#and she's so easy to negotiate with (though it is donna i see why)

[fezwearingjellybananas]

I like that Kate Lethbridge-Stewart apparently just goes through the Doctor's old contacts list, rings them up, and offers them a job

[statusquoergo]

Luckily for us, after the debacle that was last week’s episode, this one really has nowhere to go but up.

Aside from pretending that that big dramatic fight at the end of the previous episode never happened, they didn’t do too badly with it, either.

First of all, because Donna prides herself on keeping the firm together, Faye calls her to inform her that she’s fired Samantha, and Faye knows that when everyone acts against her, “it won’t be through proper channels,” and if Donna doesn’t stop them, the firm likely won’t survive the year (another reminder that the senior partners threatening a mass resignation was utterly toothless). That’s a good and true point and all that but I have to ask, did Donna move into Harvey’s place at some point and I missed it? Why wasn’t that a bigger deal? Or is she just over there like, all the time?

That’s a pretty minor concern, in the grand scheme of things, it’s just been bugging me. Anyway Samantha goes to Robert because after she was fired, she “didn’t know where else to go,” and Robert, who already knows about the outcome of the Mike Ross case because of course he does (even though it wrapped, like, yesterday), tells her to sit tight because her partners are probably already at work on a plan to kick Faye out of the firm and get Samantha her job back. Samantha isn’t so sure; “Harvey’s the reason [she] got fired in the first place,” after all. And he doesn’t trust you anymore, you mean, mean lady.

Harvey, Louis, Donna, and Alex are, in fact, meeting on the Rooftop of Major Decisions to figure out how they’re going to get rid of Faye and get Samantha her job back (that was quick); they agree to “find something” in Faye’s apparently spotless record that’ll prompt the NYSBA to remove her (even though a special master is under the purview of the judiciary…). In a lingering shot that's definitely not foreshadowing anything, Donna elects to respond with a nervous expression rather than a verbal agreement (despite the fact that reporting Faye to the NYSBA was, as of about a minute ago, her idea).

Hey, did you know this show is sponsored by Lexus? Lexus would really like to remind you that Suits is sponsored by Lexus. So as Harvey steps out of his dramatically center-frame Lexus, Robert accosts him to give him shit for not getting Faye out of the firm fast enough, even though it’s been about two days, and they came up with a plan last night. (Truly this show exists in another realm of time and space.) Harvey defends himself for yelling at Samantha for lying to his face (specifically counter to Robert’s assertion that he yelled at her because her fabrication was an attack on Mike, which, hurtful), and Robert clues him in that Faye fired Samantha because she saw them fighting in the middle of Samantha’s office. Because him dragging her down to the file room would’ve been way less suspicious.

Apparently Katrina’s amazing idea to delete Brian’s voicemail wasn’t so amazing after all, because if she’d bothered to listen to it, she might not be so blindsided to find him in her office with a suit against Katrina’s client, Kurt’s Coffee, on behalf of his client Kurt, who’s decided he was forced out of the company even though Katrina is quite certain that he left of his own volition and was fairly compensated. She threatens to have Brian thrown off the case due to conflict of interest, being that he represented Kurt’s Coffee when he worked at ZSLWW, but he asks her not to do that on the grounds that his move “hasn’t gone great” and he really needs this to impress the partners. She declines to have him removed but will nevertheless be filing a motion to dismiss, which he’s totally fine with. That’s so almost professional of them, I’m so proud.

Overtly demonstrating how truly unnecessary it was for Robert to threaten Harvey, Louis arrives at Harvey’s office to opine that chatting up Faye’s ex-husband George is their best bet for digging up shit on her, except that the divorce settlement is sealed and he might not talk to them. Harvey dismisses the issue by saying that they’ll make him, and I honestly can’t tell if he’s being overly confident, or depressed and uncaring.

Next up, Alex takes a truly bizarre reading of Faye’s behavior when he approaches Donna to play the lead plaintiff in a suit against Faye on the grounds that she has a problem with strong women. To wit, she tried to strip Donna of her vote (point of order, she would have been equally satisfied to accept Harvey losing his vote), she took Gretchen from Louis against her will (point of order, Gretchen offered her services so Donna could go on a date with Harvey), and she fired Samantha without proof (point of order, she saw Harvey and Samantha yelling about fabricating evidence and when confronted, Samantha cleared Harvey’s name but not her own). Alex probably just forgot to mention the part where she took Louis's managing partnership. Donna refuses to “go after another woman on false pretenses,” which I guess is our feminism quota for the…season, and clarifies that she didn’t actually join in on the rooftop agreement to do “whatever it takes” to get rid of Faye, not to mention the fact that “shit like this is exactly why she’s here in the first place.” Alex immediately apologizes, fessing up that he feels bad for not warning Samantha that Faye asked him to spy on her out of the suspicion that she would do “exactly what she did.” Donna helpfully points out that Faye spying on them isn’t exactly a secret, Samantha chose to “cross a line” anyway, and if Alex really wants to help her, he should probably go stop her from doing whatever stupid shortsighted thing she’s going to do to make things worse.

