The Birds and the Bees chapter 2
Dean Winchester sat in his car as he waited for the light to change. He was on his way to his parent's house for Sunday dinner. He knew his father would be on pins and needles as he waited for Dean and Sam to arrive so that he could grill them on their first week at the firm by themselves.
Dean knew his brother would be late, which left Dean to take to first wave of their father's curiosity and criticism. Sam didn't do it to be mean to Dean, he did it for the sake of the family peace. Sam and their dad had never been on the same wavelength, or maybe they were just too much alike, but fact was that to put those two in the same room together would be a blood bath. If it were not for their mother…Dean shivered at the thought.
The light changed to green and he put his car in gear again. It gleamed in the sunlight and Dean had, as usual, checked on it that morning and did his best to make sure it would pass his dad's inspection. His father had bought it before he married their mother. John and Mary had had a huge fight over the car and John had put the car in a garage, not wanting to let go of it. 6 months later, he had bought the minivan that he and Mary had talked about, the car which had brought the Winchesters on vacation all over the country.
When Dean was 15, his father had shown him the Impala. He had restored it and kept it warm and need in their basement and it was time for it to be brought into the huge garage that was a part of the huge mansion they had bought when Winchester inc. went on stock. John Winchester had become a very wealthy man overnight.
When Dean had first laid eyes on the black beauty, he had fallen in love. John had seen it and he had promised Dean the car when he had graduated from Stanford. Dean had worked his fingers to the bone, not really being much of a book guy, but he had graduated with honors. When Dean had presented the graduation papers for his father, he had received a pat on the back and the car keys. His father had been proud of him that day.
As Dean drove down the street to his parent's mansion, so different from the house Dean had lived in as a child, he smiled when he saw his mother on the sidewalk, walking the dog. The golden retriever, Bones, may have belonged to Sam but he was the pet for the entire family. He was old now and didn't walk as fast as he had as a puppy. Dean was sure that he could see the changes in the dog for every week that went by.
His mother on the other hand, looked radiant. How she could still stay so beautiful when their dad looked…well, like their dad, was a mystery to Dean. He waved at her as he drove by and swung into the driveway. Sam's Mustang was nowhere in sight. Great. And there was their dad. Double great. He turned off the engine and greeted his father.
"Hey, Dad," Dean said as he got out of the car and went over to his father. He was greeted with a very manly handshake and a very small smile.
"Son," John replied as he greeted him and Dean felt the love from his father. John Winchester was a man of few words but when he spoke, he meant every word and there was no doubt about what he felt. Dean felt it in spades.
"You're still taking care of her, I see," as he nodded at the Impala. Dean nodded with a smile. His father seemed to approve and Dean swelled with pride.
"I try," he said modestly and looked at the car. There wasn't so much as a spot on her, even after the drive through town. John went and opened the bonnet and looked down at the gleaming engine. He hummed and nodded his approval. "Looks good, son. A little bit too clean, perhaps. Don't want her to dry up, boy." Dean nodded. Only his dad would disapprove the spotless engine. In the same moment, his mom came up the driveway with the old, tired dog at her heels.
"Hi, sweetheart," she said as she kissed and hugged him.
He smiled into his mother's golden hair and kissed her cheek. "Hi, mom."
When she pulled away from him, she looked him in the eyes. "You look tired. Do you get enough to eat? You've lost weight. Are you okay?"
Dean smiled at her worried eyes. "I'm fine, mom. Sam is the one who doesn't eat right," he deflected and she laughed. Dean and Sam's eating habits were very different and a constant source for bickering between the two brothers.
She held her arm around his waist and looked down at the engine. She didn't know much about cars but she gave him a squeeze anyway. "She's beautiful, honey."
Dean didn't answer, just smiled and kissed her temple. That was the same moment Sam's plastic monstrosity of a car roared up the driveway. John carefully closed the bonnet and waved at Sam. Mary let go of Dean and moved to the new car. She zoomed in on the bundle of joy in the back and pulled the baby out as soon as Sam had turned off the engine.
