Welcome to chapter one hundred and eight! Woot This thing is getting too long.
So I was wondering something, would anyone like for me to make a discord for my writing. Mainly this one. Where I can post updates on what's going on. Or something? Just wondering. Alright I hope you enjoy.
Monday Night Raw: July 14, 2014
One more day, one more day. Angel told herself as she piled her things up in the corner. She had one more day until she could rest for a little bit and boy, did she need it. At least she was able to get some sleep on the plane ride back.
Glancing over her shoulders at the two men who were setting out their things for the show, she said. "Hey. I'm going to meet up with Hank here in a few minutes, so if you know what you want for the show, let me know."
"Anything." Dean told her. "Anything that lets me bash Seth's brains in for being a weaselly scumbag."
"I'll see what I can do."
After their match on Thursday, where they were partnered with Roman to fight against Seth and Kane, the higherups decided to change the matches for the rest of the tour. They paired Roman with Cena to fight Kane and Orton. Which left Dean to take on Seth in a one on one, or so they thought. Every match was just Seth running away or using his connection to the Authority to get the upper hand on Dean. The whole tour they basically spent ten minutes, tops, in the ring together, which had frustrated Dean to no end.
"What about you Roman?"
"Cena." He mumbled under his breath. "I want Cena."
She wasn't exactly surprised by his answer. Something had happened between the two Superstars. She had no idea what it was, but the two men had been at each other's throats ever since their first match as a team.
"Ok." She said looking back at Dean, who just shrugged.
Deciding to get dressed before heading out, she hid behind a stack of travel cases. She had just finished pulling up the pair of jeans that she had purposely roughened up, when she heard someone call for her.
"Is Angel here?" It was Hank.
Peaking out from her hiding spot, she said. "Right here."
"Hey, can I borrow you for a moment."
"Uh yeah, sure." She stepped out. "What's up?"
Hank looked as if he was debating something. "You're needed in the production meeting."
Her mouth dropped. Back when the Shield had turned on the Authority, they had kicked her out of the meetings, they even had a bodyguard standing outside so she couldn't get in. She never tried to go back after that, she assumed that she still wasn't allowed in. "Come again."
"I've been asked to come and get you for the production meeting." When she hesitated, he added. "Not by the Authority."
"Then who?"
"Vince."
"Vince? As in Vince McMahon?"
"Yep, and if you knew what was good for you, you wouldn't keep him waiting."
Nodding quickly, she followed Hank to the conference room where they were holding the production meeting. The whole time there she wondered what the hell Vince would want with her. When Hank reached out to open the door, panic filled her. She felt like a new student being escorted into a classroom hallway through the years, when everyone already knew each other and had their friend group. She half expected Hank to say, 'everyone, this is Angel, why don't we give her a warm welcome'.
"There you are!" Vince's powerful yet gruff voice came as soon as she walked in the door. "Just the girl I wanted to see."
Still feeling awkward, she turned towards the owner of the company and smile the best she could. "Hello? You needed me for something?"
He smiled back at her. "Hank here could explain it better. Won't you Hank."
"Sure." He nodded. "So, we were looking over the statistics from last week and found that there's a common thread in all of the highest rated parts, and that was you, Dean, and Roman."
"The WWE universe really seems to love this whole thing that's going on between Ambrose and Rollins." Vince said butting in. "As well as the rivalry between Reigns and Cena, and well, I agree. It's good shit." Angel was taken back by Vinces words. "We were thinking to capitalize on it by putting all the mentioned parties together in a match. Think of it, Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, and John Cena verses Seth Rollins, Randy Orton, and Kane in a three-on-three tag match. What do you say?"
She blinked as she played around with the idea in her head. A three-on-three match against Seth, Randy, and Kane would give Dean the chance to smash Seth's face in like he wanted, but it would also mean that Roman and Cena would have to team up and she wasn't sure how that would go. But she also knew she couldn't just say no to the boss.
"I think that's a great idea."
"Then we have our main event for tonight." He shouted to the room, before instantly changing the topic to the upcoming Battlegrounds PPV.
Shuffling backwards, Angel tried to make her way out of the room without interrupting, but Vince ended mid-sentence and turned towards her.
"You can sit down Miss Miles."
"Uh." Her eyes shifted around the room, expecting to see a very unhappy Stephanie and Hunter, but they were no where to be found. The pair must have been still on vacation because there was no way they would miss a meeting like this. "Yes sir." She said as she looked towards Renee who was already making room for her.
"Welcome back."
"Thanks." She sunk into the chair.
After the meeting, Angel couldn't stop herself from running back to the boys, who were right where she had left them.
"There you are. Took you long enough." Dean looked up from taping his hands.
"Sorry." She said smiling. "I got invited to stay for the whole meeting."
"Oh?"
"Yep, by Vince himself."
Dean smirked. "Oh, speaking of the old man, what did he want with you?"
"He wanted to talk about the main event tonight."
Roman's head perked up. "The main event?"
"Yep, a six-man tag match." She told him. "You two and Cena verses Seth, Kane and Randy."
"We're partnering up with Cena?" Roman frowned. "No doubt the golden boy will try and hog the spotlight tonight."
Sighing, Dean turned towards him. "So, are you going to tell us what happened between the two of you, or are you just going to brood?"
"Nothing happened." Roman stated. "I just can't stand Mr. Respect. He acts all humble, but in the end, he just wants to be the center of attention."
"I don't like Cena either but man, you seem to be waving an anti-Cena flag here."
"Yeah well, you didn't have to deal with his ass for three days straight. I have no fucking idea how Nikki does it."
Still confused about Roman's attitude towards Cena, Angel shook her head. She didn't know John very well, but the guy seemed alright. Nikki adored him, and he was one of the first members of the roster to talk to her after what had happened with Randy.
"Just two more shows and you get to beat him up as much as you like, and as an added bonus you get Kane and randy too." Dean told him.
"I don't know if I can wait that long."
"Well, you're going to have to." A voice came from behind them. Turning around they saw Cena standing there with his arms crossed. "As much as you don't like it, we're partners tonight, and that means we have to be on the same page."
"I know what it means." Roman snorted. "I'm not stupid."
"I didn't say you were. I'm just saying, we won't stand a chance if you go into the match all hot headed like this."
