Chapter 37

(Same day)

Riley shifted the blue pick-up truck into a different gear and smiled, missing her first car ever and glad to be controlling it again. Nick was asleep in the seat next to her and she smiled and shook her head at her boyfriend and how utterly adorable he looked while sleeping...but then of course, when didn't he look utterly adorable?

When they pulled up to a stop light she leaned across the seat and brushed the hair off of his forehead. He is gonna sweat himself sick with his hair long like it is. She thought absently. She sat back upright and slowly pressed on the gas pedal as she continued to drive towards her parent's house. Naturally, once they had gotten the truck back, they went to 'cruise the sonic' and grab a burger and fries there before taking off again.

She let her hand drop to the seat between them and continued driving. She felt a hand snake around and cup her own and squeeze it lightly. She stole a glance at Nick and saw that he was still sleeping and he had reached out for her hand in his daze. She smiled at that thought and placed a soft kiss on his hand as she continued to drive.

Nick's eyes slowly opened to come face to face with a glass window, overlooking a street and another large ranch style house. He furred his brows and sat up and stretched in the seat, then removed his seat belt and looked over at the red head sitting next to him. She was reclined against the seat, staring at the steering wheel. Nick reached over and brushed his fingers across her knuckles softly, jostling her from her trance of the ribbed steering wheel with leather cover.

She looked over at him and slowly smiled. "Hey sleepy head." She greeted.

"Hey you..." He looked around the neighborhood. "Is this it?"

"Nope...you looked cute sleeping so I pulled off before we got there and decided to let you sleep."

Nick looked around. "So...are we going to your house?"

"You mean back in Vegas? Sure." She replied only half joking and Nick scooted closer to her and grabbed her hand off the steering wheel.

"Ry..."

She sighed and rubbed her forehead tiredly.

"What's wrong...?"

"I just..." She sighed and shook her head. "If I go in there...I have to go to the funeral...which means she's really gone..." Riley pursed her lips and looked away while gulping back the tears, refusing for the umpteenth time to cry. "She can't be gone..."

"Riley," Nick turned and brought his knee up on the seat so that he could face her comfortably and talk. "I know it's hard...trust me, I just lost my Grams a year ago..." Riley looked over at him, tears brimming her insanely blue eyes and threatening to fall despite her best efforts.

"I didn't know about that..."

"That's cause I didn't tell you." Nick pointed out and Riley rolled her eyes slightly. "It's hard, and a lot of people are gonna tell you that. They're also gonna tell ya that you'll be alright, and everything will be alright, and they're in a better place...I don't have to drill that into your head cause I know it's already in there..." He squeezed her hand. "You know everything I'm gonna say...but I have no idea what's goin on inside you."

She sniffled and looked away.

"...Why won't you cry when anyone talks about it, or make a joke when someone sobers up?"

She sighed and looked down at her hands and began chipping the polish off her nails. She looked out her window and waited a while before finally speaking. "Aunt Dee was sick for a long time...a long time before...this..." She sighed and looked back down. "Before she, passed. And it was heartbreaking to watch her go through that. She was in pain constantly, couldn't move, couldn't speak...couldn't even breathe without feeling some kind of pain going through her. And she use to get so mad at us for crying for her...she always said that we'd all have time to mourn her after she was gone, but for the time being she wanted smiles...she was in enough of her own sadness, she didn't want us being sad for her too."

Nick began to piece together the puzzle. Riley didn't want to accept the fact that her Aunt was gone, so by keeping it all in, she'd still have the sense that she was here and not gone. "Baby, you know that you not crying isn't gonna bring her back..."

"I know." She said harshly and Nick nodded.

"Did you ever hear that Tim McGraw song, We Carry On?" She nodded. "You're gonna carry on baby...you can't put it off any more...I know it hurts, but trust me, you can't get on with the grieving process until you actually sit there and let it out. And I'm not sayin that you'll get over her and move on...cause I don't think that's true."

Riley looked over at him.

