In Monday, I was watching an episode of Kitchen Nightmares (it's a guilty pleasure) and the family name of the owners was Pellegrino and it got me thinking...
Warning: This is a detailed outline, not a conventional story.
Once upon a time, John and Mary Winchester owned a fine dining empire that included a dozen restaurants all over the world. John was the head chef, Mary was front of house. They were famous - TV shows, cookbooks, guest appearances, the whole schpiel - and their romance was famous too, how they'd met when John hired Mary to work at his first restaurant, how they'd fallen in love while trying to avoid the awkward ramifications of a boss/employee relationship, how John had fired Mary and asked her out on a date in the same conversation, how six months later they were married and co-owned the restaurant.
Everyone assumed they were going to be two of the biggest names in fine dining for years going forward, but like most stories that seem too good to be true, it all fell apart. Mary died in a kitchen fire that also destroyed their flag ship restaurant. Left alone to run the business and raise two small children, John cracked under the pressure (let's be real, most chefs aren't that stable to begin with). John wasn't able to hold it together despite the help of John's key employees: his agent and former sous chef Bobby Singer; his second in command and his wife - the Harvelles; Rufus, who ran John's Cajun restaurant; Ash, famous for his experiments in molecular gastronomy; and others. John turned to alcohol and ended up wrapping his car around a semi, killing himself and Bill Harvelle and leaving John's young sons orphans. Ellen rolled up her sleeves, sold out her share of John's empire, opened a Roadhouse, took in the boys to raise with her daughter, and, managed like a fuckin' bad ass.
It wasn't not an easy life. Ellen worked tremendously hard but it was more than once person could reasonably do alone - she owned the restaurant, was the chef, and raised three children; Dean was six, Sam was four, and Ellen's own Jo was only two. They were good kids, but they had a lot of freedom and that freedom bred rebellion. Bobby helped out a lot, visited often, contributed money to raise them, promoted Ellen's business, all while running his own restaurant in South Dakota. Without Bobby's support, Ellen couldn't have managed; he even took the children sometimes, giving her a break when Ellen was ready to kill the little buggers, and Ellen and Bobby became very close friends, talking on the phone nearly every night.
Dean remembered his parents best and was determined to reclaim their legacy; from the day the Roadhouse opened, nothing could pry that boy from the kitchen. Ellen loved him for it and taught him everything he knows. When the kids visited Bobby, he taught Dean more, and whenever one of the Winchester's old friends passed through, they all saw John reborn in Dean and did their best to inculcate the child with all the skills he'd need, all while hoping to keep him from the vices that proved John's downfall. As a result, Dean grew up in the kitchen and learned recipes as other kids learned their multiplication tables. He worked washing dishes as soon as he could reach the sink, stayed til close every night, and was a better chef by the age of 13 than many become their whole lives. Though she didn't pay him wages, Ellen quietly put the money the boy would have earned aside, knowing someday Dean would need the start up funds.
Sam also worked the restaurant - because he had to, because there was no one else to watch him, because what else would he do? - but he didn't love it like Dean did. He was good at it, but he dreamed of something more, a professional life as a doctor or a lawyer, anything that didn't feel like his blue-collar childhood surrounded by drunks and truckers and short-order cooks. Ellen wasn't able to connect with Sam as well as she connected with Dean, but she loved Sam just the same, and same as Dean, she took the money she saved on wages thanks to Sam's help and put it in a fund to pay for Sam's college so that he'd be able to leave when he wants to.
Jo had a love/hate relationship with the restaurant. She hated how it took over her mother's life, hated watching how Ellen wore down over the years of working at the Roadhouse 70 and 80 hours a week. But Jo loved to cook, loved to be in the kitchen, loved the fast pace of the work. Ellen wanted more for her daughter than to be a cook, but as Jo got older and started to develop curves, she got more and more bullshit working front of house with the rowdy crowd that favored the place. After Dean broke some asshole's nose protecting her, Jo put her foot down and, at age 12, demanded that she be allowed to work in the back of the house just like Dean did. Ellen finally conceded, put Sam in front of house and Jo on the line, and prayed to God that Jo wouldn't end up wanting to own the restaurant. There wasn't enough money left to put together a fund for Jo to match the ones for Sam and Dean, but the Roadhouse itself was Jo's legacy – Ellen made a plan to sell the restaurant, worth more than Sam and Dean's funds combined, when Jo turned 18 and use the money to get Jo started wherever she wanted.
