4. Magical Mystery Midnight Tour

The house seemed quiet when Cas eventually unlocked his own front door and stepped into the hallway, shrugging off his suit jacket and dumping it on the table along with his keys. He let out a heavy sigh, running a hand through his dark hair as he kicked his shoes off and wandered through into the kitchen, flicking the light on as he did so. Going by the lack of murmuring coming from the television, it sounded like Jimmy had turned in early for the night - which was good, because, as much as he loved his mirror self (for Jimmy sometimes knew things about him that Cas wasn't even aware of), he didn't particularly want to discuss the ins and outs of his horrible date just yet. He plucked a glass from the cupboard and poured himself some water, glad of the refreshment. He hadn't exactly gotten to relax much during the course of the evening.

"Well, well, well, look what the cat's just dragged in."

Cas' gulp got caught in his throat and he spluttered, showing his one good professional-looking shirt in water. "What the -?"

Gabriel smirked, leaning against the door frame, hands stuffed into the pockets of his jacket. "Dammit, why do I never have a camera on hand when I need one? That was the best reaction I think I've ever seen. I could have won a couple hundred bucks off of that."

"What the hell are you still doing here, Gabe?" Cas wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, placing his glass on the counter before he could have anymore water-related mishaps. "Jimmy's already done for the day."

"Actually -" Gabriel raised an eyebrow "- he's waiting in the car for us. We're going out."

"We are?" Cas blinked in confusion at his brother's use of pronoun. "Who's we?"

"Us. You, me, Jim-Bob, Samsquatch and Deano." The blonde's eyes gleamed. "Oh, c'mon, have you seriously forgotten what day it is today?"

"Thursday?"

"Nope. Guess again!" Gabriel barked out a laugh when he was met with silence from the younger Novak. "It's Magical Mystery Tour day!"

Now it was Cas' turn to laugh. "Are you serious? Gabriel, we haven't celebrated Magical Mystery Tour day since we were fifteen and in freshman year."

The premise of Magical Mystery Tour day had been rather simple. It was something that Dean had started when they were young, becoming inspired after seeing the animated Robin Hood movie for the first time. All of them - the Novaks and the Winchesters - went into town for the day, usually dressed in a costume of some kind, in search of their own adventures. The year that Cas could most vividly remember was the year that they'd sneaked into the playground of their old elementary school (Gabriel had found a gap in the fence, just large enough for them to squeeze through) and spent the day running wild without adult supervision of any kind; he remembered crouching under the slide, Dean shushing him from his side as he failed to stifle his giggling, and sitting on the tarmac and eating the cheese spread sandwiches that Mary had packed for them after they'd solemnly promised to take good care of little Sammy.

Now, Gabriel snorted. "Well, me and Samwich decided that it was about time that we celebrated it again, now that we're old and no longer the cool kids that had a reputation to maintain like we were in high school."

"Cool kids. Right."

"Well, okay, maybe cool was a bit of a stretch when describing you..."

Typical Gabriel. Cas tried to resist rolling his eyes at his older brother. "That being said, Gabe, I don't really feel like going anywhere right now. I've just spent the last two hours out on a date."

"I knew you'd say that. Which is exactly why we need to have a Magical Mystery Tour day, to get over the horror that your date became."

"Seriously, Gabriel, I appreciate the sentiment, honestly I do, but all I really want to do is get into bed and sleep - Wait..." Cas paused, frowning. "How did you know that my date went badly? I never mentioned how it went."

Gabriel snorted. "Cassie, it's you. Your dates always go badly. That's kind of a given, well proven fact."

"Thank you for that vote of confidence, Gabriel."

"Plus, Dean told us about your conversation, so..."

"Of course he did."

"Don't look like that, Castiel!" If Gabriel were standing next to him, he probably would have clapped him on the back of the head. "This was his idea, you know. As a way to cheer you up because you're so bad at romance that Jimmy will ask Amelia out before you get anywhere yourself."

The younger Novak frowned, choosing to ignore the jib about his twin brother and his painfully obvious crush. "You just said that it was yours and Sam's idea -"

"Yeah, well, we decided where we were gonna go." Gabriel hastily added, shuffling, for once looking a little uncomfortable. "But, y'know, Dean was the one who started it. Honestly."

"Really?" Cas raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "What, he just suddenly announced that we should have Magical Mystery Tour again after all these years, and you all agreed to it immediately?"

"That's because, unlike you, I actually listen to my brother."

