Not your typical picket fence setup [invite]

[Esli Barnes]

“Train station.” His arms raised and the cotton shirt worked down over his shoulders. With a tug of his hand the fabric inched down his stomach. Leaning foward to glance out of the window in the back bedroom he spotted Gideon. “Woah!” He bounced off the mattress beneath his knee and was hopping into his denims as the wide turn taken landed him *** and back against the door to the foot by foot wide bathroom. It was likely more than that but not by much. “Wider turn next time. Use all four wheels, only two is risky.”

The rolling mobile home shifted and he was stumbling back out of the small space into the hall letting his pants stay unbuttoned and holding on to the fabricated wall at each side of him. Lasair’s petite body and red hair bobbed as the bulk of well used vehicle teetered forward then back. A sound of a car horn blasted from the outside and a screech of tires surrendering the right of way followed.

“Gids is out there!” He dashed to the kitchenette space where the floor to ceiling door was located on the right side. It didn’t matter that the relic was still chugging along with Lasair’s barefoot pressing heavy on the gas pedal. Esli opened up the door just in time to lean out enough to catch his brother’s attention as they passed him by. He whistled loud then hollered. “Gids, move your ***, man.” He chuckled at the challenge he was giving. “Baby, slow down just enough that our brother gets a fair chance at grabbing the back ladder up. No stopping. Place is crazy busy out there.” Esli leaned out more holding on to the doorknob and jabbed his hand and arm to bring Gids attention to the ladder that went up the back of the r.v. and allowed access to the small rooftop entry into the camper. “Grab on, brother, and climb on in!”

Esli pulled his half dressed body back in and the door as well. Once it was locked and secured he buttoned up and made his way to the small hatch in the ceiling that needed to be unlocked for Gideon’s entry. Of course Oliver pounced down from his make shift swinging hammock and started bouncing around between the driver’s seat and the passenger seat with anticipation at possible freedom.

“No big turns until he is in.” Eslie called out as his hands shot upward and proved he could do a chin up with ease as his hands locked at the edge of the porthole. Like a gopher popping up from the ground, he perched on the edge of the roof and spotted Gideon once again from above. His long damp hair floated in the wind slapping at his face and eyes as he cheered on his sibling. “You can do it!”

[Lasair Barnes (DELETED 9516)]

Lasair muttered something about not caring about how busy it was – she wanted her jumping castle. She wasn’t serious, of course. The text had been sent in jest, and the redhead was happy to go anywhere the three of them could catch up. The way Esli said ‘our’ brother had her beaming with glee. She’d never had siblings. What family she’d had, Esli had taken her away from. Willingly. They – he – could hardly be called family. Now, she was claiming Esli’s family as her own, even as an addition to said family grew inside of her.

It was a miracle that Esli let her drive the relic at all; he told her to drive slow, and no big corners, and it was a good thing, too. For a good few long seconds she was distracted by the vision of Esli pulling himself up through the manhole at the top of the caravan. Although he’d pulled a t-shirt over his torso, his pants were still unbuttoned and half fallen down his backside. The t-shirt lifted to reveal the fine lines of his back, the well-defined muscle, toned and tanned.

She reached out an arm and clicked her tongue in the way Oliver knew, the monkey clambering up and onto her shoulders. Although there was another beep of the horn (now because they were going too slow, Lasair ignored it. She paid attention to the road ahead, making sure that she did not run anyone over or climb any curbs. Out of her window, she shouted a ‘sorry!’ and also a whistle of encouragement for Gideon – whose face she did not recognise, and he would not see her face, either. She would just be a disembodied voice, the Irish brogue strong.

”Better hurry up, Gideon! Or you’ll miss out on the jumping castles!” she called, a cackle soon following after.

[Gideon Barnes (DELETED 8781)]

It wasn't hard to spot the duo from a mile, hell, ten miles away. Gideon chuckled as he watched the RV turn and wobble a little as the thing tried to find its balance. He shook his head and grinned wider. It had been years since they had seen the other, but like always, somehow the pair seemed to always make a long standing impression every time the three of them met up.

His brother appeared and it seemed they weren't going to stop. Gideon only howled in laughter, watching the people on the station tuck their bodies further inside the platform for a sense of security from the van that may, or may not jump the sidewalk. Esli was howling at him and Gid's found his chuckling falling short. The crazy ******** wasn't planning on stopping. ****.

When was the last time he had jumped on a moving target? It had been a while, but Esli and Lasair didn't seem to care or know. Good thing he didn't feel his age. Gideon doubted most thirty-somethings would be up for running after a moving target and then lunging at it. It was either going to go really well, or he would have a few bruises to tend to for the next few days. Either way, it would be one hell of a story. "Right then." Gideon rubbed his hands together, took a large breath in and then blew it out, before chasing after the RV.

