Disclaimer Wrestlers aren't mine, I'm just borrowing them.

Original characters are the children of my own imagination. Any resemblance to any real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

United We Stand
Epilogue

Raw July 18, 2016

The show opened with Kevin, Rhyno, Big Show, Stephanie, and Hunter coming out to the ring, among the usual mixture of cheering and boos. Seth was not with them, which no one seemed surprised at, although the Seth supporters waved signs wildly about, trying to catch the eye of everyone watching. Kane was also absent, which after the strange events of himself and Finn Balor during the PPV, made his lack of presence more ominous than if he was there.

"Well," Cole said, as they were climbing into the ring, "Most of the Authority seems to be here."

"I notice Kane isn't among them," Saxton pointed out.

"He's probably taking a night off," JBL said. "He worked hard last night, so Stephanie and Hunter gave him the night off to relax. They're such considerate bosses."

"I wonder what Kane does to relax," Saxton mused.

"Why do you care, Byron?" JBL almost seemed to snap at him. Kane's a busy guy, what he does on his time off is his business."

"JBL, even you have to admit that on SmackDown, then at Battlegrounds last night, Kane was acting very different."

"Yeah," Saxton agreed. "He wasn't even acting like he does when he's the Big Red Machine, though that was close. He was acting more powerful. And that costume! It wasn't like a regular costume, it was as if it was part of him."

"Oh, please!" JBL's disgust dripped off every word. "The man gets a new costume and you and Cole have to jump to all sorts of ridiculous conclusions. He got a new costume, so what! People around here get new costumes all the time and we don't notice that. Has this turned into a fashion show or something?"

"I heard backstage that the costume designers had nothing to do with that costume," Cole said, his voice quiet. "Supposedly, Kane just showed up with it."

"So?" JBL's disgust didn't lessen one bit. "He had his own costume made. Maybe someone made it for him as a gift."

"Pretty creepy gift," Saxton commented.

Up in the ring, Stephanie and Hunter thanked everyone for coming to Raw, which was greeted with the usual mixed chorus of boos and cheers. There was a few minutes of recapping things from the night before, showing highlights on the titantrons, but strangely, they did not seem to want to discuss the Main Event.

Finally, Kevin, who had been looking impatient the whole time, interrupted Stephanie, as she talked about how great it was to see the Woman's Tag Team Division start up again. "Seth isn't here!" he burst out, not seeming to care how rude it looked.

Rhyno looked puzzled as if his mind was going over who he had seen that whole day and then he nodded, agreeing with Kevin. Seth was not in the arena, no one had seen him.

"We know that," Stephanie said, looking at him.

"Neither are Dean and Roman," Kevin continued. "Did you give them the night off?"

"Not officially," Hunter admitted. "But Seth is probably too injured to be here."

"Most likely Roman and Dean took him to a quiet medical facility for help," Stephanie said, as if Seth's needing medical attention was no more than a minor annoyance in her life. "I'm sure that's where they are."

"I'm sure that's-" Kevin began in an unflattering imitation of Stephanie, then he realized what he was doing and stopped, which drew a puzzled look from Rhyno. "Did they call?" Kevin asked instead. "Roman, Dean, or Seth? Did they call to say they wouldn't be here tonight?"

"Well, no," Hunter began.

"Then they quit!" Kevin proclaimed as if just by saying it, it was so. "If you don't show up and you don't call in you've quit. They've quit. You should tear up their contracts and get rid of them!"

Neither Hunter nor Stephanie looked too happy with Kevin's outburst, but tried to reason with him. "We can't just tear up their contracts," Stephanie said. "There's more to it then that."

"I don't see what more there could be," Kevin countered. "As any real boss at any job and they'll tell you, if someone doesn't show up for work, they've quit or the company fires them. That's the way the real world works. Are you saying that you two are soft on your employees?"

"Kevin!" Hunter's voice was sharp. "You don't tell the Authority how to do their job, you just do what the Authority tells you."

"And I do!" Kevin said, nostrils flared, still looking angry. "I'm here. Rhyno is here, all of us are here and if you may remember, we were ganged up on last night by over half the locker room!"

