A/N: I know! But right after I made that promise the fit hit the shan with family drama and three tests and car trouble. But it's only a day late. And hopefully I'll have another in a week or two, since I get a week off for Thanksgiving. Thank you all for being so patient with my fail-ness. You're all awesome. I just wish you'd review more... XDDD And for the record, I have no idea if that can even be a problem with a car, so eh...I claim creative license. noe onto the long awaited chapter 21! Enjoy!

Chapter 21

Will

Knock, knock, knock.

"Mmmnnnghhh…"

Knock, knock, knock.

"Hmmnpf."

Knock, knock, knock. "Will!" Bang, bang, bang. Screeeeee.

"Will get up! It's after five."

I shot up and whipped my head around, my sleep blurred eyes finally landing on one of my brothers, though I'm not sure which one. "Mmkay," I mumbled drowsily. "We'll get up." He closed the door and I flopped back into the pillows, nudging Lucas with my elbow. "We need to get up."

"Mmmmm…"

Knock, knock, knock.

"Ugh…"

Knock, knock, knock. "Willamina Grace get your ass out of bed right now!" Screeeeee. Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. Whoosh!

"Mother!" I flew up, curling myself into a ball and crossing my arms over my bare chest as my mother ripped the blankets off the bed. Lucas shot up beside me, pulling a pillow onto his lap.

"Oh hush. It's not like you have anything I've never seen before. Now get up; there's work to be done."

I gaped as she walked back out the door, not bothering to close it. "Just who the hell does she think she is?" I looked over at the awestruck Lucas then turned to turn on the lamp, throwing my hands in front of my face as it blinked on, drawing back with a hiss.

"You'll get used to that," he said laughing.

I turned to glare at him, turning my back on the light. "Now I have a headache," I grumbled with a yawn, stretching my arms over my head. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me against him, nuzzling his face in my neck. "I'm sorry," he mumbled against my skin, pulling me back down. I whined weakly, but didn't really protest. I didn't want to get up, either. "Why do we have to get up?" he asked into the pillow.

I sighed. "It's a farm. And there's work to be done," I grumbled bitterly.

"What does that have to do with me?"

"You're here, you work."

He groaned. "But I don't like working."

I sighed and pulled away, sitting up. "You did it for eighteen years, another day won't kill you."

"Ugh…" he wined.

I climbed off the bed and grabbed my old work clothes from my closet. "I'm gonna go take a shower. You get dressed and head downstairs, and my brothers will tell you what to do."

I leaned over the bed, kissing his cheek, and walked out, closing the door and hearing his muffled complaint through it. I laughed to myself and made my way to the shower. Once I finished I went back to my room for my boots, rolling my eyes at Lucas still sitting there, half dressed and pouting. I crossed my arms and gave him a look.

"Why are you still here?"

"I don't wanna woooorrk," he whined.

I sat down to pull my boots on, smacking him upside the head in the process. "Well you have to. So put on your shirt and shoes and haul yer butt downstairs."

"Wiiilllll…"

"Now."

"Baaaabyyyyyyy…"

"Now!"

"Fine…" He pouted out his lower lip, but pulled his shirt over his head anyway.

I looked around the room to make sure I wasn't missing anything and smiled when my eyes landed on an old black cowboy hat in the top of my closet. I jumped up and grabbed it, dropping it onto Lucas's head as he pulled his shoes on. He looked up at me, unamused, and I grinned. "You look sexy," I mumbled and leaned down to kiss him, distracting him. Just when he was getting into it I pulled away and smirked. "Now put your shoes on and come downstairs." I turned and left the room before he could say anything.

I poked my head into the kitchen and Mom was already there, two batches of pancakes finished and cracking eggs into a skillet. I pursed my lips and looked tentatively back up the stairs. This may not go well. I pulled out another skillet to start frying bacon, and hesitantly broached a conversation.

"Morning…"

"Morning," she replied curtly, not looking up from the stove. I bit my lip, unsure whether I should just outright speak my mind or build up to it. "I know that face. Who're you worryin' about this time?"

