Ever the Survivor

Yeah, the Robertson's, from Duck Dynasty. I went there XD Check out the show if you haven't, it's hilarious! I know they're in Louisiana but for the sake of the story...they live in Ellijay, Georgia, okay? :)
*I don't own anything other than the characters I created*



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Kat's plane had finally touched down in Dalton, Georgia's small airport after stopping in Atlanta, and getting onto a smaller plane. She was walking with her bags outside when she heard a car horn sounding a few times. She looked up with a smile as she saw her cousin Jase's new black pickup truck and him waving his hand wildly out the window. As she got closer he got out of the truck with a grin on his face.

"There's ma girl!" Jase was walking towards her with his arms spread wide. Kat picked up her pace and wrapped her arms around her cousin. As if 5 brothers wasn't already enough, Jase was the older brother she never had.

"I can't believe you actually kept your mouth shut about me getting an earlier flight." She laughed. Kat wasn't expected to be in Georgia until the next week, but the DSO had informed her a few days prior that she and Leon would be needed for an assignment during the week of her trip to Ellijay to see her family. So she had decided to surprise her three youngest brothers and her aunt and uncle.

"The boys are going to be so excited. Mom says they've been bouncing off the walls for two weeks." Jase said as he took her bags from her and put them in the back of his truck.

"Oh gosh, I know. They sounded so excited when I talked to them on the phone last week." Kat smiled as she pulled herself into his truck. Her 3 youngest brothers, Blake who is 9, Kaleb, 11, and Sam who is 13, moved to the Robertson's in Ellijay, Georgia when their mother decided they were moving from New York to North Carolina for her boyfriend, the boys' father's job 4 years ago. The boys refused saying they wanted to go live with Kat and her twin brother Scotty who both had moved to Washington D.C for their jobs. They didn't want to be around their father anymore and were already brokenhearted when their older siblings left the house. They had moved 3 times already in their lives and didn't want to have to pack up and start over again with no family anywhere around. They couldn't take the yelling anymore from their father either. The only thing he had been good at their whole lives was him yelling and picking fights with their mom over the stupidest things. It was always their mother or one of the three older siblings taking them to their practices and games or school functions. He never came to anything. Kat wondered if he even wanted the kids half the time, it sure seemed like he didn't. Yet their mother stayed with him, she said she loved him, even though Kat couldn't see why. In the years they were together, not once had Kat ever heard him say "I love you". He never hit her as far as any of them knew. But he had a temper and a way with words that would always make her feel worthless. She didn't even argue with the boys when they refused. She loved her children and didn't want them growing up in that environment, even though she would miss them terribly. She could see in the tears in their eyes that they had had enough. Maybe being around their older siblings would do them good. The eldest of the Carsen kids, Kat, Scotty and Dylan never took any shit. On more than one occasion they had all told their mother's boyfriend where to shove it. Joe wasn't their father, and they pointed that out whenever he would try telling them what to do. He and Scotty had actually gotten into a fight once when Joe had gone to smack Sam when he had mouthed back to him one day, because he'd heard them all do it before. Scotty threw him up against the wall and said if he ever saw him lay a hand on one of his little brothers or their mother he would slit his throat, and he knew his other siblings would back him up. Kat, Scotty and Dylan's real dad disappeared from their lives a few years after their mother divorced him to be with Joe around when they were in their early teens. He turned bitter because of it and took it out on the kids, which made them grow to hate him. He only fueled it more when he filed to have them emancipated when they were all over 18, so he wouldn't have to keep paying their mother child support. "If you don't want to legally be my father anymore, fine. You haven't fucking done it for years anyway. Don't you ever contact me again." Kat had said to him when they all left the courthouse that day, after he had said a quick "fuck you" aimed at all of them. Although it was after Dylan had called him a piece of shit. How a father could be so heartless to his own children, she would never understand.

The hour long drive from Dalton to Ellijay passed quickly talking and joking around with Jase the whole way. Jase told her how things were going at the store that the family owned and operated. They sold camping, hunting and fishing supplies there for most of Jase's life, and the other Robertson boys made the duck calls they were so well known for.

"We're getting a lot more done with Dylan there now. He's a hard worker. " Jase said as he finally turned down the long road that led to his mom's house. They owned acres and acres of private property, most of it that they had left untouched. Kat had her own small home on the land that she rented and loved coming to visit. Being out in the country, so close to nature and away from most of the city life was what she looked forward to the most here. That, and of course seeing her family and Miss Kay's cooking.

"Wait, Dylan's here? Since when?" Kat looked at him.

"Uh, since a couple days ago. You didn't know?"

