A/N Hey guys sorry it took me so long but I struggled hard with this chapter. I know some of you were looking forward to seeing Dean on meds but unfortunately that didn't happen because I just couldn't get the character right. I'm already working on the next one as always read and review, they help motivate me. A lot!
She couldn't do it. Lucy could not being herself to knock on that door. She didn't know what to expect. Would he be angry, would he tell her to leave? I mean it's not her fault that he was upset, she thought it was perfectly clear that she didn't want to be here, he was the only one who seemed surprised by it. Yes, she was meeting people and they were all really nice but at the same time Dean just expected her to walk away from her own life. Lucy didn't know what to think anymore, it was clear that Dean was hurt by her earlier comments; but why was he holding on to what she thought of as a failing marriage. Was it just to spite her? Was he angry that her first reaction was a divorce? And why did Seth ask if Dean had explained why he moved to Las Vegas? What did that have to do with anything? Deciding that standing out here was only going to get her more strange looks she braced herself and knocked on the door completely unsure what to expect.
Dean lay on the bed with a massive headache. On top of that he was upset by what he heard Lucy tell her mom on the phone. Did he really want to stay in this relationship if there was no future and he was just prolonging the inevitable? Besides, they never spent any real time together; every time they were at the arena she was either working or she was with Brie and Nikki. Unsure what to do, Dean grew even more restless. Hearing the knock at the door he rolled off the bed and opened the door. He leaned against it, "what do you want? Here to kick me while I'm down, maybe ask me to help pick out colors for your next wedding?" Lucy's face grew hot, "Dean, please, you don't understand what you heard; I mean you understand because you're a rational, sentient, competent human being, but you don't understand why I said what I said." Dean raised an eyebrow, "Did you mean it when you said you were going to be getting the divorce as soon as you could?" Lucy opened her mouth to speak and Dean cut her off, "Yes or no, did you mean it when you said you'd be getting a divorce as soon as you could?" Lucy looked down and then back at Dean, "Yes." Dean nodded his head and then grabbed her chin forcing her to look into his eyes, "You know what, I'm not in the mood for this tonight, and go find somewhere else to sleep." With that he closed the door in her face. Lucy didn't know what to do. She was upset with herself for letting Dean overhear the conversation with her mom but more than that, she was surprised at how much seeing him hurting bothered her. Sliding down the wall she rested her chin on her knees, what the hell was she supposed to do now? She had nowhere to sleep, she couldn't remember which room was Nikki and Brie were in, her clothes were all locked in Dean's room, and worse of all she had hurt him. Badly. She felt the tears welling up in her eyes and tried to blink them back. "Umm, I couldn't help but overhear that you and Dean were arguing." Lucy looked up and saw that the guy known only as Dolph Ziggler was standing over her, "Yeah, he's not too happy with me right now." She watched as Dolph slid down the wall to sit next to her, "A pretty lady like you shouldn't be sitting out here crying, you should be enjoying your evening. Come on, what do you say we go downstairs and get a drink? Maybe we can figure out something that can help for tonight. I mean you can't sleep on the floor outside his door." Dolph tipped her chin up and wiped away her tears, Maybe the little ring rat will be with me if she can't have Dean, he thought.
Two drinks later Lucy was starting to loosen up. Dolph seemed like a really cool guy, chill, just trying to help her, it was a refreshing change. It didn't seem like he wanted anything from her. He was really supportive listening to everything that was going on with Dean, she kept it void of most of the early details of their relationship, if you could call it that she chuckled quietly to herself. Dolph looked up, "What's so funny?" Lucy blushed after getting caught thinking about Dean, "Nothing, I was just thinking about how Dean and I met." When she looked up it was see Dolph looking at her with a bemused expression on his face. "Honey, it's clear that he doesn't want to see you tonight. He doesn't want you no matter how much you want him. So why don't you come up to my room for a nightcap. And maybe, we can uh…" He drifted off when he saw Lucy's eyes widen. "Listen pal, I don't know who you think I am but I don't sleep with guys on the first night I meet them. I'm a lady…" Dolph cut her off with a raised hand, "Look I know you girls don't like to be called ring rats but honey that's what you are! Look I get that you're one of the few who don't sleep with everyone but hey, I'm just one more guy, who cares, it's not like it matters. Just come on, let's go upstairs and see if we can change your mind." Lucy couldn't believe it! She thought he was a nice guy, but he turned out to be just a giant creep! Pulling her arm out of his hand she tried to leave when he grabbed her again. Not wanting to cause a scene she waited until they were outside before ripping her arm from his grasp and slapping him, "Keep your damn hands off of me you asshole!" She was no longer worried about a scene and apparently Dolph wasn't either. He grabbed her again, pinned both hands to her sides, and slammed his mouth onto hers. Lucy was terrified, no guy had ever done this to her, especially not one who was so much bigger than her. She stomped on his foot expecting that to work; she achieved little besides making her heel hurt. Then all at once he was gone!
