The Paladin & The Fanged One, Level Up! File 002: Nostalgia

D e a n | M a t t h e w s

The Paladin and the Fanged One, Level Up!

File 002: Nostalgia | ノスタルジア

They called their Manhattan deluxe apartment home “Sanctuary” and that was exactly what it was. No one, not Matthew Shields nor Michael Rivers, could reach them here. When they arrived from Dublin, Ireland, the first thing Dean Matthews did was greet the dog Daryl, whom he affectionately called Pup, short for Puppers. Daryl’s tail wagged in a happy, circular motion, happy to see his owners home.

After greeting the dog, the huge man known as The Fanged One leaned down with a soft groan and pressed his lips to the side of the head of the petite blonde beside him. A hand trailed along the small of her back as he passed by and headed toward the kitchen, dropping his duffle bag on the floor beside the door as he did.

Truth be told, he wanted something to snack on.

Daryl perked up and tilted his head, watching him maneuver to the kitchen. The kitchen meant food. Food was glorious. The furry companion made his way over and plopped down on the tile floor with some distance between him and the refrigerator.

Jessica Sears couldn’t help but laugh as she slipped out of her Marvel Vans, picked up both of their duffel bags, and made her way to their master bedroom for a moment. She returned with a soft smile on her face and her eyes studying Dean and Daryl as they examined the contents of the refrigerator.

“What do you have in mind?”

She glanced over at the dog food and water distributors and saw they were still at a good level. Her dog’s eating habits have greatly improved. It was also nice that MiMi would regularly check on him whenever she was away on her business trips for wrestling shows.

Of course, as she walked up behind the pair of males on the kitchen floor, one sitting and the other crouching she’d catch sight of a hand sneak out to the side and the dog snatch a piece of lunch meat happily, though Dean never so much as turned to signal he had done anything at all.

When he heard her question, he turned towards her, holding a handful of thick green grapes, popping one into his mouth and chewing happily. He pushed the refrigerator doors closed and turned to look at the gorgeous blonde standing behind him.

“Hmm? Oh, just some grapes. Unless you’d like to get me a shot glass out of the cabinet?”

Slowly one of his brows lifted and his lip twitched into a smirk. Daryl tilted his head out of curiosity. Jessica, however, folded her arms and raised an eyebrow.

“I think you’ve had enough alcohol in Dublin. Brendan Samuels told me that whiskey stops the Irish from ruling the world… I know you’re not Irish, but the point stands.”

She moved past them to open one of the cabinets and retrieve a small container of filet mignon Caesar’s Filets for dogs. At this, Daryl’s tail immediately wagged and he ran over to his dog food bowl. She giggled, peeled off the top, and made her way over to add it to his bowl. She took a small plastic knife and distributed the food evenly. Daryl was patiently waiting and staring at the food for a moment before he looked up at his owner.

“Sit.”

Promptly, he sat down.

“Shake.”

She extended her right hand out to him and he lifted his right paw to “shake hands”.

“Speak.”

He let out a single happy bark and she smiled, petting him lovingly.

“Good boy, Daryl! Eat up.”

By her command, he moved in closer to enjoying his afternoon meal. Jessica giggled and made her way back into the kitchen, throwing away the empty container before she began to wash her hands. After drying her hands, she approached the refrigerator, opened the doors, and contemplated aloud.

“Hmmm… I could make some Gefüllte Eier. My take on deviled eggs.”

After watching the tricks the dog performed, Dean lifted a brow, wondering if somehow he could trick her into doing something similar, just for fun and jokes. But he knew that would most likely result in him being smacked.

When she went to the fridge and looked inside, he slipped in behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and leaning down to kiss the back of her head gently.

“The grapes are enough for now. I wanted to make something special later.”

She tilted her head at this, curious as to what he has planned for dinner. Looking over her shoulder, he laid his chin on her shoulder gently.

“You know I’ve been thinking a lot lately about LA. That gym downtown?”

The words alone were a simple reminder of an intriguing time.

“When we met for the very first time?”

Even though he’s made plans for dinner, she was hungry enough to prepare an afternoon snack. She gathered the ingredients to make her recipe for deviled eggs and she turned her head slowly and steadily to kiss him. The spinal cord compression around her neck was still hurting, but after some time to rest and recover, she was well enough to move her head without too much issue. Once he released her momentarily, she placed the ingredients on the kitchen counter and began to gather the items necessary to prepare the appetizer. Jessica turned towards Dean and smiled softly.

He watched from the center of the kitchen as she began to prepare the snack. While her own injury was getting to the point where it wasn’t terribly bad, his own injuries gave him no such relief. He reached into the pocket of his jeans and popped the top on the small orange bottle with his thumb. He grabbed a couple of the white and red spotted pills with his teeth before he reached into the fridge and grabbed a brown bottle. No whiskey, but simple beer.

“Mmhmm.”

He said with a mouthful as he popped the cap on the bottle and washed the medication down then looked back up at her.

“I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately.”

She gave him a look. That look. Using alcohol, even beer, to wash down the pain medication?

“My dad would be shaking his head right now.”

She did this for her father, visibly shaking her head before she refocused on the subject at hand.

