Two is Better than One

Chapter One:

They drove through Detroit and through a few neighborhoods. The occasional gang looking group would stare at the car as it drove by. The six year old girl in the back seat would smile and wave at the groups and look out the window in awe at the new places she saw. The woman driving looked at the girl through the rearview mirror with solemn eyes. She broke the silence turning on the radio.

'Two days ago an explosion occurred at a factory in Florida killing seven people. Five were maintenance workers Paul Cramer, Matthew Derice, Daniela Smith, Jessie Madison, and Randy O'Connor. The other two were inspectors Allison and Patrick Grayson.'

"They're talking about Mommy and Daddy!" the little girl exclaimed, a big smile on her face.

The woman quickly changed the station. They continued to drive in silence with a Beetles song playing on the radio. The car pulled up to a two story brick house with black tiles for the roof and with brick steps leading to the front door. The house was on a lone street with other small two story houses lining up and down.

"Here we are," the woman said. "Why don't we get your things from the trunk and go see if your uncle's home."

"Okay," the little girl said following the woman to the trunk. "Are Mommy and Daddy coming soon," she asked looking at the adult in front of her with curious, innocent green eyes.

"Here you go," the woman said, avoiding the answer by handing the girl a pink backpack with a stuffed rabbit sticking out the top. "I'll take your other bags up with us." The two walked up the porch and the woman knocked three times. A man with unkempt black hair, groggy eyes with dark brown irises that looked almost black, stubble on his chin, wearing a white shirt, jeans, and a beer can in his hand opened the door.

"You the social worker who called? " the man said in a gruff voice, taking a swig from his beer.

"Yes, I'm Ms. Whendings and you must be Mr. Grayson," she answered in a cheerful tone.

"Is she the girl?" he asked, nodding his head to the girl with a curious expression on her face as she looked up at the man.

"Yes, this is your niece, Alexandra Grayson-"

"I'm Alex!" the little girl said, smiling.

"Yes, Alex Grayson, you brother's daughter. Again I am so sorry for your loss," the woman continued with a sympathetic expression. She turned to Alex. "I have to go now, it was nice meeting you Alex." Heading to her car she said, "I wish you two the best."

Alex waved. "Bye!" She looked up at her uncle as the social worker drove away. "Are you Uncle Marvin?" she asked.

"Yeah," her uncle grunted. "Okay get in," he said, pushing her and her bags through the door. Alex looked around the room she was pushed into. It looked to be the living room, but it was littered with trash. There were two pizza boxes on the coffee table, some Chinese takeout boxes here and there, wrappers and bags from all sorts of foods, and beer cans and bottles everywhere. "Your room's upstairs, second door on the left. I'm goin-"

"Where're Mommy and Daddy?" Alex asked, sad eyes staring up at her uncle.

"Uh…" Uncle Marvin looked down at his niece, unsure of what to do. He settled on patting her head. The affectionate gesture ended quickly and he headed for the door. "I'm going," he said standing outside on the porch, his hand on the door handle. "You can unpack in your room then you can clean up the mess. Trash bags are under the sink." He slammed the door leaving Alex standing with her bags in the living room. She looked at the mess behind her.

"Mommy and Daddy told me to listen to grownups," she said to herself as she walked up stairs, taking one bag up at a time. When all the bags were up the stairs she pushed them to the bedroom. Inside was a plain white walled room with a window overlooking the street and a bed with a night stand next to it. "Where do I put my clothes?" Alex spotted a door on one wall. She opened it to find an empty closet with hangers dangling on the rack. "Oh good," she said cheerfully and started unpacking.

After all the bags were emptied Alex made her way downstairs and got a trash bag from under the kitchen sink. She stared at the mess once more trying to decide where to start. She was about to pick a beer can when a bark came from behind her. Alex whipped around to find a black Labrador in front of her, growling.

"A puppy!" she exclaimed, running over to the dog, whose tail began to wag as she scratched its ear. He rolled over as Alex rubbed his belly, his tongue sticking out of his mouth. "What's your name?" Alex found a name tag dangling from the red collar around his neck. "Jennifer? What a pretty name." Jennifer barked, wagging her tail at the sound of her name. "Good girl, Jennifer. Want to help me clean?" Jennifer jumped up and licked Alex's face as she giggled.

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"Hey Asshole Grayson has a visitor," Bobby Mercer said looking out the window in the kitchen.

"Bobby watch you language," Evelyn Mercer scolded her oldest son as she and the newest Mercer brother, Jack, made cookies. "Very good, Jackie," she praised the six year old as he cut out cookie dough with a cookie cutter.

"Sorry, Ma," Bobby apologized.

