Blood River Chapter Six: A Fine Chase

Great view numbers on this latest chapter! Makes a guy feel good.

Dean and Alexa made the drive to the Ambrose compound in what was growing to be an awkward silence. It bothered Alexa slightly that Dean seemed so impatient with Nikki, who struck Alexa as a very sympathetic figure. Deciding that not talking about it would get them nowhere, the pretty cheerleader brought the topic up in as non-threatening a manner as she could muster.

"Dean, what's the deal with Nikki? She seems really sweet. Why is she alone so much?"

Dean exhaled deeply. He clearly didn't want to talk about whatever it was that happened.

"So, a couple of years ago, Nikki's dad had like, a psychotic break. Her mom left him and he couldn't deal. He spent the weekend drinking and that Sunday night he went to Windham's and pulled a gun on the cashier. Police were never sure if it was a real robbery attempt or if it was a 'suicide by cop,' but in the crossfire Charlotte Flair's older brother and two other bystanders got killed."

Alexa covered her mouth in utter shock. "Ohmigod, I had no idea."

Dean nodded somberly. "Yeah, no one talks about it. They buried the dead and then like a week later it was like it never happened. Kinda fucked up, if you ask me."

Alexa pondered this a moment. "Did something happen between Charlotte and Nikki?"

Dean shook his head. "No, that's the weird thing. Nikki did it to herself. In fact, the only reason most of us were mad at her is because Charlotte tried to reach out to her and Nikki isolated herself. It really hurt Charlotte's feelings."

Alexa gave this another minute's contemplation. "Why didn't Bayley seem to know why Nikki isolated herself?"

Dean chuckled. "Bayley is wonderful, but sometimes she doesn't see the world for what it is. She's kind of in her own little world. I like to say that inside her brain is a 'Lisa Frank' notebook."

Alexa laughed loudly. "That's funny. Well, I invited Nikki to sit with us Tuesday at lunch. Is Charlotte gonna have a problem?"

Dean shrugged. "I have no idea, honestly. I guess we'll find out."

With that, the topic switched to a much less weighty subject, but Nikki Cross's ordeal continued to weigh on Alexa's mind. It seemed that Dean was leaving out important details, but the tiny blonde decided to let it lie for the time being...

…...

The sleepover passed with very little fanfare. As much as Alexa had built it up in her head, by the time everyone got to the Ambrose estate, they were all so worn out from the game and travel that most of them went right to sleep. The only awkward part of the entire evening was her first meeting with Dean's sister Shelly, who gave Alexa the once over before clicking her tongue against her lip and nodding at the tiny girl dismissively.

Saturday came and went with little change or fanfare. Alexa was so excited about her impending boat outing with her friends that the hours seemed to race by while still feeling longer than usual. She laid her head down Saturday night with a smile, the anticipation almost boiling over.

Sunday started out as more of the same. Alexa finally followed through on a promise she'd made to Mickie upon her moving in and accompanied the family to Blood River Methodist Church for Sunday service. Alexa had once been a stalwart and faithful attendee of her local church in Ohio, but found herself questioning her need for any alleged Deity after what had transpired some months before. Only the presence of Dean Ambrose and Bayley Martinez had gotten her through that particular trial.

In fact, Sunday was going as smoothly as any day Alexa had partaken in since she'd arrived in Blue River some months before, and the blonde pixie was beginning to really look forward to "lake day," but one phone call to the Cena-James household changed everything.

"Hello?" Alexa heard John answer the ringing device from the kitchen. After a prolonged pause, the tiny blonde could make out what sounded like a strained, heated conversation, though she had no idea who was on the other end. Finally, after three or four minutes, she heard her uncle say "thanks, bye" and hang the phone back on the wall mount.

"Alexa?" He called, sounding more concerned than angry. The tiny blonde poked her head out of her room and called back up the stairs.

"Yeah?"

"Come here for a minute, please."

