Bobby and Rufus have finished setting out the last of the dishes for Christmas Eve dinner while everyone else has settled in at the table waiting for their meal. "Well, don't just sit there, dig in!" huffs Bobby. "I may have played cook for the evening but I'll be damned if I'll play your servant too!"

Sam and Dean immediately start filling up their plates and Dean makes one up for Cas and passes it to him while Rufus hands out the drinks and inquires, "So how was that last job out in Oklahoma?"

Dean shovels a forkful of mashed potatoes into his mouth to cover his snort of amusement while Sam glares at him. "I've witnessed a lot of disgusting things over the years," answers Sam bitterly without taking his eyes off of his brother, "but watching Dean hit on that waitress was an all new low."

Dean simply smirks and points his fork at Sam. "You're just jealous because she picked me and tried to set you up with her brother."

"Only because you told her that I was gay, Dean!" he accuses angrily.

"Whatever helps you sleep through the night, Sammy," he teases with a wide grin as he reaches for his drink.

Castiel watches the proceedings with mild interest and casually notes, "I thought that Dean handled himself rather well with that woman."

Dean murmurs, "Thanks, Cas," and takes a swig of Bobby's best which he quickly chokes on when he hears the angel's next words.

"I could tell how much she enjoyed his company by the way that she kept laughing at him." Cas smiles and nods at the amused hunters while Dean clears his throat and suggests, "Okay, Cas, that's enough." Oblivious to Dean's discomfort, Cas blithely continues speaking. "She laughed a lot!"

"Seriously man," orders Dean in a harsher tone, "that's enough."

Cas' smile instantly morphs into a frown as he stares at Dean in bewilderment. "Are you upset with me, Dean?"

Sam laughs while Dean refuses to answer and sulks. "Don't worry about him, Cas," soothes Sam, "he's always a little moody during the holidays."

"Then perhaps this will help." Cas reaches into his coat pocket and withdraws a wrapped package that he hands to the older Winchester. "Merry Christmas, Dean."

One side of Dean's mouth quirks upwards into a lopsided smile as he stares down at the unexpected gift. "Thanks, Cas."

Rufus urges, "Well, go on and open it. I don't know about the rest of you but I'm kind of curious as to what an angel gives for a Christmas present."

Dean rapidly tears off the wrapping to reveal a dvd. Bobby is unable to make out the title from his end of the table and asks, "Does that say Bustin' Loose?"

Sam laughs outloud as he glances at the dvd while Dean shoots him a death glare before taking a deep breath. "No, it's Busty and Loose." He faces Cas to interrogate him. "What on Earth were you thinking? Why would you buy me a por-," he stops himself and finishes with, "an adult movie?"

"You seemed to enjoy it when I watched it with you and Sam at your family's cabin," he responds much to the boy's embarrassment. Dean quickly pales and Sam sputters, "Guys, we…we, swear, it's not what you think!"

"Yeah, it's really not," assures Dean wholeheartedly. "It's just that some cases take you down roads that you normally wouldn't travel."

Rufus shares a disbelieving look with Bobby as he sips at his drink and murmurs, "Sounds to me like that particular road should've taken a detour," while Bobby mutters his agreement.

Desperate to change the conversation, Dean jumps to his feet and walks over to a nearby cupboard. "Well, I didn't come empty-handed either." He hands Castiel a gift wrapped box. "Merry Christmas, Cas."

Cas' face expresses a mixture of surprise and delight. "Why, thank you, Dean, that's very thoughtful of you. I wasn't expecting anything; I know how busy you've been on your seemingly fruitless quest to exterminate Lucifer."

Bobby holds up a glass of his favorite rotgut and gestures towards Cas. "Somebody fill up his glass. He's not nearly full enough of Christmas cheer."

Sam offers, "We hope you like it, Cas," while Dean tops off the angel's glass. "We wanted to give you something to help you get current with the times."

Cas opens the box and gazes at its contents with curiosity. Dean explains, "It's an MP3 player, it plays music. I put some of my favorite albums on; I made sure to include Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven so you'd feel more at home." He then places the ear buds in Cas' ears and plays the first song off of a Black Sabbath album.

