A/N: One quick note, I miss spelled Poisonchik88's pen name. That is the correct spelling... I think. Alright kiddies enjoy chapter two. Then as always remember my e-mail box is always open, send me any questions, comments, or suggestions. R&R
Chapter Two
A day and a couple hours of non stop talking and driving later, Athena told Sam to turn right into the next driveway. They were on a back road in a pin prick of a town, about an hour or so drive north of the Ohio River. The town part had taken all of five minutes to get through and that was with the heavy holiday traffic. Athena had expertly lead him through the twists and turns of the country road that had been carved into the land by horse and buggies around the property lines, creeks, and out cropping of trees.
"Bitchy-Morton's home sweet home." She said. "Where life outside of here is never hell." Sam laughed and continued driving down the long gravel driveway. Before long he could see barns and a couple silos.
"This is where you grew up?" He asked.
"Pretty much. Moved here when I was 11 or so. Moved out when I turned 18. Of course Autumn stayed with me until then so we could get the hell away from The Bitch." She answered.
"How bad can she be?"
"You have no idea Sammy."
Autumn was leaned up on the dash looking off in the distance. The driveway must have been half mile long, all there was to see was a green pasture on one side and a plowed field on the other. When suddenly the barns popped into view Dean wondered why the Daemon girls hadn't been more at home in Kelsey.
"SHIT!" Autumn slammed her fists in to his dash.
"What?" he asked slamming on his breaks.
"I forgot to tell her I'd been shot." he cocked his eyebrow and looked at her like she was crazy.
"You forgot to tell the woman who raised you that you'd been shot?" Autumn reached into her pocket and started pushing buttons on her cell.
"Just stay put for a moment." the phone was pressed to her ear and she didn't say anything for a long moment. "Hey Mom, you must be out. We're pulling in the drive right now. I wanted you to get the dogs and kids out of the drive. My arms still in bad shape and Teenie isn't quite normal yet. Don't worry though I'll take care of it. See you after bit." she hung up her phone. "There." she said stuffing the thing back in her pocket.
"That was it?" he asked stunned that all she had to do to make her mistake better was a message on an answering machine.
"Are you joking, all I did was smooth the iceberg."
"You said you're arm was in bad shape and Athena wasn't quite right. How's that smoothing the iceberg? Won't she yell and complain that that's all you told her?"
"No I told her everything. She just don't remember it."
"What?"
"Look, all I have to say is I told her already and she must not remember it. And there what I said is reminding her. Even though she don't know. It's like a lie. Just go with it." Dean was still confused but figured he'd just go along with whatever Autumn and Athena said. He pressed the gas pedal hard to get to the end of the driveway to make sure Sam and Athena knew what was going on. He got down the driveway in just a matter of seconds and Sam and Athena were already talking to an older woman on the front porch. When she seen Autumn she made an angry face at her. She had her arm around Athena who was holding Sam's hand.
"If you got my brother in trouble I'm going to kill you." Dean said leaning over to Autumn and unhooking her seatbelt.
"Don't worry. I'm the biggest screw up known to man kind when she sees me it wouldn't matter if Sam had gotten every female he knew pregnant and left them, she'd forgive him and move on to my huge flaws." Autumn soothed swinging open the door. Dean followed suit a beat slower. "Hey Mamma!" Autumn called waving her good arm.
"You're late." the woman said looking past Athena and Sam.
"I know, we ran into a few complications a few days back, remember me telling you about that?" Autumn stayed so cool that Dean almost believed she was telling the truth. "Now don't make me do introductions when your cross at me." she gave her foster mother a smile Dean hadn't yet seen; it was a cross between her 'I didn't do it' grin and her 'I'm way too guilty for you to punish me' smirk.
"Who're your dates?" Autumn sighed.
"This is Dean, and Sam. I told you they were old friends from college."
"Okay. Well come on in you're going to have to help me set up." Athena shot her sister the 'you haven't told her yet' look. Autumn shrugged and walked up the few stairs onto the porch and into the house. Everywhere Sam and Dean looked there were antiques. It looked as if they sat down they would break something. They followed the girls into the kitchen and grabbed as many plates as they could hold and Autumn and Athena grabbed silverware. Dean watched Autumn's face of pain. He took the forks and knives from her and told her just to help cook. Autumn would have argued him and he knew it but her mother was watching. "Thanks Dean-o."
