AN: So…it's been a year. Very sorry for the delay, of course. At first, I was swamped with deadlines and thought I'd take a break until they were over. Then, exam panic set in and I decided to put off writing until they were over. And then, my mother passed away. It took me a while to get back into writing. Still, here I am now! Better late than never, eh?

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.

Chapter Twenty-Five

January 13th, 2014

Donny's Diner, Providence, Rhode Island

"Sorry it's not…" Dean looked around, gesturing to the nearly-empty diner. "You know, all fancy and that. Not much is open this late, and the burgers here are really good."

I tried to hide my smile by taking a sip of my water. Seeing Dean so self-conscious was actually just a little bit adorable.

"I'm not really a 'fancy restaurant' kind of girl," I admitted, shrugging.

It was true. Back when I was growing up, eating out wasn't really in my family's price range. We'd go to Wendy's for a special treat if it was someone's birthday, but that was about it. Daniel used to drag me around high-class vegan restaurants that made me sweat just looking at the menu prices.

And Cena? I didn't even dare to look at the menu when he took me out. The prices would probably give me heart palpitations.

"Besides," I said, grabbing the ketchup bottle, "I may or may not have a weakness for cheeseburgers."

Dean grinned at that, relaxing a little. "My kind of woman."

There was a moment of comfortable silence as we both dug into our food, before Dean wiped the ketchup from his mouth to speak up.

"Hey, aren't you nearly at that record yet?"

I couldn't stop my smile from stretching so wide, it almost broke my face. "Five days to go before I beat it."

"Congrats," Dean said, returning my smile. "I know you worked hard."

His eyes were soft, affectionate. This tiny comment, just a casual remark on my efforts, almost made me choke on my burger.

Someone…someone finally understood.

"Thank you," I said, still smiling so hard it hurt.

We stared at each other for a second, before I cleared my throat and went back to my food.

"Layla's been saying I should do something to celebrate. Maybe get a cake or something."

"Sounds good. You know me, I'm up for anything if there's cake," Dean drawled.

That could be fun. Everyone together, eating cake and celebrating. Me, Dean, Layla, Big E, Tamina. Maybe even Seth and Roman?

I frowned slightly, remembering their argument.

"Hey, how are things with you and Seth and Roman?" I asked, curious and just a little worried.

Dean paused, shooting me a wary glance. "Why?"

I tried to seem casual, taking another sip of water and shrugging. "Just asking. You usually mention one of them by now."

Dean made a face. "You make it sound like I'm obsessed with them or something. Can't I just have a good meal with my girl and forget those two clowns for a night?"

They were breaking up.

Oh, God. The Shield were going to break up, and there'd be no more black-clad SWAT teams of pretty boys to star in my daydreams.

Dean caught the look of concern on my face, and sighed. "It's not that big of a deal. Yeah, Punk tried to get in our heads, but we're better than that."

I stayed silent, letting Dean vent.

"There's no 'best guy' in the Shield. Of course Roman would beat Punk, he's like twice as heavy or something. Doesn't mean anything. The whole point of having a team is each person's good for a different thing. Roman is good for punching guys like Punk in the mouth."

I thought back to their argument backstage. "And…the snake thing?"

Dean made a face, shuddering. "That fucking snake…don't worry, doll. I'm over that. Those two clowns can make fun all they want. They're just dicks sometimes."

He paused for a second, averting his gaze as he dropped his voice to mumble his next words. "But, you know…that's how family is."

…My heart was going to burst. I wanted to squish all three of them together in one big hug and squeal.

"That's really sweet," I managed to say. "You guys seem close."

Dean went back to eating his burger, but he couldn't hide the smile on his face as he did.

As I watched him, I felt the sudden urge to ask him something that was starting to weigh heavily on my mind. Should I? No, it was too awkward. I should keep things light and easy and fun.

Dean picked up on my internal struggle. "You OK there?"

I forced a smile at him and stole some fries from his plate. "Never better."

Inside, I felt panic start to rise up in my chest. The Shield were family to Dean – which was great and sweet and adorable, but what if I couldn't get them to like me? What if they secretly think I'm still the old 2012 AJ who clings to anyone and everyone? What if they tell Dean to end things?

No, I'm being ridiculous. They liked me, it's all fine.

…Right?

I took another big bite out of my burger, trying to drown out my increasingly-worrying thoughts.

"You were right," I mumbled through the food. "These burgers are great."

