A/N: Dedicated to EspoirDio, who seriously asked me when I was going to update again, I was surprised and honored. Also for negschainsaw, here comes that 'You ain't seen nothin' yet' I was talking about (;
I am in misery
There ain't nobody who can comfort me
Why won't you answer me?
The silence is slowly killing me
Boy you really got me bad, you really got me bad
Now I'm gonna get you back
"Wake up Miss Babcock, we're here." Derick said as he shook me. I opened my eyes quickly and looked up at him. He was facing me now, but he didn't look angry, he looked half excited. Shit, I was doomed.
"Where is here?" I asked.
"A small town outside of Arlington, Rutherford is the name I think. You can sit up now, and do me a favor, look happy, don't say a word unless spoken to, and whatever you do, don't piss me off." He said. I nodded again and sat up slowly. I heard my back pop and I had a pain shoot through my body.
"Son of a bitch." I murmured as I sat up straight.
"Watch the language by the way, Chris and Rick have two kids that are under the age of ten, so just chill alright?" He asked.
"Yes sir, you're the boss." I replied as I saluted him in a 'I don't give a damn' way.
"No sarcasm either, here, let me help you out." He pretty much just picked me up and set me down on the ground. I looked around and saw that we were in the parking lot of some service station, it looked as if it had seen better days. "These are for you, you look like something that just got the hell beat out of them and I don't want my older brother thinking I beat you up. Here." He handed my a folded up white shirt, underneath that was a pair of blue jeans and socks, he placed next on top of it all a pair of black cowboy boots.
"Don't you think I'll need a cowboy hat and Mr. Ed to complete this look?" I asked.
"Come on, I'll show you where you can change." He led me around to the back of the building where there was a bathhouse. I'd never seen one of those before, but whatever. I went inside and put on the clothes and I was shocked at how well they fit. I tucked the white shirt in the jeans and pulled the boots on, I saw my reflection in the mirror and I smiled, I looked just like a cowgirl, but I cringed when I saw how horrible my face and hair looked.
"Do you by any chance have any make-up and a hairbrush?" I asked.
"I brought your purse with me. It was on the ground outside the theater, you're actually lucky I found it." He said.
"Oh yeah, sure am." I muttered under her breath. When I walked out, his back was to me again, it was as if he was keeping watch or something. I saw that he had a gun at his side and my eyes grew wide. Realizing I'd held my breath, I let out a huge sigh which caused him to turn and look at me.
"You look beautiful Miss Babcock." He smiled and I sort of blushed.
"Tha-...wait a minute, I'm supposed to hate you, so knock it off." He laughed at me again.
"You really are feisty aren't you? You know what? I'm gonna call you Spunky from now on. It's a good nickname and right now you look the part." I felt like punching him then, but decided it was in my best interest not to.
"Fine, but this does not mean I like you." I said. He bowed and moved his head up to look at me.
"Yes your royal Spunky-ness, now let's go, Chris and Rick are expectin' us shortly." He straightened up and pulled her ahead of him, to make sure she wouldn't go anywhere. When they got back, I saw that he was driving a red Dodge Ram truck, like the one Bill Paxton's character drove in Twister.
"Nice truck. I love the movie Twister." I said. He nodded and smiled. He pointed at the passenger's seat as he did so.
"You can ride up there with me. And I like that movie to." He smiled and I smiled at him as well before I sat down in the passenger's seat.
When they'd begun to head toward their destination, I couldn't help but want to talk, but I tried to not act nice about it.
"Does your brother and sister in law know that you're a criminal?" I asked.
"Nope, they think I'm a police officer in New York City, Rick thought I was crazy, but you know, I always wanted to be one." He replied.
"I'm sure they would be oh so proud to know that you kill people for a living." I said.
"I'm sure they would be." He said sarcastically. "Spunky, why don't you tell me more about you, you wouldn't be too interested in my life. So come on, let's hear it." He said as he looked over at me briefly.
"My name is C.C. Babcock, I'm a producer. That about covers it." I said flatly.
"Oh come on, I knew those things, anythin' else I need to know?" He asked.
"Why do you want to know all these things? It's really none of your business." I said snidely.
"I'll have to explain somethings to Rick and Chris won't I? I mean after all, we're supposed to be best friends." Her eyes widened again and she stared at him.
"What? I am not your best friend, and I won't even pretend to be so!" She said.
"See this here Spunky?" He moved his shirt up a little and she saw the gun again. "I don't want to use this on you, but I will if I have to." He said. "Now you be a good lil' actress and just pretend. Sound like a fair plan?" He asked.
