Thank you again for continuing with this story! I can't believe we're so close to the end!

~Enjoy!~

As the show came to a close with Seth Rollins, Triple H, and Randy Orton standing over Dean and Roman, the women who were gathered around watching the segment stood in utter shock. Brie and Emma's mouths had dropped nearly to the ground since Seth landed the first chair shot onto Roman's back. Meanwhile, Nikki tried her hardest to seem as shocked as the others.

Paige stood there with her eyes glued to the television screen as memories of her suspicions about Stephanie McMahon's plans for The Shield flooded into her head. She could see the hint of confusion on Roman and Dean's face when the attack happened. Paige began to wonder if they were blindsided; Roman nor Dean ever brought up plans of the Shield splitting up. She began to feel guilty for not seeing this coming.

"Oh my gosh." Brie gasped as one of the women shut off the TV once Raw had ended. "I'm not the only one in total shock here, right? Roman never mentioned this."

"Because he didn't know." Paige spoke quietly as the other divas began chatting about what they witnessed. She realized she wasn't as quiet as she thought when Emma and Brie gave her a puzzled look.

"What-" Emma began but hushed with the rest of the superstars and divas in the area when Seth returned backstage with Orton and Triple H. Seth walked with his head down and could feel everyone's eyes on him. His coworkers began approaching him looking for answers and expressing how 'awesome' their segment was due to the element of surprise.

Seth felt a large hand land on his shoulder and looked to see Triple H smiling proudly at him. "Good job out there, kid." He said before patting him and walking away. Orton gave Seth a respectful nod before moving on also.

Seth looked around until his eyes met Nikki's as she gave him a comforting smile. He glanced away from Nikki and his sight immediately landed on Paige's vehement eyes as she shook her head in disbelief. He knew right then that she was aware of what actually happened.

Paige realized that glaring at Seth wasn't going to get her questions answered. Emma, Brie, and Nikki watched as Paige marched towards Seth and pushed her way through those who were crowding him. She stood in front of him and coldly looked into his eyes. This was a look that Seth had never received from the Brit before.

"They didn't know, did they?" Paige question with disappointment evident in her voice.

"Paige, I know this looks bad-" He stopped speaking when he heard loud angry blathering entering the area. Paige peered behind Seth as he turned to face the angry voice.

"What the fuck was that, Rollins?!" Dean seethed as he charged towards Seth as if he was in no pain at all from the chair shots he had received and the brutal match he was in the night before.

Seth threw his hands up in defense as Dean stood in his face and stared him down, nearly foaming at the mouth. "Dean, just calm down and let me explain-"

Paige didn't observe Dean for too long before her eyes began scanning for Roman. She watched as he sauntered through the curtain, clearly feeling the effects of those steel chairs. Roman's face was hard and lacked emotion, but Paige knew he was fuming on the inside. She knew Roman well enough to know that he was like a bear and once you poked him, he'd unleash his wrath.

"Don't tell me to calm down, you piece of shit!" Dean shouted as he shoved Seth. Paige quickly moved out of the way when she realized things had gotten physical.

All eyes were on the two men as The Bella Twins and Emma quickly made their way over to them. Brie glanced at Roman who stood silently in Dean's shadow while glowering at Seth with frigid eyes.

"You lose your balls or something? Instead of coming to us like a man to tell us you wanted The Shield to split, you went behind our back? You wanted your big break, huh? You wanted the whole world talking about Seth Rollins? Did you run to Triple H and ask for this?" Dean spoke in a grating tone that gave Seth and everyone around him chills.

"That's not what happened, he came to me-" Seth tried to explain before Dean got in his face again.

"Hunter came to all three of us multiple times and the three of us agreed that it wasn't time yet. But you went behind our back and did it anyway. If all that CrossFit's really as good as you say it is, you wont have any problems running because if I get my hands on you-"

"Dean, this isn't the place or the time. Just leave him alone." Emma tried when she realized how angry he really was. The last thing she wanted was for him to do something he could get repercussions for.

