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Ari tipped toed to the door and almost ran into Jo as she came into the room. Jo looked angry and a bit shaken.
“Jo what’s wrong?”
“Your friend tried to attack me,…”
“What? Who?,” Ari said as she led Jo to a chair.
“Um, that guy Milton. I saw him out riding when I was out. We rode together, we talked a bit but when we got here he tried to grope me.”
“Really? Milton?”
“Yeah, your friend.”
“Stop calling him that, he sold me a damn horse. That was it. I mean I’m sorry he tried to hurt you. We should call the cops or something.”
“No, I’m fine and he will have hard time riding that horse back home after his nuts met up with my knee. I doubt he will be around again.”
Ari was quiet as she looked at Jo. She felt like the girl blamed her somehow. She didn’t know the guy. She sighed. Breathe, relax.
“I’m sorry, Jo, we really should call someone.”
“That won’t help besides I’m leaving as soon as they get back,” she said before she left the room.
Ari felt sad, she and Jo had begun to get along. She wondered why Jo had decided to leave as she put her feet back up on the ottoman.
Jo went to the kitchen to try to calm her nerves. She made herself a cup of tea the way she had seen Ari do it many times. She boiled the water on the stove then put it in a cup before adding few teas leaves to the brew basket before she set inside it I the mug of water. Somehow the actions always seem to calm Ari so she thought it was worth a shot. She took the mug to the table to wait a few minutes as it steeped. A second later, Chet came in the room with a frown on his face.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She nodded.
“I saw you beating that guy’s ass or I would have jumped in to help,” he said with a smile for her.
Jo had twisted out of Milton’s hold before she surprised him with a couple of knee kicks to the groin. He had only glared at her before he stumbled to his horse.
“Thanks Chet, I am glad you were there though I had no idea,” she teased him back.
The older man sat down at the table across from her. She could see the worry lines in his face but he had kind eyes. That was what seemed to be missing from Milton, she had thought of that earlier as they rode. For an attractive man he had hard eyes, Jo wondered if it meant anything or if she should mention it to Ari.
“I think something is wrong with that guy,” Chet said before he got up to leave the flat.
“I had the same thought,” Jo said.
as she went ahead to talk to Ari regarding her thoughts on Milton.
Dean and Amber were on the sofa when Megan came down after her nap. The little girl grinned when she saw there was company. She carried her kitten in her free hand the one without the cast. Amber grinned as she saw it but Dean kept her from getting up with a shake of his head. Megan was still a bit bruised from her fall she had to be careful. Megan went straight to her Uncle Sam for a hug.
“Hey, Uncle Sam,” she said with a grin as he held her gently to him as he sat in the chair. Cassie and her mother sat across the room as the watched. Cassie sighed as she again wished that she and Dean had found a way to stay together but she knew it was her fault so it could not be helped.
Megan left Sam’s side to go sit in Dean’s lap a minute later. Amber grinned at her as she leaned on Dean’s leg and let Megan sit down with the kitten. Amber caressed the kitty soft coat gently as Megan smiled at her. Dean seemed a bit uncomfortable with all the attention but he smiled at both his little girls.
“Daddy can we go outside to play?” Amber asked as she looked up at him with love in her eyes.
Megan looked at him too as they waited for an answer. Dean looked around the room since he had no idea what to say. Cassie saw his discomfort and decided to give him a hand as Sam put his head down while he tried no to laugh.
“Well, Meg may be able to go out to tomorrow. How about I go grab some things and you two can play until dinner time in the den?” Cassie said as she went back upstairs.
The girls both looked up at Dean as they waited just before Sam decided to go ahead and take the two into the den to give Dean a break.
“See you in a bit,” Dean said as he leaned his elbows on his knees as he raked his hands through his hair.
“You will do fine,” Mrs. Robinson said before she went back into the kitchen.
“I hope so,” Dean said under his breath as he headed outside for some fresh air.
Alec and Ben settled in at their hunting cabin in Northern Wisconsin. They put their things away as they prepared to eat their leftovers from a stop earlier in the day. Alec pulled the food from the microwave and set it on the table.
“So Uncle John wasn’t crazy after all?” Alec asked as they began to eat.
“No, I can’t say I every thought he was nuts but I feel bad that I never tried to understand him better. I hope we can somehow help out his sons.”
“Don’t forget Erin.”
“As far as I know John told Erin what was going on but begged her to stay out of it.”
Ben explained to Alec that the few times over the last few years that John had met up with him he had been angry and hard to talk to. He had wanted to do something to ease his brother’s burden but had been at a loss as to what he could do. So end the end he had done nothing except advise him to see his daughter before something awful happened to him.
“So he saw Erin or not?”
“He insisted that she was aware of their situation.”
“What does that mean?”
“Your uncle was known for cryptic messages, I just hope it means she knows more than we do about this mess.”
Erin had reread the letter from Sam more times than she could count. It had been more than three days since she received it but now she was in front of the computer. She took a deep breath as she prepared the email. Her father had told her that one day she would hear from her brothers, though she never expected them to be searching for her. She assumed they like her father were only trying to protect her by staying away. She refused to hate her father for the way he handled her existence, but a tear fell as she began to type.
Sam,
I received your pictures and note. I am certain you are my brothers though dad kept us apart for his own reasons. We will discuss them when we meet. Uncle Ben phoned me after he and Alec left you. No need to give me your location, I am not a fan of exchanging that type of information electronically. See you soon, May the Force be with you, LOL.
