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When they arrived at the address they had for Marianne’s family they were disappointed to find a dilapidated trailer home. Not only was it old and run down but it needed a new roof and there were at least three broken down cars on the lot. They drove by twice to be certain it was the right place before they went back toward the highway.
“Some nice people live in trailers,” Dean said as they drove toward the Waffle House.
“I don’t doubt they do, but when a house looks that deteriorated the chances are the owners do not take care of the inside of the house either,” Sam said as he parked the car and they went inside the restaurant.
“Maybe you are just a snob,” Dean teased his brother as they sat down at a corner booth.
Sam was quiet as he looked around the small area; Dean followed his brother’s gaze but had no idea what they were looking for.
“Dude, what are you doing?”
“The grandmother works here.”
“Oh”
“Yeah, things are getting clearer except even in poverty and with a low paying job if there was love in the house that should matter.”
Dean eyed Sam as he smiled up as the waitress appeared from the back.
She was an older woman with white hair, which was pulled back in a messy ponytail. A hairdo that did not scream the food is served with the approval of the health department.
“Can I help you?” she asked in a gruff smoke inflicted voice.
“Sure, I’ll have a cup of coffee,” Sam said as though she might have to write down his simple order.
“Same for me,” Dean said before the waitress wandered off to grab the pots,” We are only here for the view?”
“Yeah Dean I don’t eat at these joints anymore,” Sam said as though it was the dumbest idea he had ever heard.
Dean raised an eyebrow and decided it was time Sam remembered who the elder Winchester was.
Once she brought their coffees, she prepared to take the meal orders. Sam only looked down at the menu as though he wasn’t certain.
“I want two eggs over easy, a side of bacon, hash browns, an orange juice and a piece of cherry pie when I am done,” Dean said with a smirk.
The waitress gave him a snaggled tooth grin because she liked his spunk. Sam saw the smile and felt bad for judging the woman.
“I’ll have a grapefruit and a boiled egg with cranberry juice.”
The waitress wrote down Sam’s order before she rolled her eyes and walked away.
“So is that crease in your pants that’s stuck in your ass now?” Dean asked.
“Don’t start, Dean, you know I can’t eat just any thing we are on a strict natural food diet.”
“I won’t tell Lydia if you don’t,” Dean said,” So when we had that sloppy Joe stuff the other day it was natural?”
Sam laughed, “See it can taste good.”
Dean shrugged, maybe.
After the meal, Sam made sure to pull his wallet out at the table while the waitress waited he wanted to see her reaction to his kids photos as he dug for his cash which was in his pants pocket.
“I’ll just come back,” she offered with impatience.
“No I have it.”
“I’ll pay,” Dean offered as he wondered what Sam’s problem was.
“No, I have it,” he said as the photos fell on the table.
The waitress didn’t flinch she only strode off, “Just leave it when you find it.”
“What is going on?”Dean asked.
Sam looked sheepishly at him.
“Oh it was a test, well I think she failed which means we can go home,” Dean said with a tilt of his head.
***
Sam’s caseload was heavy for the next few weeks and he rarely saw any of his family including his brother unless they made plans for lunch. Sam had a trial that kept not only his days occupied but most nights he got home late. Lydia had been quiet about his absence but was beginning to feel like a single mother. Many nights she paced with Marianne and wondered if their bright idea of a new baby had been the right thing when both parents were not parenting.
“Sam, I know you have work but when will this be over?” she asked one night when he walked in after one o’clock in the morning.
“Just a few more days I promise, we have to finish the final arguments tomorrow and then it’s all over.”
She watched as he undressed before he headed to the shower. It wasn’t a though she thought it was his fault, it was just the job, but she had begun to feel lonely. The teenagers were always busy while she spent her days multi tasking with her job online and watching the baby. She sighed as she went over to check on Marianne who on examination was sound asleep.
Once she heard the shower running she decided it was time she spent a few moments getting to know her husband again. She quietly opened the bathroom door to watch Sam as he soaped up under the running water. He seemed intent on his task of cleaning himself and never heard her until she pulled back the shower door.
“Hey,” he said with a grin.
“You don’t mind if I join you, right?”
“No,” he said as he helped her in.
Lydia took the soap from while he turned so she could put on it his back and butt. He smiled to himself as he realized how long it had been since they had showered together. Much too long.
After a few moments, he removed the soap from her hands and pushed her against the wall before he kissed her now wet neck. She traced his muscled chest with her fingers as leaned up to kiss his freshly showered neck. A moan escaped from someone lips as they nuzzled together. He reached to pull her up from the floor before she wrapped her legs around his slim waist and moved the hair back from his face.
“I missed you,” he said.
“I know."
Once he was inside her it hit him how much he had missed her. He hadn’t work so many nights in a row in their entire marriage; he hoped he never had to again. Neither was used to being apart physically in all their time together.
Lydia looked in her husbands eyes when they were done and saw the spark of a smile. My hero, my Sammy. Sam leaned down to kiss her radiant face before they left the shower to go to bed. They were quiet so as not to awaken the little girl who now slept across the room from them.
***
Cassie watched Dean sleep that night while she contemplated her daughter’s behavior. Their daughter had begun to tell little lies that never quite added up. Cassie bit her lip as she remembered the last incident.
{Flashback-earlier that night}
Allysa arrived home later than she was expected but insisted she had only been at Vanessa’s despite the fact that when Cassie had phoned the girls home and been told her daughter was AWOL. After the lie was told an argument ensued which involved Alli screaming at her mother did not trust her before she ran off to her room. When Dean showed up an hour late, Cassie had given him the news and encouraged him to have a talk with Alli.
