Family is Everything and Everywhere
by Aira Silver
The Beginning:
Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I had been born into a different family. Not that it would have made a big difference. I mean I wouldn't have met the family I have now if I had been born into a different family.
I met my family when I went with my friend/sister to her friend's wedding. She was in the wedding and wanted me to come along with her. I agreed. So when it moved from the venue in Pa to Colorado, I was reluctantly dragged along.
Stepping off the plane, Rie followed Mary through the airport. Alissa was lightly jumping and Rie rolled her eyes. "Calm down Alissa. You said they be here so they will. Whoever it is again."
"My Uncle and his team Rie, that's who are meeting us." Alissa lightly answered.
Rie nodded and went to grab her bags, Lissa' s and Mary's which she handed over to them. Turning she screamed at the men that had just showed up. Alissa gasped and ran to hug the oldest looking man. "Uncle Josiah!"
"Hi Alissa. Sorry my dear, didn't mean to scare you." Josiah Sanchez apologized to Rie.
Taking a deep breath, Rie gave the men a shy smile. "It's fine. I shouldn't have screamed, done enough of that at work."
"Rie?" Mary questioned.
"Nothing Mary. Um, can we go now?" Rie glanced to the side and then back at Alissa.
Following Rie's gaze, Alissa and Mary quickly moved to block the elder woman. "Let's go." Josiah ordered as two of the men moved off.
The women followed and Alissa quickly started to question how Josiah was doing. Rie and Mary followed not speaking. The men who had disappeared came back and got into a couple of cars. Rie's phone went off making her roll her eyes after she glanced at it. "Idiot, told him I call him later tonight." she muttered under her breath.
Mary giggled. "You know he's impatient. You have the same impatience you do realize."
"Yeah, Yeah. No, I'm not answering it. I don't think you all want to hear me curse."
Rie barely finished speaking before Mary's phone went off. Before Rie could stop her, Mary had answered. "Hey Addy. Yes, she's here. Told us she doesn't want us to hear her curse." Mary grinned. "I'll tell her, hold on a second."
"Hey, Rie, Addy said to tell you that he's coming from the base and that you better not do anything without him."
Stealing Mary's phone, Rie blushed at the look she was receiving from the men in the car with them. "Hades, Addy tell us when you are close and we'll tell you were we are."
Hanging up the phone she handed it back to Mary. "We almost there? I want to get settled in before Addy comes."
The blond driving the truck, Chris Larabee, spoke as he changed direction. "We are here. Call the others JD. Tell them to get comfortable. I want to meet this Addy guy."
The women glanced at each but got out. "Think we should warn Addy?" Alissa asked softly.
"Nope. It's his own fault for not speaking to them. So let him deal with it himself." Mary smirked.
Rie and Alissa agreed as they followed the men into the hotel. Inside their rooms the women quickly put their suitcases away and then met up in the main room again. Rie texted Addy and then shut it with a smirk. "Mr. Larabee, if you are going to yell please do it when we are hiding from Addy. He's going to bitch when he finds out we didn't warn him." Alissa requested.
Chris raised a brow but agreed. Ten minutes later a call came up to the room. The three women quickly disappeared, as the men got comfortable. JD opened the door at the knock and got out of the way, staring. He wasn't the only one. "Adam?" Buck Wilmington gaped.
"Uncle Buck? What the hell? Okay, where are they? Rieann Elizabeth White! Mary Sarah Ann Sage! Alissa Michelle Sanchez! This is not a time to be hiding! I know you three are here, show yourselves." Adam ordered darkly.
Rie walked into view with the other two behind her. "Hey Addy."
"You knew?"
"I just figured it out when on our way here." Rie admitted.
Adam rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I'm staying the night. The others will be showing up tomorrow. Where's Roy, Alissa?"
"He's coming tomorrow also. Needed to get his cousin. Um, Rie..."Alissa looked at the eldest.
Rie sighed. "I'll worry about it tomorrow. Let's just spend the rest of the night getting to know each other."