"Come to grandma." She cooed and the little girl squeed in delight. Hannah was a blond version of her father, poor kid. Dean smiled at the sight of his parents with their grandchild. He was happy Sam and Jessica had a kid that could bring that kind of joy to his parents. Dean knew his chances were pretty slim for bringing children into the family, no matter how much he wanted to. He didn't even have anyone to share such things with. Dean Winchester was in an unusual dry spell and he didn't have anything but his work and family to spend his time on.
Dean went to Sam and greeted him as Jessica was more or less swept up in their parent's arm.
"Hey, Sam." The two brothers greeted each others with a hug.
"Hey, Dean." Dean let go of his brother and looked with disdain on the Mustang.
"Still with the Playmobil, I see." Sam smiled and nudged his brother in the ribs.
"Shut it, Jerk."
"Bitch."
Sam opened the back door and pulled out bags of baby-stuff and loaded it in to Dean's arms.
"Carry this inside."
Dean groaned but helped his brother with all of their stuff. He dumped the diapers on the kitchen table together with the big bag filled with extra clothing, bottles, nappies, stuffed animals, blankets and something that Dean couldn't figure out what it was. He picked it up and looked at it. It looked like a bong and he smiled a crooked smile and put the flat rubber thingy on his nose and took a deep breath.
"So, where's the weed?" he asked Sam as he dropped all the stuff in his arms on the table. He looked up at his brother and laughed a little.
"It's not a bong, you asshat. That's Jessica's breast pump you're fondling!" Dean froze. He was sniffing his sister in law's breast pump. This thing on his nose had been on her boob. There was something thrilling about it, but mostly just gross.
He made a face and put it down. "You should probably wash that before she uses it again."
"Ya think?"
In that exact moment, Jessica came in through the door with John, Mary and Hannah, who was on her grandmom's arm, at her heels. She looked at her fiancé and his brother and the device in front of him and put two and two together.
"Dean, if you wanted to use it, all you had to do was ask." She smiled and made Dean blush just a little.
Everybody talked as the entire family helped to put all the baby stuff away and Mary and Jessica started on the dinner. The boys each took a beer and went outside onto the porch. Sam had Hannah in his arms, and outside of the toddler's happy noises, a silence fell over all three Winchesters. They could all hear the two women in the kitchen as they talked and laughed together and Sam just sat there with a sappy smile on his face. He had had that dopey look on his face ever since Jessica told him she was pregnant. He looked like an idiot but Dean couldn't be more proud of his little brother.
"So," Their father had started to say, and Dean knew what would come next. He turned a little in the chair to look at his dad.
"How are things?" John asked.
Dean looked over at Sam, who just looked at his daughter as she sat on his lap and played with his phone.
"At the firm, you mean" Dean clarified unnecessarily. "Things are fine," he said and took a swig of his beer. Dean knew John had kept up on what happened at his firm and how his sons were doing. He just wanted to hear it from the boys themselves.
"We have started some of the new negotiations about the drilling in Norway." Sam piped up and John looked at him.
"Those drillings are a dead fish. The Norwegians won't let anybody else near their underground." Dean happened to agree with his father on that one, but Sam had insisted they keep the pressure on.
"We're breaking ground in Haiti next week." Dean said. The Haiti earthquake had destroyed everything in its wake and only a few organizations had remained to keep up work there after the media storm died down. It was Dean's pet project to give to charity and Random Acts had contacted him and they were about to start building a hospital in conjunction with the children's center. It was a good organization, run by good people.
"Hmm." John grumbled. He had never cared for charity and had only agreed on it because of the tax benefits.
"What about the Bella complex? " The Bella complex was a massive mall in New England which would bring a lot of money in for the firm, if they got their hands on the contract. It was still a stalemate between Winchester Inc and Crowley's Buildings.
Dean hated Crowley's Buildings. He hated their jingle, "Location, Location, Location, it's all about location", on the radio and he hated the man himself with a passion. If they lost this contract to Crowley, Dean felt like he would shoot himself.
"Still working on it. Crowley doesn't play fair and he has contacted the Environmental Assessment department, which is now looking through all our crap. We have Allan Shore on it." John nodded. Nothing had changed in that department since his retirement.
All three men were quiet for a long time after that. The birds chirped in the big willow trees in the garden but other than that, nature was quiet.
