JOHN & [ OPEN! ]
After birthday wishes were passed to the birthday girl when a spot freed up, John squeezed his way through the mingling crowd to the less occupied areas of the party space. It was a happy occasion, not anything but, but being in the middle of a throng was just a bit too much in large doses for him. Being on the slight edge, close enough to still engage people but not to be bumping shoulders every few seconds, it was a better place to be, and so that was where he stayed, a drink and a plate perched on a table close by.
He was pleased by what he could see from that spot, and while that pleasure did include people who weren't John's idea of immediate family, it was those individuals closest to his heart that his gaze fell on most often. Faith, who was talking animatedly to those who had captured her attention at the moment or throwing herself into the offered aspects of the party, clearly happy and relaxed. They were two states John thought had been a hell of a lot rarer that they ever should have been for a girl who was effectively like a daughter to him at this point, one in all the real and honest ways he would need still more time to ever be able to say. Mary, who was tucked into a chair, occasionally looking for him to see if he was still where he was, but obviously content to mingle with the people dropping down in chairs beside her for a chat. Dean, who was apparently jokingly fumbling on the dance floor while Claire laughed into his shoulder. At least, John hoped it was jokingly, or tomorrow night would be a bit painful to watch at times. Ben, who looked single-mindedly determined to take a big dent out of the party food. It was a good thing he'd inherited Dean's stomach, it really was.
And most of all his younger son, who no matter when John spotted him, looked equal parts pleased and alert to do. Sam had done more than good here tonight, he'd done great, and John was proud of the effort he'd made for Faith to show her how important she was. Good steps, ones in the right direction, like much of Sam's actions had been of late. Despite how he'd felt in the past, it was clear that Sam was not only trying, but succeeding, and not at 'proving' things, but at just being Sam again. Things needed to be said, to Sam, about all those thoughts of John's, but for right now John was content to watch Sam and the others be happy.
When motion in his peripheral vision signaled someone drawing closer, his eyes didn't leave the scene immediately, but the shift in his stance acknowledged the approach.