Here we go then, last chapter in this story and I'm totally conflicted. Because while it's nice to round off a story and tick that 'completed' box it's bittersweet too as I have loved taking you all on this crazy journey. Please see the bottom for what is coming up from me next.
Hayley1001, Yeah, thinking of Dean having to be inside without Roman is kind of sad, which is why I gave him good old crazy headbutting Foley for the last few months. But I think you're going to like this last chapter! Thank you for jumping aboard for this fiction and reviewing every chapter. It really means a lot. Hope to see you next time!
Wolfgirl2013, Yep, busy writing Dean and Lauren now so those two are coming! As ever, thank you for following and reviewing this story. I'm glad that you've enjoyed it and…oh, by the way, you rock!
Yippi-kay yay motherfucker, Oh god yeah, real life Ambreigns brother moments are back on TV and I couldn't be happier! have I missed seeing it (hence all the writing about it!) More brotherhood in this last chapter for you. Thank you so much for your reviews by the way and for loving my Dean. He is a hard character to write sometimes because anything is possible with him. See you next time?!
Raze Olympus, Haha, sorry but it has to end sometime and this one was SUPER long by my standards! Plus, Dean needs to be released from the big house because honestly, that is the least the boy deserves at this point with everything I put him through! Glad you liked the story and thank you heaps for reviewing. I hope my next stories can deliver as well…see you there?!
Cheryl24, Actually the new warden wasn't anyone specifically, so he can be whoever you like. I just kind of pictured him plain and stuffy…not sure there are many wrestlers like that though! But feel free to imagine! Thank you so, sooo much for reviewing and for following this crazy ride. Hope to see you back at the Shield oneshots!
Guest (Skittlez et tu?) Hell yeah Roman pulled some strings for his brother, because can you imagine how panicky he would be on the outside thinking of Dean being roomed with a stranger? At least he's had Mick to keep an eye on him. Little more of Mick in this last chapter too (fitting since he is supposed to be on RAW tonight!) Anyway, MASSIVE thank you for coming on this crazy ride and for reviewing so faithfully as always. See you next time *crosses fingers*
Martha, Haha, probably because you can vividly see Dean getting pissed off anywhere? He's like a grumbly little puppy (snappy but cute!) Well, since this is the last chapter (can't believe it either) I just wanted to say thank you for reviewing and getting so excited about this story each and every chapter. I warms a poor writer's heart. Hope to see you in the reviews section in the future for more of my Dean/Roman fun times (well, not usually fun for Dean but fun for us!) Thank you.
Minnie1015, More cuteness in this chapter, cuteness overload perhaps…maybe? Nothing like some good platonic love and Roman being a proud as punch teddy bear. I'm glad I strung these last chapters into two parts as well, because initially I was going to cram them in one. Anyway, enjoy and as always, THANK YOU for being there every chapter and beyond to make me smile and feel halfway competent as a writer! See you next time (and in between!)
Skovko, Agreed, a lifetime in jail to have to think about what you've done (or in Bischoff's case having to live amongst the people he hurt) is way worse than death. Bischoff deserves some sketchy mental health for what he pulled in this one. Yep, Dean and Mick as roommates! That is a sitcom in the making right there and I've got a tiny bit more Mick before we finish (good old Mick). Well, here we are again and as ever a Ma-hoosive thank you for reviewing and letting me know I'm doing something right. See you next time!
Stingerette1975, Absolutely, Roman is not about to leave Dean after everything they've been through and no way was he going to let him room with some random criminal. Besides, Mick deserves a good roommate too (and I like to think he has gotten better at making breakfast in the interim too!) Well, as ever, thank you sooo much for your reviews and following all these crazy stories of mine. Same time next week?!
Mandy, Nope, sorry, no Seth BUT when the oneshots come back next Monday I can promise a weekly dose of Seth which will hopefully ease the burn a little. Plus with all this real life Shield goodness on our television, what more can fangirls ask for huh?! (Please don't let them implode too soon!) Keep hanging in there and trying to find the little chinks of positive in life. They're there somewhere *hugs* and thank you SO much for your reviews. You know I love reading them!
