Lebanon

by Liberating Ink

An alternate universe where Dean and Cas go to high school in Lebanon Kansas. They both have plenty of trauma and work to get each other through it. While also dealing with family drama. Cas' abusive elder brothers and Dean's grieving father.

2. Chapter 2

p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 15pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"John wasn't able to keep his job after Mary died. His head just wasn't straight. Dean tried to pick up his slack, but the shop just couldn't keep John on./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I know John I've been where you are. I couldn't afford to shut down like this and you sure as hell can't. you got two little boys that need raising. What would Mary want?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Shut up Bobby."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""We're friends. I'm extending a hand out of love for you and your boys. And for Mary. Move up to Lebanon. Start a job here."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I'm just- I can't Bobby."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Why the hell not?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I don't know but I can't. I can't go back to normal. I can hardly even look at Dean. He's too much like her. I can't be the father either of 'em needs."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You're the only one they got."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""They have you." John shot back./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Bobby is quiet for a minute. A deep breath can be heard over the phone as he starts talking. "You can't ask me to do that John. I'll do it. Of course, I will. I love those boys and they always have a home with me. But you shouldn't be asking what I think you're asking."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I'm sorry Bobby. Really."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean ran back up to his room./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Is what dad said for real?" Sam asked from his bed./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean raised his eyebrows, "You should be sleeping, Sammy."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I can't. I had a nightmare."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean looked up at his little brother. He thought for a moment, looking around at his stuff. He was trying to assess his feelings about the situation. If Mom was dead did he care about leaving this house? About leaving John? As long as he had Sammy, what else did he really need?/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean smiled after a moment, "You wanna play the switch?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Sam looked up excitedly, "Yeah."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Ok get over here. But we have to keep the volume down." Dean set up Mario Kart as Sam hopped excitedly over to Dean's bed./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You gotta break on the turns kid."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Why you helping me?" Sam asked absently./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Cause you're my baby brother. Also, you don't need to turn your body that much, it doesn't actually help you."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Whatever man."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"I guess their voices had gotten a little too high, cause the door flung open and the lights flicked on. John scanned the room where Sam and Dean were sitting frozen like deers in a headlight./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Sam. You should be asleep. Dean shut that thing off. I need to talk to you." John jerked his head to the hall./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean made quick work of tucking Sam back into his bed before shutting the lights off again and closing the door softly./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I'm sorry Dean," Sam said as his eyes were fluttering shut. Dean didn't bother to ask what for, they both knew. Sam was safe in his bed, while Dean had to go face their Dad./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"John was sitting at the kitchen island sipping out of a mug. Dean could guess it wasn't coffee./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Why the hell are you rotting Sam's brain with that shitty game?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean trained his eyes on the ground, "Sam's sad. It makes him happy."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""It's a waste of time. If you want to be up you should do something useful."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Mom bought us that game." Dean bit his cheek as soon as the mention of mom slipped out. He should've known better./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"John scoffed, shaking his head, "Really? You wanna use that move? You can't use her as a shield for the rest of your goddamn life Dean. She's dead!" His voice strangled up to a shout, before reigning back in. Dean didn't even wince./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""That's not my fault!' Dean yelled back without missing a beat. John looked up at Dean like he had been slapped./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I-" He thought for a moment as Dean evened his breathing. "I- am sorry that I have… made you feel like… like you…" John couldn't quite get it out. Communication wasn't the Winchester way. He looked down at his mug, taking a swig before speaking again, avoiding eye contact. "You're gonna go stay with Uncle Bobby. You and Sam."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean shook his head slightly in amazement. But he didn't really care. If anything he was relieved. He couldn't wait to get away from his dad. "Should I get Sammy packing?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"John nodded, still not looking at his elder son. "Yeah, I think we're gonna leave first thing in the morning." Dean didn't bother to ask how long he'd be staying with Bobby. He just shook Sam gently awake and urged him to pack whatever he wanted into a backpack./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Five hours later they were on the road to Bobby's./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"That was the best summer Dean could remember. He missed his mom like crazy, but even when she was around things weren't perfect. John and Mary loved each other, but they didn't seem like each other very much./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"John opened the door and let Dean and Sam get out. He gave Sam a small hug and nodded at Dean. He then got into another one of Bobby's cars and drove away./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Bobby and Jody welcomed them into their home with open arms. They didn't discuss John Much. But Sam got to work on his summer reading and Dean got to help Bobby with the cars. Both of them got to hang out at the precinct with Jody. It was warm and