"And you're certain that you don't want to just stay here?" CJ asked as she got dressed for physical therapy. "Beth isn't going to be offended that you want to actually rest on your days off."

"CJ, I'm sure. Believe it or not, I have fun playing with Lyric and the dogs." Dean stated as he pulled his shirt on. "Even though the little shit puked on me, I like her."

"If you're lucky, she'll puke on you again." She teased as she finished tying her shoes, standing so that she was face to chest with Dean.

"I've never really noticed how short you were." Dean commented with a smirk, staring down CJ with a playful look in those baby blue eyes. She liked that look because it was something she rarely saw, even when she was practically attached to him for about a month.

"I am five foot five, for your information." She spoke proudly, jabbing him in the chest. She thought that would at least make him wince or make him say ow, but he only chuckled instead which brought a small pout onto the blonde's face.

"Did I offend the queen?" He asked, smirk still on his face as he looked down at CJ. He knew that she may have actually been offended, since she had a habit of taking offense when she felt that she wasn't being taken seriously.

"Yes, you did." She stated simply, pressing her palm flat on his chest and dragging it down the front of his shirt. "But you can make it up to me."

"And how do you suggest I do that?" Dean asked as CJ hooked her index fingers into his belt loops when his hands came to rest on her hips. "I'm up for anything, your highness."

"I can't be late for physical therapy, Sir Ambrose, but I've got some ideas to put into place once we get back here tonight."

"I don't think I can wait that long. I think I'll need time to prepare." He mused, taking one hand off her hip to scratch his chin. He hadn't shaved since Monday and CJ was definitely enjoying the scruffy look. Clean-cut Ambrose was one level of sexy, but scruffy Ambrose was a different level of sexy and just what CJ needed at this time.

"I'll let you in on my ideas if you let me in on SmackDown."

"Not happening, sunshine, but nice try. Ready to go?"

"Mhm. I assume that you're driving?"

"Yeah. Did you want me to drive you to-"

"I can make the drive from the house to Physical Therapy. I wish you guys would stop underestimating me." CJ muttered as she removed herself from Dean before exiting the bedroom, Dean hot on her heels. His arms snaked around her waist and he held her tight to his chest in the hall, waiting until she stopped squirming to murmur lowly into her ear.

"We're not underestimating you. We care about you and don't want to see you hurt again. There's a difference." He clarified, trying to defuse the argument before it really got started.

"I'm not going to get hurt again. The fact that you all assume that I would is offensive."

"I'm not doing this with you CJ." Dean muttered, letting her go and walking around her to get her car keys.

"Doing what?"

"Having this argument when there's no reason to. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah."

They were both in a mood after their exchange in the hallway, making the drive to Beth's a quiet one. The radio was on, but the volume was low enough that the silence between the two lovers was still very obvious. CJ didn't want to turn it up and Dean wasn't sure how, so they left it like it was. The air between them was tense, to the point where a steak knife wouldn't be enough to cut it, and Dean didn't like it.

He didn't like the thought of her being upset with him in general, especially over something so petty. There were other things that she could be pissed off about, and she was choosing to be pissy because people cared about her. He wished he was so used to being cared about that it pissed him off at times, because he would've been grateful that somebody cared enough about whether or not he got hurt. He'd still try to do whatever and risk injury, but he'd be grateful that, out of the six billion people on the planet, just one person cared enough to try to prevent him from possibly injuring himself.

CJ's main problem in life, other than her constant fear of being abandoned, was that she had a tendency to get stuck on herself. This led to not even wanting to look at things from a different perspective or even think about the feelings of others when it came to the situation. She was officially offended, and that's what mattered to her at the moment. She wouldn't even look over at Dean, despite feeling his eyes on her whenever the car stopped at a red light.

In her opinion, he had to man up and apologize for underestimating her and assuming that she'd manage to hurt herself while driving. If she could fight off fourteen women with a torn ACL and win, driving on a repaired one shouldn't be a big deal. Especially to Dean, since he didn't try to talk her out of defending the title, which everyone called "career suicide" after she had pulled off the miracle. She had been driving herself before he showed up and she'll be driving herself after he left on Saturday. After she drove him to the airport.

He parked in the driveway at Adam and Beth's, looking over at CJ as she checked her phone for the time. She quickly unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car, meeting him at the driver's side. Dean pinned her to the side of the convertible with his body, cupping her cheeks with his hands to force her into making eye contact with him. He could see the irritation in her eyes, but he wasn't going to step back. Not until she knew that he wasn't taking her shit.

"I'm going to be late." CJ mumbled, trying to force him to back off.

"You're being a little shit and I'm not going to take this from you CJ." Dean spoke in a low tone, trying not to show exactly how much she pissed him off. "You don't get to be mad at me because I care about you. That's not how this works."

"How does this work, then?" CJ asked, looking at him expectantly. Dean wasn't expecting her to ask how it worked, because he wasn't sure. He just knew that she wasn't allowed to be a bitch for a dumb reason.

"I'm not too sure. But you can't get pissy with me because you're jumping to stupid conclusions."

"So, you having no faith in my ability to keep my knee healthy is a stupid conclusion?"

"Yes, because I never said that CJ. If I didn't have faith in you, I wouldn't have given you the option to drive. Believe that."

"Is that your tagline for everything?" CJ asked with a small smile tugging at her lips. She knew that they were having a serious conversation, but she couldn't help it.

"Just about. But seriously, I don't want you mad at me for things I can't control. I've been trying my hardest to protect you for over a year and I've cared about you for about six months. That doesn't just shut off, and I don't want it to."