With no interest in college and no need for culinary school, Dean declined Ellen's gift when he turned 18. There was a lot of arguing, but finally he and Ellen reached a compromise - Dean took fraction of what was in the account - $5,000 of the $25,000 that Ellen had saved over almost 15 years. Further, Dean wasn't ready to leave so Ellen agreed to start paying him wages so he can save his own money. The rest was divided between Sam's account and a new account for Jo - just in case the restaurant wasn't worth enough.
When Sam turned 18, he didn't hesitate to take his share and leave. He used it for college, decided to go for his MBA, leaving Nebraska and never looking back. Jo couldn't figure out what she wanted to do when the time comes, so she ended up hanging around the Roadhouse - which Ellen didn't bother to sell, since the money wasn't needed yet.
Dean cut out on his own at 24, once he'd saved enough to open his own place. He went to Chicago, opened a high-end American restaurant - all the grungy Roadhouse vibe that he loved so well but with the best ingredients, the finest food, and prices to match. In his very first set of reviews, he was rated as serving the best burger in the city, making him an instant sensation. Everything on the menu was stellar. Dean was a fantastic chef and the restaurant was a huge hit.
With Dean gone, Jo became depressed. Ellen worried that it was because she was in love with Dean - or maybe Sam - but that wasn't it. Jo was torn and still couldn't decide if she wants to follow in Ellen's footsteps or if she wants to find her own identity. Watching her two "brothers" leave and pursue their dreams threw into sharp relief that she was at loose ends, unsure what she wanted to do. Unable to reach a decision, Jo snapped and ran away. After wandering the country aimlessly for a while, she joined Sam in California, where he had been working on his degree. At first, Sam insisted that he'd send her back to the Roadhouse, but finally he relented and obeyed her begged request that Ellen not be told her whereabouts.
Ellen, of course, flipped out and freaked. Dean, terrified for his "kid sister," ran to help Ellen, leaving his restaurant to his sous chef. It ended up taking six fucking months to get Jo back. Sam kept his word to the last, never revealing her. Dean's restaurant tanked without his passion and energy leading it, the Roadhouse was nearly ruined as well, and Sam and Dean's relationship was completely trashed. As far as Dean was concerned, family didn't do what Sam did, and it was unforgiveable. Dean lost his temper, said a whole lot of things he meant and a few he didn't, and the two brothers part intent on never speaking to each other again. A sheepish Jo decided to go to culinary school, for pastry of all things. Sam finished his MBA on his own, though Ellen continued to supply him with financial aid, carefully not telling Dean because of how badly Dean overreacted. Since his first restaurant folded in his absence, Dean started over from scratch and, within a few years, had leveraged his talent and contacts and reputation into another restaurant, this time in Atlanta. The only immediate good to result from the debacle was Ellen and Bobby - after years of being teased by their friends, years of thinking that they were too old for a relationship, they finally shared how they felt about each other and decided to get married.
Years passed. Ellen tried to keep in touch with her kids. Dean, Bobby and Ellen remained close. Ellen and Jo reconciled with a lot of help from Bobby. At first, Dean was furious with Jo but he couldn't bring himself to stay angry and ended up giving her a job as the pastry chef at his second restaurant. Sam and Jo remained extremely close, so much so that Sam kept losing girlfriends because they can't believe that Sam and Jo's relationship was platonic (it was). Sam and Ellen managed a tense truce. But nothing Ellen said would get the brothers to talk to each other and she eventually stopped trying. It's not about the Jo thing, not only that, or so Dean insisted, but about the betrayal by his brother, about the things they said to each other when they fought. If they're going to be big babies, Ellen reasoned, why should she coddle them? They'll either figure their shit out on their own...or they won't.