I jumped and looked up, meeting my mother's coaxing eyes. "Uh… You, actually."

"Me? Why the hell would you be worrying about me?"

I sighed. "Well, when Nana died you-"

She cut me off. "Now, Mina Grace, don't you be worryin' 'bout me. I'm fi-"

I returned the favor. "Now, Teresa Leanne, don't you lie to me."

We stared each other down, both our stances and expressions identical. Eventually she broke first, turning back to the skillet of scrambled eggs. "I've called my doctor a few times, and I've been using the techniques he taught me last time. I'm okay. Honest. It hurts, but I'm okay."

I stared at her for a long moment before smiling in relief. "Okay," I said softly.

"Now lets get this done. We have hungry men to feed."

The stampede of muddy farm boots thumping up the back porch steps was the only warning we got before my brothers came in. Lucas came down the stairs and quickly grabbed a seat at the table as my mother and I transferred over the food, the last dish being the eggs. I knew the moment he caught the scent because he paled considerably. His eyes flashed around the table frantically before landing on the offending pile of food.

He shot up from the table, knocking his chair back in the process, and ran toward the front door, probably wanting to be as far from the kitchen as possible. His exit was followed by an awkward moment of silence, in which everyone stared after him before turning to me curiously. I fidgeted in my chair for a second.

"Umm…" I timidly looked around at everyone, hiding behind my hair. "He…uh…he doesn't…like…eggs…" I trailed off, realizing how stupid an explanation that was, even if it was the truth. "I'll go check on him."

I jumped out of my chair, catching it before it could fall, too, and quickly walked after Lucas, feeling the eyes of my family on the back the whole way. I stepped out onto the front porch to find him leaning over the rail, gagging and dry heaving. I slowly came up behind him, so as not to startle him, and rubbed his back gently.

"Are you okay?" I asked hesitantly. He looked up at me with the most miserable expression I'd ever seen and I suddenly felt really bad that I'd let Mom make the eggs.

"Do I look okay to you?" he rasped and I realized he had probably actually thrown up before I came out. I pulled my hat off his head and stroked his hair back off his forehead, trying to sooth him.

"I'm sorry. I should've said something. I didn't know how bad it was."

"I told you I don't like eggs."

"Well… All you really said was 'Eggs are gross.' You never elaborated."

I shrugged and he sighed, standing up and practically flopping onto the wooden porch swing. I winched at the groan the aged wood gave at taking his weight so suddenly, but he didn't seem to notice. I carefully sat down beside him and took his hand in mine, playing idly with his fingers.

"Do I still have to work?"

I looked up at him and laughed softly. "I'm afraid so. Buuut you can help me muck stalls instead of baling hay with my brothers. It'll save them picking on you."

His head lolled back, and he groaned in complaint. "I like the stables about as much as I like eggs."

I laughed lightly and rolled my eyes, grinning and leaning close to his ear. "Really? Because I thought you liked the stables," I whispered, letting my hand graze his upper thigh. He growled low in his throat, snaking his arm around my waist and pulling me closer, and I laughed again, pulling away instead. "Seeing as you're okay now, I'll go see if there's anything left to eat and bring you a plate."

"Hold the eggs!" He called after me as I slipped back into the house, and I giggled to myself.

I got back to the kitchen and sighed at the scraps left on the table. Even my plate was empty. I looked toward the stairs and frowned. I'll have to make breakfast again when Jen and the kids get up. I managed to gather a few pieces of bacon onto a plate and took it back out to Lucas. "This is all that's left. Unless you want some half eaten pancakes…"

"Did you make them?"

"No, Mom did."

"Then no, this is good."

I snickered and joined him on the swing, leaning back and rocking it gently with my feet. I watched silently as he nibbled at the cold bacon. I wondered for a moment why he didn't like eggs. He never said. There was a lot he never said, actually. For everything he'd told and shown me, there was even more he hadn't. He was one hundred and forty, for Christ's sake! Granted, I'm only nineteen and there's still a lot he doesn't know about me either. But there's so much more on his end…

"What?"