Dean smirked at my apparent enthusiasm, but got to work demolishing the rest of his own burger.

I wouldn't let this ruin my night. I was just over-thinking things, like always.

Yep. Absolutely.

January 17th, 2014

DCU Center, Worcester, Massachusetts

"I mean, it's just a tiny gathering, just to celebrate the milestone. But, hypothetically…if someone wanted to bring cake," I said, looking up at the ceiling of my dressing room. "My favourite kind of cake is angel food cake. Ooh, or that chocolate cake thing that's all gooey in the middle."

"Mm-hm," Tamina said, lacing up her boots.

I waited for any other kind of response, before pouting. Planning my own party for my record-breaking title reign celebration would already be difficult without having to factor in the fact that my friends were somehow completely incapable of taking a hint.

"And presents are always nice," I tried again.

"Uh-huh," Layla muttered, carefully adding a top coat to her painted nails.

I huffed, fidgeting with my title belt. There was no match scheduled for me tonight – again – so I was stuck waiting around to see if Vickie deigned to send me on pointless errands.

Unless…

I tried to casually slip out of my chair, wandering over to the door. "I'm just going out for a walk. Clear my head and all that."

"You want me to come with you?" Tamina asked, making to get up.

I waved her off frantically. "Nah, I'll be fine. Just thought I'd have some alone time–"

"She's leaving us to go canoodle with Ambrose," Layla remarked, still focused on her nails.

My face warmed. "What? No. That's…no."

"Mm-hm," Layla said, raising an eyebrow. That was not the face of a convinced woman. "Have you told Big E about you and Ambrose yet?"

"I will soon. You know, when it's a good time," I said, edging towards the door. "It's on my to-do list."

Layla exchanged a look with Tamina. "Because if this hypothetical party were to happen soon, and you hypothetically wanted to bring Ambrose, you'd hypothetically probably want to tell Big E before then."

"To-do list," I repeated, side-stepping to the exit. Damn it, I couldn't put it off for as long as I thought I could.

As I left the dressing room, I thought over the situation. I wasn't…afraid of telling E. Not really.

Well, maybe just a little. But not for his sake, or Ambrose's sake if Big E decided to try and protect my honour and start a fight. I was afraid of arguing again. I still remembered the way he'd reacted when I let slip that Ambrose was training me. And with E's disdain for the Authority already obvious, I didn't want to make things worse by blurting out that I was dating a Shield guy.

I tried to push it all to the back of my mind. I was a grown woman – even if a solid part of my wardrobe came from the kids' section in clothing stores – and E had to trust me to make my own decisions.

Digging my phone out of my pocket, I called Dean.

He picked up after just a few rings. "Hey, doll."

I tried not to smile like a dork. I failed. "Hi. I was thinking of maybe hanging out with you for a bit, if you wanted?"

"Sure," he replied. It sounded like he was smiling too, but I couldn't tell for certain. "I'm just in my dressing room. You on your way now?"

Alone time with Dean. That sounded pretty damn tempting. "Yeah, I'll see you soon!"

Dean's dressing room was roughly just as isolated as mine, which suited me pretty well. One of the advantages of working with the Authority was the additional privacy they ensured for their champions. Even the tertiary ones they barely spared a second thought for.

I slowed down just a little, as that thought continued. The Authority still hadn't told me about any plans for the Divas championship at the Royal Rumble. Were they waiting for me to choose an opponent, or did they already have one in mind?

I wrinkled my nose at that second option, remembering Stephanie's fixation on having the Bellas as opponents. Anything to draw attention to Total Divas, right?

Maybe I could talk to Triple H about it. He's always been pretty open to improving the Divas division. As long as it didn't interfere with his plans for total locker-room dominance.

I got to Dean's dressing room, and paused. Was I supposed to knock? Would it be rude if I didn't? Would it be weird if I did?

Just to be on the safe side, I knocked.

There was a brief pause, before the door swung open and Seth Rollins appeared in the doorway.

I blinked. Well…I guess alone time with Dean would have to wait.

Seth nodded at me. "AJ."

The Shield really did have a thing for stoic, one-word greetings, didn't they?

"Seth," I replied, trying to be subtle as I mimicked his nod and slightly lower tone. Of course, then I remembered how it important it was for Dean's Shield friends to like me and quickly panicked.