At 40 years old, Dean was incredibly successful. He had seven restaurants, two television shows, a line of frozen dinners and cookware, and a best-selling cookbook. People were drawn to his insight, his no-nonsense attitude, his acerbic wit, and his obvious underlying heart of gold (the existence of which he'd deny with his last breath). Famous, slowly growing wealthy, and maintaining good relations with Ellen, Bobby, and Jo, the only thing he lacked was a family of his own. With the popularity of his TV shows and his handsome appearance, he drew increasing media scrutiny to his love life, speculating on relationships between him and various female chefs, wondering about his sexuality, and determined to create gossip even though Dean didn't date and thus had done nothing to produce any actual gossip.
At 36 years old, Sam proved unable to escape from the restaurant world after all. His MBA had come in handy; Sam had managed multiple successful restaurants but he'd gotten in over his head this time. Sam's newest job was as manager of a restaurant owned by Nick Lucifer (yes, that was really his last name). Lucifer was at the business so infrequently that everyone joked he was a figment of Sam's imagination. Sam, on the other hand, was at the restaurant constantly and he worked his ever-loving ass off but it wasn't enough – no one person's passion could make a restaurant succeed, it took a team of people working together. Sam would have quit except he wasn't sure what he would do instead, he didn't have time to job hunt and his fiancée Ruby (an interior decorator) had expensive taste and refused to consider "allowing" Sam to be unemployed to sort out what he might want to do instead of manage restaurants.
At 34 years old, Jo no longer worked for Dean. While in his employ, she met Charlie and they hit it off. Dean hired Charlie as a chef when he was rebuilding after his first restaurant closed. At first, the two were oil and water, butting heads, Charlie seething all the while, but then Charlie stood up to Dean when he was wrong, Dean realized she was invaluable, and they'd been working together ever since and grown to be best friends. Dean selected Charlie to be the head chef when he opened a second restaurant, and there Charlie and Jo met. After a few years, the two negotiated with Dean - he offered them start-up money and they opened their own restaurant in New York City. Working together and being in a relationship together caused some problems, but overall they were happier.
Ellen lamented that her daughter and daughter-in-law worked to much to ever get around to having a family, but aside from bemoaning the lack of grandchildren, she was enthusiastically in favor of the new addition to her and Bobby's family. She sold the Roadhouse and went to work as a manager at Jo and Charlie's restaurant. Bobby took over the roll for Dean that he once had played for John and Mary, quietly working in the background to help Dean build an empire.
The TV network that Dean worked for proposed a pitch for a third show: Kitchen Hell, a show about rescuing failing restaurant businesses. The producers, Zachariah Adler and Michael Milligan figured that, with Dean's personality and his skills, the show was a guaranteed success. Dean agreed, and the idea appealed to him, he loved that he'd be helping out people like Ellen and Bobby who ran small, local establishments. When the producers opened the call to restaurants interested in participating in the first season, they got a slew of applications, but one stands out to them - what better than a restaurant owned by a dude named Lucifer to be on Kitchen Hell? While doing their due diligence, the producers stumbled upon Sam Winchester, found out his relationship to Dean, and dug up their estrangement and some of the history leading to it – and recognized to their delight that this was an opportunity for drama beyond anything they'd ever dreamed of. They chose Sam's restaurant to be the season finale, got Dean through the first 15 restaurants of the season, and rubbed their hands together in excitement as they awaited all the juicy spectacle of the last episode.
Nick didn't warn Sam that the show was coming in. Even when they showed up with their equipment, no one mentioned Dean's affiliation with the program. Meanwhile, the network gave Dean an entire profile of the restaurant, but they left out a few key details, letting Dean believe that Nick was the owner and the store manager. Thus, it was not until Dean walked into the restaurant for the first time that he came face to face with his brother. The whole thing is caught on camera even though Dean decked the camera man, since he couldn't deck the producers.
Still, Dean's sense of professionalism won out. Sam had a long time to reflect on what he'd done and realized...he really fucked things up. Dean had a long time to reflect and realized that, as with many times in his life, his temper hadn't do him any favors. They have a heart to heart which, unfortunately, is also unavoidably caught on camera due to the contracts they'd both signed. The awkwardness of observers only lasted a few minutes, though, before they lost themselves in apologies and explanations. Putting aside their animosity, they tackled figuring out what was wrong with the restaurant and how to fix it before it closed permanently.
