Palace of the Brine: Epilogue
**
Ten Years Later
Sometimes, it was just nice to get away for a moment and enjoy some quiet, Eve thought.
"Yeah that's right, I'm making him marry me." Misha says as he walks in the door with Katie, bags of groceries in their arms.
"Just like I made him file jointly for taxes and I'm making him take me to visit his grandparents in Buffalo next month and I made him call up my parents to ask permission to marry me and I definitely made him pick out the damn ring in my size," Misha says, showing off the silver band on his ring finger. Katie laughs.
Eve smiles and angles over the back of the couch. "He did ask me to subtly measure your finger with a string."
"You mean we're not getting secret decoder rings? No!" Misha gasps as he puts the groceries down on the counter.
Katie smiles at her. "Hey, kiddo what're you doing here?"
Eve holds up the book she was reading. "Homework."
Katie looks at the cover and turns her nose up. "The Jungle? Ugh, I had to read that when I was in high school too, and I gave up pork for a month."
Eve looks nervously back at the book. "I uh, haven't gotten that far, I guess?"
"What brought you back?" Misha asks.
"Bacon is tasty," Katie says. "So, when's the bachelor party?"
"Depends on how long it takes to find a cake big enough to fit a Drag Queen impersonator of Miley Cyrus."
"Misha!" Eve shouts.
"Oh get your mind out of the gutter; it's so she can pop out and give your Dad a frosting covered lap dance, not me."
Eve covers her ears and squeezes her eyes shut. "I hate you!"
Chad walks in with another two bags of groceries. "What is it now?"
"He's making dirty jokes about you again!" Eve whines.
Chad sighs. "Well maybe you should stop telling your friends that 'Misha' is the name of my Russian bride! People are going to get the wrong idea, miss," Chad says, scolding her.
Eve snickers. She also told them the guy her Dad's always hanging out with is their Scottish au pair and gardener, Desmond, whom her Dad was having a torrid gay affair with.
"And then maybe you shouldn't have encouraged her by answering the phone in a Russian woman's voice," Chad says to Misha.
"Oh c'mon, that's just funny," Misha says.
Katie rolls her eyes. "Now I see why you like escaping to the frat house, kiddo."
"That reminds me, Eve, you're supposed to babysit tonight," Chad says.
Eve slumps against the couch, "I know! I know."
"Eve," Chad says, looking down at her.
"What?"
"Do I have to tell you again?"
Eve huff, and makes a loud, angry teenager sound but gathers her books up anyway. "Fine! I'm going, throw out your only child to the wolves!"
"You're not my only child!" Chad says.
"Your one and only daughter, alone in the world!" Eve says, throwing her arm over her forehead and making a dramatic sighing sound before running out the door and down the block.
Katie tsks. "She was so much cuter before this one taught her sarcasm," she says, pointing to Misha.
Chad sighs. "How much longer until she goes to college?"
**
"Evelyn Murray Padalecki, where were you?" her father says when she walks in the door.
"I was at Dad's, I left a note," Eve says with a shrug.
"Where?"
"On the fridge!"
"Uh, Jared," Jensen says, holding up a well-chewed piece of paper. "She's telling the truth. I think Harley got to it."
"See! I'm innocent! And you were probably gonna ground me if the stupid dog hadn't coughed that up!" Eve says and her father relaxes his shoulders.
"Harley's not stupid!" Eve's little brother shouts at her and she turns around to see the nine-year-old auburn-haired boy holding his puppy close. "I bet he's smarter than you!"
"Aaron, you're dumber than Sadie or Harley put together!" Callie says, razzing him from the couch.
Eve rolls her eyes as Aaron and Callie get into it again, and the moment it gets physical, and Jensen has to carry Aaron upstairs to calm down while Callie sits on the kitchen stool.
"Now you see why I'm a little on edge tonight," Jared says, putting his arm around Eve's shoulder and leading her over to sit with him on the couch, brushing away toys and dolls to the floor. "This is the first date night in three years that Jensen and me are having, no kids, no dogs."
Eve leans her head onto her dad's shoulder. "I know, I know. I'm the oldest, and someday I get to go to college and I'll be a superstar who can already take care of myself."
Jared laughs. "Who told you that?"
"Aunt Katie," Eve says.
"She's right you know. You're a very responsible young lady and I couldn't be prouder of you. Really," Jared says, tucking a loose hair behind her ear.
Eve sucks her teeth. "So, twenty bucks and I get to order three movies from pay-per-view, right?"
Jared shakes his head. "One movie."
"Two movies?" Eve asks, batting her eyelashes.
Jared raises an eyebrow. "How about I put the TV on parent blocker?"
"Pfft, your password is Jensen's birthday," Eve claps her hand over her mouth. "Um, I mean, I don't know what your password is."
"One. Movie." Jared says, twisting her nose like he used to do when she was little. "And don't forget to walk Harley and Sadie before you go to bed. And don't even think about inviting boys over or I'll call up Tommy to babysit you for the rest of your natural life."
Eve gasps. "No! He's the worst, Daddy he doesn't let me do anything."
"That's because he's done it all before and so he knows all the tricks," Jensen says, walking Aaron down the stairs and back into the living-room. "Callie, come out here now, time-out's over!" And she slowly shuffles in from the kitchen, dragging her feet on purpose.
I know, and he refuses to teach me them until I'm in college, Eve thinks to herself, crossing her arms.
"Aaron, Callie, what do you say?" Jensen says.
"I'm sorry Aaron because you're not stupider than the dogs," Callie says.
"I'm sorry Callie because you don't have an ugly stupid face," Aaron says before turning to Eve. "I'm sorry too, Eve," Aaron says, swaying on his feet.
Eve opens her arms. "S'okay, c'mere," she says and Aaron climbs up on the couch and hugs her. "You still love me, Aaron?"
"Sure!" he says. "Can I watch a movie tonight?"
"No! I wanna watch TV!" Callie says, stamping her feet.
Jared quickly gets up from the couch and grabs Jensen. "Okay, we're getting out while we still can. Call your Dad and Misha if there's an emergency!" Jared shouts as he and Jensen make their getaway and Eve slumps back down on the couch as her little brother and sister shout at each other and the dogs start barking and trying to jump up for attention.
Sometimes, she really just needed the quiet.
**
When Eve was little, and Callie was still a baby, she crawled into her Daddy's arms one night, and asked him where babies came from.
"From when two people love each other," Jared whispered to her.
"Do you love Jensen?" Eve whispered back.
"Uh huh," Jared said.
"So you'll have another baby some day?" Eve asked.
Jared reached over, and brushed the hair out of her eyes.
"Yeah," Jensen answered for him, sitting at the edge of the bed and pulling a large sweater over his stomach. "Some day."
The End
**
Master Post || Art Post || Soundtrack Post || Additional Author's Notes