Outside, the trees had started to shed orange and red leaves, piling up in Dean and Castiel's small backyard. The weather was chilly, not just at night, but during the day, too.

In contrast to the harsh weather, the house was warm and the turkey in the oven could be smelled from every room.

Dean stood in front of the stove, whistling while stirring a pot of gravy. The doorbell rang, and he stopped his whistling to shout; "Cas, go get the door! It's probably Sammy!"

Castiel appeared in the kitchen wearing a new black suit. "How do I look?" he asked. The tie around his neck was the same one he'd worn when him and Dean had first officially met, and was even crooked in the same quirky way it was back then, too.

Dean smiled. He knew that Sam was probably going to find the tie to be a little bit unprofessional, but he couldn't bring himself to fix it. "Like an angel."

That earned him a glare.

Laughing, Dean turned back to the gravy. "Hurry up, Sam's gettin' impatient."

"Dean, I know for a fact that he is much more patient than you," Castiel stated.

Dean rolled his eyes and poured the gravy into a gravy boat. He turned around and brought it to the table, just in time to see his brother and his boyfriend looking at each other awkwardly from different sides of the doorframe.

"What's up, Sammy?" Dean called.

Sam's eyes look between Dean and Castiel before finally looking back to Dean. "Uh, hey." A blonde woman with a sweet smile stood close to him.

Dean wiped his hands on his jeans and walked through the dining room toward the front door. "Hi," he said to the woman. "I'm Dean, Sam's older brother." He held out his hand.

"Jessica Moore." She shook his hand. "Sam's older girlfriend."

"By a year," Sam mumbled.

Dean raised his eyebrows. "She's a keeper." He accompanied that statement with a wink in Sam's direction. "So, you guys have already met Cas?"

"Yeah," Sam said slowly.

Dean rolled his eyes.

A car pulled up to the curb, parking right behind Sam's. Two women got out and waved over at them. Dean smiled and waved back.

"Sam, go greet them. I gotta take the turkey out."

"Right," Sam said. He looked at his girlfriend. "Jess, you can go inside and I'll be right there." He turned around and hurried over to the woman, hugging both of them.

Jessica followed Dean and Castiel inside.

"So," Dean said when they entered the kitchen. "How'd you meet Sam?"

"Mutual friend," she told him. "We've been dating for almost a year now. He didn't tell you about me?"

Dean shrugged, opening the oven door. He grabbed a couple of rags and used them to protect his hands as he took out their main dish. "Sammy's a pretty private kid. I've never even met any of his past girlfriends."

Jessica smiled, her face turning a light shade of pink.

"Where the hell is my seat?" came a gruff voice from behind them. "You've got seven seats, boy. There're eight people here."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Sit on the floor then!" he went over and displayed the turkey in the middle of the table.

"How about I dump you out of yours?" the man responded.

"I'll get you another chair, Bobby," said Sam. He moved past them and went into the garage.

"Hi," Jo said to Jessica. She sat down next to her. "I don't remember you being part of the family."

"I'm Jessica, Sam's girlfriend."

"Well, the more the merrier," Ellen said, sitting down across from Jo. "I'm Ellen. That's my daughter, Jo."

"It's nice to meet all of you," Jessica said.

Sam came back shortly after with a plastic chair. He unfolded it and set it next to where Castiel had chosen to sit. "Here you go." He took a seat on the other side of Jessica.

"Thanks, boy," Bobby said, sitting down. He starting piling food onto his place, and then paused to look at the man next to him. "Who're you?"

"My name is Castiel."

Bobby raised his eyebrows. "This is-"

"Yes," Dean said.

"Why is he still here?"

"Long story."

Bobby tried to wipe the shock from his face. "Well, Cas, you can call me Bobby. Nice to.. Finally meet you, I guess."

Castiel nodded. "You, too."

By that point everyone had settled into their seats and were starting to dig into their food.

Jessica leaned in to Sam. "Do we not say grace?" she whispered.

Sam shook his head. "We're not very religious," he said, voice low. "Sorry."

Jessica shook her head, moving back to sit in her seat properly. "It's not a big deal." She smiled and nudged him. "But my parents say grace. Hope you're prepared for next year."

Somebody knocked on the door.

"Oh, now who the hell is that?" Bobby asked.

"This family just keeps getting bigger," Jo mumbled. She smiled at her food.

Dean pushed his chair back and stood up, looking longingly at his food for a moment before going to answer the door. On the other side stood a woman with short brown hair and an expectant smile.

"Jody?" Dean smiled and went in for a hug. 'What're you doing here?"

"Hey, Dean." They pulled away and she glanced over his shoulder to look inside. "Bobby invited me."

Dean turned to where everyone was sitting. "Bobby, you got somethin' you wanted to tell us?"

Bobby choked on his food. Regaining control of himself, he wiped at his mouth and leaned back in the chair to look at them. "Jody?"

Smiling, Jody turned back to Dean. "Well, you gonna invite me in?"

"Right, come on in." He stepped aside to let her in and she made a beeline for the table.

"Scoot over, boy," Bobby said to Castiel.

Jody rolled her eyes. "You don't have to move."

Bobby looked at Castiel and, feeling pressured, he moved to sit in the chair that was previously occupied by Dean.

"Where am I supposed to sit?" Dean asked, watching Jody sit down and handing Castiel his plate of food.

Castiel took Dean's plate from it's resting spot and replaced it with his own, then handed Dean's food to him.

"The floor," Bobby said.

Dean rolled his eyes and instructed Jo to move over toward the corner. Annoyed, Jo complied. He set his plate down on the now empty surface."I'll be right back," he grumbled.

In the garage Dean was mildly surprised to actually find another folding chair. He dusted the cobwebs off and shook it a few times for good measure before even thinking about bringing it into the house. Finally satisfied, he brought the chair inside and placed it between Castiel and Jo. He got an extra plate for Jody and handed it to her before sitting down.

"Castiel is a strange name," Jo stated. "Where are you from?"

"Actually," Jessica piped in. "He was probably named after the angel Cassiel."

Castiel stiffened where he sat."Well," he started.

"Yeah, his parents were pretty religious," Sam stated.

Jessica looked at him. "I thought this was the first time you two had met?"

"It is," he said. "But Dean's told me a lot about him."

"How'd you boys meet?" Jody asked.

"It's a little hard to explain," Dean said. "I'll tell it to you some other time."

Jody gave him a weird look and Bobby leaned in to whisper something to her. Her eyes darted to Jessica and an understanding look crossed over her face. "Right," she said. "Well, can't wait to hear that story."

Castiel looked at all of them awkwardly. Jo was staring at him intently and Jessica now seemed suspicious.

Dean reached over and placed a hand on his knee under the table. Castiel relaxed into the touch, gently placing his hand on top of Dean's. He intertwined their fingers from behind.

Looking at all of them sitting together at that dinner table, spending Thanksgiving as a family, Dean knew there was going to be more obstacles that he would have to go through. Helping Sam with Jess when she finds out the truth about monsters, telling Jody, Ellen and Jo the truth about Castiel, and the fact that he would never be satisfied living a normal life were only to name a few. But, as he looked at his family eating together without worry, as he felt the warmth of Castiel's palm on top of his hand, it was the first time Dean remembered ever feeling so content with his life.