The scene, was all in all, beautiful. Breathtaking, even. It just kinda sucked ass that Cas wasn't here to enjoy it with him. The Winchester men went on their annual hunting trip and stayed at the lake nearby for fishing and hiking adventures! With Adam coming along, Dean got to share a tent with not only Sammy, the moose of the family, but a very growing Adam.
So that kinda makes Dean the runt on the trip, excluding John. It really wasn't fair - cruel trick of nature type thing - having Dean be the shortest of the three boys. Whatever, he feels, I can still take them out any day. Dean glances around and takes a deep breath - pine cones and lake water. Taking another step onto the giant ass rock, Dean held his cellular device higher. Another step, surveying higher ground, made his foot fault a bit when he stepped on an awry rock.
His right arm swung over the vast lake and his phone almost dropped into the watery abyss. The half-written text message of God, Cas, I wish you were here, I mis- almost didn't get sent. Cas would have become frantic! What, with his one true love miles away, Castiel might be so distraught that he'd roll over and die! At least, that's how Dean imagines it. He thinks about Cas a lot on this trip, especially when they were on the boat. Corny as it may seem, the lake reminded Dean of the kid's eyes... and his own eyes mixed together.
What a perfect combination. Sitting on the rock, feet dangling, Dean cogitates about he and Cas. Is it worth it? Risking it, he means. Because obvious as hell, Cas is worth it. However, he's dating his baby brother's best friend. It's not weird, because Sam really doesn't care, but it's weird for Dean. If it doesn't freak Cas out, and especially Sam, then why is Dean second guessing it?
Maybe it's because he hasn't liked someone this much after only knowing them for such a short time. I guess that's what scares me the most... maybe because I fell so hard so fast it will be that much harder to get over him... But what if Dean doesn't have to get over him? He got over Aaron pretty easy and, for such a short period, he thought he loved the guy. So maybe it's not so bad he likes Cas so much even after their short period of dating. It's only been three dates but hey, Romeo and Juliet banged within a week.
The bed, was all in all, cluttered. Comfy, though. Jess sat next to him, rambling on about Sam and the first time they watched this together. She handed Cas the popcorn as he asked and they continued watching their favorite show. Not that Dean - or God forbid, Sam - will find out he watches this show and actually likes it. The title is simple; Not Natural. Following the two heroic sisters, Samantha and Deanna, fight monsters and vampires and, on occasion, dragons.
The camera lowers onto the shabby motel room the two sisters are renting for the week. Castiel and Jessica's favorite character shows up on the screen as she just "popped in out of God's ass", Deanna explains. Cassie, her name is, she's an angel. Obsessed and engrossed, Cas doesn't see the light of his cell phone go off as his sixth text message from Dean is received. He is too busy fawning over his favorite TV couple with Jess, while his own Winchester to obsess about is trying to contact him. Staring at the screen - and squeezing a pillow - Cas is almost in tears at the scene before him.
"They are so totally fucking!" Jess blurts out. Cas reaches over and pats her hand, nodding his knowing nod. Whoever doesn't know these two have something going on are either mentally disturbed or unfortunate for having their IQ lower than their shoe size.
How did you get out of Purgatory, Cassie? The two teens gasped as the question escaped Deanna's mouth. "SHE FUCKING DIDN'T!" Jess exclaimed. Isn't Sam just the luckiest with such a sweet as apple-pie girl?
Cassie, fight this! This is not you! Fight it! She screamed, using a special tablet to block the blows. She seemed torn and heart broken - not something you see when your platonic best friend is punching you square in the temple. Cas loves their dynamic - Cassie and Deanna. Their characters look a lot like Castiel and Dean themselves.
Dean. Cas' mind wandered to his happy place that is everything Dean. How was he doing? Did he miss him? What was he doing? Every so often Cas thinks about him... them... their relationship, too. How do they even work?