"You think I'm going to lose this match for us."
"Again, not what I said, but if you don't get your head out of your ass, then yes, you will end up losing this fight for us."
"I'm not the one with their head up their ass."
As Roman and Cena puffed out their chests, Angel turned towards Dean. She gave him a silent plead for him to do something. Nodding, he stood up and stepped up to the two men. "Hey now!" He clapped both of them on the back. "Now is not the time to be fighting, we got a few ugly mugs to smash into the turnbuckles."
"He's right." Cena agreed. "We need to focus on tonight. Sunday is…"
"I need to piss." Roman stomped off not allowing Cena to finish whatever it was he was going to say.
As they all watched him walk away, Angel sighed. "Sorry about that."
"Don't be. I've been dealing with big men with even bigger egos for a while now, so I'm used to it. And to be honest, I was kind of expecting this when I came over here. Though I thought it would be from you." He turned to Dean.
"We like to take turns being an asshole." He sighed. "Tonight, is Roman's turn. But don't worry, I'm sure down the road you'll have to deal with me."
"Can't wait." John joked. "Well, I just came down here to say that I'm looking forward to fighting alongside you, but now if you excuse me, I have some things I have to do before the start of the show."
"Sure thing." Dean nodded. "I'll try to calm Roman down before our match."
"You do that." He waved as he walked away.
"That was…something."
"It sure was." Dean seemed just as perplexed as she. "Makes me so happy about our match tonight."
"Hopefully those two can get on the same page for at least a little bit."
"Hopefully." Dean said grabbing his roll of tape of the travel case behind him.
When Roman finally came back from the 'bathroom' he seemed to have cooled down, but she had a feeling that it was only on the exterior. She watched him carefully as he plopped down in the chair next to Dean and grabbed his 'gauntlet' out of his bag.
Feeling slightly uncomfortable, Angel decided that it would be best if she went for a walk. "I'm going to run down to catering. Does anyone need anything?"
"Just some waters." Dean answered.
Nodding, she turned towards Roman. "Anything for you, Ro?"
"Nope." His voice was hard.
"Alright then, I'll be right back." She frowned. As she walked, she tried to figure out the best way to get Roman out of his funk. She was so consumed in thought, that she didn't see the blond-haired woman step in front of her.
"Hey." Renee said making her jump. "I was just coming down to see you."
"Did you need something, or is this a social call?" She asked as they fell in line with each other.
She laughed. "Social, of course. I was coming to catch up. How was Japan."
"Amazing. I really wanna go back."
"I'm sure Dean will take you back if you ask him too."
"Yeah, he said something about us taking a vacation there, but I don't really think that we can afford to take the time off."
"You know we get paid vacations, right?"
"That's not what I mean. I don't think it would benefit Dean if we leave while he's at the top of his game."
"But it would benefit your relationship. A little romancing." Renee said dancing against her.
Laughing, Angel pushed Renee away. "So, Miss Romancing, how was your weekend?"
"Good." She answered. "Jon and I hung out at home and enjoyed a lazy couple of days."
"That sounds like heaven."
"Trouble in paradise?"
"Just tired."
"Well traveling across the world twice in less than a week will do that to you."
"I'm starting to realize that." Angel cracked her neck. "It also makes your muscles stiff."
"Oh yeah, gotta love the; 'I've been sitting in the same seat for hours' crick in the neck."
She sighed. "Between that and Roman's attitude today I'm going to have a stress headache."
"What up with Roman's attitude? He's not being his normal cool, calm, relaxed self?"
"Nope." She shook her head. "He seems really agitated tonight." She explained. "Something must have happened during the tour because he's ready to rip John Cena apart."
"Cena?" Renee questioned. "I was expecting you to say Seth, but he's after Cena?"
"Yeah, they were just at each other's throats."
"Oh? That's gotta be great with their tag match coming up."
As they came to the center of the mayhem that was backstage, Angel pointed them towards catering. "Well at least it's the main event, so there's a chance he'll cool down by then."
"I wonder what has him so riled up?"
"I have no idea. Cena didn't even seem to know; he came over to talk to us about the match and Roman just blindsided him. It was very strange."
"I would expect that from Dean, not Roman."
"Cena said the same thing." She said grabbing a couple of waters off the table.
"Jeez, I hope everything turns around before the match."
"Same." She took a deep breath as she juggled the bottles around, regretting that she didn't bring her hoodie this time. "Enough about my drama, how's being lead reporter today?"
"Great." She said. "I've been recording a lot of extra stuff for things on the Network."
"That sounds like fun."
"It is, except when I have to say the same line over and over again because I didn't have the right infliction."
"Give it a little more emphasize on that last word. Try it again, this time try to really hit the vowel."
"It's like you were there."
Angel laughed. "I was, didn't you see me."
"If I didn't know any better, I would say you were because it was just like that, and the worse part was doing This WEEK, I apparently wasn't saying Chris Jericho's name the way they wanted me to. I still don't know what the hell they were on about."
"If it matters, I like the way you say his name."
"Thanks girl, can you be the director next time."
"Sure. I'll just come in and take over."
"I'm all for that."
Halfway back to the boys, a member of the production crew came to grab Renee for something, leaving her to walk the rest of the way by herself. Which would have been fine if it wasn't for the ominous aura that was coming from their spot. "I'm back!"
"Welcome back." Dean greeted her.
"Did someone order some waters?" She held one of the bottles up.
"Yes ma'am."
Tossing him the water, she turned towards Roman. "I got a water with your name on it, if you want."
"Sure." He said taking the bottle she was holding out for him. He then went back to staring at his phone with that grumpy look on his face.
She never thought she would wish that Dean was the one in a foul mood, but at least she had an inkling of what to do to get him out of it, unlike now.
"Five-minute warning." Someone called.
Using the last few minutes to make sure everything was ready, they headed out to the main area and found themselves a TV to hang out in front of. Angel sighed when Cena's theme rang out as soon as the show started.
"Of course." Roman grumbled. "Of course, he just had to start the show."
"What's wrong with that?" Dean said obviously getting annoyed with his friend. "You started it last week."
"Yeah, but I'm not a spotlight hogging asshole."
"No, you're just an asshole."
"Whatever." The man stood up. "I'm not going to sit here and watch this shit."