On cue, the Titantrons began showing highlights from the Main event, while the announcers gave a Readers Digest version of the previous night's events. The audience cheered as most of the roster ran to the stage and started pouring in to beat up on Kevin, Rhyno, Big Show and Sheamus. There was a close up of Dolph, holding Kevin and Cesaro punching him in the stomach before the cameras switched back to the ring.

Clearly, the little presentation did nothing to calm Kevin, and in fact seemed to only irritate him even more. "See? I was brutally and viciously attacked for no reason last night. If anyone should be out on injury, it's me. But I'm here! Because I'm a good employee. But I guess that doesn't matter, does it? I guess if you're Seth Rollins or one of his stupid friends, you can do whatever you want. You want to take a night off from Raw? Go ahead! You want to have a little vacation, that's great, just take one! Don't worry, no one will mind."

"Kevin!" Stephanie's voice was obsidian knife sharp, and the one word carried the weight of threat to back it up. "We never said we were just going to let this go."

"No, we didn't," Hunter agreed. "As a matter of fact, we do take a no-call no-show for Raw, very seriously."

"Extremely seriously," Stephanie said, the edge to her voice still just as sharp. "And that's why we're telling you, and everyone else here tonight, that if we have not heard from Roman, Dean, or Seth by the time SmackDown is over this week, there will be repercussion, and they will not be pleasant ones." The camera zoomed in for a close up, and Stephanie turned her head so she was looking right into the camera, as if it were not a lens, but eyes she was looking into. "Do you hear that, Boys? Roman, Dean, Seth, I'm talking to you. I know wherever you are, you're watching this, and I'm here to tell you right now, that if you do not contact us by the time SmackDown is over this week? You're fired!"

The rest of Raw passed without a single word from Roman, Dean or Seth and no mention of them by anyone else. Even Kevin remained strangely quiet about the whole thing.

July 18, 2016 After Raw

"Rhyno, what's going on?"

"Terry," the man corrected, looking at the young man who was addressing him. "We're not in the ring right now, my name is Terry Richards." He grinned then, showing no hard feelings. "And everyone is right, you are the spit of your dad."

"Yeah, yeah," Neil rolled his eyes for a moment, then focused back on the man. "Terry," he said, wondering if he should call him Mr. Richards instead, as his mother would have expected, but then deciding that since Terry Richards had emphasized his first name, that was what he wished to be called. "What's going on? Why are you here instead of our folks?"

"Yeah," Payton chimed in. Sitting next to her on the sofa, Leah nodded too. "What's going on?"

"You guys are supposed to be sleeping," Terry said, deliberately changing the subject. "I agreed to watch you, but I was told the three of you would be sleeping." They were in Seth and Kayla's hotel suite, and Terry had agreed to watch out for the kids, while their parents all talked in Roman and Jessica's suite.

"How can you expect us to sleep with what just happened on Raw?" Neil demanded, looking put out as if Terry might be implying he was a child, who would fall asleep easily when expected to.

"Yeah," Leah agreed, bouncing a couple of times on the sofa. She was wearing a pair of pajamas with tiny butterflies on them, that were exactly like the ones Payton was wearing. Neil was in pajamas too, but his were a solid, sky blue, containing no more embellishment than some navy blue piping, certainly nothing as immature or girlish as butterflies. His pajamas even had a tiny pocket on the front of the shirt, although what exactly, you should put in a pocket when going to bed, escaped him.

The three children were on the sofa, Terry had taken over a large lounge chair, moving it so he could look at the kids while they talked. He had helped himself to a beer from the refrigerator, figuring that if he was going to babysit, like any babysitter, raiding the refrigerator was part of the ritual. He took a sip from the beer as he looked at the kids. "Look, I don't know exactly what is going on, and what I do know isn't up to me to tell you. That's why you guys have parents."

"But our parents aren't here," Payton pointed out, "and you are."

"Yep," Terry agreed, grinning. "I sure am. But my job is to watch the three of you. And your job is to be sleeping."

"We're not tired," Neil said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Are you going to tell our parents on us?"

"Nope," Terry shook his head, taking another sip of beer. "I don't care if you sleep or not. We can stare at each other all night."

"Can you at least tell us if our dad's are fired?" Leah asked, an edge of anxiousness in her voice.

