Dean slammed his cell down on the counter, grumbling darkly. What is it about that woman that could infuriate him so damned badly. Every single time that they got on the phone together, someone said something that set the other one off and it ended in a fight. They never seemed to agree with one another over what was best for their son. Ben was almost twelve years old, now, and Dean only got the chance to see him, really see him, on the school holidays and over summer break. He tried to make it to see his son more often, but sometimes it was difficult; After all, it was a long drive from Lawrence, Kansas to Cicero, Indiana and between work and wedding planning and.. God, everything else he hardly found the time.
With another grumble slipping passed his lips he picked up the phone and redialed. "Why in the hell'd you hang up on me?" He snapped into the receiver.
"Because you don't listen! All you want to do is dictate everything for Ben." A shrill voice responded.
Dean rolled his emerald eyes up toward the ceiling as he paced the kitchen floor, his black leather work boots thunking quietly along the wood floor. "I listen just fine, Lisa. I just don't understand why he can't go out for the football team. I already told you that if money's the issue I can cover it."
"It's not the money, Dean. You know that with his asthma it's a bad idea."
"Not if he has his inhaler. Come on, he was begging me to say yes and then damn near cried when you told him no." Dean stated in aggravation, trying to get the woman to see reason. How in God's name had he fallen for her, again? Oh yeah, that's right.. bendy. He'd done the best he could to take care of Lisa and Ben from the moment he'd found out that she was pregnant. Sure, he was scared as hell to deal with it all, he was a 21 year old mechanic working for his dad with no health insurance and she'd been a 20 year old waitress. But he'd pulled through and taken care of the both of them, right up until six years ago. They fought like cats and dogs about everything since they'd learned she was carrying a boy. Anything that had to do with Ben was sure to cause some sort of argument between them. Lisa had gotten tired of the yelling, the screaming and had begun what seemed like a friendship with some guy in med school. He was drawn out of the memories by Lisa's impatient sigh before she started in again.
"Even with the inhaler. He could have an attack out of nowhere and no one know what he needs. He'd be safer in basket ball, or maybe even tennis.." She trailed off, knowing that Dean was once more rolling his eyes. "Boring sports... seriously? You really think he'll go for that? Lisa, come on, it's not that big of a deal. I'll call the coach myself if I have to. Warn him about Ben's asthma and make sure that he's always got one."
"Why do you always have to make me the bad guy?" She snapped out. Dean let out a sigh, leaning back against the kitchen counter and looking at the wall clock over the doorway.
"Because you're too overprotective of him? Because I let him do things that might hurt him but he wants to do? Or maybe it's because you know he'd be better off here" He suggested causing her to instantly being spitting curses into the phone before hanging up quickly. A faint groan fell out as he shook his head, then pushed off the counter and dropped the phone into his shirt pocket. He knew that it was probably a bad idea to mouth off to Lisa like that, but sometimes she just knew how to irritate him.
He stepped over to the refrigerator to grab a beer from the top shelf and, opening it, headed for the living room. He stared out of the front window, watching the cars slowly slip past the house for some time. He enjoyed days off from work, but not when there was absolutely nothing to do. Dean was the kind of guy who liked to be kept busy at almost all times, one of those almost never sleeping guys because there was always something on his mind. Today, however, he had nothing to do. All the household chores had been done early this morning. He sighed quietly, just as a voice called out behind him.
"Dean? Dean? Hellooo. Dean!" The girl finally called, causing him to blink out of his stupor. Jo's brows shot up with a questioning expression. "Where'd you go?" She asked, stepping closer.
"Tahiti?" He joked, grinning.
"Ha ha. Did my mom call?" Jo called over her shoulder as she walked back to the kitchen, her long blonde curls bouncing with each step and Dean couldn't help but to be momentarily mesmerized. Every time. Shaking his head to clear it Dean followed. "Nope, Lisa called, though!" He exclaimed in a false cheerful tone. Jo stopped at the counter, turning back toward him with an arch forming in her pale brow as if to tell him to go on. "Apparently I'm a crap father for encouraging him to go out for the football team." He stated, while his fiance began putting away the groceries.
Jo and Lisa had met a grand total of four times in the entire three years he'd been seeing her and neither woman seemed to like the other. Jo loved Ben, though, and Ben loved her. It was more than he could say for Matt, Lisa's new husband. Ben seemed to hate the doctor.. and Dean didn't protest it one little bit. The wedding was four months away and Ben would be here for summer break. Sadly, that meant that Lisa and Matt would be here. He and Jo had planned the wedding for around the same day that Ben would have to leave to go back to Indiana for the start of school so that they could go on their honeymoon right after.
