hasperkynipples | civil war au } { meddling mothers

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civil war au } { meddling mothers

Her son received a letter from a woman.

Not that the idea of Dean having female suitors is unheard of in the Winchester household, but before the war they weren't particularly ones to write. After the war - well, they were almost non-existent. Mary isn't one to deny the fact that her son came home different, a little bit colder but still gentle in the ways that mattered. He grew up in his time away and while the things he's seen were likely not pleasant, he isn't letting them mar him. At least, not in ways that she can see.

All the same, the letter from a woman, a Miss Christine Chapel, finds its way to their front door, and the inherent curiosity gets the better of her. She informs him of the letter, lets him read it, and waits for him to do something in response. In fact, she waits an entire week, and when he doesn't give her a return letter to put through the post, she takes matters into her own hands.

John will probably scold her for it later, but she also saw the look on her son's face when he read it. This meddling is worth doing.

It's takes some time for mail to travel, so much so that she almost completely forgot about the invitation she extended this "Christine Chapel." So when the blond woman appears at their doorstep while she's tending to the flowers in front of their home, she can't help but blink at her in surprise.

"Can I help you?"

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"Oh, I-I did think... Once I realized you had no prior knowledge of my coming..." She looks a little ashamed of herself for drawing such conclusions, but she forces a smile through it.

"Perhaps my pride was a little wounded. But now we've cleared the air."

"That was not my intention either." His smile is a bit more relaxed and he inches forward, pulling his chair with him. "I'm just surprised you'd go through all this trouble to see one soldier you met during the war."

"You're more than just one soldier," she counters immediately. Her voice is serious on that front. "You're the reason I became a nurse. Were it not for your encouragement-- well, life would be very different than it is now. So I suppose, in a way, I wanted to come here to thank you." But it's also true that she wanted to just see him in general as well.

"You're welcome," he says with a nod, pleased that he could help her in some way. "I suppose you took well to nursing then?"

"I did! I learned quickly and was able to do a lot of good." Her face lights up as she speaks of that time, even though it was a harsh world and a challenge every day. She's learned she enjoys challenges and conquering them.

"And now I work for a doctor in his practice. It's very fulfilling work."

"Good," he says with a nod. "It seems you got more out of this war than most." And it's good that someone got something out of it, something that was, in the end, such a waste of human life and potential. "At least some of us were able to benefit from it for the better."

"Are you speaking of yourself?" she can't help but ask. He's someone who had suffered in her city and she hopes he's gained good things in his life since then.

He pauses for a moment, before answering honestly. "I am not sure. I think what I have to gain may yet be coming." Not something he can pin down right then, but something that will benefit him in the future. He needs to believe that there's something and he didn't just waste all of it.

"Maybe it'll come to you, or maybe you'll have to pursue it." That's what she had to do, going out into the wide world on her own to find what was best for her. Now she knows it's helping people, and she wouldn't have realized it if it hadn't been for him.

He nods a bit in agreement. Things aren't always as straight forward as he may like, but there are ways around that, things they can work on to try and pursue what he's looking for. It's just a matter of figuring out what it is he wants.

Though he may have a few days.

"Perhaps I will."

Christine smiles at that, since it's a start, and then she sits up straighter to take a sip of her lemonade before speaking again.

"If it's not too much trouble, would you show me around the farm? It doesn't have to be right now; I know you just came in from working and you must be tired."

He shakes his head. "No, not at all." He gets to his feet, grabbing his glass to take with them. "Follow me."

She takes her glass as well, moving to join him at the door.

"Thank you. How many acres d'you have here?"

"Only about two. Not a large as some farms but enough for us to get by. We don't need much." He starts down the stairs, before extending a hand back to her to help her as he does.

She looks up at the offered hand and smiles at his manners, placing her hand in his.

"It sounds a very good size for your needs. Now, let's see. Did you ever tell me what you grew? I remember you said your mother had her vegetable garden."

He nods. "She grows smaller stuff like beans and squash. Out back we have corn mostly. My dad's tryin' to get into wheat, but a good crop of that takes time to grow. It may be a few years before it does really well." But at least they're trying something new. With the way the economy's changed after the war, it's hard to really tell what will work and what won't.

"Oh, that must be difficult, having to wait for it to flourish while it takes up space in your fields." She lets him help her down the steps, liking the feeling of her skin against his. It reminds her of when he'd brushed away her tears, or when she'd held his hand while the doctor sewed up his wound. Idly, she wonders what the scar looks like now.

"This looks like a lovely place to grow up. It doesn't seem so..." She hesitates, searching for the right word. "So stifling, like my home was."

"It is, but in the end it should be worth it. We're hoping that it gives us a little more stability, if nothing else." Not that they aren't stable now - they're actually doing fairly well - they just could be doing better. Maybe even well enough to hire a few extra hands. He lets his hand fall gently once she's on the ground.

"And it was. I can't imagine growing up anywhere else."

"You must have wonderful stories from your childhood. About you and your brother?" Christine wishes more and more that she'd had a sibling to grow alongside.

Beside him, her fingers twitch slightly, missing his hand, but she moves to switch her lemonade to that hand instead and takes a sip.

He nods, a bit of a laugh as he does. "Oh, we have a few. Not ones that we're particularly proud of, of course, but we had our fun when we were younger." He misses his brother like crazy sometimes, but he's also equally proud of him for what he's accomplished.

Christine turns her head, delighting in the sound of that laugh, small though it is. The way he smiles simply makes her stomach feel fluttery, and she works to stop herself from blushing. Even long after they last saw one another, she's still taken with him.

"Well, I shan't make you recall anything too embarrassing then. But tell me more about this place? And about Lawrence too. I'm terribly curious. As the coach passed through town, it looked to be a very nice place."

At least as nice as where she currently lives. She's found that small communities suit her better. She no longer wants to be a high society hostess or any of that nonsense. Christine merely wants to help people feel better.

Dean nods a bit as they walk. "I can do that." In his own time, in his own way. First things first, he nods towards the large barn. "Would you like to meet the horses?"

"I'd love to! How many d'you have?" It seems Christine is full of questions today, but she just wants to keep the conversation between them flowing. She wants to listen to the sound of his voice and hear about his life here.

"Three or four," he says with a nod as he leads the way. "One of them is too old for field work. We keep her around because my mother's too sentimental to sell her, but the rest are work horses. Without them half this field wouldn't be handled the way it should."

"How sweet," she replies, looking touched at how the old horse hasn't been given up. "I'm sure she brings your mother a lot of enjoyment, doesn't she?"

Christine never had a horse of her own living in the city, and she certainly can't afford one now with no place to put it, but she thinks they're wonderful creatures.

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