The next day at school, a new girl arrived. Bela Talbot. Cas told Dean she went freshmen year, but moved that summer. Everyone seemed to have an extreme aversion to her and when Dean asked why, Cas gave a lame its-complicated-I'll-tell-you-later answer. He got even less than that from Gabe and Balthazar.
Dean didn't feel like waiting.
Lucifer's gang had been eyeing her since she'd stepped through the double doors and—she hid it well—but Dean could tell they made her nervous. So at lunch, he asked her to sit with him. As she followed behind him, Balthazar shot him a dirty look, Gabe put his face in his hands, and Anna and Cas grew tense, leaving Dean wondering what the hell Bela had done to make even them hate her.
"Bela," he introduced, "This is Anna, Gabe, Balthazar, and Cas. "In case you don't remember."
"Castiel," she said slowly. "I've never heard anyone call him Cas."
She took a seat by Dean and by Cas. He tried to ignore the daggers Balthazar was shooting at him.
"So you were here freshmen year?" Dean asked.
"Yes," she said, beginning the process of picking apart her hamburger's bun. "I wasn't fond of the place, but apparently my parents were, because we moved back here from California."
"Stab many backs in California?" Gabe asked.
Dean shot him a look.
"Not many worth stabbing there," she responded lightly.
A small girl with malicious eyes and dark hair came to sit between Anna and Bela. "Talbot," she said. "Since you're back, Crowley was wondering if you still plan to hold up your end of the bargain."
"Oh, please. Why should I? That was ages ago, and he didn't do his part."
The girl's eyes narrowed. "You're a liar, Bela Talbot. You're a liar and everyone knows it. Crowley did exactly what he said he would."
She smiled sweetly. "Tell Crow and Luci I say hello."
The tiny girl stood and stalked off, straight back to her table.
"What was that about?" Dean asked, feeling completely lost.
"Old times," she said vaguely. "It really doesn't matter."
Next block, Dean had Algebra II, which mainly consisted of Uriel giving him death glares. Before Dean got out the door after the bell rang, Uriel cornered him briefly and said, "If you think you're going to get in that bitch's pants, you're an idiot. Or is little Castiel trying to befriend everyone again?
Before Dean could snap back at him, the dick bag was gone. Why did Cas get brought into everything?

She'd been eyeing him since class started. He had no idea why—she was homeschooled for the most part and uninvolved in the complicated hate-web. So why was she staring?
"That looks very nice, Tessa," Mrs. Milton said from behind her.
"Thanks. I can't quite get the legs right, though."
"Hmm…maybe if—"
"Mrs. Milton, I need your help!" another student said from across the room.
"Castiel, could you come here and help Tessa?" Mrs. Milton asked.
He gripped his red colored pencil a little too tight before getting up to go to Tessa so Mrs. Milton could assist the other student.
"What do you need?" he asked her, even though he'd already heard.
"I can't get the feet right."
In front of her, she had a dead, stuffed crow. "It's my father's," she explained. "I think he was trying to be funny when he got it. Funeral home, crow. But I thought it would be cool to draw."
"Birds are nice," Castiel agreed. "You're drawing in higher contrast than the natural light," he said. "if you continue that contrast, then there are some spots where you wouldn't be able to distinguish the feet from the branch."
"Oh…I see what you mean. That helps. Thanks." Castiel turned to leave, but Tessa asked, "What're you drawing?"
"A feather."
"Just a feather? That's too simple. What else?"
Cas sighed quietly. "A red feather. On a piece of a broken mirror, so there's the reflection. I'm trying to work it so the reflection has the sky behind the feather."
"That sounds cool," she said. "Not many people would think of that. Not from around here, at least."
Cas gave her an empty smile and hoped she'd let him leave, but no such luck.
"Dean inviting Bela to sit with you might've caused some trouble," she said, low.
Cas frowned. She didn't eat at school—how had she known that?
"A lot of people aren't happy about it, and you were there, so they'll probably want to take it out on you."
"I know," he said simply.
"You should go straight home."
"I always go straight home…"
"I mean before dismissal."
Cas canted his head to the side. "Why?"
She smiled sadly at him. "You're a bird, Castiel. Truly. You shouldn't let anyone keep you in a cage."