"I'm sorry, okay?" CJ whispered, not sure what she was apologizing for but desperate to get out of this situation. Feelings were not to be discussed in general, let alone out in the open. "I'm bad at this whole thing. But I really need to go, Dean."

"Alright. I'm sorry for flipping out on you, honeybee."

"It's fine. We can talk about it later." CJ assured as Dean stepped back and let her into the driver's seat. He didn't look back as she started her car and she was grateful, watching him walk up to the front door as she backed out of the driveway.

Beth had watched the whole scene between Dean and CJ and, thanks to them being close to the open window, she heard everything too. Dean had a solid point, and CJ was running from any talk about feelings again. Judging by the way Dean was constantly running his hands through his hair, he was kicking himself for her obvious retreat when he shouldn't be. He was trying his best to get her to open up to him, he wasn't going about it the best possible way, but he had chosen a good route to go about it. CJ was the hang up in this, not Dean.

"You look stressed." Beth observed aloud, watching Dean as scratched Tundra with Hope and Branny trying to get comfortable in his lap. Dean was the shiny new dog toy and they all wanted a piece of him.

"Women, Beth, I'm telling ya. CJ is going to be the death of me. We take a couple steps forward and something just halts everything. First it was Seth, then it was her injury, now it's just-"

"Her?" Beth cut him off and Dean sighed, but nodded. "Opening her up completely is going to be a challenge, especially since she isn't sure about anything outside a wrestling ring or a gym. People aren't her strong suit, but you're different."

"How so?"

"You two relate to each other in some way, and because of that you two have a connection. I've seen it. But you need to remember that patience is the key when dealing with CJ. Make sure she knows that you're not just going to up and leave her one morning and never speak to her again." Beth explained, standing up from her seat on the couch when Lyric's cries could be heard through the baby monitor. "Can you let the dogs out into the backyard?"

"Sure thing."

CJ's head wasn't completely where it should've been while she was working with her physical therapist. She was already embarrassed because Dean's chat and traffic made her fifteen minutes late, but her therapist had to keep repeating instructions because CJ wasn't paying full attention. She couldn't get what Dean said about caring for her out of her head. It just didn't make sense to her, and of course she was starting to overthink it because that's what she did.

Dean basically said that he didn't want to stop caring about her, which possibly meant that he wanted some kind of future with her. She could picture a future with Dean, but she wasn't sure if that future involved kids or not. She didn't even know how to ask a question like that, since they both agreed on exclusively fucking and cuddling. She knew that there were feelings put into the sex, since there's no way no-strings sex had that kind of passion put into it by both parties. It was almost electric and she loved that about Dean.

But there was also that electricity with Seth. And with Seth CJ had all her questions answered. He loved her. He wanted to be with her for the long haul. Marriage, kids, the whole shebang. If she wanted it, he'd do his best to make it happen because he loved her that much, and he'd told her all of this himself. CJ would be lying if she said she didn't feel something for the two-toned superstar. What it was, she didn't know. Sure he had a tendency to be pushy and sometimes ran his mouth when he let his temper get the best of him, but he was there for her at a time where she needed a friend who wouldn't judge her for pulling a disappearing act before Dean was appointed to be her protector, and that made for the temper and pushy nature.

She had some thinking to do, and made up a lame excuse to leave physical therapy early so she could drive somewhere to think.

Since Dean wasn't to accustomed to CJ's new schedule, he wasn't concerned when four thirty rolled around and CJ wasn't at the house yet. Beth, on the other hand, knew damn well that CJ tried her best to be punctual and would call ahead if she was falling behind schedule. So she quickly taught Dean how to feed and properly burp Lyric before heading into her bedroom to call CJ to find out where she was, since there was no way she'd spend extra time at physical therapy. She didn't want to put Dean into a panicked state while he was in unfamiliar territory, so she stayed calm while she called CJ's phone repeatedly. Each time she was sent immediately to voicemail and eventually she just gave up and called Adam. He'd know what to do.

"What's up, honey?"

"Have you heard from CJ, today?" Beth wasn't beating around the bush. She was way too worried about the Canadian to even consider trying to sugar coat anything.

"No. Did something happen with Dean?"

"He's here and he's fine. She's not home from physical therapy, she didn't call ahead, and I called her phone seven times but it went straight to voicemail." Beth explained, lightly tugging on a strand of her hair. "I know she's a grown woman and perfectly capable but I'm worried, Adam."

"I'm worried, too. Don't get Dean all worked up about it, though. I'll try calling her once we get off the phone, okay?" Beth always admired his ability to keep his cool in panic worthy situations. But he was an actor, should she expect any less?

"Alright. I don't mean to bother you while you're at work, but-"

"This is an emergency and I'll take care of it, alright?"

"Okay. Thank you, Adam."

"I'm her dad, it's my job. Thank you for calling me. I love you."

"I love you, too." Beth barely got those four words out before Adam hung up and she sighed as she walked over to the window. She knew that CJ was fine, but she just wished that the younger woman would give a little bit of warning before pulling off a vanishing act.

I've had to keep a close eye on my dog these past couple days because he had been acting weird(hes fine now though) so the only time I really had to write were while he was sleeping and while I was waiting for him to get done at the vet and groomer yesterday, so hopefully it's not too terrible.

Thank you Kdaniels270, angelsdee327, Dixiewinxwrites12, Sarcastic Nightmare, TaijiaK, nattiebroskette, Cybella, ArtisticLullaby, Tracy-Robinson47, UntilNeverDawns, ChelleLew, and AshleighxAwesome for reviewing the last chapter! That one was probably the most challenging one for me to write so far, so all the feedback really made my days.