The others agreed. For the rest of the night they all talked. Chris yelled and the girls watched, not hiding at all but with large grins on their faces. They thought this was awesome while the other six men thought it wasn't fun at all. "Oh calm down. Addy and his dad will get along." Rie sighed.
After that it was back to normal. Well as normal as it could get with eight men and three women sharing a three bedroom hotel apartment. Addy and Chris, after they calmed down, slept in Rie's room. Josiah slept in Alissa's and Nathan's in Mary's. Vin, Ezra, and JD slept in the main room.
Rie woke up to find herself facing Addy. Chris, she noticed when she sat up was laying across the bottom of the bed. Climbing out of bed, Rie smiled softly at Chris who woke up when she moved. "Morning Chris. Addy, wake up. The rest of your team is showing up soon."
Addy woke up and rolled over. "Morning Pa, Rie."
Rie disappeared into the adjoining bathroom as the men finished getting up. Chris and Adam cleaned up when Rie came out and then joined the others in the main room. Raising a brow at the men waiting for them, Adam spoke, a dangerous lilt in his voice. "I don't care if you are here for the wedding, hurt Rie or the others and I will kill you. Understand Thomas?"
Thomas sneered. "Fine. Roy, I'll go stay in another hotel. Don't want to dirty myself with people underneath me."
"Go do that. Jensen makes sure he gets one far away from here. Larabee, nice to see you again." Franklin Clay strolled into view with his team.
Roque glanced around before smirking at Rie as he moved over to Mary. "So this is where you are staying. Nice. Sleep with anyone yet Rie?"
Blushing Rie flipped Roque off. "Asshole."
Jensen came back as Mary was chastising Roque. Cougar was off to the side, watching everything. He glanced up when Jensen joined him but then didn't seem to pay attention. Jensen didn't care, he and the others were used to Cougar's ways. Clay and Pooch were talking to Chris and Buck as Roy was with Alissa. It was Rie who asked were Aisha was.
"Gone." was the short and cold answer Clay gave.
Rie hummed and before anyone could stop her, hugged Clay. "It'll be fine. You'll see."
Clay stared at Rie who ignored him and plopped onto Cougar, after dragging him to the couch. Cougar glared at Clay's look. Rie giggled as she got comfortable. "So lets get to work on making sure everything is together awhile, Alissa."
Soon the girls are talking about the wedding while the guys are just lounging around. That and keeping an eye on Thomas who was going between staring at Rie and the bedroom she had claimed as her own. Chris got fed up when Thomas just watched the room Rie had disappeared into and followed Rie.
Glancing up at the shutting of her door, Rie raised a brow. "Everything alright?" she asked.
"Thomas was looking like he wanted to do something. Hoping this makes him back off." the blond answered as he went to sit on the end of the bed.
Rie hummed and grabbed what she needed. Turning to Chris, she raised a brow. "Can I go now please?"
Chris got off the bed and opening the door followed Rie back into the main room. Thomas was glaring at the door but turned back to face the others when Chris glared at him.
The rest of the day was without incident. Well except for Thomas trying to get on Rie's good side but the males wouldn't let him.
Alissa squealed and dragged Rie to a small area of the bridal shop. Pulling something on the shelf, she pushed her companion to a dressing room. "Go try this on Rie. It'll look awesome on you."
"I don't think so but fine." Rie went to do as asked.
When she came out, Mary had joined Alissa. Both of them grinned brightly. "Rie, you need to get that dress. You look great in it."
The dress they were talking about was a dark blue/green that flowed against Rie's curves. It flared out a bit at the bottom but not enough that Rie could trip on it. Rie glanced down and then in a mirror. "I like it but what I wear it to or with? We already got our dresses, just came in here for some shawls to go with the dresses, remember."
"Rie, please tell me you noticed how Addy's dad is watching you." Alissa gaped when Rie just tilted her head in confusion. "Oh my God. You actually didn't notice?"
"No." Rie shook her head.
Mary groaned. "Lets just get the dress and the shawl. We can speak more back at the hotel. The guys will all be out or at work so it'll be safe."
