"It's nice being back in the shop just the two of us isn't it?" Mae asks as she ices the cupcake in front of her, a smile on her face. It was her third attempt to prompt conversation out of her abnormally quiet friend.
Two days had passed since Lilly had woken from her unconscious state and her mood had been 'off' since. Every time Mae had openly attempted to talk about the incident she was shut down. Lilly could be really dodgy when she wanted to be, and inventive in the way she went about it as well. Her silence hurt.
Lilly nodded her head in agreement as she reorganized the shelf in front of her. "Yeah. It's certainly peaceful. However I don't know how much clearer I can be with our brat-pack. They can't follow the simplest systems."
Mae chuckles. "Your systems are a bit more than 'simple' Lilly."
"False. My systems are the most logical way to go. Most people just suffer from apathy and stupidity." She responds absently blowing her bangs out of her eyes, hands on her hips and a small frown pulling at her lips.
"So how are you doing?" Mae prods, aiming to come off nonchalant.
"Fantastic. B'sides the fact I have ta reorganize everything in this place." Lilly responds as she begins systematically moving items around.
"You haven't mentioned Bobby's in a while. Or the brothers. Everything okay on that front?" She asks, slyly watching her friend from the corner of her eye, keeping her body and face focused on the cupcake. She frowns as she watches Lilly fumble with the glass in her hand.
"Really? Weird." She responds simply placing a tub of flavoring back on the shelf. "Cuz, ya know, I woulda sworn that just this morning I said I didn't wanna talk about it."
"Thought you were fantastic?" Mae asks with an arched eyebrow, piping another cupcake. "Fantastic people discuss things."
"Gods, no. 'Fantastic' means we talked about this, and... I'm fantastic. Just figured a couple Lilly-free days'd be helpful. They need space, I'm just a burden there. You can go chill over there if ya want, but I think they're straight. They seemed to be better..ish, since they arrived."
Mae puts the piping bag down, and turns towards her friend. "I'd rather be here with you right now. It's refreshing; the normalcy of it. Just figured you'd be more... Curious about them?"
Lilly shrugs indifferently. "They need bro-time right now. I have no in'trest in interruptin' that. Did what I could. Did the three days of tending to the living 'n all that." Her face screwed in disgust, thinking of the bang up job she did with it, before shaking it off.
"Sam's been asking about you in our texts… Dean seems to be off too according to him. Did anything happen before you… took your nap?" Mae asks, making sure not to make the mistake of using the term 'faint' again.
Lilly's quiet for a moment before she turns around with a smile plastered on her face. "Not that I can remember. You can go visit them by the way. Won't hurt my butt any." She shrugs, the smile not reaching her eyes in the slightest.
"Uh huh. Maybe you should try that again. What happened?" Mae demands sternly, frustrated with her friend's insincerity.
Lilly's smile slips and her mouth opens to respond as the store's doorbell dings. I love that bell.
"Sorry, gotta customer." She replies as she slips out from the back room, all but running to the front.
"Hey! Welcome to Cakes, Cookies, and…." She stops the cheerful greeting and with much less enthusiasm says "What up Bobby?" The newly found relief immediately slipping from her.
She doesn't wait for a response; sighing and blowing her hair in frustration, Lilly pokes her head through the serving window. "Mae, Bobby's here."
"Be right there."
Both occupants stand there quietly waiting patiently for the other girl to emerge from the back analyzing each other in silence, causing Lilly to start hive-ing in discomfort and embarrassment.
"Glad to see you off your bender old man." She snarks, breaking the silence first.
Bobby snorts. "Like yer one ta talk?"
Lilly remains uncharacteristically silent, but gives a half-hearted shrug. She remains behind the counter and continues her crusade to reorganize the shop, focusing now on the display case.
"It's great to see you Bobby." Mae comes out from the back and heads toward her father-figure. "How have you been?" She asks as she gives him a brief hug.
"Not bad girl. How 'bout the two'a you?" Bobby shifts a glance towards Lilly.
"Oh you know, typically." Mae replies glancing to her friend's back. Lilly blows the hair out of her face in frustration, but nods.