"No! Little fucker never told me." Kat looked straight ahead. Dylan kept to himself a lot, only checking in with everybody and catching up every few weeks, so it didn't really surprise her that he hadn't said anything about moving from Manhattan to Georgia. He was more of a loner anyway. But she thought he would at least have given her a little head's up.

"Maybe he was going to surprise you too?" Jase said, but made it sound like more of a question.

Kat glanced at Jase and raised her eyebrows. Dylan was never one for surprises. She sat up straighter as the house came into view. And speak of the devil, she could see Dylan sitting on the porch in one of the chairs, smoking a cigarette. A smile came across his face when he saw her in the truck with Jase. He knew she was supposed to come visit, but not until the next week, so was glad to see her in the passenger seat. He got up and stretched as Jase pulled the pickup off to the side of the driveway. Kat hopped out of the car and walked around the back of the truck to grab one of her bags as Jase grabbed the other. Despite being a little irritated that Dylan hadn't mentioned anything to her, she couldn't help the smile that spread across her face as she turned around and saw her younger brother standing behind her.

"Well look who's here. Aunt Kay said you weren't gonna be here until next week." Dylan pulled his sister, who was 2 years older than him, in for a tight hug, lifting her off the ground.

"Yeah, and you weren't gonna be here at all. Nice of you to tell me." Kat said and playfully punched his shoulder as he set her down.

"I did, idiot. You never replied to my text."

"I never got one?" Kat gave him a confused look.

"Damn piece of shit phone. Maybe it's the reception out here. But yeah, I sent you one letting you know. I lost my job so I wouldn't have been able to keep my apartment for much longer. My lease was about up anyway. You never replied so I figured you were busy with work." Dylan said, hanging his arm loosely around her shoulders as they turned and walked towards the house with Jase coming up beside him. Kat wasn't allowed to talk much about her job, but her family knew as much as they could. She gave them information on a need-to-know-only basis. They knew she worked closely with government security and was sent away on investigations every so often, but that was the extent of information they were given. Kat just nodded as they neared the front door.

Jase opened the door and let the siblings follow him in. Kay was in the kitchen cooking dinner and Phil was sitting in his recliner watching TV while the 3 boys were sitting on the couch. Blake looked behind him towards the front door a few seconds after he heard it open, getting ready to say hey to Jase, and stood up on the couch when he saw his big sister.

"Kat!" He yelled and jumped over the back of the couch, causing Phil, Kaleb, Sam and Kay all to look in the direction he took off in. Kat kneeled down and spread her arms wide while bracing herself for the oncoming 9 year old, that nearly tackled her to the ground. Sam and Kaleb were making their way over to her, much more calmly than the youngest Carsen, but still so happy to see her. The last time she had seen them was 4 months earlier. Money wasn't a problem for her at all so she visited as often as she could when she wasn't busy, but the DSO had been working her more often lately, making her a bit worried. So they kept in touch with phone calls and the internet more, same as with their mother and other brother Scotty. Kat was closest with her younger brothers since she was the one that took on the responsibility as 'mom' and raised them for the most part when they were younger. Not that their real mom wasn't around, she was just so busy with work most of the time, so Kat handled what she could to help out. Not that she ever complained, she adored her little brothers like they were her own children. With all the things they had to deal with growing up, all of the siblings shared a very close bond with each other.

After hugs, kisses and hello's were handed out, Kay came out of the kitchen with an apron on and a big smile.

"I thought you weren't supposed to be here until next week honey?" Kay said, taking her flour covered apron off and laying it on the counter.

"I got an earlier flight since I'll need to work next week. Jase knew a few days ago, so he came and got me at the airport today."

"Well give Aunt Kay a hug darlin'. I feel like I haven't seen you in forever!" Kay said as she came to wrap her arms around her much smaller niece. "Come help me finish up supper so we can get some good food in you." Kay said into Kat's hair.

"Of course. I've been dying for your cooking for months!"

"Well you can thank your Uncle Phil for the ducks we're having. Kaleb even got one of them when Phil took him out huntin with him this mornin." Kay said as they walked into the kitchen together.

"Boy's good with a gun. Hell, all of them are. Must run in the family." Phil said standing next to the boys.

Kat smiled as she grabbed a smaller apron off a hook on the pantry door that Kay kept there for her, and tied it around her waist.

"Honey, would you get those tomatoes out of the water and cut them up, please. We got those out of the garden earlier. I'm gonna put some of them in a salad tonight, but we're making some spaghetti sauce this week you can take home with ya. We've got so many this year I don't know what we're gonna do with all of em." Kay said to her while they continued making their supper.

The two women talked and talked in the kitchen while preparing their meal. Sharing what Kat could about work and how Leon was doing. Aunt Kay had met him a couple times and just adored the man. Kat never talked as much as she did when she was around Kay. That woman had the gift of gab, and Kat loved it.