Break Free

As Roman turned into the long and winding driveway, he noticed that the mailbox had been run over recently, and Roman knew that he wasn't responsible for it. He supposed a passing car could have clipped it. From the road, Dean's driveway was hard to spot and even with Dean pointing it out to Roman; he had almost missed it and had barely avoided hitting the mailbox himself.

However, Roman couldn't shake the feeling that something was off and in the end it was his intuition that made him turn off the lights of the car and stop halfway up the hill to Dean's cabin. Turning the car off, Roman put the emergency brakes on and quietly got out of the car. Hoping that his instincts were dead wrong, Roman crept towards the cabin.

As he got to the top, Roman froze as he spotted Hunter's car looming beside the cabin. Roman ducked behind a tree, praying that he hadn't been spotted. After a few moments, Roman peeked around the tree and tried to look to see if he could glimpse anything through the window. The lights were on and more than one person was in there. Roman bet that all three members of Evolution were in there and at that moment, a twinge of pain went through his back reminding him that he was not all the way healed and depending on Dean's status he wasn't sure if they could take Evolution or not.

All of a sudden, Roman jumped as he heard cries of pain coming from the house that were definitely Dean. Hearing those cries, spurred him to action and Roman decided what he had to do.

Roman hated to stop to do this before trying to rescue Dean, but, he figured that if his rescue attempt failed, it would be a comfort to know that backup was on the way. So hiding behind the tree, Roman dialed 911.

"So…it's decided then," remarked Hunter casually as if carving someone's skin was a task he did everyday, "The one on his chest is the winner!" exclaimed Hunter as he twirled the knife expertly in his hand and stepped forward. Dean couldn't help himself as Hunter came closer he tried to inch away from him and the knife even though he knew it was physically impossible. Hunter noticed this and decided to draw it out further. He liked seeing Dean squirm.

He slowly brought the knife to Dean's cheek and pressed the point of it slightly into Dean's skin. Not hard enough to draw blood but hard enough that with a flick of his wrist he could easily cut him. Dean forced himself to keep eye contact with Hunter instead of staring at the knife. It was like a perverse game of chicken.

From his cheek, Hunter slowly traced down to Dean's jaw, then his neck drawing extremely close to the major artery until the point of the knife rest over the crude word scrawled on Dean's chest. Dean shut his eyes and waited for the pain to start.

But then Hunter did something unexpected. He removed the knife. Dean cautiously opened his eyes wondering if this was yet another trick. Dean looked to see Hunter going back to the folder and flipping through it, apparently lost in thought.

"You know, Ambrose," said Hunter conversationally, "there is even more information on your brother here than on you. Why do you think that is?" he asked seeming genuinely curious.

His brother, wow it had been a long time since Dean had thought of him. Dean shrugged his shoulders. "I honestly have no idea, I don't think I've actually ever met him," said Dean wearily.

"He's younger, right? Although not by much, it says here he was only 10 months younger than you" said Hunter again seeming very curious.

"Yeah, I remember my mom or someone saying that Ty and I were Irish twins," said Dean trying to distract Hunter and keep him talking for as long as possible, "I used to think that meant I had a twin and I was kind of disappointed when I learned later what an Irish twin actually was," Dean was rambling now, "I thought it would be really cool if I had a twin out there in the world, you know, someone who looked like me and I would fantasize that we would meet some day like in those corny movies…"

Hunter smiled nastily, "Who knew you were so sentimental, Ambrose. Why did you never see him?"

"Who?" smiled Dean cheekily, even now he still couldn't resist pushing Hunter's buttons.

Hunter narrowed his eyes at Dean, "If you're bored with talking, I could go right to cutting you up," he threatened taking a few steps toward Dean with the wicked looking knife.

"Okay, okay, let's not be too hasty," said Dean quickly, nervously eyeing the knife, "the way one of my foster parents explained it to me was that he was adopted from birth by his dad's family. We're technically half-brothers."

"Well I guess that makes sense," said Hunter shutting the file, his curiosity obviously satisfied.

"How did you get that file?" asked Dean suddenly trying to put off the inevitable.

An amused look crossed Hunter's face as he looked at Dean, "You sure you want to know?"

Hunter's answer made Dean hesitate for a second but only for a second. He really did want to know. "Yeah, I do."

"It was your buddy, Seth," said Hunter slowly with a twisted smile.

Dean's insides grew cold at Hunter's words. His mind racing from the implications of what Hunter had just said to him. What…Seth…he wouldn't…he couldn't. Dean shook his head. NO. Hunter must be lying. Seth would never do that to him. Seth was his friend. Seth was lying in a hospital because of him.

"I'm not lying, Ambrose," said Hunter smugly as he correctly guessed Dean's thoughts. "I got this from Seth, well, I guess you could say I technically 'took' it from his locker but it's all the same in the end."

Dean blinked sorting through his thoughts. So Seth didn't betray him, at least not directly. But why did he have a file on him in his locker? Did he not trust Dean? Was he planning on reporting him to child services?

"I'm getting bored," stated Hunter jogging Dean out of his own thoughts, "I think I've waited long enough," spat out Hunter as he maliciously came towards Dean, knife in hand. He roughly grabbed a handful of Dean's hair, pulled his head back and leaned in to whisper into Dean's ear, "After tonight, you will finally learn to fear me, Ambrose."

Dean glared defiantly back at Hunter even as he raised the knife to his chest.

