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Chapter 43

"You had sex with him."

Scarlett choked on her water and began to cough hysterically as her windpipe tried to clear the water that shouldn't be there. Seth rubbed her back gently and she looked up at him through watery eyes.

"What?" She wheezed out. Seth rolled his eyes and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Earlier today, you were with him in bed," Seth said as a matter of factly. Scarlett stared at him before she shook her head vigorously.

"I didn't," she said. Seth gave her a disbelieving look and Scarlett shook her head again.

"Nothing happened. He…He was in a mood," she said at last. No, they hadn't slept together. Scarlett may have found an inkle of her courage but it wasn't enough to let herself go completely bare before him. But Dean had seemed to want nothing more than to kiss and hold her.

"One day, when you're ready, I want to see all of you," Dean murmured into her hair as he traced the scars on her neck. Scarlett looked at him and he touched her nose with his.

"I don't expect it to be tomorrow or next week. As long as it'll take, I'll wait," he told her.

He'd promised to wait until she was ready and Scarlett couldn't have been more grateful. The day had been spent in bed with Dean falling asleep and Scarlett lying awake, happy to watch him as he slept.

"Liar. I know Dean's moods. Sex, alcohol, or sleep," he said chuckling. Scarlett gave him a heated look then turned her face away from him.

"Then you don't know his moods at all," she said simply. Silence fell over them as Scarlett continued to eat from under her scarf. She was early for dinner and the dining hall was still remotely empty with a few people scattered across the tables.

"I'm sorry about earlier," Seth said quietly. Scarlett froze with the fork halfway to her mouth and looked at him.

"Roman and I…well we thought th-."

"That I'd cheated on him," Scarlett finished, setting the fork down on the plate.

"Scarlett, we-."

"Stop Seth. It's okay. You were worried about your best friend and I can't blame you for that. You've both told me clearly that if I did do something wrong and hurt Dean, you wouldn't stand beside me; and I honestly don't expect or want you to," Scarlett said. "If I ever hurt Dean…I don't think I'll be able to live with myself. He's given me the most precious gift and I will forever be in his debt."

"Gift?" Seth inquired. A sparkle touched her eyes and Scarlett bowed her head as she remembered.

"He's given me his strength, Seth. My courage, something that I'd lost and never thought I'd ever get back."

Seth stared at the woman sitting next to him. Hearing her talk about Dean, how could he have doubted even for a second that she would go and do something like that to him?

"You fucking asshole, first you interrupt us then you steal my spot next to her," Dean growled coming up behind Seth.

Scarlett looked up as Dean approached and smiled brightly. Seth and him began to argue and she watched the two bicker in amusement. A hand rested on her head and she looked up when Roman bent to press a kiss against her forehead.

"I'm sorry, babygirl," he whispered in her ear. Scarlett got onto her feet when he tugged her and let herself be cocooned in his arms.

"Don't. You and Seth have nothing to apologise for," she said, her face buried into his chest. The next moment, she was yanked out of Roman's grasp into a familiar embrace and Scarlett looked up at Dean as he glared at Roman and Seth.

"Quit flirting with my girlfriend," Dean warned them. Her heart burst with joy at hearing him say the word and Scarlett thanked the God that nobody could see the wide smile underneath her scarf.

"Girlfriend, huh? Never thought I'd hear that word coming from your mouth," AJ's amused voice cut through the moment and Scarlett froze. She had completely forgot about AJ. Slowly, she turned towards the woman who was smiling brightly at them.

"Hi A-Aj," Scarlett stammered. Her smile fell and she narrowed her eyes at Scarlett.

"My name only has one A," AJ told her. She felt Dean give her a reassuring squeeze and she tightened her grip around his waist, drawing her strength.

"About the article," Scarlett began.

"Please, it's the most thoughtful thing he's done so far. Taking you out to dinner when none of us could," AJ said. "It's the damn tabloids that can't seem to leave anyone in the limelight alone."