surreal. Dean felt like he had lived in Lebanon his entire life./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"But the summer had to end. He half expected John to show up and drag them back to their old high school. But no, August came and Bobby enrolled them in the local public schools./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Dean! You wanna drive Sammy to school? Celebrate your license?" Dean nodded happily as Bobby tossed him the keys to the Impala./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I figure she's your car now. John doesn't seem to want any part of her. He got that car for Mary." Bobby looked at Baby sadly, before helping Sam into the car with his books./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Drive safe!" He called waving as Dean pulled out of the driveway./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean dropped Sam off at the Elementary school just down the road from the high school./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I'll pick you up after. Make some friends ok?" Sam nodded, smiling. Dean and Sam had two very opposing views on School. The Lawrence Middle school was overrun with kids who couldn't care less. But Lebanon was somehow even smaller, which meant more individual attention. More uptight teachers and dutiful students. It wasn't Dean's vibe. But Sam seemed excited to get all the attention./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The first day was uneventful. Except the Dean found himself regretting being right at how much this town's education system would suck./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Sure it was easier to focus, but the teacher spent more time talking about how Muslims were taking over the world than actually explaining the coming courses in history!" Jody and Dean exchanged amused glances. Bobby was already checked out./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Hopefully you'll be able to focus on school better and then you can spend more time researching stuff yourself. And you can join some clubs. Even make your own. There are benefits to being in a small school, even if the teachers are weird." Jody reasoned./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Sam nodded, "That's actually a great idea! Since it's so small I'm sure teachers will have time to listen to my ideas. As long as they aren't too outlandish."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean grinned, "See? It's gonna be fine."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"After Sam went to bed Dean Jody and Bobby sat on the couch watching tv./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Y'know, it's good of you to keep a brave face up for your brother, but I know you hate it here." Bobby gruffed./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean shook his head, looking appalled, "I don't hate here. Not even a bit. I love this house, my room, the garage, you guys. It's just the school. It's gonna take a bit of getting used to but I'll be alright."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You're a good kid Dean," Jody said, smiling fondly./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean nodded politely but didn't internalize the complement. Arguing would just bring himself more attention./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Two weeks into school, kids had started pairing up for homecoming. Dean hadn't even been thinking about it when Lisa asked him. She was in his Bio class. She was the type of girl who wasn't afraid to ask for what she wanted and stand up for herself, but she was still soft and warm. Dean said yes, happily./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Bobby and Jody seemed slightly surprised, but smiled and were happy to take him shopping for something to wear./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Even though he was stoked about getting to hang out with an extremely attractive and smart girl who was actually interested in him, Dean felt overrode with disappointment when he looked around and realized that Cas wasn't there./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yeah, this really isn't something the Shurley's come to. You guys eat together every day. He didn't tell you?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean shrugged, "We don't actually talk."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yeah he's not really a talkative guy," Lisa muttered./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean raised his eyebrows, "You got a problem with him?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Her eyes grew wide, "No! Actually, he's really sweet. Some of his siblings aren't great though."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Huh. Hey, I've been meaning to ask how many siblings does he have anyway? Cause I've counted like eight already."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Lisa nodded, "Yeah. I don't know exactly how many. I wanna say at least ten. They're not related though. They're foster siblings."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Isn't there a law against having that many foster children?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Lisa shrugged, "I think their dad was a weird guy. He fudged something to get them all. Different people have different theories… I think he was just cripplingly lonely." Lisa cut off, staring off into space for a minute. She then shook herself back to reality and looked up at Dean, "Hey, can we not talk about this anymore? I don't have all the facts and this kinda feels like gossip. You should ask Castiel about this stuff."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean nodded, "yeah sure." They stood at the corner of the gym for a while. Dean did his best not to let his eyes linger on Lisa. Her dress was a neutral pink that made her skin look so inviting. Her hair fell in waves down her back and shoulders, clipped behind her ears. He wanted… something from her. He just didn't know what. It seemed too early in the night to kiss her. Especially after that last conversation. But Dean wanted to be closer./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You wanna dance?" Lisa suggested, putting her cup down on one of the tables, using a sharpie to write her name on it. God, he even liked the way she wrote her name. Block, readable letters. Without any stupid frills or hearts over the I. That was a weird thing to get caught up on because he for some reason found it really attractive. Simply how practical and down to earth she was./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yeah, that sounds good." She grinned at him, pulling and walking onto the dance floor. She didn't give him bedroom eyes, or smile shyly over her shoulder. She didn't even take his hand. She just marched into the center of the room and started dancing, letting Dean do his part to keep up with her./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"They barely touched during the fast songs, occasionally she'd stumble into him, or more likely he'd nearly topple her. She'd just grab his shoulder and laugh as