"You don't listen to us."

"Well -" Gabriel winked "- brother-in-law, I should say then. To be."

"Oh, yeah?" Cas smirked. "Forward planning, are we?"

"You can never be too prepared for these things, Cassie."

"Sam better watch out, then."

"Please," Gabriel scoffed. "I'm gonna sweep that giant moose off his large clown-sized feet, just you wait and see."

"You might have difficulty with that if you mean it literally."

"I didn't come here to listen to you being a smart ass, Cassie," Gabriel quipped, rolling his eyes. "I came here to pick you up - and, no, not literally, before you open that freakin' wise-ass mouth of yours - and goddamn, that's what I'm gonna do. Now, grab your coat and let's haul ass outta here before Deano gets too impatient and Jim-Bob eats all of the supplies."

"Am I at least allowed to change first?" Cas glanced down at his water-soaked shirt.

Gabriel sighed melodramatically, as if this entire situation was of some great inconvenience to him - which, Cas suspected, it probably was; he wondered, for a moment, why Gabriel had even agreed to Dean's idea in the first place, because Gabriel never did anything that caused him any kind of bother whatsoever.

"Sheesh, Cassie, this is us we're talking about, not the freakin' Queen of England. You aren't going to get executed for wearing a damp shirt."

"Actually, the death penalty has been abolished in all circumstances in the UK since 1998 -"

"All I'm hearing is blah, blah, blah, excuses," Gabriel interrupted, using his sleeve as a hand puppet to mime what he perceived Castiel talking to look like.

"I'm not even wearing shoes."

"Oh, for -" Gabriel disappeared from the doorway and reappeared a moment later, chucking the pair of shoes across the floor."Honestly, I don't know what I'm going to do with you, Cassie." Cas pulled a face at him as he tugged his shoes on. "Now, c'mon, the night isn't getting any younger and neither are we." He marched over to where his younger half brother was standing and proceeded to drag him across the kitchen and into the hallway; Cas managed to grab his trenchcoat from the coat peg just before he was swept past, shrugging the familiar material over his shoulders, worrying his fingers at the bottom of his sleeves the way he'd always done when he needed to think straight.

He snorted when he noticed the car that Gabriel was leading him to, parked conveniently round the corner so that he wouldn't have spotted it when he'd pulled up outside the house. "Where the hell did you get that heap of junk?"

"You're saying that as if your car isn't a heap of junk, Cassie. And I didn't get it from anywhere. Sam ran a few favours for Bobby this afternoon whilst Dean was out on an errand and so we got lease of the van for tonight. Don't worry." He threw his younger brother a wink. "Sam was trying to seat you in the back, but Jimmy got you moved up into the front seat, next to your best buddy Dean. He said you'd like that better than being crammed in the back with us."

Of course he did. Cas made a mental reminder to padlock the kitchen cupboards when they eventually got home again to stop Jimmy foraging in them during the early hours of the morning.

The elder Winchester was scowling when Cas climbed into the passenger seat beside him, greeting him with a nod. "Cas."

"Hello, Dean. What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? I feel like a freakin' soccor mom, Cas, that's what's wrong," Dean grumbled.

"But you look like a beautiful princess!" Gabriel called from the back seat, where he was casually laying his head on Sam's shoulder. "Well, not as beautiful as you, of course, Samsquatch."

"Oh God, Cas, shoot me now and let this end," Dean muttered, looking ready to slam his forehead into the steering wheel.

"Guys!" Jimmy swatted at them. "Seriously!"

Gabriel laughed, ruffling Sam's hair (or what little he could actually reach of it), making him let out a noise of protest and try to duck out of the Novak's grasp. "Uncomfortable, Jim-Bob? As I have stated many times, if you'd only get your head out of your ass and ask that Amelia chick out for a coffee sometime, you could have all o'this." He made another grab for Sam and succeeded this time, keeping an arm tightly wrapped around him.

Jimmy cleared his throat. "And, as I have stated many times, I don't know what you're talking about. We're just friends."

"Yeah." Cas didn't miss the way that his half brother's eyes flickered to him and Dean in the front before returning to the other twin. "Sure you are. Now, stop whining up front there, Deano, and step on the gas!"

Dean mumbled something about stepping on Gabriel in a minute if he didn't goddamn pipe down, stomping down on the gas pedal and sending them all lurching forward in their seats as he got the van moving. He tried to get the radio working too, but gave up after a few minutes when he almost crashed into another vehicle due to being focused on something that was not looking at the road, a habit that Cas had berated him about many times when they had almost ended up driving head-on into a couple of brick walls.

