A/N: Woohoo, a new chapter! And this time it's from Cas's POV! I had a ridiculous amount of fun getting into Cas's head, so hopefully you will too! It became a bit more angsty towards the end with Cas pining over Dean, but I promise there'll be more lovey dovey mushy gush fest soon!
Cas tried to keep from nervously shifting from one foot to the other as he waited for Nora to answer the door. He'd briefly considered buying her flowers, maybe a bundle of various colored carnations with a few daisies and chrysanthemums sprinkled in. He'd seen the courtship ritual performed many times over in various films, and the recipient of the flowers always seemed quite pleased by the offering of particularly colorful plants. Although, Cas still wasn't sure why so many humans seemed to prefer flowers over other fauna; personally he quite enjoyed ferns, and would much rather receive an offering of small cacti than a bundle of impractical and honestly quite strange looking tulips.
But regardless of his own plant opinions, Cas had gotten a bit distracted while on the job with Dean, and had completely forgotten to stop by the local florist. On the bright side, hopefully the advice Dean had given him would be enough to help Cas sweep Nora off her feet sans-flora.
Turning around a bit, Cas could just make out the dark form of the Impala still parked on the curb. He gave a little wave in Dean's direction, hoping the other man was actually looking his way. No matter how excited he was to spend the evening with Nora, Cas hadn't been eager to leave Dean after spending the whole afternoon together. It felt like eons since they'd last seen each other, but they'd fallen into their normal routine of easy companionship without much difficulty. Granted, things had been a little rocky in the beginning, with Cas caught off guard by Dean's sudden arrival and still a bit peeved about being forced out of the bunker. But there was no way he could've stayed angry with the hunter for long; no matter how grievous Dean's transgressions, Cas would always welcome him back with open arms.
"Great, thank god you're here!"
Cas turned back to the doorway to see a brightly smiling Nora, her uniform of button down shirt and slacks traded in for a light blue dress that would've perfectly complimented the flowers Cas hadn't bought her.
"You look stunning," Cas told her, ignoring the sound of the Impala's engine purring to life as he followed her into the foyer.
"Oh Steve, you're too kind," she told him with a dismissive wave that Cas had learned to interpret as a humble show of thanks. "I seriously cannot believe you agreed to do this; I was afraid I wouldn't be able to find anyone on such short-notice," she added as she picked up her purse from the entryway table.
"I am more than happy to," he replied with a smile. He wasn't quite sure why she felt the need to thank him for accompanying her on a date, but he supposed it must have been some sort of human custom he'd overlooked in his studies of courtship etiquette. Certainly wouldn't be the first time a social convention had escaped his notice.
"Probably best for me to just pay you ahead of time," she told him as she pulled out her wallet, and Cas stared at her in silent shock as he realized he must have seriously misread the situation; apparently what he'd interpreted as a date had in fact been a solicitation for prostitution.
"I-uhm, that is really not necessary," he forced out as calmly as he could manage, doing his best to subtly back towards the door. Maybe if he hurried he could flag down Dean and enjoy the course of events he should've followed to begin with.
"Nonsense, you're doing me a huge favor by agreeing to watch Lena while I'm out," Nora told him a bit distractedly as she fished out a few twenty dollar bills and pushed them into his hand.
"Who?" Cas asked dumbly, giving up on trying to make sense of this very strange and decidedly not-normal-for-humanity situation.
"Oh, sorry, right! Her name's Lena; she's asleep in the nursery just down the hall. I fed her about 15 minutes ago, so she shouldn't get too hungry while I'm out. There's food in the fridge if she does. Oh and here's my number, call me if you have any problems," she said in a rush, scribbling down a series of digits on a piece of paper and stuffing it into Cas's hand along with the crumpled money.
"You have no idea how hard it is to meet a nice woman at this age, even with online dating sites. She's an entrepreneur and she loves kids; talk about a perfect match, am I right? Anyway, I just couldn't let this one slip through my fingers," Nora gushed as she stepped past him and pulled open the door. "You really are amazing, Steve," she called over her shoulder in parting, and Cas could only give a confused little wave before she disappeared down the sidewalk.
So, not prostitution after all. Dogsitting perhaps? Although Cas had always assumed domesticated canines were civil enough to be left home alone for at least short intervals; perhaps this Lena was a particularly rambunctious dog? Of course, dogs weren't normally kept in nurseries. Wasn't that the term for commercially produced fish habitats?
Somehow the idea of Nora paying him to watch over her stores of live salmon for the night wasn't as odd as the idea of Cas becoming a sexworker.
But no, that wasn't right. Fish were housed in nunneries; Sam had told him that when he'd explained that conmen couldn't find shelter in convents because those were for nuns, and nuns didn't live in nunneries because those were for fish.
Cas decided it was best to stop speculating and solve this Lena mystery once and for all by taking venturing down the hall. He gently pushed open the door to the nursery, not entirely sure what he would find, and felt an odd mixture of relief and foreboding when he realized exactly what- or better yet, who-Lena was.
A human infant. A baby, as he'd been told was the standard conversational term. Cas was glad he wouldn't be caring for a dog or group of fish, but he wasn't sure a baby was much better. Humans were so fragile and required a considerable amount of care, even in their adult and fully matured forms. Cas had learned this the hard way in his early days as a human, and had struggled immensely to provide for himself in what he supposed had been his own infancy.
