Time to find out who might be a little less than pleased with news of the big engagement and I think we might be able to guess...am I right?! Lots of drama in this one folks. Plus on a side note, for anyone who has been following, my mother is now officially cancer clear, so a good day!

AngelsDestiny22, Yep, the world knows, including the ones that they were trying to keep it quiet from! Still, good news for you since you like the drama! Loved writing Seth and Lauren bouncing off each other in the last one but yes, she probably does need to punch him at some point!

Mandy, Lauren has become more feisty the longer she's there, but especially when anyone dares to insult her man, nuh uh! Seth is in this chapter too and I think you especially might be sort of happy even though I'm kind of vague in parts...well, read and tell me what you think!

ShieldGirlBecky, I figure that if JBL is going to be insufferable then the least he can do is be caught in the middle of a brother/sister (former brother/sister?) bicker fest. Him and his hat of course! But yeah, the secret is out so now it's time for the fallout, strap yourself in!

Wolfgirl2013, Yep, yikes indeed and good question about how Triple H feels, I think you'll like this chapter because old papa Hunter in back in the mix not that he is winning any father of the year prizes, as usual!

Skovko, Haha, I think if I had let Lauren finish that sentence last chapter, then this chapter would be Vince calling to have her fired, but you're right that Seth's reaction would have been hilarious! Loved writing the two of them bickering. As friends or as enemies it's still lots of fun!

Minnie1015, He got beaten up a lot in this period, but was always scrappy and adorable nevertheless! And yeah, I'm super happy you noticed that part about Lauren repeating fiancé so many times that she gave the game away. Murphy's law and all that!

Ohana1337, Glad you liked that part especially. I mean, who wouldn't want Dean to stop in the middle of a match to give them a sweaty kiss am I right? But I love writing and imagining all the sweet moments…also as an added bonus it freaked out JBL, so win-win all round!

LunaticxLass, Well, good news because the wait is over and there is plenty going on in this chapter too. Lauren has disapproving faces all round in this one but on the plus side it sets us up nicely for the next phase of this story. I mean, at least I hope it does!

Moxley Gal1, Aww, I know, but Dean is Dean and sometimes his anger gets the best of him. Besides, in his own way he is trying to keep her safe. I think Seth was more surprised than anything, but probably a bit hurt too. More of him in this chapter...yay!

Fallout in 3, 2, 1...


Daddy Dearest

Dean had been given the main event match up, so by the time Roman and I had helped him back onto his feet again the titles had been thrown up and the tapings were done, which meant that we could hustle him backstage to the trainers to check on his shoulder.

He protested the whole way.

"I'm fuckin' fine – like – can move it an' everythin' check this out."

He swung his arm up like he was about to lead a symphony but then promptly the entirety of his handsome face screwed up and he bit his lip and held a hasty fuck back as spasms of pain violently laced him up and down.

Roman raised a brow,

"Do I even need to say it?"

Dean huffed a breath out but continued to slouch as we trod ourselves a path through the packing crates and trolleys that were already being packed up ready to move to somewhere else. Ever since Roman had unwittingly dropped the bombshell of my unwitting reveal of the fact we were engaged, Dean had very pointedly chosen not to say anything and nor had he looked at me, which was a sure sign he was pissed. Instead I had trampled along quietly behind them letting him have his moment because I knew it would come and trying to figure out why the hell I had said it, but which was pretty hard to do since the last fifteen minutes seemed like a blur.

Eventually he grumbled,

"You told the whole fuckin' world huh?"

"Accidentally," I stressed like that would make it okay or like me being totally indiscreet and fully hopeless on the microphone was a tiny little slip up instead of a ginormous major one.

Dean shut his eyes and sighed at me,

"Lauren – ,"

"I know okay? I know, I'm a big crazy mess who can't even cope with a simple conversation without blowing the whole secret engagement thing sky-high, but, I mean, Seth kept on rambling and calling you my boyfriend like us being together was this weird kind of thing and I guess I got angry that he was being like that so I was yelling back at him when it just slipped out and – ,"

"Princess."

I blinked to find that we had ground to a standstill, or more accurately to find that I at least had stopped and that the pair of them had then been forced to back up a bit on finding that I was no longer blundering along behind. Dean was clutching his throbbing shoulder with his free hand, but his blunted blue eyes were honed in on me as he lowered his head so he was looking right at me to cut in through my monologue.