"Oh, and apparently Lisa and Matt are staying here." He stated, glancing down at the floor a moment.
"When?" Jo asked, slowly turning back toward him.
"Three days before the wedding.." He grumbled and shifted his gaze to the floor.
"What?! You did not agree to that, Dean Winchester!" She demanded, eyes wide.
"She said if she came up early it was either her and Matt stay here in the guest room or Ben has to go stay at the motel with them. I kinda want to spend as much time with him as possible before he goes back." He stated, laying on the guilt as he looked up at her through his lashes.
Jo sighed and threw her hands up in surrender, "alright, alright. I'll deal with her for a couple days. But I swear to God if she makes any sort of scene at the rehearsal dinner, the wedding or the reception I will put my boot in her ass." She growled, and with the look on her pale face Dean knew she meant it.
That was one of the reasons he'd fallen so hard for the petite blonde. She was so damned feisty and it was a helluva turn on. She felt a pair of large hands come to a rest on her waist and slowly leaned back against his chest as his fingertips caressed her stomach. "I promise that she'll be on her best behavior." He whispered as his lips left a warm trail down the side of her neck, bringing a soft moan from her.
After another short series of kisses the blonde squirmed out of his grasp. "Uh-uh, your parents are going to be here soon and I have to get dinner done." She stated, though obviously wished that she could just forget about the steak thawing on the counter. "Out, out, out. Go call... Sam or something.." She said while gently pushing him away.
Dean let out a mock groan of frustration before stepping back away from her and regaining his beer from the counter, then heading toward the living room to attempt to find something on TV.
Ben sighed, listening at the door to his mothers room at the conversation between she and his father. He could tell without even hearing Dean's side that things weren't going all that well. Which meant another call to his dad later tonight. He'd said it once before, though no one had taken him all that seriously, that he wanted to go and live with Dean rather than stay here with mom and Matt. Sure, Matt was an okay guy, but Ben would have preferred to be with his dad. Dean was the one who understood him best.
When his mother began screaming and swearing he knew it was a lost cause; Usually by this point she was so fed up with talking to Dean that she hung up and refused to talk to him for days. Even as a pre-teen, Ben thought it was childish of his mother. Of course, she only had his best interest at heart, but he would never know what he could do unless he was able to give it a shot. Sadly, his mother didn't agree with him. His eyes rolled, a trait he'd picked up from Dean, as he pushed off the wall and headed back to his own room.
His laptop chimed, sitting open on the desk, to alert him of a message and Ben responded by dropping into his chair. A smile twitched his lips as Krissy's name popped up, asking to Skype with him. Quickly clicking 'OK' he tipped the screen enough so that the girl could see him. "Hey!" He said with a smile tugging on his lips.
"So? How'd it go?" The raven-haired girl asked quietly, not sure how far Lisa was.
"Not good. Mom started screaming at dad over the phone, then cussing.. and probably hung up by now. I wish I knew what he said." Ben laughed as he raised a hand and brushed it back through his short, dark hair.
Krissy Chambers had been his best friend since he'd moved to Cicero, the girl was one of the few who'd never picked on him for his short stature, instead defended him to all the bullies. No joke, this girl was tough. She may have been younger than him by a year, but for the longest time she was bigger than he was. Of course, this last growth spurt had shot him up to an inch taller than the girl. Truth be told, he had a bit of a crush on the girl who stuck up for him more times than he could count. He wouldn't admit it, though.
"Your dad is bad-ass, Ben." She remarked, earning a quick glare from him. As soon as she realized the word had slipped from her lips she made a face and glanced around her to be sure her father hadn't overheard. Ben did the same.
"Yours is too."
"Yeah, but my dad would never stand up to my mom like yours does."
Ben shrugged his slender shoulders in response just before he heard the muffled footsteps coming toward his room. He flashed Krissy a quick look and a wave before closing the lid to his laptop and grabbing his Math textbook only seconds before his mom stuck her head in the doorway. "Ben, can we talk?"
"Yeah, mom." He said as he set the book back down, thankful that his mother hadn't noticed the book had been upside down.
"Honey, you know that we love you, right?" Lisa asked him, her dark brown eyes boring into his. He said nothing, merely nodded. The boy already knew right where this was going. "Then you know why I'm worried about you trying out for the football team, right?" She asked now, earning nothing more than a shrug from her son. "Besides, try outs are a week away and you'll be at your father's for most of summer training." Lisa hoped that pointing that out would discourage him.
