Author's Chapter Notes:
This is the Conclusion of Story Two of the Road House Series. I hope you have enjoyed the Winchesters and their new way of life. Thanks for reading.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Later that evening, after Jo and Erin appeared again with packages while Ari sat in front of the television asleep. Erin shook her awake with a hand to the shoulder.
“Hey, you feeling okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m good,” Ari said as she noticed the grins on their faces as she sat up on the sofa.
“We got some things for you and the twins, do you want to open them now or wait for Dean?” Jo asked.
A smile appeared on Ari’s face. She hadn’t expected anything from anyone but it was nice to be treated special. Often she missed having friends around her. It had been almost two years since she left New York and her circle of buddies that she had spent quite a bit of time around.
“Um, I can open them now I am sure Dean will not be interested unless you have something that is you know, manly for him to see,” Ari said with a smile.
The other two women only shrugged at one another.
“No I think this is more of a girl thing.” Jo said.
Erin gave Ari the first bag and she pulled out a large wrapped gift. She wiped away a tear as she opened the box. Inside were baby bumpers for the cribs, sheet sets and small pillows. The next package held several baby outfits, a few bibs, rattles and tee shirts. The following one was cloth diapers, a pacifier, towels, onesies, and baby shoes. Ari was overwhelmed before she noticed two large boxes still near the door.
“Oh you two went overboard didn’t you?” she asked as they laughed.
“Well it’s all stuff you will need eventually. I know you are getting another car to fit the car seats in since both you and Dean’s cars are not the right size for all of you. We just wanted to help,” Jo said.
“Yeah, Jo went overboard but she insisted she doesn’t get to shop very often,” Erin said in defense of her new friend.
“I’m speechless. This is a lot of stuff,” Ari said as she heard the sound of the back door shut.
“Sounds like they made it,” Jo said as she left the room.
Erin sat on the sofa beside Ari to help her put the things away.
“Wait maybe Dean will want to see them,” Ari said as she stood up to put the items on the other end of the sofa, “Thanks for all of this, I was going to go shopping but haven’t had much energy.”
“It’s not a problem it was fun,” Erin said as she gave her a hug.
“Hey,” Dean said as he came in the room.
His face was one big smile when he saw Ari then recognized Erin from the picture she sent Sam.
“Hi,” Erin said a bit shyly.
“Hey,” he said before Ari went into his arms.
Ari’s heartbeat faster as he held her, she never felt truly at home unless he was with her. She still couldn’t believe all that had happened with them. First meeting at an unlikely place for her, then that had fallen deeply in love and now they were having twins. She bit her lip as she looked into his green eyes. Dean smiled down at her. He noticed she was a bit larger but even he knew it was expected. He thought she was more beautiful than ever, of course he knew he was biased since she was his wife.
“I should give you two a moment alone,” Erin began.
Dean stopped her from leaving with a hand to her arm. For long moments, he only looked at his sister. How could he have forgotten her? It still bothered him.
“It’s okay, stay,” he insisted as he stood back and realized the items in the room where baby things.
“Oh, Erin and Jo went shopping for the twins,” Ari supplied when she noticed his look of curiosity on his face.
“Yeah? Looks like they cleaned them out,” he teased.
“It was fun,” Erin said just before Sam came in the room with Amber and Jo at his heels.
“Mommy,” Amber said as she went to her mother who had sat back down on the sofa.
“Hey Munchkin, were you good for your Daddy and Uncle Sam?”
“Yep,” she said.
Ari looked at Dean he was the one who always used that word, “yep”. He shrugged innocently. Sam was quiet as he took in his sister. Dean cleared his throat.
“Say something, Sammy,” Dean said with a grin.
“It’s Sam,” he said to Dean, “You are early,” he said to Erin who could only smile at his expression of disbelief.
“Yeah I came in yesterday; I couldn’t wait to meet you.”
“CHRISTO,” Sam said before Ari laughed.
“Um we did that one,” she said.
Erin laughed aloud.
“It’s me I have been tested and found to be only human,” Erin said as she reached to grab her younger sibling into a hug. Sam grinned at Dean over Erin’s shoulder before he pulled back to look at her again. Boy she is a sight for sore eyes. Dean smiled at them before he sat down near Amber and Ari on the sofa. Jo stood back to watch them all with a smile. She would miss the Winchesters while she was away.
After a few minutes of general talk everyone left the room except, Erin, Sam and Dean. Dean took the recliner, while Sam sat on one end of the sofa and Erin the other.
“I wanted to meet you two before but Dad felt we were safer apart,” Erin said into the silence.
“Why is that?” Dean asked.
