To Die For

Ares was up at the crack of dawn to start Thanksgiving dinner. Well, okay, nine. Her way of seeing things was that if she was going to slave over food all day, she'd start when she wanted and if the boys wanted their food any faster, they could help her cook.

By eleven, she had most of the food prepared, it simply needed to be cooked. She decided to take a break and sit down with a cup of coffee. She heard noises upstairs and assumed the boys, or at least one of them, was up.

A few minutes later, a bedraggled Cain came downstairs. He looked at the cup of coffee in her hand. "That for me?" he rumbled.

"That depends on how much you're willing to do to get it," Ares replied. "All the bedding needs washed and the dishes are going to need washed after dinner. If you'll do that, then yes, you can have the coffee."

"Damn you woman," Cain said bitterly, "You know coffee's my weakness, of course I'll say yes to that, no matter how much work it is."

Ares slid the cup to him. "Would you rather cook it all?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Because that's even more work, but it can be arranged if you wish."

"No," Cain sighed. "I'll take what I can get. When should I start on the bedding?"

"Whenever, just make sure it's all dry and the beds are made before we're ready to go to sleep tonight," Ares responded, getting up to get herself a new cup of coffee.

"You had more?" Cain asked incredulously.

"Dude, the coffeepot's full, yes I had more," Ares said shaking her head.

"Dammit," Cain replied facepalming.

Ares stood there and laughed at him.

After a couple of hours during which Cain chugged coffee and eaten everything in the kitchen Ares would allow, he decided it was time to start on his work. He went up to his room and got his sheets, then he knocked on Gary's door to see if he was awake yet. When he opened the door, he saw no one in there. He crossed over to the bed and found a note.

Sorry to ruin Thanksgiving guys, but they called me in to work at about 6 this morning. They said I should be done by about 10. I'll be home as quick as I can.
-Gary

Cain dropped his sheets and went down to show the note to Ares.

"Well then, there's no rush on dinner," she said looking up at him. "Wanna watch a movie?"

Three movies later, Ares decided that it was time to start cooking the food.

"But Ari, he won't be home for another hour at least," Cain whined.

"Would you rather I wait until he gets here to start cooking?" She responded, "Because that'll put us eating at like 11. This way, it'll be ready when he gets home."

"Fine, fine," Cain gave in. "I'm going to take a nap."

"You do that," Ares replied, "I'll wake you up when he gets home."

"Okay Cain yawned as he lay back on the couch.

"Cain!"

"What?" Cain shot up off the couch. Ares stood there smirking.

"He's home," she said.

"Geez Ari, do you have to scare me shitless like that?" Cain asked, his heart pounding.

"Only sometimes, Zeev, only sometimes," Ares answered. "Now go make the table. And-" she said putting up a finger to stop his whining which he had been about to start, "-no whining, or next year, you're cooking all the food."

Cain mouth clicked shut, "Fine," he mumbled walking to the kitchen.

"Good boy," Ares said smiling.

"Why's he a good boy this time?" Gary asked coming through the front door.

"He's setting the table with little resistance," Ares smirked.

"Good for you Cain," Gary called.

"So how was work?" Ares asked Gary.

"Work," he replied. "I'm so sorry we had to wait until now to eat."

"No problem," she replied. "Do you want to lay down for a little while before we eat? You look absolutely exhausted, we've waited until now for dinner, we can wait another hour."

"I don't have a choice, do I?" Gary asked.

"Nope," Ares replied. "Lay down and go to sleep."

"Alright, but only for an hour."

"Okay," Ares responded.

Gary laid down and Ares went into the kitchen. "You can chill for awhile Cain, Gary's going to sleep for awhile."

"All right, fine," he said. Ares left the kitchen saying something about going to take a shower. "I guess I should put those sheets in the washer," he muttered to himself.

He went upstairs and got the sheets that he had left in Gary's room as well as the ones off of Ares's bed. While he was getting the sheets off of Ares bed, he knocked over the music box on her night stand. It fell on the floor and opened.

"Aww shit," Cain muttered to himself. He bent to pick it up. "What's this?" he said when he saw a piece of paper that had been in the box. He unfolded it and read.

"My daddy wants to meet with you bitch. Something about you being a threat and you have to join or die. I hope you die for taking my boy away from me. Who knows, maybe if I put in a word with my daddy, he'll kill you either way. Meet at the docks next Monday at 4. Go alone.
-S"

"Shit!" Cain cried. He rushed out of the room clutching the note.

After Ares's shower, she blow dried her hair and exited the bathroom. She saw a pile of sheets next to her bed and glanced at the clock, which read 11:30.

"Really Cain, what have you been doing all day?" she muttered to herself.

She went to his room and walked in. "Cain?" she called. When there was no answer she went in. She saw a small box on his bed. She picked it up and looked at it. Next to where it had sat on the bed was a note. She picked it up and read it.

"Ari,
Girlie, you're my best friend. You always have been. When I thought I had lost you, I realized that I wanted you to be more. This is a promise ring Ari, I hope you'll take it and always think of me and know that I'll always be there for you. And I hope that when you take it, it'll mean that you're willing to be my girlfriend.
I love you Ari. Happy birthday.
-Cain"

"Well shit, I opened my present early. Oh well, it's what he gets for not putting the sheets in yet," she said to herself wryly. She opened the box and looked at the ring. It was a simple gold band with a single emerald. On the inside of the band, the ring was engraved with the elvish script on the one ring.

"Haha, that's great," she laughed. She put it on. "He has good taste," she said. "I suppose I should go thank him."

She went downstairs to look for him. When she didn't find him, she went into the living room and found Gary just getting up from his nap.

"Hey, have you seen Cain since you got home?" she asked Gary.

"Umm, I think he went out muttering something about a note, but that might have been a dream," Gary said sleepily.

Everything clicked in Ares's mind and she immediately knew that it hadn't been a dream. Cain had found the note and had rushed out.

"Shit!" she exclaimed. At Gary's confused look, she said, "Sorry, I'll explain later, I'm going to go get him, then we can have dinner. Later." she said hurriedly grabbing her keys and rushing out the door. Once outside, she saw that Gary's car was gone. "I really hope that someone stole that car and Cain didn't take it," she muttered to herself as she started her car.