Welcome back from the Cliffhanger of Doom! So let's get right back into this baby shall we?

Hayley1001, I promised you angst and you are getting angst…this is just the tip of the iceberg in this story. Plenty more where that came from. Got some Big Dog worrying like crazy in this chapter too, because is there anything better than a worrying Roman?!

Daisysakura, Yep, Dean has blossomed into a beautiful loyal and slightly crazy butterfly in this story and he is willing to go to any lengths to protect his bro. Pretty sure there aren't many people in life he would go to bat for, but Roman is one of them (okay…the only one!)

Cheryl24, Aw, come on now, I bet those three days passed before you even knew it and look, here we are again ready to rock and roll with this crazy…of course, then it will be another three days…but hey, the suspense is part of the fun, right?!

Martha, Haha, oops! Go to bed! If it's any help though, I'm pretty much like clockwork, so all my updates are in a certain time (who says OCD doesn't have its positives?!) Aww, glad you love the Ambreigns bromance like I do (sometimes with some Seth thrown in because he does worried pretty well too!) I promise to keep the 'babe' content coming!

Guest, Thank you so much, hope you enjoy this one!

Wolfgirl2013, Muchas gracias (I'm not Spanish, but it's nice to switch it up every once in a while!)

Rebel8954, Me? *Adopts innocent face and point to self* Evil? Haha, I think Roman would be more likely to spear Bischoff through the chow hall wall, but as for what happens to our big bad in the end, same drill as always, you'll have to keep reading to find out (now THAT is evil!)

Mandy, My mum is doing really well thank you and I'm super proud of her for that. She'll be going back to work in the next month (slowly and gradually but all good!) Glad these updates are helping you as well, not that Roman or Dean are enjoying the process much (sorry boys!)

SkittlezLvr79, Ooh, glad I caught you slightly unawares with that. Guess I was kind of mean to Dean too, letting him getting all proud and pumped up from beating Wyatt and BAM…solitary time! Let's just say the next few chapter will be tense for everyone involved!

Stingerette1975, 'Not good' is pretty much my speciality in these stories! Situation; Not Good should maybe have been my pen name?! But yep, Roman is going to have to think of something fast to get to his boy. Luckily though, he's Roman, so…

Minnie1015, Um…okay, about the cliffhanger thing…I kinda have some bad news for you regarding the next chapter or two, especially the next one. But I mean, can't have drama without suspense and you can't have one of my stories without cliffhangers!

June3law, Well, things will obviously have to get worse for our boys before they get better…I mean, if they do get better (I never miss a moment to build suspense!) Glad you're enjoying it, I'm building towards the end now, but still plenty of action left to come!

Skovko, I feel like the last two chapters were really Dean proving himself. First beating Wyatt and then putting himself on the line to save Roman and the mission. He is truly a man now *wipes away tear of pride* But yeah, totally in the shit nonetheless, so it's swings and roundabouts!

Yippi-kay yay motherfucker, Come on, everybody loves a bit of drama (except Dean in this case!) I have to up the ante before we get to our big dramatic final. Plus, what better way to give you a chapter of panicking Roman? Which is basically what this one is!

Not-that-kinda-gurl, hey there, welcome aboard! The good news is that you are just in time for the party...or, well, not so much the party for our poor boys! Glad you like some of my other stories too (I can't stop writing Dean) and I hope you're feeling better.

Here we go...


Damn Crafty Bastard

Roman spends the next hour and seventeen minutes on the fringes of having an anxiety attack and battling back the urge to hulk out completely and blow the damn doors off to go and rescue his uce.

Dean.

"Damn it babe."

He is furious at his brother for having so willingly placed himself in harm's way and for having taken the entirety of the blame onto his shoulders –

But mostly he is god damn livid with himself.

He's the one who got them into the situation by pushing it too far and bringing his helpless roommate in, when he could have sat back and let his case mature more slowly instead of working hot and getting in over his head.

Both of their heads.

Because while his big ass is in there pacing and wearing a groove in the concrete floor, his copper blonde headed partner is all on his own and in a place where not only several men have been murdered, but potentially in the same cell where his old pal Sami had met his end.

"Damn it."

He thumps fisted hands against the locker and even manages to loosen the thing which works to relieve his building tension for a second but doesn't last beyond that because he's going insane. Dean and the things that could be happening to him fill up and crowd every recess of his mind and so does the look his best friend was wearing when he was dragged from the room.

He looked truly scared.

Roman needs a plan and he needs to make one quickly because when they let him out he won't have much time to spare, or at least not if he wants to haul ass and save his brother which he knows he can and will do –

Not a single question there.

In real terms of course and speaking theoretically, he should nudge the side of caution and simply keep to the plan and pass the next twenty four to forty eight hours with his head down waiting for his boss to show up. Except for the fact that no way can he do that when there is every chance that Dean has a noose around his neck and is waiting for him to bust in at the last second and save him from a hanging.

His stomach flips over and he groans.

Nope.

"I'm coming babe."

By the time a guard lumbers back jangling his key chain an agonizing additional thirteen minutes have slipped past. Every one of which has been a knife to his system but on the plus side has given him the chance to make a plan.

Not a very good one –

In actual fact it's terrible but if it gets him into solitary then he figures it's good enough, except before he does that he needs to pass across a message and so therefore doesn't freak out and start beating on the guard.

