Hey Shieldarinos! Our boys are back! Tried to get this one finished in time for RAW, but again...life...whaddya gonna do?

Thank you sincerely for the reviews, follows and favourites - some parts of this chapter were really hard to find a way through, but knowing that there actually people who like what you are writing makes me try harder to find a way to put the pieces in the right order. Thanks especially to: Skovko: Seth is indeed pretty far gone, I agree! KentuckyShieldFan: I do like to showcase the more tender side of Seth - glad you like it! kmhappybunny240: this story will be abit of a slow burn...but I think it will be worth the wait! fedslunchbreak: Welcome! Thank you for your review - Definitely things that need to be said between Seth and Olivia, and when Olivia finally find out about Renee, well...there will be words...

I hope you all enjoy Chapter 11, and as always I hope you can find the time to Read& Review, Favourite and Follow - Enjoy! ~Draxca

Renee had had Dean adjust her hospital bed so that she could look out the window. Summer so far in Cincinnati had been glorious, and now she was stuck indoors...literally barefoot and pregnant.

Pregnant…

Unbidden, a smile grew on her lips as she smoothed her hospital gown over her belly - if she squinted, she could see a slight rise in her abdomen, but she wouldn't have guessed until Roman gave them the news early this morning. She smiled at the images that played through her mind's eye: of Dean holding a little girl in his arms, teaching a little guy to ride a bike, or taking their kids to a soccer game. Her hands traced circles over her belly as she let her imagination wander, until Dean came in with a smoothie from the cafeteria for her.

"Hey gorgeous...how're my girls?" Dean had become convinced that the baby was a girl, and nothing Renee had said could convince him otherwise. He sat on her bedside and kissed her tenderly.

"We want our smoothie...eating for two now...apparently," Renee reached for the plastic cup and took a deep sip, eyes closed in appreciation of the cool sweet taste of mango. "Oh my god that is heaven...thank you sweetie, hopefully baby likes it enough to leave it in my stomach."

She protested when Dean pulled his cup gently out of her grasp, "Well, that's why we only want little sips - that's enough for now. If you don't barf it up in an hour, you can have more…" he held up a hand to quell her protest, "that's on orders from Doctor Sexy himself-so don't be giving me grief about it." He put the rest in the small bar fridge by the door, not without taking his own sip or two first.

"Speaking of Roman, did you mention to him that we need to keep this from Olivia for the time being?" Renee asked quietly. The decision to keep her pregnancy from Olivia for now was not sitting well with her, but every scenario she played out in her head ended with Olivia running out of the hospital and hating Renee forever and ever. Roman had said that Renee needed to rest and not do things that were going to stress her out - she figured that having an emotional confrontation with her best friend in the world would qualify. They just needed to get Roman in the loop so that nothing was spilled inadvertently before Renee was ready. Once she was home and had herself under control, then she would sit Olivia down and tell her. But not now. Absolutely not now.

Dean was also hating keeping things from Olivia. He was a doctor - "first, do no harm" was more than just words to him - he dealt in patients' mental well-being everyday, and keeping secrets was definitely not conducive to a good mental outlook. He didn't want to pull Roman into this, but he had to think of Renee first - Renee and the baby - while she was still at risk, he would do anything to keep them safe.

He shook his head in answer to Renee's question, "I haven't yet, but I'll find time to give him some history before Olivia comes back...I don't want to ask him to lie for us, though Ree." His voice was low and gravelly, and he found he couldn't quite look his wife in the eyes.

Renee could sense his unease and reached a hand out to guide his face to hers. She kissed him gently, the familiar feeling his lips on hers was comforting to both of them and Dean exhaled quietly, feeling some of his tension wash away with the kiss.

"I don't want to ask Roman to lie for us either, sweetie. All I am asking is that he not mention the baby while Olivia is in earshot. I can't say for sure how she'll react, but I have to think she's going to be some kind of upset-and I need to be a little stronger before I can face that reaction." Renee pulled one of Dean's hands to rest on her belly, "Please sweetie...give me the week."

