⌜ chapter one ⌟

"Whoopsy, baby." Letty picks Faith up off of the floor, and the toddler giggles as she swings a bit before resting on the teenager's hip.

"They love you." Hope smiles as she watches her best friend with her daughters.

"Well, I should hope so. I only spent all Summer babysitting while Mommy was working. But now it's Uncle Jay's turn." She says as she looks around the apartment. "Where is Jason?"

"Working."

"And now I'm gonna kill you both." Letty says, and she sighs. "Eric's moving into his new place, and I'm supposed to be there with him right now."

"Didn't you say that his new apartment is just down the hall from ours?"

"Yeah, but I wasn't supposed to be babysitting today. They're moving in and getting things set up — I don't want the girls in their way." She says. "Hope, I have things I need to do today."

"I'm sorry. I thought Jason talked to you about today. I mean, you know me, I never would've dropped this on you last minute." She says, and Letty takes a deep breath.

"Fine, but if I'm taking the girls, you're putting their shoes on them."

"Done." Hope nods. "Joyce. Baby, where's your shoes?"

"You wanna go out, hun?" Letty asks as she looks at the toddler in her arms.

"No!" Faith shouts her new favorite word.

"But we're gonna see Eric." She says, but that does nothing for the baby. "You'll be happy once you see him, trust me, sweets."

"I love you, you're the best." Hope says as she walks over with Joy.

"Bite me." She narrows her dark eyes at her before setting Faith on her feet.

Letty then gets the twins' diaper bag together while Hope puts Faith's shoes on her, and a few minutes later, they're walking out of the apartment with the girls. Joy says that she wants down when she sees Shawn, so Hope sets her on her feet and follows after her as she stumbles down the hallway to him and Mr. Hunter.

"Hey, kiddo. Hi, Scarlett." Shawn greets as he looks at his sister. "I didn't know you were babysitting today."

"Me either." She says as he pushes the door open.

"Love you!" Hope says as she starts for the elevator so that she can leave for work.

"Bite me!"

"Hey, now. Only I can do that." Eric says as he walks over to them. "Hey there, sweetheart." He smiles as Faith reaches toward him.

"Every time." Letty shakes head as she lets him take the toddler.

"She's got good taste." He says as he looks at her. "Hi." He leans over and presses a quick kiss to her lips.

"N— Joy!" She then runs over and grabs the toddler before she can try to climb up the few steps that are in the apartment.

"Alright. Hey, kid." Mr. Matthews walks over to the brunette, and she raises her eyebrows as she looks up at him. "You're gonna be alright living with your friends?"

"Yeah. Yeah, we'll be fine." She nods. "It's better than the motel this time."

"You call if you ever need anything." He tells her.

"I will, thank you."

"Bye, Scarlett." Mr. Matthews nods once, and she smiles as she has the toddler wave goodbye to him.

"I'll see you around, kiddo." Mr. Hunter says, and she just nods as she looks at him.

"Scarlett?" A male voice gets her attention as Mr. Matthews and Mr. Hunter walk out of the apartment, and she looks over at the guy who must be Eric and Shawn's new roommate. He looks to be around the same age as her and Eric. "Claire."

"What did you just..." Her eyebrows furrow as she looks at him, and then realization washes over her face. "J?"

"Hold on. Did he just call you Claire? As in your middle name?" Eric asks, and his girlfriend looks over at him. "I thought you said that the only person who ever called you that was... Of course. J stands for Jack."

"My brother?" Shawn questions. "This whole time, it was Jack sending you gifts and letters? And you didn't tell me?"

"I didn't know how to tell you, Shawn. Yeah, he sent me letters, but he never seemed to get the ones that I sent him." Letty tells the younger boy. "I didn't want to tell you, and then have you get your hopes up if you wanted to send him a letter and nothing came of it."

"You sent me letters?" Jack asks.

"You sent him letters?" Eric questions. "And when did that stop?"