Dean broke his stare down with Seth to meet Emma's eyes. "Not before I kick his scumbag ass and shove that steel chair down his throat." Dean threatened as he pointed at a nearby chair. Dean turned back to Seth with fire in his eyes. He pushed Seth once more, so hard that he nearly fell to the ground.

Seth had enough and wasn't going to let Dean push him a third time. With full force he shoved Dean back and without thinking Dean had balled up his fist and swung for Seth's face, causing everyone's eyes to widen.

Before either of the men could make another move, Nikki ran in between the two and shoved Dean with as much strength as she could. "Enough!" She shouted as her eyes remained fixated on Dean's. She gave Dean a warning look before turning her back to him to face Seth who looked like he was ready to attack his now former brother. Nikki cupped his face in her hands to try to get him to compose himself and look at her. "Just walk away." She advised quietly.

Seth broke his glare on Dean as surrendered to Nikki's order. Nikki brought her hands down as Seth began turning away. She glanced back at Dean who was still irate before looking at Brie. Brie was clearly puzzled and wondering why Nikki felt the need to protect Seth. Nikki looked away from her as she continued following Seth out of the area.

"Ambrose, we need to check you out and make sure you're alright after those chair shots." One of the medical trainers backstage said as he approached Dean.

"What you need to do is get the hell away from me." Dean responded coldly to the man.

"Ambrose-" The man said as he attempted to place a hand on Dean's shoulder.

Dean smacked his hand away. "I swear if you-"

"Dean, just calm down and take a deep breath." Emma pleaded as she took some steps closer to him. She placed a hand on Dean's forearm and looked into his eyes. Dean wanted to look away from her because the longer their eyes were locked, the softer he could feel himself getting. He released a deep breath and Emma gave him a small smile. "Will you please go with him?" She asked him softly.

Dean looked at her for a moment before giving in. "Yeah." He said reluctantly. The trainer nodded at Emma in a thank you kind of way as he began leading the direction. Dean draped his arm around Emma's shoulders as they followed.

Meanwhile, Paige watched as Roman was also pulled away to get checked out. Brie was by Roman's side, constantly glancing up at him as they walked but neither said a word. Paige knew that Roman needed his space and part of her was a bit annoyed at Brie for not allowing him at least a few minutes on his own to gather his thoughts. Although, he wasn't the only one who needed to gather thoughts. Paige felt so deceived by Stephanie McMahon. Something in her gut told her not to believe anything Stephanie told her about the plans for The Shield but she somehow let it slip out of her mind. She shook her head as everyone around her began moving on their way.

Nikki had led Seth into an empty trainer's room and began searching for an ice pack. She finally found the drawer where the instant cold packs were stored and grabbed one. As she squeezed the pack in order to activate it, she looked at Seth who was sitting on a chair across the room with his elbows on his knees as he leaned forward looking at the ground. Nikki walk over to him and moved one of his arms out of the way so she could steal a seat on his lap. She used her free hand to lift Seth's head up so she could get a better look at him.

"I can't believe he actually punched you." She said as she applied the wrapped cold pack to Seth's left eye; it was already showing signs of swelling and bruising.

"I'm surprised that's all he did." Seth responded. "You know what, I deserved it, I knew from the jump that this was gonna end badly. Did you see the way Roman was looking at me?"

"I was honestly too focused on Ambrose to even look at Roman. I've never seen Dean so mad, like, I actually thought he'd kill you." Nikki admitted.

Seth chuckled. "I thought it was pretty hot how you stepped in. It's like you were Superwoman."

Nikki laughed as she held the cold pack to Seth's face. "You can always count me to save a damsel in distress. That's what fearless heroes do, right?"

"Oh, I'm a damsel in distress?" Seth asked as he smiled at the stunning woman who was seated on his lap.

"Well yeah." Nikki confirmed. She removed the cold pack as he laughed and then began playing with it in her hands.