"I think, when you love someone, no matter what kind of love...if you loose it...you don't forget it. And you don't fill that place in your heart. I think that the hole is always there, and it never fully goes away...but as you get happier, you surround that hole with the memories of happier times with that person...and eventually...your heart grows. Like they say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, I think what doesn't destroy your heart, no matter how much you think it does, makes your heart grow. Because you can't fill in that hole in your heart, it's a part of you, it helps make you who you are, it just gets surrounded by happiness and joy instead of heartache and despair. You get stronger each time, and in the long run, you get happier...you never forget that person and stop loving them...you just learn to live without them."

Riley looked down and closed her eyes and felt a tear slip down her cheek. She let out a quiet sob and Nick reached over and pulled her to him and held her against his heart while stroking her hair.

For what seemed like forever, but was really only ten minutes later, Riley pulled away with red, puffy, eyes, and tears stained on her cheeks. She sniffled and tried to wipe away the mess the tears had left on her face as she shook her head, hating the feeling she got after she cried. She felt weak.

Nick grabbed her hands in his, and cupped her cheeks, hoping she could feel and see what he felt and saw... "Stop it Riley, you're beautiful."

She laughed briefly and softly and looked away while giving a small smile. "...You're like Mr. Fix-It today huh?" She asked and Nick smiled and shrugged.

"Only with you."

She smiled softly and stroked his hand with her thumb. "Thank you."

Nick broke out into an iceberg-melting smile and Riley felt her heart turn into mush. "Anytime Darlin'." He drawled.

Riley pulled the truck to a stop in front of her childhood house and sighed, then turned to Nick with a nervous smile. "You ready?"

Nick peered around her at the three story house and sighed. "...Um..."

She smirked and winked at him, making him grin. "C'mon Cowboy, I'll keep you safe." She held out her hand and Nick took it and held on tightly as he slid out of the driver's side of the truck, not willing to break contact with her. The two started up the gravel circular road where the truck was parked up to the house. The large, mahogany ranch style house grew bigger and bigger as they neared it, making Nick's courage grow smaller and smaller.

The front screen door swung open to reveal a large, 6'2, 220 pound man, with long gray hair and multiple tatoos on his arm...not to mention he was armed with a shot gun. With one hand, he jerked the gun upward and cocked it, then aimed it at the man holding the hand of his baby girl...

Nick promptly turned on his heel and headed back to the truck, leaving a stunned Riley in the front yard. She turned to see Nick quickly walking back to sit in the truck, and she jogged after him. "Nick!"

"He's got a gun..." Nick murmered to himself.

Alright, that's three times I've had a gun held in my face...what next? A box full of ants..?

Nick thought in terror and slid into the truck. "Nicky!" Riley called and opened the driver's door, and knelt down so that her hands were resting on his knee supportively. "Nick..."

"He aimed a gun at me..." Nick mumbled, in a horrified trance. Warrick had always joked with him that his third encounter with a gun wasn't gonna be as lucky as his first two, and Nick only laughed and nodded, praying he was wrong. "I don't like guns."

"Honey, relax. Daddy's only shot that gun a handful of times...and each guy he shot is still alive." She said honestly with a smile trying to look on the bright side. Nick dropped his jaw and looked at her in shock. She crinkled her nose and cringed. "Oooh...that didn't make you feel better did it?"

"Does he have a permit for that thing?"

"Hell no, you got a permit to ask such stupid questions!" Keith Turner called from the porch in a thick, husky Texan accented baritone voice. Nick gaped and shook his head.

"Nu uh, no...I can't handle guns Ry..." Nick said and Riley sighed. "I love you Honey...but he's got a gun..."

Riley looked over to see her mother come out onto the porch, roughly grab the gun and scold her husband for scaring Nick away.

"If the man can't handle guns Hope, he'll never make it in this family!" Keith shouted and Hope rolled her eyes and swatted her husband's arm.

"Shush up." She ordered and started off towards the truck. She quickly embraced her baby girl in a tight hug and kissed her temple. "Oh Bryn, I've missed you Baby Girl..."

Riley smiled and hugged her mother back. "I missed you too Mama."