"Y-you're not mad?" Scarlett asked, albeit a bit unsurely. AJ waved her off and took a seat next to Seth.

"Nope. Besides, I was able to spend the night sharing my thoughts on the latest Batman issue with Randy," AJ said happily. Scarlett felt Dean's muscles tense and she ran a hand up and down his spine to soothe him. He slowly relaxed underneath her ministrations and when she looked up, she saw the darkness fading away from his eyes. Some things wouldn't change.

"I'd keep my distance from that one, AJ. She's definitely got her eye on the men here, regardless of their relationship status," one of the Bella twins called out as they made their way past with Renee and Summer behind them. Scarlett felt Summer and Renee glaring at her but chose to ignore them; choosing to focus on her hands that had fisted Dean's shirt.

"Well done," she heard Dean whisper in her ear before his lips pressed against her forehead; her grip loosening on his shirt. He didn't stop and slowly reached for her scarf.

"Don't you think you had enough of her in your bedroom?" Seth asked reaching over to cover AJ's eyes. She whacked his hand away and glared at him.

"I'm not a kid," she yelled at him.

"Oh sorry! Your height always throws me off," Seth said teasingly. AJ fumed and Scarlett let out a chuckle as she took her seat to resume eating.

Dinner was an animated affair with Randy joining them later and the six of them sharing laughs and stories. All the while, Scarlett and Dean remained in contact with one another. Be it holding hands or him throwing arm around her shoulders, the physical contact was never lost between them. So much can be conveyed through a simple touch.

~oOo~

One month had passed since Scarlett had joined the WWE as their head chef on the road. The magazine article had spread around like a wildfire but one memo from the heads to focus more on the live events and the buzz had died down. Turned out this sort of stuff got published a lot and most of them were used to it.

Work was tough for Scarlett, requiring her to wake up earlier than most and having to prepare snacks and dinner for everyone backstage. Catering was her department and she felt right at home; cooking and serving everything. Her cooking went off well with a lot of the staff and she'd had several people come up to her to compliment her. But she couldn't have done it without her brigade, the folks who worked under her command in the kitchen and helped her in putting together food in time.

She was still hunting for her own place but Scarlett was having trouble since she barely spent time at home. As they'd decided earlier, she'd put most of the stuff she'd brought along at Dean's place and would stay over whenever they had time off. With her schedule, it seemed unlikely she'd be getting any time off. Scarlett even had to leave Vitani at a pet hotel so she was cared after and not getting agitated with all the moving they'd been doing. House hunting was still an ongoing project and Scarlett was trying her best to manage everything on her plate.

Over the course of one month, her relationship with Dean had only seemed to have gotten stronger. He'd often help her bring out the food even when her brigade always told him it was not necessary. Though there had been times where she found herself staring at the black ink etched onto Dean's back, she chose to push it away and focus on him and their relationship whenever possible.

A lot had changed over the one month that she'd been with the company. She had gotten to travel to so many new cities across the country, she had met several people and had gotten along very well with some of them. Then there were those who simply ignored her and she them. But ever since the tabloid incident, the only person that seemed to have become overly protective of her besides Dean was Roman.

He'd often just hover about and would accompany her whenever she needed to go out if Dean or Seth weren't around. While it was troubling, the good thing that came from it was that her time with Phil had been cut considerably. The tattooed superstar always seemed to be loitering around but he didn't seem to want to approach her on his own with Roman around.

As she rinsed the shampoo out of her hair, Scarlett hummed a tune peacfully. Life was going well right now. Running a hand through her hair again to make sure all the shampoo was out, Scarlett lathered her hands with conditioner and massaged her hair. They were in Los Angeles right now for Monday Night RAW the next day and since the hotel was overbooked, Dean had asked if she wanted to share a room with him. So for the first time, the two were actually sharing a room.

Knock knock!