Alexa's brow furrowed with worry. This didn't sound like the easygoing uncle she was used to. Slipping out her bedroom door and lightly running up the stairs, she immediately could tell something was wrong.

"So, I may need you to watch the twins in the morning."

The tiny blonde's heart sank. She'd been hoping desperately that she'd be able to spend the next day with Dean and her new friends, but watching her cousins would almost certainly mean she'd miss a substantial part of the day's activities.

Seeing Alexa's countenance sink, John took a sympathetic facial expression. "Mickie said she would try to get a sitter for after lunch. That way you can still have some fun."

Alexa tried to project a brave face. "What happened, Uncle John? What's wrong?"

Cena sighed deeply, not entirely sure where to begin. "I probably shouldn't tell you this, but it's gonna be out in a couple hours." He shook his head, truly affected by what he'd just been told on the telephone.

Alexa sat at one of the tables around the kitchen, bracing himself for whatever John was about to tell her.

John took another deep, steadying breath. "A couple of old-timers were fishing Lanier this morning. They got their line caught on something they thought was a log or some relic from when they flooded the lake."

Alexa nodded, her stomach beginning to sink. She could see how this news was affecting John.

"They pulled up a license plate." He chuckled, though there was no humor in it. "That happens all the time, and they almost threw it back in, but the registration sticker was still current. One of the guys was a State Police officer for decades, so he knew to call the plate number in."

"Who's was it?" Alexa inquired gently, suspecting she already knew the answer.

"It was the plate for Mike Mizanin's vehicle."

Alexa fought back a tear. She'd met Mizanin all of three times over the summer, but the hope that maybe Mike and Maryse were just somewhere starting a new life together had strangely comforted Alexa. She'd been surrounded by so much death at such a young age that the notion of two more students her age meeting their eternal fate was just too much.

She felt the tears coming before she even realized she was crying. Seeing her reaction, John stepped around the table and wrapped one of his massive arms around his niece's shoulder.

"Hey," he gently spoke to Alexa. "That doesn't necessarily mean anything happened to them. We're gonna have the State Police diving in the lake tomorrow, seeing what they find. We'll know more after that, okay?"

Alexa did her best to wipe the tears from her eyes and compose herself. "And that's why you need me to watch the twins?"

John nodded resolutely. "Yeah. Mickie's gone for the day, but she's gonna do everything she can to get a sitter for tomorrow. We understand that you socializing is a good thing, and we're not trying to deprive you of that. We're just in a jam."

Alexa nodded, her eyes now bloodshot from the tears. "I know. And I'm always happy to help."

With that, John opened the fridge and scanned the shelves for anything edible. Seeing nothing appealing, he stood straight up and gave Alexa an inquisitive gaze.

"You wanna order pizza? None of this looks good at all."

Alexa chuckled. "Yeah," she murmured.

As John took the phone from the receiver and dialed the familiar number, Alexa tried to shove down the growing dread that she was going to miss her full day with Dean. But, she reasoned, her family had to come first. No matter how inconvenient…

"Shit." That was the prevailing thought on Dean's mind. He'd gotten an emotionally draining voicemail from Alexa, compassionately explaining the situation and expressing her deep regret for missing at least the morning session of boat day.

"I should do something nice," he observed internally. He couldn't imagine being stuck babysitting three youngsters on his day off. And he knew how excited the tiny blonde had been about this outing, so it hurt him to think about her disappointment.

Alexa had mentioned having to pick up lunch from Ryder's Grill. She wasn't going to be able to take her attention off of three little ones to cook, or even make sandwiches, and two of them were still eating abnormal food, and so preparing a hot lunch for herself or the lives in her care was almost completely out of the question.

Hastily changing into his favorite, well-worn khaki shorts and black "wife beater," Dean jumped into his SUV and headed for Ryder's grill as quickly as could be managed.