"Now, you must be Nick." Hope smiled and stepped forward and extended her hand. "Hello, I'm Hope Turner. It's nice to meet you Nick."

Nick looked at Riley nervously and stuck his hand out to shake Riley's mother's hand. "Nice to meet you Ma'am." Nick greeted softly in a shaky voice. The pretty, hippie-like mother turned to her daughter and smiled approvingly before turning back to Nick.

"Now you just pay no mind to my husband...he's a little protective of his children..." She laughed and shook her head. "Why, I remember this one time, the mail man came and-"

"Mama! Uh...I don't think now's the time." Riley said, trying to be polite and subtle, only scaring Nick more. She shot Nick a sorry look and Hope cringed.

"Oh...I'm sorry son. Why don't you come into the house and you can meet the rest of the gang." The mother drawled in suggestion.

Nick looked at Riley and slowly climbed out of the car, relieved to see that Riley's dad was gone...but upset to see that he had taken the gun. Riley snatched Nick's hand and gave it a squeeze before winking at him supportively and leading him into the house that smelled of sugar cookies and maple. Nick took a look around the Southern/Hippy/Western décor of the house and let out a small smile despite his terror. If the décor had anything to say about the family...they'd be an interesting bunch, (which was a given).

"Who all is here?" Riley asked while turning to face her mother.

"Too many to count. I was thinkin of investin in name tags." Hope replied and Riley smirked.

"Where are they all?"

"The boys are in the backyard, the women are in the kitchen, and your father is in his den." Hope answered, shooting Riley a look at the last part. Riley nodded and then turned to smile at Nick.

"Since you're so much better with women why don't we introduce you to the girls first...?" Hope raised a brow at that comment and turned to look at Nick, who blushed and shot Riley a look. The red head merely smirked and pulled her boyfriend towards the kitchen. The entered to see several pregnant women and tons of pets lounging around. "Damn! Nothin ever changes around here!" Riley drawled loudly and all the women looked over and squealed. Nick and Riley were soon surrounded by women, all overly-hormonal and talking at the same time. Riley grimaced and covered her ears and shook her head. "Too many females at once!" She exclaimed and Nick laughed. He was right at home, having grown up with five sisters, and all the women he'd dated.

"Riley! Jesus are we glad to see you!" A man about Riley's height exclaimed, walking into the room and throwing her over his shoulder. "We're kidnappin her!" He exclaimed and took off running away from the hormonal women. Nick followed suit, afraid of being left alone without Riley. He found her in the backyard, still slung over the guy's shoulder, resting her elbow on his back and rolling her eyes as they welcomed her home.

"I need to go get Nick...he'll be passed around more than a football by ya'lls overly hormonal wives if he's left in there too long." Riley replied desperately, and smiled when she saw Nick at the door.

"Who's Nick?" Another man asked.

Riley wiggled out of her older brother's grasp and walked over to Nick. She led him to the herd of men in the backyard; each and every one of them had at least one beer in hand. "Guy's this is Nick Stokes. Nick, this is my oldest brother Russell," She pointed to the man who had slung her over his shoulder and the man raised his beer in a greeting. Nick smiled and nodded. "This is my second oldest brother Ryan, that's Logan, Ricky, Ronny, and you know Tom." Tom smiled and shook Nick's hand and Nick relaxed slightly, glad to see a familiar face besides only his girlfriend.

"Hey Nick, hope we haven't scared ya too much yet." Tom replied.

"From what I hear Keith took out the shot gun." A mystery man piped up. Riley shot him a look and swatted his arm.

"Shut up Moosey." She accented the nickname, causing the man to frown and punch her in the shoulder roughly. Nick winced and twitched, about ready to step forward, but Riley smirked and punched him back.

"I hate that damn nickname..." He mumbled and Riley laughed.

"I know, that's why I use it."

He rolled his eyes and punched her again, to which she caught his hand and pulled him into a quick hug. "Nick, this is my cousin Dennis."

Nick eyed the man slightly older than him and nodded. Though he was her cousin, he wasn't too thrilled about having some boxer-fit man punching Riley. Nick nodded politely and earned a smirk from Dennis, realizing he'd upset the newest guest in the Turner household by punching Riley.