"Hey, are you almost done?" Dean's voice came through the door. Scarlett shouted an affirmative back and once her hair and body were clean, she stepped out of the shower and quickly dried herself with a towel after wrapping her hair in another one. Once she was dry, Scarlett reached for her clothes and stopped short.

"Oh. My. God," Scarlett breathed as she stared at what she'd brought along for her sleepwear. Considering she was to be spending the nights in her own room, Scarlett had decided to bring along the thin strapped dark blue sleep dress that AJ had insisted on buying when they'd gone shopping few days ago in Anaheim. She couldn't go out wearing this with Dean in the same room.

He'd never seen her in anything less than her everyday clothes. If he saw…Scarlett stared at the blue nightdress in her hand and smacked her forehead and let out a loud groan.

"Scar, you okay?" Dean's voice came again through the door.

"Yes! I'm…fine?" Scarlett looked down again and then up at the mirror.

"Are you coming out then?"

Silence.

"Scar?"

Scarlett shut her eyes tightly and shook her head. As comfortable as she'd gotten with herself, this was just one of those things she couldn't do right now.

"I…I can't come out," Scarlett called back.

"What? What do you mean? Scar, are you okay?" The worry was evident in his voice and Scarlett hugged the sleepwear to her chest as she turned around and leaned against the bathroom counter, her eyes fixated on the door.

"Scar! I swear, I'll break this door down if I have to," Dean's voice came through again. Her feet moved on their own and she cracked the door open, shielding her body from his view as she peaked out the crack. She was met with his concerned gaze and he placed a hand on the doorframe.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"I don't have anything to wear," she told him. He was silent for a few seconds before he sighed.

"Scar, just wear it," he told her quietly. Her eyes widened and he leaned against the doorframe.

"I can't," she breathed.

"Wear it for me. It's the first time I'll get to hold you as I sleep and I want to feel as much of you as I can," he told her. She was still peaking at him through the crack of the door and his gaze didn't waver from her face.

"Don't doubt what I feel for you," he whispered to her. She looked down at the ground as she pondered his words. He hadn't cared when he'd seen her face…but her face and her body were completely different. Dean pulled away from the doorframe and then turned his back to her.

"I think Seth might have space for me to room with him," he said to her.

"No!" Scarlett blurted. She didn't want him leaving his…their room. She'd been looking forward to this since this morning. To be able to spend the night sleeping in his arms, how long had she been wanting that to happen? Scarlett slammed the door shut and looked at herself in the mirror. Gritting her teeth, she slipped the blue nightdress over her head and let it slide down, the material falling just at the middle of her thighs.

Forcing her worries to stop bothering her, Scarlett shut her eyes and took several deep breaths. She wanted to do this…for him. She undid the towel on her head and towel dried her hair before letting it fall over her shoulders. She avoided looking at herself in the mirror completely, knowing that if she did then she would never be able to step out of the bathroom wearing this.

Reaching for the door, she turned the knob and pulled it open. Dean had moved further into the room and was sitting at the edge of the bed, his elbows resting on his knees. A pair of black sweatpants was all he was wearing. He looked up when she stepped out of the bathroom and Scarlett immediately looked away, focussing her attention on a corner of the room. She saw him get up and walk towards her.

"Dinner was great, wasn't it?" She asked when he approached her. She knew she was grasping at straws but wanted nothing more than to just hide; her hands tugged the material to shield herself but the length was unforgiving.

"Shut up," was all he said before he scooped her off her feet. Scarlett yelped and wrapped her arms around his neck. He carried her to the bed and gently placed her down, lying down on his side next to her, his head propped onto his palm. Scarlett dove under the covers and pulled them up to her chin before looking up at him.

"What are you afraid of?" He asked, reaching over to stroke her cheek.

"Nothing," she replied.

"Then get rid of those covers," Dean said simply. Scarlett shook her head vigorously and he grinned at her before bend his head down to kiss her.

