Disclaimer: I don't own anyone.
Rated: M
Warning(s): Slash, Kidnapping, Threats, Non-Con, Murder, Self-Harm, Suicide, etc.

The officer stayed for a little while longer, until Seth clammed-up and refused to answer more questions. He hated the way that the cop was portraying Dean and refused to listen to it any longer, and the doctor was more than happy to escort the cops out of Seth's hospital room. Seth watched as they left, his body trembling uncontrollably. Hot tears were glistening on his lashes, but he refused to let them fall. He'd done enough crying over the course of this entire escapade... there was no more time for tears. Now, it was time for action.

With some difficulty, he managed to maneuver his broken body around so that he was facing the portable hospital tray that held all of the items that he'd come in with - among those items were his cell phone, his IPod, and his silver neck chain. Grabbing the cell phone, he unlocked the screen and noticed, with some degree of excitement, that he had one missed call from Dean. But that, and explanations as to why the cops wanted his head for the murder of Ryback, would have to wait until later. Right now, he needed to get into contact with Roman.

He dialed the all-too-familiar number and listened to the somewhat soothing rumble of beeps that meant they were attempting to connect his call. Finally, after some time, Roman answered with a stern, yet somewhat tremulous, "What?"

"Yo, what bit you in the ass?" Seth countered with equal animosity. But he paused, sucking in a deep breath. This was not the way he wanted to start off their conversation. "I'm sorry. I'm just a little on edge, is all. You wouldn't believe what just happened to me."

"S-Seth, this isn't a g-good time right now." Was Roman's voice trembling? And was that a sniffle?

The two-toned man was unable to stop the corners of his mouth from drooping down. "What's the matter?"

A pregnant pause followed, and Seth wondered whether Roman had hung-up on him. But then, in a softer, more composed voice, he said, "I can't tell you. It's just... nothing." The big man wasn't making any sense, and Seth was pretty sure he realized that. "What's up with you?"

"Some psycho cop just waltzed in here and tried to tell me that Dean killed Ryback! Dean, of all people! Can you believe it?" Seth fumed.

Another pause, followed by yet another sniffle. This one was undeniable. "N-No, I c-can't." A sound, suspiciously similar to the wail of a siren, came flooding in the distance. "S-Seth, I h-have to g-go, now." Another sniffle. Was he crying?

"Roman, what's going on over there? Are you okay?" After everything that they had been through, he had to be okay. He had to be.

"No." The wails stopped, and voices were approaching in the distance. "I'm not." And then, the line went dead.

Seth sat there for several moments, unable to take the phone away from his ear. Unable to believe that Roman had just hung-up on him after making such a profound statement. Those two words... so simple... yet so complex... they cut Seth in a way that was impossible to describe with words. What was happening over there that was so important that Seth couldn't know what it was? Did Roman want to keep Seth in the dark? Did he not trust him enough to tell him the truth? Slowly, he lowered the phone to the bed. That's when the tears started to fall.

Vince received a call from Roman less than an hour later, informing him of what had just transpired. The Chairman, still in shock, now stood outside of Seth's hospital room, staring silently at the man imprisoned inside. Yes, imprisoned. Vince could see it in the boy's eyes. He wanted to badly to be with the two people that loved and cared for him like no-one else in the world - little did he know that he would never be able to be held by one of them again. Did Dean even realize what he would do to Seth by leaving him like this? Didn't he know that thinking he simply walked out would scar the boy so badly, it was impossible to tell whether he'd recover?

Swallowing hard, Vince knocked on the door. Seth, startled, jumped as he looked up. But then, his mouth warmed into a soft smile and he called, "You can come in, sir."

"Glad to see that you're awake, my boy." Vince said, walking over to the nearest chair and sliding it over to Seth's bedside. "You've been through quite a trauma over the last several months. We were afraid you might not pull through this one."

Seth smiled, recognizing the hidden praise behind the factual statement. "I've always been a fighter, sir. Giving up just isn't in my nature."

"I know." The Chairman clapped him once on his good shoulder, as if to silently laud the younger man. "It's that sort of attitude that makes you an excellent in-ring entertainer... and perhaps, and even better man."

A dark flush stained the two-toned man's cheeks. "Thank you. I'm honored."

The older man offered him a small smile, before continuing. "I've come to offer you a paid vacation." Vince informed him. "Three months of down-time, and you will retain your WWE Tag-Team Titles. It will give you a chance to rest, recuperate, and come back stronger than ever."

Seth was visibly taken aback by the older man's kindness. "T-Thank you, sir. I... I don't know what to say."

"It's nothing." Vince waved him off. "You three are some of the hardest working stars in the business today. For what you've endured, consider it... a gift."

Seth was honestly taken aback by the Chairman's generosity. Vince, known for his miserly-ways, wasn't one to hand out three-month paid vacations on a whim. Especially as a so-called 'gift'. Perhaps to his two beloved children, Shane and Stephanie, or even to his lover, Shawn, but never to a mere employee. An employee was only as good as the amount of money that they brought in (as it was in any company), so why would he be blowing off the potential for millions of dollars to practically fly into his pocket by removing the Shield from the air for three months?

Truth be told, Vince did actually have an ulterior motive for removing the Shield from the air. He was one of the few people that 'knew' about what had happened to Dean - keeping his promise to Dean, the lie that he was spreading was that Dean had simply left, and had forged a resignation letter to give to Vince - and needed time for Creative to formulate a storyline to take him out of the equation. They needed a way to believably vacate the United States Championship without raising too many alarms, and an injury storyline would only shelf Dean for so long. They needed something permanent, and stories like that took time.

