So time for a little bit of protective teammate action in this one as the others find out what happened to Dean.

Skovko, Oh yeah, I figure he can be a drama queen when he wants to be!

Luin12, No idea what that means, so I'm just going to say thanks.

AngelOfDeathOfWrestling, I know, I was a bit mean to him, although that's nothing compared to how mean I get later (yep, that's right, I'm drawing you in!)

Andrew27King, Yep the 'at least for now' bit is very true, but then I did promise that things would start to happen the further in we got!

Enjoy...

Complicated Life

"So they just grabbed you?" Seth blinked, "Right off the street? In the middle of the day?"

Dean shrugged a little,

"Yeah."

"Fuck man. I knew it – I knew I should have followed you."

Seth spun away from him, still cursing mildly and swept a frustrated hand through his hair. The news of Dean's abduction had made his teammates apoplectic and even though he was safely there in front of them, both men were fast wearing a groove in the floor.

"You're telling me not one person tried to help you?" Roman winced, his fists moving fluidly between open and closed, "No one saw anything?"

Dean snorted,

"Nah, they saw me, but – I mean – it's The Battleground, stuff like that happens every day there, y'know?"

"I don't care where you were, someone should have done something, called someone, said something – ,"

"Roman, I'm okay."

Momentarily both men stopped their pacing and turned to look at Dean with varying shades of doubt. Their teammate looked battered, not to mention exhausted and there were faint marks around his wrists which he'd hidden with his cuffs. His jacket was ripped and whenever his arms moved he winced a little.

He was not okay.

"Dean, come on," Seth sighed almost gently, "You don't have to lie to us."

"I said I'm okay."

Standing slightly apart from the threesome, Stephanie leant back and folded her arms. It was interesting to see the three of them together and to note the progression of their reunion so far. They had definitely stepped up from the last time she had seen them and there was a lot less tension and busting of chops. Of course, most of the original sniping had come from Ambrose – who was far too tired at that point to offer more – but generally the atmosphere seemed to have shifted and that pleased their commissioner considerably.

Good.

But beyond the creeping progress of their friendship, there were other factors suddenly at play and sighing a little and rising off the table-top, Stephanie crossed towards them wearing her game-face.

"Did you at least get something that might be useful? An address or a face? Anything like that?"

Dean shook his head and suddenly he looked sheepish which wasn't an expression she'd ever much seen, clearly the incident had rattled him deeper than either of them had been banking on.

Who would have thought?

"Not exactly. I mean, they made me wear a blindfold – or whatever – so I didn't see anythin' and the surgeon didn't talk. We went down some stairs, the guy came in, took some blood and left again. The only thing I got a fuckin' look at were his shoes. Brown leather by the way, kinda douchey, I'm guessin' that doesn't really help?"

He broke off with a weary sort of lopsided smile, clearly trying to laugh it out. The other three merely stared back at him flatly, with Roman and Seth exchanging a look,

"A blindfold?"

"Yeah, those guys ain't rookies. They know what they're doin'."

"So what else did they do?"

"Nothin' much," Dean shrugged unconvincingly, "Barrett kinda slapped me around a lil' bit,"

Roman's face glowered with such sudden vengeance that the entire thing almost folded in half,

"He did what?"

"It's not a big deal, alright Roman? We already knew the guy hated me and in case you're wonderin' why, I asked him myself. Apparently he thinks there's somethin' off about me."

Stephanie stiffened,

"You think you've been made?"

"No, Sheamus just says the guy's wound tightly. I kinda figure he's an asshole to everyone, y'know? Besides, if any of them did know who I was then the only way they'd have dropped me off again would've been in pieces at the side of the road."

Dean's grim humour wasn't helping and Seth frowned again,

"Not funny man."

"I didn't say it was but – I mean – that's the reality of the situation here, right? We're not dealin' with a bunch of girl scouts sellin' cookies. If those guys knew who I was they'd have killed me and as it so happens, they still fuckin' might."

Roman sat down with a sigh on the couch beside him and grit his teeth a little,

"They tell you what happens now?"

"We wait for them to find someone who needs themselves a kidney. Isn't that supposed to be your part in this whole deal?"