Walking into the downtown eatery, Ambrose could immediately tell that it wasn't going to be a normal day in Blue River. There were first responders everywhere, both local and state agencies, and there also appeared to be media crews from all over the Southeast setting up camp in the cozy eatery.

Weaving through the sea of people, Ambrose made his way gingerly to the hostess stand, where Mickie James was hurriedly scribbling on a scratch piece of paper, doing her best to cobble together a working seating chart and server rotation.

"Hey Mickie," Dean began, brightly, as if to send a message that he was there on a task that might make her life easier.

"Hey, Dean, what can I do you for?" The older woman returned, in a warm but harangued tone that suggested she was about ten more minutes from quitting this job and walking out the door.

"Well, Alexa left me a message saying she needed to come up here and pick up lunch for her and the kids. I figured I'd grab it for her and take it out to your house on my way to the lake."

Despite her overwhelming workload, Mickie James managed a bright, genuine grin. Dean was certain he could see the shared genetics between Mickie and Alexa when she smiled like that.

"That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard, Dean," Mickie lilted, her Georgia drawl more prevalent than ever.

The young man did his best not to blush. "Eh, it's whatever. She'd do the same for me."

Mickie smiled and nodded. "She really would." She turned toward the large rectangular window where orders came out from the kitchen either to the servers or Mickie herself, who handled most of the "to go" business.

"I was gonna order lunch for me, too," Dean asserted, prompting a big grin from Mickie.

"Good. Get whatever you want. I get a 50$ comp credit to do what I want with. As long as you don't get the Filet Mignon, I can cover your lunch, Lexi's, and the kids."

Dean tried not to blush at this kind gesture from the guardian of his love interest, before giving a perfunctory "no, I can't let you do that."

Mickie waved him off. "Happy to do it." Her grin grew wider as she leaned closer to the boy. "It's not like I'm gonna eat here today. I'm so sick of this food…"

She trailed off as Dean ordered his usual; Double burger with everything and Fries, and even charmed his way into a free large soda. Less than twenty minutes later, Dean was loaded down with styrofoam "to go" containers stacked neatly in oversized white plastic bags. Smiling to himself at the thought of Alexa being as happy to see him as he was her, Dean hopped back in his trustworthy vehicle and hit the road.

It was not a long drive out to the Cena home, but to Dean it felt like an eternity. One, because he was hungry, and the smell of all that "to go" food was driving him absolutely up the wall, and two; because he was extremely anxious to see the girl who'd captured his heart

As soon as Dean threw his trusty SUV into park, the flitter in his stomach grew to a crescendo the likes of which he'd never felt before.

"This is stupid," he reminded himself. "You're Dean fucking Ambrose. Don't be a little bitch. Just go in, say 'hi,' and make sure nothing bad happens. You've got this."

He quickly grabbed the two giant stacks of to-go containers and strode toward the well-worn houses front door, taking giant steps in an effort to save even the slightest bit of time.

As he made his way onto the porch and to the front door, Dean could already hear the sounds of unruly children from inside the house. At least one of the twins was crying, and the television was blaring with some sort of juvenile programming. Steeling himself for whatever awaited him on the other side of that door, Dean knocked, firmly but as civilly as he could, and grimaced as he made out the tiny form of Brynlee Cena jogging to open the door.

"Hello," she said, offering no other verbiage or other information as to what was happening in the house. Finally, her eyes lit up as she recognized the young man.

"You kissed Lexi the other night. At the door. I saw you."

Doing his best to suppress a laugh, Dean decided to try to play it straight with the little girl.

"That was me. At least, I hope it was. It would suck for there to be two guys kissing Lexi at the door."

Brynlee shook her head in the negative, causing her unruly dark blonde hair to orbit her face chaotically. "Nope. Just you."

Dean nodded, slightly unnerved by this eight year old. "So, uh, where is Lexi?"

Bryn furrowed her brow, causing Dean's heart to skip a beat thinking maybe she was going to deliver bad news. "She's in the kitchen. With the twins. She said they were being shitty so I could watch tv until lunch."

