Kate felt rather than heard John leave. She had been drifting in and out of sleep since she had told John about the baby and since he had told her about his other two babies. As much as she loved the man? She wanted to kill him. She wanted to pretend that he was one of the 'things that go bump in the night' that he professed to hunt and kill so that she could exact her revenge.
But she didn't. John was everything she had ever wanted. Dedicated, loving, sexy and determined. When he told her about Sammy and Dean? She wanted to leap across the table and throttle him for leaving those two little boys alone in a motel, not once mind you, but , ahem, several times since she'd met him that fateful night in the emergency room of the hospital where she worked.
She sighed as she realized that John had done exactly what she'd told him to; left to retrieve his boys and bring them back to Minnesota and live with her. Hell's bells, she certainly wouldn't win mom of the year, but she did have a plethora of nieces and nephews and after all, she was a nurse and figured she knew her way around an eight year old and a twelve year old.
She was only half right.
Many hours later, she heard the growl, sputter, roar of the Impala before she actually saw it pulling into her driveway. Taking a deep breath, Kate retracted the dining room curtains and peered out to see what was parked in her driveway. What she saw made her heart both soar and sink.
John was helping his boys out of the back of the Impala. The little one, who was obviously, if one judged by size, Sammy, got out of the back of the Impala with an emperor's grin. The little guy was obviously elated to be here and that both terrified and thrilled Kate. The older boy wasn't quite so easy to read. He got slowly out of the car, hoisting his duffel to his shoulder and just stood next to the car as if he were a soldier awaiting orders.
Taking a deep breath of air, Kate moved to open the front door. She stepped out onto the stoop and blinked in the bright sun. "John!" she called as she approached him. He reached for her and hugged her and in doing so, pulled Sammy towards them.
"Kate" he murmured into her blond hair. "We're here. I sure hope you know what you're doing, because I sure as shit don't." With that, he stepped back from her and put his large, calloused hand on Sammy's head. "This is Sammy and the extremely quiet, yet handsome one is Dean. Boys, say hello to Kate."
"Hi, Kate" chirped Sammy, obviously delighted to be here and also obviously not understanding all that his being at Kate's meant. Dean just looked at her and nodded and didn't speak. John scowled briefly in Dean's direction, but decided to let it go. This was going to be a tremendous change for everyone, him included and he really wasn't up to making it any harder on his son.
"Boys! I'm so happy to meet you! Come in, come in. I'll show you to your room. I figured you could share a room if you'd like, but Dean? If you would prefer to have your own room because you're the oldest, I can move my sewing stuff out of my sewing room and you can have that room. It has a nice view of the backyard, too. Gets lots of sun. I picked up a few things for you boys while your dad was driving you here, but if you'd rather get something different, that's not any trouble. Just let me know." Kate was well aware that she was babbling, but the words kept tumbling out of her mouth and she apparently lacked the ability to stop them.
The boys followed her into the house and she escorted them upstairs to the bedroom they were going to share. Kate had gone to Target while John was gone and outfitted the twin beds in matching little boy dinosaur prints as well as put new curtains on the rods at the window. She had also put some new boxes of toys in the corner and Sam's eyes made a beeline for them. Dean looked around the room with eyes that could only be described as suspicious and that look certainly didn't get past Kate. "Dean" she said kindly, putting her hand on his shoulder. "If you don't like this, we can get something else. I'm not married to the dinosaur theme. Whatever the two of you want. We can go right back to Target today if you'd like."
"It's fine." Said John shooting stern looks at his boys. "It's very nice, Kate. You shouldn't have gone to this much trouble. The boys are very grateful, aren't you boys?" They both looked at John and nodded mutely. "I like dinosaurs" piped up Sammy, making Kate laugh a little. "That's my boy." Said John, gruffly, ruffling Sammy's long hair. "Boys, stow your gear. Here. There's a dresser there, you can share it."
"John. You aren't in the corps anymore." Huffed Kate. "The boys can put their clothes away, not stow them."
"It's okay, ma'am." Interjected Dean, speaking for the first time. "We know what he means."
Kate's heart broke looking at John's little soldier, standing at what would easily pass for attention, with his duffle slung over his shoulder. "Dean. I wasn't in the armed forces, so I don't know what he means, so if it's okay with you, I won't ask you to stow anything, just put it away. Is that okay?"
"Yes, ma'am" mumbled Dean.
"Oh, and I'm Kate, not ma'am. Unless you're in trouble with me, okay, sport." Kate put her hand gently on Dean's chin and lifted it until she was looking the child in the eyes. His beautiful green eyes were full of confusion, but he finally nodded. "Good." Replied Kate, putting an arm around his shoulders. "Would you like to see the rest of the house, guys? I'll show you where the television is. Come on."
