Citizen Soldier

[Jacob Derek Jordan]

There was nothing like home.

Back here on the bayou of New Orleans and smelling the scent of the ocean air, Jake could almost relax. The nightmares that haunted him seemed a million miles away and the neon lights of his familys bar was comforting. Even the ache in his left leg and lower back seemed to lessen as he stepped inside the wooden doors and glanced around.

Oh yeah... It was definitely good to be home.

From behind the bar, he saw his dad look up and catch sight of him before the older man gave a loud shout and headed for him.

"JAKE!!" he shouted in his normal exhuberant manner.

Smiling a bit, Jake was soon caught up in his fathers arms and hugged tightly but gently in difference to his wounded side.

"Hey Pops.... How have you been? Ma around?"

Gabriel "Curse" Jordan eyed his oldest hard and then clapped a hand on his shoulder. Although Jake had been home a few weeks ago and was a grown man, there was no doubting the love and concern gleaming from the intelligent green eyes that were so much like his own.

"Your Mama headed back to the house for a bit... We heard tell you might be heading this way so she went to bake a homecooked meal and call your brother and sisters. Tessa was about to head out and hunt you down herself if you didn't show up soon." he said, urging him towards the bar. "How about a cold beer before we go meet them? We can have a manly talk before the girls decend and cluck all over you."

Grinning, Jake nodded and then slid on to one of the worn bar room stool. Wincing a bit, he none the less picked up the cold long neck his father slid to him and took a long guzzle. When he pulled it back, he sighed and opened his eyes.

"Man.. that tastes good after the long week I've had..... Has Charlie got some grub back there to hold me over till supper? I forgot to stop and grab some food earlier and the smell of onion rings is making my stomach rumble."

Laughing, his father turned away.

"You sit on down there and I'll get you an order in.... Be right back."

Watching the older man disappear into the back kitchens, Jake finally allowed himself a look around the rest of the bar. Nope... Nothing had changed.... Not the look, feel, or patronage.

Damn he'd missed it.

[emilyparker]

New Orleans wasn't her favorite place in the world, too hot, too humid, and humidity made struggles in her hair. She had made a promise to her Grandad to check that cemetery over the long weekend, her old man was indeed too old to do it himself anymore, years and years of demon fighting had it's tool on him, and as only heiress of her ancestor's powers, she felt as if she had to, saving and protecting the innocent was more important that her desire or whatever you want to call it to expose herself into most likely getting hurt.
Emily got down from the car and sighed deep taking a good look at the place, with one foot still on the inside of the car, bite her lip hard and closed the door; popped open the trunk and making sure that no one was there to watch her about to stick a gun on the backside of her jeans, she checked the barrel and put it back in; Emily was not stupid, it was an evil spirit she was after but humans were as dangerous, saved the gun and covered it with her mid season jacket, still with the trunk open, closed it and heavily walked in.
The smell of fat and noise were the first two things that caught her attention as soon as she walked in but she like it, it had that family wive, right over the counter/bar there were a number of pictures, all from man in uniforms, some medals and of course, the American flag at it's splendor, there were a few costumers and some employees; she stood still for several seconds before an employee walked in front of her, looking at her and smiling, snapping her from wherever her mind was at the time.
Looked right, then left and decided to head that way to a solitaire table near a window, another look around and Emily dug her eyes on the menu that laid on the table in front of her; a waitress came to her "What can I getcha?" Emily smiled softly and raised her head "I'll have the um, veggie burger and diet coke with no ice" a few seconds later, she wrote something on the notebook and smiling "Coming right up" "Thanks" ;the waitress just gave a nod and turned around; a noise caught her attention and she whirled her head to a side, an older man came out of back with an order and gave it to some guy, he was around her age and he looked sad, really sad but his green eyes were visible all the way from where she was seating, and Emily felt something she hadn't feel in a long time, sure she liked a lot of guys over the years but, he was different and she couldn't put her finger on it, on why...

