Chapter 11

"We've been invited to dinner on sunday," Dean said.

John pushed a few of Bobby's books aside and sat down. "You should go then," he said, "These parts have been quiet for a while."

Dean smiled, "I said 'we' father, you, me, Sammy and Bobby; all of us."

John sighed, "I've only just come back from 'Italy' mayy I have a faw days rest before being thrown into the social scene?"

Dean shook his head, "No. You've been away for a long time, and a lot has happened," he said, "Sammy got accepter into university, with a scholarship," John tensed, "I quit my job at the castle and I'mnot working here with bobby. And Henry invited us for dinner after mass."

"So Sam is leaving, you dropped a well paying job and this 'Henry'... what's up with him?"

"He's courting Dean," Sam said from the doorway, "Not in so many words, but judging by the letters, the doctor, the gifts, the dinners... I'd say he's courting Dean," He said with a typical little brother grin on his face.

"He's not 'courting' me," Dean said flustered. John chuckled at the expression on the face of his eldest. "And dad, Sam going to university would allow him to become a real lawyer. Even if he does not hunt, he would have access to libraries and contacts that we could only dream of."

"Bobby has access-"

"I've only got access to the general stuff, not the legal documents, law codes and so on," Bobby grumbled from his desk, "Sam has worked hard for this opportunity, and so has Dean. And keep in mind, just because he's going to schoo doesn't mean he's giving up on hunting. Someone has to take over this desk at some point. My eyes are getting old."

Sam was about to say that he was sure as hell giving up hunting, but the look Dean gave him shut him up. As smart as he was, sometimes he was just dense. Dean was just saying what their father needed to hear for Sam to be allowed to do as he so desperately wished.

"Is that right, Sammy?"

"Yes sir," Sam said with a nod.

John nodded, "It seems this part of London is rather silent, these days," he said again, "It seems the supernatural population has caught on to the Singers and Winchesters are living here again," he mused, "But this dinner, and tell me about this suitor of yours. Marriage in sight?" He smirked.

Dean groaned, "Firstly, he's not courting me!-"

Sam laughed and sat down, "'Henry' would be the king," Sam said. John's eyebrown rose. "Who at some point for whatever reason invited Dean to join him and his company for a hunt, having heard his reputation as the best hunter in his court and has been taken with his 'golden locks', 'glowing skin' and 'magnetic eyes' -"

"He did not say that!" Dean yelled.

Sam laughed, "If you actually ever even bothered to read his letters, you would know, would you not? So for some reason Dean quit his job, and next this we know, the house is being flooded with letters and gifts- and Dean returned tham all, only for the king to return them to him. Then Dean fell ill, he sent his own personal doctor - several times. I'm not quite sure how he is involved with my scholarship, but he is," Sam said, convinced, "And they've been having dinner twice a week ever since."

"Last week," Dean bit through gritted teeth.

John just sat there with an expression frozen in surprise at what his sons were saying. Could his world get any stranger? The King of England was sniffing about his eldest sons skirts- or breeches as it were. What was next?

~*~

When they arrived after mass on Saunday it was side by side on each their magnificent horse. Chevy, John's stallion, was not quite as fine boned as Impala, but bigger. Bobby's mare was a black English pureblood- Impalas mother, and Sam had a young red horse that was skipping with exsess energy. The stable boys took care of the horses, "We'll se them on the eastern field, Mr. Winchester. Will you be leaving at your usual hour?"

John was about to reply, but Dean spoke up, "Yes, Mike, and as always, call me Dean."

The young stable boy grinned, "Yes sir, Mr. Dean."

Dean just rolled his eyes and led his family to the room they were dining in. When they arrived, it was to see Henry on his knees, talking to a dark haired little girl. Something he said made the girl squeal joyously and leap into his arms. The king hugged her tightly and kissed her brow before he sent the skipping girl off with her caretaker.

"You daughter?" Dean asked.

The king turned, seemingly slightly surprised at being alone, "You're early," He said. Then he smiled. That Dean arrived early surely had to mean he was eager to see him.

Dean blushed, "Yeah..." he said and shuffled his feet. While his father looked at him like he had never seen him before, and Bobby rolled his eyes and Sam restrained a chuckle, Henry merely thought he was adorable.

Henry swept the hunter into a warm embrace, which Dean, to his pleasant surprise, returned.

John noticed that the hug lasted longer than that of a simple greeting- and then some, but he held his tongue. He had just killled a male siren who fed by having sex with young boys in the vatican city. Seeing the king sweet on his son harldy rattled him. He was certain, that even with his physically advantiage, the king would not- or could not for his son to do anything he did not please. Judging by the king's flushed face as they parted, this was as far as bodily contact be counted, that they had gone. Courting indeed.

"Yes, that was my daughter Mary," he said. "I'm sorry if I made to sound I was unhappy by your early arriaval. I was merely surprised as Dean is usually -"

"Late?" John asked.

Henry smiled, "Fashionably," he added.

"John Winchester."

"Henry Tudor," Henry replied as they shook hands. He also greeted Sam and Bobby.

The food came as soon as they sat down. Henry had actually talked to Martin himself and picked out, and tasted the various things he wanted on the table. While he had kept his hands well away from the actual cooking, he had a feeling his Chef was a tad amused by his need to please and impress Dean and his family. Henry rarely found it hard to impress people, but the Winchesters, if Dean was anything to go by, were better impressed a strong charchter than fancy foods and shiny jewells. He hoped the rest were simlilarly inclined.

"Dean tells me you have been travelling, John," Henry said, "And that you'r a hunter like himself. It makes me curious about what you hunt to warrant such extensive travels," he said with ahumorus glint in his eyes.

John grinned as well, "My prey of choice varies greatly, so I go where I'm needed."

"And where were you last needed, if I may ask, of course."

John paused, and wondered if it would be wise to let the king know of his services. The king of France he knew well; he'd had a vampire problem a few years in teh past. "The Vatican was my destination. A priest who was up to some ungodly activities."

The king paused mid-chew. That he had not expected.

"Of course, my prey is not human," John specified, "But no man who does such things can be deemed human."

"You're... 'that' kind of hunter..." Henry said slowly.

"Only when nessesary."

"And nessessary would be?"

"A man who makes it his nightly activity- and sometimes not nightly- to violate young boys, as young as your daughter," he looked the king dead in the eye, "and as old as my son, but impossible to catch. I catch them, and I let them meet their maker."

Henry swallowed, feeling like his throat suddenly was as dry as a desert. Did he know? "And justly so," he said, "I sleep easier at night knowing those men do not get away, when they in other times would." He raised his glass, "To justice."

Dean looked warily between Henry and his father. What just happened? "To justice," he echoed and sipped his glass.

~*~