When you really think about it, they shouldn't work. They're a lot alike, yes, but they're very different. Castiel is mature in public and lets loose around people he's close too. Dean's the opposite, although he still lets loose every once in a while among such folk like Charlie and Sam. Their music taste is somewhat the same, though Dean is more classic rock and Cas likes more modern music. None of that Pop shit, but more like modern rock and punk. It's weird, but he has a soft spot for Green Day and bands like My Chemical Romance. Even though they both have a wide variety and similar taste in music, they can't ever seem to agree on a song to listen to in the car.
It makes Cas wonder if that means they wont agree on anything. They do, though, and it shouldn't worry Cas. They get along and their happy but... he worries if he's going to get hurt. He really likes Dean and having realized he liked him so much so fast is... weird. It's not fucking normal. But if he really thinks about it, neither of them are normal. Cas is obsessed with a lesbian couple and Dean hunts for fun with his brothers. But that's beside the point... Cas thinks about this often, if he's good for Dean. Hell, if Dean is good for Cas. It kinds scares him, how they work. How they get along especially when he's dating his best friends older brother.
Dating. Dating is the name of the game. They haven't really discussed that yet... where they stand in their relationship. Therefore Castiel doesn't want to be the obsessed freak teenager who is too happy to think when dating someone older than him. He doesn't want to seem clingy and creepy... so how does he approach the subject of defining the relationship? He wants Dean to ask him to be his boyfriend, he does. But that means coming out to his parents, coming out to everyone, balancing the relationship of with the best friend and the boyfriend, remembering anniversaries - if they last that long. Relationships are hard.
Cas doesn't know if he's ready for that kind of commitment, especially to someone as amazing and worthy of a good boyfriend as Dean. Would Cas even qualify as a good boyfriend? Dean would be his first, so that makes everything all the more nerve racking and stressful. This whole process of thinking about their relationship has just become hard and confusing and Cas just needs Dean here to clear the air and kiss him and clear his mind.
"Hey, dreamer boy, your pole is all baited and ready." Sam called to his older brother who was staring out to the lake. Such a girl, sometimes. Geez. Walking back to their tents, Sam walked over to his half-brother. He was trying to untangle his fishing line, which he got caught for the third time since they've got them out.
"Jesus, Adam, I leave you alone for two minutes and you tangle it again?" Sam sat down next to his brother and started helping un-knot the fishing line.
"Hell, you're almost as bad as Sam when he first started fishing." John walked in and set his cowboy coffee down on a stump. He snagged the pole from the two sons and started working his magic to undo the damn thing.
Dean strutted over and sat down on a rock. "...if not worse..." He mumbled. He checked his phone - again. Nothing. Was he paranoid? He was being paranoid. One more text wouldn't hurt...
Sam rolled his eyes and snatched the device from his brother and before he could object, a hand was raised. "Dean. You're my brother and I love you. So stop checking your phone he isn't going to respond. I told you - he's hanging out with Jess! They're probably doing each others nails or kick boxing, who knows."
Dean ignored him, just as he normally does. Dean glanced around at the familiar trees and the sticks and stones. The forever scorch mark on the giant pine tree from when Adam was first brought on their Winchester hunting/camping trip. It was uneasy waters then, seeing as how Adam was brought into their lives.
"Hey, guys," Dean got his brothers attention and gestured to the aforementioned tree, "'member when we almost burnt that thing down?"
"Yeah..." Sam laughed, "You found dad's lighter fluid and told me to douse it." Dean and Sam got up and walked over to the tree, whereas Adam was still sitting down - trying to figure out how to untangled his fucking pole.
He set it down and sighed, thinking he'll try the damn thing later. Adam rubbed his hands over his new jeans that John bought for him just for the trip. He also got a few flannels and jackets to go along with it, too. See, he didn't have much of a dad growing up... so buying him clothes and getting him things was kind of making up for it. He nixed the thought from his mind, and stood up. Walking over to his half-brothers, he spoke, "And you handed me the lighter and told me that 'It'll be fun' with that shit-eating grin on your face."
