way back to Emma. Roman stood there for a moment to process what had just happened. The stress was just piling on. Now, not only did he feel like people (including the Bellas' bother) were pressuring him into asking Brie the big question, not only was he trying to solve these puzzle pieces that were his feelings for Paige, now he had Seth threatening their brotherhood and friendship. He exhaled deeply before continuing to walk after Paige because even after all that, he still felt the need to see her and be with her, even if she wanted nothing to do with him.

Paige was leaning against the wall, impatiently waiting on Roman. She was about to just forget about the whole thing and leave because she couldn't stand there any longer waiting for him. Just as she removed herself from the wall and began walking away, he finally showed up.

Paige gave him a look waiting for him to explain what the hell took him so long. Instead of explaining him self, Roman grabbed her hand in his and quickly lead her to his destination. Paige was too confused to even ask any questions or fight him. When she realized where they were going she widened her eyes as he opened the door to a nearby small storage/supply closet and stepped in it with her then closed the door behind them. They were now standing in the dark and Roman was feeling around the walls with his hand to find a light switch. When he could finally see her, Paige had an apprehensive look on her face. She wasn't quite sure what was going on and wanted to know why they were cooked up in a closet. But when she finally saw the look in Roman's gray eyes, she could tell something was bothering him. His eyes were softer than usual and he just looked so stressed and exhausted.

"Are you... okay?" she asked him slowly. Roman rubbed his face with his hand with frustration as he tried to fathom everything that he was feeling at the moment. The only thing he could understand and determine was that he desperately wanted the woman standing in front of him. He wanted to hold her in his arms and just be in the moment with her. But even with all that, he still needed Brie in his life. He had no clue what to do; he was so conflicted. He sighed and just gave up as he swiftly moved closer to Paige and placed a hand in her hair. He brought his head down so that their foreheads were now connected.

"You said you wanted to talk..." Paige said in a soft tone, almost a whisper. "So please, let's just talk?" she begged.

Roman looked deep into her eyes searching for his words. He sighed, "Okay," he said, "Just answer one question for me." Paige nodded and waited for him to continue. "Why is it so easy for you to ignore me, move on, and just pretend there's nothing between us? Yet, I can't even get you out of my head for one second."

Paige broke their eye contact and looked down to the ground. "It's not easy for me." she responded with a sigh. "Especially when you do things like this..."

He let a small smile make its way on his face. "What am I doing?"

She rolled her eyes, "You know exactly what you're doing."

Roman smirked as he shook his head in denial. Paige couldn't help but smile back and she hated him for it. She hated how easily he could pull her back in just like gravity. As hard as she tried to move on and do the right thing, Roman always had a way to capture her again. She just needed a way to stay strong and keep her guard up. She closed her eyes and pulled her head back away from his to allow some space in between them but he just leaned forward again, this time to pull her into a kiss. A kiss that he had been desperately missing all week and couldn't stop thinking about.

Paige desperately wanted to fight it, but he had broken through her walls and neither of them could hide how much they wanted each other. After what felt like forever, Roman finally pulled away, leaving Paige in a daze. She finally opened her eyes again when she heard him unzip his Shield vest. She watched as he pulled it off, then pulled off the tank top he was wearing under it. He let them drop to the floor before he reached over toward her and tugged at the belt of the purple and black shorts that were part of her ring gear.

Paige looked up to the ceiling and sighed. Why on Earth did Roman have to make her feel this way again. That feeling where she knew what she was doing was wrong but couldn't fight her desire for him. "We really shouldn't..." she said reluctantly.

Roman squinted his eyes at her a bit. "Are you trying to convince me, or yourself?" he asked as his hand remained attached to her belt buckle. Paige shrugged and didn't have an answer for him. He leaned down to her face again and pulled her into another kiss as his hands worked on undoing her belt buckle.

As they continued, Paige suddenly pulled away as she realized that they were literally standing in a closet. She raised both her eyebrows, "No... we can't do this here."

Roman furrowed his brows, "Why not?"

"We're in a bloody closet- at work!" she exclaimed, but still made sure to keep her voice low.

Roman smirked as he moved even closer to her, causing her to push her body against the door behind her. He shrugged, "I like a challenge." he informed her before leaning into her again to connect their lips once more as Paige smiled through the kisses.

Meanwhile, as Emma and Seth continued their conversation, Seth was now sitting up on top of some type of equipment box in front of Emma as they talked wrestling. A little while later, Nikki and Brie approached them and Emma greeted them with a smile. Seth reached out and gently took hold of Nikki's arm to bring her closer to him, so that her back was now leaning against him and in between his legs as he sat behind her. She turned her head and smiled brightly up at him as Emma and Brie looked at each other, wondering what was going on between the two. Brie shrugged because she honestly had no clue, since she and Nikki hadn't actually spoken about any of it; they just seemed really comfortable with each other.

