May17th-18th, 2005

"It's an afternoon, Nick! Emily will be there Saturday night to pick her up, you don't have to be such a dick about it!"

"That's exactly the problem, Lorelai! Emily will be here, and it should be you!"

It was nearing dinner time on Tuesday when Lorelai found herself pacing the floor of her temporary kitchen, phone once again to her ear. She let out a cry born of anger and frustration, and exercised an extreme amount of self-control to keep from pitching the phone against the wall.

"For fuck's sake Nick, if I wanted a running commentary from you on my life choices we could have just stayed together! If it's such a goddamn problem, I'll just call your parents! It's not like I give you shit when you fuck something up with Julia." It was a low blow, and she knew it. They joked about their failure as a couple, but it was an unspoken agreement that they didn't use it against one another the way she just did. Lorelai, however, was fuming, and in that moment, she didn't give a shit, even when she sensed Nick seething on the other line.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" he bit back. "You're the one calling me for a favor, or did you forget?" Lorelai pinched the bridge of her nose, counting backwards from ten.

"And if picking Katie up was actually a problem, you could have just said no and left it at that," she snapped.

"Picking Katie up isn't the problem, you are," he complained, and Lorelai tensed again.

"Great, Nick. Thanks for the newsflash, I appreciate it," she retorted, her voice dripping in sarcasm.

"I take it you won't be home for your birthday then either," he piled on. Lorelai grinded her teeth, knowing he was just trying to get a rise out of her by then.

"She gets in at -"

"2pm, Manhattan Cruise Terminal. I'm not an idiot, Lorelai. Went to school there seven years, just like you," Nick cut her off. "Actually, more than you -"

"Awesome," Lorelai ground out. "I'll talk to you later."

"Whatever." The line went dead, and Lorelai flipped her own phone closed, slamming it onto the counter before spinning on her heel, at which point her heart jumped into her chest and she froze in spot.

At some point during her argument with Nick, Dean must have gotten back to the cabin without her hearing him, because he was standing halfway between the front door and the kitchen, watching her through raised eyebrows, his face mildly concerned. She felt the heat rising in her cheeks, embarrassment flooding her system, mixing with the anger that was still roiling.

"Dean!"

"Hey, Lor. You alright?" he asked, nodding towards the cell phone sitting innocently where she'd slammed it down. The embarrassment was slowly beginning to overtake her anger and she felt her flush deepen.

"Told you I get mad," she reminded him sheepishly. Dean smiled and shook his head.

"That's alright. We drinking about it or talking about it?"

"Drink first, then talk," she said after half a beat, grabbing the phone back and the clutch sitting a few inches away before striding towards the door. Dean grinned and followed behind her easily.

"Awesome."

Unsurprisingly they ended up back at Bryson's, and at Dean's insistence, Lorelai grabbed one of the high tops while Dean braved the bar for their drinks. She realized too late that she'd forgotten to tell him what she wanted, but it was a stupid concern, as he ended up coming back to the table a moment later, her cocktail of choice in hand anyway.

"You really do know your way into a girl's heart, huh?" she asked, gratefully accepting the vodka cranberry, and drawing a smirk from Dean.

"Figured knowing what you drink was right up there with how you take your coffee," he told her, taking a seat on his own stool across from her. Lorelai drank deeply, relishing the cool liquid rushing down her throat and trying not cringe too much now that the adrenaline of her argument had worn off and she was seeing less red.

"So how much did you hear?" she asked hesitantly after a moment. Dean shrugged, shaking his head.

"Lor, it's alright, you don't owe me -"

"Dean -"

"Yeah, alright, I came in around the time you were calling the guy a dick." Lorelai sighed and drank again, mentally appreciating that at least there had been no magic talk in what he'd heard. She crossed her fingers he didn't connect that Nick lived in New York and she'd told him his parents lived in Florida.

"My little sister, Katie, comes home from school on Saturday," she explained. "Obviously, I'm not home yet to pick her up. It's not a big deal, my other sister, Emily's gonna stay with her until I get back to New York, but she's on a trip too, and she won't be back in time to pick Katie up from the station." Dean mouthed an ah while brought the straw back to her mouth and he tipped his own beer bottle back to take a swig.