Dean, who burst out into a fit of laughter, was more enthusiastic about their almost-forest-fire than Sam. The two are very alike, but rather different in their own mannerisms and characteristics. Adam though, he has learned that he's started acting like his brothers, now.
"I guess that was the first time the three of us ever... got along." Sam said, staring at the tree. It was true, the guys didn't get along. Half the time, if Dean and Sam weren't arguing, he was biting Adam's head off. It's not fair that Dad had to go and cheat on Mom! He's not even supposed to be here! It was a rough time for Dean, being so far in the closet he could have sworn he saw Mr. Tumnus. That and earning a new member to the family, one who - literally - was not supposed to be in their family.
"I remember the day we first met, too." Dean said, leaning against the other tree, the one with all the paint marks on it from that time they had their own paint ball match. As the ever poetic Bob Dylan once said, take care of all your memories. For you cannot relive them. "I just got my drivers license..."
They were out getting Starbucks. Or, well, Jess was. Cas was just there to accompany her on their second day of Winchester-less bonding. The usual Starbucks layout was... the usual, obviously. The leather chairs in the corner, wooden tables with only two seats. Counter for coffee condiments such as cinnamon and cream. Cas decided that they should sit in the leather chairs that still have the scuff marks from when Sam, Jess and Castiel thought it would be fun to play foot tag in eight grade. Didn't Bob Dylan write something about memories?
While she was sipping her coffee, Castiel thought it would be a good idea to ask the most random of questions. Mid-sip, Jessica's eyes did widen a bit at the inquiry, so she took the lid away from her lips. Cas knew he shouldn't of asked it, but he watched her intently anyways for her response. She smiled as she set her cup down on the coffee table between them. Looking at Cas she countered with a question of her own, "Why do you want to know?"
He stuttered. "Well... I-I, no one... Sam and I have been friends for a while and then, out of nowhere," He swallowed and nervously looked to his right, "Adam." He gestured with his hands for more emphasis.
"I... see." Jess giggled. She looked at him again and started, "Well if you want to know everything, it started with when Mr. Winches- wait." She leaned in and stuck out her hand, pinkie extended. "Promise you wont tell Sammy."
Cas gave her an incredulous look. Nonetheless, he wrapped his pinkie around hers and mumbled I promise. Jessica sat back in her chair and told the story once again. "You're in luck, at the time Sam and I were the best of buds. So here's the whole scoop, if I can remember correctly."
"Continue."
"John and Mary had this huge fight. Some 19 years back. This is the start of Adam's tale, cause' John left Mary for a good 2 months after what happened. No one really knows what happened except, I guess, Dean. You know Dean, don't you?" She was clueless. Oh shit. Cas hasn't even told Jessica! How mad is she going to be that he hasn't told her yet... It's only been a steady month since he and Dean... started dating.
"More than you know..." Cas said under his breath. He just nodded and smiled and she continued with Adam's story, naive as ever.
She went on to explain that John left Kansas and ended up in Minnesota. Six hour drive to Windom and John was out of Lawrence. He somehow met this Kate Milligan and, well, she didn't know John was married. Jess said something about how it's rumored that John saved her life and she... repaid him. Willingly. After about two or three months, John had to leave Kate to go back to Mary.
"Long story short Mr. and Mrs. Winchester got everything settled. They surprisingly bounced back from such a difficult time in their relationship. I say that they're happier than ever, but that's just me. Some even go as far to say that they were a match made in heaven - soul mates and all that." She sipped her coffee again. "Then about twelve-ish years later John get's a call. This is when Dean and Sam are 17 and 13, I think?" Her nose scrunched at the thought - trying to remember down to the details.
"So anyways, John get's this call, right? Lo and behold, it's Kate, saying 'Hey, you got a kid.' I really can't tell you what happened when Mary found out, but she wasn't all too happy. I mean, your husband cheats on you and then nearly thirteen years later he gets a call from that exact mistress he cheated on you with and says he has a kid. It's kind of insane, if you ask me, Cas." Glancing over at Cas, Jessica saw that his mouth was agape.