Speaking of, Samantha is meeting up with her old buddy Tom, who you’d be forgiven for forgetting was introduced in “Managing Partner” (s08e10) as the dude who enlisted Samantha as an FBI informant against Jarvis, Ellis, and Green (former owners of the firm currently known as Rand Kaldor); Samantha wants to cash in her chit to get the FBI to dig up some dirt on Faye, but Tom won’t let himself be burned twice, so he demands information on her client Gavin Andrews in exchange. Samantha argues that any information she knew before yesterday is covered by attorney-client privilege, Tom conveniently forgets about the crime-fraud exception and orders her to “get some shit on him starting today,” she frets that Andrews doesn’t trust her anymore, and Tom says that the terms of his offer are non-negotiable. So take that.

You know what show had a cute and not-offensive take on the whole “two people of the same gender being understandably mistaken for a couple” trope? Parks and Recreation. You know what show does not so much? Suits. Harvey and Louis apparently secured their meeting with Faye’s ex by posing as a couple purchasing a term life insurance policy, but George calls bullshit on that immediately because Harvey is way too hot to be marrying Louis. So…yay, equal rights. George explains that the line he crossed was over-billing his firm’s three biggest clients and using the surplus to fund some class actions, and Faye reported him to the Ethics Board as soon as she found out, but boy isn’t it weird that she “squeezed every nickle” out of him and then let him keep his license?

Susan approaches Katrina at the copy machine, the firm’s second most appropriate and third most common place for people to accost each other with requests for favors (less appropriate than the offices but ahead of the bathroom), to offer her services in the Kurt’s Coffee suit, and Katrina eventually admits that she wants to be “armed to the teeth with case law” when she makes her motion to dismiss. Susan seems rather pleased, and I gotta say, I’m liking this dynamic.

Lo and behold, George was telling the truth about the divorce settlement: Faye cleaned him out. But! Louis doesn’t trust him, and his story doesn’t line up with the Faye they know. Fair enough, but wait a second— “It’s easy to not care about money when you have it.” George’s testimony won’t be enough to prove that Faye took the money to pursue her dream of becoming a special master, but Louis knows where to start.

Alex finds Samantha in the gym demonstrating some truly lackluster boxing skills and offers to help her with whatever plan she’s devised to get back at Faye, but it seems that turning Gavin Andrews in to the FBI is too batshit insane, even for him, because the “list of shit” Andrews has on her will land her in prison for sure. Samantha yet again brings up her tumultuous childhood, and silly me thinking she was going to say something about the firm feeling like a real family, the problem here is actually that she promised herself that once she aged out of the foster system, she’d “never feel that powerless again.” She and Alex figure out that the one person in the world Andrews trusts less than Samantha is his niece, who owes them one on account of the fact that they previously told her that Andrews was using her name in his tax evasion scheme (not sure I follow that, but okay), so they’re going to do…something. Sounds good.

Apparently Louis and Harvey think Faye did more than just screw over her ex-husband; they think she “manipulated the Ethics Board for personal gain,” and they need Gretchen’s help to prove it: They want her to reach out to her contacts at her former place of employment for any dirt she can dig up on Faye. She agrees…on the condition that Harvey throw Louis a baby shower. Because he wants one. And like, I can see how this might seem cute or sentimental or whatever, if you’re into that sort of thing, but it’s also mild emotional blackmail (not as bad as Donna gunning for COO, but still), or at least extortion, and definitely wildly inappropriate workplace behavior, not the least of it because they’re her superiors.

Part II

[illuminating-dragons]

White Picket Fences

Summary:  The incredibly fluffy (seriously it's pretty much pure fluff) conclusion to the series, where puppies, babies and love abounds.

Sequel to The Truth That Once Was Spoken and Just Deserts 

Read it on AO3

It’s surprisingly easy to be in love.

Dean and Cas have their moments, of course—where Dean worries that he’ll never be good enough for Cas, when Cas wakes panting from nightmares of Zachariah’s torture. They cling together so tightly that there is inevitable friction, but they talk, now, about everything, and eventually those moments turn into seconds, rarer than blue moons.