I faltered a little,

"Um."

"You're doin' that whole nervous ramblin' shit again y' know."

I shrugged,

"Because you're mad at me."

Dean blew out a breath and then looked away as he considered his limited options before letting his hurting shoulders suddenly slump back down and then shaking his head and letting a little growl out like the he was done with the entire night.

He possibly was.

"Yeah, I'm pissed okay? Because we talked about this shit and how I was tryin' to keep you safe."

"But – ,"

"But I guess I fuckin' get why you said it."

I blinked like I had misheard him and then let loose a frown, because it seemed like something my stupid brain had inserted rather than something he had spoken aloud and so therefore I needed to make totally certain that I wasn't going anymore mad than I really was.

"You – you do?"

"Princess, I jumped the guy remember? I mean, I looked over and saw that fuckin' smug face of his then launched myself, an' I wasn't sittin' there listenin' to him talkin' so I totally get why you were all fired up."

His hand moved from his shoulder to tweak my chin gently and he ghosted his thumb lovingly across my bottom lip which up until that point I had obviously been biting since he pulled it back out again,

"But you're still mad at me right?"

He shrugged,

"A little."

"Ugh – ,"

"But I'll get over it an' whatever an' I mean right now I'm more pissed that those two fuckin' backstabbers got the best of me twice in one single freakin' night."

He swung his curled fist out to punch the wall lightly – or possibly not lightly – but then tapered off with a bark as his shoulder fired back into life and reminded him that not five minutes earlier the aforementioned backstabbers had basically been trying to break it in half and that five minutes before that he had banged it into the matting in trying to pop the thing back into its hole. Roman however clearly remembered all too well since he put a broad hand out and steered us back along the hall, leading us with a big brother type sigh towards the trainer in an obvious need to check that everything was alright.

Dean paused on the threshold to the medical room,

"Princess, uh, I figure it might be better if you maybe skipped this."

"What?" I blinked, feeling hurt, "Why?"

"Because I'm pretty sure I set my shoulder bone in wrong back there so they're gonna have to pop it out then put it back right and that means lots of grindin' of bones an' me swearin' an' you faintin' might kinda put the guy off his stride."

Oh.

Yeesh.

I nodded in agreement but haltingly and while turning a tiny bit green since I was mentally picturing the resetting process anyway and it was succeeding in making me feel a little bit sick.

"Um, okay, I'll go and get the bags then."

"Nope," Dean snipped, "You're stayin' right here an' yellin' if the Authority get anywhere near you."

He loved me so much.

"I think I can probably manage that."

Rocking up onto the tops of my tiptoes I wound my arms about his broad neck as carefully as I could, trying not to lean myself on his poor battered shoulder but using his strong body to keep myself propped up. I swept my fingers through the shorter little hair strands at the back of his neck and then bent in for a kiss, that he responded to at once with a tiny little murmur but I could feel his lips smiling against me nonetheless. Releasing the hold he waited a second for me to roll back onto the balls of my heels and then shot me a look while pointing towards the room they were about to waltz into.

"Princess, you scream if – ,"

"Authority members are near, got it."

I threw him back a tiny salute and he snorted at me while fighting the beginnings of a laugh back before groaning and following his older brother through the door. His shutting it plunged the hall back into silence and I blew a breath out and then clicked my fingers.

I was already bored.

In the pocket of my suit pants my carefully tucked away engagement ring was beginning to burn a hole right through the threads and so I extracted it like I was unwrapping a stick of dynamite from the tiny little purse I had secreted it in and then stared at it in the starkly stripped halogen lighting before putting it back onto my third finger where it belonged. After all what did it now matter if I was wearing it having announced our intentions to the world? Besides, I was proud to be Dean's new fiancé so wanted to prove that with a simple flash of my hand.

"Who me? Yes, yes this is an engagement ring."

I grinned at myself then blew a breath out again as I pressed my ear to the woodwork of the trainer's room and then tried to listen out for any pained sounds.

Nothing.

"Miss Hope?"

I spun from my listening post both startled and rapidly like I had suddenly been caught but doing something totally embarrassing like pulling my underwear from out of my butt crack or possibly in the process of stealing candy from a baby since it made me red faced and ineloquent.

"Huh?"