It's a lot to take in! Your... somewhat-kind of-boyfriend's-half-brother's story on how he "entered" the family... well you don't hear that every day. Stories like this? Unheard of in the small city of Lawrence, Kansas. Kansas in general, you don't get stories on the daily about love affairs and long-lost brothers and -marriages being a-OK after an affair has ensued.
"Well then I come home from after driving the Impala. I was pumped, y'know, I just got to drive it as my car. It was awesome. So, I get home, right? And Sammy is standing there like he has to pee-" Dean explains.
"Dean." Sam interrupts.
"-but really. Oh shut up, man, you looked like you were either about to break or gonna ralph. Anyways, Sam says he has to talk to me and I take him up to my room and sit him on my bed. Little do you know, Adam, he actually puked after I handed him my trash basket."
"DUDE!" Sam shoved his brother, who fell over. Dean got back up and Sam muttered his last words, "Shit, Dean, I'm sorry- I didn't- I didn't mean to!" Dean got him in the classic Full-Nelson and Sam struggled, but Dean was too strong.
"As I was saying," Dean continued, Sam squirming in between his biceps. "Sam puked. He wiped his mouth and then I got him some water and he told me about how Dad got this phone call."
Adam was leaning against the tree, the classic Winchester-Milligan Scorched Pine, and continued Dean's story.
"It was my mom. Yeah, I heard that conversation... She thought I was still at school but I got home early. I was looking in the kitchen from the door and she said something to a certain 'John'." Now, this whole time, you have to understand, John wasn't here. He even got in the car and left to go scope out the game and get some hunting license's renewed. The boys wouldn't blatantly talk about such a story with it's main character right there listening. They're not stupid.
"Something about 'You have to meet him.' and 'This is all your fault.' I remember hugging her because I found her crying... I mean, if I knew then that she was talking to my dad... I probably would've cried, too, to be honest." Adam fiddled with his shirt tails of his flannel and Dean let go of Sam. He squirmed out of Dean's hold on him and stood next to him, brushing his clothes off.
"Actually, now that I think about it, I think Dad was crying too when I left the room." Sam said, straight faced.
Dean lauged, "No way. Our Dad? John Nothing-Scares-Me-I-Could-Slay-A-Vampire Winchester? Sorry, Sammy, but you're either wrong or deaf and I'm pretty sure it's both." Dean was not buying that. His Superman pop? The one who isn't scared of anything, except soap operas, who isn't scared of soap operas? The guy scared away the monsters in my closet until I was man enough to do it myself.
John is a hero. You could ask anybody on what comes to mind when they hear the words John Winchester and it's either fear or "the guys fearless." I'm not buying this. But... Well... Sammy was there. He was the one that heard everything. It's possible he's right. The man that Dean thought was a hero and fearless and Superman of all things, he could just be as normal as the next guy. But who doesn't over-power their dad when they're a kid?
Dean shook the thought. He wasn't going to let Sam's deaf ears manipulate his vision of his badass Dad. Nope. Not gonna happen. John is the best Dad ever, he isn't anything less than a Superhero... Right?
"Anyways." Sam jerks Dean from his train of thought. "After about a day or two... you," Sam pointed to Dean, "got tired of all this 'sitting on our asses bullshit' and told me to pack a bag."
Adam smiled and shifted a bit from foot to foot. "That's when you hopped in the car and drove up to Minnesota, right?"
"Yeah." Sam and Dean say at the same time. Dean decided to go back and sit down in the little circle they had made of chairs around the fire pit. Sam and Adam join him after a bit of mumbling.
Sam sits down in his chair and continues the story that they were previously discussing. "So we got in the car and Dean put in his Motörhead cassette and we were off. I think you told dad that we were going to... what?"
He looked at Dean who wasn't really playing attention. His thoughts elsewhere, mostly about Cas, Dean snapped right back into the conversation; not missing a beat. He learned such a technique when in high school.
"Uh..." Dean tried to remember, he looked at the fire pit for answers. "I think I said something about sleeping over at Garth's... And I was taking you to Cas' place for the next two nights." He glanced at their tents, "Yeah it was something like that."