He huffs in understanding. "So... I noticed my house ain't been obnoxiously spotless and the idgits've been more quiet than normal. Just figured you two'd be the more reasonable ones ta talk ta." Bobby says looking between the two girls.
Lilly takes this time to snort.
"Okay well one'a ya's at least reasonable, anyways." Bobby rolls his eyes as he takes his seldom-used seat in the girls' shop.
Mae smiles at their antics and joins Bobby at the table tapping Lilly's usual spot. Lilly pointedly ignores her until both Mae and Bobby continue to stare at her expectantly.
Feeling unnerved and mildly defeated from their combined glare she blows the hair out of her face more harshly than normal and groans before shuffling over and plopping down. Resting her chin on her hand and staring at them blankly, she fights the urge to roll her eyes.
"Wha'cha wanna know?" She eventually asks.
"Either one'a ya gonna tell me what happened?" He asks; his tone expectant as he keeps his eyes on the girl feigning indifference; he knew she was really the only person here who could fill in the blanks. Mae stays silent as she looks at Lilly with concern shining in her viridian orbs.
After several moments pass, Lilly responds with "Nothing but the usual. I incited rage and then I took a nap before any damage was done… Just taught me I should sleep more often."
Her flippant response causes both the other occupants to stare at her in disbelief. Bobby's the first to snap out of it.
"Sleep? You wanna bring up sleep?" Bobby scoffs causing Lilly to flinch sensing the upcoming reprimand, not really feeling the want nor desire to defend her very justified actions.
"Damn it Gidjit, take better care'a yerself! I swear, the nerve a you. People worry 'bout you. Jesus girl, do ya have any self preservation at all?" Bobby glares at the girl, hoping to break through her obstinance, just this one time, without too much of a fight.
Lilly goes to defend her actions, then she decides it's not worth it and just shrugs.
"Yer try'n my patience." Bobby groans in frustration. "Mae, how do you deal with this on a daily basis."
Lilly internally flinches at that one before spitting out "Cause I'm right, and awesome. All the time." Not really wanting to hear Mae's response.
Mae sits quiet for a minute, really thinking about Bobby's question. "How is it that I can be around her all the time without getting angry? We've always just accepted that we balanced each other somehow, but I haven't really thought about the 'why'."
She looks over to Lilly; who is, though trying to put up a front, actually upset by his question. "But if your asking how I deal with her thinking she's right all the time? I guess like any friend would, I pick my battles. And I try to understand her perspective."
"Okay then," Bobby turns to Lilly "How da ya get yer head so far up yer ass?" The old man questions gruffly, causing the shorter girl to pout.
"Bobby!" Mae snaps. "That's so not called for! What I should really be asking is how do I stay sane surrounded all of you obstinate jerks?"
Lilly sticks out her tongue at Bobby "Yeah, stop being so obstinate."
"Lilly, was referring to you as well." Mae replies rolling her eyes.
"Oh." Lilly says looking down. "I'm not obstinate, I'm just right. And I'm not a jerk either. I'm just… hmm. Awesome? Fantastic? Stunningly charming? Yeah those are good Lilly associated adjectives."
At this both of her table mates sigh and roll their eyes collectively. "You're certainly stunningly somethin' that's for sure, Gidgit." Bobby snorts.
Mae smiles, leaning into her. "Lilly, I missed this."
"Need anything?" Lilly shouts across the yard from the safety of the sidewalk, no intention of getting anywhere near the disgusting mess. Mae had been pretty single minded since their return to "normal" living. Everyday after they got back from their early shift at the shop she changed and went directly to work outside. Today it seemed Mae was pretty determined to take up all the grass in the front lawns, a few trays of flowers and a small pile of rocks already set off to the side to replace it.
"Maybe a drink, but I can come get it." Mae shouts back, tossing a handful of grass roots into her barrel. She wipes sweat out of her face, glad that she decided to wear shorts and a tank top to work in today. The sun was relentless.
