Lorenzo had made the decision that he was not leaving, until he was sure Lauren was doing better; he was feeling really glad now that he and his security people had made Bray Wyatt suffer a long, agonizing death. It still didn't bring Lauren out of her nightmare; he couldn't even imagine he knew that period of time; she had told him all the stories. To be convinced in your head that you were stuck back in that hell; it made Lorenzo furious. He was brought out of his own thoughts when the bedroom door opened and a worn out Dean came out.
"How is she doing?" Seth asked his friend; Lorenzo and Roman paying attention to Dean's report as well.
Dean sat down on the couch, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees; he ran his hands through his hair. "The sedative the doctor gave her finally kicked in; she is sleeping right now, but it kills me! She's been through this hell once already; now she has to live through it a second time because of that psycho, blond bitch and that freak who thinks he's some kind of demon or Satan? How is that fair?" Dean looked over at Lorenzo, "Please tell me Bray felt as much pain and fear as Lauren is experiencing right now."
"It would be accurate to say that he experienced all of those things and more. He won't be found anytime soon; and once he is discovered, it will take several weeks to identify him. You won't be having anymore issues with Ms. Young either; she got the one and only warning that I'm going to afford her." He answered. "If it is alright with you; I would very much like to stick around until Lauren is in a more stable position. I can help by making sure her business doesn't go under while she is recovering. I have no doubt she is financially stable enough to be fine if it did; but I also knows she cares about the women who work for her, they wouldn't be as fortunate."
Dean nodded in agreement, "Thank you; I know she would appreciate it and I have no problem with you sticking close by, you're probably the only other person besides me who has respected, loved and cared for her the way she deserved. I may need the help anyway." He reached his hand out to shake Lorenzo's. The two men shook. Food was delivered a little later; they were in the middle of eating when they heard whimpering from the other room. Dean headed quickly into his bedroom; once inside he saw Lauren huddled near the headboard of the bed, she was attempting to take the IV out. "Lauren what's going on?" He asked as he approached the bed, not wanting to scare her.
"J-Jon?" Lauren blinked a few times, as if she were trying to focus her eyes. Dean came over and sat down next to her on the bed.
"Yeah baby; it's me. Everything is ok, you're safe. You need to leave that IV in; the doctor thinks you're dehydrated." He watched as she shook her head wildly.
"No...Anton is trying to drug me again, so I'll behave; just like he did after you left! You have to help me take it out; I don't want to be on that stuff again!" She almost whispered it.
"Baby; Anton is dead, he can't hurt you anymore. It's just saline in the bag there, to help you re-hydrate; I promise there are no drugs in there." He said as he put a protective arm around her. The information that Anton had gotten her hooked on some kind of drug so that she would be compliant; was news to him, though he wasn't completely surprised. It just made him even sorrier he hadn't pushed her harder to leave with him.
Lauren put her hands on each side of her head, clearly feeling frustrated. "Yes, Anton is dead; drug dealers killed him, Years and years ago. Everything is all jumbled; what's real and what isn't? What is wrong with me? Am I in a hospital?" Lauren was just seeing pieces of things, parts of memories; none of it made any sense. She did remember Jon; her Jon, she had missed him so much after he left. She hugged him as much as she could, keeping in mind the IV in her hand.
Dean hugged her back, "So you remember Anton being killed now?" He asked her. Lauren nodded her head against his shoulder. "The doctor said you were having an episode of PTSD; but that things would start coming back to you. There is someone who was a big help finding you; I'm not sure if you'll remember him right now or not, but I'm sure he'd like to see you if you're up to it." Dean said.
"I think I am; will you be close by?" Lauren looked wary at him.
"I'll just be out in the living room right outside the door; if you get scared just yell for me, I'll be right back here in seconds." Dean smiled at her and gave her a quick kiss. "You're not going to be able to get rid of me anymore; so don't worry." Dean went out to the living room.
"Is Lauren ok?" Lorenzo asked Dean. Dean gave the first small smile anyone had seen since the whole ordeal had started.