Rie nodded and followed the other two to the counter and then out of the shop. The three women were quiet as they got into a cab to go back to the hotel. Once back inside the hotel room Mary and Alissa talked to Rie. They tried to make Rie see what they thought they saw but couldn't change her mind. At all. She didn't believe them and wouldn't know matter what they said.
The wedding drew closer and closer. Rie got closer to Adam, his father, and the rest of Team 7. Cougar and the others got an assignment and left, saying they hoped to be back in time for the wedding but not really knowing. Rie knew though that they wouldn't and just stuck closer to Buck, Chris, and the others.
It worked, at first. Thomas left her alone so Rie relaxed. The wedding was only two weeks away and Alissa was freaking out. Roy and Josiah let Rie and Mary calm the bride down. Mary's way of calming Alissa down was to let her do what she wanted, change what she thought needed changed. Rie's way was to drag Alissa out to see Denver. To get away from all the wedding stuff.
Alissa was grateful to both of them and it showed when instead of a big bachorlette party she just asked if the girls could hang out in their hotel room. The rest of the bridal and groom party let Alissa do what she wanted.
Rie was concentrating so much on the wedding that she totally forgot about Thomas. Two days before the wedding and Rie decided to go out for a walk and to get away from the chaos that was going on in the hotel room. She didn't think of Thomas at all. She thought of nothing, just moved through the streets. It was turning twilight when Rie decided to start back to the hotel room.
The closer she got Rie started to think. She wondered where Thomas had gotten to because she hadn't seen him the last couple of days. Rie got her answer when Thomas grabbed her. Rie screamed and struggled but couldn't get free. She was dragged into a car which Thomas started up. Rie went to open the door but Thomas locked the car. Slugging her, the male disappeared with Rie.
Hours later Rie was dropped off in front of the hotel. Maude Standish, who was meeting Ezra and had come with the losers who were making it to the wedding, found her. A call to 911 and then Maude was calling her son.
Rie awoke to Mary and Alissa both asleep on either side of her bed. Moaning softly, Rie closed her eyes when two shouts were heard. Calming down the girls hugged her tightly. Rie returned the hugs as best as she could. "Hey." she whispered roughly.
Mary gave her some water as Alissa pressed the button to bring the nurse. The nurse came and disappeared to get the doctor as Rie asked how long she had been out.
The day of the wedding had come and passed but Alissa and Roy had not gotten married. Rie glared at Alissa when she heard that. "You can't get that church for another four years, Alissa! You should have gotten married."
"No. Thomas was missing and you were in the hospital because of him. Besides, we put everything to use." Alissa pointed out.
Rie raised a brow and Mary pipped up. "We let a couple from the base that wanted to get married but couldn't since they were shipping off, today actually, have and use everything except the wedding gifts. They were just thankful to get married. It was beautiful."
Rie didn't get to answer because the doctor came and the other two women were asked to wait in the hall. Once done with the check up, they were allowed back in the room. Sitting on either side of Rie the trio of friends were told that Rie was going to be allowed to go home. But it wouldn't be until the next day because the hospital wanted to make sure that everything was good before letting Rie go. The women thanked the doctor and watched as he and the nurses left. Turning to Rie, Alissa grinned at her friend. "Want to come to a wedding tomorrow?"
"What?" Rie gaped.
"Uncle Josiah was going to perform our marriage. We can ask Chris but I don't think he'll mind if we use his ranch. Especially since you'll be recovering there for a while." Alissa explained.
"Um, I don't think so. I don't know him that well and I really don't want to intrude." Rie protested.
Alissa and Mary ignored the elder's protests. Instead they changed the subject and kept Rie occupied until Cougar and Jensen got there. They were going to be her guards, Rie found out. Thomas was still gone and Chris and Clay didn't want Rie to be by herself, even if it was a hospital. Alissa and Mary were being escorted back by Roque who be taking over later on. Clay was working with Chris to arrest Thomas so they wouldn't be around until Rie got to Chris's ranch.
