Roman stared at himself in the mirror as he finished tying his long hair back into a neat ponytail. It had been a month since his and Seth's fathers had been arrested for trying to kill Roman, and today was the day of the hearing. If everything goes according to plan, both men would plead guilty. Hunter would get 30 years and Sika would get three to five. Both Roman and Seth would get the opportunity to address both of their fathers in open court. Roman had written down a few words to say to his father, but he didn't know if he would be able to keep to them. He didn't know what emotions or words may come out when he actually looked at his father and the man that actually shot him.
Roman wheeled out of the bathroom and back into the bedroom to see Seth getting dressed. Roman smiled as he wheeled over to Seth as Seth tried to button up his shirt.
"God, I just bought this shirt two weeks ago and it doesn't fit." Seth complained as he took off the shirt and threw it down. Seth was a little past six months pregnant and his bump was growing everyday. Roman chuckled and reached up to place his hand on Seth's bump and felt Lelei kick him.
"The twins must be getting bigger." Roman said. "That's good if their big. We can take them home in a hurry. Talia had to stay at the hospital for a whole week. She was only three pounds. I was scared she wasn't going to make it." Roman confessed and Seth cupped Roman's face and bent down to kiss him.
"These twins will make it." Seth reassured Roman. "But we won't make it to court in time if I don't find a shirt that fits." Seth said and Roman smiled as Seth stormed into the closet to find himself something that fit.
Roman wheeled out of the bedroom and connected himself to the lift. Once he was downstairs, he joined Talia in the living room. Talia wasn't dressed to go to court. Roman and Seth didn't hide anything for Talia. They told Talia that Sika was responsible for Roman being in the wheelchair and that they were going to confront him today. Talia had decided that she didn't want to go and insisted on Cameron babysitting her. Dolph would be at the hearing with Seth and Roman since he was the prosecuting attorney on the case, so it would leave Cameron and Talia alone to do their own thing.
"Hey baby girl." Roman greeted Talia. Talia smiled and turned to her father.
"Hey daddy." Talia said and went over to Roman and crawled on to his lap. "You're going to see Sika today?" Talia questioned and Roman nodded. "Will he locked up forever?" Talia asked and Roman shook his head.
"No, baby." Roman answered. "Only three to five years." Roman answered and Talia shrugged.
"Will he try to hurt you again after he leaves jail?" Talia questioned and Roman shook his head.
"No, he won't be able to." Roman answered. "He's not allowed to contact me, you, or mommy."
"Or Lelei and Alisi?" Talia questioned and Roman chuckled while he shook his head.
"Or Lelei and Alisi. He can't contact any of our family." Roman explained and Talia nodded.
"I put Lucky in the basement with food and water. She should be okay until we get back." Talia said and Roman nodded and gave Talia a kiss on the cheek.
Roman turned his wheelchair around when he heard Seth coming down the stairs. Roman wheeled over to the stairs and saw Seth standing at the bottom of the stairs.
"You two ready?" Seth asked and Roman and Talia nodded. Seth grabbed the keys to Roman's car and Roman and Talia followed Seth to the car. Once everyone was all buckled up, Seth pulled the car out of the garage and started for Cameron and Dolph's house.
Seth pulled up to Cameron and Dolph's house as Dolph was walking out of the door. Seth parked and jumped out with Talia and walked up to the door.
"Hey." Dolph started. "You ready for today?" Dolph asked and Seth shrugged.
"As ready as we'll ever be." Seth said and Dolph nodded in understanding.
"I'll be there in the room…I'll be there for both of you." Dolph said. "They can't hurt you so it's best to make your peace. Say whatever you want." Dolph advised. Seth nodded and walked away from Dolph and over to the door to Cameron. Talia smiled and went over to Cameron. The two girls hugged and Talia stayed by Cameron's side as Seth and Cameron talked.
"Don't worry about girly here. We'll figure out something to keep us busy." Cameron said and Seth smiled and looked over at Talia.
"Be good for Cameron." Seth said. "We'll come get you as soon as everything is over. I love you." Seth said and bent over to kiss Talia on the forehead.
"Love you too." Talia responded and then watched Seth walk down the path and back to the car.
Seth hopped into the car and put on his seatbelt before looking over at Roman. "Ready?" Seth asked and Roman turned his head to look over at Seth.
"Oh, I'm ready." Roman said. "I'm ready to get this over with."
