In Which Boaz Makes a Roadtrip

[mini_dean]

"Ben, he's not asking for you to do anything you're not comfortable with."

"Yeah, I get that." He looked at the picture in his hand that Dean had left. His father - all these years later and suddenly Dean was back and his mother was telling him that she knew - wanted to see him. And he had a little cousin. "Just... not something I was expecting."

"Dean will be fine with whatever you choose. But I'd really like you to think about at least talking to him. I'm sure you've got questions."

"I do." He rubbed the back of his neck. "What about you, Mom? You want him around again?"

Lisa smiled just a bit. "It was nice seeing him again, Ben. I'd like to see more of him. But if you're not comfortable..."

"Mom, I'm not eight anymore. You don't need to worry about my feelings when you're seeing a guy." He smirked up at his mother. "I just don't want to hear about what you two are doing when I'm not here."

"Like I'd tell you that anyway." Lisa smoothed the first red spike of her son's hair so she could kiss his forehead. "Do me a favor, though?"

"What's that?"

"If you decide to take a road trip out to Iowa like I know you're planning, please at least tone down the look so the press doesn't follow you."

Ben smirked a bit and shook his head. "Yes, Mom."

***

The flight from LA to Des Moines wasn't bad, and he rented a car the next morning to drive the rest of the way to the house where Dean had told his mother that he lived. It probably wasn't the smartest plan he had, but he did want a chance to look at this family before he went to talk to them.

He watched his cousin and his uncle go off to school, and saw that his father's car stayed parked in the driveway. Figuring that it meant Dean wasn't going off to any job, Ben pulled the car up next to it in the driveway and made his way to the front door, knocking before he looked at his reflection in the window.

He actually looked normal for once, and sober too. It was the best he could manage, so he hoped it would be noticed he was trying to act the part. If only for his mom's sake.

Comments

[jstliketherifle.livejournal.com]

The reason Dean wasn't going anywhere was because Dean had spent all night driving in from Boston. He had left FBI headquarters around six AM yesterday and didn't roll in to home until about two in the morning. Twenty hours with no stops but gas and meal breaks and Dean pretty much passed out on the couch the minute he set foot in the door. He knew he could have taken it slow, but he was itching to get home and take his two weeks before Olivia started throwing cases at him again. Or Astrid started knocking on his door.

Whichever came first.

When the knock on the door came, Dean wasn't really expecting it. Rolling off onto the floor, he used the impact with the ground to wake him up a little more, before stumbling to his feet and pulling open the door. Glance down at his watch, he groaned. "Who knocks on people's doors at eight in the morning?"

After he pulled it open, however, he had a different reaction entirely. "Ben."

[mini_dean]

Ben looked at his feet a moment before looking back up at Dean. Wow, he knew the photo showed a lot of similarities, but it was different staring at your own reflection - just older - in the face.

"I... uh, I was in the area and thought it might be nice to stop in. But I can come back..."

[jstliketherifle.livejournal.com]

"No! No, no -- come in." Dean stepped back from the doorway, holding out one hand for him to come inside. "Sorry, I just -- I'm functioning on six hours right now."

Once Ben was inside he closed the door, rubbing his eyes to get himself up a little more. "Can I get you something? Coffee, something to eat?"

[mini_dean]

Ben walked in and looked around, his eyes taking in the place. "Nah, I grabbed some crap across the street from the hotel. Looks like you could use some though." He smirked a bit, turning back to look at Dean.

[jstliketherifle.livejournal.com]

He rubbed his eyes with a bit of a laugh before turning to head towards the kitchen. "Yeah, well -- you try driving straight through from Boston to Iowa and see how you do."

He made his way into the kitchen, heading towards the coffee maker and starting to get the pot going. Olivia had put a note for him on the fridge with COFFEE FIRST, READ AFTER written across the top in big letters, so instead he turned around to face Ben again with a sigh. "Gotta say, you caught me a little off-guard though. Figured if you were interested in seein' me, you would have done it through your mom."

[mini_dean]

"Yeah, well thing is, I kinda do my own thing. Plus I know my mom wants to spend time with you and if this doesn't work out between us, I don't want to mess that up for her."

Ben slid up onto a stool. "And I woulda called, but I'm in the process of changing my number. Again." He really had to stop giving out his number to the girls he slept with.