He wormed and weaved around people standing around watching the RV that finally found all four tyres and slowed enough for Gideon to have a fair shot at getting on the damn thing. His shoulder crashed against a woman, who went spinning into one of her friends, "SORRY!" Gideon hollered at the woman as she said a few choice words about him, but he only raised to it by waving her off. His problem wasn't with foul tempered humans, so there was no reason to cause some unnecessary beef. He could only realistically battle one enemy at a time, and the one he was after was a bigger problem any day and night of the week.

Gideon came reeling up to the side of the RV, and kept at pace with it. He huffed and puffed out a couple of quick breaths before he attempted to grab the ladder. A miss. But that didn't sway him or his faith. He would get there, even if he looked like a jackass at the moment. Gideon tucked his chin down and moved past the ladder, realizing his error. It wasn't enough to be besides it, he had to be ahead of it so that when he grabbed for it, the time it took to grab wasn't leaving him with the bumper of the RV. "Steady!" He shouted, in case Lasair needed to make any sharp maneuvers. Hopefully not.

Another lunge and he had both hands on the ladder, while his feet kept running with the damn RV. He gritted his teeth together before Gideon pulled himself up and made a sound of triumph. "Good!" He shouted, not caring how fast Lasair went now, or what she needed to do. He climbed the eight or so ladder rungs up to the roof. He saw the open hatch, but didn't move for it yet. Instead, Gideon laid on his stomach and caught his breath, before he crawled his way to the hatch and popped his head in with a "Boo!" He laughed, then maneuvered his body so that he was sitting on the lip of the hatch, before dropping inside. "Now that's what I call service." He joshed, before giving Esli a nudge, then a giant bear hug. "Brother." He acknowledged with a couple of slaps to Esli's back.

[Esli Barnes]

Years of hugs never seemed to make the next one coming for him any less important. Not with Gideon. Esli’s arms wrapped around the man and pulled him inward tight with a growl. Everything from marbles on a playground to the sound of Gid’s voice saying goodbye came to mind. All of the memories shared between were fresh like it was only yesterday. He gripped the tips of his fingers into the warm flesh covered by the cotton layer that said the run for the RV was more than his brother planned on. His brother was alive and well. Not only the obvious but damn well capable of catching a moving ride. Not everything had to change.

Time brought on beards and ink on their skin. They had left the simple streets of their childhood world and drifted physically apart. Oceans at times divided them but not their bonds. The lines and visible effects from the over indulged sun marked them as their eyes smiled. Taller, broader and worlds stronger but there they were. Just the same two punks defying the curses of time embracing a victory over body and machine. No less the kids on skateboards willing to risk skin and bone on the gamble that went with claiming the nearest bumper that happened to be going the direction they were heading. This time Gideon used his soles to own the win and Esli was proud as hell to call him brother.

“Brother.” He chuckled releasing what he couldn’t be more grateful to see and stepped back. “You still got it.” A grin reserved for the one who once saved Esli’s drowning *** from the county pit appeared. “Welcome to our home.”

Esli reached out and gave his whiskered face a gentle pat allowing his fingers to curl affectionately at the side of his neck until he could hook him behind the shoulder and guide him. There was something that could not wait. The woman that had their worlds in her hands while they were rolling down the street. His moon and stars that just so happened to also carry his son was to be introduced in the only way he could imagine doing her any sort of honor that she fully deserved.

“Gideon, say hello to my heart, soul and…” He nodded down to the swell of beauty that shaped her where she sat behind the wheel. “Our son.” Esli wasn’t a proud man when it came to how he truly felt. He believed God wanted the world to know there was hope and love when believers were faithful and true. He had to blink fast as the smile found his face that spoke to his wife. “Lasair, our brother has arrived.” A sudden bounce of fur became a distracting airborne object as the monkey that would not be ignored landed on Gideon’s shoulder and chattered his teeth in greeting. “And, brother, this is Oliver. I believe he likes you.”

[Lasair Barnes (DELETED 9516)]

Lasair tried her best not to lose focus on the road, driving slow enough for the man outside to be able to catch up but trying also to go fast enough not to fully annoy any of the drivers outside too much. She heard Gideon calling for her to be steady, and she tried her best. A voice she might have heard before in phone calls but one she had never heard face to face. But, even as Gideon finally dropped down into the van, as the two brothers greeted each other after so long being apart, it almost felt as if she had met him before.

Esli had told Lasair all about Gideon – everything he loved about his brother, anything that might have once got on his nerves. Childhood grievances that were never big enough to last, fights they’d had as all brothers do. Even the bad amounted to good. That was how family should be; when it was good, nothing was ever truly bad.