His mouth was warm and Scarlett let go of the covers to bury her fingers in his hair. He captured her bottom lip between his teeth and gave a soft tug before kissing her again, his tongue slowly slipping past her lips and nudging hers playfully. He withdrew from her lips to kiss her chin and move along her jaw, kissing the skin. His lips floated down to her neck and he sought out the spot that he knew would have her letting out the whimpers that he so longed to hear.

Her body was warming up, the warmth spreading through her fingertips. When he kissed her like this, Scarlett felt alive. At times like this, she ached for him; wanting nothing more than to let herself be free to do what he wanted. He had a habit of making things seem like there was nothing else but the two of them.

Just the two of-.

"These are in my way," was all he said before he yanked the covers off. It took her a moment to realise what he'd done and when she did, Scarlett let out a yelp and curled into a ball, glaring at him over her shoulder.

"That's not fair!" She said to him. He grinned at her in response and leaned over to kiss her shoulder. Scarlett froze when he continued to trail kisses down the length of her arm.

"Dean?"

"You think your scars disfigure you. I think they make you more appealing," he whispered. He tugged her so she was laying on her back and slowly moved down. Grabbing a hold of her right ankle, he kissed the silvery scars that adorned her. His fingers followed his lips as he trekked up her leg, kissing and nibbling on the skin. Her breaths were coming out in short gasps, her eyes fixated on him.

"They're a reminder that you overcame the hurdle in life. They're not your weakness, but your strength," he said, placing a kiss on the inside of her thigh before repeating the process with her other leg. He stopped once he reached her thigh and Scarlett let out a surprised gasp when his hands pushed the material of her nightdress up, revealing her white underwear and her stomach.

Scarlett felt her face flame at being so exposed but he seemed to have other things in mind as he kissed her stomach and dipped his tongue into her belly button. A soft "ah" fell from her lips when his fingers bounced over her ribcage, his lips in hot pursuit.

"Your body isn't meant to be enjoyed, Scar. It's meant to be worshipped…by me," he said before he pulled himself back to her lips and kissed her with an emotion that spun her head and made her lose sense of time and place. He was staking his claim on her and Scarlett couldn't find it in herself to deny him.

~oOo~

To Dean, she was perfection. He'd known that moment she'd gone in the bathroom earlier that he'd have to coax her out. He wanted her comfort, if not with the world then with him. He wanted her to be free with him, because if she could relax with him, then he could help her in taking on the world outside of their bedroom.

It was no denying that her body was littered with scar tissue, but seeing more of her, he'd felt his heart constrict. The scars were brutal; to get those sort of scars, he could only imagine how much pain she must've had to endure. The left side of her body seemed to have more scars than the right, clearly she'd tried to shield herself but wasn't able to succeed. She wasn't perfect in any means, but Dean found her scars the most endearing part of her.

The scar tissue twisted and wound itself around her in a pattern that made his fingers want to trace the path. They decorated her body; each scar just as unique as her. Dean had to resist the urge to completely tear her nightdress away from her body just so he could see all of her. She'd pulled the material to cover her stomach once he'd stopped kissing her and had rolled into his arms, her arm tightening around his waist and her head resting on his chest. Scarlett had fallen asleep shortly after he'd turned off the lights, leaving him awake as he ran his hands up and down her arm, tracing one of the scars that was winding down the length.

Dean slowly placed her back on the pillows and smiled when she mumbled incoherently, reaching for him in her sleep. He touched her face, tracing the scars that were decorating it. The moonlight was filtering in from the curtains in the hotel room casting a shadow across her face. Dean studied her in silence, sleep nowhere near him.

His eyes took in the scars on her face before moving down to her neck; knowing where exactly he needed to kiss her to get her to whimper. His eyes came to a stop on one of the straps of her nightdress that had slipped over her shoulder. Reaching forward, he pulled it back up. As he was pulling his hand back, Dean felt it graze against her breast and froze momentarily as his eyes slid down to her chest.