Behind me was one of the backstage runners in the role that I had been allocated once before and which had actually been my first job within the company before becoming a valet and my new commentary role. He was a young guy but tiny and I blinked at him a little wondering if the kid was even old enough to work and so therefore not paying attention to how shifty he was being or else how he was point blank refusing to meet my eyes.

He wet his lips,

"You're needed for an interview."

"Excuse me?"

He reddened,

"Exclusive website content stuff, rapid fire questions."

"Oh."

It wasn't a huge stretch since that was the sort of thing the guys were forever having to do and to be honest I was actually pretty pleased to have been put forward, since it made me feel like a tried and tested member of the team and someone that Vince was clearly happy promoting which therefore had to mean I was doing a good job.

Right?

I nodded,

"Lead the way."

I thought about maybe telling Dean very briefly but then decided that I would be finished before he was and likely back in place by the time they were released again with my fiancé most probably buried beneath a mass of more white tape. Nodding his head the little runner took off in front of me and I followed him as he twisted and turned us through the halls in a way which no longer made me feel so bewildered and which also made me realize had far I had come and how the many odd trappings of the business had become normal and second nature almost.

Yep, get me.

He led me right up to a black door in a hallway that was suspiciously well cleared and free of travelling crap but then rapped on it briskly and ushered me towards it before I even had time enough to blink and so instead I pretty blindly stepped on through it as he pushed me a little and then slammed it in my wake.

Oh god.

Instead of being met by the sight of the cameras I was instead greeted by a long sleek wooden desk with two hated but otherwise well known figures stood behind it and glaring across at me.

I gaped at them,

"What – ,"

Hunter opened his mouth to answer but before he could say anything I swung back towards the hall, looking to march out in a silent storm of protest but instead bumping up against a sticky firm chest and then instantly feeling the air whoosh right out of me because the person stood in front of me blocking my exit and wearing tiny trunks was the man who had pinned me to a bed and then tried to attack me only a handful of months earlier.

Randy was there.

No, no, no.

I stumbled back instantly then kept on reversing in a clumsy little stumble that walked me right into the desk and nearly upended a chair in the process but which I hardly even registered since I was so filled up with dread and finding it hard to even draw breath in as I shook my head helplessly,

"Please, please don't – ,"

I had no idea what he was doing there with us but in the moment could do little but fear the very worst, because the asshole was wearing that look on his face again and it made me freeze up bodily and hold myself tight. In reality I wished that I was one of those women who pitched up on Jerry Springer then went totally nuts and beat the living crap out of anyone around them, I mean, I knew how to punch because Dean had taught me how but yet whenever the big demons in my life showed up in front of me, I felt totally powerless and unable to move.

Crap.

I sucked a breathe in and it went all squeaky, then launched into the air as a hand fell down on mine, turning around and whipping it away again as Hunter stared back at me with hurt in his eyes,

"Lauren – ,"

"No," I interrupted him pitifully, "I want to go, please l-let me out."

I was painfully aware that the last time I had asked that had been when he had been holding me captive in a locked room and which he had pointedly ignored every time I had asked him and which meant that therefore my newest plea would probably fall on deaf ears too.

My knees were shaking –

I wanted Dean so badly and Roman too or anyone else to be there.

Behind me someone cleared their throat sort of mildly and I pirouetted on my feet feeling that Randy had moved and not wanting that bastard in any place I couldn't see him, but instead finding myself coming face to face with Seth.

Huh?

He was staring back at me but looking pretty sheepishly and his brown eyes were flicking up and then back down as if he wasn't really keen on having a part in what was happening and the fact that he was there made me steady a little bit, because even after everything that had happened between the two of us, he was still by far the safest one in the room and I believed – I knew – that whatever he was feeling, he would never let them hurt me or haul me off again.

I hoped.

"I – I want to leave," I repeated,

"You're not going anywhere," Stephanie fired back from where she was stood like a rod with her red painted fingernails clasped tightly round the desk chair and clenched to the point that I thought her knuckles might pop off. Evidently my stepmother was furious at me but even given our enmity I couldn't work out why that was.

I swallowed,

"You – you can't keep me in here and if you try to kidnap me again I swear I'll scream, Dean and Roman are probably looking for me anyway, you can't win this time and – ,"

I was all set to ramble again and knowing it my stepmother cut me off swiftly but not in the cute blue eyed way my fiancé had, which had been full of love and amusement and safety, whereas the pitchy woman in front of me led with her usual chalkboard screech,

"What the hell were you playing at out there?"