Rebel8954, I'm seeing a horrible time in prison for Bischoff. No leather jackets and hair gel anymore! Maybe he crosses paths with a few inmates who knew some of the guys he killed before they switched jails. I'm thinking he will have to be kept in solitary most of the time. No less than he deserves though! Thank you for your reviews, they always make me smile so I hope to see you next time too.
Okay everyone, for the last time then…
Free Man Now
Despite the fact he has been moving in and out for the past six months going to hearings and shit, Dean still finds himself embarrassingly fucking nervous about the prospect of stepping foot out in the real world again.
Crazy really –
Right?
Foley thinks briefly at which point the copper blonde knows he's said the thing out loud and resists the urge to kick himself repeatedly for being such a baby instead of a big grown ass man.
Mick remains kind,
"No, come on man, I mean, this place is your new normal and it's scary outside."
Dean frowns,
"Even for you?"
In reply the older man throws his hands open and chuckles back like the answer is already implied but which his cellmate has never particularly considered in any real way.
"What do you think man? I mean, there's a reason I do the headbutting thing and it ain't psychosis."
"You like being in here?"
"This place is my home."
Behind them a figure steps in through the doorway and then clears his throat with a gruff but respectful sounding note, which is something else that has changed in the months since Bischoff because the staff seem keen to treat the inmates much more like real men.
Dean turns around,
"Time to bust this joint m' guessin'?"
He is greeted with a stern faced nod of a yes and so stands from his uncomfortable thin bed for the last time before putting out a hand towards his bulky cellmate.
Mick bats it off,
"Oh no, come in here."
Before he can blink he is wrapped in a bear hug, which swallows his leaner frame almost entirely and bundles him up in the bright orange threads and more than a passing tickle of the hair nest that pretty much envelops the older man's entire head.
Mick squeezes too,
"Whoa, buddy, can't breathe here – ,"
Foley lets him go but then slaps him on the back and the motion is so ferocious but also so loving that Dean barely minds being piled into the wall and so rights himself laughing like a weird sort of goof ball before collecting up his bag and holding up a fist.
Foley bumps it,
"Take care of yourself partner."
"You too Mick an' hey stop breakin' that head."
His escort leaves the room and he slowly steps with it but he savors every second of crossing the cell block floor, because he knows it's the last time he's ever going to do it since he is never ever planning on being sent back in again and won't be either on account of the side note that he'll be rooming his hopeless ass with a detective from now on.
Provided that Roman shows up to collect him –
Maybe in the meantime the big guy has changed his mind and decided that having a former con in the guest room is not the best move for his blossoming police career, or even for his health and mental wellbeing?
No.
Dean grumbles quietly to himself.
Uce will be there.
Envious eyes follow his path across the concrete and then watch him from the tables as he is halted by the doors and then given a nod of approval from security before the bolts are unlocked and he is permitted to step through.
Final time ever.
He is then moved to holding where he has to sign what looks like a mountain of paperwork and is then strip searched which is pretty humiliating but which he stands and takes with some cussing and less than a modicum of grace.
"What d'ya think I've stolen from this place, oatmeal packets?"
But there is one benefit to that part and that is the fact he can finally take off the jumpsuit and be free from bright burnt orange for the first time in over a year. Even better than that is getting his regular threads back, including his much loved and overly worn beanie hat which he jams in place clean over his tangle in spite of the fact that it is summer outside.
Soooo good.
His denim jeans too feel like freaking heaven as does his hoodie and even his top and he is startled to find they both still have traces of the aftershave he had thrown on before his final day of sentencing all those long ass months before.
Paco Rabanne –
Not the real stuff but still good enough not to burn his nose and so very different from the must and sweat filled prison that he honestly feels a tear well up in his eye, which could also be allergies since his life has transformed totally and so therefore body changes might not be too out there.
Right?
His feet haven't grown though, or shrunk, which is a good thing and so he slips his tan boots on and then stamps them up and down, flexing the solid grippy rubber underneath them and revelling in how damn firm they feel.
"Fuck."
He actually begins to think he might even be dreaming but then the final stamp of approval lands heavily on the paperwork and he is thrown a nod by the woman behind the holding desk and then turned in the direction of the main door.
"Good luck."
