Disclaimer: I don't own anyone.
Rated: M
Warning(s): Slash, Threesome, Kidnapping, Threats, Possible Non-Con, etc.

The next morning, Seth found himself alone in the bedroom, slowly packing his things for their impromptu, unwanted vacation. His two lovers, Dean and Roman, were in the other room, finishing their breakfast. Even though Seth was attempting to give them their privacy, he could still hear their conversation. Once all of this was over, Dean thought it would be a good idea for Seth to go into counseling. Counseling. And Roman, in his own, grunting way, agreed. It felt like a betrayal of the worst kind: they were teaming up on him, and he had absolutely no say in the matter.

Yes, he could admit that he'd been a little bit... off as of late. But, couldn't that be said of anyone who had endured what he had, seen what he had seen? He thought back to the night before... so much had happened. He and Roman had become the WWE Tag Team Champions... Dean had become the United States Champion... Ryback had been arrested... Dean crying... being with Dean... hurting Roman... cuddling with Roman (Roman would probably kill him for thinking of it as cuddling). That was him on the road to recovery. And now, they wanted him to attend counseling?

He slowly traced the two gold bands on his left ring finger, connected only by a small, round chocolate diamond (to match your eyes, as Dean had once said, with that cheesy smile on his face). It was their mark for him, the only way for outsiders to identify him as their submissive. And Seth gladly wore their brand everywhere, especially after what had happened with Ryback, but now... it felt smothering. It didn't feel like a symbol of their love and care for him anymore, but more of a mark of ownership. There was something very wrong with that.

Shaking it off, he returned his attention to the task at hand: folding his newly-washed ring gear. It was a decent distraction, taking his mind off of the real issue for a few minutes. But then, he heard them talking again... talking about why Seth had to go to the hospital in the first place. Seth's heart grew heavy as he looked at the still-healing wound on his arm. Was that all they saw when they looked at him? Someone who was broken beyond repair, who had hurt himself and others in the past? Someone who couldn't be trusted to tell his lovers the truth about how he was feeling?

For a minute, Seth thought that he was going to be sick. He expected as much from the world, maybe even from the McMahon family and his fellow wrestlers... but his lovers? His dominants? His masters? He looked back down to the ring once more. Was it really all that wrong that he wanted to take it off? He was just barely able to refrain from doing so. That would just be a giant smack in the face to both Roman and Dean, especially after all they had been through, and he couldn't do that. Not yet, anyhow. He'd wait until after the trial... and if things still hadn't changed by then... well, then he'd make his final decision.

They'd left a little over an hour ago, but hadn't made it very far from the hotel before they got caught in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Seth, practically bored to tears, had fallen asleep in the backseat. This left Dean and Roman to their own devices. Dean was at the wheel, angrily drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. From the look on his face, he looked like he was about to throw caution to the wind and just drive through the car in-front of them. Roman had come prepared for just such an occasion, and was currently making his way toward the fifth chapter of his novel.

Dean sighed, realizing they weren't about to go anywhere anytime soon. Taking his hands off of the wheel, he slammed the car into park and threw himself back onto the seat. "This is just fucking wonderful."

"You need to have some patience." Roman muttered distractedly, slowly pulling two pages apart and finally breaking into the fifth chapter. "There was probably an accident or something. We still have plenty of time to get to the airport. Just calm down."

"How can I calm down, when..." Pausing, he shot an anxious look back at Seth. He was still pretty far into his dreamland. "All this stress can't be good for him. He shouldn't have to testify at this trial. Wouldn't they have enough evidence just putting us on the stand?" He asked.

Roman lowered his book a little bit. "All of that is circumstantial without Seth's testimony. Without Seth in the picture, what reason would he have to go after us?"

"What about Justin? Can't they get him to testify?" Dean continued softly, wrapping his fingers tightly around the wheel - so tight, his fingers turned white.

"Justin wants no parts of this and you know that." Roman said, effectively ending that conversation. And then, he added blandly, "Traffic is moving."

