Chapter 63

Mark was in the kitchen when Brooklynn emerged from the basement, cocking an eyebrow at the look on her face. He had been leaning against the counter, eating a sandwich, before he went back to tinkering with his motorcycle. Being semi-retired from the shop, a 9-5 didn't suit him anymore.

"What's wrong, Lynn?" He asked, frowning as she snatched her keys off the hook on the wall.

"It's okay, this is Mark and he's my spouse. He's trustworthy, you don't have to be afraid of him." Brooklynn kept her voice soft, watching Roman nod hesitantly and turned her gaze to Mark, concern, and worry in her eyes. "Ghost stuff. I have to – um – go call in a body." She went to walk out the front door, but Mark was on her like white on rice, stopping her by standing in her way. "Mark, he's a young man and he needs my help. His name is Roman…and he thinks he was murdered, and he knows where his body is, so he wants me to call it in…"

"Maybe he wants to come with?"

"Would you mind if he did?" Roman shook his head. Brooklynn turned to look at Mark and placed a hand on his chest. "Do you want to come with us to do this?"

Well, that was interesting and Mark studied the ghost thoughtfully. "He's pretty solid." He observed, his eyes narrowing in on the slash marks. Curious if the kid was local, there had been some ruckus about a teen coming up missing, so far… he had been assumed as a runaway. "I'll come with." It had been a while since he had gone out with her for something like this.

"Really?"

She smiled at him, loving him even more if that was possible. One thing about Mark was he always – ALWAYS – supported her gift, including Taker. Though Taker made fun of her about it a time or two and she fully expected it to happen now that they were merged. Mark could only see the aura of the ghosts, not their physical form, as Brooklynn could.

"Yeah, he's pretty tall, young and muscular with grey eyes and black hair. Where's Claira?"

"Claira…" Roman said the name thoughtfully, stroking his black goatee. "Who is she?"

"She's our daughter…do you know her, Roman?"

"Claira Calaway?" Roman waited for the mother to nod and smiled. "Yeah, she's my bro's girl. Dean Ambrose, he's my best friend."

"Oh." If Claira and Dean didn't know about Roman's death, they were about to find out very soon.

Now he couldn't hear the spirit, but the fact that the aura was so intense told him the spirit, the boy, was drawing on Brooklynn's focus. "Roman?" He echoed, beginning to frown. Mark knew that name and from the look on Brooklynn's face… he began cursing under his breath. "Roman Reigns, Lynn? Tall kid, Samoan?" She began nodding and he ran a hand down his face, letting out a long, shaky sigh.

"You know him?"

"Oh shit! Mr. Calaway?"

"YOU know HIM?" She directed that at Roman, amber eyes wide.

Roman nodded solemnly, cracking a sad smile. "Yeah, I met him a few times when I came over here to hang out with Dean and Claira. I knew Claira sounded familiar, but…my memory isn't quite there yet."

"That's normal, but the more you converse with us, the more you'll remember in your…form." Brooklynn knew it was hard to explain, her heartbreaking because this was Dean's friend it sounded like. What the hell was going on?

Why was Roman targeted and killed?

"I still can't believe I'm dead. And I don't even know who could've done it. The only thing I do remember is a voice whispering to me, as I bled to death on the ground, your name. Brooklynn Calaway. That's all I remember…until now." It was weird as more flashes of his life went through Roman, showing and reminding him of friends and loved ones.

Sliding into the truck, they zoomed off down the road moments later and Brooklynn told Mark where to go…where Roman's body was.

Mark was having issues. "Darlin', if… when… we're going to need a story to tell the police when they show up." He was praying the body was somewhere that they could explain 'ambling by' or else they were going to wind up suspects, more like him. Since he did know the kid. "Damn…" Roman's parents, his frown deepened… Claira and Dean. "He doesn't know who murdered him, does he?"

Brooklynn shook her head, already coming up with a cover story for them. It wasn't uncommon for civilians to call in anonymously to report information to the police. Her cell phone rang, making her slightly jump and ignored Mark's arched brow as she answered it, frowning at the sound of Claira sobbing.

"Claira? Claira sweetheart, what's wrong?"