"Good, cuz I'm not walking it out to you. Wash your…" Lilly eyes Mae as she walks closer, noting the smears of dirt on nearly every inch of exposed skin. "Uuuhhhhhh.. No! Wash at least your hands and arms, and stay out here. I'll be right back." She flees from the dirt covered Mae before she gives into her urge to spray her down with the hose.
Mae giggled, knowing she must be covered in dirt, based on how quickly Lilly fled. It dissolves into laughter as she pulls a twig out of her hair. She hurries over to the hose and begins to wash the offending element off.
The sound of a car coming down the driveway startled her. It wasn't often they got unexpected visitors, and she wasn't sure they were ready for unsolicited attention. She shaded her eyes to get a better look down the road, curious who they know that owns a mini-van.
She watches the van in suspicion, a small frown adorning her lips. But it doesn't take her long to recognize the driver. Relief floods her when she realizes it's only Sam, as she wonders what brought him over. She smiles, happy she had just washed the mud off her arms and hands.
Subconsciously her hand covers a spot on her back.
The van pulls up to the drive and Sam waves in return, his signature smile in place. "Hey Mae. You doing some weeding? Hope you don't mind me just stopping by but I wanted you and Lilly's opinion about something." His eyes travel over her and he grins. Even mostly-covered in mud, with twigs in her hair and dirt smudged on her face, she was beautiful.
Mae greets him in turn, nodding in affirmation about weeding. At Lilly's name the smile slips from her face knowing that her friend wouldn't be too thrilled to see their house guest at the moment. After all, she had been pointedly ignoring conversations about any of the men currently at Singer's Salvage since the conversation with Bobby.
"Oh sure, I'd love to give you some feedback. However, I'm not too certain about Lilly at the moment." She responds smile strained as concern for her friend bubbles.
Sam nods in understanding, his smile slowly morphing into a pensive frown. "Ah, I get that… should I have called?" He asks in concern.
"No it's fine. You guys can stop by whenever. I think she's more… Embarrassed? I guess." Mae shakes her head, not really sure how to describe her friend's behavior.
Again Sam nods and they lapse into a not-completely-uncomfortable silence for a moment before Mae breaks it. "Do you want to come in and we can talk about it?" She asks as she gestures towards the house.
Sam reaches out and touches Mae's cheek, a smile on his face. "You sure Lilly will let you in the house when you're covered in dirt?" He brushes gently at the smudge.
Mae feels her face grow warm under his hand and thanks every God she has ever heard of that she doesn't body-blush. Sighing, she looks at her muddy bare feet and makes a face. "No probably not, now that you mention it. She would have a mini aneurysm and might... Hibernate again." At those words Sam gives her a strange look. Mae smiles ruefully "If you have any self-preservation, I suggest never using the word 'faint' to describe what happened. Friendly words of advice."
Sam nods in understanding. "So, how is she doing? Back to any Lilly antics at all?" He asks, voice coated in concern.
Mae's small smile fades and she shakes her head. "Sometimes there's flares, but something happened. She's rarely this reserved. She's not sharing though. It's very frustrating. I mean it's... Lilly, so I'm sure she'll bounce back as Lilly as ever, soon." She responds optimistically not having a better adjective to describe her friends typical demeanor.
"I'm sure you're right. Dean's the same. It's like pulling teeth. This week has been very… well something." He says not sure how describe it. Not really. There had been so many ups and so very many low downs. He was happy nonetheless that the girls had been there for them. He was sure Dean would think so too eventually, once whatever misplaced guilt he was feeling was assuaged. Sam did, however, feel like it would help everyone if his bull-headed brother would just tell someone what he'd said to Lilly that was now causing this particular avoidance.
Mae nodded in solemn agreeance. "That's a good way to describe it." Mae says dryly as she tries to sum up the events into words when Lilly comes into view. She shoots Sam a quick side glance. "Hey Lilly! Look! Sam's here."
Lilly stops humming to herself at her name being called and actually looks up to see the two of them standing in the dirt. She stares at them for several short moments feeling heat crawl up her neck. Finding one of her 'sitting' rocks, she places the tray and pitcher down, mumbling a quick "Oh. Lemonade. Bye." before quickly rushing away from the two them. Nope. Fuck that mess with a nail studded baseball bat.