"They won't be mad at you forever." She became serious again. She wrapped an arm around Seth's shoulder and began playing with his hair as he held onto her on his lap. "Brie and I have had so many fights when it comes to life and our career. There's been a couple that've been so huge that I honestly didn't think we'd get through but we did, because we're family and we love each other. You, Roman, and Dean are family, maybe not by blood, but you are. And I know that you'll get through this."

Seth smiled as Nikki rested her head against his. "I'm glad you said that. I was actually thinking about you and Brie."

"Why's that?"

"Because you revealed to her and everyone else that we're a thing again." Seth reminded her.

Nikki lifted her head and smiled. "You know what? Brie's going to try justify being with Roman whether or not she knows about us. And plus, I want to be with you and I want the world to know that you're my man."

Seth grinned at her and suddenly he could no longer feel the stinging pain from Dean's fist landing on his face. He gazed at Nikki as if she was the most precious and beautiful gem on the planet.

"What?" Nikki beamed at him; the way he was looking at her caused her to blush.

Seth's smile grew even wider when he noticed her cheeks flush. He brought his hand up and cupped her chin then brought her face closer to his for a kiss. After he pulled away he smiled again. "Do you wanna get out of here?"

Nikki nodded before Seth released his grip on her so she could get off of him. They both stood then Nikki handed him his cold pack as they headed to the door to go get their belongings from their respective locker rooms.

Roman winced as the medical trainer used his fingers to examine his tortured back then proceeded to clean the wounds. He remained quiet and hard as he sat on the medical table as Brie stood in front of him.

"Are you going to try to talk to Seth to get some answers?" She asked another question hesitantly. Again, Roman didn't respond. She had been trying to talk to him about what happened since he was pulled away to get examined, but Roman said nothing. He barely even looked at her. She began to think that maybe he was in shock and that's why he was completely blocking her out.

"Alright, so you have quite a few welts, bruises and a generous amount of swelling back here. It doesn't help that you took quite a few bumps last night during the pay per view. You should definitely ice these areas over here." The man said as he used his touch to show Roman where he was referring to. When the trainer was done explaining and advising Roman, he made his way out of the room.

When it was just Brie and Roman in the room again, silence surrounded them. Brie had no idea what she could say to him and it was clear to her that he didn't want to talk. Even though they were having their issues, she still wanted to be there for him after this. But she wasn't so sure that Roman wanted her there.

She moved closer to him and rested her hands on his knees. "It's been a long night, I'll grab my stuff and change so we can leave. Unless-" She said but stopped when Roman nodded, agreeing with her idea to leave. "Okay. I'll be back." She said with a gentle comforting squeeze to his knee.

As she released him and headed for the door, there was a knock. Brie opened the door and tried to refrain from rolling her eyes when she was met with the young pale diva who had caused of distress in her life.

"I don't mean to intrude, I just wanted to make sure everything's okay after what happened out there." Paige said awkwardly when she read on Brie's face that she was unwelcomed. Roman suddenly looked up when he heard the English accent.

After studying Paige for a moment, Brie forced a smile as she stepped to the side to allow her in. She knew Roman wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone and Paige was just wasting her time; she figured it would be amusing to see Paige try.

Paige smiled back at Brie and hesitantly entered. "Are you alright?" Paige asked when she could finally see Roman around the door.

Roman relinquished a loud deep breath and shook his head. "I'm still trying to figure out what the hell just happened."

An 'are you kidding me' look grew onto Brie's face as she turned to face the two.

"I figured that. I meant, you took some pretty crazy shots out there – are you okay?" Paige questioned as she moved further into the room.

Roman shrugged before passing his hand over his hair to get the strands out of his face. "I'll survive." He responded and gave Paige a slight smile.

Brie was livid as she eyed the two. For the last twenty minutes or so, Brie was by Roman's side trying with everything she had to get him to open up and talk to her. And Paige could just walk in and all of a sudden Roman was an open book? Without a word, Brie turned her back to them and left the room with the door shutting behind her.