Despite himself, Dean chuckled. Bryn reminded him of Bayley when they were that age, and the child's lack of filter amused him.

"Okay, can I go in?"

Brynlee nodded. "Sure. Just make sure the twins don't yell at you. They're loud today."

Snickering again, Ambrose walked with the little girl from the front hallway into the kitchen.

What he saw there both amused and terrified him. Both of the toddlers were in high chairs, though no food was in front of them, and Dean was sure he smelled at least one dirty diaper. In the corner, trying not to cry, was his tiny love interest.

"Hi," she began, weakly. "I was trying to change Brendon and he bit me. Then Ansleigh started screaming and so then he started too. We're all hungry and Mickie said she was coming back at lunch but now it's too busy at the restaurant so she can't and I'm tired and dirty and… fuck!"

With that, the tears began. Alexa was clearly at her wits end with three young children by herself. She'd only meant to watch them for a couple hours, and now she was overwhelmed by the neediness of twin toddlers.

"No problem. Which one is poopy?"

Alexa managed a small laugh, despite her emotional outburst. "Brendon." She pointed toward the toddler in blue.

"Okay. I'll handle the doodoo. You get lunch served and I'll handle this." He looked up at Alexa as he pulled the screaming child from his high chair. "Everything in there?" He continued, gesturing at the door to the family room.

"Yeah, Brynlee can show you everything. Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Alexa continued, a twinge of hope now in her voice.

Dean snickered. "Hell yeah. I'm like the Luke Skywalker of wrapping ass." Alexa let out a louder laugh, and Brynlee covered her own mouth to keep from laughing, as the oldest of the three children led Ambrose into the baby's room…

An hour or so later, one would've never deduced that there'd been any turmoil in the James-Cena home. Having been fed, Ansleigh and Brendon were laying snug in their cribs, though they'd soon outgrow them, and Brynlee was sitting quietly on the floor, perusing a picture book as The Little Mermaid blared through the tv. Dean sat on the spacious sofa, making sure everything stayed copacetic while Alexa took a few minutes to shower and change out of her gross clothes.

For Dean, the only hard part of missing boat day had been that he'd already deposited his alcohol on board the previous evening, and he was a hundred percent positive that Roman and Seth, among others, were burning through his inventory without him.

"Worth it," he thought to himself. The look of affectionate gratitude on Alexa's face when he'd walked through the door with two large plastic grocery sacks worth of lunch made his heart skip several beats, and the genuine smile and quiet "thank you" when he told her he'd watch Bryn while she showered and changed made the whole ordeal seem worth the trouble.

He was just starting to get drowsy when a high-pitched, genuinely terrified scream came from Alexa's downstairs bedroom, where Dean assumed she was dressing after her shower. Without a thought to his personal regard, Ambrose bounded down the stairs, not considering what state of undress Alexa might or might not have been in.

Not bothering to knock, and never having actually been in the room before, Dean threw the door to Alexa's bedroom, eyes wide and frenzied at what could possibly be happening. Whatever had scared Alexa was gone. There was no sign of anything out of the ordinary, other than Alexa having turned pale white and staring frantically out of her bedroom window. Her room was in the basement, but she did have a rather large window right at what would be ground level if one were looking from the outside of the house.

"What happened?" Dean asked, moving quickly toward his love interest. Alexa couldn't answer right away, but she managed to point a shaking finger at the window.

"Someone was out there?" Dean deduced, furrowing his brow and gazing out the window.

Alexa nodded, wiping tears from her eyes and doing her best to regain composure.

"Yes," she finally managed to blurt out. "They were dressed in black and staring in."

"Did you get a look at their face?" Dean fired back, already formulating a plan in his head.

Alexa shook her head in the negative. "No. They were wearing a black hoodie and some kind of mask that kept their face covered."