The courtroom was packed with media from around the Tampa area. The story of a father tying to kill one of the youngest billionaires in the united states made for great news. Seth was shocked at the number of reporters sitting around him. Their camera's weren't allowed in the courtroom, but Seth saw all of the notepads that were out and the badly hidden voice recorders in their pockets. He couldn't believe that all of this was about to be immortalized. This would be written in newspapers, reported on TV…this would live forever.
"This is exactly what he wants." Seth mumbled to himself. Roman looked over at Seth and frowned.
"What?" Roman asked, not because he didn't hear Seth, it was more out of habit.
Seth shook his head and looked over and gave Roman and weak smile. "Nothing…don't worry about it."
Roman and Seth's head's snapped up when they heard the doors to the courtroom open. The prisoners came in shackled up in orange jumpsuits. Roman chuckled and looked back at Seth.
"Orange isn't Sika's color." Roman joked and Seth couldn't hold back the laugh that came out.
"Yeah…looks better on my dad." Seth said. He honestly couldn't believe they were taking this so lightly. Their fathers were about to confess their crimes and be sent to jail and they were making jokes about the orange jumpsuits. They say laughter healed wounds and they would need a lot of jokes to heal theirs.
Sika looked around the room and spotted his son and Seth sitting next to him. Sika noticed how big Seth's stomach had gotten since the time he had saw him in hospital. Sika wondered if Seth was pregnant with twins or more. Seth was carrying his grandchild…grandchildren and he'd never get to meet them, never get to hold them. At times like this Sika really wondered if it was all worth it.
Hunter followed Sika's line of sight until his own eyes were his own son. Seth had really grown up. He wasn't the young boy that used to warm his bed after his wife died. He knew it was wrong to have sexual fantasies about your own child, but he had them ever since Seth was little. Seth's mother, Stephanie, knew about Hunter's fantasies and in order to keep Seth safe Stephanie went along with all of Hunter's fantasies. Once she died, there was nothing holding Hunter back from taking what he wanted and Seth was what he wanted. "Hey Seth!" Hunter called out and Seth's head snapped up to look at his father. "Looking good…if I had my way, you would have been pregnant all the time."
"Shut up!" A guard grunted and pushed Hunter forward until he was at the defense table. The guard made him and Sika take a seat and wait for the judge to arrive.
Seth sighed and looked away from his father and down at the ground. He couldn't believe that all of these years, his father still harbored sexual feelings for him. He thought it was just triggered by his mother's death and that the feelings would pass, but the feelings never did. Seth looked over at Roman when he felt Roman's strong arm wrap around his shoulders and pull him into his embrace. Seth sighed and leaned into the embrace as they waited for everything to start.
Dolph entered the courtroom and went to the prosecution's table and sat there. Since they both would be pleading guilty to their crimes, Dolph really wouldn't have to do much. It would be one of the easiest cases he would be apart of.
"All rise!" The bailiff yelled and everyone stood up. "The honorable Judge Lilian Garcia presiding." The bailiff finished and Judge Garcia entered the room and sat down in her seat. Everyone else in the room sat down in their seats once she was seated.
"The State of Florida versus Sika Reigns." Judge Garcia said as he opened the file and looked through it. "In the case of Florida versus Sika Reigns on one count of solicitation of murder, how to do you plea?" Judge Garcia asked and Sika slowly stood up to answer the question.
"Guilty, your honor." Sika answered in a low, monotone voice.
"In accordance with your plea agreement, you are hereby sentenced to five years in prison with the possibility of parole in three years. After you are released from prison, you will immediately leave the state of Florida and go to American Samoa where you will live out the rest of your days. You are not allowed to contact Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Talia Reigns, or any of the future children of Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, or Talia Reigns. If you are found to be in contact with Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Talia Reigns, or the future children of the three mentions prior, you will be placed back in prison for the normal sentence that goes with solicitation of murder…which is twenty years. Do you understand?"
"Yes, your honor." Sika answered.
"Sit." Judge Garcia said and Sika sat down. "State of Florida versus Hunter Helmsley." Garcia moved on. "In the case of Florida versus Hunter Helmsley on one count of attempted murder, how do you plea?" Judge Garcia asked.
Hunter stood up quickly and wore a smug look on his face. "Guilty." Hunter said in a loud, confident voice. It was almost as if going to jail for thirty years didn't phase him.
