The entire Cohen clan went out to one of the nicest restaurants Balthazar had ever eaten at—it specialized in steaks and barbeque, the latter of which somehow didn't shock him at all, and the whole restaurant was decorated with a Western theme, but it was still decidedly upscale with the waitstaff running around in black ties. The usual patrons, on the other hand, were more often than not still in Wrangler jeans. It was an odd contrast, but he found he didn't mind. Besides, once his steak arrived he stopped caring about anything at all, least of all the strawberry blond who'd somehow managed to end up at his elbow.

More than one person was there from the rodeo, and a good number of people ended up approaching the table to ask for pictures or even autographs from Chuck or Mike or Nick. They took it all in stride, something Balthazar probably wouldn't have been able to do, but the Cohens, he gathered, were used to it. "Girls hit on the twins all the time," Rachel confided from across the table as Mike and Nick both greeted a small gaggle of people. "You can't blame them, right?"

Balthazar had rather suspected that, and glanced back at Nick for a moment. He was aiming that thousand-watt smile at a pretty brunette with a rather adorable set of dimples. He fought down a surge of jealousy and looked back at Rachel. "Does it bother you?"

"Not really. I know Michael's married, not buried, but he's a good man. I know he wouldn't cheat on me."

That was probably a good thing, but Balthazar wondered about Nick. Did he ever hook up with one of those girls? It wasn't any of his business, after all—there was nothing between them, Nick was straight, and Nick was single, so he wouldn't be doing anything wrong—but somehow, he didn't really think Nick was the type.

When the twins finally got a chance to sit back down to their dinners, they had practically gone cold. "That's the price you pay for fame, I guess," Nick said with an overly-dramatic sigh.

"The rodeo circuit is hardly the Oscars," Chuck pointed out.

"It is for some people," Mike countered.

"Daddy, who're the Oscars?" Inias asked, tugging on Mike's sleeve.

"Oscars? Oh, you mean like what Granddad said? About the Oscars?"

"Yeah."

"Well, the Oscars aren't people, it's the name of an award."

"Could you get the Oscars?"

Mike laughed. "With my looks, I probably could, but I don't plan on it. You get them if you act really well in movies or write a really good script or direct a movie. They're basically movie awards. And they're more formally called Academy Awards."

"What Academy?"

Mike opened and closed his mouth. "I'm not really sure."

"The Academy of Motion Picture Arts an' Sciences. They decide what the best movies are every year an' all the best actors an' directors an' writers an' costumes an' things like that," Rachel said.

This seemed to stun Inias into an awed silence as he contemplated what it would be like to have that much power. June giggled at her cousin's expression but quickly hid it in her plate of chicken fingers.

The twins ended up greeting a few more people before they finally headed back to the hotel. Chuck, Ellen, and the children were apparently going to sleep, but the rest of them—Balthazar and Castiel included—were going back out. Sam grinned and said there was a karaoke bar that they often went out to in order to celebrate a good winning streak at the rodeo.

While the parents were putting their respective kids to bed, Balthazar went back to his room to change. He wanted out of the baggy Wranglers he'd bought during one of the few excursions to Tulsa and into his regular jeans that showed off his ass better. He also put on a V-neck underneath the flannel shirt he'd worn that day, leaving the other shirt completely unbuttoned now. It was a decided improvement, he thought—he might even flirt with a pretty girl tonight. There was no reason not to have some fun, considering Cas was probably going to be all over Dean tonight. If it got his mind off Nick, so much the better.

"I forgot 'subtle' wasn't really your thing," Cas muttered once Balthazar reappeared in the lobby.

"What are you implying, exactly?"

"Your clothing might as well be screaming 'Fuck me.'"

So what if they are? "Too bad the only two people here who might have been interested are more interested in each other."

Castiel opened his mouth—to contradict him, Balthazar hoped—but then closed it again. "So this isn't just to catch the attention of anyone in particular?"

"Of course not. I know when I'm not wanted. But we are going out in public, to a bar, and there's no harm in testing the waters out there, is there?"

"I suppose."

"Who's ready to take off?" a voice from behind them said—Michael, swinging the keys to the van around his finger. "Catch!" Abruptly, he flung them, and they sailed over everyone's heads, landing in Sam's outstretched hand.