Thankfully, Seth seemed to be amused, opening the door wider with just a hint of a smirk on his face. I waltzed in, brushing past him as I toyed with the title belt over my shoulder. Confidence should be a good way to win them over, right?

Inside were three chairs, angled towards a monitor that broadcasted the show. Roman Reigns – in all his huge, handsome glory – was stood at the back of the room, watching the show with a inscrutable expression.

Dean was sprawled out on one chair, tilting his head up to grin at me. "Hey, toots."

I tried very hard not to melt into a puddle at the sight of his grin. "Hi."

Taking the seat next to him, I moved the title belt from my shoulder to my lap, gently stroking the outline of the pink butterfly. One day to go until I tied the record. By Raw, I'd be the longest-reigning Divas Champion in WWE history.

By the time I looked back up at Dean, he was still grinning at me. I returned it on impulse, smiling so wide that my cheeks almost hurt. Dean winked.

Behind me, Seth grunted in disgust as he took his seat.

Dean leaned over to look at him. "Aw, don't be like that, kid. We'll find you someone who can put up with your prissy, drama queen act."

Seth made a face, but didn't reply.

I couldn't help but chime in. "Maybe I should talk to Nikki Bella about it. Sounds like you two would have a lot in common."

Dean chuckled. Seth fixed me with a look, but it wasn't particularly hostile. Maybe I was wrong about confidence helping me with the Shield. Maybe it was just sass.

Roman remained silent, still staring at the screen as SmackDown continued. I looked over at the monitor, and tensed at the sight of Bray Wyatt speaking to the crowd. Something about him just seemed a little…off. In the time since they'd been here, I had never seen the Wyatt Family in person, and I was starting to hope I never would. And this was coming from a girl who had tried to make a relationship work with Kane.

Roman seemed to share my worries.

"We need to keep an eye on them," he stated.

Seth barely glanced at the screen. "What, the Wyatts? You can add them to the list if you want, but we gotta deal with Punk first."

I turned my head to stare at Seth. "Punk?"

Seth stared back at me, silent. I couldn't tell what he was thinking. Was he kicking himself for bringing up my ex, right in front of me and Dean? Was he silently judging me, thinking that deep-down I was still the small, lonely AJ pining after her hero?

"What did he do?" I asked, trying to keep my voice level. Inside, I was close to screaming.

Dean was the one to answer.

"He's been getting mouthy," he drawled, shrugging. "Planning to call out the Authority or something. Stephanie asked us to take care of it."

I was almost convinced by how casual he sounded. But there was just the tiniest bit of strain in his voice. Punk was a touchy subject for Dean – because of me, or because of Roman beating him when he couldn't, probably a combination of the two.

I tried not to think about Punk these days. He was a chapter in my life that I wanted to close for good.

"After what they pulled with the Rumble," Roman said, glowering. "Maybe we shouldn't bother."

The Rumble? What were they talking about?

"We just gotta keep 'em sweet," Seth tried to reason. "Makes our lives a whole lot easier."

I turned to Dean. "What did they do with the Rumble?"

Seth was the one to answer first. "Hunter didn't think us entering into the Rumble was a good idea. Stephanie managed to change his mind."

"Ha!" Dean laughed, bitterly. "He still doesn't want us in there."

My eyes narrowed in thought. Having the Shield in the Royal Rumble was a no-brainer. All three were part of the Authority, that's already controlling 10% of the participants. Not to mention how dominant the three of them were, how easily they could take out most of the roster. There had to be something more to this.

Maybe Triple H was concerned about the group staying together. If one of them were to eliminate the others and go on to the WrestleMania main-event, that would definitely cause some friction.

But surely the advantages of having the Shield in the Rumble outweighed the negatives?

"The whole thing's sending your brain into overdrive, ain't it?" Dean said, noticing how lost in thought I was. "I know you live for that politics stuff."

I frowned. "I mean, maybe he wants you free to interfere in the match. But you can still do that if you enter into the Rumble anyway, and it fills up slots. You'd think the more Authority members in the Rumble, the better."

I didn't bring up the possibility that the group could split. Somehow, I didn't think any of the three Shield members would take that idea well.

Sighing, I gave up for now. "It doesn't make sense."

"Tell me about it," Dean muttered.

Turning away from him to look at the monitor, I caught Seth looking at me from the corner of my eye, clearly surprised. It was understandable. A lot of people tended to underestimate how analytical I could be.

I liked it better that way.