“He felt that the three of us together might be dangerous. He insisted when the time was right we would find one another.”
“The time?” Sam asked.
“You see Sam I have a gift also but my gift can only be used when we are all together.”
“What?” Dean exclaimed.
Sam looked around he felt as though someone else was in the room or listening to them it was an unfamiliar sensation for him. He looked over a Dean who watched Erin, cautiously.
“What, you mean like the power of three?” Sam asked as he ignored the feeling but it hit him again and he did a double take toward the door before he got up to check.
He didn’t see anyone but then it occurred to him that whoever was watching them might not be visible. He didn’t like that thought at all, maybe he was paranoid. He hated that thought even worse. He sat down; before he realized that his siblings were staring at him. He didn’t know how to tell them to stop talking without saying it.
“Let’s do this later, I’m beat,” he said instead.
Stubborn Dean only looked incredulously at him.
“What? I did the driving.”
“You think I can actually sleep while you drive,” Sam said in mock anger before he got up again to walk out. Dean shook his head as he got up. Erin watched them leave the room and wondered what was going on.
Sam went to his room to write a note to Erin on the laptop but wondered how he would get the message to Dean. It wasn’t that Dean wouldn’t believe him but he would be skeptical and it wasn’t the time for them to argue. He decided he would give Dean a note and pray that Erin checked email before she went to bed. The idea was to get them to see that things had changed and he felt they were being watched, so they needed to be careful about what they said at least in the house.
Dean went into check on Amber and found her sound asleep with her stuffed rabbit under her arm. The rabbit had been given to her by Megan; the little girl wanted her sister to have something from her. Dean smiled as he adjusted her covers then left before he could become emotional over the scene. He crashed into his taller little brother as he shut the door.
“Sammy,” he whispered to avoid waking Amber, “Don’t you watch were you’re going?”
“Sorry,” Sam whispered back before he gave him the note then walked away.
Dean read it quickly before he went into the bedroom but it took him a second to absorb what it said. Dean, we need to talk to Erin away from the house. I think something is here listening to us. I just want to be safe. Dean shoved the note in his pocket before he opened his bedroom door.
Dean found Ari lying on the bed reading; she seemed serene as she looked up at him. He smiled as he motioned for her to scoot over so he could sit down after he took the book from her hands. Then he reached in the drawer to get the cream for her stomach before he moved her top aside and gasped at the size of her belly.
“I told you,” she said.
“Um, you can’t tell so much when you’re dressed,” he said cautiously.
She smiled at him as he put the cream on her stomach before he began to rub it into her skin, at least his is not turned off enough to avoid touching me. He swallowed hard as he looked up into her face.
“Ari I don’t know how all of this is going to turn out, I was thinking maybe you should take the kids somewhere safe. Somewhere not in the supernatural spotlight.”
“You mean away from you?”
Oh no that will never do, I married him because I didn’t want him to be without him. I wonder if he has any idea how stressful it is for me when he is away. Ari realized Dean was frightened by the upcoming responsibilities, but she also knew he would be able to rise to occasion when the time came around. She knew that because she knew his heart was one of honor and integrity.
“There is no way I can protect you all, I just want you to be safe. It’s not like I don’t want you with me, because I do, but…”
“Dean, life isn’t safe. You need to get in your head it’s not your responsibility to protect everyone. That’s why God gave us brains and it’s why I was taught to watch out for myself. Sweetie take that burden off your back.”
Dean’s mouth fell open, now she reminded him of Cassie. He leaned close to her mouth before she put her hands around his neck to bring his lips to meet hers. He responded greedily to her touch. He didn’t want her to go away; he certainly didn’t want to miss his kids growing up for one second. How the hell did he ended up in this position? Her tongue found his and he thought his heart might shoot out of his chest. He had missed her so very much. He didn’t care if she was very pregnant, with his little ones. He still couldn’t believe she was his wife, someone he had made vows to, someone he loved like he hadn’t loved anyone else in his life and the one person who seemed to have total faith in him.
“Look I love you and I get that you want your family…”
“Actually that is just it,” he said as he pulled away from her to get up from the bed to rake his hands through his hair.
“What?”
“This family thing wasn’t a plan,” he said as he tried to be polite though he stood in the middle of the room to realize he was still dressed.
“Well it seems it’s your season for kids.”
“What does that mean?”
“According to the bible there is a season for everything,” she said with a smile.
Dean had to smile at that as he undressed and slipped in the bed beside his wife. Maybe she was right he should enjoy what he had been given, or at least try.
