AN: I've written and re-written this chapter a good several times. I hope it doesn't disappoint...
Will start out as friends with Sami in a relationship with an OC but will likely progress to Dean/Sami in the future chapters...
Learning to Live Twice:
Chapter Two:
The loud ring of Roman's cell phone woke them all up the next morning. Dean and Sami woke first, as both were light sleepers although neither made any move to get up while Seth simply groaned and buried his head under his pillow. "Geez, you need to turn that thing down."
Roman staggered out of bed sleepily and stumbled over to his bag, searching around till he found the little device. Pressing the green button without checking the display, he held it to his ear. "Hello?" The voice on the other end immediately wiped any remaining traces of sleep from his mind.
"Roman? Vince McMahon." His stomach dropped. 'Fuck.' he thought sardonically. "Oh, hi Mr. McMahon." he hoped he didn't sound to obnoxiously cheerful because if this was about what happened yesterday, he was pretty certain they were all in deep shit. Dean and Seth were also clearly eavesdropping now if the way they both went tense was any indication.
"Please, call me Vince. I've been on the phone with Combat Zone Wrestling this morning and I'm to understand there's been an incident between two of their wrestlers and you, Seth and Dean?"
Roman closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead before running a hand through his hair. "Yes sir. There was." No beating around the bush here. Lying would only make it worse for them if they wanted to avoid getting in deeper trouble.
"I see. Well, I can say I've heard their side of the story but now I'm really interested in hearing what you three have to say. I know it was supposed to be one of your days off, but can you make it in this afternoon?"
Although it was phrased like a question, Roman was pretty certain that was a request. Vince didn't sound too mad which was a plus, he supposed. Dean and Seth were both sitting up now and watching him with laser like focus as he paced the room. "Yes sir." "Good, my office at 2'oclock." "Okay."
Just as Roman was about to hang up, Vince spoke again. "Oh, and Roman?" He moved the phone back to his ear. " "Yes sir?" Vince had said he could call him by his first name but that just felt too weird. But he was starting to feel like a parrot, always repeating himself. "Bring Sami Callihan in with you. I'll see you boys this afternoon."
Roman stared blankly the dark screen for a few moments after their boss hung up before Seth loudly cleared his throat. "So," he spoke, only kidding a little as Roman turned. "We fired?" The Samoan shook his head. "I don't think so. He does want to hear about the fight that happened at the show yesterday though and he wants us to bring Sami along too."
Dean frowned. "Why?" Sami shifted and slowly pulled himself upright to lean against the headboard. He had an idea as to why Vince wanted to see him too but didn't say anything. "Why not? I was involved too and I guess it's better than sitting around all day." Dean opened his mouth but Sami cut him off. "I'm okay, Mox. A little moving around isn't going to kill me at this point."
Dean shut his mouth, knowing that he wasn't going to win this one. "It's not really 'a little'." he muttered petulantly although he relaxed when Sami slid sideways to fall lightly against his side, Dean adjusting his position to accommodate him without thinking.
"When are we going then?" "We need to be there by 2 o'clock." Seth stretched much like a cat before glancing at the clock on the bedside table. "Well, it's 9 now." he shot them all a grin. "Breakfast? I'm starving."
Dean snorted. "You're always hungry, Seth." "Well, I'm a growing boy." He crossed his arms and pretended to pout. "Keep it up, and you'll be growing sideways not up." Seth frowned, "What is this, pick-on-Seth day? And I can't get at you because you're busy hiding behind Sami." The younger man raised his hands. "Hey, don't let me get in the middle." He went to move away from Dean but was brought up short as his ribs protested the quick movement, causing him to freeze as pain flared. "Ow."
"Idiot." Dean helped him get comfortable before he spoke again. "Actually, I could eat." His stomach chose that moment to loudly agree causing the others to laugh before Roman's joined in, making the laughter escalate. "Okay, okay, I'm hungry too." The oldest man chuckled. "Do we want room service or are we going out?"
"Out." "In." Both Sami and Seth spoke in unison causing the other two to laugh again. "In." Sami repeated. "This is my first time in a crazy fancy hotel room like this. I want to get the whole deal and see what it's like as one of you big WWE superstars."
So Sami was a little smartass. Roman smirked at the thought, not really expecting anything less before turning to Seth. "Can't really argue with that." The other man sighed. "Fine." He rolled over, grabbing the menu from beside the phone. "I get to pick first then."
The morning flew by, they managed to eat before the two cops from the day before came by and collected Dean and Sami's statements from the previous day's incident before reassuring the smaller man that, yes, his now ex-boyfriend was still in a jail cell. Before long it was time to head out for their meeting with Vince. Dean looked around as they pulled into the parking lot. "Wait, this is the arena where next week's Raw is happening. I thought Vince didn't do house calls."
