Hitting double digits with the chapters already?! Hope you're all still enjoying the ride. Nearly 100 reviews as well, thank so much for every single review.
Sodapop25, You betcha I will, consider this thing officially updated! We're motoring along like a steam train now. Thank you for your reviews and for reading!
xXBalorBabeXx, Watch yo'self before you wreck yo'self (sorry, I have never used that saying before in my life and now I know why...I'll blame it on being sleep deprived). But yeah, Jerry is a suspicious little character. Brace yourself for the next chapter with him!
Skovko, Jerry's brain is ticking alright, but on the plus side it's probably too small to hold more than one nefarious plan, so that's a good thing, right? He certainly doesn't have much of a handle on the word 'subtle' that's for sure!
LHisawesome4ever, Aww, thank you. The temptation is always to crash right into the action, but I always feel easing into something makes the drama have even more of a bang (because believe me, the drama is coming, I can see it rounding the bend now!)
Wolfgirl2013, Aww, thank you and thank you! I really mean that though, thank you for reviewing and I'm super happy you're still loving this story. Gonna getting to the big all out drama chapters real soon so brace yourself for those!
Mandy, Thank you so much, you really brought a smile to my face. Mum's health has picked up a bit now after a real downturn, so that's a real relief. As for Mama Reigns, well, she won't turn Mama Bear-like unless she has to...maybe she has to later on? Until then, she'll bake cakes!
Guest (Skittlz that's you right?) Mama Ambrose sure is a quandry. Is she being pushed? Is she dead inside? Well, the good news is all of those questions will be answered. The bad news is...not right away! First you have your wish of finding out what Papa Reigns thinks. He's pretty cool too!
Minnie1015, Mama Reigns is so lovely I think her plan is to give them a sickly sweet tooth rot that causes an infection, I figure she might be sneaky like that! But yeah, safe to say the gruesome twosome are not the most trustworthy figures right now!
HannonsPen, Eau De Jerry definitely sounds like an advert I would see on TV with Johnny Depp in a desert mumbling incoherently. Why are perfume adverts so weird?! Anyway, yep, Jerry is totally not the most palatable character. He pops up next chapter, so brace yourself!
Here comes Papa Reigns then!
Ten.
Once Dean's redhead birth mother and her partner have been safely shuffled off Reigns territory for good, he and Roman stay on for dinner and await Papa Reigns returning from work. He comes in perhaps two or three hours later, by which time the shelves in his office are up, although possibly not as horizontal as he would like them judging from his expression when he goes to check them out, whereupon Roman scratches his neck awkwardly and offers up a shrug,
"It was my first attempt pop."
Dean stands in the doorway grinning because he likes the rare occasions when his older brother squirms and the smirk earns him a quick cuff across the hairline as the two men saunter past him.
Normal family stuff.
They leave the general topic of his haphazard birth mom and the hastily arranged brunch until dinner has been served, by which time Papa Reigns has shucked out of his work clothes and taken his seat.
"So, how did it go?"
Mama Reigns shakes out a freshly pressed napkin and smiles back easily,
"I think it went well."
"Not too uncomfortable?"
"The poor woman was clearly nervous but then how could she not be in someone else's home?"
Dean blinks across at the couple in silence as he drinks in the casual sounding gentle back and forth, as if the pair are discussing the weather or the garden and not his wayward and rediscovered mom. In fact it's probably a testament to both of them and the strength of their characters that there isn't more alarm and even when Mama Reigns mentions Asshole Jerry she manages a smile,
"Her partner's a curious one."
Curious in this case doubling for nosy or possibly something far worse than that, although given that a curse would never fall from their mother it will have to make do.
Papa Reigns frowns,
"Partner?"
As his mild confusion drifts out across the table, Dean draws a breath in and bites his lip hard, hating once again being the cause of their troubles because they don't deserve a bit of it.
"My mom's boyfriend."
"Ah, I get it now."
Roman grumbles,
"The guy is an asshole – sorry mom – been staking the gym out all week, then shows up here asking questions about money and tryin' to get uce to go stay with 'em."
Dean blinks.
In many ways the surge of near predictable anger is weirdly reassuring since it reminds him they care. What it also reminds him however is to be open and to share with his new family any thoughts in his head and it is why he suddenly blurts out a sentence that makes them all pause,
"I'm pretty sure she's on drugs."
Three surprised faces spin back in his direction and Dean blushes quickly then drops his gaze at once, which only returns when Roman stretches a hand out and palms at his nape,
"Yeah, we know uce."
"Hold up, you do?"
Roman nods gently and Dean feels like an idiot for not having already guessed that they would, especially since his mother doesn't really try to hide it with the shaking and the pallor and the hollowed looking orbs. Frankly Roman's ninety something grandma would have noticed if you had put the two women in a room for an hour and so of course his uber astute brother would notice and Mama Reigns too –
She fixes him a look,
"Baby, are you okay?"
Dean blows a little breath out and then absently forks mashed potatoes round his plate, not really sure how or what he is feeling or even what he should aim for.
"Uh, I don't know."
At the head of the table Papa Reigns curses quietly and then uses his napkin to mop up a blob, which has fallen from his fork and straight onto his collar on a patch he can't see.
"Oh god damn it all."