"Yes it is," Stephanie confirmed flatly, stepping in even closer again. By nature she wasn't good at emotions or touchy-feely which was why she had left the whole concerned act to the team, but with the subject of the case and their next move looming up on them, she felt herself back on familiar ground, "So how did you get on talking to the doctors? Did you find anyone that might be our guy?"

Dean chipped in after her,

"Any brown leather shoes?"

Crossing back towards him from the kitchen, Seth passed across a steaming styrofoam cup of coffee and Dean took it from him with a measure of surprise. Where the hell had he produced that from? In the moment it was so completely old school Seth – that almost motherly cossetting of his brothers – that Dean forgot he even hated him at all and replied in a raised-brow, weary sounding mumble,

"Uh, thanks."

In response Seth dropped down a greasily wrapped burger and it suddenly became obvious that on the way to their pow-wow he'd stopped for take-out.

That was –

Nice?

Great, like his head needed to be any more addled than the god damn thing already was. Regardless though, he still ripped into the wrapper and began to eat like he'd been half-starved. Considering he hadn't eaten since the morning, he virtually had been and – holy crap – it tasted good.

Seth watched him do it surreptitiously from the corner, smirking at the knowledge that he'd finally done good. Meanwhile Stephanie was still looking between them and as she actually began to tap her foot impatiently, Seth shifted a little in his chair and heaved a sigh,

"Well, I took the guys on the East Side of the city and I got nothing. I mean, there was this one guy who seemed pretty shifty – started sweating, that whole deal – but when I hung around and waited for him after, turns out he was having an affair with his secretary."

"Was she hot?" Dean asked around a mouthful of his burger and Seth snorted back at him,

"Oh yeah."

"Roman," Stephanie sighed, glancing back his way and rolling her eyes in a way that screamed men, "What about you? Have better luck or were you too busy eyeing up the reception desks as well?"

Despite the severity of the general situation, Roman couldn't help but grin. There was a certain sense of comfort in the commissioner's exasperation. It felt like going back in time several years. For the first time since they had got back together, it felt like the three of them were brothers again and although he doubted the happy mood would last forever, he couldn't help but let it lift his soul.

"Actually, I think I might be onto someone. Alberto Del Rio, works on the Upper West Side."

At once all heads spun intrigued in his direction and Dean snorted wryly,

"My first kiss, huh?"

Stephanie blinked at him sharply,

"Wait, your first kiss was with our suspect? Alberto?"

"What?" Dean screwed his face up, "No. It was with a girl who had the same name – pretty girl for your information. Geez boss, way to make a guy feel macho. You're kinda killin' my vibe over here."

"For god sakes," Stephanie shot back testily, clearly not appreciating the trip down memory lane, "Roman, tell me about our surgeon. Why do you think it's him? Dean don't say a word."

The last part of the sentence had been in response to the copper blonde detective opening his mouth. It was debateable whether he had even been going to say something or whether he was simply yanking on her chain. Stifling down a snort of amusement and listening as Seth failed to do the same thing, Roman cleared his throat and tried to be professional,

"I got a bad feeling the moment I walked in there. The guy was just kinda wrong, you know? Besides, when I mentioned the whole black market deal he didn't seem confused or thrown off by it at all. His biggest thing was finding out who'd told me about him and he definitely knew who Sheamus was. Honestly? I mean, he's got to be our guy."

"Did he give you anything we could use?"

"Nah," Roman shook his head emphatically, "He was real careful on that point. Just said that he would give me a second opinion – find a solution – that kind of thing."

Stephanie blinked, a sure sign she was thinking,

"Did he mention money?"

"Not once, but he sure as hell lit up when I did."

For a second the commissioner simply stared back at him and he could almost see the cogs whirring in her head. No one spoke. No one dared to. It would have been virtually suicidal to interrupt. But at the same time they also trusted her judgement. She hadn't risen to the top of her game simply because her father was the Mayor – it hadn't hurt, but it wasn't just that. The three them were quick and pretty adept thinkers, but Stephanie McMahon took problem solving to another plane.

"Okay," she nodded eventually, "So if nothing else then we've got a likely suspect. Now we just need to get something we can use. I'll get my guys to try and find a paper trail – excess money, offshore accounts – but for now I think the best of our options is still trying to catch the gang in the act."

Dean snorted wryly from his position on the sofa, where he had adopted a sort of exhausted slouch.

"You mean in the act of ripping out my organs?"

Stephanie glared at him,

"Do you have to be so blunt?"

