Lovely Hues | Fillie AU

Chapter Twenty Five

"Your cousin," Finn said, watching Caleb grabbing pants, shirts, and whatever else he needed, stuffing them all into a linen sack, "He lives in Baltimore?"

"Yup." Caleb said.

"And you never thought to mention him before?"

"Well to be honest," Caleb grabbed a second pair of shoes and his bag of toiletries before tying up his sack and slinging it over his shoulder, "my mind has been so preoccupied lately that my cousin whom I've only seen thrice in my life, didn't exactly shoot into view until just now."

Finn chuckled, "Sorry." he followed Caleb out of his room and watched as he scanned the rest of the farm house. His sister was in the kitchen, wrapping up some food for the road and their dog was anxiously yipping at all of them like he knew that they were about to leave.

Caleb dropped down in front of the German Shepherd and rubbed her face between his hands, "It's alright, Hans." he said, "Charlie's going to watch out for the farm and Caitlyn's gonna watch  out for you, bud."

Caitlyn held out two separate brown paper bags that looked like they were going to burst, there was so much food in them.

"For the trip." she said, "And by the way, Corey said he'll be back by the end of the week to help around here until you're back."

"He did?" Caleb asked, "Didn't think he wanted anything to do with the farm anymore." he said.

Finn stuffed his lunch sack into his rucksack and then loosened the straps a bit, "I didn't know you had so many siblings."

"Yeah, there are four of us." Caitlyn said, "We're the only ones who like this farm life though."

The brother and sister shared a smile with each other, "After dad died," Caleb said, "Crystal took mom into the city with her, and Junior went off searching for his purpose."

Caitlyn propped a hand on her hip, "And now he's coming back to find his purpose right back here where he started." she rolled her eyes, "Classic Corey."

"Don't give him flack for trying something new." Caleb said, "He can do whatever he wants with his life, I'm only thankful he decided to come back and help you out here, Cait."

She waved off his defense of their brother and said, "So you're heading out now, or what?"

Finn saw Caleb looking around then beelining it for the bookshelf. He grabbed a small frame and took it apart, gently sliding the photo into his breast pocket. Even from this distance, he could tell it was a photo and him with Sadie. Caleb held his hand over his chest for a moment, like he was galvanising his resolve, then he nodded and said, "Yep. We're off."

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Before they left town, Finn had considered stopping by Millie's one last time. He didn't want to leave things the way they were but he didn't want to believe that he would never see her again, so he didn't stop. Because stopping one last time would have been a concession that he wouldn't see her again. That it would be the last time. And he wasn't quite ready for such concessions. Not yet.

So they took off in Caleb's truck, heading down the interstate, taking the most direct route to the East Coast that they could find. By Caleb's estimations, they could be there in three days max. But with taking turns driving instead of pulling off to rest, they got there in just under two, arriving in Baltimore mid-morning on November 4th, 1947.

"Must be some record." Finn said, letting the door slam behind him after he pulled his bag from the back seat of the cabin. "Not even two days and we went halfway across the country!"