[jericho]

Ah, the sounds of sibling love in the morning; was there anything better? That sign of utter devotion, of the bond of blood, of loyalty and love...

And the dull sounds of a palm smacking the backside of someone's head, followed quickly by the high pitched yowling of 'YOU ASSHAT, WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?'

There was just nothing in the world like the bond between a brother and sister. Nothing at all...except maybe that of a cat and dog?

"You meanie! That was my EAR that you just hit! Hello, ear infection? Pain? Lots of meds?" Storming into the quaint little bar as was her way, a small woman glared daggers over her shoulder at her brother. Her hair was streaked burgundy read, and colorful vine tattoos wrapped themselves around the bare expanse of her arms and back, fitting in nicely with the bright yellow dress she had on. "Hit me there again, and I'll make sure your buddies start calling you 'No Nuts!'"

A martyred sigh emerged from the doorway, as the man in question appeared. Unlike his sister, he looked like any other guy in the bar, save the nasty scar that marred the right side of his face. As if he'd had a surgery gone bad, it curved from his hairline, down to the lump of his cheekbone, dissecting the corner of his eye. Absently, he rubbed at it while listening to his sister chatter on about castration and grape fruit knives. God, she was so much like their mother, it was scary.

"Well, that was your fault for trying to get your ear pierced by a drunken biker," He grumbled lumbering passed her without a second glance. He moved slowly and carefully, as if he wasn't sure of the layout of the room, and finally chose a stool a few seats down from a younger man and a blond chick. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, giving her a once over, before his sister started chattering in his ear again.

God, earplugs. He really needed to remember ear plugs, the next time he came down to New Orleans to visit his parents.

Still scowling at him, Imaya plopped down onto the stool next to the stranger...who quickly became 'that poor dude' when she turned to smile at him.

"Hi! I'm Imaya DeVoux, and I'd so rather talk to you, than to my moron brother over there. Do you come here often? My dad knows the owner here, so I bet I can get you a free burger! You look so pale and skinny, and you know that it's a no-no, when the handsome guy sitting next to you is skinnier than you are." Completely unaware that she might be insulting the guy, she patted her tummy with a sigh. "No more Kitchen Sinks for me! But anyway, it's so nice to meet you...whoever you are!"

That said, she turned to look at the bottles behind the bar, then stopped, frowned, and turned back to her fellow customer. Squinting at him, she inched a bit closer, until their faces were only a few inches apart. "Hey, do I know you? You look so familiar that it really ain't funny..."

From behind her, Jericho just groaned and shook his head, before jerking to attention when Imaya suddenly sucked in a surprised breath. What the hell--

With a squeal, the woman threw her arms around the guy. "JACOB! AHHHH, IT'S YOU! You got all big and muscley, so I didn't recognize you! Woohoo, nice biceps; wanna flex 'em for me? Please? Aaaaah, I can't believe it's you! You're home! You never wrote to me!" With a solid poke on his shoulder, she pulled back just far enough to glare at him, then gave him a lip-stick laden kiss on his cheek.

Okay, that was definitely enough. Giving Jake an apologetic smile, he pulled Imaya back. "Jesus, give the guy some space, Ya-Ya," He grumbled, casting a surprised glance in Jacob's direction. Holy hell, he hadn't even recognized the dude...but yeah, that was definitely Jake Jordan. Jesus, look at him...and look at that haunted look that he knew so well. His dad had mentioned that Jake had joined up, and given the expression in his eyes, he'd seen enough for a lifetime.

One had to love the army.

While Imaya squawked about wanting to 'hug the Jake 'til he pops,' Jericho just rolled his eyes and held out a hand to his childhood friend. "It's good to see you again, Jacob. Been a long time."



((Hey guys! I noticed the 'open' thingy, so I thought I'd throw the twins in here. Hope y'all don't mind! ))

[/blockquote]

[Jacob Derek Jordan]

Well, there went the neighborhood.

One moment the place was quiet and peaceful and the next.. A little force of nature blew through the door and started making his head pound with all her chatter. He'd just caught the glance of the blond at the table and given her a simple nod of greeting when the DeVoux twins blasted into the bar.