"She was scared when I first went in; but she remembers now that Anton is dead, that seems to have calmed her down a bit. I don't know if she will remember who you are; but I told her that someone wanted to see her, she said it was ok. If you want to go in and talk to her; it could remind her of a few things." Dean smiled again at him. Lorenzo patted him on the shoulder and headed into the bedroom.
"Lauren." Lorenzo smiled at her. "May I sit next to you?" When Lauren gave him permission he sat on the side of the bed. "I'm not sure if you remember me right now; I'm Lorenzo." He said calmly, he could have sworn he saw a spark of recognition in her eyes.
Lauren smiled, "We were married? I remember a wedding anyway." She said as she studied his face.
"Yes, that's right; we were married. I'm your ex-husband." Lorenzo smiled glad that she at least remembered that part.
"The escort service; you were one of my customers! You kept paying way more than you should have, but you kept telling me I was worth much more." Lauren laughed and again, hugged him as much as she could with the IV in. "We are still friends though, I remember that to. You helped Jon find me?" She asked.
"Yes, he called me when you went missing; apparently you told him that you knew that if you ever needed anything I would help you. So he put that to the test and called me. I'm glad he did for a few reasons. I didn't realize that he was the man you talked about from your childhood. He really loves you; I'm pretty sure he would have burnt the entire city down just to find you. I'm also glad you knew I am always around if you need anything." He leaned in and whispered, "I think you'll always have half my heart." He chuckled, making her chuckle to. "Speaking of helping; I already told Dean, sorry I mean Jon that I would take care of the service until you were ready to come back. If that's alright with you." He could tell she was frustrated again; he had seen the same expression on her face when she first took over the service.
"The service?" She asked, sounding unsure.
"It's ok, Lauren. The doctor said all the memories would fall back into place for you. Don't get frustrated, just take a deep breath." Lorenzo said calmly; watching her take the deep breath. "Elaine gave you the escort service; you've been running it now for 6 years. You've done an amazing job of it, I should add. While you focus on getting better; I can supervise things." Lorenzo smiled.
"Yes, that sounds alright. I can't believe I run an escort service. OH! Jon doesn't know that does he?" She asked fearing what he might think of her if he did know.
"He knows, and apparently he is perfectly fine with it. Lauren; Dean was with you when you were prostituting out on the street. He loves you very much; that is obvious. I'm not sure if you know this, if he has admitted this to you or not; but he feels extremely guilty for not trying harder to get you to leave that place with him." Lorenzo said to her, holding her hand.
"He shouldn't feel guilty; he asked me to go with him, but I was too scared of Anton to leave." I explained to Lorenzo.
"I know Lauren, Hun. It just goes to prove that he cares about you; it must have been a big relief for him to find out you were running the escort service and not still out on the streets, where it's dangerous. Not to change the subject completely; are you hungry, we can get you something from room service or bring food in for you. Whatever you want." He smiled at her.
"I guess I am a little hungry; maybe just a small bowl of soup, Chicken Noodle or something like that?" In truth; she was starving, she hadn't told any of them that during the time she was being held, Bray hadn't given her anything to eat. Lorenzo kissed the back of her hand and left the bedroom to start working on the chicken noodle soup. He looked at Dean.
"She's hungry, so I told her I would start working on getting her some food. She says she'd try to eat some chicken noodle soup." Lorenzo explained to Dean. Dean smiled.
"I know exactly what we should get for her! Ro' could you make a run to either a grocery store or a gas station?" Dean asked his brother.
"Umm…Sure I could do that; what exactly is it you want me to look for while I'm there?" Roman looked at Dean like he was crazy.
