Chapter Twenty-One

Dean leans down to tie his boots as he listens to the last minute changes to their segment. He looks over at Joey when he doesn't hear anything about Emma. "What about Emma?" he asks.

Joey laughs softly. "She'll be out there with you," he answers. "Were you not listening? She walks out with you and then after you two take care of 3MB, she'll start the talking."

Dean frowns. Had Joey really said all of that before? He lets out a heavy sigh. "Right, okay." He rubs the back of his neck. It shouldn't surprise him that he missed the conversation. He's been too busy thinking about Emma.

"You okay?" Roman asks after Joey walks out.

"Yeah," Dean answers. He shrugs. "Did he really talk about Emma?"

Roman nods. "Yes. What's with you? You and Emma okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine. Just thinking." He sighs. "It's been a good week. Never imagined I would like spending an entire week with a woman." He snorts. "There's just something about her."

"So I've noticed. Come on, we need to head up."

Dean nods as he stands up and follows Roman out of the locker room. "By the way, you owe me ten bucks."

"What? No."

"Yep." Dean smirks.

"Wow, I didn't think you had it in you."

"Yeah, well, you would have been right."

"What happened? What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything. We just didn't have anything. And then her roommate was home and it was a bit weird to think about that then."

Roman nods. "Who's her roommate?"

"She has two actually. Paige, but she obviously wasn't there."

"Obviously, jackass." Roman rolls his eyes. "The one that was there."

"Bayley." Dean grins when he sees the look on Roman's face change. "And you ass holes thought I had it bad."

"Fuck you."

As they're approaching the door to head out to the upper level, Dean sees Emma standing there. He can't help but smile a little as they stop by her. "Hey."

"Hey," Emma says. She hits his stomach gently. "Bayley called me."

"Bayley, huh?" Dean looks at Roman and chuckles. "What'd she want?"

"You left a pair of jeans there."

"That's where they went. I was looking through my bag for them and couldn't find them."

"Now you know why." She looks at Roman. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm good," Roman answers. "Had a lot of help in the healing process from a gorgeous little five year old."

Emma smiles at him. "You had your daughter?"

He nods. "Got her on Wednesday and dropped her off yesterday. Also had breakfast with them this morning before I came out here."

"That's great."

"So Amber wasn't a bitch this week?" Dean asks. He nods at the security guard standing at the door leading out to the arena.

"Amber and I sat down and had a really good talk. We both agreed that we need to focus on Liliana and not each other."

"Good."

Emma leans against the wall as she watches Dean and Roman go through their usual routines when they reach the doors leading into the arena. She has to wonder what they did when they weren't part of a team. Maybe she'll ask Dean about that. They get the signal that it's almost their time. Dean pours some water over his head before finishing off the bottle. He tosses it over to the fans before walking over to the door.

"Between us," he says looking at Emma.

Emma nods. "Okay." She hears the echo of the Shield's entrance and the doors are opened. She follows Dean through the door and starts down the stairs toward the ring.

Once over the barricade, she moves over to stand on the steel steps and watches as Dean and Roman climb into the ring. It doesn't take long for them to have the members of 3MB on the ground. Emma gestures for a microphone as she walks up the steps to the ring apron. She climbs into the ring as Roman climbs in from the other side. She watches as Dean and Roman bump fists. She moves into the center of the ring and looks around.

"As I left last week I didn't know what I was going to do. I wasn't sure how I was going to deal with what Paige and Seth had done. But I have had a long week to think about it." She glances at the other two who are pacing the ring. "And it's really simple. Paige, after everything we have been through you do that? And for what? You already have the Diva's title. I don't know what else you could want. But that's okay. You should've finished the job last week, because I'm coming for you and your title." She turns and hands Dean the microphone. She walks over and leans against the turnbuckles as she watches Dean still trying to calm himself down. The man is amazing at this.

"The Shield was untouchable," Dean starts. "And we will go down in the history books as one of the greatest groups in sports entertainment, ever. We dominated WWE, we beat everybody." He smirks. "Even Evolution." He taps his finger on the microphone. "But we weren't healthy. We had a cancer inside of us, little did we know. And that cancer's name… that cancer's name was Seth Rollins. History is full of people like you, Seth. Everybody in the building knows someone like you, Seth. The kinda guy that would stab his brothers in the back. Suck up. Sell-out to the Authority. Now when I get the opportunity to rearrange your face, which I will, your nose isn't going to be here anymore, it's going to be here, by your ear. I say ear because you're only going to have one left. I'm gonna rip your dirty, stinkin' hair out by the roots and I'm gonna stuff it in your mouth. There's gonna be plenty of room where your teeth used to be."

Emma can't help but continue to be amazed by this man. She's going to have to get pointers from him, because he's certainly one of the best.

"Seth Rollins!" He beats on his chest. "My brutha! You are scum and we are looking forward to what that scum has to say tonight. We want you to stand out here in front of the whole world and lie through your teeth. We want you to stand out here in the middle of the ring, in front of the whole world, and we want them to hear Triple H's words comin' out of your mouth. We're going to listen to every word of it and then we're gonna beat the hell out of you." He slams the microphone out of his hand and onto the mat.

Emma grins when the crowd erupts at that. She nods when Dean glances over at her. Dean picks the microphone up again and hands it to Roman, apologizing. Roman smirks and pats him on the back before turning serious once again.

"Seth, you've committed the most unforgivable sin," Roman says. He breathes heavily, laced with growls. "You're the scum of the earth. There's things you don't do in life. You don't tug on Superman's cape, you don't piss in the wind, and you don't stab your brothers in the back. But you're only part of the problem. The other parts are Randy Orton and Triple H. Randy Orton, he runs around here and thinks everybody owes him something. He thinks he's the face of this company. When I get my hands on you, Randy, you're gonna be the ass of this company. And when I'm done with you, I'm comin' for you, Triple H. The king of kings. We're gonna have our own game of thrones. Believe that." He tosses the microphone behind him.

Emma pushes herself away from the turnbuckles and walks around the ring as Dean and Roman continue around as well. They bump fists again before looking over at Emma. She nods at them, letting them know that she's here with them. They all slide out of the ring and make their way to the back. Once they make it to the back, Emma looks at Dean.

"You need to give me pointers," she says.

Dean frowns as he looks at her. "Pointers for what?" he asks.

"Promos like that." She points out toward the ring. "You are amazing."

He snorts. "Nothing special, Short Stack."

"You are though. So you give me pointers."

He nods. "Fine. But then you have to come with me."

"Where are we going?"

Dean takes her hand and pulls her down the hall. "Don't worry about it." He turns down a hallway and opens a door. He flips the light on as he pulls Emma into the small room.

"Dean, we are in a closet."

"I know." He turns and pushes Emma against the closed door. He smiles down at her when she shrieks a little. "Come here." He leans down and kisses her softly. "So you want some pointers on promos, huh?"

"Yes." She rests her hands on his chest. "You do it with such ease. I was watching you out there. If I didn't know what was going on with this, I would think that you really do want to kill Seth. How do you do it?"

"The first thing you have to remember is that no matter how close you are with the person you are talking to or about is that you are not the Emma Dashwood you are back here. Out there you are Emma, the WWE Diva." He watches her closely. "Out there you have to be Emma, the WWE Diva and not Emma Dashwood."

She nods. "How are you able to separate the two? How are you this Dean back here, but lunatic Dean out there?"

"I don't know." He shrugs. "I've been doing it for so long I don't even know anymore. I think what you have to do is before going out there just zone out and forget everything back here. That's where you really need to start."

"Okay."

"Good, now enough talking."

Emma giggles when Dean kisses her once again. She slides her arms around his neck as he deepens the kiss.