Author's note: Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Tendencia, Maddy Love Castiel, CassXDeano, Keefer, kb18142, musicfiend2392, CherylB1964, Avalonemyst, Pizzapig, L. Greene, SARA1988, FireChildSlytherin5 and Piren for last chapter's reviews!

25

January 4th, 2019

You, Toshio and Sophie are having a "re-match" with uncle Dean today. I'll probably never stop teasing him about how long it took my fearless big brother to dare and babysit the three of you on his own again.

"I want dad to stop dating," Gabriel whispered to his two best friends where they were huddled together in the corner of the living room. The archangel had told his friends that he wanted to speak about something and his uncle had insisted that they had to stay where he could see them. That was why they had decided to sit as close to each other as possible, so the adult wouldn't overhear what they were talking about.

Toshio and Sophie looked at their friend like they didn't understand what he was talking about and to be honest they didn't. The archangel had told them that his father had gone out a few times of course, but he had never complained about it before.

"But mom says she still knows a few women he will like," Toshio replied. He actually didn't care if the younger Winchester did or didn't date at all. He knew that for some reason his mother cared about it though and when she was on to something it was very hard to deter her.

Gabriel considered that for a few moments before he shook his head determinedly. "Dad is never happy when he comes home again. I don't want him to do that anymore!"

For some reason Sam had allowed Mari to arrange more dates for him. Well, it had been nearly impossible to say no to her after saying yes that one time. The second blind date had already been organized before the younger Winchester had been able to tell her that he didn't want another one. After that Mari had always found another good reason why he really should just get to know that very nice woman she knew.

That day he was having his fifth date. At least, they were meeting for some coffee in the afternoon which hopefully meant that there wouldn't be a repeat performance of date number three's try to immediately make him stay over night.

"You w-will n-n-never have a mommy," Sophie pointed out thoughtfully. She couldn't imagine growing up without her mother, but of course her mother had been around her entire life.

Gabriel shrugged, "I don't need a mom. I have you and Jody and Val."

"That's enough women," Toshio agreed, nodding very seriously. Hell, Sophie was already one girl too many for the little boy's taste, but she had been around for a long time and generally wasn't all too girly, so that was okay most of the time.

"Okay, that's enough," Dean suddenly commented loudly from his place on the couch, "If you are planning to bury my body in the backyard you might at least be more subtle about your plotting."

He had no idea what they had been talking about, but the older Winchester just had to assume that they were trying to come up with a way to get him bound to another chair or something worse. Last time he hadn't been prepared and had paid the price for it. This time he had come prepared!

"You never bury a body in your own backyard," Toshio replied without missing a beat.

Gabriel nodded along with what his friend was saying, "The police will immediately suspect you."

"And C-C-Cookie might d-dig you up," Sophie added with a nearly devilish grin.

Dean wasn't quite sure if he should be impressed that the three kids were thinking this logically, or if he should be very scared. Then again, he knew that the three of them had this thing for playing detective lately and he was sure that Gabriel loved his uncle by far too much to want to get rid of him.

"Okay, point taken, guys," the older Winchester stated, raising his hands in defeat, "So, what were you talking about? It's not nice to leave others out of the loop and not very smart to try and hide something from the guy who has power over all sweets for the next few hours."

The three children looked at each other for a few moments before Gabriel nodded slightly and they stood up and went over to the couch to include the adult into their discussion.

"D-D-Dates," Sophie explained, elaborating a little after the older Winchester gave her a puzzled look, "We were t-talking about dates."

Alright, maybe Dean didn't want to have a part of that conversation, after all. He wasn't quite sure how much about relationships Sam had ever explained to Gabriel and he had no idea what exactly the other two would know, so he was walking on thin ice here. If he accidentally mentioned anything about the birds and the bees that was even slightly more graphic than anything their parents had already told them, he would definitely be in trouble.

"Should every man have a woman?" Toshio asked, not noticing the slight distress he was causing the adult with the question. He thought it would be good to know what another man thought about that, though. His mother definitely believed that Sam needed a woman, maybe Dean would see things differently?

"Uh…" the older Winchester replied ineloquently. He really was only trying to stall until someone hopefully came up with a question he could answer more easily.

"No," Sophie answered the question for him in her best lecturing tone, "My u-uncle Jake has uncle Christopher and they are h-happy."

Gabriel nodded along with that thoughtfully. Right, not every man needed a woman. But Sophie's uncle had a man instead of a woman which meant he still had somebody. So, the real question was if every man needed someone else to be happy.

"Good point," Dean agreed. So, the fact that some families didn't have a man and a woman in them wasn't new to any of them. The older Winchester couldn't remember exactly, but he didn't think that he had known that homosexuals even existed at the age of eight. Then again, he had known a lot of other things then. Somehow, the thought of John Winchester sitting him down to explain to him how some families had two mommies or two daddies and possibly going into more detail was more frightening than the talks about monsters had been. "Why are you thinking about things like that, anyway?"

"Because Toshio's mom wants daddy to keep dating and I don't," Gabriel explained seriously, fixing his uncle's eyes with his own in the way that made Dean think that the little boy might be reading his mind. He obviously really wanted to know what his uncle thought about all of this, anyway.

The older Winchester exhaled soundly, partly in relief. So, the complicated questions about relationship dynamics were actually not so complicated questions about Sammy going on dates. At least, it was a topic Dean was pretty sure he could talk about with the kids.

"He's never happy when he comes home and I don't want dad to have to do something that doesn't make him happy!" Gabriel elaborated without being asked, because he already knew the question was coming.