Dean needed a drink; all he kept seeing when he closed his eyes was her face when he slammed the door. It was a face that was completely devastated. He didn't know what she wanted him to do, or how she wanted him to react. He didn't want a divorce, he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. His friends kept peppering him with questions demanding explanations as to why he didn't want to give her the divorce but he couldn't give any. Dean knew she didn't want to be married, at least not to him, but she never gave him a chance! He patiently waited for the elevator to open up he heard a yell coming from down the hallway. Once it did he headed right for the hallway and what he saw made him see red! Dolph had just pinned Lucy's arms to her side and then crushed her lips to his. Dean reached the pair in record time. He pulled Dolph off Lucy punched him in the stomach, and slammed him against the wall. "Listen to me you bastard, if you ever touch her again I will kill you." Dolph gasped for air unable to answer because of how tightly Dean was squeezing his throat. He did however manage to nod; Dean let him fall to the floor and as he drug in air he tried to help clear up the situation. "Listen man, I didn't know the little ring rat meant that much to you-." He was cut off by Dean dragging him to his feet and pinning him back up against the wall. "You mother fucker! If you ever call her that again I will feed you your teeth! Apologize now!" Dolph looked at Lucy, "Hey, sorry, I didn't realize that you were only available to sleep with him." He looked back at Dean, "Happy?" Dean punched him in the stomach, "Hell no I'm not happy, your apology to my wife needs to be a hell of a lot better!" Dolph's eyes widened, "Dude, oh my God, I'm so sorry I had no idea! I was looking for a quick lay! I'm so sorry it'll never happen again. Mrs. Ambrose, seriously I had no idea, if I did it never would have happened." Dean looked at Lucy and when she nodded he let Dolph go and turned his full attention to her. "Hey, are you okay?" Dean was shocked when her entire expression changed. Her eyes began to water and her shoulders began to shake; Dean wrapped an arm around her and quickly led her to the elevator before she completely broke down. He knew she wouldn't want to cry in public where anyone could see her. She made it to the room, barely.
Dean didn't know what to do, Lucy stood there with her arms wrapped around her waist and she just shook. He watched as she tried to compose herself but nothing seemed to be working. She tried to breathe both through her nose and her mouth but that didn't help, she tried to focus on something, anything else, but that didn't seem to help either. Finally she couldn't hold it back, and she just started sobbing. Everything that had happened since she had made the arrangements with Dean, all the arguments, what was she going to do about Jake, her parents, and then tonight with Dolph, she had never felt so helpless in her life. What was she going to do? She didn't want anyone to be hurt by her but it all seemed inevitable at this point. "I-I can't hu-hurt you anymore. I-I-I hurt my parents. I hurt Jake. I hurt everyone. I feel like a failure. I-I'm-m s-s-s-s-o-o–o-o sorry."
Dean had never felt more helpless in his life that he did when he saw Lucy slide to the floor and continue to sob. What hell was he supposed to do? Unable to sit there any longer he did the only thing he could think of; he picked her up off the floor and tried to get her to stop.
After 10 minutes Lucy's tears began to subside. She was surprised Dean handled them as well as he did, usually guys were the worst when it came to that. But instead of telling her that she was being dumb, he just lay against the headboard letting her cry into his chest and rubbed her back. Looking up at him, Lucy whispered, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you tonight." Dean shrugged his shoulders, "Hey, it's not your fault. I saw what he did. He never should have touched you, let alone kiss you. You didn't hurt me. Hell, to be honest, he's kind of a prick so punching him felt good." Lucy rested her chin on his chest, "No, I meant with what I said before that. It's just I'm so confused right now; there's you, my family, Jake. I just don't know what to do and I don't want to hurt any of you. You all matter to me. It's just; I don't know what to do. She made a move to slide over to the other side of the bed but Dean wrapped his arms around her so she couldn't. "Lucy, I'm not going to lie. I don't want to get a divorce. If we do get one I'll be crushed, but I want you to know that if you meet someone and he's everything you've ever wanted, I'll be devastated but as long as you're happy, that's ultimately what matters. Not what everyone else thinks, it's what you think." Lucy nodded her head in understanding, "Thanks. I wish more people felt that way." She lay their quietly for a few more minutes before she heard his stomach rumble. "Umm Dean, I think we should grab something to eat. I'm pretty sure your stomach is trying to tell me something." Dean chuckled, "What do you want to eat pretty lady?" Shaking her head she responded, "I don't care, but I do think we need to talk. I want to get some stuff figured out." Dean nodded in understanding but was concerned that their temporary truce would be destroyed.
