Despite everything that's happened this year, this Thanksgiving might be my favorite.

     With Cas's family here, and mine, and Jack's, it nearly winds me how much warmth is in the room. It would be overwhelming, if not for Cas who's always nearby, jumping in, almost unnecessarily, fielding questions and steering conversations to keep things light. I wonder if I broke him, maybe, when I got shot. Now he's stuck in this caregiver role, protecting me. I don't hate it, but I wonder what happens when that tires. Where do we go from there?

     The meal runs smoothly. I was nervous that I hadn't made enough, but there's more than enough for everyone to have seconds and thirds and plates to bring home. I've shoving Cas out of his seat, trying to encourage him to go up for seconds. We're in the middle of the table, the halfway point between the older and younger adults. Maddox insisted on sitting beside me, though, which has kept conversation in line. It's not as easy speaking in innuendos with a ten-year-old around, the way it was with a five-year-old. Things just do not fly by kids at this age.

     Cas eyes his plate and then glances at me. "I think I'm gonna pass on seconds," he says after some thought.

     I hold my hand to my chest like I've been fatally wounded. "You can't pass on seconds when the request is coming from the chef. It's rude."

     "Yeah, well, tell the chef that two plates is too much."

     "The chef disagrees. The chef thinks two plates is a serving size."

     "So, then is the chef getting up for seconds, too?"

     "Oh, no, the chef eats half a serving. That's a rule."

     Cas rolls his eyes. "You're just making up rules now."

     I laugh, quietly. Realistically, everything I've said is a made up rule. "Go get seconds, please. You're hurting my ego."

     Now he really rolls his eyes, all exaggerated, but he stands, anyway. "Yeah, hurting your ego my ass."

     "Ooooh, Cas said a curse word," Maddox says as he passes by Cas to take his seat, his plate full of mostly mac and cheese.

     "Excuse me, Maddox, I don't see any vegetables on that plate?" Suki notes from across the table.

     "But mom it's my second plate," Maddox whines.

     "I guess we don't want dessert, huh," she says.

     Maddox gets up, chasing Cas to the buffet table. Amelia's on the other side of the table, between Suki and Jack. "So you gonna drop the turkey recipe?" she asks, mouth mostly full. "Cause this is the moistest — moist -est? Is that even a word — I don't know, but it's the best turkey I've ever had."

     "Liquid cocaine," I say. "Straight into the center."

     "You know I thought I was starting to feel a bit cracked out," Jack says. "That's your secret ingredient for everything, right? Explains the skyrocketed success."

     "What are you talking about?" Jasmine asks as she returns to the table. She has Atlas on her hip and is balancing a plate in her other hand.

     "Dres drugs his food," Jack responds breezily.

     "Oh, did he tell you about the liquid cocaine?" Cas asks as he comes up to the table.

     Jasmine, who's never really understood this kind of humor, glances between all of us confused. Jack goes, "Not literally, sweetheart."

     "It's just that dang good," Amelia goes. "You can liken the addictive quality to a drug."

     I look at the plate of food Cas has placed on the table and then up at him. "That's not a lot," I say.

      "I'm going to absolutely murder you," he mutters so only I can hear.

     It's this easy banter that pushes the meal along and proceeds into dessert. With the addition of Amelia's cocktails, everyone who hasn't driven, so Amelia and Cas really, are well on their way to being drunk. I haven't had enough to drink to be on their levels, but I feel good.

     I set out the to-go boxes that I use for Weston's After Hours, encouraging everyone to literally take everything, leave nothing behind, please, because I don't know what I'm going to do with this much leftover food. I like to donate whatever food I have leftover from events to the local shelters, so I'll likely do that, but I'd like everyone to leave with something. Especially with the number of desserts and pies that I've made.

     Cas helps me move dishes to the kitchen and load up the washers. "That wasn't bad," he says after a moment.

     I shake my head. "No, it was nice," I say as I rinse off some plates. I pass them to him and he puts them in the dishwasher.

     "Amelia made some lethal ass drinks," he says with a giggle. It's definitely a giggle.

     "I told you to slow down," I scold not feeling particularly sympathetic.

     "So bossy," he responds. "So Mister boss man, what's the move tonight?"

     I look at him, confused. "What's the move tonight?"

     "Yeah, what're you doing after this?"

     I huff. "Going home?"

