Homework.
Dean checked on the ham in the oven and poured a small glass of whisky before going back into the library to check on the kids. Ellen was quietly reading a grimoire and Mary was watching videos.
"What are you watching?" he said.
"This guy did a prank on his roommate ... "
"Let me see that." said Dean. It was an ordinary giant spider prank. "Amateur!" he said, "So I guess your homework is all done?"
"I'm taking a break." she said.
"Yeah, you always are." he said. He glanced at Ellen.
"I did mine last night." she said.
"Nerd!" said Mary.
"Dropout!" said Ellen.
"Stop that!" said Dean, "I never have this problem with the boys. No fighting. Winchesters never fight each other."
"Since when?" said Mary.
"Don't talk back to me, Mary Jo."
"You know, only you call me Mary Jo."
"You'd prefer Small Winchester Number One?" he said.
"He only gets away with that because he's Crowley." she said.
"And maybe you spend too much time talking to him and not enough doing your homework."
Mary signed her irreverent reply.
"I know those signs. I annoy your mother a lot. Do that again and I will wash your hands with soap."
"It's just not fair, Uncle Dean! You were hunting at my age."
"Because I could shoot straight."
"Any time you want a competition .., "
"And because I had no kind uncle to take care of me. Now, do your homework."
"It's boring."
"I know, but you do it now so later in life, you can do whatever you want."
"Jack says I can do that anyway." she said.
"Not if you're not qualified."
"Jack's God. I think he can help out."
"Mary Jo, you have a brain and you need to make use of it."
"And I will, as a hunter."
"The world might not always need hunters, but it will always need the educated and useful and adaptable. Without an education, you may just find hunting is all you have."
"Fine. It's all I want." she said.
"Your father went to college."
"And left to hunt with you, because college is dumb."
"College isn't dumb," said Ellen, "You are."
Dean sighed. The girls were like sisters, but they fought like ... well, like sisters. "Ellen, why don't you play in the archives until supper?"
"Play?" said Ellen, "I study."
"Okay. Go study for a while."
"Dad, can we at least ditch the colour coding now?" she said, gesturing to the coloured tabs in the pages of the grimoire. Green meant safe, yellow meant not to be read aloud and red meant not to be read at all. "It's a long time since any of us summoned something by accident."
"Not long enough." he said, remembering Rob's adventure with a minor demon in one of the cabins.
"And almost nothing gets through the warding here anyway." she said.
"Ellen, the coding stays. Not for you. I trust you and Mary Jo, but for the boys. Because they are dumb Winchesters and they never think things through." said Dean.
"And still they get to go to Sioux Falls and I get stuck here with this library mouse!" said Mary Jo.
"You can go next time." said Dean.
"I don't want to." said Ellen, "I like it here."
"Archive." said Dean, "I'll call you for supper."
"Claire doesn't want me there, does she?" said Mary.
"Can you blame her? You were told not to play with that machete and you nearly decapitated John."
"It didn't even touch him and I was training."
"What have we told you a million times? You don't touch someone else's weapon without permission."
"In the heat of battle, there isn't always time to ask permission." she said.
"You weren't on a hunt. You need some self-discipline."
"Mom says I'll be a good hunter." she said, counting on him not to argue with Eileen.
"You don't need to be a hunter. Lots of time, lots of choices. If you get some qualifications, the choices are limitless."
"I'm a Winchester. I hunt."
"Fine, but an education will make you a better hunter." he said.
"Dad says he'd rather have you with him on a hunt than a thousand PhDs." she said, "And when has his education ever helped?"
"More often than I can count." he said, "And you know why I can't count the times, because I had no education. You wanna be a dumb idjit like your uncle?"
"You're the best hunter there is." she said.
"True." he said, "Very true. But I need footnotes when your parents talk."
"Yeah, right." she said, "You're always nagging me to study, but you've done fine with none of that crap."
"That what?"
"Like you never said crap." she said, "Why can't Uncle Cas look after us tonight?"
"Because you run rings around Uncle Cas. Because Uncle Cas is incapable of saying no to you."
"I like him."
"And you don't like me, right?" he said, "Because I make you work and think and make something of that freakishly large brain of yours. Well, that's too bad. I'm not here to be liked. I'm here to raise you right."
"So I get a degree that I can wave at wendigos? I forgot, Uncle Dean, what was your PhD in?"
"Smartassery, so don't waste your unqualified efforts on me, Mary Jo. Jules has an engineering degree and that's been useful more than once." said Dean.
"She also does pretty good field surgery and she doesn't need a piece of paper for that."
"Listen, if you don't try at school, people will think you're dumb."
"If I try too hard, they won't like me."
"I had no idea you were so sensitive to the opinions of a few brainless kids." he said.
She glared at him. "I'm not. Meg says if anyone gives me a hard time, I should snap a spine or two. It teaches the others respect."
"Don't go snapping any spines." he said, wishing he could believe it didn't need to be said, "I've told you before, Meg is not an appropriate role model."
"I love Meg."
"Your Aunt Meg has a tendency to recommend solutions that are not proportionate, ethical or legal."
"Whereas you are the epitome of calm restraint."
His phone rang. "Yes, Sam?" he said, "How's the hunt?"
"All done." said Sam, "We'll stay in Ohio tonight and be home tomorrow. How's Mary?"
"Doing her homework like a lamb." said Dean, "Enjoy your night. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."
"Would you sleep with my wife?" said Sam.
"In a heartbeat. She is hot!"
"Child present!" said Mary Jo.
"You keep telling me you're not a child."
"Only for hunting purposes." she said.
Dean spoke to Sam again, "You want me to save you two some pie?"
"From the girls?" said Sam, "I'd love to see you try."
"See you tomorrow." said Dean. He put the phone in his pocket.
"Like a lamb?" she said.
"You ever see a lamb do homework?" he said. He looked at her face, silently pleading with him. "Okay," he said, "Maybe you're tired. You can do it tomorrow. But you do it tomorrow, right?"
"Okay." she said, "You're the best."
He checked his watch. "Supper in twenty-five. At least make sure you wash up first."
"Of course." she said.
When he got back to the kitchen, Castiel was there. "How was your day?" said Dean.
"Eventful." said Cas, "Jules and the team will be back in an hour. She sent me to make sure there's some food ready. Did the girls do their homework?"
"Ellen did. Mary Jo's doing hers tomorrow."
Cas rolled his eyes. "Dean, you're too soft on those kids."
"Believe me, I tried. The kid argues like a lawyer."
"Of course she does. She's Sam's daughter."
"Next time, I go hunting and you watch the kids."
"I thought you said I was too easily manipulated." said Cas, "Maybe we should leave it to the experts."
"I am not telling my wife I can't do this." said Dean.
"She must know by now." said Cas.
"Yeah, just like the kids do, but we never say it aloud, okay?"
"Your secret is safe with me and your entire family." said Cas.
The End.