There were a bunch of problems. Nick was a terrible owner, for starters, funneling money from the restaurant to support his other ventures, leaving them so little funding that they couldn't afford much-needed new equipment, high quality ingredients, or good help. The kitchen staff was listless and underpaid, the fridge was an embarrassment, the wait staff was substandard –everything was the best Sam could do, but it was nearly impossible to run a business with any hope of success with the tools and budget he'd been given. The food was the biggest disaster. From the first bite, Dean could tell he was dealing with a chef who had lost all interest in his professional. By the time he was done with the meal, Dean admitted to Sam that the chances of getting out of this with the same chef were non-existent and that Sam should start gathering resumes right away. Sam, feeling defeated, said there's no point - they couldn't afford a chef who could actually do the job. They might as well close the restaurant. Moved by how hopeless and trapped Sam sounded, Dean agreed to meet with the chef and see if he could get through to the man and reignite his passion.
So, the chef was fucking gorgeous. He was so good looking that for a stunned few seconds Dean managed to forget that the blue-eyed angel in a grayed-out old chef's jacket probably gave Dean food poisoning with his rotten ravioli. Once they started talking, it took roughly 3.5 seconds to establish that, whatever the cause, whatever his excuses, Chef Castiel Novak had lost all love for being a chef. Everything he said was deadpan, every movement was unhurried. He was like a fucking drone, so disconnected from what he was doing, and Dean found it so maddening that he ended up shouting at the guy...and got nowhere. Castiel was a fucking cipher.
That night, Dean called around to his contacts to see what he could find out about the guy. Castiel was Dean's age, maybe a few years older, and had a hell of a resume. It didn't take long for Dean to find a friend who knew a bit about the guy – the restaurant business was a big world, but among high-end chefs it wasn't that big. The story – which, granted, was hearsay - was disheartening yet heartbreaking. Castiel bucked his family's wishes to become a chef, went to culinary school, paid his own way with hard work. He was young and passionate and talented, and he had no trouble getting work. He ended up in a partnership with another up-and-coming chef named Balthazar - Dean had met him once, weird British dude with a flair for complex, subtle flavors. Balthazar and Castiel were much like Jo and Charlie, sharing both a business and life partnership. The two built a successful restaurant in New York City, adopted two children, and, much like John and Mary Winchester once upon a time, were on well on their way to a great life. Everything was going fantastic until - while Castiel was away for work - both children died in a freak accident involving a construction crane, and Balthazar, who was with them at the time, lost a leg. The couple tried to make it work after that, but the grief was too much, living together brought back too many memories, working together was impossible due to Balthazar's lengthy recovery and rehabilitation time. They dissolved their restaurant partnership, they broke up, and about a year later, Balthazar committed suicide. Dean's friend couldn't say what happened to Castiel after that. He disappeared from the celebrity chef world.
And turned up at Nick Lucifer's restaurant.
The more Dean reflected on everything, the more he thought the restaurant was beyond help. Lucifer refused to get involved in the show, wandering off to play golf with investors in another business venture, and without breaking through Lucifer's apathy, nothing else Dean did would matter. However, Dean had to maintain the appearance of giving a shit about the place for the sake of the show. So instead, he focused on reconciling with Sam and, as his main project, trying to reignite the passion of Chef Castiel. That way, even when the restaurant inevitably went under, it wouldn't take the Sam and Castiel down too.
Fixing things with Sam proved easy, if emotional. They're on-screen reconciliation after nearly 20 years of estrangement should, Dean figured, satisfy the producers no matter what else happened. Dean's efforts with Castiel were less successful. Castiel was gone. Yet, sometimes, there was a glimmer to his eyes. When, on the evening of Day 2, Dean brought in some fine ingredients, Castiel mustered some energy, produced an excellent dish, but then he turned back to his disgusting fridge and leaked a defeated sigh that took with it what little excitement Castiel had found, declaring that he should just give up. When he left that night, hanging up his apron, Dean was pretty sure he'd failed when he'd hardly begun. Nonetheless, he refused to give up. He'd never given up, that wasn't who Dean was, and there was something about Castiel that drew Dean, made Dean wanted to go above and beyond to help him. Dean could see the dying remnants of the passion that had once enabled Castiel to run his own successful business in one of the most competitive restaurant markets in the world. That passion was a dying beacon that Dean couldn't but try to restore. He'd always thrived in work environments where he was surrounded by passionate people, always loved finding young talent and nurturing it. He'd never tried to reignite the fire in someone older, but he was up to the challenge.