Esli was then guiding Gideon to the front of the van to introduce the two most important people in his life – or so Lasair assumed. And yet, she was stuck with her eyes on the road, not wanting to run over any little old ladies or ride up another curb and tip them all over.

”Boys, boys,” she crowed, Irish accent thick. ”I do love your games, but how ‘bout giving us a proper introduction, hm? Unless you would like me to take my hands off the wheel to give my new brother the hug he deserves, and we can all go head first into that there house,” she said, nodding toward the red brick house that actually looked like it would total their van, rather than the other way around.

”Do we have a destination in mind or am I destined to be your chauffeur for the next few hours, driving around in circles while you both catch up?” she asked, glancing up, her eyes bouncing between the two of them – eyes that were gleaming with the smile resting upon her lips. Of course, the longer her eyes were off the road, the more the van started to veer into the opposing lane.

[Gideon Barnes (DELETED 8781)]

There were two things that Gideon loved more than life itself. Family and God. And in this small space, he knew both of those things were undoubtedly present with the company he was among. As Esli's arm hooked around the back of his shoulders, Gids did the same thing as they walked towards the front of the RV to see the woman that he had never met, but knew so much about. He howled in laughter at what she had to say, then gave his brother a hearty slap on the back. "You got a good one, brother." His eyes dropped to Lasair's midsection, seeing the small mound of a beach ball on the woman that did her much favor. "A son." He turned to face his brother and pressed their foreheads together, reveling in the moment, before Gideon slapped at his brother's cheek.

"Turn right at the next block, sister." Gideon told the woman that was all too eager to join in the antics of the two brothers, a smirk on his face. Her hair wasn't the only thing on fire about her; her spirit possessed a lot of it. "We can park in the parking structure and catch up." He stated, before looking at Lasair, an arm still on his brother's shoulders. "Is my nephew hungry, sister? If so, I know a place we can go to eat, before...whatever." He looked towards his brother a little deviously, before giving Oliver a scratch on his head. "Only you." He accused his brother, knowing he had more of an animal affinity than Gideon ever did, or would.

"Tell me, what was it like?" While both men had had their fair share of travel, Gideon had never left a first world country for anything other than another first world country. "And tell me again how you managed to find someone to shack themselves to you." He put his brother into a headlock and dragged him over to the kitchen table so they could both claim a spot. "The structure is to the left, Lasair." Gid's pointed to a medium sized one level parking structure, should she want to stop there.

[Esli Barnes]

Esli felt the force of Gideon’s playful hand land on his upper back. He savored the subtle heat the pat left behind on the surface of his skin while the sound of laughter filled the space they stood in. It became one of those moments where Esli stared in awe at the man beside him. Gids was there physically next to him and it was everything. The hand stilled in place as the eyes that could see through any lie or deceit discovered the swell of truth. He found what would confirm that their prayers had been answered.

Yes, a son.

The connection of forehead to forehead, eye to eye centered him to the accept the truth yet again. Gideon said it so it was all that more real. The subtle poke from Lasair’s sleeping form against his own certainly provided enough proof that they were no longer just two living as one. But to hear his brother say it felt like he was being told the first time. It had that power over him when he heard it from lips other than his own. A son. The heat delivered to his cheek sank in and brought him back from his prayer for the life to continue and thrive.

The weight of his brothers arm was a welcome burden on his shoulders. He leaned down just enough to get a full view of where Lasair was guiding their rolling home. The sounds of fingers massaging gently on the creatures golf ball sized head had a wide grin spreading across Esli’s face.

“It was a struggle being out there. It was no cake walk. But that was part of what was the plan. Being lost in a hell bound storm and by the grace of God stumbling into the eye long enough to see what he intended for me to find.”

He couldn’t help but look to Lasair at the mention of it. Right or wrong, sin or not, Esli believed with all that he was as God’s son that what he did before taking Lasair with him and fleeing the country where he found her- was God’s will. After what she had endured and had been subjected to there was no question the blood on his hands would be forgiven and justified. Killing a man with his bare hands was a revelation he would save for a different time. Perhaps it may never be mentioned to his brother. His wife stayed in his attentive focus as he returned a gentle cupping of his large open hand over the man’s shoulder.

“If my wife required chains and shackles I would be on my knees a grateful and humble man wearing them, brother.” His fingers pressed at the tips and sank into the flesh beneath. A firm grip said there was no need to doubt the claims coming from his lips. “Let’s get parked and nourish you, my love. Our son has waited long enough.”