Jessica whisked her hair out of her face and got up. "I'll continue the story in the car. We," she gestured in between herself and Castiel," have to get to that Quickie Photo a few blocks down... I think my pictures of our camping trip are ready. Sammy wanted me to get those done." She walked over to the doorway with Cas in tow.
Once they were outside she took a deep breath in of the Memorial Day air. Truman gave them the day off and Jess and Cas decided to hang out and have some fun. They started off with Cas spending the night on Sunday, and waking up Monday to watch episodes of their TV show. They then got dressed and went down to Starbucks, and here they are.
Getting in her little 90' Toyota pick up truck, Jessica places her cup in the cup holder and starts the engine. Cas buckles up and the two are off to the nearest Quickie Photo. Jessica looks at him and grips the steering wheel with both hands.
"So you know after they headed to Minnesota, they got to the nearest phone booth and searched for the name Kate Milligan." She glanced at her rear view mirror, making sure that shitty Porsche kept it's distance. The car sped up next to Jessica and cut them off. She slammed her hand down on the horn and the guy stuck his hand out the window to flip them off.
"NO NEED TO PROVE DOMINANCE WITH A PUSSY PORSCHE, ASSHOLE! IF YOU WANTED TO LOOK LIKE A MAN GET A FUCKING CAR WORTH DRIVING!" Jessica shouted. She glanced at Cas who's agape mouth turned into a grin.
"Wow, Jess, I've never seen that side of you before..." He chuckled. She shoved him with on hand and started laughing herself after telling him to shut up. "So," he was still grinning, "telephone booth."
"Right." She pulled up to a red light, right next to the Porsche-asshole. They both, subconsciously, looked to the right where Cas was seated and they see none other than Aaron Bass. Of course. The guy's such a douche bag he has to drive the car to prove it.
Rolling up Cas' window, Jessica then continues the story after briefly explaining that they don't need to contact AIDs via eye contact. Just as Aaron glances over and realizes who he cut off, the light turns green and the pick-up is off down the block.
"So they met Adam at this local coffee shop after Dean told him that they knew his dad."
"I was so excited, though. I hopped on my bike and rode over after telling my mom I was going to hangout with my friend Denise." Adam spoke. He had his arms limp and resting against his knees. He leaned forward and used his arms as support, folding his hands in the process. "So then I met you guys in that little cafe."
"Yeah. And Dean was as skeptical as ever." Sam chuckled. Dean gave him a look.
"Hey, for all we knew he could've been a serial killer or someone just screwing with us." Dean barked.
"And why would I do that?" Adam questioned. This was the first time he talked the whole ordeal over with his brothers.
They got out of the car and made their way through the sliding glass doors of the Quickie Photo. Jessica continued the rest of Adam's years old tale.
"Sam said that they talked about how John didn't visit Adam and didn't talk to him because he didn't even know about him. Because, I mean, I'd be pretty pissed if my dad's kids came out of nowhere to talk to me, especially if I've never met the guy." She paid the guy at the counter for her photo and kept talking.
"He went on to say that they took Adam out to the nearest baseball game because he was wearing a Giants T-shirt. Which truly proves he's a Winchester." Jessica smirked and thanked the cashier.
"Baseball." Cas smiled at the ground. He though about his first date with Dean, how he talked about baseball like it was the sport of all sports. Although, Adam is on the tennis team with Cas. "A favorite Winchester past time."
"Course!" Jessica said. She turned and opened up the packet of pictures, flipping through. There was one of Dean pouring gasoline on the fire. And another of Sam and Dean fishing. A blurry one showed two silhouettes holding hands by the lake. It couldn't be Jessica, the two were male - that much Cas could make out. Could it be Dean and someone else?
A bit of jealousy flared in Castiel's stomach. He never got to go down to their cabin and hold hands by the lake... Given they haven't even deemed themselves a couple yet. Does Cas even want to define their relationship? Nixing the thought, he blinked a couple six times before focusing on the picture in front of him.