From day one, Dean had been crazy about Renee, and nothing had changed for him since high school. Even though he wasn't comfortable with the plan to keep Olivia in the dark, he was willing to go along with it for now. For Renee. He nodded his consent, timed perfectly with the arrival of Roman for afternoon rounds.

"Hey there guys, how're you doing this afternoon, Renee?"

Dean stepped away from the bedside so Roman could take some vitals and make notes on Renee's chart. Renee smiled, "Well I haven't barfed or even felt a tiny bit sick, so things are definitely better than yesterday already." Roman checked her pulse, then stuck a digital thermometer under Renee's tongue. "How are you doing, Dean? Feeling okay?"

Dean shrugged, still trying to shake off the last vestiges of awkwardness from his conversation with Renee. "Well you know, it's been a bit of a roller coaster - class reunion, trip to emergency, then impending fatherhood...i think having a crap sleep last night is actually helping me cope...if that makes any sense…"

Roman pulled the thermometer from Renee's mouth when it beeped and made a few more additions to Renee's chart before popping it into the holder on the inside wall of the room. He pulled a card from his pocket and handed it to Renee, "This is the name of a top-notch OB/GYN who is based in this hospital, Dr. Charlotte Flair has a lot of experience in higher-risk pregnancies…" he paused when he saw the color drain out of Renee's cheeks at the mention of 'high risk', "I know it sounds scary, but the reality is that HG - your condition - puts you in a higher risk category. Dr. Flair is an incredible doctor, I would say she's one of the few I know that actually have successfully treated moms with HG and they've carried the baby full-term. You are in good hands with her, absolutely."

Renee wiped at the few tears that appeared as Roman talked about Dr. Flair. The realness of her situation was coming home to roost - she was pregnant and was going to have to tread very carefully to get her condition under control to have a healthy pregnancy.

Dean stepped in, taking the opportunity to make good on his promise to Renee, "Uh, Roman, we need to talk to you about a...situation with Renee's cousin, Olivia."

Roman frowned, "What sort of situation?"

Dean took a deep breath, "Last July Olivia and her husband were in a car that was hit by a drunk driver." He walked to Renee's side and took her hand, more for his own support than hers, and went on, "Mark was killed in the accident, and Olivia was taken to the hospital - where she lost their baby." His voice broke a little as he remembered Olivia in a hospital bed,bruised and broken, tubes everywhere. She had lost so much blood at one point her blood pressure crashed and had required a blood transfusion. He shook his head slightly to clear the disturbing image from his head, "Olivia didn't recuperate well - after Mark, Renee is her next of kin, so when we got the call she'd been in an accident, we flew out and spent the next two weeks helping her with funeral details and I did what I could to get her a good grief counselor that was going to help her…" Dean had not realized how much he was still affected by the aftermath of the accident - a small part of him still harboured guilt over having left Olivia to cope with Mark's death on her own - but he continued. "We didn't know that Olivia was going to completely withdraw, or that her friends would abandon her and leave her to her own devices, or that Mark's parents would blame her for the accident and cut her off from them entirely-" Renee's hand on his chest prevented the lingering resentment towards Mark's parents from boiling over.

Renee continued, "When Olivia stopped returning my calls for a couple of days straight, I flew back to Seattle to make sure she was okay...which she definitely wasn't. She hadn't been to a single therapist appointment, she looked like she hadn't taken care of her basic needs in days...I had to use my emergency key to let myself and found her in bed, unshowered, unresponsive...I phoned Dean and we made arrangements to have Olivia transferred to his facility immediately." Renee closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "I don't want her to know about the pregnancy yet - she has been through too much this year, and I'm not ready to tell her right now." She looked up at Roman and met his eye, "We told Olivia that I have viral meningitis, and that's why I've been sick."