On Day 3, while the restaurant was closed for renovation, Dean took Castiel to Charlie and Jo's restaurant. At first, Castiel was obviously uncomfortable, but the two women were fucking brilliant; add Dean to the mix and the three together were virtually unstoppable in the kitchen. Even Castiel couldn't resist that charm (and - Charlie insisted when the cameras weren't looking – there was a certain something to Castiel every time he looks at Dean). By the end of the day Castiel was relaxed, he was cooking, he was working with the team behind the line, he was putting out good food, his eyes were sparkling and his lips were quirked into a smile despite his intense concentration. He wouldn't admit to enjoying himself, but he gave Dean a proud grin at the end of the day and admitted he was looking forward to the next day as if confessing he was excited to attend his own funeral.
Day 4, Dean and the revived Castiel spent the day in Charlie's kitchens while she wasn't there. Together, they worked out a new menu while Sam argued with Lucifer until he finally, finally secures the owner's agreement that the restaurant would receive the financial support it deserved. By the end of the day, Dean was sure there's a spark between him and Castiel, the new menu was going to knock the fucking socks off New York, Castiel was - in his quiet way - enthusiastic about food again, and Dean was feeling really fucking proud of himself. And kind of turned on by the gorgeous, blue-eyed man. But the second he refused to credit until he was sure there were no cameras anywhere in his general vicinity.
The next everything fell apart. Whatever happened overnight, Castiel came to the restaurant with red-rimmed eyes, an obvious hangover, and no interest in meeting even the basic requirements of his job. Lucifer came in and asked detailed questions about just how much the new equipment was worth, obviously with the intention of selling off all the assets bought for the restaurant as part of the remodeling done by the show producers. Ruby came to visit Sam and threw a fit that she hadn't been hired to do the new interior design, ripping the renovation to pieces. She'd done the old design - roundly criticized on the show - and was seriously pissed.
By Day 7, Dean had to acknowledge that he'd failed. Castiel was avoiding him and doing the bare minimum, Lucifer couldn't be bothered to attend the reopening finale, and half the wait staff resigned when Ruby, with Lucifer's support, told them to go home and change into the uniform she'd selected for them. As he left, Dean thought that at least he had Sam back. The week hadn't been a total waste of time.
When the episode aired, the editing amplified all the drama and ridiculousness. The audience response was everything that the producers could have wished for. The entire season was a hit, but the last episode took the cake. Dean didn't bother to watch. The only reason to watch would have been to learn what happened to the restaurant after Dean left, but Sam had already told him about the fall out. The restaurant was closed, Ruby dumped Sam as soon as he couldn't support her expensive taste – she ran off with Lucifer, in fact - and Sam couldn't say what happened to Castiel. Dean felt a pang of sadness. There was a connection there, Dean was sure. He had no idea what changed that one night; if he had it to do over again, he'd have made more of an effort to find out. He hoped the chef was doing well.
Putting it from his mind, Dean moved on. Six months passed. Charlie and Jo were officially married. Sam came to Dean with a proposal for a new restaurant and, after a lot of long talks with Bobby and Ellen, Dean decided to provide Sam with capital. The second season of Kitchen Hell was as successful as the first. Dean opened two new restaurants. He hardly got a night's sleep, but his career was taking off. He could sleep when he was dead.
It was nearly midnight and Dean was falling asleep in his chair while he waited for the last chef interview for Sam's new restaurant. The hiring process was long and involved - first an interview, than a week long trail in one of Dean's current restaurants, and anyone who made it that long would be interviewed again. Sam was stooped over his laptop, obsessing over details – adorable moose – but Dean couldn't look at the menu any longer. Ask him to work until 3 AM on the line and he could do so with a smile, but concentrating on conversation after conversation with candidates ranging from shy to bold to arrogant to self-deprecating was more than he could handle. Both the 11 PM and the 11:30 PM interviews had no-showed. Dean listlessly looked over the resume for the last interviewee again – it was all pretty damn impressive. The resumes had no pictures or names – supposedly, this would ensure they weren't biased into prejudging the candidates based on gender or some shit, Dean didn't care much, it was all Sam's idea – but the person had owned their own place, published a cookbook, and had worked in a string of successful restaurants – and a few unsuccessful – since.
