Chapter 10

Serra

I glanced up at the clock for about the fifteenth time tonight; mere minutes had passed since the last time I checked. "Where the hell is Grace?" I asked aloud, bouncing my niece on my hip purely out of habit, considering my own daughter seemed to never stop crying when I held her.

Sam carried Charlie on his own hip, walking around the kitchen and gathering plates and cups from dinner. She was calm, I noticed, just as she had been all evening. Maybe there was something to what Grace said earlier: she was happiest when she was with her cousins. More and more I wondered if there was something special about my youngest.

He shrugged, seemingly uninterested at my question. "Have you tried calling her?" he asked, blowing his bangs out of his face. Turning from the sink, he stepped over Glory, who was sprawled out in our living room, playing with the coasters from the coffee table. Everett followed me around relentlessly, trying to get as close as he could to Faith as I bounced her, and Levi and Liberty were head to head at the top of the stairs, playing Battleship in the hall.

I narrowed my eyes, automatic irritation flooding my face again. "Have I tried calling her? Did you just ask me that?"

Sam shrugged. "What do you want me to say, Serra? I'm sorry it's almost six thirty and she's not home yet. They have that big audit coming up, so they're probably trying to get all the paperwork in order."

I sighed, putting Faith in the high chair and circling around to Charlie, who was still whimpering. "I know, but taking care of two tiny babies is hard. It feels like I'm still at the NICU."

Sammy rolled his eyes at me. "Your sister watches all the kids all the time. She deserves more time off. Besides, you barely notice her," Sammy said, gesturing to our niece. He tilted his head and smiled ironically, "And is it weird that she reminds me of Cas?"

I closed my eyes and shook my head, hearing my sister's confession about the angel rattle through my subconscious once again. "Yeah, I've heard. She stares. She's weird." Holding Faith against my hip, I leaned towards Charlie as she smiled at me and a glimmer of hope spiraled through my brain. "Hi, Chubs," I said, talking to her in my sweetest voice, trying to hold her attention. "You wanna eat some more?"

"She just ate, Serra. She's calm. Just leave her be," Sammy commented, taking a step forward. "Grace is right. When she's here, she's a completely different kid."

"I know," I sighed, putting Faith in the bouncer so I would stop tripping over Everett. I held my tongue about my thoughts on Charlotte being different and turned to stare at the mess in the living room. "I'm going to start the baths for the twins, and then we can get the bigs in the shower. Here," I said, handing Charlie a frozen washcloth. "Gnaw on that a bit and I'll be right back." In the middle of the kitchen, a phone began to ring. I glanced up at Sam and grinned. "Get that please," I continued, "maybe it's Grace."

He walked to the middle of the kitchen and picked up the phone, seeing Liberty's face across the screen, revealing that it was my sister. He nodded once at me and smiled. "Hey, Grace," Sam answered. "Someone was starting to get worried." Sam grinned at me when I shot him daggers, completely unabashed by my annoyance. He held out the phone and put it on speaker so I wouldn't have to stop doing what I was doing.

"Sorry, guys," she began, "it's been a hell of an afternoon. We're still missing March and April's invoice stacks and a girl showed up, looking for you and Dean."

Sam and I exchanged a glance, and I was immediately on edge. "What do you mean?" I asked.

Grace sighed from her end of the phone and I could almost see her shrug. "Well," she began, "from the sound of it, something has taken over her town near Bangor, Maine, and she decided to track the boys down, knowing that they're monster hunters."

"How does she know we're hunters?" I asked, tilting my head. Sam and I stared at each other, waiting for Grace to continue.

Grace ignored my question and added, "She says she wants to hire us."

I sighed, "We're not exactly 'The A-Team', Grace," I replied, trying my hardest not to sound irritated. "We're not for hire."

"Yeah, I know," she answered, matching my tone. "But from the sound of things, it's bad. Dean wants to do some digging, but we need to finish up here so we're ready for the bank on Monday."

"How much longer do you think you'll be gone?"

"I don't know, Luck," she said. "Probably a couple of hours more. Can the kids just spend the night? Or you can take them to the Big House and everyone can sleep there?"

I exchanged glances with Sam and he shrugged. "We are at the Big House and I'd rather keep them all here," I responded. "Everyone can be in their own beds except our two, and one of them doesn't sleep, so it's no big loss."

"Thank you guys," Grace sighed. "We owe you."

"It all balances out," Sam commented. "No big deal."

…

Somehow, we managed to feed and bathe all six kids. A little past eight, we collapsed on the couch in Grace and Dean's living room and stared at each other, completely wiped.

"How do people do this?" I sighed, leaning my head back on the cushion. "The parents with six or eight or ten kids? I mean, honestly. How do people survive?"

Sammy shrugged, wiping the wet hair out of his face. Levi and Everett had managed to almost empty the tub during their bath, getting more water on Sam and the floor than their own hair. "If you have eight or ten kids, then that means the oldest ones are at least nine or eleven. You start to assign kids to other kids." He laughed quietly. "You'd have to." He glanced at me and shook his head, still chuckling. "That sounds awful."

"Levi and Lib are too young…they would never be able to handle that kind of responsibility." I giggled to myself and shook my head. "And a set of twins thrown in…not fair."

Sammy laughed again, leaning his large frame into the back cushions of the couch. He was warm and I automatically gravitated towards him. "Really, two sets of twins. Glory and Everett, yeah, but Faith and Charlotte…they're the same exact age!" Sam chuckled. "I'm just glad Everett isn't melting down anymore. That was really hard on both Grace and Dean."

"Yeah, Cas' daughter does a good job keeping him balanced out, huh?" I shot him a wry grin.

Sam shook his head and sighed, resting his arm over the tops of my shoulders. "You guys need to let that go. Grace is touchy about it."

"Yeah, because Faith might as well be Cas'."

Sam could sense a shift in my tone, hearing something underlying in my voice that said I had more information than I let on. "What aren't you telling me?" he asked, eager for the gossip.

I shrugged. "Just know that Grace isn't as pure as she lets on. While Dean was doing the demon spell thing, along with his six extra tramps? Grace was getting down with Castiel's grace."

The look on Sam's face was comical. "What does that even mean?" he asked through my giggles.

I shook him off and turned to touch his ear. "Who the fuck cares?" I whispered, touching his hair, still clumped together with water. "We're in the Big House, Charlie isn't crying, and I hear that Grace just changed their sheets."

Sam's eyebrows lifted, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed. "You hinting at something?"

"Hell yes."