"Roman." Angel tried to call him back, but he just kept walking.
"Great." Dean sighed. "Wanna bet he's going to interrupt Cena."
"I'm really starting to wonder what the hell is going on."
"I'm going to guess, and this is just a theory, but I think he feels as if Cena was hogging the spotlight. At least that's what I take away from him saying that he's a 'spotlight hogging asshole'."
"Is he really the type of person to get this upset over something like that?"
"Apparently." He sighed. Both their attentions shot to the TV as Roman's theme started to play. "Well what do you know." Dean stood up. "I was right."
She followed his lead and stood as well. "Should we do something?"
He rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, I guess we should stop them from brawling." He clicked his tongue, while mumbling something about Roman being has hardheaded as a bulldog. "Think we can get our hands on a live camera?"
"Probably." She said looking about the hallway to see if she could find one. "There's always the one in catering if not."
Moving quickly, they walked up towards the first live camera that they could find, which just so happened to be the one set up in the 'interview' spot. As she started to unhook it from the tripod, she heard someone call to them. "If you wanted a camera, you could have just asked"
Angel looked up to see Renee coming from one of the conference rooms. "Are you going to tell, if we steal this one?"
"No." She shook her head. "Do you need a camera man with that." She pointed back at the camera guy who was always seen following Renee around.
"You don't need him?"
"Not right now. You think you can get him back to me in like twenty to thirty minutes?"
"Oh damn, we don't need him that long." Dean chimed in. "Ten minutes tops."
"Ralph."
"I got it." The camera guy said as he quickly grabbed the camera that Angel was still fiddling with. "Lead the way."
D.D.D.
Walking probably faster than he needed to, Dean led the way to the loading docks, keeping his eyes out for a spot to start shooting. That's when he saw a small off shoot that was lined with travel cases and other whatnots, with a metal garage door that was big enough for a small truck to come through at the back. He smirked and turned off into it. "You think this is good?" He asked as he held his arms out wide and spun around.
"Yeah." Angel nodded. "It has that back-alley vibe."
"The Ambrose special."
As Ralph set up the camera for them, so that they could cut right into the live feed of the titantron, he helped Angel up onto a tall travel case that sat against the garage door. "Are you able to see me up here?" She said swinging her feet around.
Looking at the screen, Ralph nodded. "Yeah, I can get you there."
"The queen on her throne." Dean teased.
"We're ready." Ralph said as he put up the small screen that allowed them to see what was happening inside of the ring. "Going live, in five, four, three," He counted two and one on his fingers before pointing at them.
Dean sighed as the image of Roman and Cena standing in the middle of the ring, basically nose to nose popped up. "Guys, guys," He called out interrupting whatever Cena was saying. "Guys, I understand the whole uh, testosterone-driven competitiveness that's going on right now. But enough of this whole, prettiest girl at the dance argument routine you got goin' on, okay. CAUSE WE AIN'T DANCING TONIGHT BOYS. WE'RE FIGHTING." He yelled making Angel laugh behind him. "We got a six-man tag against Kane, Randy Orton, and Triple H's little bag boy Seth Rollins. Now the Authority always has a plan, but tonight I got a plan of my own. It's called operation screw the Authority and it starts when you two stop arguing, we get together, and WE KICK THEIR ASSES!"
"I think that's a good plan." Angel said. "A very good plan."
He smiled back at her. "I thought so too." I just hope these two lug heads do. He sighed turning back to the camera. However, before he could say anything else, he became aware that they weren't the only ones in the small loading dock anymore. Angel must have realized it too because he heard her jump off the travel case and step up close behind him.
"Dean." She grabbed onto his arm.
Pursing his lips, he turned his head to see the 'devil's favorite demon' standing there. Eyes flickering up to the man's face, he turned his arm that Angel was holding onto, and moved to push her to his other side, that way he was between her and him, but that's when someone else stepped up on is left. Quickly glancing over his shoulder, he saw Seth standing there looking as smug as can be, as well as Randy standing off to the side.
Surrounded.
Inhaling deeply, he resigned himself to the beat down that he was about to get. But that didn't mean he wouldn't go down swinging. Pushing Angel back towards the garage doors, trying to get her out of the fray, Dean launched himself at Kane. He tried to get in every hit that he could before he became overwhelmed by the numbers game.
Not in control of what was happening in the slightest, he couldn't stop himself from being thrown into a stack of metal barricades and polls. Pain ricocheted up his back, blurring his vision, but as he trained to do years ago, he ignored it and pulled himself to his feet. He wasn't going down that easily.
Leaping at Randy, he was quickly overcome again. However this time resulted in him being thrown into the metal garage, not once, not twice but three times.
"Get off him!" He heard Angel cry from his lump on the floor. "Leave him alone."
Looking up through the blurry mess that was his vision, he watched as she tried her hardest to get them away from him. "Angel…" He mumbled out through labored breaths. He wanted nothing more than to tell her to get away and to stop getting involved, he knew it wouldn't work but he still wanted to tell her.
"Leave him alone!" She yelled as she threw herself at Seth pushing him backwards. Seth stumbled over himself, and he heard the sounds of more metal poles clattering to the ground.
"You, annoying, little…" Seth gritted through his teeth. Struggling to move, Dean turned himself to keep them in his wavering sight. "When are you going to learn not to get in the way!" Seth yelled as he grabbed her by the hair and used it to yank her backwards.
"Don't touch her." Dean spat at him.
Seth looked down at him and smirked before he turned to Randy, who stomped so hard on Dean's chest that he started coughing as the air was knocked from his lungs. Fighting to breathe, he rolled himself around on the cold concrete floor as, yet another barrage of hits came.
Between hits, he could barely make out flashes of colors, and Angel's cries as she begged them to stop. And that only got worse as he was dragged to his feet by his hair and thrown into the brick wall. Shit. Fuck. Shit fuck.
He gasped when a hand tightened around his throat. He knew what that meant but didn't have enough time or energy to stop it. Clenching his eyes close, he took the impact.
His body felt like it had just been broken in half. Trying to get off his throbbing and spasming back, he rolled himself around, though whatever he had landed on wasn't as big as he thought it was and he went rolling right off it and onto yet another hard thing.