Rachel and Nick were following close behind Mike, and maybe it was wishful thinking on Balthazar's part, but he thought he saw Nick giving him an appreciative once-over. But a moment later, Nick's eyes were out the door as he headed out with the rest of their small mob, and Balthazar was sure he'd imagined it.

The Lord is testing me. The last thing he wanted to be reminded of right now was just how attracted he was to Taz, but of course, the man had somehow managed to find the time to change his clothes, and now he looked gorgeous. His jeans were tighter—he could look at that ass all day—and the layered shirts gave him a kind of careless appeal. The color of the V-neck made his eyes stand out, and the way he was smiling right now made the corners of his eyes crinkle up a bit. He didn't exactly have a type aside from "smoking hot," but there was no denying that Taz definitely fit in that category. He only let himself look for a second, though. There was no sense in torturing himself. Taz had made his feelings clear enough over the past week—he was only here to do a job, and the moment it was over, he'd be gone. Lu didn't want to waste his time pining after someone who wouldn't look twice at him.

So he followed Mike out of the lobby, pretending he'd barely noticed Taz.

Sam had driven to this particular bar so many times that he didn't need the navigation on his phone anymore. That was fortunate, really, since the mood in the van was so upbeat that they probably would have distracted him from his phone anyway. Dean wasn't a very good copilot—he kept swiveling around in his seat to make some off-color remark or, Lu couldn't help but notice, just look at Cas. He wondered if he was the only one to pick up on that, or if it was just his own heightened gaydar.

Then again, everyone else was so wrapped up in their own worlds that maybe he was the only one who saw it.

The bar was only a few short miles away from the hotel, which was how they'd found it in the first place. The bouncer didn't even bother to check their IDs anymore—he knew who they were by now. They melted into the crush of people near the stage and joined the party that was already in full swing.

"A karaoke bar," Balthazar murmured, shaking his head slightly. For some reason, he thought they'd been joking, but apparently not. True, it was a dusty little honky-tonk type of place, but there was a couple drunkenly singing along to some country ballad he wasn't familiar with onstage and a whole queue of people in front of them, cheering them on. He hadn't really taken them for the type to frequent a karaoke bar, but today had been full of surprises already—he'd actually enjoyed himself at the rodeo.

Sam and Dean quickly posted up at a tall table with Cas joining them soon after. Balthazar noticed that Sam's drink seemed to be just soda, meaning he was probably the designated driver. Lu, Mike, and Rachel all had their own drinks in hand in front of the stage, and Mike had his arms flung over both of their shoulders. It actually made for a nice picture—it was clear Michael very much loved his brother and his wife. Balthazar turned away from the happy groups and made his own way to the bar.

He squeezed in next to a blonde and ordered a shot of tequila and a Jack and Coke. He knocked the shot back and went to head over to Sam's table before he realized that the blonde next to him was Jo, and her fingers, below the bar, were interlaced with Anna's. Odd. He went to where Cas was sitting with the Winchesters and set his drink down. He contemplated bringing Jo and Anna's apparent couplehood to their attention but decided against it—if, for some reason, it would get them in trouble, he didn't want to be the one to rat them out.

The night went by in strange intervals. At one point, Jo and Anna joined them, dragging two more stools over to the table and crowding around; there was barely enough room for four, but six was out of the question. They made it work by scooting incredibly close, although they all had to push their chairs out a little.

Then a guitar riff that seemed strangely familiar started playing, and in between the whooping of the various onlookers, Sam grinned. "Looks like the twins are up."

"How can you tell?" Balthazar asked. He was on his third Jack and Coke and was more interested than he probably should have been.

"This is 'Rodeo' by Garth Brooks. They always sing it," Sam explained. "Them an' Rachel. Look."

At that moment, Michael brought the microphone up to his mouth and sang, "His eyes are cold an' restless, his wounds have almost healed." Balthazar was both annoyed and impressed. It wasn't fair that someone with Mike's looks would have a voice to match. It would be doubly unfair if his brother sounded just as good or better.

Nick sang the next line, gesturing to Rachel as he did so. "An' she'd give half a' Texas just to change the way he feels." Balthazar wanted to punch him. He also had a gorgeous singing voice.

Rachel raised her microphone next. "She knows his love's in Tulsa, she knows he's gonna go. Well, it ain't no woman, flesh an' blood..."