"I think you know by now that I do."

"Then in that case Ambrose – yes – ripping out your organs."

Roman glowered across the space at her darkly, unable to help the sudden protective stab,

"So there's no other way that we can do this?"

Dean reached over and patted his chest, the gesture weary but at the same time amused,

"I'll be fine man. Besides, isn't this kinda the point of us being here? Isn't catching criminal fuckers red-handed pretty much what we've always done best?"

"It was," Seth snorted,

"It is," Stephanie replied, drawing a corresponding frown from the younger of the men, who seemed to be standing side-by-side with Roman when it came to appreciating what was at stake.

"Yeah? Well we're a little of out of practise."

Dean screwed his face up,

"Speak for yourself Rollins. Some of us stayed loyal to the job all along."

At once his tone was hot and accusatory and Seth rolled his eyes with a groan,

"Come on man, don't start up with that shit again."

Fortunately before either one of them could get started, Stephanie interrupted and easily took control. She swept aside the growing hostility as easily as if it hadn't occurred and as all three men turned swiftly to look at her, she brought them without argument back to the job.

"I fail to see the problem here gentlemen. I mean, it's your job to keep eyes on Ambrose, right? So as long as you do that then there's nothing to worry about. These people can hardly perform illegal surgery on him if you two are there. I assume you have his back?"

It was a deliberate and inflammatory ending and even though he knew she was needling them, Roman couldn't help but glare fiercely back,

"You know we do."

"Well then, there's your answer."

"Doesn't mean we have to like it though."

"I didn't say you had to," Stephanie shrugged at him, before letting out a sigh as her shoulders slumped, "Look, I appreciate that this is difficult and what happened today was not something we had planned. But you three were – are – the best in the business, so please gentlemen, just – just get it done."

There was a certain sense of vulnerability about her, a sort of exhausted-sounding defeat. It instantly put Dean on an instinctive high-alert mode and he nodded resolutely,

"Sure thing boss, we will."

Roman blinked across at him, startled.

We will?

Since when was he back speaking for the three of them? In some respects it felt like another welcome flashback but at the same time it was laced with unspoken dangers too. Dean was agreeing to using himself as live bait for a gang that had already claimed four lives. At some point he would be forced into the lions' den without them and even though his teammates would be watching him, they wouldn't be with him. It was not the same thing. As an image of the body in the morgue flashed in front of him, Roman shook his head a little and sighed,

"Dean – ,"

He only managed the single weary sounding syllable before his brother piped up again, brushing his warning to one side,

"The Upper West of the city, right?"

"Huh?"

"That's where this Del Rio person works?"

Roman nodded slowly.

Where was this going?

"Yeah, he's got offices that way. Why?"

"I was tryin' to memorize the way The League took me," Dean shrugged airily as it happened all the time, "I thought tomorrow we could try retracin' it? See if takes us anywhere near this guy."

Roman didn't get the chance to form an answer, Stephanie was in like a lightning bolt – or a pike.

"That sounds sensible. Roman, go with him. Seth? What does that leave you to do?"

She was handing out jobs like a kindergarten teacher, delegating kids to clear up brushes and paints. It was something she had always done instinctively but over the years Seth had sort of forgotten about it and so the speed and sharpness with which she asked him, almost made him flinch,

"Uh, I guess I'd better install surveillance equipment round at Dean's – ," he winced, "New place."

The copper blonde rolled his eyes and dropped his head back, letting it flop against the cushions of the couch. His tone when he spoke was dripping with sarcasm and his face showed a healthy disdain for it too,

"Oh great."

It made things worse that he'd forgotten all about it and the thought of the apartment further soured his mood. Wasn't it enough that he'd been fucking kidnapped? They had to house him in a gulag as well?

"You'll need to start sleeping there," Stephanie replied instinctively, accurately managing to predict his actual thoughts. He'd often thought she was an escaped scientific project and telepathy confirmed it, "The League need to believe you are the Moxley character, this needs to be authentic."

Dean almost gaped,

"Are you kiddin' me? It fuckin' is. They just took my blood – I'm pretty sure they think I'm good."

Seth and Roman flinched at the starkness but Stephanie remained unmoving,

"Yes. But even so, we can't take any chances from now going forward."

"I'm not some fuckin' rookie you know."