Wheezing from the lack of air, he slid down until his body wouldn't move anymore. Everything hurt. Everything, from his head to his feet. Even his eyes hurt from both the tears of pain and the sweat that was pouring into them. Blinking through it, he tried to figure out why the hits had stopped coming, surly they weren't giving him time to breathe. Haven't they learned by now that, that was a horrible idea. He might just get a second wind if they did that.
Forcing his eyes to focus, he saw a group of bodies standing around him, doing just what he had thought they would be smart enough not to do. Then again, this was Seth, Kane, and Randy he was talking about, they weren't smartest band of men. But then neither was he. "Is that all you guys got?"
Grumbling something about making him shut up, Seth moved away from the group and into his blind spot. Something that Dean wasn't so keened on. He liked to keep his enemies where he could see them. Rolling over, he tried to use the case that he had been propped up on to get up, but his legs kept giving out on him.
Dean heard the yell, felt the boot on the back of his neck, and then nothing.
A.A.A.
"Dean!" Angel gasped as she fought to get out of the hold of the Authority's lackey that Seth had called over. She did everything she could, she kicked, thrashed about, she even tried to throw herself to the floor but none of it worked. "Let me go!"
"Settle down." He told her as he wrapped his arms around her chest in an attempt to keep her still.
Without hesitation, she grabbed his hand and pulled it up to her mouth and bit down as hard as she could.
"Ah, you bitch!" The man yelled as he pushed her away from him.
Catching her footing, she scrambled away. Turning about, she locked her eyes onto Dean, who hadn't moved since the curb stomp, and the three men standing over him. Pushing off as hard as she could, she plowed right into the three men, knocking them away before dropping to her knees right next to Dean.
Making sure to keep her eyes on the trio, she grabbed Dean's hand and squeezed it. Only for her heart to drop when he didn't return it. Eyes snapping down to him, she forgot all about Kane, Seth, and Randy. Her mind raced as she realized that he was bleeding from below and above his left eye, as well as his chin. Sniffling, she wiped the blood off of his brow before it got into his eye.
Come on, Dean. She begged him to open his eyes or squeeze her hand. Anything to show her that he was ok.
Laughter hit her like a brick wall, making her head snap up to the three men who were walking away. She could feel her anger boiling up. They might have seriously hurt Dean, might have ruined his whole career, and they were laughing. Just as she was about to call them out on it, her words got caught in her throat as she watched Randy pat Seth on the back as if he was saying 'good job'.
They weren't going to get away with this. She'd be damned if she just let them walk away. Pushing herself off the floor, she felt something press on her knee hard enough to make her fall forward.
Confused, she looked down to see Dean's hand holding her knee, keeping her in place. "Don't." He grimaced as he started to shift about. "Don't."
"I'm not going anywhere." She told him as she wiped his face again. "Stop moving around."
"Shit." He groaned.
"Dean, stop moving."
"Too stiff." She hated the way his voice sounded. Normally she loved the gruffness in his voice, especially right after a match, but this wasn't like that. It wasn't the typical, 'I'm worn out from yelling and fighting' type of gruff, this was a full on 'it hurts to talk' rasp.
"I know." She smiled at him, even as she tried to stop him from moving. Focused on him, she hadn't noticed that the medic team had gotten there until she was pulled away from him.
They set in right away to try to stabilize the man, but Dean didn't want any part of it. He kept telling them to just help him to his feet, and that he was fine, but then he let out a loud groan of pain whenever they tried to move him.
After a bit more fighting, Dean finally agree to let them wheel him down to the trainers' room. Which Angel was relieved about, until they put the neck brace on him.
"Easy now." They worked together to get him onto the stretcher. "Easy, easy. Watch his head."
"MOTHER FU…" Dean growled as they lifted him onto the thing.
Trying not to get in the way, Angel stood off to the side and watched as they strapped him down. Tears pooled in her eyes as her worry got the better of her. She had seen Dean get beat down pretty bad, but nothing like this. Seth you piece of shit. She cried to herself. Just when she thought she saw the worst in him, he proved her wrong. It made her wonder just how low he was willing to go.
As she walked slowly behind the medics as they pushed Dean down the halls, her mind bounced back and forth between being overloaded to numb.
"Angel, can I talk to you?"
Looking up, she saw the lead medic standing in front of her. "Sure." She nodded as they moved to the side of the hallway.
"So, we're going to try our best to look over Dean here, but due to the nature of his injuries, he's going to have to go to the hospital."
Her heart sank. "Dean doesn't do hospitals."
"No one here is going to be able to clear him without a full examination of his head and spine, and we don't have the machines here to be able to do that."
"I understand that, but I'm warning you he's not going to be happy."
"That's why I'm talking to you ahead of time. We already know that Dean's going to fight us about it, so we were sort of hoping you would be on our side and help us convince him that he has to go to the hospital to get cleared."
"I don't know what I can do, but I'll try my best."
"That's all we ask for." He sighed as yells started to come from the door behind them. "We're going to keep him here for a little bit, while we try to calm him down. So, if you want to get your stuff and get ready to head out, go ahead and do that."
"Sounds good." She sighed.
"Oh hey." He turned back to her. "I want to let you know, judging by the way he's acting, and by the way he's already moving around, I'm going to say that he's perfectly fine. He might miss Smackdown, but he'll be good for Battlegrounds."
Appreciative that he was trying to cheer her up, Angel gave the man a smile. "Thanks. I'll be right back."
As she made her way down to their corner, she felt everything starting to hit her. It was like she just processed what had happened and the fact that Dean was now being sent to the hospital. Not even halfway there, her vision was so blurred with tears that she had to stop. She leaned against the wall to keep herself standing, and they started to pour from her uncontrollably. Covering her face with her hands, she stood there and sobbed until her face and chest hurt. When nothing else would come out, she stood up like nothing happened, like she didn't have tear tracks staining her cheeks, like her face wasn't red and her eyes weren't puffy.
Not wanting to draw attention to herself, she kept her head down as she started to walk again.
"Babygirl?" She heard Roman call as soon as she entered into the corner. When she looked up, she saw both Renee and Roman standing there looking worried.
"Oh my god!" Renee gasped.
Roman's eyes narrowed as he marched over to her and grabbed her shoulders. "Did they hurt you?" He asked trying to look into her eyes.
