Roman looked over at Violet in the passenger seat next to him, he could tell that she was nervous and he had to admit that he was too. It was the first time they left his apartment since being released from the hospital and the police had no idea where Jake was hiding and no real proof that he was behind their accident. But the group had been planning this outing for weeks now, and as much as he loved having his woman all to himself, he knew that they needed to get out and be with friends.

"Violet, nothing will happen tonight except that we will have fun with our friends. Between Dean and I, no one will get their hands on you. And Leslie will have a pool stick, that fact alone makes me a little nervous."

Violet snickered, "And it should make you nervous! You'll have to protect Dean more than me."

He leaned over and softly kissed her lips, "Come on, I know you must be dying to meet Antonio's wife."

"Yeah, this may be Antonio and Shannon's last night out before the baby," she said taking Roman's hand and making their way into the pool hall.

He stopped outside the door and pulled Violet close to him, he kissed her slipping his tongue between her lips when she sighed. She gripped arms and stood on her tiptoes, smiling up at him when he broke the kiss. "We'll pick up right here later tonight," he said as he held the door open for her.

They found their friends gathered around a pool table in the far corner, Dean, Leslie and Seth were bickering about something and Antonio was hovering around his wife who was perched on a bar stool with a glass of water. Shannon was gorgeous, tall with mocha skin, dark black hair tucked behind her ears and a very large baby bump and she was clearly tired of Antonio's fussing.

"Really, babe, I'm fine," Shannon insisted.

"But you are supposed to have your feet up, there is no where here for you to put your feet up." He said.

Shannon sighed, "It's only a few hours, Tony, it's not a big deal."

"Aww, Antonio, you are so sweet," Violet said, "Hi, you must be Shannon, I'm Violet! The big guy is Roman."

Shannon smiled gratefully at Violet, "Hi, nice to finally meet you both. And thanks for the distraction, he means well, but its getting old."

Violet grabbed the chair next to her, "Its exciting to finally meet you, Antonio talks about you all the time."

"Well, look who finally decided to roll out of bed and put some pants on," Dean said, earning a smack upside the head from his wife.

Seth hugged her, "Hey Vi, how are you holding up?"

"I'm OK, really." she assured him.

"Good, that means I can join Dean in teasing the shit out of you." He grinned, "Now let's shoot some pool!"

She rolled her eyes, "Well, since you actually brushed your hair today, I guess I'll let it slide."

After much debate, it was decided that Dean and Roman would play against Seth and Antonio with Leslie and Violet getting the winners. The three women sat down and spent the next half hour making fun of their men.

"Oh, by the way, Vi, while you were hiding in Roman's apartment, uhh, 'recuperating'," Seth said emphasizing the word recuperating while making air quotes, "some interesting things have been happening in the real world," he said just before sinking a tricky corner shot.

"This nerd must have been practicing ever since he suggested this," Dean grumbled.

"Someone is a sore loser," Antonio said.

"Oh, my man is the biggest sore loser in history," Leslie said laughing. "If we are really lucky, he'll throw a tantrum!"

They all laughed except for Dean who missed his shot and muttered profanities under his breath.

Antonio covered Shannon's belly and said "Hey, watch your language around my kid!"

"Alright, alright, tell me what's been going on," Vi said when they all calmed down.

Seth and Antonio both looked at each other, "You tell her,"Seth said.

"No way, bro, she's your best friend!" he replied.

"You tell her, no you tell her," Leslie mocked, "What a pair of babies!"

Dean laughed at his wife when he noticed a familiar face lurking by the bar, he nudged Roman and jerked his head towards the bar area. Roman raised an eyebrow and nodded his head and the two men silently stalked off. The rest of the group was too busy gossiping to notice their departure.

Shannon rubbed her belly, "Wow, the little one is having a good time tonight! Someone please just tell Violet before I am forced to!"

"OK, OK!" Seth said laughing, "But only because the baby chimed in!" He paused for dramatic effect and then spoke up when Violet started to get huffy. "They finally fired AJ."

Violet's eyes bugged out of her head, "Really? Are they going to hire a replacement?"

Antonio shook his head, "Nope. They already have someone in mind to take over her work. Of course its not final yet, but Seth and I gave our approval."