Terry frowned. He had agreed to watch the kids and agreed not to tell them anything, but the original bargain also had three children who were supposed to be settled down and sleeping for this. He was supposed to be watching TV and making sure there was an adult for situations that might arise. Instead, when he came in and Seth and Kayla left, the three kids had come out of their rooms, sat on the sofa, and started piling him with questions. This qualified as a game changer and thus, he felt he could modify the rules. "Do you think your Dads are fired?" he asked.

"I don't know," Payton admitted. "I wouldn't have thought so, because they're popular, but Mrs. Helmsley looked so angry when she said if they didn't show up for SmackDown, they'd be fired."

"Right," Terry nodded. "On the show, Stephanie was upset. But you kids know it's a show, right?"

"Yeah," Neil said quickly. "But-"

"Think about it," Terry interrupted, "Your dads all went in to work tonight, like nothing happened, right?"

"Yeah," Payton said, her brow furrowed.

"Okay, the show said they hadn't shown up, but you knew they went in, right?"

"They went in early," Leah said, frowning as she remembered. "They said they had to film a promo..." her voice trailed off. "But there was no promo shown! What's going on?"

"Who said the promo was for tonight?" Terry asked, instead of answering the question directly.

"Nobody," Neil said, "But we assumed-"

"What's that saying about assuming?" Terry interrupted. "It makes an ass out of Ume?"

"You and me," Neil corrected. "But what's going on? Why would they go to film a promo if they weren't even on the show?"

"I have no clue," Terry said, resorting to his final weapon, straight out lying.

"So our dad's are fired?" Leah asked, clutching the hem of her pajama tops and twisting them in agitation.

"No," Terry could be honest on that one. "If your dads were fired, they wouldn't have reported. And, you wouldn't be in this hotel would you? You'd be flying home. Probably coach."

"Dad hates coach," Neil said, still frowning. "He says it has no leg room."

"Then it's a good thing your dad didn't get fired." Terry raised the bottle to his lips and finished it off in one last, long, swallow. "Now, which one of you wants to go get your Uncle Terry another beer?"

SmackDown July 19, 2016

By not being present, Roman, Dean, and Seth's presence was felt all over SmackDown. Every hesitation, people expected them to show up, every camera shot to the audience, people looked around as if expecting to see them making an entrance through the crowd.

But they didn't make an appearance.

They kept cutting in and out of the ring action with scenes showing various members of the Authority, asking security guards to please let them know if Roman, Dean or Seth showed up.

There was one promo where Kevin went and told security that if Roman, Seth, or Dean showed up, they were supposed to get Kevin immediately, that him and only him was to escort them to Stephanie and Hunter. He also assigned Rhyno, Nobel, and Mercury, each to a separate entrance, just to be sure.

After one match, they showed Jamie standing at the entrance he had been assigned, looking solemn. After the commercial break, they showed Joey at his post, talking seriously with the guard, looking as if he was making 100% sure, the guard knew what he was supposed to be doing.

After the next match, they showed Rhyno at his station, playing "Rock/Paper/Scissors" with the guard. The men were laughing when they both got "Rock."

The final commercial break was ten minutes before the show was over. And when they came back, the Authority, again minus Kane, but including Rhyno and J&J were in the ring. Also in the ring was a small, short legged red grill on a table, the type you would expect to see brought along for a camping trip or a picnic.

"As you can see, Ladies and Gentlemen," Micheal Cole announced. "The Authority has set up some type of… barbecue grill. Exactly why we don't really know..." his voice trailed off hesitantly.

"Maybe they're going to have a little cookout to show their appreciation for Kevin and R&J&J," JBL suggested.

"I really don't think they'll have a cookout in the middle of the ring," Saxton said.

"Why not?" JBL said, sounding jubilant. "Everybody loves a barbecue! What better way to show your loyal employees you care?"

"That's not a very big grill to feed Kevin and company," Cole pointed out.

The cameras focused in on the ring where Kevin was grinning. Stephanie had the microphone and the camera did a close up on her. "Well, it's getting near the end of the night," she said, stating the obvious as if she really might believe this would surprise people.

"And Seth and his little friends haven't shown up," Kevin interrupted, "And according to what you said yesterday, this means they're fired."

"We know that," Hunter said, managing to only sound slightly exasperated at Kevin's impatience.