"Hey," Gabriel said suddenly, breaking the peaceful silence. "Jim-Bob. Did I already tell you that we're getting a band started up?"

Sam let out a groan. "Gabe, c'mon, I was joking when I said that."

"And then I went and turned it into a reality, Samwich. Aw, don't pout at me like that, babe, it'll be great! You can play drums, I'll sing, Dean will play guitar -"

"Oh, I will, will I?" Dean took his eyes off the road to glare at Gabriel in the rearview mirror. "Don't I get a say in all this?"

"Nope," Gabriel replied simply, making a popping sound on the P. "What 'bout you, Jimmy? Cas? We need a couple of triangle players in the background - percussion, maybe?"

"I don't think so somehow. You're not dragging me into this. No way."

"Where's your sense of creativity, Jim-Bob?"

"Running amok," Jimmy quipped. "Along with your sense of dignity." Sam snorted at this.

Gabriel was frowning. "You'll all be regretting this when the band goes global. You'll be saying that you all knew that I was a genius when the fusion of punk and folk music takes over the world."

"Yes, I'm sure we will."

"Snark me all you like, Cassie." Gabriel rolled his eyes as Cas glanced at him over his shoulder. "But, remember, you'd be sitting at home doing nothing right now if Dean hadn't suggested this."

"I'd be asleep," Cas corrected. "Like a normal person who has to work."

"Oh, I suggested this, did I?" Dean demanded at the same time, and shifted in his seat, disregarding the road entirely to send an incredulous expression in Gabriel's direction.

"Yes, Dean. You did." Gabriel's voice had a sudden tone to it, one that Cas couldn't quite identify. "You suggested this."

There was an awkward silence amongst the gathered group for a few minutes, broken only by the roar of the engine and the sound of Jimmy nibbling on a piece of cracker.

"Well," Cas said suddenly. "I think it was a good idea."

Dean inclined his head towards him. "You do?"

The younger Novak gave a shrug. "Sure. I mean, remember how much fun we had when we were kids. We haven't had fun like that in years."

"And you say I'm childish," Jimmy commented, earning himself a kick in the shins courtesy of Gabriel.

Dean cleared his throat slightly, suddenly looking very preoccupied with the dark stretch of road ahead of them for a change, as they neared the city limits and left the blazing street lights behind. "Well, then. I guess that, er, that was a good idea of mine, huh?"

Gabriel let out a snort from behind them. "Yes, Dean, the best idea you've ever had. The only idea you've ever had." The last part was muttered under his breath, although Dean obviously heard it, as his grip on the steering wheel tightened. "Hey," he began again, at normal volume this time. "Maybe we should all have a jolly singsong as we're going along."

"No," Cas, Dean, Sam and Jimmy all answered simultaneously.

Gabriel pulled a face. "You're supposed to argue on my side, Sam. After all, you are my Samsquatch and I am your Angel Gabriel."

Dean let out a groan and muttered under his breath again, the words lost over the noise of the engine. Jimmy made a sound in the back of his throat as he tried to stifle the laughter at those words, going a little crimson in the face with the attempt of holding the sound - and the sarcasm - in. Sam's face was looking redder than usual too.

"I thought we agreed that we weren't gonna mention that in public," he muttered, making Jimmy snort through his nose.

"And I thought boyfriends were supposed to support each other in all their musical-related conquests."

"You're freakin' awful."

"But you love me, Samwich." Gabriel smirked, trying to pin a kiss on the crown of Sam's head. "And I love you too."

"Oh, Jesus." Dean suddenly swerved around a bend in the road, sending them all tumbling to the left, breaking off Sam and Gabriel's little lovers' exchange.

"Didn't your father teach you anything about driving safely?" Cas fixed his best friend with a look. "I have to actually turn up for work tomorrow, after all."

"Yeah, Cas. He taught me to block out distractions." That last part was shouted over towards the back seat in Sam and Gabriel's direction; Gabriel flipped him off as a reply when he thought that no one was looking. They continued on in relative silence for another few minutes, Cas resting his forehead against the cool glass of the window, lulled by the dark shapes rushing by, too quickly for his eyes to try and decipher what these landmarks were.

He was on the verge of drifting off to sleep when Dean suddenly slammed on the brakes, sending his passengers hurtling forwards.