“What’s drawing your attention to the past?"

She turned back to the kitchen counter and began to make the deviled eggs. When he heard her words and saw the look…that look…he smiled, took one final drink, and held out the bottle for her to take and dispose of. God, he loved this woman. She did as he expected, dumping the contents of the beer and placing the bottle in the recycle bin.

“Nothing really drawing me per say. Just thinking about how things could have been. You remember it? You walked in, all ready to go, and I was standing there with Danielle waiting for you?”

He imagined in her memory he looked remarkably different. His hair thinner from the damage of the harsh dye and raven black. His eyes emerald green and covered in tattoos the world found out later were all fake. She had been so beautiful, even then, and it had not gone over his head even with Danielle standing by his side.

“I remember you stared at Danielle for a moment…did you not like her?”

She took a moment to think back to the memory. It was six months ago when Jessica and Dean met for the very first time. It was also her first meeting with Danielle, his wife at the time. Having recently experienced her divorce with Gekiryu Nitoh earlier in the month, it was a bittersweet visual, one that she studied a little too long.

“...At the time, I wasn’t sure how to feel. There was something about her that bothered me, but I didn’t want to create a negative first impression, so I restrained myself. Considering what Danika did to you on Proving Ground, I should have gone with my instincts. She was… corrupted. If I had acted right then and there, maybe you wouldn’t be in this situation.”

She softly bit down on her lower lip for a brief moment before she shook her head.

“But if I wasn’t in this situation, then who knows if you and I would have ever reconnected Jess. I’d be in the claws of Rebecca and you’d still…”

Dean said nothing more on that specific subject, instead choosing to go back to the memory. In a silent grimace, Jessica appreciated this.

“Then we got into the ring and you showed me what you were made of….and damned if you didn’t really impress me.”

She tilted her head a little and weakly smiled.

“I was struggling to re-establish myself in Spirit and Pride. I had a great run from the opening of the company, but after Ascension, I fell off the deep end. You reached out to me, offered to train me in Los Angeles, and I thought to myself ‘I have nothing to lose, so why not?’ Even though I didn’t think I was good, you thought I was more than that. You had faith in me. That faith pushed me to try again.”

And that resulted in the SAP X Championship match everyone was waiting for. Andre Holmes defended his title against her here in Manhattan… and she won. And though she didn’t know it, he had seen that match. It was a secret he’d take to his grave.

“And do you remember... Oh, what was it, two weeks later? Our third or fourth session?”

He watched her back as she worked on the snack she was making curious to see if she could put it all together. She was very fluid in her movements, even as she was deep in thought, and just as she was able to nicely make the deviled eggs, she pieced together the next memory.

“It was the fourth session.”

The solace they found in their embrace.

She topped and garnished the appetizer to her flavor and liking. An interpretation of a simple yet favorite snack. She added green onions and a little bit of sea salt. Turning towards Dean, a blush caressed Jessica’s cheeks for a brief moment. There was no hiding it.

“It was a few seconds too long. I think I drew Danika’s ire that day…”

“She was very concerned about you for a few weeks. But…”

He fell silent and she’d know why no doubt. It was their last session. She had drifted one way and him another. She would lead her life heading into NGW and confront the strange, creepy infatuation from Matthew Shields. He would step into Alabama to face the Children of Nephilim one after another until they finally got the best of him.

“...you know.”

Jessica took a moment to store the finished devilled eggs inside of the refrigerator. They would make a perfect appetizer for the surprise dinner he had in mind. Once she closed the doors, she turned back to Dean and wrapped her arms around him from behind.

“I wish I would have been closer to you. It hurt to find out everything that transpired. When I found out you were still alive, I knew it was the second chance I needed to take… and I wasn’t going to let you go. That’s why when everything fell into place in February, I…”

It was quite the transition. She invited him into her home, nursed him back to stable health, and realized what a terrible mistake she made with her ex-boyfriend. Victor was never the man she deserved. He was barely a man and she deserved better. Her Valentine’s Day with Dean proved that he was the one.

She wasn’t going to throw away the second chance her heart was given.

His hands closed around her own where they laid gently on his stomach to keep the pressure off his sides. His head leaned back, resting her chin on his shoulder. She was everything he wanted in this world and had been for some time.

“We have the here and now and that’s all that matters, Jess. Not Matthew Shields. Not Michael Rivers. Not the Destroyers or the Children of Nephilim. Nothing will tear us apart now.”

He turned keeping himself in her arms then leaned down and kissed the tip of her nose.

“Why don’t you go and take a bath? I’ll get dinner ready.”

It’s the little kisses that were the most significant in her heart. She softly blushed when his lips touched her nose and she felt herself smiling naturally. Leaning up, even on her tiptoes, she kissed him, her lips covering his for a sweet, tender moment. There was no sensation in this world as sweet as her full lips on his own, and for a time, he enjoyed them before planting one final gentle kiss to her lips, then releasing her to go and get her bath. She smiled sweetly, knowing they didn’t always need words to communicate their love and profound bond. Turning on her heels, she made her way to the bathroom attached to their master bedroom to draw a nice, hot bath.