January 24th had rolled around again. It was always just a normal day. Usually pretty cold. Dean Winchester knew that this day was marked as an important date annually. That's just how birthdays work. He could barely remember his birthdays growing up. He can distantly remember his fourth birthday, the one he was able to celebrate with his happy father and very pregnant mother. His fifth birthday rolled around and the most he got was a couple of poorly wrapped gifts, a distracted father and about an eight month old baby brother to tend to.

For years, that was a common trend. However, when Sam was old enough, he would do his best to make Dean's birthday exciting. Though it wasn't much, Dean remembered how content he was, even for a couple of hours, to just sit and enjoy opening a present from his little brother and Uncle Bobby, followed by some chatting. Not to say John Winchester really disregarded his sons' birthdays. He didn't give them much. He knew that it was a day to celebrate they were alive. That also brought a sense of dread because he knew that they were Mary's sons just as much as his and it would hurt. Dean understood.

Time passed and Sam left for Stanford. Dean was alright with no birthday celebration when the twenty-fourth day of January came around. He knew that it was just the same for Sam when the second of May did the same. Of course, the time after John Winchester went missing, Sam went on that hunt and Jess died, the days seemed to get jumbled. They were sometimes happy to remember the day of the week and the exact date was only relevant at some points in time. Dean couldn't remember over the years when he hadn't been on a job when his birthday rolled around.

His first real celebration had been almost two and a half years ago. He was of course happy at the sight of his little brother barely fitting to hide behind the grandfather clock. He loved Bobby and Ellen's attempts to hold back laughter when they heard his footsteps. The sight of Castiel standing in the middle of the dark room with only the illumination of the porch light into the Roadhouse, his expression showing absolute confusion, was priceless. He chuckled as Jo gently led him into the room. Surprise parties were cliche, they knew, but it was new for Dean.

That day though had gone from revolving around him to revolving around the beautiful engagement ring around Jo's finger. He hadn't really given any thought to the idea of a big birthday party when he had planned the proposal. He just knew that he and Jo had been going steady for quite some time and it was right. He knew Jo would have wanted to at least acknowledge that day by going out for dinner, if they were lucky to be lacking the strain of a hunt at the time. He didn't know that she would have planned a surprise party on that particular day. He wasn't going to let the box in his pocket weigh him down any further that it had already been doing for the past two months. So, right as Jo was handing him his last gift (Cas was surprisingly pretty good with wrapping paper), he expertly pulled out the little box from his jacket and added it with the gift he had opened, knowing that after they exchanged, she would organize the contents.

Her gasp was music to his ears the moment she realized what it was, catching everybody off guard. All attention fell on her; her eyes wide, one hand over her mouth and the other holding the box. The rest was history... He and Jo had managed to pull together a lovely ceremony. Unfortunately, their honeymoon was cut short by a case of changelings, but they were learned how to balance the hunting life with their life as a married couple.

The beginning of January had rolled around and he noticed how Jo had been acting strange. About a week into the month, a box came in addressed for her. When he inquired about it, she told him it was stuff for a friend of hers that had been addressed to her to be sent later. He didn't ask any further questions. There was no need.

If it there was one thing he knew about Jo, it was that she was always thinking about something. And sometimes, it was just plain scary to even think what went on in that pretty little head of hers.