Roman looked at the door when he heard it close and sighed. Paige observed the look of anguish on his face and knew that his and Brie's relationship was just eating away at him on top of what happened with Seth.

Paige walked towards Roman before she took a seat next to him. She leaned backwards a bit so she could see the state of his back.

"How bad does it look?" Roman questioned.

Paige leaned forward and sat normally again and smiled. "It makes you look pretty badass."

Roman chuckled. "I always look badass." He joked causing Paige to roll her eyes.

"Here, hand me your phone." She requested as she hopped off the table and held her hand out.

Roman gave her a suspicious look as he fished through the pocket of his Shield gear for the phone. He placed it in her hand and watched as she went through it and began walking around him. "What are you doing?"

He wasn't surprised when he didn't get a response from the British woman. He heard his phone make a camera shutter sound then Paige walked back and took a seat by his side again.

"What does Roman Reigns have to say to the WWE Universe?" She asked with her eyes still on his phone.

Roman slightly squinted his eyes as he observed the diva and thought about her question. Without saying a word he pulled the phone out of her hand and looked at what she was doing. He was a bit stunned by the image Paige took of his back. After thinking for a moment, he typed a caption for the image then turned the phone towards her to get her approval.

Trust is completely dead to me. Paige read on the screen. She nodded to give her approval. She shared a smile with him before reaching over to click 'tweet' so the whole world could see it.

Roman couldn't help but laugh at the proud look on Paige's face. Suddenly he no longer cared much about his troubles or what happened in the ring. The moment Paige walked into the room, everything else started to become less important.

After laughing together for a short time, silence grew between them. Roman watched Paige and could tell she was dying to get something off of her chest. "What's up?" He asked her.

Paige kept her hands between her thighs as her legs dangled down the side of the table. She looked up from the ground to meet his eyes. She released a deep breath and readied herself. She just needed to say it and get it over with.

"I kind of knew WWE would be breaking up The Shield." She revealed. Roman furrowed his eyebrows and seemed confused. "I didn't know they'd do it like this, or go behind you and Dean's back. But I knew it would happen."

"How?"

Paige bit her lip as she tried to figure out a simple way to explain everything that happened. "After we were caught, I met with Stephanie and that's when she told me about the storyline that we'd all be in to make the fans think the cheating was just for TV and never really happened. Well she also told me that the plan was to use that storyline to split up The Shield."

She stopped talking to observe Roman's reaction but she couldn't read him. "But, later on she told me that they changed the plans and-"

"You knew about this and didn't say anything?" He cut her off mid-sentence.

"Yes, no- kind of. Steph told me that they dropped the idea and told me to forget about it. But I overheard Seth in a meeting and I'm pretty sure they were talking about ending The Shield tonight. I didn't think anything of it because I figured you and Dean were in the meeting too…"

Her words trailed off when Roman removed himself from the trainer's table and proceeded to grab his Shield vest. Paige hopped down and followed him as he began making his way towards the door. She sped up her pace so that she could step in front of him to block his exit.

"Roman, you're seriously angry with me for this?" She asked him as she stood in front of the door.

"You're damn right I'm angry. The minute you knew about this you should've said something-" He responded slightly raising his voice.

"Stephanie McMahon told me to forget about it and keep quiet. Hell, she even threatened freaking my job at one point-" The short tempered woman fired back.

"You should've known right then and there that something fishy was going on." The Samoan responded, matching her fiery tone.

"God, Roman. What the hell was I supposed to do?!"

"Say something!" Paige raised both of her eyebrows, taken aback at the fact that Roman blew up on her. He huffed out an angry breath to calm himself. "You should've said something. If not to me, then at least to Dean since you too are so close all of a sudden. You probably would've gone to him instead anyway."

Roman turned around as he shook his head. Paige glowered at him in disbelief as he began pacing around the small room.

"You shut me out Roman." She spoke as her eyes followed him.

Roman stopped walking and turned to face her with bewilderment. "What are you talking about?"

