Disclaimer: I don't own anyone.
Rated: M
Warning(s): Slash, Threesome, Alleged Suicide, Self-Harm, etc.

Roman didn't come back an hour or two later, as Dean had expected that he would. That day came and went, and was followed by several more like it - days filled with pained, agonized waiting in tense silence. Dean and Seth moved about like ghosts, too traumatized by Roman's abrupt departure to really take in the fact that Dean was there, and that he planned to be there for a very long time. They didn't talk much, just the usual back-and-forth of two people that had lived together for some time and knew instinctively what went through the other's head without words being needed. They were both broken, but didn't know how to heal.

In some ways, this pain was worse than what Dean had experienced before - then, he had been the odd man out, the only one who hadn't been brutalized by Ryback. He felt sick, uncomfortable in his own skin, wondering why he had been chosen as the one to remain untouched. It had driven him to many sleepless nights and, occasionally, he really had thought about ending it. But this… this was worse. Dean could see very clearly that Seth and Roman had been struggling to rebuild around his loss (even if Seth didn't know that he had 'died'), and that it was unfair of him to simply barrel back into their lives the way that he had.

Seth was simply lost, like a man without a country. He wandered around the hotel room uselessly, suddenly no longer interested in working his body back into top physical condition for his inevitable return to the ring. That date was creeping up sooner rather than later, believe it or not. On numerous occasions, Dean had caught Seth sitting in the main room, simply staring out the window and watching the passerby on the street. He could not read the emotions swirling in Seth's large, chocolate depths, but he knew that keeping everything bottled inside like that couldn't be healthy. But he didn't ask, and Seth never told.

Seth was preparing to take an afternoon walk when his phone rang. He rushed to it immediately, hoping (praying) that it was Roman. The Caller ID quickly squashed that hope however. "Hunter?" He answered.

"It's nice to hear from you too, Seth." Hunter returned stiffly. It was clear that there was no love-loss between the two of them. "How is your vacation going? Has your little visitor showed up yet?" He laughed.

Seth felt like all of this was just one bad joke, and he'd finally been made privvy to the punch-line. And after everything that had happened over the last few days, he didn't think that it was very funny at all. "Yes, Dean's back." He answered. "And the vacation's been shitty, if you must know."

"Sorry to hear that." But his tone said that he was lying through his teeth. "I'm sure you're anxious to come back home, then."

"We're on the first flight out next week." They were cutting the vacation a little early, but neither of them were in the 'vacation' kind of mood any longer anyhow.

There was the sound of shuffling papers on the other end of the line, followed by, "Look, I think by now you've probably established that I didn't call to find out all of the particulars of your vacation. I'm actually calling to make you a business proposal. One that you'd be foolish to refuse."

"Foolish, huh?" He was tying his sneakers now, only half-listening to Hunter as he blabbered on.

"Stephanie has come to me with an interesting proposal, one that only a few people are aware of. I am planning on re-uniting Evolution and booking them against the Shield at the next pay-per-view." Hunter explained. "In two months, there'll be an opening in Evolution. An opening I want you to fill."

Seth paused, "You want me to leave the Shield?"

Hunter went on to explain the specifics, but once again, Seth was only half listening. Leave the Shield? They were his family, who had taken in when he'd had nothing else. Even if they were currently having a fight, and it looked like they might permanently lose Roman… Hunter slowly came back into focus, and the COO of the WWE was feeding him compliment after compliment, playing on his role as the 'Architect of the Shield'. He emphasized the fact that the rest of the faction would just fall to pieces without him, and that would make them easy-pickings for the buzzards, and the Vipers, and anyone else who wanted a little payback.

Seth made his way out of the bedroom, through the main room - he tried to not look at Dean, who was lounging on the couch with a blanket over his lap (despite the almost one-hundred degree weather), not-quite dozing, but not-quite all there either - and out the door. Dean didn't even notice that he left. Making his way over to the elevators, he pressed the 'down' button and waited. Once again, Hunter floated back into focus. He was claiming that Batista wanted to return to his Hollywood lifestyle and this would be the perfect way to cover-up him 'walking out' a second time. Quite simply put, everything about this plan was perfect.

"After everything that we've been through," Seth pointed out blandly, exiting the elevator and, seconds later, exiting the building. "It will absolutely destroy Dean and Roman if I walk out on them now."

"Oh, but didn't Dean already take care of that for you, by faking his own death?" The note of dark sarcasm in Hunter's voice did not go unnoticed (but was unappreciated) by Seth.

"What are you saying?" Seth asked darkly.

There was a pause, then, "Think about how Dean's 'death' affected your relationship. It pushed Roman to self-harm," Seth made a sound akin to choking, and Hunter summised, "Oh, you didn't know? Consider me the bearer of bad news." Another pause, "And his return pushed him away entirely."

Seth frowned. "How do you know all of this?"

"I have my sources."

Suddenly, Seth looked around uneasily, acutely aware that his 'sources' could mean anyone that he happened to bump into on the street. He had half a mind to turn right around and hide away in the hotel room, but then he remembered that Dean was curled up like a butterfly in a cocoon on the couch. He didn't think that he was ready to face that. He started down the street, sucking in a deep breath, while he listened to Hunter going into his schpeel once again. As much as he hated to admit it, the more he went over it, the more appealing it sounded.

Once he was finished, Seth sighed. He would probably come to regret this later, but, "Give me some time to think about it, okay?"

Hunter bit back, "You have twenty-four hours." And then hung up.