Upon hearing the music, Cas' expression changes from wonder to disconcerting to downright horror before he jerks his head back and yanks out the ear buds. "That is not what the stairway to Heaven sounds like! In fact, it makes no sound at all, it doesn't even creak!"

Dean sighs resignedly and pats Cas on the back as he offers an apology. "Sorry buddy, it's my fault, we were moving a little too fast for you. We'll start out a little slower next time, okay? We'll take baby steps."

"Like what?" questions Sam with a soft chuckle. "Are you going to start him out on Jethro Tull?"

Bobby leans back in his chair and looks over at Rufus. "Well, this must be fascinating dinner conversation for you. You must be thrilled that you decided to accept my invitation."

Rufus swallows down his bite of turkey as he continues to cut up the rest on his plate. "Actually, I am. If you hadn't invited me, my potential plans consisted of clearing out a vampire nest in Utah with a group of hunters or dinner at my mother's with my sister's family." He takes another bite of food while giving Bobby a pointed look. "And my mom's house was not my first choice."

"Hey, Rufus," inquires Sam, "not to be rude of anything but why are you celebrating Christmas with us? I mean, vamps and your mom aside, I thought that you were Jewish."

"I am Jewish," verifies Rufus, "but the holidays are for spending time with your loved ones and the people that you care about. Religion doesn't matter when it comes to that. In fact, Bobby and I have even exchanged a few Christmas gifts now and then over the years."

"Yeah, speaking of which," reminds Bobby, "I gave you a case of Johnny Walker Blue this year. How about returning the favor?"

Rufus scoffs, "I already did or maybe you don't remember me saving your ass from that shapeshifter last week."

Bobby grunts in disgust. "You are so cheap."

"I'm not as cheap as this whiskey," replies Rufus as he reaches for the bottle. "I can barely manage to force down another glass."

"Hey, if you don't like what the house serves then you can feel free to open up that Scotch anytime," poses Bobby.

"Nah," mutters Rufus with a shake of his head as he wrinkles his nose at the alcohol's scent before taking a drink. "I'm saving that for a special occasion. You know, one where I'm not stuck with all of you."

"The feeling's mutual," acknowledges Dean as he tips his glass to a grinning Rufus and Sam shakes his head in amusement while adding, "Nice."

Basking in the glow of what he perceives to be a warm family moment, Cas quickly lifts up his glass and toasts, "Hear, hear!"

Bobby stares blankly at Cas for a moment before turning his attention to the boys. "So what did you two get each other this year?"

Dean flashes a mischievous grin as he answers. "A case of beer and some skin mags. With Sam's game, it's probably the closest he'll ever get to a good time."

Rufus gives a low throaty chuckle and inquires, "And how about you Sam? What did you get Don Juan over there?"

Before Sam has a chance to respond, Dean answers for him in an irritated tone. "It should've been an air freshener."

Bobby rolls his eyes at Dean. "Don't you ever get tired of babying that car?"

"It wasn't for the car!" denies Dean as he glares at Sam. "Although it should have been, he practically soiled my baby!"

Sam huffs in frustration. "It was one burrito, Dean."

"It was fifty miles, Sammy!" he retorts before attacking his meal with a vengeance.

Ignoring his brother, Sam suggests, "Okay…I'd say a change of subject is in order. So Cas, what's Christmas like in Heaven? It must be amazing."

A look of pure serenity crosses the angel's face at the mere thought of the occasion. "It is a celebration like no other. Everywhere you look is filled with light, song and joy. A feeling of peace and contentment settles inside you and is so potent that you can actually feel it in the air around you. It is a holy day of wonder and reverence, a day of blessing that we all do our best to honor and remember through our actions and God's will."

"Wow," breathes Sam, his voice full of awe. "That sounds really beautiful."

Cas nods his head in affirmation. "It truly is." He surveys Bobby's house and takes in the worn furniture, faded wallpaper and battered woodwork before turning back to his friends. "This is nice too."

Dean is still wolfing down his food with gusto and is just able to be understood when he mumbles, "This stuffing is awesome, Bobby. What is it, Stove Top?"

Bobby's jaw tightens while Rufus snickers. "It didn't' come from a box," growls Bobby, "I made it from scratch!"

