Mine
A pounding on the door brought Uncas out of sleep with an irritated groan. He muttered with annoyance as he blindly reached for the alarm clock and pulled it over to his face, trying in vain to see what time it was. The numbers glowed 6:45 a.m. in the dim, curtained room and Uncas rolled to other side, pulling the pillow over his head as he went. The clock hit the rug with a soft thump.
"I know you're in there Uncas, so open the door." his uncle's muffled voice carried through the door and down the hall. He even heard it through the thickness of his pillow. With a scowl, Uncas pulled the pillow off his face and swung his legs over the side of the bed. If Magua was here this early it could only mean one thing and that was that Nate had been arrested again. He ran his hands back through his long black hair in aggravation. What had his Ass of a brother done now?
"Uncas! Get up, NOW!" Magua's voice shouted.
"Give me a minute!" he shouted back as he fumbled around for his jeans. He pulled them up his long legs and stumbled sleepily into the hallway of his father's cabin. He had been up late with brushfire training the night before and did not appreciate being pulled out of much needed sleep for another round of Nate's bullshit. Magua pounded on the front door again as Uncas was fiddling with the lock.
"Would you hold on for one god damned second?" he yelled through the door as he pulled back the chain. Uncas opened the door and squinted out into the sunlight of the bright Montanta morning. Magua stood at his father's doorway with folded arms and a rather grim expression. Uncas rubbed his eyes blearily before throwing a hand in the air.
"What did he do this time?" he queried. "And how much is it gonna cost me?"
Nate was about a year and a half older than Uncas and had been getting in trouble on a semi-regular basis since Chingachgook died of stomach cancer a year ago. Their father's death had hit Nate hard and he sought comfort in booze and bar fights. Uncas seemed to be forever bailing him out of jail or bargaining with Magua for his brother to be able to remain on the reservation. His credit was taking a major hit as well with all the bail money being put on it. Uncas was struggling just to keep them fed, let alone keep Nate out of trouble.
"Drunk and disorderly conduct," Magua answered evenly "threw him in the drunk tank for the night. You need to come get him."
Uncas sighed with a mix of relief and perpetual aggravation. At least this stint wasn't going to put him out another couple grand but he still had to drag his carcass across the reservation in the wee hours of the morning to retrieve his drunken brother. Wasn't his day just turning out lovely?
"Let me get my keys." Uncas grumbled. Magua shook his head and Uncas shot him a questioning look.
"Just get dressed, I'll drive you. We need to have a conversation anyway." his uncle intoned, putting emphasis on the word 'conversation.'
Uncas sighed again but nodded and shut the door as he went to find a shirt and brush his teeth. He knew what his uncle wanted to talk about and it wasn't a conversation that Uncas wanted to have with him. Magua wanted to have Nate removed from the reservation altogether. He hadn't been particularly happy when Chingachgook and Uncas late mother had adopted the boy.
Nate had been abandoned on the reservation when he was a year and a half old. Chingachgook had felt so bad for him that he had lobbied to adopt him and Nate had been with them ever since; always leaning toward aggression, even as a teen, Nate had always been difficult to control. When their father was alive it had been easier, Chingachgook could get through to him but …once their father got sick…well Nate just regressed.
Now Uncas was left to pick up the pieces and he was starting to bend under the pressure. He splashed water on his face and pulled some of his hair back with a leather strip before taking the time to shave. If Magua wanted to have a conversation about Nate then he could damn well wait until Uncas was awake enough to put up with it.
Once he was sufficiently clean, he picked up his dad's old jacket and walked out the front door to meet his father's brother. Magua waited patiently by his car as Uncas locked the door and plodded down the wooden steps with his hands shoved sullenly in his pockets. Magua went around to the driver's side of the old Chevy truck he had driven for over a decade. Uncas fell into the passenger side with a huff f air and waited for his uncle to begin speaking.
"How old are you this year, son?" Magua asked as they pulled away from the cabin.
"You know how old I am, Aahsa." Uncas muttered, not in the mood for games.
"Humor me?" Magua requested calmly. Uncas heaved another sigh and turned his head to stare out over the expanse of land that was owned and maintained by the Blackfoot nation.
"Twenty four come October." he answered quietly. He felt rather than saw Magua nod from his place behind the wheel.
"And how old is Nate?" Magua followed. "Twenty five…almost twenty six years old. Tell me Ade, how deep in debt are you because of him?"
When Magua used his nephew's 'white' name, Uncas knew he meant business. Everyone on the reservation ended up with two names eventually. The first was the one you were born with; in Uncas case it was Adrian. The second was the one that you earned by doing something that proved your place in the nation. Uncas had earned his when he was 18, after pulling a couple little girls from a house that was burning due to the yearly brushfires. No one on the reservation called him Adrian anymore though the name still appeared on his credit cards and bills. Adrian Blackstone of the Blackfoot Nation, legally that was his name but to anyone that mattered he was just Uncas. His family had Mohican blood in their cocktail so they all had Mohican names.
"Someone has to look out for him, Aahsa." Uncas argued, swinging his head back to stare at his uncle's harsh profile.
"And that person has to be you?" Magua countered. "When is enough going to be enough?"
