Author's Chapter Notes:
Warning: More drama ahead- tissues needed.
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.
Relatives
Chapter Thirteen
Erin leaned around Ari to see what she was watching. They both smiled as Amber gave Dean a hug before both women entered the room. After a moment of greetings, Ari excused herself to go take a shower and Erin did the same. They had planned girls’ day out and everyone was excited to get started so they could head to the shopping mall. Sarah volunteered to stay in the den with the kids and Sam, since she was ready to go while the others dressed. Dean waited only a moment before he wandered into the bedroom to check on Ari who he could hear was in the shower once he closed the door. He quickly undressed to join her.
Ari grinned when he opened the glass shower door. She was soaped up from head to toe and wore a shower cap to preserve her hair since they were short on time.
“What took you so long? I have a spot I can’t quite reach,” she said with a smile.”
Dean laughed as he pulled her soapy body close to his.
“I think I can help you with that,” he said before he crashed his lips against hers.
She pushed him against the wall, “Right where I want you,” she said with a mock evil laugh.
Meanwhile, Sarah took Amber to her room to help her dress and put on her shoes while Sam stayed to play with the twins. John Michael’s initial reaction to being left alone with the youngest Winchester was a loud cry then a pout. Sam raised an eyebrow at the infant that seemed to calm him. Sam felt pretty certain of himself for long moments until John Michael let out another scream. Sam finally picked up the little boy to find he was wet as he scrunched his face up at his uncle.
“Sorry buddy, I thought you were complaining for the fun of it, hold on,” Sam said as he grabbed the spare baby bag to get a diaper.
Braeden watched quietly as he played with his toys. He seemed happy just to watch the other two.
Dean and Ari cut their shower short since they didn’t want to hold up the fun.
“So all of you are going shopping and taking Amber?”
“Yep? You, Anthony and Sam get to keep the twins, all the boys together,” she said as she snuggled into the warm towel he had used to dry her off.
“When are you coming back so we can have all the strippers gone?” Dean laughed.
Ari raised her eyebrow at him, “Hey I think for that remark we will surprise you,” she teased.
Dean pulled her back in his arms, “You know I’m kidding.”
She answered him with another long kiss as she pulled his face down to hers.
Erin and Sarah waited patiently in the den with an impatient Amber before there was a sound of a car driving on gravel from outside. Amber was the first to run to the kitchen to look out the window.
“Oh my,” she said as she smiled at the two ladies who had followed.
“Surprised?” Erin asked.
“Uh huh,” Amber said before she hurried down the stairs and out the door with Erin closely behind her to keep an eye out.
Amber’s eyes were big as saucers as she grinned at her sister while Cassie helped her out of the car.
“Meg?” the little girl said with a question and a smile all rolled up into one.
Megan was barely on the ground before Amber had her in a hug. Megan grinned widely at her sister. They never thought of one another as any thing else. They were simply sisters that did not live in the same house. Neither had the concept of stepsisters in their mind or hearts.
Dean heard the car a she watched Ari dress. He looked out the window twice then wrangled his eyebrows at his wife who hadn’t made a move toward the window.
“You knew?”
“I knew Amber missed Meg and that Meg was going to be coming in this direction on the way to the school, I wanted them to have a chance to visit,” she said as she bit her lip.
Dean frowned. He hadn’t known. He had been totally in the dark. He sighed. He wasn’t mad just surprised. Anytime he could see Megan was a good time he reasoned as Ari watched his face.
“I’m sorry……..”
“No don’t be, I’m glad Megan is here,” he sighed again, “I miss her everyday,” he said without looking up.
“I know,” she said as she sat down beside him on the bed to look in his thoughtful face.
Outside all the hugs were done and Sam had brought down the twins though Sarah held one to keep things safe.
“Good he is finally back,” Erin said to no one in particular, as Anthony drove up.
He had been gone all day to meet with a man in Milwaukee on business. She’d been concerned he wouldn’t make it back in time to give her a kiss before they were all off to shop for the rest of the day. Cassie and Megan had been invited since they had planned to arrive the same day.
