a/n: Yes, it has been a long time since I posted a chapter, I feel terrible, I also haven't had the time or energy to write anything in a month (my nephew is exhausting, work is busy, basically real life is a bitch). I am now on a glorious camping trip (okay we're glamping) and have had the perfect relaxing day and found the motivation to finish this chapter. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews and the kind words!

The Future: Jesse had to come home eventually, right?

A few Surprises

He could admit he hadn't been home in five years, probably closer to six, really, so he'd expected some change, well as much change as Bluebell could ever go through, but this wasn't something he could have prepared for.

The few times he'd spoken to Earl, conversation had been brief. He hadn't exactly left town on the best of terms with his father or his brother, but he'd at least tried to stay in contact even if the harsh realities Wade had dropped on him left him with a cold feeling every time he spoke to Earl. Still, he'd checked in every couple of months and the conversation had been trivial and light at best. He asked if there was anything Earl needed (the answer was always no) and let his father know where he was and where he was planning to be.

At no point in any of those conversations had Earl mentioned anything that could explain the sight of Wade crouching beside a child's play pen that had been set up in the middle of the Rammer Jammer's floor as he engaged in conversation with three small children, the oldest of which looked to be three at the most, the youngest maybe a year and looking like this standing up thing was still a new but relished experience.

Jesse didn't know much about babies or children, but he wouldn't have pegged his brother for a man who knew anything about them either.

It was the middle of the afternoon, too late for the lunch crowd and too early for the dinner crowd, leaving the bar mostly empty and giving Jesse the chance to hear the tail end of what his brother was saying.

'Well, alright then,' and he held his hand up to each of the kids in turn for a high five. When he got to the youngest, he dropped a kiss on the boy's head before he got to his feet. 'Ethel, you're in charge.'

This declaration was met with varying degrees of understanding, but it seemed to be some sort of signal they all knew because the three kids disappeared back into the playpen and started banging toys, babbling and talking, perfectly content to occupy themselves.

Wade spotted him when he turned back to the bar and Jesse didn't know how to read the expression on his brother's face. They stared at each other for longer than was comfortable for either of them before Wade broke the silence with, 'Earl's not here.'

Jesse didn't get a chance to reply before Wade was moving behind the bar and started to wipe down the counter, cleaning away the evidence of what Jesse realised was the kids' afternoon snacks.

Before he'd left town to join the army they'd had a good relationship, not great, but better than most. He hadn't realised how hard things would be on Wade when he left, had been so focused on getting out, on doing something good with his life that he hadn't spared much thought for what he was leaving his brother to deal with. Since then, the few times he'd been home, he'd looked at Wade working as a bartender, sleeping with every woman that walked by and living (seemingly) without care or responsibility and he'd felt justified in his decision to leave. He'd had big dreams, Wade was content to stay in the same town they'd grown up in, staying the same as he'd always been.

Only, the last time he'd come home there'd been more anger and words than he'd been expecting and even though he still left again, this time, he'd gotten the impression that as much as Wade complained, he was happy to be the one taking care of Earl, happy to let their father fall further and further down the path of town drunk.

The Wade he thought he'd left behind didn't mesh with the image of his little brother looking after children. Though the bartender picture still seemed to be holding true.

'I'm not here looking for Earl,' Jesse told him, walking toward the bar so Wade couldn't ignore him. 'I figured I'd talk to you first.'

Wade sighed, pressed his hands down against the bar, one clenching around the cloth he'd been using, the other clenched into a fist. 'What do we have to talk about, Jesse?'

'Can't I just stop by to see my brother?' Jesse knew the moment the words were out of his mouth they were the wrong thing to say but he didn't exactly have a plan for how he wanted this conversation to go.

'You don't just stop by,' Wade pointed out and then something over Jesse's shoulder caught his eye because he said sharply (but with a trace of humour), 'Frodo, don't eat Roger's arm.'

Jesse glanced over to see that the middle child – a girl named Frodo apparently – had the arm of a stuffed bear in her mouth, a move that was making Ethel look murderous. An impressively scary look for someone so young. Jesse turned back to Wade, 'Who named their kid Frodo?'

'Tom Long.'

Jesse nodded, it made perfect sense. Curious, he couldn't help asking, 'Who would let Tom name their kid Frodo?'

'Wanda.'