Sure, he'd eventually managed to scrape by and get to where he was now. But it had taken a tremendous amount of strength and determination for Cas to get himself settled; how could he possibly be expected to take care of a helpless little human when he'd had such a hard time providing for himself?
Stepping back out into the hallway and pulling the door softly closed behind him, Cas hoped Lena would sleep peacefully through the night; the last thing he needed was a complicated first attempt at caring for another person.
He spent the next few minutes wandering about Nora's house, taking in carefully organized bookshelves and designer furniture that looked like it had been pulled right from one of those magazines on interior decorating that humans seemed so fond of. Cas wasn't entirely sure how Nora had procured such an ideal lifestyle with her salary, but he planned on using it as an example of how successful a gas station career could be if Dean questioned his life choices again.
Cas eventually settled down in Nora's living room, sinking into the couch and leaning his head back against the upholstered cushions. He closed his eyes with a heavy sigh, trying without success to keep his mind from drifting to thoughts of Dean.
He should have stayed in the car. When Dean had called him back into the Impala for last-minute wardrobe advice, Cas should have voiced his desire to spend more time with Dean instead. Cas had been excited about his date with Nora, that much was certain. Nora was fantastic; smart and kind and lovely in just about every way Cas could imagine.
But Nora wasn't interested in him; at least, not in any way that didn't involve paying him to look after her child. He'd hoped to have finally found a feasible object of his affections, someone to help mend the slight he'd suffered and aid him in moving on.
Cas knew these were goals he should try to achieve on his own; he knew enough from observing humanity that things were always smoother when both parties involved were self-sufficient and content on their own. Looking for someone to hold his hand as he mended his wounded heart was both impractical and unfair to Nora. But if nothing else, Cas had always been a dreamer.
And, although he knew the cliche would prompt Dean to let out a snort of mocking laughter, occasionally dreams did come true. At least, in part. For example, Cas had hoped and dreamed and prayed for weeks that Dean might find his way back to him, and today that wish had come true. There had even been hints that his other hope, the one that still hurt to admit even to himself, might manifest itself in reality.
Cas's fingers twitched restlessly as he thought back to how it felt to have Dean's hand warm in his, the other man's thumb slowly, gently, soothingly stroking back and forth and calming Cas faster and more completely than anything ever could. He thought about the way Dean had looked at him, his expression filled with concern and care and just maybe - Cas couldn't be sure if he'd imagined it or not, and he hated to get his hopes up when disappointment stung like a thousand poison-laced arrows to the heart- something more than the affection shared between friends.
But no, that was impossible. Cas knew Dean. Knew him better than anyone, save Sam. Dean pursued women of a certain type, and there was nothing Cas could do to change that. Excruciatingly painful as it was, he had to accept that the bond between him and Dean would always remain static in nature, never blossoming and evolving into what Cas ceaselessly pined after in his heart of hearts.
He'd hoped being evicted from the bunker would have helped to dissuade or at least calm these feelings. It had hurt considerably, being unceremoniously pushed away at a time when he'd needed companionship-family- more than anything.
But being away from Dean had only made it harder; not seeing the way his face lit up at the promise of a good meal, not hearing the energy in his voice when he raved about cinematic masterpieces, not feeling his touch when he jokingly bumped Cas with his shoulder to lighten the mood on a job.
And being human hadn't helped either; as an angel he'd had other voices in his head that he could tune into when his Dean-related emotions became too intense, agonizingly frustrating and almost overwhelming. But once he'd been left entirely alone with his own thoughts, Cas had nearly drowned in thoughts of Dean; the frustration, the loneliness, the hopelessness - his feelings had consumed him almost daily, smothering him until they threatened to block out all else in his life.
Those days had been difficult. And now that Dean was back in his life, now that his prayers had been answered and the man who'd brought him the most joy and the most anguish he'd ever experienced had returned, Cas wasn't sure if he could cope.
Cas was jerked out of his thoughts by the faint sound of tiny coughs. He sat up a bit straighter just as Lena's hiccuping huffs transitioned into full-on crying. He scrambled up from the couch and hurried into the nursery, looking down at the tiny pink-faced human without the slightest clue what to do.
Cas began to reach down into the crib, but hesitated. Should he pick up the little wailing bundle of pudge? Or would that only make her even more upset and increase the already rather unpleasant volume of her cries?
Reaching into the pocket of his trench coat, Cas recalled that Sam and Dean had taken care of a baby shapeshifter once; surely Nora's daughter couldn't be that different. Cas wasn't that keen on explaining the embarrassing outcome of his date to Dean, but Lena's cries were growing more pained by the second.
At a loss for what else to do, Cas dialed Dean's number. As he lifted his phone to his ear, he heard the crash of glass being broken in one of the outer rooms. His first instinct was to assume poorly-timed intruder, but a moment later Cas picked up the distinct presence of a celestial aura not more than 50 feet away.
The Ritazian must have heard Lena's cries and come to "heal" her, Cas realized with a sigh of annoyance. So much for a. peaceful conflict-free evening.
A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed that as much as I did! Especially the bit with Cas thinking he was being hired as a prostitute because I think that's hilarious (but I think everything I say is priceless, so who knows).
Next chapter, Dean shows up to help Cas defeat the Ritazian and it's a close fight (but it ends well because this is fluff, obviously). Then Dean helps Cas take care of the baby and it's super mega cutie patootie. Ok I need to stop with these weird uncomfortable "adorable" phrases