"In accordance with your plea agreement." Judge Garcia started. "You are hereby sentenced to thirty years in prison with no possibility of parole. You will serve everyday of thirty years. If you manage to survive thirty years and live prison alive, you are not to contact Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Talia Reigns, or the future children of the three mentioned prior. If you do, you will be placed back in jail. Do you understand?" Judge Garcia asked and Hunter nodded.
"Yes, your honor, I understand." Hunter said and then sat down before Garcia could tell him to sit.
"Normally…" Lilian started. "I would say some words about your crime and ramble on about how happy I am that the both of you are going to jail…but I think it would do justice if you heard those words from the people that you were suppose to protect and love." Lilian finished and then looked at Dolph and nodded. Dolph stood up and went over to the small gate and opened it for Roman and Seth. Roman looked over at Seth and nodded before wheeling through the gate and Dolph showing him to the designated spot. Seth stood up and followed Roman over to the spot and stood behind Roman and placed his hands on Roman's shoulders.
Roman reached into the left inside suit pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. It had the words that he wanted to say to his father, but when he looked down at the paper and saw those words he realized those weren't the words he really wanted to say. Roman crushed the paper and balled it up in his hand before looking over at his father.
"You know." Roman started. "You were my hero when I was growing up. You had a really successful company, the big house, the nice car, mom loved you, everyone respected you, you had amazing friends. I wanted to be just like you." Roman explained. "That's why I studied so hard, that's why I studied business in college. I wanted to successful business, the nice house, the fancy cars, the good friends, the respect, and the loving wife…only, I was never interested in girls. I never wanted the loving wife…I wanted the loving husband. And when I told you this…I thought I would find acceptance because up until that point you…"Roman said and pointed at Sika. "You were my best friend. You were my father…I just knew you'd understand. Instead, you belittled me and arranged me to be married. You tried to change me, make me straight, and you failed." Roman chuckled.
"For the first time in your life, you failed…this was never really about me being gay. You don't hate me because I'm gay…you hate me because I'm the reason you failed at something. You failed to turn me straight, you failed to take Talia away from me. You had to get rid of me so you could stop failing…but even you failed to do that." Roman said and then looked his father in the eyes. "But dad, you're not a failure. You never were. If you would have realized that, then you could have stopped this. We could have been the happy family we once were…me, you, mom, Seth, Talia, and the twin girls." Roman said and reached back to touch Seth's bump over his shoulder. "We're naming them Lelei and Alisi." Roman told Sika and something in Sika's resolve broke. Sika begin to cry. Tears rolled down his face as he thought about all that he would miss out on. He would never get to watch Talia, Lelei, and Alisi grow up. He would never meet any of his future grandchildren. He lost his son and while his wife would be living with him in Samoa, their relationship would never go back to the way it was. He lost all of it, and for what? To protect his over inflated ego.
"By taking this plea deal." Roman started. He noticed the tears on Sika's face but he didn't care. Roman had been hurt for years. It was Sika's turn to cry. "You've proven to me that you're less than half the man that I thought you were. You should have rotted away in prison, but then again living in Samoa won't be such a prize. They'll know what you've done and you'll be an outcast there. It'll be like living in your own personal hell. That's exactly what you deserve…since you've made my life hell for the past ten years and now…I'm finally free of you." Roman finished and watched as his father silently wept. He couldn't find it in his heart to feel sorry for him.
Seth sighed and looked across the room at his own father. "I thought…" Seth started. "I thought you could do absolutely nothing worst to me, I thought that after all the abuse, the rape, the miscarriage…in my mind, there was nothing else you could do to hurt me…until this." Seth explained. "I don't even understand why…Sika had a motive, a shitty motive, but he had one. You…why? We're you jealous? You thought I was your property. If you couldn't have me, then no one could." Seth tried to reason. "But you can't have me mentally or physically. I'm done with you…I'm free too." Seth finished and anger bubbled up inside of him.
"You'll never be free of me!" Hunter yelled and hit the table. Hunter jumped up and all the guards ran over to him. "You hear me, you'll never get rid of me. My blood runs through you!" Hunter yelled and continued to rant as Seth went to stand by Roman. Roman reached up and took Seth's hand and smiled up at Seth. Seth smiled back and the two left the courtroom together, finally free of their demons. They could finally start off on that clean slate they had craved for so long.