"And the dick?" he asked, trying to hide a smile. Lorelai sighed, though she was relieved to see he at least seemed to find the whole thing amusing.

"Nick," she admitted begrudgingly. "He's, uh… I don't know that I really have a word for Nick."

"Sounded like an ex," Dean pointed out and Lorelai snorted, again relieved that Dean seemed unphased.

"Yeah, he is, but he hardly counts." Dean raised an eyebrow, prompting her to go on, and Lorelai sighed, searching her brain for a succinct way to put it. "Nick is the best friend that I didn't get to choose, and we drive each other up a wall, but we don't know any other way. He's my godfather's son. We're only a few months apart, so we grew up pretty much attached at the hip. It's his daughter that's my goddaughter, Julia. He knocked her mom up when we were seniors, and she walked out on them before Julia was even home from the hospital."

"And he and Julia live across the hall from you and Katie," Dean said with a nod, the pieces clicking together. "So you asked him to pick up Katie until your sister could get her."

"Yeah," Lorelai confirmed, trying not to let Nick's words eat at her too much. It didn't help that she'd already been feeling the guilt ever since she realized she wouldn't be able to wrap up the case in time to get home for Katie. She knew how it looked because of how much she kept on the move, but it hadn't been her intention.

"What did he say that bothered you so much?" Dean questioned, startling her out of her thoughts, and Lorelai looked up from her drink, surprised.

"What?" she asked dumbly. Dean frowned, concern evident in his eyes.

"He had to have said something for you to get that riled up. And I can tell you're still upset."

"Oh, I'm fine," she tried to dismiss, but Dean snorted, shaking his head.

"No use trying to bullshit a bullshitter, Lor. You're upset and I can see it."

Lorelai sighed and dropped her head, staring at the glass while she mindlessly twirled the straw around in it, rattling the ice cubes. It had been a long time since anyone had been able to read her so easily, and Lorelai almost wondered if she were losing her touch.

"It's an old argument," she finally told him, shaking her head. "Stupid, really. Nick doesn't like my job. Granted, he's always thought I was a little irresponsible, but he thinks I travel too much and it's not fair to Katie and Julia. He was just pissed that I wasn't going to be home in time. I probably shouldn't have snapped back so hard."

When she looked up, there was a hard look on Dean's face she couldn't quite discern, but it was gone when he caught her eye, a sympathetic smile taking its place while he nudged her knee under the table.

"Fuck him, Lor. It's a job, and shit happens. You're not leaving her to fend for herself, you made sure she was covered. There's nothing to beat yourself up over. Trust me, I've seen what shit parents are - you ain't it."

More than his words, the fact that he got it had a new warmth spreading through Lorelai that she wasn't used to, and the first genuine smile of the night found its way onto her face.

When she woke up the next morning, she still wasn't feeling great, though the roll in the sheets she took with Dean before he slipped out for the day certainly helped. It was probably the best start to her birthday she could have asked for given the circumstances - not that she'd let him know it was her birthday.

After Dean left, her morning was a slog of the mundane. She took the opportunity to Apparate over to the closest MACUSA satellite office, picking up her mail and skimming through for anything important. There were more newspapers she wasn't interested in, a confirmation that her promotion had moved into the next phase of consideration, a proposed contract from the Brazilian Ministry for WWW's defensive line, and a handful of birthday cards. Her favorite was the one from Harry and Ginny that threw confetti in her face and sang Happy Birthday in a horribly off-key voice, with a hastily written congratulations and good luck tucked at the bottom in Harry's messy scrawl, and her least favorite was the note from her Aunt Helen and Uncle Howard wishing her a happy birthday and reminding her they'd be visiting the States in June and expected a dinner with her and Katie.

While she was there she also dropped into one of the spare offices, reviewing and lending her forensics expertise to a few files Conklin had asked for help on, citing the staffing issues Nick had complained about earlier in the week. There wasn't much of note, except that whoever did the initial work that got included was sloppy and needed more training. She'd learned to butt out of the personnel issues, though, and kept her thoughts to herself. The notes she was sending back to New York would speak for themselves anyway.