I jumped, not having realized that I had been staring for probably five minutes. "Oh, uh… I was wondering why you don't like eggs."

"Oh. When I was five or six we had a bunch of chicks hatch, there'd been a dozen but only about ten made it. The next day at breakfast I watched my mom cracking eggs and was horrified that she was killing baby chicks. Now I know that it depends on the eggs being fertilized and everything, but by the time I figured that out I couldn't stand the taste or smell."

I nodded at his story, smiling at the thought of a tiny, grief stricken Lucas. He wrapped his arm around me, setting the empty plate aside, and pulled me against him, and I rested my head against his shoulder. We had just settled into the comfortable silence, swaying gently on the swing, when Jen came rushing out the door in rumpled hospital scrubs, hastily trying to tie her hair up into a pony tail.

"Willa, can you watch the kids? I just got called in and I have to…" I couldn't hear the rest of what she said as she ran to her car toward the end of the driveway. I looked at Lucas and shrugged, listening as she started, or attempted to start, her car. We watched as she climbed out, spouting a long string of expletives, and kicked the front driver's side tire. She came rushing back toward the house and I popped back in the door to grab Sara's keys from the wall.

"Here. You can take Sa-…my car."

She looked at me for a second as if she hadn't understood me, but then wrapped me in a hug. "Thanks Will! You're a life saver."

"And I can take a look at that while you're gone, see what's wrong. Sounded like the starter," Lucas chimed in from beside me, nodding his head toward the end of the driveway.

She looked up at him and smiled, releasing me to hug him, too. "Thank you. If you need any money for parts or anything just ask Charlie and he'll take care of it." With that she ran off to head into work.

I smiled up at Lucas and kissed his cheek. "Thank you for that."

"Well, how else was I gonna get out of farm work? I'd rather work on a car any day."

I rolled my eyes and smacked his shoulder with a sigh. "Any tools you should need are in the barn. There's a sort of shed-closet thing just inside the door where Dad keeps them all. I've gotta go inside and clean up for round two."

"Round two?"

"The kids." He shuddered exaggeratedly and I smacked him again as I headed back into the house.

Lucas

Getting under the hood of a minivan was a bit more difficult that my Mustang. Everything was arranged differently and it was harder to get into the back where the starter was located. I could've tried going under it, but there was only one jack, which didn't help much. You'd think that they'd have ramps somewhere. It is a farm, for cripe's sake. Then again, I probably couldn't use them if the car didn't start.

I did finally manage to get the starter out and, rather than go buy a new one, I just rebuilt it, cleaning out the gunk and replacing the cracked washer with a spare from the toolbox. The break let air in that wouldn't let it turn over. Then I hauled myself up so I could reach back to put it back in.

"Hey, Luke!"

I jumped, dropping the part and slamming my head on the hood, and slid down to the ground. "Fuck!" I rubbed at my crown and turned to glare at Will's eldest brother, Charlie. "What?" I growled. "And don't call me that."

He crossed his arms haughtily and glared right back. "I think we need to have a little chat."

"About what? Have I emasculated you by fixing your wife's car?"

"About Will."

"What about her?"

"Listen. Willa's my baby sister, my only sister, and I don't like to see her hurt. The last asshole who hurt her got his ass kicked by all four of us. I can see how serious she is about you, and if you break her heart, I swear you won't live long enough for my brothers to touch you."

His entire manner as he threatened me spoke danger, but I couldn't help chuckling a little. I shook my head and laid my hand on his shoulder. If looks could kill, I'd have dropped dead, but thankfully they couldn't.

"You don't have anything to worry about. I would never do anything to hurt Will."

Charlie's eyes turned from where he was glaring at my hand to glare at me directly. "What do you mean?"

"Charlie, Will and I are soulmates."

Anger flashed across his face, but he quickly hid it, crossing his arms and looking at me skeptically. "Just what are you, kid?"

I shrugged and tried my best to play it off. "What do you mean?"

"Listen. My fiancée, son, and two step children are witches, and I know Willa sure as hell ain't anything, so what are you? I'm sure it's nothin' I can't handle," he countered, his jaw set in a hard line and his eyes hard.

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "I'm a vampire."

Charlie's eyes narrowed and he took a step forward, backing me into the grill of the van and scaring the hell out of me. Human or not, he suddenly intimidated the hell out of me. That man would do anything for his sister. He probably knew how to kill me and I didn't doubt he would. "No. There is no way in hell I am gonna let your immortal leechy ass lead her on when there's no way you can stay together, soulmates or not."

I winced, but had to disagree. "Charlie, I know what it's like to be protective of your little sister, but trust me when I say that I love Will and I will do anything in my power to keep her happy. You can-"

"Hey guys, lunch is ready."

I quickly looked over toward Will standing at the edge of the porch, her hands tucked into her back pockets and her head tipped to the side as she observed our position. I'd taken a step toward Charlie in what would be best described as an assertion of dominance. I immediately jumped back and looked at my watch. I guess time flies… It was already past twelve thirty. And as if it knew what was going on, my stomach growled loudly.

"Sounds great." I leapt up the three short stairs, hooking my arm around her waist to lead her back into the house, glancing back at Charlie over my shoulder.

"I'm so not done with you, kid," he grumbled under his breath before grudgingly following us in. As soon as we got in the door she shoved me away.

"You smell. And you're all greasy. Go take a bath."

"But lunch…"

"I'll save you some."

"But I'm not done."

"Then you can shower again later. With me."

I rolled my eyes, but couldn't help smiling. "Okay." I turned to walk away, but quickly spun back, pulling her tight against me and kissing her. Even as she kissed me back she shoved at my sweat soaked chest, and I laughed as I let go and ran up the stairs.

I showered quickly and was practically starving when I came back down the stairs. I went into the kitchen, but Will wasn't there and neither was my lunch. I poked my head back into the living room and she was standing near the window, swaying slightly.

"What are you doing?" I asked, coming up behind her. She jumped and turned toward me, and I saw she was rocking the baby, which she had nearly dropped when I scared her.

"Shh…" she whispered and shifted him into her arms more securely.

We were both quiet for a moment, staring down at the sleeping little boy. For the first time in my life I truly regretted not being able to have children. Sure, I felt bad when Will first realized, but at that point I didn't want them. Now my promises weren't so empty. Maybe we would adopt. I would give anything to have moments like this with her.

"Hey Will, we're gonna head back out," Charlie said, coming back inside. "You need to come out with the kids."

"Okay. Let me take Tommy upstairs." She turned back to me. "Wanna go with me to take him upstairs?" I smiled and nodded, following her up the stairs and to one of the bedrooms. She laid the baby in the portable-crib-play-pin-thingy and covered him with a blanket. She watching him sleep for another moment and I wrapped my arms around her waist and nuzzled her hair. She seemed to pick up on my mood.

"What's the matter?"

For a moment I considered not telling her, but saw no reason not to. "It used to seem so okay to not be able to have kids, but now not so much."

"We'll figure something out."

"That we will." I pressed a kiss to the top of her head and someone cleared their throat at the door behind us.

"You're birthday's comin' up, ain't it Willa?" Charlie asked as we turned around.

I was confused by his question, but apparently she understood. "Yeah, it is."

"Have you decided what you're gonna do?"

"I'm considering a vacation after the show ends."

I looked back and forth between the two of them. They both looked extremely serious and seemed to be having a conversation other than what was being said. After a moment of staring each other down Charlie looked to me.

"I meant what I said." With that he turned and left.

"What did he say?" Will asked, looking up at me, concerned. I looked away for a second, knowing that if I said anything someone was going to get in trouble. "Lucas?" I just hoped it wasn't me.

"He said if I ever hurt you he'd basically kill me, then I told him we're soulmates and what I am and he called me a leech." I winced and avoided making eye contact, knowing she was angry by the way she tensed in my arms.

"Charlie…" she growled menacingly. She pulled away from me and stormed toward the door, but I caught her before she got to the hall.

"Don't. He's just trying to protect you. I know how it feels to be protective of your sister. It's okay."

"No, it's not okay. He had no right to say those things to you. I'm a big girl; I can take care of myself."

"Yes, you are a big girl, but you're still his little sister, and no matter what, he'll always feel this way."

"But still…"

"But nothing. There was no harm done. I'm actually kinda glad he's the big brother I never really was. At least openly, anyway."

Her face softened and she leaned against me, wrapping her arms around my waist. "You really miss her."

"And there's no way I can change the way I acted. But I can try to make up for it, with you and any children we may raise." I pressed my forehead to hers and closed my eyes.

"I love you," she sighed softly.

"I love you, too." I kissed her lightly and pulled away. "Now go babysit while I put your sister's car back together."

"But lunch-"

"I'll eat after. It won't take long."

"Okay."

We slowly made our way down the stairs and reluctantly went our separate ways at the bottom. Just before I opened the door, though, I heard her scream, "Charles Michael Carter Junior!" I laughed quietly to myself as I headed out to the car again.

I was right, it didn't take long. Five minutes and a few screws and wires later the van was running better that it had before. I went back in and washed up for a second time, then found my bowl of lunch in the fridge. It was that cheesy beef noodle stuff Will liked to make at home. "Easy to make and convenient to reheat," she had said. I didn't mind, it tasted just as good as anything she made from scratch, which was rare. I warmed it up and made my way to the back porch to watch Will play with the kids.

As I watched them run around the yard laughing and smiling, even though I knew it wasn't my fault, I felt like such an ass for not being able to give her kids. She seemed so happy. And these were only her nieces and nephew! She would flourish with her own children. I leaned against the railing, my lunch long forgotten, and tried to think of some way to make up for unintentionally ruining her.

Time seemed to pass without actually passing and without my noticing twilight descended on the yard. It was when her brothers arrived asking for dinner that I realized just how late it had gotten. And apparently time had slipped away from Will, too.

"Oh, crap! I'll go see what I can throw together."

I watched amused as she ran toward the porch to get to the kitchen, but was effectively silenced when she grabbed my hand on the way and drug me inside with her.

"What the hell?"

"I need help. With an extra set of hands it'll go faster."

"But I can't cook!"

"Don't worry. I'll be here the whole time."

She ran between the fridge and the cabinets like crazy pulling out noodles and cream and chicken and spices. At least I think the jars from the cabinet were spice. I stood in the middle of the kitchen watching her rush around, putting pots and pans on the stove and mixing god knows what. Without warning she shoved me toward the stove and handed me a fork.

"Here. Watch the chicken. I've gotta go get Tommy upstairs."

I watched her run up the stairs to where the baby had apparently woken up and then stared apprehensively at the pan of cooking chicken. I tentatively sniffed at it, remembering something from a cooking show about "your nose knows" or something. I leaned against the counter and glanced between all the pots on the stove. In the back was boiling water that I assumed had the noodles in it, since they weren't on the counter anymore, and beside the chicken was a pot of cheesy sauce stuff. It smelled familiar and reminded me of something she'd made at home. Alf…afro-doo…something like that. I looked back toward the stairs waiting for her and I could swear it was no more than ten seconds before black smoke started billowing off the pan of chicken.

"Shit, shit, shit!"

I lifted it from the burner, trying to get it away from the heat, but that somehow only caused it to burst into flames. I dropped the pan into the sink and turned on the faucet. The flames went out and the kitchen filled with smoke, choking my already overloaded senses. I rushed out the back door just as I heard Will scream.

"What the hell did you do?"

She came out the door behind me, the baby on her hip with his head tucked against her to protect him from the smoke. She immediately started swatting at my shoulder with her free hand, which I tried to get away from, but she only chased me into the yard.

"I told you I can't cook!"