She bent her head back over her work and didn't say anything more. What she said ate at Cas all through last block, but once again, he ignored his gut.

"So, you think you're going to get cozy with Bela now that she's back?"
One of Lucifer's followers had him cornered—he'd forgotten the boy's name, not that it mattered—and this time, there was a knife.
Castiel got all the luck.
"I guess sit makes sense—two traitors."
Cas didn't bother denying anything. There was no point. And it probably did make sense from their perspective.
"You know, he never forgave you. Bela completely ripped him off and then to have you stab him in the back like that…that was just low."
"I can't take it back," Cas said, because the boy seemed to be waiting for him to say something.
"You're right. You can't. And it's about time you got some payback."
The lean boy dove at him with the knife and Cas narrowly avoided a stab to the gut. He'd be lucky to make it out of high school alive at this rate.
The kid charged him again and Cas turned and sidestepped, but he felt the cool blade cut across his back and thought being attacked with a knife should phase him, but no, somehow this felt like just another day in the life of Castiel Novak.
"Hey!"
How had he not seen that coming? Dean was sprinting over, no doubt he'd seen the knife, and all Cas could think was, He doesn't have a weapon.
"Back off, Winchester," the boy warned.
"Why? Afraid of someone bigger than you?"
The logical part of Cas' brain kicked in just then, saying, Dean can't be more than two inches taller.
"You really think it'll be fair?" the black haired kid asked.
Dean didn't need any more encouragement. He raised an arm and before the boy could move to defend himself, Dean's fist smashed into his jaw. He managed to hold on to the knife and tried to strike Dean, but Dean grabbed his arm and bent it at an unnatural angle. The boy dropped the knife and opened his mouth to scream, but Dean slammed him against the brick wall, knocking the wind out of him.
"If you so much as squeal, I will knock your teeth out," Dean threatened. "If you ever touch him again, I will fucking kill you, I swear to God."
As far as Cas could tell, Dean wasn't kidding in the slightest.
Dean shoved him into the wall against. "Do you understand?"
Lucifer's footman nodded shakily and Dean pushed him away and he immediately took off running. Dean tossed the knife in a dumpster and took Cas by the shoulders. "Did he get you?"
"Um…barely," Cas said, figuring Dean would know if he was lying.
"Where? Is it deep?"
Cas turned his back to Dean.
"Shit," Dean snapped.
"It's not that bad—"
"Somebody just came after you with a knife, Cas—"
"After you invited Bela Talbot to lunch! You could've at least told me you were going to do that so I could skip out—"
"Are you kidding? That's what this was about? That was all me!"
"Don't you get it? It doesn't matter! Everything is my fault, in case you haven't caught on."
"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," Dean said.
"Yeah, well, despite the high test scores, this is generally a pretty stupid place."
Dean sighed. "I'm sorry if this is my fault, okay? Can I at least have a closer look at your back?"
"It's fine—"
Dean squeezed his shoulders. "Stop. Saying that."
Cas frowned, but kept quiet.
"Enough 'it's fine', 'I'm okay', 'it's nothing'. Someone just attacked you, Cas. Like, attacked you."
"I know."
Dean threw his hands in the air. "I give up. Turn around."
Cas obeyed and Dean inspected the cut through the slice in Cas' shirt. "Here," he said, handing Cas his jacket. "Don't worry about getting blood on it."
"I'm fi—"
"I know 'you're fine', but I want my car to 'be fine', too."
"I can walk—"
Dean grabbed the navy jacket from Cas and manhandled him into it. "Please, shut up."
In the parking lot, not everyone was gone yet. Cas saw Lucifer standing beside his red Camaro with Lilith hanging on his arm. He looked up in time to see Cas and Dean walking to the Impala and from a few cars down said, "Fuck you, Castiel. Fuck. You."
Dean lifted his arm and gave Lucifer the middle finger before getting into the car.

"I don't need stitches," Cas insisted as they pulled into his driveway.
"Well, you need something," Dean said.
"Yeah. A boyfriend who will listen when I say, 'I'll tell you later'."
A hint of a smile danced around the edges of Dean's mouth.
"What?" Cas snapped, mildly irritated that Dean found something amusing in this situation.