"I— Oh, for the love of God." Letty walks over to the diaper bag she dropped when she ran for Joy, and pulls a few toys out. "Here you go, sweetie." She sets her with her toys, and Faith crawls over when Eric sets her down.

"Why did you only send her letters?" Shawn asks his brother.

"For a long time, I didn't even know if you knew that I existed. I didn't know if you wanted to hear from me." Jack tells him. "And the more time that passed... I just didn't know if I should've."

"How many letters did you send him?" Eric's still looking at Letty.

"He was my best from basically birth to five years old. Yeah, I sent him letters...for awhile — I don't know how many. When it became pretty damn obvious that he was never gonna get 'em, I eventually stopped." She says. "I think I was eleven the last time I sent one, it's been seven years... Eric, is this ever not gonna be a problem? 'Cause I am tired of having this fight."

"It's different now. He's here now."

"Can you explain what exactly it is that you think was going on all this time?" The brunette questions. "They were letters, Eric. I was a kid, I had nothing. Some years, the only presents that I even got for Christmas came from him. So yes, I was happy to hear from him. But the only competition here has been in your head."

"I never meant to cause problems for you." Jack says as he looks between Letty and Eric.

"You wanna know what I think?" Eric asks.

"Oh, enlighten me." Letty nods.

"Dude..." Shawn shakes his head as he looks at Eric, knowing that this won't go over well.

"I think he is part of the reason that you haven't told me that you love me." Eric says, and the anger disappears from Letty's face as her expression melts into hurt. "You told me once that his necklace meant so much to you because it was a reminder that a better life was out there somewhere. I don't think you ever stopped waiting for that better life to come back and save you from your problems."

Letty looks away from him wordlessly and just stands there for a moment, then she kneels down and swiftly packs the girls' stuff back into their bag. After their stuff's packed, she slings the bag over her shoulder so that the strap goes across her chest, then she picks up Faith. The toddler reaches for Eric, just like always, but Letty leans down and takes Joy's hand in hers.

"No, Faith." The brunette says, but the toddler starts squirming.

"Come here, sweetheart." Shawn takes Faith from his sister's arms, and then Letty picks up Joy.

"Why do you always take your shoes off?" She mutters as she grabs the toddler's shoe from the floor where the twins were just playing.

"No, no. Aunt Scarlett's gonna kill Uncle Eric."

"Shut up, Shawn."

"Yes, Mom."

—

There's a knock on the door, and Letty sighs as she gets up to answer it. The brunette steps around the twins and the toys that they're playing with on the floor, grateful that they both seem to do so well with sharing. She guesses that it's because neither knows a life without the other, they've never been separated. So neither of the girls really has any sense of mine, their toys are always shared between the two of them.

Opening the front door, Letty's surprised to find Jack standing in the hallway of the apartment complex. He offers her a shy smile as he rubs the back of his neck. "I wasn't really sure if I should come over, but I've been promising to find you for so many years, I—" He clears his throat as he looks down. "I really never meant to cause any problems for you."

"You didn't do anything wrong." She tells him. "I was always glad to hear from you."

"Really?" He looks up to meet her gaze again. "I'm glad."

"Come on in." She steps aside, and he walks into the apartment

"Cute kids." Jack says, looking at the twins who are playing in the middle of the living room.

"Just like their mama." She smiles. "These are my nieces, Joyce and Faith. Do you remember Hope Delgado?" She asks, and he nods.

"Yeah, and her sister... Melissa, right?" He asks, and she nods.

"The girls are Hope's." Letty says as she walks over and kneels down beside Joy. "Huh, mija?"

"Pay?" She holds her toy up, and the teenager takes it to play with the toddler.

"What about their dad?" Jack asks as he walks over and sits on the edge of the couch.

"Dean Winchester." The brunette tells him, sitting down on the floor with the girls.

"Oh, I remember him. He was always super protective of... Well, everyone. Him and his own twin — Miller, right?" He asks, and she nods as she shows Faith how one of the plastic shapes fits into the hole on the big piece that it came from. "He around?"