they both regained balance. When a slow song came on, Dean expected she'd want a break. Her face was flushed and her shoes had been abandoned with their coats. He turned to head back to the table but she grabbed his arm./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Hey, I like this song." Dean looked around to see other, mostly older, couples slow dancing. He looked down at her nervously./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Lisa shrugged, "Only if you want." Her words gave him a choice, but she didn't hide in her voice and her eyes that she wanted him to stay with her./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean only nodded and moved into her space, holding her back as she rested her arms around his neck. Slow dancing is barely dancing. Waltzing, sure. But what they were doing, was just hugging while swaying. And Dean was obsessed. Dammit, he really liked this girl./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"After that dance was over they grabbed drinks and headed to the courtyard to cool off. The gym was loud and sweaty and they both needed air./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Thank you for tonight," Lisa said, sitting next to Dean, leaning her head on his shoulder. He felt heat run up his chest neck and radiate off his cheeks./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Right back at you." He said awkwardly. She stifled a laugh into his shoulder. They were silent for a while, sipping punch. Until she sat up and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"It didn't surprise him, it was pretty clear the night was going that way. But it still sent a shock of warmth through him./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She was staring at him, unapologetically, but patiently. It was a clear act; she wanted to kiss him, but he didn't half. He could just smile and they could go back and nothing had to change./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"But closed their distance, kissing the corner of her mouth. This one was a little longer, and after he pulled back, a small smile could be seen tugging at the corners of her lips. Finally, she brought them back together, initiating a deeper kiss, square on his mouth. And for a few moments, he lost himself in her./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Castiel had no right to feel jealous. He barely spoke to Dean, and Lisa was a wonderful girl. He wouldn't be going to homecoming anyway. But it caused a strange pit in his stomach when he thought about it. He was fairly aware of his attraction to men, but that was no excuse to be so hung up over one person who was basically a stranger./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean came back to school the Monday after homecoming practically glowing. Happiness looked good on him, so Cas barely minded./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""So are you and Lisa dating now?" Cas asked, once again ignoring his meal./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean laughed, "No. I mean, I wouldn't be opposed to that, she's amazing. I just don't think she's really big into the whole idea of dating. Especially not as a freshman. And you know what? I don't think that's such a bad thing. I'm glad she was my first date, first kiss. But I don't need to marry her now?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Cas's heart somehow sunk farther into his stomach. "You kissed?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean nodded, "Yeah. It was fucking awesome dude. His lips were so soft." Cas didn't comment, but he did subconsciously wet his chapped lips./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"This was ridiculous, Cas knew that. He barely knew Dean. Apart from that, he had a little brother he was amazing with, and that he willingly sat with Castiel at lunch every day despite Castiel being perhaps the least popular person in the grade. And the fact that he made out with Lisa Braedon and isn't using that to increase his status. Maybe he should give Dean more attention. Even if the other boy wasn't capable of feeling for Cas what Cas felt for him, at least they would be close, and Cas would be able to properly sort out his feelings./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Would you like to do something this weekend?" Cas asked looking up from his book./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean looked startled, but nodded, "What sorta thing were you thinking?" Dean asked./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Cas frowned, "I don't know. I've never done this before."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Done what?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Spent time with someone who wasn't a sibling outside of school." Dean tried not to let his reaction to that show on his face. He didn't want to make Cas feel weird./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""That's ok. I'll think of something. But really, the best thing two dudes can do outside of school together is just hanging out. We can go to my place or your place or hang out at the mall or something./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I wouldn't recommend my house. I don't think I'm allowed to bring friends home."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean nodded, not questioning. "Alright then. Don't worry I'll take the lead. It'll be fun." Dean flashed a blinding grin before the bell wrung and was gone, leaving Cas looking out of sorts./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"On Friday Castiel simply didn't meet his brothers at the bus stop. Naomi said it was fine as long as he found his own way home. Cas figured Dean could drop him off./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Sammy! You're sitting in the back." Dean said on Friday. Cas reached for his buck hesitantly./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""He doesn't have to, I have no-"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You're a guest. Guests sit in the front." Dean said, waving him off. Castiel nodded and watched Sam run across the lot to their car, waving goodbye to a blonde girl who was playing with the other kids./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean grinned as Sam got into the car. "Who was that?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Who?" Sam asked innocently buckling himself in./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean rolled his eyes, "The blonde girl giving you doe eyes."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Sam blushed, "That's Jess." Dean smiled knowingly at Cas./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Sorry for the mess," Dean mumbled self-consciously, opening the door for Cas. Cas simply shook his head to mean that he didn't mind, but was taken aback at how disorderly the house was. And it was perfect. It was the kind of messy where you could tell the inhabitants still knew where everything was. The walls were painted warm brown. It smelled like Beer and Gasoline. There were footprints on the floor and up the stairs. The window was open allowing a soft breeze in, letting the curtains sway ever so slightly. Sam ran off to his room with his backpack, leaving Dean and Cas alone./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You ok?" Dean asked uncertain, noticing the look on Cas's face./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Castiel smiled and nodded, "You have a lovely home."