Unlawfully Wed

Alex looked around the office for a bit longer before going down into the kitchen, sitting down at the kitchen island next to where Martha was working diligently on preparing snacks for the road. She had separated different sweet and salty snacks into ziplock bags, which she put into a small backpack, along with a few bottles of water. She was humming something to herself, putting all of her focus on the things in her hand and none on JP, who was standing at the other end of the counter, looking apologetic and twiddling his fingers against the marble.

"I figure if we leave here in the next hour then we will make pretty decent time getting back to your house, I don't think we can go and see a judge today, but if we get an early enough start tomorrow--"

"I'm sorry, what?" Alex interrupted, blinking in in her direction. He shifted on his feet and stuffed his hands in his pockets. JP looked confused, too. He crossed his arms across his chest and bit his lip.

Martha stopped shaking the bag in her hand and looked up. "What, what? That's the way we go about it now, right? You take me to see a judge, I prove that I'm still alive, George is released, bada bing, bada boom, everyone is happy."

Alex started. Oh. He hadn't even *thought* about that. He had been so focused on the fact that Martha was *alive* that he didn't even consider what that meant for George. She was right, though--without her death, there was no case. There were a few questions about the legality of Martha's decision, but if she had JP file her taxes, and there wasn't anything about the life insurance . . . Everything really should work itself out.

"You're right," he said after a moment, taking his hands out of his pockets and leaning against the counter. Martha went back to packaging her snacks. JP watched her silently for several more minutes before he tried to speak again.

"I'm sorry, mom," he said. "I didn't mean to make everything turn out like this . . . Jack and Mick were with me anyway, and I just thought that they'd understand what we were doing there. I didn't tell them that you weren't really dead, I just said you and George were on a trip and that you'd ask me to move some furniture. I never expected them to break back in. I'm sorry."

Martha made a noise to show she heard, but she didn't say anything. She looked at Alex again. "So, can I stay with you tonight, or do I need to try and find a motel?"

"No, you can stay with me, absolutely. Let me just . . . " he pulled his phone out of his pocket and turned it on, " . . . let me call my kids and make sure that the house is straightened up." He nodded at JP. "You can stay too, if you want--my kids are only a couple of years younger than you, they're nearly eighteen."

JP nodded, but the look Martha gave him kept him from accepting the offer, at least right then. Alex took his phone out onto the porch and sat down on the front step. He unlocked it and scrolled through to Phillip's number.

Phillip answered on the second ring. "Hey, Dad. What's up? I thought you'd be home by now."

Alex pulled his jeans up, rubbing at the cuts on his ankle. They were beginning to sting again as they started to heal over. "I had to go on a bit of a road trip. Something to do with George's case. Hey, listen, I need you to do something for me."

"Sure."

"We're going to be having a guest over tonight, so would you mind straightening up the house a little and setting up the pull-out bed in the basement? It'll be another few hours before I get home, yet, and I'd rather it be done before I get there."

"Yeah, that's fine. Do you want Angie and me to use dinner ready?"

"Yes, please. Is your sister home?"

"Yeah. You want me to give her the phone?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, hold on."

The line went silent as Phillip put his phone on mute. Alex kicked his feet out and dropped his head to his knees, his emotions running haywire as the events of the day caught up to him. Not only did he find out that George had been writing to him, but the whole case, every little thing he had based his findings off of, was a lie. Hell, everything he had based the last five years of his *life* off of was a lie.

If George had missed him so much, why didn't he just come back? Alex liked to think that he would have put up some sort of a fight, but hell, with how fast he went running when George asked him to be in his life professionally, he knew there was no chance he'd last more than a few minutes up against George's request to see him again romantically.

"Dad?"

Alex straightened up as the phone kicked on. "Angelica, hey."

"Phillip said you needed to talk to me?" There was a quiver in her voice. "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, sweetheart, I just wanted to ask you about something. When you've gotten the mail, have you noticed any letters for me from George recently?" He tried to keep his tone from being too accusatory, but from the sharp intake of breath he heard on the other end, he hadn't done a very good job.

He heard a rusting on the other side that couldn't be anything other than Angelica checking her coat for the letters before she answered. " . . . you found them."

"Yes, I did. Is there a reason why you didn't tell me about them?"

Angelica hesitated again before answering. "You were a mess when he left you, Dad. You tried to hide it when we were around, but we're not stupid. We could tell how upset you were, and when Mom told us that he was trying to communicate with you again . . . I just didn't want to have to watch you go through what you did before. I don't want to let him have the chance to break your heart again."

Alex reached up and pressed his fingertips against his eyelids. He should have known that Angelica was just worried about him. "Angie, I understand your concern, but I don't need you to be worried about stuff like that. I'm a grown man, I know better than to let him break my heart again." Yeah, that was a lie.