"That's the first time you've called me your boyfriend."
"Well, you're not my girlfriend."
Dean sighed and pursed his lips. "Fine. No stitches. But don't do anything strenuous to make it bleed again."
"As long as your dad's home tomorrow night, that shouldn't be a problem."
"And what about tomorrow after school?"
"I guess we should hope that Sam decides to bring Jess home right away," Cas said.
"Or we hope not and just be very careful with you."
Cas placed a chaste kiss on Dean's lips. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Could I come in?" Dean asked. "Until Sam's done at Jess's?"
"My dad's home," Cas said, hand on the open car door.
"Pleeeeease." Dean gave his best puppy face.
"Leave the puppy eyes to your brother," Cas said teasingly.
"Thirty minutes?" Dean tried to bargain.
Cas raised an eyebrow.
"Twenty?"
Cas didn't budge.
"Fifteen?" Dean leaned a little closer. "Ten?" Cas didn't move. "Seven?" Dean stole a kiss and broke into a smile.
"Very funny," he said against Dean's lips, but he let him indulge.
Dean slipped his tongue into Cas' mouth and snuck his hand under Cas' shirt. Cas shifted his position and pulled the door closed again.
Dean kissed his way down Cas' neck and pulled his shirt collar down to suck a mark onto Cas' collarbone. Cas let his head fall back and Dean moved back up to Cas' mouth, biting the boy's lip playfully.
"I really need to get inside," Cas said several minutes later.
Dean kept kissing his neck, breath tickling Cas' skin when he said, "Are you sure?"
Cas moaned and twisted reluctantly away. "Yes, I'm sure. And if you don't get home, your dad might get suspicious."
"Then I'll see your ass tomorrow," Dean said.
"You wish."
Dean grinned as Cas leaned in for one last kiss that may or may not have lasted the better half of a minute.
"Don't forget to marinate the steaks," Cas said before shutting the car door.

A few minutes after Dean got home, AC/DC started blaring from his pocket and he pulled his phone out to see who was calling.
"Hey, Jo!"
"Hi, Dean!"
"Why'd you call?" he asked, flopping onto his bed.
"A couple of reasons. One, we need to finalize when you're coming over, and two, Garth has a girlfriend!"
"What? No way. When did that happen?"
"Just today," Jo said with a smile in her voice.
"Who is it? Do I know her?"
"She's the new girl that showed up a couple days before you left. Charlie Bradbury."
"The fiery little redhead?" There seemed to be a lot of those in his life. Anna, Amy from Doctor Who, and now Garth's girlfriend.
"Yup."
"With all the geek shirts?"
"Dean."
"I'm just kidding. So did he grow some balls and ask her or what?"
"Well, she's a little bit out of place, mostly because she's insanely smart, and so at lunch today, Garth asked her to come sit with us and apparently after the bell rang and we all left, he asked her out!"
"Since when did he even like her?"
"We don't know. But apparently they have World History together, so I guess it might not be totally out of the blue. So, yeah. How's life in Nebraska?"
"Ha. Nebraska. Well, it's not as boring as we thought."
"What's going on?" she asked, picking up on the undertone in Dean's voice.
"You know how Cas is really…quiet?"
"Yeah."
"Well, he's really bad at socializing because basically everyone here hates him because of something that happened before he started high school and it doesn't even pertain to him—"
"What was the something?" she asked.
"Shit, I don't know if I can even remember it all right."
"Try." He could almost see her leaning in closer and crossing her legs.
And so he gave Jo the convoluted back story to why Nebraska was not, in fact, a simple, boring place, and all about how Cas continuously paid for breathing too many times in one hour, or for a bitch fight breaking out, or if Dean invited the wrong fucking person to sit at their table at lunch.
"But you don't know what he did?" Jo asked after he finished.
"What do you mean?"
"Nobody hates someone that much without an actual reason."
"Cas didn't do anything except try to be friends with everyone. And he' snot the bad guy in this situation—"
"I never said he was, Dean, but everyone makes mistakes and maybe a couple years ago—"
"No."
"Okay, fine. He's okay, right?"
"Yeah, the kid just got his back. But if I hadn't shown up—"
"Calm your ego."
"Shut up. I'm just saying, that kid might've killed him."