Riley pointed to another man; he was rounder than the man before, but just as burley yet with soft brown eyes. "This is my other cousin from my Aunt Debbie, Will. And then his brother in law, Brian." Brian stepped forward and shook Nick's hand and Nick smiled and shook his hand back. "And this is Noah and Josh, they're Porsche's brothers." She informed Nick, who nodded, trying his hardest to keep everyone's names straight. "This is my Uncle Doc and Uncle Fred." She gestured to the two men, both with pot bellies and balding heads. Nick smiled and shook their hands and nodded politely.

"Nice to meet you sir."

"Oooh! Step back! We got ourselves a Good Ole' Boy!" A woman from the sidelines yelled. Riley laughed heartily and gave the woman a large hug. Terri walked with a slight limp and had naturally dark tan skin and an ear to ear smile and mischievous sense of humor. Her outspoken, Hell-will-care attitude and high tolerance for alcohol made her a blast at any social gathering...the Redneck kind anyway.

"Nick, this is my Aunt Terri." Riley grinned from ear to ear, making Nick happy to see her smiling for real.

"I'm her favorite Aunt too...but that's only cause I use to buy her beer and cigarettes 'fore she was legal." The true Redneck Woman replied and Nick laughed heartily and grinned ear to ear. "Ooh Child! Your boy's got a killer smile!" Terri exclaimed and nudged her niece in the ribs.

"Uh oh Riley, looks like you've got competition." Josh joked and everyone laughed except for Dennis.

"Alright, enough talk about my Mama's interest in men please." Dennis requested and everyone laughed harder.

"Is that everyone?" Riley asked.

"Everyone who's here now." Ricky answered.

"Alright...well we'll get to the rest later." Riley replied and looked towards the window of the kitchen and sighed. "I may need a beer before I go back in there." With that she reached for a Samuel Adams and tossed it to Nick before taking one fore herself.

About a half hour and three beers later Riley ventured into the house, in search of more beers because she, the other fourteen men, and her Aunt, had drunk both coolers. She went to the fridge in the large kitchen and tried to ignore the chatty pregnant women behind her. "What're you doin Bryn?" Hope asked and Riley sighed and stood up.

"Gettin more beers."

"There were two coolers out there!" Her mother exclaimed and Riley shot her an amused look.

"Mama, Terri and fourteen other men are out there..."

"How many have you had?"

"Three."

"That's enough for you. I don't want you drunk tonight."

"Bech'a Nicky does." Amber replied and Riley shot her a glare, knowing her mother wouldn't approve of that.

Hope sighed and shook her head, not wanting to think about her baby girl's sexual antics. "I won't get drunk Mama, I swear. I have a high tolerance for alcohol and liquor."

Her mother sighed again and Riley smiled deviously, knowing she'd ruffled her mother's feathers and got a kick out of it. "Well what'd ya expect Mama, she is a bartender." Paige pointed out.

"You know what they say about bar tenders..." Candice joked and Riley shot her a look.

"Not helpin." She whispered harshly, only making the other woman laugh and smile to see their family members squirm...it was all in good nature though.

"You know, she's a nurse too..." Victoria pointed out.

"You know what they say about nurses..." Brandy replied and Riley swatted her arm. "Hey! Take it easy, I'm with child." She joked and Riley chuckled despite herself. No matter how crazy or stupid her family acted, they always made her laugh.

"So when are we gonna meet the boyfriend Bryn...?" Cynthia asked.

"As soon as your lazy husbands and boyfriends get their asses out of their chairs and hold y'all back so I know you won't jump him."

Paige scoffed and rolled her eyes. "He's not that hot."

Just then, Nick came in while talking to Dennis and laughing at the other man's joke. Nick caught sight of Riley and felt a grin spread across his face merely at her presence. The grin wasn't lost on the other women, and they all felt themselves swooning and melting...not to mention drooling. Nick smiled wider as he saw Riley grin, although he wasn't sure why she was laughing, and he took a step towards her. Before he could get any farther a pregnant woman blocked his path. Brandy smiled and stuck her hand out.