"M-Mom…" Claira stammered, blowing her nose and didn't bother wiping her tears away while trying to console a sobbing Dean. "M-Mom…D-Dean's best friend was found dead this morning…"

"Pull over, Mark," Brooklynn ordered, glancing back at Roman and could see the questions in his eyes. "What was his name, sweetheart?"

"W-What?" Claira was taken back by that question. "R-Roman…Roman Reigns…"

"How did you find out about his death?"

"Mom, what's going on?" Claira demanded, standing up to walk away from Dean for a minute and looked out the window. "His parents called and told Dean they found Roman facedown at some old abandoned construction site on the outskirts of town. You sound like you're not…shocked by this…"

"Sweetheart, I need you and Dean to come to the house." Brooklynn remained calm, knowing panicking and flipping out would not help matters right now.

"Why…?" It suddenly dawned on Claira the reasoning behind her mother's request and she covered her mouth with her hand, fresh tears falling. "You saw him? Is he with you now?"

"Yes."

"We're on our way." The phone went dead a second later.

"Go back home, Mark. Claira and Dean are on their way to the house."

"But my body…"

"It's been recovered, Roman. Your body was found this morning by authorities at an old construction site on the outskirts of town. Your parents were notified, and your family and friends know as well. It will more than likely be on the news tonight…"

Roman felt marginally better because at least his body was recovered. "Wait, an abandoned construction site? I don't remember going anywhere like that…"

"We'll figure out what happened to you, so you can find peace."

Claira was waiting when her parents pulled up, tears streaming down her face as she pushed herself up from the front steps. Dean had gone home after his parents got word of what had happened to Roman, wanting their son home with them. The Ambrose's and Reigns had been friends for several years, and this… this was… she didn't know how to begin describing it. Her eyes widened when she saw what was definitely Roman's spirit alongside her Mom.

"You can see me, Claira?" Roman's jaw dropped when she nodded tearfully. "Holy shit, you can see ghosts?!"

"I-I can't believe this…" Claira covered her mouth with her hand, slowly walking up to him and shook her head in disbelief. "Why? Why did this happen to you?"

"I don't know, Claira. I wish I fucking knew. I don't even remember going to an old construction site! I remember driving to Monica's and that's it…I don't remember anything after that. It's all blank." Roman explained, feeling and sounding frustrated beyond belief, scrubbing a hand down his face.

"Christ…" Claira wrung her hands together, wanting to grieve, but at the same time, she wanted to find out who was responsible for this. "We're going to find out who killed you, Roman. Dean is beside himself, he's locked in his bedroom and he won't come out. He's devastated…"

Roman just nodded, not knowing what to say to that.

"Claira, we will help him." Brooklynn stepped up to place her hands on her shoulders, trying to give her some kind of comfort. "I promise, we'll figure this out and I won't stop until he finds peace and crosses over."

"I want to help."

"Okay, we'll do it together with your Dad. All three of us."

"Claira, you have a picture of Roman?" Mark asked, watching as she nodded and procured her cell phone from her pocket, beginning to swipe.

When she held it up, he drew a symbol with his finger over the image, watching the symbol glow green before gesturing towards the aura he could see. A second later, the symbol had moved to the aura and he smiled, Roman's face and body coming into his sight. Much better. Now if he could only get sound.

"Dad can see him now, but he can't hear him."

"Really?" Brooklynn blinked, not recalling him ever being able to do that, but then again, the merge. She had to keep reminding herself he wasn't HER Mark anymore, he was better and magically enhanced.

"Yeah. We'll tell you what he says, Dad, so you're in the loop."

"Thank you, lil darlin'."

"Roman…I don't think Monica knows about your death yet…"

"Probably not considering her parents weren't fond of me."

"She'll find out, sweetheart, but we really need to focus on the task at hand and that's finding out what happened to Roman." Brooklynn looked up at Mark, who met her eyes and they both had the same idea in mind. "Do you think they'll help us?"

Mark nodded. "Probably."

He had to wonder who all she had kept in contact with. Was this the time for that? Hell, with their lives, and situations like this, was there ever a time? Really? Melina had had her baby; he and Mickie had agreed to not needle each other and that was pretty much it.

"I'm going to go call Dean…" Claira sniffled, heading inside after giving a sad wave to Roman, fresh tears gathering in her eyes.