Angie knew it, too. "Dad, I'm not a little kid. You can tell me the truth about stuff like this." She paused for a second before asking, "So . . . did he really kill her?"

Alex sighed. "That's another thing you shouldn't be worrying about, but no, Angie, he didn't kill her." He looked up as Martha and JP came outside, the backpack of snacks hanging over Martha's shoulder. She gestured towards the car. Alex nodded and pulled out his keys, tossing them to her. "I need to hang up now, but I'll be back in a few hours, all right? I want Phillip and you to pick up the house. Phillip can explain why."

"Okay. Bye, Dad."

"Bye, Angie." He hung up the phone and locked the screen before remembering that he needed to talk to John, as well. He stood up and began to walk over to the car as he called.

Like Phillip, John answered on the second ring. "Alex. I was waiting for you to call. What's going on? Where'd that kid take you?"

"That kid," as it seemed, had gotten booted to the back seat of the car, and Martha had stolen the shotgun. She waved her fingers at Alex as she started the engine and turned on the radio, scrolling through stations until she landed on a rock one.

Alex shook his head in disbelief. Martha really was much different than he had expected her to be. "I promise I'll tell you, but this *really* isn't the kind of conversation we should be having over the phone. I just wanted to give you a heads up that I am about to drive back to town, so I should be home around seven or eight. Come over tonight and we will talk about everything?"

"Oh my, God, did you find her body? Fuck, Alex, after all these months--how bad off is she? Did you puke when you saw her? You did, didn't you?"

Alex chuckled dryly. He shouldn't be surprised, John jumping to that conclusion. He had always been so morbid. Then again, technically, Alex *had* found her body. "Like I said, come over tonight, and we will talk about everything."

"You're sure you're okay?"

"John, I'm fine. Really." He got into the car and changed the radio station. Martha lunged forward to change it back, but Alex slapped her hand away. "Driver picks the music, and the passenger shuts their pie-hole."

John snorted while Martha rolled her eyes, settling back into the seat with her arms crossed and her ankle propped up on her knee. "Okay, Dean Winchester, I'll let you drive, but you better get home safe. I'll see you in a few hours."

"Kay. Bye, John." He took his phone away from his ear and hung up before John could respond. He dropped it in the cup holder and began the trek back home.

***

Four hours later, Alex was back home. He had dropped JP back off at the firm to get his car, half-expecting to run into John as he left the office. However, the lot was empty and the building was dark, so it seemed that John had taken his leave early.

Alex and Martha parked in the garage and went into the house. Angelica was out again, her car missing from the street, but Phillip was still home. Alex was shocked to see that he had done everything that he had asked, *and* he had even prepared dinner. He had made spaghetti, and had even set out plates on the dining room table.

"Wow, that smells great," Alex said, going into the kitchen and clapping Phillip on the shoulder. "You really didn't have to do that."

Phillip blushed. "It, uh, wasn't just for you . . . Marius is going to come by in a half hour to study for our chemistry test."

Alex raised an eyebrow as he remembered the conversation from earlier about the boy Phillip had asked out and had been rejected by. "Oh?"

"Yeah. He, uh, reconsidered his answer."

"Good. I'm glad." He winked. Phillip's cheeks turned even more red. He wanted to tease more, but before he could, there was a knock at the door.

Alex turned towards Martha. "Go ahead and fix yourself a plate, and I'll go see who's at the door. It'll probably be John, if Marius won't be here for another half hour."

Martha nodded and moved towards the dining room where Phillip was moving the serving bowls. Alex turned and walked to the door, calling out, "I'm coming!" as there was another urgent knock.

When Alex opened the door, he barely had time to step out of the way before John came barreling in. "Now spill," he demanded, putting his hand against Alex's shoulder and pushing him against the wall. "What the hell was that today?"

Alex plucked John's fingers off and pushed him away. "I have a surprise for you."

John raised his eyebrow. "Will your surprise show me what I want to know?"

"Maybe. Go into the dining room and find out."

John rolled his eyes, but did as he was asked. Alex waited in the front hall, but he could hear the exact moment when John realized who he was looking at. "Holy fuck! Alex, get your ass in here!"

Alex laughed quietly and shook his head. He followed John's request and walked into the dining room, his laugher growing stronger as he took in the expression on John's face. His eyes were wide and his mouth was hanging open, and his hands were trembling by his side.

Martha gave Alex a slight wave. John turned his gaze to him, making a strangled noise in the back of his throat before looking back at Martha, and then back at Alex again. "Alex, what the fuck is going on? Did you know about this?"

"I honestly had no idea. I wasn't expecting *her* to be the thing that JP wanted to tell me about her murder. I was just as shocked as you are."

"Does George know she's alive?" John turned to look at Martha again. "Did he know that you're alive?"

Martha sighed and motioned for John to come and sit down beside her. "You better get comfortable. It's a long story."