"Glad you could make it," Dean said when Sara Del Rey joined them at a small restaurant not far from the arena. She took a seat next to Renee across from Antonio.

"Thanks for inviting me." She said picking up a menu. "How'd the show go?"

"I lost," Antonio said with a sigh. "It was me and Reigns at the end and I got eliminated. I almost had it."

"You'll get him next time." A waiter came up to them and they gave him their order. As soon as he left Sara continued. "I didn't know Roman was back in WWE." She traded a look with Antonio that neither Renee nor Dean noticed.

"Yeah," Renee said taking a drink of water. "He's been back for a couple of weeks. You should have heard his first promo back. He demanded a match with Bray but Bray hasn't been back since he lost his match with Ziggler at Survivor Series."

"Yeah the whole Wyatt family seem to have disappeared," Antonio said. "It's kind of nice." He said with a grin.

"Antonio!" a voice called. They turned to see the former WWE COO Hunter Hearst Helmsley approaching their table. "Dean, Miss Del Rey." He said. He turned to Renee. "I don't think I've had the pleasure of meeting you."

"Renee Young. I am a backstage interviewer."

"What are you doing here? Antonio asked not hiding his disdain for seeing his former friend.

"I'm here with my wife and daughters," he said pointing at where Stephanie was with her kids. "I saw you were here and thought I'd say hi."

"Hi," Cesaro said through gritted teeth.

Dean watched Antonio surprised by Antonio's reaction. He hadn't seen Hunter at all the past year so he didn't understand the hostility that his Swiss friend was showing their former boss.

"Dean you're looking well." Hunter said turning his attention away from Antonio.

"Thanks." Dean said feeling even more confused.

"Hunter," Antonio started to say.

"Gotta go," Hunter said taking the hint. "I think I see that our food's there." He said and left.

"Everything okay?" Dean asked Antonio seeing his friend was glaring at the back of Hunter.

"Fine," Antonio said taking a drink of the drink that had just been set before him.

They didn't discuss Hunter the rest of the night.

DDD

The next day Dean knocked on the door of a house in Milwaukee Wisconsin. After a few moments, the door opened and AJ Brooks' smiling face greeted him. "Hey Dean!" she said giving him a hug. "How are you?"

"I'm doing good AJ. Is Punk here, or is he at the gym?"

"At the gym. You want to come in? He should be home in a couple of hours." She held the door open and allowed the Ohioan into the apartment. "You want something to drink?"

"Water would be fine." He said as he reached down and pet Larry who had come running up to him. He sat down on the couch. Larry jumped onto the couch and joined him. AJ came back into the room and handed him a bottled water.

"Paige called me to tell me you were backstage at Royal Rumble last night," AJ said as she sat down in an armchair.

"Yeah," Dean said as he unscrewed the lid. "I was making sure Sami Zayn got settled in. I saw Roman there. He seemed mad at Antonio Cesaro."

"Really?" she asked. "I didn't even know Reigns was back. Course I have been gone from WWE long enough that I don't know who's still there. Is Seth back too?"

"No he's still in Ring of Honor I think. I wanted to talk to Roman to see if we could patch things up, but he wouldn't talk to me. Antonio said Roman's still mad at how the Shield fell apart. That he blames me and that's why he won't talk to me."

AJ opened her mouth to say something but stopped.

Dean didn't seem to notice as he continued. "I mean I realize I screwed up by breaking my ankle more than once but was that enough to break up the Shield?"

"Dean," AJ started to say.

"I mean how did everything get so out of control?" he stood up fidgeting with his jacket. "I want to be friends again with them. I mean they are the best friends I've ever had. I just wish I knew how to fix this."

"Dean," AJ said, "I don't know all the details, but I'm sure this wasn't all your fault. Maybe Roman and Seth need time to let things go. I mean you and Punk weren't friends right away."

"If it wasn't for Antonio, I probably wouldn't know we were friends. What the hell happened in 2014?"

Just the end of your world. AJ thought but didn't say anything. She liked Dean and didn't agree with what Seth and Roman did. She could see why they did it, but it didn't mean she agreed with it. She took out her phone and sent Punk a text.

Dean's here.

After a couple of minutes Punk responded with: I'll be there in an hour or so. I'll stop and get food.

s

Roman's back in WWE and apparently, Dean was at the show Sunday.

A couple of minutes later she got this reply: It was bound to happen. I've got to get back to training.

"So Phil will be here in an hour." she handed Dean a remote. "You can watch TV. I'm going to work on my book."

"Okay." Dean said before settling in for a rerun of CSI.