"That's why we have this grill out here," Stephanie said. "Because if we're going to do this, we're going to do it, right." She looked over at Hunter who reached into his suit pocket and pulled out some folded papers, which he handed to Stephanie, who held them up. "We have here, Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, and Seth Rollins's contracts!"

"Do you really think-" Cole said.

"Yep!" JBL was practically chortling. "She's going to show those hooligans that this is her arena, and this is what happens when you mess with the boss!"

Carefully, Stephanie put the contracts on to the little grill. Then she again nodded to Triple H, who pulled one of those long stemmed lighters out of his pocket. She took the lighter and handed it to Kevin as if she were offering a favorite child a much loved treat. "Kevin, would you like to do the honors?"

Kevin took the lighter with a smug grin. He made a great show of flicking the switch until it lit. Then he brought the flame down to the pile of papers, lying in the grill.

"Uh, you might not want to be so hasty, Kevin!" Dean's voice echoed through the stadium, seeming to come from every direction. Surprised, Kevin dropped the lighter, which caused it to go out. He looked around along with the rest of the Authority, as if they expected Dean to just show up in the ring.

"Up here, idiots," Dean said.

The camera panned out to show a closeup of Dean's face on the titantron. You couldn't see much around him, it was obvious he was in a dimly lit place, but if you squinted, you might get the impression that there were log walls behind him.

Then the camera wherever they were, panned out and you saw he was sitting at a table. Sitting next to him was Seth, looking bandaged and bruised, even in the dim lighting. On the other side of Seth was Roman. The way they were sitting, there was a feeling that Roman and Dean were protecting Seth, and that while Seth was ashamed he needed it, he was also grateful he had it.

"Dean Ambrose," Dean quietly said.

"Roman Reigns," Roman chimed in

"Seth Rollins," Seth's voice was barely a whisper.

Even thought the introductions were unnecessary, the feeling was that they had formalized the event, turned it into something more than just an interruption. The audience was left with the impression that something of great importance was about to take place.

"You know, the three of us have been talking," Dean said, leaning forward so he was really looking into the camera, as if he were staring into the viewer's eyes. "And we've realized, we've lost our way."

"That's right," Roman agreed, his jaw set in a firm line.

Seth said nothing, but nodded his agreement.

"We've gotten caught up in belts and championships, merchandising," Dean said. "Trying to get to the top."

"Yeah," Roman said, nodding. "We bought into your games, Hunter, we started thinking it was all about the paycheck."

The cameras showed Hunter's face, he did not look happy, and scowled at the three men. But he did not interrupt them, either.

Seth swallowed and spoke, his voice still soft, but getting stronger with every word. "That wasn't why we started. That wasn't what we came to the WWE for."

"We came for justice," Roman said, continuing smoothly from what Seth had said. "We saw injustice going on and we came to stop it."

"But we got caught up in all the crap. We bought in." Seth said, his voice falling on the words, "bought in." "Especially me."

"We forgot what we were about," Dean said. And even though the lighting wherever they were, seemed to be no more than candlelight, you could see Dean's hair was slicked back, you could see the determined set in his jaw, an expression that had been missing since that night Seth had sold out his brothers. "We let the Authority run roughshod over the entire roster, picking and choosing, who would win and who wouldn't."

"So much injustice," Roman said, sadly shaking his head.

"The Authority set themselves up to be the end all and be all," Seth said, his voice getting stronger. "They fooled me, tricked me into believing that all that mattered was my loyalty to them."

"And what did that get you?" Dean asked, looking away from the camera and directly at Seth. Then before Seth could answer, Dean decided to answer himself. "It got you beat up, it got your brutalized. Five against one, Hunter," he turned his body and stared at Hunter. "That isn't fair, that isn't justice. That's just wrong."

"And we're going to stop it," Roman said, his voice firm and confident, giving a small not to go along with his words.

"That's right," Dean agreed, grinning now, but it wasn't his usual "Happy-Scary-Dean" grin, the audience had grown use to, this was a cold grin, a firm grin. The grin of a man who would brook no nonsense anymore, a man who had gone to the end of the rope, fallen into the pit, then grabbed back onto that rope and was hauling himself out. "The days of the Authority being the only ones in charge? Those days are over. We'll be back, and when we do? Watch out, Hunter, watch out Stephanie, and you too, Pieboy and friends, because when you try to put the roster down? We'll be there. We'll stop you. We'll make sure the WWE is fair and just."