Then: "I hear that you've changed the dress code at the office." Such an innocent sentence, but it hit Dean like a freight train. It was Dean that their father had targeted today, it seemed.
"Not really, no. People can wear whatever they want when they're at the office. If they have meetings or conferences or other things where they are representing the firm, everybody suits up as usual." Dean said, tried not to sound too defensive.
He had, since that first morning when they were late, been casually dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. Nobody seemed to care and nobody but Dean had taken the looser dress code to heart. He was the only one. He was surrounded by good people who all wanted what they did. They loved their work and they accepted that the Winchesters were a little different. Or at least, that Dean was a little different. Sam still wore the suit every day.
"So, it's just you then; The CEO of the company, the face of the company. Dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. I'll bet the clients stand in line to sign us up," he said with a quiet sarcasm the women inside had no chance of hearing through the open window.
Dean didn't say anything. What could he say? It had been a week and he had already disappointed his father. He looked at Sam, who looked like he had swallowed a lemon, as he glared angry daggers at their father. Dean hoped he wouldn't say anything and chance ruining Sunday dinner, but he was never that lucky.
"Actually yes, they have. We have signed 3 major clients in the past week, all 3 in Italy." Sam said with pride and looked at Dean. Dean knew that it was a mistake to mention those contracts.
"Oh well, Italians, that's great. We all know what honest and straightforward people they are."
Their father had always had a problem with the Italians. Nobody really knew why, but he didn't trust them. That was why Dean hadn't mentioned them earlier.
"The contracts are signed and there is no way for them to get out of those without paying. This is good for the firm, dad." Sam insisted and leaned forward. Hannah had drooled all over his phone by now and had started to lose interest in the rubber covered device. She wanted to get down on the floor and Sam let her go.
Dean smiled as his eyes landed on his niece. Her chubby cheeks framed her smile as she looked up at him and crawled over. He let her spit covered little fingers grab a hold on his trousers and she pulled herself up. His expensive trousers quickly showed where she had put her hands. Dean didn't mind though, he still had plenty of clothes and preferred jeans anyway.
It had always been a tradition that at Sunday dinners, everybody was dressed to the nines. "Suit up. Always suit up." Suddenly Dean felt like he didn't know the difference between Friday at the office and Sunday at his parents. It was just always the same.
When Hannah had come into the world, things had brightened considerably in Dean's life. She was a ray of sunshine in an otherwise boring and grey day to day life. She was the wallpaper on his phone, the laughter on his iPad and the smudged fingers on his trousers. He loved her dearly.
She clearly wanted to come up, so Dean lifted her up to sit with him. She babbled and pulled at his tie, and pulled herself up to stand. He held her loosely, supporting her balance, but let her stand and jump on his lap.
He blew raspberry kisses on her neck and she laughed and screamed and pulled away. When Dean stopped, she moved in for more. Dean laughed, as he was smitten by her infectious laughter, and didn't even notice his father get up and leave his sons and granddaughter on the deck. He didn't notice that Sam had snapped a few pictures of him with Hannah, didn't notice Sam get up and leave as well. It was when he heard his mother's voice call to him and Hannah that he realized they were alone and that it was time to eat.
Dinner went smoothly as Dean kept a low profile, Jessica and his mother doing most of the talking as usual. The Winchester men had never been the biggest talkers. John sat and smiled and hmm'ed and agreed with his wife here and there. Sam did the same, while Dean sat beside Hannah and kept busy as he helped his niece with her food, so that her parents could have some time off. Besides, Dean loved it, so he didn't mind.
Suddenly, his mother asked the inevitable question that arose once they had run out of topics to discuss. Hannah threw a fit that her mother solved by taking her from the table and walking around the big house with her.
"So, Dean. What's new in your life?" which translates from Mary Winchester speak into 'Dating anyone special?' Dean hated it.
"Nothing, really." He said and took a sip from his wine. He didn't like the stuff, but his mother didn't want him to drink beer at the dinner table. She knew if she gave him her blessing, she would end up as the only one drinking wine. Beer didn't go well with the stark white table cloth.
"Anybody special in your life that we haven't heard of?" she asked and glanced at Sam with a knowing smile. Something was going on. Something he didn't know about. Something about him. What had Sam told her?