Jesse's eyebrows shot up. 'Really?' Then he thought about that for a moment. 'Huh, guess that kind of makes sense.'

Of course, he still didn't understand why Tom and Wanda's kid and two others were in a playpen in the middle of the Rammer Jammer, but he figured he could ask that question because it wasn't something likely to make Wade mad and he wanted his brother talking to him as long as possible.

'The other two?'

'Ethel's the oldest, she belongs to Shelby and Brick.'

'Brick? Brick Breeland?' Jesse looked at the girl who looked up at the sound of Brick's name. She looked nothing like Brick, maybe she took after her mother, he'd never met Shelby, he didn't think.

'Yeah,' Wade replied with a grin. 'Lemon was really hoping it was a midlife crisis, but Shelby is definitely here to stay.'

'Huh.' He looked back at the playpen, at the little boy beating two blocks together and babbling happily away to Frodo. 'And the third?'

Wade was quiet for so long, Jesse turned back to look at him. The look on his brother's face was one he didn't know how to read. 'His name is Jack,' Wade answered slowly. 'He's Doc Hart's.'

It took Jesse a moment to place the name and when he did, he remembered the fiery little New Yorker who seemed to be turning Bluebell upside down. He was honestly surprised to learn she was still in town, hadn't she mentioned plans to be a surgeon like her father?

But that was beside the point. 'Why are they all here?' he asked. 'The Rammer Jammer doesn't exactly strike me as an appropriate daycare facility.'

Wade shrugged. 'Tom's at work, Wanda's on lunch, Brick and Zoe are working and, let's see,' Wade considered the rest of them, 'Shelby is visiting Magnolia. Oh yeah, and our resident babysitter got into Columbia.' Wade waved over his shoulder to indicate a photo stuck up on the wall that was proudly displaying a photo of what looked like a grown-up Rose Hattenbarger in front of a New York street sign.

Weird that there would be that photo up on the wall, but he thought it might have had something to do with the smug grin on the girl's face.

'And, what, you're the next best thing to a teenage girl?' Jesse thought he was being funny but instead he'd said the wrong thing again and Wade's expression was cool and closed off when he next spoke.

'Well, maybe I'm just naturally good with kids.'

Jesse was trying to formulate a reply when Lemon Breeland breezed (and even thinking that made him wince) inside heavily weighed down with seven months of pregnancy but looking sunny and happy. She didn't have anything to say about the sight of a play pen in the middle of the Rammer Jammer, so Jesse could only assume it was a regular occurrence.

She didn't stop at a table or even the bar, slipping around behind the bar to bestow an excited kiss on Wade's cheek, throwing her arms around him and trapping him in a hug that didn't exactly look easy or wanted, judging by the disgruntled look on Wade's face.

'You will never believe what's happened!' Lemon exclaimed, giving Wade one last squeeze. 'You are going to owe me big time, Wade Kinsella.' Only once she'd said this did she notice he was leaning against the bar. 'Jesse!' she greeted with a smile he'd seen often enough in their youth to know it wasn't entirely sincere. 'What are you doing here?'

Jesse shrugged, he was aiming for nonchalant, but he seemed to be having an off day because Lemon's eyes narrowed when he tried to brush it off as just a desire to visit home.

Wade seemed content to pretend he wasn't even there when he pushed Lemon back on track to ask just why he was going to owe her.

'AB just called me to tell me that Amy Jane is coming to that wedding I'm hosting at Fancies!'

'And I care about someone named Amy Jane why?'

'Because Wade, Amy Jane is friends with people who know people who happen to know that Taylor Swift is looking to revisit her country roots and AB might have subtly hinted that she should put on a small show at a bar she knows and so you should really keep the 22nd of next month free.'

There was a beat and then Wade let out a whoop and planted a kiss of his own on Lemon's cheek. 'You're right, I owe you.'

'And I already know exactly how you can pay me back.' The smile Lemon gave him had Jesse concerned for Wade's wellbeing.

Wade seemed to know exactly where Lemon was going with this because he shook his head. 'Oh no, I'm staying out of this.'

Jesse didn't like the stern expression Lemon shot at his brother and his preservation instincts were telling him to get gone before she somehow managed to rope him into whatever this thing was they had going. Neither of them seemed to be paying him much attention and when he told Wade he'd leave them to it, that he'd catch him later his brother looked about as thrilled by that idea as he did for Lemon's plans for repayment.

