Closed; Thomas Family Dinner. Time To Meet The Family.

[daleysabrina]

Sabrina was positive that she had never been this nervous in her entire life, her stomach all twisted into anxious knots as she fidgeted and squirmed next to Dean as they made their way out of his building, taking each step very carefully. Her entire outfit was brand new, which really shouldn't have mattered because all of her clothes were

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[deantom]

The majority of Dean's nervousness about the upcoming evening had really just stemmed from Sabrina's own anxieties rubbing off on him. As far as he was concerned, he was properly excited over the thought of introducing her to his family.

His mother was already smitten and giddy over her, his dad was as laid-back and supportive and casually amused as ever, Margaret hadn't stopped bothering him with questions since she had heard the term 'werewolf' mentioned in the same paragraph as 'girlfriend', Julie was her usual overly excitable and endlessly enthusiastic self, and even Leila had gone as far as to crack her usually solid front for the sake of her stern 'good of you, I bet she's great, I'm glad your happy' version of a pep talk.

They could have Apparated, technically speaking. While Dean had gone by one weekend years ago while his parents were away and taken care of arming the place with a variety of basic wards (which they had never needed to know about as far as he was concerned, and which, he kept having to remind himself, would need to be put back up following the blackout's widespread wipe of all existing charms and spells), he'd obviously made sure to give himself access past the charms, in case of emergencies.

But in all other non-life-threatening circumstances, he had always made it a point to keep magic on the down-low around his family - he had never quite bothered to decide whether those reasons stemmed from politeness or a strange sort of guilt or from wanting to avoid encouraging the alienation so many outside parties seemed to think he deserved to suffer from with regards to his family.

It was almost exclusively for that reason, really, that he still bothered to pay for a parking spot and occasionally keep up on maintainance on his little run-down two-door red Civic.

Which he may or may not have purposely failed to mention would be that evening's mode of transportation.

He might have spent more than half of his life mostly imbedded in the wizarding world by now, but there were still some ways in which he was very much tied to his Muggle roots. Driving, and that actual enjoyment he got out of speeding down the highway with the windows down and the radio turned up, was one of them, despite how incapable he had apparently ever been of describing the experience to wizard-raised friends in a way that wasn't met with wide eyes and blank stares and genuine horror-

Dean spun the keys he had just pulled out of his pocket around his finger, offering Sabrina a sheepishly apologetic grin.

"I'm sorry, but it's either that thing, or the tube, and the train, and a taxi. Which takes twice as long and is at least twelve times as uncomfortable."

He stepped up to the little car's passenger side, clicked the unlock button on his keychain and pulled the door open with a wrinkle-nosed sort of smile - which faltered into a slightly less contained, awed sort of look as, not for the first time that evening (hell, not for the first time in the past thirty seconds) he found himself just a bit too entranced by the sight of her and the line of her curves wrapped in that purple lace and the entirely too distracting shade that smeared her lips-

-He might have failed to consider, in the midst of planning out (or rather, going along with the plans his mother had laid out) the evening, just how difficult it might prove to be to spend hours in her proximity without being able to act on those wandering thoughts she all too easily inspired-

[daleysabrina]

There had never been a time when Sabrina would have needed to get inside a car before, which was much more of a Pureblood thing and a lot less of a werewolf-living-in-the-woods-for-a-decade thing. As far as she was concerned they were much worse than stuffy small buildings or shoes, little tiny moving metal traps on wheels that sped around.

She ran her fingers over the shiny red door, looking up at Dean with very wide eyes as her mouth went dry. This wasn't exactly what she had in mind when he said he was going to take them both over to his parents' neighborhood. Side-along Apararation would have been a better option, dizzy sickening feeling and all.

If he didn't look so damn adorable (and sexy and handsome and cute) then she might have been upset with him for actually expecting her to get inside of this thing for any amount of time, especially when she could barely stand still when she thought about the dinner that was going to follow. After all, it had been a long time since Sabrina had sat down to a real family dinner, not since she was thirteen years old and she had a family of her own. She had spent the night before making sure she remembered all her manners, all the things that her parents had taught her about parties and social cues. Those things tended to get lost in a decade living in a werewolf commune.

"Alright but if I get sick you need to roll down the window so I can stick my head out," she told him, slipping into the passenger seat. "Isn't that what you do for dogs in the car?"

[deantom]

Dean laughed and leaned it to press a quick kiss to her cheek before shutting the door behind her, quickly making his way around the car and climbing into the driver's seat.

"I promise it's not that bad," he assured her as he put the key into the ignition, pausing to glance at her before actually starting the engine. "Like riding a broom, only closer to the ground. And a bit faster. And without all the wind. And with a lot of other people around."

Which, on second thought, probably didn't sound all that reassuring-

He pressed his lips together again, offering another wrinkle-nosed smile. "Just- totally not that bad- get your seat belt on-"

[daleysabrina]

Sabrina watched him cross over from one side of the car to the other, hands trailing over the front dashboard carefully as she felt out the material. There was a warmth radiating from it and she wondered if the entire ride was going to feel that way.

