Hey, welcome to Chapter Sixty One!

April 14, 2014/April 15, 2014/April 19, 2014

Edited: 2/2/2020

Chapter Sixty One

Water poured over Angel as she sat in the shower. Though she could barely feel it anymore. She didn't even know how long she had been in the shower. But she couldn't even bring herself to think about it. Her mind was plagued with one thing. What happened tonight.

She let her eyes close and saw Dean, Seth, and Roman laying at her feet. She could see the malicious looks on Hunter, Batista, and Randy Orton's face. Before she forced herself to open her eyes, the image and gut-wrenching sound of Roberto Del Rio's boot smashing against Dean's face filled her.

"Angel?" Renee's voice entered the bathroom. "Angel?"

"Door's open." She called back through the water.

Not moving, Angel could hear the sounds of the bathroom door opening and a gasp come from the woman that entered the room. "Angel." She heard Renee sigh as the water was suddenly turned off. "I think it's time to get out of the shower."

Slowly, Angel looked up to see Renee wad holding out a towel for her. Without a word she took the thing and wrapped around her body, then with her help of Renee she stood up and got out of the tub.

"Hold on." Renee said as she quickly moved to shut the toilet lid before making Angel walk over and made her sit down on top of it. "You ok?"

The question didn't even register as she started up into the woman's face. "When you're a fan of wrestling, you watch your favorite Superstars get beat up each week and you do worry about them but then they show up the next show like nothing even happened. That's when you started to believe that they are indestructible." She rambled unable to stop herself.

"But that's because the fans don't see the pain that their favorite superstars are in when the cameras turn off. They don't see them limping backstage, don't see the pain in their eyes as they throw their bags over their shoulders, as they get into their cars to go back to the hotel."

"They never had to help them make their way to their hotel room. They never had to help them take off their shoes because it hurts too much to bend down."

Tears started to pour down her face. "I didn't sign up for this. When I applied to WWE I thought I was going to be a crew member just helping to put on the show I love. I never thought I would be standing in a ring watching three men who have become so important to me that they are family get beat so bad that… that they can't stand."

She pulled her legs up and curled herself into a ball. "I never thought…I never thought that I would ever feel so helpless. So useless." She closed her eyes and once again in front of her all she could see was the carnage.

Enough? You're the one out here risking yourself for these three guys, three guys that if it wasn't for me you wouldn't know.

Now you get to watch your friends get destroyed.

Two down.

You know what's next.

All of a sudden, a pair of strong arms wrapped around her. A pair of arms that she knew didn't belong to Renee.

"Dean?" She pulled back slightly, and she was greeted with a very familiar chest.

"Didn't I tell you not to bottle this shit up?" He sighed as he held her closer.

Sniffling, she shook her head and put a hand on his chest. "Shouldn't you be resting?"

"How the hell am I supposed to be resting when I get a call that you're down here having a breakdown."

Her eyes widened slightly but then realized that he was right, she was having a breakdown. "You didn't need to rush down here." She said trying to compose herself. "I'm alright."

"Really?" Dean laughed as he pulled away and looked down at her. "Then care to explain why you're sitting here naked, curled up in a ball while crying." She tried to answer him, but nothing came out of her mouth.

Not saying anything, Dean reached out and grabbed her hand and pulled her from the bathroom not caring about the towel that fell from her shoulders.

When they got to where her suitcase was sitting on the floor, he let her go of her hand grabbed out a t-shirt, underwear and pair of sweats.

Taking them from the man, she looked around the room. "Where's Renee?"

"She said she's going to spend the night with a friend."

Angel bit her lip as her chest swelled. She knew the woman left so that she could spend some alone time with Dean, and she could just hug her for that.

D.D.D.

Dean watched as Angel got dressed into her pajamas. He felt bad that he was ogling her when she felt so down and out but he couldn't help it. Her skin was still pink from her shower, her hair was still damp and every now and then a drop of water would run down her neck and chest. And not to mention this was the first time she had ever been this unabashed about being naked in front of him.

Noticing him looking at her, she cocked her head.

"It's nothing." He shook his head. "Just get your ass into bed." Before I loss it.

As she did what she was told, Dean eased himself on the bed, trying his hardest ignored the pain that ripped through him as he lifted his legs up. However, when his eyes landed on Angel and he saw her face twist up with quilt he knew he had failed.