"Well, shit," Dean replied, though it was mostly a reply to himself. "Okay. Go upstairs and get the twins and take them into the den. Brynlee's there watching a movie. The little ones can sleep on the sofa, right? They're big enough."

Alexa nodded, though she still couldn't find enough poise to talk much yet. "Okay," Dean added resolutely. "I'm gonna go outside and have a look around. Call your uncle and make sure he knows there was a prowler out here."

With that, Alexa wrapped her wet hair in a towel, though she was fully dressed, and bounded up the stairs quickly, determined to keep her aunt's children safe. Dean looked down at Alexa's trusty dog, who'd been fast asleep for the last several hours before being rudely awakened by his owner.

"Okay, Mace, don't let me die. I got a big crush on your mom and I don't want to get murdered before I get a chance to take her to Homecoming, cool?"

Staring up at him, the brown dog gave Dean a measure of comfort. It wasn't that Dean was afraid of anyone, but this wasn't his home and he had no real idea of what the terrain behind the house looked like. Taking one deep breath, Dean stepped through the door into the backyard and headed out to the edge of the woods.

…..

It didn't take the young man long to find something odd. The backyard was completely deserted. There was no sign of any trespassing. Not on the surface. But Dean decided to take one look at the window and the ground right around it before he headed inside, and that's where he made a thoroughly disturbing discovery.

At first glance, it appeared to be nothing more than an old piece of paper. Charred, folded over, and smelling of smoke. Dean turned the picture in his hands, and discovered a photo of a family of four; a husband, wife, and a son and daughter. The girl in the picture looked vaguely familiar, though it took Dean a while to figure out who it was.

"Lexi," he muttered to himself, quickly scanning the faces in the portrait. The entire family was wearing matching shirts, with some sort of abbreviation or something on the left breast, but Dean couldn't make out what the inscription said.

Taking one final look around the backyard, Dean called Macy back to his side. The brown puppy had imprinted Dean as a good friend, even if she were still more loyal to Alexa, but even the dog could feel the eerie presence around the house.

"Let's go, Mace. Make sure Lexi and the kids are okay."

Dean stared at the picture again, now convinced that Alexa's family was the subject of that particular portrait. What eluded Dean, however, was why that was significant, and why anyone would want to scare the hell out of the beautiful little cheerleader Dean was so desperately trying to get closer to…

….

"I called Uncle John," Alexa spat as Dean strode through the living room door.

It impressed Ambrose how quickly Alexa had taken initiative when it came to the safety of her cousins. As he'd requested, Ansleigh and Brendon were conked out on the sofa, their little bodies splayed out as they remained in blissful slumber. Brynlee was drowsy, but hadn't yet succumbed to her fatigue, fighting vigorously to stay awake during the action.

"See anything?" Alexa finally inquired, almost afraid of the answer to her perfectly reasonable question.

"No, not really," Dean replied honestly. "I found this picture, though. I think this is you."

Dean produced the brittle paper from his pocket, and the color drained from Alexa's face as she recalled where she remembered where she'd seen this particular composite before.

"Dean, this was in my old house. In Ohio. Where did you get this?"

Now the anxiety was in the pit of Ambrose's stomach. If what Alexa said was true, that meant that someone who had intimate knowledge of what had taken place in the last two years of Alexa's life had come back to make her current situation untenable.

"It was in the grass right outside your window. I have no idea what it is. I think this little girl is you, though," Dean gave back carefully. It would not have behooved him at that moment to ask more questions about a subject that was as sensitive to Alexa as this was, but there was still that nagging feeling in Dean's consciousness that at some point he was going to have to ask Alexa about all this.

"It is me," Alexa confirmed, staring deeply into the picture. "That's my mom, dad, brother, and me. But I have no idea when this was taken."

Shrugging his shoulders, Dean shook his head and raised his eyebrows. "I dunno, but I know those are cute matching shirts."