"I swear, you're drivin' on the way home, Sammy," he announced, having to wrestle with the lock on the door before he could climb out of the van. Cas was too busy staring out of the windshield to make any effort towards unlocking his own door.

"The forest? Really?"

"Why not the forest, Cassie?" Gabriel had materialised on his side, a picnic basket on his arm and a torch in one hand, and opened the door, nearly sending his younger half brother tumbling out of his seat and onto the ground. "Remember how much fun we used to have in there when we were kids?" Cas sent him a look, before glancing back at the silhouettes of the trees up ahead, and the one winding path that led straight into them. Gabriel was right in that sense; they had had many adventures in the forest when they were younger - but, of course, those had all been during the day. Forests were always less creepy during the day, especially when he was nine and had yet to read all of the horror novels that teenage Castiel liked to dabble in. Even so, he heaved himself out of the car, dragging a hand across his eyes to try and relieve the tiredness from them, and went to stand beside Jimmy, who was busy watching Dean try to study a map in the dark using just the light reflecting from his cellphone.

"Don't worry, Cas," his twin said when he noticed his brother approaching. "If you're worried, Dean can always hold your hand."

"Maybe you should have asked Amelia to come along too, then," Cas replied with a smirk. Jimmy let out a noise - the same noise he always made every time Amelia was brought up; Cas didn't need to be able to see in the dark to tell that he was shuffling.

"Right, then, you 'orrible lot!" Gabriel crowed in a terrible British accent, dragging their attention towards him. "Let's get a move on!" He clapped Sam on the shoulder. "Talley ho, Jeeves!"

"Never say that again, Gabe." Sam shook his head, took the torch from his boyfriend's grasp, and set off along the footpath, the beam of light from the torch disappearing into the undergrowth with him.

"Hey!" Gabriel began to pick up his pace, hurrying after him. "Sam! Samwich! Moosey!"

"Come on!" Sam's voice called in reply, sounding rather distant now that there was a layer of foliage between them. Cas and Jimmy trailed along behind, Dean rolling his eyes as he trudged a few steps after them. Cas didn't need his college education to gather that, regardless of whether he had actually suggested the idea for Magical Mystery Tour day or not, his best friend really really really didn't want to be here with them.

"How the hell are we supposed to see where we're going with those two leading the way?" Jimmy grumbled, gripping onto Cas' sleeve for support when he almost lost his balance after stumbling over a tree root that had burst up from below the surface.

"You aren't," Dean replied from somewhere close to Cas' right, making the younger twin start. "That's the mystery part. It's a mystery where to freakin' go."

"I heard that!" Gabriel's voice echoed from somewhere up ahead. "Stop whining back there, Deano, or I'll demote you to sit beside Jimmy on the ride home."

"Oh, thanks!"

"I don't know what you're complaining about," Jimmy cut in snippily. "You're not the one that's just been indirectly insulted."

They quickened their footsteps after that, for fear of losing sight of the dim circle of torchlight up ahead and the sound of Gabriel and Sam bickering over which path was the right one to take and which would be the quickest route back, and Jesus Christ Sammy, would you stop with all this nature talk, you know Moose is just supposed to be a nickname, right? Eventually, the unlikely couple leading the way came to a sudden stop, pushing their way through a curtain of branches sweeping their way across the ground, leading out onto the top of a hill (Cas hadn't even realised that they had been travelling on an upwards slope until now); Below them, the lights of the town of Lawrence twinkled in the distance.

"Here we are." Gabriel plonked himself down on the grass and opened the picnic basket, bringing out a bag of sandwiches. "Cheese and ham, Moosey?"

Jimmy all but hurled himself to the ground, suddenly looking very interested now that there was food on the cards. Cas spread his trenchcoat across the grass underneath him like a blanket, reclining back so that he was looking up at the night sky and clusters of constellations that filled it until he felt his lids starting to drift shut.

"You sleepin' down there, Cas?" Cas cracked an eye open again in time to Dean lay back on the grass beside him, following his gaze up towards the heavens.

"Almost."

"Dinner took it out of you, huh?"

Cas let out a quiet snort. "If you were ever to take Meg Masters to dinner, Dean, you'd be reacting in exactly the same way." He ran a hand down his face just remembering the recent events of the evening. "It was the worst date of my life."

"And that's saying something," Gabriel snorted from beside him. Dean sent him a glare, before returning his full attention to his best friend.

"Really that bad, huh?"