All of a sudden the door swung open as Roman barreled into the room with a bat in hand. Randy and Dave stood up quickly from their chairs pushing them back. Dean hoped for a second that his ordeal was finally over but that dashed when he felt the cold blade of the knife at his throat with Hunter standing right behind him.

"Drop the bat, Roman," sneered Hunter as he held the knife threateningly close to Dean's throat, "or I'll slice his throat open and end his pathetic life right here and now!"

Roman's eyes bulged as he realized the lengths to which Hunter was willing to go. It was official. Hunter had gone insane and he wasn't the only one who thought so. At Hunter's words Randy and Dave looked surprisingly in his direction and were wearing matching expressions of shock.

"Hunter what are you doing!" shouted Dave as he looked from Hunter to Roman.

"You can't kill him!" added Randy suddenly looking scared out of his mind.

"Of course I can," stated Hunter simply, "Roman I won't say it again. Drop…the…bat," with each word he pressed the knife further into Dean's throat drawing a little bit of blood.

"Okay, stop it! I'm doing it," protested Roman as he slowly lowered the bat to the ground and kicked it away from him.

"Better," said Hunter as he took the pressure off the knife a tad. Dean took shallow breaths; he dared not move an inch.

"Hunter, I didn't agree to this!" shouted Randy, "Let him go, we've had our fun, now let's just go!"

"Oh would you just shut up, Randal," scoffed Hunter, "God! Your whining is unbearable at times! The both of you need to grow a backbone."

"Hunter, please," said Roman slowly putting his hands up in a non-threatening gesture but still trying to inch his way closer to Hunter and Dean, "you've made your point. Let him go."

Hunter let out a sick laugh, he felt so powerful right now, literally holding Dean's life in his hands, and the feeling to him was intoxicating. "And what if I don't. What are you going to do Roman, if I decide to end his life? You know what? I think I will…AHHHHH!" Hunter screamed as Judah suddenly burst through the flap in the door, leapt across the room and dug his teeth into the hand that held the knife to Dean's throat.

Roman moved forward as well and dragged Dean who had been knocked to the ground again still tied to the chair as Judah had collided with Hunter, away from the scuffle. Randy and Dave, being the cowards they were, fled out the door.

"GET IT OFF ME! GET IT OFF ME!" screamed Hunter as Judah continued to attack the sadistic teen. Hunter had dropped the knife but that didn't stop Judah from attacking who was furious that this creature had dared to harm and threaten the life of his master.

Roman sighed in relief as he could hear the sirens of the police coming up the driveway and turned to Dean to check on him.

Dean groaned in pain, he had felt some of his ribs break with that final fall and the cut on his throat stung like a bitch. It's over though, he told himself, right before he gave into the darkness. It's finally over.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Dean found that it was hard for him to open his eyes. But when he finally managed it, he was surprised to see that his hospital room was full of people. Mr. and Mrs. Reigns were there talking in hushed whispers in the corner with Seth's dad, while Roman's siblings were sitting on various pieces of furniture and talking amongst themselves and playing on their phones.

"Hey Dean," said Roman quietly as he came into the room and was the first to realize that Dean was awake, "you scared me for a second there."

Dean took the cumbersome oxygen mask off his face and licked his dry lips as he struggled to speak.

"Hang on sweetie," said Mrs. Reigns as she brought a cup of water over and gently brought it to Dean's lips so that he could take a sip.

"Ah, so the tough guy is awake," said a strange voice as Dean realized that it was the doctor coming into the room, "How are you feeling, Dean?"

"Fine," croaked Dean as he tried to sit up in his bed but failed.

"On a scale from one to ten how would you rate your pain?"

"Four?" said Dean thinking that the question was a stupid one.

"Seriously," asked the doctor as he raised one eyebrow at Dean.

"Seriously." Stated Dean narrowing his eyes at the doctor, he hated it when adults didn't take him at his word.

"Okay, just checking," said the doctor raising his arms, sensing Dean's growing hostility, "well it looks like it's been a rough day for your family but at least you get to share a room with your brother and not a random stranger," said the doctor with a smile at Dean.

"What?" Dean's brain was fuzzy. He must not have heard the doctor correctly. Whatever could he have meant?

"Dean."

Dean turned and looked at Seth who was lying in the hospital bed next to him and wearing an expression on his face that Dean had never seen before.

"Yeah?"

Seth hesitated; his mouth opened and closed several times as he tried to find the right words to say. Roman looked between the two with a wide smile on his face and Dean blinked furiously as his mind pieced together the puzzle.

Why would Seth have a file of him in his locker?

More on your brother in this file than you…

Why would the doctor say he was rooming with his brother?

Ty…

Dean looked at Seth and saw his thoughts confirmed on his face.

"Tyler?"

"Yes."

"Nice to finally meet you."

Seth smiled, "Same here."

Dean returned the smile. It didn't matter what happened now. He had found his brother. He had a family and friends that cared about him. It was safe to say that Dean Ambrose wasn't alone in the world anymore.

THE END

Wow, I finally did it! As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. I really am grateful to all of my readers, I couldn't have finished this without you.

Special thanks to Willow Edmond, Raign, Seth rollins babe, Iremmy, PunkShieldGirl, nattiebroskette and DeanAmbroseMySexyLunitic for their continued support of this story from beginning to end. Your reviews kept me going when I wanted to quit :)

I hope you enjoyed the final chapter of this story.

Merry Christmas!