"I still... it doesn't seem right to accept it, you know?" Seth cocked his head to the side, meeting Vince's confused eyes. "My personal life doesn't need to interfere with my work. What I've endured outside the ring... yeah, it was literally hell on earth... but that doesn't change the fact that I belong in the ring."

Vince had been expecting some measure of defiance from Seth, and easily countered with, "It didn't need to, but it did. Now, I'm down two stars because of it."

Seth, confused, scrunched up his nose. "Two?"

Quickly reminding himself that Seth did not yet know about Dean's 'departure', Vince hurriedly corrected himself. "Ryback and Punk, of course."

"Oh." Seth's eyes seemed to dim at the mention of CM Punk, and Vince realized that he must've hit a nerve. Aggravated fingers started to dig at the fiberglass cast on his arm, doing nothing but scraping skin away from bone. "About that... how is Phil doing?"

Vince suddenly realized he would do anything to wipe that hurt, angry look off of Seth's face. It was the same way with Shawn... and, he supposed, all submissives. They had the unique ability to make anyone want to comfort them. "He's doing much better, actually. Another month and a half of rehab, and he'll be back in action."

"Good." The awful grinding stopped, and Vince breathed a sigh of relief. "I didn't... I didn't mean for anything to happen to him. He just... all of it... this whole mess is m-my fault. Everything." Seth sniffled, and Vince tensed once more. "Your business is gonna suffer because of me... I-I'm sorry."

"Hey, kid, listen, it's not your fault..." but it was too late. The tears started to pour like rain down Seth's already reddened cheeks, and try as he might, there was no way to stop them. "Seth, please don't cry... C'mon, now, kid... It's not the end of the world." A pause. "None of this is your fault, okay?"

"All of it's my fault! All of it!" Seth was on the verge of hyperventilation, and his pulse was sky-rocketing.

So, Vince did the only thing that he could think of. Reaching out, he wrapped his arms around the trembling submissive and pulled him into as tight a hug as he could manage at such an awkward angle. The action was so unlike the Chairman, it came as a shock to both of them - to Seth, the shock was strong enough to staunch the steady flow of tears that had been pouring from his eyes. Maybe it was his inner-romantic (Vince scoffed at the idea), or maybe it was the fact that, in that moment, Seth resembled a broken, defeated Shawn, who was ready to end it all after achieving everything he ever wanted... Vince didn't know, and he didn't care.

"It's not your fault, okay? None of this." He could remember how Shawn trembled in his arms, the knife clenched so tightly in his balled-up fist... his other bloody arm caught tight beneath Vince's, kept out of his reach by a strength few knew the older man possessed. "Don't blame yourself, kid. You're the victim, remember that."

Seth could remember that night, after the New Year's Edition of RAW, when he'd slapped Roman. He could remember beating Dean within an inch of his life, and not caring whether he lived or died. Why care about anyone else, when nobody cared about you? "I don't feel like the victim..." Seth mumbled softly.

"It takes time, kid." Finally feeling safe in releasing the boy, he drew back, only to pull a card out of his suit jacket. "Here. I want you to look into this place, alright?"

Seth carefully read over the card, before his brown eyes flickered up to meet the Chairman's blue. "Trauma counseling?"

"After the trauma that you endured, I don't know whether or not I feel comfortable letting you back in the ring yet. I don't want anything that happens in there to trigger a nervous breakdown, or worse. I want you to look into some counseling. Maybe group therapy for all three of you?" Vince proposed.

"Over this three month vacation you're offering us?" Seth asked softly, seemingly truly considering the card.

"Yes." Vince nodded. Slowly rising from his chair, he brushed invisible wrinkles from his suit jacket. "And I want you to check in regularly with your progress."

As Vince made his way to the door, Seth looked the card over once more. It was only when the Chairman was about to leave that he called, "Sir?" Vince turned briefly. "Thank you."

There was no response. Seth hadn't expected one. What had happened in that room, right then, would go no further. Seth turned the card over several times in his hand, thinking the idea over. Earlier, when Dean and Roman had discussed the possibility of counseling, it had felt like a betrayal. It hadn't been a candid, open discussion, but rather, something that occurred behind his back. But this... maybe this was their ticket to the time machine that would take them back to before this hell had begun. Maybe this was their way back to normalcy. And it was all just a phone call away.

Seth stared at his phone for several moments. His finger was hovering over the voicemail app, and the phone anxiously awaited the command. But something was holding him back. For some reason, he was hesitant to listen to Dean's voicemail. Even with a new, revived spirit from his conversation with the Chairman, he couldn't bring himself to do something that seemed so trivial. He didn't understand where this fear was stemming from. It wasn't like he believed that Officer de Blanc character and his story about Dean killing Ryback, because he knew the truth. So what could it be?

Could it be that he was still focusing in on what the Chairman had said a few hours earlier? That he was 'down two stars because of it'? It was unsettling because it seemed almost pointless to bring up Punk after all this time... Punk had been shelved since WrestleMania because of that injury, and it was now into July. To add to his mounting concern, he'd been unable to reach Dean or Roman since his botched call with Roman earlier that morning. The memory of the sirens wailing in the distance was terrifying. What were they all trying to hide from him?

He looked back down at the phone. Did he really want to listen to this message? Did this message contain the answers to the millions of questions swirling about in his head? There was only one way to find out. But he couldn't do it. For some reason, something was holding him back. Dropping his phone onto the bed, he instead reached out and took hold of the chain. It had been Roman's, and he had given it to Seth to commemorate the first anniversary of their threesome as dom/sub. He never went anywhere without it... and found it a little odd that Ryback hadn't broken it...

That's when his phone went off. Hoping against hope that it was Dean returning one of his many calls, he stared down at the Caller ID and felt his heart freeze. The caller wasn't Dean...

It was Roman.