"Because the hounds of Justice will be watching every move you make." Roman said. "And if you step out of line, we'll be there to stop it. Believe that!"

"I'm Dean Ambrose," Dean said, putting his fist out over the table.

"I'm Seth Rollins," Seth said, doing the same.

"And I'm Roman Reigns." Roman's fists joined the other two, and all three men said in unison, "And we are, The Shield."

July 19, 2016

Three families, three men, three women, three children were in a private lounge at the airport. There were special lounges scattered about the airport, open only to various customers of various importance. For some, you merely needed to be a frequent flier. For others, more criteria needed to be met. Many different things could factor into this, such as your wealth, social standing, celebrity status. This particular lounge was almost at the top of the chain, the only one higher was reserved for important political or military persons.

It was sleek and comfortable, overlooking the tarmac, furnished in subdued colors and leather furniture, cleaned every day so the room always smelled faintly like good leather. For ease and speed of cleaning, the floor was laminate, designed to look like wood, but done so carefully, that one would really have to be a floor expert, or willing to invest a great deal of time to realize it wasn't true wood. Outlets for plugging in computers or recharging cellphones were everywhere, along with a few tables. But most of the furniture was designed for groups to be able to sit at comfortably and informally. Leather sofas faced each other with oversized leather armchairs on either sides, giving these areas a sense of privacy.

There were bathrooms off of this lounge, for use of lounge guests only. Much more luxurious bathrooms than were seen by the normal passengers. There were even a room with private shower stalls, just in case your layover was a little longer than expected and you wished to freshen up.

As far away from the seating areas as possible, was a full bar staffed at all times with at least two bartenders and various other staff who had been specially trained to be able to sense a raised finger, a subtle indication of a need for service almost before the guest themselves realized they were doing it. And once the gesture was made, even though the staff would never be so crass as to run over, it was usually less than ten seconds before someone was there to ask what was needed or wanted. They would bring you drinks or food, of course. In the old days before cell phones were everywhere, they would bring you a telephone to which no one had to dial nine to reach an outside line. Should you have the time to take a quick nap, they would happily bring you a pillow and a blanket and if you asked them, they would make sure you were awake in plenty of time to get you to your gate. If some cases, they would even call the gate and ask that your plane be delayed in departure until you could board.

The entire lounge spoke of power and status and most kids would have found the place intimidating. However, Payton, Leah, and Neil had been in these types of lounges before and they really didn't care. The three of them were sitting on one of the comfortable leather sofas, there parents across from them in comfortable oversized leather chairs or on another comfortable leather sofa and they were looking at them with looks of exasperation only a child can give, when a child feels he or she has been strung along for too long.

"Spill it!" Neil demanded, before the staff employee could bring him the soda he had asked for only seconds earlier when all of them had ordered a drink of some type.

"Neil!" Cinnamon's voice was soft, as if she knew that harsh noises would sound twice as harsh in this subdued place, but still not willing to let her son get too carried away.

"Sorry," Neil muttered, but didn't look sorry at all. "But it's not fair! We know Shield is back together, we watched SmackDown being taped last night, but there's more going on!"

"Yeah," Leah chimed in. She was often the stout defender of whatever Neil suggested, but in this case, there was no favoritism being shown. All three kids knew something was in the air, they just didn't know what. "You said you weren't gonna be back to the show for awhile, what happens? Are you going to be able to come home for a bit, or does this mean, you're over doing a tour in Nowhere or something?"

"You told me Sunday that next week at that time I'd be thrilled," Payton chimed in, her voice softer. She believed in her da, even though she knew something was going on, something that the fathers had known for awhile, and the mothers had learned Monday night, she had faith the news would be good. It was just the not knowing that was making her crazy. It had been hard enough Monday, when it looked like her da and uncles would be fired. Even then she had remembered Da telling her she would be happy, part of her feared he might think her happiness was that if he did get fired, he'd be around a lot more. And while that would be wonderful, she also knew her da well enough to know that Seth Rollins would never be happy, at least not now, unless he was a wrestler for the WWE. "So far I'm not thrilled, I'm confused!"