"I don't think so," Jo said. "If it's—who did you say?—Lucifer and Zachariah calling the shots and they wanted him dead, I'm pretty sure they would've done it themselves. Or at least been there to watch."
Dean frowned. "I guess."
"Do you want me to come up there?" she asked.
"Nah, you don't need to. It felt good just to talk to somebody else about it."
"Hey—idea. What if over break we came there instead of you coming here?"
"You want to subject yourself to this insanity?"
"It's not like we'll have to meet anyone who isn't one of your friends."
"I guess if you want," Dean said. "I could ask my dad if you could stay here—I don't think he'll be home anyway."
"Great. I'll check with the guys. Oh—and do you mind if Charlie comes?"
"Fine by me," Dean said. "That still doesn't even out the girl-to-guy ratio."
"Shut up."
"Fine. Find a hotel."
"Fine, I won't come.
"Fine."
"So, we'll probably head out Friday."
"Awesome. Call me if plans change."
"I will."
"Bye."
Dean smiled to himself. He couldn't wait till Thanksgiving break.
"Shit!" He jumped out of bed and ran downstairs to start marinating the steaks before he had to go back into town to get Sam.

"Do you want to catch a movie tonight?" Gabe asked at lunch, popping a Tootsie Roll into his mouth.
"Sure," Anna said.
"I don't have anything else," Balthazar said in his usual half-interested tone.
"I've got a family dinner thing," Dean said.
"You know Thanksgiving's next week, right?" Balthazar mocked before taking a swig of said 'water'.
"Haha. My dad's not gonna be home for Thanksgiving. But you guys are all invited next weekend. Jo, Garth, Adam, and Ash are all coming up. Oh, and probably another girl, too—Charlie. Garth has a girlfriend now."
"Good," Anna said. "It'll be nice to have some female company."
"Will your dad be around then?" Balthazar asked.
"No, he picked up a case and he's leaving this Sunday."
"Thank God. My parents are taking break off and I was worried I'd have to hide the alcohol and actually partake in family activities."
Anna rolled her eyes. "How tragic."
"What about you, bird boy?" Gabe asked. "Are you up for a movie?"
"Um, I've got a still life and a painting project due before break and I'm gonna have to work on them at home—they're not anywhere near finished."
"Ah, Castiel," Gabe said with a sigh. "Faithful artist…student, whatever."
Anna eyed him warily and as the lunch bell rang, she whispered, "Liar," in his ear before winking at him and hurrying to class.
"What was that about?" Dean asked.
"Anna's spidey senses were tingling," Cas said dryly.

Dean laughed. "You're learning."
Cas didn't bother asking what that was supposed to mean.
"Hey, how's your back?"
"Fine. Speaking of, I'm not going to Economics today."
"What? Why?"
"I just don't want to put up with Lucifer. I want today to be a…good day." Plus, he didn't want to chance an afterschool meeting with Mr. Roman again.
Dean gave him a one-sided smile. "Fair enough. But you're going on Tuesday."
"Yeah, fine," Cas said.
"I'll see you after school. Oh—I have to make up a PE class after. Just…wait in the car. It'll only take like ten minutes."
"You haven't missed any school recently," Cas said, bewildered.
"Nah, this is from a while ago. Mrs. Braeden's been nagging me about it. He held his keys up for Cas to see. "Can I trust you with my baby?"
Cas gave Dean a look that all but flat out said, You're ridiculous. "I'm not going to drive off."
"'Kay." He placed the keys firmly in Cas' hand. "And, please, try not to get beat up before I get there."
"I'll do my best," Cas said solemnly.

Cas may or may not have gone directly to the Impala after Dean gave him the keys. Missing one Latin class wouldn't kill him. He dumped his book bag in the front and crawled into the backseat to sleep for a couple hours—he liked the Impala better than his bed; it smelled more like Dean.
Cas reached for his bag in the front seat and pulled out Dean's jacket from the day before. He'd cleaned it up, but didn't want to give it back just yet. He covered his top half with it and snuggled into it—November wasn't exactly warm. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep like that.

Cas startled awake at the sound of a door being opened, but he remembered he was in the Impala and it was just Dean.
