Disclaimer: The characters of Supernatural do not belong to me. The original character of Emily Winchester does.
Emily grinned as she walked downstairs with her mother. She'd been under the impression that she would be in trouble when Mary got back, but apparently not. John, Sam, and Dean were already there, waiting on the couch. It had been a very long week for all of them. Mary, after weeks of prodding from all of them, had decided to take a weeklong vacation to visit friends. Before she left, Mary had given only one instruction.
"Keep the house clean. I don't care how you guys split the chores up, just get them done."
And that was when the week's conflict began. At first, Emily had been okay with it. Dad and Dean did have to work, and Sam did have to go to school. She didn't mind doing the chores at first. Btu when it got to the third day, and she was the only one doing the chores, she started to get a little annoyed. And it showed. For her mother's sake, she kept doing the chores, but it led to arguments between Emily and her brothers and father.
Of course, when Mary got home and marveled about how amazing the house looked, none fo them had bothered to tell her that Emily had done all the work. They hadn't outright taken credit for it, but they hadn't told Mary the truth either. Hurt, Emily had run to her room and slammed the door. Which made what Mary had told her when she'd come to her room to check on her all the more surprising.
"I had a feeling that was going to happen. Which was why I left hidden cameras in every room before I left. Now, is there anything else I need to know?"
Emily took her seat on the armchair next to the couch. Mary stood in front of the couch and folded her arms, swallowing her anger and saving it for just the right moment.
"So, I'll ask again, guys. How'd things go this week?"
John caught on right away that something was fishy. He looked at Emily, who, even at thirteen, almost never sat apart from her brothers. Emily was keeping her eyes on her mother and not looking away.
"It went okay, mom." Dean said, with only an edge of uncertainty to his voice. He seemed to know something was up too.
Sam simply nodded in agreement with his brother.
"Okay." Mary said. Turning to Emily, she said, "Remember our deal upstairs. Whatever I say, do not respond."
"I won't." Emily said.
Mary promptly turned back to the three men sitting on the couch. "All three of you told me, after Emily went to her room, that she's had a bad attitude about doing her chores all week."
Emily's mouth flew open in a rage, but when her mother pointed a finger at her, she snapped her mouth shut.
"Now, I'll ask again, with this warning. There are secret cameras in every room of this house, except for everyone's bedroom. How'd it go this week?"
All of the men suddenly squirmed.
"Nothing to say now, huh?" Mary asked. "I want to know exactly which chores all of you did this week."
"I kept my room clean." Sam offered.
"I made my bed." Dean said.
"John?" Mary asked when he said nothing.
"I put the dishes in the sink after we ate."
"Mm-hmm." Mary said. "So who actually washed, dried, and put away the dishes?"
"Emily." Sam admitted.
"And who vacuumed the house?"
"Emily." Dean said.
"Who cleaned the bathrooms? Cooked? Swept and mopped the kitchen? Did the laundry? Took the trash out?"
"Emily." John said. "Look, we get the point…"
"Do you?" Mary asked, finally allowing a little of her annoyance to come out. "I want to know what part of get the chores done translates to make Emily do all the work."
"Dean and I both had to work, and Sam had to go to school…"
"All of which are excuses that none of you get away with when I am home." Mary said. "Yes, the house is primarily my responsibility, but when I'm gone it falls to you. Right?"
"Right." John said.
"When I left, I told all of you that I expected you to work together. Emily is not the only one who lives here. All of you let me down this week."
Mary reveled in the way all three of them continued to squirm. But she wasn't even close to done with them yet.
"Dean, Emily told me that you blew off helping her with her science project Monday night and helping her with dinner, both of which you promised her you would do, to go on a date. Is that true?"
"Yes, ma'am." Dean said quietly.
"And when she confronted you about it, you told her that you were the older brother and since mom wasn't around you could tell her what to do. Em, did I get that right?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Tattletale." Dean muttered under his breath, hoping that Mary didn't hear him.