"Must've been checking in. At least we don't have to haul it all the way to Connecticut." They all headed inside and exchanged greetings with the backstage crew as they walked down the hallway toward Vince's office, that was usually occupied by Hunter.
Sami stayed quiet as he followed behind them, his gaze sweeping over everything they passed. It didn't look a whole lot different from any backstage he'd been in so far but it was definitely bigger with much better technology. His headache wasn't as bad today as it'd been yesterday, but he'd downed some painkillers at Dean's insistance to be on the safe side. He also hadn't put on any of the concealer he wore during his matches, opting to let the bruised broken skin breathe and try to start healing now that Bryan wasn't there to put them straight back on him again.
Entering the office as soon as they heard an answer to their knock, they were surprised to see Hunter there as well. "Thank you for coming, gentlemen." Vince and Hunter both shook hands with Sami as he entered, being that this was their first meeting and the four of them took the offered seats in front of the desk.
The older two men also reclaimed their seats and Vince clasped his hands together on the desk before leaning forward. "So you went to a house show yesterday that was presented by Combat Zone Wrestling, correct?" They all nodded. "But you managed to end the trip by causing such a disturbance backstage that both security and the police had to get involved. Mind telling me how that happened?"
"It was my fault." Sami startled them by speaking up. "I'm not going to lie, sir. Bryan... Bryan was my boyfriend and, I guess you can say we didn't have the most healthy relationship." The older man nodded in understanding before gesturing at Sami's face. "That there his handiwork, then?" The smaller man only nodded before Roman tried to subtly elbow Dean in warning as a low growl escaped his lips.
Vince looked at them before turning to Hunter. "Why don't you take Sami outside to have your conversation while I finish up with them." Hunter nodded and stood, offering a smile at Sami and gestured toward the door. "Shall we then?" The smaller man got up and preceeded Hunter to the door, the older man shutting it behind them.
Turning back to face Vince, Dean cleared his throat. "Um, is that why Hunter was here? To talk to Sami?" "Hunter has an offer for him." Was his only response. Vince sat back and fixed them all with a look. "As of now, none of you are in any trouble given what I now know, but tell me everything that happened."
It was nearly half an hour later when they were able to leave Vince's office, amazed that they all still had their jobs and weren't even going to get a suspension out of it. Vince had made it clear he wasn't happy with them fighting wrestlers in other promotions but was a bit more lenient when he heard the whole story.
Tracking down Hunter and Sami in the lunch room, they walked in to find both of them seated across from each other at one of the large tables, seemingly just wrapping up their conversation.
Hunter pushed himself to his feet and shook hands with Sami to conclude their meeting before acknowledging them as he walked past and out the door.
They all dropped down at the table Sami was still sitting at, Dean beside him and Seth and Roman across from them. "So?" Sami asked, "the boss give you guys hell?" "No, surprisingly enough." Seth answered. "I thought we'd be fired at best but that was pretty much a slap and a 'never do that again' as far as he goes."
"What did Hunter want?" Dean spoke next. Sami shrugged a bit. "Oh, he just wanted to ask me some questions and to let me know that I cleared all the tests I went for a while ago." he paused for effect then spoke again. "I just got into NXT."
Roman and Seth were surprised but Dean's mouth dropped open in shock as he stared at the smaller man. "You got into NXT?" He snapped his mouth shut and punched Sami in the arm, remembering to avoid his ribs at the last second. "You fucker!" he exclaimed although he was clearly trying (and failing) not to smile. "Why didn't you tell me?" Sami tried for nonchalant although he was trying not to smile either. "Surprise." he offered, a bit sarcastically.
Dean finally laughed and threw an arm around Sami's shoulders, dragging him in and turning to face his brothers, his smile so big that his dimples were in full effect. "We gotta go celebrate." Roman tried to go for exasperated, but really, when Dean got like this, it was hard not to be there with him. He was that contagious. "Dean, it's nearly three in the afternoon. Too damn early for drinking."
The blonde rolled his eyes. "I don't always mean celebrate as in drinking, Rome. There's probably lots of stuff to do around here, we just gotta find it." He paused, giving Sami another squeeze, he was in that good of a mood now, "Then go drinking later." The other three all gave a mix of groans, rolling their eyes or even laughter before the four of them clamored to their feet and playfully bickered all the way down the hallway over what they should do for the remainder of the day.
To Be Continued...
AN: There it is. Please R&R? Thank you!