"I think she ended up threatening the bar tender at one point," Cas admitted. Dean was silent for half a moment before he started snickering, the sound soon evolving into long peals of laughter that even Cas found himself joining in with.

"You sure know how to pick 'em, Cas," Dean said once their mirth had subsided. "Seriously, what is it with you and the crazy chicks? I mean, there was that girl April in college, the cash registrar, now this Meg girl..."

Cas nodded in agreement. His dating record wasn't exactly impressive nor extensive. "Maybe I'm just cursed."

"You only just figured that out? Cas, I coulda told you that years ago," Jimmy put in through a mouthful of food.

"Me too," Gabriel added.

"Nice to know that I have such a supportive family behind me," Cas commented, only to be met with chuckles from his two brothers. He closed his eyes again, folding his arms across his chest. Dean's sudden hand on his shoulder was the only thing that stopped him from dropping off to sleep right there and then.

"Hey, if it makes ya feel any better, Cas," his best friend began, "I'd still rather have you than this rabble. Cursed or not."

"Hey!" Sam protested, a teasing note to his voice, his words muffled a little; Cas suspected that he had his face nestled somewhere close to Gabriel. "What about me?"

"Sorry, Sammy. Sacrifices gotta be made."

"Jerk."

"Bitch."

Cas shook his head slightly as he listened to the brothers' usual exchange, shifting in order to get more comfortable, Dean's hand still warm and comforting on his shoulder; wrapped up in the familiar sounds of Jimmy and Gabriel laughing and Sam and Dean's back-and-forth repertoire of insults, he had to admit that Dean was right. This did make him feel better.

How on earth he managed to stay semi-conscious for the rest of Magical Mystery Tour day - or rather, night - Cas had no idea. One minute it seemed he was collapsing back into the passenger seat next to Gabriel (Dean had ended up actually being demoted to the back seat beside Jimmy) after what felt like hours upon hours of stumbling back through the dark forest, and the next he was sprawled across his bed, still fully dressed in his best suit and slacks with his trenchcoat covering him like a makeshift blanket, being rudely awoken by the sound of his cellphone chiming somewhere close to his ear. He let out a loud whine at the noise, flinging an arm out in an attempt to shut it off and let him slide back into the land of dreams.

Hey, Clarence! He read when he finally managed to locate his cell and the squint in his eye had decreased enough for him to see the screen three centimetres in front of him. Raring to go? [Sent 06.00]

Meg, it's 6AM. I can barely lift my head off the pillow. [Sent 06.01]

Maybe if you hadn't eaten that disgusting salad we had for dinner last night, you'd be up and ready to go for work by now. Why don't you drop by in, say, 20 minutes? [Sent 06.02]

Cas frowned at the screen, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he typed out the reply. But we don't have to be in for work until 9... [Sent 06.02]

I know. But we've got other work to do, remember? [Sent 06.03]

Fine. Give me half an hour [Sent 06.03]

With another groan, Cas hauled himself off the bed and blundered across the room, wobbling dangerously on his shaky legs and having to use the wall to support himself in order to reach the bathroom without falling over and alerting Jimmy, who was still fast asleep if the soft snores coming from his room were anything to go by. Nice for some, Cas thought, trying to run the shower as quietly as possible.

Meg snorted when he turned up outside her doorstep, exactly half an hour, a change of clothes and a note left to Jimmy later, nursing a large plastic cup filled with coffee.

"Fun night out, I see, Clarence."

Cas let out a heavy exhale. "I wouldn't exactly call hiking through the forest on the outskirts of town long after midnight counts as a fun night out."

"Who said I wasn't talking about dinner?" Meg replied, giving him a poke in the shoulder when he didn't respond. "Aw, c'mon, I'm only messing with you. Sheesh, I've never met anyone to stoic in all my life." She slammed the passenger door as Cas lurched the car forward. "God knows how anyone's found something worth chasing after in you."

"I thought you said that you were going to help me, not insult me."

"I never said anything about not insulting you, Clarence," she replied with a wink. "That is, after all, the foundation on which our friendship is built."

"I also thought you couldn't stand me."

"Yeah, well..." She pulled a face as Cas swerved to avoid hitting a pigeon, making her head collide with the roof of the car. "...maybe I'm drawn to the socially inapt."

Cas raised an eyebrow. "I think I'm going to take that as a compliment."