Paige stared at him intently for a moment before she moved closer to him so that she stood directly in front of him. "You shut me out, and told me to stay away from you. So yes, at that time, I would've gone to Dean instead if I could. And yes, Dean and I are kind of close. You know why?" Her voice was stern yet evidence of her woe slightly slipped through.

Roman already knew the answer, she had made it pretty clear already. "Because you gave up on me and tried to push me away." She informed him anyway. "He was there for me after that and after you got back with Brie." She revealed and immediately regretted the words that came out of her mouth.

Roman was perplexed by Paige's words. If he remembered correctly, the night that he and Brie rekindled their relationship, was the night that Paige made it clear that she only wanted sex from him but wanted to start over as friends. So why would Paige need Dean's support after he and Brie got back together? Roman was about to ask her that exact question but Paige began speaking again before he could.

"I didn't say anything about the possibility of The Shield being broken up, but I did try to stop it before Stephanie told me that the plans were changed. Maybe not telling you guys about my suspicions was wrong but I can't change that now so can we please just move on?" Paige said quickly trying to diverge away from what she said before.

Roman knew that this was trivial compared to everything else he and Paige had been through. He nodded in agreement to her request. "I didn't mean to raise my voice, I feel like an asshole-"

"You are an asshole… sometimes." Paige interjected.

Roman smiled. "And yet you're still standing here. Why?"

His smile was infectious and she let one grow on her face also. "Yeah, I don't get it. It's like you're a freakin' magnet or something."

"You mean like this?" Paige rolled her eyes with a grin as he moved closer and wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his chest.

Paige laughed as she allowed herself to hold him. It was just a hug after all.

She pulled back slightly so she could look up at him. "I hate fighting with you."

Roman looked down at her and everything just felt so difficult in that moment. Why couldn't his feelings for her disappear so he could just be friends with her with full confidence that he wouldn't do anything to further jeopardize his relationship with Brie? He released his hold on Paige and she copied before he took a step back.

"Yeah, me too."

Paige smiled then looked around as they stood there in awkward silence. "I'm going to go get ready to leave. Try not to get too worked up over what Seth did tonight, alright?"

Roman nodded. "That's the furthest thing on my mind right now."

Paige smiled once more before saying goodbye and turning around to make her exit. Roman He knew that he needed a way to keep his heart solely focused on Brie again, even if each day it seemed harder and harder. He needed to remind himself why he fell in love with Brie in the first place.

After changing and grabbing her belongings from the women's locker room, Brie was headed back to find Roman. As she dragged her luggage behind her, Brie spotted her sister walking down the hall ahead of her, most likely heading for the exit. The look on Brie's face expressed her suspicion as she watched Seth Rollins walk by Nikki's side.

Brie picked up her pace in an attempt to catch up to the two. "Nicole," She called as she got closer.

Nikki and Seth both stopped in their tracks and turned around to find Brie's voice. Nikki gave Brie a greeting smile when Brie stopped walking and stood in front of her.

"Hey," Brie said as her eyes bounced back and forth between Nikki and Seth. "Are-"

"Yes, Seth and I are dating again." Nikki proudly answered Brie's question before she could ask. She looked at Seth and gave him an alluring smile as she let go of her suitcase to intertwine their fingers.

Seth smiled back to Nikki as Brie began speaking again. "Wow, okay. When did this happen?" Brie's voice exposed her surprise.

Nikki turned back to face her twin, "A few weeks ago…" She said in a guilty manner then gave Brie an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. We just haven't really been as close since the day you dropped the bomb about you and Roman on me."

Brie looked down feeling remorseful for the way things played out that day in the restaurant. Outside of work, Brie and Nikki weren't even really on speaking terms. Brie hated that Nikki was so against Roman that she was willing to cut ties with her. She was now questioning if her relationship with Roman was really worth all of that on top of her doubts, insecurities, and unhappiness.

"I also didn't want you to think that just because I accepted Seth back into my life, that it somehow makes it okay for you to accept Roman because-" Nikki explained.