"No". He hesitated a little then looked at Sam. "What have you told her, Sam?" No point in beating around the bush here. It wasn't really the Dean Winchester way.
"Nothing. I haven't told her anything." He said innocently.
"Is there something to tell?" Mary asked her sons, as she enjoyed the discomfort of her oldest a little too much.
"No." he answered calmly while he shot daggers at Sam and still smiled at his mother.
"That's not what I've heard." Dean's head whipped around at the sound of his father as he chimed in.
"What?!" Dean asked and swallowed heavily. Just what the hell was going on here?
John had a stone face but his eyes were danced with mirth. "Oh nothing, really. Gabriel told me you bought socks and boxers from his brother, who described you as a very charming and funny man."
Gabriel was a business associate of his father's and had retired before John at a much, much younger age. Gabriel was a man who had a lot of irons in the fire at once and had built and sold 3 major companies over the last 10 years. He was now, as far as Dean knew, enjoying the fruits of his labor in Las Vegas.
"Gabriel has a brother?" he asked and shivered at the thought of more than one Gabriel walking around on the planet.
John looked at him and a small smirk danced on his lips. "He does."
"Wait a second," Mary butted in. "Which one are we talking about here?" She sounded worried.
"He has more than one?!" Dean asked, confused and wracked his brain as to who it could be that he had bought socks from and could only come up with Castiel. But he looked nothing like Gabriel. Like, at all!
"Castiel," his father said calmly and his mother drew a sigh of relief.
"Oh thank god, I feared it was the other one." Sam laughed a little at that.
"That would have been a match made in hell." Everybody but Dean was laughing. He was totally lost.
"I like Castiel." His mother said with a smile and looked at Dean.
"Me, too." Sam said and Dean looked at him.
"You know him?" Dean's face started to redden, but hells bells if he would let them know that he knew that.
"You didn't?" His father said and Dean looked at him.
"No. How was I supposed to know him?" Dean asked.
"You really don't remember him?" John said, suddenly serious. Everybody sobered up around the table, the only sound was the distinct sound of Hannah as she cheered somewhere in the house.
Dean shook his head and saw everybody around the table share a look. Then Sam stood up.
"I think I'll go and check up on the girls," he said and excused himself from the table. Dean knew it was a way out for Sam as he looked over at his parents, who both looked very serious.
"When you were 10 years old, you almost died, Dean. Don't you remember the well?" His mother said with sad eyes. Dean had no idea what she was talking about, so he shook his head.
John took over. "You and Sam were playing at the field behind the old mill. Sam fell down the well that had been dug into the ground, but was never covered up after the mill was abandoned. He landed on a small ledge a few feet down, but couldn't get up. You crawled down and pushed him up the wall so he could get a firm grip on the top of the hole. Just as he got his legs swung up over the edge, the ledge that you were standing on crumbled underneath your feet and you fell 20 feet down into the water on the bottom. Sam couldn't do anything but run for help.
"On his way home, he ran into Castiel Novak, who found a long rope and ran to the hole. You were unconscious at the time, so he tied the rope around an old tree nearby and the other end around his midsection. Sam had reached the house in the meantime and while I was on my way, Castiel had lowered himself into the pit to help you.
"By the time I had reached the old well, he had pulled you from the water and had you in his arms. He was not very big for a 12 year old boy, so I pulled both of you from the water and up to safety. You were still unconscious but breathing. We got you home and you woke up later that same evening, but didn't remember a damn thing. The doctors said we shouldn't push it, that it was some kind of 'safety mechanism' in the brain and that you would remember when you were ready. I guess that never happened…" he trailed off and let his son digest it all. It was a lot to take in.
"So…he saved my life." Dean tried very hard to understand it all. "Why didn't I get to thank him?"
Mary answered that with a sad smile. "The doctors advised us not to let you meet him when you didn't remember. That it could trick your memory and it could have been dangerous for you. Nobody knew better back then, honey. But we did thank him, a lot. 6 months later, he was shipped to Boston to a boarding school and we didn't see him for a very long time. It was when your father first met Gabriel 10 years or so later, that we learned more of Castiel."
Dean nodded. It made sense. He had to thank Castiel for saving his life.