"Stop that." He sighed.

"Stop what?"

"Kicking yourself over something that you couldn't control." He told her. "We only have room for three people to have their ass kicked and Seth, Roman and I already called dibs."

Angel's eyes dropped.

"Shit, Angel what did you think you were going to be able to do? Take on eleven guys or fight off Hunter, Batista, and Randy all by yourself?" He asked as he turned towards her, once again trying to ignore the pain that screamed out as he laid on his side.

He couldn't believe the woman lying next to him. She had already done way more then he would have liked her to do. She had even gotten right up into Randy's face and told him to stop as he went after Roman.

God, when Seth had showed him the replays of the show, he found himself not able to breath. His nails dug into his palms as Angel went toe to toe with a man who already hit her once. Though the more he thought about it the more he became amazed of her.

Looking back at the what had happened, he wouldn't have held it against the woman if she had took off and went running for hills, especially after Swagger tried to attack her. But no, Angel had tried her hardest to help them at any chance she got. Even if it meant putting herself on the line.

And yet the woman wanted to do more.

"I know that there was nothing that I could do." Angel sighed as she looked up from the bedding. "I do know that, trust me. But just because I knew it, doesn't mean I have to like it."

Dean let out a sigh as he pulled her into his arms and tucked her head under his chin. "No, you don't have to like it." He mumbled into her still damp hair. "But it's not worth beating yourself up over. We will get them back."

"Good."

…

A weird buzzing feeling on his leg, woke Dean from his sleep. Grumbling he moved his leg around, thinking that maybe it was his muscles just telling him to get up and move, but the feeling never stopped. Reaching down he grabbed whatever was vibrating on his leg.

Puzzled, he brought his hand up and looked at the thing in his hand. It was Angel's phone and the name Mom was on the screen. As the phone kept ring, he looked over at the woman sleeping in the bed next to him. She looked very peaceful and after last night he hated to wake her up.

Before he could decide what to do, the call ended; though just as he was about to put her phone down, the thing started back up. Looking back down, he saw that once again Angel's mother was calling. This woman is persistent.

Still not wanting to wake her up, Dean did the one thing that he could think of; he answered the call. "Hello?" He said softly.

"Oh," The woman on the other end sounded taken back. "I think that I dialed the wrong number."

Dean sighed. "No, you didn't. Angel's sleeping, this is Dean." He said as sat up against the headboard, his sore muscles complaining as he did.

"Oh Dean!" Angel's mom sounded almost too happy that he had answered and not her daughter. "Sorry, I didn't recognize your voice." She laughed. "Though normally when I get to hear you speak, you're yelling into a mic."

"Yeah." He rubbed the back of his head as he remembered that Angel's family watches the show. "I get that a lot."

"Well, if she's sleeping, I won't keep you long. I just wanted to check up on you guys after what happened last night." A ping of embarrassment hit him. God, if it wasn't bad enough that he had been knocked out and put on his ass on TV, Angel's parents had watched it too. "How is everyone holding up?" Her voice become very motherly.

"Fine." He sighed. "We're fine. A few bruises and bumps but nothing we can't bounce back from."

"That's good." She sighed. "Chris and I were really worried about you three. That was horrifying to watch."

Dean nodded his head as he glanced over at Angel who had rolled over on to her side facing away from him. He was sure that it must have been terrifying for them to watch their daughter go through that, to watch her stand up to Randy Orton and to be passed around like a doll.

"Dean, I was going to wait until I got to meet you this weekend to say this, but I want to thank you for protecting Angel. All three of you."

"There is no need to thank us." He answered. "Angel has become very important to each of us and we would never let anything bad happen to her."

"Aw, you make a mother's heart swoon." That was the first time he had ever heard that one. He wasn't normally one to make a mother's heart swoon…unless he was hitting on them, while their daughter was busy. "I'm so looking forward to meeting you."

Dean cleared his throat. "Yeah me too."

"Well, I'm sure you're trying to get your rest. So, I'll let you go." She said. "Just let Angel know that I called to check up on her and to have her call me back."

"Yeah, will do."

"See you this weekend."

"See you."

After he hung up the phone, Dean gave a shake of his head. He now knew where Angel got easily excitedness from.

This weekend was going to be something, he didn't know if he could handle two overly excited woman. God, what's her dad like?