"No, problem, Autty." Sam and Athena exchanged faces of disgust at the nick names usage.
"What's wrong with you? You never cook." Mrs. Morton demanded.
"I told you last week Mom, I was shot." She opened the oven to take a look at the turkey.
"You are truly useless, girl." Mrs. Morton sighed. "Well, I guess you should just go upstairs and rest or something." the woman shook her head as if being shot was something Autumn had done on purpose.
"No, I'll go get our stuff out of the car. Where are my girls I brought presents?" Autumn asked.
"Martha called a few minutes ago, Billy had to go over to those fags house this morning that stupid heifer of theirs died and they want it buried now. So, she just got the girls back from the funeral. Your father is in my room. Don't you dare wake him either. Or I'll be using your head as a center piece." Autumn nodded.
"Yes, of course not." she headed out the door and was met by a very excited John. The dog was bouncing up and down wagging his tail, he'd obviously found his playmates for the next few days.
"At least one of us is going to have fun this weekend."
Autumn opened the cage and let the dogs out to run and play with John. Then she walked over to the mustang and pulled a couple duffel bags of clothes with her good arm. She knew if her and her sister weren't dressed like ladies or something similar they'd hear it for the rest of their lives. The rule was, they had to wear dresses or something that looked decent. And their dates had to wear suits. This was especially hard when they had taken the hitchhikers, but Mrs. Morton never knew. Autumn walked back in the house and upstairs to her old room. Mrs. Morton could never leave things the way they were. Autumn's room was once a light pink and had posters all around of guys she thought were cute, a couple bands, pictures of her and her sister and their friends. But now her room was maroon and had paintings of old houses and farms. The only room she ever had privacy in was now a guest room. She rolled her eyes and sat the duffel bags down right inside the room. She didn't even want to know where her pictures had gone or her posters or anything. Well anything except the one thing that had never been moved from her vanity.
On her vanity, since the day she'd turned eighteen, was a letter from her mother. A letter her biological mother had written just hours before dying. A letter that summed up all her hopes and dreams for her daughters. Autumn made a mental note to check on that later before bouncing back down the stairs to get another load of luggage. It took her six trips to get all of her and Athena's stuff to her room and all of Dean and Sam's stuff to Billy-Jack's room. She didn't take anything to Athena's room, she figured arrangements would be made later between the three of them. But neither of the three upstairs rooms looked as they had when she'd lived in the house. Well except Billy-Jack's bed, which still bore the marks a teenaged boy, and his over passionate girlfriend.
She padded down the steps one last time and ran right into the arms of her ex. He smiled the same mischievous grin.
"Hey, babe." He said.
"I'm busy. Leave me alone." She tried to get out of his grip but only ended up hurting her wound. She screamed in pain and within a couple of seconds Dean was right behind Billy-Jack.
"Excuse me what are you doing to her?" He asked.
"Back off twig." Billy-Jack said angrily, still holding Autumn tight against him.
"I'm sorry. I'll just go." Dean looked at Autumn's face. There were tears swelling up in her eyes again. He started to walk off but came back and punched Billy-Jack right across his face. Billy-Jack fell to the ground holding his face. Dean walked over to him and kicked him a few times before lifting Autumn's shirt to look at her wound. He had made it bleed, but the stitches were still in and tight. He put her shirt back down and squatted down next to Billy-Jack.
"I strongly suggest you don't try anything you stupid piece of shit." He stood up and walked over to Autumn and they walked off.
"You didn't have to do that." Autumn said. She wasn't sure if she was supposed to thank him or beat the shit out of him.
"It didn't look like you could do much about it." Dean said. The pair walked out on the front porch and sat on the swing.
"Look, I really appreciate it but," she paused and looked around. She took in every sight, sound, and smell letting memories of her youth swallow her up and finally spitting her back out to look at Dean. "He's an ass. My relationship with him was mostly self-destructive. I was in a place where I loved anything that hurt. It didn't matter how it hurt just as long as I hurt. He hurt me. Billy-Jack was very protective, and still thinks I'm his." Dean's eyes softened as he watched her. He didn't know if it was talking about him or the run in that caused her to fidget, but she wasn't comfortable at all.
"Then we'll just have to break him of that won't we?" Autumn smiled and leaned forward to kiss Dean's cheek, but before her lips made contact with his cheek they were tackled by three little blond four year old girls.