The third oldest son, Angel walked over to his brother and looked out the window. Sure enough there was a woman getting out of a silver car with a little girl with dirty blonde hair that reached her shoulders. "There's a woman and a girl," he stated. "Think it's family?"

"Marvin Grayson? Have Family?" Bobby laughed. "That's funny."

"Everyone has family, Bobby," Jerry said from his seat in the living room.

Evelyn rolled out more dough before walking over to the window herself, leaving Jack to cut the rest of the dough. "Oh that must be his niece."

"He has a niece?" Angel queried a small smirk on his face.

"It was on the news. His brother and sister-in-law were factory inspectors, two days ago there was an explosion that killed them," Evelyn explained, a sympathetic look on her face. The four brothers looked at her as she continued to look out the window. "Poor thing, she probably doesn't realize they're gone," she said, noticing the girl smiling as she looked up and down the street.

"She looks like Jack's age," Bobby said. Jack looked up in terror at the sound of someone saying his name. Evelyn turned around and smiled at Jack.

"How about after dinner we introduce ourselves," she said. "What do you think Jackie?"

Jack nodded his head as he stared at his new mother. Bobby gave his little brother a reassuring smile. "Maybe we can give her some of your awesome cookies. Right Angel, Jer?"

"Sounds like a plan," Angel said smiling.

"Do you want to pick out the ones to give her, Jack?" Jerry asked as he entered the kitchen to get the dishes and silverware to set the dinner table.

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"Ready, Jack?" Bobby asked, extending his hand to the little boy who stood on the steps of the porch. His brothers and mother were in front of him as he stood there staring at them. Jack hesitated for a moment before taking Bobby's hand. They were about to start walking across the street when they saw the little girl dragging trash bags to the end of the curb with a black dog walking next to her.

"She tamed Cujo," Angel laughed.

"I'm taking a guess Marvin left," Jerry said as they made their way over to her. The dog barked announcing to the girl their arrival. Jack cowered behind his mother's leg as the dog continued barking. The little girl looked up at all of them before saying cheerfully, "Hello!"

"Hello, we're your neighbors, we live across the street," Evelyn said. "I'm Evelyn Mercer, this is Bobby, Jeremiah, Angel, and Jack," she said, motioning to each boy, each with their own individual greeting, Jack still hiding behind her leg.

"I'm Alex," Alex said cheerfully with a wave.

Evelyn nudged Jack. "Why don't you give her the cookies?

The youngest Mercer brother looked up at his mom as she said this. Jack gradually peeked around her leg. Slowly, he handed Alex the plate of cookies. She took the plate with a smile. "Thanks!" she said excitedly. The dog barked causing Jack to retreat behind his mom.

"Cujo's gonna attack," Bobby said, holding his hands up with a chuckle.

"Who's Cujo?" Alex asked, looking up at the tall man in front of her.

"The dog."

"Jennifer?"

"Cujo's a girl?" Angel said. "Whoa, didn't see that coming."

Jennifer walked up to the group and Jack hid further behind Evelyn. Jennifer cocker her head to the side, then, getting bored, walked back over to the porch and curled up on one of the steps.

"Where's your uncle, Alex?" Evelyn asked.

Alex shrugged. "He told me where my room was, told me to the house then left."

"He had you clean his mess?" she asked astounded. "I'll have to talk to him when he gets back," Evelyn said, more to herself than anyone else.

"Anyways," Jerry said, chuckling. "Maybe you and Jack can play together. He's six, how old are you?" he asked as Jack hid even further behind his mom's leg.

"I'm six too. Can I really come over and play?" Alex asked her face lighting up at the idea.

"Sure, why not?" Bobby said with a smile.

Alex's smile grew bigger as she looked from one brother to the next. Evelyn smiled at the young girl. She patted Jack's head.

"We better get going, it's getting late. I hope we see you soon, Alex," Evelyn said, taking Jack's hand and leading him across the street.

"See ya, Cinderella," Bobby called out to her as he, Angel, and Jerry followed their mother.

"Bye!" Alex shouted, watching the family go back to their house. She smiled and waved again, seeing Jack look back for a fleeting second.

Update 9/27/17

So after five years I have decided to reopen this story. It has always been one of my favorite stories I worked on, but I was hit by major writer's block back in 2012 when I had first started the story and posted chapter 3. I won't be editing chapters 1-3, I am sorry, but I just don't have the time to edit them while working on new chapters. So from chapters 1-3 they will be my writing from 2012 and chapters 4 and any potential future chapters will be my writing from 2017. I hope you can stick through the first few chapters and enjoy the story in general. Let me know what you think and leave a review. I appreciate all feedback, they help me improve and see what my readers like. Thanks!