Alexa shook her head slowly, puzzled by this development. "How did someone in Georgia get their hands on stuff from my house in Ohio?"

Alexa was holding herself together, for the moment, but Dean could tell she was shaking from the stark interruption to her already chaotic day.

"Hey, what'd John say?" Dean continued, trying to keep Alexa's mind occupied.

Alexa's radiant face scrunched into a frown, clearly not happy with the answer she'd gotten during her phone call. "He can't come back right now because he's literally on the middle of the lake with the dive team, but he said the closest available unit will be here any minute."

Dean rolled his eyes. In his experiences with local law enforcement, there had been no reason to trust their punctuality or expertise. "Maybe the fact that it's Cena's house will make them get out here faster," Dean reasoned to himself. Externally, however, he simply gave the tiny girl a tight-lipped smile and tried his best to reassure her.

"I'm sure they're on the way."

With a deep exhale, Alexa plopped herself on the loveseat opposite the overstuffed sofa the twins were sleeping on. She glanced over at Brynlee, who'd finally decided that this "awake" thing was for the birds, and had laid down on the opposite side of the couch as her siblings and gone right to sleep, with Macy curled up somewhere in the middle.

Seeing this, Alexa patted the cushion next to her, non-verbally beckoning Dean to come sit next to her. As he did, leaning heavily into the corner of said loveseat, Alexa sighed again, pointedly, and leaned her head on Dean's shoulder.

Afraid to ruin the moment by speaking, Dean simply let the girl sit there and collect her composure a minute. He began turning his head toward Alexa to speak to her, but as he did he felt the sinewy arms of Alexa Bliss encircle his neck and her face press against his.

They'd kissed before, in the strictest definition of the word. She'd spent the last week pecking him on various parts of his face, and had come close to breaking a barrier when he'd driven her home the most recent time. But this was different. This was two weeks of tension, an eternity for high school juniors without sufficient ways to occupy their time, all released in one single engagement. Her lips locked to his, a happy, relieved moan emanating from deep within her, before she opened her lips and playfully intermingled her tongue with Dean's for the very first time.

For his part, Ambrose was just trying not to say or do anything that might bring an early conclusion to this encounter. He'd played this moment out a thousand times in his head since the day he'd met Alexa, but none of those scenarios involved a Disney movie quietly droning from the tv or several of his love interest's young cousins in the room all around them.

For several seconds there was only the sound of the television. The movie Brynlee had been watching was currently at the part where the dumber than necessary prince had begun to figure out that the girl he was marrying wasn't actually the gorgeous mermaid he'd encountered at the film's beginning. Only dialogue from animated crabs and sea witches broke the silence. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, and yet strangely, in Dean's opinion, not nearly long enough, Alexa broke their first real, legitimate kiss with a small giggle and sigh, pressing her forehead to Dean's and speaking quietly.

"That was… really nice," she admitted, before taking Dean's face in her palms and kissing him again, this time on his bottom lip. "I've been waiting to do that since that night you took me for a walk in the woods."

"Well, that was as good as I anticipated," Dean fired back, now grinning wider than he had in weeks. Alexa giggled, a breathy exercise that gave Dean's heart a flutter, before he reciprocated Alexa's earlier action and laid a kiss of his own on the blonde, who had fully shifted into his lap.

A few minutes of absolute splendor followed, with the pair of young lovers intertwined in a passionate kiss, stopping only to shift position or make sure the kids were still asleep. It had occurred to Dean, even while the blood was rushing from his head to occupy more recreational parts of his body, that Alexa's hand was tugging at the front of his shirt, and he felt her warm hands against his skin.

She giggled again, her face turning beet red. "We better stop. There's little kids in here, and I might not be able to control myself."

Ambrose nodded, though he wasn't completely happy to comply. His disappointment was chased off by the sound of the Cena-James' doorbell, reminding Dean that the police had been sent out to the home.

"Shit," Dean protested, helping Alexa slide to one side of him. "I forgot they were coming."