"Really? Who are they going to transfer over?" Violet asked, "God, I hope its not someone from the safety department."

They all looked at Violet and shook their heads. "Think about for a minute, Vi," Leslie said.

"What?" She said scrunching her face, "Oh no… not me, I have enough to do."

"Oh please, you are already doing her job!" Seth said, "you might as well get the fancy office and the title."

"And hopefully a raise!" Antonio added.

Shannon gasped again and rubbed her belly, "Wow, the little one really likes you guys."

Antonio looked concerned, Shannon swatted him away to go take his shot, "Go, you're next, sink the red ball in the left corner pocket."

Dean pulled Roman aside and nodded his head toward the bar area, "You see that weasel looking guy in the corner there?"

He looked over, "That's Jake?" Dean nodded and Roman narrowed his eyes, "Then that's the guy whose limbs we are gonna tear off," he said and started walking over.

"Whoa, easy there big man," Dean said placing his palm on Roman's shoulder. "Not just yet, come on, let's be rational here. If it were any other woman, in this situation, what would we do?"

Roman rolled his eyes, "Get your dirty hand off me. We'd call the cops because he's violating the restraining order."

"Exactly, I'll make the call, and we'll keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't leave and make sure he doesn't get anywhere near Violet."

"And if he does, then I'll get to rip his arms off and shove them up his ass," Roman growled.

Dean pulled out his cell phone and called his buddy on the police force. He really hoped that the slime ball stayed near the bar, he knew there wasn't a chance in hell that he'd be able to pull an angry Samoan bear off the man and Seth and Antonio would be little help. Plus, now he had to worry about Shannon as well as Leslie and Violet.

Dean positioned himself by the front door where he could see Jake, Roman and their friends while he waited for the cops to show up. Roman was settled at the other corner of the bar ready to make a move if Jake tried to leave. Ten minutes had passed since he called his buddy when he saw Leslie come running to him in a panic.

"Dean! I need you now! Shannon's water broke and Antonio is freaking out, help me get her to their car." Dean looked around and located Jake still at the bar and tried to catch Roman's eye, he desperately needed to make sure that Jake's sorry ass wound up in handcuffs tonight, but there was no way he wanted the girls to know that he was there.

Dean let Leslie drag him back towards his friends where Violet was calmly talking to Shannon and helping her down from the stool.

"OK, I'll take it from here," Dean said, "Relax Antonio, I'm a trained EMT, let's help Shannon to the car and you drive her to the hospital. Easy now Shannon, deep breaths, you got this." He wrapped his arm around Shannon's waist and told Violet, Seth and Leslie to stay put.

"I'm just going to help them get settled at the hospital and then I'll be back, ok sweet cakes?" Dean said swatting Leslie's ass and kissing her forehead.

"Call me! Keep us posted," Violet called after them. "We totally have to plan a little welcome home party for them!"

"Absolutely," Seth agreed.

The three friends watched the men help Shannon out to car when they realized that Roman was missing. "Hey, Vi, where's your lover boy?" Leslie asked.

She shrugged, "Beats me, wasn't he with Dean?"

"Nope, Dean was alone by the front door." They looked around but couldn't find him anywhere.

"Relax, ladies, the poor guy probably just had to take a piss," Seth said. "Come on, we have the table for another hour. Let's rack up and start a new game."

Twenty minutes later Roman straightened his shirt, flexed his right hand and rejoined his friends. He wrapped his arms around Violet's waist and planted a hard kiss on her lips making her blush.

"Where have you been?" she asked

"Just trying to order us a round of beers, we should celebrate the new baby, don't you think?"

Leslie and Violet exchanged skeptical glances, while Seth noticed Roman's scuffed knuckles and grinned, "Oh a few beers are definitely in order," he said to the big man.

He quickly fired off a text message to Dean, "Cops have him. How's Shannon?"

He smirked at Dean's reply, "She's fine. What did you do to the bastard?"

"He was a little tipsy, he may have tripped."

The waiter dropped off a tray of beers and Seth led them in a toast, "To friends, happiness and new beginnings!" They clinked their glasses and took their first sip together, Seth tried to catch Roman's eye but the big man neatly avoided his gaze.