Dean took the car out of park and lightly tapped the gas pedal... then slammed down on the horn when the idiot in-front of them didn't move, almost causing them to miss their light. He wasn't about to have them be later than they already were. Unfortunately, the resounding noise was just loud enough to wake up Seth. Their two-toned boy woke with a start, nearly falling off the seat (nobody mentioned the fact that he didn't have his seatbelt on, and he was sprawled out over the entire backseat). He was muttering a vicious stream of curses as he slowly corrected himself, rubbing his head where it had hit the bottom of the car door.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you, Seth." And then, just as he was saying that, he rolled his window down and screamed, "Asshole, you ever heard of a little something called a gas pedal? Put the pedal to the medal, jackass, before I ram my car into your fucking trunk!" And then, "Are you okay, Seth?"

"I'm fine, thanks." But he was still rubbing his head, and it looked like there would be a nasty bruise left behind. "Are we almost there?"

That question seemed to light a brand-new fire in Dean, who was now laying heavily on the horn. Finally, traffic had started to move again. "I wouldn't ask him that again if you value your life." Roman said frankly, not bothering to look away from his novel.

"We won't be there for another hour and a half, at this rate." Dean grumbled. "Just go back to sleep, Seth. Everything is fine." His words clearly belied his tone.

"Maybe we should switch-off drivers. I'm sure that Roman would love to get behind the wheel for a little while." Seth supplied helpfully.

Roman's dark brown eyes flickered up from his book, danced between Dean and Seth for several seconds, before he shrugged. "Not really."

"But -,"

Dean cut him off, "Just go back to sleep, Seth." His words were a little crisper this time, a little harder. "Your commentary isn't really helping."

Seth didn't even know what to say to that, so he decided that it would be better if he said nothing at all. He pulled himself into a little ball, sliding the seatbelt on and resting his head against the window. He watched as the cars slowly inched by - and they certainly were moving by slowly - and held his tongue. Once again, that ring felt a little heavy on his finger. He couldn't help but wonder if everything would be different now, if they dynamic of their relationship would be forever changed. Maybe they only took him back because they felt bad for him, not because they really cared. Maybe it would be easier if he just left...

Dean slammed on the breaks again, screaming curses at the idiot that kept stopping in-front of them. Thanks to him, they had just missed yet another light. At this rate, they'd never make their flight - and Vince would be incredibly pissed-off if the money he had spent on their flight went wasted. Roman remained oblivious to everything, lazily turning the pages of his book and blocking out the blaring sounds of horns around them. If only Seth could be so lucky. His mind was going a mile a minute, moving much too fast for him to 'just go back to sleep', as Dean had so callously ordered. But he pretended, not wanting to cause anymore issues with Dean.

Roman peered into the rearview mirror, decided that Seth was asleep, and offered, "You were a little hard on him, you know that?"

"He's fine." Dean said blandly. "Besides, it'll be a lot easier if he just sleeps through the ride. The less I have to worry about, the less inclined I am to kill the bastard in-front of us." He slammed down on the horn, cursing at the idiot in-front of them. "Then again, I might just do that anyhow."

"If you say so..." Roman trailed off, returning his attention to his book.

Several hours later, they were finally on their flight to the trial. Dean and Seth were sitting together, and Roman was seated across the aisle. He still had his book in hand, and Seth had a feeling that he had several more stowed away in his bookcase. Vince had certainly spared no expense, and had even chipped in to have them fly first-class. Seth was incredibly thankful for this, knowing that he wouldn't have to spend the next six hours having his chair kicked by some temperamental five-year-old. Instead, he rested his head on Dean's shoulder, snuggling down and taking a deep, calming breath.

"Dean?" Seth asked softly, not wanting to break the serenity of the moment.

"Hmm..." Dean hummed. From his tone, it was clear that he wasn't fully paying attention to Seth. But maybe it was better that way.

"Are you... mad at me?" It was obvious that it took a lot for him to ask that, and as soon as the words were out, he regretted them. He decided to follow it up with some fast talking. "I mean... not that I've done anything for you to be mad about, or anything like that, just... you've been... different lately and... I don't even know."

Dan was gently raking his fingers through Seth's hair, nodding along with what Seth was saying, but not really listening to him. "What? Oh - I'm not mad at you, Sethie. You've got nothing to worry about, okay? Just sleep. When you wake up, it'll be time to get off the plane."

Seth couldn't help but feel like he'd been totally dismissed. With a sad sigh, he nodded, "Okay." He closed his eyes, but sleep never came.