Roman knelt on the floor of MiraBeth's living room and carefully sopped up the puddle on the floor with paper towels, dropping them in the trash can without touching the liquid with his fingers. MiraBeth held out the bottle of cleaner and repeated her question. "Roman, told me what?" He took the bottle of cleaner and sprayed the floor, making sure there wasn't any remnant of Seth's accident left behind. Once he was sure the area was clean, he began to stand up only to pause when MiraBeth towered over his crouching form. She was obviously p*ssed and ready to knock him on his *ss. "Roman…" She actually growled his name. This wasn't a sexy growl, this was an I-am-angry-and-you-are-in-so-much-trouble growl that Roman really didn't want to hear.
"I talked to Vince and was able to come see you." he began before realizing that this wasn't going to work.
"And…" she growled again.
He grabbed the trash can and stood up. "Look, we need to talk. I need to get rid of this and get Seth settled in for a few hours."
MiraBeth smacked the trash can. If Roman hadn't tightened his grip on it, it would have gone flying across the room. "Whatever you are trying to do, it isn't working bucko. You are just p*ssing me off. Either tell me what's going on or get the h*ll out of my house."
"You don't mean that." Roman scoffed. MiraBeth raised her eyebrows. "Okay, okay…You are angry, I get that. We scared you when you heard us in your house in the middle of the night."
MiraBeth stood toe-to-toe with Roman, separated by the trash can, and glared up at him. Her voice was cold and firm. "I was terrified when I realized that I almost shot you and Seth. That is what scared me numbnuts! Now I am getting pretty f*cking furious that you keep trying to sidestep the question - what are you doing here and what haven't you told me yet?!"
Roman opened his mouth to speak but the voice came from the hallway behind MiraBeth. "Roman has lost his mind worrying about you. He went to Vince and got you a job as Head of Security for the WWE. Vince said your first job is to quote 'keep my *ss out of any more trouble' enquote." Seth's voice was quiet but carried through the silent apartment clearly. He couldn't see MiraBeth's face but he was sure if he could he would see rage building there as her body seemed to straighten and tighten. When he continued he couldn't keep the tremble out of his voice. "We are supposed to be at Headquarters tomorrow."
MiraBeth maintained a cold glare with Roman. Silence reigned in the house. Seth adjusted his weight uncomfortably. Roman's gaze dropped to the trash can in his hands. MiraBeth whispered, "You seriously can't even speak to me? Your pecker-flashing friend has to tell me what is going on? And you have the nerve…the NERVE…" She trailed off and turned away from Roman, heading for the hall before she turned around and stomped back to him, her bare feet making slapping sound on the floor. She saw that he had released his grip on the trash can, only holding it now with one hand. His head was still bowed. Somewhere down deep, MiraBeth knew why he had done what he'd done. Somewhere it registered that her man was tired and worried about her. Her big, strong man looked so worn out. But the primary emotion that overrode reason was fury and that fury propelled her to a stop in front of him, poking her finger into his chest and spouting off at the mouth. "Let me tell you something, you overbearing jackass! You may be the high and mighty Roman Reigns. You may be the big dog, the enforcer, and the panty-wetting sh*t of the WWE, but here…here you are supposed to be my man. You are supposed to respect me and love me. You should know that I busted my hump to become a police officer because this was my dream and I have loved it. Every freakin' second of it. I love helping people, protecting them, taking those that hurt others off of the streets. Is it easy? No. It's not supposed to be easy. Nothing in this life worth doing is easy." She took a step back as Roman raised his head to look at her. "I thought you understood. I thought every time you were here for me that you 'got it.' I thought when I was there for you that you knew I understood what your career meant to you. That we respected each other and our choices." She put more space between them. "I was wrong." He opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off. "Don't bother. You couldn't speak when you needed to. Don't say anything now." She turned and headed for her room, shutting the door with a quiet click.
Seth watched Roman sit the trash can on the floor. "I want you with me all the time. I want to hold you…It f*cking kills me when you cry. I can't imagine life… I just wanted to prote…" He heard his friend whisper before he lost the battle to remain vertical and collapsed in a heap on the floor. He was at a loss as to what to do. His friend, a man he had considered a brother was falling apart on the floor. The woman this man loved and who obviously loved him was aching in the next room. Who did he go to? Did he have the ability to help these two heal?