[jstliketherifle.livejournal.com]

Dean nodded, moving towards the cabinet to grab a mug for himself. "Nah, it's fine. I'm just glad you didn't drop by when I was out of town on a job."

[mini_dean]

"Yeah, I actually was across the street making sure I saw your car before I came over. Didn't want to put your brother in a compromising situation."

[jstliketherifle.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I don't think Sam would have minded, after the momentary surprise. And Olivia's pretty good at keepin' secrets, all things considered."

[mini_dean]

"So she hasn't started telling her friends she's my cousin yet?" Which was a relief.

He looked over at the fridge that was covered in years of pictures and drawings. "Looks like she had a fun time growing up here with you two."

[jstliketherifle.livejournal.com]

"Nah, she's smarter than that. She knows how people's brains work, and that teenagers have big mouths."

Dean followed his eyes back to the fridge and nodded with a bit of a smile. "Yeah, she had a good time. When she was little, anyway. Once she became a teenager all bets were off."

[mini_dean]

Ben got up and went to look at some of the pictures closer. "My mom told me once that for all she wished I had been a girl when I was little, she was very glad I was a boy come those years."

He pointed at the picture. "She doesn't look much like Sam from these pictures."

[jstliketherifle.livejournal.com]

Dean followed his eyes back, before shaking his head. "Nah. She's got a good chunk of her mom, though. And a nice part of your grandmother. But when she smiles? That's all Sam."

[growinup-crazy.livejournal.com]

Sam had warned Olivia that Ben was there when she got in the car for her ride home, and she wasn't sure how to process that at first. There was something akin to butterflies with the idea of having a celebrity in her house, but she also had heard all the stories about how someone was a good guy for the cameras and a dick behind the scenes, and she was really hoping that it wasn't that way with Ben.

But she also knew the look on her father's face when he was just pretending to like someone, and that wasn't coming through here. So hopefully that was a good sign.

Once they arrived back at the house, she grabbed her cello out of the backseat and slung it on her back, making her way into the house and entering with the loud noise that became necessary when she grew up in a family with itchy trigger fingers.

"Uncle Dean? I'm home!"

[mini_dean]

Ben was finishing up a phone call, changing his plane reservation to a later flight just so he could not have to rush through lunch. When Olivia banged into the house, he took a deep breath and stepped out into the living room.

"He ran out to pick up lunch since the delivery boy was out sick." He gave her a small smirk. "You must be Olivia."

[growinup-crazy.livejournal.com]

Oh boy. Breathe, Liv.

"That's me," she said, returning the grin. "And you're Ben." She wasn't even going to bother pretending she didn't know him. If he spent even five minutes in the house he had to know that she was a fan.

[mini_dean]

"Only to the people I like and family," he pointed out, his photogenic grin coming out.

And he knew through Dean and Sam. He had not seen the shrine in her room. Probably better he didn't.

[growinup-crazy.livejournal.com]

Probably way better that he didn't.

She shifted her shoulders to take the cello off her back, before heading towards the abnormally large closet where she kept her instruments. "Well, lucky for me I'm family. Ben is a lot easier to call someone normally than Boaz."

[mini_dean]

"What, you aren't a fan of the stage name?"

He was teasing a bit. He knew she was a fan. But she was family and he felt he was able to get teasing rights in.

[growinup-crazy.livejournal.com]

She laughed. "Sure, when it's a stage name. When you're talking to a person, it's awkward." She shut the door before rolling her shoulders again. "For me, anyway."

[mini_dean]

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I'm not much in love with it either. But that's show business."

He looked at the closet before she closed the door. "Dean tells me you play the strings like you were born into it."

[growinup-crazy.livejournal.com]

"I'm pretty good, I guess," she shrugged, before pulling the door open again. "Started on the violin when I was about seven and worked my way up to the upright."

[mini_dean]

Ben walked over and looked in, nodding and whistling in appreciation. "I'm really only good on the guitar. I never was able to do anything with a bow."

[growinup-crazy.livejournal.com]

"I've dabbled with the guitar," she said with a nod. "The chords are the same, but strumming is weird. My strings teacher says it's because I'm used to a certain kind of posture."

[mini_dean]

"Probably true. Well, if you're as good as Dean says, maybe one day you can come help record a bit with us. We're lacking a good violinist and I'd be curious what other sounds we could add in."