"Relax!" Dean said to her. He was no longer able to sustain that constant looking around, checking who was where, whether all the food and drinks were ready, if everyone placed their gifts where they should be, whether under each black napkin there was a gold one . . . "I knew this one girl, and she was the best party planner every."

Renee frowned, clearly offended, but Dean kept the smile on.

"You, of course," he cleared it out. "Remember my birthday party? Everything was perfect. You made everything work. To the slightest detail."

She couldn't fight the urge to keep checking whether everything was as it was supposed to be, even if only with her sight. She looked to the left and to the right, even people's clothes mattered.

"Although, I must say, there were more people at my party, but I guess not everybody is so popular." He came to regret the joke after noticing her angry expression. "Even if there was something wrong . . ." That was another wrong thing to say. "What's the main point of this? For him to be surprised, right? I can guarantee you he will be. Everybody will enjoy the party . . . it will be a big success." That choice of words was better. Dean seemed to have calmed her down at least a bit. But he kept working on it so that he would finally make her relax. "You know what you need? A glass of champagne." Without much effort, he located a whole bottle and took it from the counter along with two glasses. Even though his hands were fully occupied, he was still able to put his arm around Renee so that she couldn't disobey.

They left the main hall and continued walking though the kitchen until they left the place altogether. Dean chose the back exit to get them out. Renee would surely benefit from the fresh air. The weather was nice; it was warm and there was no sign of incoming rain.

As they sat down on a bench outside the restaurant, Renee being careful not to damage her dress, Dean loudly opened the bottle. Renee evidently trusted him enough to not move one inch. Dean quickly succeeded without hurting anyone. Subsequently he filled the glasses which he put down a second ago and handed her one. "To Seth's birthday," he proposed a toast.

"He's not even here," Renee smiled.

Dean took the note. "Ok, then let's drink to the amazing hostess."

Renee shook her head, again not satisfied with the toast. Or was there a different problem? This cleared up for Dean when Renee said, "I should be inside making sure everything's ready."

"Everything is ready. You need to take a break. The time for stressing out is up."

Renee chuckled and looked into her glass. Dean, noticing this, and noticing that she hasn't taken a single sip yet, made her drink some champagne. Actually, he wouldn't be satisfied until a half of the glass was gone. As his glass was almost intact, he followed suit.

They continued drinking champagne in silence. The noise of the nature and the street filled the atmosphere. It was dark but the street lights lit the way. Both Dean and Renee were looking ahead, being satisfied simply with the notion of the presence of the other person right next to them. When Renee finished her glass, Dean was going to refill it but she refused. She put the glass on the ground. Her hand ended up on the edge of the bench, and soon enough Dean's hand was on top of hers. She smiled, moving her hand away, grabbing his and putting it around her shoulder. She rested her head on Dean's shoulder. Only now she was realizing how tired she actually was. It was early, especially considering how late she planned on staying up tonight, but all that planning exhausted her. It's been days since proper sleep. But she knew tonight wouldn't be any different in that regard.

When she yawned, she took it as a sign to get going. She lifted her head and glanced at Dean who was looking at her. "Sorry." She felt bad for using Dean this way.

"You know that I don't mind," he reminded her.

"You should."

Renee picked up her glass and stood up. Then she made sure that her dress was still in perfect condition. "You're coming inside?" She waited for Dean to make the decision.

"Are you sure you wanna go there? You look tired."

He should have known that he couldn't change her mind. And after one look he did, even though he was a witness to her exhaustion.

"I have to be there," she said, but a yawn failed her attempt to look strong. She embarrassedly closed her eyes and chuckled. She looked so cute at the moment that Dean had to smile.

"No, you don't. You could get some decent sleep instead."

"Maybe I can leave early," Renee suggested. "Would that make you happy?"

"I would feel better, yes."

After Dean collected all the stuff, he took Renee's hand and led them inside again. They found the party already in progress so they assumed that Seth must have already arrived. Dean tried to locate him, but it was impossible. He said to Renee, "I guess now it doesn't really matter whether you stay or not."

"I have to."

Dean suddenly remembered something. He asked suspiciously, "What's your present for Seth?" A couple of days ago, she mentioned the lap dance, but he wasn't sure whether it was a joke or not.

Renee saw right through him. "I decided not to do that. I would need to be much drunker."

"I gotta say, I'm relieved," admitted Dean.

Renee didn't ask why. The reason was clear to her. She walked over to the bar where she left her empty glass. Now there were glasses filled with champagne, white wine, and red wine, but she didn't take any. She wanted to stay relatively sober. Neither Dean had the need to pump his body with booze, but he took a glass of red wine.

