theshot_yougot | (no subject)

Sam's nephew is six weeks old and Sam hasn't actually seen him yet.

Sam hasn't been putting it off, not really. But there were jobs to finish up, loose ends that needed tying. Leah can smirk all she likes but she knows as well as he that they really couldn't have come any sooner.

He describes their surroundings no matter where they're driving to but if he's being more detailed about it today, it might have to do with avoiding discussion of where they're going, what they're doing.

Sam might be having issues with going to see a small, fragile baby his brother adores. That the baby's name is John is something he and Dean haven't discussed at all.

Leah knows all this, too. It doesn't even need to be said. She's not even sure when there got to be so much stuff that didn't need to be said, but it's kinda brilliant.

When they get closer to the farm, she does ask, "Can you see them yet?"

Where 'them' can be anyone in a very specific family.

It's nice. That level of trust, of honesty, that was never supposed to exist outside of himself and his brother. But he doesn't need to speak for Leah to know which questions to ask, which answers she already has. Brilliant is a good word for it.

Ignoring the subject or not, Sam's in a good mood, smiling faintly as the farmhouse comes into view.

"Not yet. There's smoke from the barn, so that's probably Sokka. Early afternoon, Mel's kids might still be at school. They might come out when we get closer," a beat where his grin widens, just a touch, glancing at her hopefully, "if I rev the engine."

Not that he needs a legitimate excuse, but it's nice to have one.

"Dork," Leah informs him playfully.

He just like revving the engine and they both know it.

Sam beams - and revs it anyway. She might make fun of him, but she never seems anything less than pleased when the Porsche roars.

People peer out the windows of the house when he does, still too far to make out most of them. But if Dean or Mel are there, they'll likely be met on the front steps.

There are no cars on the road behind them, because Sam would have seen those in the rear-view mirror.

If, you know.

If they had a rear-view mirror that pointed upwards.

As it is, the slowly growing roar of the Impala seems to come from everywhere and nowhere, until the revving is directly overhead. And it is mingled with laughter.

The laughter it's mingled with quickly includes Leah's loud guffaw, leaning out of the window to hear better.

"That bloody Impala is above us, isn't it?"

Sam startles, leaning out his own window, laughing with her. "For someone who hates heights so much, he uses that way too often," Sam protests, and makes his engine roar again. It's been years since he found this car and every meeting with Dean is another chance for them to argue about which vehicle performs better and more impressively.

There's entirely too much laughter in that car to just be his brother.

Dean hates Sam's car.

Just for the record.

"NO, Hana, wait, don't throw anything! Do not throw that tape!"

The car might be dumb, but it's Sam's car, man, you don't fuck with that.

By the farmhouse, a familiar head of black hair comes around from the other side of the house to watch, shielding her eyes from the sun with the notepad in her hand.

There's a shawl wrapped around her midsection, leaving her other hand free although now it's cupped around the lump of the shawl in question.

Her mouth cracks into a wide grin.

Kids.

All the kids. If two engines are going to compete like that, there's no chance the barn-made-forge will do anything but have doors thrown open so Sokka can poke his head out curiously.

He's grinning happily as he crosses the lawn to join Mel, rubbing at grease-stained hands with a grease-stained cloth. "They're sort of on time. Maybe the girls didn't set anything on fire today."

"They almost never set anything on fire," Steph points out, grinning, swinging down from the roof to join her family on the lawn. "Not after that talking-to last year."

She kisses John hello, and forgets to kiss her husband.

"Okay, fine, they almost never get caught setting anything on fire."

"They're my kids," Mel points out. "No Fray's gonna get caught if they know what they're good for, right. John?"

John blinks at her sleepily, smiling when Steph kisses him.

Edited 2012-09-19 20:14 (UTC)

"No, not that either!"

For the record, it is not Dean honking the horn at Sam and Leah quite that enthusiastically, either. Well, okay, maybe just the first time. Not the rest.

The Imp totally beats the Porsche to the farm, though, sliding to a perfectly placed halt right beside the Frays and the Edens, and settling the last three inches to the ground comfortably. Dean lets the girls pile out first before getting himself out, lazy and smirking. Sammy's here, so things are great.

Sam's brother is a dick. That his semi-adopted kids are also little brats is simple justice, really.

Sam's grinning as he pulls the Porsche into a park beside the Impala, pocketing the keys and giving everyone a simple wave as he straightens. "Hey, guys. Back from school?"

"Hi, Sam!" Loo runs over when she gets out of the car, bouncing up on the balls of her feet excitedly. "Guess what, guess what?"

(Hana also looked over, and waved, then demanded Dean pick her up.)

Dean is their favorite. Sam is neither surprised nor upset by this. Actually, he's pretty charmed that Loo ran over in the first place, crouching down to fold his arms over his knees and grin at her.

"What what?"

"I've got a baby brother," Loo says, grabbing his hand and then grabbing Leah's, pulling them both towards the farmhouse where Mel is waiting. "Have you met him yet?"

Sam laughs, pleased, and straightens up just enough to put his free hand light on the small of Leah's back. "Nope, not yet. That's what we're here for, to see Johnny."

If he has to be Sammy, it's only fair this baby be Johnny.

"Oh, come on," Dean says, scowling, distracted from Hana's clambering by this deep and dreadful insult. "The kid's name is John, Sammy."

Honestly.

Mel rolls her eyes only slightly. as she walks down to meet them. "Doesn't the kid get any say in this? Take him, Dean."

She's already untying the knot on the back of her neck, supporting John's head lightly as he's set free.

"How was school?"

This as much to Dean as the girls.

Edited 2012-09-19 21:12 (UTC)

"I never got any say," Sam replies with an apologetic shrug and a smile for the mother. "Hey, Mel."

Only then does he look at the baby, how tiny and fragile he is. His fingers are a little looser around Loo's for the frailty of that child.

"He gets a say in it when he can talk," Dean says, grinning as he accepts his tiny son, cradling him gently. "Check him out, Sammy, isn't he great?"

Mel gets a shrug. Dean doesn't care how school was because nothing burned down today, and in the meantime, she may not have noticed this, but Sam is here to look at his nephew, why does Mel care about school?

"It was okay," Hana says. "Can Loo and I go play?"

Without waiting for an answer, she starts pulling her sister away from the uninteresting grown ups and the uninteresting baby.

Sam grins at Hana, too, gives Loo's hand a gentle squeeze before letting her go so she can run off. Then he leans over to take his first look at his little nephew. John something-Sam-can't-pronounce Fray.

It takes every ounce of self control he has to keep smiling because wow, that baby has enormous eyes and patches of his face are tomato-like and what little hair he has looks like it's been through a fight with a lawnmower.

"Oh, wow," Sam says, straightening to beam at his brother instead. "He's really something, Dean."