When I first had the idea for this story, this chapter was literally the whole idea I had, I just saw this scene in my head and knew I had to craft a story around it, not sure why you needed to know that but...well, there you go! #randomtrivia
xXBalorBabeXx, I am so pleased I put Trish in there, I could just see her as a kick ass judge! She plays a role in this chapter too, so hopefully she'll give you the outcome you want!
Stingerette1975, Okay, maybe I'm not totally mean after all, but don't think that means I'm going to be taking it easy on poor old Dean! At least I let him unload a bit though!
Keyverley Ray, Hi *waves* It felt good for Dean to shout at his dad in the moment, but he regrets it in this chapter too (you'll see why). He's definitely winning Papa Reigns round though!
Minnie1015, Dean can practically taste his emancipation at this point! And thank you for the pep talk and all your lovely reviews and messages on all of my crazy stories and series!
LHisawesome4ever, It would be a good plot twist if I sent him back. Who says I don't? Either way, there's a lot more in store for our poor old Dean yet. This chapter is not the last of his old man!
SkittlezLvr79, Well, hopefully this chapter kind of takes you by surprise. I mean, I think the overall outcome is obvious but with any luck the means isn't what you're expecting!
Mandy, Awww, thank you lovely, I'm usually okay but occasionally have these meltdown moments. I'm happy to still be keeping you entertained all these stories later! Go Trish Stratus!
Raze Olympus, No! Don't riot...maybe you won't have to, you'll just have to read and find out. But I think we all know there's going to be more drama before the end. It is me writing this after all!
AngelsDestiny22, Yep, poor little Dean has been bottling it up for too long now and was going to have to blow up at some point. Hope this chapter loves up to expectations. I'm too mean to him!
Skovko, Well, I was debating having Vickie Guerrero but went with Trish in the end because I thought she would be a slightly softer presence! Plus I couldn't fit in the famous ''excuse me!'
Ohana1337, Okay, so I know you're not going to see this for a ton more chapters yet since you just started but just wanted to give you a big welcome back! Hope this story is still delivering!
June3law, Oh yeah, Dean's dad is going all out in this one, he doesn't want some nice rich family giving his son a good life! But you're right, Dean has a new family now and it's so much better!
Here we go then, the outcome!
Twenty Five.
Nobody really says anything to Dean at first, which is fine because he wouldn't know what to say back. So instead they stand in the hall outside the courtroom and look around silently waiting for someone to break the hush.
Surprisingly that someone turns out to be Titus but he doesn't get far before Dean heads him off,
"Listen – ,"
"I know, I know, I screwed up alright? I blew the whole thing because I couldn't keep it shut."
There are bitter tears beginning to sting at his eyeballs and he scrubs them away furiously as he lowers his head. His chest heaves in and then out in quick succession and he is in very real danger of falling apart. Roman puts his hand out to draw him in closer but Dean shrugs him off because he doesn't deserve that.
Frankly he doesn't really deserve anything because the truth of the matter is that he messed it all up. He had his potential freedom in his fingertips and then threw it all away in a single crazy burst.
"Idiot."
In anger he strikes his fist against his forehead and chokes out a sob, then does it again. This time when Roman grabs hold of him however, Dean lets him do it and doesn't back up, instead folding in against his adopted older brother and crying silent tears,
"Don't, you'll hurt yourself, alright?"
"Deserve it," Dean murmurs, his voice thick and croaky, "I – I ruined it, they'll make me go back."
"Hey," Roman grunts, trying to lever him back at bit and get a look at his face, "It's not over yet uce."
"Might as well be."
Roman's mother reaches out to him and smooths his hair sadly but it's Titus who replies,
"Well, come on now, we've still got our evidence and your father didn't act any better in there. Judge Stratus told him off two times and there's more to her decision than just shouting in court."
"So – ," Dean sniffs, cuffing another tear off and a measure of hope lifting, "I still got a shot?"
Titus nods,
"If you keep it together, you think you can do that?"
Dean inhales a breath,
"Yeah."
"You sure?"
"I – I just lost my temper because the last time I saw him he – he pretty much said I should die."
Roman's mother hadn't been told that bit after the confrontation and so she lets out a startled gasp. Titus meanwhile nods his understanding but keeps his face firm,
"I know, so do the courts, so trust they are going to do the right thing for you and simmer down."
Dean swallows.