"How long are you going to be out of the ring?" Neil said, sounding a little more demanding than his mother wished, but a little less than he wished. "Are we all going home together?"

"We'll be out of the ring for a little over a month," Dean said, unable to resist grinning, even though he knew it would not make his son very happy. "We'll be back for Summer Slam, which is the last Sunday in August."

"Okay," Neil said, exhaling slowly as he said the word. "So, you're coming home with Mom and me? We're going to spend some time together as a family?" His voice rose hopefully.

"Not exactly," Dean said.

All three children exhaled noisily and exasperated. "Dean!" Cinnamon said, looking at him, clearly telling him that the joke of keeping these kids on the edges of their seats was over, it was time to spill the beans. Dean responded maturely by sticking his tongue out at his wife.

"How would you kids like to spend a month together?" Roman asked, deciding that if they waited for Dean to tell the kids, they might all miss their flights.

The kids looked from one another, then to their mothers, who all smiled. This was a good sign. "Where?" Neil asked. "Our house? That would be cool! We can play in my wrestling ring and-"

"Not at our house," Dean interrupted, knowing that Neil could wax lyrical about his backyard wrestling ring and his neighborhood.

"Nobody's house," Seth continued. "Instead, we're going to be staying on a private island."

"Where?" Leah almost demanded.

"New England," Roman said, smiling at his daughter's impatience to want to know everything instantly.

"It's a big lake," Seth further explained. "The shores of the lake are pretty much private property, but there is an island in the middle of it, about a mile and a half from the closest shore."

"It's a place for companies to have retreats with groups of employees," Dean said, deciding that if the beans were dropped, he might as well join in with giving information. "Team building exercises, things like that. But we're going to have the whole place to ourselves for the month. Swimming, fishing, all types of things. And if we get bored on the island, we can take a boat to the shore and go into town. They have electricity and satellite too, so you guys can keep up with your internet friends and watch Raw and SmackDown, although why you'd want to watch it if we're not going to be on it is beyond me." The last was said with a rather cheeky grin.

"All of us?" Leah asked, needing to confirm this. "The whole month? Us three kids, our moms and our dads? Together? A whole month?"

"Yes," Jessica said, smiling.

The kids looked at each other, eyes wide. In that way children have, their study of each other showed them that no, they hadn't misunderstood, that the information being given was truthful. Silence carried over the lounge as the kids absorbed the information, digested it, and came to their own conclusions.

Payton was the first to break the silence, she ran over and threw her arms around Seth, hugging him tightly. "A month!" she exclaimed happily "A whole month of you and Leah and Neil and Uncle Roman, Uncle Dean, Aunt Cinnamon and Aunt Kayla!"

Leah was next, she too flew into her father's arms, but not without giving an enthusiastic pump of her fists first. Neil was last, and feeling self conscious, he wanted not to run and hug his father, fearing it might look too babyish, then unable to resist, especially when Dean held his arms open with a look that clearly said, "What about me?" he leaped from the sofa and flew into his fathers arms, hugging him, allowing himself to be hugged.

And the subdued atmosphere of the lounge was temporarily disrupted by the joy of three happy families with children who might have just gotten the best news of their lives.

The End.

Special Thanks To: Emilee J. Thank you for catching up on the reviews, that was so nice of you. I would have understood if you had just written one, but the fact that you still did each chapter separately means a whole lot to me, thank you.

Author's Notes: I'm so sorry for the haste in publishing this. I didn't have the time to get this properly looked over after I wrote it and if it's a little rough, that's on me.

I know it leads into another story and I was going to write another story, but now I'm not sure if there are any more stories in me. So, I'm taking a break. I can't write anymore, every time I try, something comes along and smacks me. For some reason, I can't find the mental state I used to be able to find to write in. I lost my escape. I don't know if I can find it again or if it's gone for good.

Thank you to everyone who stuck by me through my stories. I really appreciate it. I hoped my writing would be enough, but it's not, it never was. I can't find the words to thank all of you who bothered to read my stories and let me know you read them, and let me know what you thought of them. You all mean the world to me.

And thank you to all of you who were friendly to me. I really appreciate it. I know I was never as good a friend to you as you were to me, but I'm not good at this social stuff. In fact, I suck at it. So, again, sorry I failed.

Peace Out
Willow