Dean glanced over his shoulder. "Have a nice nap?"
"Umm…yeah."
Dean started the car before turning again. "You gonna make Sam and Jess sit separately, or…?"
"Oh—no, sorry." Cas got out of the back and came to sit in the passenger seat, moving his bag to the floor. He'd left Dean's jacket in the back and reached around to grab it. "Here," he offered. "I cleaned it. No blood."
Dean titled his head, considering. "You keep it for a while."
Cas didn't argue.
They drove the short distance to the middle school and Dean parked the car.
"Should Sam and Jess be here?" Cas asked.
"Jess had a test to make up," Dean said. "And Sam was gonna wait for her. She won't be too long now. Maybe another fifteen minutes."
"Oh."
Dean smiled like something was funny.
"What?—Oh." Realization dawned on Cas.
Dean laughed and leaned over to kiss him. "You're adorable," he said.
"Shut up."
"Bossy," Dean noted. He entwined his fingers in Cas' hair and they somehow managed to arrange themselves so Dean was sitting in the passenger seat and Cas was in his lip, straddling his hips.
"You know, we can ditch the dinner," Dean suggested as Cas trailed down to his collarbone.
"Tempting," Cas said as he rocked slowly forwards. Dean moved his hands to Cas' hips. "But we're cooking—what would they eat?"
Dean kissed up to Cas' temple. "I don't know, but I could eat you."
Cas broke into a laugh and dropped his head to Dean's shoulder.
"What? Ugh, that was supposed to be sexy—"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Cas apologized. "Here." He picked up at Dean's jaw line, but when he got to Dean's mouth, he lost it again.
"Dude, did you take happy pills or something?" Dean questioned.
"I'm sorry—I don't know—" He couldn't stop laughing. What was wrong with him? It wasn't that funny.
"I could've been a lot more specific," Dean said. "Like, 'I don't know what they're having, but I'm going to throw you in the microwave and eat your easy mac ass' or 'I'll put my turkey in your oven' or—"
Cas laughed even harder and Dean started laughing, too. They tried to keep going several times, but it got to the point that they couldn't distinguish kissing from laughing.
They were interrupted when Dean's phone rang and he showed Cas the text and if they weren't both in one seat in a car, they would've toppled over.

Jess is done so if youre making out stop

"C'mon," Dean managed. "I've gotta get back—in the driver's seat."
"How'd you even get under me?"
"Let's see…if you…you could crawl onto the dashboard…"
They started laughing uncontrollably again and should've realized all hope was then, but they kept trying to get into their original seats and Cas ended up on the floor while Dean half-crawled-half-wiggled to the driver's side, but it was all for nothing because Sam was standing outside the car with his palm plastered to his forehead and Jess beside him. Through his laughter, Dean gestured for them to get in while Cas climbed back into his seat.
"The food tonight better be flawless," Sam said. "Jeez, Dean."
"I didn't make out with myself!" he said defensively.
Cas covered his mouth in a suppression attempt, but it failed miserably when Sam shot back, "Yeah, but twenty bucks says it was your idea." Dean, of course, lost it all over again, too, and it was several minutes before he could actually start driving.
"Oh, Jess—on a serious note, don't tell anyone Cas was over tonight. As far as the world knows, it's just you, me, Sam, and our dad."
"Sam told me," she said.
"Good. You two'll be on your own until the food's done, and when Dad gets back, make sure you're not upstairs."
"Got it," Sam said. "And Dean? Since Dad's gonna be gone on Thursday, I was wondering if I could go to Jess's for Thanksgiving."
Dean nodded slowly. "Yeah…that should work." He turned to Cas. "Are you doing anything Thursday?"
"No. My dad's leaving for Idaho on Tuesday."
"What does he even do?" Dean questioned.
Cas shrugged. "I've never bothered asking."
"Well. If you want to come over, we can have our own Thanksgiving."
"Sure. But…what would we eat?"
Dean burst into laughter and Cas grinned. He was getting the hang of humor.
When they arrived at the Winchester's house, Sam and Jess made some popcorn to take upstairs with them and Cas laid his Latin stuff out on the table.
"Dude, what are you doing?" Dean asked from where he was leaning against the kitchen counter.
