It's funny, because even writing that I thought ... I wonder if that's what Sam would want. Like, I want someone to provide Dean with a kid he can be cute with, but that's really just for me.

And I'm not sure anymore that Sam would be content to settle down.

But I, uh, realize they're not actually real people, so.

We might need a crazy bench.

One of the things I've made up to be upset about S6 (I don't know if there's room on the crazy bench for any of you) is Lisa. I *so* don't want Dean to be in love with her and maintain a relationship throughout the season with her. But I've decided it's going to happen.

It's not who that character is to me. It's not what makes him appealing. His inability to do that attracts me.

Why have I decided to upset myself plotwise? Not entirely sure.

Why have I decided to upset myself plotwise? Not entirely sure.

Because then if it doesn't happen, you'll be pleasantly surprised?

Do you feel the same way about him having a relationship with Cas?

Do you feel the same way about him having a relationship with Cas?

It seems unfair to Lisa for him to have a conflicted or angsty relationship with her, especially because of Ben.

Cas, however, is rife with potential for continued unconventionallness.

Curtainfic, with whoever, is completely uninteresting to me. That's not my Dean. I like him nomadic, I like him in a push and pull. I like him in a dynamic that Lisa just shouldn't really be putting up with. Lisa doesn't need to effectively date Sam too. It's totally required in my D/C.

It's not "a relationship" that's the problem.

I guess I'm saying that Lisa deserves better and Cas doesn't.

Sorry, dude.

Not that I don't wish the couple happiness. Just not settled mother of a child happiness.

Oh, I get what you mean about Lisa. But when you said Dean wasn't able to *do* a relationship functionally, I thought you meant emotionally.

I think with Cas, on the road, he would do fine. Well, fine with qualifications. I think Dean is always going to do relationships fairly dysfunctionally. But I think he would be willing to try, for the person he really loves.

I think Dean might have thought at one point that he wanted that house and life, but I don't think he would actually be very happy attempting it. And his Djinn dream was a different thing -- his happiness there was all rooted in Mary's happiness, his childhood home intact, which is a different thing.

The relationship I envision on the road and still needing Sam with him isn't properly functional. It's decent, and he can be happy, but not just "My brother comes first" but "Love my brother like you love me except the nookie part" is pretty much in my relationship definition for him.

Also, continued fragmented self-esteem and associated urges to sacrifice himself and all those lovely little things that Cas can totally handle and Lisa has better things to do than to deal with--I don't want them to go away.

I don't think he would actually be very happy attempting it.

Yeah. I'm realising that's pretty important to my vision of the character, and why I avoid so much Dean/Lisa fic (but I feel guilty reading Dean/Lisa Dean/Castiel, because it's like championing homewrecking).

The relationship I envision on the road and still needing Sam with him isn't properly functional. It's decent, and he can be happy, but not just "My brother comes first" but "Love my brother like you love me except the nookie part" is pretty much in my relationship definition for him.

I think my only problem with that is that parity thing. I don't know if Sam would be happy never having someone in his life, not just for nookie but for a kind of intimacy and comfort he had with Jess, and probably Ruby to some twisted extent. So that seems a little unfair to him.

But! Not real people. I need to keep that in mind more. Or ever.

So that seems a little unfair to him.

Gabriel!

Okay, no. Honestly, I don't need Dean to be involved with Cas. I'm just willing to allow that much. My main requirement is Sam in the passenger seat.

I am so not in it for their ultimate emotional health and fulfillment.

I think part of the problem is that a stable relationship with a single mother and her kid requires huge changes in Dean's on-the-road hunting lifestyle with Sam, which is really the basic premise of the show. Castiel (and Ruby, as horribly as that turned out) fit into that premise a lot better than Lisa—who's going to be living a normal life in one location and probably either pushing Dean to spend lots more time there or making him feel guilty because he can't.

I am so not in it for their ultimate emotional health and fulfillment.

You're a hard, hard woman.

I think the romance world conditioned me to the idea of some sort of reward. And if anyone deserves one for the shit they've been through, it's Sam and Dean.

For Dean, I'm not sure he really needs more reward than simple rest, for all values of rest that equal Sam safe and alive, millions of innocent people *not* dying, and some pie and Casa Erotica from time to time. So maybe you're right about that.