A.A.A.

Angel wanted to yell out in frustration as she tried to concentrate on whatever was on her computer screen. However, she knew there was no chance of that. Her mind was racing far too fast; if she wasn't thinking about the beat down on Monday, then she was thinking about what happened yesterday.

They had arrived at the arena for Smackdown and was almost instantly met with some of the members of the medical staff who were waiting for them at the back entrance of the arena. They were there to inform them that since they boys didn't get checked out after what happened on Monday, they weren't cleared for the show.

Which meant that they had traveled all the way to Nashville for the show for nothing. They weren't even allowed to do a promo. A promo! What kind of health risks were they going to have filming a promo?

And to top it all off, Hunter had started the show by saying that the Shield were just nameless soldiers that lost their value and told the WWE Universe a match between the Shield and Evolution at Extreme Rules.

"Hey, we're boarding." A voice knocked her out of her thoughts.

She looked up to see Dean standing over her with his carry-on bag slung over his shoulder. "Huh?"

"We're boarding." He repeated.

Quickly, Angel packed up her laptop and followed Dean towards the gate. After showing their tickets to the lady standing there, they made their way on to the plane. When they got to their seats, Angel quickly scooted over to the window seat and sat down.

"Give me your bag." Dean said as he put his own bag overhead. Untangling herself from her bag, she handed it to the man and watched as he carefully placed it next to his.

Once he was satisfied about how their bags were placed, he let himself practically fall into his seat with a sigh. And she couldn't help but giggle at the man as he flopped around until he was comfortable in the small seat.

Shaking her head, she looked out of the window to her right and her eyes landed on another plane who was slowly being escorted across the tarmac.

Suddenly a heavy weight hit her shoulder, turning towards the weight, she saw Dean's head leaning on her. "Wake me up when we get there." He mumbled as he let his eyes close.

"You're going to hurt your neck if you sleep like that."

Dean shrugged. "Eh. What's a little more pain?"

Knowing that she was going to lose this fight, she turned her attention back to the window. This was her life for about two hours and there was nothing she could do about it.

A small smile came to her face as she watched the plane across the way. In two hours, she would be home for the first time in weeks. In two hours, her parents were going to officially meet Dean Ambrose.

The smile faded as she glanced over at the man resting on her shoulder. She knew that her mother was excited to meet him, even more so now that the two of them had a small 'chat' on the phone the other day; but she wasn't sure about what her father was feeling about it. She knew that he liked Dean as a wrestler but what he thought about the guy as a man was a complete mystery.

She never gave a thought about it before, in fact when she had told Renee about Dean coming over for Easter the woman had asked her if she was nervous and Angel had said flat out that she wasn't. Now, now she was a bit nervous.

She knew how Dean came across to people who had never met him. Knew that the man could take some getting used to. She had to do it firsthand, though having Seth and Roman there as a buffer probably helped her. This time she was going to be the buffer between her family and him.

"What's with all the sighing?" Dean mumbled. "You better not be thinking about what I think you are."

"I'm not." She sighed.

"Then what's going on in the mind of yours."

"I'm thinking about you meeting my family." She answered.

Dean moved around on her shoulder so that he could look up into her face. "Are you nervous?"

"A little." She nodded. "I just really want them to like you."

"And you don't think they will?" He chuckled as he sat up. "I mean your mom and I are already like best friends."

She shook her head. "It's not her that I'm worried about."

"So, your dad."

"Yeah." She sighed. "I know he likes you as a wrestler, but that was before you and I were a thing."

Dean nodded his head. "I can see why your worried. I'm not necessarily a type of guy that guys want their daughters to be dating."

Angel bit her lip. She felt bad that even he thought that way. "Are you nervous?"

He pursed his lips together. "Me? Nah." He shook his head "I've learned a very long time ago to always be myself and if people don't like me then that's their problem. Now, do I want them to like me? Yeah of course. But if they don't that doesn't change my feelings for you."

Angel blushed as the binging noise to tell the passengers to put on their seat belts for takeoff started to ring.

"Piece of gum?" Dean asked as he rooted through his pocket. She nodded her head and took the piece that he was offering.

Turning back to the window, she popped in the piece of gum. Two hours.

…

"Mom? We're here!" Angel called as she peaked her head through the front door. "Mom!" She opened the door fully and stepped into the house while fighting with her carry-on.