"There are things in life you have to do, if they make you happy or not," Toshio stated in a tone that made clear that he was repeating something he had heard from his parents, most likely a hundred times over, "Like going to the dentist or cleaning your room."

The little archangel looked at his best friend like he had just explained a completely foreign concept to him, which to be honest he had. There wasn't much Gabriel ever had to do if he didn't want to, after all.

"Uh… First, you're right there," Dean started with throwing Toshio a little bone, because there was quite a lot of truth in what the boy had just said for most people, "But dating isn't exactly one of those things. Not if you're doing it right, anyway."

The older Winchester realized his mistake even before the three children looked at him highly interested. He had just told them that there was a right way of dating and that he knew how that worked. Damn.

He worked hard to at least bite back the comment about how Sam clearly was doing it wrong, if he wasn't enjoying himself at all. Hey, Dean could have told his younger brother how to get a good time out of a bad date, but Sam's moral standards would stand in the way of that, anyway.

"Okay," the older Winchester shrugged. What the hell, he had said too much already, anyway. "Look, the thing is when you're dating the wrong people it sucks pretty badly and that's why Sam doesn't look happy when he comes back. Dating the right people doesn't suck… at least not in a bad way."

"How can something suck in a good way?" Gabriel immediately demanded to know.

Of course, the kids couldn't just miss that little bit of innuendo that had slipped past Dean's inner censor when he hadn't paid attention. Well, he didn't have to censor himself all that much usually, it was no wonder that he was out of practice!

"I'll tell you when you're older," the adult promised, hoping that his nephew wasn't seeing any of the pictures he had on his mind that very moment. That would be too much information for sure. That the boy didn't give him any disgusted or freaked out looks spoke for him respecting the privacy of Dean's mind, luckily.

"Mr. W-W-Winchester needs the right p-person," Sophie concluded, "Mommy says the r-right person is one who m-makes you smile and s-someone you can argue with and still l-love them."

That explanation was one of the reasons why the little girl didn't freak out every time her parents got into one of their rather loud arguments, the main reason she didn't worry too much was that most of the time their fights ended with one or both of them saying 'I love you' anyway.

"That sounds good," Gabriel agreed, nodding thoughtfully, "And she has to like me and Cookie and sweets."

"And she has to be smart," Toshio added, "Your dad knows a lot, he won't want a stupid woman. And she shouldn't want more kids, 'cause siblings suck."

Sophie nodded along to that. They all were only children, but everyone in her and Toshio's class who had siblings only complained about them, especially younger siblings. Dean came close to commenting on that point, but he really didn't want to get involved into the topic any more than he had to.

"C-Cousins are better," the little girl stated decisively, "My u-uncles are adopting."

The older Winchester really didn't like the look the little archangel was throwing his way after hearing that piece of information. Maybe he would have preferred being bound to chairs over this, after all.

"Uncle Dean…?" Gabriel tried to start a question, but he didn't get any further before he was rudely interrupted.

"Who wants cookies? Boy, do I want cookies!" Dean nearly jumped off the couch and hurried toward the kitchen. He just hoped Sam had enough sweets at home to distract the kids for however long it would take until they came up with another topic.

"No wonder your son wants to ban you from ever dating again, if you always look like this when you come back," Dean said with a snort as soon as he laid eyes on his younger brother.

He had allowed the three children to go to Gabriel's room to continue their plotting after more and more things the older Winchester couldn't or shouldn't comment on had come up. The last thing he had heard was that Toshio's mother probably wasn't selecting the women Sam was meant to date carefully enough and that someone else should try instead.

Being the good brother Dean generally was he didn't dream of warning his younger brother that something might be coming his way there.

"He what?" the younger Winchester frowned. Then again, after his recent experiences he would welcome it, if Gabriel clearly said that he didn't want him to date again. That was something he could and would respect. Alright, it was something he'd shamelessly use as an excuse to stop trying.

"Gabe thinks daddy is not enjoying himself and shouldn't date anymore," Dean elaborated a little. He wasn't going to say anything more about this, however. He really didn't want to talk to Sam about his feelings concerning the topic. That's what Jody and Bobby – and possible Balthazar – were for.

"Marriage is not a word I want to hear on a first date, especially before we even get our coffees," the younger Winchester replied a little defensively. How was he meant to enjoy himself when the dates Mari arranged for him all just went badly? The first one wouldn't shut up about her ex, the second one had been okay but rather boring, the third one had wanted to drag him to her bedroom immediately, the fourth one had seemed to have some deep seated issues with men and the latest one had wanted to drag him to the altar as quickly as possible.

"Did you at least get laid?" Dean asked casually.

The bitchface his younger brother threw his way was answer enough for that question. The intensity of said bitchface made pretty clear that it hadn't only been the last date that had ended before anything had happened, too.

"Sometimes I really worry about you, Sammy," the older Winchester stated with faked concern, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder, "Those blue balls will kill you some day."

Sam didn't say anything and simply gave his brother a moderately forceful punch to the upper arm. He might have wanted to rant about how not everyone was a sex-addict a little, but hearing footsteps on the stairs had forced him to make a quick, nonverbal reply instead.

Gabriel looked at his father critically for a moment before he hugged him tight. He didn't look any happier than he had the last few times and that only made the boy's resolution to do something about that stronger.

"It was a boring afternoon, Gabe," the younger Winchester answered the unasked question, "I'm glad to be home again."

The three kids exchanged a short look between them. 'Mustn't be boring' got added to their mental checklist for suitable dates for Sam immediately.

Apparently, you and your friends had so much to talk about that you didn't have any time left to give uncle Dean hell. I am a little curious what you were discussing, but I guess you'll tell me eventually.