Chapter 4

Leslie led the way through the house, picking a dropped jacket, as she led the way towards the backyard. Max followed her out, waving to Alyssa, who was wrangling children.

A red haired child ran over to Max and said, “Aunt Max! Aunt Leslie!”

“How are you?” Max asked, kneeling down in front of the child.

“Good, but Levi was being mean!” the girl exclaimed.

“He was? What did he do?” Max questioned her.

“He pushed me!”

“I did not!” A blond boy, about four years old, ran from behind. “She’s lyin’!”

“Am not!” the six-year-old girl replied.

“Are TOO!” the boy yelled back.

“Hey, hey,” Max said, grabbing the children by the arms. “Stop yelling. Levi, why is she saying that you pushed her if you didn’t?”

Elizabeth just screamed, “LET ME GO!”

Baillie ran over and said, “Stop it. Elizabeth, stop lyin’. I saw everything. Levi was never close to you.”

Levi stuck his tongue out at Elizabeth as she just stormed away.

“I don’t like you!” she muttered as she threw a ball towards him.

“I don’t like you either!” Levi yelled back, ducking the ball.

Dean, who was on the porch, yelled, “Children! Quit. We are family, we don’t get upset at little things. We get along.”

“We do?” a little brunette girl asked, stopping her game of playing with a baby that Alyssa was holding.

“Yes, we do,” came a familiar voice- Danny’s.

“Well, we try,” Max said. “We don’t always succeed, though.” she smiled at her siblings.

Sam smirked, “Well....I doubt that we ever succeed.”

“Mommy,” Levi looked up at Max, “What does ‘succeed’ mean?”

“It means...” Max paused thinking. “I can’t really explain it. Anyone else?”

“It means that you did something right. It means that you weren’t naughty,” Bai explained trying to put it in kiddy words.

“Oh.” Levi lifted his arms. “Mommy?” Smiling, Max picked up her son.

“Baby!” Elizabeth yelled from across the yard. She was sitting next to Sam, who had given her lemonade.

Alyssa, who was sitting on the steps, smiled up at her. “Yes, baby.”

“Um, not what she meant, Lyss,” Max whispered to her best friend.

Sam chuckled and said, “Belle, why don’t you go play with Danny.”

“Okay!”

Max put Levi down, “Go, play with your sister,” she told him. He ran over to the dark-haired girl and grabbed her hand, leading her away from Alyssa.

Les just sighed. “I never had any of this drama with Danny.”

“That’s ‘cause you only had one kid, Les,” Max remarked, going to sit next to Alyssa.

“Hmm. What if I told you that even if I were to have another one, that I would adopt?” Les asked as she slid into a chair across from them.

“I’d say good for you!” Max said. She leaned back and smirked at her twin. “Are you thinking about adopting?”

“I am. After what happened with Danny’s father, I can’t trust anyone else.”

Dean replied, “Not that I can blame you. If I had been there...he wouldn’t be alive.”

Max rolled her eyes at her brother. “Dean, calm down,” she mumbled, then turned to her sister. “Well, I think it’s a great idea.”

Les smiled at her twin. “Do you think it would be?”

“Well, duh.” Max smiled, watching the children run across the yard.

“I was going to go to the orphanage tomorrow if you’d like to come with me Max,” Leslie said, looking down at her hands.

She was only adopting because she couldn’t trust anyone to get close to them on any level. Danny’s father broke her in more than one way. She knew that Danny would never have a father, but he could at least have a brother or sister.

Sam looked over at the twins and said, “I could babysit the twins if you want Max. They are a handful but Baillie and I could handle it.”

“Um,” Max thought for a moment, “Actually, yeah, that might be a good idea.....” She grinned.

Leslie smirked a little bit. “Are you sure you can handle them, Mr. Lawyer? I don’t think you would be able to. Not with Levi and Belle hating each other right now.”

Sam glared at her and said, “I can handle it.”

“Why can’t I watch them?” Another man said, “They are my children.”

“Because Cas, you have never watched them by yourself before,” Dean told the dark haired man.

“So?” Cas crossed his arms over his chest.

“Cas, just let Sam and Bai do it,” Max told him. “You can have a day off.”

Dean just got up and said, “Come on Cas. We can go get take them to the park or something for today. You can watch them for a while today to let Max have a break.”

“All right,” Cas said. He turned to the kids and called, “Levi! Rebekah! Come on.”

Dean just said, “I’ll be in the car. Which will not be my car!”

Max tossed Dean the keys to her station wagon. “Here, you'll can use mine,” she said. “Just don’t wreck it.”

“Oh, you think I’m going to wreck it? Cas would do that!”

“Hey!” Cas said, taking the hands of Becky and Levi, “I would not!”

“Would too! Why do you think I don’t let you drive Baby?!”

“I don’t let you drive either,” Max said. “By the way, there’s a bunch of crap in that thing, we hardly ever clean it.”

“And you have kids that get into that mess!” Bai exclaimed.

“Do they ever....” Cas mumbled. “Come on Dean.” He started walking away.

Dean rolled his eyes and threw the keys in the air as he walked. “Hey, don’t lose my keys!” Max yelled after him.

“Relax! What was the last thing I lost?!” Dean yelled back at her.

“Oh, I dunno, your sanity!” she yelled back.

“You lost yours first!” Dean yelled as he went out the gate.

Max had to get the last word. “Did not!” she shouted after him.

The yard grew quiet as they left the yard. With a squeal, Belle ran out into the yard. “Play, Aunt Max?”

Max smiled. “Sure, Belle.” She got up and followed her niece.

Belle grinned happily and went and got a ball for them to play catch. Her brown-red hair flowed from her ponytail. Max stood a good distance from Belle and waited for her to throw the ball.

Belle raised her arms and throw the ball towards her. Max caught the ball and threw it back gently. Belle caught the ball after it was caught with a happy smile. This went on for a while.

After some time, Max said, “All right, I’m tired, Belle. Can I take a break?”

Belle just nodded and ran up to Baillie. “Mommy? I hungry!”

“Can you wait a little bit? It’s only ten in the morning. We have to wait for everyone to be here,” Bai replied.

“Fine,” Belle said.

Max returned to the porch and sat next to Leslie. Leslie smiled over at her twin, and said, “We have too many children in this family.”

“No kidding.” Max chuckled. “But we love them, right?”

“Maybe.” she joked around. “But, no we do.”