Howling for you

Dean sat comfortably at one of the long tables in the bunker's main room, reading and slowly sipping on a glass of his favorite whiskey, bottle close at hand. There was a quietness in the place that had become somewhat of a rarity as of late, now that their family had grown to include young Jack. He had sent Sam and Jack out to pick up dinner, and Cas was on a netflix binge, so he took the opportunity to grab a few moments to himself. He thumbed to the next page and relished the comfort of his home, which was something that he had not known in a very long time.

Dean was slowly swirling the amber liquid in his glass when he heard the door to the bunker creak open. He glanced up, but turned his attention back to his book when he saw the mop of brown hair that signaled his brother and Jack's return. "You two were gone a while for just a food run" Dean commented flatly.

He heard Sam make his way down the stairs "Uh... yeah, sorry. We got a little sidetracked. So uh... hey man look. I was just kind of wanting to ask you something."

Uh oh, Dean thought to himself, flustered Sam was never a good sign. With a sigh, the older Winchester closed his book, set it on the table, and looked up at Sam. As his eyes took in his sheepish brother, something else occurred to him "Where's Jack?" he asked.

As if summoned, there was a loud clanging at the top of the stairs and Jacks voice yelling "Dean! Dean, look!"

Dean snapped his head up towards the direction of the voice just as Sam turned yelling, "Jack, I told you to wait! I thought you were going to let me break him in gently, like we planned."

Dean Winchester could feel his head spinning as he tried to figure out what the hell was going on. He glanced towards the whiskey as if he could try to blame the chaos that was unfolding on the alcohol. When he turned back to demand an explanation he saw Jack running down the stairs, though his attention was quickly diverted to what the nephilim was dragging after him; one big ass dog.

The eldest hunter felt his mouth drop open and almost felt like he was having an out of body experience as Jack turned to Sam "Sorry Sam, I heard my name and thought that you had already told him. Did you? Did he say we could keep him?"

The last question immediately snapped Dean back into this plane of existence "Excuse me?" He asked sternly, looking from his brothers to the dog that was currently pooling drool onto the floor. The thing was tan and white and absolutely massive with big rolls of skin and giant paws. Dean didn't think he recognized the breed so he figured it must be a mutt, and it just stared at him as it stood by Jack.

Sam cleared his throat and winced as he said "surprise?"

"Surprise? What the hell Sam? You two go out for food and come back with Fido? Get rid of it!"

Jack frowned and tried to explain "Dean you don't understand. We were passing the dog orphanage and Sam said that we could go in to pet the dogs, only they wouldn't let me pet this one because they said he was too vicious to be adopted and they were going to have to put him down! So Sam and I stole him when their backs were turned! Chewbacca was kind of angry at first, but I think once he realized that he wasn't trapped anymore he calmed down."

"It also helped that Jack flashed some power in front of him. I think he became alpha dog." Sam muttered as an aside.

"Chewbacca really? You've already named the thing? Look at it, it's drooling an ocean on the floor."

Sure enough "Chewbacca" had a steady stream of stringy saliva connecting his mouth to the floor below them. Almost as if it had heard that it was being called out it licked its jowls, effectively cutting off the flow, and snorted in indignation.

Dean raised his eyebrows and turned his attention to Sam "You're supposed to be the adult here! You can't just let the kid do whatever he wants."

Sam felt one side of his mouth turn up into a lopsided grin "Oh stealing the dog was definitely my idea." he stated proudly.

"Well we can't keep it. Sam, I know you've always wanted a dog but taking care of an animal is way more responsibility than you think. Jack, you're still figuring out how the world works, and dogs need a lot of attention. We've already got our hands full with, oh I don't know, saving the world on a regular basis? Plus, I know I'm going to be the one that ends up looking after the guy, so my answer is no."

Deciding that that was the end of the conversation Dean tore his book back open, not even remembering what page he was on, and stared down at it. "Don't give me the puppy eyes Sam." he ground out after a beat.

"What puppy eyes? You're not even looking at me."

"You know the eyes, I can feel them boring into me. Quit it!"

"How can you possibly know what my face looks like if you're not even looking at me?"

Dean made the mistake then of glaring up at his brother, only to be met with the pouty swimming eyes and downturned mouth that has been his weakness since they were kids "There! That's the face! Well Sammy, guess what it's not going to work this time."

Trying to look anywhere but at Sam's pleading face, he looked over at Jack and promptly threw his book on the table "Oh come on! Sam taught you the puppy face? That's not even fair."

Sure enough Jack too was silently begging with a pitiful expression of longing plastered across his face. Dean looked at the two saps, then at the dog, who had resumed drooling, and conceded "Fine. But if I wind up being the one to care for him then that's it. Chewbacca will be on the next star cruiser out of here, you hear me?"

Sam and Jack whooped their victory and both bent over to pat and love on Chewbacca, who silently wagged his tail in approval. When they stood again Jack beamed at Dean "Thank you so much Dean! I promise to take extra good care of him."

He then turned to Chewbacca "Come on buddy, you can sleep in my room." and the boy and his dog wandered off into the further reaches of the bunker, tail wagging all the while.

Sam lingered and moved to stand closer to Dean, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder and giving a light squeeze "Thanks big brother." he said sincerely.

Dean sighed lightly still watching where Jack had disappeared to "Honestly... I wish I could have gotten you one when you were his age. Well, not his actual age but you get me."

Sam chuckled and sat at the table, Dean pouring him a glass of whisky as he did so "I understand though. I mean, I might not have then but I do now. With as often as we moved it wouldn't have been fair to the dog. But we have a home now, and it just felt right you know?"

The Winchester brothers sat in silence with one another for a few minutes, both simply enjoying the others presence. Dean took a sip from his glass and set it back on the table again before asking "Hey Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"You did actually pick up dinner yes?"

"Whoops."