Fuck.

She wasn't wearing a bra and Dean ground his teeth together when he felt himself hardening. It took the utmost strength to tear his gaze away from her chest. He'd lose control if he continued looking and Dean knew that right now wasn't the time to wake her up with his mouth. When he'd flipped up her nightdress earlier to expose her stomach, his blood had coursed south seeing the simple white panties that she had been wearing. He'd never thought he'd get hard seeing a woman wearing the most simplest of lingerie until that moment.

Kissing her so close to where he really wanted his mouth to be but not going further had been torture for him; yet he would endure all that torture over and over again until she was ready. He would wait for the day she would bare herself to him on her own and until that day came, Dean would cherish every part of her that she would let him have. Until then, he would just have to rein his emotions in. His erection was pulsing between his legs and Dean once again had to recall an image of his boss in a bikini to get his head set straight.

Returning his gaze to her face (making absolutely sure he wouldn't touch her anywhere that would set his blood pulsing again), Dean brushed her loose tendrils of hair away and traced the seam of her lips. So many women had come into his life, but why was this one so special to him? That was the question he'd asked himself several times before he'd entered into a relationship with her. She meant something to him that put her above all the other women that had tried to become a part of his life.

"You chose her over me?" Renee asked cornering him when he left to join Scarlett for dinner. Dean shoved her to the side and tried to walk past but she grabbed his elbow.

"Dean, come on! She's hideous! No way in hell can you choose a mangled, disfigu-."

"Don't you dare say another word!" Dean roared, swivelling around and shoving her against the wall, pinning her to it.

"If anything, and I mean anything, happens to her because of you and your friends, I swear to God I will hurt you," he threatened her. He saw the fear flicker in her eyes before she shoved him away from her.

"She's mine," he hissed at her.

Hearing those words used for Scarlett, it had unleashed something within him that had made his blood boil and rage to simmer within him. It was the first time he'd felt the need to protect, to save. Scarlett brought out a side of him that craved to protect her, be her shield. She brought out something in him.

Every time he was with her, there was this odd emotion that would swim inside of him leaving him warm and content. With her by his side, he felt at peace. He could take a beating in the ring but when he'd come to catering and see her twinkling eyes, knowing she was smiling underneath that scarf of hers, all the pain and fatigue would melt away. In the ring, he was tough and had the brute strength of a brawler, but in front of her; Dean Ambrose would weaken because he knew that his ultimate solace was in her arms.

She trembled underneath him and a painful groan escaped her. Cold sweat broke out on her forehead and Dean wrapped her in her arms and held her close. She'd always shied away from talking about anything regarding her nightmares and AJ had informed him that Scarlett had been looking tired lately. He'd known about the nightmares since the night Seth had shoved her into his arms back in Vegas; but he'd thought that they'd subsided by now.

Scarlett groaned again and Dean buried his fingers into her hair, cradling her to him. He whispered soothing words into her ear and rubbed her back; waiting for the trembling to subside and her breathing to even out again. It was a couple of minutes before she completely calmed down and Dean pressed her lips to her forehead as he relaxed. He'd have to talk to her about her nightmares otherwise she would only further weaken herself.

Kissing her one more time, Dean tightened his grip on her before closing his eyes and waiting for sleep to pull him under. This was how he wanted his nights to end and his mornings to begin; just Scarlett and him.

I am still reeling from the after effects of Wrestlemania 33. The RAW Tag Team match, the final goodbye, the Shooting Star Press from Shane...yeah, that was one hell of a Wrestlemania.

That being said, this was Chapter 43 of Inferno. We got a look into Dean's head and look at Scarlett from his point of view. No they haven't slept together yet but Dean's starting to gently coax her out of her shell and it seems like Scarlett's not opposing him as much as she used to. Let me know your thoughts in your reviews, please! I love hearing from you (both on wrestling and the story) and interacting with you.

Cheers!

- K.