The door opened and Castiel walked in. Dean started and his heart fluttered unexpectedly. Oh, yeah, he'd definitely had a crush. He wasn't prepared to acknowledge – ever – to anyone – how many times he'd jacked off while imagining those bright blue eyes.
Dean nearly told him to get the fuck out. He saw what happened at Lucifer's. And yet...Castiel apologized, he explained himself, he met Dean's gaze with his own intense one and said that he had given up, that he'd had a drug problem, he'd been an alcoholic, he'd refused to get help because even thinking about what had happened with Balthazar and the children hurt too much. But he was better now. He was clean. He was in therapy. All he needed was one more shot.
...and Dean and Sam decide to give it to him.
The new restaurant was a smash hit. Ruby came sulking back – and got kicked to the curb. Castiel was like a new man – or, Dean suspected, like the man he once was. Eager, enthusiastic, hard-working, incredibly devoted, Castiel was everything that Dean could dream of in a head chef. He was everything Dean could dream of in other regards, too, and Dean did dream – often – about those other regards. He wasn't able to get to New York often, too busy with his growing empire, but whenever he could, he dropped in and helped out in the kitchen for a night or two, and visit Sam and his other friends in New York. Jo and Charlie decided to try for a baby, and when Jo ended up pregnant, Bobby and Ellen moved to New York City to be around their grand kids. The family was really coming together, and for the first time Dean felt left out, felt the weight of the sacrifices he'd made for his career, but he resisted changing his lifestyle. What he was building, after all, was for all of them.
All of them, at one point or another, point out that he was building nothing for himself.
Whenever Sam mentioned it, he managed to pointedly find ways to remind Dean of Castiel.
It took holding his niece in his arms exactly once to convince Dean that his priorities were all wrong. He didn't stop doing all the things he'd done all along – he still did TV, still managed his restaurants, still worked his ass off – but he accepted that he couldn't be everywhere all the time. Stepping back from his extreme workaholism proved difficult but when finally managed to do it, the world didn't burn down. Everything was fine. Dean crashed in Sam's spare bedroom, located near Dean's New York City steakhouse. It took him two months before he finally works up the nerve to ask Castiel out on a date.
Castiel said no.
Three days later, Castiel came back, apologized, and asked if they can try again (after the fact, Dean learns that three hours with Castiel's therapist went into that change of heart; Castiel felt so damn guilty any time he thought about building a new relationship for himself...).
Dean said yes. They planned a date – a movie, nothing for dinner but popcorn and hotdogs, nothing fancy, no place their friends own, nothing even resembling a normal night for either of them.
After the movie, Dean nervously asked Castiel if he wants to come up to Sam's for a drink. They would have the place to themselves until Sam got back at 2 AM. Castiel declined the drink – recovering addict and all that jazz – and Dean felt like a total heel, but Castiel salvaged the situation by suggesting coffee instead.
It ended up being a moot point. As soon as the door closed, Castiel's lips were on Dean's, their hands were all over each other's bodies, they stumbled to the bedroom discarding items of clothing as they went, rutting against each other desperately. Neither had had physical contact with anyone else in so long that it didn't take long, their thrusts into each other's hands were urgent, frantic, hungry, a culmination of many years of loneliness and two years of unresolved tension between them.
Dean moved in to Castiel's apartment two weeks later. Sam was on Dean's case for not getting his own place anyway, and why pay for two apartments when they didn't need to?
It wasn't perfect...but with Castiel in his life, with Jo and Charlie talking about having another child, with Sam engaged once again, this time to a paralegal named Madison who was night and day to Ruby, with Dean's restaurants doing great, and with Bobby and Ellen happily talking about retirement...well, it was more perfect than either Dean or Castiel ever dreamed of. It was more happiness than either had had in a long, long time.
...I got distracted by a thing. Who is surprised? At least this only took, like, two hours to write...