I look back, because I'm a glutton for punishment.

     Sometimes, all the time, it amazes me that Dres is all mine, to do with what I please. I make a mental note to fit in Dres and Cas alone time into the weekend.

     Amelia drapes her coat over my arm, her gaze fixed mostly on the dessert table like she's plotting to try everything. I take their coats to the foyer and hang them up in the front closet.

    When I head back into the living room, Dres and Amelia have joined the mix. Dres is talking animatedly to my grandparents and I swear grandma is just about swooning. It's more words than I ever got from Dres when I first met him.

     Amelia moves beside me and whispers, "Why don't you give me a tour?"

     I freeze. "Well, there's not really much to see," I whisper back.

     She smiles coolly. "Give me one, anyway."

     "Okay..." I shoot a fleeting glance at Dres, wondering if he's going to save me from impending death (he doesn't notice) and then lead Amelia out of the living room into the foyer. "So this is the front hall. Hall closet. Staircase. And yeah, okay, let's just skip to the part where you give me the speech."

     Amelia raises an eyebrow, coyly. It's very 'I have no idea what you're talking about.'

     "Come on, you know the bit. 'If you hurt my brother, you'll suffer endless torment by my hand.' That sorta thing."

     "I don't think you're going to hurt my brother," she responds simply. I think right because if anyone's likely to get hurt here, it's me. I'm the one who's more invested.

     "So if this isn't the speech portion of the night, then what is this? An interrogation? What do you want to know?"

     She quirks her brow. "Oh, you know, the standard stuff. How did you guys meet? How long has this been going on? Is my brother a top or a bottom?"

      Every ounce of blood in my body shoots into my face, making me unsteady on me feet. I have absolutely no volume control when I blurt, "What!"

     Amelia laughs easily. "Right, he's totally a bottom. Why am I even asking?"

     "I — we — I mean — he's not — and we haven't—."

     "Relax," she places a hand on my arm, like this will calm me down, "I was kidding. I don't actually need or want to know what it is you two get up to in the bedroom."

     I swallow against the urge to tell her we don't get up to anything in the bedroom. Literally. We actually haven't done anything in his bedroom. His front foyer, yes, and his car, and the kitchen at Weston's. But not his actual bed. I don't tell her that, though. Instead, I nod, waiting for my heart rate to return to normal.

     "But how did you guys meet?" she asks, curiously. "Dres won't offer up any of the details and my mother seems to think its his story to tell. Though I suppose it is half your story, too."

     "I mean, there's not like a story. We didn't, like, run into each other at the grocery store or something. It's not like I lost my breath when I first laid eyes on him. You know, it wasn't like some crazy movie moment."

     "We didn't meet at a grocery store, but Cas certainly lost his breath." I turn and Dres is behind me, leaning against the door frame between the living room and where we are in the foyer.

     "Ha ha," I say with a roll of my eyes. "I had a momentary lapse in my vital functions."

     Amelia grins. "Oh, he's funny. I like that for you."

     "He's really not," Dres responds.

     I narrow my gaze at him, playfully. "I'm downright hysterical."

     Amelia's eyes dart between us and then she says to Dres, voice very serious, "He is nothing like what I expected."

     Dres scowls. I'm about to ask her what that's supposed to mean, but my mom joins us, then, stealing our attentions. 

     Mom is pulling out all the impress-me stops, wearing grandma's pearl earrings and a silky maroon wrap dress that is a gentle reminder my mom is a young forties and would probably be dating if she wasn't so wrapped up in my life and her work. I sometimes wonder if she works so much as a way to avoid that aspect of her life or if her work fulfills her the way romantic love does for others.

     Mom looks at me expectantly as Amelia straightens, pressing down the front of her dress. The air has thickened around us. Parents have that effect on a room. For a moment, the briefest of, I wonder what it would be like if Dres met my father.

     I shake the thought away, and stutter on my words as I say quickly, "Uh right, mom this is uh Amelia. Dres's sister. Amelia, this is my mom."

     Amelia steps forward, holds her hand out to my mom. "Hi, it's nice to meet you."

     Mom smiles softly as they shake hands. "You look so much like your brother."

     Amelia flushes, shaking her head so her dark hair curtains her face. "Yeah, I get that a lot." She looks over at me and winks.

     Mom's grin widens. "You're very beautiful."

     I say with a groan, "Mom," as Amelia thanks her.

     Mom turns, then, to Dres, moving till their hugging, right before my eyes, a mere arms length away. She squeezes his shoulders as she pulls away, and he says, "Happy Thanksgiving, Olivia."

     I gawk at the two of them. When did Dres and my mom get on a first name basis?

     Amelia elbows me in the side but I don't even flinch. "When did—?" I start to say but they're already moving, heading back into the living room. I glance at Amelia who's expression is a bit confused but also amused. "Did you just see that?"

     "See what exactly?" she asks.

     "I think Dres and my mom are friends."

      I look back at my mom. She's standing between Dolores and Dres now, talking animatedly. She must be frequenting Private Weston's when I'm not there. I'm not surprised because mom does sly stuff like that all the time. I just can't believe it took me till right now to put it together.