By all that was holy... He'd forgotten just how much the women in that family could rattle. YaYa definitely was a chip off the old block as she sat down beside him and started insulting him on one hand and backhandedly complimenting him on the other. From over her shoulder, he could see her brother wincing and it took a moment for him to catologe all the changes in the man's appearance.

Hell, it looked like he wasn't the only one who'd come home with a few battle scars. Man, the dude was lucky to be alive from the scar on his once playboy handsome face.

Then, suddenly, before he had room for another though, his arms were full of woman and he barely caught himself from going over backwards. Even in his pained state, he couldn't help be realize that the body against him was soft, sweet and womanly while smellign like a wild gulf breeze.

Damn, there went his body again. Reacting like it always had when she'd been around in their younger years. Thank God he'd always managed to hide it from her.

As she pulled away and gave him a peck on the cheek, Jake met her eyes briefly with a self mocking smile.

"Yeah.... Even little boys grow up eventually... " he drawled to her before taking a drink of his beer and twisting a bit to face them better. "If it isn't Yaya and Jericho.... Been a few years..... Looks like we've all got a few tales to tell. What brings you two in here? Ya Ya still trying to set you up on dates, Jer? "

Lifting his beer, he took a drink and then glanced at the blond at the table again. Giving her a small grin, he turned back to the others just as his dad brought out a plate of food and slide it across to him before grinning at the other two.


"Now, aint this just like old times.. You two want something to eat??" Curse asked, obviously happy to have them all in there. "Rachel left and went home but I'm sure she'd be delighted if you guys came over to the house later tonight too.. Ash and Tess are suppose to be back and Tellie's making her homemade jam."

Hearing his fathers words, Jake inwardly wanted to groan. He loved his family .. he really did but... They were an unruly bunch and the thought of the rough housing that would no doubt insue... Man, it was enough to make his body twitch.

[emilyparker]

The nod that the guy had given her didn't go unnoticed and it made Emily blush a little, putting her hair behind an ear she was about to raise a hand and semi-wave at him but two more people walked in through the door and suddenly the female of them took the entire attention from the whole place, she was a hurricane actually and she started to talk almost not breathing, the waitress came with her drink and Emily smiles looking at the "storm girl" kept on going, the waitress also looked that way and smiling looked back at Emily "That's a family friend, she's kind of crazy, but good crazy" Emily giggled "I bet she is" "The burger is not far behind" "Thanks".
Emily's eyes went to him again and the female friend hugged him tight, he looked embarrassed but took the hug and the kiss that she provided; he took a sip of his beer and grinned at Emily which she returned with a big emphasis, the waitress came back with the burger, Emily was so lost looking at the guy that she didn't realize about the woman standing in front of her "Oh! I see...." "See what?" "Nothing, I didn't mean to...never mind" .
Left the food on the table and left quickly.

[imaya]

Completely oblivious to the self deprecating tone of his voice, Imaya reached over to poke one of the biceps she’d been previously admiring. ”Yeah, grew just a little bit! You’re so muscley! Oh my gah, you’ve so gotta take off your shirt for me, before I leave. Do you have a six pack? I bet you have a six pack too!”

While Jericho was doing his best to contain the hurricane that was his twin, the woman reached over and attempted to lift the hem of Jacob’s shirt. Really now, what was the big deal? It wasn’t like guys didn’t like a bit of ego-petting…not to mention showing off what they got. And this guy…hot damn, he’d done so much changing, that he was probably proud enough to pop! She had to go buy a house near the local army reserve; she really did. From what she remembered of their childhood, Jake had been a bit on the scrawny side. But now? Whoomama, hello, Army Bred Hotness!

At Jake’s next comment toward her brother, she immediately forgot about attempting to Peeping Tom his belly button, and looked up with a grin. ”Yes, she is still attempting! But stupid Jerry seems to like to scare everyone off than actually embrace the love that is a relationship. I mean, isn’t that some kind of disease, or something? The ‘Must Have Skanky Hoes Disease?’”