"You gonna behave?"

It is asked through the door hatch and he responds with a nod and raised hands,

"I'm calm."

By which he means he's on the border of murderous but since he doesn't say that the door is buzzed back and he steps out onto the mezzanine like a rocket beneath the wary and watchful eyes of the wiry prison guard.

"Hey."

Roman ignores the shout from behind him and instead takes the hard met steps at a run, which has the worrying potential to deposit him earthwards in a tangle of limbs and more than likely a broken hip, but which he manages to descend without breaking his body before stalking across the cell floor,

"Where is he, where is – ,"

He stops in recognition as a floppy haired figure begins to limp and lumber by and then feels his blood flow warm in sheer gratitude because maybe the universe is smiling down on him for once.

He picks up a gear,

"Hey Mick?"

His broad shout carries and makes the older man grind to a halt as the chirpy expression spins in towards him and then breaks out into a grin,

"Roman, hey man, what can I do for ya?"

"I need you to make a call."

He skips past the pleasantries and simply starts by throwing his command into the sky before watching is float back to earth again slowly and a little like a tiny wisp of cloud.

"You – what?"

Foley blinks in confusion that is mildly frustrating but by no means misplaced, since he hasn't exactly provided any context but which is largely because there's no time to god damn waste.

He draws in closer and drops his voice a little,

"I need you to get yourself into that phone room and put a call through to the third precinct, okay?"

"Uh, okay, can I ask why?"

He asks the question slowly in the way a psychiatrist might talk to a patient who has barricaded themselves onto a windowsill somewhere and is simply staring down at the traffic far below them while they contemplate jumping.

Roman brushes it off,

"You need to speak to the captain – only the captain – tell him to get his ass down here fast."

"Why?"

Roman once again skirts the bigger picture but his answer still speaks volumes,

"Dean's in trouble."

"Shit."

It is touching how much the older man looks genuinely worried and is a bittersweet reminder that Dean has other friends and also a personality that chips at hard built defences until he is fully and totally rooted underneath the skin.

He grunts back,

"Yeah, but I'm gonna get him out of it which is why I need your help."

"Anything man, you want this phone call, I'll make the phone call."

Foley holds his hands up in a sign of compliance and then nods his head so eagerly that it upsets his blustery hair and sends it flapping up and down against his forehead like it has its own life force or perhaps a gravitational pull.

Roman winces,

"Actually, there is one other thing."

"Name it."

"I need to punch you a little bit."

"What?"

Mick responds like he's already thrown one and pulls his head back with an astonished looking jerk but he isn't actually offended by the notion so much as surprised,

"Is this to help Dean too? Or did I really piss you off when we were on cleaning?"

Roman manages a fond sort of smile and then snorts a little,

"No, it's for uce man."

"Well then, in that case – ,"

Foley turns his head towards him and then proffers up a cheek which he indicates with an instructive point of his finger, seemingly pumped up by the thought of being punched in a way that most other men tend to avoid instinctively but for the bulky man is obviously not a problem at all.

Roman lifts a brow,

"You sure?"

"Uh huh, lay it on me."

"I won't be too hard now, you still gotta make that call."

Mick lifts his thumb and forefinger into a circle and then winks at him roguishly,

"Right you are boss."

Roman sucks a breath in and then blows it out slowly as he pulls back his arm and closes his fingers into a fist, before pausing the motion and glancing over his shoulder to see if anyone is watching –

Four guards are staring back.

He breathes in again then holds onto the lungful which he knows he is probably going to need, then follows up by wincing a final time in apology before throwing his fist forwards.

Here goes nothing.

Even though he has angled the punch to be a glancing one, it still catches the older man harder than he has planned and sends the floppy head of hair snapping backwards beneath the weight of its landing and it loosens up a gasp.

"Ooh – ,"

Foley stumbles back with his hands held up defensively but then his legs go wobbly and he crumples to the floor, hitting the wall and sliding right down it before he slumps onto the ground in a bewildered looking heap.

Shit.

Roman blinks in horrified astonishment because the last thing he needs is to have knocked his big friend out and so is therefore stepping in instinctively to check up on him when feet thunder behind him and hands seize up his wrists.

"Break it up, that's enough – that's enough."

He is pulled backwards and someone also employs a bear hug around his ribs, which pin his arms to his sides and leaves him motionless and which he doesn't fight out of since he is still gazing down, berating himself for being such an idiot and putting another of his friends in harms' way but which lasts for only a second or two but no longer before the man on the ground throws him up a tiny wink.

Roman gapes –

Damn crafty bastard.

Foley isn't wounded by the hammer blow at all and has instead pulled out an academy award performance that has totally fooled them all, including him.

He grins back,

Well played man.

More hands drag him backwards and with such rough force that he almost trips and falls, since the prison guards are obviously taking no chances and are working on the belief that he is likely to blow up more.

"That's it – you've just earned yourself some cool down in solitary."

Roman takes a leaf out of his bigger colleague's playbook and pretends to react with aggression to the sentence, but internally has to fight down a bubble of pure elation because his crazy ass plan has been perfectly laid out and he is one step closer to rescuing his brother.

He only hopes he's not too late.

I'm coming for you babe.


Good old Mick coming through with his craziness!

Next chapter we're back to Dean...