Trails To Happiness

A Visit And A Break-In

Dean apparently appeared just as outwardly apprehensive about the situation as he felt on the inside, because next to speak up was Adam.

"I know that you don't want a relationship with Dad, and I completely understand, but I was...hoping that I could still get to know my brothers." He sounded painfully hopeful and Dean felt bad.

Truthfully, he wouldn't be upset about having a relationship with his other (much younger) brother. It would probably never be close to the bond that he had with Sam since they were raised and went through a lot of tough times together, but maybe Adam could join the family that the Winchester-Singers had built.

Neither Adam or Kate seemed entirely happy with John after what happened at dinner, so Dean supposed that was a good sign that they weren't like him.

"Okay." Dean reluctantly agreed and then turned slightly to shut the hood of the truck. "Well, I'm done with Cas's truck, would you like to come in?"

"Sure." Adam agreed with a small smile forming, and Kate just nodded her head and followed them up the path.

Dean opened the door with a bit of anxiety, not entirely comfortable letting John's family into his home. However, he just had to remember that they hadn't known about anything that had happened in the past.

They had been tricked by the ruse that John was a good person, just like many people before them had been.

Adam and Kate looked around at the beautiful house and all the family photos that had an array of different people filtering through. A picture could be of just one person or twenty at once, and that showed just how giant the family Dean made for himself had become.

"You have a lovely home." Kate commented and Adam nodded again in agreement. He was too distracted by a picture of Dean scooping up a giggling Claire (age 3) while already gripping a smiling Jack (age 2) in the other arm.

Cas insisted they put the photo up once he saw the beaming grin on Dean's face during the candid.

"Thank you." Dean said with a smile before heading toward the kitchen and gesturing for them to go to the dining table. "Please, have a seat. Would you like something to drink? Fair warning, most of the beverages in the fridge are juices. Perks of having four four-year-olds."

There was a bit of a pause as they absorbed the last part of his sentence, but Dean was used to that particular conversation freezer so he just waited.

"A water for each of us would be fine, thank you." Kate said as she and her son both took a seat at the dinner table.

"You have four four-year-olds?" Adam asked incredulously and received a sharp pinch to his elbow from his mother. "Ow. What? That's not rude."

Dean couldn't help but chuckle at the moment and shook his head. He really wasn't bothered by the surprised exclamations that usually followed the announcement of four toddlers.

"Yeah, there's a picture there." He pointed to one of the photos on the wall with a smile and both of them looked to it.

It wasn't fair enough away that they couldn't see it clearly from where they had just sat down, so neither moved while observing the happy family photo.

The frame contained Dean and Cas (both standing) while Dean had his arm around his husband's shoulders and Castiel held his love's waist. MJ was in Dean's other arm and Cas was holding CJ, Ben was between the two dogs in front of Dean, Jack was standing beside Castiel while holding one of CJ's hands, and a laughing Claire was sat on Dean's free side while Mandy sat on her lap.

All of them had happy smiles on their faces. The perfect family portrait, in Dean's opinion.

"The other guy is my husband Castiel, the girl next to me is our daughter Claire, the boy next to Cas is our son Jack, the girl in Claire's lap is Mandy, the girl I'm holding is MJ, the boy in Cas's arms is CJ, and the boy next to the dogs is Ben." Dean rattled of easily when they asked about their names.