"Lilly, come on, just stay out here for a minute. He wants our opinion on something." Mae calls after her. She contemplates running after her for a moment, but decides not to when the front door slams. "Thanks for the drink!" She shouts instead.
"Well… That went… Huh… She's really not happy with me. Did I do something wrong?" Sam asks, puzzled by the strange reception.
"I wouldn't worry too much about it; I think she's just embarrassed that you three know why she hibernated." Mae says with a small head shake.
"Why would that bother her? She just worked too hard right?"
"Cause she's Lilly and anything less than perfection to her is considered a failure. Cause she's a stubborn… Cause she's Lilly."
"Ah. So nothing I can do?"
"Not a damn thing anyone can do about it right now."
Lilly enters the house, slamming the door behind her; no interest in actually talking with anyone, let alone a Winchester. Cursing in several different languages about how rude people can be as she heads back to the kitchen to finish cleaning it. By the time she's finished her tirade, the dishes are done and the last dish is being properly stored. She closes her eyes, taking a breath for one final curse on the younger Winchester. Her eyes fly open as she realizes that Mae was only wearing a tank top, and was talking to a guy she liked. She stomps her foot and lets out another loud curse racing up the stairs to her room, digging through her dresser till she finds a shirt long enough for Mae.
She races to the window, roughly opening it and shoving her head out, easily finding the pair on the lawn. She's glad they had stayed close to the house as she balls up the shirt and pitches it at her friend's head; happy when it hits her. She smiles for a moment before Sam looks up at her and makes eye contact. She stares at him blankly before she slowly pulls herself back inside, closing the window and slowly sinks to the floor and out of sight. Now mortified that she had been caught, she crawls back out of her room, wipes the non-existent dirt off her skirt after she stands up and proceeds back down the stairs to finish cleaning.
Mae motions toward the lemonade Lilly left and the pair begins moving toward the discarded tray perched upon the large rock.
"So, you said you wanted opinions about something?" Mae quickly turns the conversation away from her troubled best friend.
Sam continues to stare in the direction of the house for another moment in deep thought before nodding. "Yeah actually. I've been working on cracking Dad's voicemail and opened it this morning. Do you know an Ellen? She's been leaving messages on his phone offering help, but being super vague about it… He's never mentioned her to us and I was just curious. I would have asked Bobby but he has been difficult to get a hold of. Think he's helping another hunter or something… But, yeah. Thought I'd ask you before showing Dean. Right now, well... I'm not sure if it would be good or bad to meet one of Dad's old contacts blind. Well, again."
Mae nods in understanding before thinking it over and responding "No, unfortunately not. Your dad, well he never talked much, let alone about work. Even after you and Dean popped in and spilled the beans. I'm sorry."
Sam sighs and runs his fingers through his hair. "Well, it was worth the try."
"You drove all the way out here for that?" She asks after a moment of hesitation.
"Needed some space from Dean, and I hadn't seen either of you in over a week…" He gives her a lopsided grin, "That and, well, it's different at Bobby's place without the two of you there."
Mae covers a smile by turning to pick up her drink. She sips at it before turning back to him. "Well, I've missed seeing you guys too. I uh, I guess after what happened we both needed some time. We're usually more on top of staying together." She exhaled wearily. She looks up into Sam's face and smiles when she sees his hazel eyes watching her compassionately.
"Yeah, I thought it was strange that she was spending so much time away from you. But I thought she was just trying to take care of normal stuff until everything was back to… Well, normal." His eyes take in her small glance back towards the house.
"Yeah, she was. She was taking care of everything. Everything and everyone. Except her. She was working herself to the bone, to exhaustion. I caught it several times, but I didn't do anything to help her. We got into a fight when she woke up." Mae bites her lip, frustrated with herself for spilling this all to someone that just lost their father.
"What was the fight about?" Sam asks softly, his eyebrows knitted together in concern.