She still didn't have any new leads on the werewolf in Tullahoma, but she opted to walk the trails around where the bodies had turned up again anyway in case she had missed something. It was hard narrowing the search down with no fresh kills and the wolf not transforming, but she at least thought she had an idea as to what part of town the monster was residing.

During her search in the woods she fielded a few phone calls: the first from Damien, wishing her a happy birthday and letting her know he and Nat had everything booked for the Hamptons trip in August. The second two were each from Muggle hunters she knew. Asa Fox's call was easy enough - he was going up against what sounded like some cross between an Arachne and an Acromantula and didn't know how to kill it. Lorelai was silently grateful that she was on her own case and didn't feel compelled to offer him help, instead only letting him know fire should slow it down but that decapitation would kill it either way and warning him to double check the victims were dead and not turned.

Bobby Singer's call was shorter but more concerning, and Lorelai knew she'd have to make a trip out to see him soon. He was noticing a rising trend in demon activity he was having trouble making sense of. Given that demons were Bobby's area of expertise, the fact that he was stumped was cause enough for concern, and no matter what the answer was, there was no good one where demons were involved. Nick liked to say the grumpy old man was a paranoid bastard whenever he showed up in Lorelai's field notes, but Lorelai privately thought a certain amount of paranoia was healthy. She supposed Moody had taught her that. Moody and surviving a war.

It was around two when she finally caved and called Dean.

"My interview cancelled and it's too fucking hot to be outside taking pictures," she lied when he answered, and Dean was laughing before she even finished.

"Where are you?" he asked.

It sounded like Dean's day hadn't been much more productive than hers, and that's how she found herself sliding up behind him in the library while he closed up things on one of the computers. He smiled, his green eyes lighting up, while she peppered kisses along his neck.

"Keep that up, sweetheart, and we'll be makin' a detour on the way back to the cabin," he grunted.

On their way out to the Impala, Dean convinced her to let him try cooking dinner for them, reasoning that they'd already eaten everywhere halfway decent in town. With it came the promise that she could pick whatever movie she wanted to watch that night, and Lorelai contented herself with the fact that she'd had worse birthdays.

It wasn't until they were pulling up to the cabin that the day really started to turn around.

"What the -" Dean began muttering, drawing Lorelai's attention away from Nolan's lackluster Happy Birthday, sis text message to see what he was looking at, just as Dean parked the car.

"No way!" she exclaimed. Dean, sensing her excitement, looked to her for answers, but Lorelai was already diving out of the car, everything else forgotten.

"Hey, Benson!" she cried as she threw the car door shut. There on the stoop was none other than her little sister, looking tanned and older than the last time Lorelai had seen her at Christmas, chatting animatedly with George Weasley. At the sound of Lorelai's voice, however, Katie's head shot up and a grin rivaling Lorelai's spread across her face as she jumped to her own feet.

"Lai!" she screamed, tearing off in Lorelai's direction. They collided in a hug halfway, and the force of it combined with the slope of the front yard had them falling onto the grass. George was laughing at them both, but Lorelai couldn't have cared less.

"How are you - what are you - you're not supposed to be here!" Lorelai sputtered, as George and Dean both reached them. Dean looked rightfully confused, and George looked triumphant, mischief written all over his face, though he certainly looked intrigued by what he and Katie had stumbled upon.

"Nolan helped me pull a few strings and I sprung her a few days early," George explained. "Figured you wouldn't have a problem with it."

Lorelai did her best to ignore the stab of frustration that Nolan hadn't shown up with them, knowing somewhere deep down it wasn't a fair irritation to have.

"Happy Birthday!" Katie cried, still hugging Lorelai tightly.

"It's your birthday?" Dean exclaimed, and Lorelai shot him a sheepish look from the ground, all the while holding Katie as close as she could.

"Uh yeah," she admitted, before looking back to Katie, disbelief still going strong. "Oh kid, it's so good to see you," she said, trying not to tear up.

"I missed you," Katie mumbled into her neck, and Lorelai wasn't sure if the other two could hear, but George was quick to move things along if he could.

"George Weasley, mate," he introduced himself, holding his hand out for Dean to shake. "Lorelai's twin-in-law." Lorelai rolled her eyes at him, also half-heartedly hoping Dean didn't question it too much. In addition to withholding her birthday they hadn't exactly covered past romantic histories.