"Do you feel as relieved as I do?" Seth questioned as he drove toward Cameron and Dolph's house. "Like-"
"Like a weight has been lifted from your shoulders?" Roman questioned and Seth nodded.
"Yeah." Seth said. "I've never felt this relieved…this free."
"Me neither." Roman said and looked over at Seth and placed his hand on Seth's thigh. "That's because the things that were holding us back are finally gone…and they're gone for good." Roman explained and Seth smiled.
"You know." Seth started. "I'm six months pregnant and we haven't gotten anything for the twins. We need to go shopping Roman. My due date is going to be here soon."
"We have four months." Roman said.
"Four months will fly by." Seth explained. "We should go to a couple of stores once we get Talia."
"Yeah, Talia will be excited to shop for the twins." Roman said as Seth pulled into the driveway of Cameron and Dolph's house. "How did Dolph get here before we did?" Roman asked.
"Well…we did get stopped by some people on the way out." Seth reasoned. "Dolph probably slipped out after they got Hunter and Sika out of the courtroom." Seth said as he parked the car. Seth got out and got Roman's wheelchair and pulled it around to the passenger's seat. Roman slid out of the seat and into the wheelchair and wheeled up the path along with Seth. Once they were at the front door, Seth knocked a couple of times and Dolph came to the door.
"Hey." Dolph greeted them. "You two did great in court today…come in, Cameron and Talia are in here playing or something." Dolph said and stepped out of the way so Roman and Seth could enter the house. "This way." Dolph said and led them through the house and into the kitchen. Dolph entered first and was followed by Seth and Roman.
"Surprise!" Their friends yelled and Seth and Roman stood there in momentary shock. Seth looked over at the table and saw a beautiful three layered circle cake in the center. It was pink and white and had sugar pearls all around it. The cake topper was of two pairs of pink and white baby booties. The second layer of the cake had the words 'It's Twin Girls' written on it and the bottom layer had their names 'Lelei & Alisi' written on it. Seth turned to Talia and smiled at her.
"You planned this?" Seth questioned. Only Seth, Roman, and Talia knew what the twin's names were so he knew that she was in on this somehow.
"I help." Talia answered and Roman chuckled and wheeled over to Talia and picked her up and sat her on his lap.
"Come on Seth, sit." Dolph said and made Seth sit down next to Roman and Talia. "I'll get you something to eat."
"While he's doing that." Dean said and held out the perfectly wrapped box in front of Seth. "Open my present first."
Seth took the present and looked over at Roman. Roman shrugged. "Don't look at me…I wasn't in on this." Roman answered. "Besides, you wanted baby stuff…now we have some."
"How are we going to get all of that stuff in?" Seth asked as they walked into their home. Roman shrugged as he held onto the sleeping Talia in his lap.
"We'll get tomorrow." Roman said. "We all need rest, come on." Roman hooked himself to the lift and Seth walked along side of him. Once they were upstairs, Roman went and put Talia to bed. When he got back to the bedroom, Seth was already in his night clothes and laying in the bed. Roman quickly stripped down to his boxers and joined Seth in the bed. Roman laid on his back and Seth rolled over and laid his head on Roman's chest and wrapped his arms around Roman's waist.
"Our friends are amazing." Roman commented and Seth nodded.
"You really do have it all." Seth said and Roman looked down at Seth and frowned. Seth smirked and looked up at Roman.
"The big house, the nice car, the respect, the amazing friends…" Seth trailed off, repeating the words that Roman said in court.
Roman smirked. "The loving wife." Roman said and chuckled as he looked at Seth.
"Hey!" Seth playfully admonished Roman and hit his leg.
"Ow!" Roman yelled. "You didn't have to hit me that hard." Roman said.
Seth immediately sat up when Roman yelled out in pain. "Ow?" Seth questioned and hit Roman again on his leg.
"Hey, what are you-." Roman started and reached toward the spot Seth was hitting.
"You can feel that?" Seth questioned and Roman nodded. "Oh my God, you can feel that."
Roman sat up and felt on his thigh and then looked over at Seth with a smile on his face. "Yeah, I can feel that."
Seth smiled and pulled Roman in for a searing kiss. "So…this is what freedom feels like."
A/N: So there will probably only be about 2-3 more chapters of this story and updates will come at a slower pace because I just came back to University and I already have a bunch of work to do (I hate Group Projects lol)
Thanks 4 Reading
YoominC16