"Dad can work on teaching me. He knows how to play." He mumbled without meeting his mother's gaze.
"Your dad can't teach you the plays the coach might want, Ben.." She said with a little frown touching her lips. Lisa hated to see her son so upset over a choice she made.
"Right.. I've got homework to do.." Ben stated, turning away before she could say anything else. Truthfully, he hadn't even had to bring any home since he'd done it in class. He was smart for his age which was probably another reason he got picked on, and all the more reason he wanted to go out for football.
Lisa sighed, frowned and stood. Her fingers carded through his short hair as she made her way out the door. No sooner had she left and Ben slid the screen back up and found Krissy waiting, frowning since she'd heard it all.
Jo let out a sigh as she leaned against the counter, wiping a faint line of sweat from her pale brow. John and Mary were supposed to be here in less than ten minutes, but she knew how Mary was. The woman loved being early and loved trying to help Jo in the kitchen, as if the blonde didn't know what to do. She worked in a bar for Christ's sake. Well, used to, anyway. Had to pay her way through college, right?
Dean had gone into the living room and dropped onto the couch as soon as he'd been able to slip away. Most likely he'd turned on some game and had fallen into a stupor. It wouldn't be the first time it had happened and she doubted that it would be the last. The blonde pulled on a pair of oven mitts and quickly reached in to pull out the chicken, rice and broccoli with cheese she'd baked, setting it on top of the stove before pushing off of the counter to set the table. "Dean?" She called, attempting to reach the wine glasses on the top shelf. "Dean?" She called a little louder. With a grunt of frustration she moved to the doorway. "Dean!"
"Hmm?" Finally, he turned.
"Where'd you go this time?" She asked, but then thinking better of it, "I need help."
He made a little face but hauled himself off the couch, following her back to the kitchen and grabbing the glasses she couldn't reach while she complained behind him, "we need a step ladder."
"No, you just need to grow." He teased, even though he knew how she hated jabs at her height. Jo glared over at him before snubbing her nose in the air, grabbing the glasses and taking them to the table. "Eat your veggies and one day you'll grow to be big and strong like me!" He said again as he slipped behind her, wrapping his arms around her slender waist and drawing her back against his chest.
"Stop it." She commanded, sounding irritated. He knew that he was pushing buttons, but simply couldn't help himself. Dean pinned her against his chest, holding her arms at her sides and smirking into her hair.
"I knew I was in for trouble when I got engaged to a hobbit." His tone teasing once more as he kissed the side of her head.
"I mean it Dean, cut it out." Her jaw was set in annoyance.
Dean grinned as his lips connected with her cheek. "A pretty hobbit, though. The prettiest in the whole village!" He continued pressing kisses against her cheek until a faint smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.
"Get off me.." Jo tried to sound commanding once more, though failed with the faint giggle that fell from her lips when he kissed across her face. "Stop," she laughed, squirming out of his grip.. or attempting to, anyway.
He laughed and finally released her. When she took a step away he thought better of it, grabbing the girl and pulling her to him so that he could press a soft kiss to her mouth. Jo returned it, her hands sliding up to catch in his hair, dragging herself to stand on tip-toe and pressing her lips harder against his. She giggled again as his hands trailed over her, igniting little flames wherever his flesh touched hers. The two only broke apart at the sound of a knock on their front door. "That'd be your parents." She breathed while extracting herself from his hold.
Dean winked down at his fiance, "to be continued." His brows wiggled suggestively, then turned to go and let them in, hesitating when he saw the officers at the front door.
"Garth? What's going on?" He asked the male officer. Dean had known Garth since High School and although the guy was a little too sensitive, he was admittedly a pretty good guy. Jodi Mills, the officer at Garth's side, was closer to his mother's age. She'd arrested Dean a couple of times in his younger years for bar-room fights and underage drinking. She'd also been to his house a number of times to break up arguments between he and Lisa.
Garth, a skinny little guy who really didn't look like much, frowned and shook his head. His light brown hair blew gently in the wind, dark eyes glancing to the ground. He didn't seem able to choke the words out which caused Dean to turn his attention onto the female officer with a questioning look. Jo had come up behind him, stopping several feet back and watching with a brow raised in concern. Jodi cleared her throat and nervously tugged at her dark ponytail. "Dean.. there's been an accident." She stated and, when Dean's brows knitted together, swallowed hard. "It's your parents."