"Um, out where?"

I was genuinely stumped and my confusion wasn't helped by her pointing towards the window that looked over the rapidly emptying out parking lot. Stephanie rolled her eyes back in long suffering,

"On commentary, you think you can just suddenly announce that you're engaged?"

Ohhh –

I understood the problem in an instant, or at least about as much of it as I needed to at that point, because it seemed like they were pissed that I had promised myself to someone without either of us having popped in to run it by them at any point and not from a business perspective either, but instead from a fully hurt familial type one.

I blinked,

"Are you – are you upset I didn't tell you?"

"Hunter is your father."

I glowered across the space at her,

"No he's not because real parents don't kidnap and lock up their children and they don't let people hit them in the head with a chair and they sure as hell don't let their drunken friends try to attack them and then pretend like somehow it doesn't really count."

I was back to ranting again but angry ranting and it was honestly about as passionate as I had been in several months and also the most I had possibly said to them since the night that Hunter had used Matt to bust into the locker room and which had also been the night I had told him of Randy hurting me and the night we had broken our family ties once and for all. Hunter himself was staring blankly across the desk at me but his expression was unflinching and I couldn't tell what it meant. Randy snorted and then shuffled impatiently and I spun back towards him and reversed into a shelf, knocking over a heavy looking tome on accountancy and digging my kidneys which made me wince. I moved myself closer to Seth almost subconsciously but my eyes never left The Viper.

He was leering at me.

Great.

"Lauren," Hunter started so suddenly that I actually let out a surprised little bark because every tiny thing was filling me with horror and my head was screaming so loud I could barely even think, "Randy and I have spoken about what happened and he has apologized to me for what he did, he'd had too much to drink and read the situation incorrectly so – ,"

"Incorrectly?" I frowned,

"He thought you were coming onto him."

Um, what?

My open mouthed gape said it all which was a good thing since actual words failed in the hail of disbelief. I knew that Hunter had never wanted to fathom that the man he practically saw as his protégé could be the sort of person that liked to prey on random girls, but the fact that he was so keen to believe him felt utterly soul destroying.

I could barely spit the words out,

"No," I shook my head, "No he – he knew I didn't want it, how could he – I was trying to break out of the room, I was running for the door when he pinned me against the wall, I was screaming I – ,"

Black spots fizzled across my vision as the flashbacks burst in like a pack of thieves on a raid. My legs began to shake and nausea rose up into my gullet until I had to bend over in order to fill my lungs up and in order to stop myself from falling over and fainting because I honestly didn't trust what any of them would do if I was out. Seth stepped in closer a little bit sort of instinctively but then froze when I whimpered.

Oh god I wanted Dean.

Hunter flapped some loose papers uncomfortably,

"Lauren, I trust him."

Bullshit to that.

My father didn't believe his golden child anymore than I did, but he had thrown away his relationship with me and his reputation to push his uber handsy protégé asshole to the hilt and with Stephanie behind him spurring him on relentlessly there was no earthly way he was prepared to back down or throw away the control he had worked to accumulate simply to help patch up the rift with his blood child.

"He – he cornered me in the corridor before that, Seth saw – ," I was gasping because I was finding it hard to breathe and there was too much oxygen required across my body for my panic-constricted throat to be able to pull in.

Seth grunted,

"Uh – ,"

But he was spared having to answer by my wicked witch stepmother launching herself back in and looking pretty much as fierce as I had ever seen her which was saying a lot because being angry was her thing, like some tiny chipmunk with a ginormous ego or a head like a balloon. She folded her arms across her chest,

"We won't allow it."

"Huh?"

"We won't allow the marriage, so you can get that idea out of your head right now."

I blinked through my confusion because how could they stop it when it wasn't a storyline or anything they could control? Dean and I could have been married at any time and nothing nor anyone would stop it from going through and so although I knew that they couldn't prevent it, the fact that they were telling me not to seemed odd. Naturally however, given my bewilderment, I swiftly lost the ability to put that to words,

"Come again?"

Stephanie pointed a manicured nail at me,

"You place is with us, the same way it has always been and if you weren't so stubborn, you would have seen that already and come back home to us where you rightfully belong."

I bristled,

"I belong with Dean because he loves me."

"You're young and stupid that's why I tried to make things right, that's why I thought if you and Randy could get together then maybe this whole mess could get straightened out."

