Psychological Scars (Dean Ambrose Fanfic) Sequel to Ten Tonne Skeleton.

I'd do anything to hold you in my arms - Part 18

Early Saturday morning, the search began. Dean had been up all night waiting for this moment. He couldn't bare to be away from Seth for any longer. He and the police were sat in an undercover police van.

There was a long journey ahead of them, so Dean had time to think. He thought about AJ and what he had said. He had told Dean that he loved him. It was a lot to take in, but it was something that put a smile on Dean's face. Someone loved him. Genuinely loved him.

Love was something he had forgotten about after spending a few months with Sami, but now that he was getting used to life without his ex-fiance, he was able to feel the emotion once again. His heart usually beat twice as fast when AJ was around and his hands got all clammy. 

Dean was in love.

Dean had been sitting in the back of a police van for over an hour. The small house in the woods was at least another thirty minutes away, which made Dean angry. He just wanted to get Seth to safety.

He felt that he was responsible for all of this. He shouldn't have broke up with Sami. He shouldn't have started dating him in the first place. It would have solved a lot of problems if he had just ignored the younger man. 

Trees swayed in the distance, indicating that the forest was nearby. The police officers had told Dean that he had to stay in the van whilst they found Seth. They would have to venture far into the woods in order to get to the house and they couldn't risk Dean getting upset or hurt.

It was made very clear to Dean that he shouldn't get his hopes up. There was a good chance that they had found Seth, but they couldn't be sure. This whole thing could just be a waste of time.

As they reached the outskirts of the woods, Dean's mood changed. He was now on edge and fearful of what might happen. He got out the back of the van and made his way to the passenger's seat. 

He could see that there were two police cars, behind the van for backup, and a few ambulances. No one knew what state Seth would be in. 

Dean text AJ to let him know that they were at the woods. AJ had replied with care and compassion towards both Dean and Seth.

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The police made their way through the gloomy, dry, path of leaves. The woods looked like it had been abandoned by society many years ago. 

According to the tracker, they were heading in the right direction.

After an hour of searching, they came across a small, wooden house. It looked like it was about to collapse from how old and dry it was.

The door was already open, so the police entered with their guns held out in front of them, not knowing what to expect. The officers split into groups of two. Each group searched a room.

It was easy to find Seth. He was battered and bruised, weakly lying on the floor of one of the bedrooms. 

"Seth?" One of the officers asked as he gently lowered himself to the ground to help the shaking boy. "Seth, can you hear me?" The officer asked as he took the tape away from Seth's mouth.

Seth slowly nodded.

"My name is Officer Carl, and this." Officer Carl said pointing to the other police official in the room. "Is Officer Tess. We're here to help you, okay?"

Seth nodded once again.

Officer Carl untied the duct tape from Seth's legs and used bolt cutters to cut the handcuffs from off of the pipe. 

The room was flooded with paramedics and police officers, helping out Seth. The weak man still hadn't spoke a word.

Seth was secured with a neck brace and an oxygen mask. He was carted out of the house on a stretcher.

The bright light burned his eyes. He hadn't seen any daylight for weeks. Luckily one of the police officers put his jacket over Seth's face to shield his eyes. Seth was very grateful. The off-road ambulance arrived outside the house within a few minutes and Seth was rushed over to the main road, where he was transferred into a different ambulance.

Dean only caught a quick glimpse of Seth. He didn't know what to think. Why did he have something covering his face? Was he dead?

The overwhelming thoughts caused Dean to start crying. This was all his fault. Once the ambulance left the scene the police officers joined Dean in the van.

"Mr Ambrose, you can probably tell that we found Seth." Officer Carl sighed in triumph.

"I-Is he dead?" Dean asked, frightened for the answer.

"No, he is not dead. However, he's not in the best condition at the moment."

"Then why did he have that thing on his face?"

"The daylight was hurting his eyes" Officer Carl smiled.

"O-okay. Did- w-was Sami there?" Dean asked.

"No, we didn't see him or anyone. Seth was left alone, handcuffed to a pipe, with duct tape around his feet and on his mouth."

"So, do you think he'll be okay?"

"He should make a speedy recovery physically, but mentally and emotionally I can't be sure. He was responsive to us though, which is a good sign. Whenever I asked him a question he would nod his head, yes."

"Okay." Dean sighed. "Thank you for saving him."

"Not a problem. That's our job and you were a great help. We never would have found this house if it wasn't for you." 

"Can I see him at the hospital?" Dean asked.

"Of course. We need to go there as well and talk to the doctors and nurses, so we'll drive you straight there." Officer Carl smiled.

"Thank you." Dean smiled back and for the first time that day, he felt relaxed.

__________

Once Dean got to the hospital, he was told to sit in the waiting room as Seth was undergoing tests and wasn't allowed visitors. Dean used this time to call AJ.

"Hello?" AJ greeted.

"Hey, it's me." Dean replied.

"Hey, how are you? Did you find him? What happened?" AJ burst out, curious to know the answers.

"I'm good and yeah we found him. I'm at the hospital, because he's getting some tests done."

"Oh thank god he's safe now. I've been worried sick all day. I was scared that you wouldn't find him."

"Me too." Dean sighed. "Could you tell Roman that Seth's safe, please?"

"Of course I will." AJ replied. "And Dean?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm so proud of you. You've been through a lot these past few weeks, but you stayed strong and you got Seth away from danger." AJ smiled through the phone.

"Thanks. I couldn't have done it without you though." Dean didn't know if he should tell AJ how he felt. "AJ?"

"Yeah?"

"I've been thinking about what you said and, I think I love you too." Silence. AJ was shocked.

"R-really?" AJ questioned.

"Yes, really." Dean laughed.

"Well, that's great. I love you so much I can't even describe how happy I am right now." AJ was laughing from how shocked he was.

"I'm glad that I made you happy. Maybe we could go out to dinner tomorrow night?"

"I would love to."

"Okay, see you later."

"Bye."

The call ended. Dean felt like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. He just hoped that Seth wouldn't get mad at him.

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This took me ages to write! Sorry for the long wait, but hopefully it was worth it. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!