"No, I'm sorry. It was horrible of me to just lay that on you. It really wasn't a big deal, or at least not a big fight. Umm," She looks around for a second, lost on what to say next.
He noticed her sad expression and couldn't help but want to comfort her. "I don't mind listening. It really is the very least I can do after everything else you've done. What did you guys fight about?" He reaches his hand out to her as if to touch her face, but ends up awkwardly patting her shoulder after a moment's hesitation, having no more dirt to wipe away.
Mae chuckles darkly, "I feel like a horrible sister. Sometimes I don't think she knows that I think of her as my sister. That I love her. That even if people didn't randomly get mad at her for no reason I would still want to be her sister. I don't hang around her because I pity her or anything. But, she thinks she's this big burden in my life. But there is a big difference between being alone with a friend and being lonely in a crowded room. I may be popular without her, but she's the only friend I've ever had. And I've done some means things to her without even realizing it. I've hurt her on such a deep level. I don't even know how to make it up to her." Mae blushes as she realizes there are tears falling down her cheeks.
Sam takes her by the elbow and leads her to one of the boulders nearby. He gets her to sit on it and takes a seat next to her, trying to convince himself that the only reason they were sitting so close together was because it was a small boulder. "Why do you think you hurt her? Because she fai... umm, hibernated?"
Mae smiled weakly at his quick adoption of her word. "No, it's because of something I said when my parents died. She tried to stay by me the whole time, but there were moments that the adults just wouldn't let that happen. I can't even remember exactly what she said, it was something like 'they're in a better place', but I remember yelling at her. I snapped at her; I told her she couldn't possibly understand because they weren't her parents and she didn't have to go and listen to everyone talking about how great they were and how much they'll be missed." More tears splash down her face as she remembered that horrible day. "It was the first real fight we ever had, and definitely the worst."
"Well, I think you're probably being too hard on yourself. You were a teenager when your parents passed away right? Even as an adult, losing one parent is rough as hell; I can't imagine what it feels like to lose both at once. And had you not also lost your grandparents just before that too?" Sam does his best to ask the questions in a comforting tone, but his heart was aching at the sight of her tears.
Her eyes widen a moment before she says. "Ah, wow, sometimes I forget that you guys looked up our past. That was almost creepy." She chuckles at his pained, guilty expression. "But only for a moment. And yes, my Dad's parents passed away when I was sixteen, then my parents passed away just around a year later. I was living with my Mom's parents when the fight happened. We didn't talk for a week. It was the worst week of my life, maybe hers too. The only good thing that came from it was the fact I met your Dad."
"Yeah? You said something about it during his funeral, that he saved you from a monster." Sam treaded this territory lightly, sensing that there was more to the story that she might not want to tell.
Mae was quiet for a long moment. Sam was about to apologize for asking too much when she finally began again. "I've never told anyone about it. Only John knew. I guess that's why we bonded so quickly. I was hiding from everyone, walking around. It was dark before I noticed it. This guy uh, pinned me in an alleyway. It's still kind of blurry, I was just overwhelmed I guess. I remember hearing this loud roar... And then there was John. I was so scared of everything. But he just kept talking to me; he picked me up and took me to the hospital." She subconsciously rubs her chest, fingers tracing the faded scars as she talks. "He was still there when I woke up too. I'm not sure how Lilly found out, but the next day she was there in the room, and we were crying and apologizing. She never asked what happened, and I never told her. My Mom's parents died soon after that and she moved in with me. We've been-" she makes exaggerated quotation marks "joined at the hip ever since." She leans forward and rests her chin on her drawn up knees. Well, that was awesome Mae; just info dump on him.
Anger flooded Sam as he listened to her talk. He couldn't even bring himself to fully consider what she had been through. It takes him a moment to calm himself before he tries to speak. His eyes catching her movements, he can't help but stare at the three strange scars marring her otherwise smooth skin. Anger sweeps through him all over again.