"I'm Brandy, Brandy King." She greeted and Nick chuckled and shook her hand. She grinned at the contact as Dennis rolled his eyes behind Nick.

"I am here ya know." He said to his long time girlfriend.

"I know, you're the annoyin blob that's kinda hard to miss." She shot and all the woman laughed and 'ooh'd' at the comment.

"Burn!" Riley exclaimed and Dennis shot her a look and quickly went to punch her in the shoulder again. She punched him back before Hope stepped in.

"Calm down children...the actual children will be back any minute and we don't need to be settin wrestlin examples for them."

"Oh, you wanna see wrestlin Aunt Hope?" Dennis exclaimed playfully and slung Riley over his shoulder and ran into the living room. All the people from outside and the women from the kitchen ran to the living room to watch the boxing match go down.

"I said no boxing!" Hope exclaimed wearily, but sighed and threw her hands in the air in defeat, knowing they'd eventually quit the match before anything was broken...excluding bones of course. While these fights were all in good fun, they could get pretty rough, and all the men of the family, and Riley, were no stranger to broken bones, obscene bruises, and dozens of cuts and scrapes.

Dennis moved the table out of the way as he and Riley circle around and danced around the living room, getting themselves psyched for the 'fight'. Nick was cringing and internally praying for them to not wrestle. He knew Riley was tough, and had no doubt that she could take whatever they threw her way without them even going easy on her, but he wasn't exactly the biggest fan of watching her wrestle with a man twice her weight.

Suddenly Dennis tackled her to the floor as the two began to roll around and pin each other to the floor, exchanging friendly blows and punches to the arms, shoulders, legs, and the occasionally biting of the forearm, for which Riley was promptly tackled back down to the floor. Everyone cheered and chanted for Riley and Dennis and shouted demands of how to fight, only fueling the fire of play fighting. Nick cringed every time Riley received a blow and looked around for someone who they would listen to, to order them to stop.

Suddenly a deep, authoritive voice echoed throughout the room, interrupting the wrestling. Everyone stopped and turned to see Keith Turner raising his eyebrow. "Would y'all grow up and stop being dumbasses for about two minutes so your mother can finish dinner?"

"Yeah Mama, I'm hungry." A man about the same age as Riley's father but 6'4 and about thirty pounds heavier man said playfully.

"Uncle Larry!" Riley exclaimed and ran over to jump in the arms of her pseudo Uncle. He laughed heartily and gave her a bear hug.

"Hey Sugar! I missed you kiddo!" He greeted and she laughed and slid out of his grasp and shrugged.

"Work's been a bitch."

"Bryn." Her mother warned and Riley rolled her eyes and smiled.

"So you've been in Vegas...you couldn't call?" Larry accused and she gave him the infamous crooked smile that could get her out of anything...he laughed and hugged her again, forgiving her as everyone did and kissed the top of her head. "So where's the boy toy?" He asked and everyone pointed to Nick.

Nick felt incredibly small...kind of like a tooth pick compared to this guy...he could snap him in half like it was nobody's business. Larry gave a skeptical eye and stepped forward to intimidate Nick. It took everything Nick had not to shrink back from the man, and was taken off guard when the much older man laughed joyfully and embraced him in a hug. "Great to meet ya Buddy!" The Santa Clause like man replied cheerily and Riley had to laugh at the expression on Nick's face.

"Um...nice to meet you too Sir." Nick replied, taking a step back. He saw Riley's dad glare at him and raise his brow skeptically, and somehow, Nick didn't think that he'd be getting a bear hug from the man...

Tee hee...I just love scarin Nicky...it's my favorite pastime...well...(smirk) never mind...let's leave it at CSI is way too addicting for its own good...

Lol, yeah, y'all might say that this family is a little out there...but I'm tellin ya...I couldn't make this stuff up...oh, wait...(raises eyebrow)

Anyway, be nice little readers, and review...cause it makes me happy...(smiles at thought of reviews)

-Futuremisscsi60