Chapter 17

I said that I could tell there were gonna be some serious problems coming between him and Sam from Dean's letters and Laura could make that easier on everyone. I also said it was the best thing for me to stay where I was cause Dean needed some one he could really talk to that wasn't involved in the situation he had them in. Dean would have too much on his plate adding Laura to the scenario without having to worry about the severely emotionally disturbed sister as well. I didn't want to put Dean in the middle of what would become a serious family feud between me and him. It wasn't fair to Dean.

Dad just laid there looking at me for a few minutes when I'd finished. I could tell he never thought about how much he really put on Dean. Then he asked me why it mattered to me so much how Dean handled things. I told him it was because no one else did and because Laura and I basically owed him our lives. Dean had saved us not only because of the letter he'd wrote teaching us how to pick locks, but because of his letters in general. We owed Dean everything and this was just my very small way of trying to pay him back.

Dad started to stare at the ceiling again. He was at a total loss of words. I was just proud of myself that for once I wasn't screaming at him. We sat there in silence for several more minutes. I was tired of the awkwardness of the situation, so I started to get up to leave when he turned and asked me to send Laura downstairs so he could talk to her.

I went upstairs and into the room I shared with my twin. She asked me if dad had left and I said no, that he was in the garden room and wanted to talk to her. She asked me why and I told her cause he was finally going to ask her to go home with him. She started to get excited, but then asked if I was going too. I told her no, I didn't wanna go. When she asked me why I just said because of Dean.

She looked at me for a second, but then I saw on her face that she'd understood. She said that she wasn't going with out me and I told her to stop being dumb. Sammy needed her. I was perfectly happy right where I was.. As long as she came to visit with dad and Dean once in awhile everything would be fine.

She stared at me for a second and then she went downstairs. I was hoping that she would go. It was the only thing she ever really wanted. Her being there would take so much off my big brother's shoulders. 30 minutes later, I heard the Impala drive away.

Laura came upstairs a few minutes later. She was holding Patrick. I couldn't believe my eyes. Last time I had saw that stuffed dog was when she had given it o dad for Sam. I never expected the dog to show up here in Laura's arms.

I asked her where Patrick had come from and she said dad had given it to her. She said dad told her that Sammy didn't need it anymore. After a few minutes of silence, I asked her what had happened with dad. All she would say is that she wasn't gonna leave me alone. No matter who wanted her to.

When the others came home from school, I just locked my self in my garage. Everyone thought I was working on the "74 Nova for Hannah, but I was really writing to Dean. I wanted him to know everything that had happened with dad that day. More importantly I wanted to know what he thought about it. I'd hoped we wasn't gonna be mad at me for passing up my chance to put our family back together.

Dad's original question kept coming back to haunt me while I was writing to my brother and for a couple days afterwards. I'd convinced myself that he didn't care about us. That he simply didn't want us, and that's why he left us. I'd even figured that the only reason he kept coming here was because Dean wanted to check on us, but he had showed up without Dean. He wasn't expecting Laura and me to be home.

The more I thought about it, the more I wondered what had really happened the night dad had left Laura and me in Lawrence. I knew he'd gotten into an argument with mom's family while Laura and I were packing. I wanted to know what they had said to him. I figured the only way I was gonna find that out was to do a little investigating of my own. After a few minutes I figured out how I was gonna do it.

I decided I was gonna go back to Lawrence. There was a college there and I could use that to find my answers. I ran into the house and found Laura still in our room. I told her all about my plan to go to school in Lawrence and track down mom's uncle. She loved the idea, but said we had to be careful. The state of Kansas was still looking for us after all.

We spent the rest of the night making our plans. We were gonna dye our hair a different color and were colored contacts so no one would recognize us. Now we just had to tell Caleb. That was gonna be the hard part. He was hoping we would stay close to home so we could help him train the others as well as finish our own training. Good thing we still had one more summer to get through before we had to tell him.