"Dean Winchester," Dean returned, shaking George's hand. His eyes were darting between all three of them, surprise and confusion etched into his features, until he ultimately settled back on Lorelai. "It's your damn birthday and you were gonna let me make burgers and rent a movie?"

"I like burgers," Lorelai shrugged, helping Katie to her feet, while Dean shook his head.

"I'm Katie, Lorelai's sister," Katie interjected quickly, turning to smile at Dean. Lorelai suddenly had a sinking suspicion she was about to regret the fact that the kid had taken after her so much, and George's sniggering didn't make her feel any better. "How do you know Lai?"

"Oh, uh, your sister and I, uh -" Katie only grinned wider as Dean stuttered and Lorelai shot him an apologetic smile.

"Dean's a friend, kid," she said, though the words felt stupid coming out of her mouth, and even Katie at twelve years old didn't seem to believe them. "We both happen to be in town for work, so we've been spending some time together."

The look Katie gave her silently begged the question do you think I'm an idiot, and George snorted.

"Yeah, friends always leave - ah!" and it was then that Lorelai realized the shirt she'd grabbed didn't quite hide the hickey Dean had accidentally left on her collarbone. It was also when Lorelai elbowed George rather harshly in the ribs.

"C'mon, let's go inside," Lorelai said, ushering George and Katie forward. Mercifully, George took the hint and pulled Katie along with him while Lorelai hung back.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered to Dean catching his eye and grabbing one of his hands. "I had no idea they were coming."

"Lor, you don't have anything to apologize for," he told her. "Little weird you didn't tell me it was your birthday, but that's awesome you get to see your sister. If you want, I can get out of -"

"I might only have one ear but my hearing's still impeccable," George called across the lawn, and Lorelai let her head fall forward against Dean's chest in defeat. "We're here to take you to dinner. Lover boy's invited too."

Lorelai was quick to flip him off, much to George and Katie's amusement, while she lifted her head and caught Dean's eye again. He didn't look upset, maybe just a little amused, but Lorelai still felt her anxiety ratcheting up like crazy.

"You don't have to," she assured him. "I won't hold it -" But Dean cut her off, dipping his head and catching her lips in a chaste kiss.

"Don't be stupid," he told her when he broke away. "I know I don't have to. I'd be happy to if you want me." Lorelai bit her bottom lip and looked at him carefully, wrestling with herself. It scared her, but the truth was she did want him there.

"That'd be nice," she admitted quietly, and Dean's grin widened.

"Awesome. Oh, and Lor?"

"Yeah?"

"Happy Birthday." And Lorelai felt her cheeks flush yet again, making a note that it was a sensation she was becoming more familiar with than she liked before they headed towards the house where George and Katie were waiting at the front door.

Dinner was a chaotic, and somewhat stressful affair, but still highly enjoyable. Lorelai was extremely relieved that George had picked up on the fact that Dean was a Muggle as quickly as he picked up on the fact that there was something between them, and had quickly yet subtly helped make sure Katie was on the same page.

"Heard you were going to be here a bit longer than expected from your brother when we had lunch the other day. Knew I'd be in Nashville end of this week to meet with some vendors, so I thought I'd bring Katie as a surprise. I can take her to Emily when I go back to New York for my flight home," George had explained while Lorelai ushered them into the house. Lorelai translated that in her head easily enough - George had lunch with Harry or Nolan but probably Harry. He already knew she'd been upset she wouldn't see Katie for her birthday and knew her well enough to know she'd be beating herself up that she wouldn't be able be home in time for school to let out, and so he Floo'ed down to Lytton and Apparated them over to Tullahoma and likely had some type of plan so that Katie would be covered until Emily got home on Saturday.

"What'd, you talk to Harry or Nolan?" Lorelai asked, passing Katie a water bottle out of the fridge.

"Harry," George confirmed.

"Nolan and Jane are in Berlin," Katie chimed in, earning a raised eyebrow from Dean Lorelai was pretty sure only she noticed. "He Fl - called me before they left last week to wish me good luck on my finals."

