Dean was watching Batista carefully. Dave sat at the opposite end of the bar, nursing a gin and tonic that's the dishwater blonde had anonymously ordered for him. It wasn't spiked or anything, since Dean wasn't trying to kill the guy. Just scare him a little.

Regal had verbally ripped Dean a new asshole over the phone because of what happened to CJ. It really wasn't Dean's fault, because he couldn't have eyes everywhere, but Regal had made him believe that it was. Dean didn't like being the reason that CJ got hurt, and her career would be set back a few weeks because of it only made him feel worse. She looked so excited about the title shot, not in the face but her eyes told the story, and it was postponed because he was the shittiest shield in history. Regal told him so.

Slapping a twenty on the counter, Dean hurried out of the bar once he realized that Dave was leaving. He pulled his hood up over his baseball hat to help conceal his identity as he walked up behind Dave and slipped a note into his pocket. One that he knew would bother The Animal once he had read it. But he only knew this because Regal had told him what needed to be in it.

Dean hated his dependence on Regal when it came to the CJ situation. He knew nothing but names to watch out for, while Regal knew everything that had to do it with. Sure the old Englishman said that he didn't know much other than what he had told Dean, but Dean knew that Regal had made a career out of being a manipulator. Dean knew that as much as he owed Regal, his mentor couldn't be trusted. And that bothered him.

Another thing that bothered him was Seth being so forward with CJ and practically forcing her to let him take care of her. Seth had proved that if he was pissed off enough, he would hurt CJ with his words and that bothered Dean. Seth may have been one of his best friends, but CJ was special to Dean and, in the end, he knew that she would be an exception to the classic "bros before hoes" rule.

Dean didn't understand what he felt for CJ, but he knew that it made him uncomfortable. He knew everything about her, yet barely knew her, and he just wanted to be near her to smell that unique shampoo and see those bright eyes. The eyes that were so bright and blue they reminded him of the ocean on a sunny day in August, especially when she was happy about something and they seemed to sparkle. Those eyes were always the first thing he noticed whenever he saw her, and then he checked out her body. She was built like Natalya, but just a tad slimmer, and her chest was a tad smaller but her ass was on point, and Dean loved it when she wore jeans.

Another thing he liked about CJ was that she wasn't a flashy dresser. Rarely wore a dress unless it was to party with the girls or a red carpet event where she had to dress up, instead of the others who wore a tight dress and insanely high heels whenever possible. CJ stuck to the classic jeans, a tshirt, and matching pair of sneakers combo, and her shirts were typically retro WWE/F tshirts that she had managed to get her hands on and liked to subtly show off. One time she had stunned the whole roster with a Red Rooster tshirt, and he had been interested ever since.

His body had been on autopilot while his mind wandered to CJ, and he was blissfully unaware of the fact that his mind had wandered until he had stopped in front of his door. He briefly glanced to her door while he fished in his pocket for his room key, smirking to himself until the image of her getting speared recycled through his mind as he unlocked the door. He regretted watching the replay with Seth and Roman because not only did he see her hit the mat, but he heard her body crash to the mat. The sound of her body hitting the unforgiving canvas paired with the way her eyes shut tight when Dave connected, the way her head hit the mat and, most importantly, the way she laid there almost lifelessly after her eyes had closed.

Over and over and over again.

Dean knew then that he wasn't getting much sleep that night.

CJ wasn't sure how it happened, but she and Seth were laying in her bed together. She knew that she had mentioned something about having trouble breathing and Seth just invited himself in to take care of her to the best of his ability for the night, since the Bellas and Natalya had a Total Divas thing to do and he didn't want her to be alone. He knew that she wouldn't say anything, but he could tell that she was afraid to be alone without being able to breathe regularly.

"Doin' okay?" Seth asked for what seemed like the tenth time that night, and CJ shrugged to the best of her ability.

"Been better." She mumbled into his shirt, inwardly happy that Seth was so forward with her. She really didn't want to be alone, and he was a huge comfort in terms of security. Although the chances of Dave hunting her down and making things worse were slim to none, CJ couldn't help but fear the worst out of The Animal.

"I'm gonna take care of you tonight, CJ. Have you thought about heading up to Syracuse to be with your family?"

"Best just had the baby last month."

"So?" He didn't understand what Beth having the baby had to do with anything.

"I don't want Adam to feel like he has to take care of me, too. My ribs are broken, I'm not." CJ reasoned and Seth nodded, lightly caressing her back.

"I never said you were. Get some sleep, alright?"

"Alright. Good night, Seth."

"Night, CJ." He murmured, pressing a lingering kiss to the top of her head before letting his eyes fall shut. He was trying to get over the fact that he hadn't heard from Ambrose in a while. But Dean was a big boy, he could handle himself.

At least Seth hoped that Dean could handle himself.

Today was a pretty productive personal day for me, when usually I just sleep haha.

Raw was wow. I'm so happy for Paige in making her debut and especially happy that AJ isn't the champ anymore. Words cannot describe the things I feel for the changes in what The Shield attire. The masks will definitely take some warming up to, though.

Big thank yous go out to angelsdee237 and ChelleLew for reviewing the last chapter. I appreciate it.