Love,
Erin
She looked it over with a critical eye, it didn’t say much except that she was going to come to them and that she was their sister. Her Uncle Ben had told her all she needed to verify they were who she had hoped when she first saw their pictures. She admitted to herself she was a bit giddy when she found out her brother was expecting twins with his new wife. Another reason she needed to meet up with her siblings after all these years. The hard part would be to explain it all to Aunt Jenny who was older and not a fan of her deceased brother, John’s actions regarding any of his children. Jenny believed John was negligent though her and her husband had raised Erin in a loving environment full of privilege and opportunity. Erin shook her head as she sent the email and went back to work.
Dean phoned Ari as he leaned against the Impala. He had missed his baby car the few days he had been away. He caressed the metal as he grinned at himself in the mirror. He didn’t see Sam as he looked out the window with a smile. Dean, he would never totally change in a way it’s a comfort.
“Hey Baby,” Ari said when she picked up her cell as she ran her hand over he growing belly.
“Hey yourself.”
“Tell me you are leaving for home tomorrow,” she said with sadness in her voice.
“The day after, are you okay?”
“Yeah…um just missing you and Amber,” she said as she tried to pull herself out of her funk.
She told him what had happened to Jo and Dean was surprised. He expressed that he wasn’t sure what could be done about the guy legally without bringing attention to them.
“Well Jo is leaving she says Sam is not interested even though she confessed she loves him now and she is going to go hunting for a while alone.”
“Great.”
“I know I will talk to her again.”
Dean shook his head. Maybe Jo needed to be on her own again, she seemed to excel more that way. In the back of his mind he was unconvinced that she should be out their hunting by herself, most hunters did better with help. It was the nature of the profession, someone to protect your back if things went south. He raked his hands through his hair again. A few months ago and they may have been on the road with Jo, traveling, hunting and all the other things that had become their life. But things in his life had changed for the better in one sense. Okay in all senses, but he had begun to feel a bit out of control in his own skin, it was a feeling he disliked strongly.
“How are the boys?” he asked as he changed the subject.
“They are fine making their mother look like a blimp.”
“That will not happen, Sweetie, you are a sexy mama. I will be more than willing to prove it when I get back.”
He said it because it was true in his eyes, he could see her blossoming figure in his mind and the thought turned him on. She was still petite but her over sized stomach looked like little more than a basketball. He never expected that he would be attracted to a pregnant woman. He supposed being in love with her made all the difference.
“Oh I’ll be waiting for that,” she said with a smile in her voice.
“Take care and stay safe, Katarina,” he said with a smile in his voice.
“Oh that was naughty,” Ari said sultrily.
“That will keep you thinking about me,” he said as he closed his eyes for a moment.
They said their goodbyes a few moments later then hung up.
Jo came in the room after she was certain Ari was off the phone. She joined her on the sofa before Ari turned off the television.
“I was talking to Chet and he noticed the same thing about Milton that I did.”
“What was that?”Ari asked with a frown.
“Something isn’t right about Milton. I don’t know if you want to invest in a restraining order to be safe or what but I thought you should know,” Jo said before she began to get up before Ari stopped her with a touch on the arm.
“Jo I have no interest in Milton, he knows we do not want him around. We just don’t have the luxury of involving the police,” Ari reasoned.
“I know I just want you to remember to be careful, earlier I didn’t mean to upset you,” Jo said with a soft smile as she left he room.
“No problem.”
That night Dean let Sam sleep in the guest room while he took the sofa. He tossed and turned as he dreamed of the little blonde girl again. She was outside their old home in her blue dress that seemed to make her eyes appear more blue. She looked up at him as though she thought he were an angel.
“Dean,” she said with a smile.
“Who are you?” he asked as he knelt down in front of her while she sat on the swing set.
“You don’t know?” she asked sadly.
“Erin? Your name is Erin, right?”
She nodded slowly as her grin returned.
“I’m your sister.”
Dean woke up with a start to found himself on the floor. It was a good thing he had moved the table over or he would have landed on top of it. He sat back down on the sofa for a moment before he went out to the patio. Sam was already there with his laptop in his lap.
He looked up when he saw Dean in the door. He motioned for him to come out.
“Hey what’s up, bro?”
“Um I got the email from the lady I sent the pictures to.”
“So what’s the verdict?” Dean asked hesitantly.
“She is our sister Dean, it’s Erin the one that Uncle Ben told me about.”
Dean looked curiously at his brother, before the anger showed up in his eyes.
“Why the hell would dad hide our sister from us? I mean I could see from the “bad guys” but from us?”
He took a deep breath. He had listened to all the their father ever told him and done it all for the sake of the cause but this was beyond anything that he would have imagined. John Winchester the man that had demanded devotion who had taken his sons lives and twisted them into something abnormal and vengeful. He sighed, No I have to believe there was a reason. Dad loved us even though he had no idea how to show it most often at the end he thanked me. I have to keep that in mind. Damn it, why couldn’t their mother have just lived a long life.
“Sam, I just had a dream about a girl named Erin.”
“What?”
“I have had them over the years, I kind of had a breakdown after mom died..”
“What? You never told me that. What happened?”
Dean told him how for days after the fire he sat blankly without responding. So much so that their father had been tempted to take him to a hospital but instead had taken him to see Missouri. She nurtured him back to health and responsiveness but the dreams began after that.
“So somewhere in that time you forgot about her?”
“She wasn’t there during the fire, I don’t know what happened. Dad told me once that it was like a snapshot in time. What I recalled was only a part of our lives, like I lost some memories.”
“But the dreams?”
“I,, never told anyone until just now. It was so long ago I didn’t connect it until tonight.”
TBC