"Aunty Autty!" they screamed.
"My little angels!" Autumn managed to sweep all three into a great big bear hug and Dean slid off the swing and took a few steps back. "How are my girls? Have you been good? Taking good care of Mommy, and Daddy? What about that little bundle of joy, Nick?" The girls nodded their head causing curls to bounce all over in a fury like a golden tornado.
"So, still sneaking out of the house to kiss boys on the front porch?" Autumn and Dean were both shocked by this voice.
"Martha!" Autumn stood up and eased past the girls to hug a tall brunet woman, holding a baby. "It's so good to see you." she squeezed the woman tighter than Dean thought she could, but this reunion probably meant more than he thought it meant.
"You too. So whose Mr. Yummy here?" she asked nodding toward Dean. Autumn took the baby in one arm tickling it with the other.
"This is my colleague, Dean." The woman swept down on him and hugged him.
"She's told me so much about you, and your father. I'm glad to see you two made it out of that nasty wreck in one piece. You're brother with you?" Dean nodded.
"Yea, Sam's inside." Martha squealed like a school girl.
"You have to show him to me!" she told Autumn going to tug her forward but when she saw Autumn wince she paused. "What happened?" Autumn laughed.
"I was shot, nothing major I'll give you all the details after bit." reluctantly Martha took back her son.
"Come on girls, Aunt Athena's inside." The girls shot through the front door screaming. Martha went in calling after the girls to not run in the house.
"Who was that?"
"That's Billy-Jack's poor wife. She and I were best friends growing up. Not long after I left she and him went to a party and she got really hammered. Nine months later she had the triplet girls, six months before that she married Billy-Jack. It was a nice shot gun wedding."
"Uh huh. Well should we go back inside to save Sam?"
"Yeah I guess so." She walked back inside and followed the sound of Martha's voice which led into the Dining room. Athena was squatted down with her arms around the three girls. They were all watching Sam and Martha.
"No, I'm not married." he said. He was clearly scared of the woman although no one really knew why.
"Are you sure? You look so familiar." She pressed.
"I'm positive. No kids, no wife. No nothing. Not a girlfriend. Nothing."
"Oh! I thought Athena was your girlfriend." Athena blushed.
"Uh, Martha…" Athena began. "Sam and I were just setting the table. Could you help me find the tablecloth and we can tear it all down and start over? You know how The Bitch likes everything to be perfect." Luckily Mrs. Morton wasn't around to hear her new nickname. The two girls walked off to the basement to begin their search after Martha had handed Baby Nick to Sam. Autumn looked at Dean who gave her a nod.
"You'll be okay with the girls and the baby?" she asked. Dean nodded again.
"We'll be fine, go." Autumn took of after the other two young women.
"So?" Martha asked locking the basement door behind them. "They're so yummy, why no hanky panky?"
"Because we don't want Mrs. Morton holding us at gun point to marry a man we don't love?" Athena asked. Martha waved her away and started digging through the nearest box marked HOLIDAY.
"Seriously, all you talk about, Autumn, is how great they are. I get a phone call at least once a week where you are totally crushed on these guys and I saw that look he gave you…" she gave off the same sigh she'd given off when she and Autumn had been in love with their Algebra teacher. It wasn't a sigh, more of a hybrid between sigh and a moan.
"Things are complicated." Autumn said opening a box marked TABLECLOTHES.
"They're always complicated." Martha agreed. "But complications are only minor set backs. Like speed bumps and pot holes on the road that is life." Athena looked at Autumn.
"If she starts quoting Frost or Seuss I'm out of here."
"You two are seriously no fun. So at least tell me how you got shot." Martha requested.
"Dean left a gun sitting by the door of this room where a racist, prejudice spirit was beating the hell out of Athena. I ran in, spirit got even more pissed because I'm more sinful in her eyes, what else is new, so she grabbed the gun and started jabbering on about how I was a disgrace to my skin and then she shot me just before Dean and Sam vanquished her. Not a whole lot to it." Martha raised her brow.
"No hard feelings toward Dean for leaving a gun lay?" Autumn shook her head.
"He was in a hurry to save my sister, he didn't know I was going to be there. I was supposed to be occupying the house's keeper. It was an honest accident." Athena finally found the right tablecloth but all three women sat on the stairs a few minutes longer before going upstairs.