Dean delves into the domestic with real relish, creating a home at the Bunker with Gabriel and Sam. Their friends come in and out, but no one has to hide there—Gabriel and Crowley reach a pact, of all people, and Heaven and Hell pretend that they’ve forgotten about Team Free Will. Which suits them just fine.

Cas learns a new life all over again, except this time he isn’t trading wings for driving but fear for comfort, loneliness for movie nights with his brother and his friends and constant worry for a happy ease in work and play with his lover.

And every night Cas curls into Dean’s arms and they hold each other. Sometimes they make love, sometimes not but they always fall asleep in each other’s strong hold, their fingers intertwined as a promise. I won’t leave. I’m here. I love you.

One night—the new happiest night of Cas’ life—Dean’s finger bears a ring inscribed with that very promise in a delicate Enochian script. Dean jokes that it’s the first time he’s ever said yes to an angel, and the only time he ever wanted to.

Sam is thrilled, Gabriel even more so. The only bachelor party either of them throw is a long drive in Baby to the motel where Cas and Dean got together, and a night of ‘home videos’ which were never filmed that show Cas and Dean’s story from the beginning. There’s licorice and popcorn, and a peanut butter and banana sandwich for Sam to stop the bickering.

It takes some doing, but the wedding is held exactly where it should be: the Roadhouse, at Ash’s invitation. Dean’s father-in-law (Dean still can’t remember when he signed up to being the Creator’s in-law) had a quick chat with an old friend, who comes to the wedding himself with a pizza. Thanks to that chat, their whole family is there, guests from Purgatory and Earth and Heaven…and even one blonde lady that shows up the night before the ceremony. It’s a good thing she did, because both Dean and Sam break down when they see their mom again, and Dean didn’t want to cry at his wedding.

When he and Cas step up in front of Gabriel together, and Sam hands Dean the rings, he cries anyways. When the vows are said and they are wearing their rings, Cas kisses the tears away.

Then there’s gifts, and dancing and laughing, and then an announcement from the back that anyone at the wedding who would like to visit the Bunker, short- or long term, is welcome. Cas doesn’t understand. Not at first. Then he sees tears rolling down his husband’s cheeks as he clings to his family—the family that will be coming back with them—and for a minute he feels his Father’s love more strongly than ever.

When they’re almost ready to go on honeymoon (the beach for a week, then to the Grand Canyon), Gabriel pulls Cas aside for a moment.

“Here’s your gift, little brother.” Gabriel’s eyes are unusually serious. It’s a blank card. Cas doesn’t understand.

“It’s good for two uses,” Gabriel says. “If you want more, we can negotiate, but I thought we’d start small.”

Cas hugs his brother to thank him, although he doesn’t entirely get it.

Two years pass. Cas and Dean move out of the Bunker into a small house nearby. Dean gets a job as a mechanic, his past cleared from the record, and Cas learns to keep bees. They have honey on their toast and go on hunts only when necessary.

They have their family, they have each other, they have their health and they are happy.

Then Cas has an idea.

Dean is hesitant at first, John Winchester’s shadow still looming over his head, but Cas reminds him of Bobby, of Sam and Claire, and Dean agrees. They start talking about how to do it, about adoption and surrogates. Cas never knew how complicated this was.

Then he gets it.

He finds the card from Gabriel tucked in their wedding album. It’s no longer blank. All it says is Boy or Girl?

Dean calls Gabriel immediately, and after a few minutes of intense discussion Cas and Dean decide to let it be Gabriel’s decision. Gabriel promises that the baby will be a soul rescued from a difficult life, and will be theirs wholly.

Nine months later, Gabriel appears in their nursery with a tiny baby girl in his arms with blue eyes that will turn green and fuzzy black hair, and Cas realizes he’s found a new happiest night. They don’t sleep that night, even though Mary Jo does. They sit together in the rocking chair and watch their daughter breathe.

Mary Jo is bright in every sense of the word—intelligent, happy and good. Her wings take years to develop, but that doesn’t stop her from trying to fly. Cas takes her up to Heaven every so often to help her practice, and after much pleading on Mary Jo’s part Dean allows Cas to show him how it feels to fly. He still doesn’t like airplanes, but coasting above the Grand Canyon with his husband’s arm around his waist and his daughter’s delighted laughter in his ear is enough to make him smile.

When Mary Jo is four, she asks for a brother for Christmas. She asks in October, which isn’t much time, but Gabriel brings over a bee blanket and a new crib, Sam behind him with one of their puppies and a baby boy with blonde hair and blue eyes. Dean wants to name him after Bobby and Sam, and Cas agrees, but shoots down ‘Sammy Bobby’ in favour of Bobby Sam. They only ever call their son Bee anyways.