"Excuse me." He said and left the table, the living room and finally, the house. He had grabbed his jacket automatically and before he knew it, was in the Impala and on his way out of suburbia.
Dean Winchester was not a man who liked to have debts. He didn't like to owe people anything and he especially didn't like to depend on anybody. He was therefore extremely determined to settle this matter he had just learned about between him and Castiel. It was way overdue, 17 years to be precise.
But then he pulled his car over to the side and stopped the engine. How did you pay somebody back for saving your life as a kid? You couldn't. Not without being a douche. Besides, it was Sunday and Castiel probably wouldn't be at the store and Dean had no idea where he lived. Maybe he could swing by Monday morning and…and what? Pay him back? Talk to him? Give him a fruit basket? "Come on Dean, you can do better than that."
Dean sighed. He only knew one person who would know what he should do. He turned on the engine and made a U turn.
"Oh hey, honey, you are just in time for dessert." Mary Winchester smiled as he closed the front door behind him again.
"Of course he is." John mumbled from the kitchen. "It's pie."
Dean smiled. No way was he going to miss out on pie. Mary swatted her husband with a soft hand and a "behave" as she went and pulled the lukewarm apple pie from the windowsill.
Dean just shrugged. "The man knows me," he said and it earned a small smile from his father.
"Let's go, son." He said and both men walked from the kitchen to the dinner table once again. Hannah was on the floor as she played with a plastic dinosaur. Well, maybe not so much played as chewed the head and drooled down her front. It looked like a sturdy, well made plastic toy, so Dean wasn't worried about her swallowing anything. Not really.
"Is that healthy?" he asked Jess who just smiled.
"I dunno. Found it in a dumpster behind the office, looked okay to me." She joked and smiled at him.
"It was that or your phone. Sam's drowned." Dean laughed at that, backed away and found his seat.
Sam came in and smiled at his brother. "Hey, Dean. Glad you're back. I need your help." He said and sat down beside him.
"Could you have a look at the car's engine? It sounds weird." Dean smiled and took a heavy sniff as his mother came in with the pie and whipped cream.
"Sam, your plastic piece of crap is not a car. But sure, I'll give it a look after pie!" his voice rose in to a gleeful pitch at his mother sliced the crust and gave him the first piece. God, his mouth was watering!
Sam just shook his head with a smile and then looked up at his wife. He gave his wife a look similar to the look Dean gave his pie. So much love.
Soon everybody had a slice of pie on their plate and Dean had whipped cream all over his. And on his face. And a little on his tie.
The pie was washed down with coffee and nobody mentioned Gabriel or Castiel Novak again. Not until Dean and his mother cleaned up the kitchen and Dean asked his mother for advice on how to thank the man for saving his life.
"Well, first of all, I'm glad you said thank him, and not pay him. That's what your father would have done. Actually, that was what your father did." Mary replied.
Dean looked at her incredulously. "Really? How much?"
Mary shook her head with a small smile. "I don't know. He never told me because I was against it. You can't pay somebody for saving your firstborn's life. There's not enough money in the world for that." She looked at him and caressed his cheek with the back of her hand.
"I don't know what I would have done, had I lost you back then." Her eyes started to moisten up and Dean, who hated to see his mother cry, pulled her in to a hug.
"Well you didn't. I'm still here." He said with a smiled and let her go. "But now that I know, what am I going to do? I can't just go up and say "Hey, by the way, thanks for saving my life 17 years ago."
She laughed a little at that and then looked up at him. "Actually, I think that sounds like a very good idea." Then she turned to the sink and started to clean it. "And maybe you could…no, never mind."
That piqued Dean's curiosity. If she had a better idea, he wanted to know. "What?"
She turned on the tap and let the water splash away the dirty leftovers in the sink.
"Invite him to dinner." She looked up at Dean. "Here. I would love to thank him again, now that he's back in town."
Dean knew it was partly a ploy and partly the truth. His mother would love to thank him again, but she would also love to see Dean invite the man out. And now, as she turned her big, loving eyes on him, he couldn't say no, so he just nodded. "Okay mom."
She smiled and kissed his cheek. "That's a good boy. Next Sunday, then."
Dean nodded and wracked his brain as he tried to figure out how to put this out there to the man he really didn't know. God it was gonna be awkward!