Brie slowly nodded, "because Seth never cheated on you and fell in love with someone else in the process. Roman did. I know."

Nikki and Seth could both see the pain consuming Brie. It seemed as if each time Nikki brought up this topic, Brie was becoming worse and worse at hiding how hurt she really was. "Brie…" Nikki said comfortingly as she took her sister's hand.

Brie forced a sad excuse for a smile and used her free hand to wipe her eyes as they began to liquefy. "Congratulations, to both of you. I really shouldn't be nice to you after what you did tonight," Brie eyed Seth. "But you obviously make my sister happy-"

"Don't you want that for yourself, Brie?" Nikki cut in with genuine concern.

Brie sucked in a deep breath and forced another smiled as she pulled her hand away from Nikki's grip and placed it back onto her luggage. "I have to go meet Roman so we can leave. I'm glad you two could work things out." Before Nikki had a chance to respond, Brie already maneuvered her way around them and was on her way.

The couple looked at each other, both of their faces expressing their concerns for Brie.

Brie kept her head down as she walked to her destination. She looked up as she turned the corner to make sure she wouldn't walk into anyone. Just as she made it into the new hallway, she felt a knot in her stomach when she made eye contact with the man she had been trying to avoid all day.

Daniel had been making his way towards the exit of the arena when he spotted Brie. He released a sigh when she quickly broke their eye contact and turned the opposite direction. He decided it was time for them to confront this, because it was killing him knowing that Brie was clearly upset with him. He let go of his luggage and left them behind as he began jogging to catch up to Brie.

"Brie, please wait." He begged as he stopped jogging when he arrived by her side and matched her pace. Brie kept her eyes forward and continued walking, even speeding up a little. "Come on, Brie. I'm not going to stop until we talk about-"

"I have nothing to say, Daniel."

"You know, you can't avoid me forever. I mean we do work together." Daniel pointed out.

Brie suddenly came to a halt and turned to face him. "Why did you have to tell me?" She asked with frustration.

"Because you told me to? You made me promise to tell the woman that, for years, I had feelings for. So I did." He reminded her.

Brie looked away from him as she pressed her hand against her forehead. "That was before I knew you were talking about me." She shook her head then brought her hands down and looked at Daniel. "What am I supposed to do now?" She said feeling defeated.

Daniel shook his head. "You don't have to do anything. My intentions weren't to put you in a hard place or attempt to 'steal you away.'" He said with air quotes. "I just needed to finally get it off of my chest and out in the open. It was eating away at me."

"You're so selfish." Brie scoffed. She knew that her words were lies. Daniel was far from selfish but in this situation, Brie was just upset.

Daniel took a deep breath as he watched Brie for a moment. "Why is this such a big deal for you? If you're really in love and happy with Roman then none of what I said should even be problem. Especially since I have zero intentions of ruining your relationship." He finally told her, forcing her to confront what was really going on.

Brie looked away from Daniel as her eyes began to slightly blur. "Because I'm not happy with Roman." She looked to his eyes again after she quickly brushed away a stray tear. "I don't know if I'll ever feel like I'm enough for him because… I'm not Paige." She admitted out loud for the first time. She was always told that getting things off her chest was supposed to make things better, but it's like she felt even worse now that she heard herself say it.

Seeing the obvious pain hovering over Brie was gut-wrenching for Daniel. He moved closer to her and placed a hand on the back of her head as he pulled her into his hold. Brie shut her eyes and released a deep breath into his shoulder as another teardrop fell from her eye. Daniel's hug was the only thing that actually felt good in her life in that moment. She was actually beginning to feel guilty for finding so much comfort in him. She wanted him to hold her and never let go and it pained her because she was supposed to feel that way about Roman.

Brie gently pulled away from Daniel. "I have to go." She said quietly as she created more space between them and wiped her eyes. Without looking at him again, Brie took her stuff and began walking away.

As Brie walked away, there was only one clear thought in her head.

Maybe it was finally time to accept the reality of things and finally set Roman free.