The moment – not to mention the long ensuing struggle as he attempts to track the hidden stain down – make the teenager smile just a fraction and in response to it the patriarch lifts up a brow,
"Glad I could provide little amusement."
He's going for sarcastic but can't hide his smirk and instantly the atmosphere brightens around them which makes everything that's happened weirdly not seem so bad. After all – Dean figures – how the hell can it ever be when he belongs to a family that is as loving as theirs? Because whatever he decides or whatever else happens, he knows that they will all be there unflinching throughout, which is not only something both new and exciting but also what he knows without a shadow of a doubt and which therefore makes the whole long lost mother thing just about bearable,
Papa Reigns coughs,
"Son?"
Dean blinks up in startled bewilderment, not even realizing he's drifted off,
"Huh?"
"I said whereabouts are you with all this mentally – where do you see things going from here?"
It general terms it's a pretty good question and the more Dean thinks on it the more it seems clear. Although getting it out is surprisingly difficult and he stumbles a little,
"I think it's too long – like – too much has happened an' we're different people now, so a mother son kinda thing wouldn't really work. Besides, I don't really want one with her. But I do – like – I do wanna know she's alright."
Papa Reigns nods,
"Of course you do, we all do and so whatever she needs we will make sure she gets."
Dean beams broadly, his heart ablaze with it and a cheeky little grin on his lips,
"Thanks pop."
The older man snorts but the smile can't be hidden and so he slides a hand across and lays it over Dean's own, tapping it lightly and grunting a little in a flicker of raw affection.
"Don't mention it son."
With the plates lying empty on the table around them, Mama Reigns gets up and clears them away, bustling briskly into the kitchen and returning with yet another awesome sweet treat laden tray. Throughout the course of the mom brunch earlier Dean had stress eaten most of the cake so shouldn't have room for a whole apple dumpling although he takes one with a scoop of ice cream anyway and is nose deep inside it when Papa Reigns clears his throat again and starts a new topic,
"Now then, about your gym."
Dean looks up, alarm shooting through him and his eyes find out Roman. What's wrong with their gym? The bigger man in turn offers up a tiny shrug at him and then turns to his father,
"What about it?"
"It's doing well."
Since the response he gets isn't a question, Roman merely answers with a gentle little nod, trying to work out where his father might be headed and coming up as empty as his brother is,
"Uh huh."
Papa Reigns' eyes glint wilfully back at them and a devilish smirk begins to pull at his face, remaining there even as he pulls out a binder stuffed brim-full with papers and passes it across,
"Take a look at these and let me know what you think of them."
Dean leans over as Roman opens the file up then frowns as he sees a derelict building, three storeys in total and not unlike their gym. Scanning the rest of the document further, he's sees that the place is in the neighborhood next door and therefore in a similarly rundown location which, much like the locals, people tend to avoid. As Roman lifts up the first sheet of paper another newer building falls into sight, which is more steel and corrugated iron based than the former but in yet another neighborhood that often struggles to keep the peace.
Dean blinks,
"Uh, they just look like empty buildings – m' I missin' somethin' here?"
"Could you make them into gyms?"
The question comes out of the blue and is startling but Roman catches onto it all pretty quick, which is probably thanks to over twenty years of watching and silently learning how his father's mind ticks.
"You thinking of opening up a couple more places?"
Papa Reigns shakes his head then leans himself back, lacing his fingers over his waistline before grinning just a touch,
"I want you to do that, provided you think you can handle the workload?"
Dean gapes,
"You – you mean you want Roman to leave the gym?"
He feels a sudden surge of panic swiftly rising, which it shouldn't do really and doesn't make sense. After all, he and Roman are roommates and brothers now, so not being work colleagues won't change a thing and yet in the moment it feels like it will do and it makes his chest flutter and start to construct. In response to it Papa Reigns hefts himself forwards and taps a well-worn finger across the sheets, highlighting a line at the top of the papers and guiding him towards it,
"Have you read what it says?"
Dean squints a little, reciting it outright,
"Name of new owner, Roman Reigns and – ,"
Holy shit.
He stops himself right on the cusp of full on shouting it because there in black type is his very own name and the seeming suggestion that he co-owns the buildings which cannot in any way possibly be right. Blinking in amazement his bright blue eyes waver then rise towards the still beaming head of the house, barely even able to formulate a sentence as he splutters out syllables,
"Are you – is this – what?"
Roman jogs him in the ribs kind of harshly but it's driven by excitement since he's wearing a grin and instantly the big hand is back on his shoulder before sliding up wildly to tousle his mane,
"Looks like you and me got ourselves a tiny empire."
Dean goldfishes,
"I own a business?"
"Technically you co-own three, since I transferred the gym to you boys just this morning."
"But – but what about our jobs and – and the team?"
Papa Reigns smiles ridiculously fondly, like he's pleased that the kid is still all about the staff and it translates across in his gruffly offered answer which also bleeds warmth,
"You can work there all you want, the new places only need your model to be successful, nothing else."
"So things aren't changin'?"
"You might get richer if that helps?"
Dean sort of grins and Papa Reigns winks back covertly as his wife clasps her fingers and beams at them both, positively oozing maternal excitement that is totally infectious.
"My big businessmen sons."
So, Dean is now officially a business owner. Didn't I say that Papa Reigns rocks? This is pretty much the calm before the storm though, next time, things start to get pretty real, pretty fast!