There were a few things he wanted to do now that he was back in town, a few friends he'd been meaning to catch up with who just happened to be back in town visiting family as well and so by the time Jesse pulled up in front of his father's house it was dark and he was thinking about taking Earl out for dinner under the (incorrect) assumption there wouldn't be much in the house in the way of food.

There was an unfamiliar car parked next to Earl's and the lights were all on in the house. As he was getting out of the car Jesse got the distinct impression something fundamental had changed about the house but from the outside and in the dark he couldn't put his finger on what it was.

He still had a key for the front door (no matter how many times Wade had threatened to change the locks) but something had him hesitating and after a moment he pocketed his keys and raised a fist to knock. He was glad he did when the door opened, and he came face to face with a woman he didn't know.

'Uh, hi,' he greeted hesitantly as she tilted her head to look at him as though she recognised him from somewhere but couldn't place where. After and awkward moment he asked, 'Is Earl here?'

'Jesse!' the woman blurted excitedly. 'I recognise you from all those pictures. Come on in.'

Feeling a little as though his world had been tilted a further thirty degrees off its axis (and wondering what pictures the woman was talking about), Jesse followed her inside.

'I'm so happy to finally meet you,' she was saying as she ushered him in. 'I'm Mae Ellen, you father's told me so much about you.'

Jesse wished he could say the same but the last time he'd spoken to Earl had been just as brief and light on information as all the other phone calls they exchanged. There definitely hadn't been any mention during any of them about a woman.

Or sobriety.

Because when Earl emerged from what had once been Jesse's room, pulling the door gently closed behind him, Earl showed every sign of being stone cold sober and of having been that way for a while. Jesse's surprise was tempered by guilt when Earl's face lit up at the sight of him and he moved to pull him into a hug.

Possibly the first words Jesse spoke could have been better. 'You're sober.'

Earl pulled back to stand beside Mae Ellen and the pride on her face when she looked at him spoke volumes. And it made Jesse uncomfortable.

'Two years,' Earl announced with well deserved pride of his own. 'I haven't touched a drop in two years.'

His own pride felt strange and undeserved, because as much as he'd known deep down his father had had a drinking problem he'd also ignored every time Wade warned him where that money he kept giving Earl was going. It had been easier to give away money and pretend the problem didn't exist than deal with the chance that he'd have to stick around to help sort the problem out.

'That's great, Dad,' Jesse murmured. Awkwardly, feeling like he didn't belong in the house he'd grown up in, he looked around trying to find something to talk about. His eyes tracked a series of strange additions to the living room and the kitchen table that made his mind come a little unstuck. There was a high chair pulled up to the table. There were kids toys scattered across a play mat in the centre of the living room as though about to be tidied.

For one horribly irrational moment Jesse feared he had a baby brother or sister to contend with and then rationality took hold and all he could think to say was, 'What's with the toys?'

He didn't know Mae Ellen at all but the look she directed at him was filled with such motherly disappointment that he felt as though he were five years old again and had just been caught feeding Wade's stuffed bear to the neighbour's dog. Seeing that look from Earl was even worse.

'They're Jack's,' Earl answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Feeling like something you might find under a rock or in the dark and dank depths of an underwater cave, Jesse asked the question they both seemed to think he should already know the answer to. 'Who is Jack?' Because if they were talking about the Jack he'd already met, the one Wade had said was Zoe Hart's then Jesse knew there were a few important things his baby brother had left out of that introduction.

'He's my son.'

Jesse whipped around. He hadn't heard the door open behind him but at the sound of Wade's voice he whipped around to find Wade was standing in the doorway, the petite New Yorker he'd met all those years ago and gone on possibly the weirdest first date that had resulted in an unfortunate (though air clearing) argument with his brother, was standing next to him.

Zoe also seemed to be pregnant.

Any comment Jesse might have once made about Wade knocking up a dumb blonde conquest just didn't seem appropriate when confronted by the united front he presented with a pregnant Zoe.

As if he could read Jesse's thoughts (and they were probably clearly written on his face), Wade said, 'You remember my wife Zoe.'

Of all the things he'd seen, all the surprising developments, Jesse thought he'd hit the most surprising when confronted with a sober Earl who was apparently in a relationship.

Turned out a married Wade was the most surprising of all.