"Is that who I think it is?" She heard her mom's voice coming from the kitchen and the smell of pizza filled the air.

"Yes, Mom it's your only daughter." She sighed as she put her carry-on down on the back of the couch.

"I'll be right there!"

Shaking her head, she heard a grunt come from behind her. She turned around to see Dean dragging both of their bags in plus his carry-on. "Do you need help?" She asked knowing already what his answer was going to be. They had already had this fight when they got out of the taxi.

"Nah, I got it." He mumbled as he practically threw his own bag through the door.

She rolled her eyes at him before turning around to see her mom coming out of the kitchen while whipping her hands on her apron. "You're here!" She hopped over with her arms out for a hug.

Laughing, Angel let her mom pull her into a huge. "Hi, to you too as well."

Her mom pulled away and held her at arms' length. "I would have picked up at the airport if you would have just called me."

"Yeah, so you could come and embarrassed us with a huge sign?"

"Would I do that?"

She raised an eyebrow when her mom tried to look innocent. "I don't know, would you." She asked as her eyes darted to the big piece of poster paper that sat next to the door. She grabbed it and looked to see it said 'Welcome home Angel and Dean' in really big letters with a blown-up picture of both of them kissing in the ring.

Her mom rubbed the back of her neck. "How did that get there?" Instantly, the guilty look disappeared as her eyes shot up to Dean.

"Hello, Sweetie." Without a warming, the woman pulled him into a hug and Angel had to stop herself from laughing at the uncomfortable look on Dean's face. "It's so nice to officially meet you." She pulled away.

"Uh, yeah. You too."

"Oops, I got flour on you, sorry about that." Her mom said brushing off Dean's shirt. "I hope you like pizza."

Dean nodded his head. "Yeah, of course. Who doesn't?"

"Good, because I made a lot." She reached forward and grabbed his arm. "Well come on in, there's no reason to stand in the doorway. Just relax and make yourself at home."

"Where's Dad?" Angel said as Dean's eyes locked on her pleading for help.

"He's at work." Her mom answered. "One of his patients when into labor early this morning."

"My dad is an obstetrician." She told Dean.

"Ah. That's, that's cool."

"Angel, why don't you show Dean around the house, while I finish up dinner." Her mom said trying to break the awkwardness that was quickly filling the living room. "The guest room is set up for you. I apologize for the floral bedding. Normally the only people staying in the room is my mom and dad."

"Bedding is bedding." Dean shook his head. "All I need is a pillow and blanket and I'm happy."

The smile on her mom's face grew at Dean's answer. "Oh Angel, while your upstairs can change the pillowcases on the bed. I forgot to do that?"

"Will do."

With one more smile, her mom walked towards the kitchen, though skipping was probably a better term for it.

As the woman disappeared out of the room, Angel let out a sigh and turned towards Dean who looked out of place. "Sorry about that. She's a bit of a handful."

Dean shook his head. "Yeah, now I know where you get it."

"Hey." She smacked him. "I'm not that bad."

"Not that bad…but you're close." He smirked.

Rolling her eyes at him, she took a deep breath and looked around the room. "I guess I should start the tour." She put her arms out like she was showing off a spectacle. "This is our living room, not much but it's a nice place to watch Monday Night Raw and Smackdown."

Dean raised his brow. "Alright."

"The kitchen and dining room are that way." She pointed towards the doorway that sat on the far wall where her mom just disappeared through. "We'll get to those later." She said heading over to the stairs. "Careful with the railing on the left, it's a little loose." She told him shaking it to prove how loose it really was. "My dad keeps saying he's going to fix it…"

Dean nodded.

Just before heading up the stairs, she stopped and looked at the stack of bags against the back of the couch. "Might as well take our bags up." He said as she walked over to grab her carry-on and suitcase only to be beat by Dean who grabbed all of their bags.

"Dean, you can't take everything."

"Watch me."

"Dean."

"Angel." He mocked "Didn't we just have this conversation outside?"

"Yes, but you at least let me take my carry-on then."

"Yeah well, this time I'm carrying it." He said adjusting his hold on her bags strap.

