They're Applauding Us (Part 2/?)
Dean parked the Impala in back of the garage, relieved to see that the other two mechanics along with the receptionist, Jo, had already arrived and opened the garage despite his late arrival. It wasn't typical behavior from him, but this morning there had been no possible way he could have made it to work any earlier, not after the night he and Jesse had had.
Looking in the rearview mirror, he saw that his son was still asleep in his car seat. The little boy had fallen asleep from the moment the seat belt had clicked in place, clearly exhausted from a long night of sleep interrupted with nightmares. It had begun as soon as Jesse's mother had disappeared almost a year ago and showed no signs of lessening and had in fact seemed to increase in the past two months since they had moved back to Lawrence.
Sighing heavily, Dean pushed the driver's door open and exited the vehicle, moving to the back of the car to extricate his son from the car seat.
"Come on, big guy," Dean whispered softly, as he undid the belt and hefted his son in his arms. "Wow, what have you been eating, you weight a ton!"
"Mnfs.."
"What was that?" Dean asked as he walked to the back door.
Jesse lifted his head from where it had been buried in Dean's neck.
"Meany!" he grumbled sleepily as he returned his head to its previous location.
Dean smiled indulgently, waving to Jo as he walked to the back office and deposited Jesse on the couch, laying his head gently on one of the throw pillows.
"I've gotta get to work, buddy, but if you need anything, Jo's just outside the door. Why don't you try and sleep a little."
Jesse's nodded his head and snuggled into the worn couch as Dean walked outside the office to the counter.
"Hey, Jo," Dean said, flashing a small smile.
"Hey, handsome, rough night?"
"The nightmares seem to be getting worse, Jo. I had hoped that being here, surrounded by family would help."
Jo reached out to fold Dean in her arms.
"Dean, you were right to bring him home. He needs us, but most of all you need this. You need to have people to lean on and that's what we're here for, to help you be strong for your son. Sam and me and my folks, we want to be there for you both."
Dean had heard a similar sentiment from Sam but having it reiterated by Jo, who had once been a tow headed little tomboy following Sammy all over town, made something clench in his chest, a feeling he now chose not to analyze for fear of losing what little control he had on his emotions.
Dean pulled away from the woman, giving her a brief kiss on the forehead and cleared his throat.
"Anything interesting on tap for today?"
Jo hid a smile and reached over to pick up some papers on the counter.
"That part came in for the Mercedes so Tim has already started on that. There's a couple of cars that need a break change and someone named Castiel Novak had his Volvo towed in about five minutes before you got here."
At the sound of Castiel's name, Dean perked up a bit.
"Great. I'll be in the bay working out whatever's going on with the Volvo. Thanks again for watching Jesse this morning. Becky should be here after her appointment in a few hours and I've packed snacks and juice in his backpack next to the couch in case he gets hungry."
Jo waved Dean off deftly filing paperwork and picking up the phone as it started ringing.
It took Dean all of five minutes to diagnose Castiel's car with a busted alternator, another five minutes to have Jo find out if an appropriate part was available in the area followed by an additional hour and a half to switch out the old part with the new.
After determining that the procedure was a success, Dean popped his head back into the lobby to instruct Jo that she could call the client, only to find said client already sitting in the waiting room. That wasn't exactly a surprise, considering that Jo had probably called him earlier with a time and price estimate. No the surprising part was seeing his son kneeling next to Castiel, laughing at something on the man's laptop. It wasn't often that Dean heard his son laugh and he felt the tightness in his chest return.
Dean turned to see Jo standing at the desk smirking at him and offering a discreetly mouthed 'hot', causing him to feel a brief attack of shyness.
"Um, hey, Castiel," Dean greeted, hoping that the flare of heat on the tips of his ear didn't actually mean that they were pink. "Hope you haven't been waiting long."
Castiel's head popped up at the same time as Jesse's when Dean spoke smiling slightly at Jesse's gleeful exclamation of "Daddy!"
"Hello, Dean. And no, the wait is entirely my fault; I did not know how long it would take me to get here by way of the public transit system resulting in my early arrival."
"Me 'n Cas has been playin' games on his puter!" Jesse offered merrily pointing at the laptop in question. "It's fun!"
"Oh yeah?" Dean said, hoping that Jesse hadn't been making a pest of himself, looking over to Jo who gave a noncommittal shrug.
"I hope that was okay, Dean, it's a children's website that my niece visits, and I did not let him use the laptop unsupervised."