"Left with his dad before he found out that Hope was pregnant, didn't want to come back to raise them after she told him. He raised Sam since he was only four, and doesn't want to start all over with little ones." She says, and he shakes his head.

"That sucks."

"I'm sure he'll come around eventually. He was probably just freaked." She says. "Even Hope's been stressing because she doesn't want to raise them like we were raised, but she doesn't want to bring them up clueless either."

"You guys can always do like my mom raised me." He tells her, and she looks over at him. "I mean, I know about everything, but I'm not..."

"That kind of hunter?" She muses, and he chuckles.

"Yeah, Hunter only in name, not occupation." He nods, and she takes a deep breath.

"It's what we've talked about, but then that brings another decision — at what age do we tell and train them? I mean, I don't remember a time that I didn't know about everything that goes bump in the night, neither does Jason. And Hope was ten when..." Letty clears her throat as she looks down. "Do you remember a time that you didn't know about..."

"All the things lurking in the shadows?" He shakes his head. "No, I think I've always known."

"Alec too. Like it was a normal thing for children to be aware of."

"Hey, uh... Shawn doesn't know, does he?" He asks, and she shakes her head as she looks back over at him.

"I've spent only every moment of my entire life protecting him from ever finding out." She says, and he nods, relieved to hear that. "I just feel like it's shaped too much of my life, and I don't want him to ever have to deal with it. I don't want any of my friends who don't already know to find out. It's not exactly an easy thing to live with, always checking over your shoulder."

"So, Eric doesn't know?" He asks, and she shakes her head. "Do you ever hunt?"

"I have, but not in a long time." She says. "And I never will again if I can help it. Still run into hunters from time to time. You ever met Walt and Roy?" She asks, and he shakes his head.

"No. Only hunters I know are the Delgados, Winchesters, Singers, and the Prices."

"You know Reggie and Tyler?"

"Yeah. My mom gave them and their sister a place to stay for awhile after their dad died." He tells her, and she nods. "Who are Walt and Roy?"

"Brothers — asshat's jumped me a few months back because I hustled them in pool. They might've killed me if Eddie hadn't shown up." She tells him.

"That's Shawn's other brother?" He asks, and she nods. "How much did you get from them to make them go after you?"

"Two hundred." She chuckles. "Dumbasses."

"That's a lot for hunters."

"It's a lot for me. You know how much formula and diapers I bought?" She brushes Faith's dark hair back, and the toddler ignores her. "That stuff's not exactly cheap, especially when you need enough for twins."

"You're all pretty close-knit, aren't you?" He asks, and she nods.

"I may call them my nieces, but I'll raise them like my own 'til the day I die."

"Is it wrong that I feel robbed?" He asks, and her eyebrows furrow as she looks back over at him.

"What do you mean?"

"You were all my friends — you, Hope, Jason, Dean, Miller, Melissa. Now I feel like the odd man out while you're all a family." He says, and a smile tugs at her lips.

"Yeah, I guess we are a family, aren't we? Unconventional and dysfunctional as hell, but still a family." She nods. "Lucky for you, we're no strangers to taking in strays."

"Yeah?" He smiles.

"You may have had it a little more cushy than we did, but you're no different than the rest of us are, which is unfortunate for you. We children of monster hunters are the same breed of screwed in the head." She says, and he nods.

"I definitely could've done without knowing that the monster under my bed very well could have been there." He says, and she scoffs.

"Yeah, tell me about it."

"Tía?"

"Sí, mija?" Letty looks down at Faith, and the toddler opens her mouth wide. "You're hungry?"

"Uh-huh." The tiny brunette nods.

"Chicken nuggets?" She asks, and that gets both girls going. "Okay, my babies."

"No. No!" Joy starts yelling when Letty gets to her feet and starts for the kitchen. The toddler's staring at Jack as she starts fussing.

"Okay, okay. Yes, I hear you." The teenager walks back over and picks up the little one. "Yes, baby, I know. Stranger danger." She rubs her back as she gets her situated on her hip, then she heads over to the kitchen.

