"You missed a house show."

"What would have happened if it were a live television?"

"Maybe this is too much for you."

"I think we should just pull you from this storyline and send you back to NXT."

Needless to say, Paige was put through the ringer and missing a house show didn't bode well with management. A part of her was upset because she took most of the damage for it – The rest of the Shield and Kaitlyn had gotten away with a warning. Luckily for her, Stephanie and Triple H fought to keep her around – she didn't think it should have been necessary – after all, she had only been on the main roster for a week. She didn't know why they let her off the hook, but she was grateful. She just had one problem… AJ Lee.

Paige held her head in her hands, she didn't need the extra difficulties that AJ had afforded her. She heaved out angry sighs and truth be told, she didn't know how long she could handle everything. Her mixed feelings toward Dean were enough, they were enough to make her want to run in the other direction when she saw him. She was confused, which was starting to make her second guess herself.

She headed toward the gorilla position where her partners were standing in the corner, away from everyone else. They exchanged curt nods – she assumed they were in character around the people backstage. She returned their nods and gave a stern look, "Reigns, where's Kaitlyn?"

Roman raised his right eye brow, "Am I supposed to know that?" He seemed to get irritated as soon as the words left his mouth. He was a little upset with her at the moment, unjustifiably so, but still upset, "She's not one of us –"

"Go find her. Now!" her eyes and the tone of her voice challenged him to say something. They were friends and he was a hell of an intimidating guy, but she'd be damned if the one and only woman she called a friend was hurt because he couldn't control his hormones. She couldn't have cared less about what their problem with each other was – if they even had one. She figured they needed to just talk – but she refused to ignore the fact that they were all being targeted, "Pu' on your big boy pants and go ge' her."

The Samoan man set his jaw and slowed his breathing to control the small amount of rage bubbling inside of him. Tonight was not the night for Paige to mess with him. They had been through one hell of a week and he didn't need her to play matchmaker. He was still pissed about seeing Seth and Kaitlyn get comfortable with each other and getting stranded on the side of the highway with all of them. He just wanted to be left alone to deal with his jealousy on his own.

Paige eyed him, "Go!" a small smirk set on her face, "or would you prefer tha' Seth wen'?"

"Wait what?" Seth interjected.

"Fine." Roman growled, "I'll be back." He stalked away, muttering very colorful language and yelling at confused backstage personnel.

"How'd you do that?" Seth asked, the amusement was evident in his tone.

"Female persuasion." She laughed. After a moment she cleared her throat, "You're all staying back here."

"Nope." Dean ended his silence, "No chance."

"Excuse me?" Paige crossed her arms, ignoring the slight squeak of her leather jacket, "I don' remember askin' you."

"Neither do I, but you're not going out there alone." He was not impressed with her sudden power trip. He would not let her get her way on this, no matter how much he cared for her.

"Wha' are you gonna do, Dean? Knock ou' a bunch of girls?" Paige questioned him. She knew he knew damn well that she had a match against the Bellas and Naomi for the #1 contender's spot for the Diva's title, the Shield couldn't just go barreling through women to protect her without facing severe consequences. "That title around AJ's wais' is mine and I don' need you two to win it" She stared at Dean and stood right in front of him to get her point across.

"Okay guys, let's not do this right now." Seth grabbed Paige by the waist and pulled her back, "Just go win your match and get out of there."

"Fine, bu' under no circumstances do you two pass tha' damn curtain. Understand?"

"Yes your majesty." Seth smirked.

She rolled her eyes and stepped forward as her music hit, but Dean obstructed her path. Before she could say anything, he leaned forward and his lips passed over hers in a light kiss. Startled, she pushed him away, but he seemed pretty satisfied with himself, "Kick some ass out there."

She smiled, "I will, then I'll be back to kick yours." She swiped her hand over her mouth and disappeared through the curtain.

"Well, shiiiit." Seth smiled, "That was interesting. What's all up in her Kool-Aid?"

Dean looked at him and his eyes narrowed into slits, "Stop talking like Reigns, it doesn't suit you."

The younger man laughed and asked, "What are you thinking?"

"About that match?"

"Yeah." Seth had a bad feeling that he wasn't the only one that had a bad feeling, but he wanted to know what Dean was thinking. His friend was much more meticulous and he himself usually just went with gut feelings.

Dean looked thoughtful for a moment, "AJ is gonna be out there and ringside which means, so will Big E." He knew that the former competitive weight lifter was almost brainless when it came to AJ, so he figured that the man would hesitate to hit a woman if it meant he would be awarded by AJ.

Seth put two and two together and shook his head, "I don't think he's that stupid." He shook away the image of Big brutalizing any woman, but Paige was the one person that he watched through the monitor.

"He probably fucked with the car too."

"How'd you figure that?"

Dean sighed and eyed the nosey stagehand that was standing by. The spooked man scurried away and disappeared, "Ziggler was with us, so I figured that he was being used as a diversion." He could still see the look of confusion on the slightly shorter man's face so he continued, "Whoever was stupid enough to attempt to possibly kill us isn't that bright."

"You think Ziggler knew about it?"

"It's looks that way to me.." Dean gritted his teeth, "Let's just get through this damn match."

Roman was on high alert as he walked in the hallway heading toward the Diva's locker room. He didn't want to go where he was about to go, but after pushing aside his unfounded feelings, he understood why they had to look out for Kaitlyn. She was definitely going to be targeted now, even if she didn't think she was involved. They had to protect the Blonde… he had to.

He turned the corner and was hit over the head, hard. He involuntarily grunted as the pain shot through his head and neck. He managed a few good hits, but because of the blow he suffered to the head, he was shaky on his feet and he was over powered. The man attacking him grabbed him by the throat and then with a great deal of effort, slammed him into the wall and the utility crates scattered along the walls.

The mugging was soon over, but the attack was just beginning.