What the –

Oh.

Ohhhh.

Holy guacamole.

It was my stepmother who had punted Randy in through the door that night, or else had remotely told him to bust in on me and make it so that I somehow forgot about my man. I mean, for all I knew she had been in the kitchen pouring him alcohol and then listening as I screamed. In our nearly twelve months of having known one another, Stephanie McMahon had pulled some pretty terrible shit but encouraging a man to basically attack me was the lowest and most shocking thing I had added to that list and the nausea rose up again so fiercely that I almost threw up before slamming a hand across my mouth.

"Oh my god – ," I whispered in astonishment and I thought I very briefly heard Seth proffer up a huh? "You're the reason he almost – that he almost – ,"

I looked across at Hunter with tear filled eyes.

He knew.

Maybe he hadn't know when it had been happening but at some point the truth of the whole thing had trickled out and as usual he had sided with his precious devil woman like it had maybe been loose hijinks that had gotten out of hand. How much more crap had to be piled up on top of me before he stepped up and started being my dad? The answer to that was pretty clearly never and so I hiccupped out a sob and then weakly shook my head,

"No, no, I can't – I hate all of you."

I stumbled desperately in the direction of the door only to find Randy suddenly in front of me, still blocking my exit but also holding my arms and the feeling of his fingers burning clean into me then blew the lid clean off my barely held-onto calm.

"You're not going anywhere."

I may have had a breakdown,

"Don't touch me, let go of me, please, please – oh god no – ,"

I was screaming the words out and shaking and fighting but also crying at the same time to the point that I possibly looked insane, since no one in the room seemed to know what to do with me or how to handle someone ripping apart at the seams.

"Hey come on man," Seth stepped towards us and whether by chance or else in response to it, Randy briefly let his firm grip loosen up and I ripped myself from his fingers and then shoved him away from me before hauling the door open and barrelling out.

"Lauren – ,"

I could hear both Hunter and Stephanie calling me but started to run as fast as I had ever run in my life, in a frantic burst along the maze of white corridors that was so completely headlong that I possibly thought I had gotten lost.

No.

Big hot tears streaked fast across my cheekbones then tore down my skin to drip off onto my neck, but which took so much energy out of me as I pelted that I had to then try and remind myself to breathe. Running and sobbing and trying to find my way back was taking every ounce of fading energy I had but I had to keep going since I had no idea if they were following me and I would not – would not – let Randy Orton grab me back.

"Dean – ," I blubbed out pretty pathetically, before stumbling round a corner and into a stack of packing crates, but ones which suddenly seemed momentarily familiar and I looked up quickly.

Oh thank god.

Purely down to the intervention of fortune I had stumbled across the stretch where the physiotherapy room was and so thudded my shaking feet towards the door heavily as I either heard or imagined people chasing me from behind. My hand trailed a path loosely over the pitted brickwork because by that point it was practically holding me up and I fell against the door and then fumbled the handle before tumbling in crying across the threshold haphazardly.

"Dean."

"Princess? The fuck – ,"

My fiancé was standing pretty much right in front of me, with yet more white medical tape wrapping his arm but which I only managed to see in a tear filled sort of half-blur as I tripped over my own feet then fell heavily into his chest. Luckily his reactions were no less dulled for being injured though, because he caught me swiftly and then tried to haul me up with Roman too bracing an arm as I snivelled,

"I thought he was g-going to a-attack me again and that I would never see you and that we couldn't ever get married and the d-door was shut and – ,"

I broke off with a cough and then choked on a thick brace of tears until I was spluttering while Dean pulled me closer and tried to sweep my hair back,

"Slow down, easy baby, what the fuck happened?"

"H-Hunter and S-Stephanie and R-Randy – ,"

"What did they do?"

His voice fell low as he growled out the question and I could feel his body tense up beneath mine in preparation to go search them out and then kick the crap clean out of them and I sobbed again as it made me cling tighter, not wanting him to leave me ever again. If I had possessed a stick of super glue in that moment than I would happily have pasted us together there and then but in the end settled for pinching his skin in desperation like I had figured out a way that I could physically crawl in.

"I was s-so scared."

He kissed my forehead,

"Easy baby, I've gotcha an' I'm gonna get you the hell outta here."


Sooo, what do we make of Seth trying to help...or was he? Boooo to Randy and Hunter and Steph.