As the mood moved from grumpy to all-out explosive, Stephanie turned round and swept her handbag off the table, slinging it casually over her arm. She and Dean were used to having arguments, but based on their faces Seth and Roman clearly weren't and so they continued to look both pissed and uncertain as she gazed at them brightly,

"Well on that happy note, I think it's time I left you for the evening," she turned towards the stairs with a brisk nod, "Gentlemen."

Then with a click of her heels she was gone, although a little more like the Wicked Witch than Dorothy, or a combination of both, Seth supposed. He waited until he heard the warehouse door slam and their security alert shut down before he sighed,

"It's good to know some things never change. She'd be one of them."

Dean frowned,

"She's changed plenty."

"She has?"

"Sure she has. A broken heart will do that to a person – make 'em a shell of who they were."

The comment was so suddenly bleak and unexpected that both he and Roman froze, not sure what to say. Eventually Seth licked his lips a little and ventured a comment,

"That's not what it's done to you."

"How would you know?"

At the angry retort, Roman groaned and held his hands up, feeling like a father amongst his bickering kids. It was a position that he was fast getting used to, but he didn't have to like it,

"Alright, enough. Come on man, we don't have time for this shit,"

Dean glared back at him,

"Maybe you don't – ,"

"None of us do, okay?"

Seth rolled his eyes and crossed towards his desk again, where he dropped down and made himself busy at the keys.

"Guess I'll start looking into Del Rio,"

Roman blinked,

"I thought Steph's guys were going to do that?"

"You really think they'll do as good a job as I can?"

Dean snorted disparagingly,

"Nice to know you never change."

"Meaning?"

"Your ego," Dean sniped bitterly, "Still the size of a fuckin' sub-continent."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

Blue eyes narrowed,

"Don't."

"Dean."

At Roman's harsh groan a silence swept in again, punctuated only by the Big Man's weary sigh. It was Dean's fault – he knew he was being bratty and petulant – but at the same time he simply couldn't make himself care. He swung between being okay and fucking hating Seth and not even his head could keep tabs on that change. It didn't help that he'd been kidnapped and battered. Anyone's mood would have been in the gutter and – god – he was tired.

His eyes flickered shut.

In the background he could hear Roman breathing and occasionally turning the pages of a file. Even fucking Seth's keyboard tapping sounded soothing and if he hadn't been so sleepy he knew that would have made him mad.

He didn't want to open himself up again.

He didn't want to let Seth in.

Yet when it had come down to it and he had been completely helpless, he had desperately wanted both Roman and Seth. It was part of the reason his head was still spinning and why he felt so angry as well. He wondered briefly what she would have made of it and then banished that thought as it made his throat swell.

He wasn't even aware that he was actually falling until he registered a blackness sweeping in behind his eyes, taking away the glow of the room around him and filling his head with nothingness.

So tired.

For the next two hours as Seth and Roman laboured, he slumbered away in the corner of the room and the fact that he finally seemed to be at peace again injected his teammates with a deep sense of calm. Nobody spoke but then nobody needed to – at least until midnight sounded on Seth's wristwatch alarm.

Noticing it, the younger man sighed wearily and stretched his arms out before looking across at Dean. When he spoke, it was directed at Roman and rueful sounding,

"Hey, someone's going to have to take him over to the apartment – not his – I mean The Battleground one."

Roman frowned,

"Not tonight."

"But Stephanie – ,"

"I don't give a damn about Stephanie, alright? Dean just got kidnapped not to mention knocked around by them. He can sleep in that crappy place for the rest of the month if has to, but not tonight. Let him sleep it off here."

Roman's reply was both passionate and protective and Seth couldn't help but respond with a smile. It was another welcome throw-back to their glory days as brothers and it stoked the fires of familiarity in him.

Okay, so maybe Dean was hot and cold on it, but slowly their team was starting to re-gel. Bit by bit they were getting their groove back and finding their place as a threesome again. The fact that Dean was sleeping in front of them was just another part of that. He felt comfortable with them – or else just really, really tired, although Seth still took it as a victory all the same. It was the reason he nodded his head at the decision and smiled a little,

"I completely agree bro."

So, what did we think? Dean might have forgiven Seth officially, but he's still blowing a little bit hot and cold on their friendship. In the next chapter, Roman's going to call him out on it (and a lot of other things besides) be sure to be there!