Scanning the bar, Imaya brightened when she caught sight of the blond girl sitting a few seats down. Leaning over so that she could catch her eye, she waved and pointed at her twin. ”Hey, he’s single and SO needs someone to date his ass! Are you single and interested?”

Jericho just groaned and grabbed his sister by the back of her dress, hauling her into her seat. A pained expression was on his face as he turned to give Jake a mock-glare, as he slapped a hand over Imaya’s mouth.

”You just had to go and say the ‘d’ word, didn’t you?” He said, breaking out in a rusty chuckle. ”But yeah, I think we have some catching up to do. You gonna be around for a while…ARGH!”

With a curse, the hunter suddenly yanked his hand away from his sister’s face, shaking it as if it were burning. ”You little ferret! YOU LICKED ME!”

Imaya just rolled her eyes and daintily wiped her bottom lip with her thumb. ”Oh, wow, the big, bad Marine can help Dad take care of deer carcasses, but he gets all girly over spit. You pansy.”

And as Jericho proceeded to let loose a string of curses, she directed her attention on the next familiar face that sauntered in. With a grin, she practically hopped onto the bar to give her father’s best friend a kiss on the cheek. Okay, so maybe the low cheers from behind her said that she was giving everyone a bit of a show…but eh, whatever. From experience, she knew that anything more than cheering was met with both Curse AND her brother’s fists in some leering faces.

Really, talk about fun-suckers, man!

”Hi, Uncle Curse!” She chirped, eyeing Jake’s plate of food when it was set down in front of him. ”You mean, do we want some of your famous burgers and fries? Do you have to ask?” With a grin, she filched a few of Jake’s fries, then nodded emphatically at the invite. ”I’m due for a reading in a few hours, so I can meet you there! And Jerry’s coming, too.”

Jericho hid a grimace as he nodded at Curse, standing to give the man a handshake. God, the guy didn’t look any different, he thought with a small smile. Not that that meant he’d like to get mobbed by the Jordan’s tonight, but…hell, anything would be better than sitting in a bar for the entire night, doing his best to get wasted. He had no doubt that his mother had blabbed about his little…’problem’ to Curse and his wife, but he also knew that they wouldn’t let it show.

Unlike his mother, who was intent on treating him with kid gloves. Ah, family. A guy had to love ‘em.

[/blockquote]

[emilyparker]

There was no way Emily was ever gonna forget those gorgeous eyes and smile but she kept it cool, he had captivated her but she was out to leave New Orleans soon so there were no time at all to "get to know" him neither she wanted, it happened a multiple times that if she went almost straight forward or held on to the secret too much, guys walked away, only other witches and some other hunters stuck around and for now, just for now, she was alright with it, she even began to believe that her future lifemate was another witch.
The "Stormy woman" was hard to ignore but, the burger was the best one she had tested in a long time and Emily was lost in it, have you ever lost yourself in your own head and blocked everything outside? Well, if you have, you know how Emily was. She was snapped back into reality when the woman waved and caught her eyes, Emily thought of how truly beautiful she was, Emily is straight but she can appreciate beauty in a woman too, Emily left the burger on the plate and waved back
”Hey, he’s single and SO needs someone to date his ass! Are you single and interested?”
Emily smiled politely and shook her head
"I recently came out of a relationship... sorry"
Obviously she was lying there but, what's to say with a proposal like that, "No thanks but I'd rather have a quality time with the other one" ? it was beyond rude and not the way she was either, landing her eyes on the completely embarrassed man, a little show began between them and Emily realized immediately, they were siblings. Emily turned her head around to the window and the surroundings of the place took her mind to wander again. Their "fight" broke when an older man came back from the kitchen with food; she looked excited to say the least.
Emily's eyes set on the man that came back from the kitchen and the younger version of him, father and son, had to be, same eyes, same strong cheek bones, even if the older man had lost a bit of muscular tone, they had the same body type.
"Back to the burger" she said to herself and it took only a few bites to finish it, moving on to the fries, she tasted one and they had no salt, looked around the table and nothing either, looked up and the closest salter was the one that the guy she had been staring at was so, getting up and walking the few steps separating them, said with a smile
"Excuse me..."
When his eyes met her, her heart stopped and taking a huge breathe in, tried to continue
"Could you...could you lend me the salt?"