When he opened up the car door to slip inside there was a short breeze that passed through the small space and she breathed it in, not quite sure what the venting situation was in the little box.

"Oh- wait. The what now?" she asked him, shifting uncomfortably in the seat. She had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

"Again, love- I have no idea what you are talking about."

[deantom]

"Your seatbe-" Dean started to repeat, for a moment thinking that he had blurted it out too quickly or quietly for her to properly hear, but then-

Right. New and strange and confusing things. He pressed his lips together again, his best attempt at holding back a perfectly endeared burst of laughter.

"Right. Sorry. Your seatbelt. Here-" He leaned across the narrow console between the two seats, reaching over her to pull at the buckle hanging just above the edge of the seat (gladly and automatically taking that opportunity to smack another quick kiss against her temple), yanking the strap down across her chest and lap, and clipping it into place.

"It's for safety," he explained with a shrug, though that amused grin was still barely just contained on his lips.

"Y'know, just in case-"

Though, he quickly tapered off before actually offering an explanation, realizing that detailing exactly why and how a seatbelt was meant to come in handy wouldn't exactly help to settle her in comfortably in what he had gathered was generally viewed as a metal deathtrap by those factions of the wizarding world who had avoided contact with most Muggle technologies.

[daleysabrina]

There were a couple very unsettling things about this seatbelt, the first of which was the reason it was necessary in the first place. Sabrina was thankful for Dean's trail off, not really wanting to know what he meant by 'just in case' but having a pretty good idea of it.

The second was the fact that this just meant she was fined within this small and confined space, the contraption holding her first in the seat as it cut across her chest.

"Safety, right-" she said, hoping that they could both leave the matter at that and start the trip, not completely sure how long it was going to take them to get to his parents' house. Sabrina had just been told when and where to be, letting Dean take the lead on this whole planning thing.

"So, what do you do now? Just tell the car where to go?"

[deantom]

He really probably should have given her a heads up about this whole driving business. But then again, forewarning left room for research, which, as he had learned the last time he had mentioned to a born-and-raised wizarding type that they were meant to be driving a motorized vehicle, which had left him with a fifty-page printout of car crash images and safety test failures and all sorts of unsettling statistics.

No. Surprise was definitely the best plan.

And it really wasn't backfiring all that much as far as he was concerned, not when she was looking so ridiculously adorable even in how uncomfortable she apparently and obviously was.

"Oh, honey-" he said, biting his lip and doing his best to keep his expression from not too blatantly trailing into the 'aw look how cute and silly' territory.

'Telling the car where to go' was still, unfortunately stuck in the future he had been promised as a child. Those damn false-hope-building science fiction movie-making bastards-

"It's not quite- well, alright, you trust me, right?"

[daleysabrina]

Sabrina wasn't exactly unfamiliar with that look on Dean's face, the one that let her know that she was way off the mark but he found it endearing somehow. Most people looked more annoyed than anything else when she started asking so many questions, though that didn't stop her from going on about it.

But these were muggle things and she'd heard plenty of wizards ask just as many supposedly 'obvious' questions before. It made her feel just a little bit better about it.

"Well, yes. I do-" she told him, chewing at her bottom lip.

People usually asked that question when they knew that they were about to do something questionable.

Sabrina leaned over, placing her hand against his knee, "I always trust you, love."

[deantom]

Dean placed his hand over hers and gave it a quick squeeze before reaching up to turn the ignition. The engine revved to life, the needles on the dash jumped up, and he quickly reached for the volume knob to turn it down before the stereo had time to blast out whatever too-loud selection had been playing the last time he had been for a drive - Marvin Gaye's Trouble Man, an old favorite he had snagged from his dad's CD collection the last time he had been home.

He cracked both of the front seat windows with the quick press of both buttons, generally preferring the rush of fresh air over the harsh blast of the AC as a way if tempering the interior.

"Then, y'know, settle in and enjoy the ride, yeah?" he told her with a smile, shifting the car in drive before taking her hand again and pulling out of his curb-side parking spot.

[daleysabrina]

When the car sparked to life Sabrina jumped, though not very far considering the seat belt that had her strapped in and set firmly in the front passenger seat. Her nails dug into Dean's leg then, catching mostly the material of his trousers but her nails were kept fairly short anyway, too short to do any damage.

She'd actually been trimming them back every day now after she'd noticed a few little half moon scars on his shoulders that she'd accidentally left behind with out realizing it.

"Oh, um sure. Okay-" she said, her grip on his knee loosening as they began to move and a bit of fresh air rushed into the car.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

"So tell me more about your parents. What should I um, you know, talk about with them?"

[deantom]

"They're-" Dean paused to consider his answer, how best to quickly and simply describe his parents, before shaking his head with a laugh. "Well, they're very Muggle-"

As endlessly enthusiastic and supportive as his parents were, they really were about as unmagical as they came. Dean had done his best to keep them relatively enlightened over the years, from that first Christmas break during which he had hardly taken a second to shut up, going on and on about his lessons and the castle and the ghosts and moving staircases and charms and spells and potions-

To which they had smiled and nodded, doing their best to grasp the concept of a completely new and separate world that had been living right under their noses all these years. As thrown for a hell of a loop as Dean had been back then, it couldn't have been any easier to experience it all while still being outside of that loop.