No such luck. "Dean Eric Winchester, you are in enough trouble right now. Watch your mouth."
"Yes, ma'am. Sorry."
"Samuel." Mary said, making Sam extremely nervous. "Emily tells me you two got in a fight this week too."
"Yes, ma'am."
"And she also tells me you said something to her that would have made me quite upset." Mary said.
"I didn't." Sam said weakly.
"Sam, did you call your sister a bitch?"
"No, I didn't, mom." Sam said.
"So tell me your side."
"I didn't call her a…" Sam frowned, knowing that he was rationalizing something that he really shouldn't have done in the first place. "I told her to stop being so bitchy about doing the chores."
"So explain to me how exactly that's different." Mary said. "You know that I don't tolerate bad language in this house."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Sam, I want you to know something. I don't care that you're nineteen. When your sister told me what you said to her, I was ready to make sure you weren't sitting comfortably for a long while." Mary said.
Sam swallowed hard. Was she serious?
"But your 'bitchy' sister asked me not to."
Sam looked to Emily, grateful for her graciousness. He'd felt guilty all week for the fight, but hadn't apologized yet. "Thank you."
"New rule. And this goes for everyone in this house. If you wouldn't say it to mom, you are not allowed to say it to Emily. Understood?"
Three heads all nodded.
"Good. John, your turn. Emily said she came to you when she and Sam had that argument. You told her that it was between her and Sam."
"I didn't want to get involved." John said.
"You didn't want to get involved." Mary said, carefully letting the anger she was feeling start to creep out. "Tell me something. If I had asked Sam to help me with chores, and he'd told me to stop being bitchy, how would you have dealt with it?"
"Minimum? I would've kicked his ass."
"But it's okay for him to say it Emily." Mary seethed. "Listen to me. Girls learn from their father what the right way for boys to treat them is. And if you are okay with anyone, be it her brother or not, telling her in any way that she is a bitch for standing up for herself, then you are not the man that I married. And if it ever happens again, and you don't intervene, then we won't be. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes." John said.
"All three of you owe Emily a very sincere apology. I don't want you to give it to her right now, because I want you to mean it. Which leads me to this. Since Emily did all the work for four people for one week, she has no chores to do for the next four weeks."
"What?" Sam and Dean said together, while John just shook his head.
"Really?" Emily said from the chair, speaking for the first time since the whole confrontation began.
"Really." Mary said. "Emily was the only one who showed me this week that I can trust her to take care of things when I'm away. So she and I are going to be spending a lot of time together this week."
"Doing what?" Emily asked.
"Movies, going shopping, whatever we want." Mary said, smiling. "Anything other than chores."
"What about us?" Dean said.
"You three," Mary said, turning back to them, "are going to do all the chores here. For the entire month. After two weeks, if Emily wants to help you, she can. But if she says no, it's still all on you. So if I were you three, I'd start sucking up real soon."
Four Weeks Later
Emily walked into the house with her mom, laughing and joking over a boy she met at school. She had enjoyed the quality time with her mother, but she missed her dad and brothers. There had been times during the last month when she'd felt a little bit guilty about not helping them. Then, quickly, she'd get over it.
When Mary and Emily walked into the kitchen, both of them stared at the table. On it was a pan of barbeque chicken with all the sides and a homemade fried fish. Mary and Emily's favorite dinners. Emily was the first to ask.
"What is this?"
"Well," John said, "all of us have realized lately that we take the two of you for granted. And this is our way of saying we're sorry. To the both of you."
"Did you boys learn your lesson?" Mary asked.
"Yes, ma'am." All three said together.
"Alright. You're off the hook starting tomorrow. But if you ever take advantage of either of us again…"
"We won't mom." Sam promised. "The three of us have been miserable without you."
"Yeah." Dean said. "It hasn't been the same without you."
Mary smiled and turned to Emily. "What do you think? Should we forgive 'em?"
"I will. If dinner's good."
Mary laughed. "That sounds like a plan. Come on, let's eat."