Dean's forkful of stuffing halts midway to his mouth as he absorbs this latest information. "Really?"

"It's true," declares Rufus as he indicates all the dishes on the table, "I helped him. Everything you see here was made with our own two hands."

"Huh. Really." Dean slowly places his fork down on the plate and peers sideways at Sam. "What do you think, Sammy? Should we take the chance and keep eating?"

"I don't know," he replies with a teasing glance at Bobby, "we might have a better chance at facing a demon."

Bobby pulls a face. "I'll have you two know that I can cook more than demons!"

Cas sifts through the food on his plate with his fork. "Demons aren't part of the ingredients, are they?"

"No, Cas," reassures Bobby wearily, "there's no demons in the stuffing." He points a finger at the boys in warning. "However, if those two don't decide to settle down, I might be serving dishes of smart ass for our next course!"

"Fine, we'll behave," promises Dean while Sam crosses his heart for good measure. "Besides," he whispers to his brother, "I don't care what's in this stuffing, it's pretty damn good!"

*****Two hours later*****

Bobby leans back in his chair and releases a sigh of fulfillment. "So, why don't we all head out to the living room to digest? I've got a movie marathon all planned out."

Rufus stands up and pats his stomach. "As long as it doesn't involve moving once we get there, it sounds good to me."

Castiel rises to follow the others. "What will be watching?" he asks eagerly. "Casa Erotica?"

Everyone freezes and remains silent at the question, unsure of how to respond except for Bobby. "What? No, of course not! I've got White Christmas, A Christmas Story and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians lined up along with a few more."

Then Bobby points an accusing finger at Cas. "And you need to change your viewing habits, pronto! I may end up in Hell one day for a lot of reasons but I'll be damned if I'll be damned because I corrupted an angel!"

Rufus points out, "Technically, Bobby, they're the ones who corrupted him," gesturing towards Sam and Dean, "so they'd be the ones going to Hell."

"No thanks," states Dean with a brief wave of his hand, "been there." "Done that," adds Sam.

Dean grins at Cas and placing a hand on his shoulder, leads him over to the couch. "Okay, pal, we need to get you back on the straight and narrow. How about if we start you off with the Charlie Brown Christmas Special?"

Rufus pops open his can of beer and groans as he settles back into the armchair. "This has to be the strangest Christmas that I've ever spent with you Bobby Singer. A house full of hunters and our viewing fare is cartoons?" He snorts in amusement. "Remind me not to invite you people over for Hanukkah."

Sam hands out the rest of the beers to everyone and asks, "Does that mean that you've changed your mind about going to your mom's house?"

"Oh, hell no!" claims Rufus vehemently before clinking his bottle against Bobby's and taking a self-congratulatory drink.

"Well as weird as it may be, it's still good to have all of you here," proclaims Bobby with a toast as he lifts up his beer. "Here's to making it to another Christmas."

Everyone leans forward from their sitting positions to clink their bottles together in agreement and Cas keeps his in the air as he announces, "I meant what I said earlier. This," he moves his head back and forth to indicate the house and the company, "is nice too. Thank you for inviting me to share your Christmas Eve."

"We're glad to have you, Cas," reassures Bobby. "You're always welcome in my home."

"Yeah, just remember to knock first," mutters Dean.

Cas almost casts a glow around the room, so pure is his joy at their accepting him as part of their family as well as calling him their friend. Seeing the happiness radiating off of him so strongly that it's almost palpable, Sam mentions, "You know, I don't think that I've ever seen you smile as much as you have tonight since the entire time that I've know you." Cas' grin widens even more. "It's kind of creepy," notes Sam with a slight shudder.

Cas' grin swiftly returns to his usual uncomfortable grimace as Sam darts an apologetic gaze over to him and Dean wisecracks, "That's better."

Bobby sits back recalling long ago holidays as he muses, "All that's missing now is a snowfall to make it a real white Christmas."

Dean tilts his beer towards the window as he shares, "Actually, Cas took care of that earlier when he called us in for dinner. Take a look outside."

Curious, Bobby heads over to the window and pulls back the curtain to scan the yard before turning back to face the room with a grimace. "Well, that's just great, Cas. But maybe next time you could make it so that it's not just snowing on my house?"

To Be Continued…