Ching Tai, Friday Night

[bigdamnprincipal]

Zoe was doing her best to at least remain outwardly calm as she and John sat down at one of the tables in Ching Tai. Between hunger and nervousness, her stomach felt like it might try to start jumping, and she wondered if John felt the same way. They were there to have dinner with his sons, after all.

"What did you tell Dean and Sam when you talked to them?" she asked.

The thread with Zoe, John, Sam and Dean is locked to them, thanks. *hands out popcorn*

Comments

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

"Just asked them to meet me here and that I had something to tell them," John replied. He regarded Zoe. "How are you feeling?"

[bigdamnprincipal]

"Hungry. It's amazing what eating for two will suddenly do to your appetite," she replied with a teasing smile, before getting serious again. "I just don't want them to be upset, especially not with you."

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

"It'll be fine," John told her. "I can't promise they won't be upset at first, but they'll come around. Family is a big thing to all of us."

[bigdamnprincipal]

Zoe thought of the people on Serenity, her makeshift family, and knew it was a pretty big thing to her too. "That's good to know. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see how things go tonight."

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

"Yep." He paused. "If you're that hungry, we can order some kind of appetizer while we're waiting..."

[bigdamnprincipal]

Zoe couldn't fight the way she smiled at him. "I'm fine, John. Really."

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

John chuckled. "I'm probably going to keep asking things like that for the next nine months."

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

"No," John quickly assured him and glanced at Zoe. "We just have some things to talk about."

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

"Is this about how you two are dating?" Dean asked as he and Sam took their seats. "Because we kinda figured that out a while ago."

[bigdamnprincipal]

"We didn't do a very good job of hiding that, did we?" Zoe asked, grinning. "Although, I suppose even if we'd tried harder, you two would have figured it out anyway. And yes, that is part of the reason why we wanted to talk to you."

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

Dean grinned. "The radio broadcasts insisting so hard that there was nothing going on kinda gave it away."

[likethegun]

"Yeah, and it was kind of obvious that something was going on just from how Dad's mood improved," Sam added. "We've talked about it, and we're totally okay with it, if you guys were concerned."

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

"I'm happy to hear that," John said, glancing at Zoe. "But we have something more to tell you as well."

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

The news was sinking in enough for Dean to really react to it. And hey, another little sibling, while almost the last thing he expected, was kinda cool. He grinned and clapped his brother on the shoulder. "Guess you're not going to be the baby of the family any more, Sammy."

[likethegun]

"I'm not a baby now," Sam insisted, although he couldn't help but scowl a little at the idea of being stuck in the middle. "And I guess you're going to end up with two siblings trying to drive you crazy, instead of just one."

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

Dean shrugged. "I can live with that. Don't worry, if you need any lessons in being a big brother, I'll be happy to teach you."

[likethegun]

Sam smirked. "Oh, hey, you're going to have to split your duties of crazy brotherly overprotectiveness between two of us. Suddenly this sounds a whole lot better."

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

The part of John that had been braced for any bad reactions began to relax as he listened to Dean and Sammy's banter. He had thought they'd be all right with the news once they got used to it, but he couldn't be completely sure until now. "I expect we'll be taking advantage of both your 'brotherly overprotectiveness' for the occasional babysitting," he put in with a teasing smile.

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

Dean's first instinct was to protest that, but truth was, he probably wouldn't mind at all. "Sure," he said, giving in good naturedly. "Always glad to help out you and...." Dean looked at Zoe. "Do I still call you Principal Washburn?"

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

"That kinda goes along with being a Winchester, I think."

[likethegun]

"We have a tendency to go above and beyond in the call of protecting our own," Sam added.

[bigdamnprincipal]

Looking thoughtful for a moment, Zoe nodded. "Trust me, I understand that tendency all too well."

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

"So," Dean asked after a moment, "is this still a big secret or can we talk about it?"

[bigdamnprincipal]

"I think it'd be best if this stayed between us for a little while. We're trying to control the speed this gets out at."

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

"Good luck at that. Hard to keep a secret for long around here what with the nosey rodents and all. But they won't learn about it from me," Dean promised.