"I will – like – scout's honor an' everythin'."
Titus lifts a brow,
"Are you a scout?"
Dean snorts in disgruntlement as if the idea is anathema to his street credentials,
"No."
In response the lofty lawyer rolls his eyes somewhat but the answer is more Dean-like and it makes them all smile, even Roman's father whose expression is more impassive but flickers sort of warmly for a second or two.
Kids.
Snorting at the teenager and shaking his head a little, Papa Reigns turns Dean and gently shoos him off, ushering him in the direction of the bathrooms with waving hand motions,
"Go and get yourself washed up, there's only five minutes before they want us back in there and I'll be damned if he sees you walk in with a red-face. When you go past him you're going to do it with your head up and fire in your belly, do you hear me?"
"Yes sir," Dean's replying nod is emphatic and he means every word of it, "Won't let 'cha down."
"I'm sure you won't, now go on, time's wasting."
Roman unravels the embrace Dean is tucked in and then moves as if to flank him, but the teenager makes him stop, suddenly buoyed by Papa Reigns' pep talk and feeling much more confident.
"S' okay, I'll be fine."
"You sure about that uce?"
Roman seems doubtful and so Dean paints on a smile,
"Uh huh, be back in a blink."
Dean's father had stormed off the moment the doors were opened, chasing through the gallery and down the hall to lick his wounds. Dean sort of imagines that he's outside somewhere smoking or chugging on a hipflask or swallowing something down. Either way, he isn't around them and similarly knowing it, Roman raises his hands.
"Okay, sure, but come right back you hear me?"
Roman's mother catches his sleeve and smiles fondly,
"He's not a child."
Roman grumbles in return but says nothing and Dean motions teasingly in a silent cross my heart. The bigger man snorts but then shoos him off like his father and Dean turns and scuttles away down the hall. The bathrooms are directly around the next corner and so he can still hear them talking as he pushes through the doors. There's a cubicle taken but the others are empty and so Dean leans against the sinks and draws in a deep breath.
The overhead lighting isn't terribly flattering and shows up the bruises still lingering on. For the most part they have faded completely but from some angles the yellowness hasn't totally gone. Worse than that, his cheeks are all blotchy which highlights the discoloration even more and his blue eyes are watery and raw from all the scrubbing and he blinks at himself.
What a mess he's become.
Running the taps he ducks his head below the mixer and splashes cold water up hard into his face. The droplets are icy and make him gasp a little but they also slap life into him and lift up the fog. Behind him the occupied cubicle door opens with a dull sounding creak but he pays it never mind and simply continues to blast away his sadness with icy fresh water.
Take that dad, take that.
When he finally decides that he's done enough dowsing he gropes for the napkins stacked up on the side, clanging his knuckles against the tap and then cursing before a hand holds one out to him,
"Here, lemme' get that."
The tone is deeply gruff and condescending but shot through with a sound like amusement as well. Instantly Dean knows who's doing the speaking and a chill shivers through him.
Oh no and holy shit.
Swiping at his eyes to dispel the drops of water, Dean blinks up in pure horror at his old man, who is standing directly – directly – in front of him and trapping him up between his body and the sinks. The smell of alcohol and staleness is overwhelming but also horribly familiar as well and it sends his body into actual vibrations that shake their way through him.
He has to get out.
Instinctively he lurches to one side to get away from him, hoping against hope to outrun the older man, but Dean's father's reactions have always been speedy and so he grabs the scruff of the kid's jacket and spins him round, walking him backwards and then slamming him bodily – so that air rushes out of him – into the wall behind the door.
"You boy, think you're fuckin' clever don't you?"
Dean stammers back at him, squirming,
"N-no – ,"
"Don't lie to me," Dean's father shakes him roughly, "You think you've got this all sewn up. Bellowin' at me in front of all those people, callin' me a bad parent, remember that you lil' shit?"
Flecks of spittle are raining down across him and there is a spark of pure fury in the older man's eyes. It's exactly the same look he was wearing those weeks earlier when he had knocked the kid almost unconscious and then meticulously tied him up. It's a look that promises pretty extreme suffering but it's even further gone now –
To Dean it promises death.
Twisting again and whimpering slightly only manages to annoy his father more because he bodily lifts Dean up off the floor tiles until he is holding his whole weight by the shirt around his neck.
"You damn well deserved everythin' you fuckin' got from me an' don't you forget it."