Less than thirty minutes later they were both enjoying a cheeseburger and fries that had been ordered from room service. Once they were done Lucy leaned back in her chair, "So I um, I guess the thing that's been bothering me the most is, why do you want to stay married to me?" Dean rubbed his palms on his jeans before answering, "I guess it's because I don't want to call it quits without knowing that we both put 110% into it. I mean, if we were married for 3 years and one of us decided they couldn't do it anymore, that would be one thing, but to quit before we've even tried, that's not something I'm okay with." Lucy nodded, "So that's why you're putting us through this then? So you can feel better at the end because we both tried?" Dean nodded slowly, "Yep, I mean I like to succeed at things, I don't like to quit. Why did you tell your mom that this was all going to be over in just about 4 more months? I guess the reason that upset me so much is because we're supposed to be trying to make this work, but to you this just seems like an annoyance." Lucy looked down, "Part of that is true I guess, I do look at this as being annoying, but then try to understand, I go from hotel to arena to the airport or the car, I don't really get to see things during this time that we're on the road, and we don't really do anything together. So for me I spend my time with the girls or I sit in your locker room and do nothing because I never know when we're going to be going on to the next city and I don't want to make you late for something. But you also have never met my parents, If I were to ever say that I didn't know what to do or where to go they'd be here in an instant to fix the situation. To help me figure out what is best for me and my future. So if I didn't say that, they'd have been here within literally 3 hours. I love my parents I do, but I want to make my own decisions and therefore make my own mistakes." Dean nodded, "You know, if you want to see more of the cities were in, we can go out if you want. I just didn't know that you wanted to. Depending on what happens and how long we're going to be there we can definitely take time to see stuff. Umm, actually Lucy, if you want I can get you a copy of my schedule so you can plan stuff."
Nodding her head, she smiled brightly; this is going well she thought; now she just hoped that this is going to continue when she turned the topic to Jake. "So, there's something else we need to talk about while we're being honest with each other, Jake." At the face she saw him make she raised a palm, "Look I know that you're not crazy about him, but he's an important part of my life. He's a dear friend, mentor, and most likely, he's going to be the one I marry after we go our separate ways. I'm not expecting that you and he will ever become best friends but I am asking that you be respectful of him. I've spoken to him about this and he does his best to be respectful of you whenever we talk."
Dean rubbed his face over his mouth and in that moment he made a conscience decision to ignore he comment about Jake being the next guy she married, "He and I will never be friends. This is the only promise I am going to make to you concerning him, as long as he isn't as asshole when he's around me then I will do my best to give him the same consideration. However, if he is a jerk, the gloves come off and I'm not pulling any punches."
An uneasy silence fell over the table; each person was lost in their own thoughts. Lucy wondering how to bring up the topic of Dean's medication and Dean thinking that he'd cut Jake's hands off before he ever touched Lucy. In the end it was a knock on the door that ruined the silence, one that Dean went to answer as Lucy put the plates back on the cart. "Hey Rome, what's up?" Roman entered the room and nodded in acknowledgement to Lucy. "I was just wondering if you wanted to explain how these got into my bag?" Roman tossed Dean the bottle of pills, which he promptly tossed in the trash. "Dean seriously man, we've got a photo shoot in the morning and you can't have a splitting headache man. You'll make the photographer cry again and we all know that Vince will most likely suspend you for it." Dean shook his head, "I'll be fine man, I know what I'm doing, and besides I already took the ones that Doc gave me to avoid this present situation."
Roman shook his head in disbelief, he knew his friend was lying but the only way he could get him to fess up was if he got Doc out of bed and down here, and then there's still no guarantee that Dean would take them. Shaking his head he turned and left knowing that there was nothing he could say or do to make Dean take the medication.
When Roman left, Lucy saw her chance, but before she even got a word out Dean held up a hand and said, "Don't start Lucy, I'm not taking them. Now Roman's right, we've got a photo shoot in the morning and it's almost 2 am, I need to get some sleep." Walking over to one of the beds, Dean climbed in and turned off the lights. As Lucy got ready for bed she plotted on how to get Dean to take the medication. She knew that he needed it regardless of what he said.
