[I] Sorry it has been a while since the last chapter, slight writers block and busy at work. [/I]
As I was leaving the room I could feel eyes on the back of my head and I turned slowly to see Sam staring at me with concern in his eyes as though he knew what I had been thinking. We needed to talk about his abilities, but now was not the time as we needed to deal with the challenges at hand.
The days passed quickly with Will, Bobby, Dean and Sam researching the Winchester / Talbot family trees and what the links were to the prophesy. Whilst they were doing that I spent a lot of time with Aidan and Cole talking to them about what was going on and trying my best to keep them calm when the house was so full of stress. In order to stop myself going stir crazy, I convinced all the men in my life that it would be alright for me to take the twins out for a daily walk. That I could keep them safe and that they didn't need to escort me every time. I took this opportunity to spend an hour every day with the boys in their pram walking them around the block and getting some much needed fresh air. The last thing I wanted was to interrupt the research so I was using the tools that my grandpa and my uncle had taught me to strengthen and manage my powers. Finally I was able to tune into May 2nd to see what Sam had seen and if the changes we had made would affect the outcome of the confrontation with Lilith. So occasionally I would take the twins and we would drive out to Rock Creek Park to get some real fresh air and I would stand in the middle of the woods and let out an almighty scream, this allowed me to release all the tension that was gathering whilst the guys were working in the study and allowed me to manage my powers and the link that I had to the twins.
During Aidan and Cole's nap times I would take the opportunity to get away from the study and start focusing my powers, I wanted to see if I could tap into the residual of the twins powers especially Cole's telekinesis, I wanted to be able to move Lilith into the devils trap if needed. I was also taking the occasion to learn the exorcism ritual, as powerful as she was we needed to ensure that once she was in the trap we could exorcise her as quickly as possible. I had managed to tap into the residual of Cole's power and I had reached the point where I could move things around or hold them stationery in the room at will. I was busy practicing one day when I was brought back to reality by a yell and a thump and Will, Bobby and Dean running in from the study. They all looked at me and saw Sam sitting on the floor and asked what's going on. Sam looked at me and said "Nothing, I had come in to talk to Toni and see if we could run over some of the drills and tripped over one of the boys' toys." With that he turned around and showed Will, Bobby and Dean the soft toy I had been practicing with. They all shrugged their shoulders, looked at Sam as if to say 'What was all the fuss about then' what they actually said was "ok" and returned to the study. Sam turned to me with fear in eyes and said "We need to talk, you can't keep doing this."
I looked at Sam and said pleadingly "Doing what, Sam. What can't I keep doing? What I have been trained to do my whole life, keep my family safe. I need to do this Sam, I can't lose anymore members of my family I have lost too many already, the price is too high. This ends now, I am ending this now. When Lilith gets here she's not leaving this house, either way I'm taking her out. Hopefully I can do this the easy way and get to walk away but if necessary then you need to promise me that you will be here for Will and the boys."
Sam looked at me with sadness in his eyes and said with sorrow in his voice "Toni, you know I can't promise you that. You're not the only one who has lost too much. Dean and I have lost as much as you have. We lost our Mum, our Dad, I lost my girlfriend. We lost you for the best part of our lives. I know that we're not the twins' parents but they're our family too. What I will promise you is that Dean and I will always have your back, that Winchesters stick together and that no Winchester is dying on May 2nd. Do you think that maybe as the prophesy is about the twins, that it is the joining of their powers that would lead to Lilith's downfall and that is why she wants them dead. That with Will out of the way as well, there would be no chance for any more Winchester / Talbots. That maybe with the powers that you and I have we could link our powers together and everyone would live through this."
I looked at Sam and said "Ok, we can try this. We need to figure a way to get you out researching to practice as I know Will and he will never let me do this and I assume that Dean will react the same way about you taking on Lilith as well." Sam looked at me and said "No worries leave it to me. I'll get Dean to agree to me spending the time with you and not raise suspicion. I know that Dean loves you, if he knows that by my doing this that I am keeping you safe it won't be a problem. As far as Will is concerned that is all yours, I am not getting into the middle of a marriage, even for my favorite aunt." I looked at him, cuffed his shoulder and said "don't get cheeky with me; I'm your only aunt."
Sam volunteered to look after the twins that night giving Will and I the chance to go out and grab a meal and a coffee at one of our local restaurants. Whilst we were out, Sam sat Dean and Bobby down and explained what had been going on in the solarium earlier that day and what he had agreed to do. I found out later that Dean had clipped him as had Bobby and the twins had taken the chance to make their feelings known about the subject as well. Aidan had started crying at the exact moment that Dean had clipped Sam and then there was a very loud crash at the exact moment that Bobby had clipped him. The boys were getting stronger and more sensitive; their early years were going to be a lot of fun unless we could find a way to channel these powers. My powers hadn't shown until I was a teen, Will's hadn't appeared until he met me and I had found out that Sam's appeared around his 22nd birthday. When Will and I arrived home the house was back in the same order it had been when we left but the twins were happily sitting with the cousins in the living room listening to "Come around more Alabama, by Steve Carlson with Jensen Ackles providing vocals." Dean looked at me as I entered the room and mouthed really, I looked back and said "What they are great singers, the boys really appear to like it as a lullaby.." April 27th had drawn to a close and we were fast approaching L-Day as it had become known in the Talbot residence.
The next three days Sam and I spent the time in the solarium working on our plan and Dean and Bobby kept Will occupied and away in the study. The morning of May 2nd arrived and we were all apprehensive, Sam and I were confident that we had the fire power down and that we had the exorcism ritual memorized. So that no matter what Lilith threw at us and we were sure that she would throw things at us, both literally and figuratively we would be able to counter it. Whereas the previous days had seemed to pass so quickly, today was passing very slowly. I was anxious about this take place with the twins in the house, I really didn't want them to get hurt but I knew that we couldn't split up the family as this would make a greater target. We had researched all the protections against higher level demons and laid these around the nursery so I knew in my heart that we had protected them but I still couldn't help worrying, it's the mother in me.