"Me too," Alexa chimed in breathily. "I forgot that someone was leering into my window like an hour ago. I was finally starting to have some fun."

The tiny girl stood up, bending over to plant a playful kiss on Dean's lips before walking toward the door. "C'mon," she implored her visitor, "let's get this over with."

….

Alexa had never seen the young man in uniform standing at her front door. For that matter, neither had Alexa had made the acquaintance of several staffers, being that she lived with one of Blue River's longest tenured deputies, but the youthful face and blonde hair of Tyler Breeze was completely unfamiliar to Alexa Bliss.

"Hey. You're John's niece?" The officer asked, not sounding particularly interested in the answer.

"Yeah," Alexa responded with trepidation. "You must be new. I don't know you."

It stood out to Dean how guarded Alexa seemed to be about interacting with this particular officer. "Must be a story there," he observed to himself.

"I am," Tyler responded cordially, giving off an air of youthful professionalism. "With everything going on recently, the Sheriff's Department signed off on hiring some extra officers. They said if I did well it could be a permanent position, so… what's going on?"

Alexa clung to Dean's elbow as he briefly recounted what had happened a few minutes before. The peeping Tom, the odd picture found in the yard, the odd noises in the woods. Tyler listened intently, periodically making notes in a little pad he had with him. Finally, as Dean wrapped up his tale, Breeze exhaled deeply and contemplated his next move. After a moment, Breeze nodded resolutely, as though he'd come to some sort of conclusion about his next move.

"Okay, I'm gonna go take a lap around the house, maybe check the woods and make sure no one is out there. You guys stay in here with the kids and make sure they're calm until Deputy Cena gets back. I'll let you know if I see anything and then wait in the squad car until either John or Mickie gets here. Okay?"

Dean and Alexa both nodded and closed the heavy front door as Officer Breeze strode over the creaky boards that composed the Cena's front porch. Approximately twenty minutes later, Officer Breeze was back, informing the couple that he'd seen very little in the way of a potential intruder, but that he was as good as his word and would sit in the car and wait until one of the adult residents returned.

"You sure you don't want to wait in here with us?" Dean asked the Officer. Breeze shook his head. "Nah, Kentucky's playing Louisville and it's on the 's a big deal where I'm from, so I'll listen to that. If I need to pee or something I'll knock on the door, fair?"

Dean nodded and exhaled deeply for what felt like the hundredth time that day. Locking the deadbolt on the door, Ambrose glanced outside the window one more time before assessing that the five of them were as safe as they could possibly be with a Police car in the driveway.

As he returned to the den, Ambrose couldn't help but give one of his famous half-smiles. Alexa was back on the sofa they'd occupied previously, only this time with a pillow from her bed on one end of the large overstuffed Davenport.

"I have a favor to ask you, Dean. Is that okay?"

"Anything," Ambrose fired back before he could stop himself.

Alexa grinned brightly at him, clearly flattered by the gesture. "I'm really tired. Bryn and the twins are out. Will you cuddle me so I can get some rest? I'm having trouble sleeping, but I always feel so safe with you, and if you stay I bet I could fall asleep, at least for a while."

Dean gave a big exaggerated facial expression that was intended to make it look like he was deep in thought. "Hmmm. That's tempting. I do have one condition."

"Name it," Alexa cooed.

"That you go to Homecoming with me."

Alexa's heart skipped several beats. This was a moment that she'd been running through in her mind again and again since she'd first gotten to know the handsome linebacker. Every scenario possible had played out in her mind a hundred times before she'd gotten to this point, and now here it was. Before she could succumb completely to her impulses to jump him, however, a notion occurred to the devastatingly gorgeous young woman.

"Only if you do something for me."

"What's that?" Dean inquired, a mix of curiosity, anxiety, and hesitation welling up within him.

"Aunt Mickie plays every year at the last day of the Fall Festival, apparently."