"I see… so what about you, Teenie? Why haven't you made your move yet?" Athena started playing with the white lace on the tablecloth.
"I don't know. I guess I'm just not the kind of girl to make the first move. He has to do it. And Sam doesn't make moves often. It's like something that only happens every thousand years. And he has a long distance relationship with a girl named Sarah. They talk every now and then on the phone, he met up with her on a hunt they were on before we met at a bar." She said.
"They're both adorable. You know, it sucks I'm stuck with Billy-Jack and you two have got Sam and Dean. I'd trade either of you in a heart beat. Billy can be such an ass sometimes. He's not the greatest husband either. He only married me because he got me pregnant. I think he only had intentions on having a one night stand."
"Let's get this up there before there's a melt down or something." Autumn stood up and beat her way back up the stairs. She was quickly followed by the other two women.
Some how Dean and Sam and managed to get the girls to remove everything from the table and place it on the chair directly behind the set up. Athena just had to lay the table cloth down then the adults made their way around the table replacing the plates and silverware.
"Autumn, go upstairs and check yourself. You don't want that to bleed for too long." Dean told her. She shot him a quick look and he softened again. "Please?" she snorted.
"Anything for you, Dork. Besides I've got presents I have to go get." all four children knew this word and suddenly brightened a hundred watts.
"Do you need help or can you handle them?" again Autumn looked at Dean wearing him down. "I know, I'll back down."
"Make your move." Martha whispered to Athena as they put silverware on next to the last two plates.
"How? I don't do that kind of stuff." Athena whispered back. Sam cocked his eyebrow at the two whispering women, though he had no idea what they were talking about since he couldn't hear them. Athena walked off the other way to still look casual.
"Well, I've got to go change. I'll be back down in a few minutes." Athena walked to the stairs but ran up them.
"She's doing pretty good since we got here." Dean pointed out.
"Yeah it is kind of weird." Sam agreed.
"Girls, you stay here with Uncle Sam and Dean. Mommy's going to go potty and she'll be back." The lady walked to the stairs too but ran up them just as fast, if not faster than Athena had.
"Uncle Sam?" Sam asked.
"Uncle Dean?" Dean replied.
"Uncle Dean don't sound as cool. People actually know me. All over the US!"
"Shut up."
"Autty your sister is renarded." Martha said.
"I am not!" Athena argued. "I just don't do this kind of stuff." Athena began going through all the duffel bags looking for an outfit that wasn't dirty.
"You can't make a move on a guy."
"It's going to be weird, Martha. We hunt together, we do everything together. What if he says no. And what if we break up. And what about hunting? All that is going to be really awkward."
"True… but look at it this way. You're going to have someone that loves you around you. I mean someone that really loves you. Die for you in a second, love."
"That's it? I have that from Autty already. And I know Sam and Dean would kill for me. I'd do the same for them, we're really close." She pulled out a black mini skirt, a white shirt and a black jacket, then began digging in one of the side pockets for a pair of silver hoop earrings. She walked across the hall into the bathroom and a couple seconds later Martha stood outside the door still continuing their conversation.
"No that's not it… If anything that should make you even quicker to jump on this ship."
"Martha, back down three steps please. If it's meant to be it'll be." Athena said through the door.
"Autumn," Martha called walking off. "your sister needs help." A few minutes later Athena walked out of the bathroom. Her hair was put up half way and the tips of her hair were curled.
"I'm not the best at walking on heels so, sorry about that." Autumn went in the bathroom then and came back out a little later in a yellow skirt with brown crossing lines and a brown short sleeved sweater that hung off her shoulders. She'd let her hair hang lose except her bangs, that she usually allowed to hang framing her face, which were pulled back in a black barrette.
"So now we go downstairs and piss away time?" Athena asked.
"Can. Depends on how much is left to do." Autumn answered.
"Okay well take the suits out and lay them on the bed. Send the guys up here to get changed and by then we should be ready to eat. I can already hear all the relatives downstairs."
"Why do we have to lay their suits out? They need to be ironed and all that good rot." Autumn complained.
"Right, I'll leave you to do that. Iron should still be under the bathroom sink." Athena grabbed Martha's wrist and started dragging her back down stairs.
"I hate you!" Autumn called after her.
"Don't worry I still love you." Athena yelled back at her sister.