"Yeah, and how did your finals go?" Lorelai asked. Katie rolled her eyes, kicking her shoes off before heading towards the couch.

"Please," she dismissed, and George laughed.

"She's got your brains and your ego," he teased. Lorelai shoved him, and Dean smirked.

"Were you one of the smart kids in school?" Dean asked. George beamed when he noticed her shift uncomfortably and jumped in before she could answer.

"Lorelai graduated valedictorian. She liked to pretend she was one of the cool kids, but she was definitely a closet nerd." Dean laughed and it was Lorelai's turn to roll her eyes.

"Oh please. I was a year behind you and Fred and of the three of us I was the first to… try new things," she trailed off lamely, realizing too late that Katie was still within earshot.

"Were you going to say something raunchy?" she asked, and Lorelai ignored the continued snickering from George, which of course Dean only joined in on after she answered.

"No. And when you're older I'll tell you the real answer."

There was a brief debate as to where to go for dinner, and how to get there, until Lorelai convinced them all that she really was happy not to go anywhere special, and Dean quickly offered to drive. Lorelai was slightly terrified to leave him alone with her family to get ready, and couldn't remember the last time she'd showered so quickly, but was pleasantly surprised at the scene waiting for her when she came back out. George and Dean were still hanging around the island, each with a beer in hand, and Katie had taken a seat on one of the stools. One of them had turned on her CD player, CCR playing when she came back out, and Katie was adorably trying to vet Dean out. And although Lorelai could see her attempts at subtlety were failing, Dean seemed to be taking it in stride, and George had taken pity on the both of them and not piled on the way Lorelai knew he could. When she joined the group, Dean wordlessly slipped an arm around her waist, making sure to dutifully answer Katie's questions about his job and family without missing a beat.

"Alright, kid, give him a break," George cut in, much to Lorelai's surprise. "I'm starving. You can grill him more over dinner."

Thankfully, over dinner, Lorelai was relieved that the conversation veered more towards Katie and George, though she knew they both had to tiptoe around the truth as they talked about what was new with each of them. George almost slipped up when he went to tell her about Freddie's first bout of accidental magic, but quickly turned it into a story about how clumsy the toddler still was, and Lorelai knew that Katie's story about placing first at her school's science fair was code for the Junior Potion Championship - something Lorelai knew Emily had been coaching her through a few weeks before.

Dean was charming through it all, however, and Lorelai was surprised not only at how easily he got along with the two of them but by how eager he seemed to be to get to know her two visitors. She pointedly ignored the excited gleam in George's eye that stayed fixed in place throughout the entire evening, although she was sure she'd never hear the end of it when he inevitably got her alone.

At the end of the night, after she got the rollaway bed set up for Katie and George situated on the pullout couch, when she crawled into bed with Dean, Lorelai was exhausted and awash with emotional turmoil.

"Feel like a damn teenager again, worried about getting caught," Dean laughed quietly as he tossed the condom and Lorelai pulled on his shirt before slipping into his waiting arms. It was the first they'd needed to worry about being loud, and Lorelai chuckled with him, allowing herself to enjoy the warm kiss he caught her in before clicking off the lamp and settling into his embrace.

"Adds a bit of a thrill," she said, and Dean hummed mildly in agreement. She thought he might have fallen asleep, her own mind whirring too frantically to have done the same, when he shifted, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

"You know you could have told me, right? About your birthday?" In the dark, Lorelai bit her lip, contemplating his words before nodding slowly against his chest. The past two weeks had been a whirlwind Lorelai still wasn't ready to accept, at least not consciously, but she knew whatever she was feeling wasn't one sided.

"Yeah… I just… I didn't want to make a big fuss. Not when…" The words failed her then, but Dean seemed to understand anyway, the unease falling over them both like an uncomfortable blanket.

"Yeah, I get it," he said, his voice gruff but not unkind. "We're both just passing through." Lorelai swallowed and nodded, bothered by how quickly her good spirits were evaporating.

"Exactly," she agreed, forcing her voice to stay light. "This is… casual." And she tried not to focus on how hard it was to move her mouth around the word.

They fell into an uncomfortable silence after that… possibly the first one they shared, Lorelai realized. And as she fought to let sleep claim her, she tried not to dwell on why that might be.