Seth sprinted down the hallway, barely making it to the restroom before the contents of his stomach decided to make an unceremonious second appearance. He stood heaving over the toilet, life turned upside down. As recently as twenty minutes ago, he had been absolutely positive that his actions had been completely justified. He had been wrong. Painfully, utterly wrong. When he was sure that he was finished, he stumbled to the sink, his eyes carefully avoiding his reflection in the mirror. He took his time rinsing out his mouth and splashing water on his face, dreading the moment when he would finally have to face Dean and Roman again.

After several long minutes, he decided that he had delayed the inevitable long enough. It was time to man up, go back to his locker room, and deal with his former brothers face-to-face. Could they ever forgive him for what he had done? He shuffled out of the restroom and was surprised to find Dean and Roman waiting for him outside the door. Whatever strength he had managed to summon before he left fled at the sight of his two former teammates. He gave into the weakness, sinking down against the wall and resting his face on his knees. Whatever they had planned, they would meet no resistance from Seth. He was sure he deserved whatever punishment they decided to dish out.

He felt rather than saw Dean crouch down beside him. "You okay?" Dean asked gently.

A crazed half-laugh, half-sob escaped from Seth's throat. "No," he answered, his voice muffled. He forced himself to lift his head, turning it to look at Dean. "I lost everything," he said, trying desperately to keep his voice steady. "Everything. Almost a year of my life. My brothers. My honor. My dignity. I threw it all away. All because of some stupid misunderstandings and a typo. I'm so stupid, Dean. I should have know better."

Seth leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes. There it was, all out in the open. Now they would leave him. After all, they had no reason to stay. They had gotten the answers they were looking for. He just couldn't bear to watch them walk away. Losing them would be so much harder this time, knowing now that he was entirely to blame.

But rather than hearing footsteps echoing down the hallway, Seth instead heard Roman sliding down the wall to sit at his other side. He opened his eyes, curious despite his misgivings.

"Well, it did look pretty bad," Roman said, his voice calm. "You saw me in there. That text got me, and I didn't even have the excuse of all those extenuating circumstances that you were dealing with. Who knows how I would have reacted if it had me to find that text instead of you."

"Yeah," Dean added, "I was almost ready to kick my own ass after reading that text."

Seth's lips curled slightly at Dean's comment.

"And, hey," Dean continued. "It's not like you lost everything. At least you got a nice shiny gold belt out of the deal."

The smile disappeared. Seth groaned miserably. "Shit. I'm so sorry about that, Roman. At the time, I thought it would be kind of like poetic justice, you know? You decided to pull away to become the next big thing, so I decided to steal your big moment. Now, I just feel like an asshole."

"Well," Roman answered carefully. "I can't say that I wasn't mad. But, really, I should have seen it coming. It's not like Brock gave you all that many opportunities to cash in your contract. And, if it hadn't been you, it would've just been someone else waiting with the briefcase." Roman paused. "But, man, I bet they wouldn't have thought to cash it in during the damn match." He shook his head. "I still can't believe you did that. That was genius."

"Some might even say evil genius," Dean added with a grin.

"Shut up," Seth said, nudging Dean with his shoulder. "I was just trying to maximize my chance of success. And, well, indulging my vindictive side." He turned to look at Roman. "Look, Roman, I'll make it up to you. I'll make sure you get a title shot as soon as possible. A fair shot. I owe you that much, for sure."

"I'll hold you to that," Roman agreed.

"And, Dean," Seth said, turning the other direction. "I'm sorry. I should have know better. My head just got so messed up what with Stephanie playing mind games, and the fight, and Roman avoiding us. But that's not an excuse. I should have trusted you. I should have just confronted you about that text. Well, really, I never should have looked at it in the first place. But once I did, I should have gone to you about it. I know it doesn't change anything, but I just want you to know that I know I was wrong and that I'm really sorry."

"Alright," Dean answered simply.

"Well, umm," Seth said unsurely after no one said anything else for several seconds. "I guess... that's it then. Just so you know, I won't bug you anymore. I'll leave you both alone from now on." He pushed up to his feet.

"And why is that?" Roman asked, standing up and putting his hand on Seth's shoulder.

"Uh, because you don't want me around?" Seth answered uncertainly.

"That never stopped you before, " Dean said, rising to his feet as well.

"Yeah, but before I thought we were all on a level playing field. Now I know I was wrong. You can't possibly want me around after what I did."

"You were willing to forgive me when you thought I was going to do the same thing," Dean said pointedly.

"Yeah. You've been working for weeks now to get us all back together. Are you just going to give up now?" Roman added.

"What are you saying?" Seth asked, his heart pounding nervously.

"We're saying that we missed you, little brother," Roman answered.

"You're serious?" Seth asked tentatively. "You too, Dean?"

"Me too," Dean said, throwing his arm around Seth's shoulders. "Life was boring without you around."

Seth stood still, speechless.

"You okay there, Seth?" Roman asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah. It's just a lot to take in. I can't believe you're willing to forgive me after everything that I've done to you."

"Oh, relax. What are a few chair shots between brothers, after all?" Dean said grandly, patting Seth on the back.

"Thanks, man," Seth said sincerely. "So, uhh, what do we do now?"

"Well, I don't know about the two of you, but it's late and I'm beat," Roman said. "I'm gonna head on back to the hotel. Tomorrow is soon enough to figure out the rest."

"Oh. Right," Seth said. "I guess I should call Joey then. See if he can come pick me up."

"You don't have a car of your own?" Dean asked, surprised.

"No. I never could get used to traveling by myself. I ride with Joey and Jamie. They're good guys. They won't mind coming to get me."

"Well, they might not mind, but it seems pretty stupid for them to come all the way back out here, when we're all headed the same way," Roman said casually. "Why don't you just ride with us?"

"Really?" Seth asked doubtfully.

"Really," Roman affirmed. "It'll be just like old times."

"Okay, cool," Seth said. "Thanks. I'll just go get my stuff."

"I call shotgun," Dean yelled.

Seth and Roman smiled and shook their heads. Just like old times, indeed.

Seth felt overwhelmingly lucky as he met Roman and Dean, his brothers, in the parking garage. Just like countless times before, Roman and Dean bickered cheerfully in the front of the car, as Seth ducked into the back. But unlike old times. Seth did not complain about being stuck in the backseat. This time, he was just happy to be along for the ride.

The End