     "Right, right, of course. Okay, well bail on those plans. That's lame. Let's go out."

     "Go out where?" I ask, confused.

     "To a bar. They're having a post-Thanksgiving thing."

     I hesitate. "I don't know," I say.

     "Come on, you've literally never gone out drinking with me."

     "Don't you have work tomorrow?" I ask.

      "Yeah, but I don't have to be in till noon." He grabs my shoulders, giving me a shake. "Come on," he says. "Just say yes."

     I nod, starting to grin. "Yeah, okay."

     Cas claps his hands. "Okay, perfect. Let's get everybody out of here so we can go."

    I glance at my watch. "It's only seven."

     "Exactly and it's going to take my family like an hour to actually leave. It's an absolute ordeal."

     Cas isn't wrong. Everyone's still packing food to go and talking and drinking. Cas, not at all subtly, tells Olivia he's got plans so they need to leave. Olivia looks at him and then looks at me and I get the feeling she's ready to tell him to stop being rude but then she doesn't? It's even more confusing because she hasn't commented on Cas and I and what we're doing, which isn't really like her. Instead, she goes up to Layne and Robert and says she's ready to call it a night. Jack's already left since he has to put Atlas and Theo to bed.

     Amelia walks over, nursing another drink, and goes, "What's going on?"

     "What's going on?" I ask. "Everyone's leaving, I think."

     "Yeah, because Cas is wildly pushing everyone out the door."

     We both turn and look at Cas. He's holding his grandparents' coats out to them. "He wants to go to a bar thing," I say.

     "Oooh, fun, let's do it."

     I give her a look.

     "Oh, come on, you won't even know I'm there."

     I give her another look.

     "I won't even know you're there."

     I haven't stopped giving her the look.

     She tosses a hand up. "Fine, whatever. You're no fun, anyway. Cas would have a better time taking me to a bar."

     "Maybe if you had friends you'd have people to go out drinking with," I say.

     She glares at me. "My friends are in the city, which makes them cooler than your friends, okay?"

     "Right, of course. These friends I've never even met."

     "I have friends, Dres," she screams.

    Dolores calls to us, "Dres, stop teasing your sister. You know she has a hard time making friends."

     "I have friends!" she repeats.

     "I'm her friend," Cas says as he walks up. "Did you say goodbye? Because I'm literally going to push everyone out the door in T-minus two."

     I want to tell him to stop rushing his family but it feels like a lost cause. And, anyway, I think it's the alcohol. Either way, I go and do my rounds saying goodbye to his cousins and grandparents before I circle back to Olivia. She raises an eyebrow questioningly before hugging me. "Dinner was excellent. I'm very pleased that everything went smoothly."

     "It was good night," I tell her. "It was nice to see everyone again."

     "Cas seemed to be on his best behavior," she notes.

     "I think that's just his behavior now," I tell her.

     She nods her head and she's smiling. "I think you may be right." We both glance over at him. He's flailing his arms at his grandparents as Layne very slowly puts on her coat. "He's kind of a lightweight, huh."

     "He's definitely a lightweight," I agree and we laugh.

     "What are you boys doing tonight?"

     I stutter on a response and she laughs a bit louder this time. "Oh, come on," she says. "We don't have to pretend not to know what's going on here. Who else could Cas have plans with?"

      I feel myself flushing. "He wants to go some Thanksgiving thing at a bar? I'm not entirely sure. I think I'll just be supervising this one."

     Olivia regards me fondly and I don't understand the look. "Okay, let me get my family out of here so you guys can go."

     I help carry food out to cars and Cas herds the younger cousins into their car, promising to visit this weekend to take them skating. Maddox calls, "And Dres!"

     Cas looks over at me questioningly. "Dres would love to go skating," he says before I've even thought of a response. It's a bit much for me, the deja vu of it. Feels like absolutely nothing has changed and pretty much everything has changed.

     Once everyone's left, I grab a garbage bag and throw out what can be tossed. The tablecloths will need to go back home to be washed. Cas has started to move the tables back and when I'm done picking up, I move to to help him.

     "Is someone coming to clean tonight?" he asks.

     I nod. "Roberta and Felix. They're very nice. I think you'd like them. But they won't be here till like ten."

     "So we can leave it like this, then?"

     I nod. "Yeah, just gotta lock up and then we can go."