Dinner was a more lively affair. After a simple lunch of leftover chicken, rice, and carrot sticks, Olivia pulled out all the stops for the evening meal. A perfectly medium roast beef with roasted potatoes, mushrooms, and onions graced the platter she carried out of the kitchen at six that evening. Another trip to the kitchen revealed the fluffiest mashed potatoes they had ever seen, softened butter, gravy, and sauteed green beans. It was all the brothers could do not to drool at the smell.
They spent their evening regaling each other in the different memories they had. Olivia told them about their happier childhood and showed them more pictures, like the three of them at a pizza joint for one of Dean's middle school birthdays or both brothers being Olivia's dates to prom. Olivia gushed about how she was the envy of every girl at the senior prom and how it had been a special treat for her to have both of her brothers in town at the same time. Both of them had to admit they all looked stunning; the brothers wore matching black tuxes with royal blue cumberbunds and bowties, and Olivia's floor-length midnight blue ball gown was studded gorgeously with fake gems.
"Bet you can't tell that I've got a gun strapped to my calf, huh?" she teased, and both brothers smiled. Gorgeous and packing, that sounded like a Winchester.
Sam's bittersweet favorite picture was when Dean and Olivia had visited him and Jessica at Stanford and they all wore matching ugly sweaters at the girls' insistence. During Olivia's stories, he also learned that the Jessica she remembered had not died; since Olivia had been watching them, she was able to protect Jessica from Azazel and allow her to escape. Sam had broken up with her, though, when he went back to hunting, but they parted on good terms. In her memories, Olivia kept in touch, and Jessica had been working at a museum and had a husband and young son. One of their Christmas cards peeked out of the back of the photo book, but Sam didn't look at it.
Dean, on the other hand, couldn't help laughing at the picture of Sam, Olivia, and Dean at Plucky Pennywhistle's Magical Menagerie where Sam had the biggest smile on his face. Olivia explained that Sam loved Plucky's and would ask to go whenever they could when they were younger, and both of the younger siblings would spend hours in there while Dean and their father worked. Olivia was baffled when Dean explained why that was so hilarious and blurted out, "But Sammy, you love clowns! You wanted to be one when you grew up!"
This, of course, caused Dean to fall out of his chair laughing, and Sam chuckled weakly, "Amazing what having someone to go into Plucky's with me did for me." The younger brother couldn't help but genuinely smile, however, when he saw Dean laughing so hard, even if it was at his expense. He noticed that Dean's eyes looked a lot softer and he smiled more in Olivia's pictures than he had ever seen, and the laughter was even more out of the norm for him. Sam attributed it to both Olivia's taking good care of the alternate Dean and Sam and the fact that her presence had stopped him from experiencing certain difficult events. But even now, her presence was a balm on the two of them. He was sure she had her share of traumas and bad stories; for the moment, though, the good was overshadowing the bad.
In the back of his mind, he knew that she'd have to face her status as Heaven's Most Wanted soon. But for now, over roast beef, potatoes, and homemade snickerdoodles, they were at peace, swapping stories both simple and grandiose and enjoying the company of their family.