It was an upset, in two minutes flat

7/29/2019 It was an upset, in two minutes flat

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'Oh God,' Alexandra Padalecki thought as she stepped out of the car, 'why did grandma and grandpaP. insist on hiring a driver to get me here? All the kids are watching.'

At that, the driver rounded the trunk and handed Lexie her bags.

“There you go, miss. Have a nice summer.”

Her grandparents were not rich and the fact that she was the only grandchild had nothing to do withit. It was just that her dad was a single father and, to her grandparents' consternation, living withroommates instead of it just being him and Lexie. Lexie and her dad liked the roommates. Tom andMike were awesome and Lexie's dad really appreciated the live-in babysitters. Not that Lexieneeded babysitters, what with being almost fourteen years old, but dad said that it made him breatheeasier, and because Lexie really loved her dad, she let it go. She just hated when her grandparentsdecided that they needed some sort of preferential treatment. Now the kids at camp would think thatshe was stuck up or something and all Lexie ever wanted was to blend in.

***

“Name?” The man checking people in asked.

“Alexandra Padalecki.”

“Pada- what?” That was a common response for Lexie.

“Padalecki, P-a-d-a-l-e-c-k-i”

“Padalecki, Padalecki... Oh here you are.” The man finally looked up after locating her name in theregister. “It says here that your grandmother requested a properly ventilated cabin. You're inWendigo, wait over there and someone will show you to your cabin.”

“Thank you.” Lexie was somewhat annoyed at her grandmother, now the staff would think she wasstuck up too.

After a while someone came to relieve the man who had checked her in and he came over to thegroup of campers standing with Lexie.

“Hello again,” the man said. “My name is Misha Collins and I'm the head counselor here at CampBeaver. You may call me Mr. Misha. I have your names here,” he waved a piece of paper, “and on it

are your addresses for the rest of the summer. Follow me.”On the way to the cabins, Mr. Misha went over the rules of the camp. They were prettystraightforward Lexie thought, and possibly standard fare for camp rules.

“No smoking, no drinking, no drugs, no acts of any sexual kind, keep your uniforms clean andspanking fresh and your cabins even cleaner. Be on time for meals, please refrain from fighting andtalk to the counselors if there is anything bothering you 'cause that is what they are paid for. Do not

bother Mr. Beaver as he is a very important man and please try to keep your petty squabbles awayfrom me as well. Go to the minions ALWAYS.”

Lexie thought it was quite a feat that Mr. Misha hardly seemed to breathe through that speech.

Along the way, Mr. Misha dispatched kids from the group until there were only three left, including



Lexie.

“Ah, Wendigo. Padalecki, you are in here.” Mr. Misha said and kept going.

Lexie carried her four bags up to the cabin and blamed her grandmother once again for her over- protectiveness.

“Hi,” she said as she entered the cabin. “My name is Alexandra Padalecki, but you can call meLexie.”

“Hi! I'm Leighton,” said a brown haired girl, “and this is Blake” she said pointing to the other girl inthe cabin.

“Hi!” Blake said. “Where are you from?”

“I live in Portland, but my dad is from Texas, what about you?” Lexie said.

“I'm from New York City and Leighton is from Boston.”

“Kind of far to go, isn't it?” Lexie said while dumping her stuff on the empty bed.

“Blake and I have been coming here for a couple of years now,” Leighton said. “So you are reallylucky since we know everything.”

“What is up with the cabin names? Wendigo, Crocotta, Shtriga, Okami, Djinn, Rugaru and theothers?” Lexie was intrigued.

“Oh, that is because Mr. Beaver only had numbers for the cabins for the first years and then he hiredMr. Misha who was unhappy with the situation, so Mr. Beaver allowed him to name the cabins. Mr.Misha was on a supernatural beings kick and named all the cabins after real monsters.” Blakeimparted this knowledge almost as if she was reading from a paper.

“Cool,” was the only thing Lexie said and continued unpacking her bags.

***

When in line for dinner that night, Lexie looked up and across the dessert table and what she sawmade her freeze up instantly. Across the table was a girl that, despite having a pixie haircut, looked

exactly like Lexie. They stared at each other for a moment until the girl next in line to her doubleurged her forward. Lexie took that as some sort of a sign and hurried back to Blake and Leighton.

***

“The nerve of her, coming here with your face!” Hillary said.

“I'd bite her nose off, then she wouldn't look like you!” Lindsey said.

Margaret Ackles was barely listening to her friends. All her attention was focused on the girl whohad stood across from her on the other side of the dessert table. Was it really possible that there was

another girl here who looked exactly like herself? What were the odds?

“- sabotage her!” Maggie only caught the end of what Lindsey was saying.



“Wait! What are you talking about?” she asked her friends.

“The impostor of course!” was Hillary's indignant reply.

“She is obviously a newbie so it would not be that difficult.” Maggie had never noticed how

bloodthirsty Lindsey really was.

“I'm not going to do anything until I know more about her, so cut it out!”

There was a lull in the conversations around the hall as Mr. Beaver got up on stage.

“Welcome campers to Camp Beaver. My name is Jim Beaver and I am the owner of this camp.”Maggie noticed that Mr. Beaver was reading from a paper at the same time Mr. Beaver figured outthat he should know his own name. “I have a surprise for you campers, one that I am sure you willenjoy.”

There were whispers all around the hall as the other kids wondered what this surprise was. Maggieused this opportunity to look at her body double. It really was remarkable how alike they were, withthe same black hair, brown eyes and delicate features. Not that Maggie ever described her featuresas being delicate.

“Camp Beaver has been selected to be featured in an in-depth TV show on the various campsaround America.” Maggie's attention was directed back to Mr. Beaver. “And because of that therewill be a party on Saturday.”

The hall erupted in shouts of glee from the kids.

“Now, now,” Mr. Beaver continued. “There are rules for attending this shindig.” The noise in thehall quieted down to whispers as kids started complaining to their friends that there were alwaysrules for everything fun. “Untidy and unruly campers will not go to the party since we want to

present our best front to the TV crew. So keep your uniforms and cabins extra tidy this week or youare not going to the party.”

With that. Mr. Beaver stepped down from the stage and the noise level in the mess hall sky rocketedas everyone started plotting their rise to stardom through this TV show. Maggie was more interestedin her body double than the party and the show. She wanted to know who that girl was and whythey were so alike.

***

The next day, Lexie, Leighton and Blake were sitting at the end of the pier talking about the TVshow and the party when Maggie, Hillary and Lindsey paddled up to the pier in a canoe.

“Sorry,” Lexie said to Maggie. “But don't you think it's weird that we look like each other?”

“Wait, let me see your profile,” Maggie was not ready to acknowledge the similarity so she decidedto play a little prank on the other girl. “Look at that profile,” she said to Lindsey. “She's the spittingimage of you know who!”

“Who?” Lexie asked.



“VOLDEMORT!” Maggie cackled.

“NOT WANTED!” Leighton said as she tipped the boat so all three girls fell in the water. As theycame up for air spewing out water one could see indignation in their eyes.

***

Later that night, three shadowy figures made their way towards cabin Wendigo, carrying buckets,toothpaste, honey, string, moldy straw and other things they had scavenged.

***

When the bell rang the next morning to signal cabin inspections, the occupants of Wendigo woke upto find their cabin wrecked. They pulled at some of the strings that were everywhere only to have

buckets of water and moldy straw rain upon them. In short, they and their cabin was a mess.

“Let's start with Wendigo,” they heard Mr. Beaver say outside.

“I'm sure everything is ship-shape in there,” Mr. Misha's replied.

Before the girls could do anything, the door opened and Mr. Beaver, Mr. Misha and a minion rushedin only to come to a complete stop just inside the door. Leighton, Blake and Lexie stopped their frantic attempts at cleaning and just stared at the counselors. Mr. Beaver made to back out of thecabin but could not move. He looked down to see his shoes stuck to the floor of the cabin by someunidentified goo.

“That settles it,” he said. “No party for you.”

The girls could hear giggles from outside. It was on.

***

“How dare they?” Blake was fuming.

“We should pour ants down the back of her dress,” Leighton suggested.

It was Saturday night and everybody was inside the dining hall having fun. Except the Wendigos.They had been watching the party for some time and had come up with many ways to get even, but

they had all been dismissed.“Where are you going to find ants in the middle of the night?” Blake asked incredulously.

“Oh, right,”

“I have an idea,” Lexie turned away and headed towards the arts and crafts cabin. “We just needsome scissors.”

Leighton and Blake followed. If it involved scissors, it was going to be good.

***

“I've been coming here for a couple of years,” Maggie said.



“And where are you from?” asked the TV host.

“I'm from Texas. My dad owns a small horse ranch outside of Dallas.”

“You don't mind being sent away for camp?” The TV host looked a bit surprised.

“No, not really. Camp Beaver is awesome and the counselors are a lot of fun and then I've madefriends here who live in different parts of the country and I don't really get to see otherwise. But Idon't know if I'll be coming again next year. I'd like to help my dad with the horses. But it is nice to

be away and then come home 'cause dad and me we have a tradition, a sort of homecomingtradition.” Maggie smiled.

“Do you mind if we asked what that was?”

“No, not at all. We go camping. We just take off, dad and me and uncle Chris, and find a spot near some water and camp. Chris takes care of the cooking and we just relax for a couple of days.”

While Maggie was talking to the TV crew out on the deck, the three girls who were not allowed atthe party had come out from under the deck and cut off the back of Maggie's dress.

“Will this be in the show?” Maggie asked anxiously.

“Yes, I think it will. We want to depict the lives of campers both in and out of camp,” the TV hostwas really glad he got a chance to talk to Maggie because her attitude was so open and alive. Itmade for great TV.

“Cool. Hey, they've started the music again. I think we should go back in.”

Neither the TV crew nor Maggie noticed her dress or the three girls who could barely contain their laughter.

***

“OH MY GOD!” Hillary exclaimed.

“What?” Lindsey was curious to what had happened.

“Look at Maggie's dress!”“OH MY GOD!” Lindsey almost shouted and rushed to her friend with Hillary.

Each of them grabbed a side and tried to cover Maggie's butt with the remains of the dress.

“What?” Maggie did not know what was happening, then she looked at what her friends weredoing, her face draining of color as she allowed herself be pushed out of the way of the TV cameras.

“What happened, Maggie?” Hillary asked.

“I don't know! I only went out to the deck to talk to the TV people.” She turned towards the deck and saw the girls responsible for the new design. “I should have known!” she said and chargedtowards Lexie and slapped her across the cheek.



Lexie could not stand being slapped so she slapped Maggie back.

“You vicious little...” Maggie was furious and grabbed Lexie by the hair.

From then on it was a brawl more than a cat fight with punches, slaps and hair grabbing that led to

the girls rolling around on the floor and knocking into the table that held the CD player as well asthe refreshment table. Mr. Beaver grabbed the punch bowl and because the girls had knocked intothe table legs on one side leaving the table to fall down, got drenched with the contents when hestopped its momentum.

“STOP!” It was Mr. Misha who finally took charge by yelling over the pandemonium that hadstarted.

Lexie and Maggie stopped immediately and looked up at Mr. Misha covered in various dips andsauces.

“Go to your cabins directly and show up at Mr. Beaver's office at 8am sharp tomorrow.”

***

“I can't believe this. Never in the history of this camp have we had such a thing happen.” Mr.Beaver was getting redder by the minute.

“Brawling like hooligans in front of our guests,” Mr. Misha said.

The girls were standing in front of Mr. Beaver's desk, with Mr. Beaver sitting between Mr. Mishaand Mr. Mark, who never said much.

“Mr. Mark has thankfully talked the TV crew into skipping that part of the visit,” Mr. Beaver said,“I just don't understand how two sisters could behave like this. You should be setting a goodexample.”

“We're NOT sisters!” Maggie exclaimed.

“I have never seen HER before in my life!” Lexie proclaimed.

“Really?” Mr. Beaver was puzzled.

“No sir, just look-a-likes,” Mr. Misha commented.

“Remarkable,” Mr. Beaver said and stood up to look at the girls. They squirmed a bit under thescrutiny, but stood still. “I believe that you two don't get along very well, am I right?”

The girls showed their animosity towards each other without saying a thing.

“Well, have you ever heard of Gilbert and Sullivan?”

“Yes sir,” Lexie said while Maggie shook her head.

“They were composers and wrote a song called 'Let The Punishment Fit The Crime', I believe that'swhat we have to do in this case. Go back to your cabins and pack your bags. Be ready in twenty



minutes.” With that Mr. Beaver had dismissed the girls and they ran back so they would be ready ontime. No one disobeyed direct orders from Mr. Beaver.

***

Twenty minutes later saw Mr. Beaver and Maggie standing outside Wendigo waiting for Lexie.

When she came out with her four bags, she noticed with annoyance that Maggie only had a largeduffel bag and a backpack.

“Well, you are both here now, let's go.” And with that Mr. Beaver turned around and startedwalking. Soon most of the kids from the camp were following the trio because they wanted to knowwhat the punishment was.

After a while, Mr. Beaver stopped by a small cabin that had the word Djinn painted above the door.He yelled to the other kids to go back to their activities and rushed Maggie and Lexie inside.

“You are to stay here for the rest of camp. You'll do everything together, eat, sleep and play. By theend of camp you'll either get along, or you're going to punish yourself far better than I ever could,you will have a special table in the dining hall set up. See you both then.”

Maggie and Lexie looked at each other for a split second and then turned away simultaneously todump their bags on a bed and start unpacking.

***

In the beginning of their isolation, the girls did everything they could to ignore each other. Theydecided that the silent treatment was the best course of action.

Then one afternoon about a week into their punishment, there was a bad rainstorm and they had to band together so the cabin wouldn't be flooded. This broke the ice between them.

“Where are you from?” Maggie asked.

“I'm from Portland, but my dad's a Texan,” Lexie replied.

“Hey! I'm a Texan too!” Maggie exclaimed. “You can't be that bad then.”

“How old are you?” Lexie asked back.

“I'm almost fourteen,”

“I'm almost fourteen too!” Lexie was starting to think things were getting a little too strange.

“Really? When's your birthday?” Maggie was unconcerned by the strangeness and thought it was just cool.

“October first,” Lexie said. “When's your birthday?” She felt that everything relied on this answer.

“Whaddaya know, mine too!” Maggie was amazed by this coincidence.

“Do you have a mom?” Lexie asked.



“Nope, my dad's gay and my real mom died shortly after I was born. Dad says I look like her. Doyou have one?”

This was getting too strange for Lexie.

“No, I don't have one either. Mine died when I was just a few days old,” she said seriously, but

Maggie wasn't paying attention.

“Hey! It has stopped raining!” she almost shouted. “Wanna go to the mess hall and see if they haveany popsicles?”

“Can you only think of your stomach at a time like this?” asked Lexie exasperated.

“At a time like what?” Maggie was clueless.

“Don't you think it's strange that we look so much alike and have the same birthday?”

“It's just a coincidence, right?” Maggie didn't know what to think.

“Wait, I wanna show you something,” Lexie said and turned around to pull something from under her pillow. It was a photo and when she turned it around Maggie gasped.

“Why do you have a picture of my mom?” she asked

“Cause she was my mom too.”

***

After that the girls spent every hour together. They talked about their lives and families and their dads. Each felt that their dad needed someone special in their life and since Jared and Jensen hadalready been in love once and had adopted two girls, the perfect solution would be to try and gettheir dads back together and in order to do so, they had to switch places.

“'Cause sooner or later they have to unswitch us,” Maggie said triumphantly.

“Daddy will have to bring you to Texas, 'cause you said that dad couldn't leave the horses,” Lexiesaid. “Besides, Portland is a boring place for romantic reunions.”

They taught each other the major parts of each household and Maggie even cut Lexie's hair so theywould look even more like each other. When it was time to leave camp, even Mr. Beaver couldn'ttell them apart.

“I guess the punishment worked out well, Miss Padalecki,” he said to Maggie while they werewaiting for the car her grandmother had sent.

“Yes Mr. Beaver. Thank you for it,” Maggie smiled inwardly at his inability to tell them apart.

“Well, it all worked out in the end. Here's your car,” he said and moved on to a different kid.

“Well Lexie, this is it. I go to Portland and ask Daddy about their first date and such. Good luck with Dad!” Maggie yelled the last bit out of the car window.



Lexie stood behind and waved at her sister. 'Here goes nothing,' she thought.

***

“Here you are, Miss.” the driver that Mrs. Padalecki – her grandmother – had hired, stopped the car in front of an apartment building.

“Here goes nothing,” Maggie mumbled as she stepped out of the car. The driver had her bags out of the trunk and when she looked up she saw a giant of a man come running out of the front door,followed by another giant and one who was of normal size.

“Lexie!” The first giant yelled.

'That's my dad,' Maggie had barely finished the thought when she was the recipient of a bonecrushing hug.

“Jay, don't monopolize her,” the other giant said.

“She's MY daughter, Tom, you'll just have to wait until I'm done.” Maggie's dad was laughing andshe could feel it.

“Hey! I'm not a package!” Maggie said indignantly. Lexie had told her never to take any banter between her dad and their roommates seriously.

“She's got you there, Jay, common I want a Lexie hug too,” the third man, Mike - if Maggieremembered correctly, said. Jared let go of his daughter and the other two men gathered her up.

“Ah, now all is well in the world,” Tom said. “Our Lexie is back home and we get to eat again.”

“Hey, I am pretty good at warming up Spaghetti-O's!” Jared protested.

“And I make a mean grilled cheese!” This came from Mike.

Maggie just watched. She was a bit bewildered at seeing her dad for the first time she couldremember, Lexie had told her about this, but it was something else to witness in real life.

“Let's move this inside, guys. I'm sure Lexie will be far more comfortable on the couch. Get her bags please,” Jared said as he tipped the driver.

“Why does a tiny pipsqueak like you need so many bags?” Mike asked.

“Mrs... I mean, grandma...” Maggie hoped they hadn't noticed her slip.

“Mrs. P. of course,” Tom said with a sage looking nod. He and Mike took two bags each andmarched into the building.

“So Lexie, how was camp?” Jared threw an arm around Maggie's shoulders and led her into the building. “Tell me everything. I like the short hair by the way.”

“Oh thanks, it was too hot with it long. Anyway I had a cabin with two girls, Blake and Leighton,they were brilliant. They had been there before so they could tell me everything. Then the camp was picked to be a part of a TV show about camps around the country and we had a party the first



Saturday I was there. Some kids were interviewed and they taped some of the activities and such.”

“So are you going to be a star?” Mike asked.

“No, I don't think so,” Maggie replied.

They had barely settled on the couch when the phone rang. Tom was closest to it so he answered.After some 'hello's' and 'yeses' he put the phone on speaker.

“Jared?” An unfamiliar voice asked tentatively.

“Yes, mom,” Jared said.

“Tom just told me that Lexie is home, is she there?” Mrs. P. asked.

“Hi, grandma!” Maggie said after being poked in the side by her dad.

“Hello, darling. How was camp?”

“It was really fun,” Maggie was feeling more confident by now.

“That's good to hear, dear. Jared, you remember the heart society meeting tonight? You promised tocome with me.” Mrs. P. was quick to get to the reason behind the call.

“Yes mom, I remember. Be at your place at six?” Jared's voice had that tired quality that kids havewhen talking to their parents.

Maggie looked at the clock, it was five pm and she knew that her grandmother lived across town.Her dad would have to leave soon if he wanted to be there on time.

“Yes, that's fine,” Mrs. P. said. “Welcome home, Lexie, we'll see you soon. Goodbye.”

Tom and Mike had left the living room sometime earlier so now it was just Maggie and her dad.

“Really, Dad?” Maggie almost whined.

“Really what?” Jared had stood up to go to his room and get ready.

“You're leaving for some thing when I have not been home for an hour?” Maggie was sort of astonished.

“You know how your grandmother is. And they're gonna have me write a piece about the society'scentennial anniversary. I have to go if I want them to give me all the good stuff. Why do you ask?”Maggie could see what her Dad had seen in him. He was beautiful.

“I just thought we could talk. We haven't seen each other in so long.” Maggie smiled a little, because Jared had no clue how long it had been.

“We can talk now, while I get ready.” Jared had put on new pants and was trying to find a shirt to go

with them. “Which do you like better, the green or the blue one?” he said holding up the two shirts.“What do you want to talk about?”



“I like the green,” Maggie said as Jared put the shirt on.“I just wanted to talk about boys and such.”She was sure that would get a reaction out of him because Lexie said he was really protective.

“Boys?” Jared froze when he heard that.

“Yes, I'm almost fourteen now and I think it's time I start thinking about boys.” Maggie tried her

best to hide the smile that wanted to break out.

“You are still too young to think about boys,” Jared said stubbornly.

“But Dad, Blake and Leighton are the same age as me and they have started thinking about boys. Ican't be behind other girls my age about this. They'll laugh at me!” She stepped up the dramatics.

“You should always be your own person, Lexie, and not follow others,” Jared said and started buttoning his shirt.“Very well then, what do you want to know?”

“I want to know...” She hadn't thought this all the way through, she needed to find something thatwould make him go completely still and cancel the heart society thing. “I want to know how longyou waited before you had sex with my other dad!” Maggie said triumphantly and hurried out of theroom.

Jared turned away from the mirror, but it was too late. He had no clue what had prompted this inLexie, but he knew that he had to deal with this right away. He called his mom and begged her forgiveness, but he just couldn't go to the heart society because something had come up with Lexie.His mom was a bit annoyed, but relented in the end.

Now it was time to find out what was up with Lexie.

***

“So you see, Lexie, you need to be sure of yourself before you start having sex. There is no rightage for that. It is all about the people involved,” Jared said. They had gone out to their favorite pizza

place and were almost finished.

“Yeah, Daddy. Thanks for that.” Maggie smiled at the awkward look on Jared's face.

“Was there anything else you'd like to know?” Jared was sort of glad that they had had this talk. Now it was no longer on the horizon.

“I wanted to know about my other dad.” This was item number one on their list.

“Your other dad?” Jared asked.

“Yes. How did the two of you get together?”

“It was in college. Your mom, Sandy, lived on my floor and had taken me under her wing so tospeak. She was a sophomore and I was a freshman. One night she took me along to the campus bar to listen to some friends who were playing. Jensen, your other dad, was also friends with the bandand Sandy sort of knew him since they were both sophomores. She introduced us and by the end of

the night we were making out. Simple as that. Pretty typical story really.” Jared smiled wistfully atthe memory.



“Did you have a song?” Maggie asked when they had finished their pizza and were on their wayhome.

“Song?” Jared was puzzled.

“Yeah, you know, like in the movies. A song that will always remind you of the first night you met

or something.” Maggie figured that the band was Uncle Chris' and Uncle Steve's band, and if it was,there was bound to be a song.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that,” Jared said.

“Well, what was it?” This was going slow.

“It was a song by one of the guys from the band. Actually Jensen's best friend Chris.” Maggie wassure she knew what song it was. “It's called 'More Than I Deserve,” Jared said and it was whatMaggie had thought it was. Her dad always got a bit funny when she played it.

“So, you knew the guy who wrote it? Cool!” If he only knew that she knew the guy better, that hehad helped her learn how to tie her shoelaces. “Can you sing it?”

“Lexie, you know how bad of a singer I am, I think I have a cassette of it though if you want tolisten to it.” Jared opened the front door,.“I'll find it for you and you can borrow Mike's cassette

player.”

***

“Well there she is!” a tall man exclaimed when she walked out of arrivals. He was not as tall as her dad, but Lexie knew it was Jensen from the picture Maggie had shown her.

“Hi Dad,” she said, a little shyly.

“Hi Dad? Is that all I get when you've been away for ages?” Jensen asked.

Lexie ran into his arms. It really had been ages.

“Ah, that's more like it,” Jensen said as he hugged his daughter. “So do you have more luggage thanyou left with?”

“Nope, I don't. It's those two,” she said and pointed to Maggie's duffel bag and backpack.“God, you still bite your nails?”Jensen had grabbed the hand Lexie had pointed with and inspectedthe nails.

“You noticed! She said you would but...” Lexie realized what she had said and stopped.

“Of course I noticed, and she who?” Jensen asked.

“Oh, no one,” Lexie was quick to say. “I am thinking of trying to stop, I think I'm too old to do suchthings.”

“Such things? Did you suddenly learn correct speech at camp?” Jensen was amused by the way shespoke.



“Well, Mr. Misha always speaks correctly, maybe I just picked something up from him.” Lexie was pretty sure that Jensen wouldn't realize that she and Maggie had switched places but you couldnever be too sure.

They had collected the bags and were headed for Jensen's '67 Impala.

“Well, you can tell me all about camp on the way home. Get in, brat!” Jensen dumped the bags inthe trunk. He didn't always use the Impala, it was better to use the truck on the ranch, but when heleft to pick Maggie up at the airport, he had decided to show off his baby to all the city folks.

***

When they got to the ranch, a man, who Lexie thought was Chris because he had long brownish hair in a ponytail under his cowboy hat, was waiting for them outside the house.

“Jensen, why'd you have to bring the brat home with you? I thought we had decided to give her away!” Chris said as he was hugging Lexie.

“Hi Chris!” Lexie said and hugged him back. “Who were you hoping wanted me?”

“Well, she just stood there at the airport, looking lost and bewildered. I had to take her home,”Jensen said and grabbed the bags from the trunk.

“Maggie girl!” Someone shouted and there were accompanying dog barks. Soon another man camearound the corner accompanied by two dogs. Lexie figured he was Steve from his blond hair andflip-flops. The two large dogs charged at Lexie, but the smaller of the two stopped just short of her.

“Hi, Steve!” Lexie said as she patted the head of the bigger dog, Harley, she thought.

“Don't you 'Hi, Steve' me, girl. Give me a hug!” Steve looked at the dogs and noticed how strangeSadie was behaving.

Lexie hugged Steve and understood immediately why Maggie said that hugging Steve was likecoming home.

“Well, grab your bags, we need to see what we have to replace.” Steve grabbed her duffel bag andheaded inside. Chris left for the stables.

“When you're done unpacking, brat, come on down. There's someone I'd like you to meet,” Jensensaid as they parted at the stairs.

“OK, Dad,” Lexie said and followed Steve upstairs.

When she was almost to her room, she looked down to the patio and saw something that made her uneasy, she stopped and hid behind one of the pillars to see what was going on.

“Hey babe!” a scrawny man said as he kissed her dad.

“Mmm, hi, Chad,” Jensen replied.

“So, she's here?” This Chad asked.



“Yes, just unpacking upstairs. Let's go out to the pool, she'll be down soon and that's always her firststop.” Jensen slung his arm around this Chad and they walked away towards the pool.

***

“So is it good to be home?” Steve asked when she stepped into her room. He had her duffel bagopen and was unpacking the clothes.

“Yep, sure is,” Lexie answered. “Hey, Steve?”

“Yes?” Steve was only half paying attention.

“There's a guy downstairs, who is he?” She was curious.

“That's Chad,” Steve said.

“What's he doing here?”

“You know I don't butt in,Maggie, but he's good,” Steve replied.

“Really, how so?” This was all very strange

“I mean, you've been gone what? Six weeks?”

“Ye-es,” Lexie answered hesitantly.

“Well, it took him only five weeks,” Steve's voice was none to pleasant. “And your dad doesn't getit.”

“Get what, Steve?” Lexie was confused.

“Well, all those reasons in the bank of course,” Steve said. Lexie didn't like how cryptic he was being. “But yeah, he's good, and cold with those eyes staring through you. They do everythingtogether, riding, swimming, your dad even took him to the golf course and you know how he isabout that. Well, I think that's all. There are a few things that need to be replaced, but most of it isgood. I need to go and fix the ribs.”

And with that he was gone.Lexie stood and stared after him, utterly perplexed. 'Well if I want to know what's going on, I better get down there.'

***

“Maggie, we were just talking about you.” Jensen stood up from the lounge chair when Lexie camedown in her swimsuit, “Maggie, this is Chad Michael Murray, Chad, this is Maggie.”

“'Lo,” Lexie said unaffectedly.

“Hello Maggie,” Chad said. Lexie didn't disliked him instantly, he was too slick.



“I'm gonna get something to drink, you want a beer, Chad?” Jensen asked.

“Yeah, thanks.”

“You two get acquainted then,” Jensen said and left them.

“So was camp fun?” Chad asked in a tone usually reserved for young children.

“It was,” Lexie said and cannon-balled into the pool, making sure that a lot of water was splashedon Chad. She really didn't like him.

“Your dad talks about you a lot,” Chad tried again.

“Well, he's my dad, why wouldn't he talk about me?” Lexie asked incredulously.

“I didn't mean it like that.” Chad was backtracking. “Just that you seem close.”

“Well, usually it's just the two of us, and Chris and Steve, but sometimes there are guys... but theynever stay long. They can't seem to handle the fact that Dad has a kid, can you?”

“What?” Chad asked, confused.

“Handle the fact that Dad has an almost fourteen year old daughter?”

'Make that two daughters,' Lexie thought.

“Why do you ask?” Now Chad was getting defensive.

“'Cause you seem to want to stick around. If you can't, I suggest you get out now. Sometimes youcan't really count on Dad to be there, especially if you have to attend parties. He doesn't like big

parties or being paraded around. So don't think you can make him. He's a homebody. Usually, thatis. Sometimes he goes crazy and goes to bars to pick up guys. He doesn't think I notice, but I do.”Lexie hoped that there was actually one or two things in that speech that were true.

“Here,” Jensen was back with the beers. “You two getting along?”

“Oh, yes,” Chad said with a thinly veiled sarcasm, “I'm really getting to know your kid.”

Lexie just smiled.***

At midnight Pacific time, Maggie tiptoed into the living room and sat by the phone. A few secondslater it rang, but Maggie picked it up before it could wake anyone.

“Lexie?” She asked.

“Yes,” Lexie answered.

“Lexie, Daddy is awesome! And Tom and Mike are so much fun...”

“Maggie!” Lexie tried to interrupt her sister, but Maggie didn't listen.



“I found out about their first date, they went out for ribs, but they hooked up at a Chris and Steveconcert...”

“Maggie!” Lexie tried again.

“And their song is by Uncle Chris, 'More Than I Deserve', Dad always gets funny when I play it andnow I know why...”

“Maggie!” Lexie tried for the third time and now her sister listened. “There's a guy Dad's interestedin and I think it's serious!”

“Oh, it never is,” Maggie said.

“I think it is this time, you need to bring Daddy out here soon,” Lexie insisted. “His name is Chadand Dad is trying to make us be friends!”

“Well, crash everything they do and follow him around. I just got here and I'm not bringing Daddy back after spending just one day with him!” Maggie was getting mad at her sister.

“Maggie, you need to come soon!” Lexie said.

“I won't! You've had him for thirteen years and I want a chance to get to know him too! You justneed to submarine this guy, do the best you can and stay on dad's tail. Goodbye!” Maggie slammedthe phone down.

In Texas Lexie just looked at the phone, she had no clue what to do.

***

The next day Lexie and Jensen went to Dallas to buy some clothes for her. Whenever Jensen brought Chad up, Lexie steered the conversation to other things and after being blocked at least adozen times, Jensen just stopped trying to bring the marriage up. They went for lunch at a little cafedowntown and ran into Chad and his friend, Paris, after-wards.

“Jensen!” Chad shouted from a table at a fancier cafe than the one Jensen and Lexie had stopped at.

“Hello, Chad, Paris,” Jensen said.

“Who is this gorgeous creature?” Paris asked

“This is my daughter Maggie,” Jensen answered.

“Hello,” Lexie said, rather unwillingly.

“Hello there, why don't you come over here so your dad and Chad can be disgustingly cute for amoment?” Paris' tone was both condescending and patronizing towards Lexie. They chatted for awhile until Paris caught the attention of the other two.

“Lexie and I have decided we should all spend the afternoon together and get to know one another better.”



Lexie had not agreed to anything like that and hoped that her dad would understand the look on her face. Thankfully, he did.

“I'm sorry, Paris, but I have promised Maggie to go riding with her. We'll have to postpone thisgetting together for a bit.”

“Alright then,” Paris said and if one looked closely, one could hear the relief in her voice. “Bye bye!” She said to the duo.

After Jensen and Lexie had left, Chad relaxed his face and a sneer appeared.

“Thank god,” he said. “That little brat is going to a boarding school in Switzerland as soon as possible. I am not about to become a 'mom'.”

“I wouldn't believe it even if I saw it, Chad. You a mom!” Paris laughed at the preposterous thought.

***

After their ride, Jensen tried once more to bring up Chad.

“What do you think of Chad?” He asked Lexie.

“What do I think of Chad what?” Lexie tried her best to be annoying.

“Just, what do you think of Chad?”

“Well, I barely know him, how would I know what to think of him?” Lexie replied. “This is a sillyquestion, Dad. You could just as well ask me what I thought of Chad as a clown, or an acrobat, or aninsurance salesman. I don't know what you mean!”

“OK, what do you think of Chad as a person?” Jensen was getting tired of this.

“Well I don't know. He is OK, I guess, but it's been such a short time since I met him that I hardlyknow anything. I only met him yesterday, you know.” Lexie really didn't want to answer Jensen.“Race you back to the house!” She said and ran away.

Jensen took it slower and on his way to the house he met Chad who had just pulled up in his car.They walked the rest of the way to the house together

***

Lexie was so mad. How could he do this? She walked onto the patio muttering to herself.

“How can he? Doesn't he get it that he's meant to be with Daddy? They're soulmates! All our plansand preparations gone down the drain now! Just because of that Chad!”

She didn't notice Steve in the doorway to the kitchen.

“What's wrong, Maggie girl?” Steve asked as he sat down next to her.

“Nothing,” Lexie said nonchalantly.



“You know, you used to tell me everything,” he said. “Anything on your mind you want to talk tome about?”

“Nope,” Lexie said, half wishing that Steve was gone.

“You don't wanna tell me why Sadie is acting so strange around you?”

“Heh,” Lexie said, really wishing she was alone now.

“Or why, suddenly you like different kinds of food?” Steve kept asking.

“You're strange,Steve,” Lexie said instead.

“Strange? I'm not strange,” Steve said indignantly.

“Well, you keep asking me these strange questions. I don't know what you mean by them.” Lexiestood up and wandered away a bit.

“You know what I'm talking about. You've been acting kind of weird, are you sure there's nothingyou want to tell me?”

Lexie drew a deep breath and decided to go for it, it would help to have someone who didn't hangup on her.

“What do you want me to tell you?” She asked.

“I don't know. It's almost as if you... No, that's impossible,” Steve dismissed the idea and turned towalk away.

“It's almost as if I were who, Steve?” Lexie asked.

“It was just an idea, forget it,” he said.

“Almost if I were Lexie?”

“What do you know about her?” Steve's eyes were narrowed as he asked.

“Steve, I am Lexie! I have to tell someone, but you have to promise never to tell this to Dad,” Lexie

said half desperately.***

When Jensen came looking for Maggie a little while later after leaving Chad on the deck, Steve justglared at him and muttered something about fools.

“Maggie! We need to talk.”

“Oh, hi Dad! Are you just getting back now?” Lexie asked and walked into the living room.

“Yes,” Jensen answered. “Maggie, we need to talk.”

“What about?” Lexie asked.



“I want to know what you think of making Chad a part of the family?”

“What do you mean? As a brother?” Lexie pretended she was clueless about what was happening.

“No, not as a brother, he's far too old for anyone to think he was your brother,” Jensen said

exasperated.

“Well, what then? I can't think of anything else. I've always wanted a sibling, Dad.” Lexie pumpedup her ignorance.

“Sibling? Since when do you say that?” Jensen didn't know what was happening to theconversation.

“Yes, it would be so much fun. You know it is not healthy for kids to grow up as an only child, they become spoiled and nobody likes them.” Lexie was trying her best to steer the conversation awayfrom where it was supposed to go.

“No, I don't mean in that way. I mean in the way that he and I would marry and he would become adad to you.” Jensen put his foot down on Lexie's attempts to hijack the conversation.

“WHAT? You can't do that! He's what, ten years older than me? You can't mean to marry him, Dad,it's preposterous!” Lexie decided to completely fly off the handle. “He's far too young for you and Iwould never respect him as a father figure. It's ridiculous to think so! And I can't believe you wouldeven think about it! We had PLANS! You know. We had it all figured out, but no, you find someyoung twink and within five weeks of knowing him, you decide to get married...” Lexie walkedaround talking and exclaiming things every so often.

“What's going on?” Chad had heard the commotion and came to investigate.

“I told her,” Jensen sighed.

“And this is how she takes it?” Chad asked.

“She's not too happy about the idea. She actually thought I was adopting you!”

Chad thought he knew what was going on. She didn't want to give up her monopoly on her dad.Well, she had another thing coming if she thought that he would scare so easily. Jensen was loaded,

and if they married, Chad would get all that money and he could spend it with Paris. He was a lotmore attracted to her than Jensen. They had thought of Paris being the blushing bride, but sinceJensen was obviously gay, they had had to change tactics.

“Let me try to talk to her,” he said to Jensen. “I think we connected yesterday.”

Jensen was more than happy to let someone else handle an obviously hormonal teenager, so heagreed and left them for the kitchen.

“Maggie,” Chad said in a condescending tone.

“Yes?” Lexie really didn't like the condescension he showed her.

“What is it about me that you don't like?” He asked.



“Well I could give you plenty of reasons and most of them are in the bank!” She exclaimed.

“What?” Chad was taken aback at her frankness.

“Yes! My dad is rich and people want him for his money. Is that so hard to believe?”

“You think that's the only reason why I want to marry him?” Chad could barely repress the shudder, but reminded himself to think of all that money and what he could do with it.

“Well, if the shoe fits...” Lexie laughed a little at how naive he really thought she was.

“I can tell you right now that it's not like that,” Chad said. “You better get used to the idea, 'causeI'm gonna marry him.”

“You wanna bet?” Lexie asked.

“Oh, girl. You don't bet with sharks, you'll be way in over your head,” Chad said and left.

Lexie did not know what to do, so she pulled out her phone and sent a text message.

***

Maggie's grandparents were visiting and they were all sitting in the living room, even Mike andTom who tried to be away when grandma P. came for a visit. Grandma P. was talking about some

benefit or other when Maggie's phone beeped to let her know she had a message.

“What's that?” Grandma P. asked.

“I have a message,” Maggie said apologetically.

“Well then, let us hear it.” Grandma turned her focus on Maggie who took out her phone. This must be important since they had decided to use normal phones for communication.

“Umm, Alexander Graham, midnight, VIP,” Maggie read out.

“Let me see.” Grandma P. took Maggie's phone off her. “Hmm, it's a Texas number. Who do youknow in Texas?” She asked.

“Ummm, Hillary Duff! This girl who was at camp with me. Brilliant girl really, seriously funny,”Maggie knew she was babbling.

“And what does this mean?” Grandma looked puzzled.

“Well, there's this boy she likes, she's the same age as me, and his name is Alexander Graham. AndI guess he is taking her on a date at midnight, a very important date of course.” Maggie was makingthings up left and right.

“That's a really strange time for a date,” grandma said.

“Well, I think it's tradition or something where she lives. If a boy is going to ask a girl to be hisgirlfriend they go on a midnight date.” Maggie thought she should win a prize for all this



fabrication.

“I've never heard of such things, where does she live?”

“Fort Stockton,” Maggie said, it was far enough form Dallas that they wouldn't get suspicious.

“They are strange out there,” grandma P. said and let the subject drop.

***

Maggie was waiting by the phone at midnight. As soon as it rang, she picked it up.

“What's wrong? Grandma sure did grill me today when I got your message, she made me read it outloud and explain it. I made a lot of stuff up.” Maggie was so preoccupied by the phone call that shedidn't hear the other extension being picked up.

“Maggie, you and Daddy have to get here, NOW!” Lexie said.

“Why?” Maggie didn't understand the urgency.

“Cause Dad's gonna marry this Chad and soon!”

“WHAT?” Maggie didn't know what to believe.

“Yes, they've even found an officiant!” Lexie was close to tears.

“OK, I'll break the news to Daddy tomorrow and tell him to get the first plane out, OK. Don't worry,we'll be there soon. Try to stall as much as you can.” Maggie tried to reassure her sister.

“I'll try, goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Lexie.” Maggie hung up and made to return to her bedroom when she saw Mikestanding in the kitchen doorway,.

“Oh hi, Mike,” she said uncomfortably.

“I think we need to talk, Maggie,” he said with an emphasis on her name.

***The next day they were all invited for lunch at Maggie's grandparents' house. Grandma P. wastalking about various things she felt like Maggie, as Lexie, should do. Maggie was getting antsy andit didn't help that Mike kept signaling her. Finally she had had enough of her grandmother's plansand decided to tell the truth.

“I won't do it!” she exclaimed.

“What?” Grandma P. was astonished.

“Lexie, you don't say things like that to your grandmother. She only wishes the best for you,” Jaredsaid.



“Well, I'm not Lexie. I'm Maggie, Daddy, and I think what you and Dad did to me and Lexie ishorrible! In fact it stinks!” Maggie's voiced had risen quite a bit. “And I think it's unfair that I'mhere doing all these stuffy things while Lexie is in Texas with Dad, playing with my dogs and ridingmy horse!”

Everybody except Mike had frozen, they couldn't really believe it was true.

“Maggie? But it can't be!” Jared said.

“Well it is, we met at camp and found out we were sisters. We decided to switch places 'cause we've been wondering for a long time what our other dad was like. I cut her hair and she helped me withmy drawl. I came here and she went to visit Dad.”

“Maggie?” There was wonder in Jared's voice, he hadn't seen her since she was a year old.

“I'm sorry, Daddy, I just wanted to meet you,” Maggie apologized.

“Maggie!” Now Jared was smiling and hugging her. “Let me see! You're gorgeous, just like your mom.” There was a bittersweet note in his voice.

“I love you, Daddy, can you love me as me and not as Lexie?” She asked hesitantly.

“Of course I can, brat,” Jared smiled and hugged her again.

“Maggie!” Grandma P. hugged her. “Look at you! She's exactly like Lexie!” She said to Jared.

“Well of course she is, they're twins!”

At that Mike stood up and started ushering everyone out of the room. Grandma P. put up a fight butMike pointed out that Jared and Lexie had a right to catch up in private.

***

After dinner that night, Jared was talking about having to switch the girls.

“I guess we have to go to Texas soon,” he said.

“Why?” asked Maggie.“Well, according to the law, you belong with your Dad and Lexie belongs with me. Jensen and Ihave to come to some sort of an agreement, 'cause I'm not giving you up again,” Jared's voice wasfirm. “I'll book a flight later, hopefully we can leave tomorrow or the day after.”

“A six month split,” Maggie sighed.

“A what?” Jared asked distracted by deciding what to pack.

“A six month split. Some of the kids at camp had divorced parents and they split the time between

parents. Six months at one parent's house and six months at the others,” Maggie said dejectedly.

“Well I guess it'll have to be that way.”



“OK, I'll go pack some bags with clothes for Lexie,” Maggie said and left the room as Mike enteredit.

“Are you going to take those?” Mike asked snidely.

“Yes of course, those are my comfiest pants,” Jared had no clue why Mike had said that.

“Jared, you are going to see the man you describe as the love of your life for the first time inthirteen years, and you're going to wear threadbare khakis and flip-flops while doing so?” Mike'svoice was incredulous.

“Hmm, when you put it like that, I guess we could stop by in San Fransisco on our way to Dallas,”Jared conceded.

“While you're there, trim your hair a bit. It's looking like the abominable snowman right now,”Mike remarked.

“OK, can you book us a flight?” Jared asked.

“Already did, buddy. I also booked a hotel in San Fransisco.”

“Thanks, Mike,” Jared said and packed only the essentials.

***

When Jared and Maggie arrived at the ranch, Jensen and Chris were away looking for horses.

“Daddy!” Lexie yelled when she saw them step out of the cab and ran to hug Jared. Steve followed behind her and hugged Maggie.

“Maggie girl, you and your sister are something alright, pulling this off without us noticing,” Stevesaid as he hugged Maggie.

“Hi Maggie,” Lexie said.

“Hi Lexie,” Maggie responded.

“Steve, good to see you man.”“You too Jared. Looking good,” Steve commented.

“Yeah, wow Daddy!” Lexie told her dad. “When did you decide on this?”

“It was something Mike said, so we stopped by in San Fransisco,” Jared said.

“I like the hair,” Lexie said with a smile.

“Well I like yours too.”

“I cut it, Daddy,” Maggie said.



“Good job then,” Jared said and turned to pay the cab driver.

As they were walking into the house, Maggie looked at her sister with concern.

“Are we too late?” she asked.

“Late for what?” Jared had no clue what they were talking about.

“You didn't tell him?” Lexie looked at her sister.

“There wasn't time,” Maggie apologized.

“Tell me what?” Jared asked.

The girls looked at each other and didn't know how to say it so Steve stepped in to help.

“Jensen's getting married next weekend.”

“Really?” There was a hint of disappointment in Jared's voice.

“Yes, Daddy, and he is horrible!” Lexie said with annoyance.

“Well, your dad is old enough to know what he's doing. Let's go unpack!” Jared didn't want to dwellon the fact that Jensen had moved on.

While they were upstairs, Jensen and Chris came back and shortly after that you could hear Chad'scar in the driveway. Maggie had just come downstairs to get something to drink when she ran intoher dad.

“Hi Dad!” She said, happy to see him again.

“You're talking to me now?” Jensen asked. “What happened to never speaking to me again as you proclaimed the other day?”

“Oh,” Maggie figured out he was talking about Lexie. “I guess I've been a little bit...”

“Surly? Behaving like a brat? Acting like a woman?” Jensen remarked.

“Well I am a woman, Dad!”“Well, yes.” Jensen was a bit sheepish at that.

Just then Chad, Paris and another woman stepped into the foyer.

“Jensen!” Chad called. “Come meet Danneel, the officiant.”

Jensen and Maggie came out into the foyer. Maggie got her first look at the competition and shedidn't like what she saw.

“Hello, I'm Jensen and this is my daughter, Maggie.” He pushed Maggie forward to shake handswith the officiant. “I hate to run out on you when you've just arrived, but I just came from the south pasture and I need a shower. Maggie be a hostess, OK?” Jensen leaped up the stairs and left Maggie



with the guests.

Maggie really didn't want to do her duties so she suggested they check out the deck as a good placeto hold the ceremony and ran upstairs to tell her Daddy that the competition was here. Lexie had nointerest in seeing him, so the other two headed downstairs.

When Jensen had showered he walked past Maggie's bedroom and saw Lexie reading on her bed.He didn't realize until he was downstairs that she should have been too, as he had asked her to be ahostess.

Jensen found the others on the deck and offered them something to drink. To his amusement, Pariswas the only one who declined a beer. When he came back with the bottles he noticed someonehiding outside out of the corner of his eye. He was so distracted that he walked into a chair anddropped the beers.

“Are you alright?” Danneel asked.

“Yes, let's go outside and look around,” Jensen said. That would give him an opportunity to see if the person hiding was really the person he thought it was.

They walked outside and Jensen caught another glimpse at the people hiding behind a tree, but itwasn't good enough, so he walked sideways to get a good look. He didn't pay enough attention andfell in the pool. By the time he returned sputtering to the surface and was pulled out of the pool byChad, the people he was looking for had gone inside.

“You really should get out of these wet clothes,” Danneel said.

“Yes, yes, are you OK here?” He asked. At her nod he went back inside and came face to face withJared.

“Jared,” Jensen said, dumbstruck at seeing him after so many years.

“Hello, Jensen,” Jared replied.

“How are you?”

“I'm good, and you?”

“I'm good, I'm getting married,” Jensen said automatically.“Yeah, I heard. Congratulations.” Jared tried to hide the bitterness he felt.

“Thanks,” Jensen said. Then it seemed like he finally connected the dots. “I'm getting married, whatthe hell are you doing here?”

“I came with Maggie,” Jared said calmly.

“Maggie? What do you mean Maggie? Maggie has been here since she got back from camp!”Jensen's voice rose.

“Nope, you got Lexie and I got Maggie.”



“What do you mean?” Jensen had no clue what was going on.

“The girls met at camp and decided to switch places,” Jared said.

At that the girls came into the living room to find out what was going on.

“Surprise!” They said in unison.

“You're Lexie?” He asked one of the girls.

“Yes, Dad” Lexie replied.

“Oh god, I haven't seen you since you were a baby,” Jensen exclaimed. “You were so tiny.”

“Well I'm all grown up now,” Lexie said.

“Maggie,” he said to his other daughter. “What do you think of your sister?”

“She's brilliant. But it is sad that she lives so far away.” Maggie laid the guilt on thick.

“You're both here! And your dad,” Jensen said. “And Chad is outside!”

“Girls, you should go upstairs,” Jared said, he knew there were some words to come.

The girls left and Jensen began to pace.

“Chad is outside and we're getting married on Saturday. You have to go! He can't see you here!”

“Jensen,” Jared said and grabbed Jensen's arm. “Calm down.”

“Calm down?” Jensen almost shouted and grabbed one of Jared's arms. “Calm down! I can't calmdown, my fiance is outside and you're in here!”

Just when he had said that Danneel came inside to see what was keeping Jensen. She looked at thetwo of them, almost embracing, and smiled.

“Hello, I'm Danneel, I'm the officiant,” she said and stuck out her hand.

“I'm Jared, the other father of Jensen's twin daughters,” he said and shook Danneel's hand.“Twins?” she exclaimed

“Yes, two apparent hellions,” Jensen mumbled.

“But Chad...” She was a bit confused.

“Jared and I are no longer together, we haven't been together for thirteen years,” Jensen said.

At that precise moment, Chad and Paris came inside. Chad looked at Jared and Jensen and saw all

that money flying out the window, so he decided to act the affronted fiance he was supposed to be.

“Who is this, Jensen?”



“This is Jared, the twins' father and he's just here to switch the girls back. He'll be leaving in themorning.”

“Yes, I should go upstairs and pack our bags and book a flight,” Jared said and left.

“It's a good thing he's leaving, Jensen, I don't want him here,” Chad said. Danneel could see that hewas trying too hard so she suggested they leave as well.

“Goodbye, Jensen, and give my regards to Jared. I like him,” she said as she slipped into the car.

Neither Paris nor Chad said much.

***

At dinnertime, when Jensen came downstairs, Steve told him that dinner would be served on the patio and that they were having ribs. There was a single table out there with only two place settings.Jensen sat down and noticed that a part of the patio had been sectioned off with some cloth. WhenJared came downstairs and saw the set-up he started suspecting the girls, and when Chris came out,decked in even more cowboy gear than usually, Jared's suspicions got stronger.

Chris introduced a musical act from Portland and Lexie took the stage playing Beethoven on the piano. Mid-way through the piece, Maggie came out and interrupted her sister, asking her to playsomething a little more lively. They then went into a song and dance routine they had made up toBrooks and Dunn's 'Boot Scootin' Boogie' with Maggie playing the guitar. When that was over,Maggie put a CD on and Jared knew exactly what was going on.

“What's this?” Jensen asked. He had laughed a lot at the antics on stage.

“Just our kids being romantic,” Jared said nonchalantly. “Don't you recognize the song?”

Jensen listened for a while.

“Yes,” he said completely serious.

“Well, they're only teenagers, of course they want their parents to be together,” Jared said, resignedof his fate.

“Yes. So how are we going to do this?” Jensen had no clue what to do. He only knew that it would be cruel to split the girls apart again.

“Well, Maggie said something about kids at camp having the same problem. She called it the sixmonth split. Six months with one parent and the same with the other.” Jared felt really sad at havingto do this.

“Alright then, that's the way it has to be.”

“You know, Jensen, I think I'm gonna go to bed. We have an early flight tomorrow after all,” Jaredsaid and left.

Jensen sat quietly for a moment, sighed and left as well.





“We forget about one of us leaving with Daddy,” the first one started.

“And we leave for the camping trip immediately...” the other continued.

“Just the four of us and uncle Chris...”

“Then, when we get back, we will tell you which of us is Lexie and which of us is Maggie!” Thesecond twin concluded.

“We just want to have this one family holiday – I mean we just met!” The first girl exclaimed.

Jensen and Jared looked at each other. They each knew their daughter and knew what they werecapable of in terms of pure pigheadedness.

“Alright,” Jared said.

“But just this once,” Jensen said.

“I'll go cancel our travel plans then,” Jared's voice was weary.

“I imagine you are all packed, girls?” Jensen asked.

“Almost!” They replied in stereo and the girls turned around and ran back upstairs.

“I guess I should inform Chris...” Jensen said to no one in particular and walked away.

***

Jensen and Chris were loading up the old pickup truck when Chad arrived.

“What is going on?” He asked.

“We are going camping for a week,” Jensen replied.

At that moment, Jared came outside with an old back pack.

“Is he going too?” Chad asked irritatingly.

“Yep. The girls insisted,” Jensen said relaxed.“Insisted? Who do they think they are, telling you what to do?” Chad could see all that moneyflying away.

“Well, we could not tell them apart when they made their demands.” Jensen's voice held the tiniest bit of humor and admiration for the audacity of his kids.

“Why didn't you just spank them and make them tell you?” Chad thought it was the obvious choicein the situation.

“Now, Chaddie,” Jared said. “You just don't go around spanking almost fourteen year old girls.”

“So I'm just supposed to stay here, alone, for a week while you go tramping around with your ex?”



Chad's voice held a hint of desperation.

“I don't think you would like it and aren't you and Paris preparing the wedding?” Jensen asked.

“That is not the point!” The desperation was more evident now in Chad's voice. He knew that if Jared and Jensen went on this trip together, the flimsy connection Chad and Jensen had would fly

out the window. Jared and Jensen had, after all, loved each other enough to take on fatherhoodtogether – even though it had all fallen through in the end. They still had some sort of feelingstowards each other though.

“You are absolutely right, Chad!” Jared said much to Chad and Jensen's confusion. “Why shouldyour fiance go off with his ex, for a whole week, just days before your wedding?” Jared was playingthe devil's advocate. He knew that the twins would not like this. “You have to come with us!” hesaid and started leading Chad towards the house. “I'm sure Steve owns something that could fit you

– these clothes are a little too good for the wilderness.”

“They both coming with us?” Chris asked his friend.

“Looks like it,” Jensen replied.

“Here, Dad!” The girls threw their bags on the bed of the truck and climbed up. “We are ready,where is Daddy?” One of the asked.

“Umm...he, ah, went back inside for something.” Jensen knew his daughters had planned this to bea family trip and having Chad there would ruin everything in their eyes.

A few minutes later Jared and Chad came back outside. Jensen had to smile because Jared hadfound, maybe the most ill fitting clothes there were. Steve was a lot stockier than Chad, so the jeanswere cinched quite tight with a belt and the shirt was too big as well. The girls did a double takewhen they saw how Chad was dressed.

“Is HE coming with us?” One of them asked annoyingly.

“Girls! Be polite,” Jared said. “We realized that it was unfair to Chad to stay at home while we wentcamping. So, he is coming too. You need to get to know him anyway, since he is marrying your dad.”

Jensen started the truck and was only waiting for Jared and Chad to get in. They had to get going if

they were going to reach the campsite in good time.“Here, Chad, you should sit next to Jensen. The girls and Chris are staying in the back and I'm far too tall to be sitting in the middle.” Jared almost pushed Chad into the cab. “Actually, I think I'mgoing to stay behind. It will give you all a better chance to get to know each other.”

“Jared!” Jensen said with exasperation.

“No, you go. I'll just stay here and write my article.” Jared closed the door. “Have fun!” He said andwaved.

They were wasting time so Jensen decided to drive on. It would be interesting to see how Chadcoped with camping.



“Daddy!” The girls called out but it was too late. Jared just stood in the driveway and waved.

***

“Jensen!” Chad called. “Can we stop for a second?” He was totally out of breath.

“Sure,” Jensen answered. “Hey Chris! We are stopping for a bit,” he yelled since Chris was someway ahead of them.

“OK, I'm going ahead and setting up the tents and such,” Chris yelled back and kept going.

The girls were used to exercise and climbing from camp and thought it was stupid of Chad to need a break. While their dad's back was turned, they found a small lizard and decided to trick Chad by putting it on a water bottle and offer the bottle to him.

“Here, Chad, you can have my bottle since yours is out,” Lexie said.

“Thank you,” Chad accepted the bottle and raised it to his mouth but caught a sight of the lizard andscreamed as he threw the bottle aside.

“What is it?” Jensen's attention was focused on Chad who could not speak because the water hadgone down his windpipe and pointed towards the girls instead.

“Girls!” Jensen's tone was stern. “What did you do?”

“Nothing, Dad! I swear,” Lexie said.

“Look, it's just a cute little lizard.” Maggie held up the lizard so her dad could see.

“Aha,” Jensen said, not convinced. “I'm going to catch up with Chris since I have the rest of thesupplies. You two stay with Chad,” he said and left.

After resting for a bit, Chad and the girls kept going. After walking a while Chad signaled them thathe wanted to rest so the girls sat down some distance from him. They made sure though that theywere within earshot of him.

“See this?” Maggie asked her sister.

“What is it?”“This is a mountain lion paw print,” Maggie said and looked over her shoulder to see if her wordswere having an effect on Chad.

“There are mountain lions here?” Lexie feigned innocence.

“Yep, but don't worry. I know how to keep them away.” Maggie had a hard time keeping the gigglesaway.

“How do you do that?” Lexie wanted to know what her sister was up to.

“An old cowboy told me that all you need to do is to bang two sticks together like this,” Maggiesaid and demonstrated the proper way to bang the sticks together.



“Awesome!” Lexie said and copied her sister.

They got up and started walking, banging sticks together and checking if Chad copied them. Whenthey saw that he did, they shared a silent giggle.

***

When they got to the campsite, the girls were glad to be rid of Chad and decided to go for a swim inthe spring. Chad was making noises about his feet hurting after the walk so Jensen suggested hesoak them in the water while Jensen and Chris finished setting up the camp. When they saw Chadtaking off his shoes, the girls decided to play yet another trick on him. They swam out to the deepest

part and Lexie dived down to stand on the bottom and Maggie stood on her shoulders.

“Isn't it refreshing Chad?” Maggie yelled. “Come out here, the water is colder!”

“Are you sure it is safe?” Chad asked.

“Of course. See, it doesn't even reach my knees!” She watched as he walked forwards and the look on his face when he realized that he had reached the edge of an underwater cliff was something shewould remember forever. Maggie jumped off Lexie's shoulders and they swam further out to laughat their success. Chad sputtered on his way to the shore where Jensen stood, ready with a towel.

***

Dinner that night was fish that Chris had caught earlier in the day and grilled over their campfire.

“Are you sure you don't want anything, Chad?” Jensen asked.

“No, I don't like fish,” Chad replied. “I'll just eat breakfast. What are we having?”

“Fish,” Chris said.

“We always eat what we catch,” Jensen said.

“Can I have more, uncle Chris?” Lexie asked.

“Yeah, me too. It's delicious,” Maggie said.

“I think I'm just going to go to sleep,” Chad said and grabbed his sticks. “Goodnight,” he said andheaded to his tent, banging the sticks together.

“Wait, Chad,” Jensen said. “What are you doing with those sticks?”

“Scaring the mountain lions!” Chad exclaimed.

Jensen had a hard time not to smile while Chris hid his laughter behind a cough.

“Chad,” Jensen began.

“This won't scare them?” Chad asked dejectedly.



“There are no mountain lions in Texas, just coyotes.” Jensen had to hand it to the girls, they wereinventive – but then, Chad was a city slicker through and through.

Chad dropped his sticks and stormed towards his tent. Jensen looked at the twins and frowned, butthey pretended to be engrossed in their dinner and didn't see the look their father gave them.

***

Later that night, two shadowy figures tiptoed towards Chad's tent carrying string, tubes of toothpaste, a jar of honey and a bottle filled with sugar water they had made earlier.

***

The camp was woken up the next morning with a scream. When the twins, Jensen and Chris cameto investigate, they saw that Chad's tent had collapsed and he stood in the middle with red patcheson his skin and covered in toothpaste and honey.

“That's it!” He yelled and extended himself from the ruins. “I quit! The money is not worth this!”He stalked over to Chris. “Take me back to town NOW, cowboy!”

Chris didn't dream of objecting, it was time someone saw sense, and started dressing.

“Hey, wait a minute!” Jensen said.

“No! I can't do this, you and attractive but not enough to turn me completely gay. And your kids aremonsters!”

By that time Chris was ready and they headed off, leaving Jensen and the twins to tidy up.

***

Later that night when they were back home, the girls ran ahead of Jensen into the kitchen whereJared was cooking.

“Daddy, are you really making Spaghetti-O's for dinner?” Lexie was horrified.

“You're back! How was it?” Jared hugged the girls.

“Lexie and I had fun,” Maggie said. “But I don't think Chad did.”“Really? Why is that?” Jared asked.

“You girls go get cleaned up,” Jensen said as he stepped into the kitchen. “Then come back down toeat whatever your daddy has made, you understand?” He asked the twins.

“But Dad! He made Spaghetti-O's!” Lexie almost whined, but one look sent her and Maggieupstairs.

“So, what happened with Chad?” Jared asked.

“He decided my money was not worth being married to me and having the twins for six months outof the year,” Jensen said resignedly.



Jared hid a small smile, he knew that the forced time with two stubborn teenage girls would haveshown Chad what life with Jensen would really be like.

“That's a shame, Jensen,” he said instead.

“Yep, really is. But good to know what he was really after,” Jensen said.

“You have to be careful, Jensen, with all that money sitting in the bank. Next time tell them thetruth – that it isn't really yours, huh? Maybe then you will find someone who really loves you,”Jared said, looking down, and then added in a near whisper. “Like I do.”

Jensen looked at Jared for a long time, thinking about the differences between the past and the present Jared. He knew that they had been too young when Sandy died and that their relationshiphad not been as strong as it looked since they had split up a year after the girls had been born. Butthe years had only made Jared more handsome and what he had said was true. Jensen should findsomeone who knew the truth about the money. Someone who seemed devastated at the news thatJensen had finally decided to get married. Someone who seemed to love him despite everything.

“Jared,” he said. “Jared, you know how stupid I can be sometimes. I did not think you would come back.”

Jared was uncertain about whether he should believe Jensen or not. He had come here hoping to talk to Jensen about what he had finally come to realize had been a mistake. They should never havesplit up. It would have been better in the long run for them and the twins.

“Jared,” Jensen said again. “I'm sorry. Sorry for everything. Can you forgive me?”

Jared looked up at that moment and saw something in Jensen's eyes.

Jensen stepped closer and reached out to put his palm on Jared's cheek. Jared gave in and leanedforward into the kiss.

Lexie and Maggie tiptoed away from the kitchen and what was happening there. When they weresure that their fathers would not hear, they high-fived each other and went giggling in search of Chris and Steve and some decent food.

Jared and Jensen were far too busy to worry over some Spaghetti-O's after all.

TEH END

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It was an upset, in two minutes flat