Chapter Eleven
Thank you so much for your ideas! It helped me come up with what I did! I really needed a John/Priestly scene and I found it! Enjoy!
"Guys!" Piper exclaimed as she burst through the front door of the grill. "Check it out! Check it out!"
"You get the pictures?" squealed Tish in excitement.
"What pictures?" asked Priestly through his mouthful of sub sandwich at one of the tables with his family on lunch break.
"Her first ultrasound," Jen told him.
Priestly's face lit up. "Ooh, gimme!" He set his sub down and eased out of the booth, hurrying over to the three girls grouped around the photos in Piper's hands.
"You wait your turn!" Tish told him.
"What?" said Priestly. "Why?"
"Girls get to look at baby pictures first," Jen told him.
"Says who?" said Priestly.
"Us," said Tish. "We have to carry them, so we get first dibs."
"So not fair," Priestly grumbled.
"You'd rather trade?" suggested Piper.
"No!" Priestly exclaimed, eyes wide.
"Then I rest my case," said Piper.
Priestly turned back to John and Sam, who were failing to hide their laughter. "Help a guy out here."
"Sorry, Dean," John told him. "Woman's prerogative."
"There she is!" Piper exclaimed, pointing at one of the pictures.
"She?" asked Jen with wide eyes.
Piper shrugged. "Well, he, she; it's too early to tell yet."
"Oh, but still so cute and tiny!" exclaimed Tish.
"I know!" squealed Piper.
"Aw, I want one!" said Jen.
"Me, too!" said Tish.
Priestly's eyes went wide, and he slowly looked over at John and Sam as the girls continued to fawn over the ultrasound photos. John and Sam burst into hushed laughter as Priestly looked back at Tish.
"Really?" Priestly asked nervously.
He was just figured out a way to propose! He wasn't ready for kids yet!
Tish looked up at him, smiling at the "deer in the headlights" look on his face. "Well, not now. But some day, yeah."
Priestly let out a relieved sigh.
Tish smiled coyly and walked up to him. "Don't worry, Priestly. I am nowhere near ready to be a mom. And neither are you." She chuckled.
Priestly rolled his eyes as he hugged her.
"Okay," said Jen, handing the photo over. "Your turn."
Priestly took the photo as John and Sam stepped over to see also. "Aw, Piper, it's got your…blur."
The girls burst into giggles as Trucker walked in.
"What's so funny?" he asked.
"Me, apparently," said Priestly. "Check out Piper: The Next Generation." He held the photo out to Trucker, who took it.
Trucker smiled down at the picture. "This is great, Piper. Congratulations."
"Thanks," said Piper, accepting the photo back. "So, tomorrow night, bachelorette party!" She turned to Jen. "Be at Tish's place by six. And bring your party face."
Jen rolled her eyes. "You guys…"
"Hey, no complaining," said Tish. "Every bride gets a bachelorette party." She looked up at Priestly as she stood with his arm around her shoulders. "And what are the plans looking like for the bachelor party?"
Priestly frowned at Tish like it was a stupid question. "You know I can't discuss bachelor plans in front of the wife-to-be." He gestured at Jen.
Tish rolled her eyes. "Okay, okay."
Priestly smiled and squeezed Tish close for a second. "You know I love you, babe."
"I know," said Tish, giving him a quick peck on the cheek before heading to clean some dishes.
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Priestly leaned back on the couch in the motel room after work that evening, planting his feet on the edge of the cushions and resting his elbows on his knees. He closed his eyes and let the images flood his mind:
John smiling as Priestly ran his hand over the initials carved into the Impala…
"Sam…" he smiled at Priestly. "My name is Sam. I'm your brother…"
Sam and John laughing in the sub shop…
John laughing as Priestly and Sam trained with the guns and Priestly kept kicking Sam's ass at it…
Sam bantering as Priestly sparred with him in the warehouse…
John placed a hand on Priestly's shoulder. "It's good to see you, son…"
Priestly frowned as he played through those images and more again and again, getting no results.
"You okay?"
Priestly opened his eyes and glanced over to see John at the bathroom doorway. "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry." He moved his gaze to the floor in front of him, getting lost in his thoughts again.
"What were you doing?" asked John.
Priestly hesitated before frowning up at him. "Trying to remember."
John stared at him for a moment, seemingly teetering between two emotions. "Anything?"
Priestly sighed, looking down at the floor. "No."
There was silence for a while as Priestly mulled over his predicament. No new memories had surfaced since his dream of the night this mother died. Everything had been starting to look up, but now…now he wasn't so sure. He was getting nowhere with the whole "getting my life back" thing.
"When we found out Mary was pregnant…" began John.
