Every time Castiel has woken up since he got here, at least half the household has also been up. That's what makes it so weird when he heads to the kitchen and the only ones there are John and Ellen. He hasn't talked to them much and he's been fairly content with that, but it would be pretty weird to just turn around and go back to sleep so he doesn't have much of a choice.

"Wow," Ellen says, "you look shockingly okay this morning."

Castiel cocks his head to the side, squinting. "Thank you?"

"Dean woke up and went straight for the Advil," John explains.

Castiel chuckles. "I'm not surprised. They drank a lot last night." Dean did seem to be the least drunk, though, so if he's hungover, Castiel pities everyone else who played those drinking games.

"Not you, huh?" John says.

Castiel shakes his head. "Never been much of a drinker."

"Good on you," John says,

"There are leftover cinnamon rolls in the fridge, by the way," Ellen tells him. him. "Get 'em before someone else eats them -- and by 'someone else' I mean Dean or Ash."

Castiel waves that off. He loves a good cinnamon roll, but they're not as good two days in a row. It ruins the specialness factor. And besides, he's sure Dean and Ash are going to appreciate it much more than he would. Anything to distract from the hangover, right?

"So what's next for you?" John asks, which is how most people attempt to make small talk with him these days. "Got another movie in the works?"

"TV show, actually," Castiel says. "I start filming next month."

Ellen apparently already knew that -- she probably has to keep up with where he's going to be because it affects where Jo is going to spend her time -- because she says to John, "Didn't Dean tell you? He's gonna be in that 'Wayward Girls' show Dean's obsessed with."

Castiel bites back a laugh. Well, that's close, but not quite what it's called. He has to admire the fact that she refers to it as "the show Dean's obsessed with," though -- and he admittedly finds the idea of Dean being obsessed with a show called "Wayward Girls" infinitely funnier than he should.

"Oh, right, he did mention that," John recalls. To Castiel, he adds, "Dean tries to keep me up-to-date about what way too many people are doing. It's hard to keep it all straight."

It's hard to keep him straight at all.

Oh, how he longs for the day he can make gay puns in front of whoever he wants -- a day that will likely never come, but he can dream. At least he can make gay jokes with Charlie, though. What more does he need in life?

Instead, Castiel keeps his response nice and polite with, "I can only imagine. I know Dean's got a lot of friends to keep track of." Dean's always looked like an overly-social guy, and Castiel has to respect it, even if he can't relate.

"I don't know how he does it," John agrees. "Now, I think Dean tried to explain this to me once and he lost me 30 seconds in, so I'm going to try again. Who are you playing? What does he do?"

"I don't know how Dean explained it," Castiel says, though he wouldn't be surprised if Dean tried to summarize the entire show just to explain how Lucifer is going to play into it, "but simply put, I'm playing the devil." His poor family is never going to recover when they find that one out.

"Huh." John chuckles. "You are the last person I would pin as the devil type, but I gotta admit, it does make me want to watch the show now."

"That would be the goal," Castiel tells him. "I'm just hoping viewership will bump enough to get the show another season."

"Well, you've got two new viewers now," Ellen tells him. "Three or four, probably -- I'm sure Jo is going to watch it and Ash might tag along, too."

"Jo and I are actually going to watch the first few seasons together next month," Castiel tells her. "I'm going to see if anyone else on the cast or crew wants to livetweet it with us. We're going to try to make it a whole big thing."

"You kids today and your 'twits,'" John jokes. "Back in my day, we watched TV for the sake of watching TV."

Ellen slaps him on the shoulder. "John, he didn't come here for the dad jokes."

"Of course he did," John says, like it's ridiculous she would think otherwise.

"I will admit, I do like a good dad joke," Castiel tells them. It's not like he has a steady flow of them in his life, what with not having talked to his own dad since he was 18, so he'll take them where he can get them.

"If you're looking for good ones," Ellen says, "you came to the wrong place."

"No, don't worry, I have a lot more," John assures him. "Sam and Dean can't stand them and I think Jess is about to start pulling her hair out over it so I'm thrilled to have someone else to subject to them."

"What's Jess about to start pulling her hair out over?"

Castiel looks up to see Dean walking down the hall, presumably from Jo's room. He looks so damn tired, though Castiel wouldn't be surprised if that's just the alcohol finally getting to him. He clearly hasn't put any effort into his appearance, and Castiel can't help but smile when he sees Dean's spiky -- and borderline fluffy -- hair and his ruffled tee shirt.

"Dad jokes," Ellen answers. "Get out while you can."

"Ooh." Dean clicks his tongue once. "I was going to ditch, but I can't let Cas suffer through this alone." He drops a bottle of Advil on the counter, then takes a seat at the kitchen table next to his dad. He taps the table next to him. "C'mon, Cas, don't be a stranger."

If Ellen or John had offered him a seat, he would have found a polite way to decline it (and he's half-convinced they knew that). But he can't say no to Dean (and he's half-convinced Dean knows that, too) so he sits down at the table next to the man.

"So," Dean says, "Cas and Charlie decided they're gonna stick around for another couple days, if that's all good with everyone else."

Castiel has to do a double-take at that. He was so sure no one was going to remember that. He can't complain, exactly — at this point, he's come to accept that this is his only chance to get laid — but he's definitely surprised. He'd assumed Dean had to be really drunk to make out with him in front of everyone. Apparently he underestimated how well Dean can handle his alcohol.

"I'm not sure Cas agrees with that," Ellen remarks.

"Well, no, he's — I mean, technically he's right," Castiel says, still a bit taken aback, "but Charlie was drunk when she agreed and... well, everyone was drunk, actually. I didn't think anyone was going to remember."

"Oh," Dean says, and Castiel looks over to see a frown on his face. "You really looked like you were thinking about staying last night. I just kinda assumed..."

"Oh, no, I'm fine with staying if the invitation's still out there now that everyone's sober," Castiel assures him. "I just didn't think it was going to happen." He probably shouldn't give a firm acceptance just yet, though; he's not the only one whose plans would be changing. "I'll have to talk to Charlie first, though. I'm not gonna take her drunk excitement as a genuine 'yes.'"

"A man who values true consent," Dean remarks. "You have proven yourself once again."

Castiel cocks his head to the side. "Thank you?" All he's doing is double-checking that Charlie wants to stay, but if Dean wants to pretend it proves that he's a stand-up guy, who's Castiel to tell him not to?

"And, for the record," Dean says, "I can and will bully Charlie into saying yes if I have to."

Castiel shakes his head, amused. "That's one way to get what you want." Fortunately for him (or unfortunately if he really did want to bully her into agreeing), she's probably going to accept the invite as soon as she wakes up. That's just the kind of person she is.

"While I don't condone bullying," Ellen says, shooting Dean a pointed look, "I think everyone would be thrilled if you and Charlie would stay another couple of days. You're part of the family now, you know, whether you like it or not.

Castiel can't help but smile. He will admit, as much as he likes everyone here, he doesn't quite see them as family. Not yet, at least; it tends to take him a while to warm up to people. But if she sees him as family -- if she's right and they all see him as family... Well, maybe there's hope for him. Maybe there's still a chance for him to find a family in them.