[Lasair Barnes (DELETED 9516)]

They were talking about her son, and Lasair had to resist the urge to let go of the wheel so that she could press her hands to her bulbous belly, to the infant still growing within. The redhead was aware that her skills while driving the behemoth were lacking and to remove even one hand from the wheel could put them in danger. Instead, she followed Gideon’s instructions and rounded the next block, parking where shown.

The mention of a storm and finding what they were meant to find had Lasair grinning, the memory of that fateful night soothing her right down to the bones. It was meant to be. Even here, they were right where they were supposed to be. Despite all warnings about the city they now inhabited, Lasair felt nothing but completely happy.

”Mmm, you don’t want to be with us when there’s a storm,” she said, turning so that she could wink at the two of them. It had to be something about that first night, but whenever there was a storm – rain and thunder and lightning – she couldn’t keep her hands from her husband.

That small turn and wink had Lasair riding the curb momentarily, though she pulled into park only seconds later. She beamed, as if it were the smoothest park in the world. The hand break was yanked up and the keys pulled from a dying ignition. The seatbelt clanged as she swept it free, leaping from the driver’s seat (as gracefully as a pregnant woman could ‘leap’ from anywhere) and wasted no time slamming Gideon in a welcoming, greeting bear hug.

”Finally!” she cried. ”This has been a long time coming. You’re shorter than I expected…” she said with a mischievous grin. She was poking fun, of course. Gideon was larger than life.

[Gideon Barnes (DELETED 8781)]

Gideon imagined life in another country, no matter what place it was, was a difficult adjustment and would take some time. Hell, even he was adjusting to some of the things in Canada and he had been here some time now. It wasn't so much the time change, as it was the culture. There were some things Canadians cared about that Gideon would never give a flying **** about.

They were finally parked and his 'sister' wasted no time in getting off her feet. It was an amazing sight to see; the woman whose belly that was larger than life. He expected she was due in a couple months given the size of her belly, but it would be rude to ask. Regardless, he knew that his nephew was going to be one healthy boy when he made his debut. She moved with such ferocity as she approached and didn't in the slightest stop her powerful stride as the distance between them closed up. Her arms were around him, and Gideon breathed out heavily as she gave him a good squeeze. A crack at his height was made and Gideon retorted, "Well, sister. I've heard good things come in small packages. Just look at the pip squeak of a brother I have." He grinned over at his brother who wasn't that much shorter than him. Maybe an inch at most.

The hug was returned with great care, even if Lasair didn't show much, Gideon concerned about her and his nephew's well being. Pregnant women was not something he had dealt with a lot, but soon there would be two women that were obviously pregnant in his life. He would hopefully be an expert by the time his own was here. "I know this great place...it has gyro's and a variety of salads...at least ten types. Burgers too." Gideon confessed, as he released his hold on his sister, then looked at them both. "If that doesn't work, there's another place a block from there. Thai food, and if not that...well...we'll find something that works." He assured them, knowing there was something for everyone, if they were willing to walk another half block or so. "Come on." He waved a hand towards the door of the RV and then jumped out, bypassing the stairs completely.

[Esli Barnes]

Esli’s grin broadened considerably watching Lasair bounce from where she was seated to greet Gideon. Nothing suited his mood more than to see his wife and his brother closely entwined. His two favorite people on the planet sharing an embrace that nearly drew him in like a moth to a luring flame. Instead he held back, observed and nodded with full approval. Family was everything and the swell of Lasair’s evident curves as the two separated reminded him of such. His eyes rolled at the small packages comment that earned Gideon a humored pat on the back as if his brother had a secret that would be safe with him.

“Easy there, brother.” His fingers squeezed and released in favor of following Gids lead out of the massive yet modest motorized home.

As soon as he hopped out on the heels of the one in front of him he turned to tend to the safety of the one yet to exit. An extended hand in offering was there if needed. The fiery redhead was not fragile, nor was she dependent. If anything she was incredibly opposite. All of which gave Esli more reason to be there every moment he could waiting in case there was a rare chance she finally accepted his assistance.

“It sounds like we are in for a treat.” He commented waiting for her feet to connect evenly with the ground beneath his own. “Fireside dining improvising without a can opener and all the amenities that go with it you have been spared.”

Esli chuckled while locking up what contained all that they could not imagine a day without. Oh, yes, of course Oliver was inside too. No one would dare disturb the peace of their resident security monkey. A quick pull at the handle to make sure everything was locked up tight revealed there would be no need to worry while they were away.

“What do you have an appetite for tonight, Lasair?” His question was meant for two and his current hunger level was easily appeased by any of the suggestions offered up as nearby options. “As for you brother we are looking forward to finding out more about what you have been up to. Do share.”