It was one that answered all of Cas' questions about the previous silhouette'd couple. The initial shock was thriving through Cas' veins, making him a bit furious. This was of Dean, a small smile on his lips as he kissed Aaron. The photo was taken by him, given the angle. The look on their faces really did show that they were having a good time.
That made Cas feel a little... small. How happy did Aaron make Dean? Could Cas live up to that? He stared at the picture for a little bit while Jessica just looked wide-eyed, too.
"Um." She said. "Awkward..." Oh... right... Jessica still only thought that Dean and Cas were... acquaintances? "I forgot they broke-"
"I'm dating Dean." He blurted. Jessica stayed silent for a while. Cas felt his stomach churn and he only realized now that his eyes were closed.
She took a small breath in. She looked at Cas and stared blankly. "How long?" She asked, quietly.
"Uhh... Well..." He fiddled with his thumbs. He looked down and tried to not meet her gaze. He knew she'd be mad. Not because he's dating Dean, she's probably okay with that. It's just the fact Cas didn't tell her the second Dean kissed him. And when he kissed him a second time. And when they made out on his Impala. And when he kissed him goodnight on their first date... And their second. And their third.
"How long, Cas?"
"A month?" Sheepishly, he replied.
"A MONTH? AND YOU- you didn't tell me?" She lowered her voice because of the strangers around them in the store. "If we don't have trust," Cas looked up and saw her smirk, "Then wh-what do we have?" Her little giggle seeping through her stutter. Castiel's smile made Jessica laugh a bit and they stood their, guffawing away at the fact that Castiel didn't inform his best she-friend about his relationship.
Cas told her about their first night. The same story he told Sam and Balthazar, just with a lot less enthusiasm. The shock of the photo long forgotten as Castiel got into detail about how sleeping next to Dean felt.
"And our second date, he took me to this little pizza shop. He said there's a place just like it in Chicago." He rambled on about how Dean ordered spaghetti and wanted to pull the Lady and the Tramp on Cas.
"Why didn't you let him!"
"Just because I said I was stubborn about it doesn't mean I didn't let him do it." He answered with a wink. He was in the middle of talking about their dessert on date #2 when he turned around to see none other than Aaron Bass. Mr. My-Daddy's-Rich-So-He-Buys-Me-A-Porsche.
Jessica saw his glare and led it to the source, scowling in unison with Cas at Aaron. Aaron turns around and the two avert their gaze, not wanting him to see them staring. However, just his luck, Jessica's grip on the scarring photo is loosened and goes flying in Aaron's direction.
"Of course." Castiel mumbles to himself as Jess makes her way to retrieve her photo.
Jessica walks over to pick it up, but Aaron already bent down to get it for her. He flips the picture over and his eyes go wide. He snaps his head up to see Jessica Moore, and looks behind her to see Castiel. His jaw clenches, and takes the photo - shoving it behind himself. Castiel walks over, that 'I-don't-want-to-see-you-anymore-than-you-want-to- see-me' look on his face.
"Novak." Aaron spits.
"Shut the fuck up and give her the photo, Aaron." Castiel crosses his arms.
"Best baseball game I've ever been to." Adam mentioned. "Actually... It was the only baseball game I ever went to." He smiled as his brothers laughed.
"Yeah that was some game... It sucked though, when we got back." Sam said, looking to Dean.
Dean smiled that fake smile he makes when it's bad news. "The guy nearly ripped our heads off."
Adam asked about what happened and Dean and Sam took turns explaining. Along the lines of, John grounding them and Mary having to 'discuss the matter at hand', the two did a pretty good job at remembering the details of it. Right down to the songs they listened to on the radio on their way back home.
"That's when Dad took a visit up north about two months after your guys' visit." Adam said, leaning back in his chair.
Sam and Dean looked at each other. "Yeah... for those two months mom and dad were pretty uneasy." Dean said, sighing. "It wasn't until after Dad came back from visiting you that they... they didn't fight."