[tellie]

Chantelle Jordan had had a very busy day, to end a busy week. It all started with a text message from her mother alerting her to the fact that her oldest brother was due in…that very day! Tellie had cringed at the message. She had not planned on heading back to N’awlins until the next day, so that meant she had to hurry up and get on the road that much sooner. Luckily she had stopped at the whole grains bread store the day before in Lafayette to pick up the bread her dad liked. Tellie liked the bread too for that matter.

Loading up her Honda Fit station wagon, Tellie sighed. She had hoped to finish the jam her at her cabin instead of at home, where she could spread her supplies out all over the counter and not bother with moving it out of the way until she was completely done. Oh, well. Jake had been away for a while now, Tellie could just put up with the cramped counter space for his sake. He was family after all.

But there was one thing she could do to make things easier on her when she did get home. Instead of waiting until then to clean and pick the bad berries from the good, she went ahead and did that, utilizing her hot tub. Funny, she never did use the hot tub on her porch for the purpose it was originally meant for! She cleaned carcasses or berries in it most of the time.

So the berries ( a mix of strawberries, dewberries, blueberries, blackberries and a few assorted other ones) were washed and packed into their crates again. She planned on a crate for Simi, who adored strawberries, especially if she made shortcake with it. She secured the crates and the few boxes of jerky. She had made rabbit and some deer jerky this trip. Always was handy to have packets of jerky on hand if they got alerted to a hunter trip. Or just plain eating. She grabbed one of the smaller packets of rabbit jerky and started her car.

The drive was mostly uneventful, even with the cops trying to catch speeders on the spillway. Dutifully, Tellie kept the speedometer on 57 mph, until she hit the city limits, then she slowed to respectful 48 mph. Getting a speeding ticket was not on her agenda today.

The sun was just past noon when she pulled up to the bar her family owned and operated for more years than Tellie had seen, practically. She found a place close to the kitchen entrance and started unloading the crates. She waved at Charley, the cook, and grabbed a few large pots. Tellie dumped the contents of several crates into them and after filling them with water, started them on their boiling process.

Then Tellie made her way into the front of the bar. She took in the crowd jostling over the one male there, in particular. She smiled. As usual the crowd of females was fawning over her big brother. She still had a few pieces of rabbit jerky in her pocket and she made her way over to Jake, tapping him lightly on the shoulder, hoping she was not aggravating his injured side.

“Hey, do you have a hug for me, too?” she said softly.

[Jacob Derek Jordan]

Man, had he REALLY left the battlefields for this? Jake was beginning to feel as if he were under seize from something more deadly than any foreign soldier could ever have been. Had he really missed the sound of Yaya's voice or the shrill tone she belted out her thoughts in?

Hell.... he really had. Guess that just made him screwed up in the head... Even more so than the good doctors had declared.

Blinking at her somewhat bemusedly, Jake was about to tell her that No, he wasn't taking his shirt off but that Yes, he did believe he had a six pack when she suddenly smiled at him and he almost lost his train of thought. What was it he was trying to say? Oh yeah, he was plenty fit. Military life kind of gave you that whether you wanted it or not.

Thankfully, before he made a halfwit of himself, Yaya was off on her normal benign and left him shaking his head. God, half the time, he didn't know whether he wanted to throttle the woman or... Ok, so not going there with that thought. Thank God for small favors when his dad came back and started handling the small talk. Jake was pretty sure his head was about to explode if someone didn't slow the world down. Thankfully, Jericho seemed to be feeling the same way so he cast him a smile before a feminine voice pulled his attention in the other direction.