"If you fall down the stairs don't blame me." She sighed as she turned around and made her way up the stairs. Making sure to go faster then she normally would to prove a point. When she got to the top of the staircase, she turned around to see that somehow the man carrying everything had kept up with her with no problem. Almost disappointed by that fact, she quickly turned towards the hallway and lead him down to the first door on the left.

"This is the guest room." She said opening it and stepping out of the way so that Dean could make his way into the room.

As soon as the man stepped foot into the room, he went form sort of looking out of place to really looking out of place. The room was full of floral designs and old antiques that her mom hid in here, which didn't fit the man who was wearing dark blue jeans, a black t-shirt and leather jacket.

She almost let out a laugh as Dean placed their bags down on top of the queen size bed. She knew he had said bedding was bedding but having him stay in here just seemed wrong.

Dragging her eyes away from Dean she turned to the small built into the wall cupboard. "So, do you want; flowers, swirls, clouds or batman?" She asked as she rooted through the stash of pillowcases that her mom kept through the years.

"Surprise me."

Without thinking about it, she reached in and grabbed the small ball of Batman pillowcases before walking into the room and over to the bed.

"You know I said surprised me."

"Yeah?" She cocked her head at him as she replaced changed the first pillow.

"You picking Batman doesn't surprised me in anyway." He chuckled.

"Well you left it up to me, so you're getting Batman." She retaliated.

After she was done with the pillows, she turned to see Dean standing there stumbling his fingers on the handle of his suitcase as he looked around the room with pursed lips. He must have realized that she was watching because soon those blue eyes were on her.

Clearing her throat, she turned she guested to the door. "Should be continue our tour?"

"After you, Miss Guide." He nodded.

"To your left you'll see an old lamp that my grandma gave my parents at their wedding. A fun fact, my mom feels bad about getting rid of the thing, so she put it in here so she doesn't have to see it." She said trying her best to sound like a stereotypical tour guide.

Seeing the smirk on Dean's face she continued. "On your right, you'll see a needlepoint picture that made its way up here and never left." She pointed to the picture. "Now we head out into a lively part of the house, the hallway."

The threw her arms out wide and spun around. "The most important room in the house, the bathroom." She said as she walked over to the only open door in the hallway. "The tub is a little finicky, sometimes you need to jiggle the handle a bit to make it switch over to the shower. Oh, the towels are in here." She said tapping on the cupboard closest to the bathroom.

Dean nodded as eyes ran across the hallway to the door that had drawings tapped on it. "So, Miss Tour Guide what do you got to say about this?" He knocked on the door.

"I could talk your ear off about the room." She smiled.

"I'm sure." He chuckled. "So, are you going to show me?"

He heart seemed stop for a moment. "I mean, if you want." She bit her lip.

"Is it that embarrassing?"

"I mean, it's not embarrassing…" She sighed as she tried to remember what her room looked like before opening the door.

"Are you sure about that?" He raised his brow as he reached out and grabbed the door handle, teasing opening it.

"I mean, I haven't updated my room since I was in middle school…sooo don't laugh."

A smirk appeared on the man's face as he opened the door and she want to smack herself as she held her breath and followed Dean into her room. For the first time in her life she felt self-conscious about her room as she looked around at all the stuff animals and Disney things. She never thought her room was embarrassing but when Dean let out a small chuckle, she found herself starting too.

"Hey, I said don't laugh."

"I'm not." He shook his head as he looked around. "It's just this is exactly what I thought it was going to be."

She raised a brow gave another look around the room. "What does that mean?"

Dean shrugged. "It's just what I was expecting."

"I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing." She sat on the edge of her bed.

"It's neither." He said as his eyes landed on her desk. She watched as his drew his brows together and reached forward. "Did you draw this?" He asked as picked up her open drawing notebook.

She saw a glimpse of her drawing of the Undertaker that she worked on the last time she was home. "Yeah, I like to doodle."

"Doodle?" He snickered as he flipped the page of the notebook. "You call these doodles?"

"I mean yeah." She said as she watched him flip the page again. As he went through the book her brain sent up red flags. "Wait!" She quickly jumped from the bed and went to grab the book out of his hand. Though ever cleaver and quick, Dean lifted it out of her reach before she could get her hands on it.

"Something wrong?"

"No, I just don't want you prying through an old sketch book." She said trying once again to grab the book.

Dean raised a brow. "What's is it that you don't want me to see?'