This is it, Dean's going to die. In the goddamn courthouse about fifty feet from Roman and –
Roman.
A spark lights up in his eyes.
If he can somehow get loose and get to Roman or even get his attention then his uce will make things right, which is why – or how since he's being half strangled – he winces and drives his kneecap up high, burying it deep into the middle of a ball sack and then plummeting to the ground as his father curses and stumbles back.
"Why you little fucker – ,"
Dean only partly hears it because he's too busy moving and almost bursting through the door.
"Roman – ,"
His yell bounces wildly out around the corridor but still doesn't sound anything near loud enough. It's hard to tell though since his ears are both whistling and the breath is tearing out of him which sort of mutes everything else. His knees are knocking too which makes his sprinting pretty clumsy although as he staggers around the corner he tries again,
"Roma – oof,"
This time he only manages to get the word half out because without any warning a large mass hits his side, throwing him hopelessly, irretrievably off balance and planting him against the brickwork on the hallway's other side. It bites against his cheek and he hisses at the sensation but he can't even move because he's being pinned up, cold calloused hands scrabbling tightly at his wrists and holding him as foul breath heaves across his face,
"You goddamn lil' shit."
"Dean."
Glancing up from where he's being flattened rewards him with probably the world's greatest sight. That of Roman half-flying down the corridor with his suit jacket flapping and his fists already clenched. He slams into Dean's father with the force of a wrecking ball and propels him so fiercely that the older man falls back, landing on his ass on the thin courthouse carpet as his fingers slide from Dean but still paint deep red tracks.
"What did I tell you before about touchin' him?" Roman yells in fury, "I didn't make myself clear?"
Dean's old man sort of winces a little and it's obvious that the fall has really damn hurt, but since he's not about to come right out and say it he decides to go with cockiness instead,
"He's my damn son, I'll treat him any way I want to."
"Not for long you won't."
Roman steps close again, moving to lay the older man horizontal and only stopping as Titus slides breathlessly in, inserting himself like a gigantic wall between them and pushing him back,
"Whoa, Roman, easy, easy man."
"Easy?" Roman splutters, "Did you not see what happened?"
Somewhere from behind them Roman's mother appears suddenly and sweeps Dean up into a tight maternal hug. He goes with it willingly, trembling against her and gripping her sweater like he's been shipwrecked for months. Roman's father too arrives puffing amidst the tension and puts his hands on his offspring's shoulders,
"Roman, son, we could all see, including the cameras they have set up around here – ,"
"He's needs to be taught pop."
Papa Reigns coos back,
"He has."
Pointing behind him he makes Roman spin a bit to gaze up the hallway he has only just flown down. Dean looks too – over the crook of Mama Reigns' elbow – and together they stare at Judge Trish Stratus who is silhouetted like an angel at the end of the carpet and staring down shrewdly.
"I'd like to see you in the courtroom now."
Her eyes are sharply focused on Dean's father but soften very lightly as she glances back at him. Dean's breath hitches and Roman's mother holds him tighter, running her fingers back and forth across his hair,
"You're alright sweetie, you're alright, you're safe now."
Titus lets out a snort,
"Well this is justice right here."
Somewhere in the background, Dean's father stumbles upright and pushes past Roman to stagger down the corridor. His eyes are firmly focused on the official as she stands arms folded and watches him come. Dean shivers lightly as he watches his parent but there is something in the gruff voice that he hasn't heard in a while. It sounds imploring and angry at being vanquished.
In short it sounds alittle like despair.
"Now you wait a minute, it's not what it looks like, that big tanned shit came outta nowhere."
"Mr Ambrose," Judge Stratus warns, raising an eyebrow as her security guard steps in to block the man off and – fuck – Dean finds himself actually grinning because he knows what's coming and he can feel it in the air.
"These damn fuckers," Dean's father gestures at them, "They're tryin' to steal away my boy."
"Like I said," Judge Stratus shoots back firmly, "You'll get your say but it might be quite short."
As Dean's father continues protesting his innocence and playing the victim much like he always does, Roman moves in closer to his mother and puts out a hand out, squeezing Dean's shoulders,
"Uce, you alright?"
Dean nods back and this time he even means it.
"I'm not going back am I?"
Roman smiles at him.
"No you're not."
Happy ending right? Um, maybe? We've still got several chapters to go and I'm cruel (as we've already established) so...