Sempiternal

She said she was sharing a room with Erica, one of the Rosebuds. She said she needed some 'girl time'. She said that it would be good for her to spend time with people other than The Shield.

After Smackdown, Lucy headed straight for the hotel room that she and Erica were staying in. When she slipped in the door she smiled when she saw her roommate for the night sitting on the edge of her bed in a black beater and grey sweats. Only, it wasn't Erica.

Dean gave her a lazy smile and pulled her on to his lap. "Hey."

"Hi." She managed to squeak out. Yesterday he had kissed her in an empty supply closet. Today, he secretly slid her a hotel room key. On the inside of the envelope he had scribbled, "Make up an excuse and meet me here".

Why was she here? Why'd she say yes? She could have blamed it on so many different things; hormones, sexual tension, anything… But the truth was simple. She wanted to be here. There had been something brewing between the two of them since that first conversation they had in the car. It was undeniable. At breakfast, at the costume shop, in the bar; it was there. And maybe it was just sexual, but she didn't care. After all, it had been too long since she had been kissed. Too long since she had felt a man's hands on her hips. So what if it was purely sexual?

If this was any other guy, she'd scold herself for moving too fast. But it wasn't just any guy. This was Dean Ambrose. This was the guy with the black book chock-full of names and phone numbers. This was the guy with the 'Bedspread Bandit' mentality. Hell, she'd be surprised if he stayed with her throughout the night. When it came to Dean Ambrose, fast was the only option.

"I went to the Redbox." He smiled. "It took some time to figure out what I was doing, but I eventually got the movies out."

She kissed his nose. "What'd you get?"

"Just some action movies. There wasn't really anything interesting to choose from." He said. "I even picked up some popcorn. The kind with extra butter." Dean picked her up off of his lap and placed her back on the bed gently. He moved over to the microwave and threw a bag of popcorn in and set the timer. "Is this romantic, or what?"

"I think Hell might be freezing over, Dean Ambrose is being romantic. Or at least trying to be." Lucy laughed.

Dean popped in a DVD and plopped down next to her on the bed. "Don't give me that, you're loving this." She shrugged, a grin playing on her lips. "Oh you're not?"

He pinned her to the bed, attacking her sides with his fingers. She squirmed, trying to free herself from him, but ended up only laughing more. "De-" She managed to get out among her laughter. "Dean, stop. Oh my god. I can't breathe!"

Dean let go of her, only to slide off of the bed and grab her feet and begin tickling the bottoms. "Who's the man?" He smiled down at her.

"CM Punk! CM Punk!" She said, mocking the WWE crowds as she tried to get her feet out from his grasp.

"Are you kidding me?" He was laughing too, now. "I'm bigger than you, Luce. You might want to rethink your answer."

"Okay! Okay! You, you're the man!" She surrendered.

Dean dropped her feet and nodded his head. "Damn right. Shit! The popcorn."

Lucy realized the thick smell of burnt popcorn in the air. "How long did you put it in there for!?"

"Five minutes."

She laughed. "Dean, that's not how you do it." He tossed the bag in the trash and sighed, pouting as he made his way to the bed. "It's okay. We don't need popcorn anyways."

He lay next to her and looked up, meeting her forest colored eyes, holding them there for a moment. "Come here." His voice was low, causing her breath to hitch in her throat.

She moved to straddle his middle, pulling her hair over her shoulder so that it didn't fall in his face. She ducked her head to meet his lips, enveloping them in a slow, sweet kiss. Her mouth trailed to his jawline. His rough stubble tickled her lips, causing her to smile against his skin. She nibbled it softly, taking her time, showing him everything she had been thinking of for the past few weeks.

His fingers dug into her skin as she slid her tongue down the length of his collarbone. A hand slid up her back, sending shivers throughout her body, and prompting goosebumps to form on her skin. It was cold in the hotel room, but his touch ignited a fire on the surface of her skin.

"Luce." He whined into her neck.

His voice broke through her thoughts, bringing her back down to where she needed to be; reality. She pulled her lips from his skin. This wasn't right.

"What's wrong?" His denim blue eyes bore into her.

Suddenly she couldn't form words. She didn't have an answer for him. "I- I don't want to disappoint you." She said under her breath. "Do we have to- you know?"

The corners of his lips turned up into a small smile. "Lucy, it's going to disappoint me if you don't want to sleep with me."

"No, I do!" She blurted, mentally kicking herself hard in the head for doing so. Dean smirked. "I mean, yeah, I do. It's just-"

"Too soon." He finished for her.

She sighed and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Can we just sleep?"

He reached over her and clicked the light off, letting the soft glow of the television illuminate the room. He traced circles in her skin and placed light kisses along her shoulder. She leaned into him, soaking up every bit of his warmth. It was the first night in months she would drift off to sleep without a single thought troubling her mind.

Hiding their relationship, if that's what you wanted to call it, was easier than she thought it was going to be. It wasn't fair to Seth that she was keeping it from him, she knew that. But with the way he reacted even after just assuming that something was going on, made her realize that keeping it a secret would be best. At least for a little while longer, anyways.

With Payback only two days away, they hardly got a moment to spend together. She was doing everything she could to keep herself busy. She hadn't gone out with the Rosebuds at the past few house shows to keep herself from the back where Dean would be, and instead kept herself at the merchandise stand with Mark.

The long drives is what got her.

He was within arms reach, and Seth was usually right beside her. It killed her.

It was early Friday morning, the sun hadn't risen yet, and Lucy was kicked awake after they had hit a pothole.

"Sorry," Dean mumbled after he realized that he had woken her up.

"Mmm, s'okay." She yawned, stretching her arms up over her head. She looked back at Roman and Seth, both of them snoring loudly in the back seat. "They're out."

He only nodded, retracting his gaze back to the road. She walked her fingers over to his thigh, running her nails teasingly over the silky fabric of his basketball shorts. His eyes closed for a moment as he exhaled. A hand fell from the steering wheel, taking her hand, and replacing it back over the center console. Lucy pouted.

Dean looked at her, giving her a tired smile. "Sorry sweetheart." He whispered.

"Do you want me to take over? You look exhausted."

"Do you mind?"

"Of course not."

Dean flicked on the blinkers and pulled over on the side of the interstate. He unbuckled his seat belt and walked around to the back of the car, meeting Lucy there. He reached down, cupping her face in his hand and kissed her quickly, before sliding in the passenger seat. A smile was plastered on her lips as she moved the seat up to better suit her short legs.

She threw the car in drive, and pulled back on to the interstate. Ten minutes later and Dean was out like a light. She stole a glance at his sleeping frame, admiring his curls that fell sweetly across is forehead.

"Sooner, rather than later, Dean Ambrose would be out of sight and mind."

She had another thing coming.