All three of them sang together now. "It's that damned ol' rodeo! An' it's bulls an' blood, it's the dust an' mud, it's the roar of a Sunday crowd. It's the white in his knuckles, the gold in the buckle he'll win in the next go-round. It's boots an' chaps, it's cowboy hats, it's spurs an' latigo. It's the ropes an' the reins an' the joy an' the pain, an' they call the thing a rodeo."

"They seriously do this every time?" Balthazar asked.

"I guess they think it's clever or somethin'," Jo said, taking a swig of her beer. "They're all huge dorks, though, an' you can't convince them to change their song, but at least they can sing at all."

He had to admit that she had a point.

Michael was singing again. "She does her best to hold him when his love comes to call..."

Back to Nick. "But his need for it controls him an' her back's against the wall."

Rachel's voice contrasted nicely with theirs. "An' it's, 'So long, girl, I'll see you,' when it's time for him to go."

Mike laced his fingers through hers, looking right at her. "Y'know the woman wants her cowboy..."

Rachel sang back, "Like he wants his rodeo!"

As the three of them started singing the chorus again, Balthazar couldn't help but comment, "Nick looked awkward up there, didn't he? Maybe he wouldn't look so out of place if he had a wife up there, too."

Sam nearly choked on his drink. "Um, I don't think Nick's gonna get married, maybe ever."

"Why not?"

"He's not the type," Sam said shortly, as though he'd realized he shouldn't have said anything at all.

"It'll drive a cowboy crazy, it'll drive a man insane..."

"An' he'll sell off everything he owns just to pay to play again."

"An' a broken home an' some broken bones is all he'll have to show..."

"For all the years that he spent chasin' this dream they call rodeo! An' it's bulls an' blood, it's dust an' mud, it's the roar of a Sunday crowd..."

Balthazar got up and went back to the bar as the song finished up. His drink was empty and he wanted to wander away casually anyway because the trio onstage would most likely be joining their table soon and he didn't really want to try to fake a conversation with Lu. And what exactly had Sam meant by him not being the type to get married? Not even a week ago, the man had been telling him that if his ex hadn't left out of nowhere, they'd be married now. Had something changed in the past nine years?

Above the hubbub at the bar, he heard a female voice say, "Hey, cowboy. Can I buy you a drink?"

The voice was too far away for her to be talking to him, but he peeked around another patron anyway to see what was going on. Not ten feet away, a young woman in Daisy Dukes and a cowboy hat was smiling up at Mike, who already had two drinks in his hand.

"Thanks for the offer, ma'am, but I've already got my drinks."

"Well, how about a dance then?"

Persistent, isn't she? Balthazar couldn't tell if she was a rodeo follower who knew who Mike was, or if she was simply incredibly attracted to him. It really could have been either one.

"I don't want you to get the wrong idea about me, ma'am. You see, I'm married, an' I love my wife with all my heart. That's her over there, the blonde standin' up. So I'm gonna have to turn down your offer, but I'm sure you'll have no problem findin' someone else to dance with you. My brother's single," he added as an afterthought. "He's that light-haired one over there, next to my wife."

Another stab of jealousy twisted in Balthazar's gut. That wasn't fair—but he bit his tongue and kept watching.

The woman's smile slipped a notch but she nodded anyway. "Thanks, but I like guys with dark hair." She paused for a moment, as if deliberating, and then added, "You know, your wife's a lucky woman. You're faithful an' honest an' polite. She really hit the jackpot with you, didn't she?"

"She would probably agree with you, ma'am, but I feel like I'm the lucky one, bein' with her. Anyway, you have a nice night."

"You, too." The woman gave a halfhearted wave and wandered away, and Balthazar was left staring after Mike as he went back to the table. He didn't want to admit it, even to himself, but he rather liked the Cohens, especially Chuck. He'd obviously instilled in his sons a true value of family. Mike had barely even looked at the woman, didn't even have to think about turning her down.

So why wasn't Lu the type to get married?

MAYBE BECAUSE LU IS BASICALLY A MASSIVE HOMO AND SAM KNOWS BECAUSE THEY FRICKLE-FRACKED (actually in this story's canon they totally did and I was hinting at it YAY SAMIFER). Also in which I finally get some femslashin' in.