"Anyway," Brie said, trying to focus on the reason why she approached them in the first place. "Have either of you seen Roman lately? I've tried calling him but it went straight to voice mail." She looked at Seth, expecting him to have an answer for her.

"Uh, I don't know. I haven't seen him." He tried his best to lie and Nikki could easily tell he wasn't being completely honest.

Emma furrowed her eyebrows at Seth, "No... he was here for a moment. Remember?" she said slowly.

Nikki turned to look at Seth and observe him. He cleared his throat as he tried to come up with something. "Oh yeah, um, he was here. But he isn't here now, obviously, but I uh, I don't know where he went." He said. Okay, it's no secret that Seth was a terrible liar. He hated to do it, it just wasn't his thing, so he really couldn't be to blame for not being able to tell a convincing lie for Roman and Paige. He really had no reason to try to cover for them, and he didn't have to do it. It wasn't his intention to become caught up in their web of lies, but Roman was his best friend and he did it on impulse.

"Rollins-" Nikki began as she turned to fully face him. She was ready to call him out on his lie, that was very obvious to her, but was stopped when Dean entered the mix.

"Dean!" Emma practically exclaim when she spotted him, cutting Nikki's words off. Dean looked at the bright and cheerful diva and was a bit startled by her reaction to seeing him, but couldn't stop the smile that crept it's way on his face.

"What's up, Blondie?" he asked casually.

Emma would be lying if she said she wasn't a little confused by him right now. He had clearly been avoiding her for the past couple of days, and all of a sudden he made it seem like things were completely normal. She shook her head as she tried to refocus her thoughts. "Can we talk for a minute?"

Dean looked at Seth who was eyeing him then looked back to Emma. He exhaled deeply then nodded to Emma. She gave him a half smile before leading the way so they'd have more privacy. Seth saw this as his opportunity to escape, because he knew Nikki was ready to interrogate him because of his little lie to cover for Roman. He hopped off of the object he was seated on, "I'll see you two later. I have some things to take care of." He said as he began walking away from the twins.

"If you see Roman, please tell him to find me." Brie told him as he continued walking away.

Nikki watched him and didn't even feel the need to say anything because she already knew something weird was going on, and Seth had just given her even more reason to try to get to the bottom of it. It was clear to her that he was trying to cover something up, and this wasn't the first time she had witnessed it. She slightly bit her bottom lip as her brain began working to try to put all of the pieces together.

When Emma and Dean got to somewhere that seemed relatively quiet, she stopped walking and turned so she was now standing in front of him. She nervously fiddled with her nails and fingers as she began speaking. "I just wanted to apologize for the other night. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable or made things weird. I was drinking and wasn't thinking correctly; I really am sorry." she genuinely apologized.

Dean stood there with his hands in his pockets for a moment as her words sunk in. "Don't worry about it. You didn't do anything wrong."

Emma felt a little bit puzzled, "Well you left in the middle of the night and never responded to my calls or texts so-"

"None of that's your fault." he cut in. Emma tilted her head to the side as she tried to figure out what was going on. Dean pulled one hand out of his pocket so he could pass it through his hair. "Look, I think we should just stay away from each other for a while." he forced himself to say.

Emma furrowed her eyebrows as a frown grew on her face, "What? Why?"

Dean exhaled deeply, "It's just best that way, alright?"

Emma was bewildered. She had no idea where this was coming from. She began to wonder if she said or did something that night that she couldn't remember. Dean had become one of her best friends and all of a sudden he didn't want anything to do with her? This was insane and Emma couldn't understand it.

She reached her hand towards him and placed it on his arm. "Dean, I'm really so sorry if I said or did something-" she said before he shifted a step over to shake her hand off of him. She slightly raised both of her eyebrows as she watched him pass his fingers through his hair again with frustration. "Okay." she began, "If that's really what you want." she said with hurt clearly in her voice. She looked at him for a moment to see if he had anything else to say, but he remained silent and didn't even make eye contact with her. She sighed then shook her head in disbelief at how the conversation had turned. "I'm sorry." she said once more before turning around to walk away from him.

Dean watched her leave and it took everything he had in him to not stop her. But he was sure this was the right thing to do because he could feel himself quickly falling for Emma and every time he thought about her or about being with her, he was haunted by that voice in his head telling him that he was no good for her and that he would end up hurting her in the long run. This was the only way he knew how to avoid all of that. As painful as it was, it was something that he felt like he had to do.

I hope you enjoyed this long chapter and I hope you're interested in the Dean/Emma part of it. I'm not sure when I'll be able to update again because I've been really busy lately. But I will try my best to work on it as often as I can. Also, I just need to know, who would you prefer Roman choose in the end? I really really really appreciate reviews, so please leave one if you can! :D