"I was only gone for two minutes!"

"Well maybe you shouldn't have left at all!"

She stopped chasing me when her mother came running around the side of the house in a panic, having just come home from the store to find the house full of smoke. Will just glared at me and I shook my head.

"I can't cook, Mrs. Carter," I admitted regretfully.

"What do you mean?" she asked, taking the baby from Will to check him over and freeing her up to smack me some more.

"Will left me alone in the kitchen and I accidentally set the pan of chicken on fire."

"Oh goodness! Did anyone get hurt? Are the children okay?"

"Everyone's fine, Mom," one of her brothers answered from where they and the kids had gathered around to see what'd happened. "But it looks like we've lost dinner."

Will sighed and rolled her eyes. "I'll just call for pizza or something…"

She trudged slowly toward the house like she'd just failed a test or something and I felt like even more of an ass for ruining her dinner. Could this day get any worse? I followed her in, opening the windows and turning on a fan to try and clear the smoke while she called the pizza place. When she finished, she leaned heavily against the wall and I wrapped her in my arms in an attempt to make amends. She pushed against me weakly, but then just went limp in my embrace.

"I'm sorry I ruined your dinner," I whispered into her hair. "I was just trying to do what you asked. I have no idea how it managed to catch on fire."

She shook her head and sniffled, and I realized she was crying. "It's not your fault. I should've known better."

I pulled her out of my chest, holding her at arm's length. "Baby, what's wrong?"

She wiped her eyes and sniffled again. "It's all ruined." She waved her hand toward the stove, which she'd turned off when she came in. "I always make dinner but now it's ruined and I can't fix it because there's no more chicken…"

I pulled her back against me and smoothed her hair. "Shh. It's okay. It's my fault dinner's ruined. No one blames you. You're just stressed; it's been a long week." I pulled her back again and lifted her chin so she'd look at me. "Listen. Tomorrow we'll go home and you can rest before the show starts, okay? Everything'll get better, I promise."

We sat at the kitchen table and I held her while she calmed down and we waited for the pizza. Unfortunately when the pizza did arrive, it was one of her brothers that answered the door and by the time they thought to tell us it had come, two of the four she'd ordered had already been demolished.

I piled four pieces onto my paper plate, making her look at me funny. "What? I wanna make sure I get full. There may not be more by the time I finish two."

"Good point, good point…" She shrugged and grabbed her own two slices before retreating to the kitchen. We ate in silence, listening to the chatter from the other room, and she got up without a word to go get another piece.

"Hey! Give me that!" I turned toward the kitchen door and saw Will come running in with the last piece of pizza with her younger brother chasing after her. "Give it!"

"No! It's the last piece." I ducked my head, trying no to get hit as they ran circles around the table.

"Give it to me, Will." I watched as she picked up the pizza and licked it from tip to crust. "You bitch." I laughed as he stormed back into the living room and she plopped back into the chair beside me with a sigh.

"I'm not even gonna ask." I shook my head.

"He wanted my pizza. Fuck no."

I chuckled, but she only sighed again. "What's wrong now?"

She shrugged, staring blankly across the kitchen. "What you said, I guess. Stress. I'm just ready to get home and back into a routine."

I pulled her against my side and rubbed her shoulder for a minute before figuring out a way to maybe cheer her up. "You know, I bet I know a way to help relieve some of that stress."

She pulled back to look at me and I smirked suggestively. I stood up and grabbed her hand, pulling her out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

"Where are they goin'?" I heard one of her brothers ask as we moved past the living room.

"Dessert," the other three chorused.

A/N2: Please review! I need you guys to motivate me to keep going. I will not abandon this, escecially since we've hit the one year mark (Really. We have. Isn't that crazy?), it just tends to take me a while. Is it obvious my life's lacking balance? Plus the next chapter's full o' crazy that may very well be hard to wrtite. Anyway, Will's thoughts on babys and her rant at Charlie are available as a side shot if enough of you review and ask nice. So review! Go, go, GO!