She quickly shook her head. "No. They got one of their fucking lackeys to hold me back."
Frowning, Roman ran his thumb over her forehead. "Then why are you bleeding?"
"I'm bleeding?" She reached up towards her forehead, only to stop when she saw the blood on her fingers. "Oh, it's not mine. It's Dean's."
"It's Dean's?" Roman's face hardened. "How bad is he?"
"I'm not sure, the medics are checking him over right now. They told me that they think he's fine, but they have to send him to the hospital to make sure." Her voice broke as she explained.
"Oh, sweetie." Renee pulled her into a hug. "I'm sure he'll be fine. He has the hardest head of anyone I've ever seen."
"I'm just worried that he's going to make things worse by fighting them."
"Yeah, that's something he would do."
"Just remind him that he has to go to get cleared." Renee said.
"He's still going to be bitter about it."
"Bitter is better than fighting them."
"True." She nodded as she wiggled out of Renee's grip to move over to her things. "I thought about using a match at Battleground as an incentive, but I'm not sure. As much as I would love to watch Dean punch Seth's teeth down his throat for this, I don't think that's going to happen. Seth would either find a way to weasel out of the fight, or just DQ it so that Kane and Randy could come down."
"You don't have to worry about that." Roman gritted through his teeth. "Because tonight I'm going to make sure to fuck them up so bad, that they might not make it to Sunday, let alone be able to mess with Dean."
"Give them all a good punch in the face for me." Angel said, grabbing her backpack and tossing it over her shoulder, followed by Dean's duffle bag.
"I will."
Exhaling, Angel turned towards the rest of their things. "Hey…"
"I'll get them." Roman said before she could even finish.
"Thanks." She said. "I'll call you if anything comes up."
"It won't."
She wished she could feel the same amount of enthusiasm as them, but she couldn't. She was there, she had to watch Dean's skull bounce off the travel case in person. She heard the impact.
Saying goodbye, she started back towards the trainers' room. Before she even got to the room, she heard the commotion. Apparently, they didn't wait for her to come back to break the news to Dean. "NOT HAPPENING!" She heard him scream.
Taking a deep breath, she readied herself for whatever was to come. Opening the door, she saw that Dean was trying to rip himself off the gurney that he was still half strapped to.
"Dean, you need a CT scan to get cleared for action and we simply can't do that here."
"I am not falling for this bullshit again. 'You need to get cleared or else we can't let you fight. BUT if we take the measure to clear you, we can't let you fight. It's a lose-lose, with me being the sucker. FUCK THAT."
"You have to go to the hospital."
He shook his head and instantly looked like he regretted that. "I said no." Knowing that this could escalade quickly, Angel stepped up to the front of his gurney. Dean's eyes snapped down to her and he growled. "Don't even start. I know what you're going to say."
"I'm sure you do." She said. "But if you don't get cleared, you can not only kiss tonight's match goodbye, but also any chance you had to get a worthwhile match at Battlegrounds." Dean's head perked up at the mention of Battlegrounds and she knew she should run with it. "Think about it, Seth still doesn't have a match for Sunday and there is no way they won't give their little lap dog one. And earlier at the meeting, Vince said that you were part of the highest rated parts of last Raw, so I'm pretty sure that if I even mention wanting a match at Battlegrounds, it's ours. But you have to get cleared to get it."
Dean clicked his tongue. "Battleground? Me verses Seth?"
"I'll call Hank right now if you want me to."
"You're too good at this negotiation shit."
"It's part of my job."
Dean looked like he was truly trying to think about it, then his lips pursed and he said. "Fine."
She blinked at him. "Fine? Well, I have to say, I thought this would be a lot harder than that."
Dean shrugged the best he could. "Well as I see it, there's no way out of this. I'm still not happy about it, but I'll go."
"Thank god." Angel heard someone behind her say.
Quickly getting him ready to head out, the medics rushed around like chickens with their heads cut off. She was sure that they were scared that Dean was going to change his mind. When they were good to go, they wheeled him out to where the ambulance was sitting in standby. Just as they pushed him up the ramp and into the back of the vehicle, Angel found herself stopped by one of the EMTs.
"I'm going to need you to step back."
"I'm with him."
The man sighed. "What are you to the patient."
"His girlfriend."
"Sorry, immediate family only."
"But." She went to protest, even as he pushed her backwards.
"Wait!" Dean called as they started to put the ramp away. "She's with me."
"Immediate family only." The EMT repeated.
"I said, she's with me."
"It's ok." Angel spoke up. "I'll be right behind you." She prayed that he didn't hear the hiccup in her voice. She could tell that he wasn't happy with the whole thing, but he didn't fight anymore as they shut the doors.
As they pulled out of the arena, tears started to build once again. Wiping her eyes and patting her cheeks, she steeled herself. Trying to keep her mind off of the overwhelming anxiety that was threatening to take over, she made a list of what she needed to do. I need to find Roman, ask him about taking the rental car, then I'll pack the car up, and head out to the hospital. As she went over the plan over and over, she started back through the backstage area.
R.R.R.
Renee's eyes widened as she spotted a lost looking Angel walking through the hallways. She was sure that she had heard that the ambulance had already left to take Dean to the hospital, so why was she here. "Angel!" She called to her, quickly walking up to her. "What the hell are you still doing here?"
"Oh, I wasn't allowed to ride in the ambulance." She said in a small voice.
"What!"
"Only immediate family members are allowed." She shrugged like it wasn't a big deal but the tears that pooled in her eyes said otherwise. "It is what it is." She looked around. "I need to find Roman to see if he'll be ok if I take the rental car."
When she turned away, Renee stopped her. "Wow. Are you sure you're up to driving? No offence but you seem a bit out of it." That was the nice way of putting it, she looked like a zombified, shell of the woman who had quickly become her best friend. When Angel stumbled over her next set of words, she shook her head. "Well that just sealed it, you're not driving, I am."
"I don't…I don't wanna bother you. Plus they'll need you here for the show."
"Girl, they can survive without me for at least a little bit, and you're not bothering me."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. I'm sure. Now stop your worrying. Let me grab my purse and we'll head out." She told her slowly leading her over to the nearest spot to sit. "Two seconds."