"They were actually better than they were before they found out about... What happened." Sam finished.
"Weird." Adam said, scratching the back of his head as he stared at the fire pit. He let his hand drop, "Yeah that's weird."
She doesn't know how it started, but next thing Jessica knows, Aaron is screaming at Cas in the middle of the small store, Quickie Photo. From her point of her view, she saw Castiel's clenched jaw, meaning he was holding it all together. He isn't about to explode in public. Aaron was spouting off at the mouth about how much of a dick Castiel is - for doing nothing, by the way - and how he wants Dean's dick so much he was willing to pay him money.
"Oh that's gold, you know last time I heard that was... That's right Michael said that." Castiel wasn't willing to take Aaron's shit. Jessica was at least knowing that much. All she could see on Aaron was how much he sweats when he's nervously losing. He did that when playing truth or dare, and when they played Bullshit; Sam's favorite card game.
Aaron said something about Michael... "He was just begging for me, you know. How could I deny?" something like that. Castiel twitched a little, at the mention of Michael. Michael probably wasn't the one who was begging, from what Jessica knows. She knows Michael, he isn't one for begging, he doesn't ask for things, if anything - he'd take it.
Aaron, obviously, twisted it. He, of all people, would be the one begging.
"It's just hilarious that you still think that good ol' Mikey is such an angel." That's funny! It is, really. Jessica knows, for a damn fact, that Cas knows that Michael is anything but an angel. Bass continued trashing Michael, then moved onto Luke.
"Is your best defense, right now, using my family against me as an insult? Do you really think I care what you say?" Castiel uncrossed his arms. He stepped closer to Aaron, sizing him up. "You're just trying to hide the fact that Dean deserves better and that's what he got."
That, was the last straw.
With one move, one tiny action, Cas was bleeding on the floor. His legs spread apart, he sat up on his palms. He touched the spot where he was bleeding, the bridge of his nose. Aaron ran away by the time the manager came out, and by the time Jessica or Cas could react. She was on the floor, kneeling next to him, by the time the manager and an employee got the first aid kit.
His nose was already swelling when he got to Jessica's car. His eyes were starting to color, given the trajectory of how and where Aaron punched him. Right on the bridge of his nose, it caused swelling to occur on both sides of his nasal bone right by his eyes. Therefore, his orbital tissue is swollen, due to the impact and velocity of the punch.
At least, that's how Jessica, the anatomy honor student, describes it.
It was when they made it to Jessica's home safely, that Castiel got ice and called Gabriel.
"Gabe. Gabe. Listen," Castiel was very stern and his voice was hoarse, "I'm spending another night at Jessica's. I- none of your busine- okay." He looked at Jessica, who was holding her breath.
Don't tell him! She mouthed. But what was Cas to do? He can trust Gabriel... most of the time.
"You promise to not tell another soul? Yea- especially Mike and Luke." Jessica let out her held breath, "I got punched in the face."
Cas ripped the phone away from his ear, Gabriel's screaming audible from the doorway.
"GABE!" Castiel shouted back. "JUST DO- don't tell anyone, okay? I'll tell them on my own when I get home tomorrow. And if by the off chance that you even think about texting Dean, which I still don't know how you got his number, I'll melt your candy stash."
More screaming.
"OF COURSE I KNOW YOU HAVE A CANDY STASH!" He shouted and hung up. He looked at Jessica, who was holding the ice bag. He took the bag from her and placed in on his face, hissing. He tried to take it off, but Jessica moved in, saying that he has to keep in on there if he doesn't want it to look as bad as it is.
"I just can't have Luke or Mike or, god forbid, Dean seeing any of this." He waved his hand in front of his face for emphasis.
Jessica smiled as she reached for the pain killers she grabbed for him. He took some, and she looked out her window.
"You never did finish your story about your date, you know." She looked back at him, smiling.
"Well..." He started, smiling.
Maybe things wont be so bad when he goes home tomorrow.
And maybe Gabe will stick to his diet.