With two children and a Bichon Frise named Balthazar (his namesake is less than thrilled), there’s less time for worrying about themselves. They play and teach and try their best to keep their children from fearing the darkness in the world, which still rears its ugly head every once in a while. Cas especially fears for Mary, the only one who figured in his torture.

Dean keeps reassuring him, telling him that their house is as safe as the Bunker, that no one alive dares mess with them, and that their babies will grow up happy and healthy. Cas does his best to believe him.

They are both still profoundly relieved when Bee turns seven months old.

Sam never imagined feeling this safe.

Ever since that fateful Christmas Eve when Dean confirmed the stories in Dad’s journal, Sam has felt threatened. No matter how good he became at defending himself, there was always the possibility of a mistake, of someone he loved getting hurt. Of failing.

Now both he and his brother have angels watching over them, and Sam lets himself relax.

It’s easy to do with Gabriel, who helps him with translating the Bunker’s library primarily to have an excuse to drag him to bed more often. Gabriel’s waited years to have this love, spent centuries without a family, and he’s not about to let ‘research’ get in the way of more interesting activities.

(On the other hand, they both enjoy quiet rainy afternoons where they read out loud to each other, everything from Harry Potter to ancient Asgardian gossip rags).

While Dean and Cas begin to pull away from the day-to-day of hunting, particularly as their wedding approaches, Sam dives in with renewed vigour. Now with a divine promise that the Men of Letters won’t die out, he sets about expanding it. He, Kevin and Charlie work on reaching out to Legacy families, creating databases and networks among hunters and civilians alike. Jody and Donna are instrumental in this effort, and it takes less time than Sam can really believe to have a semblance of order in the hunter community. Not everyone trusts them (and fewer like them), but the phones ring through the day and the database gets added to constantly and Sam feels proud when he closes the large catalogue he started working on when they first got to the Bunker, their inventory complete.

Dean and Cas come over every so often, and soon they begin to talk about marriage. Sam’s delighted and stands by his brother’s side when ‘Destiel becomes canon’ (as Charlie wrote on the cake). But as their family and friends stand around them, Sam finds himself wishing for the first time in years that he could wear a ring too. But Gabriel doesn’t seem to be into getting married at all.

Sam doesn’t ask, and Gabriel doesn’t bring it up. Dean (because of course it’s Dean who doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut) asks about six months after his wedding when he’s going to get to put on a tux and be Sam’s best man.

Gabriel makes a joke out of it and suggests getting married in Vegas during ‘Vegas week’. Sam doesn’t say anything for the rest of the night, but he forgot that Gabriel could hear his thoughts loud and clear, could feel the hurt—if their relationship was just a joke then it was probably better not to get married, and anyways, why would an archangel want to be tied to someone like him forever?

The next morning Sam wakes up to a small puppy nuzzling his face. She looks like a cross between a Rottweiler and a Newfoundland dog, but she fits in the palm of his hand. Gabriel explains that he couldn’t pick one dog at the shelter so he chose all of them, settling them into one dog that will live as long as Sam does. The puppy’s wearing a soft yellow collar with a diamond ring attached.

Sam names the puppy Ruff. And he says yes.

Their wedding’s a bit more raucous than Dean and Cas’, mostly due to the Asgardian guests’ shenanigans. But everyone seems to have a good time, no one dies and Sam doesn’t even get mad when he realizes that every song on the playlist for a solid three hours has the word ‘angel’ in it. Dean claims it was Cas, Cas blames Dean. (It was Adam’s idea).

When the wedding is over, Chuck takes Sam aside. He doesn’t speak, but he places his hand on Sam’s head and Sam feels a lightness in his body that he’d lost years ago. The damage of the Cage, the wounds that even Gabriel’s love couldn’t heal, are gone.

Ruff grows up fast, and by the time their anniversary rolls around she’s up to Sam’s waist. She’s a wonderful hunting dog, Sam’s constant companion on runs and a great cuddler. She and Arthur, Gabriel’s terrier,  act as a wonderful go-between when Sam and Gabriel have one of their rare but inevitable clashes, silently convincing the guilty party to apologize and the angry party to forgive.

Dean and Cas decide to have a child right around the time they realize that Ruff is  going to have puppies. As Gabriel cocoons the future Mary Jo’s soul in his Grace, he rubs Ruff’s belly and asks Sam if he ever wants to have kids.