Thomas had impressive rap. Besides kidnapping and rape, he had murder and assault on his permenant record. Roy had known his cousin had gotten in trouble with the law but not everything. He was doing everything to help find him. "He's been after Rie since he first met her. She was lucky the first time that I interrupted him because who knows what he would have done. I wish she had been just as lucky this time."
Roy thought Rie would blame him for letting Thomas come to the wedding and see her again. He regretted letting Thomas become fixated on Rie again.
Rie didn't blame Roy. The only one she blamed was Thomas. Maybe herself also but Jensen slapped her lightly and scolded her for thinking that. "The only one at fault is that bastard. You went for a walk, you weren't at fault for trying to take a breath from what was going on with the wedding. The bastard wanted you to much and didn't care what he had to do. He would have gotten you somehow even if we did our best to protect you."
Cougar agreed in his own way. A nod and a light slap to tell Jensen to be quiet. Rie giggled and fell asleep. She slept well that night. She never woke when the nurses checked on her or when Chris came in. Cougar and Jensen went back to the hotel, leaving Chris to watch Rie.
Thomas had been found. Not in time to help the women he had with her but before he left the city for good. Chris, left the paperwork for after the wedding and went to spend the rest of the night watching over Rie. Adam joined his father and shrugged at Chris's look. "I didn't feel like staying with Uncle Buck and the others at the ranch or the hotel." He answered keeping his voice low.
Not that it made a difference. Rie never woke up. Not even when Adam got in with her and she rolled into him. Chris shook his head at his children and fell asleep in the chair Alissa had been using. He pulled it close and ended up with one hand in Rie's hair. The nurses thought the trio were adorable and left them alone.
The next morning Rie awoke to see Chris awake and watching them. Adam groaned and sat up gently. "Thought I wasn't going to see you until later." Rie finally spoke to Chris.
"We got Thomas so I came here. Adam decided to join me." Chris answered.
The nurse came in and smiled at Rie. "Ready to go? I know it's early but the doctor said you can go whenever you want."
Rie's smile got bigger. "Yes please. I'm ready to go see the ranch."
The nurse gave Rie the discharge papers which she filled out and then handed to Chris. Chris looked them over and updated them before giving them back with a small thank you to the nurse. The nurse disappeared and then came back with a wheelchair. Adam kept Rie off the thought of using the wheelchair by telling her about the ranch.
The trio soon left the hospital and went toward the ranch. At the ranch Rie was jumped on with squeals from Alissa and Mary. She was dragged to a room where the girls spent two hours changing. The rest of the house was getting ready for the wedding of Alissa and Roy.
The wedding went beautifully. Rie watched from beside Adam as Josiah married his niece and her fiancee. The food was just barbeque food but no one seemed to care. They were all just happy that they could witness something so heart fully beautiful.
The day the wedding was supposed to be on was a tragic day. The day the wedding happened turned out to be a better day in it's own way. Rie didn't think anything would top this day, at least not until Mary or her got married in the future.
The End Or Is It The Beginning?
I found my place, my family. My father is the man my friends thought was interested in me. He was but not in the way of a father/brother. He didn't see me like Mary and Alissa thought he did. He saw me as he saw Addy. It wouldn't have worked out anyways. I was Addy's age, just three years older.
Addy, Addy was my strength. He still is. He stayed with me as Clay ruined Thomas. He told me not to let Thomas win, to get back up. I actually reacted, I screamed until my breath was gone, at him. Addy let me and I love him for it.
I opened up more since I came to Colorado. A lot more which I know I'm glad of. So is Mary and Alissa and Roy. I think my shutting down scared them. I know it scared me. It scared me so much but I was to out of it to try and pull myself up and try and be myself again.
The wedding helped. It let me meet Addy again and his father. His father who helped me like Addy did and still is. I was pulled from my worse place and brought back to my best, if not better place. I don't ever see myself going back to that place. I have too many people who won't let me.
For that I am grateful. For my family and the love they show me every single day. For everything I have gone through and still go through, I'm not alone. I know I can get through everything with my family's help.
I might not think so when I am down but I know someone will be there to bring me up. I just got to remember, I'm not alone. I won't ever be alone.