Dean and Ari met up with everyone in the kitchen. Erin grinned as the two of them walked in the room hand in hand. Ari blushed when she saw her.
“Hey Cassie, glad you two made it in time.”
Megan ran to Dean for a hug as he picked her up before she snuggled to his neck, “Surprised Daddy?” she asked while he held her tightly.
He didn’t care that all eyes were on them; Dean nodded against her head before he put her back down and patted her blonde little head as she went off to join Amber again.
“It took a bit of driving but Megan was so excited to see you all, it was worth it,” Cassie said as she smiled at her daughter who sat next to Amber as she talked none stop.
“Well it all worked out. We just need to grab our jackets and we can head out,” Ari said as she returned to the bedroom.
In a second only Cassie, Dean and the two girls were left in the kitchen. Dean held John Michael who was wiggly in his arms as he wanted to get down to play. Cassie smiled, she hadn’t seen the twins.
“They’re handsome, Dean, though they seem to be a handful.”
“Yes on both counts,” he said as he finally put the baby on the floor then watched him scrabbled off toward the den where Sam had gone again with Braeden.
“How are things going with you and Vince?”
“Um, not as well as before, we were excited with wedding plans and spending loads of time together, then it stopped after….you know,” she said with sadness in her voice.
Dean didn’t miss what she meant but he also realized it wasn’t the time to discuss it.
“How long can we stay, Mommy?” Meg asked.
“Well tonight and tomorrow night, then we have to go honey, remember I told you.”
“Okay,” she said as she leaned over to whisper in Amber’s ear.
Amber made a show of laughing really loud and Dean smiled at the two of them as Cassie watched him. She had really screwed up with Dean but she was glad at least Megan had a relationship with her father.
If she weren’t so embarrassed, she would have confessed that Vince had all but disappeared from her life. He was busy all the time and the few times they had gone out he actually talked of Megan as though they should leave her at the school all alone. Cassie had told him off the last time he had dared to bring it up. By all accounts, she and Vince were history. Unfortunately, the last two weeks she had gotten a sinking suspicion that the time she spent with Vince would effect her forever, the same way as it had with Dean. She bit her lip as the others gathered in the room.
****
Sam, Anthony, Dean and the boys were all gathered in the den around the television. The twins were playing of course, but the adults were “kicking back” beers.
“So you think you’re ready for that big step?” Dean asked Anthony.
Anthony let out a burp that they rated on the burp o meter with a six before they all laughed. Sam shook his head, he never expected when he was at Stanford that there would come a time that he and Dean sat around and drank beers with their future brother in law. He was amazed.
“Well Erin is a rare find. She is soft and sweet but can she has a tougher side.”
“Oh you mean her back side that was hitting the head board the other night?” Dean asked with a smirk.
“That too?” Anthony laughed before he went back to attempting to explain to Erin’s brother’s why he loved her.
Several miles away at the Outlet mall, the girls were enjoying the views. They wandered from store to store browsing as they chatted. Ari and Cassie took turns watching the girls or in most cases holding their hands as they just enjoyed being together. When they finally arrived at the children’s store suddenly, Amber and Megan were quiet. They stopped in front of the window as though they had seen a vision. Cassie laughed. Megan was predictable the little girl loved new clothes.
“Okay just go on in,” Ari laughed as the two ladies followed them while Erin and Sarah went to the store next door.
Megan headed for the dresses while Amber wanted to find the tee shirts; Ari suspected that was the Dean influence. She and Cassie allowed them to try on several items a piece before the let them choose one garment for each.
“One?” Megan moaned with a pout that only a mother could love.
“Yes,” Cassie said sternly but with a smile.
“One or nothing,” Ari warned her pouty child.
“Okay,” they both said as they giggled while they dressed.
“Girls,” Cassie said while they went to the counter to pay.
Ari heard Cassie let out a soft moan as she closed her handbag but neither of them mentioned it. Afterward Ari kept on eye on the other lady. She didn’t look in pain but she was aware that women hid pain well when they felt it necessary.
Two hours later, they were at their second mall and stood in front of a bridal salon. Erin grinned as she looked around excited at her friends.
“Okay I want to go in here,” she said as though no one knew by her huge smile.