Nobody. Brooklynn hadn't kept in contact with anyone in the circle, cutting herself off. It wasn't that she was angry at them, she had been broken, just as she'd told Claira, meaning it. Brooklynn didn't want anything to do with anyone, including her daughter. Mark was her world, she lost him and also lost the will to live.

"Okay sweetheart, we'll make some calls to our friends and get them here as quickly as possible." Melina was out of the question due to having a newborn on her hands. They needed Mickie, John, Steve, and Trish. Glenn wouldn't be any help with his headaches besides alerting them of danger. On second thought… "Not all of them need to be called because I don't think Beth can help with this since water isn't involved and…Randy, he can't touch a spirit, so I don't think there's a need to call him this time around. Unless you think we'll need them all besides Melina. She needs to stay home with her new daughter."

"Let's be honest, Lynn, John's useful because of the automatic writing. That picks up what nobody else does. Steve reading minds ain't helpful at all with spirits. Trish's visions, maybe. So we want John and Mickie for sure. All the rest are iffy unless you want Randy here as a backup. Or moral support, or… something." Mark hesitated, frowning as he thought about it. "Randy's been in contact with Claira these last few months, they e-mail."

"Okay…then Mickie, John, and Randy. We don't need anyone else from the circle." Honestly, why pull people away from their lives when they wouldn't be able to help out anyway? "Are you sure you don't want to invite Glenn too? He can sense danger before anyone, including you, because of his headaches." That was a simple fact Mark couldn't dispute, even if he wanted to. "Trish with her visions can also be helpful with danger, though it's not always reliable, I admit. But something tells me Seth Rollins is linked to this. And if that's the case, we need all the help we can get to protect Claira."

Glenn would be useful right up until he was incapacitated and then he was a handicap. However, merged Mark had a lot of nifty tricks up his sleeve now that he was Both bringing to the table both their magical abilities and experiences. If he could make the new idea rolling around in his head work, Glenn would actually be pretty useful both in the pre-warning stage and for physical defense, if that was an issue.

"I'll get a hold of them, darlin'." He dropped a kiss on her forehead, eyes drifting to Roman before heading inside to the phone. He was also going to check on Claira.

"Mark, wait!"

Brooklynn stopped him from walking inside and grabbed his arm, making him turn to face her. She brought his mouth down on hers, passionately kissed him and felt his arms encircle around her to pull her close. Whatever this was linked to, it wasn't good and Brooklynn didn't know what kind of trouble they were stepping into. She refused to go into danger, the line of fire, without at least feeling his lips against hers one last time.

"I love you." She mumbled against his mouth, kissing him again deeper and harder before he pulled away to walk into the house, leaving her standing there with Roman. "Roman, does the name Seth Rollins ring a bell to you?"

"Yeah, he went to school with us."

"Yeah, he did, but you also need to know who he is and why I think he's responsible for your death. You're connected to Claira and he's been after her for…a while."

"But…why? Why would Seth wanna take me out?"

"To hurt Claira and Dean, who is also connected to her." Brooklynn proceeded to explain to Roman who exactly Seth Rollins was and, more specifically, WHAT he was.

Roman listened to her and then began shaking his head. "I grew up with Seth…" He argued, beginning to flicker in and out. "This is crazy… this is some Ghost shit." And he hated that movie. His mother, like every woman her age, had loved it. There was no way… Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and himself had been the trio, their own little group… "No." He flickered right out of sight.

Via Sonya's eyes, Claira had seen the entire thing and shook her head sadly. She knew how denial worked, she had done it for most of her life with her own powers. Her mother had always said it wasn't always easy helping spirits. Sometimes they were their own worst enemy because they couldn't accept what had happened to them.

When Roman was ready, he would come back to her, but he needed time to mull things over and come to terms with what happened to him and what he'd heard about Seth. She couldn't begin to imagine the amount of pain and anguish Roman felt or any spirit that came to her for that matter. All she could do was guide them into the light by helping them with their unfinished business. Sighing, she headed inside the house, hearing Mark talking quietly on the phone and knew he was rounding up the troops. While he did that, Brooklynn went to check on Claira, something Mark planned on doing after he was off the phone.

Brooklynn beat him to the punch.