The Dinner
Dean is in their kitchen, cooking. Cas is "supervising" him, which is the angel's way of getting out of the preparations. Dean teases Cas about being lazy. Cas just smiles at his husband. He doesn't fully understand the purpose of teasing, but after so many years with Dean, he's gotten used to it.
Their eleven year old daughter, Jo, is setting the table. "Papa, how many people?" Cas smiles at Jo. "It's me, you, Daddy, Uncle Sam, Auntie Jess, Charlie, and Charlie's friend Marie." She quickly does the math in her head before setting seven places. Jo asks Dean, "Am I going to like Marie, Daddy?"
"I don't know, sweetie. We haven't met her yet." Dean pulls the lasagna out of the oven. "I hope Marie likes lasagna. I don't know how to make anything else."
Cas leans over and kisses Dean's cheek. "She'll love it." Years with Dean have also taught him that sometimes, you say things just to make people happy, even if it may not be true.
The doorbell rings. Little Jo jumps up and makes a mad dash for the door. "I'll get it!" She opens the door to Sam and Jess' smiling faces. Jess is carrying a pie. "Peace offering." She jokes. "It's Uncle Sammy and Auntie Jess!" She cries. The child has a slight problem controlling her volume. She wraps her tiny arms around Sam's waist. Then Cas comes over. He slowly lifts Jo's fingers off of Sam. "It's good to see you," he says with a nod.
They walk into the kitchen and seen Dean serving up the lasagna. Sam jokes, "You're a housewife." "Shut up, Sammy," is his reply. Dean turns his attention to Jess. "You two decide what to name the baby yet?"
"We're deciding between Chewbacca, Bobby, Castiel, and John." "An obvious snub," Dean says. "I'm kidding, Dean. We're naming him Bobby," Jess replies.
Cas is finally being useful. He sets seven glasses of water on the table. He doesn't want to get them to get drunk in front of Charlie's girlfriend.
The doorbell rings, they all freeze, trying to decide who should get the door for Charlie and Marie. In the end, it's Jo who runs to let them in.
"Whoa, you're really pretty. Why are you settling for my brother?" Marie laughs nervously. "I'm Marie, what's your name?" "I'm Jo, Charlie's little sister." Marie smiles down at the young blonde. "It's nice to meet you, Jo." She glances at Charlie. Charlie, Marie, and Jo walk into the kitchen holding hands.
"Marie, this is the Winchester family. Family, this is Marie. Please don't embarrass me." Charlie begins. "Hello Marie," Jess speaks. Then Dean, Cas, and Sam chime in, almost in unison with each other. "Hello."
"Sit down wherever you like," Cas informs Marie. Everyone sits down while Dean places the plates of steaming lasagna in front of everyone.
"I hope you like lasagna," Dean tells his son's girlfriend. "We can't cook anything else." Marie smiles at Dean. "Lasagna is perfect."
After everyone has food, Dean takes his seat next to Cas. "Grace." Sam says in place of a prayer. They aren't the most religious people, not after what's happened to them.
Everyone begins to eat.
"May I ask you a question, Marie?" Dean states simply enough.
She sets down her fork and wipes her face with the napkin. "Go ahead."
"Dad, please," Charlie groans.
His face is serious as he queries, "What is your favorite band?"
"There is a right and wrong answer to this question," Sam warns her.
"And the correct answer is not Katy Perry. Daddy hates Katy Perry," Jo stage whispers.
"I wasn't going to say Katy Perry." She announces. "My favorite band is probably AC/DC. I'm pretty old-school, I mostly like classic and 80's rock music.
Dean grins, "I like this chick."
"You got it right." Jo informs Marie.
"How did you guys meet?" Sam asks.
"He's in my chemistry class," Marie beams. "It was the first day of school." Charlie continues for her. "And I was late to class," Marie goes on. "Everyone else had been assigned lab partners, except for Charlie. So Mr. Heckler said we should work together. I didn't really notice Charlie until a week later. We were supposed to mix two substances together, for some reason or another. But we hadn't really been paying attention when the instructions were given. And we didn't want to risk detention by asking the teacher to repeat himself. So we just kind of threw two liquids in a test tube and shook it up like we knew what we were doing. It exploded and we got detention together. I realized how funny Charlie is." "And the rest is history." Charlie says.
"That's adorable," Jess says as she smiles at Sam. "You're adorable," Sam tells his wife as he briefly kisses her.
"Not as adorable as us," Cas challenges.
"Cas…" Dean sighs.
"I saved his life. Years later, we got married." Cas says simply.
"That's cute," Marie responds.
Everyone stops talking and turns their attention to their lasagna.
Jo states, "This is really yummy lasagna, Daddy," the food smeared on her adorable little face.
Cas leans over and wipes Jo's face with his napkin. "You missed the target." He smiles at his young daughter.
"If you don't mind my asking," Marie angles herself towards Jess. "What are you going to name your baby?"
Jess smiles at the teenager. "We're naming him Bobby, after Sam and Dean's uncle."
"That's really sweet," Marie declares. Marie has a small speck of red sauces on her nose, but Charlie wipes it off lovingly.
There is a moment of silence before Dean proclaims it is time for pie.
"Pie?" Marie asks. "It better not be cherry pie, because that's my absolute favorite dessert of all time.
"You picked a keeper, Charlie," Dean tells his son. "Yea I did," Charlie says quietly to Marie.
"Yes, the pie is cherry," Cas informs Marie. "They all love it. It's a Winchester thing, I guess."
Marie looks at Charlie. "Can I have your slice of pie if you don't want it?" "I do want it, though." "You won't give up a slice of pie for your loving girlfriend?" Marie jokes. "Not Aunt Jess' cherry pie."
Everyone is served large portions of cherry pie. "Dig in."
It's delicious. Dean looks at the pie the way he looks at his husband. Sam jests, "Ooo, looks like you got competition, Cas."
When everyone is done with their pie, Marie offers to clean the dishes. "Marry her," Jo orders her older brother. Charlie laughs. "That's a long time in the future, kiddo."
"It was nice meeting you all," Marie exclaims.
"But I have to go home now." He places her jacket on her, puts her slender arms through the leather sleeves. "We're going now. Love you!" he leads her out to his car, a small Chevrolet. No, it's not the Impala. Dean barely lets Cas drive his Baby.
"I love your family!" Marie exclaims. Charlie laughs. "They're so dysfunctional." Marie kisses her boyfriend of three months. "Yea, well so are you. And for some reason, I still like you." He drives his girlfriend home.
Jo has been tucked into bed. It's only a quarter to eight, but she's tired.
"We should probably get going, Sam tells his older brother and the angel. The four adults have a four way group hug before Sam and Jess leave.
Now Cas and Dean are alone.
"The kids are growing up so fast," Dean states sadly. "Seems like just yesterday Jo was in diapers and Charlie was playing with toy soldiers."
Cas sighs. "Parenthood is not quite what I expected." Dean sighs. "Me either." Cas hugs his human. "It'll be alright, as long as we're together."
Dean leans up and kisses Cas. "Love you." To which Castiel replies, "And I you."
They're kissing when the door opens. "Ew, Dad! Papa! That's not what I wanted to see! Now I'm mentally scarred." Dean tells him with a grin, "You should be grateful you have two parents who love one another."
Charlie rolls his eyes and heads to his room. "Just be quiet."
Cas tells Dean, "I think everyone likes Charlie's girlfriend. Today went well." Dean leans into Cas. "I love this family." "I love this family too."
All is well in the Winchester household.