Running the best she could in her heels, Renee made her way to the women's locker room where her things were, grabbed her purse, and gave it a quick look through to make sure she had everything she needed. She then went to find Brandi. "Hey, can you hold down the fort while I drive Angel to the hospital?"
Brandi blinked. "She didn't go with Dean?"
"The EMTs wouldn't let her."
"That's fucked up." Paige sighed.
Agree with her Brandi nodded. "I'll be fine, go."
"Cool, I should be back by mid-show, but if anyone gives you trouble have them call me."
"Will do." She said. "How is she holding up?"
"About as well as anyone would be seeing a loved one put into an ambulance."
"Shit."
"Let her know that if she needs anything we're here for her."
"I will." Renee said. "I'll let you know when I get back."
"Sounds good."
Renee made her way back to Angel who thankfully hadn't moved from the spot she had left her. "You ready to head out?"
Looking up, she nodded.
"Then let's get you to the hospital before Dean starts a riot."
Without another word they piled into the car and started out. Every now and then, Renee would glance at Angel seat and each time she did her heart broke more for her. She looked as if she was in this strange limbo between breaking down and screaming in anger which manifested in this strange calm.
A.A.A.
Angel didn't even realize she had gotten into the car until they went over a speed bump a little harder than they should have. Looking around, she put two and two together and sighed. "Thanks for driving me."
"Yeah, no problem." Renee gave her a quick smile. "I would say anytime but let's not make a habit out of me driving you to the hospital."
"God, I hope not." She shifted in her seat. Her stomach twisted at just the thought of having to go through this again. It ate her up having to watch the ambulance drive off with Dean inside. Letting out a deep breath, she rubbed her eyes. "This sucks."
"It does."
"You know for some reason I never thought it would come to this." She said laughing at herself for being so stupid. "I work for a company that has the word wrestling in its name, where I manage two men who basically punch people in the face for a living, who I seen get hit with chairs and sledgehammers, and still I never once thought that one of them would be taken away in an ambulance. How naive am I?"
"I wouldn't say it's because you're naïve."
"Then I must be an idiot, because as a wrestling fan I know that things can get out of hand, and people can get hurt. I've seen it. I have no idea why I thought that just because I was part of their team that it would never happen to them."
"Because you hoped it wouldn't." Renee told her. "No one wants their loved ones to get hurt, but you can't just wrap them up in bubble wrap their whole life. So, there are only two things that you can do, worry about it none stop, or pretend that it will never happen. You just picked the second one."
She wished that Renee wasn't able to make sense of her jumbled mind. She didn't like that someone could do it when she couldn't. "That doesn't stop me from feeling stupid. In fact, it makes me feel worse. Dean's fine, and here I am freaking out over nothing. What am I going to do when he gets really hurt?"
"You're going to do the same thing you are now. You're going to worry about him because you love him. And then you'll be there for him while he gets better."
"Or I'll have a mental break down."
"Well, if you have a mental break down then you'll fit better with Dean's whole lunatic thing and then you two could be the lunatic lovers."
Angel could help the small snicker that came from her. "I might just steal that."
"As long as I get a percentage of the proceeds."
"Sure thing."
As they pulled into the hospital the small amount of normalcy that came from their banter went away. Letting out a deep breath, she gathered her and Dean's things before going to reach for the door handle.
"Hey, let me know when he gets discharged, I'll swing around and pick you two up."
Angel nodded with a small smile. "Thanks." She said getting out of the car. Turning around to shut the door, she ducked down to look at Renee in the eyes. "I mean it, thank you for everything tonight. You're the best."
"Awe." She said bring her hand to her chest. "Now get going, before I start crying."
"We wouldn't want that." She said stepping away to make room to shut the door. "I'll give you a call, once I have an ETA."
"Sounds good."
After shutting the car door and giving Renee a wave goodbye, Angel turned towards the building behind her and sighed. She gave herself a mental slap and started towards the doors. As soon as she stepped into the waiting room, she was greeted with the medically clean smell that had her scrunching up her nose. Looking around she spotted the front desk and walked up to it.
"Hi, how can I help you?" The lady at the desk said as soon as she got there.
"Um. Hi, I'm here to see Dean Ambrose? He was brought here by ambulance from the Richmond Coliseum."
The woman smiled. "You must be Angel."
"I am."
"He's been asking for you."
She felt a small flutter in her stomach. "Can I see him?"
The receptionist turned to her computer and started typing. "Go have a seat near the big doors over there and I'll have someone come get you as soon as you're able to go back."
"Ok." Angel said turning to the small grouping of chairs that were huddled up near the door. Readjusting the hold on their bags, she walked over and sat down. She tried her hardest to stop her mind from wondering too much by turning to her phone and to the grainy TV screen that was hanging on the wall at a weird angle.
"Angel?"
Her head perked up at the sound of her name being called. "Yes."
"You can come back now."
Standing from her chair, she followed the attendant back through the winding halls. When the attendant stopped in front of a half-closed door, they knocked and looked in. "Hey, look who's here." They stepped back allowing her to walk into the room.
"Hey." She said as her eyes landed on Dean who was sitting up in the hospital bed, looking a little worse for wear. "How are you feeling?"
He looked up and grumbled "I'm feeling exactly how you think I am."
A twinge of guilt hit her. "I'm sorry but remember that all of this is to get you cleared for Battleground."
"Oh, I'm not upset about being here anymore." He said scratching his pec. "Nah, I've gotten over that. Now I'm just pissed at myself."
"At yourself?" She asked setting their bags down on the chair next to the bed. "Why, because you got beat up? Because that wasn't your fault."
"Oh, no, no, it has nothing to do with tonight. Well, it does but not completely. You see the funny thing that happens when you're strapped to a gurney in the back of an ambulance, is that you get some time to think, to reflect, because that's all you can do. And boy oh boy, did my brain go 'let us use this time to think about some of those pressing questions that you've had bouncing around in here because why not.' So I spent the whole ride and the time it took to get me check in, trying to figure out if I could pinpoint when Seth turned into the slimy scumbag of and asshole that he is now."
"Did you?" She asked sitting on the edge of the chair.
He scoffed as he nodded. "I believe so, and if I did then I also figured out just how big of an idiot I am."
"It doesn't make you an idiot for not seeing that one of your best friends was going to betray you like that."
"It does if I didn't realize that he was lying the whole time and that we were never really friends." He let out a sigh and looked up at the ceiling. "I've been thinking about it and the only thing that makes sense of this whole damn thing is if he was playing us since day one. It would explain how he could take a chair to our backs just hours after celebrating the biggest win of our career."
"But how were you supposed to know that?" She asked.
"I should have realized it back when he left us for dead against the Wyatts. I should have realized it when I was crawling to the corner, reaching for help and he jumped down!" His voice was starting to get so loud that Angel was worried about disturbing the people in the ER. Thank goodness Dean wasn't hooked up on anything like a heart monitor, because the nurses would surely be racing in here to see what was making his blood pressure spike like this. "What kind of a man can stand there and watch as the men he called brothers get beat down, and do nothing? And then we forgave him almost instantly. One fucking punch in the face and I thought everything could go back to normal, but then I forgot that me and Seth fighting is what's normal.
Ever since we met, way back in the indies; when he went by Tyler Black and I was Jon Moxley, all we did was fight. We weren't even in the same program back then, we just met in passing. Only seeing each other at after show parties and in the locker room of shows that we both happened in be a part of. And yet, we were always bickering. All the fucking time. It was so bad, that people would have to pull us away from each other. I couldn't tell you why we fought. I probably said something stupid because I'm known to do that, but then who the hell knows. There were times where I would just look at him and my blood would start boiling."
"Maybe you saw something in Seth that you didn't like." She said trying to help
"Who knows." He turned his head towards her. "Who the fuck knows? All I know is that I didn't like him, he didn't like me, and we never would have become 'friends' if it wasn't for Punk and Roman."
"Oh?"
"Punk was the one who pitched the idea of us working together and Roman was the one who talked us into it."
"So, it is true that the Shield was CM Punk's idea?"
"Kinda."
"Kinda?" She asked with a look that said 'please go on'.
Dean let out a half-hearted chuckle. "You really want to know how the Shield came to be?"
"Yeah." She nodded. "I know we talked about it a little bit, but you never told me the whole story, and with Seth claiming it was him, I'm really curious to know the truth."
"Well, it wasn't fucking Seth's idea at all."
"I figured." She said. "So, what happened. How did the Shield become the Shield?"
Dean took a deep breath and moved to settle in for the story. "Well, if you remember back in 2012 Punk was champion and was still working with Paul Heyman."
She nodded.
"Well, Heyman being Heyman, he wanted to get some security for Punk, to help 'ensure that his client was getting the right treatment'. Apparently at first, he wanted to pay off the Big Show and Daniel Bryan, but Punk said no to that. He wanted to use some of the guys from FCW since we were still transitioning into NXT."
"That makes sense."
"I thought so too." He agreed. "And it worked out for me anyways because I was barred from NXT because of my match with Regal."
"Ah, yes." She shivered as she thought about the fight he was talking about. "The match in which you beat him to a bloody pulp."
"That's the one."
"Does that mean that you were picked for the Shield because you weren't allowed to go to NXT?"
"Not exactly." He shook his head. "Because even though I wasn't allowed in NXT, there was talk about bringing me to the main roster by myself."
"Oh, wow."
"Yeah, apparently Mick Foley and Dusty Rhodes saw something in me because they gave me a good word, and the next thing I knew I was getting calls about having a match against Foley himself. They had this whole thing planned out for us, and it was strange. WWE didn't want me to just appear on the main roster without any direction, so they wrote up this little storyline for us."
"What kind of story?"
"I was supposed to blame Foley for inspiring other wrestlers like me to follow in his footsteps as a hardcore wrestler. And I was also supposed to demand that he took responsibility for it. Like I said it was strange. However, I also think it was a way for the higherups to explain what I did to Regal without making them look bad for hiring a death match wrestler."
"So why didn't that happen? Was it just because of the Shield or something else?"
"Foley wasn't cleared to wrestle anymore. There was a huge risk for serious brain damage or worse. But that's what happens when you take one too many bad hits to the head."
"Uh…" her eyes flickered to the two bandages on Dean's face.
"Remember I didn't fall through the Hell in a Cell, nor did I take like twenty chair shots straight to the head from the Rock, so you shouldn't have to worry about me." He said trying to ease her fears.
"Yeah well, I've seen some of your indie matches, so I do have to worry about you." She told him. "Now before my mind can unravel what I just said, tell me what happened after the match fell through."
"I was on the bench until I got a call to come to the NXT training facility. When I got there, I was ushered into a conference room with Punk, Paul Heyman, Roman, and Seth. We were sat down, and Heyman started his little song and dance about their plans for us. He went through how he wanted us to be hired guns for Punk, and how he wanted it to be kept a secret from everyone backstage. He even tried to win us over by telling us how great of an opportunity it would be to get our names out there. When we didn't instantly jump at the job, he told us to think about it and get back to them. And that's where Roman came in. After about a week, Roman invited us for few drinks and we sat down and talked about the idea of becoming a team. Seth and I said no. We didn't want to team up, we wanted to prove that we were good on our own. Plus, we said that it wouldn't be a good match-up since we never got along. But then Roman said some shit about us being big fish in a little pond, but as soon as we step up to the main roster, we'll see that we really are still three small fish in a huge ocean of sharks and that by working together at least we would have someone to back us up."
"Physiological Roman Reigns."
"Yeah well, it made sense to us. and after agreeing to give it a shot we spent about a month training together to see if we really could mesh, and we did. The three of us were cogs in a well-oiled machine. The first time Seth and I did our double Suicide Dive, I was baffled by how in sync we were. That's when I started to think that maybe all of the bad blood we had was just because I never gave him a chance. But looking back at it that may have been the better option."
"But then the Shield would never have been a thing?"
"Oh, I'm not saying that I wouldn't have team up with him, I'm saying that I should have never giving him the chance to get as close to me as he did. I should have treated the Shield the same way he did, as a business transaction, then maybe I would have seen all of this coming."
Angel watched a range of emotions flicker in Dean's eyes, and it broke her heart to see the pain that came with each one. She reached out and touched him on the arm. "Whether or not he was playing you the whole time, Seth will pay for what he has done. And every shitty scumbag thing that he does, is only going to make it so much worse."
"Amen to that." Dean said grabbing the hand on his arm. He brought it to his lips. "I couldn't say it any better myself."