Priestly looked up at him, curious about where this was going.
"Your mother…" continued John, chuckling fondly as he stepped into the room and sat on the arm of the couch, "she went on a huge shopping spree."
Priestly smiled a little.
"Went straight to the store and bought a crib, baby carrier, high chair, stroller, toys…" John went on, the smile stretching across his face as the memories came back to him. "She went all out. It was like she'd been waiting for that day for years. I thought it was the happiest day of her life."
John looked over at Priestly, the smile directed at him lighting up his face. "But the day you were born…the smile on her face when she held you for the first time…" He sighed nostalgically. "You were her whole world."
Priestly smiled sheepishly down at the couch cushions.
"You still are," said John.
Priestly looked back up at him.
"Mine, too," John told him, "Whether you remember it or not, I'll always love you."
Priestly felt a swell of unexpected paternal love for this man as he smiled back at him. After a while, both men looked away from each other, having had their fill of the tender moment.
John awkwardly cleared his throat. "So…trying to remember…"
Priestly looked up at him.
"How?" asked John.
Priestly shrugged slightly. "You guys."
John frowned in confusion.
"Well, anytime I've remembered anything, it was triggered by stuff from my old life, from Dean," Priestly explained. "The Impala, when Sam grabbed me during our talk about hunting, the dream after you told me our life story…So, I've just been thinking about you guys and those few memories I have gotten. So far…nothing."
"Well, I got something that'll cheer you up," said John, standing as he dug into his back pocket for his wallet. Opening the wallet, he pulled a picture out and handed it to Priestly. Priestly eased his legs down as he leaned forward a little, holding the photo in front of him.
Priestly stared down at the family of four: John crouching over a young boy of three or four as Mary cradled an infant in her arms. But Priestly's attention was drawn to the toddler. He was wearing an AC/DC shirt with torn jeans, biker boots, what looked like a painted on lightning bolt tattoo, a big plastic pirate-looking earring, and a bright red Mohawk wig.
Priestly's eyes widened as a smile spread on his face. "Is that me?"
John nodded. "Halloween '83. I thought you'd appreciate that."
Priestly burst out laughing, brushing a hand over his blue Mohawk. "Don't need a wig this time, do I?"
"No, you don't," John laughed.
"Has Sam seen this?" Priestly asked.
"Has Sam seen what?"
Priestly and John looked up to see that Sam had snuck in with the takeout bags while they had been distracted.
"Dude, you gotta see this," Priestly told him, thrusting the photo in his direction.
Sam frowned, putting the bags on the table and walking over. Taking the photo, he stared at it all of two seconds before laughing.
"Oh, my God!" laughed Sam as John and Priestly joined in. He looked up at John. "Why haven't I seen this before?"
John shuffled awkwardly on his feet. "It brought back…memories."
Sam looked back down at the photo, realizing what it meant, and his face fell a little.
Priestly looked between the two of them. "Why do I get the feeling those aren't happy memories?"
John looked down at him. "Halloween '83…Two nights before Mary died."
Priestly looked over at the photo still clutching in Sam's hands with an all new light.
"I kept it 'cause it was the last night we spent as a family," said John. "I never showed it to you 'cause it reminded me of…that night." He smiled over at Priestly. "But now I have a whole new way to look at it."
Priestly held his hand out for the photo, and Sam handed it over.
Priestly stared at his four-year-old self in the picture, who was holding a hand up—thumb, forefinger and pinky extended—sticking his tongue out. "What was I supposed to be?"
"A punk rock groupie," said John.
Priestly laughed and handed the photo back to John, who put it back in his wallet. "Alright, let's eat! What do we got?"
Sam headed to the table and handed Priestly one of the bags. "Got you a double cheeseburger."
"Extra onions?" asked Priestly.
Sam gave him an annoyed smiled. "Extra onions."
"Sweet," said Priestly, pulling his food out as the three of them sat down at the table.
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Priestly pulled up to a stop in the small parking lot in Trucker's VW microbus. "Alright, you can open your eyes."
Jeff opened his eyes and glanced through the side window. He looked back at Priestly with a pointed smile. "Priestly, you told Jen you wouldn't have strippers at the party."
Priestly's eyes swept over the building to their right as he turned around towards Jeff. "No, I promised Jen I wouldn't bring strippers to the party. Didn't say nothing about bringing the party to the strippers." He smirked at him as he undid his seatbelt and hopped out of the van. "Come on, gang! Let's party!"
Sighing and chuckling, Jeff, Trucker, Noah, Sam, John and Jeff's brother Travis jumped out of the van and followed Priestly towards the strip club.
Hope you guys enjoyed the last angst-free chapter for a while. Next chapter starts the big action climax of the story!