Once upon a time, the answer would have been ‘yes’, but honestly with most of their family in the Bunker and Dean and Cas down the road about to have a child and Ruff and Arthur and the coming puppies…Sam feels like his life is full enough. He and Gabriel have built a family, and it doesn’t have to involve children of their own. He does ask if Gabriel—well, Loki’s—kids are real.

That’s how he ends up meeting two wolves, a snake, a goddess that reminds him of the few good parts of Lucifer he ever saw, and a mare. (The last one was a joke, because Gabriel wanted to test exactly what Sam believed of him.) They threaten Sam and then accept him as a ‘Stair-Dad’ (Sam’s afraid to correct Fenrir, who thought this one up—Gabriel’s very proud).

Ruff’s puppies take longer (“they’re divinely enchanted puppies, Sam, they’re fine”) and gives birth to fifteen puppies of various kinds. Sam names the Dalmatian Pongo. He’s no longer allowed to name the puppies. Ruff has two more litters in the next three years, eight in the first and six in the second, and then calls it quits (according to Gabriel).

When the puppies get older, some go to hunters as trained companions, some stick around the Bunker, and a Bichon Frise is Mary Jo’s Christmas present the same year that Bee is born.  Sam loves the name she chooses.

Sam never imagined feeling this safe, and now with his dogs, his husband, his work and his family, all close by, all as safe as they can be in the world they live in…he never imagined feeling this happy, either.

Dean cradles his son close, pressing a quick kiss to Bee’s forehead before he lays him in his cradle. “Goodnight, buddy,” he whispers to the slumbering baby. Bee will be two this Christmas. Dean can’t quite believe it.

Tiptoeing out of the room, he walks down the hall to stand outside Mary Jo’s room. It’s Cas’ turn to read to her tonight, and Dean just listens to his husband read the same old Narnia book he read to Sam all those years ago. They’re nearly finished; the battle is won, and the children are being crowned.

The story stops and the light goes out. Dean comes in to see Cas pressing a gentle kiss to Mary Jo’s cheek as she winds sleepy arms around his neck. Dean sits on the other side of the bed and tucks their daughter in, giving her the stuffed cat she refuses to name to cuddle. “Goodnight, sweetheart,” he whispers, and kisses her forehead.

“Goodnight, Daddy.”

Those words—the ones he didn’t get to say after he turned five, the ones he hopes Mary Jo will never stop saying—still make his throat constrict. He strokes her hair, then stands and takes Cas’ hand.

They leave the room, closing the door tightly behind them (Mary Jo hates the hall light that Bee needs). In the dim light Dean can see worry in Cas’ face, a remembered pain. Dean kisses his husband, holds him tight until Cas stops shaking. He doesn’t have to ask. All he can really do is hold Cas close, change the memory where he can. There are demon traps at every entrance for a reason.

When they get back to their room Dean’s phone is buzzing. It’s Sam.

“Hey Sam, why are you calling so late?”

“Dean, it’s eight.”

Dean glances at the clock. “What do you know?”

Sam laughs. “I just wanted to double-check the time for tomorrow; Gabriel told Fen and Hel everything except the actual time, and he’s insisting I got it wrong.”

“You do have it wrong, Samshine!” Gabriel, from the other end. Dean shakes his head.

“Come by around two, that goes for all the guests.”        

“Ha!” Sam covers the phone, but Dean has to work hard not to hear what Sam gets for being right.

“Dude, too much information.”

“Sorry.” Dean rolls his eyes; Sam’s married and he still blushes about sex stuff sometimes.

 “Don’t forget to bring Ruff,” he remembers. “Bee’s still too little for Fen’s rides.”

“Gotcha.”

“Oh, fair warning. We got Mary Jo a braiding kit for her birthday. And guess who she’ll want to try it on?”

Sam sighs, but Dean knows his brother loves playing with his niece. “Do I have to?”

Dean chuckles. “Goodnight, Sam.” He hangs up and puts the phone on his night table. Cas is already in bed, and Dean slides under the covers. It might only be eight, but they’re hosting a six year old’s birthday party the next day. And Mary Jo’s an early riser; she’s up before dawn on a normal day.  

Cas lays his head on Dean’s chest, his earlier fear forgotten, and Dean wraps his arms around him. He does a quick check in his head—Bee and Mary are asleep in their room, Sam and Gabe are fine, he’s gotten texts and calls all day from everyone else, checking in or chatting. His family is safe, happy, and he’s happy too.

It’s an almost daily truth now, but it’s the greatest miracle that Dean’s ever witnessed, and he’s profoundly grateful that it bears repeating.