"N-nothing. I'm just embarrassed about my old drawings." She bit her lips.

"There's a drawing of the Shield, isn't there?" He guessed.

"It's really old and from before I met you guys." She said not even bothering to lie.

A smirk came to his face as he brought the sketch book back down. Glancing from the book to her, she realized that Dean was asking if he was allowed to continue. She took a deep breath and nodded. Now that he knew, what was the point in trying to hide it.

Not taking her eyes off the sketch book, she sat down on her bed and watched as he flipped through the pages a bit faster than he did before. That was until he stopped on the page that she knew had a picture of him, Seth and Roman standing next to each other.

"Like I said it's old."

Dean's eyes ran along the page before he put the book down on the desk behind him. "It looks good." He said simply.

"You don't like it?"

He shook his head. "No, it's really good. Really."

She cocked her head. "Your mood changed."

"It wasn't anything to do with the quality of drawing."

"Then what was it?"

Dean let out a sigh and leaned back against the desk. "It's nothing." He sighed. "It really does look good, don't get me wrong. It's just when I first looked at it the first thing, I thought was that it wasn't done. That something was missing." When she was about to ask what he meant, he said. "I know that it's an old picture but it's weird not seeing you in something that has to deal with the Shield."

Angel's heart fluttered as she looked at Dean, his cheeks grew slightly red as he shuffled in his spot. "I guess I should take that as a compliment since it wasn't that long ago you hated the thought of me being part of the Shield." She stood up so that there were only inches between the two of them.

Dean's hands fell to her hips as if he couldn't help it and the man let out a deep breath. "You know, if I could travel back in time to that moment where Hunter and Stephanie pushed you in front of us and told us that you were going to be our new valet, I don't think that I would believe that the woman that I thought was going to ruin everything would become so important to me." He chuckled. "In fact, I think I would have punched myself and walk off."

"You thought that I was going to ruin everything." She asked with a smile.

"Hell yeah," He pulled on her hips.

"And did I?" She asked. He pursed his lips together like he was thinking. "I don't like that you have to think about it that hard." She gave him a slap on the arm, which only made him chuckle.

"That's not how you hit. I thought Seth and I taught you how to throw a punch." He said pulling away and stepping sideways into a more open bit of the room. "Hit me."

"Dean." Angel sighed as she turned around to see he was holding out his hands for her to hit. "Do we have to do this now?"

"Come on, show me what you got."

"Really?"

He nodded his head. "I'm not going to stop, until you do it." Taking a deep breath, she stepped around her bed into the open area. After a moment, she got ready to throw a punch. "Watch your feet." He told her pointing down quickly before putting his hands up again.

Angel adjusted the way she was standing and threw the punch. As soon as her fist hit Dean's hand, she felt his fingers wrap around her, catching her.

He held her there for a moment before giving a smirk. "That's better. You still need to work on your footing." He winked.

Rolling her eyes, Angel tried to pull her hand out of his grasp, but he held tight giving her a small pull forward. When she tried again, he pulled harder making her smash right up against his chest.

"What are you?" She asked even though she could tell what the man was thinking just by the look she was giving her.

Slowly, almost teasingly he leaned down towards her. Anticipation filled her, it had been a while since they had a true kiss and she couldn't wait to taste him and feel that heat again.

Inches away…

"Angel, Dean, dinner's done!"

Skovko: You have a good point on that one, I just like watching Dean dance.

Labinnacslove: He does want her. And I agree Angel does need to learn to fight.

BrookeWorm3: Those moments are really something to watch. You have to sit there and be like "STOP HURTING THEM!" But you can't do anything about it.

Katara Melody Cullen: Thank you, I'm glad you liked it. We all know this isn't the worse thing shes going to have to watch.

Canadice: I hope you enjoy this more. I'm not that sure about it myself. I keep going back and rewriting and rewriting but I couldn't get it the way i wanted it.

MissyMoxy: I got chills and anxiety just writing about it, so i have to give people who are dating or married to wrestlers props. I couldn't do it.

MamaChel81: Not sure if you got here yet but I'm glad that you liked the slow burn! I enjoyed writing it.

Writergirl7: I'm not giving up on this story. I couldn't ever. But a lot of stuff happen to me lately and the fact that I couldn't get this chapter the way I wanted...it was hard get this out for you guys. I hope it was worth the wait.