"He's my brother!" Uncas exclaimed, annoyed.
"Not by blood." Magua reminded him crisply and Uncas closed his mouth, looking away. He so did not want to get into this same battle with his uncle again.
Magua was not the biggest fan of the white populace, feeling they had done the Native Americans few favors over the past one hundred years or so. He wasn't outright rude to anyone but he was definitely a separatist at heart. He would happily leave the white man to his world and never speak to one again if he could help it. Being the main sheriff on the reservation meant that would never happen.
"You're never going to see him as anything but an outsider, are you?" Uncas said after a long moment of tense silence.
"And you're never going to let him clean up his own mess, so where does that leave us?" Magua fired back.
"Did you pick Paul up for drunk and disorderly conduct too?" Uncas threw in grumpily.
Paul was Magua's oldest boy and Nate's favorite cousin, he was also the reason Nate got into as much trouble as he did. A glance at his uncles face and the tightness around his mouth indicated that Paul was involved at the very least if not sitting next to Nate in a holding cell.
Magua let the subject drop until they pulled up to the watch house where the few holding cells were. Uncas climbed out of the truck and would have walked in without another word if his uncle hadn't grabbed him by the upper arm to stop him.
"Look, Uncas," he said kindly "I know it seems like I don't care for Nate and it's no secret that I would be happy to have him out of my hair but I'm trying to look out for you. You shouldn't have to drain what little money you have to clean up his mess."
"He's still grieving, Aahsa." Uncas said, trying to defend his brother. Magua released his nephew's arm and slumped his shoulders a bit as he moved around the younger man to unlock the door to the watch house.
"Aren't we all?" he muttered as he pushed the door in.
Chingachgook and Magua had been close their whole life, only ever disagreeing when it came to Chingachgook adopting Nate. One his death bed he had made Magua promise to look after his boys and so far their uncle was trying to live up to that promise.
Uncas followed his uncle inside and saw Nate just pushing himself into a sitting position on the jail bench, holding his head as though it ached horribly. There was no sign of Paul in the cell with him which meant that Magua had probably deposited his son at home before driving over to wake Uncas up. Nate squinted open an eye to peer at his uncle and brother before gave a lopsided grin to Uncas.
"How much am I going to tank you this time?" He asked, voice a little hoarse.
"Thankfully not at all, you just got dragged in here for causing a ruckus. " Uncas explained before folding his arms over his chest and glaring at the older man. "You going to make it into work today?"
Nate worked in sanitation when he was sober but he had been missing a lot of work lately. What little he did bring in got put toward paying bills but that was only when he didn't drink or gamble it away first. Looking at him now, Uncas thought he looked like he'd been rode hard and put away wet.
"I dunno," Nate mumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose and wincing. "My head hurts"
"How many times are we going to do this, brother?" Uncas asked tiredly. Nate shot him a harassed look. Finally Uncas rolled his eyes and turned back to Magua.
"Can he leave now?" He asked. Magua crossed his own arms this time and leaned back against the desk in the corner.
"I suppose, if you think you can keep him out of trouble for the rest of the day."
"Shouldn't be too hard, he looks like he's too hung over to do much more damage." Uncas answered. Magua frowned but nodded before pulling a release form from his desk and having his nephew sign it. Once that was done he opened the holding pen and let Nate out. He followed Uncas out into the bright sunlight and nearly hissed at it like a vampire. Uncas couldn't help but laugh.
"What's wrong, Dracula? Light hurt?" he teased as Nate gave him the finger.
After a few moments of laughter on Uncas part and Nate complaining about the brightness, Nate began to look around for the car.
"How'd you get here?" he asked with narrowed eyes.
"Ashsa drove, looks like we're walking home." Uncas commented and began making his way down the path. Nathanial hurried after him quickly.
"What's the rush, why don't we grab some coffee at Phillip's first?" his brother recommended.
As much as Uncas didn't want to spend the money to go to the diner, he had to admit that a ready cup of coffee actually sounded good. The diner wasn't very far of a walk, maybe the exercise would further sober Nate up and he would be able to make it into work after all. Plus it was Uncas day off, it's not like he had anything better to do.
"Alright," he agreed and shot his brother a mock 'put out' look that he couldn't maintain "but you're buying."
Author's note:
(Welcome to the first chapter of 'Mine'. I mentioned at the end of 'Rabbit' that I had another story clamoring for my attention and here it is. I'm probably going to alternate POV's for a good portion of this fic, depending on what I need to get across. Much like 'Rabbit' and 'Coming Back to You', this will be an at home story. No big adventure or battles, just a love story with its usual drama.
This story came into my head when I was listening to 'Little talks' by Of Monsters and Men and it became the theme song for the whole story. The characters just started talking and wouldn't shut up so you guys get this story until they stop talking to me ^.^
I decided to give Magua a not so bad role in this story; he's a hard ass but not a terrible person. He kept coming through in my head as the brother of Chingachgook and I just decided to go with it. The part of villain will go to someone else that we'll meet later.
Anyway, hope you all end up liking this story as I update it. It's rated Mature for language initially but there will be sexual content later.)