Sam received a response from Erin almost immediately. She must have gone straight to the room and logged into her email. Her response had been a simple: I understand. Sam felt restless so he left his room to go out on the patio for her found Jo alone with a cup of coffee. They talked easily for a few moments before she approached the subject of their relationship.
“I do not think it’s going to happen. In addition, I am not trying to blame Dean or anyone else but he and his growing family need my attention. It’s something I want to do for him after all the years he watched over me.”
Jo clapped mockingly as she glared in the dimness at him.
“So now you are pushing the decision about me on your family. You are a piece of work, Sam Winchester. You know I may never show up at this house again, I just don’t know if I could stand it,” she said as she went back inside.
Sam shook his head, maybe it was an excuse but Dean did need him. The least he could do was to focus on whatever was going on with Erin, getting the damn demon, and keeping Dean’s kids alive. Maybe someday I will find someone who can deal with me as I am the same way Dean has.
****
One and a half weeks later,
Dean came back from the store to find Ari packing a suitcase. She looked up at him with a smile.
“Going somewhere?”
“My water broke; we are going to the hospital.”
“What? Why didn’t you call me?” he asked surprised by her calmness as he stopped her from packing then led her to sit down.
“Dean, it’s okay I cleaned up the mess now I need to do this so we can go.”
“No, I will do that, you rest,” he said as he tried not to hyperventilate.
“Okay, I need to phone Missouri anyway,” she said as she picked up the phone.
“No call the doctor,” he insisted.
“I did I called him first, he said to stay calm it will still be a while,” she said as a contraction over took her.
She squinted in pain as she grabbed her back.
“Ouch,” she said as she bit her lip.
Dean raised an eyebrow at her as he closed the suitcase.
“You are still okay, right?”
“Uh huh, but I think I will have someone else make the call for me,” she said not as confident this time.
“Good idea,” Dean said before he took her hand as they left the room. They let Sam know what was happening and he insisted he would watch Amber but if they babies were not born by the next day Sam said he would come up there with everyone.
“Thanks for the warning,” Dean said under his breath.
“Looks like we got the SUV in time,” Dean said as he helped Ari in then jumped into the drivers side of the new vehicle they had purchased the week before.
“Yeah it seems so,” Ari said as she let out a breath.
Dean was worried the babies were coming to soon but he said nothing negative she needed to have positive thoughts according to Missouri. He listened in silence as Ari took deep breaths then let them out. Dean surmised the pain must be unbearable and he wondered why women bothered to have kids at all. All the pain involved would not appeal to him, then he guessed that was why men didn’t have the children.
“Honey, you can go a bit faster,” Ari said as she gave him a weak smile.
“That is what you always say,” Dean teased her.
“Oh yeah that’s cute, you know you aren’t touching me after this, right?” she said as she closed to eyes while she tried to breath through the pain.
“Hey Sam says that is what women always say when they are in labor,” Dean said half-heartedly.
Ari glared at him, and he certainly hoped Sam was right.
At the hospital Ari was taken to the maternity ward and readied for the birth. Dean met her in the room before they wheeled her in to have the babies.
“I’ll be here when you come back…”
“What? No, you are coming in with me. You can’t leave me alone now,” she said a bit hysterical.
The nurse stood behind him with a white outfit for him to wear. He looked down at Ari’s sad face and decided he would go in.
“Okay, of course I will go in with you,” he said before she grabbed a hold of his hand.
In the room, things happened fast. Dean mostly felt pain from where Ari squeezed his hand while she panted and breathed through the pain. It was almost an hour later, when he finally heard a baby cry he felt moistness on his cheek but he wiped it away as he reached for the bundle the doctor held out for him. He looked his first son over before he showed him to Ari. He was small weighing a little over six pounds and he seemed overly white with dark hair and eyes. However, Dean thought he was handsome. Then they handed him another little bundle and Dean could see the baby had a more olive skin tone but just as cute as his brother with a bit darker hair but the same dark eyes. The doctor had told him that most often babies eyes started out dark then changed to their designated color. The second little one weighed the same as his brother but screamed louder. Dean smiled as he watched them clean the babies as he held Ari’s hands while they took care of her needs.
Back in the room they sat Ari up to feed both babies at once, Dean thought it was the weirdest thing to see them both eating from a breast apiece. Ari smiled tiredly as he kissed her cheek. There were tears in her eyes and Dean tried to wipe them away but he felt them in his eyes also. This time he left them. How could anyone not be happy after seeing two new lives come into the world? Not Dean Winchester and his wife Ari, no they both felt too blessed to worry about emotional displays.
The End of Story Two
I hope enough of you liked the story to read the next one in the series :)