"Hi." Jack said when Dean answered the door. Emma had messed up her hair again, and added a black leather jacket. Cas sat down as Dean served the food.
"Dad, can we go into the other room?"
"Yeah, just make sure you don't get food on the carpet." Dean said. Emma and Jack took their plates and vanished into the TV room.
"So, Dean…" Castiel said awkwardly. "Uh… tell me more about you. You said you grew up in Lawrence?"
"Yup. Just a few miles away."
"And you have a brother who went to Stanford?"
"Yeah. He's a lawyer over in California. He's married too."
"Parents?"
"Uh… my dad died in a drunk driving incident. My parents had been split, and my mom was missing, so my brother and I were orphans for a while, but she just came back."
"That's odd." Castiel said. Dean laughed lightly.
"Yeah, yeah it is."
"What happened to Emma's mother?"
"We're divorced. I had an alcoholism problem, but I've been sober for a while. I've actually been married twice, and I have two kids. Ben is in college in Illinois, and obviously Emma is seventeen."
"You lied." Castiel frowned.
"Huh?"
"Being sober- that's for Emma's sake, isn't it? You're not actually sober, you just claim to be. You're still an alcoholic. I'm sorry to tell you, but Emma knows." Castiel said sharply. Dean felt his confidence vanish. He wanted to disappear. "I'm sorry."
"No, it's fine." Dean sighed. They sat in silence. Castiel stared at him, his piercing blue eyes reading Dean's face like a book.
"I've had problems with addiction also. A different type, but it still hurt me and my family." Castiel said. "After Kelly died, I had no one. My aunt and siblings vanished, my brother in jail, my father drunk in an alley somewhere. I thought it was my fault, so I turned to self harm. Jack… he stopped me. He showed me that the world is worth it, and that I shouldn't be afraid anymore. Everything that happened in my life was up to them, not me. And the only thing I can do now is raise my son."
"He's going to college in the fall." Dean said.
"I'll miss him, but now I know I can survive." Castiel said.
"Would you like to meet again?"
"Yes."