"Yes sir." I said. He handed me my purse and I took out the hairbrush and pulled out a scrunchie I had forgotten I'd put in there. Seeing as they were in Texas, I'd have to make myself appear to be a cowgirl. I pulled my hair back into a tight ponytail and when I was sure it looked straight, I took out a Kleenex, wet it with my tongue and then I proceeded to remove the almost absent smears and old make-up from my face. After it was all gone, I put on the foundation, eyeliner, and mascara. She was about to put on eyeshadow when he stopped me.
"You look fine just like that. Now hold on, this curve here is really annoying to get around. Never know when a cow will come out of the woods." He smirked and I frowned.
I grabbed hold of the armrest as he did a sharp turn down a dirt road and almost immediately, I began to get sick. I hadn't been on a dirt road in...ever, how did southerners handle this stuff? I felt as if at any moment, my head would slam into the window, but thankfully, it didn't. As we moved farther along down the road, a two story ranch house came into view and a huge red barn appeared as well. Stereotypical, but it was nice nonetheless.
"He's a rancher?" I asked as we pulled up into the yard.
"Hard to believe, but when ma and dad died, he got left pretty much all the money, but yes, he is a rancher as well as a farmer, most of their crops and beef are sold at the Piggly Wiggly in town." What the ever loving hell was a...Piggly Wiggly? He stopped the truck and put it in park. "Anything you wish to tell me, you better do it now, because here comes the cavalry." He pointed at the direction of the windshield and she saw a tall skinny man was headed towards us. He was almost the mirror image of Derick, only his hair was slightly graying and he was a lot skinnier than he, probably taller to. He was wiping his hands off on his jeans, that looked as if they had already seen better days.
"I'm thirty-four, never been married, hate most everyone, love horse riding, I'm afraid of the dark, my favorite color is black, and C.C. stands for Chastity Claire." I said quickly, I had to take a second to catch my breath and he laughed.
"All right Spunky." He smiled and he opened the door and I followed suit.
"Lookee who we got here! It's my Yankee brother Derick! How're you doin' brother?" His brother said as he threw his arms around him and hugged him. I watched as they pulled away, his older brother ruffled Derick's hair a bit and then smiled at him with a huge grin. He then looked my way and I gave him a small smile, I didn't know this man either. "And who might this pretty' thing be?" He asked.
"This would be Miss Chastity Claire Babcock, she's a friend of mine from New York." Derick lied, but it seemed realistic.
"Well it's very nice to meet you Miss Babcock." He leaned over the hood of the truck to shake my hand. We shook hands slowly, and I could definitely see the family resemblance, he had the same color eyes as Derick did, they looked kind, wonder if he was a liar too.
"Please, call me C.C., everyone does." I smiled, trying to hide the real terror that was lurking inside me.
"Alright C.C., let's go on into the house, it's starting to get hot out." He said and we all agreed. It really was hot, but that was no surprise for Texas, especially in May.
When they walked in through the back door, I was awestruck at how beautiful the house was. They were immediately in the kitchen when they came in. It was also stereotypical, with a few pots hanging from the ceiling, there was an island in the middle of it that had two high top chairs on either side, and a few figurines of roosters and cows were in different spots, a horse and a cowgirl were sitting on the windowsill above the sink, the cowgirl had blonde hair and a black horse stood by her side. I guessed this was some image of Chris, but like I said, that was just a guess.
The flooring was red hardwood, beautiful. Something I'd always wanted in my house, if I ever had one someday, but I'd probably just stick to my apartment...if I ever made it back that is, at this point it seemed somewhat likely, but I didn't trust people, especially this nutcase. The living room was a few feet from the kitchen. I saw a TV, fireplace, coffee table, which had school books on it, the kids Derick had been talking about had to be around there somewhere. There were two bookshelves that were near the front door...how odd that looked, the back door and front door so near one another, but whatever, back to the bookshelves, they were absolutely FULL of books. Rick saw me staring at them and out of the corner of my eye, I saw him nodding.
"Chris is an avid reader. She reads at least two to three books a week." My mouth hung open. Damn. She must have a lot of free time.
"Where is my favorite sister in law anyhow? She upstairs?" Derick asked.
"I don't know, lemme find out. CHRIS!" He shouted and I placed her hands over here ears. Wow, he was just like Nanny Fine, except his voice wasn't as annoying.