He traverses one more corridor and is then let into a mesh cage in a blast of sudden sounds and a burst of natural light.
Damn –
It is hot and his hair begins to prickle underneath the warming knitted folds of his hat, but given that he has only been recently reunited, he stands fast by his decision and point blank refuses to take it back off.
"Prisoner leaving."
Dean jumps lightly at the bellow and then squints through the beams of sunlight towards the guard, not completely sure if it's some sort of long held ritual or whether or not the guy is simply trying to fuck him up and remind him of his former legal status and the thing he has been for so very long.
Buzz.
He flinches again at the sudden sound of whirring and then stands on the spot as the chain link is opened up because it seems like some sort of horrible decision or a clerical error to be letting him back out and he cannot help but worry that in taking the walk to freedom, the doors will burst behind him and they'll realize their mistake. He is so close to leaving that he knows he can't go back again –
Better to stay in there than get used to being out.
In support of that notion he pauses on the threshold, looking out towards the asphalt and waiting for things to break and is so convinced that there's been a huge error that on hearing his name he blinks a little,
"Dean?"
Yep, there it is –
Except it isn't the woman from the desk come to fetch him or a half a dozen guards and is instead a pair of brown eyes about twenty feet away from him, hidden by sunglasses but which are there all the same, dressed casually in a summer befitting loose shirt and jeans combo and leaning back against the hood of a large black truck. He stands himself upright and then frowns above the lenses which he then tugs down to take himself a better look.
Roman.
"Uce, you coming?"
Dean blinks back feeling sideswiped and on seeing his baffled and shell shocked expression, the bigger man crosses the distance himself, moving in quickly and easily like always and then choosing to lead with an understanding word,
"Hey."
Dean coughs,
"Hey, I – I'm out man."
He says it as both a reaffirming statement but also like he is totally questioning it at the same time and Roman gently plucks the holdall from his fingers and chuckles a little in response to it,
"Yeah babe, you are."
"Kinda feels like it isn't real an' whatever, I feel all spacey."
He waves his hands to make the point and then throws them in the vague direction of the heavens like the bigger man might not know what precise space he's referring too but which is probably because Dean doesn't know either.
Is spacey space the same thing as intergalactic space?
Hmmm.
Roman blinks back for a second and then coughs gently, before bringing up a big hand up to encircle his neck and both massage and slowly propel his ass forward since he is standing on the threshold of the correctional facility and blocking the security exit which is stressing out the guard.
"Come on uce,"
Dean follows the directive and just like that steps foot back out into the world, which he has done several times but never so finally and although it's fucking weird it makes his insides dance with joy.
He grins up,
"Crap."
"Free man now brother, so what do you want to do?"
Dean blinks in surprise because he honestly isn't sure about anything going forward and has been trapped in a place where options are so scanty that he is worried he has lost the ability to think or to even make a semblance of a coherent decision.
Roman is waiting though and so he tries,
"Burger and fries?"
He is worried that it sounds like a childish suggestion or is maybe a bad idea or a million other things, but is rewarded instead with a beam of elation and then a pat to the back which is lighter than Mick's but is still infused with care and understanding and bleeds in warm through his shirt,
"Burger it is, that's a great idea man."
"Wha – I mean, really?"
"You bet babe,"
Roman then turns and leads them both towards the sleek black pickup with his former cellmate's bag draped over his back and the sun dancing down on both of them in cascades which practically burn they're so freaking hot, but which Dean barely notices he's so busy smiling.
"How 'bout milkshakes too?"
Roman grins back,
"Hell yeah."
*Cries uncontrollably* Done, finito and god I am sorry this story is over...but, you know, I have left room for a sequel so this isn't necessarily goodbye.
Right, next I am going back to my Shield Police AU oneshots because I've been getting lots of comments for those. They will be kicking back off next Monday (see you over at The Shield Unscripted) and I have another story in the Little Brother teen Dean series too. Plus a short standalone Shield wrestling story and then I am working on a new Lauren and Dean...phew *wipes sweat from forehead*
But in short, new Shield Police AUs starting next Monday.
Thank you everyone for your lovely and very loyal support on this story, past stories and hopefully my future stories too.
Much love.