"You can do what you like, Clarence." Meg shrugged lightly. "I mean, you shouldn't take it as a compliment, but hell, who I am to tell you what to do? After all -" She leered in his direction, a feral grin about her all of a sudden. "- I am your best friend now."

"I don't think I would go so far as to say that," Cas replied, but he wasn't able to keep the grin entirely from his face. Maybe he was clutching at straws here, but perhaps there was a chance that his earlier tensions with Meg would be forgotten.

But, then again -

"Ugh! What is this crap you're listening to?" Meg leaned forward and rolled through the limited amount of stations that Castiel's car could pick up before settling on a piece of rock music that Cas hadn't heard before, turning the volume all the way up until the entire car seemed to be shaking along with the beat of the song.

"You literally have the worst music taste I've ever heard, Clarence!" She yelled above the din.

But, then again, maybe not.

"That one. Over there."

"Which one?" Cas frowned as his gaze travelled across the staff lounge, following the direction in which Meg was gesturing. "The blonde?"

"No. That's Bela Talbot. You don't want to get on the wrong end of her, so I'd stay clear if I were you. No, I mean, that one. The redhead. You see her?"

There was indeed a redhead in the corner, leaning against her locker and pouring over a book. "Yes. I see her."

"That's Charlie. She's a bit full-on, if you really want my honest opinion, which I'm guessing by the look on your face that you don't, but she's decent enough, I guess. Writing sappy love notes would kind of be her thing."

The Novak raised an eyebrow. "She looks a little young, doesn't she?"

"Clarence, I'm sure she'll keep up with you," Meg snorted. "Even if your mental age is around seventy five."

"Okay. Fine. I'll go talk to her." Cas drained the last of his coffee, too tired to really argue, placing the empty cup down on the counter, before pausing. "Wait, what am I supposed to say?"

"How the hell should I know?"

"You said you would help me!"

"Hey -" She held up her hands in mock-surrender "- I don't know what kind of stuff you're in to, do I? Sheesh, go over there and talk about the weather, if you really can't think of anything else. You got those big blue eyes - freakin' use them already!"

Cas hesitated for a few more seconds; Meg rolled her eyes and gave him a shove in Charlie's direction, sending him stumbling over towards the redhead, who was too caught up in the words on the page in front of her to notice the guy in the trenchcoat fidgeting in front of her.

"Hello," he said finally, dragging Charlie from her book.

She beamed up at him. "Hi. You're Castiel, right?"

"Most just call me Cas, but -"

"Cas. Right." She all but leapt out of her seat and clapped him hard on the shoulder. "Name's Charlie. Pleased to finally meet ya. Metatron's being going on about you for days now."

"He has?"

"Yeah. Saying it was about time we got some new faces 'round here." She rolled her eyes. "Not that he really knows anything about new faces. He hardly ever leaves his office; I mean, we could all quit, like, now, and walk straight on outta here, and it would take him at least two days to actually notice." She snorted. "Honestly, the dude's like a sieve."

Cas glanced at Meg, who nodded encouragingly. "Um, yes. He, er, he is a little like a sieve, isn't he?"

Charlie smiled wider - if that was even possible. "I knew you'd see it that way too! We're totally gonna be friends, I can tell."

"Yes," Cas agreed, not sure what else to say in response. "Um -" He looked back towards Meg, who mouthed "GET ON WITH IT!" with elaborate hand gestures. "So, um, there's something I wanted to ask you, now that I've, um, you know, met you."

"Oh, yeah? What was that?"

"I was just wondering -"

"Charlie?" Another voice cut across the conversation.

"Hey!" Charlie grinned at the new arrival - another redhead - leaning up on tiptoes to peck her on the cheek. "Dorothy, this is Cas. Cas, Dorothy. Cas is the one with the awesome trenchcoat, remember, babe?"

Oh.

Cas turned his gaze back to Meg. She couldn't even have the decency to hide her giggles behind her hand. Of course she knew about this. She was a better actress than he'd given her credit for.

"So, Cas." Charlie brought his attention back to her. "What was it that you wanted to ask me?"

"Uh..." He looked around him for inspiration of some kind. "What's your favourite book?" He managed to blurt out after a few minutes of awkward silence. Charlie didn't seem to mind, however; she quite happily launched into an enthusiastic speech about Harry Potter and how Hermione was the most kick-ass heroine ever created. Cas took the opportunity to fire a glare at Meg, who gave him a big thumbs up in response.

This was probably the worst idea he'd ever agreed to.

Well, that was that! Until the next time, my little sock puppets... X