Roman wasn't sure he'd heard Renee correctly. "You what?" He looked at Dean and Renee incredulously - Renee flinched from his increasingly intense gaze and Dean couldn't meet his look to begin with. "I hope you're not expecting me to go along with this charade…" Roman looked from Dean to Renee, and saw the guilt in their faces, "I can understand why you've done it - but damn, I can't think of a hundred other explanations for you to be in the hospital that don't involve me lying by omission to my patient's family…" He and Dean hadn't been super close during their internships, but he knew enough about the guy's character to know that he wouldn't be going along with this insanity if he didn't feel it served a greater good. He'd seen the relationship between Olivia and Dean and Olivia and Renee - he could understand Renee's desire to keep Olivia safe from harm, but it's not like she could hide this from Olivia forever.

He sighed in defeat, "Okay, I won't say anything about the pregnancy, but I am not going to lie to her about having...viral meningitis...jeez," Roman shook his head, "You couldn't have just said food poisoning or stomach flu?" He stood to go, "You've got Charlotte's card - she's expecting your call, so get that taken care of while you're here. I've given her your file, so she might drop by for a visit while you're actually in the hospital. I'll be around this evening for rounds - should I get the nurses to have janitorial clean up the Family Waiting Room or will Olivia be crashing there again this evening?"

Renee's answer was interrupted by the arrival of Olivia and Seth. Olivia knocked quietly on the doorframe and took a tentative step inside the room. Seth stayed in the hallway for now, not wanting to intrude. Olivia had the weird feeling that she was interrupting something, "Everything okay? I brought Seth up with me, but we can go grab a coffee if you're in the middle of something..." She stood awkwardly just inside the doorway. Subconsciously, Seth had moved from the hallway to take up a position immediately behind her for support.

Dean and Renee looked to Roman, who suddenly found himself in the position he didn't want to be in the first place. He decided to keep it simple and as close to the truth as possible, "Not interrupting anything at all, Olivia - I was just coming in on my rounds and wanted to let you guys know that the risk of infection from Renee is very small - almost impossible for her to have passed it along to anyone else, so that's good news." Dean and Renee visibly relaxed, and Dean shot Roman a silent look of thanks as he clapped him on the shoulder. Roman's look in return told Dean that he had definitely incurred a debt here, "Well, I think I'm good here for now - I'll be back for evening rounds. Enjoy your afternoon folks." Roman quickly excused himself, wanting to remove himself from potential questions for which he would have no answers...none that he could give, anyway.

Olivia and Seth also shared a look of relief, and both of them stepped into the room, brandishing the bags Olivia had been sent to get. "Seth Rollins...get over here and give me a hug - how've you been?" Renee held out her arms in greeting to her old friend. Seth's face broke into a huge grin as he deposited Dean's bag by the pullout couch. Suddenly he was back in high school, senior year, and he had never left - it felt good, like coming home. He crossed the floor to Renee and bent over her bedside to give her a solid hug.

"Hey Renee - good to see you again...man, you have not changed at all - can't say the same for your old man here," he looked over at Dean who stepped forward to shake Seth's hand in greeting, then pull him into a hug. Dean and Renee had been Seth's closest friends once upon a time. Life had led them in different directions, and even though they had wound up living 30 minutes away from each other, it had taken fifteen years for them to get back together again.

Olivia was unpacking some of the contents of Renee's suitcase into the bedside table across from the trio of schoolmates, and looked over her shoulder at Seth, Dean, and Renee engaged in animated conversations. Seth was in the middle of recounting one of Dean's wrestling matches when he caught her eye, and gave a quick wink before Dean or Renee could catch him.

Sweet Nancy...Olivia ducked her head to hide her answering grin and accompanying blush. The appeal of Seth as a confidante was undeniable - he was everything she could hope for: good listener, non-judgmental, didn't turn things around to be about him...but she also couldn't deny that once she got past the terrified part of her that went postal at the thought of a relationship, Seth was positively magnetic.

Renee looks over at Olivia and frowned, her brows knit together in concern, "You okay, hon? You look a little flushed."

