A few days later, I invited Sam and Dean over for dinner. Klaus told me he had plans, and that they had been set for a few days, but I didn't believe him. I tried to hide the fact that it bothered me, although I probably didn't do a very good job. He left a few hours before the Winchester's arrived, and by the time they got there, my bad mood had passed.
I kissed Dean's cheek when he came in, which seemed to surprise him. We had yet to do more than hold hands since we had decided to try 'us' out again, and even that didn't happen often, since he wasn't big on public displays of affection. Sam smiled when he saw the look on his brother's face, but said nothing.
"Sam? Is that you?" Janelle teased, exaggeratedly looking up to smile at Sam. "Who knew you'd be the tall one?"
He laughed, leaning down to hug her. "It's nice to see you."
"You too," she said, releasing him and stepping out of the way to greet Dean. Sam stuck his hand out to shake Elijah's hand, but Elijah ignored it, hugging Sam.
"How are you, Dean?" Janelle grinned.
"Amazing," he replied, looking at me and smiling. I rolled my eyes, trying to hide my blush.
Elijah and Dean greeted each other and the five of us made our way into the patio, where Elijah was grilling our dinner. Janelle used the time before dinner was ready to catch up with Sam and Dean, and I kept Elijah company. When the steaks were ready, Janelle and I brought out salad and baked potatoes to go with it. We sat down, talking and laughing like the gathering was something that happened every Friday night.
"I've missed this," Elijah finally said, smiling at us. "I've missed you guys." his gaze fell on the Winchester's, who were seated next to each other, with Sam at the end of the table.
"We've missed you too," Sam smiled, taking a bite of his steak.
"And we've missed this place," Dean almost laughed. "Especially during the summertime."
"It is pretty amazing," Janelle grinned. "California's beautiful, especially in the summer."
Dean nodded, the smile on his face one of the biggest I'd seen since he'd come back.
We fell into a comfortable silence while we ate. When we were all finished, we stayed at the table, making small talk.
After a while, Elijah cleared his throat. "So Rebekah and Kol will be coming to visit us next weekend."
"Really?" I smiled. I hadn't seen either of them for at least two years, when they moved to Europe to live with Finn. Neither Janelle nor I asked why Finn wasn't coming; We knew better than to bring up the brother Elijah and Klaus didn't get along with.
"Yes. I was thinking maybe we could throw a party. You know how much Rebekah loves that kind of thing."
"I think that's a great idea," Janelle smiled. "We can make it a formal party, give her an excuse to dress up."
Dean groaned quietly next to me.
"I think that's a fantastic idea," I said, over-enthusiastically turning to face Dean. "Don't you?"
He rolled his eyes, smiling.
—
The day Rebekah and Kol were due to arrive in California, Elijah, Klaus, Janelle, and I cleaned up the small mess in the house. Janelle convinced us to make signs to hang up welcoming them, which we hung up in the living room for them to see when they walked in. Klaus went to go get us lunch at the same time Elijah left to go pick up Rebekah and Kol, leaving Janelle and I alone.