"I slept through Latin. While the food's cooking I thought—"
"Whoa whoa whoa. There are other things we'll be doing while the food is cooking."
"Dean!" Sam snapped from in front of the microwave. Jess giggled.
"Relax, Sammy," Dean said.
The younger Winchester shook his head and poured the finished popcorn into a bowl, then he and Jess disappeared upstairs.
"So," Dean said. He picked up Cas' Latin and put it back in his book bag. "Now that the young ones are upstairs—"
"We'll start on supper," Cas finished for him.
Dean sighed. "You'd be very good at strip tease."
Cas opened the fridge, searching for the steaks. "Would I?"

So Cas did a lot of the food preparation and Dean did a lot of mildly distracting things. Cas started boiling a pot of water for the pasta salad and Dean wrapped his arms around his waist, hugging him from behind. Cas got a little tense and Dean added it to his list of Cas things. He didn't know when he'd started keeping a mental list, but he had.
"You don't like people coming up from behind you," he noted.
"Sorry. Bad experiences."
"Nobody here's gonna do anything to you. Relax. You're way tense."
Cas didn't exactly relax, but he did get a little less tense. Dean kissed the back of the base of Cas' neck and moved to where his shoulder and neck met. He gave a playful bite and Cas spun out from between Dean and the counter. "We have to finish this," Cas said, pulling a spoon from a drawer.
"Dean frowned. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, I just…I don't want to mess the food up."
"Okay," Dean said. "I'll be serious." But in his head, he added another tally. Times Cas has lied.

Two hours later, the pasta salad was being chilled in the fridge, the steaks were on low heat, a massive bowl of lettuce was in the fridge, a pot of boiled potatoes and carrots were covered on the stove, and Cas was just putting a bowl of fruit salad in the fridge.
"We have three salads," he said, a comically serious expression on his face.
"One's pasta, one's fruit, and one's just lettuce. It's fine," Dean promised.
Cas didn't seem to hear him. "Pasta and potatoes are both carbs—is that okay?"
"Cas, chill."
"The gravy's not done yet!"
Dean grabbed Cas' hands and made him look at him.
"I have to set the table."
"Cas. Go sit on the couch. Jess and Sam will handle the gravy and setting the table."
Cas' eyes widened. "Is your dad allergic to anything?"
Dean took his face in his hands. "I would've told you. Now go sit down." He turned Cas toward the living room and gave him a little push.
"Sam!" Dean called up the stairs. "Dad's gonna be home in less than half an hour. Why don't you and Jess come down and heat up some gravy and set the table."
"Coming!" Sam yelled back.
Dean went into the living room and sat on the sofa beside Cas. "Turn around," he said with a gesture.
"How much did he hate me after he caught us?" Cas asked.
"He doesn't hate you. He was surprised. Now turn." He placed his hands on Cas' shoulders and helped him move so he was cross-legged with his back to Dean. Dean's own back was against the arm of the couch.
"You seriously need to relax." He started massaging Cas' shoulders and at first Cas' muscles stayed rigid and mostly unresponsive, but after a couple minutes, he loosened up.
"That feels good," he admitted.
"That's the idea."
"What time is it?"
"We've got a few minutes."
"Beef gravy or chicken gravy?" Sam asked from in the kitchen.
"Pick one," Dean said. Then to Cas, "I'm not taking Jess home till eleven, so we'll have a couple hours after dinner."
"Can we spend it like this?" Cas asked.
Dean smiled. "If my hands would work that long."
He heard Sam and Jess laughing in the kitchen and everything seemed very much alright.
"You know, if my dad doesn't love you after tonight, he's crazy."
"All I did was make food," Cas said. "And you did half of it."
"Half? I stirred when you said stir, handed you seasoning, and said 'ah' when you said 'taste this'."
Cas stuck to his previous statement. "Half."
Dean shook his head. "C'mere." He pulled Cas back gently until that mess of hair was pressed against his chest and slipped his arms around Cas' torso.
Sam and Jess came into the living room and they managed to squeeze in side-by-side on the recliner.
"The table's set and gravy ready," Sam affirmed.
"What time is it?" Dean asked.
"Around six-fifteen."
"He better hurry up."