Dean nodded his head. "Yeah. The James Gang. They're pretty good."

Alexa scoffed. "I've heard. Anyway, she wants me to open for her, and she said I should get you guys to be my band."

No sooner had the words left her lips before Dean started nodding his head. "Absolutely. Elohssa will be there."

Alexa grimaced, dreading this next part. "Well, that's the thing, she said under no circumstances can you keep the name if you do the gig."

Dean tried not to fly off the handle as he digested this news. As irritating as it was that everyone kept telling him his name was terrible, he also wanted Alexa to stay in the mood she was in, AND he really wanted to play that gig, so Ambrose just swallowed the mild anger and smiled.

"I mean, that kinda sucks, but I can live with it. Did you have another name in mind?"

Alexa shrugged coyly, trying to pretend she hadn't been thinking of this very thing for at least two weeks. "I was thinking maybe 'the Blissfits.'?"

Dean tried to keep a straight face. Naming the band after Alexa, even temporarily, would mean that it wasn't officially his group anymore. That notion scared Dean, but he also had zero reason to suspect that Alexa would try to steal his friends from him.

All these thoughts ran through Dean's head while at the same time he noticed that Alexa was waiting for an answer. Pushing his doubt aside, Dean steeled himself, smiled, and exhaled deeply.

"Blissfits sounds great. As long as it's only temporary, right?" Ambrose asked, winking playfully at his crush.

"Of course," Alexa acquiesced sweetly, tilting her head and smiling brightly. "Now, about that snuggle I was promised…"

Alexa laid back down on the large sofa, thanking her lucky stars that the twins were as good of sleepers as they were, and that Bryn had worn herself out earlier in the day. She felt her insides warm as Dean laid down behind her, sliding his muscly arms around her as he felt her press her back to his front. Turning her head as far over her right shoulder as she could, she reached back, feathering her hand along Dean's jaw, before kissing him deeply again.

"For today, hands stay between the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer, okay?" Alexa requested, a soft and affectionate half-whisper as the pair relaxed. Feeling Dean's head nod, the perky blonde allowed herself to let her guard down, drifting off into what was the most restful sleep she'd had in months…

Some hours later, both thoroughly exhausted from the insanity of the day, John Cena and Mickie James-Cena both traipsed through the front door, both instantly noting how quiet it was before scurrying through the house to locate their children.

"In here?" John called to his wife in a muted tone. Bounding up the stairs, Mickie had to bite her lip to terminate the audible "awww" she felt forming in her mouth. The twins were dead asleep, both of them sprawled on their backs on the couch, a small row of throw pillows keeping them from falling on the floor. Brynlee was on said floor, her eyes also firmly closed in restful slumber, the four fingers of her left hand wedged firmly in her mouth as she slept.

Alexa and Dean were a different chapter of the same story. Alexa had turned her body to face her new man's sometime after they'd laid down, and her serene face now pressed against Dean's chest, their breaths almost perfectly in sync.

"That's really sweet," Mickie whispered, the grin on her face betraying her inner joy.

"Yeah, so long as they've got clothes on," John quipped in return.

Mickie smacked her husband lightly on his thickly muscled bicep, giving a brief sigh of faux exasperation as she rolled her eyes. "We should let them sleep. I know Alexa had a rough day, and Dean was such a champ to come over here and stay so she wouldn't be alone." Mickie recalled the panicked phone message she'd gotten from Alexa before the Sheriff's Department had been dispatched to the Cena house. "That could've been bad."

John nodded, though he was clearly not completely comfortable with a teenage boy canoodling with his niece while under his roof.

"Yeah," he finally agreed. "Let them rest. I have a feeling with what's gonna come out tomorrow that it might be a while before anyone here sleeps well…"

Sorry for the delay on that. Between some drama on another story, my kid being born, and the world wanting to completely shit itself, I just haven't had tons of time. I found a bead of inspiration this chapter, though, so more regular updates should be coming.