Dean realized that the other man was looking a little nervous and he quickly cleared up the misunderstanding in the making.
"Sure, it's completely okay, I just don't want you to feel like you gotta keep Jesse entertained."
Castiel canted his head to the side, snaring Dean with his hypnotic blue eyes.
"It was actually Jesse keeping me entertained," he responded after a few seconds.
Dean nodded, his lips twitching.
"Well we pride ourselves on full service. Come on back and I'll go over what I did on your car."
Castiel was shut down his computer and promising a pouting five year old that he would give his father the web address to the game site, when the front door burst open and a petite bundle of energy barreled inside.
"Jesse! Let's go it's time to go harass the pretzel vendor in the park!"
"K, Becky!" Jesse's pout was quickly wiped away as he bound over to the office to collect his backpack.
Becky waved excitedly to Dean, casting a curious gaze to Castiel who had come to stand next to him.
"Sorry again for being late, I tried to reschedule my appointment but my gynecologist is extremely popular and as it is I have to-OHMYGOD! You're CASTIEL NOVAK!"
Dean cringed at the rising decibel level of Becky's screeching and shot Jo a panicked look only to find Jo staring at Castiel.
"The Castiel Novak?" Jo breathed.
"Daddy, whas goin' on?" Jesse asked, having returned from the office, carrying his backpack.
"Dunno, little man," Dean said slowly, noticing as he looked over at Castiel that the other man looked like he'd just caught his foot in a bear trap.
"Ok, enough. Becky, you take Jesse to the park; Jo, you do…whatever. Cas, you follow me to the garage and we'll discuss your car."
"But, Dean-" the two women whined in unison.
"No buts. Jesse, I'll see you at home in a few hours. Love you," Dean said quickly, and held the door open to the garage, allowing Castiel to escape.
"Bye, Dad!" Dean heard before the door closed behind him and turning to Castiel, whose ridiculously sexy eyes were still glazed with panic.
Wanting to ask him what that had been all about but knowing it would likely send the other man running out screaming, Dean decided to get down to business.
"I was able to replace your alternator without problems and tested the battery to make sure it wasn't drained which it wasn't. I also tightened a couple of belts and changed your oil. You're safe, practical car should now be running smoothly."
Dean looked away from the car to find those intense eyes studying his face and found himself, for the second time in ten minutes, fighting the urge to blush. Because he has control over that, of course he does.
"Thank you, Dean, I really appreciate you doing such a thorough job on my 'safe, practical' vehicle."
Dean cringed at hearing his own words used, thinking he should try and be a little more circumspect in his car bias.
"I suppose I should go back in there, and pay my bill…" Castiel continued, casting a look in the direction of the window where the two fangirls still stood staring at him.
"Jesus Christ," Dean muttered, determined to give both of his employees a stern talking to about professionalism. "Sorry about whatever that is, man. How about I just send you the bill in the mail? That way you can just get in your car and never have to return to this creeper joint."
Castiel offered Dean a relieved smile. "Yes thank you."
Dean wanted to believe that he wasn't flattered at the slightly reverent tone in Castiel's voice, he really did.
"Ur, yeah, ok. Here's your keys and uh, yeah."
Eloquence, thy name is Dean.
Dean watched the slender, almost delicate fingers take the Volvo keys from him and tried to collect himself enough to ask the man out to dinner, seeing the window of opportunity closing as Castiel buckled his seat belt and shut the car door.
Dean was about to wrap his knuckles on the window when said window was suddenly opened.
"Dean, I would like to invite Jesse over tonight for a play date with my niece Claire. My sister Anna and her husband are going on a 'date night' and I am watching Claire for them. She is six years old and I thought it might be nice for her to spend some time with a child around her own age. Claire has requested corndogs and tater tots for dinner."
Dean smirked at Castiel's clear disgust at the idea of making corndogs for dinner and found himself nodding.
"Actually I think that Jesse would really enjoy that. We've only been here for a couple of months and since he doesn't start kindergarten until next month, he hasn't really had a chance to meet other kids and as you may have noticed, he's mostly surrounded by loony adults."
"Good," Castiel said, blue eyes sparkling. "Is six o'clock a reasonable time?"
"Sounds good. I'll get your address from the billing slip."
With a final wave, Castiel drove his car out of the garage, and if anyone said Dean Winchester watched as the silver car disappeared down the street with a stupid grin on his face, he would punch them in the snot locker.
A/N: This is not beta'd so super sorry for any errors. And thanks for the reviews! I really appreciate readers taking time to give me feedback!