      Dres catches my eye as my mom gets pulled into a conversation with Dolores and grandma. He gives me that face. Like he's reading my mind and he's telling me not to freak out.

       I mouth to him 'I'm not freaking out.' I emphasize the 'not' with a head shake. This makes him smile. I start to grin back but notice Amelia looking at me funny, like she's trying to figure out what's going on. Her gaze darts between Dres and I, suspiciously.

     She slides close enough to elbow me in the side again, discreetly. Well, discreetly enough that none of the adults see. Dres totally notices, and is making his way over. "What was that about?" she asks.

     I look at her like I have no idea what she's talking about. "What was what about?"

     Before she can say anything, Dres is there, giving her a similar look to the one I'm wearing. "Seriously!" Amelia exclaims. "You guys just had a full blown conversation."

     Dres shrugs his shoulders. "I didn't say anything."

     I mimic him. "Me neither."

     Amelia is shaking her head, smiling while she does, and at the very least I think she finds us entertaining. "Wow," she says, and she's not talking to me. "You're such a dirty little liar."

     "Stop," Dres says, his tone mild. As they glare at each other, I work overtime to figure out what they're saying, or really what they aren't.

     I stop when I hear a car pull up outside, looking over my shoulder out the living room window. My uncle's Ford is parked behind my mom's car in the driveway, sticking out over the sidewalk. I search the room for my mom. "Uncle Dan's here," I say to her and she nods, slightly. Dres and Amelia look at me. "My cousins are here," I tell them. "I'll be right back."

     When I get outside, Maddox is already out of the car and running towards me full speed. "Cas, Cas! I lost my first toof and, and, and the toof fairy left me a Finn. So now Finn and Poe can be together!" He gets to my arms and I lift him in the air as he shoves his Star Wars action figures into my face.

     "Ah, I see," I say grinning. "Finn and Poe are together, are they?"

     "Yeah! Dad said I'm not suppose-sted open them, but how are they gonna' save their gala-galactic universe against Kylo." I nod in agreement, laughing. "How come you don't come over as much as you did in the summer?"

     "Well, school's started again, and you know I'm on the swim team, so I have to go to practice every night. Like how you do karate? And after karate you go home and eat dinner and do homework? That's what I do."

     "But you can come over to my house and do your homework with me and Sofa! I can help you with math. I'm really good. Mr. Brown says to Momma that I'm really good."

     "You know I want to come over so much. But I have work, too, like your mom and dad. So I don't get home till very late. You'll already be asleep." I hike him up on my hip as I walk towards the car. "But I'll tell you what. Christmas break is almost here. I promise to spend so much time with you, you'll be sick of me by New Years."

     "Noooo, I only get sick when I eat broccoli, Cas. I can't get sick of you. You're silly."

     I laugh again. "Why because I'm not broccoli?"

     Maddox slaps both his hands on my cheeks, crushing Poe and Finn into my face. "People don't make you sick, only broccoli. But dad puts a wee little bit of cheese on it and then it tastes better. But it's still not very good. But momma says we have to eat them to grow big and strong like Superman!"

     "I see there is no shortage of television at your house. Hey, where's your sister?"

     He's squirming in my arms, so I let him back down as he says, "Momma's getting her because she doesn't know how to get out of her car seat like I do."

     Uncle Dan emerges from the backseat carrying Lily in the car seat.

     "Happy Thanksgiving," Uncle Dan says as he gives me a side hug.

     "Happy Thanksgiving, Uncle Dan." I crouch down to look at Lily. She's staring wide-eyed, big dark eyes darting all over the place. "Happy Thanksgiving, Miss Lily," I say in a baby voice. "God, she's gotten so big since I last saw her. It's crazy."

     Uncle Dan nods. "She's moving on to solid foods, now. Suki's losing her mind, thinks it's happening too fast. I'm like savor it, three kids is enough."

     "Really Dan?" Aunt Suki says as she comes up beside us.

     I give her a hug as I say hello to her in Chinese. She grins and kisses my cheek asking me how I am. She's been teaching me phrases since I was a kid, most of which have stuck. I'm like three-quarters of the way to trilingual. I promised Suki I'd take the language in college so I could read and write it. Maddox has lapped me in the language, and Sofia will no doubt follow when she starts to read and write.

     "Cas!" Sofia cries raising both her hands in the air. I smile as I pick her up and plant a kiss on her cheek. She turns her head so I do the other one.

     "It's cold out here. Let's go inside. Cas, your mother'll be very upset that you're not wearing a coat." Suki rubs my arm like this will deliver heat to the rest of my body.

     "Suki just wants to meet this boy of yours. That's all she could talk about the ride up here." Uncle Dan laughs.

     "He has his first serious boyfriend. I'm curious," Aunt Suki exclaims, grabbing hold of Maddox's hand as we walk inside.

     "You guys are gonna be chill, right?"

     Suki and Dan exchange looks. "Of course, Cas," Suki says but the face Dan is making says otherwise.