Lullaby |Dean Winchester|

Chapter 25: Happy Unattached-Drifter's Christmas

Dean shrugged. "We're fine." My eyebrows furrowed skeptically, but I let it go. Instead, I leaned over and picked up the coffee pot he'd been eyeing before walking over to refill his glass. Black. Just how he liked it. "You're a saint." He breathed out, grabbing the hot mug with a look of adoration.

"Shut up. So do you guys need help? This looks freaky in a new kinda way." I remarked, leaning back against the counter with my own mug now that I'd returned the pot to its warmer.

Sam shook his head, hiding an almost mischievous glint in his eyes. "Don't you have plans with Lincoln tonight? We can't ask you to come." The tone was off, making me raise an eyebrow at the question. Dean paused in the middle of sipping his drink, face darkening at his brother's words.

"Plans with Lincoln? I don't have—oh, yeah. Plans with Lincoln." For about five seconds, I'd managed to forget about stupid Valentine's Day. On the bright side, I did have a session with Gabriel scheduled for today, but it's pretty sad when Gabriel has become the 'bright side' in my life. A sigh fell from me as I was too tired to feign excitement for my fake date. "I'll just meet you guys out there tomorrow, then." Without even a glance my way, Dean stood from the table. Leaving his coffee where it sat, he walked out of the room mumbling something about having to pack. That's odd. I thought as I eyed him warily while innocently enjoying the view. My gaze was pulled away only when I noticed Sam staring intently at me. I'd been caught. "What?" My voice came out sounding rather defensive, which only made him smirk.

"Nothing. Nothing at all." He closed his laptop as he continued to stare me down.

With a shake of my head in an attempt to ignore the strange behavior, I moseyed over to the table and sat in Dean's previous spot. "You're being weird."

"And you're being stupid."

"Excuse me?" I huffed, meeting Sam's gaze. His head shook as we held eye contact for a few more moments. "Please elaborate." The wind whistled outside, making me grip my mug a little tighter in response.

A small smile tugged at the corner of Sam's lips before he spoke. "I know you broke up with Lincoln." My heart stopped as that one sentence shook me to my core. He knew. How? Did he know about Gabriel? Was he going to try to stop me? My hands began to tremble as I set my mug down.

"What makes you say that?" It took all I had to keep my voice level.

The sunlight flooded in through the kitchen window and caused me to squint at my best friend as he contemplated how to tell me what he wanted to. "I called him last night. Dean," Sam chuckled softly, "well, let's just say Dean was worried Lincoln wouldn't be able to find your favorite candy before Valentine's Day."

"My favorite-?" the words caught in my throat as my mouth hung open in confusion. "He knows my favorite-?" For some reason, this knowledge that Dean Winchester knew my favorite candy had rendered me incapable of cognitive speech.

The knowing look only settled deeper onto Sam's features. "Yup. So he had me call Lincoln to make sure you wouldn't be disappointed. It's also the reason he said we have to leave today. 'Give you free range of the house', he said. But, when I called your boyfriend, he informed me you two had broken up earlier this month." My face seemed to be as red as my pajama pants. "Now, I haven't mentioned anything to Dean yet, but why would you lie about something like that?"

Silence followed his words as he waited for my explanation. But what could I do? Gabriel had made me promise, and I couldn't risk losing my only practice dummy. Sitting on my hands, I managed to bite my lip as my gaze fell to the table. "I was embarrassed." The mumble that came out was quiet enough that Sam had to lean forward to hear. "You know I'd never really had a relationship other than Lincoln, and I just didn't want you guys to pity me this close to Valentine's Day."