Dean walked in his daughter’s room to find her on her laptop doing her homework. The girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes.
“Why does Mom always think I’m doing something I shouldn’t be doing?” she asked her father.
“Why would Vanessa’s mother lie about your whereabouts?”
Alli shrugged as she picked at the blanket on her bed.
“I asked you a question.”
“All she had to do was come upstairs to know I was in Vanessa’s room with her listening to music. We lost track of time, Dad, I’m not lying.”
Dean asked Alli to look him in his eyes and he believed that she was telling the truth.
“Um…”
“What?”
“Vanessa’s mother drinks sometimes she tells lies, Dad, I promise it wasn’t me this time.”
Dean nodded as he sat on the bed with a sigh.
“Okay, well maybe you and Vanessa should spend more time here with us, for a while, okay, I will talk to your mother.”
“Okay Daddy,” she said in her best little Princess voice before she gave her father a shy hug.
“Why don’t you go down and apologize for yelling at your mother and for that you cannot go out this weekend,” he said as he stood at the door.
Alli thought about arguing but she knew it wasn’t proper for her to scream at her mother, it just wasn’t done. She would take her punishment or at least pretend to.
“Okay.”
Dean nodded as he left the room. Allysa smiled to herself.
<>{End Flashback}
Cassie still didn’t believe Allysa’s story, though Dean had fallen for it; hook, line and sinker. He never wanted to believe badly of his children which was not always best. At Allysa’s age she was only learning to use her girl powers. Cassie wrinkled up her nose as she moved closer to the warmth of her husband. He tried hard to do the right things, he always had though sometimes she wished he would listen to her intuition more and his feelings less. He had gotten soft over the years. Dean moved in his sleep as she put her arm over his chest. She kissed his ear as she settled down beside him to sleep.
Upstairs Allysa phoned Vanessa to tell her that her story worked on her father but not on her mother and she was grounded because of her anger.
“You have to watch that all you have to do is keep your father appeased instead of angering your mother.”
“I know, but maybe if I keep up the good daughter act a couple days they will change their minds before Saturday.”
“I hope so, I’d hate for you to miss the party of the year,” Vanessa said with a laugh. Oh I have to go I hear someone coming down the hall.”
“Okay good night.”
Allysa looked up to see Corey in her door.
“I heard what you said and I’m telling mom,” he said with a frown.
“You better not,” Allysa said in a loud whisper.
“You are a bad seed and why shouldn’t I tell?,” Cory asked.
“I will give you five dollars to not tell.”
Cory’s eyes got big, before he sighed, “Well maybe I won’t tell.”
Cory came into the room as she rustled through her purse. When she handed him the money she made him swear it was their secret. Cory hesitated but in the end he said he agreed. Allysa rolled her eyes as he left the room with a grin, she knew he wouldn’t tell or at least she hoped he wouldn’t.
Most often she felt bad about lying to her parents, it wasn’t that she wanted to be bad but she wanted more freedom then they allowed her. Her thirteenth birthday was around the corner and she felt they treated her like a baby. She leaned back on the covers with her hands behind her head. She hated when the guilt set in, she bit her lip as she tried not to give into the flurries in her stomach that always came when the thought she might get caught in a lie. She loved her parents maybe she should just tell them how she felt. She had been at the library with Aaron and not at Vanessa’s house like she told her father. She liked Aaron but since she couldn’t date or spend anytime alone with boys she had begun to sneak around.
Aaron was two years older than her and he had blue eyes and Blonde hair. Since she looked older than her almost thirteen years she had lied about her age. She met Aaron at the downtown library and he attended a different school so either he had not found out her age or he didn’t care. She was sad she couldn’t invite him to her party because then he would know her age. She sighed again. Her mother told her often that lying could spiral out of control very fast. She was beginning to understand the truth of it. In her heart she wanted to do the right thing, it was just hard when she felt she might be falling in love.
***
The next day after Cassie picked up the children from school she took them over to Lydia and Sam’s for a visit. It was spur of the moment and they walked in to find the living room floor cluttered with Marianne’s toys. Lydia answered the door with the phone to her ear though she had a smile on her face.
“Yeah, Sam go ahead and get the pizza we have company, see you soon.”
“Hey,” Cassie said as Allysa rolled her eyes behind her.
“Hey you guys, come in,” Lydia said as she motioned to them.
Cory grinned when he saw Marianne standing up with the use of a coffee table. But Allysa was the one who went over to pick her up. Marianne smiled and clapped her hands at the attention.
“Is this a bad time?” Cassie asked.
“Oh no, the house looks like this often these days,” Lydia chuckled as Cassie followed her into the kitchen.
“Where is Mackey and Logan?”
“Well let’s see it’s Thursday, Logan is working and MacKenzie is at practice for another twenty minutes.
“Oh okay,” Cassie said absent-mindedly.
“What’s up, Cas?” Lydia asked because Cassie rarely asked about the kids before Lydia gave her the scoop.
“Um, have you had a problem with your kids lying to you?”
Lydia frowned, “No, we haven’t so far so good.”
“Well I hope it doesn’t happen to you it’s a bad feeling.”
“Cas, what’s going on?” Lydia said with concern just before Allysa walked in with the baby. “Mom I think she needs changing,” Alli said.
“Oh you can change her if you want her stuff is in her room,” Lydia volunteered.
Lydia smiled until the girl was out of hearing distance. Then they heard the television come on in the living room so they knew that Cory was occupied.
“Okay now tell me,” Lydia insisted.
TBC