"Can I play with this one, or will she start crying too?" Jack asks, and Letty chuckles as she glances over at him.

"Faith should be fine. She's more outgoing than our nervous little Joy." She tells him, and he sits on the floor with her.

Letty gets the chicken nuggets into the toaster oven using one hand, being careful to keep Joy's hands away from anything sharp or hot. Then she goes over to the fridge and points out the different fruits that they have in there. She's talking to Joy, who then tells her that she wants strawberries, so she pulls out the Tupperware bowl with the cut up pieces.

There's a knock at the front door, and Letty looks over toward the living room. "Can you get that for me, please?" The brunette calls, and Jack gets up off of the floor.

"Hi. Can I help you?"

"I'm looking for Scarlett." A familiar voice tells him. 

"He can come in!" Letty calls as she walks back over toward Faith and sets her sister down next to her. She opens the Tupperware and then leaves the fruit with the twins. "Hey, Jon. You're lookin' a lot better." She smiles at her former teacher as she walks over to them, and he closes the door behind him.

"Hey, kid." Turner smiles. "How are things goin'?"

"Not too shabby. You know, ignoring the fact that my boyfriend's an idiot."

"Eric's... Well, he's Eric." He says, and she nods. "Who's your friend?"

"Mm, right. Jon, this is Jack. He is Shawn's older brother." She tells him, and he raises his eyebrows.

"Another one?"

"The last... I'm pretty sure." She smirks. "In any case, Jack's nothing like Eddie."

"Meaning he's never been to juvie, I hope."

"No, sir." Jack shakes his head.

"Jack is Chet's oldest." Letty tells the older man. "Jack, this is Jonathan Turner. He was mine and Shawn's teacher, and he actually let Shawn live with him for awhile."

"Shawn didn't always live with our dad?" He asks, and she shakes her head.

"No, uh... It's a long story. Shawn or I can fill you in another time."

"That actually brings me to why I came by." Turner says, and they both look back up at him. "I have something for you, Scarlett."

"You do?" Her eyebrows furrow as he pulls a white envelope out of his back pocket. He hands it to her, and she opens it up to find money — a lot of money. "Jon, what..." She shakes her head, obviously confused as she looks back up at him.

"That's everything that you ever gave me while Shawn was living with me." He tells her. "Rent, groceries, he broke something he shouldn't have been touching — I never spent a dime of what you gave me." He says.

"You just kept all of it?"

"Kid, I never would've let him live with me if I couldn't afford to take care of him. So, everything you gave to me went into that envelope, and I planned to give it back to you after you graduated." He explains. "Things got pushed back a little after my accident, but it's your money."

Letty pulls it out of the envelope and spreads it out. "I didn't even realize I gave you so much."

"Yeah, well, you gave me more after you heard that Chet stole my tv." He tells her, and she nods.

"Right. Yeah, he's an ass."

"I told you that it wasn't your responsibility to be taking care of Shawn the way you always did, and it wasn't your job to make up for what his father did either." Turner says. "You were just a kid, you shouldn't have been raising one."

"I was never a kid." She mutters, only half listening to him. She still can't believe that she gave him this much money to pay for Shawn, or that she now has it back to pay for other things.

"Yeah, I've come to realize that too." He sighs. "Hey, Scarlett?"

"Yeah?" She looks back up at him.

"I understand that Hope's your best friend, and you're helping her raise her kids..." He says, and she nods. "But don't spend all of that on the twins."

She shakes her head. "Actually, uh... I think you had the right idea — saving it seems like a good way to go, and adding to it every now and then. Emergency fund." She says, and he smiles.

"Sounds like a good plan."

"Thank you...for everything." She takes a deep breath. "And I don't just mean for everything that you did for Shawn...though there were a few things I couldn't have handled without you."

"Oh, I'm sure you would've done just fine." He argues. "But you ever need anything else, you know where I live. My door is always open for you and Shawn." He tells her, and she smiles as she nods.