Dean's pride was still a little sore from the incident with the restaurant host and with the gourmet chefs, but after Sam and Clark had come back from the pool and gone to bed, Lex made it up to him. He took Dean into a room in the hotel suite with a locked cabinet, and he opened it to reveal several bottles of alcohol. Some of them, Dean had never even heard of.

Before he even went into the liquor cabinet, Lex called room service and ordered some snacks to go along with the drinks. "Some of them really need something alongside," he explained. "It's what they were made for."

Dean had no idea what that even meant, but he wasn't going to object to snacks.

Lex took out two shot glasses and poured a clear liquid into each, almost up to the brim. "We'll start with something a little simpler," he said.

Dean didn't know how to tell the difference between good booze and bad, but he assumed he was about to find out. He lifted the glass, then he downed it in one.

It was absolutely foul. It was every bit as bad as the first time he had tried his dad's whiskey, long before he was used to the taste of alcohol, when he was 15. It might have even been worse.

Lex just laughed. "Yeah, I probably should have warned you, you're supposed to sip it."

"Doubt that would have helped." Dean was still coughing.

"Well, I did prepare for this." He went over to a refrigerator and took out a six pack of beer bottles, cheap beer that Dean had had before. "I assume this will be more to your taste?"

That was more like it. "Oh yeah," Dean said, grabbing for the beer.

Lex rolled his eyes and sipped at his shot glass. Dean popped the top on his beer and drank deeply. He finished the first one quickly, then opened a second.

"I trust you're finding the island to be satisfactory so far?"

It wasn't Dean's style to admit that this was the best week of his life. Not to Lex. "It's okay."

"If our fathers could see us right now."

Dean let out a short laugh. "Honestly, yeah, Dad would kill me, but nowhere near as bad as he would if I left Sam alone while he was on a hunt."

Lex smirked. "I take it you're speaking from experience."

All at once, Dean wished he hadn't brought it up. He didn't mind talking about his father with Lex, because he knew Lex would understand, but it was another thing to talk about his hunting mistakes. It was downright humiliating. "Yeah, I guess."

Lex took another sip of his drink. He didn't press. If he had, Dean never would have continued the story.

"We were just kids. Holed up in a motel room, just like we were in that cabin the first summer we met you. Back then, I didn't really understand how dangerous this job was, you know? I mean, I knew, but . . . anyway, I got restless. Took a walk around the complex when I was supposed to be watching Sam."

Lex raised his eyebrows. "And you got caught?"

Dean nodded slowly. He guessed he didn't have to tell about the part where that monster had almost attacked them. "Old man got back a few seconds before I did."

"Tough luck."

"Yeah," Dean said. "Ended up okay."

"Even after your dad got through with you?"

"Probably not so different from what your dad would've done. I mean, I didn't sit for a week, but . . ."

A flash of confusion filled Lex's eyes before it was overtaken by realization.

Dean raised his eyebrows. He had always assumed that he and Lex faced the same tactics, but if they did, Lex wouldn't have been confused, even for a moment. "Thought your old man was like mine."

"Ah . . . sitting's not usually the problem when he finishes with me."

Dean felt sick to his stomach in a way that had nothing to do with the alcohol. "He abuses you. Like, actual abuse."

"So? Your dad does, too."

"That?" Dean scoffed. "Nah. That's just being a parent."

"What's the difference? It's all beating."

"The difference? My dad would never really hurt me."

"Sounds like he did."

"Whatever, Luthor, you've never been a part of a normal family." Dean regretted the words as soon as they were out of his mouth. Even if they were true, he should never be saying that kind of thing to someone like Lex.

"And you have?"

"You know what I mean."

Lex shook his head. "No, I don't. And you're right, I don't know much about normal parent stuff, but I'm pretty sure it's not normal for him to hit you so much you feel it a week later. I'm not sure it's normal for him to hit you at all."

"What's the difference between that and being grounded for a week?"

"Grounding isn't violent."

Dean shrugged. They weren't going to reach any common ground on this. They would just have to agree to disagree. He drained the last of his second beer and picked up the third one. "Forget our dads. Uncle Jon would kill us if he knew we were drinking here."

Lex smiled. "He's a good man, but he doesn't know anything about our lives."

"Fair enough." Dean smiled. "So, what's on the agenda for tomorrow?"

"Whatever you want," Lex said. "Or, rather, whatever our brothers want."

Dean nodded. He hadn't been this relaxed in a long time. He figured it had something to do with the alcohol, but he got drunk all the time when his dad wasn't around—this was different. "If I don't say it, Luthor, you're not bad."

"You getting tipsy on me after two and a half beers?"

"Shut up. I take it back. You're the worst."

Lex just laughed and emptied his shot glass, then refilled it. "Hey, shouldn't room service be here by now?"

Dean frowned. "Maybe getting a lot of calls?"

"I'm gonna call the front desk. Wouldn't worry about it, but this place is usually fast. And they come by my suite first." Lex picked up the phone while Dean continued to down his third beer. A short pause, then, "Yes, this is Lex Luthor. I put in an order a while ago and haven't seen anyone come up. . . ." He raised his eyebrows. "No, we haven't seen anyone yet." He waited a moment, the phone pressed to his ear, then he nodded. "Okay. Thank you, Nancy." He hung up.

"What's going on?" Dean asked.

"They sent a guy with the food."

"What, he get hungry on the way?"

"They're saying he got lost."

Dean gave Lex a look. "Isn't this suite, like, half of the top floor?"

"Yeah, but places like this often have a high turnover rate with their staff until they get themselves established. And the resort is pretty new. Just opened about ten months ago."

"What was here before that?"

"Nothing. Basically a deserted island."

Dean swallowed. He was trying the best he could to suppress his screaming instinct that something wasn't right. He was sure it was just what Lex had said—that the delivery man had gotten lost—and he was just paranoid from the job.

But he made up his mind that after Lex went to sleep, he would have a look around the hotel. Maybe talk to a few of the people at the front desk, make sure the guy had found his way back. That kind of thing. Just to set his mind at ease, so that he could go back to enjoying the vacation.