Mae notices Sam's anger and remembers how enraged John would to get the few times he'd given her self defense gifts saying he wanted her to be safe. She chides herself for even opening her mouth, certain that he was going to start looking at her differently. She sits back, intending on moving the conversation away from herself, but is shocked to see Sam staring at her chest. She immediately jumps from the bolder, pulling at her top and hair to cover the hideous scars.
"I'm sorry Mae." Sam says, standing up from the rock.
"I'm... Uh, no, what? Why?" Mae struggles to hide her embarrassment.
"I'm sorry that I was prying so much into your life. You don't have to talk to me about it if you don't want to. But, I think it helps to talk about stuff. I like talking to you. So, I'm sorry if I've made you uncomfortable with me." His shoulders slumping in defeat.
Mae stood there, trying her best not to laugh. "Okay, wow, No. I uh. No, Sam. You haven't made me uncomfortable with you. I'm sorry that I, obviously, over reacted. I just don't usually wear clothes that would show my scars. I… don't like them." She paused for a breath, her hands still pulling in the attempt to cover the marks. She screams when something hits her in the head from above. Freaking out she grabs the offending material off her head and holds it in front of her. A smile tugs at her lips as she immediately throws on Lilly's favorite sleeping shirt, the large red words 'I get enough exercise just pushing my luck' now proudly displayed across her chest.
"Aw, Lilly. I owe you so much right now you awesomely-timed weirdo."
"What the hell?" Sam exclaims and he moves closer to Mae, towering over her with concern etched in his face even as he looks for the girl who must have thrown the shirt. He makes eye contact with Lilly and watches in mild amusement as she pulls herself back into the house, shuts the window and literally in the most awkward possible way slowly slides down, and out of sight.
"Why the Hell is she so awkward? She makes me feel embarrassed for her." Sam humphs shaking his head before looking down at Mae, forgetting how close he had gotten to her.
Mae grins up at him, amused by his response to Lilly. "Well, she wouldn't be Lilly if she didn't."
"Why did she just… Wow, you two really do know each other well. Next time, I'll call first. Sorry for putting you in an uncomfortable position Mae. I didn't realize… How did you get the scars?" Sam asks, concern clear in his tone.
"I… Well, when I met your dad... Or, really, before he got there, the guy was in the middle of… And he had a knife... But it's fine. I'm fine. It's, you know... Fine." Mae stumbles through her response, not really trying to dredge up the memories, as she is swept into a strong hug.
"I'm so sorry Mae, I didn't mean for you to relive that. That's so… Just, wow. Mae that's so awful." Sam whispers into her hair trying to keep his emotions at bay.
Mae pauses, the contact taking her by surprise for a moment, as the tears she had been keeping at bay burst and she hugs him back just as tightly while she tries to push back the ugly memories of that day. It had been the most terrifying moment of her life. She had been completely violated and vulnerable. It wasn't a moment she thought of often and she had certainly never spoken it out loud. It was like the wound was still fresh.
The two are silent as they embrace, Sam holding the crying girl tightly as volatile emotions swirl within him. Outrage and disgust being the strongest. He's silent, unsure what to say to the girl sobbing in his arms and does his best to provide what little comfort he can. In the back of his mind some little piece clicks and he realizes in this moment he has never been prouder to be John Winchester's son. Proud to know his father had a heart after all.
When Mae's sobs finally begin to ebb his hug slowly turns to comforting back rub. Mae hiccups and nuzzles into his warmth taking comfort in the fact this was John's son, someone she could trust, and cuddles into his broad chest enjoying it for a moment before sniffling and wiping at her tears. "I'm so sorry Sam. I didn't mean to do that."
"You're being ridiculous. You should never apologize for feeling something.." Sam says softly into her hair, hugging her closer wishing he could take all her pain away. "Sometimes it's hard to remember that monsters can be both human and supernatural. I'm so sorry that happened to you Mae. That must have been… Well so many different horrible things for you. I can't even imagine what that must feel like, please just, never apologize for sharing things with me again. I'll always be here for you. I promise." He finishes with a kiss to the top of her head and another tight squeeze.
Mae looks up into his hazel eyes and realizes that she really hopes he means it.