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean swallowed and looked away dismissively, "It's not really my home. I mean I live here but all of the good parts about it. That's all Bobby and Jody and Sam."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Cas turned to look at Dean assuredly. "You're wrong. You contribute to how wonderful this house is."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"And well poor Dean didn't know what to say to that. So he just scoffed and muttered whatever, hoping Cas wouldn't take offense. But Cas was already on another topic. "So. What do we do now?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean shrugged, "You wanna play some video games?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"As it turned out, Cas had never played Mario Kart, which Dean found devastating. The two of them played for a while, and when Sam finished his homework he joined them./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You wanna stay for dinner?" Dean asked./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You should just stay the night," Sam commented. Dean threw him a look./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Cas glanced at Dean with uncertainty. Dean cleared his throat, averting his eyes, "Yeah you can- you can stay as long as you like."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I've never had a slumber party before." Cas mused casually. Dean choked and Sam started laughing historically. "What did I say?" Cas asked looking between the brothers, bewildered./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Sam shook his head, "Aww man. You're cool. Have fun with your slumber party Dean. Maybe you'll uh, have a pillow fight in your underwear and bake some cookies."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"After he was gone Cas turned to Dean, "Why would we have a pillow fight in our underwear?" Dean raised his eyebrows at Cas, trying not to let the image of Cas in his boxers seep into his mind./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Uh, it's just… never mind. C'mon it's time to eat."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Do you want to call your parents and ask if it's ok for you to stay the night?" Jody asked as Dean and Sam did the dishes. She somewhat planned a situation where she could integrate Cas with minimum interruption from Dean. He could still hear them but what would he do about it?/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I don't have a phone," Cas responded./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Oh." Jody frowned slightly. Lots of kids don't have phones at 15. She didn't when she was his age. But to be fair that was a different time. "You can borrow mine?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Cas nodded, "Alright."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Shurley Residence?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Hello, Zachariah this is Castiel."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Hello, Castiel. Should I give the phone to Naomi?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yes if you don't mind." Cas heard the phone being passed to his sister./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Castiel?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Hello, Naomi. I am calling to ask if I can stay at the Singer's for the night."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""That should be fine. But you must be home tomorrow."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Alright."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Goodbye Castiel."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"And the phone clicked off. "That's it?" Dean frowned, handing the phone to Jody. Castiel nodded./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I didn't realize you were a Shurley," Jody commented. Sam and Dean both glanced at her with mild surprise./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yes."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jody nodded looking like she wanted to ask him a question, but refrained, "Alright you guys can go do whatever you guys do./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Cas shared a bed with his brother, so he didn't understand why he felt so strange sharing with Dean. Not bad, strange, just strange. But Dean fell asleep quickly and Cas was left to ponder this in silence./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""This one?" Dean slowed the car down, nodding to Cas's house. Cas nodded. It was the only house in sight. Samandriel and Hael could be seen playing in the grass. Dean glanced at them as he pulled the car to a stop a few yards away. "How many siblings do you have anyway?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Cas trained his eyes on his youngest siblings, "technically, 19 including myself. But only seventeen live with us." Dean's jaw dropped slightly./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Seventeen in that house? And your parents?" Cas glanced at him confused./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""No one told?" Cas was mildly suprised. That sort of gossip usually reached newcomers quickly. "My father left us."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean mentally kicked himself. "Oh. I'm… sorry."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Cas did his own muted version of a shrug, "It was a long time ago. My older siblings raised me." Dean nodded in understanding./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Well, no wonder we're friends." He grinned, giving Cas a light punch on the shoulder./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Cas furrowed his eyebrows. "Why?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""We're co-founders of daddy issues anonymous." That got a small smile out of Cas./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What happened to your father?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean sighed, "Grief. Substance abuse. Depression, paranoia."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""That's why you're living with the singers?" Cas filled in./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yeah. They're pretty great."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Cas smiled, "They are." Dean and Cas looked at each other for a while. Neither of them wanted to look away, analyzing each other's subtle eye movements./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean was the one to break the contact and he found himself missing it instantly, "Alright get outta here."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Goodbye, Dean." Cas closed the door gently before walking away./span/p