By the time he was standing at the counter, taking the first sip, Renee already left it. She went toward the middle of the crowd; she might have recognized there someone she wanted to talk to.

Dean remained standing in safe distance from all the people for a while, until he himself got lost in the crowd. He couldn't see Seth, not at first, but he noticed Roman so he headed toward him.

"I didn't think you would come."

Roman shook his head and smiled. "I'm not staying long. We left our little girl with the babysitter at the hotel so . . . We're probably heading back there in an hour."

"What about that romantic getaway?" Roman mentioned something to Dean about how he wanted to celebrate his birthday with his wife somewhere far away from everything.

"We both knew that wouldn't happen. There's no time and . . . even if we had the time, what kind of parent would I be if I left my daughter with the babysitter even on my day off?"

"You should do it," Dean insisted. "You two hardly ever get to be together."

Roman admitted, "You're the last one I'd expect to make me go on a romantic getaway."

"You deserve it. You need it."

Dean was in mood to take care of everybody. He saw what wasn't alright with his friend and tried to help. There were moments like these, moments when he was more caring than anybody would expect. Even those who thought the worst of him had to admit that deep inside he was a good guy, although he let that show rarely.

"I'd love that," Roman said dreamingly, "but I simply have to accept that it's not going to happen."

After a short while Dean came up with an idea. "What if I took care of your daughter?"

"You?" laughed Roman. "Are you alright?" he had to ask. This suggestion seemed strange.

"Yeah, of course. Hey, it's just a couple of days, I can take care of a little girl."

"Can you?" Roman asked, not even trying to hide the doubt he had.

"How hard it can be if you can do it?" joked Dean.

Roman chuckled, but kept shaking his head. "Is your biological clock ticking or what?" he kept trying to find the reason why Dean would be interested in spending his free time with a kid.

"I'm just trying to help. If you're not interested, fine!" Dean acted offended.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes, I'm willing to do it. Let's say next week, or in two weeks, whatever suits you best."

Roman watched him, he still wasn't sure how to explain his friend's odd suggestion, but he realized it was what he wanted. A few days with his wife, having the private birthday celebration that he desired, while not abandoning his daughter. Now, the only question that mattered was whether he trusted Dean enough to leave his daughter in his hands.

"She'll be safe with me," Dean assured him.

"Alright, okay. Let's do that. We'll talk about it and then I'll let you know."

"Perfect." Dean looked away in hope to see Seth. He was probably somewhere getting drunk. Then he noticed him on the dancefloor looking like an idiot. But one thing that Dean couldn't deny was that Seth certainly seemed to be having fun. He didn't even need a dance partner. All he needed was music and attention. With his wild dance moves he easily succeeded in getting all eyes to watch him. Even Dean's for a short period of time. Then Dean returned to Roman again. He smiled and patted his friend's shoulder. "Let me know if I'm hired. . . . Also, come say goodbye before you leave." Roman nodded and returned him the smile.

Dean was originally going to wish Seth happy birthday, and comment on his lousy dancing, but his eyes captured Renee first. She was holding another glass of champagne, though it was still full. She was chatting with her coworkers but that tiredness was indisputable. Maybe other people did not notice, or did not care enough, but Dean was immediately alarmed. Even more so when he noticed frequent blinking and lowering of her arm. Then she yawned, and suddenly Dean was taking her glass away from her. Her company left immediately, but nevertheless Dean only whispered. "You should go to bed."

"I will," she promised, covering another yawn with her hand.

"Now."

"I can't leave right now."

"Yes, you can. And you will."

"Dean," she begged for immunity.

"Do it," he remained unyielding.

However, Renee decided to protest. "Or what?"

"Or I'll kiss you right now in front of everybody."

Renee smiled, but it was a very reserved smile. "You wouldn't do that." She wasn't sure, but somewhere deep inside she knew he was able of doing it. And even deeper she wished for it to happen.

"We can find out very easily."

"You can't do that."

"That never stopped me," he reminded her. After about thirty seconds which they spent looking at each other, trying to find it out if the other person would cave, Renee closed her eyes for a lot longer than a standard blink, and it was decided. "I'll call you a cab."

"If I go, will you come with me?" she asked.

Dean caressed her hair, not caring about the attention that might bring – nobody was looking anyway – and took her hand into his. "No, somebody has to stay and make sure everything works perfectly." Renee appreciated that, because she knew it was supposed to make her happy, but on the other hand she wanted him to come with her. This way it was only about a friend caring about the other friend, but she would prefer if it happened as Dean's smart kidnap of her in the middle of the party. He made her one promise though. "I'll check up on you when I get back," he said. "It shouldn't take long." Dean didn't really plan on staying until the end either.

"I'll keep waiting."

"That wasn't the deal."

"It is now."