"I need a few chicken flavored 'Ramen Cup O' Soups'" Dean instructed; until he realized every person in the room was staring at him. "Alright; sit down and get comfortable and I'll tell you all the significance of it. My mother told me she had a surprise for me on my 16th birthday. I didn't actually believe she had anything I wanted. I was looking for some food; my mother had started trading our food stamps for heroin; so we didn't have a lot of food around. My mother got home and started screaming for me; when I got to the living room, my Mom was standing there with a girl, she seemed to be at least a year or two younger than me. My birthday present was the young girl. I had two hours with her to do whatever I wanted to. She was scared, sad, starving and looked like she hadn't had a showered in a few days. I found a package of chicken Ramen and we split it. After we ate, she and I both had our first time together; that was the night I met Lauren. After that we spent as much time as we could both steal together. She managed to find a way to sneak out of the hell hole that Anton kept his girls in and would come to the building where I lived. A few floors above where my mother and I had our apartment was an empty apartment; the lock had been broken so I was able to open it right up. Lauren and I would spend time there; it was our own private getaway." He smiled.
"Wow. Your mother gave you Lauren for your 16th birthday? I know you said your mother was a nasty piece of work, but damn brotha! It explains the vibes I picked up when you first introduced her to us. I knew you two were closer than you could say." Roman said looking at his friend. "Come on Seth; let's go find Lauren some 'Ramen Cup O'Soups". He gave Dean a fist bump and headed out the hotel room door with his other best friend.
Dean looked over at Lorenzo, "So I have to ask you; how big is Lauren's service any ways?" He moved to sit down across from the dark-haired man who had been lucky enough to have done what Dean had always thought about doing; marrying Lauren.
"Let's put it this way, when Elaine was running the service it did business all over the US. Mostly with business men who were travelling to New York City; they would join the service and always have an attractive woman who would be discreet and spend time with them. Once Lauren took over the service; she went international. She has a good head for business on her shoulders. The fact that she does so much background stuff on the men and woman who join the service ensure that her girls are safe and that her clients are also safe." Lorenzo laughed when Dean's eyebrow went up at the news women were clients to. "There are some women who love other women, Lauren doesn't discriminate. There are also the women who just want a safe way to try out new things; an escort is perfect for that. An escort isn't going to make any judgements." Lorenzo smiled.
"I guess I never thought about that; then again, I didn't expect to be sitting here talking to Lauren's ex-husband. Hell; I didn't expect to see Lauren again." Dean ran his hands down over his face.
"Dean; we haven't spent very much time together, so please don't take this the wrong way. You need to let it go. Lauren is a remarkable woman, she always has been I would imagine. Things would have been different if Lauren had left with you; but the two of you wouldn't have been the people you are now. If you want to have a life with Lauren now; the past needs to stay in the past. We both know Lauren; do you think that she will be happy if she knows you are carrying this guilt around with you? I know she wouldn't, I suspect so do you. What you need to focus on is the fact that this is a second chance for both of you. Don't look back; look forward." Lorenzo looked at the man sitting across from him. Dean nodded, knowing the other man was right. Their conversation was interrupted once Seth and Roman returned with the items they had been sent to find. Dean grabbed one of the Ramen and got to work making it. Once it was done, he grabbed a spoon and softly knocked on the door to the bedroom.
"Come in," Lauren responded. She smiled once she saw it was Dean; her forehead crinkled once the smell wafted into the room. She chuckled, "Is that what I think it is?"
"Lorenzo said you thought you could eat something, I thought that maybe something familiar might make you feel better." Dean grinned as he handed her the cup and the spoon, carefully sitting down on the bed next to her.
"Always taking care of me," Lauren smiled. "You did you know; take care of me that is. I made the decision to stay." Before Lauren could finish, Dean placed his hand on her cheek.
"You know what? Let's not focus on that time; let's talk about now. You've been through a lot; Lorenzo said he would take care of the service until you felt better, travel with me for a while. Come out on the road with me. We can do 'couple' things like go on dates and long walks on the beach. I'll do things like forget your birthday and anniversaries." Dean smirked as Lauren laughed.
"Are you asking me to be your girlfriend?" She smirked back at him.
"Well, I thought it was about time that our relationship had an official title involved. However, you're an independent woman; so I am asking you if I could be your boyfriend." Dean put his arm around Lauren's shoulders and gave a gentle squeeze.
"Oh, well in that case; yes. You can be my boyfriend, but you better not forget my birthday; I certainly won't forget yours!" Lauren smiled at him.
"You have a deal! Now, eat something." Dean kissed her forehead and got comfortable.