"Oh really? Well...hmmm" Olivia suddenly found the zipper on the suitcase incredibly fascinating, and hoped her reddened cheeks would fade quickly. Dean and Seth were still catching up and missed the exchange between the cousins. Olivia chuckled, "It's a tiny bit hot in here for me - they always keep these places a few degrees warmer for the older folks. I'll be fine, Ree." She patted Renee's handed comfortingly, "Good to hear you're not contagious - maybe that means you'll be out sooner than you thought? How are you feeling today?" The words just kept coming out of her mouth and Olivia shut it before she sounded like a complete idiot. Fortunately Renee didn't push the issue, "I won't be out before Wednesday at the earliest, I don't think - I guess it will depend on how I'm feeling and what my blood work tells them. I haven't puked since Roman put me on the IV, but I can't have it on all the time…"

Olivia chuckled, "Well once the virus has run its course, you won't need it at all, right?"

Renee realized her slip and inwardly winced, "Well yeah, of course - it just feels weird to be hooked up constantly to something - feels like it's already been a week!" She realized that until she revealed her pregnancy to Olivia, she would have to be very cautious when speaking about what actually was the matter with her. Remembering that Roman had mentioned Dr. Flair would be stopping in to check on her patient, Renee realized she would have to get Olivia to go home and stay away from the hospital as much as possible. "Thank you so much for going all the way home and getting our stuff, Livs…" she bit her lip, hating having to hide the truth from Olivia. "You know I'm not going to be here for much longer, probably, right?" Olivia nodded, not sure where Renee was going with this, "And I know that being here all day is not good for you - I could tell you were a bit freaked out to wake up in a hospital this morning...don't lie to me Olivia, I can read you like a book...you know you don't have to stay here, right?"

Olivia's eyes widened, not expecting Renee to be the one to bring up the topic first, "Are you sure, Renee? I mean, Seth and I talked about coming in for daily visits...you could call beforehand if you needed anything." Her heart was going a million miles an hour in a combination of relief at not having to spend another night in the hospital and the prospect of regular time with Seth becoming a reality.

Renee was admittedly surprised at the easy sell, but inwardly she collapsed in relief. She would be able to get through her week in the hospital, regain her strength, and try to find the words that would break the news to Olivia as gently as she could. She reached up and pulled Olivia into a firm hug, holding on tightly. Olivia was caught a bit off guard, but returned Renee's hug with both arms, "Love you Livs," Renee's muffled voice was loud enough to draw the attention of Seth and Dean who wore looks of wary concern.

"You guys okay?" Dean asked, coming over to Renee and resting a hand on her back. Seth's eyes were on Olivia, when she met his look in return, she nodded and he relaxed a bit.

Olivia stepped away from Renee and around the hospital bed towards Seth, who came around the other side to meet her by the door, "Renee's going to be okay, and there's not much need for Dean and I both to be here - if you're still game, I'll take you up on the taxi service." She looked over to Renee for reassurance, "You will call if you need anything - anything - right?"

Renee held onto Dean's hand, looking at Seth and Olivia standing by the door together, and she blamed her hormones for the momentary flash of the two of them hosting barbecues in their backyard, pushing kidlets of their own on playground swings, and dropping them off at school. She panicked at the tears that sprung up out of nowhere and quickly blinked them away. She closed her eyes and nodded, "You know I will - I will call you tomorrow morning when you get back from your run. Go…go have some fun - Seth go take her for dinner somewhere - get her out of here…" she tried to shoo them out the door from her bed.

Seth looked at Olivia, "You good to go?"

Olivia looked from Renee to Dean to Seth, all three pairs of eyes on her with slightly different looks: Renee's concern, Dean's approval, and Seth's...there she found tenderness and warmth, and thought maybe she was going to make it through the next couple of days alright.

"Yeah," she replied with a contented smile, "Let's go."

Dean and Renee watched the pair leave and Dean tilted his head down to look at his wife, "Should I have given ol' Seth 'The Talk'?"

Renee looked about at Dean, slightly confused, "'The Talk'?"

Dean frowned, "Yeah, you know...the 'hurt her and I'll hunt you down and kill you' one."

Renee shook her head and hugged her husband close to her, "I don't think we're going to have to worry about those two - I've got a good feeling about them."

After a moment, Dean nodded and wrapped both arms around her, holding her tightly, resting his chin on her head after planting a gentle kiss on her crown.

"Me too, Ree...me too."