"So what's on the menu?" Jess asked. "Sam said you two had to go to the store last night.
Dean gave Cas a friendly poke. "Well, this guy went all Master Chef on me and wanted to have something from each food group and we had to get some weird tropical fruits—"
Cas rolled his eyes. "Mango and passion fruit aren't weird. And you're the one who said no to fruit fluff."
"If you ate lunch at school, you would understand my aversion. Bad experiences."
"Passion fruit is good," Jess said. "My mom gets it a lot."
"See?" Cas said. And to Jess, "Thank you."
"Okay, so that's one person who think sit's not weird. Besides you."
"Dean," Sam said. "I never said it was weird. You were the only one."
"And apparently I'm the only normal person here."
Just then, they heard the front door opening. The four of them scrambled up and went to stand in the kitchen moments before John did.
"Smells good," he said. "You must be Jessica." He shook her hand and she flashed him a smile.
"Do you prefer John or Mr. Winchester?" she asked.
"John, please." He moved on to Cas, "Hello, Castiel," and shook his hand, too.
"Mr. Winchester."
And then Dean's dad actually smiled. "You can call me John, too. The circumstances when we last met were…not ideal." He shot Dean a fleeting look. "I apologize."
No, Dad. I didn't tell him that you suspected one of his dad's fuck buddies was involved in Mom's murder.
"So," John said. "What's for dinner?"
"Consider it an early Thanksgiving," Dean said. "Cas made a bunch of stuff—went all out."
"I helped," Cas said quickly. "It was a joint effort."
"He's modest," Dean said. "He did most of it."
"Jess and I slaved over the gravy," Sam piped in.
"Hours and hours," Jess added. "And that was just opening the can."
After they all had food on their plates and were sat down at the table, Dean started to get a little worried, seeing everything that could go wrong. Maybe Cas' paranoia was wearing off on him.
"So, Dad," Dean said. "Since you're gonna be gone, I was thinking Jo, Garth, Adam, and Ash could come here on Friday."
John raised his eyes. "That's quite a drive."
"Yeah," Dean said. "It was Jo's idea. Originally, I was just gonna go down there."
"And where would they stay?"
"Here."
John paused mid-chew. "Hm."
"The living room's plenty big," Dean supplied.
"And Sam would be…"
"Actually," Sam spoke up, "I was gonna go to Jess's Thanksgiving."
"Which is on Thursday."
"My family was actually going to leave on Thursday. We're going to my aunt's—she lives like four hours west of here," Jess said lightly. Dean shot Sam a look; his little brother had failed to mention this part.
John nodded slowly, chewing even slower. "And how long would you be there for?" he asked calmly.
"Just a couple days," Sam said.
"Well." John took a long sip of water. "As long as her parents are going."
"Duh," Sam said before catching himself. "I mean—of course they are."
"I cleared it with them ahead of time," Jess said. "And they said as long as you approved, it was okay."
"Then, I guess I approve." John smiled, not so tensely. That could've been bad.
Dean shot his brother another look. Thanks for telling me. "So, Dad. What about the Lawrence gang?"
"If the house is empty…just them?"
"Yeah." Dean moved his leg, brushing it against Cas'. "Just them."
"Alright, then. So we all have Thanksgiving plans. What about you, Castiel? This steak is excellent, by the way."
Cas smiled. "Dean marinated it. I just threw it in a pan."
"You told me what to put it in, though," Dean said.
"Either way, it's delicious. Perfectly done. Now tell me—what are your plans over break."
"Um." Cas took a sip of water before lying. Which, admittedly, Dean had pushed him into. "I'll just hang around my house, probably. My dad's on a business trip and it's just me and him, so. I might marathon some Classic Who."
John's brow furrowed. "Classic what?"
One of those rare, special smiles touched Cas' lips. "Doctor Who. It's, um, it's a TV show. It started in the sixties and then BBC picked it up a few years ago. The Old Who was kind of dubbed Classic Who."
"I see." He obviously did not. "Well…if you're not doing anything—or if you get bored with Classic Who, then you can come over here."
Dean perked up immediately. "Really?"
John nodded. "I reacted badly. It's fine if Cas comes over."
Dean got the feeling that Bobby might've plated a part in this, but he didn't ask. "Awesome."