"I'm sure you could." She chuckled as a knock on the door came.
They both turned to see a nurse standing there in the doorway. "I hate to do this, but I'm going to have to ask you to go back out to the waiting room, we're ready for this CT scan." She told them.
Angel stood up from the chair. "Oh ok."
"Someone will let you know when he's finished."
Nodding, she turned to Dean and said. "Be good."
"Aye, Aye."
When Angel went back to the waiting room, she stepped outside to leave a message on Roman's phone to tell him that Dean was being taken back for his CT scan. She also used the time to take a breather and decompress everything that Dean had said.
She thought back through her time with the Shield and tired to see if she could remember anything that would prove that Seth was faking caring about them. But she couldn't. In fact, the only hint at it was when he jumped off the apron during the match with the Wyatts. Leaning against the brick wall, she looked up at the night sky. "Seth you're either an amazing actor or the worst kind of person who can stab his friends in the back just to get a head in life. I don't know which it is, and I don't care. But I promise you this, I will do whatever I can to help Dean make your life a living hell for as long as he wants. YOU HURT THE WRONG MAN! And now you get to pay for it."
Coming back down from the rush of her exclamation, she looked around hoping that no one was outside to hear her before going back in to wait.
…
Angel yawned as she half paid attention to the video that was playing on her phone. It was some sort of review channel for WWE's that she liked to watch very now and then to see what people are saying. However, watching about four reviews and two of their top ten lists, she couldn't help start to fall asleep.
"Waiting for something?"
A familiar gruff voice made her jump as her head snapped up to see Dean standing next to her. "What are you doing here?"
"They let me go."
She looked around the room as if someone was going to come running over and scream at him to get back into the ER. "You're done?"
"Yep."
"And they just let you go?"
"Well, they wanted to wheel me out but there was no way I was going to let that happen."
Baffled Angel stood up from her chair. "What did the doctor say?"
"That they'll call me tomorrow with the results."
"Tomorrow? Did they say what time? We have our flight in the morning."
Dean shrugged. "Can we get out of here, I'm starved."
"I have to call Renee." She said quickly switching off the video that was still playing. "I wish that I would have been given a little bit of a head up that you were done and able to leave."
"Eh. Hospitals They are unpredictable and that's one reason I hate them."
Angel rolled her eyes at him, knowing that he was most likely part of the reason why he was let out so soon. "Well we're going to have to wait for Renee to get here."
"That's fine."
Angel brought her phone up to her. She waited for Renee to answer and sighed. "Hey, sorry about this but someone was let out without warning."
"He's done?"
"Yep." She looked up at Dean. "So, we're good whenever."
"I'll be right there."
"Ok we'll see you outside."
"See you in a bit."
After hanging up, the two of them walked outside and sat down on one of the metal benches. Slumping into her spot, Angel was greeted with the top of Dean's head as he laid his head down. "Excuses you." She chuckled as she brought a hand up to play with his messy hair.
"I hate CT scans; they take too long, and they make you sit completely still." He mumbled into her.
"That must have been so hard for you."
"It was." He flopped around so that he could look up at her.
"So are you going to tell what you did to get out so quickly."
"Just used my Cincinnati charm,"
"You're what?"
"My charms."
"You have charms?"
He stuck his tongue out at her. "Yeah, how do you think I tricked you into be mine."
"Oh, so that's what you mean when you say charms." She nodded. "So you were an asshole until you were alone and then there was some mad sexual tension that neither of you could deny. Did you drunkenly kiss the nurse?"
"Oh totally. I down like a bottle of whiskey during my CT scan and then lip locked with the nurse in the hallway to get her to let me leave."
"I knew it."
"Jealous?"
"Oh yeah." She said pouting. "I thought I was you only…Never mind I just remembered who I was talking to."
"What?" Dean sat up. "What were you going to say?"
"Nothing."
"Nah, I heard that. What were you going to say?"
"Nothing."
"Angel."
"I was going to say I thought I was your only drunken kiss but then I realized who I was talking to and realized that I'm far from being the only one."
Dean opened his mouth to say something but shook his head. "Well, no but you're my favorite."
"You don't even remember it."
"I hate a broken head and you want to break my ego as well."
"If you have a broken head, should I tell Hank you can't fight Seth?"
"No."
"I didn't think so."
"But to save my sorry ass from before, you really are my favorite, even if I can't remember it. None of my other girls became my girlfriend."
"What an honor."
"Oh, that one hurt."
Angel giggled as headlights came blinding them. "Did two lunatics order a ride back to the hotel?"
"That would be us."
They got into the car, Dean in the back and Angel in the passenger seat. "So how is our headcase back there."
"Ha, ha." Dean fake laughed. "I'm fine."
"Good then, I won't feel bad when I slap you for making Angel worry about you."
"Wow. You make it sound like that was my fault. I'm not the one who attacked them. I was just trying to give a pep talk to my teammates, and they jumped."
Renee shook her head. "I don't think the initial attack was your fault, but I do think it was dumb for you to ask if that was all they had, while you we re already laying on the ground."
"Hey, it was a genuine question, because three guys came at me and if it wasn't for that curb stomp at the end, I would have been up and ready to go for our match, I wouldn't have been feeling good sure, but I would have been there." Dean said. "Hell, if I could have been cleared at the arena I would have been there. One day everyone is going to learn that you can't keep Ambrose down."
Canadice: Sorry that there's no more sex in the story. I like smut but not all the time. I felt like this was a good compromise. When are Dean's feelings going to come out to play, soonish. I know when already I have it planned out. And again I'm sorry if you're not enjoying the retellings of Raw or smackdown but they are kind of important to the story. I do hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks for the Review.
Silentmayhem: Idk what I'm going to do for that. To me that's more of a Renee and Jon's story but there my be a time where Angel does have a little Ambrose in the future.
Katara Melody Cullen: Thanks! Like always.
Sonia: I'm glad that enjoyed the last chapter for some reason it was really hard for me to write. This one was a bit easier but the car ride with Renee that was tough for some reason.
Brookeworm: I'm glad you enjoying the story. and yeah I saw. Did you see that he has a new tattoo, i think it's for Nora and I think it's supposed to be a rose but I couldn't really see it during the show.