Kate started out of the room gently pushing both boys in front of her, but John spoke up. "Guys, you head downstairs, we'll be right there." As he pulled Kate towards him into his muscular arms, he whispered into her hair. "Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Kate. It'll take them some time, but they'll get there. They're not used to women for starters, and they're used to me, which depending on your point of view is a good or bad thing."
"John. They're the baby's brothers. They belong here. With me, with the baby, with US. I know you are going to go do whatever it is that you do in the dark, but the boys don't have to go with you right now. They're just little boys. Let them be little boys. For a while. At least until the baby comes."
John nodded, wrapped his arm around her and they descended the stairs. Walking into the front room, they saw the two boys sitting on the couch with their mouths hanging open while they stared at the television and its components. Funny thing? The television wasn't on.
"Daddy!" yelled Sam, jumping off the couch and running into John's arms, who picked him up and held him to his chest. "Daddy! There's a play station here. Kate has a play station. I saw them on a commercial. They're for playing games!" The glee in Sam's voice was simply adorable and Kate chuckled as she said, shaking her head. "Actually Sam, it's not mine." Sam looked at her with huge blue green eyes and gulped as he asked. "Whose is it? Do you have to give it back soon?" He slid out of John's arms and looked mournfully at the play station and then started to scuff his sneakers on the carpet.
"Boy, I hope not." Said Kate. "See, I just bought it today for you and Dean to have, so I hope I don't have to give it back soon."
Sam whooped and ran over to the couch where he grabbed his brother's arm. "Did you hear that Dean? The play station is ours! We get to keep it and play with it."
Dean smiled at the delight in his little brother's voice. "I heard Sammy. That's great news. We will have a lot of fun with this, won't we?" He looked at Kate and for the first time, she saw a genuine smile grace his face. "Thank you, ma'…I mean, Kate. We love it."
"Well, come on" said Kate, her voice choking on her own words. "There's more to see."
The boys followed her into the kitchen as she explained how the various appliances worked and she indicated that she would prefer if the boys didn't use the stove. Not that she didn't trust them, she assured them, it was just that the stove was a little temperamental and it was easy to burn the food. Then she showed them the snack closet she had just filled and Dean's eyes lit up. "I wasn't sure what you guys like to snack on, so I just bought a ton of stuff, but no snacking before dinner. You can have an after school snack, but that's it. Actually, I don't think you'll care, I'm a pretty good cook, right John?"
"Won me over on the first meal" he said, smiling as he leaned into the doorframe and watched his boys have some semblance of normalcy for the first time since Mary had died. Mary. Just the thought of her and her death brought such sorrow to him. Could this wonderful woman replace her? Could they be a family?
Kate's chatter interrupted his thoughts. She was explaining to the boys how the doors and their locks worked and told Dean that she would get him a key to the house. He nodded at this acknowledgement of his maturity and Sam appeared as though he couldn't care less that he wasn't getting a key.
"Come on, let's sit. I want to talk about a few things. " The three Winchesters said obediently and looked expectantly at Kate. "Well, first things first. I'm really thrilled you're here. Truly thrilled. I know your Daddy told you about the baby and I really want the baby to be with his big brothers. Dean, I already know what an incredible big brother you are and I think Sam will be just as good a big brother when the time comes." Those words made both boys beam and Kate continued. "The local schools are pretty good and I've rearranged my schedule so that I'll be working when you boys are in school and home when you're home. That way, I can drive you to whatever activities you want to do and you can have your friends over. Does that sound okay?"
"Kate" started John." You don't need to rearrange your entire life for us. The boys can take care of themselves, can't you boys." Dean nodded slowly, but Sam looked as though he'd like to think about this before he committed to once again being on his own and being taken care of by just Dean. Not that Dean wasn't awesome, because Dean was all sorts of awesome, but Sam craved the life that Kate was dangling in front of him and he'd like to just try it please, Dad, thank you very much, before deciding that he would prefer returning to the way things had been since Mom died.
"Oh, John. I know that. But if I'm at the hospital, who will make them chocolate chip cookies when they get off the school bus? You? You can barely work a toaster. This is my chance to fill this house with the people that my baby is going to call his family and I'm taking it. Plus, guys?" she leaned forward towards the boys conspiratorially, "I make awesome chocolate chip cookies." The four of them laughed at that, even Dean, who said, in his trademark cocky Dean way. "Well, ma'am, we're going to have to judge that for ourselves, won't we Sam?"