"Mum's a nurse. Dad's a primary school teacher. They're into...cooking, and films, and gardening." He fondly rolled his eyes and threw quick glances her way between maneuvering the light traffic on the road, working them out of the quieter neighborhood streets and towards the busier roads that connected to the highway.

"And they basically love you already, so in case the first twenty times I've told you this haven't sunk in yet, don't be nervous-"

[daleysabrina]

It was much easier for Sabrina to keep her eyes focused on Dean rather than the road in front of them, still not completely grasping the concept of the giant, mental moving box or really understanding how this was safe by any standards. Besides, the view was much better than the grimy London streets.

"What did you tell them about me again?" she asked him, sounding less than convinced.

There really was no way that his parents would actually even like her or let her into their home if they knew the things that Dean knew, all the baggage that seemed to follow her around.

"Like, about-" Sabrina made bore her hand at him to make a claw, scratching lightly down his arm like an animal as she growled softly.

"Do they know about that?"

[deantom]

"I told you them you were amazing, and wonderful, and gorgeous, and like no one I'd ever met, and yes, I may have mentioned that bit," he added, unable to keep the smile from his face despite his best attempts to look sheepish over the fact that he may have possibly overshared beyond what he really had any right to. But, even if his parents had possessed a single ill-meaning thought between the two of them, who exactly would they be going around telling? They weren't exactly on direct-line basis with anyone who might care about any such information.

"To be honest, I think they were more distressed about the fact that you hadn't seen The Godfather until a month ago than they were about the whole monthly transformation bit," he added with a shrug.

(The whole conversation had, really, been quite hilarious, scattered over the splashing of dish-washing water and plates and bowls being put away the last time he had dropped in for dinner-

"A wolf? So, like your friend Marlow?"
"Werewolf, yes, but, well, no, Mum, not qui-"
"Hold on, what do you mean she hasn't seen The Godfather?"
"Dad don't take it personally, she hadn't really seen anything-"
"But The Godfather, come on-"
"Blasphemy, yes, I know-"
"Right, so, like Marlow, but a wolf, and only sometimes?"
"On full moons. Yes."
"Hm. Well that must get inconvenient. Even when it falls on school nights?"
"...Mum, she's twenty-four-"
"The Godfather, seriously-")

He gave her hand another squeeze as they pulled onto the motorway, merging through the lanes of fast-moving traffic.

"Seriously. Don't worry. Everyone'll love you, and it'll be fine-"

[daleysabrina]

It had only been a couple of months ago that Sabrina became familiar with muggle films, though she didn't exactly understand what the big deal about them really was. Of course she found them entertaining and interesting, a good way to pass the time when she was lounging around waiting for Dean to come home from a long day at work. But really, they were just recorded plays and lengthy photographs.

Though, she knew better than to voice those opinions, especially when Dean had put on The Godfather and she had asked him what the big deal was (but, just for the record, when the film had ended Sabrina really did understand what the big deal had been).

"Well, that's um- okay. Your dad is really serious about films," she noted, squirming in her seat.

"Are we almost there?"

[deantom]

"They're supposed to be getting another wall of shelves built in for it, but in the meantime his collection's actually started to leak into the kitchen, so yes, 'really serious' might cover it," he laughed, thinking back to the look Gordon had given him when he had dropped in a few months ago and opened his mouth to ask about the stack of freshly-bought, still-wrapped Bluray cases that had been piled up against the doorframe that connected one end of the kitchen to the living/media room.

That 'don't bring it up/don't tell your mother' look was one he had familiarized himself with over the years.

The rush of air loudly blowing in through the cracked windows was hopefully enough to at the very least distract her from the ring of zooming police sirens and the occasional honk of a horn or roar of an especially charged and show-off-owned engine, but Dean still didn't quite let go of her hand, dividing his glances between her and the road.

"Nearly- it'll be worth the ride. They basically live in the middle of the woods-"

As much as he had grown to love living in London, in the city, within the bustle and mess and crowd and nearness of it all, there would always be a soft spot in his heart for the little town, tucked away on the far outskirts of the city, in which he had grown up. He imagined it would be much more Sabrina's speed than the narrow-roads-and-tall-buildings neighborhood his flat was in.

[daleysabrina]

Sabrina was doing her very best to keep her eyes steady and focused on Dean, no matter how weird that might have been to only be looking at him as he focused on his driving.

The rush of wind and the honking and the sirens and all the flashing lights were sort of terrifying, not quite sure how any of these people were communicating to each other from inside their own cars. All the lane switching and speeds seemed completely random and extremely dangerous to her.

"The woods as in the woods? Because if you grew up in a tent to and haven't told me about it, I'm going to be seriously upset with you, Dean," she told her, putting on her most serious and stern voice and narrowed her eyes, even if he wasn't glancing over to see it.

"And you better watch out. I might regress and you'll never get me to leave."