Who Do You Love - Dean Ambrose

Waking Up In Vegas

"Lauren? Lauren – ,"

I woke with a start, still panting and shaking with hot tears running down my face. Around me the world lay in absolute darkness, devoid of any signs of light. There were arms pressed round me and fearing they were Bray's again I fought them fiercely and tried to cry out.

"No – no, please – please let go of me. I want to go home. I just want Dean – ,"

"Lauren, whoa – ,"

The lights flicked on suddenly and I blinked into the brightness in a confused and breathless haze. I was lying in a bed but I wasn't handcuffed to it and the room I was in looked strangely familiar but it definitely wasn't some sleazy motel. I frowned as a soft hot breeze blew through the window and stirred up a comforting, familiar smell. Whoever had their hands on my arms shuffled closer and pulled me back against them, groggy but alarmed,

"Lauren, it's me. It's okay, you were dreamin'."

"D-Dean?" I whispered,

"I've got you. You're safe."

As coherence came flooding back in like a tidal wave, I turned myself frantically so I could fold into his chest. Almost at once the tears started falling, although I guess technically they'd never really stopped. His arms wrapped around me, pulling me closer and then he sunk back down against the bed, taking me with him so we were propped against the pillows, with me crying so hard I was worried I'd never stop.

"I thought – ," I choked out, coughing and spluttering, "I thought he had – he had – ,"

"Easy baby. Nothin's gonna get you. Bray's not here. It's alright, he's gone."

But still the waterworks refused to stop. In fact, if anything they seemed to get worse,

"I hate him so much I can't – don't let me take me. Please don't let him take me away."

"Sssh," Dean murmured, kissing my head repeatedly, "Not gonna happen. Ever, okay?"

It took a good while for the tears to stop falling but gradually the hysterics started fading away. My breath was still coming out in uneven shudders and my cheeks were slick and my eyes felt raw, but with Dean's arms around me and his lips pressed against me, I clawed my way back to near normal again. Well, as normal as was possible when faced with the prospect of being gifted to a madman who had already held me captive once.

Since the ultimatum on Tuesday night's Smackdown, my head had been all over the place and even being with Dean in Vegas and hiking and cooking hadn't helped calm me down. It didn't help that he had been making lots of phone calls and constantly talking to Roman and Seth. Clearly they were planning something but he wouldn't talk about it and so I remained completely in the dark. We were two days away from the Winner-Takes-All match and I had never been more scared in my life.

The nightmares were new though.

That was just great.

"Wanna talk about it?" Dean offered eventually, when I was down to just the occasional shaky breath, "I mean, that's what you're, like, supposed to do, right? Get it out in the open, or that kinda shit?"