Epilogue

It has been two month since the attack on Claire and the big show down where Seth shot her in the leg in order to save her.

They were still together but Seth felt the struggle inside of Claire. Sometimes she moved away from his touch, subtly, at first, telling him she forgot something, or she developed sudden thirst or she came up with something else. But he was persistent and wouldn't let her slip through his fingers.

Today was a big night for him. He and Claire had been the last in the office and they had just left the underground parking lot when Seth turned left instead of right.

"I need to run an errand." he explained her questioning stare.

Five minutes later he stopped in a little parking lot and got out.

"Can you help me?"

Claire got out and looked at the old building which lay dark before them.

"Sure, but what is it that you have to pick up here? Dust and dirt?"

"Nah..." he replied slowly while they walked to the front and Seth opened the door for her. The building had just two stories and Seth climbed the stairs up to the second floor.

Claire noticed that the building looked better on the inside. Everything was freshly painted it seemed and renovated.

"Are you coming?" Seth asked impatiently and she followed him up the stairs.

He opened a big door upstairs and searched for the light switch.

"Go in, light is up in a second." he urged Claire and she walked into the big dark loft.

Seth found the light switch and at the next second the room was illuminated and a lot of people called out "Surprise!" and some even whistled or blew into toy trumpets.

Claire looked around with wide eyes.

The loft was huge. Inside she found training mats, some typical training equipment, some mirrors on the walls and benches all around.

"What is this?" she asked looking at Seth for help.

"You told me about this thing. That you want to do self-defense classes. Help women or people in general. Dean had this place in his portfolio of places to hide..." Seth sent a pointed look at Dean who grinned, Lilly right by his side in his arms.

"Well, we renovated it, equipped it, and it can be your training facility. All the guys of Shield Inc. will help out with the training, we are currently looking for someone who will do this full time as well."

Now his eyes rested on the Danielson couple for a moment.

"But we would all help. It is yours if you want it."

He dangled a set of keys in front of her eyes.

"I...am speechless. I thought you forgot about it. I want it, of course I want it."

She jumped into Seth arms and hugged him fiercely.

He couldn't breathe for a second and set her down, falling down to one knee in the process.

"I have another question for you."

He fumbled in his jacket pocket and pulled out a diamond ring.

"Claire, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I would be the happiest man on earth if you would become my wife."

Everyone held their breath and Seth looked with hopeful eyes up at Claire.

Claire looked at Seth, at the beautiful ring and she felt the eyes of everyone in the room on her. She really hated to do this to Seth...again but she was an honest person.

"Seth, I will marry you one day, but right now I can't accept this ring yet. But I will. Just...not right away. But I accept this gym and the meaning behind it."

She pushed Seth hand with the ring away from her and looked apologetically.

Seth needed a moment to regroup. But finally he got up and smiled. "I won't give up, you know? I will keep asking you till you say yes."

"I know and I encourage you to do that." Claire hugged him and whispered a sorry in his ear.

The crowd behind them was still quiet and didn't know how to react.

Roman shot Dean a look and Dean mouthed why me and Roman just urged him by nodding his head. Dean rolled his eyes dramatically which made Lilly and Josh who watched the silent exchange chuckle.

"Well, there will be food and beer in just a second. I am sure Seth needs one after this." Dean announced aloud to break the awkward silence and he then looked at Roman with raised eyebrows.

The Samoan shook his head grinning and stepped away to get the food.

"Next time break the silence yourself. It's always me who has to step in harm's way to refuse an explosive situation." Dean complained and followed Roman to get the food out on the tables in one corner. Lilly had outdone herself and had prepared some salads and finger food and Josh was already snacking on it when Roman walked up to him to slap him on the hand.

Josh glanced up at Roman and had the urge to stick out his tongue but Lilly defused this situation by pulling the teenager away. The differences between father and son were growing and they hardly ever talked anymore. Josh talked to Dean a lot, and he often stopped by to spend time with her boyfriend. They seemed to be close but she wished that father and son would find to each other again.

"Give me a hand here Josh." she said and put some plates in his hands.

Roman watched them step aside. He felt like he had lost his son and at the moment he didn't know how to get him back. The only thing Josh seemed to be interested in that had something to do with Roman was this gym and he had asked his father to train with him here. And Roman would do this just to be able to spend some time with the teenager.

Seth and Dean suddenly stood beside him.

"You two will work it out." Dean told him and clapped his shoulder. "And Claire will say yes eventually. She is just not ready yet. " Dean clapped Seth shoulder now.

"Who would have thought that Dean Ambrose becomes the wise one of the group?" Seth asked grinning.

"He could always talk but most of the time it was just bullshit. Now every now and then something useful finds its way out of his mouth." Roman added and watched Dean put a piggy in a blanket in his mouth. The lunatic fringe grinned like a chipmunk.

"You have no idea what goes in this mouth now as well." he said with his mouth full and walked over to the next table to put more stuff on his plate.

"Hey." Claire took his place beside Roman and Seth.

"Thank you Roman as well for this opportunity." "You're welcome. It is a good idea and something Dani would have supported. You will see a lot of Josh and I here. We will help out whenever we can. I am glad you are with us Claire. And I am glad you are with my brother." He squeezed her shoulder.

"And I will be there for you and your son if you need me, ok? You are holding up fine Roman. You are a great father even if your boy gives you a hard time right now." She hugged him and Roman accepted the hug and stepped away after that. It would take time to get over the loss. Right now it was still pretty raw but he hoped once he could reconnect to his son that they both could find happiness again.

"Next time say yes, alright?" Roman told Claire smiling and walked away.

"He is still having a hard time, Josh as well." Claire pointed out as she turned around to Seth and he put her in a tight embrace.

"It will take time but they will work it out. As will we."

Claire looked up at him. "As will we. I love you Colby."

"I love you too Claire." he replied and leaned down to kiss her.

-The End

A/N: That's it! Seth story is told. I am overwhelmed by your responses to this part! I am grateful that so many of you took the time to review and read this story. It came easy to write to me. I had it done in a couple of days and just needed to work on details. But the boys write themselves practically.

The next part is Roman's story. Shield Inc.: Promise of the Juggernaut

It is online right now! Go to my profile and from there to Roman's story!

And I have good news. The saga is not finished after this third part. There will be at least a short story featuring a very cute couple that had some cameos in the saga, and maybe there will be a forth installment. Because...SEAL Teams consist of four members (sometimes five..). So stay tuned!

Again. from the bottom of my heart. Thank you! Danke schön! Merci! Gracias! Mille grazie! (that is all I can manage and probably half of it is spelled wrong) LOL