No Strings Attached

Day 1

To make matters worse, Lisa had to throw a kid into the mix. It wasn't her fault. It happened long before she met Dean so he couldn't complain. Dean had done his best to keep his mouth and attitude in check around the kid, but at the ripe age of eight he already had the mouth of a sailor.

Raising a kid was difficult, for the obvious reasons, and Dean was struggling. It's been long enough that he should have the hang of it, but he doesn't. He has problems accomplishing simple tasks like remembering to wake him for school and teaching him how to properly deal with bullies. This wasn't something Dean had growing up, allowing these tasks to easily slip from his mind. And Lisa, being the good mother she is, hated it. She would scream at Dean for neglecting her child, throwing out accusation after accusation. They didn't agree about a lot of things, so why should raising a child be any different?

They had just had one of these common fights, their argument about Ben's bedtime escalating to the point where Dean cracked. He had done so well over the past few years, ending their screaming matches before anything got too serious. This time was different. This time, Dean had said something he didn't mean.

"If you think I'm such a crappy father, then why don't you just take your kid and go!"

"Maybe I will," she had replied, her voice loud enough to rattle the picture frames. They had both stopped then, breathing heavily as they understood the words that had just been spoken. After several silent moments, Dean had left, scooping up his keys and walking out to his beloved Impala. Lisa didn't follow him; he knew she wouldn't.

"Why are you here alone? A charming man like yourself must do well in the ladies department," Elena muses, bringing Dean back to the present. A smirk makes an appearance on Dean's lips, making Elena smile.

"You think I'm a ladies man?"

"Well obviously. Why else would you be talking to a woman who's been called for?" Elena watches Dean as he absorbs this information, mulling it over in his head.

"Called for? Is that what kids are calling it these days?" Scoffing, Elena shakes her head and swirls her drink around in the glass. Dean catches the movement, his eyes narrowing in on her bare left hand. Not married, yet still called for, Dean thinks to himself, suddenly curious of this girl's story.

"I wouldn't know," Elena mutters, almost to herself. "Do you have any kids?" Stiffening, Dean looks down at his glass.

"I guess you could say that," he answers, earning an incredulous look from Elena. "He's my girlfriend's. Happened before I came around." Elena nods understandingly, her mind far away. "So you don't have any?"

"No, uh..." Elena pauses, chewing on the inside of her lip. "My boyfriend doesn't want kids."

"But you do," Dean says, picking up on what Elena isn't saying. "You could always just tell him, you know. That you want kids." Shaking her head, Elena returns her attention to her drink.

"He's not the most understanding person in the world," Elena comments, working her jaw as her mind starts to take her back to their fight. Seeing this, Dean orders them each another drink. "What's this for?"

"You look like you need it," Dean points out, earning him a smile from Elena. They sit there in silence for several moments before Elena speaks up.

"So this girlfriend," Elena says, drawing Dean's attention. "Is she worth the kid?" Dean hesitates, his eyes staring far away instead of at Elena. This doesn't go unnoticed by her. "Ah, I know that look."

"What look?" Dean looks up at her curiously, watching the way her eyes narrow in on him. He hasn't seen someone so interested in himself for a long time and it was refreshing.