“You think?” Ari said as she took Erin by the arm that the girls were not attached to.
Sarah was about to go inside but so Cassie hesitate.
“You okay?” she asked Cassie he looked a bit pale as she stood with her hand on her stomach.
“I don’t know...” she began before she would have fallen on the floor if Sarah hadn’t stopped her.
Luckily, a man walking by saw what was happening and with his help, they moved Cassie to the bench across from the Bridal Shoppe. Sarah thanked him before she dialed the nine one one operator. Cassie was unconscious and on closer examination Sarah so blood on her pants. It all happened in seconds but it would stick with Sarah for many days to come.
“Oh Cassie, wake up,” Sarah said into her ear.
People stared as they walked by it seemed a bit cozy for women on a bench at the mall. It looked as though Cassie may have been drinking to the passer byes as the snubbed up their noses.
“Erin I need you to come out here but please tell Ari to keep Megan inside.”
“What? Why?”
“Cassie is very sick I had to call an ambulance.”
“Oh no problem I will be right out,” Erin said as she disrobed in record time.
She stepped out of the dressing room to find Megan in tears on Ari’s shoulder as Amber said quietly close by.
“She won’t stop crying. Where are Cassie and Sarah?”Ari asked before Erin leaned over to her free ear to give her the update.
“Oh, okay. What are we doing?”
“I’ll go out, stay here a few minutes okay.”
Ari agreed just before Megan jumped up, “I want my Mommy.”
Ari took Megan’s hand as she had her look into her eyes. She didn’t want to lie but sometimes kids had to be eased into things. Besides Ari didn’t really know what was happening herself.
“Your mother isn’t feeling well, but we will go out to see her in a minute okay,” she said a she brought the young girl back in her arms.
Amber leaned in on the other side, “Her mommy’s is sick?”
Ari nodded.
Once the ambulance arrived, Sarah decided to ride with Cassie while the others followed in the car. The closest hospital was only ten minutes away in Madison.
“Cassie, we are on the way to the hospital, hold on in there okay,” Sarah said as she tried to hold herself together.
She didn’t know Cassie until that day. She liked all she had seen about the younger woman and she knew Sam had said nice things of Cassie. She wished she could call them but cell phones were not allowed in the ambulance.
Megan calmed down a bit once they were in the car. She and Amber were quiet on the drive. Erin phoned home to let Dean know what had happened and he insisted he would get there as soon as he could, he spoke with Ari briefly, somehow he felt the need to tell her that he loved her. She understood it was one of those you never know what is going to happen moments, as she told him the same before they hung up.
Ari drove the car as she recalled the first time she had met Cassie. She had been a bit angry that she had shown up out of nowhere then insisted Dean needed to meet his daughter. Ari sighed but she was glad she and Cassie had gotten over that initial awkward moment. It wasn’t that they were friends but she thought they had gotten close to being comrades, that was the word for some reason it fit. She prayed to God Cassie would be okay.
At the hospital, things happened quickly. They took her in through the ER and she woke up briefly before they took her to do emergency surgery.
“Sarah…I think I’m pregnant…but it has been hurting…” she tried to say.
“Okay, save your strength they are going to make you all better,” Sarah said as she looked down at Cassie who seemed to be fading before her eyes.
“I…….I ……need to say…..that I still love Dean…” Cassie said before she was out again.
Sarah bit her lip; she truly hoped Cassie would be fine. She told Cassie she would be back as she ran to tell the nurse about their being a possible pregnancy involved despite the fact that Cassie was knocked out from the drugs they have given her to get her ready to operate on.
Dean arrived about the time they wheeled Cassie into the operating room. Megan went straight into his arms.
“Mommy is going to be with the angels,” she said as she looked into her father’s green eyes.
Dean only looked at her before he stuttered, “They will make her better, Baby Girl.”
“No Daddy,” she insisted, as she held on to his neck.
Ari swallowed back tears as they threatened to sting her eyes. It was what Megan had been saying since she began to cry at the store. Mommy is going to be with the angels.
TBC
Pls leave feedback. This was a hard chapter to write but I needed to make way for other storylines in the fic.