"Excuse me? Oh yeah... Sorry about that..." he returned with a slight smile before handing her what she was obviously asking for. "Sorry if Yaya is bothering you.... She's pretty much family so I can't stuff her in the nearest closet... Tessa would have my hide..Not to mention my father."

Just then, the annoying woman in question came bouncing back and he almost groaned when he heard that she was definitely going to be joining them. So much for a small family gathering.. It looked as if their whole extended family was going to be invited too.

Damn, he was tired.

Then, magically, just the thing he needed to beat a fast retreat walked through the door and Jake almost threw himself at his sister in relief. Catching her around the waist he gave her a tight squeeze and smiled at her.

"Hey imp... Of course I've always got time for you? Hows my best sister doing? Of course... YOu won't tell Tess I said that but it will be our little secret, right? I've missed you!"

Giving her a good looking over, he decided she looked well enough although she still seemed the quiet one of their unruly brood.

"Its good to be home.... You coming for supper tonight? Care to give me a lift home so that dad can fix the stuff in my trunk?"

[tellie]

Eldest siblings have a special bond with the younger siblings and usually the youngest in particular. That's not to say there isn't a bond between the other siblings, but the one between Jake and Tellie was no exception. Tellie adored her older brother and she had missed him terribly.

She remembered a few incidents when she was younger when Jake had stood up for her and even encouraged her. He was her confidence rock, both physically and emotionally. She knew she could go to him and spill her heart and get an honest answer in return. Like when the males in her science classes teased her mercilessly for her knowledge of plants and animals. Or when she never got asked on a date while at the Hunters School. Being the youngest sibling of 3 popular siblings was difficult to say the least.

Jake's hug and his banter were all Tellie needed at that moment. It did not mean beans to her that he called her imp. She knew he meant it affectionately. Course the physical part was even more evident now. Jake was nearly 6 foot tall, whereas Tellie was barely 5'2". She snuggled into his chest and tried not to cry. After all they were in public, near a bunch of friends and customers, with their dad hovering close by.

She tapped his chest playfully and hid her tears. "Takey, I think you grew another inch since I saw you!" Tellie called him Takey at times, partially because of her insistance from when she was a toddler that since her sister's name was Tessa and she herself was called Tellie, that there was no way her brother couldn't have a "T" sound to begin his name. She stood back from him and looked him up and down.

Tellie did not care a wit about the other females oogling her brother. For as long as she could remember, girls fawned over Jake. It was a matter of fact to her. Tessa, on the other hand, took a possessive manner when it happened, like a mother hen biddy over her chicks.

"I missed you too, Jake. You wouldn't believe what's been going on," [/b]she answered quietly, not wanting to upset him his first day back home. There was plenty of time for that later. Especially with all the people now showing up for dinner at home. She hated extremely loud crowds. At least Ash should be there and some of that awkwardness would be covered up by his guitar playing. That always made a fun evening.

Then Tellie realized what Jake had said, so engrossed in her own thoughts for the moment. "Of course not. I will never tell Tessa that. You must have taken some shrapnel in the head to think that!" Tellie giggled. Jake was silly at times.

At the mention of a ride home, she mentally calculated the space left in her small car. "Well, it will have to wait untill the jams' are done. I decided to make them here instead of at the house...or the cabin for that matter. AND as long as you don't have too big of a duffle. The back seat's full of my jerky, and some berries for Simi and mom..." Tellie trailed off. "Speaking of which, if you're not full of that burger and onion rings, try some of this rabbit jerky. I've been experimenting again with the spices." Tellie pulled out the small packet and handed over a piece. Even growing up in the south, and spending a lot of times in N'awlins, Tellie had never gotten a taste for all the dishes with all the heavy spices like the peppers and jalapenos, and especially since she was allergic to onions, that she learned to use other spices to make her food not so bland. This spilled over into her jerky marinades. Each cut of meat was spiced slightly different, in ways that brought out the natural flavors too. She waited for Jake's reaction.