I heard at least two sets of feet running down stairs somewhere around them. Suddenly, two girls, looking about the same age, came running from the hallway that led from the living room, and as soon as they saw Derick, they squealed with delight, never stopping as they did so.
"UNCLE DERICK!" They screamed as they half tackled him. One girl had her arms wrapped around his left leg, and the other was the same, but with the right.
"Hello Anja, Tanita." He said as he placed his hands on their heads. "I'd like you two to say hello to my friend Miss Babcock." He looked up at me and they turned their heads to look at me. She saw that one of the little girls had light brown/blonde hair with glasses, the other had dark hair and no glasses. They smiled at me and then rushed over to me and did the same thing they'd done to Derick, except they had their arms wrapped around my waist.
"Hello Miss Babcock!" They said in unison.
"Hello...children." I said, not really knowing what else to say.
"The one with the glasses is Anja, the one that looks like Derick here, is Tanita." Rick said. "Where's your mama girls?" He asked.
"Upstairs with Koty, he got sick at preschool today." The one known as Tanita said.
"Poor little fella, wonder what's wrong with him?" Derick asked. He nodded toward the hallway and I followed him, lining the somewhat short hallway, were pictures of the family. I saw first the two girls, then one of Rick, then one of a woman with short blonde hair that went past her ears only a few inches, she was thin and was smiling happily, that must be Chris.
The stairs were on the left when they exited the hallway, with another door to the right of the stairs, obviously it led outside, what was up with these people and doors?
"Fastest route to the storm cellar." He said as if reading her mind. The stairs had a wind halfway up, then they were up on the second floor. This hallway was wide with five doors, two on the left, three on the right, and at the two ends of the hall was, guess what? More doors! "Bathrooms are at the ends here, the two doors across from one another at the end here are the girls' rooms, the ones on the right that are near to us, are the guest rooms, and the one that is nearest to us on the left, is Dakota's, but everyone just calls him Koty." He explained. My head was reeling, but whatever.
"Thank you for that lovely information." I said sarcastically.
"Be nice. Chris? Are you up here?" He asked quietly.
"I'm right here, hold on." The door to Koty's room opened and out walked Chris, who could almost be my twin. She wasn't as thin as she was in the picture, but she was still skinny. Her hair looked nearly the same as it did in the picture, except she had brown and light blonde highlights and following right behind her, with a small hand on the back of her khaki pants, was, I assumed, Koty.
"Oh my gosh! Derick!" She exclaimed, he came closer and she hugged him around the neck. "You look so good, I guess city life has been good to you!" She said. "Hello there." She smiled at me this time, and I gave a small smile in return. I noticed this woman sounded nothing like the two brothers. She sounded more dignified, like she wasn't from Texas, maybe somewhere else?
"Hi, I'm C.C. Babcock, a friend of Derick's here." I said as I moved him aside a little and shook her hand.
"It's very nice to meet you Miss Babcock. I'm Chris Jacobs, and this little midget behind me, is Koty. Don't you want to say hello?" She asked as she turned her torso around a little and looked down. She placed a hand on his head and all he did was just hide behind her leg again. Chris chuckled a little and turned back to us and smiled. "He's a little shy around strangers, but once he gets to know you, he'll warm up to you." She said.
"Oh-h, well, I don't know if he'll have the time to." I said.
"Hm? What do you mean? Derick said you two were going to stay here for a few days, which we have no problem with." She said. I looked at Derick with my mouth opened a little and wide eyes.
"We are? Well, my good buddy, Derick here forgot to tell me that." I slapped my hand on his back hard and he flinched. He knew I could be mean and bring him pain if I really wanted to.
"Yes, I did forget to tell her, but she ain't got a problem with that, do ya Spunky?" He asked. He was smiling at me, but in his eyes, he looked aggravated.
"No problem. At all." I smiled back at Chris, and then back to Derick. Oh how fun this was going to be.
Going to get this out of the way right now, thank you for the lovely reviews and watches, I've gotten quite a few alert thingies, which I am very shocked about, but thank you! I love seeing that on my email! (: Next, Chris and Rick are from Hunter, congrats yall. After that, Chris looks an awful lot like both Lauren as well as a teacher at my school named Mrs. Jacobs, who I swear to God could be C.C.'s twin, she's just as bitchy if not worse and looks like her, just ask EspoirDio or negschainsaw. God bless her heart. Tanita and Anja! I told you this was coming XD
Ashton
P.S.: Yes, we southerners do sound like that and Piggly Wiggly is a popular southern store (: