Once again, sorry for the wait. I know I told a few of you that there would only be a couple more chapters. Well, that's no longer the case. I feel pretty confident there will be at least 5 more at this point.

Chapter 61

Sam tapped his pencil absently against his desk as he stared at the far wall. The library was really quiet at this time of day. Oddly, there were regulars who actually waited for him to open the doors every morning, but they rarely needed his help. Sam usually used the early morning to reshelve books from the day before, but he was distracted. The wedding would be this weekend.

This weekend. Soon he would be married.

He tried to imagine what it would be like, if he would actually feel any different. Would wearing a ring be significant? Would he wear his ring? Dean did, but his brother had always worn stuff like that, like his amulet. Hey, was that another sign of Dean crossing gender borders?

His mind drifted, following strange tangents of thought, until the buzzing of his cell brought him back to reality. Maybe it was Serene wanting to know what time he would be coming by for lunch. He pulled out his cell without checking caller ID.

"Hello?"

"Oh...uh...is Serene there?"

"Serene?" Sam asked, confused. "No, she's at work. Would you like her number?"

"Um, I'm sorry, but I thought this was her number," the woman told him.

Sam pulled the phone away from his ear to study it. Oh, this was one metallic pink. It was Serene's. "Sorry," he replied when he pressed it to his ear again, "I guess we accidentally swapped phones. They look the same at five in the morning. Can I have her call you?"

"No," the woman snapped at him. "When would be a good time to call?"

Sam frowned at the far wall. This woman was weird. "Well, I should be able to return her phone at lunch, so how about after two? When the lunch rush is over?"

"Fine," she said. He checked the phone; the woman had hung up on him. Wow, what a bitch.

"Sam?" his supervisor Janet, the head librarian, walked up to the information desk. "Why don't you just take the rest of the week off? You're kind of worthless right now anyway."

Sam grinned at her. "Because I'm taking next week off for the honeymoon, you know that."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Think you can at least sort through the returned books before lunch? Make yourself useful?" With a grin Janet clucked her tongue at him. "It's a good thing you're Frank's brother-in-law, otherwise I would've fired you two days ago."

"You need a new line," he informed her as he pushed away from the desk. "That one's getting stale."

Janet laughed at him. "I'll work on it. Maybe when you're back from your honeymoon."

Sam found he was actually liking small town life. Everybody knowing everyone wasn't as bad as it had seemed at first.

Serene checked her call log curiously after Sam warned her about the strange phone call. She gasped at what she saw.

"What is it?" Sam asked, craning his neck for a better view of the tiny screen on her phone.

"My sister," she gasped. "My sister called? What did she say?"

Sam shrugged. "Well, she sounded kind of ticked off that I wasn't you, and then she said she would call later when you were available. Then she hung up on me."

Serene frowned at him. "Really? She hung up on you?"

Sam nodded and wondered why Serene even wanted this woman to call. "You're sure you want to talk to her? I'll carry your stupid pink phone as long as you like."

Her face lit with a bright smile. "Oh, Sammy. You're such a sweetheart!" He was rewarded with a quick kiss. "No, I'll talk to her. I wanted to invite her to the wedding, if that's all right?"

Sam shrugged. "Anything you want, Sweetie. You know that."

Even though he honestly did not want the bitchy woman from the phone there, it was so worth saying it to see the beaming smile on her face. This time he was rewarded with such a passionate kiss, everyone in the diner 'oooohhhh'-ed. Serene broke off with a red face, but Sam turned to bow to the diner's patrons, who applauded.

"Can you join me today?" Sam asked once the applause had died down. Her red face was cute. And sexy.

Serene gave a curt shake of her head before rushing through the kitchen doors. Sam chuckled as he sat at the counter to wait and see what she would bring out for him.

Frank parked in front of the county court building in downtown Carlin. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel while staring at the building. Finally he screwed up his courage enough to open the car door. Frank stepped out into the heat of late morning and slammed the door shut. After several deep breaths, which did nothing to settle the trembling starting in his hands, he headed into the court house.

The D.A.'s office was on the second floor. Frank wasn't sure if he should knock or just go in. He opted for knocking and noticed his hand shaking. A confused young lady opened the door.

"Can I help you?" she asked. She had a pleasant smile and soft brown hair.

"I have an appointment?" Frank said. "Uh, Frank Warren?"

The young lady's smile widened. "You aren't sure?"

He chuckled self-consciously. "Yeah, I'm sure. Just, uh, nervous."

"Ben was just telling me to expect you," she told him as she pulled the door open. She pointed at a door set in the far wall. "Go on in. You're the only appointment for the rest of the day."

Frank swallowed hard over that. The only appointment? God, he hoped he would be able to leave early enough to make it home on time. Dean wasn't real lenient on him being late without calling. He still hadn't mentioned this little meeting, so Dean thought he was at work. Yeah, thin ice.

He pushed open the door to the inner office. A thin man wearing wire-rimmed glasses looked up.

"Mister Warren?" he asked hopefully as he stood.

"Frank," Frank said as he held out a hand.

"Then call me Ben," the man said, shaking his hand. "Thanks so much for coming all the way out here. I promise to make this as painless as possible. I'd just like to take the opportunity to go over your statement before we go to trial. I feel confident that with your testimony, Jake Jefferson will be spending the next twenty or so years behind bars."

Frank required another steadying breath. "I hope so," he said softly.

Ben motioned to the chair opposite his desk. "If you're ready? Do you need a minute?"

He stared at the chair a moment before taking a seat. He could do this. He would do this. If Frank was to be able to continue living his life, he had to take measures to make certain Jake would stay out of it.

Dean tried to block Liza as she reached for a brightly colored box in the cereal aisle of the grocery store. He chuckled at her efforts.

"Pap!" she shouted as she leaned out. "Pap!"

Dean frowned and studied the cereal in front of them. Liza reached again, for Frankie's favorite cereal.

"Pop?" he asked her, grinning. "Is that Pop's favorite?"

Liza laughed and clapped before reaching for the cereal again. Dean let her grab it this time and helped her add it to the shopping cart. He was only after a couple of things, but with Liza with him it was easier to use a cart even if he did find a few extra items after pushing it into the checkout.

"I'm going to call Pop," he told her. "He's going to love this."

Dean had been trying hard not to disturb Frankie with customers, so he called the office first. Karen answered. "Hi, Karen, it's Dean," he began.

"Hey, Dean. I'm glad you called. Do you think Frank will be feeling well enough to come in tomorrow?" she asked.

Dean froze in the aisle. "Huh?"

"Oh, is he that sick? A day or two or the rest of the week?" Karen pressed. "I'm trying to set the schedule."

"Frank called in sick?" Dean asked, astounded.

"Y-e-a-h," Karen replied slowly. "Are you out of town or something?"

"Uh, y-yeah," Dean stammered. "But I'm coming back today. When I know what's going on, I'll have him call you. Thanks."

Dean left his cart with the few items they had picked up in the aisle to rush out of the store. He called Frank's cell all the way out to the car. Three times it rolled over to voicemail. Next he tried Frank's mother. She thought Frank ought to be at work too. Panicked now, Dean called the cell phone company. While he buckled Liza in to her car seat, Dean told them he was Frank and had lost his phone, could they turn on the GPS and tell him where he had left it. It took a little wheedling, most cell phone providers won't do this kind of thing over just a lost phone, but he managed to get an address from them.

"Oh, right, I just left there a couple of hours ago," Dean lied. "Thanks so much, I'll go back right away."

Dean threw the car into reverse. "Hang on, Lizzie," he growled, "we have an errand to run."

Frank checked his watch. This was running much later than he thought it might. "I really need to head home soon."

"Just a few more minutes, Frank," Ben, the district attorney, insisted. "I'd hate to ask you to drive back out here for just a few little details when we can clear it all up today. Now, in your previous statement, which the defense has a copy of, you made a couple of contradictory statements."

Frank tried to wait patiently while the attorney flipped through the police report. Maybe he should call Dean to say he would be running a little late? Before Frank could reach for his phone, which was on the corner of the large oak desk, Ben tapped a page with his pen.

"Here it is. First you stated that you believed Jake Jefferson intended to kill you, which we've already gone over. Then you told this officer that you were not afraid for your life." Ben stared across the desk at him. "How could you not be afraid for your life if you believed he intended to kill you?"

Frank rubbed his palms, which were becoming sweaty, on his pants. "Because I didn't think he'd have time. I really ought to make a phone call now, before I'm in trouble with Dean."

"Dean?" Ben's head dove down again. "Why do I know that name? Oh, right. Isn't Dean the name of one of the men who found and rescued you?"

"Yeah." Frank found himself smiling despite the fact he knew he was due home in about ten minutes, but it was a half hour drive back. He picked up his phone off the corner of the desk, where it had been since he had arrived. Frank flipped it over to discover it was on silent.

"Oh, shit!" he exclaimed, seeing the twenty missed calls.

"Hmm?" Ben looked up. "Oh, that. Yeah, I have a cell phone on silence policy when I'm in conference. I put it on silence for you when you used the restroom this morning. I did discuss that with you when you arrived, right?"

"No," Frank snapped as he anxiously scrolled through his missed call list. All except the one from his mother had been Dean. Holy crap, what was Dean thinking right now? The worst. Dean always thought the worst. Five voicemails. Frank's eyes widened as in addition to the voicemails, there were also a dozen text messages, all from Dean's phone in the last half hour. "I'm in deep shit," he muttered. Could he call now? His hands shook as he weighed his options. His odds of survival either way seemed pretty damned low. He should've been suspicious when his phone hadn't rung all day. Oh, this was seriously worse than being a couple of hours late on their anniversary.

"Frank?" Ben's voice intruded on his internal freak-out. "Are you all right?"

"No." Frank chewed his lower lip for a moment before pressing the button to call Dean. He met Ben's confused gaze as he listened to the first ring. "I'm in more trouble than..."

"Frank!" Dean's panicked voice blared out of his phone.

Frank winced. "Hey, Babe," he said slowly. "So, uh, what's up?"

"Where are you?" Dean's low growl was such a turn-on. If only he weren't in trouble!

"Uh, yeah. About that. Interesting story." Frank found he was breathing hard.

"Which office?" Dean demanded. "I'm on the ground floor."

"Ground floor?" Frank asked, his mind in a whirl. "Ground floor of what?"

"The frigging court house in Carlin!" Dean snapped at him. "You are here? Your damn phone is here."

In the background he heard a little voice calling out "Pap! Pap!"

"Second floor, office twenty-twelve," Frank replied slowly. His heart felt like it had stopped beating. Dean tracked him down. He checked his watch. Frank had left home about eight and a half hours ago. Now Dean had to have figured out he was "missing," checked around locally for him, and then somehow found a way to track him down. He wasn't sure whether to feel amazed and impressed, or really frigging scared.

"Stay there! We'll be right up!" Dean ordered. The connection went dead in his hand. Scared was starting to win.

"That was Dean?" Ben asked. Frank stared down at the phone in his hand and nodded silently. "He's here? Good. We might need to call him to the stand, too. As an eyewitness. I don't suppose his brother is here? What was his name?"

"Sam." Frank swallowed hard.

"That's right. Sam. The second eyewitness. I think I had some notes on him." The pages on his desk flipped back and forth furiously. "But what were you saying about the defendant not having time because of-"

"Frank!" Dean's voice bellowed in the outer office.

Frank gave the DA a weak smile. "That's Dean." He turned to face the door. And his doom. "In here!"

The office door opened quickly and Dean strode in, a very animated Liza clinging to him. "Pap!" she screamed, holding her arms out for him.

"Did she just call me Pop?" Frank asked, amazed.

Dean handed her over, his eyes intense. "What the hell is going on here?" he demanded.

Frank felt a little safer hiding behind the baby. "Dean, this is Ben Reynolds, the county district attorney. He's prosecuting the bastard."

Dean's eyes flicked over the thin man sitting behind the desk. Ben smiled broadly as he stood and held out a hand. "Dean? Great to meet you. I had planned on asking Frank if he thought you might be willing to meet with me. We might need an eyewitness on the stand, to verify what Frank testifies to."

"Testify?" Dean's face dropped the stern, worried look in favor of a shock. "You want Frank to testify? In person?"

"Uh, Ben?" Frank turned to look at the district attorney. "Would you mind if we had a few minutes? Alone?"

"Oh, sure." Ben shrugged as he stood. "I need to give Claire my notes to type up anyway." He held up his legal pad. "But I really would like to speak with Dean before you leave. We might need him to testify as well."

There was a strained silence as Ben left the room. Frank shifted his attention guiltily to Dean, who was staring at him.

"You couldn't tell me where you were going?" Dean asked in a stiff voice.

Frank chewed the edge of his tongue as he tried to figure out how he could explain it. Liza patted his chest. Grateful for the distraction, he looked down at her.

"Bad," she said quite clearly. Frank hoped she was not talking about him, but honestly he knew better. "Pap bad."

Frank looked her in the eyes. "I'm sorry," he said slowly. "I won't be bad any more."

"Promise?" Dean asked heavily from where he stood, a few steps away.

Frank lifted his head to lock with those worried eyes and nodded. "Promise. And I'll try to explain later." He chewed on his lower lip for a moment. "At least, I hope I can explain it."

Dean let out a long sigh and shook his head at Frank. "So do I."

"Pap bad," Liza piped up again, slapping an open hand against his chest.

"But I love you," Frank replied as he lifted her into a hug, but he was looking at Dean. "More than anything."

"We'll talk later," Dean said brusquely, turning towards the door. "I'll let the attorney back in so we can get the hell out of here."

Frank managed to ease them both out of the DA's office rather quickly with excuses about needing to take care of the baby. He followed Dean and Liza home in his car, slightly surprised it wasn't the other way around so Dean could keep an eye on him. Dean barely looked at him for the rest of the evening.

"You know," John broke the tense silence, "I was thinking of walking Liza down to the little park to play before bed. Would that be all right?"

"Pay!" Liza squealed, clapping her hands and eyes shining. "Pay da-ee!!"

"Grand-da-ee," John corrected her with a grin.

"Well, I guess we can't say no now, can we?" Dean replied with a shrug. "It's almost dark, Dad. Don't stay out too long."

"Yes, Nurse Ratchet," John snapped back as he stood up. Then he winced and cast a guilty look at Dean. Dean shrugged again and motioned to Liza who sat in the middle of the den holding her arms up for John. "We won't be too long," he mumbled before beating a hasty retreat out the door with Liza.

"Bad day?" Frank asked thinking only about John's reaction, until he felt the hard slug to his shoulder. He turned to face Dean's glower as he rubbed the throbbing flesh. "Sorry. Guess that was a stupid question."

"You're damn right it was," Dean said slowly. "I think you promised to explain?"

Frank chewed on his lower lip. The whole drive back and throughout their almost silent dinner he had tried to put it into words, but he kept coming up short. Nothing sounded right.

"I'm not sure I can," he replied with a frustrated sigh. "It's..." Frank swallowed hard as he shook his head, disgusted with the kind of man he had turned into. "Damn it, Dean! I'm nearly thirty-two years old. You know that, right?" he demanded.

Dean's eyes widened and he nodded once.

With a wide sweeping motion, Frank gestured to their room. "I have to sleep with a god-damned nightlight!" He drew in a deep breath as his level of frustration rose. "Do you know what that's like?"

Dean glanced at their bedroom door with a shrug. "Well, I do too."

"It's not the same!" Frank snapped. He knew he shouldn't be shouting at Dean, the one person in his life he honestly and literally trusted with his life. "You can sleep with it or not. I can't." He jabbed at his chest with his thumb. "Every time I can't see what's around me, I think of him." Jesus, he couldn't even say the bastard's name!

"Hey, hey..." Dean said in a gentle voice as he approached. "Frankie, it's all right. I just wanted to know why you couldn't tell me where you were going."

"Because... Because I wanted to do it by myself. I mean, I wanted to see IF I could do it, drive all the way over there and tell some complete stranger what happened, all alone." Now he dared to look Dean in the eye. "I knew if I told you about it, you'd offer to come with me. I wouldn't have been able to say no."

Dean's brow furrowed. "But Baby, if you'd wanted to go alone, I would've just stayed home. No problem." He stepped a little closer but did not reach out to touch. "What's the big deal?"

Frank found himself breathing harder. "I never would've asked you to stay home," he whispered. "I feel safe when you're around."

"Okay, you're not making any sense. Come on." Dean's strong hands directed him to the couch and made him sit. Then Dean's familiar weight landed right beside him, their legs pressed close together. The pressure of an arm over his shoulders was warm and comforting. "Easy there, Frankie. Nice deep breaths."

Relieved by the level of care despite his stupid stunt, Frank leaned over to press his cheek against Dean's chest. Next thing he knew, they were lying together on the couch, Frank with his head on Dean's shoulder and his hair being rhythmically stroked.

"Better?" Dean's deep voice rumbled in his ear. Frank nodded, realizing it was easier to breathe now and he was feeling more relaxed and...safe. "Okay. Try it again. Slow. No shouting."

Frank swallowed hard, his mouth horribly dry. He decided to explain it backwards. "Any time you offer to go someplace with me, anywhere, I'll always say yes. Because I know I'm safe when you're around."

The strong fingers stroking through his hair kept up their steady pace. "Mmm-hmmm," was Dean's only response, so Frank figured he needed to explain a little more.

"I knew if I told you about it, you'd offer to go, but I needed to see if I could do it by myself. I mean, I can't sleep without a night-light, Dean! I feel like I'm not..." his voice trailed off, betraying the fact this was what he didn't want to give voice to.

The stroking of his hair stopped. One of Dean's hands pushed his chin up, until he was peering into Dean's worried eyes. "You feel like you're not what?"

Frank tore his eyes away to tighten his hold on Dean, his anchor, his personal savior. He squeezed his eyes closed as he mumbled the dreaded admission.

"Not a man." Geez, it actually sounded even worse and more corny out loud.

He felt Dean's chest shake. Concerned, Frank forced his eyes to open and his head to look up. There was a broad, amused smile on Dean's face and he could hear the chuckling now. "What?" he demanded. Was Dean actually laughing at his predicament?

"Not a man?" Dean asked with a sparkle in his eye. "Dude, how many guys can wear baby blue and still look like a stud? Or have super-sperm which can get me pregnant even on hormones?" Both of Dean's hands were buried in his hair now, keeping him focused. "Who calls who baby in this relationship?"

The smile dropped from Dean's face, replaced with a concerned look. "Your mother has been on my case to talk you into seeing a therapist. I didn't think you needed it, but maybe I was wrong." He sighed a little. "You scared the crap out of me today, Frank. If you ever do that again, I will beat the ever-living shit out of you."

Frank nodded, his movements restricted by Dean's grip on his head. "Yes, dear," he whispered.

Dean's hands released their grip and encouraged him to rest his head on that comforting chest again. Soothing strokes through his hair assured him he was not in quite as much trouble as he had assumed.

"When the trial starts, I'm going to be there," Dean announced in the soft, firm voice Frank knew not to disagree with. Frank nodded, holding his spouse tight and feeling warm relief spread from the inside out. Maybe he wasn't in trouble after all.